The World Without Logos, that is, my First Quiz

A lame excuse for a post. I'm too burned out from practicing memory techniques and reading up on fields of knowledge to bother writing about yesterday, today or what I did online.
Here, my first quiz, the shuffled-song answers (using my gaming playlist), plus comments:

Q: IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY?", YOU SAY?
A: "Butterfly" by Wada Kouji aka Digimon Theme Song

Gokigen na chou ni natte kirameku kaze ni notte
Ima sugu kimi ni ai ni yukou
Yokei na koto nante wasureta hou ga mashi sa
Kore ijou shareteru jikan wa nai
I'll become a happy butterfly, and ride on the glittering wind
I'll come to see you soon
It's best to forget the unnecessary things
There's no more time to be fooling around

C:Wow. There's fatalism for you. Not accurate about a quarter of the time.

Q: WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
A: "Titans of Our Time" by Iron Saviour
C: I only know this song is talking about heroes or something. Barely. Just got it because I like the band, and now it's here.

Q: HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
A: "Butterfly"
C: The odds of getting this song are (1/66) times (1/66), giving a percentage of 0.00300%. Unlike the previous question though, it's totally wrong.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
A: "Doubt and Trust" by Access aka D.Grayman 3rd/4th theme song
C: A song to jack up the adrenaline in anyone. So going along this line, my job is to hype up people. Is that a PSL I see? ***** it!

Q: WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
A: "Flash" by Queen aka Theme Song for Flash Gordon movie
C: A ballad espousing the merits and mighty deeds of Flash Gordon, the superhero before the times of Marvel and DC Comics. Basically he's the only guy able to save Earth from any crisis it falls into at any time in any situation. Whosyourdaddy man?

Q: WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
A: "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" by the Pogues
C: Partying song, the type meant to accompany barfights. I'm afraid this one's not for me. It's for Alvis. XD

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
A: "More Than a Feeling" by Boston

I woke up this morning and the sun was gone,
Turned on some music to start my day.
I lost myself in a familiar song,
I closed my eyes and I slipped away.

C: A paragraph full of nostalgia. Later on, a girl enters the equation. Overall, the singer presents it with a long regretful voice. Thus according to this, I will be separated from my parents by a girl, and will lose her in the grim end.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
A: "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen
C: Another heart-pumping song, though it begins with the singer accompanied by a piano only, later on a drum set and occasional chorus join in to jolt the listener into exhiliration. Mister Fahreinheit sees it as going forward continuously no matter what.

Q: WHAT IS 2+2?
A: "Seven Seas of Rhye" by Queen
C: A song about a fantasy land with, obviously, seven seas. A parody of a messiah arriving to a corrupt world, complete with bibilical words and colourful derogations. Whatever 2 and 2 are being added together, they must be the ingredients for all quirky songs.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
A: "Wings of Deliverance" by Iron Saviour
C: A man endures his way through a land of barrens, continually calling upon some form of salvation. Depends which best friend is being talked about, and in what context, but generally my life is not that grim every day.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
A: "Wizards of Winter" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

This'll be difficult to interpret...

C: Story here is a magician performing a show as an angel from heaven searches for the Christmas spirit in normally inherently sinful humans. Since the magician performs at a winter party, the title arises. Judging by the song, he puts up a masterful array of tricks. Therefore, the person I like puts.. up.. a masterful... array... of... tricks......

Q: WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
A: "Lux Aeterna (The Eternal Light)" by Clint Mansell, the penultimation of the Requiem for a Dream film.
C: Epic song. Awesome song. Mighty song. These feelings only grow as the song progresses, until the grand climax is reached in a symphony of violins, choir, drums, bass and keyboard. Although mostly used for film trailers, it's plenty inspiring to listen to by itself.

Q: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
A: "Tetris Theme" as played by the Ossipov Russian Folk Instruments Orchestra
C: I'll be game music. A piece of game music so popular an orchestra will play me.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
A: "Call of the Champions" by John Williams
C: Chock-full with fanfare, a Mormon choir adding to the harmonies and a whole lot of string instruments, this song really does sound like it can call heroes just by being played. Haha then.

