Pre-Challenge Mat Chat

[clauderainsrm]

 Come on in folx!



Luzon. LaMina.  Getting your first look at the new Asaga.   

Megatronix  voted out at the last tribal council.  


alycewilson  - Happy to see your old tribemate, adoptedwriter,  still with us?  

bsgsix - Does it give you hope, seeing someone alone on a new tribe, surviving a tribal council?  Or does that make you worried to see Asaga voting out one of your old tribe mates? 

gunwithoutmusic  -  Do the old tribal lines still exist, or have those connections been discarded in favor of those you are making on LaMina? 

n3m3sis43  -    When you saw the new challenge, what was your first thought on how to tackle it? 

halfshellvenus  -  Has Asaga been discussing the challenges ahead of time or has everyone been operating in their own solos for most of the process? 

eeyore_grrl  -  What about LaMina?  What is your process?  How is the new tribe dynamic compared to your time at Asaga? 

minikin25 -  You completed the challenge early this week.  Do you think that gives you an advantage in terms of less competition for people to read it? Or is it more of a disadvantage in that everyone else knows the mark to beat? 

adoptedwriter  - You shot right out of the gate as well.  Do you feel you have something to prove to your new tribe, to show them how valuable you are? 

flipflop_diva - You are someone else who ended up being "out numbered" on a new tribe.  How has that experience been for you on LaMina? 

lawchicky819  - You've gone from being on a dominant tribe, to now being on the tribe down a member.  How does that impact your overall outlook for this week? 

bleodswean  - I've recently heard someone describe this game as "Some people are playing Idol. Some are playing Survivor and some are trying to do something in between" - do you think that's accurate? 

murilelle - What are YOU playing right now? 

wolfden - Several weeks into this experience, what role do the outside friendships play in this game?  Does it make it harder (because they are your friends), or easier (because you know the friendship will endure and this is "just a game") , to vote each other out?  

impoetry - You missed the deadline last week. Does that put extra pressure on you to nail your entry this time around? 


(more questions to come) 

Comments

[alycewilson]

Happy to see your old tribemate, adoptedwriter, still with us?

You know I am! We used to share family stories around the campfire, so I'm so glad to see her sticking around!

[adoptedwriter]

🥰🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🏝🏝🏝⛺️ (shares treats all around)

[alycewilson]

Yes, that's the other reason we like her so much. All the treats!

[gunwithoutmusic]

Do the old tribal lines still exist, or have those connections been discarded in favor of those you are making on LaMina?

One thing I know for sure is that I can never know anything for sure, so I can't really speak for any of the other players in my tribe, but I'm not personally looking at Old Asaga vs. Old Luzon when it comes to La Mina. We're just La Mina. Sure, that's easy for me to say since La Mina is made up of a majority of Old Asaga with one odd man out, but I for one have definitely welcomed flipflop_diva into the fold and I think of the five of us as a brand new tribe. Maybe part of that is from being, in fact, a new tribe. I don't know that I necessarily need to discard connections I made on Asaga, though. Right now, we're still in a tribe game, so I want to show my tribe support, but once we get to the merge, I hope I can rely on all of the relationships I've made to help me out.

But I have to ask myself that same question of those Asaga members that aren't in a tribe with me anymore - will people stick along tribal lines after the merge, and if they do stick along tribal lines, which lines will they stick by? We had a good camaraderie in our original tribes, and I'm sure everyone's having a good camaraderie in their new tribes, so it's a lot to think about. But I can only control what I do and hope that people like me enough to want to keep me around. :)

[bsgsix]

Does it give you hope, seeing someone alone on a new tribe, surviving a tribal council? Or does that make you worried to see Asaga voting out one of your old tribe mates?

Of course I'm happy that no one is voting off a new player just because that person came from an older tribe - and I don't think my first, amazing team would play that way. Writing is paramount - quality should come first. Voting out a new player isn't something you'd look to do if you're trying to win a competition as it is, unless that player is 1)a weak link or 2)not showing up/not really playing at all. Knowing that was NOT the case? Well, of course I'm glad that players can switch teams and avoid Tribal, but it should always be based on quality and how much they are willing to show up and play.

As sorry as I am that Asaga had to go to Tribal, it sounds like - and I know it's painful no matter WHAT, so please know I'm not discounting that - someone was ready to go for the time being. Is that easy? NO! Does it help the decision? Absolutely. Asaga faced that in the first week, and again, it wasn't easy. People were still sad. So that's an odd question to answer because I know that, this week, that player was voted off because she volunteered herself (the comments say as much, so no, not gossip - just remembering what I read in the Tribal Council Reveal thread). If you're asking me if it worries me in the future, the answer is still no. I still think that, while the decisions are tough for every team who has to go to Council, teams will talk and deliberate (especially since they are all so small right now), and will hopefully come to an honest, fair answer: who wants to stick around, who can stick around, and if EVERYONE wants to stick around - then who can help lead to a victory where quality writing is paramount?

tl;dr: I don't feel worry or hope. I feel excitement going forward for all of us, I feel curiosity about merging/Edge of Extinction, and I'm looking forward to a good, clean, drama-free week with more of the excellent writing I've been seeing this season!

