Ok, last week/weekend were eventful in KAngie terms. This means we did things outside the house, often with other people. Last Wednesday we went to a trivia night hosted by Democrats Abroad with a few friends. It was just a trivia night so anyone was welcome (even Republicans and Aussies/Kiwis). We went to an excellent Indian restaurant before the trivia gathering which was reminiscent of the Ethiopian place but a bit more tasteful and extremely tasty! We got a vegetarian combo where they pick the three dishes (always risky) and it was freaking great. And how do they cook the rice like that? It's just plain rice but it's so much better after it came from an Indian person's kitchen. And don't even get me started on naan...mmmmmm...
After delicious and inexpensive (ah, no wonder I liked it so much) dinner, we proceeded to trivia night. Trivia, like basketball and fashion, is something I like but am horrible at. I don't have a memory, so how can I answer random questions about inane crap? Plus, to make an argument that doesn't make me sound like such a doofus, I'm an engineer: trained to know how to find information, not just to know it. In fact, I think my entire generation has learned that you don't need to know things, you just need to sit near a google prompt. There is no need for me to remember random things, which is good because I apparently can't.
With this in mind, I'm always amazed at how much crap other people know that I don't. I generally walk around feeling that I am of at least mildly superior intelligence to most folks (but maybe that's just a complex) and yet, it seems like every idiot knows more trivia than I do. I try to make excuses, but, in the trivia contest, I still look like an oaf. I should take up drinking because then I'd at least have an excuse. "Angie was so useless at trivia, she was totally trashed". But no, I just get to be useless and extremely aware of it.
It didn't help that this was political trivia. Granted, I can't think of a trivia subject that I could confidently answer questions about (except "math", but that's not trivia, it's just knowledge; and I probably wouldn't even be all that good at that, sadly), but politics is surely one of the worst. You may as well quiz me on 19th century ship making or something. It's really pathetic. I don't know names. I can't remember dates. And for god's sake, I don't know historic court cases. These were just a few of the categories at this trivia night where I failed miserably, unable to help my team at all. And no, I don't actually know the names of past and present Supreme Court Justices. Not even if it's in the form of true or false questions. My team wouldn't even let me be the person who writes the answers down because I kept spelling everything wrong. "You said Nancy Ferguson?" "No, Betty Anderson - give me the paper". Damn.
Needless to say, we won last place. But, due to a random joke telling contest in the middle of the trivia marathon, Kane managed to win a free pitcher of beer for our table. And you thought racially insensitive jokes couldn't get you anywhere...
So that was trivia night. We followed that up this weekend by renting a car and hitting up the Werribee Open Range Zoo. Since they are partnered with the Healsville Sanctuary, I thought we could give it a try. It was a nice place; I did not feel like the animals were oppressed in any way. It was a nice day and the animals were neat - though I did like the Healsville place more because there were mostly Australian-oriented residents, rather than hippos and rhinos shipped from lord knows where. Still good though. Picture collage to come, don't have time at the moment.
After the zoo I actually had a night of patented Angie sickness - where my insides suddenly decide they need to be on my outside. And with that, we missed a bbq at our friends' house and instead got to relax in the living room/bathroom Saturday night. Oh well. Even though I didn't feel great on Sunday, I refused to waste a $77 car rental so we drove down to Geelong to see what that place was about. It's about an hour away and is one of the larger towns surrounding Melbourne; many people commute from there. And just fyi; it's kind of a hole - I see no reason to return. But it was a nice day anyway. At least until I had to be escorted quickly back home to reacquaint myself with the toilet. Go me.
Still a good week and weekend. And I've fully recovered from strange stomach ailment, for which I still have no viable origin to suspect. Now it's halfway through the week and is only just over a two week countdown until our triumphant return to the States.
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