And the Oscar Goes to . . .

I have a head full of useless knowledge and fortunately, I have an outlet to relieve the pressure – TRIVIA NIGHT!

After removing the motor from the Christmas tree stand and mounting our homemade Oscar, we deemed ourselves ready for the “Let’s Go to the Movies” theme at Saturday’s trivia night.

Since our table theme was “The Oscars”, we decided to act as though we knew the answers to all the questions regardless of whether or not we actually had the right answer. Turns out, we would have to use our acting skills so often we should have won an Oscar.





Being the “Actors/Actresses” that we were, we should have known everything about the movies, right? We couldn’t be more wrong. In the “Oscar” category, we got a mere seven out of ten correct answers and the majority of the questions were about the 2009 Oscars! Oh, and we had to use a “mulligan” in order to get our score that high. Being the professionals we were, we played it off with fake smiles and golf clapping.

Our next, ‘we’re so awesome, we’re going to fall flat on our faces moment’, came at “Scavenger Hunt” time. This is the game where the MC goes through a list of items and as long as you have the items on your person, you are still in the game.

I was TOTALLY prepared for this. I had brought my pretty evening bag for walking the red carpet, but then I had another purse packed full of crap. This purse was reserved specifically for trivia nights, specifically for this game. I had everything in there:

ATM Receipt, Drycleaners Receipt, Sporting Event Ticket Stub, Pencil, Pen,Eyeglass Case, Teabag (unused), Tape, Metrolink Ticket, Daycare Receipt, $2 Bill, Raffle, Ticket Stubs, Breath Mints, Appointment Card, Cough Medicine, Emory Board, USB Cable, Screwdriver, Whistle, A Piece of Ribbon, A Length of String, Permanent Marker, Highlighter, Toothpaste, Business Card, Movie Ticket Stub, Mustard, Ketchup, Salt, Pepper, Penny, Nickel, Dime, Quarter, Gold Dollar, Deck of Cards, Coupon, Stamps, Lighter, Moist Towelette, Artificial Sweetner, Facial Tissue, Straw, Hand Sanitizer, Dental Floss, Flash Drive, Clothes Pin, Nail Polish, Lip Balm, Band-aide, Cough Drop, Wooden Match, Hair Clip, Tweezers, Candle, Screw, Flashlight, Rubberband, Toothpick, Playing Die, Battery, Hard Candy, Binder Clip, Paper Clip, Nail Clippers, Bobbie Pin, Button, Chuck E Cheese Token, and a Safety Pin.

And I was derailed on Scavenger Hunt item number three – A STICK OF GUM! As we were reviewing the contents of the crap purse prior to leaving, we found a piece of gum that was deteriorating. We threw it in the trash, but forgot to add a new piece to the mix.

In an effort to prevent other tables from benefiting from our brilliance, I brought post-it notes so we could write answers down & pass them around instead of trying to mouth them across the table. It’s a round table and beer was free so the telephone game from one side to the other was not going to yield a positive outcome. From past experience, trying to read lips when there were four of them moving was also a problem as the night wore on.

The post-its were working really well. They were getting needed information over to the secretary (aka answer writer person). See an example below:



Then, we got to a category where we could just throw in the towel (plus a mulligan). This was the “Manly, Yes” category. I don’t know who named the category as I really don’t get the title, but it was about movies guys should know about. Our’s didn’t know much.

One of the questions was “Name the fighter portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the moving Raging Bull.”

A serious comment was uttered, “It’s gotta be a white guy, right?” Well, I don’t know. Is Robert DeNiro white???

We had no use for the post-its in that round so we used them for other things.



At one point we had to unplug Oscar. We were fortunate enough to have a table right near a floor outlet, but it was also right in the middle of the walk-way to the beer stand. While the cord was taped down, people kept knocking the plug out of the outlet. During a more coherent time, we decided everyone’s safety as well as the protection of the cord itself, we should unplug Oscar.

During a less coherent time, I wanted him to light up and turn again. Being the darling husband he is, Hubby yanked up the cord and ran it over to a wall outlet. Mind you, it still ran across a walk way. When a tablemate pointed out someone could trip on the cord, Hubby’s response was, “What? There’s still slack in the line.”

A category, we ladies rocked at was about chick-flicks. Post-it notes were back in the swing and they were a flyin’. To this question, I had a post-it note thrust at me with such authority, I had to go with the written answer.

The question: “In the movie Sophie’s Choice, Sophie had to decide which of her children got to live. Did she choose her son or her daughter?”

The answer: “Her son.”

The Post-It: “Her daughter.” Wah, wah, wahhhhhh.

Before the last round they did announce the winning table. It was us!!! We got out our real smiles, high fived each other and did quite a few “Whoo-who” noises – all out obnoxious and very un-oscarly. My sister won for best costume (she’s the one in her wedding dress).

Since we knew we won for best table and had no chance of winning the night, we really let it all hang out for the last round.

And I received one last post-it.


Silver Lining:

1. I honestly believe our table will be remembered for a long time – best table theme, best dressed, most beers consumed from champagne flutes, most obnoxious . . .

2. Hubby and I have a winning streak going now. We won for best table theme last year too. The pressure – I don’t know if I can handle it (maybe this isn’t a good thing).