Green Room - New Years Day

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

There's been a joke among the vets for quite some time that every season I get a little nicer to the contestants. Certainly no one has ever had to undergo the rapid fire of the Season 4 finalists. (or so they tell me. :D)

So I went back, and sure enough - this time during Season 5 was a *deadline*. *cracks up* I was threatening them with a deadline *and* the start of the Month of the Doom!!

Excellent.

As hilarious as that is, I *will* say, that I doubt that anyone at the end of this next stretch of the competition is going to be talking about how *nice* I am. *cue ominous music* So enjoy it while you can!!

***

How was your New Year's Eve? How is the year going so far?

Find anyone you don't recognize in your house yet? In your car? Wearing your pants?

***

*rolls eyes* and oh yeah, happy birthday, or whatever to intrepia. . . ;)

Comments

[sushimustwrite.livejournal.com]

Happy new year! I'm eating some newly made soup.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

first?

ETA: grr, not quite.

And I rarely wear pants at home.

[jenandbronze.livejournal.com]

you wouldn't believe it, a few days ago I was first... for the first time hanging out in the greem room for close to two years!

[connie]

Gary! It's not nice to threaten doom (however veiled) on my birthday!

... oh wait, that was the whole point, wasn't it? :p

[beloved-tree.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

[beloved-tree.livejournal.com]

I had the mother of all head colds, so I went to bed early and slept until noon today. Wooo, party animal, that's me! :P

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

I'm scared about the fact that it's already the second day of the New Year, which means it's zooming past. And annoyed because despite it being the middle of summer, my youngest woke up in the middle of the night because her room's too cold so we've had to put on the heater. And tired because although my husband went to deal with her so I didn't have to get my boobs out, I was kept awake anyway to provide advice on what else to try to get her back to sleep. And wearing pants, although they don't fit me all that well, since none of my old maternity clothes seem to work well on me any more.

[drippedonpaper.livejournal.com]

I remember those nights when I "didn't want to get my boobs out" The life of a nursing mama!

My youngest woke up on and off last night too. No sleep for the weary (at least if they are mothers.)

Sounds like you need to go buy more maternity clothes?:)

[oberonia.livejournal.com]

My day has been pretty productive actually. Now I'm just waiting for a new topic ;)

[jenandbronze.livejournal.com]

same herem, can it come quicker, ... LOl although I shouldn't wish ... because then I won't have such a relaxing few more days LOL

[oneonthefence.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year! Despite not feeling particularly well, I still pulled off being the hostess of a party of 15-20 people last night (yay to the upper respiratory infection that kept me from singing too much when we played Rock Band:(...

But still! Happy New Year, all, and I hope your evenings were safe and awesome. Everyone in my house is currently wearing pants, but we're having more people back over tonight, so all bets are off then.

And here, have a video of me, totally sober (because of my meds, I have to be), acting like an ass. At least I got to try out my new black and blue wig! :)

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Cute videeo! We had Martinelli's too, plus Sparkling Welch's in both red and white varieties - we're such party animals.

I kept expecting you to pour some Martinelli's onto your lovely boobies - ah well! ;)

[drjeff.livejournal.com]

New Year's Eve was spectacularly uneventful. To quote my journal:

We spent new year's eve just hanging out, eating some junk food (and homemade pizza!) and watching TV. The 8th graders made us promise that we'd watch The Hangover with them if they cleaned their room. They did, so we did.

Our life is unexciting, but it makes me happy. If all I ever do with the rest of my life is get to wake up next to Sandi, that works for me.

One of the highlights of 2009 has been participating in LJ Idol and meeting all of you awesome peeps. Thanks for letting me get a little glimpse of your lives. Happiest of new years to all!

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Sounds like your NYE was spent much like ours, eating junkfood and watching movies. Happy 2010 to you and yours!

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Our New Year's Eve was spent watching movies at home with the extended minikin clan, eating chips and mini-corndogs and hummus and grilled pineapple-n-Spam skewers and veggies and other yummy stuff. We watched Up and The Ugly Truth and watched the last 10 minutes of the Dick Clark countdown and toasted with Martinelli's and sparkling Welch's, w00.

Still hanging around watching TV in my jammies. Haven't looked in the car yet, but since everyone went home last night there's unlikely to be any strangers there, LOL.

