Late last night, an urgent press conference held by the Health, Laboure and Welfare Ministry was broadcasted. Possibilities for the first Japanese swine flu patient had been reported during regular TV programs, and although the evening news had reported about a 25-year-old female returning from Los Angeles turning out to be negative, another threat seemed to have come up, with a 17-year-old high school student returning previously from Canada having flu symptoms. I was nailed to the display.

However, the minister only announced that they still don't have the results yet, and the details were unknown. I wish they'd quit fear-mongering for nothing, really. Eventually, the boy ended up negative and I slept over because of staying up late to watch the minister's announcement.

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Caterpillar

Although the 17-year-old boy has proved himself to be negative for the new influenza virus, now another case is coming up that an infant from US Yokota Air Base is suspected for being infected by swine virus. I think this uneasy situation could go on for a while.

Under such circumstances, the annual spring grade one race Tennoushou will be run at Kyoto tomorrow. I'm making a dash to the off-track betting with Mr. N-jima for the first time in these past several months. But I'm losing my drive after taking a glance at the program. Is this really a qualified race? It makes me want to double-check if it's really Tennoushou known for its high grade.

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I found an article about swine virus details in yesterday's evening Asahi-shinbun. "Radio station, Inter FM (Tokyo 76.1, Yokohama 76.5 MHz) is offering information about swine virus in 10 different languages. Swine virus related information are available in the following languages both on air and on their web site (https://www.interfm.co.jp/psa/blog); English, Mandarin, Korean, Tagalog, French, Spanish, Portugese, Thai, and Indonesian."

Just for your reference.

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I've simply lost the Tennoushou that was run with horses I thought should be ranked in lower grades. Today I slept until past noon, feeling bitter and miserable. And although I knew there were lots of things I had to get over with, somehow I got hooked up on searching for a Soba restaurant near Ueno which I am going to go tomorrow. It was long after it got dark when I finally realized I was spending too much time on it. Oh, boy. Now I've goofed off my precious time...

Anyway, I didn't think it was this hard to find a big-portion Soba restaurant, that's also good and inexpensive and open on holidays.

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Despitie the rainy weather, I went to Okachimachi as I had planned. Well, I wanted to purchase a new bag. The old one, I think, I've been using it for at least about ten years now, because the zipper pull had worn out and dropped. So I've got a new one for 3,040 yen. Most of the Soba restaurants unfortunately were closed since it was a public holiday today, so I had Tendon instead and I'm perfectly happy and content.(^_^)

After that I dropped by Akihabara on my way home, and was surprised at how it's become touristy. I didn't expect to see so many foreigners.

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The golden week holidays have passed in a flash leaving only today. Busy work days will be back again from tomorrow. It's a pitty that these last two days of the holiday week turned out to be rainy here in Tokyo. Oh, well. On such days, it would be best to stay home and spend some nice and relaxing moments.

Now, good day folks, I think I'll have a nap..Zzzz.

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Caterpillar

Even though it was my first day of work after the holidays, I felt pretty good with my new bag. But my feet stopped in front of a shop (was it a shop?). I've seen some floor plans on the glass door before, so it could be a real-estate office. Well whatever it is, there was something that's been caught up in my mind for some time. At the entrance door, there's a small piece of red paper attached to it that says "Hot nuclear shelters in store."

Are nuclear shelters a hot topic now? I don't remember hearing anyone talk about it recently. Besides, what do they mean, "in store"?

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I've just been to the nearest post box to drop my application form for the Teigaku-kyufu-kin (Supplementary Income payments). Well, 12,000 yen is better than nothing. And so I went and saw the slot of the post box, and it suddenly occured to me that these these signs must be confusing. There's a sign in Japanese under the left slot saying, "Letters / Postcards" whereas the right slot says "Others". What do they mean "Others"? I took a closer look at it, thinking that it's impossible to drop any package through this tiny slot, and found that it also said "(International mail, ETC)" in English. Oh, I get it now, so it was for air mail huh? Then what's ETC?

Besides, what's the use of this English sign inside the parentheses, when most Japanese don't understand English?

