2:40 p.m. Must drop by a home improvement retailer.

It's been over thirty years since my house has been rebuilt, and I've been noticing damage here and damage there. The screen doors at my windows weren't exceptions, and one of the sash roller had cracked and fallen out when I'd replaced the screen last year-end. Since then, I've been meaning to buy those parts so I could replace them, though I couldn't quite bring myself to it, with tons of other things to worry about. Well, until last Sunday.

Last Sunday, the spring storm had blown my screen door off the frame, throwing it up in the air for a second, then dropping it down in our garden. It was stuck in the ground by the force of the wind, until I got down and recovered it, not to mention, with the remaining one sash roller completely shattered. Better be thankful, though, that it didn't fall on the road or hit someone.

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Caterpillar

3:12 p.m. It turns out that the sash roller I'd been looking for did not exist in this world any more. No surprise there. I mean, it's from over thirty years ago. I didn't expect to find the same one.

Though the real problem struck me after that. According to the shop staff, it seems that screen door manufacturers are making unique sashi rollers each on their own accord. I was ready to settle for a similar substitute in case they didn't make the same rollers any more, but there wasn't one that was similar or even close to the one I was looking for.

I didn't know that sash/screen door manufacturers all made different types of rollers. And I didn't know some of them cost more than 5,000 yen a piece, because of their uniqueness. Oh, dear. It might be cheaper to get a new screen door.

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Caterpillar

5:24 p.m. Cow and I were talking about commuting passes and it occurred to us, what will become of the pass fare now after the raise of the consumption tax.

Up until now, I've been using a magnetic commuting pass. I didn't like the idea of having an IC chip on my commuting pass and, going through the trouble of managing a PASMO account. As PASMO is an IC prepaid card, you will have to manage its account by recharging the card with cash. Besides, I think I head a news about private information leaks from PASMO accounts recently, which I didn't like either.

The train ticket fares have been raised mostly by 10 yen due to the consumption tax raise, but if you use IC cards, the raise will be reflected only in 5 yen, give or take a few, per each ride. So have been wondering what will become of commuting passes, though apparently, Cow hasn't been able to find a plausible answer to this question.

Drop me a line Tetsuo (railway geek guys) or Tetsu-ko (railway geek girls), if you got information.

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Caterpillar

4:16 p.m. Have tried to find out about the commuting pass fares, but haven't been able to get a plausible result.

It seems though, that the main problem lies in the fact that vending machines are not designed to return small changes under 10 yen. PASMO can be charged with train fares in odd amounts such as 127 yen as it is a prepaid card, which means that real money does not change hands, whereas, tickets bought from vending machines cannot be charged in the same way because the machines are not designed to return changes under 10 yen. So many railway companies decided to raise fares by the tens for tickets bought from vending machines, while IC prepaid cards such as PASMO or SUICA are charged by single yen.

Hmmm. So considering that both PASMO commuting passes and magnetic ones can be purchased by vending machines, I'm now thinking that they both might be raised by the same rate. Though I'm only guessing. Better check with the Tokyo Metro staff.

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Caterpillar

4:56 p.m. A week flew past and tomorrow we're having big events.

In the Sankei Osaka-hai, Kizuna, Epiphaneia and Meisho Mambo, three big names that are sure to lead this season is going to race against each other. Kizuna and Meisho Mambo owners have already announced their schedule to challenge the Prix de l'Arc d' Triumph, while Epiphaneia is scheduled to go to Hong Kong after this race. Hmm... interesting.

Besides this race, there's the boxing title match, I think, for Naoya Inoue. He's become Japanese champion in light fly in the shortest career in Japanese boxing history, and now is going to challenge the world champion, after returning his OPBF Oriental and Pacific champion belt in February 2014.

So tomorrow is going to be quite eventful.

