#pub quizzes and trivia is another thing

[autobahnmp3]

why do ppl expect chemists to have the entire periodic table memorized??????

[isahorcrux]

london is lonely pt. 8 (bagsy)

I’m back! this one took a bit longer, but as a reward, this part is quite a bit longer than the others and it’s james’ pov. for some reason I’m struggling with this james’ pov more than any other james pov i’ve written, thus there were about 20 different versions of this chapter, but I think this one will lead to some interesting places. as always, this is not beta’d so you will see typos, sorry, not sorry.

read on ao3 | read from the beginning

“Oi! Lily!”

At Caradoc’s shout, James looked up from his menu, smiling.  She’d come.

“Evans,” he called, watching Lily look for the source of the shout, “Over here!”

James stepped onto the booth and waved both his hands.  He must have looked like an idiot, Caradoc certainly thought so, based on the muleish expression he was sending James’ way.  But, the pub was loud and Lily and the two girls he’d brought with her, were clearly going in the wrong direction.  Eventually, one of her friends spotted him and pointed him out to Lily.  She snorted, rolling her eyes, but a moment later headed towards their table with her friends.

“You look ridiculous, Potter” Lily said to James as she reached the boys’ table and James had settled back into his seat, “Thanks for inviting us, by the way.”

It was the first thing he’d done after he’d gotten his new phone from the Apple Store that morning.  It’d been bold, sending her that DM on Instagram.  It’d been even bolder of him, after she responded that it was nice to see him again, to mention he and his friends were in need of a few other bodies for their pub trivia team.  James had half expected her to make some kind of excuse, but in a pleasantly surprising turn of events, she’d asked how many bodies they needed and promised to rope in a couple of her flatmates.  James didn’t want to read into it too much, though.  They had, after all, just reconnected the night before.  She was probably just being friendly, making up for the animosity of their past, just as he was.  Agreeing to join him for the pub quiz didn’t mean she was…interested in him in that way.  Pub quiz night was a purely platonic activity.  Besides, it was a Sunday evening.  Nothing untoward ever happened on a Sunday evening.

“Just so you know,” James said, “This is a trial run, Remus takes his pub quizzes very seriously.”

Lily laughed.

“You make me seem like a monster,” Remus grumbled.

“You are,” James retorted, “You didn’t even let Sirius come.”

“Yeah, well, that’s because he didn’t contribute and started singing Celine Dion any time the host asked another team a bonus question.”

“Seems like an asset we’d want to have, no?” said the blonde girl with blue tips to Lily’s left, “Marlene, by the way.”

“Remus.”

The pair shook.

“And this is Dorcas,” Lily said, putting her arm around the girl to her right with dark curly hair.

“I am terrible at pub trivia, but excited to be here,” Dorcas laughed.

“Bullshit,” Marlene said, “You’re getting your PhD in Psychology.”

“When have you ever known there to be a question about psychology at a pub quiz?”

“Dunno, I usually go to themed ones that suit my expertise.”

“Smart that,” said Caradoc, “Dunno if we’ll all fit, should we find a bigger table?”

“We can squeeze,” insisted Remus, “Trust me, this is the best spot for hearing.  Plus, for one category you have to run up with your answers, and this is the closest table to the host.”

Caradoc looked at Remus as though he was from another planet, but recovered quickly.

“Well, then, Lily, why don’t you come over here, I can scootch down closer to James.  Then, Remus if you pull in a bit…”

It was very clear what Caradoc was doing, at least to James it was.  Not that he could say anything.  This was just a friendly evening at pub trivia.  Besides, even though he’d invited Lily, it wasn’t like she owed him anything.  And Caradoc had been the one to bring her over to their table.  And though they’d joked about Caradoc the night prior, it was possible that Lily had only agreed to come to pub trivia because she thought she’d see Caradoc again.  It’d been risky, inviting both of them, he now realized.  He’d assumed that Caradoc would have given up by now, but based on the way he was pulling her into conversation, apparently he’d been wrong.  Bugger.

“What does everyone want,” James asked as everyone settled, a plan forming in his mind, “I’ll run up and place our order.”

“Give the girls a minute, James,” Caradoc said, “They’ve only just sat down.”

“Oh pub food is easy,” Marlene said, peering over Remus’ menu, “I’ll do the fish and chips, if they’re decent.  And err…how about a cider.”

James nodded and the rest of the group began to shout out their orders.  Once he was sure he’d gotten everyone, he headed up to bar with Lily’s friend, Dorcas, who’d agreed to help carry back the pints.

“I’ve got this round,” she said, pulling out her wallet.

“Nonsense,” James said, handing his card to the woman behind the bar, “You’re the one being dragged out of your home on a Sunday to hang out with three blokes you don’t know.”

“True,” said Dorcas laughing, “Though you’re alright, so far anyway.”

“Thanks?”

“The night’s still young.”

Dorcas grabbed four of the pints, “I waitressed through uni,” she said off James’ look.

“Err, do you have both the ciders there?” James asked.

“Yeah.”

“Let me take one.”

“Why?”

“No reason.”

Dorcas raised her eyebrow.

“I just don’t want to seem like a ponce going back to the table only carrying two, while you’ve got four.”

Dorcas clearly didn’t believe him, but handed over one of the ciders anyway.  Back at the table, James handed Caradoc his drink, before passing Lily one of the ciders and settling in at the end of the booth next to her.  James, pleased at the new seating arrangements that he’d carefully orchestrated, took a sip of his ale.

“Don’t you want your spot back, James?” Caradoc asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” James said, attempting to sound casual.

“You sure?”

“Course,” then turning to Lily, James asked, “So what did you lot do all day?”

“Besides nurse a pretty spectacular hangover?” 

“Well, assuming there was more, sure.”

