Quiz ambitions

I've thought a fair bit at one time or another about what my target in quizzing is. Do I even have one? Well, I suppose the obvious answer is just to get better, and that is - and always will be for the duration of my involvement - my constant target. I'm always looking to improve my knowledge in various areas, particular on stuff like science, nature, and sport, where I'm weaker than I'd like to be. I can generally have a decent enough guess on more lowbrow elements of sport (trophies, famous names, etc.), but in the GPs I'm left fumbling like the proverbial madman trying to think up a reasonable-sounding guess. Likewise on science and nature and animals and the like - this is arguably my weakest area all-round, as I know next to nothing about stuff like trees and plants and species of animal and all the rest of it, and they tend to come up pretty often in quizzes.

As anyone who reads this blog will probably know, my participation in the Lancaster City Quiz League has led me to realise my relative strengths and weaknesses. The subjects I think I'm OK at are geography, literature, entertainment, but again it all depends on whether you know what's being asked. I liked the description Olav Bjortomt gave to quiz on his blog as being like a general knowledge lottery, and that's essentially what it is - the more you know (the more tickets, or facts, you acquire), the more - presumably - you'll get right, and the better the chance of you doing well. But, of course, it's not always as simple as that.

My aim for the GPs is for continual improvement at each one I attend. This may not always work out, as difficulty and suitability of questions for me will change from one to another, but I reckon I should see some noticeable improvement if I put the work in on improving. At the Stafford GP (my first ever one) I attended on 3rd May, for example, my score was fairly poor, but I was pleased that I didn't really disgrace myself - in my opinion, anyway - and that my scores were fairly even across the board, apart from in Sport & Leisure which was a couple of marks lower than my average across the other categories.

As a more numerical, measurable ambition, I'd like to break into the UK top 50 or so in the not-too-distant future, but it's probably a big ask at the moment considering I only started becoming properly interested in quizzing in all its guises in the last year or so. 

Does anyone else have specific ambitions in quizzing? Or is it just the taking part that you're bothered about - which is absolutely fair enough, I suppose, as long as you're happy with it?