Quiz Night

Tonight I was invited by my mother's childhood friend, Diana Phillips, to a charity event to benefit rehab for drug addicts in prison. The event was a quiz night--each table was a team of about 10 people and together we had to answer a total of 72 questions split into 6 rounds based on color themes (red, orange, yellow, etc). I was the youngest person at my table and recruited to fill the young American student pop culture niche. We finished 7th out of 40 and I hope that I had something to do with it. I was useless on every single British, historical, or literary question, but here are the questions that I answered right for my team.

1. What South American country exports the most copper? 

Chile! After spending the month of January in Santiago and logging numerous hours Wikipedia researching their economy, I would have kicked myself if I got that wrong. 

2. What Tube line is shown in yellow?

Because all of the civilized adults at the table probably had not taken the tube in a while, I was quick to jump in and say, "ooh, ooh, the Circle line!!!!". I knew this because I spend approximately 1/4 of every day staring at a map of London.  I am sure they would have gotten it without me but it was still exciting to say it first. 

3. In Harry Potter, what is the name of Albus Dumbledore's phoenix? 

This one took me a while. After the question showed up on the screen, every British person at the table looked to me for the answer (really people?!?! none of you know the story of your fellow countrymen!!) and I was SILENT. Will Moseley would have been ashamed of me. But finally, right before we had to hand in our answers for the round, I had a flashback to Richard Harris as Dumbledore explaining the life cycle of his bird...Fawkes. We rejoiced in my sudden memory return. 

4. In the "Orange" category, there was a question about the television show/soap the O.C. As soon as I heard that acronym, the question stood no chance against me. In the arms of which character did Marissa die in the series finale? Not only did I provide the right first name, Ryan, but I also provided the surname of Atwood. 

Now as I review my performance of the night, I feel like a big joke. I answered a question about Chile, the Tube, Harry Potter, and the O.C. So much for useful knowledge. I guess I could add the time when a man at my table asked why a question about an artistic photograph of Kate Moss related to the "Green" category. I knew that... " because moss is green!"