Japanese race horse Deep Impact is finally going to appear on the Longchamp turf, to take on the world's top horses in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

I have been preparing some informations about the horse to update on this 'Murmur', but unexpectedly the telephone lines went dead somehow, and I wasn't able to put them on the internet.

What a perfect timing ... . I've spent hours choosing the right English words to express how spectacular and outstanding the horse actually is, though now it's gone to waste.

Deep Impact would be running in just a couple of hours, so I'll just say one thing. Those who can shouldrun to Longchamp and bet on him.It's now or never. If he can't win, I guess no other Japanese horse would be able to.

Caterpillar

Deep Impact turned out to finish 3rd in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

The result was not what I had expected nor hoped for, but that's horse race. You'll never know what it's gonna be, until the race is run. I personally think that the gap of the weight the horses carried, did give the winning horse Rail Link an advantage as well as the slow pace, though I also think that these factors should not be an excuse for the toughest horse in Japan at present, to allow 2 horses to finish before him.

Well, sometimes many small happenings piled up, can lead to a certainty called result ... just like the phone lines of my house that went dead so abruptly.

Caterpillar

Actually, I did have a hunch that something must be wrong with either the phone or the modem, from about two weeks ago. There was a buzzing sort of noise while I was talking on the phone, though I didn't know what was causing it.

At first I thought it could be the modem, since the indicator lamps showed that nothing was working except the power supply. But it wasn't.

Well, to cut a long story short, it was the lines that were causing all the trouble and the lines I'm talking about here, were not exactly the phone lines but the wire of the gas leak detector ... .

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

I wasn't at home on Sunday, when a person from the NTT ( Japanese phone company ) came to check the lines, but according to my family member who was there, here's what he must have explained.

The gas leak detectors attached by the Tokyo Gas ( a gas company of Tokyo ), are usually connected to the phone lines making use of the NTT lines that are already there, in order to report the gas leak to their security center if it ever does detect gas leaks.

The signals are carried through the wire via detector lines circuitously, whenever the phone line is used and the reason for our phone line being dead, was because somewhere of our detector line was somehow damaged.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Well, our detector line is connected to the transponder outside the house, and from there the line run outside the house to the leading wire, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's damaged or if it came down during this typhoon season.

But the person from NTT had also explained to my family, that the attachment of these detectors often tend to be a bodge job and can easily cause trouble. He has experienced many cases such as our's until now, and there seemed to be some sort of agreement between NTT and Tokyo Gas, to charge Tokyo Gas for costs caused by these detectors, which made him tell the member of my family, that we didn't have to pay for the repair.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

When I came home, I was glad and relieved to find that the phone line was brought back to life again, though the member of my family seemed to be more happier about not having to pay the repair fee ... .

Well, none of this would ever have happened, if you guys hadn't got that stupid detector attached last winter, you know. There was no need to attach them in the first place, since you guys won't even notice if the gas leak detectors went on beeping for hours.

I guess it's about time I wrote about these troublesome people ... .

The End

Caterpillar

As I have said yesterday, I decided to write about the troublesome members of my family. But first of all, I might need to explain a little about them.

I think I've wrote before that I'm unwillingly staying at my parent's house for the present, because of unavoidable circumstances. And the residents of this house are : me, the Caterpillar, my parents, my demented grandmother who is actually a step-grandmother, one cat discarded by my older sister, and one disembodied spirit of our deceased pet dog.

The profiles on each member of the Caterpillar family are as follows.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Tono ( literally, my liege ) : Caterpillar's father who was born as the top of three sisters and a brother. Completely spoiled during his childhood days, grew up to be self-centered. Hates anybody that gives HIM a bad impression, without respecting the person's personality at all. Has been ignoring me for about three years since I came here, perhaps because I said bad things about him. Dislikes his stepmother and ignores her also. Takes the pride in insisting on having his own way in most everything, never thinking of the consequences or of course other people's feelings, except his wife. Faint-hearted, completely under his wife's thumb, never dare to act against his wife. A biased health OTAKU, who's so concerned about his cholesterol levels and high blood pressure, though his conflicted behavior of taking too much salt, could be actually driving a nail into his coffin.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

