I know it doesn’t sound quite as cool as the iconic line from the 1990 film Goodfellas, where Ray Liotta, playing Henry Hill, proclaims:

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.

As for me? As far back as I can remember, my first favorite TV show was “Little House on the Prairie.”

Sure, it was probably a given that I was watching kiddie shows like “Sesame Street,” “The Electric Company” and “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” before I started watching LHOTP. But shows you watched as a non sentient infant hardly count, do they? Does anyone remember the English/ Spanish language kiddie program “Villa Allegre?” That show taught me how to count in Spanish!

I would later learn that LHOTP wasn’t exactly faithful to the books (I read them all). But that doesn’t mean it didn’t have lots of entertaining moments! Michael Landon aka “Pa” getting into fist fights, in practically every episode, Mrs. Oleson and her horribly spoiled snotty kids and henpecked husband, and the real ratings clincher – Laura and Nellie Oleson getting into a mud fight because of their shared love of Almonzo. Who doesn’t love a good cat fight in calico dresses ? 🙀 👊

I’m pretty sure my love of LHOTP preceded my short-lived obsession with Holly Hobbie paraphernalia, but honestly, I don’t know for sure. All I know is that I had Holly Hobbie party gear at my fifth birthday party, and my mom even made a Holly Hobbie inspired dress for me (which I’d outgrown by the time I had that party). Only a couple of years later, I would decide that I was too tomboyish for dresses and skirts, and for years only wore pants/shorts unless I was forced at gunpoint to dress up for special occasions. Hey, I’m trying to make this memoir as exciting as Goodfellas!

Pictures or my very short-lived Holly Hobbie phase didn’t happen? Done and done!

There was even a sun bonnet to go with this ensemble!

Is there a point to to all of this? Why yes, your honor!

Ahem…we had a trivia question asking in which U.S. state author Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder was born!

Oh how her books fascinated – and in some cases – traumatized me! The whole pig slaughtering narrative in Little House in the Big Woods really, really got to me. That poor, poor piggie! How could I possibly eat pork hot dogs or ham after reading that? 🤔 😔🐽 🗡 🌭

So yeah, I knew this answer! About half of the teams playing got this correct (I’ll bet not a lot of guys-only teams got it).

As for the game, it was our highest scoring one in quite a spell -with us having 71 points going into the final question, which we would (of course) not get correct. Still, it was a fun night to get a “crew” together, as a character in Goodfellas might put it! We had four whole players for this game, including Kim S., a “guest” from the longtime team Sparty On – as well as myself, my husband Mike and our longtime teammate and friend Brad.

Here were our very abbreviated questions:

Round One

Theatre – Romeo and Juliet and Othello were penned by what playwright?

Fast Food – Colonel Harland Sanders was best known for founding which fast food chain? A couple of us remembered a virtual trivia game during the pandemic where a host said our answer was wrong because we wrote our the full name rather than using just the initials 🤦‍♀️

Justice – How many sitting justices are there on the U.S. Supreme Court?

Round Two

Transportation – In which country would you find a freeway called the Autobahn?

Landmarks – What British landmark is mentioned in the song “My Fair Lady?”

Senses – The term “tactile” refers to which sense?

Round Three

Comedy – In the BBC Comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus and later, internet memes, red-clad characters proclaim that “Nobody Expects” what?

Same Name – A river in the Underworld according to Greek mythology and a classic rock band share what name?

Herbs – What nine-letter healing herb is also sometimes called purple coneflower?

Halftime – Studies

When given the names of words describing studies, identify the things studied:

Anthropology, oncology, dendrology, apiology

Got all of these.

Round Four

Measurements – Morphometry is defined as the measurement of what aspect of an object?

Movie Taglines – What 1972 Wes Craven film had the tagline To avoid fainting, keep repeating ‘It’s only a movie?” Miss.

Sports Rivalries – “The Stanford Axe” is the name for the trophy given to the winner of an annual “big game” involving Stanford and what other longtime rival team? Yay Brad!

Round Five –

Authors – In which U.S. state was Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder born?

TV Firsts – On which show hosted by Geraldo Rivera did TV viewers first see a televised broadcast of the Zapruder film in 1975 (which showed the assassination of John F. Kennedy)? There was a confusing qualifier added to the question which hinted that the show’s title was “opposite” of another show premiering in the same decade. We decided to use our “word of the day” freebie answer rather than trying to figure this out, since none of us remembered ever having watched this or reading about it.

We’d try answering this, but seriously… we just couldn’t be fucked! 😂

Anyone remember that overly hyped show where Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s vault or whatever the hell it was – and there was NO big reveal of any kind? Oh the old, old days of “real” reality TV?

While we’re on the subject of reality TV from days of auld, who remembers “That’s Incredible?” The alleged Toys R Us ghost? That was riveting stuff for a kid too dumb to know any better!

Privacy- What do the letters GDPR stand for in reference to European Privacy law reform?

Nobody got this correct, so we we were given this other question:

Assassinations – Who was assassinated on March 15 in 44 BCE?

Round Five

Musicians – What musician played a flute owned by James Madison (which doesn’t sound quite as filthy as “played James Madison’s flute”) at the Smithsonian in 2022? One time at band camp with James Madison😉 🎶 🪈 😂

States – Which state’s nickname is “The Magnolia State?”

Food – What word describes food prepared under strict dietary standards for persons of the Jewish faith?

We were in first out of eight teams going into the final with 71 points. I didn’t catch or recognize the team right behind us with 64 points.

Final Category: Speeches

Which president’s inauguration speech was the shortest of all presidential inauguration speeches, at just 135 words?

Miss. Dead Guys playing with a shorter than usual hashtag name took second, Spacecats took first. I didn’t catch who took third.

We’ll consider playing here more in the coming weeks even if only occasionally! It’s close to home, Powell’s trivia Sundays is on hold, and I don’t need to bring seven other players to have a shot at a prize like I do at a certain “other” trivia spot close to home! Or arrive up to two hours early to hold a table!

We’re still figuring out when and where we’ll wage our next trivia battle. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Geraldo Rivera!