Today I gathered up my courage and tried the candy that was still left in the Korean snack pack. Whitish and round, it looked like an ordinary candy. But there was the former case of the Kimchee chocolate. Additionally, the other chocolate left in the pack, had turned out to be a laver chocolate with Korean laver hidden inside the chocolate... Geronimo!

Hmn?? This is.. I think I've tasted this somewhere before..it makes me feel kind of nostalgic..A-ha!! It's the taste of Okoshi(sweet rice cracker)! It's good, it's good! But wait. What if something else comes out again...

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Caterpillar

Tmorrow is National Culture Day, a national holiday. Yipppeee!! L(^o^)/ Isn't it great to have another day-off after Sunday? Feels good, I'm gonna go for that Tennou-shou race!

I marched into the off-track ticket booth so eager and ready...though I've come back empty handed..it's almost unbelievable that I didn't bet on the most popular trio...orz. I think it's going to take a little while this time, to pull myself together again. I'm really glad to know that I still have tomorrow off.

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Caterpillar

I've been to the school festival held at a university nearby. Though of course, I didn't just go there for fun, you know. There was supposed to be a free vegetable give-away. So that's why I went through some walking for nearly an hour... As I finally reached the campus and was looking for the place of the give-away, I spotted an enourmously long queue. I think there were at least 2 or 300 people. Is it because of the depressed economy? Anyway, I waited for about 30 minutes and got a Daikon (a kind of Japanese radish). (^-^;) I was worried that they might run out by the time my turn comes, but I got it somehow. Good, good.

Well, as they say, "An early riser catches the worm." After all, it was worth getting up early.

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Caterpillar

Although I was lucky enough to get a free Daikon (Japanese radish), I couldn't eat it all by myself (it's 2 inches fat and nearly a foot long). So I searched if there weren't any ways to preserve it. And there was; freezing(!!)

I thought it would become too watery and crushed out of shape to eat it if I simply freezed Daikons, but it seems to be okay if you pickle it raw in flavoring broth, put it in a zip-loc together with the liquid and keep it in a freezer. When you eat, all you have to do is take out the pack, empty it into a pan and put the pan on heat to cook. It said that you can get an even better flavor-soaked soft stewed Daikon that way, than cooked from raw in the usual procedure...(is that really so?) Well, I'll try and see.

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Caterpillar

Barack Obama swept to victory in the presidential election and he is about to go down in world history as the first black American president. I think I'll keep an eye on how he leads the U.S.A. or even the world to change, after all, he has been putting up the slogan "change".

By the way, speaking of Obama, there was a town in Japan that jumped on Barack Obama's popularity and the presidential election of another country to somehow revitalize the town, just because the name of the town sounded like his last name, Obama (to be precise, it's not exactly the same). Oh, please. Isn't that too easy an answer or such a poor idea? How far do they think they could go without appealing their local specialties or traditions or things like that?

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Caterpillar

Since I happened to have a bit of English skills, I've been teaching English to this boy for a while. When I pointed out a picture and asked him "What's this," there was a puzzled look on his face followed by a silent succession of question marks...it was a picture of a lighted match. (!!) Could it be, oh, could it possibly be, that he doesn't know the name of this item, match, because he's never seen it in his life?!

I asked him and found out that this was true... Oh, man. This is exactly what you call a generation gap, isn't it? It was pretty shocking. So he doesn't know what a match is. Then I guess he doesn't know a telephone with a dial either (we still have a traditional NTT black dial telephone in use at home)...

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Caterpillar

There's a tiny field of vegetables on my way to the station. It's been there since my childhood. An old couple still seems to be making vegetables there, and they're sometimes giving away their harvest to their neighbors perhaps for some money. As I passed by this morning, a woman was leaving them on her bicycle, her front basket full with fresh vegetables. She passed me by saying, "As they say Gochisou (meaning feast in Japanese), it's just right for me to go running around like this." Hearing that, I suddenly became curious about the etymology of Gochisou...

