1:52 p.m. Wondering how much longer I could tolerate the tyranny of the people around me, especially in a circumstance where they only count me in as a family member, only when they have something to gain by doing so.

Japan Cup Dirt is just a day away but I don't have a clue to which horses I should buy. I'm doomed.

The End

Caterpillar

Oh god. I knew that Transcend was not in his original form, but Espoir City, you too? Well, you can't ask much of a seven-year-old, I guess.

The End

Caterpillar

3:29 p.m. Cannot win a race after Shuka-sho, am not wanted in the family, and Song-Yeon dies in Lee San.

Did not realize that doomed situation could go on for a long time. Perhaps a long, long time. Have tried my usual remedy, struggling, though nothing seems to be working.

The End

Caterpillar

3:14 p.m. As a result of my stubborn attempt to cover all the cracks and gaps, my rain boots have come through yesterday without a leak.

Well, it doesn't look very nice, as a matter of fact, after all the mending tape patchwork, though keeping my feet dry comes before looks if you ask me.

And am also happy to see my effort rewarded. Such small things often tend to be the first feeble ray of hope for me.

The End

Caterpillar

2:21 p.m. Already December 5th. The date doesn't mean anything particular to me, but I'd better start thinking about sending New Year greeting cards.

2013 would be the year of the snake. Snakes, snakes, snakes... must come up with a design to print the cards. Should buy cards even before that.

The End

Caterpillar

4:06 p.m. An announcement was made that Orfevre is not going to run the Arima-kinen.

Too bad. Think it's not only me who'd wanted to see the horse in Arima-Kinen, though considering his career for this season, it's not hard to assume that he must be exhausted. Therefore, I support the decision.

But then, Gold Ship would undoubtedly become the most favored, which means the payout could be real small.

The End

Caterpillar

3:08 p.m. As I was gathering my things to go home yesterday, I realized that my gloves were gone. Where? Where did they go? I emptied my bag but couldn't find them. The shocking conclusion was that I must have dropped it on my way.

The problem with my Uniqlo down jacket is that its silky smooth, comfortable texture on the other hand, is slippery enough to let things fall out of its pockets. I wish it had zippers on the pockets, but then, they're not expensive.

I scanned the sidewalks on my way home but it eneded fruitless. I was starting to think of getting a new pair, after all I've used those gloves on and off for about ten years, when I spotted a dark ball on top of my roughly folded room clothes. Ahh. I'd decided to leave them home from fear of having them slip out of the pocket and losing them on the streets.

The End

Caterpillar

2:51 p.m. Since am so forgetful as to forget that have left behind my gloves by own decision, have forgotten that tomorrow was Hanshin Juvenile Fillies' day.

But they're fillies. Anything can happen in their first grade one race. Collector Item is the most favored as of this afternoon, though there is a risk that she might not perform well. As I've said, it's their first G1. Anything can happen.

The End

Caterpillar

9:41 p.m. It turned out to be a wild race with Collector Item lagging behind in 4th place. The result was a huge pay-off of 490,320 yen for trio and 3,047,070 yen for trifecta, which of course I didn't win.

An unexpected result, though after all, they're just fillies.

The End

Caterpillar

3:18 p.m. Coldest day this season. Brrrr. By the way, there's something wrong with my nose. Have been sniffling since I got up. Similar to the symptoms when I get my allergies, in fact, very alike in that sense. Is it because I didn't take my vitamins today? Or is the cedar pollen arriving early?

Have been troubled with a series of health problems, lately. Perhaps am getting old.

The End

Caterpillar

3:09 p.m. What cures a worn out body and heart? Nothing better than a heart-warming video like "let's care about each other no matter what Video by Liberty Mutual Group."

Sometimes you need to be reminded that it's not such a bad world after all.

The End

Caterpillar

2:35 p.m. I don't like elections. It's not just because I'm let down when met with a result that didn't reflect my vote. What I especially don't like about it are those campaign vans. They come around blasting slogans off their vans, when I'm trying to focus on collecting my thoughts to make a document. They come around when am having a meeting with my clients, forcing us to raise our voices in order to be heard.

God, they are so intrusive.

The End

Caterpillar

3:56 p.m. A friend of mine has sent me a photo of a smoking area in Hokkaido. It describes the situation involving smokers here in Japan, to which we are very much dismayed to the point of anger.

I think the anti-smoking movement has gone too far as to be considered as discrimination against smokers.

The End

Caterpillar

3:31 p.m. Have you seen the Geminids meteor shower last night? Well, yes, I did forget to inform you yesterday, but not to worry. The moon is still young and if the weather holds, they say you can still see some stray shooting stars until the 16th.

