I'm no longer playing Geek Trivia.
Because now I'm trying to WRITE for it.
Last week, after the most recent Geek Trivia, I wrote and sent a grip of questions to Bobby, because he and Cort are willing to take questions and suggestions for questions. I wrote zealously, sometimes while cackling, and didn't double-check (or even think to double-check) what that would do to my playing status. (Some more context: I'd written a few questions last year, and sent them to the Things From Another World employees who were writing the questions at the time. Those questions never got used, and never affected whether or not I could play.) Silly me, I'd assumed that they'd get used in one particular game that I'd sit out, and that would be that.
Nope. There are A LOT of questions. Cort and Bobby needed 40 questions every two weeks -- since reduced to needing 30 every two weeks, because games were running long enough to delay screenings in the McMenamin's Kennedy School theater where Geek Trivia is held now -- so they compile many. Dozens, out of which the 30 get chosen, with leftovers waiting for use two or four or 12 weeks later. And it's more trouble than it's worth to check who wrote what so they can say "Hey, [Other Writer], your question about what exactly's being described in Peanut Butter Jelly Time+ is going to be asked next Tuesday, so don't play that night, okay?" And if said writer DOES go, and hears that question seven questions in, suddenly that writer's OUT, unable to play more, and that'd be frustrating for him/her and his/her team.
So playing is out. (And once I knew that, I sent a Facebook message to the people I've played with most often lately, giving them a week's advance warning that I won't be part of their or any team.)
Again, I didn't plan to pull myself out of the game completely. But as I thought about it more, I'm good about it. Because I'd noticed that in recent Geek Trivias, I was getting more spun up than I really wanted to be. I was getting stressed. And I wasn't having as much fun. (One time I really did tell myself Be Zen about this. It sort of helped.) Plus, I've won big at these already. Obviously the big win last year that got me the trip to San Diego Comic Con, but also other, satisfying wins. I've been on grand prize-winning teams, or at least placing teams, multiple times. Maybe this makes it more likely that other players can win the big prizes.
So I'll go, and watch. The atmosphere at these games is a good kind of insane, including in the tie-breakers: those have included trying to guess the piece of movie or TV music that Cort plays, and now includes whipping out game controls and playing a round of Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. It REALLY gets like a wrestling crowd then. (That's made Bobby say that more places should have gaming nights where you can play these games on a big screen with an audience. Some places have done this; more probably should.) I'll have a meal, or at least popcorn, and witness the glorious nerd rage and nerd ecstasy. This is an event where people pump their arms and yell "Hell yeah!" over remembering all three Brontë sisters.
Also, I'm writing. I've started my next batch of potential Geek Trivia questions. It's fun to rack the garbage pail of knowledge I call my brain for a way to form the questions. It's also fun to try to write more like Cort and Bobby, who are far more ready to be smart-assed in print than I've been. (By the way, if my questions do get used, they're likely to get rewritten. I'm fine with that, too.) Maybe my questions will inspire nerd rage! That would be AWESOME.
+ Not one of my questions.