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Caterpillar

9:02 p.m. It turns out that the Sankei Osaka-hai was unexciting as could be. Meisho Mambo apparently was not in a good condition, as she's lost weight and, from the back shot I happened to glimpse before she was guided into the bariier, her stifles and buttocks were obviously thinner than before. She also seemed too excited perhaps because it was her first race in a while, that she couldn't focus on the race. As for Epiphaneia, I don't know what happened, but the horse wasn't his usual self, lagging behind at the start and staying behind until the last corner. I believe he's the kind of horse that performs best, when racing in the front leading the pace with his great speed. Eventually, it ended as an exhibition race for Kizuna.

As for the boxing title match, I've got it covered on my HDD recorder. Can't wait to watch it!

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Caterpillar

3:25 p.m. I enjoyed watching Yaegashi the WBC fly class world champion retain his belt with a KO. And just when the title match of Inoue was about to start, the recording came to an abrupt end.

What? Why? What in the world happened?

I realized too late that the recording had only been set until 11:15 p.m. while the actual broadcast lasted thirty more minutes. But the TV guide had said it was until 11:15! Oh, no. Maybe the TV guide my HDD recorder is referring to wasn't updated...

Well, since I'd missed the match, think I'll go and see if I could find some clips.

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Caterpillar

4:33 p.m. The weatherman said we could bring our winter clothes in to the dry cleaners' since the weather will get steadily warm.

But I want to say, "Are you sure? I mean, really, really sure about that? It still gets chilly after sundown. Are you positive I wouldn't be needing my down jacket any more?" Well, not that I'm going to bring it in to the dry cleaners', because I wash and dry it myself to avoid extra expenditure.

The reason I want to make sure is that I want these weather reporters to be at least a bit more responsible for what they're saying on mass media. You might be saying things without much concern, but it can affect a lot of people. For example, a poor caterpillar shivering in a thin T-shirt.

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Caterpillar

2:42 p.m. I was watching a news program on NHK last night. At the end of the program, there's usually a weather forecast which I check to see whether I need an umbrella the next day.

And despite what I'd asked them to do yesterday, the weatherman says, "Don't rush to bring in your winter jackets to the dry cleaners', not just yet, because it's still going to get a bit cold towards the end of the week."

SO WHAT EXACTLY SHOULD WE DO, BRING IN OUR DOWN JACKETS TO THE DRY CLEANERS' OR NOT?

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Caterpillar

2:27 p.m. I have to check out some things since someone I know has asked me to help with TOEIC preparations.

I've always been skeptical about those language skills tests. Of cousrse, I've taken tests myself, and have scored pretty good scores if I may say so myself, though I had very little confidence in my English skills at that time. Perhaps I've written about it here before, but I remember going to a trial lesson of a famous English school shortly after the test, where I was evaluated as "inarticulate."

What I want to say is that you can mark reasonable scores in proficiency tests, even if you don't have authentic language skills. Meaning, that you can mark reasonable scores if you learn the techniques to do so.

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Caterpillar

4:21 p.m. Just Away has been ranked as number one in the Longines official listing of the world's best racehorses, for 3 year-olds and upwards which raced between 1st January and 7th April 2014. THE LONGINES WORLD'S BEST RACEHORSE RANKINGS

Yes, the horse's performance of Dubai Duty Free Stakes at Meydan was impressive, as he won by 6 lengths against competitives from all over the world.

Still, I just can't shake off the image of him lagging behind in NHK Mile Cup. Especially, because I'd bought Just Away and the disqualified Mount Shasta together with Curren Black Hill, which not to mention, turned out to be a huge disappointment. Who'd thought Just Away would be ranked as the world's best horse back then?

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Caterpillar

2:38 p.m. Okay. So the first of the classic races this year, Ohka-sho is coming up tomorrow.

Hmm... It's hard to decide which to key, Harp Star or Red Reveur, but I'm taking Harp Star. Well, at least at this point. Mainly two reasons for that, a, because Red Reveur didn't run in any prep races which I think will not serve her favorably, and b, simply because Harp Star has a better chance of comng in the top 3.

I'll have to consider what other horses I should put on my wheel. Well, let's see what happens.

