Trivial Pursuit

For Miranda and me, Tuesdays have become Trivia night at Picasso’s! Every superhero story needs an origin story, just ask the Marvel Comics Movie Universe! Zing! Here we go:

I have a long and storied history with trivia. I participated in quiz bowl or academic bowl, from 6th grade until when I graduated high school. Usually, these competitions involve four kids on each side of a room, all holding buzzers and trying their best to answer questions being read by a proctor. I’ve always been a brainy kid who kept all sorts of random information; a lot of it just simply doesn’t fall out of my head. Academic bowl suited me.

Up until the 8th grade I was a part of a magnet school where I was matched with “talented and gifted” kids of the Birmingham (Alabama) public school system. I put “talented and gifted” in quotes not to make fun of Birmingham (though that would be a funny joke) but to just mention all children have talents and gifts; I guess the kids in that class were seen as extra smart or talented or…something. As a result in middle school, the academic bowl team I was sometimes captain of the team, sometimes not. That changed in high school.

I made the decision to go to the neighborhood high school. One day, I should talk about why I did that but for the purposes of staying on topic I found myself in an interesting position when it came to trying out for the academic bowl team: I stood out. When I went to the first competition, I started out “on the bench”, but once I was put in I did well and never left. I don’t remember when, but shortly after I became captain of the team and remained captain until I graduated. 

After high school, you could find me with my hands on a NTN box at any place that had them. You remember NTN, right? If you’ve ever been to nearly any bar they have a participatory trivia game, run by a company called NTN. I have played that thing in so many different bars! When I lived in DC Metro area, Miranda and I went with our friends David and Emily and went to a live trivia at a bar called The 18th Amendment. That wasn’t the easiest trivia but David and Emily are both super smart so we wound up doing very well.

Which brings us to Picasso’s. Well, closer to Picasso’s. When Miranda and I moved to Charlotte, I did what I’m used to doing as I’ve moved a whole bunch of times: I started finding my groups and routines. Work was easy enough. Then I found a place to practice jiu-jitsu. Then I found a separate gym for weights which I don’t use anymore because jiu-jitsu is more than enough (for now). But I needed at least one night that was Miranda’s and mine. Tuesday nights worked out well and since I know she enjoys trivia as much as I do in her own way, I went to the google machine and found a place nearby. And so we arrived at Picasso’s.

This trivia is, on a scale of 1-10, about a 6 when it comes to difficulty but even more important than the difficulty is that Miranda and I have been consistent in going. There is a cool thing that happens when you become a regular at a bar. You get to know the manager and waitresses. You get to know the person running the trivia. You get to know the food of the bar, when it’s being prepared great and when it’s not. You get the creature comforts of having the established waiters and waitresses knowing Miranda eats first and I get my order at the start of the second round of trivia (after the first bonus round of music trivia). Heck, I even figured out the first question of the night is always about Box Office for the week. Second round always has a music yearbook question where you have to guess the year where certain hit songs are played. Third round has a day in history question and 4th round always has spelling. Accordingly, Miranda brings up all this stuff so we can make sure we’re as prepared as possible.

Our big trip up is the final question where you can wager all of your points. I’d guess that in the entire time Miranda and I have gone to trivia we have been in first place at least half the time. I’d guess we have missed that damn final question at least 75% of the time. This vexes me greatly. Greatly insofar as it’s trivia and that $20 is on the line. Not life or death; just a personal thing to want to have.

Overall, it’s a positive experience and a good foothold into the area for the Mrs and me. That’s a win no matter how you slice it.