Q: WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
A: "Foreplay/Long Time" by Boston
C: Keyboard riff in front, soulful singer behind. Actually the song doesn't have much meaning to me, only that it's nice to listen to when doing something else. That can't be what my parents think of me. Don't feel much better for knowing that, because I'm wondering how they would have raised me if they did think that way.

Q: WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
A: "A Last Illusion" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
C: Medley of Beethoven's popular pieces as they are played with modern instruments (electric guitar, drum set, etc) and high beat. In that case, my bride would need to wear some shorts underneath her skirt. Screw that. She would have to change clothes to something she can be swung around in.

Q: WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
A: "Baba O'Riley" Piano Solo by Neal Kern

Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals
I put my back into my living
I don't need to fight, To prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven, yeaahhh

Don't cry, Don't raise your eye
It's only teenage wasteland
Sally, take my hand, We'll travel south cross land
Put out the fire, and don't look past my shoulder
The exodus is here, The happy ones are near
Let's get together before we get much older

Teenage wasteland, it's only teenage wasteland
Teenage wasteland, oh yeah, it's only teenage wasteland
You're all wasted

C: It's Baba O'Riley. In piano. I have nothing to add.

Q: WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
A: "Tales of the Bold" by Iron Saviour
C: Very like Titans of Our Time. Just more of a musical first-person narrative. Not bad, for once. Writing in first-person is something I'm trying (and liking) lately.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
A: "Seize the Night" by Meat Loaf
C: Oh yes! Prophetic! An omen! After watching Dead Poets Society, you say 'carpe diem', 'seize the day'. This song tells you about the other 12 hours in an Earthly axial revolution, and why you should go to them. It's almost 10 minutes long, and it's got Ominous Latin Chanting from the middle onwards. Go hear it, and carpe noctum.

Q: WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
A: "Numbered Days" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
C: An account on, cure of and warning against gang violence and bullying. Shouldn't be a problem in River Valley, and I hope I'm not kidding myself, even though I've heard of a few Sec 4s in gangs. Upbeat song, despite the events as they are told in the lyrics.

Q:HOW WILL YOU DIE?
A: "Undo" by Cool Joke aka 3rd FMA Theme Song
C: 'Undo' in the sense of rewinding time back to the good old days. In the light of Benjamin Button, this gives me a curiously grey lenses with which to look at. His body rewinds as he lives his life the normal way. Maybe for me it will be the other way round, I regress back to an infantile mind when I grow old. Maybe. Maybe I can also end up as the most amazing polymath since Leonardo da Vinci, to say the least.

Q: WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
A: "Tetris Theme" as played by the Ossipov Russian Folk Instruments Orchestra
C: I'll regret what I grow up to be. Eventually, I'm sure, but only in the same way I think Mrs Look is the best thing ever to handle RV.

Q: WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
A: "Racing in the Street" by Bruce Springsteen
C: It 'describes that very American desire of the young man to leave his town and see what is out in the big world - to avoid that soul killing life they see around them'. From Songfacts, from Dan of Songfacts, from Dan of St Paul, Minnesota who posted in Songfacts (I have not plagiarised).
Myself, I haven't heard the song enough yet to say much about it. But I can tell you it is in no way a laughing matter. I'd rather put it as my answer below.

Q: WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
A: "Rasputin" by Boney M.
C: Ra-ra-rasputin! The Mad Monk who eats women, czarviechs and autocracies before he starts on the appetizers. Plenty to be scared of if there isn't a decent icy river around, otherwise I'll cry only if I see a negative of his picture in the dark.

Q: WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
A: "Tales of the Bold" by Iron Saviour
C: Besides the fact that it's asked about my wedding song, I have to say my iTunes is seriously screwed. More in a later post.

Q: WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
A: "Lux Aeterna" by Clint Mansell
C: Scary does not equal epic, awesome or mighty. Another example of the faultiness of shuffle.

Q: DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
A: "Yuji Ohno" from Lupin 3
C: Huh. Don't know this song at all, only listen to it because it has a saxophone in it, unique for a Jap song.

