100 Weeks

[clauderainsrm]

 Hitting 200 weeks is an unprecedented feat.  But, as I said, there are only 46 contestants (of over a 1,000) who have made it to 100 weeks. This is the announcement of our 46th… the best that I can tell, almost 20 weeks later than it should have been. 

Why so late? Well, if you track back 20 Idol weeks, that was definitely when my life had gone haywire and I was lucky to keep track of the polls, much less how many weeks someone had. 

People take different paths to get to each milestone. This is a story of overcoming the odds one season at a time, often enough one day at a time.  

I’ve played around with the idea of a “Heroes vs Villains” season. I’m only bringing it up because there are very few people who would fight to be on the “Villains” tribe.  This is one of those people.  :) 

If I’m going to be honest - this wasn’t the list that I thought this guy was going to end up on. I thought it was far more likely that I would be making a “goodbye” post before a 100 weeks one. It would have been a tragic waste of talent. 

If “long form journaling” is characterized by honest personal examination, then this is someone who would have a gold medal in it. He is bold, often brash and always honest with how he is feeling in the moment. It hasn’t always made him friends during his darker times, but seeing how far he has come over the years, and his continued struggles, he has gained quite a few admirers. 

If you haven’t already figured out who I am talking about - congratulations to everyone’s favorite Martian, fausts_dream

 ! 

And welcome to the 100 Week Club! 

Comments

[alycewilson]

Since you went there, for the record, you stopped the flirtation when I asked you to, and I appreciate that. I have a LOT of male friends -- I always have -- and there have sometimes been one-sided feelings (in fact, I have made the situation weird almost as many times as the other way around, even occasionally with overwrought poetry). The true test of friendship is whether you can get past the awkwardness and stay friends. And as you noticed, I haven't gone anywhere!

And as I alluded to above, I will NEVER forget how you stood up for KFP_rawr and yamyamkat, the youngest contestants, on a week when people were griping about a whole lot of nonsense about the "quality of entries." And you pointed out that the youngest amongst us had some of the strongest work. That was both kind and (IMHO) true. Thanks for that and thanks for being a friend.