Shit.

I just got to say it. Shit.

Answer Key

Seeing as no one answered the quiz I posted here back in Spetember, It's about time I posted the anaswers:

1) In the novel "Animal Farm," how many commandments did Animalism originally have?
-Seven

2) In "The Purloined Letter," where was the stolen letter found?
-Right above the chimney, in plain sight.

3) In the Sherlock Holmes Story "The Blue Carbuncle,"where was the carbuncle found?
-Inside a dead bird about to be cooked for Christmas.

4) How did Tybalt die in "Romeo and Juliet?"
-Killed by Romeo.

5) How long could Guybrush Threepwood hold his breath?
-Ten minutes.

6) What were the names of Princess Leia and Han Solo's twins in the novel "The Last Command" by Timothy Zahn?
-Jacen and Jaina

7) Which leader of the Bolshevik Revolution once studied as a seminarian?
-Stalin

8) The title of Adolf Hitler's autobiography.
-Mein Kampf

9) Who was the Romanian National hero who had a habit of turning his enemies into shishkabobs?
-Vlad Dracul/Vlad Tepes/Vlad the Impaler/Dracula

10) What heinous crime did Elizabeth Bathory get executed for? Describe vividly.
-She murdered thousands of young women. She would chain them, bled them, drank their blood as they screamed for dear life, then bathed in their blood. Remarkable woman eh? Sadistic too.

11) Besides FFVII, what other Final Fantasy game had an animated special based off it?
-FFV

12) In Adam West's version of Batman, who played Robin?
-Burt Ward, who's now obese

13) Who played Batgirl in the said incarnation of Batman?
-Yvonne Craig

14) If Batman and Robin were the Dynamic Duo, what were they called in the 60s when Batgirl joined in?
-Terrific Trio (Terrible Trio if you ask me)

15) How many seasons did this version of Batman last?
-Three

16)Which season introduced Barbara Gordon?
-Season 3

17) Super Mario's original name in Donkey kong was _______.
-Jumpman

18) The Cambodian communist butcher who led the Khmer Rouge.
-PolPot

19) What does "SNK" stand for?
-Shin Nihon Kikaku

20) What does "Capcom" stand for?
-Capsule Computer

21) What about "IBM?"
-International Business Machines

22) State Fermat's Last Theorem.
-Remember the Pythagorean theorem? (a squared)+(b squared)=(c squared) in right triangles. Fermat said that any exponent higher than two applied to each side of a right triangle would not lead to a correct equation. That means that ("a" cubed or higher)+("b" cubed or higher) won't equal ("c" cubed or higher) granted all three variables are raised to the same power.

23) State the Pythagorean Theorem.
-See above.

24) What is the lightest element?
-Hydrogen

25) What is a Chimaera?
-A Fearful beast with lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail.

26) "With _____, courage, and hope! I bind you!"
-Love. Akazukin ChaCha reference.

27) How many heads does the Yamatano Orochi have?
-eight

28) How many tails does a Kyuubi have?
-nine

29) What is the difference between a pupil and a student?
-Pupils are the legal term for children undergoing formal schooling from the elementary levels downwards. Students are people undeergoing formal schooling from highschool upwards.

30) Gilgamesh's friend and rival.
-enkidu

31) the Mesopotamian goddess of love.
-This i forgot. Was it Ishtar?

32) The Norse goddess of love.
-Freya

33) In the myth of Hero and Leander, how did Leander die?
-Drowned due to Hero's foolsihness.

34) Who is Galatea?
-Pygmalion's statue. Turned into a real woman. Lucky bastard.

35) Who is Eurydice?
-A woman who was almost saved from hades--until she looked back and soon fell to hell again.

36) The Greek godess with three forms, in Latin.
-Diana

37) "Romeo come forth! Come forth thou _______ man..."
-Fearful

38) "Is this a ______ I see before me?"
-Dagger

39) Double, double, ______ and trouble..."
-Toil

40) "Ryuko no Ken" literally means _________"
-Dragon-Tiger Fist

41) Which of the following novels is epistulary: Dracula, War of the Worlds, Smaller and Smaller Circles, or The Builder?
-Dracula

42) How many children did Moses have?
-Now this I myself forgot

43) Sophitia's age in the original Soul Edge.
-18

44) True or False: videogames are banned in Greece.
-True

45) How did the Frog Prince really get turned back to human form? No, it wasn't a kiss...
-Thrown to the wall.

