A New Experience

In my life, I have succeeded at most of what I've tried—from school to music to acting to appearing on a TV quiz show. The only lack of success I can think of is my run for office in 2002. However, I had never, as far as I can remember, quit anything—until now.

Even though my appearance on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" was over four years ago, I still participate in an internet message board related to the show. The board, or Bored as the regulars call it, has migrated to several locations over the past few years, and people have come and gone, but one thing has been fairly constant and consistent—the Question of the Day. The QoD, as it is shortened, is a monthly trivia contest for the Bored's participants. The citizens of this particular internet community are unusually adept at trivia, and as is the nature of the species, we are very competitive. The QoDMeister gets to set the format of the game, and the monthly winner earns the right to run the game the following month. For a long time, the winner had never declined the opportunity to host, but eventually someone did. In that case, usually we just go down the final standings until somebody agrees to host.

Over the past four-and-a-half years, I have won the QoD a few times. Most recently, I won in May. I agreed to host the game this month, and although I started strong, I quickly lost my motivation and petered out. This morning, I posted a message to the Bored to let them know that I would not be finishing the game.

I know in the "grand scheme of things" that this game isn't that significant, but as I said before, I think this is the first time I've ever quit anything.