“I attempted to get some emails done, but not enough to not get stuck at the office late tomorrow.”

“And you’re here? I’m flattered.”

“You shouldn’t be.  Doesn’t take much to beat out work emails,” Lily laughed, “Besides, I never turn down pub trivia.”

“Remus will be happy to hear it.”

“Assuming I pass his test.”

“I’m sure you will, weren’t you on the school quiz bowl team?”

“Ah, now I see why you invited me.”

“Evans,” James said mockingly, “Are you implying I had nefarious reasons for inviting you tonight?”

“Might be,” Lily said, winking.

James one, Caradoc nil, James couldn’t help but think, grinning at Lily.

The food arrived and the table began negotiations over which dish went where and requests for extra Yorkshire puds. Unfortunately, by the time everyone had settled, Caradoc seemed to have engaged Lily in conversation about work (boring).  After a couple of attempts to join their conversation with little success, James all but gave up, glaring at his roast chicken and spearing a bit of it with his fork.  Caradoc droned on about his finance job, occasionally asking Lily questions about her training contract with Macmillan and Bones.  

Damn, a tie game now.

“What about Neil Fudge?  You’ve got to know Neil.”

“What firm is he at?”

“He’s with Malfoy Macnair.”

“Hmm..yeah, I think they do their LPC at ULaw.  We do ours through BPP, so I don’t think we would have crossed paths.”

“I’ll have to introduce you, here why don’t I grab your number.”

Bugger, that was smooth.  Caradoc two. James one.

James tried not to dwell on the fact that he still didn’t have Lily’s number, not that it really mattered.  They managed a perfectly good conversation on Instagram.  Yet, there was something about a phone number that felt all the more official.  He’d have to figure out a way to get hers before the night was over.

“You alright over there, James?” Dorcas called across the table.

“Just living in professional hell,” James yelled back.

“Oi!” Lily turned towards James.

A minor victory.

“Come off it, Evans.  Surely you know what you sound like.”

“Which is?”

“Boring,” James smirked at her.

“I am not boring.”

“Sure about that? I’ve almost fallen asleep in my roast listening to the pair of you.”

It was a little mean, but if there was one thing James knew would keep Lily’s attention on him, it was insulting her.

“Don’t be a prat, James,” Caradoc said leaning forward.

“He’s fine,” Lily said, smirking back, “Honestly, Potter, that’s a bit tame for you.  Has old age made you lose your edge?”

James two. Caradoc two.

James scoffed, “Old age? Aren’t you older than me?”

“Can’t recall.”

“See, I seem to remember getting a slice of your Colin the Caterpillar cake in January and my birthday’s in March so…”

“You didn’t get a feet piece did you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” James said winking.

“You did, didn’t you!”

“Did our relationship not merit a feet piece, Evans?”

“You know very well it didn’t, Potter.”

“And what about now?”

Lily smiled, “Remains to be seen.”

“I didn’t realize there was a hierarchy to Colin the Caterpillar cake slices,” Caradoc interjected.

Lily looked at him as though he’d grown two heads.

“Friendships live and die by Colin the Caterpillar,” James said, very seriously.

“It’s just a cake.  It’s not even that good, if I’m honest.”

Lily and James both gasped.

“You don’t like Colin the Caterpillar?”

“I mean, it’s fine?  I just never got the hype.”

“Dearborn, that’s like saying you don’t get the hype around The Beatles.”

“I’m more of a Rolling Stones, personally, but…”

“Don’t really think that has to be an either or mate.”

“But if it was…” Lily began.

“It’d be the Stones, obviously.”

“And I thought you were alright, Caradoc,” Lily said laughing before turning to James, “You need to vet your friends better, Potter.”

Game over.

“Apparently,” then turned to Caradoc, “You’re on probation, you know.”

Caradoc smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.  James turned back to Lily and noticed she had a bit of mash on her upper lip.  They were nice lips, James decided.  Perfectly red and would probably be very soft. Lily shot him an odd look.  Shit, he’d been staring.

“You’ve got,” he motioned to his own upper lip, “a bit of mash, just there.”

Lily stuck her tongue out and attempted to find it, albeit unsuccessfully.  If James wasn’t thinking about kissing her before, he certainly was now.

“Here, let me.”

James reached his hand out and used this thumb to rub the small bit of mash away.  God, what was he doing? This was bold, even for him.  But, Lily didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

“Thanks, Potter.”

“No problem.”

Caradoc cleared his throat, “Does anyone want another round?  Quiz should be starting soon, James, come help?”

“Err, yeah, alright.”

James stood and waited for Caradoc to negotiate his way out of the booth, before heading back towards the bar.  But, before they could make it, Caradoc abruptly pulled James into the hallway that led to the toilets.

“Oi!”

“James, what the actual fuck.”

“What are you on about?” though James thought he knew exactly what Caradoc was on about.

“Lily.”

“What about her?”

How long could he do this without seeming annoying?

“You were flirting with her!”

“So?”

“So—”

Caradoc paused as an elderly gentleman stepped into the hallway.  The man glared at them as they separated to make room for him.  James shot him a smile, but it just made the man scowl more.

“You boys shouldn’t be hanging round here,” the man said disapprovingly, before opening the door to the men’s toilets.

The door banged shut and Caradoc turned back to James.

“Look, I know you know each other from way back but, I call bagsy.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“You can’t…you can’t call bagsy on Evans.”

“Why not?”

“Well, aside from the fact that it completely takes her desires out of the equation, I’ve known her longer.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Well, we’ve got history.”

“I’ve literally never heard you talk about her before.”

“Well that’s, that’s besides the point, look–”

“Just drop it, alright.  She was very clearly into me last night.”