46) Kermit the Frog's dominant hand.
-Left

New Story Ideas

Hello people. Sorry for the long delay before the update. I've had a weird week so far, but I'm much better now. The point of this post is to just share some frustrated story ideas that have been brewing in my head for ages now. A lot of these are VERY old. The infamous "secret society" story for example has exploded into a full-blown saga whose timeframe stretches from 1945-2005. Some of them arefilm proposals that I never got around to proposing. Here's the listing:

I) Historia Esoterica

Literally translates to: "The Esoteric History." This is the secret society story that a pal of mine and I thought up from back in 2004 (yes, I wasn't teaching yet then and she wasn't checking more papers than Jove can count for a certain accounting firm). The story stretches from 1945 to 2005. It explores the story of three central characters spread over three eras: WWII (1945), Marcos' Regime (1985), then the present (2005). It's got mystery, action, and even ninjas (stupid as it seems). As I said, there are three lead characters:

1) Generic Japanese Soldier 1

Tentative Name: "Mehra Kenta"
Timeframe: (1945)

Kenta was a Japanese spy. He was 18 at the time. He was sent to the Philippines on a secret mission. He however would have rather stayed home with his wife from Tokyo and his newborn daughter. Fate however decreed that he would never come home. His story revolved around his mission--one so grave it would haunt his children for years to come. By the end of the war, he was disgraced from the military, stayed in the country, then married a Filipina in 1950. After nearly two decades of trying to have children, he finally had a daughter in 1969 at the age of 42. With his new life in place, he would never think of his old family again.

2) Philippine Daughter of Number 1

Tentative Name: Kylie
Timeframe: (1985)

It was the dawn of her 16th year, the third death anniversary of her father was coming up in a week. She started it just as any other girl her age did--went to school, studied, mingled with friends, then went home. That was of course until her friends started dying one by one--all apparently murdered. The killer was a pro, and had never left any useful evidence at the scene. On her father's deathn anniversary, her mom turned up dead as well. This time the killer left a note with these cold, simple words: "Give me your jewel, or your children are next."

Her children--the killer was obviously referring to her kids in the orphanage, none of whom were more than toddlers, and all dear to her. Why did the killer hate her so much? Why did this murderer want the jewel daddy left behind? Left with no choice, she hunted the murderer herself--who turned out to be someone she could never have imagined.

3) An Orphan

Name: Marlon
Timeframe: 2005

Marlon was too young to have any memories of his family. However, his excellent scholastic ability had always kept him enrolled in the best schools on the best scholarship grants anyone could dream of. Now a computer science student, he found himself living a dull life. Studying was too easy for him and no longer interested him. One day, he received a letter in the mail:

"Do you want to have a job full of adventure, pays well, and that's guaranteed to make a difference in the world? Quit your studies. Join us.

Signed,

-K-

PS:

I know where your family is."

Who was this "K?" What did he know about the past? What was this job that was so important it could change the world? Intrigued, Marlon noted the return address on the letter then hunted down this mysterious "K."

II) Cheesy Flick

This story is not actually a short story but a weird film concept that's been bugging the hell out of me. The story goes that there is this rock fan who has rerally been down on the dumps. His mom wants him gone, his teachers hate him, girls avoid him like HIV. As it that wasn't bad enough, he'd just died and was waiting at the gates of heaven. The jeep he was riding in bumped a truck. He did not stand a chance. He was also the only passenger.

Apparently though there was a slight problem: it wasn't his time yet. It was the driver's time to die, not his. However, they can't just chuck him back to earth like that since he DID die. At the same time he can't stay in heaven because he did not live virtuously. Neither could he be sent to hell because he wasn't supposed to be dead yet. The solution was to give him a second chance.

But what a second chance it was. He's supposed to help his loser pal Dwayne find true love. If that wasn't bad enough, Dwayne has his eyes on the rocker's ex. Not only is she his ex--she's the only girl who isn't repelled by him. It's either rocker sets Dwayne up with his ex or he goes to hell.

So, rocker gets reincarnated as a talking rat (!) and has to give Dwayne tips along the way. The moment that Dwayne finds true love, rocker can finally go to heaven. That's one very big "if." Will he really do as asked or will he do the opposite? But won't that mean an eternity in hell?

Believe it or not, I want this story to be hilarious. Its possible soundtrack can include tunes from Parokya, Chicosci, and Kamikaze. Still, no network will buy such a risky story. Besides, as a teacher I have no time to propose such a cliche tale.

Bleh

Just posting to tell everyone that I've finally finished checking my pile of quizzes and essays--and not a moment too soon. Next week will be quarterly exam week and things will get hectic fast. Anyway, what else have I been doing? To list them down:

1) Avoiding a certain 3rd Year highschooler like the plague. I dunno why, but seeing him just ruins my day.

2) Just finished making my first set of quarterly tests ever. The department head gave me the freedom to make the tests for the sophomores and seniors. I made the tests a bit on the easy side on purpose. Well, easy as far as Lit Majors are concerned. >:)

3) Been spending quality time with my replacement for Percy. For those not in the know, Percy was the name of my second Persocom (personal computer). She died some months back when her motherboard finally perished. Now I have a new mobile persocom (laptop) named RX-78-2. As to what those numbers mean, anime and mecha fans should know. While Percy will always hold a special place in my heart, I have finally accepted her death. Rest in peace.

