Thursday 16 June 2011

Quiz Affective Disorder

Well, I’d like to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday. 47, thanks for asking. Actually that makes me think. I have been playing in pub quizzes , and league quizzes for that matter since 1988, before I turned 24. So actually I can truthfully say that I have been a pub and league quizzer for pretty much half my life now.

Obviously I shall be celebrating this very fact in tonight’s quiz in the rugby club. Its not my turn to do the questions, though, since I did it last week. Tonight its Dai Norwich ( so called because a) his name is David, and b) he’s from Norwich. ) I’ll be honest, I’ve often inwardly scoffed when I’ve heard people, whether it be on the box, the radio, or in the flesh, saying that their hobby is not so much a hobby for them as a way of life. But now that I come to think of it , its pretty much that way with me with quizzing.

Here’s a question ? How do you measure out time ? No, I’m not being funny, or philosophical, it’s a genuine question. I measure time in three ways. Firstly, there’s the day to day minute to minute time I measure out with my watch. Stunning observation there. However I also , in the larger sense measure out time in units of the teaching I do. I might not be able to tell you what the precise time of day is, but I can tell you exactly where I am in a lesson, and how long it is to go until the next break/lunchtime/ hometime. In the larger cycle of teacher time, I can tell you exactly where we are in the term, and how long it is to go until the next holiday ( to which question the correct answer is always – too long. )

Its true to say, though, I also find myself measuring out time in units of quiz time . At any given point in the week I have a sense of just how long I’m going to have to wait until the next quiz. My nearest and dearest have made the observation that they would never need a calendar to tell them its Thursday night, for example, because they can always gauge it from the mood I’m in. Tuesday – generally a grumpy sod because there’s no quiz – especially so at the moment while there’s no quiz at the Duke of Wellington in Cowbridge at the moment. Wednesday – slightly better – Thursday usually a lot more full of the joys of Spring because - hooray - its the quiz in the rugby club, and Friday not too bad because the weekend is coming anyway.

Is there a name for this ? Maybe not, although I bet that even in this day and age you could get funding to research it. Quiz Affective Disorder – QUAD for short ? Maybe I’m not quite such a hopeless case as I think. Time was , when I started going to the club in 1995 that I used to enjoy playing in the quizzes, but I absolutely loved compiling the questions and being question master, so much that given carte blanche to do so ( which I was not ) I would have produced the quiz myself every week. I still enjoy being question master, but I don’t mind going four or five weeks between stints if need be now. I’m not exactly sure why.

4 comments:

HughTube said...

Wondered if you would be interested in seeing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=915xVvbOMy8 from the British Student Quiz Championships held last Saturday.

Londinius said...

Thanks Hugh. I've only watched the first couple of minutes so far . Would those be the dulcet tones of David Stainer asking the questions ? I'm going to post the link you've given us in a main post now.

Thanks

Dave

HughTube said...

They are, he was one of the readers on the day and the finalists chose him to read for them.

DanielFullard said...

Interesting post as I have measured time in all sorts of way. When I was younger I was mad keen on Athletics and would measure time based on the next competition of contest. (That reminds me the european team even is on this weekend so better get settled in front of the tv soon).

I do measure my week based on quizzes now too! For instance, when a monday morning comes, for me its not the start of the week, its two more shifts till the Southside Quiz.