The Green Room (hanging out with your LJ Idols)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Much like last week, I decided to set up a place where people can just sit around and talk instead of confusing onyxblue1 with too many posts to the topic thread.

Just to throw something out there - was anyone surprised by some really good entries not getting as much support as they were expecting? If you see a good one, from someone else, feel free to hype it!!

Comments

[zebrapix.livejournal.com]

I just want to thank you for reading my entry, sifting through the long list of well-done entries to arrive on my doorstep some 70-posts from where you started. I am honored 40 of you chose my entry.

And congratulations, Popfiend. Nice topic, my friend. Well played.

[dizzydog.livejournal.com]

Being a Z in an alphabetical list like that has to be tough, but you did very well :) I promised myself I'd read and think about every entry each round, and it took me a few hours but dammit, I made it :D

[pseudonymjones.livejournal.com]

Hahah, maybe I'm just weird but I started reading from the bottom, so yours was the first stop. +1 vote!

[swirvel42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, mine. :P

(Kidding!)

Anyway.

So is this also a place for random comments? I like random comments.

[swirvel42.livejournal.com]

Actually, I just checked the poll results.

I'm surprised I got as many votes as I did. Thanks guys! :)

[meretia]

I was quite honestly surprised that imafarmgirl's entry got so few votes. It's amazing.

[riayn.livejournal.com]

I agree. I loved her post. Hopefully her popularity will grow as the competition goes on.

[pseudonymjones.livejournal.com]

Do I get a consolation prize? That was a strong second.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Consolation prize? Hmmm - how about a potential rivalry of your very own?!?

[tdarling.livejournal.com]

I noticed the same thing. People, myself included, just don't have time to read all those entries, so they vote for people they know until it's down to a manageable chunk.

Still... popfiend rocks!

(I'm definitely not trying to belittle his win!)

[tdarling.livejournal.com]

I didn't really get in on the last comment post, so I just wanted to say 'hi' to everyone! I'm so looking forward to reading what you write and getting to know you! :)

[dizzydog.livejournal.com]

I received more posts than I have active friends (11 votes before I even mentioned voting had started in my journal), so that made me happy. Thanks for everyone that tossed a point my way :D On the flipside, if all the people participating read it, 6 out of 7 didn't vote for it, but I'm not gonna look at it that way :D

I wasn't really that surprised that some of the good entries didn't get as many votes, just because of volume. It's a shame though, there were a lot of good entries and people missed out if they didn't read them all. If I had to pick a favorite from first round, it was leilamae. They didn't directly introduce themselves, but you got a feeling for the type of person they are anyway. Plus, it made me laugh out loud a few times :)

This next round is going to be interesting. Good luck on it everyone, and gratz pops on the lead last time :)

[marjory.livejournal.com]

I was late waving to ppl. I was surprised at the votes I got too, in that I don't have that many LJ friends...

[nonabloch.livejournal.com]

18 votes? Man, I gotta get more friends!! :)

I am enjoying the competition and this round will be a good one -- I am normally quite the negative person, so this will be a stretch for me.

[the-dark-snack.livejournal.com]

It's OK, I have over 100 friends and only got 25 votes. I'm thinking alliances are the way to go from here on out.

[gnomeangel.livejournal.com]

congrats popfiend!

dang it's a hard topic this week.

my goal was to make it through the first round, so *thank you* to those 12 people that helped me scrape through. bless you!

[aeritone.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I hear ya. I was just relieved to not get eliminated for being late! ^^;

*gets back to work on entry*

[adpaz.livejournal.com]

I don't know if groupies are allowed in the Green Room (if not, you'll never see me again!) but I am enjoying reading everything. I hope people don't mind the occasional comment from me.

Keep up the great work, everyone!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

*EVERYONE* is allowed in the Green Room!!!*g*

[rebellibrarian.livejournal.com]

Hey kids,

I don't know if anyone would want a copy of this but I just made myself an Excel chart for managing this game and thought I'd offer it up for anyone who wants a copy.

It currently has just two worksheets:

First is a weekly tally sheet so that as I read the entries, I can record my votes. I made so many mistakes trying to vote last time & kept erasing my votes by accident. This chart will also let me read entries as they come in & not have to do all the reading & voting all in one sitting.

The second worksheet has all the competitors as of today, and has room for the total votes for each week's entry (the folks who didn't get in on time just have an empty box).

If you want a copy, e-mail me - tracey at rebellibrarian dot com & I'll send it out.

[onyxblue1.livejournal.com]

Would you send a copy to me at onyxblue1 at livejournal dot com? Or would you just like my job?

[changed-4good.livejournal.com]

Just thanks to everyone that read my entry.
I purposely didn't really tell my friends about this.
I want to see if I get votes based on my writing. That means more. :)

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

Good luck! So far, I have no evidence one way or the other as to whether anyone from here has read either of my entries. I haven't gotten any comments except from my faithful fangrrrls whom I love, but who come from various novelists' lists instead of from here. Maybe eventually I'll get some new readers. And feel free to read the non-Idol entries as well!

[msmoon.livejournal.com]

I was surprised people read my entry too. I only have a few friends, and they rarely comment. It was nice to actually hear someone's opinion ^.^

[evansmj.livejournal.com]

Thanks to everyone who voted for me that didn't know me. I appreciate it! I've just completed my second entry and I feel it's a lot stronger than my first effort. But that is my goal, to improve myself each week.

My favorite entry from someone I didn't know before was moonstone_fae. It really hit me emotionally.

My favorite from someone I do know was kithan. That entry was so "her". It really explained who she is and it was really well done.

