I got scorched by Cow. The reason probably was because I spent too much time blabbering with my client allowing her to stay until 1:30, when the meeting should have ended by 12:30. It was before lunch and I had another client coming by 2:00, so I thought it natural for him to get mad at me.

But Cow's anger tends to last long. After more than 3 hours of bearing his anger by being ignored, my feeling of guiltiness has been blown away, and anger came up instead. Eventually, we got into a fight and I got beaten by his defensive logic as usual. I was frustrated and decided to write down objectively what had happened to think it over. Later, I studied the paper but the more I go over it, the more it seemed that Cow got angry not because I did something wrong, but because he was simply in a bad mood. So he was hungry, huh? Sorry Cow, I didn't notice that.

The End

Caterpillar

I remeber hearing somewhere before, that "getting angry" and "scolding" are close but two completely different actions.

While "scolding" stands as an action to "indicate the mistakes someone has made and lead that person in the right direction by lighting the way and admonishing him/her, "getting angry" is said to be an action, simply "exploding one's emotions one-sidedly". Hmmn. That's convincing. So when somebody is doing something wrong, what needs to be done is the "scolding", not "getting angry". If the " scolding" is done properly, that person could change his/her attitude. Though "how" and "when" it's done should be more of importance, I guess.

The End

Caterpillar

Up until now, four grade one races has already been run since this season had begun, including Feburary Stakes, Prince Nobuhito Memorial(Takamatsunomiya Kinen), Japanese 1000 Guinea Stakes(Oukashou), Japanese 2000 Guineas Stakes(Satsukishou). And although I had won big winning tickets for the lower grade races in January, the grade one races has been a total loss... . It's about time I won.

There should be plenty? of time to call the race during the holidays, so in order to freshen up my flaccid mentality, I will call the coming Emperor's Cup(Tennoushou) and publicize it on the message board. Feel free to refer to it as information for your betting. Note that I am not responsible for the loss caused by it, for I'm not a professional.

The End

Caterpillar

As I had announced here yesterday, I've submitted my call for the Tennoushou (the Emperor's Cup) on the message board of this site. Feels like I've finished a hard task, though the race hasn't even been run yet.

In fact, I have built up my own theory on how to pick out the most possible winning horse in my long years of experience, though I decided to leave them out and keep my comments as simple as can be, to prevent you viewers getting bored with my dwelling on the merits and all... . I wonder how it'd turn out to be.

The End

Caterpillar

So the results of Tennoushou (the Emperor's Cup) was :

Winner 14 Admire Jupiter
2nd 8 Meishou Samson
3rd 13 Asakusa Kings

eventually, I goofed again. Pop Rock, whom I called to come within 3rd place, not only didn't react at all against the "GO" sign that the jockey gave him, but was left behind when the race moved at the 3rd corner. I think he's finished 12th place. I hope he's not hurt or anything.

The End

Caterpillar

The Golden Week holidays would be over by today. Seems like it passed away in a blink of an eye. One of my acquaintance went on a trip overseas, using the holidays from April 26th, Saturday. Wow, they're lucky to have such an opportunity.

As for me, I didn't have that much time nor money... . Well, I could have made some time but the money, I think, was much of the problem. Oh, I don't mean to talk only of money, though. Anyway, work starts again from tomorrow. And I'd like to look forward to meeting some weird but funny people. I think it could help those who might be feeling gloomy about it, if you look at it that way.

The End

Caterpillar

I might have written before, but by chance, I have been teaching English to a kid.

I asked him, "what color is this?" when I was teaching him the names of colors. He answered, "Kiiro," in Japanese. So I pressed him saying, "in English?" The kid has been learning English from a British teacher for some time, and he wouldn't have trouble answering such question. He thought for a moment and said, "Yellow." There, you go. "Could you read the letters one by one, please?" I asked, showing him a card that said "yellow". The kid announced triumphantly, "KI-I-RO", yellow in Japanese... . Hey, are you tryin' to mess with me, kid?

The End

Caterpillar

I was teaching English to a kid showing him color name cards, asking him to read the alphabets one by one, when he answered "KI�EI�ERO" in Japanese as if to provoke me... . I pulled myself together and decided to try a different color. This time it was gonna be a little harder for him, "purple".

"What color is this," asked I forcing myself to put on a smile. And the kid, after thinking for a while answered, "you got me." Wha-da-ya-mean "you got me" you little brat! Oops, sorry.