James rather thought he and Caradoc were remembering very different evenings, but he didn’t say anything.

“I really like her,” Caradoc continued, “And, you…you just got out of a relationship with Poppy.”

“Yeah, and?”

“And you’ve said, multiple times I might add, that you’re not ready for anything.  I mean you just turned down that car park girl, yesterday.  And now, all of a sudden you’re going after Lily, after I expressed interest in her?  It’s fucked, mate.”

When Caradoc put it that way, it did sound a bit fucked.  But, in all fairness to James, he hadn’t realized how much Caradoc had actually been interested in Lily when he’d brought her over.  And how was he supposed to have known that the girl who’d pull him out of his Poppy Nichols shaped funk was Lily Evans of all people.  

This had never happened to James before, fighting over the same bird with one of his mates.  In secondary they weren’t really around girls all too often.  And while he’d gone on the occasional date with one of the local Windsor girls, he’d been more focused on football and mischief than anything else.  Then at uni, he’d met Poppy almost immediately, effectively taking him out of all the hookup drama that ensued within their larger friend group.  James vaguely remembered Sirius and one of the Prewett brothers not speaking for weeks after they’d both gone after the same girl.  Was Lily Evans really worth it? A girl that James hadn’t thought about in years and Caradoc had only just met.  In all honesty, James wasn’t entirely sure, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to find out.

James let out an exasperated sigh, “Look, mate, I don’t want to fight over a girl with you.”

“Nor do I.”

“So what do we do?”

Caradoc opened his mouth.

“That doesn’t involve you calling bagsies.”

“I wasn’t going to say that.”

James was pretty sure he was, but that was neither here nor there.

“Look, what if…” James began, “what if neither of us go for her.”

“Neither of us go for her?”

“Yeah.”

Caradoc appeared to ponder this, leaning back against the wall.  James noticed a bit of mash stuck to his jeans and began to pick at it, small white flakes falling to the floor.  The distant sound of running water filled the hallway, and a moment later the same elderly gentleman appeared, scowl firmly in place. 

“Obviously,” Caradoc began, once the man had gone, “If she goes for one of us…that’s, well that’s neither of our faults is it?”

“No, ‘course not.”

“And we’d, we’d be well within our rights to pursue her…”

“So long as she pursued us first, sure.”

“Right,” Caradoc said, “Gentleman’s agreement, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

Caradoc stuck his hand out, “Alright then.  Neither of us go for her.”

James shook.

“We should, erm, go get the drinks then.  Quiz’s about to start.”

“Yeah, right.”

James followed Caradoc out of the hallway and towards the bar, where he watched Caradoc flag down the bartender and order the next round, making sure that the cider she was pouring was in fact the cider that Lily had specifically requested.  James snorted, as he watched Caradoc then order the same cider for himself.  James wasn’t stupid.  He knew Caradoc wasn’t going to simply back off because they’d agreed to.  In all fairness, James was never going to either.  But, at least he’d be much more subtle about it.  For starters, next time they did a pub quiz, Caradoc certainly wasn’t going to be invited.  After all, what was the phrase, all’s fair in love and war.  And this was certainly a bit of both, James decided.

[cali-holland]

Haz being worried his gf is smarter than him?

☾ blurb weekend ☾

brits don’t hate me for my inaccurate depiction of a pub quiz + cambridge; i just wanna experiene a pub quiz so bad :(

It was pub quiz night, and your team/household was buzzing with excitement. Tom bought the first round of drinks while you all got even more hyped for the pub quiz to start. Cuddled under Harrison’s arm, you began to reminisce on last week’s quiz.

“Now, Harry, remember— when you and I start debating over scientific elements, let me answer the question.” You teased, earning a glare from the curly-haired boy across from you.

“How was I supposed to know that Einsteinium wasn’t discovered by Einstein?”

“You listen to me.” You laughed, squeezing Harrison’s hand that was intertwined with yours. You looked over at him, “And you don’t forget that Lucy was an Australopithecus afarensis.”

“Love, I still don’t know what those words even mean.” Harrison admitted with a chuckle. You smiled before sitting up fully to kiss him.

“Y/N? No way!” You heard your name called from across the room, and your head shot up. Your face lit up as you recognized a few of your former school-mates. While you didn’t talk to them that much anymore, they still got you through the worst four years of education in your life. You excused yourself from the table to talk to them, leaving the boys to their own conversations.

“Who are they?” Tom asked Harrison.

“Friends from uni.” He replied, having met them before.

“We can barely keep up with Y/N. If even more Cambridge graduates are here,” Harry trailed off with a low whistle before drinking some of his beer.

“She carries our team.” Tom laughed.

As he sat back in silence, taking a few sips of his beer, Harrison started to have an odd feeling grow in his chest. He knew you were brilliant, but something about seeing your intelligent, former classmates at a pub quiz was off. He wasn’t jealous of your friends— no, he was worried that you’d think of him as less than. It seemed to put it in perspective that he was intellectually average compared to you. 

That night, your friends’s team ended up beating yours. You got nearly every “book smart” answer right, while the rest of the boys proved their usefulness with the more common knowledge and pop culture questions. As much as Harrison wanted to forget his worrisome thoughts, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being overall not good enough for you. To settle his nerves, he decided to take a break from pub quizzes.

“What do you mean you don’t want to participate in the pub quiz? You love trivia night.” You pouted at your boyfriend as he kept his focus on his laptop. It had been a week since your last one, and, like always, you had all planned on going together.

“I didn’t say I don’t want to go. I just said I have other things to do.” Harrison said, throwing in a nonchalant shrug. It was true— he’d simply said he needed to edit some footage from his drone videos, but you knew him and you knew that that could wait, especially when it came to pub quizzes.