4) Passed on my IPaq Pocket PC to my borther Paolo. My IPaq whom I named Plum finally found herself in a state of disuse after I got RX-78-2. My brother promised to take good care of her. I trust his word.

Drained

Man. I feel absolutely drained. Dead. First I caught a cold. An awful one. Next, I got pulled over by cops last Saturday night and got caught with a dead license (barely escaped with my life from that one). Next, I got a trip to TLRC in Pasig this Friday, and I might take Thursday off to fix my license. Oh, and exams are coming up next week and I got to make tests as well. Fun.

So guys, forgive me for acting like an ass lately. Life bites sometimes.

Update

Hola. Basically this update is here just to show the world what I've been doing lately. Anyway, expect a bigger update next week when I complete my translation of either "Para Sa Iyo" of "Maniwala Ka Sana" for the Parokya Translation Project.

For now, here's a list of things I've been doing:

1) Laughing my arse off. Why? I have this student who during my english class made the funniest quip I've ever heard yet in class. Basically, the scenario was this: one of his classmates was doing a report on an Edgar Allan Poe poem. Of course Poe isn't the easiest read around, and this student is not very good at English. I was in a bad mood since I recently blew my top at an unruly classmate of his. But he said this quip and I could not help but laugh:

" Ser, Di ko maintindihan. Puro English!" (in a Batangueno/Laguna accent)

ROFLMAO!!!

2) Oh yes, this same student told me on day one of my subject that he wanted to become better at English. Well, looks like I have another "special" child to handle :P

3) I watched FFVII: Advent Children. Expect a review on craptastic soon.

4) Bought a new Gundam game for the PS2. Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam. To cut the long story short, I haven't put it down since. I'm a big anime fan.

5) Started discussin Greek culture to my seniors. I love those guys, they're so cooperative. I love the sophomores too because they're challenging and funny.

6) My student who made a drawing of me in class finally kept his end of the bargain and drew me a secial edition version of the drawing. I'll scan it and post it here within the week. I love those seniors.

Let's keep it at that. DLSU peeps, when do we watch Corpse Bride? Or do you wanna wait for Wallace and Gromit?

Wisdom From Backstage

Just because I'm now teaching doesn't mean my teachers can't teach me anything new. In fact, they still do. Here're some of the finer pieces of wisdom I've learned from them:

---------------------------------------------------

Lesson 1: It's ok to get mad once in a while.

This one was told to me by Sir F. He's relatively new to the job, and the adviser of one of my rowdiest classes. He told me this when I told him about how his class once lynched me. Literally. They jumped me and rode on my back. Anyway, he told me that every now and then the little imps needed to be scolded. It worked I guess, they repsect me more now.
---------------------------------------------------

Lesson 2: Roll with the punches.

Sir DLC taught me this one. He warned me that the 2nd years are very hyper. He was right. Not that I'm very good at doing this, but I try.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Parokya Translaton Project: Halaga.

I'm bored. So I decided to try to translate one of my favorite songs, Halaga by Parokya ni Edgar into English. I tried my very best to retain the meter and rhyme (which means it could in theory be sung) but in the process killed off a lot of the original imagery. I went for tune versus accuracy.

I. Sad tears from your eyes once more flow

Gosh darn it girl is that the only face you know?

Eyes burning red with great sorrow

How long do you plan to keep up with this disturbing show?

II. This mad charade that as of late has been your life?

Thanks to your boyfriend that has done nothing but to bring you strife?

You got a sad tale for me once again

III. Just like soap operas that never seem to end

How long will you keep up this trend?

This show of sorrow that no act of yours will ever mend

The useless effort that on your boyfriend you spend

Who so far has done little more than drain your tears without an end.

Chorus:

Of all the thousand opportunities that we have been together

Seldom have you ever flashed a smile, or some sign of your mirth

I’m damn annoyed at the idea that your boyfriend’s such a jerk

It seems he cannot understand the great and priceless value

You are worth.

IV. There’s nothing left to discuss anymore.

I have tired greatly from repeating all my worthless words

My tidings never reach you anyway

Even if I will tire from speaking all day

V. From giving advice that just falls on deaf ear

Even if I will speak all day and night there's nothing you will hear.

Don’t wanna to think it anymore

Why can’t you leave a worthless joke affair that has become a chore?

VI. There are more people to find anyway

Don’t be surprised if someday there would be no one to come your way

No more man who would love you with all his heart

One who’ll never ever grab your soul and take it all apart.

VII. Sometimes this life cannot understand

Is this life truly is ours to live and to command

Our life is really one damn mystery

Where other men can junk and so neglect the woman of my dreams