The End

Caterpillar

On May 6th, Tuesday, team leader Aguri Suzuki announced the withdrawal of Super Aguri F1. Suffering from continuous financial difficulties, the team was rumored to sign on with German auto components supplier Weigl however, they have eventually failed to reach a consensus driving Super Aguri F1 off the circuit, without allowing them to race in the upcoming Turkey GP this weekend.

Personally, I wish it didn't have to end this way. But they've shown us so many great things. Challenges full of fighting spirit, courage to keep fighting faithfully, hope and excitement for tomorrow that's yet to come.. . Thanks to the team, it's been a pleasure to share them. I'll also be wishing the best for the drivers Takuma and Anthony, so that they'll get a new offer.

The End

Caterpillar

I uploaded my call for the Tennoushou (the Emperor's Cup) on the message board last week, but I've unfortunately taken it down by mistake. Sorry. m(_ _)m Though I have a hunch no one is being troubled. I'll give you my apology, just in case.

Well, for those who can't sleep bothered by that curiosity wanting to know which horse I've bet on, you can always drop me a line. I'll tip you off with bogus advisory.

The End

Caterpillar

It's been over a year since I started practicing guitar seriously and I've been trying some exercises. Today I'd like to introduce a left hand training method, which had been effective.

First, spread your left hand fingers naturally and put it on a desk or table. It is important to relax and ease the tension of your hand and fingers at this point. Then, with all the other fingers on the table, move just the index finger to tap a four beat. You can shift the rhythm into a quicker tempo, into eight beat, or sixteen beat as you get used to the training. Go over this procedure for each finger from index finger to your pinky and repeat it. Keep doing this and it would reduce extra tension and make your left finger open more easily when you play. At least for me, it worked. It'd probably help make it easier to play F or Bb chords, too.

The End

Caterpillar

I've goofed again... . It's terrible. I was not actually good at calling races held at Tokyo course from before. But that can't be an excuse, I know.

The reason for my loss is ... maybe because the turf was more dry than I thought. Nn-no, from the fact that the horses that came in 1st and 2nd ran a longer distance in their former race, I guess it would be natural to think that NHK Mile Cup was run in a faster pace than I thought. I thought the pace would be moderate, so that must have been the reason for my loss, after all. I'll review the race and try again next time.

The End

Caterpillar

The news has been telling about the raise in gasoline prices almost every day. And each time I see or hear such news, I definitely think that isn't it about time the Japanese government adopted electric cars?

It would not only enable to achieve the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, but also brings us a big chance to greatly improve the environment of our country. If we ride electric cars, the air won't be polluted by exhaust gas and if more and more people come to ride electric cars, this ecological vehicle must become cheaper. Since the Lake Tohya summit conference is coming up, why don't we switch to electric cars all together? How's that, Japanese folks?

The End

Caterpillar

I was a little diappointed last week, when Super Aguri F1 made the withdrawal announcement. Due to their backdown, the Turkish GP held on Sunday was run with 20 cars, 2 cars less than the previous Spain GP. Now that they're gone, I feel a little sad after all.

By the way, the first driver of the team, Takuma Sato has denied the possibililties of retiring, showing interest in continuing his career as an F1 driver. Well, yes, I wish Takuma would hang on. Japanese drivers have to be able to fight for victory first. It won't be too late to launch an all-Japan team after that. As for the other driver Anthony Davidson, he too, have said that he would continue his career seeking for a new driver's seat.

The End

Caterpillar

Up on the roof of our next door apartment were two men, seemingly workmen. It seemed that they came to fix the roof. I was out on our balcony as usual to have a smoke, and I heard one of them talking, probably to himself.

The man (estimated age of 53):"Uh-oh, gimme a break, here." After a few minutes, "Did I do what I think I did?" After another couple of minutes, "Oh, man ... ." A-ha old man, you goofed too, huh? (just like I did a couple of days ago) By the way, I wonder what exactly was it that he actually "did"? Whatever it was, it was happening on the apartment's roof where I couldn't see from our balcony. That makes me even more curious ... .

The End

Caterpillar

Obaba she-dogged .. I think, about JoOusama's not fixing Obaba's supper.

It's JoOusama's flighty behavior again. Thinking back, I remebered that JoOusama has been complaining about Obaba, that she brings out food from the fridge and eats it, right before supper is ready. Well, I guess she must be hungry. Though to JoOusama, it seems that Obaba's such action speaks too loud as to say, "When's chow? Move your ass!" ... . If so, the solution is simple. JoOusama should start preparing the meal earlier. But unfortunately, she doesn't seem to want to do that. On the other hand, Obaba doesn't want to quit her eating habbits either... . To me, it looks like six of one and half a dozen of the other.

