I know this won’t be much of a “year in review” blog, but I did manage to figure out how much prize money we won over the past year! This amount includes tournament prizes, theme night prizes (even if shared with other players):

$1330!

Dax Shepard in Idiocracy being eloquent. Did you know he’s a Wixom, MI native?

That “averages” to about $25 per week. We’re not the super most awesome trivia team that ever existed…but we’re not too shabby, either! We didn’t win any top prizes in any tournaments this year (though we did win one $2,500 top prize in 2017). Our best one-game haul in 2018 was winning $150/fourth place in April. Another “good” haul was winning $100 in a ’80s movies theme night in July, and playing runner up was winning a $50/second place prize at the very competitive Haymaker bar in Ann Arbor in September. I can proudly say that the final questions in all of these games were pretty much answered by…yours truly!

Hell, even Mike is smiling in this one! The April, 2018 Sporcle Live League Championship at 59 West in Highland.

Our trivia plans are always ever-changing! I had to do battle with some of my own “demons” last fall brought on by stress and depression, and I stepped back quite a bit from competitive trivial pursuits in the last few months of the year. Stepping back from the competition was exactly what I needed to do, and I believe I’m in a much, much better place now.

I still don’t know exactly what our trivia plan for 2019 will be, or if we’ll be able to play in tournaments again. Sporcle has changed how teams qualify for tournaments, so I’ll have to kind of feel things out a bit! Most importantly, I will do my best to listen to my players  – and plan games around when/where THEY want to play. Being tied down to places we don’t all enjoy playing is NOT going to be part of the 2019 plans! Speaking of…

JB’s Smokehouse is officially out. We’ll no longer be playing games there on Thursdays. The Tuesday games will continue at Tower Inn once the new Sporcle Live season starts, and when weather/work schedules permit, the Original Gravity games will be put back on the “menu,” though they will be “occasional” (not every single week). Dave still really enjoys the trivia scene there, and…so do I! Mike is not a fan of the more pricey beer there, but he likes playing when we can get the “gang” together sometimes. MTL games will be put on hiatus until at least three of us agree about where/when we want to play them. We have hired a retired UAW arbitrator to assist with this task (LOL)!

A ’90s music theme night is planned in January, Kim will most likely sign up for that. I’ve already told her that I’m in! Last time we played a ’90s music theme night we won a second place prize. I had the dumb luck of having a final question involving songs that were #1 on the charts…when I was in my senior year of high school! I used to care about “current” music (though I think most current music these days is auto tuned crap).

A very “special” trivia night is planned for this coming Wednesday. I’ve attempted to put together a “Super Mega Dream Team.” Fight fire with fire at a trivia spot famous for its “megateams!” I have five “confirmed” players so far (hey that’s a lot for our team these days).  Everyone seems excited about this! It will be a co-ed naked trivia affair. Just kidding about the naked part. But not really. YES REALLY! We will all keep our clothes on!

That’s what it’s all about! Keep things fresh, ‘yo!

And this is all I want to write today! It’s New Year’s Eve tonight, I will be going out with my “birthday boy” husband, whose birthday is New Year’s Day. We’re going to have some yummy Vietnamese food for dinner, and I’ll be taking him out for drinks after that. A restaurant called Dalat, which used to be in downtown Ypsilanti, has moved into Ann Arbor, so we’ll be checking out their new spot. Their spring rolls are SO good!

I hope all of my readers have a nice new year! I’m geeked about having TWO whole days off in a row! I feel a great weight has been lifted now that the “holidays” are pretty much over. I’m getting my energy levels back (note that I cleaned the house recently without having a gun pointed at my head), my mood is…pretty good, and I want to focus on looking ahead. All of that said…

Happy New Year, Everyone!