So I went searching and it said that people used to run their horses to collect food for their guests, or run around to offer hospitality. So that's why the word uses two different Kanjis (which respectively represents the -chi- part and -sou- part) practically having a similar meaning. Additionally, the -Go- is a prefix expressing politeness, FYI.

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Caterpillar

Cow's mother has made us Kenchin-Jiru (traditional Japanese vegetable and Toufu soup, similar to barley soup) for lunch. Yippee.(^-^)

The temperature has dropped from around last night, and it's become pretty cold today. Kenchin-Jiru sure is a "Gochisou (feast)" on a cold day like this. Thank you, mama-Cow, thank you.

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Caterpillar

I received an e-mail from my junior high school classmate. It was an invitation to a petit reunion.

Petit reunion... That sounds nice. I wish I could go, but unfortunately, I got work on Saturdays... I wonder what everybody is like now. Have they grown into fine adults? It brings back the memory.. Then I suddenly realized as I briefed through the names who were to come to the reunion. I couldn't remember most of their faces... I guess they wouldn't be able to recall my face either (or even don't know me at all), even if I went...orz

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Caterpillar

The Seibu Lions has won a close match of the 7th game against the Giants in the Nihon Series Championships, and became the Japanese champion last night. That means...there's going to be a championship sale held in every department store and supermarket belonging to the Seibu group! If the Yomiuri Giants had won, then the Sogo chain would have held a championship sale, so it didn't actually matter though, as long as either of them won the championship.

Unfortunately, I don't remember seeing a Seibu department store on my commuting route however, there are some Seiyu (Seibu chain store selling groceries to clothings) if I take a bit of long way around. Maybe I could get some food for my Obentou (box lunch) for a better price! Well, that's good news.

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Caterpillar

A while ago, they were saying something about Demi Moore on the radio. Ah. There was such a Hollywood actress under that name. I saw her in a TV interview after seeing her best work "Ghost" on TV (needless to say), and I remember being surprised at a totally different personality that she had, compared to the character she had performed in the movie. Though it may have just revealed that she had acting skills. I won't blame her ex-husband Bruce Willis for not being able to keep up with her.

Say, I don't remember seeing her lately. I wonder what she would be doing now. Well, I guess I don't have to worry about her, after all she got lots of money. Additionally, they also said it was her birthday today.

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Caterpillar

A couple of days ago, I happened to see a TV program about people called "digital natives". According to the program, it seemed to be a name for younger generations who don't know the world before the Internet system came out, born and grown up in a world where computer and the Internet system were already there in daily life. It's the first time I've ever heard of the word. Maybe they're the same kind of people that Toshiyuki Nishida calls "digitarian" in a TV commercial.

In the program, there appeared a 15-year-old boy who has created a card game by working with designers found through the SNS, running advertisement on YouTube and already having sales of about 10 million yen. It made me worry a bit about his future...

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Caterpillar

Do any of you know about that slip of paper hanging from the kiosk's counters? You know, the ones that have shortened versions of sport paper headlines on? They're just for advertisement as you might already know, and I've been calling them Pera (literally, a strip) myself. They usually get straight down to the hottest news so it comes in pretty handy and I like to catch a glimpse of them. Yesterday on my way home, I caught one of these Pera that said "Deep Hits Woman"...

Now, what does that mean? Is that "Deep" about the race horse (already a stud) Deep Impact? Or is it standing for the race horse Deep Sky who's come in 3rd place in this autumn's Tennoushou? In either case, what do they mean by "Hits Woman"??

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Caterpillar

Later that night as I briefed through the evening edition of that day's paper, my eyes stopped on an article revealing that Okubo, the present batting coach of the Nihon Series champion team Seibu Lions, had hit a woman in around August and the victim has taken the case to court. Ohh, I see. So that must have been the "Hit Woman" part of the Pera.

But what about the rest? What is the "Deep" part about...?

