dudemanflab's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Kitten to Cat. Hello, new diaryland.... I wish that I could update without having to concentrate so much. It's like coming back from Christmas break and finding out your roommate has changed the room around. Ill at ease. Tonight I competed in the Seventh Annual Carlsbad Knowledge Bowl, a whos-who affair at the local community college. Lawyers, accountants, professors, students, and a peculiarly large group of Mormons all locked in fierce grip. As I walked in the building, two women were pouring picante and mixing Hawaiian punch and Sprite to prove it. Not the most original drink (One woman noted, "Hawaiian Punch Lite"), but I wasn't here for the spirits. I was there to win. A woman is announcing the rules to the group. If we buzz before the answer is finished, the MC will not read the rest of the question. If the first team to buzz gets the question wrong, the second team will have 10 seconds to consider the question. Each team that buzzes will have 10 seconds. I know this! I know this! Just let us play. She caps it off with, "Now remember, we are only here for fun. No one should get their feelings hurt because it's only a game." But is anything in a small town really "just a game"? Story short-- me, two guys from Physics, and another friend became The Turkey Bowlers, the best cockstrut name we could muster. So my team, The Turkey Bowlers, sits near the back, snacking on the offerings. Drops his plate with a goofy smile, "How'd you know?" Not much time to reflect as we're called to the stand. Our first taste of the competition was The Hangers, three pre-teen kids and one indulgent father with a handlebar moustache. I recognized the man from hunter's safety, but now he wasn't quite in his element. And while the first questions were not too hard, the crowd was even easier. "The banks of this city are said to rest near the Seine..." "What's wrong with this guy?" my friend asks. "Is it just me or is this guy weird? I mean, who says that?" The Hangers, apparently still in warm up mode, cannot keep up with our lightning buzzes, and we go out to the lobby to get a cup of punch. My friend is serving himself some more chips and salsa and laughing. "Dude, I am so hungry." At this point, I'm in a strange place. I'm competing at a knowledge bowl, the rural measure of civic honor and intellectual status, but in several minutes, the heat will be on. I will sit at that fold up table, wrapped in undulant linens. On one side of me sits a guy who's too blazed to even push the buzzer and on the other are two of my teammates, completely unaware, but with just as much honor on the line. I'm pulled. Being tugged in two ways. Should I tell my other teammates about my friend so we can decide together what to do, and prevent him from making a fool of us? or Should I wait it out, hoping my friend won't buzz or shout out a wrong answer, and that my other teammates won't mind in the end? We're sitting down and I have chosen to stick by the latter, pending a disaster. "So you have a sister, right?" (STORY BREAK-- I've spent an hour, and must go to sleep. Maybe I'll finish this tomorrow. Nothing below except notes.)
"This miraculous transplant as the orangatang donated what organ to a human?
"Slide number 6. This rap star was famous for criticizing George Bush, saying he did not care about black people." "I could've told you who it was," says my friend. "You should have asked me." 11:39 p.m. - March 01, 2008 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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