1:49 p.m. Don't mean to be persistent, but all those misjudgements are briging down the Olympic mood.

I understand that judges are only human and they could make mistakes. However, they should bear in mind the importance and responsibility of their judgements. Think of the athletes who've been devoting most of their lives to sports. One little misjudgement could ruin their lives forever.

For the Olympians who unfortunately have met such mishandlings, please do not feel discouraged. NO ONE can judge you. You have fought well and brought yourself to the Olympic stage. You've shown us all that you are a person who can strive through unimaginable hardships to achieve the highest of goals, which radiates rays of courage and hope just as the sun radiates light. You've given us hope and courage. Be proud of yourself.

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Caterpillar

3:46 p.m. Here's some better news. Kouhei Uchimura has won the gold medal in the gymnastics men's individual all-around to be the first in twenty-eight years since the last gold medalist, Gushiken.

Yeah, there were a couple of minor misses, but he performed well, scored well. It must have been a pleasure to many Japanese to see his "Doya-gao (a face expression showing confidence, as if to say, ‘Hey, did you see that? If that wasn't awesome, then what?’)."

Of course, I wasn't an exception to this. I stayed up till three in the morning switching the channels between gymnastics and soccer. I couldn't go to sleep without seeing Uchimura's huge smile or confirming the soccer team has secured the first place and made it to the final 8.

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Caterpillar

3:32 p.m. About halfway into the Olympic games. The whole event will be over in just another week or so. As they say, time flies like an arrow. Will certainly miss the excitement and am going to have a hard time convincing myself that normal life isn't that bad.

Field and track sports are starting from today, and Nadeshiko is fighting against Brazil. Wonder how our girls'd perform after their last game against South Africa. Would things turn out just like their coach had imagined?

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Caterpillar

1:57 p.m. BBC News is offering an online app that can come up with London Olympics athletes who match your physical feature. BBC News - Your Olympic athlete body match

All you have to do is tap in your height and weight and click the "COMPARE" button. The athletes who matched me were Beatriz Piron (Dominican Republic) of weightlifting, and Paula Pareto (Argentina) of Judo, for your information. I shortened my height a bit just for fun, and the app came up with Hiromi Miyake (Japan) of weightlifting.

Gee, am more than honored to be matched with a silver medalist.

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Caterpillar

6:40 p.m. Uchimura has won his second medal, a silver one this time, for men's floor exercise. In the short interview after the awarding ceremony, he was pressed about the color of his medal, that it wasn't gold. To this, Uchimura returned a slightly puzzled exparession and said that he was satisfied, because he was finally able to perform just as he'd wanted to.

Those words and his contented smile that followed was exactly what I wanted to see. That's what I watch the Olympic games for. It made me feel so happy. Who cares if the medal's not gold? It's only plated anyway.

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Caterpillar

3:08 p.m. Time differences are such a nuisance. I wanted to watch the semifinal match of women's table tennis, but the broadcasting was going to start from a quarter or so past three in the morning.

Although I struggled to stay up till three thirty with my TV channel fixed on NHK, however, they were repeatingly showing the semi-final of fencing foil. What? What happened to table tennis?

It wasn't much later that I discovered they were airing table tennis on NHK-BS (satellite broadcasting) which waves I cannot receive because we don't have that dish on our roof. I went to sleep wishing good luck for Ai-chan (Fukuhara) and cursing NHK (doesn't it sound a bit like ‘Surfing USA’?).

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Caterpillar

3:23 p.m. Nadeshiko Japan has survived through a barrage of shoots from France and secured an Olympic medal for the first time in our national women's soccer history. It wasn't an easy game and there were critical moments when the French could have taken the lead, but Nadeshiko held on. It could be said that we were blessed with just a little bit more luck, too. Congrats, girls! Excellent job! Now that we've won, we'll be fighting our last battle for the gold medal against the U.S.

While Nadeshiko is challenging for the gold medal, so is our table tennis team, fighting against the all-time champion, China. Go, girls! There's nothing to lose, only to gain. Give them all you've got! Am sure they're both going to be great finals, whether we win or lose.