Q: IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
A: "Rock Into the Future" by 1200 Milligrams
C: Apparently the band takes drugs to play this type of music. So once I go back in time I'll change what drugs I take to increase my musical aptitude. Seeing that I normally don't take drugs, even medicine, this means I'll start taking them when I go back, and then I'll join the band.

Q: WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
A: "Seven Seas of Rhye" by Queen
C: For the first and last time in this entry, what in the world?

Q: WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
A:"The World Without Logos" by Yasushi Ishi aka Hellsing song
C: Ah, about the third truly appropriate song. This song is indescribable at my current ability and the time, but as theme song of this post it's pretty good also.

Finally, I've reached the end. A lot longer than I anticipated, but I did it, and I'm feeling mentally rested again. I intend to remain like that until I can look at the monitor without seeing fuzzy grey dots where there's meant to be a white screen.

Writing

Lately I've found a lot of writing competitions online. The Aeon Award from Albedo One, the Bristol Prize, Invisible Ink, Cordelia, Dark Tales and BrevityThing. Problem is, almost all of them have a deadline of either the end of Feb or March. -.-
Plus, the main one I'm interested in joining, the Writers of the Future, requires a story of 17,000 words. That's a heavy load in addition to school tests, Scouts campfire preparation and CID field trips. Moreover, my computer access can be quite limited sometimes.
Still, it's necessary to do these if I want to make any progress in writing. It is inconvenient, but then Singapore totally lacks anything like these. Frankly, Singapore lacks any proper art at all, but then that's something I'll solve later.

Silver

Today we stayed back for makeup chem practical, where we conducted our first displacement reactions. Nothing too interesting, except when we managed to displace silver. For anyone not studying Chem, silver is one of the least reactive metals, which is why it can be found in a more or less pure state, much like gold. Since it is so unreactive, whenever it is in a compound silver can be pushed out, or displaced, from the compound by a more reactive metal, like a brilliant discipline mistress chasing away Mrs Look from this school with her awesomeness. Someday.
Anyway, once the silver has been displaced, it will be precipitated out of the solution onto the nearest solid. In our case, the nearest solid was the strip of metal we added to the silver nitrate solution. For magnesium, the silver was deposited as a black solid, nothing interesting. Same for zinc. The really odd bit was when copper was added to the solution. There, the silver was deposited as some fluffy beige solid, like one of the test-tube brushes. When shaken, the whole solution became a purple suspension. The best part is when we poured out the solution. The silver twinkled entertainingly as it went down the sink. I almost regretted washing it away.
Life is really boring when I consider such things like this to be interesting.

Sunday

Jar-Jar, you're a genius!
Makes more sense if the reader has watched or at least knows the plot of Star Wars.

Wikisurfing

Wikisurfing. It's an adventure. It requires adrenaline. It requires water. It requires total concentration. Otherwise, you fall off the Wikiboard.
I see your silhouette...

February 14

This date meant nothing to me for fifteen years. All I ever noticed was that everyone got fairly excited over it, less so in my all-boys pri school, but more in RV. Occasionally, people would also mistake it for my birthday (Feb 1).
Now it makes me emo...
I got a present but can't give it because it's glaringly obvious like that. On the other hand leaving it in my cupboard means the present will glare at me instead. It's a bit like talking to her. I barely know anyone in her class and I've gone inside before so they recognise my face. It doesn't help that I went inside to talk to her. Only.
I might've made it easier for myself by talking her today, provided I had had the courage to come up out of the blue to say hi. I didn't and I hate myself for it. To her it would have just been a chance meeting with an old classmate, but it didn't happen. For a full two minutes I watched her as amazingly she came over to where our class was eating and passed by more of my friends standing around. After eating, I snuck glances at her from easily the opposite end of the canteen. Now I realise that was my way of indirectly telling myself I had regretted my decision.
I have to grasp every opportunity to talk to her. Carefully, of course, but with a ruthlessness in pursuing those opportunities. Or else I'll find myself being emo half the day, not neccesarily at the right times.

The Future in Dune?

