Born To Be Mild

Last autumn, one of my friends from the Hummingbird Hall karaoke night (I wish they'd bring it back) invited me to join her for an evening of Tuesday Trivia at a local restaurant, The Jolly Taxpayer. Another friend from our karaoke group was on the team, as well, and they were looking for a strong player.

Why she picked me, I'll never know.

Actually, that's not true. I used to play Trivial Pursuit all the time—especially with my friends from journalism school—and did quite well. I'm full of useless information.

Anyway, I resisted for the first couple of weeks but finally decided to come out to this trivia night. And I'm glad I did.

There are many teams that fill this Barrhaven restaurant. There were more than a dozen teams that comprised of anywhere from two to 10 players. On the night that I joined, there were three of us on my friends' team, Snow Leopards (they called themselves that because they were all women, and self-proclaimed cougars, and because they're Canadian, they altered that term). They never had more than four players on a given night.

I learned that the Snow Leopards almost always came in dead-last, or very close to the bottom. On my first night with the team, out of about 15 teams, we finished in the top 10.

The Snow Leopards said they wanted to keep me and that they'd start thinking of a new name. I said I had no problems hanging out with Canadian cougars.

I recruited DW to the team, and each week, we finished somewhere in the top two-thirds, and once, in third place. The Snow Leopards were becoming a force to reckon with.

In December, I asked if I could recruit more bodies, as some tables had a large force from which to draw information. We brought in our Paddlefolk; though, at the last minute, I had to pull out because I wasn't feeling well.

The Snow Leopards, with five people on the team, did themselves proud.

The next week, our friends from Pittsburgh came to visit, and I invited them to our trivia night, as our long-time friend, Brad, loved trivia. We were even able to recruit Kid 1 for that night.

But with DW, Kid 1, the Paddlefolk, and me all together, my Snow Leopards friend said our group was too big for her liking, and suggested that I create a team of my own.

We brainstormed for a name, but Brad and Randi suggested that I come up with a name, as they'd only be at trivia for one night only. We had talked about a name like The Wild Bunch but when I called The Jolly Taxpayer to reserve a table for seven people, I could only think of one name for the team:

Born to be Mild.

We were wild in our youth but we've mellowed quite a bit, since.

On that first night with our new team, we finished in second place. I'm sorry to say that the Snow Leopards came in last.

We took a break for Christmas and New Years, and returned for one night in January with DW, our Paddlefolk, and me. We finished in the middle of the pack but had a lot of fun.

In February, we lost one of our Paddlefolk due to a scheduling conflict, but we've also gained one more player, our friend Catheleen. Last week, by the half-time scoring, the four of us were in first place, but we lost the lead in the second half. At the end, there's a final question where you can wager up to 20 points, which we did, and we blew it, sending ourselves down near the bottom of the pack.

But not quite the bottom.

Next Tuesday, we'll be short both Paddlefolk, but we'll have Cat and my mom has expressed an interest to join us. She's pretty good at playing along with Jeopardy! and wants to see how she does at trivia night.

If you're in the Ottawa area and like trivia, come join us at The Jolly Taxpayer. Come up with a team name and call the restaurant to reserve your table. We look forward to seeing you there.

Happy Friday!