As for myself, I got lucky and caught a bright one last night, as I stepped out on the balcony to have a smoke. Good luck, everyone!

The End

Caterpillar

2:16 p.m. Unfortunately, the sky has been overcast by midnight and it's been raining on and off since morning. There goes our chance to see another shooting star. The forecast had predicted a high of 15 degrees celcius, however, the temperature now is merely over 5 degrees.

Here's something that might warm you up from the inside on such a cold day, but make sure to read the letter attached beneath the video before you watch. Why LEGO is the BEST Company in the World

As for Asahi-hai Futurity Stakes tomorrow, again, they're all two-year-olds. You never know what's gonna happen.

The End

Caterpillar

7:45 p.m. Have been to the family grave to clean up a bit before next week's memorial ceremony. I was going to come back before the Asahi-hai Futurity Stakes, but the race had already finished by the time I got home and turned on the TV. And look what happened.

Codino, who the media had been after all week as the most likely to earn an easy win, couldn't quite catch Logotype, seventh favored by the way, and finished in second place. Cow and I had been skeptical all along after seeing the Tokyo Sports-hai video and it seems that OUR opinion has been proved right.

The End

Caterpillar

3:16 p.m. Christmas is only a week away. The year-end is coming again, and I realize that I've got a mountain of things left to do, all with "pending" sign blinking. Wonder if I'll be able to finish them all before New Year.

Before the year-end, though, must think about Arima-kinen. It's only five days away.

The End

Caterpillar

2:23 p.m. Since time is limited, must prioritize my tasks. First, must check out the race results of Arima-kinen going back, say, ten years. Then, I'll check out Kikka-sho winners who'd run Arima-kinen, to judge if Gold Ship can perform well. And then...

Oh, god. Can't think about anything besides Arima-kinen.

The End

Caterpillar

2:21 p.m. Two days have already passed while I've been mumbling about things to do.

Though I haven't been just sitting around, waiting for some Christmas miracle to finish my tasks instead of taking care of them myself. Well, I did finish part of some of the tasks, to be honest. For example, I've half finished designing the New Year cards. The drawing has been finished and is now waiting to be taken into the computer for coloring and a couple of adjustments to be made, which is mostly Cow's job.

The End

Caterpillar

3:50 p.m. Oh, no. Cow has just shown me the barrier draw of Arima-kinen and it turns out that Gold Ship has drawn number 13, while his rivals Eishin Flash has drawn number 2, and Rulership, number nine.

There must be some scheme to this.

The End

Caterpillar

3:30 p.m. Haven't had much progress in beating the scheme, searching if there actually were any horses that came in within third place, starting from outer-numbered gates. I went back 20 years and, so far have found out that 14 horses fall on this condition (that's a probability of approximately 23.33 percent), including three horses that started from gate 13, Biwa Hayahide, Meisho Doto, and Daiwa Scarlet. The remarkable thing here, is that gate number 13 doesn't seem to be a factor that could become an obstacle in performing well, as long as the horse has respectable ability to win a grade one race.

That should be some good news for those who are thinking of settling Gold Ship as the key horse to your wheel, just as myself. Hope I can get back with more encouraging information on calling Arima-kinen, so as to make it a nice Christmas present for you viewers.

The End

Caterpillar

4:45 p.m. Was hoping I could come back with more encouraging information about Arima-kinen, however, my searching is in utter turmoil and am left in confusion myself, that am afraid I cannot suggest anything to my fellow viewers.

The only thing I can say tha might be useful to calling the race is that To The Glory will not come within third place this year. I don't recall any horses that performed well three years in a row. Not even that Air Shady.

I think Gold Ship would move on up the far outside from behind, so I'm guessing that either the horse that can show us its last turn of foot on the inside, or the horse that can run in the front at a constant pace would be the runner-up. But I just can't name any.

The End

Caterpillar

10:04 p.m. After a good deal of thinking, I finally figured that either Rulership or Eishin Flash would be the choice to put on my wheel with Gold Ship. The track seemed rough especially on the inside, which meant that the horses running there would need power. Rulership and Eishin Flash, I thought, would both be powerful enough to meet the condition, but I couldn't quite pick which. So I bought them both.

The only thing missing was Ocean Blue. My chance to recover from the loss of Arima-kinen is to win the next Arima-kinen, however, the next Arima-kinen is a year ahead.

I'm just going to watch Lee San, Koisuru Hae Onnna, today's race and sleep like a log.