JoOusama ( literally, the queen ) : Caterpillar's mother who is an alpha member of the residents of this house. Born as the top of two sisters and a brother, she always plays the percentages. Feels no guilt to move people like a chessman, in order to get whatever she wants. Best at acting innocent, she refuses to take resposibility for her behavior, always dodging responsibility by shifting the blame to someone else who can't say no. She is an expert at escaping my pursuit sidetracking the discussion by changing the subject, whenever I try to bring her to book. Enormously proud, fierce, untidy, hates to lose, often violent in treating things, always critical about people except herself.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Obaba ( literally, old lady ) : Caterpillar's demented step-grandmother. Second wife of Caterpillar's deceased grandfather, her age not that apart from Tono ( Caterpillar's father ). Suffers from senile dementia which was an after effect of the brain hemorrhage she has experienced, about 3 years ago. The symptoms are getting worse gradually, though I think that it's more of her personality, that's making her behave so selfishly whenever she gets frustrated, rather than the symptoms. She tends to play the peacock against other people outside the family, to make her look like an important person in the family. Assertive, stubborn, presumptuous, she's an elderly lech who loves dirty talk.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Hime ( literally, the princess ) : Caterpillar's older sister. Married, have two daughters and a baby coming. She is the shadow mistress of this family, though she lives apart from us and is no longer a resident of this house. She manipulates her old parents to take care of her kids, on the strength of their two grandchildren. Drops by this house at least once every weekend, to make JoOusama ( Caterpillar's mother ) feed her kids and herself while she sits back in the sofa, relaxing doing nothing except reading the papers. Insists on keeping her job, since she doesn't want to take care of her kids, nor do any housework. A mother-like daughter who's got her husband under her thumb completely.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Mikeco ( literally, tortie cat ) : A pet cat who was discarded by Caterpillar's older sister. She was a stray until she was unfortunately spotted by Hime ( Caterpillar's sister ), and brought to this house when she was still a baby, only to satisfy Hime's faddish interest. It's been years since Hime has left her in this house to get married, and although she says that it was because she couldn't keep pets in her new apartment, she must have known that from the start, and Mikeco was actually discarded. Weighing more than 14 pounds, Mikeco looks more like a raccoon than a cat. She is proud as well as the other members of the family and also unfriendly, that she spends most of her time alone, either staring out the window or curled up sleeping, behind the curtains by the window which often tends to be her favorite spot.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Ryuchin : Disembodied spirit of our pet dog we used to have, Ryuchin. It's been more than ten years now, since he lost his life in his battle with cancer during his declining years. Though his spirit still stays in this house, perhaps because he has some regrets left in this world. He comes from a highly respectable Shiba ( type of dogs ) family with a pedigree, and a proper name which is too long to remeber. He originally had an earnest and faithful character, but he grew up to be a chicken rather twisted, because of Tono's ( Caterpillar's father's ) improper ... training, or should I call it a torture ... .

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Me ( Caterpillar ) : A complete dissident in this family. Have been living on my own for more than 8 years until four years ago, when I lost my job and had to make an unwilling decision to come back to this house. Also a proud person like the other members of my family ( well you can't fight against your DNAs ), asking my parents' permission for my coming home, was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I'm a square, clutchy, undersized wimp, though I have a strong sense of justice. Suffer trauma from childhood experience, having a habit of apologizing automatically whenever I'm yelled at, even if I had nothing to do with the cause of the trouble. I'm a helpless miserable Caterpillar, lacking self-confidence.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

I know it's becoming like a name-calling contest here, but believe me or not folks, I've thought about putting this on the internet, a good deal.

It's quite disgraceful to write bad about your own family, and I know I shouldn't be an 'ill bird that fouls its own nest'. But one of my few friends have told me before, that my family was 'interesting', so I thought some of you may have the same opinion.

I also felt that my stories about these people, could be somehow encouraging to people in a similar position as I'm in, who are having trouble with family relationships. At the same time, I thought that it could be a chance to tell the world, that such a bondless family like mine do exist, and that the number of these would-be families in Japan are now probably growing.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

"Well, it might not be such a bad idea after all, worm."

Look who's here. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you Mikeco, the cat.

"Hi everybody, and hi to you worm. 're you feelin' OK? I heard you've caught a cold."

Hi, Mikeco. Since when did you become so concerned about me? Besides, I'm a Caterpillar not a WORM. Didn't I tell you that before?

"Hey, don't take it out on me, just because you're not feeling well, w.. sorry, Caterpillar."

I'm not taking it out on you Mikeco. I'm just feeling so uncomfortable because my ears are popped.

"But you're getting better, 'ren't you?"

Yah, hopefully.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

But I sure would have been feeling much better, if it hadn't been for those troublesome peoople ... .

"Are you talking about Tono?"

Er ... not just him, though he's been involved a lot. Well, I don't think they've planned it together or anything, but to be precise, my not feeling well is because all three of them, Tono, JoOusama and Obaba.

"What happened?"

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

First of all, I've got to tell you about Obaba's brutal selfishness.

"..... ( Uh-oh, first of all, means this worm has a long story to tell ... ) ."

You know that Obaba had hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage 3 years ago, and she's having senile dementia and a palsy in her right hand, as the after effects of the disease, right?

"Yes, of course I know that."

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Well, since then she has been growing more and more disobedient, requesting mostly only me, a number of various things. Every once in a while, she makes a fuss about having a thorough medical check because she feels a constriction in the head, or because her knee hurts, and so on. It's not anything serious. I think she just wants to gain my attraction.

