Sick bastards..

So... What's the opposite of Christopher Reeve?

Christopher Walken.

I know, I know, take your hands from the keyboard and spare me the chastising comment or e-mail. I gasped too... shook my head at the sheer cruelty.. and then, when no one was looking, collapsed into giggles.

Admit it, it makes you laugh.

So we hoped, at least, when we chose that for our quiz team name last night at the Linen Hall. (A regular, Wednesday night occurrence.) After reading it out loud the first time, the quiz master laughed, caught himself, and then muttered, "sick bastards," under his breath. "Sick bastards" then became our name for the remainder of the evening.

Cruel jokes aside, it was an amazing night for the SBs, finishing third overall and holding first place for much of the competition.

Our secret weapon, I'm happy to take credit for, was my friend Deidre, a fellow Irish History student from Monahan. I've always gotten the feeling that Deidre, who moved to Derry and lives in a flat off campus, probably hasn't had much opportunity to meet people since we're postgrads. A problem that I've faced as well. So, I've invited her to come with us on a few occasions and she finally bowed to the pressure this Wednesday and tagged along. It was brilliant, too, because she was easily our most powerful player after John, the mad Scotsman with an eery understanding of soap opera storylines and pop culture.

And it was nice, finally, to be able to count a true Irish person among my group of friends. I have an Irish flatmate but she doesn't count because she has to hang out with us. (Although she is genuinely one of the nicest people I've met.) We frequently hang out with two other Irish students, Barry and Sarah, but they don't count either since they've known our American friend Kerry since high school. And other than that, although our group sometimes includes people from Denmark, France or Germany, we rarely have true Irish students that join our ranks.

And Deidre is plenty fun -- a slightly nerdier (at least when it comes to history) and quieter --version of Rachel and Sarah. (Sarah from high school) I dismissed her as bookish and a bit bland on the first day of class but have since discovered she's quite sarcastic and snide if you actually listen to the things she has to say. She finds it hilarious that I have such enthusiasm for mundane tasks.

Seriously Carie, she'll say, was it totally awesome that we were going to meet at the library to trade notes after class?

Is it really fabulous that we're choosing Thyme Out over O'Briens for coffee?

In other words, she cuts through my bullshit.

Third place this week, however, is a vast improvement and I can only predict a first place finish in the next few weeks. We're running short of witty names, however, so if you have any ideas... send them my way.