The End

Caterpillar

Two Manga comic books were thrown into our yard yesterday. Could it have been dumped? I have absolutely no idea who's done it and it's creepy.

There are times these days, when an enormous quantity of rubbish such as empty packages of foods and drinks, or cigarette butts are scattered around my house in the morning. Judging from the amount of them, there must have been at least several people who had their hands in it. Well, since there are many students and young people living around in my neighborhood, I won't be surprised if some of them turned out to be imprudent litterbugs. Though that doesn't give you an excuse for littering, no, not just littering, littering enormous amount of rubbish around someone elses house, you know. God, it's outrageous.

The End

Caterpillar

Cow has been persuading me about using Skype, the internet phone for some time. So I decided to get an account. What I liked most about it was that, unlike home phones or cell phones, most calls made using this Skype services are "toll-free" so to say.

All you need to pay are the provider fee (mine's one of those xx-yen per month type), and the cost for a headset (a small ear-hang type, a combination of mini microphone and an earphone) which you can buy less than 2,000 yen. Added to this, simultaneous conversations on this Skype phone is available up to 100 people at most, according the Skype web site. Woooow.

The End

Caterpillar

I think it was around the end of last week. I got on the subway on my way home from work. As I unconcsiously looked up at the ads hanging from the ceiling, my eyes stopped on a line of red bold type letters that read, "Def Leppard Japan Tour".

Whaat?! Def Lappard is the band who wrote the only tune I can play on my guitar. Not to mention, I've been their fan for over decades now, just like Bon Jovi. And the ad says they're doing a joint show with Whitesnake ... . How's that, huh? Yes, I admit that their previous album didn't sell very well, but I don't think that could be a reason good enough for a joint show, Mr.Udo.

The End

Caterpillar

Generally, the typhoon season in Japan is known as autumn. But in fact, they do start comming near Japan annually around this time of year. Today's morning, Tokyo was in for nasty weather due to a typhoon moving up the Pacific coast.

I remeber hearing somewhere before that, summer temperature in Japan would become extremely high in the year when we have more than 5 or 6 typhoons during this time of year from May to June, because the sea temperature are high enough to bring typhoons. The typhoon which made the low pressure bring heavy rain and high wind to Tokyo this morning, was already the 4th one this year. Looks like we're gonna have a hot summer again ... .

The End

Caterpillar

I happened to witness a heart warming scene. As I was going home after dropping by a 100 yen shop, a young girl who was walking right in front of me suddenly stopped. Wondering what was wrong with her, I peeked over her shoulder in the direction which she turned her face. There was an old lady on her rear by the side of the road, and she seemed unable to move. Then, the next moment.

4 or 5 pairs of arms were held out to the old lady in an instant. Wow. In no time, the old lady was up on her feet, and after she had said many thanks to them, the young owners of those arms disappeared into the night shopping mall. There might have been someone with wiked idea among them, but I'd like to believe that this action was done from pure kindness. Maybe Japanese young people are not so bad after all.

The End

Caterpillar

It was Tuesday, when we had heavy rain influenced by the typhoon. As I was walking to the station, I saw a boy (perhaps around third grade in elementary school) in a karate uniform walking in front of me. He was holding an umbrella in his hand, and somehow he was pressing straight away, the open buttons of the entrance automatic doors of every store he passed by, with the tip of his umbrella.

Heeey! As he pressed open the cleaner's door with his umbrella tip, and the staff inside looked up at us passing by, words fell out of my mouth "wha-da-ya think you're doing, kid?!" before I knew it did. The boy must have heard me. He stopped poking the open buttons. Parents, please, do teach some sense into your children.

The End

Caterpillar

Obaba has been going to the daycare twice a week. And she takes a bath on the night before she goes. So I usually let her know when I've finished my turn. However.

Yesterday, I was really tired and I dropped off to sleep. Obaba seemed to have got mad about my not letting her know that it was her turn, came up the stairs to my room to make a fuss about it. I get complained by Obaba that her bath time got late, and I get scolded by Cow at work for sleeping over and coming in late. Aw ... .

The End

Caterpillar

On yesterday's evening paper, there was this large ad on one side of the facing pages, of Def Leppard and Whitesnake.