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I knew that it should be a matter of time, but it looks like swine virus has finally hit Japan. I barely caught a glimpse of the Japanese Health Minister Youichi Masuzoe announcing to the press this morning, revealing that two high school students and their teacher in his or her 40s (probably back from their school trip) have tested positive. They've returned to Narita international airport by Northwest airlines in the afternoon of My 8th (that's yesterday), from Canada via Detroit, USA.

I've been saying that high schools should quit going abroad on school trips, especially under previous conditions when we're on high alert because it's unnecessary. And now, look what they've done. I told you sooo!

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Yesterday night, I was skipping on my way home because Cow had told me that Mama Cow is going to fix us rice with curry for Monday lunch. That means I don't have to bring my Obento (box lunch), Yippee! But as I reached home, I found out that JoOusama had cooked curry soup for supper... I don't know why, but it happens too often these days. Somehow, JoOusama cooks curry whenever Mom Cow cooks curry. And this is n't the first time, you know. I think it's approximately the 4th or 5th time, that JoOusama cooked curry when Mom Cow had said she would.

It's getting hard to convince myself that it's just a coincidence. I guess JoOusama must be wiretapping to know the perfect timing to make curry this accurately.

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On Saturday, I had stopped by the library before JoOusama dropped that curry bomb. I wanted to apply for some books including an English book, to have them stocked in the library. On the form, there were places to fill in the title, author, name of publisher, and the year of publication so I searched and filled them all in, and brought it to the library counter. However. The old man in charge started searching on the Internet right in front of me, repeating exactly the same process that I'd gone through.

I had been kept waiting for a long time while the old man went on punching in the wrong keys and doing it over again, until finally he came to a conclusion telling me, "We can't buy English books, so if you want to read this English book, please buy it at Amazon." Is this some kind of a joke?!

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Caterpillar

I didn't mean to write about it this late, but it was last Friday, yes, the day we had nasty weather. Cow let out a cry saying, "Wow." when he went outside after the thundershower had stopped. I wondered what it was and followed after him, and there I saw a beautiful rainbow! When was the last time I had seen a rainbow? I rushed inside, got my camera and barely made it back before it disappeared and took a picture. Oh, but one of our client came right after that telling me, "Did you see the double rainbow (^ ^)?"

Whaaattt?!! It was a double??!! Apparently, it seemed like I had missed it. It must have turned into an ordinary rainbow when I've seen it... damn.

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As a matter of fact, I had my birthday a short while ago. And around that time, JoOusama handed me a mail-order catalog and told me, "It's your birthday. Choose something up to 20,000 (yen) from this catalog." Well, it didn't surprise me. After all, things like this had been going on every year. But apparently, she doesn't seem like she wnats to celebrate my birthday at all. If that's the case, I might as well have it in cash I thought, but she rejected my request before I even asked.

I don't care much about that, but it makes me wonder why the price limit is less than last year.

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Caterpillar

When I have something to buy, I ususally go to 100 yen shops. And as I style myself as an advanced 100 yen shopper, I go to different shops depending on what I want to buy, because the article quality seems to differ between shops even though they're priced the same. So I dropped by my regular 100 yen shop 1, to get some coffee filters. However, I found out that they were all replaced by a poor quality product of a different manufacturer. Oh, jeez! What did I take this long way for?

I would have gone to my regular shop 2, If I'd only known.

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Caterpillar

One of our clients is living near our office. I come by his house on my way every day, and I've discovered that there was a sparrow's nest on the edge of the ceiling of his garage. He came to our office today, so I asked him if he knew about it. He told me that the sparrows have been coming in spring from about 5 or 6 years ago, but he hasn't actually seen chicks leave the nest except twice. He said that one time the sparrow family had been attacked by a cat, and another time they were attacked by a crow. Additionally, the crow which he thinks must be the same individual, comes to check if there's any sign of sparrows every day before it's even warm enough for them to come.

What an annoying attitude!

