Green Room - Week 13 - Day 1

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Have to run back to work, but still have so much to say about so many things.

Before I go through I'll just remind everyone that the only questions and comments that should be going to kithan are if there is something wrong with the poll links or "Do you want more cheetos?"

Every other question or comment should be coming to me so that they can be answered.

So... what's going on with you today?*g*

Comments

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Recovering the house from a Super Bowl party and cursing your name for this weeks topic GRAP GRAP GRAP.... *grin*

[shay-writes.livejournal.com]

The topic is up?

How did I miss this with all my internet surfing?

*throws in a GRAP for good measure*

[shay-writes.livejournal.com]

I'm suppose to be reworking chapter one and beginning chapter two.

Instead, I'm playing on the internet.

Bad Shay!

[minikin.livejournal.com]

Sick in bed. Fever is down, but now I have achy lungs. Only planning to leave the house to pick Tigger up at school.

IIRC, Current events is the only topic for which I've taken a bye. I'm determined to pick my topic and write about while I'm home sick.

[moonstone-fae.livejournal.com]

Feel better soon!!!

[lilmissmagic71.livejournal.com]

Currently watching my two year old fall asleep in his high chair and slide into his bowl of oatmeal...

And of course, plotting my entry!

[moonstone-fae.livejournal.com]

You mean he is not plotting to take over the world? Come on child!!!

[ewok-626.livejournal.com]

A client brought in donuts this morning for the office... Yes, I'm willing to share.

Lunch: Baked ziti with extra cheese and pepperoni, garlic bread, caesar salad with extra croutons, chocolate and vanilla pudding, donuts, and cookies.

Can we ask Kithan if she wants bacon and Pepsi, too?

[heykatie.livejournal.com]

You've just made me SOO hungry!!

[heykatie.livejournal.com]

Today I am trying to do some cleaning. I also started Weight Watchers on Saturday and have lost two pounds so far, so I'm pleased. :)

[chazari.livejournal.com]

Yay!!!!! Two pounds are awesome!

[unsold-capacity.livejournal.com]

Typing up letters from my boyfriend (real, pen and paper letters!) so I can make a cute little entry about him...

...And waiting for the cleaning lady to finish in my floor's bathroom >_< My hands feel soooo gross, they need washing!!

[lacombe.livejournal.com]

The GR this weekend left me emotionally drained. I won this week. Any ideas what I should do with the power?

[heykatie.livejournal.com]

Any ideas what I should do with the power?

Yes. Don't challenge me!!! ;)

[worldofcharlie.livejournal.com]

Wooo...that vote was bloody close man

trying to be a voice of reason...

[dedamona.livejournal.com]

n regards to the drama of late...

i haven't read the green rooms of question. i don't know a thing about it, nor do i particularly want to. for me, it's a shame.

you see, we have a chance here in lj land that we don't have in the real world. we have a chance to create an ideal community, one based in common interests and mutual appreciation. and i see that this round of drama has created such strife that it's being thrown to the wind.

as far as alliances go, who cares? what does it really matter? isn't an alliance more about support than anything else? many of us aren't that confident in either our writing or the subject matters we're tackling week after week. what's wrong with seeking a little support? it's not like we're talking about half the players in the game being in an alliance. we aren't talking about a huge amount that would dramatically affect the outcome of the game. we're talking about less people than can be counted on two hands. how is it being made into such a huge deal when we're talking about eight or nine people?

no, i wasn't asked to be part of any alliance and i'm fine with that. nor was i part of any drama in the green room and i'm fine with that too.

yes, there were 152 original contestants this season. but the community lists over seven hundred and fifty members or watchers. there aren't seven hundred and fifty plus people who partake in the green room. there aren't even 152. and there's a lot more people than we tend to acknowledge who are our silent partners in this game.

do friends list sizes affect vote counts? yes, probably. but what affects vote counts much, much more is simply quality of writing. there's only so many people on any given friends list that are going to go through the bother of going to vote. plus, at this point in the game, most of us are facing vote counts that are more than our friends lists amounts (at least i am.)

let's all imagine this competition is a bookstore. each of us, readers, writers, and voters, has our own interests and tastes. some of us gravitate to the romance novels. some of us gravitate to the sci-fi. some of us even go of to the tech manuals. each of us is able to go through and find something that intrigues us, something that fits our own personal interests. but the thing about it is... it's always going to be personal interests. we're always going to have different tastes, different styles, different thoughts, and different ways of expressing them. it's a shame that if all of us were in a bookstore together, we would be able to see and respect that, but here... it's turning into animosity.

i've enjoyed everyone i've met through lj idol. ewok_626 is a lovely woman who i would seriously be hanging out with if this were real life (*hint* time to friend me, silly). mme_furiosa is a charming woman with whom i share a love a travel and a very goth past. tulip_in_yellow is a eloquent, intelligent woman with a whip quick sense of humor. and boundfate and i share ironic similar experiences as someone whom i've come to enjoy simply as a person. (moonstone_fae i've known a long time and adore. it's her fault i'm here.) all of them i enjoy and would happily invite over to my home, were we in the same location.

are there those who i don't wish to share my world? you betcha. again, this is a community. we're not all going to agree or see eye to eye. but there is not a single person, reader, writer, voter, commenter or non-commenter, that i don't respect. and it makes me wondered when i see all this drama, when it becomes so big that it has to be addressed by gary in a public post, just where did all the basic respect go? because isn't respect, support, and appreciation exactly what every single one of us is after in all aspects of our lives? isn't that what all people really want? why are we robbing that from one another? it just doesn't make any sense to me.