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Caterpillar

2:57 p.m. Aw, the Mexicans were gooood. Japan's men's soccer team obviously weren't themselves. Perhaps they weren tired (though that cannot be an excuse because Mexico must have been tired too), they couldn't run as fast as the former games. They fell behind in defense and made a lot of small but unacceptable misses. Thus the loss. Of course, the players are takng it hard more than anybody.

Still, they've got a chance to win an Olympic medal. Their last game has been set for the 10th (Japan time) against Korea. The Koreans probably are going to play hardball. If Japan can get themselves back into their original shape and handle the game calmly, think there is a chance. Don't be discouraged boys! You've brought us this far. Let's just try one more step.

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Caterpillar

3:59 p.m. Oh, it was impressive. Hitomi Obara has won a gold medal in Women's wrestling 48kg class. It was her first her last challenge for the Olympics, which might also turn out to be her last. She's had her share of unimaginable hardships (let's leave the details to Wikipedia for now) so I was more than happy to see her win.

Added to Obara's accomplishment, Kaori Ichou has also won a gold medal in the 63kg class, making herself the first Japanese woman athlete ever to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals over the past twelve years. This is not something that can be accomplished even if you tried and tried and tried. Oh, she was fast and strong, I thought she was Athena.

There's not much to be added after those two great matches except for that I had to stay up till four in the morning to watch them on NHK. Gee, the time difference! I wish they'd start the finals later like those boxing matches. Though must hang on since we're having women's soccer final, women's wrestling 55kg and 72kg class, and women's volleyball tonight, well, more like tomorrow morning.

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Caterpillar

4:04 p.m. The first goal by the U.S. was critical. Nadeshiko couldn't catch up and has lost in the final, letting the gold medal slip through their fingers. Well, guess that's their current skill talking. As Cow had repeatedly pointed out to my annoyance, it is true Nadeshiko need to improve their trapping techniques and accuracy of passes and shoots, as well as their speed.

As for the wrestling, am more than happy with Yoshida's victory. Especially because she's overcome her fear caused by the last loss in the world championships.

4:19 p.m. We've still got the men's soccer against Korea comng up. Though the broadcasting starts from 3:45 in the morning. Not again...

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Caterpillar

12:59 p.m. Very sad about the outcome of men's soccer. I wished for our national team to be rewarded in some way of their difficult challenge, however, the Koreans obviously played better. Sad to admit it but they deserve the bronze medal.

Another thing which am very sad to have to say is that many Japanese athletes (and some Chinese athletes, too, as far as I know) have been expressing their dissatisfaction with the food provided in the athletes' dorms. Food is one of the important factors that deeply effects the performances of athletes when they're overseas. It would be a pity if the food had discouraged all those athletes.

What happened to Jamie Oliver? Why didn't the Brits have him as executive chef? Come to think of it, I recall my friend and I survived on Chinese food when we visited London before. I wonder what the athletes from other countries would say about the food.

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Caterpillar

6:50 a.m. Apparently have fallen asleep after watching the Mexico beat Brazil in the men's soccer final. The TV was on and throwing the bright image of red and blue, two boxers fighting for the gold medal in the middle weight class. Not to mention, I jumped up and cheered the blue boxer, Murata.

5:30 p.m. Having a smoke on the veranda, savoring the first win of Yonemitsu, men's wrestling 66kg class. The clouds seem to be clearing a bit. If the sky does clear up by tonight (despite the cloudy weatherforecast), we'll get a chance to see the annual summer Perseids meteorshower. Fantasize Yonemitsu winning the final while stars are shooting across the Tokyo sky, adding a natural touch to the celebration.

6:20 p.m. Yonemitsu has won his second match, proceeding to the semi-final. O.K. Let's go check the sky again.

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Caterpillar

3:09 p.m. The London Olympics has ended. The magic hour is over. I feel like have restored faith in the past two weeks just like I always have in the past Olympic games, thanks to the athletes. I shall live on this faith for the next four years until the next Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Thanks again, to all the Olympians and to each and every one of you who made this magical moment for us to share. And may the spirit of the Olympic games, respect and peace be with us all.

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Caterpillar

2:26 p.m. Quiet around the office. It's the O-bon (the festival for the deceased) season and people are taking some days off.

