Amy Lu's View

It’s the first miracle of 2019: Our trivia “team” Ed’s Angels won first place last week at Wander North’s Trivia Mafia’s trivia. (And YES, to answer my husband’s first question, there were other teams there, including ones that usually win).

Let me state clearly that we mostly go to trivia to drink. And to hang out with each other, of course, in a nice, mellow and comfy environment (the most awesome Wander North Distillery) that serves tasty drinks. And the Wednesday night trivia host, Colin, is simply the best.

We aren’t even able to go all that often, unfortunately, because of other commitments and life. In fact, this was our (it turns out TRIUMPHANT) return after a long absence. Among other things, it was the first time I was play-rehearsal free in weeks!

My point is just that we are NOT hyper-competitive die-hard trivia afficianados. Sure, we do our best, and we celebrate our small victories in the individual questions we are surprised we get right, but we don’t expect to WIN. The most we can usually hope for is third place (and the weird prize, like one ticket to something or one notebook that really doesn’t make sense for a team). A team of Millennials (or even younger folkers, members of Generation Z?) usually takes home the first spot and the coveted Wander North gift certificate.

We actually didn’t think we did all that well on our night of victory. In a wonderful life lesson, there were some rounds we were pretty confident about and others where we were totally guessing at.  Our answer “Woot Moot” seemed indicative of the night:  a complete guess (or was it “Moot Woot”) that was totally wrong but we liked how it sounded. (The question is way too complicated to explain, not sure I even understood it at the time). So we certainly didn’t think we were nailing it or were in first place.

Maybe I should take some space to clarify the life lesson I think was illuminated: Sometimes you don’t know how you’re doing…you may be doing better or worse than you think, but you should just do your best and have fun. And you just might win. I think there is even a connection here with a Hindu principle the Law of Action and doing what you need to do without being attached to the results. (Pretty sure there is less drinking in the Bhagavad Gita then on a typical trivia night).

In another emodiment of a life lesson, we probably won precisely because while there weren’t any rounds that were in our typical sweet spots, nothing was a total blowout for us, either. The middle of the road served us well. And Wanda knew most of the answers.

(Not speaking for the whole team, but my personal sweet spot of categories seem to be author, geek, mythology, and even history-related. I completely suck at questions about celebrities, unless they are celebrities for geeks, sports, anything related to geography, and life after 1990).

When we found out our final score was “46” I think we all harbored secret hopes of placing third. I actually was afraid that we would tie for third or second and I’d be forced to participate in the tie-breaker. This is always some numerical guessing game (think of the Price is Right) which I totally suck at but I’m the only Angel who will go up front.

Thankfully, no tie-breaker was necessary. Victory was clearlyours. We got to experience the unaccustomed thrill of victory, but can we gracefully transition back to our status quo? Can we savor our triumph while still maintaining our healthy attitude to trivia? That is, can we go back to having fun while we lose? Can we still appreciate the occassional third place?

Studying Hinduism might help…and there is always socializing and alcohol to carry us through.