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Caterpillar

Since the weather forecast was saying "rain would be coming in from the west" and I was about to be late for work, I grabbed my umbrella and left home. However, as I somehow made it and looked around on the train, I realized that no one was holding an umbrella... It was a little embarrassing. I also noticed that there even was a trace of sun... Is it really going to rain? As I was getting suspicious, it became overcast around noon and started raining in the afternoon.

Pheeww. So the forecast had been right. Good thing I brought my umbrella.

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Caterpillar

I thought it was good that I'd brought my umbrella however, the rain had already stopped by the time I finished my work and was ready to go home. So it just became another useless item to carry... I've been having a bad guess.

And today's race, the Elizabeth Queen Cup. I blew it again. Seems like my guesses have not only been bad guesses, but they've actually been terrible...

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Caterpillar

Well, isn't it so small of me to be caught up in such little things... And while I've been saying such small things small-mindedly, the badminton Ogu-Shio pair earned their fifth straight win in the national championships, finishing their pair career with a big success, Seibu Lions became number one in Asian baseball, Mao Asada started her season with a second place, and the "world famous" jockey Yutaka Take fell right after the start (it's good to know he's alright). Various things happened this weekend.

By the way, Seibu Lions were so tactfully strong. I think they'd better switch the WBC team coach to Hisanobu Watanabe even from now. I mean, if they want to win, Hisanobu seems to be a better choice.

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Caterpillar

I have been reading some books about dyslexia recently. Dyslexia is said to be a part of learning disabilities that causes difficulties in reading or writing, although one has no specific problems in sight or hearing. And all of a sudden, a question popped up in my head; I think I knew a similar word like something-lexia but I can't remeber what it was...

Umm.... what was it er... A-ha! I got it! It's psychopath!! Well, the word wasn't even close...

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Caterpillar

I've read a book about this psychopath several years ago. The title and the auther of the book was... I forgot to bring the book today, so I'll write about that some time later.(^ ^;) The book, written by an American therapist, introduces what psychopaths are like through some case studies. According to it, psychopaths seemed to be people who basically desires and tries to take control over other people, often playing hard to attain their purpose which usually turns out to be controling that person, sometimes even regardless of the rights and wrongs.

Well, JoOusama actually is a person who told lies and made me lend her my ID, in order to protect her savings from the deposit payoff system.

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Caterpillar

Oh gee, oh boy. I'm too exhausted to write anything... I can't come up with any ideas. Even if I did, there's not an ounce of energy left in me to write...

Forgive me, folks. Forgive me for today. This puny little Caterpillar is going down...

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Caterpillar

Please excuse me for not writing yesterday, I was absolutely not in a condition for writing. Well, I may have been pretty tired, and I felt a dull pain in my stomach which made it difficult for me to even move. I managed to reach home somehow, but I had trouble changing my clothes or unpacking my bag fighting with the pain.

Despite all this hardship I was going through, JoOusama buzzed around me asking "Are you feeling sick? Are you OK? Aren't you gonna eat supper? Did you catch cold?" Excuse me, your highness, but I'm feeling terribly bad. Could you be kind enough to refrain yourself from speaking to me please? Well, you see, she's not asking questions because she's worried about my health conditions. She's just asking to satisfy her curiosity. Though she calls it "worrying".

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Caterpillar

In fact, JoOusama has prepared Shime-Saba (marinated mackerel, popular dish of Sashimi though some suffer a reaction) for supper last night. That proves how much she was worried about my health condition. You wouldn't ususally prepare food that can cause a reaction for sick people. What was she going to do if I got sick because of the mackarel, when I already have been suffering from stomach ache?

If she possibly had been at least a little worried about me, she must have prepared something more digestive... something like Zousui (steamed rice cooked in broth), Okayu (Japanese porridge, steamed rice cooked in hot water) or Udon (wheat noodles cooked in soup). Though actually, she haven't even been cooking for someone else. She just wants to make certain people eat whatever she's prepared. She might be a psychopath after all.