“Editing can wait, and you know it.” You told him. Before he could give you another half-assed response, you grabbed his office chair and spun it to face you.

“Y/N, I-“ He began to protest, but he was cut short as you made yourself comfortable on his lap. The exasperated look on his face disappeared when you leaned in and kissed him.

“Look me in the eye, and tell me why you don’t want to go.” You stated, your hands cupping his cheeks so he couldn’t turn away again while his hands were on your waist, keeping you steady.

“You’re too smart.” He mumbled so quietly that you almost didn’t hear him. Your heart fell at his confession, and he seemed to sense it. One of his hands trailed up to grab your own hand, and he delicately placed a kiss to the inside of your wrist. “Love, I don’t want you to feel bad. You’re so, so brilliant, and I love that brain of yours, but sometimes— I don’t know— I’m worried that you think I’m too stupid.”

“Haz,” You murmured, genuinely surprised by his words. “I don’t think you’re stupid at all. You’re brilliant too. I could never be smart enough to grasp a character’s emotional depth like you can.”

You stroked your hands through his hair, smiling as he leaned into it comfortably. With a newfound fondness in his eyes, he quietly said to you, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” You leaned in to kiss him, smiling when you felt him begin to smile against your lips as well. “Now, come on, we’ve got a pub quiz to win.”

[wild-aloof-rebel]

I've been following you for a while now and I realized I don't know the story behind "national schitt's creek trivia champ." Would you mind talking about that? Was that like a trivia night thing? Was it an actual championship? How many other participants did you crush? Lolol

yeah, i’m def always happy to talk about trivia! 😊

geeks who drink does themed pub quizzes a few times a year. for each one, the same exact quiz is given all across the u.s. on a scheduled day, so even though you’re really only technically competing against people at your own venue, you can also compare your scores to everyone nationwide since everyone had the same questions

in january they did a schitt’s creek quiz, and my team took first at our venue, and then ultimately we ended up having the highest score (95/96) out of all the teams in the entire country. the official rankings had another team with 95 points, but apparently they and another team at their venue both got 94 on the regular quiz and then they got their 95th point from the tiebreaker they had to do (giving them 95/97), so we were the only team who missed just one question on the actual quiz. i’ve been on teams that have won several other sc trivia competitions too at this point, but the geeks who drink one is the only one that truly lets you compare nationwide that way

(and because i already know someone’s gonna ask what question we missed...)

[emmy-writes-sometimes]

“Sometimes i feel like i wanna make out with you is that a friend thing to do?” with Tom Holland please xx

“Can I be honest?” Tom asked as the two of you sipped at a pint you were sharing, since you wanted more than a bottle but couldn’t drink a whole pint on your own. You were sitting in a pub after one of his trivia quizzes, half drunk, waiting on one of the boys to come pick you up. You could feel the heat of Tom’s breath on you as he drank from the pint, then put it back down directly in front of you. 

“Always,” you shrugged in response, thinking it was going to be another one of his dumb jokes. 

“Sometimes I feel like I wanna make out with you. Is that a friend thing to do?” He asked, genuine wonder and confusion in his voice. You looked over at him, just drunk enough that it didn’t shock you to your core. 

“No. But it can be.”

“What if I don’t want it to be?” 

“How about we just do it and figure the rest later?”

“That sounds good,” Tom said. He pushed away the pint and moved his hands to your cheeks and kissed you for the first time, completely unceremoniously. 

[markstratton]

Gaming and Quizzes: Fun Trivia Questions for 2022

It’s a new year and that means it’s time to up your game…gaming and quizzes, that is! Trivia games are often associated with pubs and bars, but that’s not the only setting where you can implement gaming and quizzes. There are all kinds of ways to implement gaming and quizzes into classrooms, boardrooms, and almost any other setting you can think of. 

 With that in mind, today we’re offering up several trivia questions to use in different settings. Whether you’re an educator, a trivia host, a manager, or you simply want great trivia questions to use for your gaming and quizzes endeavours, you’re in the right place.

Fun Trivia Question Examples

Let’s get started. 

Gaming and quizzes in the classroom

Elementary students

Here are 10 trivia questions to try with elementary-school-aged children: 

What fruit do raisins come from? Answer:     Grapes

What does a thermometer measure? Answer:     Temperature

How many pennies/cents are in a quarter?     Answer: 25

Where does Aladdin live? Answer: Agrabah

What is the name of the famous boat that sank     in 1912? Answer: The Titanic

Where can you find the Eiffel Tower? Answer:     Paris

What is Simba’s mom’s name in The Lion King?     Answer: Sarabi

What does the NBA stand for? Answer: National     Basketball Association

How many teams are currently in the NFL?     Answer: 32

Which planet spins the fastest? Answer:     Jupiter

Highschool students

These questions will challenge and excite highschool students and teenagers: 

What is Harry Potter’s middle name? Answer:     James

What is the approximate temperature of Mars?     Answer: -63⁰C

How many bones does a shark have? Answer:     None! (Just cartilage)

What is the closest star to Earth? Answer: The     sun

What is the primary language spoken in Brazil?     Answer: Portuguese

How fast does the Earth spin? Answer: About     1,000 miles per hour

Where is the Grand Ole Opry House? Answer:     Nashville, TN

What is the square root of 81? Answer: 9

What’s another name for a 90 degree angle?     Answer: A right angle 

Which two of Shakespeare’s plays are entirely     written in verse? Answer: Richard II and King John

Fun trivia questions for workplaces

These workplace-themed trivia questions are perfect for team bonding activities: 

What do surveys say is the most annoying thing     their coworkers do? Answer: Not washing their coffee cup.

