Exercising doesn't make you lose weight. That's because the human body is designed to keep daily calorie expenditure constant. If you burn calories through exercise, your body will compensate by cutting back elsewhere. That's exactly why you have to exercise.

My cat stares at me the whole time until I go to sleep.

The days have definitely gotten shorter. The end of the year is approaching, and it looks like I’ll be starting a few new things. I’m busy because I don’t turn down work.

I went to my second Hump Back concert this year.

In Hokkaido, there’s a Tanabata custom where children go from house to house saying, “Give us a candle,” to receive candy—it was one of the joys of my childhood. I wonder if they still do that. It always pops into my mind around Halloween.

On Halloween, I set out some candy in case the neighborhood kids stopped by by mistake.

Places that seem impassable at first glance often turn out to be surprisingly passable. Don’t make up your mind based on first impressions—just give it a try. If you do, you’ll see a whole new perspective. There’s no such thing as failure or success. All you have to do is try going through it.

While continuing to drink in moderation, I started drinking hot sake.

Thanks to my low-sodium diet, my blood pressure has stabilized. I can also lower my blood pressure by regulating my breathing.

The reason my cat hides so carelessly is that he wants me to find him. So I search for him, saying, “He’s not here—that’s strange.” Come to think of it, I remember doing the same thing with my own children a dozen or so years ago.

I've been on a low-sodium diet for two months. I have to be careful because the sodium content on low-sodium bento boxes is listed per 100 grams.

Life is a series of crossroads, but I feel like no matter which path I choose, I’ll end up in the same place anyway. I believe that no matter which route a person takes, their destiny cannot be changed. So, if that’s the case, I’d like to take the most interesting path possible.

Sometimes I get scabs on my head. I don't know what causes them.

My right brain has been getting weaker. To exercise it, I'm practicing the notes “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do” on the guitar.

Does a birdcage confine birds, or does it protect them? It’s probably both. Religion, the law, companies, and schools are also systems that both confine and protect, and if you feel constrained by them, that’s proof you’re benefiting from them.

I received 600 new applications for my free shipping on four-leaf clovers.

If a cat were a vehicle, it would be soft and fluffy, warm, and very smooth-riding with minimal up-and-down motion. However, if you don’t park it in a “Cat Parking” zone, you’ll be fined for illegal cat parking. In Cat Parking zones, cats take leisurely naps while waiting for their drivers.

I sent out 1,000 four-leaf clovers over the course of about three years.

In my bathroom, the hot water faucet turns, but the cold water faucet doesn't. I might never have used it.

I'm pretty much off today. I'm sorting through my belongings and organizing my data. I feel like these little tasks are the very ones I can't tackle unless I approach them with passion.

Lately, I've been watching TV shows and movies while taking notes. If I don't do that, I find myself thinking about something else before I know it.

When my cat wants to look outside, he sits still, staring at the corner of the window. He believes that if he does that, I’ll open the window for him. His defenseless back is a sign of his trust. I wonder if there’s anyone I can turn my back on like that.

My aunt and uncle sent me some fresh rice again this year. They’re retiring this year.

Water appears blue because it absorbs red light and reflects blue light. No matter what the object is, the color we see is the light that the object has rejected and bounced back. Can we really say that this is the object’s true color? No—does an object even have a color to begin with?

Every time I see young people wearing sweatpants, I imagine the fear of urinary incontinence.

I see my internist once a month. Since I was the only patient there, they greeted me loudly.

After cutting back on salt for seven weeks, I’ve become more sensitive to salty tastes. I can even taste salt on my arm.

At dawn, the droplets on the tips of the cat grass I’m growing by the window look beautiful. This is called “dew formation”—water that couldn’t evaporate due to the low temperature has accumulated at the tips of the leaves. Beauty arises from simple mechanisms.

I'm still wearing short sleeves on top, but my lower body is already dressed for winter. The seasons change starting from the lower body.

Every time I hear news about data breaches, I think: if information is exploited for criminal purposes precisely because it’s meant to be kept secret, wouldn’t it be safer if everyone just made it public? After all, I consider our names and addresses to be merely temporary in this world.