Thing 1: Wonderland Trivia

First activity: Monday Night Trivia at the Wonderland Ballroom, in Columbia Heights. Wonderland, bar of skinny hipsters with thick black glasses and effortlessly cool second-hand sweaters, hosts a Trivia Night that is as quirky as the bar itself. The boyfriend and I arrived after work and shortly before 7pm, grabbed a table upstairs where the trivia takes place, and ordered some food. I dined on a footlong sausage, only $3.00, and a side of thin, crispy fries with gooey, tasteless fake cheese product. The food isn't great, but the beer selection happily makes up for it. Along with the potent Delirium Tremens on tap, they have a variety of beers, including one that tastes of rose water, and one that tastes like soap.

Trivia is seven rounds, two of which are "picture" rounds, and each round with ten questions and one bonus, for a total of 77 possible points. What makes it quirky that the trivia is more obscure (i.e. not "american history" but "failed american presidents," not "sports" but "serial killers"), and if you don't know an answer, but you write a really funny wrong one, you win a free beer. You also get a fab prize for funniest team name (bonus points for topical humor, example: "Al Sharpton's Family Owned and Operated Since 1845"). And if you win the whole to do, you get $100 towards your bar tab. The optimistic begin drinking early in the hopes of getting the full $100 paid off. It is a good gimmick.

How'd my team do? Dead last. Embarrassing, sure. But it earns us the right to pick a category for next week, to give us a leg up in the competition. Which means I'll be back to eat another footlong sausage and show off my knowledge of early 90's hip hop next Monday.