What do 79% of employees believe is important     to have at work? Answer: Fun

On the TV show Mad Men, where did Don Draper     work? Answer: Sterling Cooper

Name the first company ever to get a     capitalization of $1 trillion. Answer: Apple

What was Nike first called? Answer: Blue     Ribbon Sports

What is the name of the paper company featured     in the US sitcom The Office? Answer: Dunder Mifflin

What is the gift our company gives to     employees who retire?

How many minutes a day do office workers, on     average, spend looking for lost files and other items? Answer: 50 minutes

Name the most expensive item in our cafeteria     vending machine. 

Are worker bees female or male? Answer:     Female.

General trivia for gaming and quizzes with friends and family

Finally, here are some fun general trivia questions that work with almost any group of adults: 

How long is an Olympic swimming pool in     meters? Answer: 50 meters.

What is "cynophobia"? Answer: Fear     of dogs

Which ocean is the Earth’s largest? Answer:     Pacific

Which country consumes the most chocolate per     capita? Answer: Switzerland

What were the four main characters' names in     the TV series "Golden Girls”? Answer: Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and     Sophia

What is the biggest selling music single of     all time? Answer: Candle in the Wind (1997)

Which two countries have not missed one of the     modern-day Olympics? Answer: Greece and Australia

What does the crocodile in Peter Pan swallow?     Answer: An alarm clock

What flavor is Cointreau? Answer: Orange

What’s a “king” honey bee called? Answer: A     drone

 Don’t let another day in 2022 go by without giving gaming and quizzes a try with your friends, teammates, students, or employees!

[paradox-oflife]

massive q and a post part 5 ignore this pls

(unless ur interested) 

1. Do you have a favourite mug? Not really. I had one that was literally so cute it was like a neko atsume art style and it was a cat going uwu

2. Do you know any self defense or martial arts? Yes, actually. My mom was pretty supportive for it because the women’s side on our family is all under 5′2″. I did Aikido and Muay Thai throughout from the beginning of high school to the end. I don’t have as much time in college anymore though, but I’m looking forwards to starting it again. I’ve had to use it one time in my life. Hey Angelica, if you’re reading this you should ask me about it. That’s a story for later though.

3. Who's your favourite movie action hero? uuuuuh Thor? idk

4. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle? Haha in Taiwan that’s the main form of transportation. It’s an electric scooter.

5. Do you collect anything? I wear retainers when I sleep so I have an ongoing collection of retainer cases. 

6. Is there anything you wished would come back into fashion? i was never really one for fashion haha

7. Do you stick to conventional fashions or like to try and be original? bro i literally wear like a sweater, tshirt, and black jeans.

8. Have you ever given someone a handmade present?  I did a woodburning painting of kermit the frog for my friend’s bday

9. Are you introvert or extrovert? I used to be an extrovert, then I turned into an ambivert. High school made me more introverted. So on the spectrum, I’m in the middle but more towards introvert now.

10. If you could have any feature from an animal what would you want? Hmmm. I’m not sure actually. Wings? But that’s kind of inconvenient when I want to sleep.

11. Whats your prefered swimming stroke? Freestyle all the way

12. Have you ever been scuba diving? No

13. Have you ever had a disasterous interview? So far, no, but an interviewer once said I seemed very nervous lol.

14. What makes you nervous? A lot of things really. Too many.

15. Which of the 5 senses would you say is your strongest? Not eyesight because I’m slightly colorblind. Not hearing because I was born with tinnitus. Maybe smell? Or touch? But how do you compare that to taste? Idk

16. What colour are your eyes? Your average asian dark brown

17. Have you ever been to an Art gallery? Yeah. It’s pretty nice, but it’s hard to enjoy it when your impatient brother thinks it’s boring and wants to move on 

18. Do you shout out the answers at the TV whilst watching quiz shows? All the time man. Granted that I actually know what the answer is

19. Are you a valuable asset on a Pub Quiz team? (equivalent to trivia quizzes) To a certain extent I suppose

20. Have you ever won any kind of quiz yourself? Yeah, name the countries. My geography isn’t too bad

21. Do you get over-involved with TV or movie plots at times? Um yes haha

22. Do you own any inflatable furniture? No, but I’d totally get one if it looked sick

23. Whats the highest hill or mountain you've ever climbed? Yosemite’s “Oh my Gosh Point”. The hike up there is so freaking hard because it’s like a 2 hour uphill climb. But the view is so worth it. It literally took my breath away.

24. Do you have a piggy bank? Nope

25. Whats the fastest you've ever travelled in a car? Not that fast. Like idk, maybe in an empty highway. 

26. Could you ever hand milk a cow? I mean... if I had to

27. Do you have popcorn with a movie? Yeah, if I’m hungry. But otherwise I stay off movie snacks because it’s hella expensive.

28. Whats the futhest you've ever got a paper airplane to fly? 20 feet.

29. Have you ever built an igloo? Nope

30. Can you play the harmonica? It doesn’t sound good but yeah

31. Have you ever made a ball of twine or rubberbands? One time, it took forever to make though. My brother and I were being a bit too careless and it somehow exploded.

32. If given the option of having sprinkles in your ice cream do you always take it? Nah. Some ice cream is so good without any added sugar.

33. Could you ever be a living organ donor? Uuuuh, maybe. God my answer sounds so pretentious but if I was a dead body, yeah, sure go for it! Do whatever.

34. Which was your favourite science? Biology, Physics or Chemistry? Bio and Chem were hard but I’m taking it rn so it’s fine. Physics was lowkey boring but it was easy due to being math based.

35. Would you ever go out with someone just cause they're rich? Nope.

36. Have you ever contemplated sueing someone? haha no 

37. Are you pretty devious? Only when it comes to fun games. If it’s a legitimate match in Martial Arts, or some type of thing like that I don’t cheat.

38. Have you ever had a surprise party? (that was an actual surprise) No, the parties I ever go to are just small get togethers.