I'm currently re-reading Dune by Frank Herbert, and yet again I am astonished and awed by the power of the human computers, the Mentats and the manipulators, the Bene Gesserit.
(I advise you not to read much beyond the first paragraph of the Wikipedia articles if you intend to read the Dune series. I did, only having read Dune and I regret it.)
Mentats are humans with supreme calculating and analytical powers. They were bred to replace the AIs that were overthrown and stamped out in a furious galatic jihad 40,000 years into the future, 10,000 years before Dune. But that hardly makes them merely human computers. They are better than that. They can literally take in all the information given to and observed by them, sift through those large volumes and grip the various logical paths and choose the one best suited for the current situation. They are the ultimate counsellors.
At this neat little page is a full and detailed list of the qualities of a Mentat. I can easily predict that us, as students, would see even one of these qualities as a godsend unto us, lightening our workload by many times. I aim to get all. Not now, certainly, but one day I hope I can have them. Here is another page with many more details about the techniques involved, but I've just found it today myself and have yet to read it, let alone test it.
Mentat Techniques (taken directly from linked article)

1. Extraordinary capacity for conscious information acquisition
2. Rapid computation skills
3. Near total recall
4. Unshakeable concentration
5. Calculate human or social costs without emotion
   
6. Wide-ranged analytical talents

The Bene Gesserit aka BG are a long-standing shadow government of women with amazing capability to observe the human stance, read the intentions of the target and even control their wills with a single word. They rely on the ever-present spice melange to increase their already staggering abilities and give them access to the ancestral female memory, far enough to reach the 18th century.
In the Dune series they are feared as witches whose only goal is to control the human race. This is what they do, but their true goal is to manipulate and shape the interstellar politics of the Great Houses of the human Imperium. This is done such that after centuries of marriage and conjoining of bloodlines a male BG, the Kwisatz Haderach will be produced and unlock the ancestral male memory, marking the maturity of the human race. He is produced, but turns out to be both far more and less than what was expected of him, most of which in that he was a generation early
Aside from power manipulation, the BG also specialise in unarmed combat, espionage and intelligence work. I will not personally post much more about them, since information on them is even more than that of Mentats (and I can't understand much of what they do >.<), but here are two links at Dunepedia and KnowledgeRush.
As a last entry here is the litany Bene Gesserit sisters recite to themselves in times of stress to calm themselves. Myself, I find it is not only the words that work, but the rhythm of the phrases.
Fear is the mindkiller. Fear is the little death that brings obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear's path. Where fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Holed Up

Again I say, only February, and already our classroom is full of holes. As if that weren't enough, someone had to throw the broomstick again. He didn't make a hole this time, but instead the metal pole just fell down from the ceiling. After fretting around with it and trying to put it back, he decided it was even better than a broomstick.
All I have to say is that we can't really see the holes the metal pole made, at least.

Our Holesome Classroom

Our class seriously has a serious problem, because someone is not taking serious things seriously. It happened once or twice purely due to accident and too much strength, and they were quickly remedied with a sheet of paper or two. But now, through some chance mutation, it has become contagious, and it has spread terrifically. There are too many holes in our classroom walls. It's not something we shouldn't expect occasionally, seeing the walls are about weak enough for me to poke holes through them. With my finger. But if someone's making holes on purpose, chances are the whole container block is going to collapse by year-end.
Someone finds it funny to continually kick the existing holes and expand them. It is funny, and I know that. It gets old rather quickly by the fourth time, sadly. Take the hole created by YY from 4X (renamed for privacy) when he was taupok-ed on Monday. It was fairly acceptable at first, big as it was, since it was basically just a dent. Now, it's a cavern complete with bits of former wall around it. Take today, just before PSB Investiture. He picked up the broomstick, for fun. He then hurled it into the wall, creating a nice circular hole, for fun as well. Then he DID IT AGAIN, repeatedly, from the opposite end of the classroom, making 5+ holes, for don't know what.
After the assembly, he did try to cover it up, but with newspaper.
Frankly, I doubt it's much use. Mdm Eu didn't even seem to notice the hole made on Monday, and she's freaking observant, so it's more likely she didn't care. Compared to her attitude last year, it's depressing. Chowbie came in for PDP and saw nothing, fearful as I was, but then he can't compare with her.
I just have to say that making holes, or eating in class, or playing cards (witnessed and interfered with by Ng Hai Guan), our class can do it. Hoho.