As I looked at the ticket price printed on the ad, that said "the miracle collaboration of the greatest 2 British rock bands", my eyes were nailed to the price of 13,000 yen for an S-seat. Oooh. I knew it was gonna be like this, but that's even a higher price than the Bon Jovi concert ... . Well, Mr.Udo. I'll shut my eyes tight and stop my ears while Whitesnake is playing. I promise. So can't you make it a 6,500?

The End

Caterpillar

Tono was spinning the washing machine on dehydration mode. You see, Japanese washing machines usually have such modes since many of us dry our laundry on the pole, rather than in the dryer.

I think he has spun it a good 2 to 3 minutes. Tono opened the lid and pulled out of the machine, Ta-laa! A hat! Ladies and Gentlemen, it was a ... HAT! It's the one he usually puts on when he goes for his everyday walking in the morning. And it was just the hat that he pulled out... .

Well, well. So he spun the washing machine which has a capacity of 50 liters, only to dehydrate a washed hat. Oh, please. Can't he ever learn to stop doing such a thing? After all, that's what you call wasting energy, isn't it?

The End

Caterpillar

I found a worm like figure on the kichen counter yesterday and couldn't help letting out a cry, "What the ..". JoOusama who happened to be near, peered over my shoulder and said, "Oh, it's just the dust that fell off from the fan."

Hey. I kept that fan clean and shiny as new before you retired and beagan staying at home. You're the one who used much oil in cooking though you didn't clean the fan at all. That's why the former fan broke and we had to replace it with a new one, which you, JoOusama is messing it again making layers of oil and dust. You're the one who's made our kitchen fan so dirty, did you know that?

The End

Caterpillar

JoOusama's attitude was pretty annoying, so I told her that if she kept using the fan with layers of oil and dust on, it would not only cost her much but could also break down or more worse, even lead to fire. Then, here's what she said.

Her highness said that she would clean the fan, if someone could remove it from the wall ... . What's that? I know you have absolutely no intention to clean it. Why can't you be not afraid to say that you don't want to clean the fan yourself, now that it's got so messy? Is it only me who think it would sound much better if she said so?

The End

Caterpillar

Time flies and June is only a few more days ahead. As may be expected, it's past warm and already becoming hot. And the Koromogae (clothes changing) season is getting close.

In such conditions, what troubles me are the heat countermeasure for my laptop computer which unexpectedly fell into my hands early this spring, and the time for my guitar practice. As for the computer, I could take care not to use it continuously for a long span of time on Sundays. But the guitar practice is a problem. On weekdays, the earliest time I could start my practice is after 10:00 p.m., though it would bother my neighbors if I play this late. Of course, I do have my headphones connected to the amplifier however, the picking plucking sound of the strings tend to be pretty loud. That means to avoid this situation, I have to practice with my windows closed in this heat ... .

The End

Caterpillar

I came across an accident as I was riding on a train. A moth wandered into the crowded rush hour car of the train that I was riding.

He should have stayed resting quiet, though perhaps the moth himself was pretty much in a panic, he fluttered about and drove the passengers in a panic, too. If the moth gets tired and stops on somebody's head or something, the person who became his target would sway back and forth to avoid it. Then, the repercussions reached me pushing like a domino effect, even though I was standing quite apart from the trouble. However, it might have been true that the tension of this murderously crowded train, seemed to be eased by the attack of this little moth.

The End

Caterpillar

They said in the TV news yesterday, that Tsuyu, the rainy season has started in Okinawa, followed by Kyushu area. It may be because of the beginning of the rainy season getting closer, that we are having more rainy days in Tokyo recently.

It rained quite a lot, too yesterday. I usually go to work whith my rubber boots on, when it rains heavily, because I don't like to get my feet soaking wet, though I know it certainly doesn't look good, nor up-to-date. You see, in Japan, lately there's been a trend of brightly-patterned fancy rubber boots, sorry, rain boots with pretty prints on (such boots weren't sold in this country a while ago). It sure would ease my mind if my plain black rubber boots would somehow look like simply-designed rain boots, hopefully.

The End

Caterpillar

I think it was somewhere around this time of season last year, when the brightly-patterned fancy rain boots began to catch on in Japan. I was chagrined at the time, to find that they were becoming so popular, since I had the idea of fancy rain boots with pretty prints that girls might like becoming a hot item, much earlier than it was sold.

Until then, the rain boots that were sold in Japan were only in simple colors mostly either black or white, and needless to say, the designs were all the same and frumpy. I thought that that's why most people especially girls didn't like to wear them, and so I came up with the idea of fancy rain boots. Though I was one step behind because I lacked just a little bit of ability to take action ... . Too bad.

The End

Caterpillar