The End

Caterpillar

11:23 p.m. Just checked e-mail to find that I'd received one from Apple, offering a free app that would bring me a present every day for 12 days from December 26th. And I've just realized that there was a time limit to download this 12 Days Presents App, the deadline being twelve midnight.

11:33 p.m. Apple Store made me set 3 questions and answers for security. What happened to the one I've set before?

11:43 p.m. Have finished entering 3 Q and As and pressed continue button. Apple Store says could not access my account with given ID / password, so try again later. Are they kidding?

12:09 a.m. Tried a couple of times but couldn't access. Thought I didn't make it in time, though I found 12 Days Presents App icon in my iTunes App. Cannot understand what happened. Christmas Miracle, maybe?

The End

Caterpillar

2:28 p.m. No presents, no parties as usual. Christmas is over and am getting back to work, fantasizing about winning the next Arima-kinen and more urgent, Kin-pai.

Cow has finally started to deal with the greeting cards. I'll probably be drowning in greeting cards today and tomorrow.

The End

Caterpillar

3:36 p.m. Finally printing greeting cards.

Am not completely satisfied with the design, though. I wish Cow would have taken the trouble to make gold and silver available so as I could have used them when I did the coloring. It must have made the cards much more elegant. Well, too late for that anyway.

The End

Caterpillar

4:09 p.m. Have completed yet another task from the top of my To-Do list; the year-end cleaning of the office. Had to muster some courage to throw away some items and am also left with a huge bag of things to bring home, but the office is more or less clean now.

My next priority task, however, is to distinguish unnecessary burnables in my room which could easily result in multiple garbage bags, to throw out by tomorrow morning, because it's going to be the last collection day this year. The bad news is, I've got to deal with it after I get home.

The End

Caterpillar

9:32 a.m. Not quite bright enough with the lights on. Realize that the bigger fluorescent tube is not working though I had changed it to a new one the day before yesterday, so I could throw away the old tubes in time for the last unburnable collection. Ahh, the glow starter. I'd needed another one. Must remember to buy one on my way home since am going out after I'd finished putting out as much burnables as can possibly throw into bags and carry downstairs before the garbage truck comes around.

6:15 p.m. Have met a friend and been treated to a delicious Chinese lunch, bought everything I need for the year-end and just got home, or so I thought. It wasn't until now that I remembered I'd forgotten to buy the glow starter.

The End

Caterpillar

4:30 p.m. It's been a family tradition to serve Oji smoked salmon on New Year's table for as long as I can remember but it's been missing lately, mainly because the department store where my father used to buy it stopped carrying the brand.

Have searched all over and finally came up with a department store that sold Oji smoked salmon, so I've been to get a fillet pack though I knew they won't be selling those unsliced types any more, the type we've always enjoyed. I was met with unexpected joy when the staff there told me that there was actually, one unsliced pack left in stock. I learned that they'd back-ordered it to the manufacturer, because some customers still wanted it unsliced and, that they'd ordered one more than they really needed, just in case. So I was unbelievably lucky.

7:51 p.m. Now that I think about it, I seriously hope that I didn't spend all my luck on a pack of smoked salmon.

The End

Caterpillar

6:24 p.m. No progress so far, in relation to purging my room. Was thinking of taking out unnecessary books to BookOff or doing something to get rid of an old futon that's been left in my room fo years. But I realized that it was raining today which meant I had to wear my rain boots that still leaks despite my dutiful mending job to go out, so have been thinking about stripping off all the mending tapes and coating the cracks with top coat.

This idea needs experimenting, though, before I actually try it on the boots, to see if it really is waterproof and, if top coat can still sustain flexibility even after they dry off, because the main reason, I assume, that the mending tape resulted in a total failure, is that it keeps coming off from the sides where the boots' toes are often bent.

6:37 p.m. Have cut an envelope in half (to make it smaller), painted top coat on both sides of it, now waiting for it to dry off. Am going to sink it into water and see if it leaks.

The End

Caterpillar

11:32 p.m. Am exhausted. Have spent all afternoon and most of the evening cleaning the kitchen fan. It's been left untouched for years since it was covered with a thick layer of dust and oil mixed together, forming tar-like material. No one dared to touch it until today. Today, I just couldn't let it pass. I mean, if I turned a blind eye today, I felt like I'd never clean it. So I cleaned the fan.

I couldn't scrape off the tar-like material completely, but the blade that was black is now white, and although there are some sticky clumps of oil left on the hood and the motor, I did the best I could and am satisfied. My room is not cleaned, let alone purged, in exchange for the fan cleaning, however, think that could wait a little longer.

The End

Caterpillar