In Which Putting The Team Together Was The Only Thing I Knew

Star Wars trivia is as intimidating as it sounds. You may think you know Star Wars until you meet those who really do know Star Wars. Then you can be like me and know really nothing about Star Wars and still enter into Star Wars trivia, and then really hope to win.

My officemates-turned-trivia-team joined together once again to compete. I was helpful in that I wanted to win. I also nodded a lot to support the team. I knew not one answer.

In fact, this is what happened right before heading to trivia:

I also was very supportive when my teammates challenged certain answers. Supportive here means helping to catch the attention of the hosts and then again nodding feverishly at their claims. I'm very good at, "Yes, what they said!"

When people challenge, it can get heated. Teams start countering as to why the challenge does not make sense. The hosts cringe a little inside. The thing about my team is that we all teach for a living. We are so used to a room full of people sending dagger eyes our way that challenging is really no biggie. We lost the challenges for the most part. I turned to my teammates, and seeing their faces, I realized that it was quite possible they were heading home to watch hours of Star Wars just to make sure the right answers were really right.

The tea I had was delicious. We came in not last. So, you know, mission accomplished. All good things happen at Sip This trivia night.

Who Knows Harry Potter?

I don't know Harry Potter. Trivia this month was all about Harry Potter, and I haven't read or seen a movie in more than a few years. I did what I do best concerning all kinds of trivia: I put the team together. This month's team was SD and B, my officemates. We didn't do so hot during movie trivia, but in not coming in last, we had a glimmer of hope here. Also, SD has listened to the books several times during long car rides, so this was all her wheelhouse.

The night before trivia, I went onto Goodreads and took all the Harry Potter quizzes I could find. I earned 2 out of 10 and 7 out of 20. Things were not looking too swell for me, so I did what any teacher nerd would do: I took notes. Then, because I'm really a teacher nerd, I made a study guide from my notes.

I went to trivia early the next night to get in some studying time. B was already there, studying from her own notes that she took while re-watching the movies. That meant SD had books covered, B had movies, and I had random notes that I couldn't remember. Sweet. SD showed up soon after and we were all ready, really psyched about our chances. Until two teams walked in dressed in Harry Potter attire. Then I pointed out that the rest of the teams were quite a bit younger than we are, meaning they probably had more Harry Potter in their lives during more impressionable times. As trivia began and we were called upon to show our answers rather quickly, I suggested that perhaps our team should get more time because we were older, and therefore, we have more stuff in our brains to sift through to get to the answer. That did not happen mostly because I didn't suggest it to anyone other than my teammates, who by the way concurred.

There was a written portion, again, and something about being able to write answers down for a lot of questions all at once speaks to me more than answering one at a time. Not that I knew any of the answers. I tried, though, by doing things like pointing at a quote and saying things like, That sounds like something Dumbledore would say. See? Helpful.

There were two questions that related directly to things I had written down and discussed with my team right before starting. So all that study guide making had come in handy for two solid points.

And in the end, we did not come in second to last. We did not come in last. We tied for 6th place. 6th! Things are looking up.

The Billiard Room!

Another round of trivia at Sip This has convinced me of one thing: I am really good at not coming in last. Trivia night consisted of movie trivia that we did not know, we being me and two of my office mates B and SD. I'd attempted to also get EA to join, but she was teaching a night class. Upon hearing that said class is Film & Lit, I'd attempted to get her to bring her class as a sort of field trip. She wisely declined.

Right before starting the night, I told B and SD, that the first question was usually something really simple. And then came this: what was the profession of the character Jason Segal plays in Pineapple Express?

And so began a very slow crawl to not-last-ness. Without even a glint of hope of winning, we scrappled to keep afloat as best we could. We were really good at envisioning actors and films in our heads without being able to name them. This does not work in trivia.

There was a written portion. We are teachers. We can work our way around a quiz, right? Wrong! Not even in written form could we get all the answers. We did get some, though. And some is more than none.

Most appallingly, B found out that neither SD nor I have read To Kill A Mockingbird. She found this out when writing the answer Atticus Finch and double checking with us that she was spelling it correctly. I was like, I don't know--I haven't read it. She gasped out loud and I responded with, I know, it's terrible. I mean, for an average person, it's not that terrible, but I teach literature at the college level. I should have read this book by now. I keenly distracted her from this distressful news by asking if she'd read Go Set a Watchman (she has not).

In the end, the team that won the past three trivia nights did not win, and there was a tie between two teams. The tie breaker was to list the Best Picture Oscar winners for the past five years. The team next to us got them all right and won the night. Proof that we did not cheat in any way. Because we're teachers and we aren't allowed to.

My own stellar moment came with the question: In what room was the maid murdered in Clue? I can't remember who killed poor Yvette, but I surely knew without hesitation that she was strangled in the billiard room. I spelled it right and everything. Spelling did not earn us any bonus points, nor should it considering, again, we are teachers of English and should know such things.

Meaning we should know about literature, like Harry Potter literature, and SD has listened to Harry Potter lots of times. So, folks, I need two more Harry Potter people. I'm putting together a crack trivia team....