As for me, am having the rest of the week off from tomorrow. Yeah, summer vacation. A comparatively short one though, I believe. Am planning to get rid of things and clean up my room during the vacation. It should be looking like a room in the IKEA catalog by next week.

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Caterpillar

5:34 p.m. Day one of summer vacation. Didn't clean one bit. Instead have payed a visit to Obaba's grave. Well, it's O-bon (the festival for the ancestors) after all, though have realized as I cleaned the gravestone, that no one seems to have visited since I last came in late June.

Tomorrow, will definitely clean out the closet.

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Caterpillar

6:49 p.m. Day two of summer vacation. I've got two small closets in my room, each of them about a foot and a half in width. Yes, have cleaned my closet today, but just one. That was enough to get me heatsick. By noon I was feeling dizzy and couldn't move any more. Had to spend most of my afternoon lying down.

9:33 p.m. Had supper as usual. Things will be OK as long as I can eat noramally.

10:55 p.m. Have revived after watching some music videos online and singing along with them. Let's get on with the other closet tomorrow.

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Caterpillar

3:07 p.m. Have managed to clean out top half of the remaining closet, but could go no further. The temperature was supposed to drop a couple of degrees according to last night's forecast, however, the heat didn't seem much different. So I decided to call it a day. Well, at least have filled a 45L garbage bag and put it out for the collection.

8:47 p.m. My God. TV news is reporting that today's high in Tokyo was 35.4 degrees celcius! Cannot believe the heat is about to go over our body temperature. Am feeling dizzy again.

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Caterpillar

10:21 a.m. Thunder cracking. Oh, no. Today of all days. Was going to go out to get a new chair to use in the office, but heavy rain and local flooding warning has just been announced for Tokyo as rain started falling.

11:20 a.m. Have decided to put off going out till tomorrow. Yeah, good idea. Let's stay home.

1:55 p.m. And just when I've decided not to go, it starts clearing up.

8:48 p.m. Plus the temperature is going up again tomorrow, with a fat chance of another heavy rain in the afternoon. Great.

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Caterpillar

11:20 a.m. Fourth and last day of summer vacation. Sunny. Looks very hot but am going out since I didn't yesterday. Am going to buy that chair.

6:43 p.m. Chair has unbelievably vanished from the store floor. The staff there told me that a new model of the product has already replaced it and that I won't be able to find it anywhere because the manufacturer has stopped making it.

11:30 p.m. Have tried removing an autograph which I can't even decypher, written in permanent marker on the back of a T-shirt someone gave me years ago with a mixture of ethanol and dishwashing detergent as it said in a dry-cleaners' website. More than two hours of diligent work rewarded with nothing. The marker merely thinned a bit. Nothing worked out today. No chair bought after going out in such murderous heat. Vacation's over and am left with half a closet full of junk and a ton of things to do. The only good thing that happened to me today was that I didn't get heatsick.

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Caterpillar

3:07 p.m. Work has started again though haven't been doing much work, rather, searching for chair on the Internet. Have found one at Amazon for about three thousand yen, shipping fee included. Undecided, though, since it's a bit different from the one I originally wanted to buy.

There's been a victory parade of the London Olympics' Japanese medalists at Ginza, and the radio news has reported that there's been five hundred thousand spectators. If they'd each tipped in one yen, I'd have more than enough to buy hundreds of chairs.

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Caterpillar

3:10 p.m. Mmm. Satisfied and content after having the most wonderful Aji-Fry (fried horse mackerel) for lunch. The bread crumbs on the outside was crispy and crunchy while the fish meat was soft and juicy. Mmm. Makes my mouth water just thinking about them.

The place I bought the Aji fry is a meat shop where Cow once told me that he thinks it could be the house of someone he knows from his childhood. Cow thinks that he was together with that person in his junior high swimming club, but he's not sure if the guy is the owner now or not.

Having the delicious food for lunch, Cow who is usually fussy about the taste of food has apparently decided to go get some cutlet for dinner. It's really good. Drop me a line if you want to know more details about the whereabouts and stuff of the shop.

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Caterpillar

3:40 p.m. My Facebook account has suddenly appeared in Timeline though I have been adamantly refusing to change the display.