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Caterpillar

I was going to go to sleep early last night since I had to get up early today, but I ended up going to bed around the same time as usual. Eventually, my sleeping hours became very short however, I couldn't sleep over in any case. Although I had a struggle, I managed to crawl out of my blankets and was able to leave my house a bit earlier than usual. Well, I thought I did. But as I reached my office, I found out that I was in 10 minutes later than usual. Why? What happened? I had conquered the fierce battle against sleepiness and must have left my house nearly 20 mnutes earlier... where and how in the world could I have spent my 30 minutes? I have totally no idea.

Have I become senile?

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The first domestic case of swine virus infection has been reported at last. Several high school students have been tested positive for swine virus, as of 17th May. All of them hadn't traveled outside of Japan. According to the TV news, it seems that the virus has already spread to as many as 21 teen-agers. Regarding that there are some time-lags between the actual infection or the onset of illness and the reports of the media, I won't be surprised if the diseaese has already been brought out of Kansai area, spreading all over the country. Thinking based on common sense, if there should be a large spread-out, it should be here in Tokyo where we have the nation's largest population. I guess further precautions and self-management would be necessary.

But personally, I don't want to wear those masks. I'd surely wouldn't, if I didn't have to...

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The new influenza virus has spread in an enormous speed in just one night, and it seems that there are already more than 100 people infected.

The break-out of this new type flu, and the Victoria Mile run yesterday with Vodka leaving all the other 17 thoroughbreds as far behind as 7 lengths, with the Democratic Party having Hatoyama for their new leader, what's going on in this world? Isn't there anything that could be done?

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I can't.. I can't move .. another inch. It's been ... really tough today.. I'm .. squeezing out .. my last ounce of .. strength.. but .. my brains .. are refusing to .. work any more...

I'm .. sorry, somebody... help .. me, I'm ... dead.

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Caterpillar

Yesterday, I've been really busy. I didn't even have time to go to the bathroom. Thinking back, I actually hadn't gone to the bathroom, not even once all afternoon. Well, these things happen, sometimes. I was totally exhausted (as you might already know), but I dragged my heavy feet and dropped by the library, because I had to pick up the book with the reservation due for yesterday. So I went, taking the long way home only to find that they had "a slight problem" as they say, and the e-mail notifying the book was ready seems to have been sent after I had picked it up already... Moreover, I was made to listen to the endless explanation and excuses of the librarian, just to gather about that much information.

So, what kind of a harassment is that?

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Caterpillar

I saw a hanging poster on the subway today that said, "Nationwide student satisfaction (qualification supporting department) ranking 2nd!" The loud colored poster with large letters printed in purple on a yellow background, was that of a famous language school called Nichi-Bei Gakuin. The qualification supporting department I think, probably must be some sort of a division to support learners trying to achieve qualifications in English skill tests such as TOEIC or TOEFL. Since I've seen this poster in the morning, there's something that's been stuck in my mind all day long...

So, which school is ranked number 1?

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Caterpillar

Speaking of hanging posters, I saw another one about a weekly gossip magazine today. And my eyes stopped on a headline that said... Mrs. Hatoyama (wife of the new leader of the Democratic Party) boasts "I was married to Tom Cruise in my previous life." What is she on?

I couldn't help giggling at this. How could they always come up with such headlines?

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Caterpillar

Recently, I've been reading an English grammar book to check and review my grammar knowledge and correct it if necessary. However, I thought I was going to fall down on the floor when I came across the section about auxiliary verbs. In that book which was written by someone who gives English lectures in a famous university in Japan, it said that "be going to" and "be able to" were auxiliary verbs. Bah! Aren't those "be"s "to be" verbs? Besides, aren't auxiliary verbs supposed to indicate single words? Though I do think that they work like auxiliary verbs...

The book has rather got me confused. Maybe I shouldn't have done something that I usually don't do.

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Caterpillar

Fortunately or unfortunately enough, there's always a pack or two of spaghetti stocked at home. Well, to tell you the truth, I'm rather grateful about it since I love spaghetti and usually cook them to have it myself on my day offs. The other day, I found that the spaghetti brand had somehow changed from the ones we've had until then. Now, there was a problem. It was that I couldn't tell how thick the new brand spaghetti was moreover, how long I should cook them over heat. I searched all over the package and finally found a small patch that said "average minutes of cooking:7-9 minutes" in Japanese.

