I normally try and knock up a summary of this week's Quiz Night before I go to bed. I'm genuinely amazed that I manage to write anything the state I end up in, but I usually upload something. This update comes a few days after the event for a number of reasons. Firstly, I was too drunk to write it on Saturday, secondly, I was too hungover on Sunday and finally, I was too pissed off with myself to write it before now.
It was my turn to host the quiz last week, as I've mentioned before, it is a big responsibility as you basically run the entertainment for the night so I take the task really seriously. I try and make the rounds varied, I try to mix the questions up so everyone has a fair chance of winning I even give hints and send out sneaky answers so people don't get left behind!
I spent hours on the quiz, I'm talking about chipping away at it every night after work for a week, staying up until 02:30 in the morning two nights running, doing half a day at the weekend, all to make sure everything is perfect and we all have a good time - Ms L joked that she would be glad when the quiz was over as she would get me back!
Despite all my effort, I flamingoed up - it is like a cock up only much bigger (Red Dwarf reference there if anyone is interested). By the end of the quiz, I was faced with a screen full of blank stares, people had dropped out some even went to bed (at least you took the quiz with you, God bless!). This wasn't exactly I had in mind if I'm being honest.
The problem wasn't so much with the quiz itself (although that last round seemed like torture, I'm not sure if it was because it was lousy or because I'd lost everyone), but more because I had no awareness of the time. The quiz started at 8ish and finished after 2 AM, no wonder people got off, I'm amazed anyone bothered to stick around.
I should have stopped at midnight and saved the rounds that were left for next time, I should have asked if everyone was ok to continue but I was so focussed on getting through the quiz I forgot about its primary function, to entertain everyone. People had things to do the next day so understandably left, people had been out and about and had to go to bed, I made a big mistake.
I won't lie, I'm absolutely gutted. To paraphrase Denise Royal when talking about her wedding day, 'all I wanted right, was the happiest night of my life'. I wanted everyone to exercise their grey matter, have a laugh and go to bed feeling a little better than they did before I started. What I delivered was akin to torture, in the end, it was like the scene in A Clock Work Orange where the protagonist is forced to watch the screen with his eyelids clamped open, it was relentless.
The next day everyone was very nice about the quiz, Ms DC even wrote a cracking summary as I think she saw my now-deleted 'Fucking Meh' message posted about 3 AM and knew I was angry/upset (angry at myself, not anyone else who took part you understand). Everyone was complimentary in the WhatsApp group but I still feel like crap days later. I missed a trick and it is messing with my head.
This isn't a cry for help, I'm not looking for someone to put their arm around me and tell me everything is going to be alright, it is just me getting it off my chest and acknowledging the mistakes that were made. Sorry to everyone who was too polite to go to bed and to those who might feel rubbish for deciding to slip away. Next time WILL be better...