"Miao, I think so too."

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

But it seems that she's changed her gambit these days. Making me get her different small things every day, now seems to be her recent trend.

"What is it that she wants you to get? She sure does seem to have enough of what she needs to me."

It's usually small things that Obaba makes me buy, things like Band-Aids or bug repellent or over-the-counter drugs.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

But as they say 'Many sands will sink a ship', I was totally worn out and exhausted when she made me get her these small things, for seven consecutive days.

It started with a box of Band-Aids, which she insited that she needed in case she got her finger cut, though I thought she would never get her finger cut, since she would rather have me use cutting tools like knives or scissors instead of herself, whenever she had the need to do so.

If someone should ever get a finger cut, I believe it would be mine, not Obaba's.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

The second day, Obaba told me to get her some pocket tissues.

Pocket tissues are small packages of tissue papers, small enough you can keep it in your pocket and carry them around. I think you can purchase them in supermarkets or drugstores, but it's usual to get them free on street corners in Japan.

I had to go out that day, so I dropped by the 100-yen shop to buy a box of Band-Aids after I got over with my business, then I walked round and round the intersection near a JR station, to pick up 6 packages of pocket tissues.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

The third day, Obaba told me to get her some plastic bags.

The plastic bags she talked about, was one of those you can get at the packing counters of every supermarket in Japan, the transparent ones that are set in rolls for customers to take as much for free.

She said she needed them to keep her rubbish in them.

Well, I don't see the reason why she needs them, when most of the rubbish are thrown about there on the Tatami of her room, which I usually remove when I vacuum and clean the room every Friday, while she's gone to the day-care.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

But Obaba insisted that she NEEDED those plastic bags.

So I dropped by the closest supermarket from my house, after I've picked up HER prescription at the doctors' and medicine at the pharmacy.

I payed exactly 154 yen for a cup of yogurt, which I wouldn't have bought if I didn't have to get those plastic bags, and I pulled out as much bags I can at the packing counter, making sure that either the staff nor the customers were looking at me.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me ... NOT. On the fourth day, Obaba told me to get her ... what was it? Ah, yes. She told me to get her a box of matches.

A box of matches ... . I used to see book matches at every counter of a coffee shop in Japan. They always used to throw in a small box of matches or two at cigarette shops, whenever you bought cigarettes in cartons, but nowadays those boxes of matches are all replaced by 100-yen lighters. You can't find a box of matches so easily these days. Where and how am I supposed to get them, huh?

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

I asked Obaba if the box of matches that she had requested, can be replaced by a lighter.

Obaba replied that it HAD to be the matches, not a lighter.

She said that she NEEDED the matches to light the incense at the Buddhist altar, and that she also NEEDED them to light Katori-Senkou ( mosquito coils ). She has used only matches to light these two articles all her life, and she said that she wouldn't be able to use lighters instead because she wouldn't know how to use them.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

Since Obaba had ran out of matches, I suggested that now would be the best time to learn how to use lighters, but she did not give up.

Besides, Obaba wasn't a good believer at all, so I knew that there won't be many occasions that she would light the incense at the altar after all.

As for the mosquito coils, I had bought her one of those electric type bug repellent early this summer, for fear that she would burn down the whole house someday if I let her keep using the mosquito coils, since she couldn't set the coils properly, so there musn't be opportunities to light mosquito coils either.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

The electric bug repellent worked, when you plugged them in a socket with a repellent soaked paper mat set in the center, and there was no chance to burn the house since it didn't get that hot.

Obaba insisted again that she definitely NEEDED a box of matches, just as she did with the former Band-Aids, pocket tissues and the plastic bags.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

So the next day I dropped by a 100-yen shop again, to buy a large box of matches that contained at least a hundred matches. As I was paying for the matches at the register, I wondered wich would run out first, the matches or Obaba's life.

I came home and handed Obaba the matches, hoping that she would still remember where she had put them away, tomorrow evening.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

The next night, I saw smoke rising from the incense at the Buddhist altar, but I haven't seen them lit again since then ... .

On the fifth day, Obaba told me to get her a new portable radio, since the old one wasn't working and she couldn't hear a sound.

I knew there were at least two more portable radios that worked in her room, but the old lady didn't seem to like the other two and would not use them. I just changed the batteries of her favorite radio, set the volume as loud as I could ( you see, she's hard of hearing ) and left it in the room with the old lady.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar

On the sixth day, Obaba told me to get her a pad of letter paper.

I was getting sick and tired of complying with her requests, especially after I've met my aunt ( she calls on her mother once every month ) that morning, and had a talk about Obaba making me buy things every day.

That morning, my aunt had told me that Obaba just wants to make me do things as she says, and whatever she wanted me to do, was probably thought afterwards in order to make me DO what she wanted.

To be Continued ...

Caterpillar