Trivia…Trivial or Therapeutic
24 January 2007It’s Wednesday and that means it’s trivia night at a local bar. It’s not fancy or too high brow, just the DJ running off 3 rounds of 20 questions. Sometimes it’s so hard, the answers are impossible and sometimes it’s so easy the answers are impossible. I have an ever changing team that usually consists of 2-5 older men. While the information they possess is impressive, what they don’t know but have a FIRM opinion on is even more so. Last week I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I’ve been pronouncing “ventriloquist” wrong all my life. Apparently it is “ventrIloquist”. (we had to spell it correctly for the point). I’m a pretty decent speller but the gentleman’s conviction, a moment of self-doubt and respect for my elders let me be persuaded. I was right, he was wrong and his response, “Who knew” was accompanied by a shrug. *I* KNEW! We lost the huge pot, $4 each, by 1 point.
Even with the moments of frustration, I go every week and have a great time. I’m thrilled to remember some bit of trivia nobody else knows and go nuts trying to remember some inane fact that most people really don’t care about. However, it seems to rejuvenate my brain for the week.
Exercising your brain is important but there is some debate whether “stretching your brain” is more important than “stretching your body” when trying to stave off “old timer’s disease” or “CRC”(can’t remember crap).
The Wall Street Journal cites a study done that concludes, “According to a new study, the brain’s long, slow decline may not be inevitable. For the first time, scientists have found something that not only halts the brain shrinkage that starts in a person’s 40s, especially in regions responsible for memory and higher cognition, but actually reverses it: aerobic exercise. As little as three hours a week of brisk walking — no Stairmaster required — apparently increases blood flow to the brain…”
Another site, The Ludo Club, claims that games are good but only certain ones. Those that are “adult level board, card, dice, and domino games which include: abstract strategy games, social strategy games, conflict simulation games, etc”
Personally, I like to everything. Trivia, crosswords, sudoku, logic problems to name a few. Here are a few sites that offer trivia games:
There’s a never ending list of quizzes all throughout the internet, use a search engine, find a site and give it a whirl. You never know how much you know.
Take Care!
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