What do you wish for today? I wish I had the power of an eraser that could erase memories.

I enjoy the bitterness of dark chocolate as much as the sweetness of ice cream. Why is that? Because I am used to experiencing bitterness in life, I crave sweetness.

Moving forward, I remind myself not to look back, as thinking about the past causes me back pain.

Thank you for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Yoshiko Amemiya

Mar 9, 2026

I’m not sick of creative work, but of these AI editors.

The most frustrating thing is the “Pro…” app—it’s called “Pro,” but it’s dumb. I wonder if other writers and journalists have been nitpicked by it like me? After editing one part, it says it’s perfect, but that perfection affects another part, and that other part needs fixing. It’s like crooked teeth. Fixing it over and over again… ugh…

It warns about Unusual Dialogue Tags 50%; it says to add “said” and “asked,” but when I add them, it throws another Dialogue Tags 50% error…

“Stick to ‘said’ and ‘asked’ instead of other dialogue tags.” Haha. Kill me.

What’s going on? So, what now? Sorry, my IQ is too low for you, dear “Pro...”

It encouraged: “Hey, authors, you should publish if you score above 80 points!”

Okay, I passed that threshold. But the final step was the most frustrating.

When I put it into apps like Zero GPT, GPTZero, Scribbr, and Turnitin… to check the AI ​​detector, they would nitpick.

It warned, “Hey, the sentences I underlined in yellow in your story were likely written by AI.”

Oh no, I’m doomed. How frustrating. “That’s 100% my writing!” I thought to myself.

If any sentence was flagged as AI, I had to rewrite it and rewriting it naturally required using an editor again.

That’s it. Who knows when it will end?

The results varied from app to app: 6% AI, 10% AI, and some even 15-20%. On a really lucky day, they’d declare it 90-100% HUMAN. Even less fortunate would be 70-80% HUMAN, depending on how crazy they are.

“Oh, how strange, these apps are so rubbish.”

And so, articles and short stories were put into hibernation. I’m not bothered to fix it anymore.

Many times, after writing an article, I wanted to call my mentor and ask, “Master, why does the AI ​​detector app report that 10-20% of my writing is AI-written, even though I wrote it 100%?”

But unfortunately, my mentor has gone to the high mountains to meditate. Now, the only masters left are the software AIs that catch the errors. Sounds ridiculous, right?

So, my motto is, “I must believe in myself; don’t rely too much on tools. They are not a compass.”

Because machines are inherently imperfect, let alone humans.

So, any literary work or short story that’s distorted, ugly, or a bit off-key—that means it’s truly mine.

Thank you for reading.

Yoshiko Amemiya

December 28, 2025

I remember my aunt used to tell me, “It’s better to be scammed than to doubt others.”

After years of life struggles, I realized that being scammed hadn’t opened my eyes. But it has made me more suspicious of others.

A few days ago, a blue tick account on X invited me to buy a paid Retweet service.

I bought the 2 Tweet + 2 Retweet service for $15. I transferred the money to her. Yesterday morning, she retweeted my post. But she only retweeted 1 post + 1 tweet.

That retweet only brought low engagement, which sealed my post’s fate.

I asked her why she hadn’t posted another Retweet + 1 Tweet? She said she would do it tomorrow. I agreed.

And as a result, she didn’t retweet the second one.

This afternoon, I went to her wall and didn’t see my tweet. Then, I checked my wall; there was 1 fewer retweet. I asked her why she had deleted the retweet; she replied she hadn’t done it.

I confirmed that she had lied. I said my post had six retweets, but her name was not on the list of those six.

Then, I took a screenshot for her as proof (I covered the faces of 6 people and only revealed a few characters in their full names).

As soon as she heard what I said, she explained, “Ma’am, when we make a new retweet and post it goes down.”

I really didn’t understand what she meant, so I went silent.

I thought, “Reposting again, what’s the point now?”

A dishonest act, an act of disrespecting others. It’s done; one transaction is one goodbye.

I know social media is complicated, but I still have to use it. Because if I don’t do it, I will fall behind.

The blend of truth and falsehood left me directionless.

In addition, many accounts follow me first to get more followers. They wait for me to follow back. A few days later, they quietly unfollow me. They think others are foolish and know nothing.

Life is like that—bitter and sweet. I wonder when we will get “a follow from the heart.”

I didn’t mind losing $15; the amount is just enough for me to enjoy a combo meal at McDonald’s.

She gets $15; she loses more than she gains. She wants many people to come to her house to play, but as soon as they come, she quickly chases them away to avoid making it dirty or crowded.

This $15 is too expensive, isn’t it? In fact, money is not a sin.

I thought, “Oh, money, poor you!”

Thank you for reading.

Yoshiko Amemiya

November 8, 2025

Suddenly, I start thinking about the people who came into my life, and some of them have gone forever due to illness or accident. I wonder if they are happier in the other world than us. Maybe we are more miserable than them, because we worry daily about food and money. We have to strive to achieve a position in society, or at least do something useful for society, so that people will not look down on us.

What do we work so hard for? We only eat two meals a day. Then there are those of us who fight, compete, and scheme just for fame and profit, to have a lot of money to buy a big house and luxury things. But, in fact, each of us only needs 20m² of land to live on.

I wonder, when we have everything in our hands, will we be happy? Because this universe is very fair, we will lose something if we gain something.

Do you know that whether you are greedy for money, property, or fame and profit, in the end we will have to end our lives and go to the other world?

What can we bring with us when we die? Nothing but a tombstone with the name “deceased.”

In short, I have no ambition; everything is meaningless. I just pray that my mind is not restless, not worried, or troubled; that is enough. Saying that does not mean I give up everything. I still need to work to support myself, my family, and my dog, and continue to live strongly for the rest of my life. I am not pessimistic. I am still smiling and continuing my life journey.

Thank you for reading my thoughts today. Goodbye for now.

This is just my personal opinion, so I hope you don’t judge me for it.

16 years later...

***Thank you for reading.

Yoshiko Amemiya

September 17, 2025