Trivial, just for you

I just got home from being the entertainment at a private party, a woman's 60th-birthday party, in fact. With the assistance of B-Cutie Nicki, I did 45 minutes of customized trivia, about this woman's life, interests, etc.

This quiz was considerably more personalized than most of what I've done in the past—100 percent of the material had some direct link to the birthday girl, whether it dealt with personal details (where she and her husband went for the honeymoon) or her interests (she's a Facebook addict, so I played with that). Usually, people want the individualized material mixed in with random, audience-appropriate trivia, which I mostly draw from the BQT storehouse. So it was an interesting project

The Internet makes this easier than it might otherwise be; google nearly anyone and you get something useful (I, for instance, wrote a book about scurvy). But primarily, I've worked out a survey I send to the client, the guest of honor's spouse/children/etc., asking questions about his/her life and interests. Today's subject has two daughters who gave me some pretty juicy details. It would be bad form to reveal too much (I ain't naming names), but here are some examples of what I learned about this woman.

-- She "drives her daughters insane with all her nonsense"
-- She "says she has a crush on Bob Dylan"
-- She malaprops the phrase raise the roof as lift the ceiling
-- She has a cousin who slept with his own mother

Each of these facts was the basis for a different question, which just goes to prove that trivia can be found in nearly anything.

My point? You should hire me to do the same for you.