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Caterpillar

9:17 p.m. It wasn't such a bad aim. Harp Star swept all other 17 horses in the last home stretch and became the Ohka-sho champion, while Red Reveur fought really well and slipped into second place. There wasn't much gap between Red Reveur and Neuvo Recolt who came in third, though I think there might be a wider gap in potential.

As I've written here yesterday, I keyed Harp Star on my trio, and put Red Reveur on the wheel. Of course I won't cut her out, she'd already won a grade one last year. I've also put three more horses on my wheel, but the problem is, I didn't include Neuvo Recolt because she was too favored, thanks to the headlines of racing forms. Meantime, Cow seems to have won a trio. As it was his first time to win Ohka-sho, I suppose he wouldn't be making nasty remarks about Neuvo Recolt's rider, Iwata, ever again. Right, Cow?

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Caterpillar

3:29 p.m. There's this girl from the neighborhood of our office, who drops by and pays us a visit every day on her way home from school.

I don't mind that, really, because it gives her a chance to get to know people from the community as it also does for us. Though she always pops in through the door as if it was her home, without any greetings, without asking if she could come in. Of course, this is not usually the case with Japanese children. Most of them would not step in through the door even if I'd urged them to, because they can tell that it's not their home where there might be some business going on, and they sense that maybe they should stay out of this.

But this girl doesn't seem to behave that way, and I'm suspecting that she might be having some kind of developmental problem. I've tried today, to explain she should only come in when offered to using pictures, but she had a freind with her and was distracted, so I wonder how much my message got through to her.

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Caterpillar

3:59 p.m. It turns out that my message has registered in the girl's mind. She came back after playing in the park nearby, and remembered to stop at the door before entering inside. She has learned to follow my instructions of stopping at the door, saying a greeting, and entering after I'd said "come in."!

I was quite amazed at the effect. The trick is, I wrote some short, simple sentences indicating how she should behave, drawing some pictures to assist her understanding, and explained it to her showing them to her. As a matter of fact, I've been learning about using social stories to help build social skills for Asperger children, and although I wasn't sure whether she was an Aspie or not, I tried it on her in hope that this might work. And it did!

She's come back from school some thirty minutes ago today, and stopped by again. She seemed to have temporarily forgotten about our rule to stop at the door, but then she remembered and hurried back to the door by herself. Great!

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Caterpillar

2:49 p.m. Cow says that his back hurts. He's been applying mentholatum in the back room a short while ago.

Well, I'm afraid I can't help him in any way as it is his back that's hurting, not mine. The best I could do, I guess, is to be gentle on him and hope that he recovers from the pain soon.

But then, I've always been gentle. What more could he ask?

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Caterpillar

2:02 p.m. I've come across life hacks that might be useful when you are met with minor health problems. 28 Life Hacks and Advice

Thinking of suggesting the ninth life hack to Cow, as his back continues to ache although a litlle bit less than yesterday.

2:08 p.m. He has just dismissed my idea of applying yogurt on his back as ridiculous.

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Caterpillar

3:10 p.m. Yesterday 22 degrees, today 12 degrees. Hey!

Come to think of it, I think it was yesterday when I'd seen the news since it was warm and pleasant, that Daisuke Matsuzaka has been promoted to MLB from 3A. He's been through a lot over the years, the hard mounds, the injuries, and I was hoping that he'd make a come back. He's that great a pitcher. Just want to say congrats to him, and send him my respect for not givig up easily.

Meanwhile, Satsuki-sho coming up this Sunday is coming to look like a very difficult race to win. Unlike last week's Harpstar, you can't just pick out one horse to key on your trio, as many horses seem to have a chance at performing well. Hmmm... it's going to be a brainteaser.

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Caterpillar

3:06 p.m. Must remind Cow to call Mr. N-jima later, as we're going to Satsuki-sho.

Have narrowed down the horses to 4 at this point, Isla Bonita, Tosen Stardum, Asia Express and To The World. I might add a few to this, but basically I'm thinking Isla Bonita or Asia Express might have a better chance of winning. Let's see what happens.

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Caterpillar

9:22 p.m. It turns out that Mr. N-jima couldn't come because of work, so I watched the race at home. And again, I was close but not quite right.

