Tag: quiz

Here we go again then…

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Before we begin this post, for the record: Yes, we won the quiz.
Some really odd questions in there.
And I didn’t think we’d try to answer one of them with “Patagonian Toothbrush”. Especially in the Food & Drink round. It wasn’t right, for a number of reasons.
But 20 teams, 100 points available, we got 88, 2nd place got 81. All good, all cool.

Much money was raised for good causes.

And there were no South African politics questions.

And so now we move onto tonight’s festivities, and by festivities, I mean the start of a new football season for Sheffield United. It’s something that I always look forward to with a mixture of excited anticipation and a hint of worry and trepidation.

But it’s ok. It’s all part of the fun and games that I’ve been going through for the last n years. And once this first game is done, then I’ll only be stressed and on edge for the next eight or nine months.

So that’s something to look forward to.

There must have been something wrong with my phone, because I never got the call from the United manager Rubén Sellés to go and play centre back in the match today. Weird.

He must think he’s got enough of a defence. I’m less convinced.


Anyway, it looks like I’ll be watching from 6000 miles… away.

COME ON YOU RED AND WHITE WIZZZZZAAAAARDS!!!!!!
THIS IS OUR SEASON!!!!!!!!*

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* terms and conditions apply

Brush up

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I’m going along to a charity quiz this evening, and let’s just say that it’s been a while since I have had to remember anything trivia-esque. That’s why I find myself brushing up on the stuff I really should know, like the speed of light (299,792,458 ms-1), the capital of Togo (Lomé), and how many weeks Bryan Adams’ song Everything I Do (I Do It For You) stayed at number one in the UK singles chart (it was 16) (eish).

Before I head out, I’ll also be asking AI to give me a 250 word summary of the last couple of months in South African politics (a subject I have actively avoided of late), in case there is a Current Affairs round. Of course, AI might make up fanciful stories about recent goings-on, but they surely can’t be any more ridiculous than the actual facts. And if you know you’re going to get a question wrong at a charity quiz, you should at least try to provide some amusement for the quizmaster or mistress.

I don’t know how seriously we’re planning to take things this evening. It’s nice to challenge for the top spot, but if people are just there to have a bit of a laugh, I’ll happily sit back and let the waves of mediocrity and enjoyment gently wash over me.

I have a couple of good posts planned for next week: this is quite unusual – firstly the “good” bit, and secondly the “planned” bit – that’s not my usual style. But I plan to write in the rain this weekend and so there might actually be actual content on the blog next week.

I guess I’m telling you not to forget to pop in at some stage in the next few days.

Day 72 – No more questions, your honour

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Right. Finally getting around to sitting down and writing this.

It’s been a busy day. Overseas conversations, moving an office, dropping off magazines with vulnerable people, a walk in the Green Belt, two runs, piano practice, dinner.

Actually haven’t done dinner yet, because I’m writing this before I start.

Oh, and finishing off writing a round for tonight’s quiz.

We won last night’s quiz, and it was a lot of fun… but…

I think I’m all quizzed out. I know. Bizarre to hear that coming from me: “Mr Quiz” as I am known to at least one person. (To be fair, that one person makes up completely ridiculous monikers for everyone, based mainly on the place he first meets them, so this was more about our initial encounter being in a pub where a guy was asking questions, rather than any particular penchant or specialisation people might think I have.) (“Mr. Kitchen” and “Ms. Bus Stop” will surely back me up on this.)

But I do like quizzes. Weirdly, I have been enjoying setting questions more than I have enjoyed answering them lately. And it feels like I’ve been doing nothing but quizzes for a while now and I need a break. So once this weekend is over, I’m taking one, as far as quizzes go.
At least, there will be nothing organised: I might dip in and out of Quiz Up or pop in a Dale Collins or two on Quizando in a spare 5 minutes, but that’ll be it.

Got to keep the brain ticking over.

So, full effort on getting a clean sweep this weekend and then sit back, relax and switch off the question and answer game.

Day 60 – Good morning

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Not just a salutation, but also a description of how my pre-9am period has gone.

So let’s run through the happy stuff for once, shall we?

A really cool quiz last night. I’ve been quizzing for 25 years, and I played rounds I’d never done before – novel stuff. It’s made me look at how I’ve been writing quizzes during lockdown and thinking about how to break the mould. Some really good ideas, even for regular stuff like music and geography.

There was Cyril’s speech. He was on time for once, nogal. And finally, a meaningful relaxation on the lockdown, countrywide, from June 1. As predicted/hoped for here:

If the purpose was to ready the healthcare system, then whether or not we managed to do that, there is very limited purpose in keeping the lockdown on: even in Cape Town, capital of the African branch of the pandemic.

Alcohol, yes – under strict conditions. Tobacco, no – which still rankles, even as a non-smoker. Exercise when you want. Stay at home if you don’t have to go out.

But we’re getting there. This was overdue.

Overnight, the first decent storm of the winter season. Over an inch of rain, 80kph winds whistling around the house even now.

Love it. Not every day, obviously, but there’s something so cleansing about a good storm, washing away the leaves, the dirt and in this case – metaphorically, at least – the virus.

And I went out for a run in this.

It. Was. Amazing.

It may have been my favourite run ever. No worries about aresholes with no masks, because there was no-one sensible enough to be out in the gales and the rain, and even if there had have been, the wind would likely have dispersed all their infectious exhalations anyway.

Link I said: cleansing.

That fifth kilometre. Downhill. Fast*. Alone. Such a fantastic feeling of freedom.
I really needed that.

It feels like we’ve turned a bit of a corner. The virus is still wreaking havoc out there, but we are at least a bit more on top of the things that we can control.

 

* 4:32. fast for me. 

On Quizzing

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Last night went… “ok”.

Sure, we lost the quiz by one point, but we only had 4 players against everyone else’s 8 (thus less chance of crowdsourcing a correct answer), and we finished ahead of several (or more) other teams who clearly were nowhere near as good as us, and several of which were full of unpleasant old white people.

It was one of those evenings where the majority of our 50:50 decisions didn’t work out for us. It happens. But it was still annoying. Irritating. Infuriating. Exasperating. Infuriating. (We did well in the Thesaurus round, by the way.)

Bad luck aside, we did noticeably fall down on one tough round: 1970s music. There was a clear, gaping hole in our knowledge. Obviously, we can’t know everything, but one this particular round, we could have done much, much better.

This morning, I decided to do something to remedy the situation, so that next time we could win the quiz again – as is the tradition when we play quizzes.
I opened up a Spotify playlist full of the top hits of the 70s and set my brain to Learn Mode.

Exactly 12 minutes later, I decided that losing a quiz by 1 point (or actually, however many points) was far preferable to putting myself through listening to anything else from those ten years. I don’t like not knowing things, but in this particular case, I’m so very, very happy to make an exception. My god: I swear that I was the only good thing to come out of that decade. 3652 days of exciting musical opportunity and all we got given was Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Neil Young and the god-awful ABBA.

It’s fine; I’ll pass, thanks.

And I’ll proudly wear my “yes, we could have done better in that round” badge when scoring 2 out of 5 on crap music next time around as well.