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Caterpillar

In order not to waste this second consecutive holiday in November, I tried my best and got up before noon. My sleepy brain somehow remembered today's horoscope on yesterday's evening paper that said, "Better luck if you take a walk." Well, the weather was fine and I decided to go for a walk to a neighborhood shrine. Since I visited the shrine, I took the opportunity and offered my prayers. What did I pray for? That's a secret.

After I came home I had a brunch, called the races as usual and had Cow place my betting with JRA-PAT system. I wasn't expecting because last week was terrible, but today I've won! Gee, it's been a while. Was it the power of the horoscope?

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Caterpillar

It seems like I finally recovered from my stomachache. Well, I've had plenty of rest.

Anyway, I've been thinking what caused the stomachache during this holiday. And it seemed to hit me, could it have been appendicitis? I hear many people experience appendicitis in their childhood. Though I don't remember suffering from it myself. Well, of course, there may be people who suffer them after they've grown up, so that musn't be so unusual. But do everyone experience appendicitis? Hmmnn, I'd like to know.

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Caterpillar

So I went searching for appendicitis right away. And here are some information I've gathered.

It said that there's this tiny worm-like bag which is the appendix hanging at the entrance of the large intestine, and when this appendix becomes inflamed for some reason, it causes appendicitis. This "for some reason" is the important part. That is, if there aren't any of these "reasons" there's apparently less chance to get appendix inflamation, so there seem to be people who finish their life without suffering from appendicitis at all. Hmmmnn, that's interesting. As for me, my stomacache seems to have resolved and I'm feeling alright now. After all that I haven't had appendicitis so far, I wish I could go on without them for the rest of my life.

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Caterpillar

I saw this hanging poster on the train. It said, "They call me, The Last Train".

For a moment, I wondered what this copy meant and took a closer look. It was an ad for an energy drink. I guess this "Last Train" must be expressing someone with a dried out skin breaking out, probably having circles under one's eyes. I tried to image a female office worker maybe around her 40s worn out and exhausted, being cradled on her last train home. Take one sip of this energy drink, and you'll be fine! I guess that's what they're tryin' to say by this poster... Anyhow, this name they call, "The Last Train" sounds so downright. I wonder who came up with such an expression.

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Caterpillar

Forgive me everybody. It seems that Cow had forgotten to upload yesterday's "Murmur" AGAIN. I've been telling him a million times not to make himself too busy with that online game, because he will forget the important things to do such as uploading the files, though he never seems to listen.

So this time, I would like to invite your opinion on how I should punish this damn Cow. Please feel free to voice them on the message board, and I'll be positively concerning the idea. HA-HA, you wait and see what happens Cow.

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Caterpillar

As I was laughing up my sleeve, Cow murmured "I could leave it unloaded. Then no one would suggest a punishment."

Ohhh, really? That's fine with me. 'Cause then I'd write asking for a heavier punishment and upload it myself, I told him. I checked my site a little while ago and found that yesterday's "Murmur" was uploaded. Good. After all, Cow is a kind of person who wouldn't kick against stronger people. That's what annoys me and also makes me envy him at times...

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Caterpillar

One woman of my acquaintance has read the story of the "Generation Gap" in this Murmur, and told me about her experience. She was chatting with a young nailist girl around her 20s about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (what a topic), when the girl said, "Hmmnn, I didn't know that Afghanistan has been at war for such a long time."

Oh well. She mustn't have even been born at that time. But wouldn't she have noticed that something was wrong? I mean, how could a nation stand being at war for half a century?

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Caterpillar

What I was even more surprised at was, that the same nailist girl didn't know much about Madonna (you know, the world-famous female artist). Well, to be precise, she did know who Madonna was, but she somehow seemed to have misunderstood that Madonna was a name to be passed down to someone else, like er...Miss Illinois or Miss America.

No way... Is she super-natural?

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Caterpillar