只爭旦夕

只 = 八 + 口 : Mnemonic symbol: this character looks like something (a head?) on two legs. I'll just represent it by a cuttlefish (只). James II of England (zh) has been in the space station (Ø3) as the only (只) one for too long and went mad. He thinks he's holding a mandarin (口), but he's just about to bite into merely (只) an eight ball (八). On the top of his head is a cuttlefish (只) he mistook for a hat.

争 = ⺈ + 肀 : Mnemonic symbol: The grim reaper, as 争 is often used in words involving war (...战争). In front of the engine ((e)ng1), the grim reaper (争) marks his next victims in passing. With a crayon (肀) he draws big "X"s on the crane (⺈) and James II of England (zh).

旦 = 一 + 日 : Mnemonic symbol: A big mug, since many people start the day with a mug of coffee.

Don Quixote (d) meets the sun (日) early in the morning (旦) in the anthill's bathroom (an4). Don Quixote is full of energy and can't wait to start into a new adventure, but since the sun is a morning grouch who only just started drinking her mug of coffee (mnemonic symbol for 旦) she cannot stand it and beats him over the head with a flute (一) to calm him a bit down.

Mnemonic symbol: this character looks a bit like a bat, and bats come out of their caves at dusk. I could see the upper left 丿 as part of the bat's right wing, ㇇ as the body/head and 丶 as the eye of the bat.

Xi Shi (xi) goes out for a space walk in front of the space station (Ø1) in the evening (夕), where she observes a space bat.