39. Are you any good at giving massages? No, I kinda feel awkward when I do it.

40. Whats been your worst date ever? Haha imagine having a relationship ;w;

41. Have you ever slapped someone in public? My brother, but it was in a playful manner

42. Have you ever drawn on a sleeping or inebriated person? Yes. Good thing they’re pretty chill. Me and my friend were wheezing.

43. Have you ever warn clothing with the labels/tags still attached? Yeah, and I didn’t even notice until my friend pointed it out.

44. Have you ever slipped on a banana skin? No, but I have seen someone do it before.

45. Are you scared of the dark? Nah.

46. Do you have a lawyer? Nope

47. Have you ever been wolf whistled in public? Uuuh my friend did it out loud in public to me before and I punched her so hard.

48. Whats the worst pickup line you've heard? Something to do with chickens and impeccable?? Can’t remember exactly what it was but I remember cringing.

49. Have you ever been water skiing? Nope

50. Have you ever hopelessly failed a test? Omg yeah in Alg 2/Trig I bombed the HELL out of my first trig test.

51. If you had a year off, what would you want to do? Um, I guess there’s not much I can do because I’m not that rich.

52. How many sms/txt messages do you recieve on average a day? From my discord group chat, a lot. But actual direct text, maybe like 3.

53. How long did you last phone call last? 5 minutes.

54. Do you go to flea markets? Sometimes, if I have time.

55. If you saw someone drop a $10 note, would you claim it for your own or try to return it to them? Return it to them.

56. Have you ever helped someone across the road? No, haven’t stumbled upon that situation yet.

57. Have you ever been horseriding? Nope

58. Have you ever walked a tightrope? Nope x100

59. Have you ever demolished a wall or building? Yeah, it was a thin wall and I used a hammer.

60. If you and a friend both wanted the same thing would you let the friend get it first? Of course, they’re my friend and they deserve the world :)

61. Have you ever argued over who should pay for something? um YES have you ever been to an Asian dinner with other asian families??? The fight to pay the bill for your mates is a war.

62. Do you have any family heirlooms? Nah

63. Are you related or distantly related to anyone famous? No, but it’d be kind of cool.

64. Whats your favourite ocean? The pacific I guess? Idk there’s only seven to choose from

65. Do you correct peoples mistakes? Nah, unless it’s a super important one.

66. Have you ever helped out an injured animal? Yes it was a hummingbird that crashed into my window

67. Do you throw bread for the ducks? I did in New Zealand, but I found out that it was bad so...

68. Do you think babies are little bundles of joy or smelly noisey things? Both

69. Do you give money to street performers? Nah

70. Have you ever tossed your own pancake? Yup

71. Are you any good at egg and spoon races? Bruh i’ve never actually done it before but I’d probably be bad lol

72. Are you allergic to anything? High dosage of cortisone cream

73. Are you ticklish? If you taser me and squeeze my thighs

74. Do you prefer tea,coffee or cocoa? Tea all the way baby

75. Do you like Turkish Delight? If I’m thinking of the right thing, I think they’re alright

76. Do you buy people presents to bring back when you go on holiday? Only for those that ask me

77. Are you tired of answering questions yet? Not yet Angelica!! Keep ‘em coming

78. Have you ever been wheelbarrow racing? No

79. Do you ever forward or reply to chain mails? Never

80. Do you often have a tune in your head you can't name? YEAH it’s classical music so i can’t search up lyrics

81. Has anyone ever approached you thinking you were someone else? Yes. Their excuse was all asians look the same (?!)

82. Have you ever been approached by someone who knew you but you couldn't remember them for the life of you? Yes it was so awkward I kept calling them “dude” until they went away

83. What do you do to keep fit? All I really do is jumprope, some pushups, planks, that sort of thing

84. Are you the sort to step in and try to break up a fight? Depends on who’s in the fight. Sometimes if you try to get involved, they’ll start attacking you

85. Have you ever been in a fight? Yes, ask me about it

86. Have you ever started a rumour? Nah, ya girl aint like that

87. Have you ever heard any outstanding rumours about yourself? YES. Some boy said I got into a car crash. Then one day after school some of my acquaintances asked me if I was okay and I was like ???? what?? Weirdest rumor ever

88. Have you ever been in or had a food fight? Nope

89. When its your birthday do you always wear an age badge? I think this is another UK thing because i’ve literally never heard of anyone doing this before

90. Have you ever starred in an amateur or professional video? Nope. I mean, depends what you mean by amateur. I’ve been in a couple of school projects.

91. If you were comfortably rich would you work hard for more or rest on your laurels? Work, but in a laidback job. Like a flowershop keeper or something.

92. Have you ever been in a position of authority? Yeah, one time in elementary school when the teacher left for the bathroom, she put me in charge B)

93. Have you ever been caught in a compromising position? even despite a valid explanation? uuuh no

94. Have you ever tried to make your own alcohol? Nah because I’m underage

95. If you were ruler of your own country what would you call it? No idea

96. And what title would you give yourself? I’d be the founder, but leave the government stuff to other people. Like I’d be in textbooks, people will be like “Oh yeah, that’s esther she’s pretty cool, she founded this country.” But I wouldn’t do anything.

97. Have you ever had a dream you chased only to be let down when you achived it? Mm it’s comparable to buying an outfit and thinking it’d look nice on you but when you put it on you look bad.

98. Is there anything about the opposite sex you just don't understand or comprehend? How oblivious they can be sometimes. like learn to read between the lines man..