So, which is it after all, 7 or 9? There's a two-minutes' gap, you know?

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Caterpillar

Yesterday, I went to the offtrack betting shop with Mr. N-jima and Cow to bet on the Japanese Oaks. Not to mention, I ended up in a total loss as usual. I've been saying that all I need to do was to find a horse that would come in second and third of Buena Vista until Saturday, the day before. But actually on Sunday, I've changed my mind betting from Dear Chance, after having seen the low odds of Buena and convincing myself that she might not reach the top since she'd be driving from the back like she's always done, when this race would probably be run in a slow pace. Then.

Buena Vista has beat the front runner by a nose. Oh, I knew it, I knew she was a great horse. I owe her an apology.

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Caterpillar

There's a do-it-yourself home center near our office, and they keep a couple of guards at the entrance of the parking lot. Today, one of the guards was leading a car out of the parking lot as usual saying,"Douzo (this way)", but this car was somehow taking so much time though the street was clear. The guardman urged the driver saying, "You can go right on to the left. " Meanwhile, all the foot passengers were kept waiting for the car to move off the sidewalk. After some time that seemed like forever, the car steered off to the left at last and the pedestrians and I dropped a sigh of relief, when the guardman said in disgust, "You, dub."

He's definitely right. I'd like to send an applause.

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Caterpillar

Because we had the holiday week this month, I've been pretty busy both on and off business. And it seems like I'm acting strange more frequently than before, though maybe I'm just simply tired. For example, yesterday I was going to take out the sugar bowl out of the kitchen drawer, but I found myself holding the tea can in my hand. Another time, I was going to fill my rice bowl with seconds but somehow, I was holding the laquerware for Miso-soup instead of my rice bowl before I knew it.

Still, I must say that's far better than JoOusama. Last night she came up to me to announce, "If you want to take a bath, it's hot and ready," though the water in the tub was actually cold... It seems critical.

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Obaba likes young men. A couple of days ago, I took her to our home doctors' to have her checked and pick up some medicine. She was glad-handing the male doctor who was around his 40s, while she completely ignored the greetings of our neighbor old man. How could she act so different? 40s I think, isn't generally considered as a young age however, when it comes to Obaba who is reaching her 90s, it seems that "a male in his 40s" is automatically interpreted as "a good-looking young man".

Well, I don't care much about it as long as it don't hurt anybody. But sometimes her actions speak too loud, leaving me pretty embarassed. Please, Obaba.

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Caterpillar

As I was checking our schedule chart, I spotted a part where Cow's schedule was once filled in, but crossed out later. Aha, so his client must have rescheduled it I thought, and took a closer look. Then, I noticed something scribbled right beside the crossed out schedule, that read "Kuruyo (coming, in Japanese)".

What is this? I burst out laughing and wondered if I should write a reply to it saying, "Ikuyo (I'm coming)". Additionally, Ikuyo Kuruyo, is the name of a famous female Manzai (stand-up comic) duo.

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Caterpillar

Sometimes, JoOusama really impresses me in a way. The other day, I stewed some leftover Chikuwa (fish sausages) and Daikon (Japanese radish) for my Obento (box lunch) side dish. Not to mention, I had them for lunch that day. And then. Later in the evening, I went home, sat down at the table to have my supper, only to find that JoOusama had cooked stewed Chikuwa and Daikon... Why, oh why can she cook exactly the same menu on the very same day??

She has to be wiretapping.

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Caterpillar

I went to the library as usual, to pick up a book I had reservrd earlier. But the book they handed me at the counter looked somewhat different from the books I had borrowed until now. As I was signing it out, I learned that it was a book sent from another library in a different ward, because the librarian had told me a number of dos and don'ts, including that I can't renew it, take off the vynil cover or stain the pages in any case.

All right, all right. If they're so worried, why don't they keep the book in a safe or something, I thought, but after all, it's free. As they say, beggars can't be choosers.

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Caterpillar