[eeyore_grrl]

"What about LaMina? What is your process? How is the new tribe dynamic compared to your time at Asaga?"

We open rooms for us to talk amongst ourselves and ask for proofreaders or ideas. I wasn't in Asaga particularly long, but my time is different because I'm supposedly in charge or something... I'm a great leader in the classroom, but admit to being a less than stellar leader of adults. But I'm trying to have some cohesion and togetherness.

A Question!

[murielle]

"What are YOU playing right now?"

You! ;-P

Seriously? I'm trying to play Idol, but keep getting drawn into Survivor which is way too stressful for me, so I guess I'm aiming for something in between. Surdol? Idvor? Dolviv? Something like that. :-)

Have a nice day, Gary! :-D

[impoetry]

DEADLINE? I've been on the other end of the island waiting to start. Where have you all been? I've survived two weeks on a single bean!

(Sorry, had an unplanned ER visit that wiped me out for a while, but I'm gonna be ok!)

Yes, tons of pressure now that you're all on the correct beach. I'm really hoping, and I might be getting ahead of myself, but, I'm really hoping for another bean.

[murielle]

Oh no! Are you okay?

Hands you bowl of rice, and fish, and beans and big cup of coconut coffee.

Sit, sit, take your time.

[adoptedwriter]

Yikes! The ER! Scary place these days! Take care!

[megatronix]

Oh no, I'm glad you're going to be ok!!

[flipflop_diva]

Oh no!! That sounds scary. Glad you're going to be okay but I hope you're feeling better!

[halfshellvenus]

Brian, how are you doing? An ER visit is terrible, and you weren't able to get a story in this week either.

Are you okay? Are things getting better?

[adoptedwriter]

Typically I "shoot out of the gate" a lot in Idol participations. (In other words, post on the early side, if that's what you are referring to?) I don't have any more to prove than any other participant. It's just how I tend to roll.

Hope everyone here is well and has had a great weekend. BTW...My mom, (AKA "The Mothership" is injured again, but luckily not from a fall this time. No blood, no stitches and no E.R. visit at this time....but the evil cellulitis demon may be lurking.
Please send best vibes. Thanks!

[murielle]

Oh no! I'm so sorry! Sending prayers and good wishes. That is seriously painful.

[adoptedwriter]

Thanks. Yeah. She says it hurts a lot. The pic of her leg she sent is awful. This happened yesterday.

[flipflop_diva]

Oh yikes! Your poor mom. I hope she feels better soon!

[bleodswean]

I've recently heard someone describe this game as "Some people are playing Idol. Some are playing Survivor and some are trying to do something in between" - do you think that's accurate?

LOL. That is funny! And accurate, methinks! Here's the thing - too many of us wanted to play Idol so even though we had ZERO idea of what Survivor is, we signed on! Plus you have loyal sycophants who will follow you down to the bottom of the sea if that's what you asked of us, so here we are! Survivor feels really really NOT fun. Idol can be NOT fun, too, let's not kid ourselves, but at least the NOT fun part was more individualized and less tribe-like. I had no idea how stressed I was about the last two Tribal Councils until I wasn't in a Tribal Council! That kind of stress over a writing game may be more than I bargained for....

But, still, here I am, here we are. It's a game in the same way the Colesium in Athens hosted games.

[murielle]

Yes! Yes! Yes! You gladiator, me chicken!

Oh! Wait! That makes Garry the emperor!

[wolfden]

Several weeks into this experience, what role do the outside friendships play in this game?  Does it make it harder (because they are your friends), or easier (because you know the friendship will endure and this is "just a game") , to vote each other out?

I don’t have as many outside friendships with players as others do. I’ve written with some other players before and I have a few friends. It is “just a game” that we all enjoy so I certainly hope friendships are enough to remain afterwards.

[lawchicky819]

I'm not sure being down a member will matter much for numbers sake. Some teams were down players last week (for missing entries) and they still found a way to outvote us. Plus, who KNOWS how the voting works in this version of the game? I haven't figured it out yet!

[flipflop_diva]

You are someone else who ended up being "out numbered" on a new tribe. How has that experience been for you on LaMina?

So far, so good! Everyone on my new tribe has been really welcoming, and we're just concentrating on writing the best entries that we can. Of course, it helps that we didn't have to go to Tribal Council last week. I guess I won't know how truly welcomed I am until we get there — which hopefully is not anytime soon!!

[gunwithoutmusic]

Fingers crossed! I hope we don't end up at Tribal anytime soon either, but you're definitely La Mina, no ifs and or buts about it!

[halfshellvenus]

Re the question, Asaga used to discuss the challenges a little and even help do some proofreading and offer suggestions when people wanted it.

But we're mostly doing our own thing right now, and that's probably largely me. I'm just overwhelmed time-wise and struggling to get my own entry done each week. *sadface*