As I announced here yesterday, I bought a trio keying Isla Bonita, who won the Satsuki-sho. But Asia Express has sunk in 6th place, Tosen Stardum in 11th place. As for To the World, I cut him and the newly added Winful Bloom out at the last minute, just to reduce the cost and they finish 2nd and 3rd. I've made a terrible mistake in evaluating the stress status of the top two finishers of Yayoi-sho. Judging from the results, To the World was less exhaustsed by Yayoi-sho, but I had thought otherwise. Thus, I bought One and Only, not To the World. Also, I'd raised my hopes too much for some horses. This too, proved to be a terrible mistake.

So this is how my fourth Satsuki-sho in a row goes. Bye-bye.

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Caterpillar

3:51 p.m. Cow and I have been talking about a typical lunch in western countries, and we came to the conclusion that we'd both prefer a Jpanese lunch, if we were to choose from the two.

Japanese tend to have a harsh eye of evaluation for food, and although I've enjoyed eating hot dogs, chilli beans, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese macaroni in the U.S. when I was there, I doubt if I could live only on them now. I have a hunch I'd miss things like cooked rice, miso soup, natto, sashimi, etc., etc.

I've alaways felt grateful for being able to eat good food here, for a pretty reasonble price. For exmple, you can buy yourself a nice Obento (box lunch) with cooked rice and at least three other sidedishes for 390 yen, sometimes even in 290 yen. If this isn't what you call a blessing, then what is?

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Caterpillar

4:29 p.m. Some of you might know that Just Away, a Japanese race horse has been ranked at the top of Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings at the beginning of this month. And now, after this great achievement, the horse's owner is encouraging fans to submit ideas on Just Away's next goal.

An article appeared on netkeiba.com today, that Akatsuki Yamatoya, the owner of the race horse Just Away, is asking for any suggestions on Just Away's next race. Since the horse has won Dubai Duty Free and ranked in the top place in the world ranking for race horses, a lot of people has been offering him suggestions on the next race. Though apparently, the owner seems to be undecided about which race would be suitable as the next goal for his horse, which has become one of the worls's greatest race horse.

For those who are interested in suggesting a specific race can apply from the link on netkeiba.com's page. There are two links from where you can apply on this article page, the upper link for PC users and the one below for appliers using smart phones. From the applicants, three winners selected by drawing would win a Tenno-sho photo booklet with a QUO card (prepaid card you can use in convenience stores, drug stores, etc), while three others will win a Nakayama Kinen Champion QUO card, also by drawing. To apply, use the former mentioned link to open a applying form, then type in the name of the race you suggest, and the prize of your preference.

In my humble opinion, I'd like Just Away to go for his second Tenno-sho in a row.

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Caterpillar

2:41 p.m. Oh, god. I was careless, too careless.

I finished writing yesterday's Murmur and thought I'd copy-pasted the article as usual, but a moment later, Cow pointed out that the files were both in English. To my dismay, I'd copy-pasted the English text onto the Japanese one and, dutifully pressed control S to save the data. Not tomention, I had to re-write the Japanese version all over again.

2:47 p.m. I've just realized that I was writing an English text onto the Japanese file again. Hey, chillax.

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Caterpillar

2:07 p.m. Mmmm... Fine weather. It's sunny, warm, beautiful, and Cow is busy searching how to take out sand from Shijimi, common fresh water clams.

Common fresh water clams are usually cooked and eaten in miso soup in Japan, and are known to be good for hangovers, as they contain a lot of alanine which helps alcohol decomposition, while ornithine detox your body of anmonia and vitamin B12 helps improve your liver condition.

It seems Cow has found some convincing how-tos on the Internet. He's just gone inside to the back room to start preparing.

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Caterpillar

3:16 p.m. Have been asked out to go to Karaoke by someone I'd met a couple of months ago.

I met her at a language exchange gathering. She spotted the Def Leppard T-shirt I was wearing, I learned that she liked to go to Karaoke, and we talked about getting together some time to go to Karaoke together. She's sent me an e-mail asking how my schedule was for the weekend, and we've decided to go tomorrow.

