I was in a bar with my husband and our friend Brad last night, and Brad dropped a bombshell on me:

“Why don’t we do trivia nights at (blank) again?”

This was a regular Monday night spot in the My Trivia Live league for a couple of seasons, until Brad himself said HE didn’t want to play there anymore! I reminded him of this fact, and he claimed not to have remembered saying it. Who knows? Maybe he genuinely DIDN’T remember saying it (he is a little kooky). He can be kind of a scatterbrain.

I said “I’ll have to think about that.”

Truth be told, I used to enjoy playing there on occasional Monday nights starting in 2016. Sometimes I’d play by myself, sometimes my husband would join me. I’ll never forget winning my first solo first place prize in a MTL game here (read about that game here)! In January, 2018, I decided we’d start playing here to qualify for semifinals, which we did for two consecutive seasons. We switched to this Monday spot from another trivia spot for…multiple reasons (one of which involved Brad, though he will probably claim not to remember this, too).

This “Monday spot” lost its charm for me when it became a place we “had to” win for a semifinal spot. It became the ONLY reason we were playing there. We didn’t really enjoy the bar scene there, or how we were treated by the host, or some of the other players. One of the “nails in the coffin” for and this place was a longtime server I’d really liked moving out of state.  My negative feelings about this place were a huge part of me suffering a major depressive episode in the Fall of 2018. I was in a very…dark place around this time (probably one of the darkest places I’ve ever been in my entire life). And I had to crawl my way out – and make some drastic changes (which I did).

I’ll have to REALLY think about playing here again. Occasional games just to potentially win beer money might be OK, especially in warmer weather, but I don’t think I want this to be a “have to play here” spot ever again. In fact, I’m not sure I want the words “have to” to be part of my trivia vocabulary EVER again. Even if this means we don’t play tournaments anymore (unless it’s just as “guns for hire”).  I have been enjoying the whole “play when and where we feel like it” plan. I also enjoy being able to blow off games when I’m not up to going out to play. It’s strangely…empowering! I’ve “forced” myself to go to more trivia games than I can count, just because qualifying for a semifinal or tournament was on the line. Too tired from a long day at work? Too bad! You’re going to the game, anyway! My husband and I even went as far as driving hundreds of miles on the last days of  different vacations – from within state – and out of state. No mas!  After years of playing trivia very competitively, it’s nice to kind of go back to how it used to be. Before we signed up as a “league” team – when my team played only occasionally, with only the “goal” of possibly winning some prize money. Like it was when we played at Wolverine Brewing Company in the early part of 2010. My teammates are all on board with a more “easy like Sunday morning” approach to trivia games, too (especially my husband Mike).

Not to sound totally selfish, but I think my own mental health is more important than appeasing trivia teammates with short or selective memories. If Brad is truly my friend, I think he will have to understand if I don’t want to play at “that” trivia spot again. Though I have plenty of time to think about it!