[adelearcherwrites]

The time of year has come again for the annual and much celebrated ‘Pop Quiz’ held at my daughter’s primary school. Yay! I have a bit of a thing for quizzes; I like to exercise my knowledge (or lack of) against others whenever possible. And I particularly like pop quizzes as I’ve always had a bit of an aptitude for music trivia. I mean, I wouldn’t put myself up for Mastermind or anything, but I’m okay.

Every year, approximately eighteen to twenty teams of six come together to pit their wits against one another. They’re usually parents (and friends of those parents) of the school kids. It has been known to see teams with not one member familiar to us from the school playground. We sometimes wondered whether they were professional quiz-goers who toured the South West looking to win quizzes. I don’t know why, there certainly isn’t any monetary gain. But I guess we all do it for the accolade.

If you knew me better than you cared to, you would notice I have the tendency to be a little bit competitive. At least I can be when I have a ghost of a chance. For instance, I wouldn’t be remotely competitive about a 25 yards race across the length of a swimming pool, and that’s because I’m a crap swimmer. But you should try playing against me at ‘Trivial Pursuit’ (you shouldn’t, you’d go right off me). And what’s worse, at this quiz, they only serve wine (I don’t drink wine), beer (I don’t drink beer), or gin and tonic mixers (I do drink gin and tonic, hoorah!). Unfortunately, gin makes me a tad on the aggressive side. Perhaps that’s why they call gin ‘mother’s ruin’, I don’t know. I ought to look it up, but I can’t be bothered – you’re welcome to. But ‘aggressive’ and ‘competitive’ can be an ugly mix.

I’ve been attending this quiz for nigh-on ten years and I haven’t missed a single year. Somewhere along the line, we have christened ourselves ‘The Quizlamic Extremists’. And much to my disgust, we have never won. But I guess it isn’t all about the winning (it is…ha-ha, I’m joking…I’m not). Our usual finishing position is third. We used to fight for that position with another regular team, ‘Lionel’s Itchy’. But now ‘Lionel’s Itchy’ have taken over the running of the quiz – and they do a sterling job of it too. Still, that first or second place continues to elude us – it appears to be something completely out of our reach. In recent years, the top two teams are always the same people, we try to be pragmatic and stoical and not hate them too much. But we do. The winners have been known to parade around the school hall at the end of the quiz, boastful and triumphant over the rest of us. B@stards (not that I’m bitter or anything).

This year, we are a team member down. So a mere five of us will be left to do battle against the rest of the room. Our hip-hop and Bob Dylan expert will be missing and is going to be a great loss to us. But he has to be ‘out of town’ he says, ‘on business’ he says. Some invalid reason like that. All I know is, we need to sit down and discuss his poor sense of priorities one of these days. And if ever I question somebody new about their music knowledge to see if they’d like to fill the vacant spot on our team, they come over all flustered and swear blind they ‘know nothing about music’. Perhaps I put too much pressure on people…? I must reiterate, it’s not like we can feasibly win. But we must give it our all. And as far as replacement team members within the school goes, we seem to have burnt our bridges…

There have been fall-outs with former team members who weren’t invited onto the QEs in subsequent years.There has been minor bickering with other teams who’ve been caught using Google to find out all the answers. Sometimes things get heated. I don’t know why because it’s just a quiz; a school-run night with proceeds going to the school – a mere game. But such is the importance of this school quiz; it can sour friendships, it seems. Either that or it’s just a bit of a strange school. Or we’re too competitive. Or I am. I’m not sure anymore. But on the whole, it’s fun. Honest.

If my brother or his wife lived closer, I’d ask one of them to fill the QE vacancy this year. Their music knowledge (not to mention general knowledge) is second to none. Mind you, if they were on our team, I would be absolutely surplus to requirement. Because we had the same upbringing, my brother has exactly the same music knowledge as me – plus a lot more on top. Once, we visited them where they live in a little village in Wales, attending their local pub’s quiz night. I think my husband and I averaged answering one or two questions each. I did have to overrule once and put my foot down that, ‘it was The Osmonds, not The Jacksons’ (I remember, I answered little else). Other than that, everything else was fielded by my brother and my sister-in-law. It was embarrassing, really. Our team won that night, of course, but the team would have won whether my husband and I were sitting at that table or not. Turns out, winning ‘aint that special if you have bugger-all to do with it.

I’m writing this in the days leading up to the quiz so I can’t tell you the outcome yet. I can tell you we won’t be the winners though, that’s a cert – I’ve long given up hope. I really ought to be getting myself clued-up up on music trivia as we speak, but there’s little point. Music trivia is vast; you either know it or you don’t – so it’s best to wing it. For some odd reason, there seems to be an annual question about Paolo Nutini – at least there was before ‘Lionel’s Itchy’ took over. I think the former quiz-master had a bit of a thing for him… So you see, there’s just no telling what the questions may be. It’s either your era or it isn’t.

Overall, quiz-night is simply a nice night out with friends; exercising your general knowledge, a good opportunity to drink gin and be overly-competitive and a tad aggressive. And we keep showing up because this quiz is now a part of our local tradition and culture. Yes, culture. Next year though, my youngest child will go on to secondary school and I won’t have any kids at this primary school anymore. The year after that, all of the regular team members’ children will have moved on too. When that day comes, I suppose I will have to think about hanging up my quiz hat. It will be for the best. For now, though, the QEs solder on; fighting tooth and nail for the coveted position of third place (at the very best). And alas, I will probably have to spend yet another year watching the winning team conga around the room with an inflatable bottle of champagne. B@stards. Now, where did I put my G&T…?

PS: Last night the QEs came…*drumroll*….THIRD. Again. Gahh (I’m fairly pleased, really)!!!

PPS: There was an Irish dancing round last night (because it was St Patrick’s Day), and Danielle from our team absolutely nailed it. But didn’t win. I just want to point out that in Irish dancing, if done properly, you would have your arms fixed at your sides and would be poker-faced, as Danielle expertly displayed. Still, we’re not bitter or anything.

