I Have The Power!

Fine! The best title I could come up with was He-Man's signature quote. Sue me.

I was thinking about some of my not so useful abilities yesterday. The first, of course, is that I'm pretty strong at general trivia. Of course, my dedication to this type of competition, and the fact that I hold joint custody of no less than 4 geni of Trivial Pursuit, were what inspired then name of my blog. Generally, if I'm playing at a bar, my team has a better than fair chance of finishing in the top 3. I can't take all the credit, because I usually am teamed with some pretty sharp folks.

Of course, it becomes difficult to win when you are playing against a team that is clearly cheating. It's happened several times...you know...people on their cell phones during questions...the trivia poo-bah is too busy, or lazy, to do anything about it. It really annoys me. I know, it's all for fun, but it's not really trivia if you can just call a friend for the answer. Last night really pissed me off. These douchebags at my regular Wednesday night trivia spot have been regular winners. We suspected they had been cheating, so we watched. I have to give them credit, they've gone the next step to texting. Much easier to hide. Grr...

We drew the hosts attention to it afterwards. He's actually one of the better hosts out there, so hopefully he'll snap these punks out of it. The main guy is one of those people you can look at, and if someone told you they were so juvenile as to cheat at trivia, you'd believe them. Sadly, he's actually a college graduate.

On to more positive things. I think I've found a better way to channel my Road Rage. Satellite radio has definitely helped, but I have become Short-cut Man. Now, more than ever, I drive home on a serpentine route. It usually happens about twice a week. I wish I could draw a map, but I'll try and recap:

-Down Clairmont towards I-85...severely backed up...double back to Buford Hwy., down Briarwood to the NE Expressway, turn onto Druid Hills, avoid the jam at Druid and Briarcliff by going down Executive Pkwy. to Shepherd's Ln., and finally onto Briarcliff...which backs up at N. Decatur. Down Emory Dr. to N. Decatur and back onto Briarcliff before finally assuming my regular route home. I think the only job where this might come in handy on a regular basis is if I was a cab driver.

I don't think I'm crazy enough, though. I've noticed that even in Atlanta, a pretty unfriendly city to cabs, that the drivers would rather mow down a pedestrian than spend too much time between fares. I've had a few close shaves.

My final power seems to be predicting my own demise. Whether it be relationships, or jobs, I will either see it coming, or unknowingly make a prophetic statement regarding said fall from grace. I was reading an old e-mail I wrote the other day about my last job...the mortgatge job that I wished I had never taken. In it, I wrote "I'm convinced the key to all sales jobs is to get through the first 6 months without quitting, or getting fired. I'm halfway there!"

I was terminated the next day...