Well, the last week and a half or so has been action packed, to say the least. Last week was my final week in the 4th grade classroom in which I have been subbing since February 1st. Long story short, it was a good experience, but I'll admit being glad it's over. They definitely didn't make it easy on me.Last week was also, of course, registration week for Trivia (for those of you unfamiliar, you might want to check out my team's page, or the official Trivia page), which means only one thing...Trivia Times pictures! After much brainstorming, digging, and emailing, we were able to figure most of them out, and my internet limitations didn't hinder me as much as I was worried, so I thought that was a good sign for my ability to contribute while playing remotely.
So Friday rolls around, and after school lets out (after lunch...what luck!) I head home to gather up some stuff for the weekend, stop by the store to pick up some snacks and caffeine, and set up shop in Sara's classroom. It didn't take long for the sounds of Freebird to start wafting from the speakers, and the contest was underway. Something soon became clear - despite the fact that most the sites I was searching and trying to access weren't blocked by the school internet's filter like I had feared, the speed (or lack thereof) of the internet connection was a serious issue. Compounded by the fact that I had Skype open and streaming in order to hear the contest in real time, it made internet searching a slow, tedious affair. My normal method of internet searching during Trivia involves a lot of "middle-clicking", opening up search results in new tabs half a dozen at a time and then looking for search terms in the pages...something that just wasn't possible this year. If a single page that was loading had too many pictures or things embedded, it would often take half a song to come up. Combined with some issues in the chat with members back in HQ, it made for a really, really frustrating year of Trivia. To be honest, it wasn't much fun.
Still, I soldiered on in Dad's Computers' Alaska branch office, managed to stay up all but 3 hours (6am-9am Sunday...when I wasn't even all that tired, just feeling frustrated, isolated, and needing a break), and was thrilled when the results were announced. 6th place! The top-ten three-peat and our best finish yet! And while I left school Sunday night feeling like I had done nothing to contribute to this year's success, it's made me even more determined to find a way to make a contribution in the future however I can, on a yearlong basis, so we can come back next year and "rock this house" as a team member put it during the awards ceremony.
Because, as the Oz said in an interview before the contest this year, "No matter what gets you down, Trivia returns."
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4 comments:
Dude, weak! Five paragraphs, and not even get a shout-out as the person who shared your trivia space with you! Half the trivia stank in my classroom was mine. ;)
I liked Pederson's comment when he walked in to find us facing each other, clacking away at our keyboards: "Wow, you guys really aren't on the same team, huh?"
Carrots, peanut butter, and water during TRIVIA?
Was Loki useful during the contest?
Yeah, I actually only drank 2 sodas the entire weekend, and really, I ended up feeling much, much better than I usually do...even had an easier time staying awake than normal without all that extra caffeine. Yay water.
As for the carrots...well, they're not exactly representative...the chex mix, popcorn, and Fritos had already been devoured by Sara and I as of the point at which this picture was taken :-)
Did you ever get the Trivia care package from Capt'n? It was fun watching her gather all the stuff up. Ian actually found cans of Bawls but the package was already sent before we could put it in. Water was my best friend during the contest, I had maybe three cans of pop the whole contest and I had less sleep but still felt on my A game. We missed you the whole contest! I've got a picture I think you'll like. I'll send it to you shortly via email.
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