No malice at all at being robbed

When Danielle woz robbed

Blurry photo of us last night

      Let’s Get Quizzical The time of year has come again for the annual and much celebrated ‘Pop Quiz’ held at my daughter’s primary school.

[thethursdaythree-blog]

March 16, 2017 • Lost

The podcasts were queued. The Contigo was full. The windows were down, and the destination was loaded into Apple Maps. The cotton-like cumulus clouds were picture-perfect against the bold blue sky. It even smelled like sunshine. It was the perfect day for a road trip.

I set off to visit my friend who lived a few hours away, and the drive was just as I had planned, well, until the final turn. As I drove down a winding country road with a cornfield on one side and a cornfield on the other – and nothing else – Siri proudly proclaimed, "Arrived."

I slowed the car to a crawl, and the crawl slowed to a stop. I looked again to my left and my right. Closed my eyes. Rubbed them. Opened them again. Looked again. Corn. Nothing but corn as far as the eye could see. Arrived, indeed – or something.

I was lost.

Siri told me I had arrived, but my elevated heart rate told me otherwise. It said, "You're vulnerable and panicky, and you have no control over the situation, and you're probably going to die." Where were Rand and McNally when I needed them?

Whether driving or in a dead end job or on that never ending quest for meaning and vitality, getting lost can be disorienting and disheartening. Sometimes you know exactly where you are. Other times you end up the middle of nowhere – surrounded by corn – with no idea what to do next.

But here's the thing: If you don't get a little lost, you can't be found. So today's Thursday Three is about getting lost.

"Flight 815" – a 42-second sketch by Jennifer Moxley

+ The Stranger in the Woods

It's rare for me to get lost in a book. I can't remember the last time I finished one in less than 24 hours, but that's exactly what happened this weekend with Michael Finkel's The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit (Amazon, public library). It just released last week and tells the (true) story of Christopher Knight who, at age 20, left his home and vanished into the woods of Maine where he lived alone for 27 years. In that span, Knight said only one word aloud ("Hi"), went completely without human touch, and stole everything he needed from nearby vacationers, covering his tracks so he wouldn't be found.

It's a captivating story, well worth a read (or a listen), but if time is tight, this recent article from The Atlantic tells the story well.

Though the "stranger" in the title is Knight, one closes the book with the sense that Knight, like all seers, is the only sane person in a world gone insane – that modern civilization has made us strangers to ourselves.

If you want a little more before diving in, Finkel used this feature piece from GQ as the starting point for his book. It amounts to an extensive excerpt – complete with a diagram of Knight's camp in the woods. I wouldn't last two days out there.

+ Flow

I've listened to the podcast, Good Job, Brain!, for years. It's one of my favorites. Each week, four trivia nerds sit around a table with microphones, quizzing each other and sharing their most recent trivia discoveries – all in an effort to train for their next pub trivia night. It's a lot of fun.

In their most recent episode, co-host Dana describes the psychological concept of "flow." Flow is essentially "being in the zone." It's getting lost in what you're doing. It's that near-transcendent state where time seems to stop because you're firing on all cylinders, utilizing your talents, and working to overcome a surmountable challenge. "Flow" was named by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and, he maintains, it's the secret to happiness.

In his study, Csíkszentmihályi interviewed creatives, CEOs, athletes, and others. He found that when their hard work was enjoyable – when they were enjoying the constant challenge of their work, getting lost in it – their priorities shifted. They cared less about ambition and less about financial success because the challenge of the work was satisfying in and of itself.

I don't know that I would go so far as to say it's the secret to happiness. I think there's more to it and we're often talking about different things when we talk about happiness. Still, the concept of flow is certainly intriguing. It's something I've experienced myself a handful of times – I just didn't know there was a name for it.

Click here to watch Csíkszentmihályi's 2004 TED Talk on flow. (Or just read the transcript. Might be easier.) There's also a book if you're so inclined (Amazon, public library). And if you want to learn more about Good Job, Brain!, subscribe in your favorite podcast app or follow them on Twitter here.

+ Maps

For Christians around the world, it's the season of Lent – a time to clear out the cobwebs of our souls and clean out the junk drawers of our hearts as we prepare for Easter. It's common in this season to give something up or take on a discipline as part of that work. This Lent, I've been working through Malcolm Guite's excellent anthology, The Word in the Wilderness (Amazon, public library). In it, Guite offers a poem a day for Lent and Easter – some contemporary and some classic. And after each poem, he shares a reflection about the piece. The book has been a meaningful companion along the journey, and Holly Ordway's sonnet from last Thursday is especially fitting for today.

Antique maps, with curlicues of ink As borders, framing what we know, like pages From a book of travelers' tales: look, Here in the margin, tiny ships at sail. No-nonsense maps from family trips: each state Traced out in color-coded numbered highways, A web of roads with labeled city-dots Punctuating the route and its slow stories. Now GPS puts me right at the center, A Ptolemaic shift in my perspective. Pinned where I am, right now, somewhere, I turn And turn to orient myself. I have Directions calculated, maps at hand: Hopelessly lost till I look up at last.

BIG DEAL ALERT: The Thursday Three turns one tomorrow! I sent the first Thursday Three to three people on St. Patrick's Day last year. It's come a long way, and if you've had any part in reading, writing, podcasting, sketching, mixtaping, sharing, inspiring, encouraging, replying, or subscribing, THANK YOU.

Thank you for helping to make this year so special. I couldn't have done it without you. And, hey, if you want to give the Thursday Three another year, consider forwarding it to your friends or use the share, tweet, and forward buttons below. I'm grateful. Until next Thursday, don't be a stranger.

Peace,

Brent