Was thinking of getting myself one of those seven-inch iPads which is rumored to be newly released this fall, and was going to switch to Timeline after I got one. But Facebook apparently couldn't wait till then. No wonder their stock prices keep falling.

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Caterpillar

4:36 p.m. Dogs are happy creatures. No matter how tough life can be sometimes. All they need is a ball (sometimes they don't even need it) to make them happy as they ever can be. Here's a video which proves that. There is a God.

Sometimes I wonder that there may be a lot more to learn from them. For example, to think simple and enjoy life. After all, life is beautiful.

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Caterpillar

4:03 p.m. Cow has gone out to a client's near the office. It's merely about five minutes walk though he's been gone for over two hours now. What's taking him so long?

4:06 p.m. Speaking of Cow, he's just come back. Was thinking that I'd have to listen to various complaints about his short business trip as always, but he only invited me to the online game he's been playing for a while.

OK, fine. Let's go on an adventure.

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Caterpillar

12:53 p.m. Have come across this video of a stray dog abandoned, assumingly, somewhere on the streets of a southeast Asian country. Last Moments Of Love For An Abandoned Dog.

Oh, it was hard to watch. In the video, there's a part where the caption says, "He was in a lot of discomfort. But he did not want to be put to sleep. He wanted to go by himself, naturally." and also later in the video appears another caption that goes, "That was all he wanted... Companionship, and to be loved." Although there is no way to know what exactly the dog had thought at that time, the caption seemed almost too familiar.

In fact, sometimes that's really all you need. Someone by your side, making you feel safe and loved.

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Caterpillar

9:43 a.m. Have been feeling an urge to run to a dog shelter and adopt a dog after watching "Ol Boy" yesterday, which of course, annot actually do so because am already coping with two monsters at home.

2:50 p.m. Have worked diligently on my Python program and shredding old direct mails, dreaming of the day when I live in a better circumstance with a dog, without the two monsters.

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Caterpillar

2:59 p.m. Cow has somehow been watching the late Steven Jobbs' speech he made at the graduationg ceremony of Stanford University (not to mention, with Japanese captions). At first, I was only eaves dropping, having some work to do on my own, but was listening to it with full attention before I even knew it.

The whole speech was remarkable. Have heard many people say he's got charisma, though I personally felt that wasn't just the case. It seemed to me, that this guy was pure and honest to his heart. Perhaps his behavior might have seemed eccentric to some people, but then, we all have some parts like that within us, don't we?

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Caterpillar

3:37 p.m. Been struggling to come up with a briliant new idea, racking my brains, though Cow has been uncooperative. Have watched various videos hoping that they'd somehow spark an idea but in vain. Helpless.

I need some inspiration. Something to open my drawers of memory and pull out the seeds of creativity. Wonder what Steve Jobbs would have done.

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Caterpillar

2:23 p.m. The London Paralymoic games is going to start from early tomorrow morning, Japan time. Am delighted to be able to witness history again. Will Shingo Kunieda (tennis) win another gold medal? How about Wakako Tsuchida in the wheelchair marathon? Oh, am getting excited.

As a matter of fact, I haven't fully recovered from my keeping late hours since the Olympic games. Since I can't quite get into a healthy lifestyle, might as well keep up my late hours for a little longer and cheer on the atheletes. Though Cow definitely won't approve my being late for work. Hope the best for all the athletes.

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Caterpillar

3:54 p.m. I think it was the day before yesterday when Nihon Kawa-uso, the Japanese river otter, has been declared extinct by the Ministry of Environment.

I learned in the news that the animals last sighting was of 1971, and a little googling revealed that it was from the time when a research team of Kochi Women's University have captured a female Japanese river otter alive.

Have been wondering what happened to the captured otter since I'd discovered that information.

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Caterpillar

3:27 p.m. Last day of August. Summer is ending according to the calendar, though temperature is still 34 degrees (Celsius). No sign of autumn except for the chirping of the insects after dark. I thought they had thermostats in their systems. Don't they realize it's still too hot?

Really. How long will it be before the invigorating breeze of autmn blows in? But then, I fear, it's going to get cold quite quickly after that. Well, it's been like that these past few years. So there's going to be not autumn, just winter ahead.

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Caterpillar