It's been a while since I'd been to Karaoke, and am excited! I've been in over my head for the past six months, struggling with problems popping up everywhere I go. As a matter of fact, there's been another incident with JoOusama, but think I'll just let it go for now and have fun tomorrow.

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Caterpillar

1:34 p.m. Although we don't generally celebrate the Easter holidays here in Japan, there is a holiday week beginning around the end of April till the first week of May. If you've come up with the word "Golden Week," congratulations! You've won yourself a praise (not prize) from me.

Yes, the so-called Golden Week has begun from today. However, some of us will have to work on and off as the holidays are apart like steppingstones, not to mention I'm one of those who have to.

Still, holidays are holidays. I'll try and make the best of them. For example, get rid of cassette tape piles to make more room, clean the room, do some washing, finish up leftover work, and also, go to Karaoke and have some fun!

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Caterpillar

1:32 p.m. Having a hangover in a while. Arrrgh. Feel terrible. But there's nothing I could do but to drink enough water, sleep, and let my body do its job of carrying acetaldehyde out of my system.

4:40 p.m. Somewhat feeling better. Watched the Miler's Cup and Flora Stakes on TV. World Ace has finally made a come back in the Miler's Cup after his injury in 2012. He used to race against Gold Ship and Deep Brillante, so it was a matter of time before he won another grade race, but it was nice seeing a good horse recover from its injuries to come back to the turf with a course record.

As for the Floral Stakes, a prep race for the Japanese Oaks, Sang Real, Buena Vista's sister, has earned herself a win and the ticket to the Oaks with an impressive performance. If there's a mare that can beat Harpstar, perhaps she's the one. Though I've got to check her out before making any decisions. Hmmm..., looks like my hangover has finally passed.

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Caterpillar

3:34 p.m. There was one glitch though, in yesterday's Tokyo, race 10. Jungle Hayate bearing Gotoh as its jockey, seems to have tripped over the heels of Lilas Corsage ridden by Iwata, went tumbling over head first, throughing out the jockey on the turf. As a result, Gotoh has broken a vertebra in his neck, and Iwata has got suspended from all races held on the following two weekends as penalty.

That means Iwata is not going to be able to ride Gold Ship nor Win Variation in the spring Tennou-sho coming up this weekend. Also, he won't be able to ride on Rosa Gigantea in NHK Mile Cup either.

Rumor says that Williams is riding Gold Ship. Perhaps that might turn out to be an imrpovement for the horse.

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Caterpillar

5:15 p.m. It's a holiday so I'm staying home, relaxing. I turned on the TV before checkiing out some things about Kizuna and Gold Ship and I happened to see an interesting Thai movie on Tokyo MX.

At first, I thought it was a comedy romance story, but then as the story unfolds itself into a serious question, what if someone you fell in love with turned out to be a katoey (Thai term refers to either a transgender woman or an effeminate gay male in Thailand)? Whoa, this is some heavy stuff here.

It seems that this film was on aired as a special program supporting Tokyo Rainbow Week, a week dedicated to supporting Japan's sexual minority community. Well, the film was inspiring not just in shedding a light to sexual minorities, but also in inspiring to think over how we choose to live our own lives.

The title of this film is "Me...Myself" directed by Pongpat Wachirabunjong, for those who might want to check it out.

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Caterpillar

2:38 p.m. The Thai film "Me...Myself" made me think about what hapiness is.

What brings you happiness differs between people, because we think differently, and feel differently. But the thing is, we all seek happiness in all sorts of different ways.

There was an article on Stanford News which I found via Karapaia that "Stanford research finds that pursuing concrete ‘giving’ goals rather than abstract ones leads to greater satisfaction." The article suggested that "giving" was an effective way to find happiness.

But is that really so, I wonder? Isn't that merely self-satisfaction I feel, when I've done something for someone? Ah, but then, you need the confirmation of their smile that they, too, are satisfied with what I've done.

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Caterpillar