Grade Twelve Chemistry: A Collection of Quotations by Mr. K. Zuber (Feat. Felipe V-H.)

"Science isn't a noun; it's more of a verb. Well, I know it's a noun..."

"I don't talk to people. If you talk on the phone for more than five minutes, it's a visit."

(In reference to late tickets) "Everyone perceives them as evil. They're not evil!"

"We've overridden evolution so much that even the weakest of us survive. We should really let nature do its own business."

"I feel for you, I just don't care."

"Perspective."

"If mosquitoes fart, would you care?"

"It's like tying to chop down a tree with a spoon... keep trying :)"

"Stealing is generosity... the worst kind... 'negative generosity'"

(In reference to the popular perfume 'diffusing' around a room analogy) "That's not an example of diffusion. That's an example of hogwash."

"I can die a little happier now that I know sugar doesn't melt."

"Once you fill that doughnut, it becomes magically stable."

"Challenge accepted."

"Is it neon? NOOOOO it's not neon."

"What's the probability of you yawning at night and swallowing a firefly? It's possible!"

"Yeah, I was gonna give back those tests today... screw you."

"That's just stupidly ridiculous"

"If I just sat here, you would just sit there. Equilibriate~"

"Respect the Little People!"

"[Justin Bieber] has a car. I have a car too, but I don't suck."

"If you're in distilled water and someone drops a TV in it, you wouldn't die. Unless you sweat. Then you'd die."

Felipe quote (inspired by Mr. Zuber): "One does not simply pee in a river."

No Man's Land

I walk,
Slowly,
Upon a delicate line,
Drawn halfheartedly
Along a grey ashen landscape.

I have long since given up
On trying to avoid the bodies.
I am always asked
Why I do not simply step off the line
And hide my innocent eyes from the horror at my feet.
I always answer,
"Which way would I step?"
There's a red flag to my left
And a blue one to my right
And I can go to neither.

Some days
I convince myself
That I would rather be walking
Alone
Down my line
Than pledging allegiance to one side
And taking up arms in its defense.
For I know what happens
To the soldiers who fight
In battles like these.
They are but memories now;
Small casualties in such a large war.
Soldiers sacrificed like pawns,
Each with the hope of being part of a greater victory,
But as they fall they become insignificant
Little spots of pain that each coloured flag will try to forget.

I will never forget.
I will never forget the bodies,
The blood that stands for
Betrayal... conspiracy... infidelity... history.
Not sure where it starts;
Cannot yet see the end.

This is the place
Where revenge
Drifts across my tongue,
Its promised sweetness
Somehow made sharp and bitter and stale,
Perhaps by the gunpowder that fills the air
As I walk along the line
Drawn across No Man's Land.

Borrowed Words: Another Love Song

The flashback starts, I'm standing there

My daddy broke his own heart;
My momma swore that she would never let herself forget.

I remember thinking...
Don't you think I was too young to be played by your dark, twisted games?

That was the day that I promised,
I'd never sing of love if it does not exist

I told myself,
"Keep your feet on the ground,
When your head's in the clouds"

Because I'm tired of castles in the air

Save me,
From all the trouble and the pain...
I need a second chance

I always got by on my own

I swore I was fine

[Kept] a straight face

... Until I met you

Shifting eyes and vacancy
Vanished when I saw your face

You put your arms around me
And I believed
That it's easier for you to let me go

But you [learned] my secrets and you [figured] out why I'm guarded
You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes

And in that instant,
I [knew] you [were] worth it
You're worth it

You put your arms around me

Now your name, forever the name on my lips

And I'm on my way to believing

So bring on the rain
And listen to the thunder

It's a Twisted World

What kind of world is this?
You don't get to put this one on me.
YOU got yourself into this mess.
Didn't you learn a thing as a child?
Shouldn't you know by now that lying will get you in trouble?
Clearly you didn't remember that one.
YOU were the one who thought lying would be an easy way out.
If you're going to lie, at least cover your tracks.
But I guess you learned the hard way.
Now you don't get to put on a puppy face
And act all miserable
And expect sympathy from me.
I won't let you.
Because you did the wrong thing
And I won't let you make me feel bad
For telling the truth.

The Photograph

That photograph looks better
Lying alone on the floor,
Trapped inside its chipped wooden frame,
And topped with a sprinkling of glass.
There, it is a better representation of
Who we are.
Everything about that photograph is wrong.
Who are those smiling people?
They are certainly not like that now.
They are strangers to me,
And strangers to each other.
And that unblemished white background?
It shouldn't be white at all.
It should be stained with midnight tears,
And cut up with sharp words,
And then clouded by the silence that hangs in the air,
The aftermath of a huge mistake.

I would much rather have taken a pair of scissors
And cut those people apart from each other
And scattered them in the wind
So that it may take them far away from this place
But I can't.
So I just let the frame fall from my hands
Onto the fake laminate
And hope that, by shattering the glass,
I can give those people a chance
To breathe
As they suffocate beneath
Their smiling masks.

Two-Faced Pride

"We stop looking for monsters under the bed when we realize they're inside of us."

                                                                                                                                     -Jordyn Berner

Pride is like oxygen,
Something I can never let go of.
I push it though my veins
And let it nourish me.
Like oxygen,
It feeds me; it keeps me alive.
I convince myself
That I am greater than I am,
That I am stronger than I am,
That I am controlling and powerful.
But in reality,
It sucks the life from me.
Unlike the oxygen that ages me,
Pride makes me childish.
It makes me stubborn,
It makes me arrogant,
It makes me unfeeling.
It shuts me away
From the humanity I long to be part of
And from the love I long to feel.
It is my means of survival,
And yet it is killing me.

Eighteen

Eighteen seconds.
Eighteen minutes.
Eighteen hours.
Eighteen days.
Eighteen weeks.
Eighteen months.
Eighteen years.

Yes, look how far I've come.

They say eighteen is special. Eighteen is big. Eighteen is congratulation-worthy. They make it out to be some huge celebration with friends and laughter and joy. Or maybe, it was me who did that. More likely than not, this image was permanently placed in my head by a younger version of me who happened to get bored one Saturday evening and let her mind wander into the future. That is dangerous. It is dangerous because it feeds the mind expectations. And in the majority of cases, the only thing that comes out of expectations is disappointment. Yes, there was a time when I dreamed of being eighteen, when I sat in awe of freedom and maturity and reputation. It's not to say that I do not value those qualities now; I do. Just not from childish eyes anymore. Eighteen is nothing more than a number now, one up from seventeen and just short of nineteen. And as it is wedged uncomfortably between its two neighbors, I am the same. I am confined to the narrow crevice between the last of my childhood and the vast darkness of adulthood. So the reality is, eighteen isn't all that great. In fact, it is mostly confusion and angst, overwhelming choices and difficult decisions. Eighteen isn't fantasy. It's reality.