Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
People usually impress us with what they do, rather than what they don’t do. Babe Ruth, for example, hit 714 home runs. Quincy Jones has won 27 Grammys. Isaac Asimov published 506 books. Christopher Lee appeared in 275 films, six of which each grossed over $500 million worldwide. These are impressive numbers.
Harder to remember or celebrate would be the choices that people chose not to make. For example, I can’t remember anyone who served in the Obama administration to have been indicted for a felony. If I am wrong, I am sure that someone will correct me. Ruth Bader Ginsberg was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice by The United States Senate by a vote of 96 to 3, in part because she hadn’t been accused of assaulting anyone. She also assaults no one in the 2018 documentary RBG. I hope she can keep that streak alive.
I became enamored with people who renunciate, and the act of renunciation, when I was a child. I was still in single digits when I vowed never to drink coffee or to smoke a cigarette. In my early teens, I gave up eating meat, and decided not to drink alcohol or take illegal (and most legal) drugs. Of these avowals, I have been able to keep with all but one of them. As I work one night in an Irish Pub, you can probably guess on which vice I changed my mind (with some help). Perhaps because of this abstemious attitude towards health, I’ve been able to keep up my record of never missing teaching a class due to my own health concerns: 28 years and counting!
In the last year, I have begun intermittent fasting and meditating regularly. When I recently had to fast for a surgical procedure, taking a day off from eating was not a problem: Like Kafka’s hunger artist, I was already well-practiced at going without. And meditation came in handy when I found myself in the car returning from Los Angeles yesterday. Whether Kate was driving (and she did the majority of it), or I was behind the wheel, I found myself more alert, less distracted, and just less bored when motoring up the middle of our state. The practice of walking meditation allows one to focus mindfully upon the experience of one’s walk. I’ve delighted in this practice as a bicyclist and as a motorist, as well, discovering that any such insightful travel is relatively “easier” than my meditation practice of sitting alone, eyes closed, accompanied only by my gradually settling thoughts for an hour.
I wish now that I had embraced regular weight-bearing exercise, intermittent fasting, and meditation when I was self-congratulatorily abjuring all those vices. I suppose that sometimes we are better at avoiding than embracing. Shakespeare recommended both, perhaps a middle way, when he wrote, “Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.”
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature versions of the questions I wrote for my son Truman’s 13th birthday party. The topics should/may include the following: jazz musicians and other guitarists, Democrats in the woods, Africa, crosses, dots, Oprah, #19, books and authors, hotel suites, space travel, popular judges, likes and loves, predecessors, bandages, single people and companion animals, Irish materials, commercial portals, discoveries, University of Minnesota, Star Wars, losing streaks, names in the news, critically-acclaimed foreigners, chemical energy, historical congregations, cats, painted bedrooms, French islands, nighttime meals, inked newer limits, slathering, dynamic duos, important decades, American royalty, big companies, and Shakespeare.
Come see de Vere’s Irish Pub tonight. Some of the seats are nicely reupholstered! Also, stay for the Quiz. We start at 7, and could use your noise.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are three questions from a 2016 quiz:
- History. Michelangelo’s statue of David is found in what Italian city?
- Science. According to Purdue University, there is one spring vegetable for which only the young shoots are commonly eaten, for once the buds start to open, the shoots quickly turn woody. Native to Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, name this vegetable that is especially rich in vitamin K.
- Unusual Words. What four-syllable noun refers both to faithfulness and to the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced?
- Summer Fashion. The first Bikini swimsuit was introduced this month (July 2016) how many years ago? Was it 70, 50, or 30 years ago?
- Another Music Question. Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, and Phil Selway make up what British rock band?
P.S. Overheard over breakfast today: “Why does anyone think that Hope Hicks has a brain in her head and can do anything?” Evidently she has a new job at FOX.