(part two to follow)

Re: trying to be a voice of reason... (part 2)

[dedamona.livejournal.com]

to all of you i say simply this... let it go. you aren't getting a lot of votes? i'm sorry, but you are writing for an audience. read the entries of the top vote getters (how i hate that term). learn for the quality of their writing. learn to use your own voice in that way. but never ever judge yourself according to the standards of others. have you done your best? have you proven to yourself that you could do it? if so, then you're doing fine. to those who are all against whatever alliance, accept that others may need more support than you. to whomever was doing the "personal attacks", this isn't high school. behave like an adult. people who are outside of the situation will read your comments and judge you based solely on your behavior. if they're seeing derogatory behavior, that's how they will see you. is that the image you chose to present to the world?

[libra-dragon.livejournal.com]

Just trying to get back into the flow of life after last week.
Lots of stuff to do and so little time to do said things.

[gonadsandstrife.livejournal.com]

Here's a current event that matters to me: I'm still fucking unemployed & I probably will be for the foreseeable future.

[unsold-capacity.livejournal.com]

Ouch... good luck!

[aeritone.livejournal.com]

I've inevitably caught my boyfriend's cold, and thus will likely lose momentum on my research assignment. D:

Good luck on the topic this week, everyone!

*offers Chewy Chips Ahoy, my ultimate comfort food, to the GR*

[sushimustwrite.livejournal.com]

Whew, that was one intense weekend!

I'm grabbing some lunch, and then I'll be back with some commentary.

(Psst, ewok_626...care to help?)

[ewok-626.livejournal.com]

Psst... There's baked ziti farther up on the page. Is that what you wanted help with?

[40sw.livejournal.com]

trying to decide why a (now married) x felt like he needed to tell me that we used to have sex... do you suppose he thinks I forgot?

[ewok-626.livejournal.com]

WTF?!

[awallens.livejournal.com]

My current event is scary... I opened my big mouth and will be working on writing my very own shiny journal article, that might or might not be read by professionals! Eeeep! *cleansing breath*

[jennieknits.livejournal.com]

Didn't we already do Current Events? I mean I know we've been in this contest for a bazillion years, but meh. I had a hard enough time finding a link for the last entry (and I've been posting enough about politics lately, I'm going to have a hard time finding a good story that isn't about politics).

I do hope that I can get my entry done tonight so that I can focus on some other things during the week.

BRING IT ON!

[ewok-626.livejournal.com]

I am worried about this topic, too. *goes back to search on what she did last time* I don't want to write about the Super Bowl or anything sports-related...

My (often repeated) stance on the alliance

[boundfate.livejournal.com]

I am part of the alliance.

I have spent all morning talking to alliance members (those that were online - many of us do poorly in the polls because we have very little time to spend on this.)

Let me say with all sincerity to all of those who are worried - there is no such thing as arbitrary votes for each other. (At least not in the people I've talked to this morning.)

Every ~single~ member I've talked to joined the alliance for a smaller community to talk about the game in and a place to get feedback on our entries. You may have noticed all the people who were voted out were part of the alliance. That may have been because of people voting against us - however I feel far more strongly that it is simply because we are made of some of the weakest players in the game. There is a reason we are trying to find a way to get feedback from people - we need to improve our entries. Our alliance will make the writing stronger, not weaker, for this game.

I didn't start the alliance - I don't speak for every member. However, I can promise that my votes are based solely on writing quality. I can also say that I find the concept of someone saying "I don't think this should be a popularity contest, it should be about writing; oh look - I'm going to not vote for these people regardless of the quality of their writing" to be a bit, well, off.

Play the game however you want. But please don't act like the injured party when the weak players try to help each other improve their writing skills. If you weren't invited there is a reason - you don't need the help. If you were invited and then offended please don't be - it wasn't meant as an insult to think you someone like us.

And calling it an alliance instead of a support group is far nicer for our self esteem.

[ewok-626.livejournal.com]

It's nice to hear some positive feedback from an "alliance" member... :^)

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

I declare GRAP with me cleaning, since I don't want to do it.

I did successfully exercise though. Feels so good... love the endorphins.

[tulip-in-yellow.livejournal.com]

Hey, how many people are in the contest at this point?

[jennieknits.livejournal.com]

70

[moonstone-fae.livejournal.com]

Working...all day long...

Hopefully I can keep up in here this week instead of falling woefully behind.

[lilmissmagic71.livejournal.com]

You can do eeet!

i made you all a present

[gnomeangel.livejournal.com]

(http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/gnomeangel/icons/gnomeangel/?action=view&current=gnomeangel_grap.jpg)

i think i might make some more... bit of variety... any requests?

[minikin.livejournal.com]

I've declared today another sick day, which I am merrily throwing onto the vagaries of the net. Keeping up with my Flist and the GR (as much as I can), searching for news articles, and thinking about what to write.

Meanwhile, I Have the Best Mom in the World. For Christmas, she gave me a year of housekeeping. My housekeeper comes on Mondays. We talked about me being sick, then she cleaned. Bathrooms clean, check. Floors vacuumed, check. A LOAD OF TOWELS in the dryer! CHECKEREENO! Okay, so totally the nicest housekeeper ever.

[boundfate.livejournal.com]

OMG - that is the greatest present ever! Color me super jealous!!!

[boundfate.livejournal.com]

In completely non-drama related news, I love the current events topic.

I can read other people's topics without worrying since my goal is not to duplicate. :) I love keeping up with posts!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

People have asked me who I would have chosen had *I* been given the choice of which two to bring into the game (that was one of the options, to let me pick) - if anyone actually remembers that after this weekend.*g*

It would have been kathrynrose from the Home Game (who ended up coming in anyway) and 40sw who I think is just incredibly talented and offered a unique take on the game.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks.