Our moods were pretty good on a recent night when just “the two of us” decided to pay a visit to McShane’s Pub in Ypsilanti for its bustling trivia scene. As a result of these collective good moods, we were non plussed about my missing out on a cash prize by missing a tiebreaker question and…some other things I did during the game reflecting my good mood that…

All I’m gonna say is… “A gentlemen never asks, and a lady never tells!” 😉

Oh yeah, we got the final question correct! That was another thing adding to our good moods! I even said at the beginning of the game, “Hey how about we get the darn final question correct tonight, dammit?”

Truth be told, it has been a rough year for my husband and I, and we almost feel bad that the year is coming to a close on what appears to be a good note! Waiting for other shoes to drop, ya know?

Things have gotten more peaceful for me at work as of late, thanks to certain epic shopping events being in the rear view, whew!

We finished with 58 points and missed out on a third place win by flubbing a tiebreaker question. Who knew that aircraft carriers weren’t THAT expensive? Apparently not me! Maybe I was thinking they had to be way overpriced like those Pentagon toilets the press wouldn’t stop writing about in the 1980s 🚽 💵 ☺

Here were our questions, which will be heavily abbreviated:

Round One

Holidays – What holiday is traditionally observed on February 14?

Government – What agency is tasked with the protection of the U.S. president?

Special Foods – What different name is used for the cornbread filling when (god I can’t think of a word that doesn’t sound filthy here) inserted inside a cooked bird, as opposed to “dressing,” which is a different word for the same thing, though prepared in a different way? This was not how the host Stacy read the question, which gave away the answer. We all had a good laugh about that!

Round Two

A to Z – What five-letter work beginning with A and ending with Z describes a place filled with excitement?

Hit Music – Adam Levine co-worte what hit song released in 2010 in which the title name drops what founding member of the Rolling Stones?

At the Drug Store – What over the counter cough remedy is made with alpine herbs from Switzerland?

Round Three

Naming Rights – Mount Denali, the highest peak in North America, was known by what other name from 1917-2015?

Residential Animals – President James Buchanan was gifted what two animals, which he kept at his Pennsylvania home because they could not be kept at the White House? Miss. Why couldn’t the question have been about Calvin Coolidge’s pets instead?

I know this image below from the Peacemaker series will give away the answer (hey I said I was in a good mood, which is a hell of a thing for me this crazy time of year):

Magazines – What tech magazine has used the slogan “Where tomorrow is realized” and is part of the Conde Nast group?

Halftime – Can I have your Digits?

When given a short clue, identify the types of numbers:

H1 Nine digit number assigned at birth

H2 For Michigan residents, a letter followed by 12 digits

H3 13 digits for a particular book

H4 Ten digits for Americans to contact each other

Got all of these.

Halftime scores – There were 13 teams playing, with scores ranging from 24 to 36. We were tied for first with 36 with four other teams.

Round Four

US Navy – After the USS Gerald Ford, what will be the second Ford class aircraft carrier scheduled to be commissioned in 2025? Miss.

TV Cities – What US city was setting for both the Dynasty reboot and Designing Women? Miss, we chose a more idyllic city in the same state. Languages – “Marhaba” is a common greeting in what official language of Yemen? Interestingly enough, the bar in which we were playing is next door to a coffee joint whose name is the capital of Yemen! Was this an accident? I’ve lived in the area for such a long time that I remember when a laundromat was in that spot (because we used that laundromat – and while our clothes were washing, we would sit and have drinks in Roundtree (which was the name of the bar that McShanes took over years ago). Wow have I just become a local historian? There was another bar that used to be in the same strip mall called The Edge, which was kind of a pub slash dance club combo. Any locals remember it? I always preferred the pub side to the dance floor section… #balletdropout

Oh yeah we got this – yay points for round four!

Round Five

Upcoming Films – Harris Dickinson, born in 1996, plays an intern in the upcoming film Baby Girl, in which he has an affair with what Oscar winning actress born in 1967? Since neither of us were fortunate enough to have – you know – actually read otr heard anything about this movie, we took to a guessin’. We had it narrowed down to two actresses whom we guessed would be “about that age.” The woman we put down was born in 1972 and sadly has no Oscars (just nominations), and the other woman we thought of definitely has at least a couple of Oscars and was born a year earlier than the incorrect actress we wrote down. Both of the incorrect actresses we thought about were from Australia, and the correct actress we didn’t guess was also Australian! Anyone want to hazard a guess about who ANY of these women are? Hint – Margot Robbie is NOT one of them (nor did we consider her).

Nope, we just couldn’t come up with the correct Australian cougar! Haha 😂

Sports Women – What is the name of the NFL’s first female coach? There were a lot more qualifiers to this question, but we opted to use our “word of the day” to avoid having to answer this one. I think ONE team actually knew the answer to this!

Children’s Toys – Author Jane Austen was reportedly very skilled with what toy that looks like this?

What? Don’t tell me that now you’re thinking about filthy things involving the esteemed author of Sense and Sensibility! Shame, shame! A pox on you!

Yeah, we’d never known this to be anything but “ball in a cup.” There was even a gag on Family Guy all about “ball in a cup.”

Round Six

Corporate Logos – What corporate logo for a personal computer company has its name in a circular logo with one letter rotated 45 degrees?

Modern Art – Using a shade of blue he claimed to have invented, what artist created Blue Monochrome, which is displayed at the Museum of Modern Art?

American Folklore – Babe the Blue Ox is the animal companion of what character from American folklore?

It’s NOT James Buchanan!

Going into the final, we were in third with 58 tied with one other team. The top team had 64 points.

Final Category – Book Titles

A suspense novel by JA Jance published in 2001 shares its title with what epic poem from the 17th century about being cast out of the Garden of Eden?

Got this, which put us in a tiebreaker for third, which I’d only heard that was happening when I was coming back from the bathroom! So I rushed up to answer only to fuck it up!

The question wanted to know how much the USS Gerald Ford cost to US taxpayers (or something like that I didn’t write it down). Yeah the other team Spacecats won this.

This rounds out our trivial pursuits for the week. We are off the hook for My Trivia Live finals Saturday, best of luck to the teams battling it out!

We (allegedly) have a “team” game planned for next week! No, I’m not saying which day. That would make things too easy for you all, wouldn’t it?

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Peacemaker (he also owns a pet bald eagle)!