So far I'm enjoying myself in the competition!

[twirlandswirl.livejournal.com]

I'm just nervous!

And right now, I'm really, really cold. But, that's entirely external to this competition.

But yes, mostly nervous.

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

Here's a question for our participating audience.

How do you feel about recycled posts?

You know, a topic comes up, sometime a year or three ago you wrote something so absolutely fabulous on this subject that your brain goes 'wow, no way I could write that again. I'd just end up paraphrasing badly what I said the first time. How about we just pull that old snippet out of whatever dusty old trunk it's in, dust it off, shine it up a bit, and send it out there one more time?

Fair? Unfair?
Inquiring minds want to know!

[leilamae.livejournal.com]

I know I faced that issue with the first topic in this contest. Instead of repeating or just re-using a previous post, I tried to find a new way of representing myself so that it was fresh and new.

I'm on the side against reusing old posts (though referring to them is okay most of the time).

[bettybaker.livejournal.com]

Just to keep us busy as we wait for the rest of the entries to pop up, have any of you ever heated up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the stove? It's mad good.

Here are the instructions:

Assemble your sandwich as normal. Spread the outside edges of your bread with butter (or squirt it with butter spray) and heat it slowly over low heat (flipping once) until you have golden brown bread on both sides and oozy, gooey, melty peanut butter and warm jelly on the inside.

It's comfort food of the finest sort. I like to drink it with milk. Let me know if you try it!

[twirlandswirl.livejournal.com]

Had I stove, I'd try that. It SOUNDS good!

[beldar.livejournal.com]

I know I'm late to this party, but thanx very much to all who read my stuff and voted for me anyway =)

With so many entries, there had so be some overlooked. I'm glad all who made the deadline got another chance.

[bettybaker.livejournal.com]

So, I thought the following six people didn't get the love they deserved last week at the polls. There were others, most certainly, who didn't get as many pretty clickies of happiness as their entries warranted, but the low numbers attached to these fabulous participants made my eyes widen with surprise.

dizzydog's First Impressions entry (http://dizzydog.livejournal.com/68832.html) was polished and writerly, a darkly funny and penetrative look at the psyche of the Internet user. I dug it. The vote count on his entry was strictly middlin' at 21. I thought he deserved more. I haven't seen his second entry yet, but when it hits, I'm sure it'll be a stunner.

frabjudication wrote about seductive-sounding apples and pears in his entry, (http://frabjudication.livejournal.com/1249.html) a look back at his Gram that manages to escape sentimentalism and find meaning instead. He came away with 21 votes, which, while no mean number, wasn't indicative of the quality of his piece. His second entry (http://frabjudication.livejournal.com/1288.html) continues to show off his wry humor and efficient way with words. You should go check it out.

leilamae wrote about the poetic nuances of relief in a hysterical entry (http://leilamae.livejournal.com/73914.html#cutid1) that introduced her humor and mad writing skills in fierce. She came out with slightly more votes at 25, but I thought that -for sure- she'd get more. I'm betting that she'll come up with something fabulous for entry #2.

marjory's granny-wrangling entry, (http://marjory.livejournal.com/149794.html?nc=4) a romp through the granny-infested bus system of Göttingen was summarily passed by with a mere 14 votes. Alas! She deserved better. She carries on in her second entry, I'm Super, Thanks for Asking (http://marjory.livejournal.com/151022.html). I suggest that you go give her a read if you haven't already.

mysticpenguin's Introduction (http://mysticpenguin.livejournal.com/218343.html) was personable and funny, but she was handed only 20 votes. Let's watch to see what she comes up with for week 2.

Finally, what happened with thedemkopartsix? He jumped in feet first with Welcome to Demko Style! (http://thedemkopartsix.livejournal.com/672.html), a stylish, hilarious entry that I was sure would make more of a splash than 14 votes. 14? How did that happen? He continues unscathed in Demko Style Part Deux! (http://thedemkopartsix.livejournal.com/872.html) Take a look at the funny that is the Demko!

Um. Just my two cents there. Anyway, clauderainsrm asked. We've already talked about imafarmgirl. Who else deserved more love?

[dizzydog.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen his second entry yet, but when it hits, I'm sure it'll be a stunner.

oh noes. OH NOES! I CANNA TAKE THE PRESSURE! *cracks*

Tonight has already been scheduled to see what I can come up with, after I finish squeeing and taking photos of all the pretty metal bits that showed up this afternoon :)

And thank you for the comments about my first entry :D I did a little dance when I saw I broke 20 votes (and back at 10 as well), but it's easy to make me happy like that.

[onyxblue1.livejournal.com]

Um, if dizzydog's 21 votes was "middlin'", then frabjudication's 21 would be, roughly, mean.

I have a sense of humor. Maybe no one else appreciates it, but it exists.

[onyxblue1.livejournal.com]

And that was a reply to bettybaker's comment up there.

[oberonia.livejournal.com]

This week's entry was REALLY hard for me. I suppose the first week was as well...I don't talk about myself a lot so I never know what to say. lol

There's so many people in the contest...it's not suprising that some really great posts didn't get much love unfortunately.

[pseudonymjones.livejournal.com]

With popfiend and welfy commanding their massive legions of devotees, it hardly feels worth it to campaign for votes. Maybe I'll relax until there's a week when I actually have to be worried about getting kicked out.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

certainly a plan. there are people blowing out their lists early on who probably don't have to do so, on the other hand, it's also reminding people that there is a vote going on which brings out votes for other people. So it's a strategy move really, how to play the game to acheive the best long term results.