Happy 2010, y'all!

[thaliontholwen.livejournal.com]

Hm, good thing I put on my doomproof armor this morning. Now I'm prepared for any nasty months of doom!

I spend NYE making fondue, drinking beer, and watching CNN's coverage of NYE in Times Square from the comfort of my living room. Toasted in the new year with toast, as per usual.

But now I have to actually hunker down to study for that licensure exam. Nothing requires doomproof armor more than that thing, and it's not even the really hard one!

[drippedonpaper.livejournal.com]

And where did you purchase this armor? ::Making a shopping list:: :)

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

House, car? try boat! :D


And bring it on! :D

[drippedonpaper.livejournal.com]

I love your icon. Did you take the photo yourself?

[drippedonpaper.livejournal.com]

I'm waiting to see if JoeyMicheals found someone else wearing his pants...or using his scissors:)

[liret.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I should probably bring those back now.

[viagra.livejournal.com]

This year is shaping up to be just like the last, which is to say that I have spent my entire day off sitting at the computer in my underwear reading webcomics.

[liret.livejournal.com]

Good year!

[stormkitty.livejournal.com]

NYE was highly uneventful here. Kept the TV up louder than normal to distract the greyhound from the fireworks going on outside. Stayed up until just past midnight while making sure he went to sleep.

Today was spent at John's dad's house where the guys fixed lunch while I sat and crocheted. We took Midnight (the greyhound) with us so he could play with the other dogs. He had a rough start trying to get in the van and then had a rough time on the slick laminate floors. But he did enjoy some off-leash outside time in the fenced part of the farm. So, we may start taking him more so if we both go out of town, he can stay there. Oh, and it's his "gotcha day" (the 2nd anniversary of our getting him through the rescue organization), so it's pretty special.

Now I'm wiped out and just want to go to bed, but I have a guild meeting tomorrow morning and I need to type the agenda and gather stuff together for it.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

cacophonesque is wearing my pants! So is Nikola Tesla. And George Washington. It was a wild and crazy night.

[thaliontholwen.livejournal.com]

At the same time? My, that must have been a crazy night.

[liret.livejournal.com]

My new year has been good so far! I approve. We played apples to apples and that is basically it all day.

[creature-girl08.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday to intrepia.

It has been crazy busy for all of December. I wonder how I made it thro the month. Thank goodness for a new year. PHEW!

[kutiechick.livejournal.com]

Last night I played Wii for the first time -- sooooooo awesome -- before going out to two parties and getting drunkety-drunk-drunk. It was pretty awesome.

And then today, I went to the movies (along with everyone else in NOVA, it seems!) and saw Up in the Air. Great movie but damn is it depressing...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[jenandbronze.livejournal.com]

I am actually checking around to see if it worthwhile to invest in a Wii. Mom and I's birthday is coming up quick so we may be splitting the cost if it is worthwhile, especially Wii Fit.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I'm in the process of writing some of my comments for the Free Topic entries.

I need to remind people, if you *don't* want me to comment about yours, let me know. I think I might get a few of those messages after the first group of comments go up! :)

The first series of free topics part 1

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I've said it before, and I repeat myself - these are from a guy who happens to be named Gary. Whatever I say should not be taken as anything more or less than I'm wandering around on vicodin and maybe that I need a little more, or possibly less.

That said, here we are: (this was all supposed to be 1 comment, but I have to break it up over several due to length)


joeymichaels
http://joeymichaels.livejournal.com/552196.html

Does anyone know where the love of God goes, when joeymichaels turns the minutes to hours?

We start off with a joeymichaels entry. Of course we do. Chances are usually pretty good that he will be one of the first people in every week. He's a quick as he is dedicated and clearly talented so I don't think "missed a deadline is going to come up" It might though. You never know.

As for the entry itself - I happen to be a fan of "Cutta Ho", having seen him perform in Nashville over the summer. So I'm not sure where this "record executive" gets off dissing him!! ;)
It was, obviously, hilarious. I do wonder about the internal logic of sending him to an "adult contemporary" sister company, given there there *is* an anti-folk movement, so I assume there *must* be an "anti-rap". Of course those would be raw and unfinished *on purpose* instead of just sucking.
Ralph Ho would also be potentially a good name, since it would *also* be something that could be yelled *from a ship, upon someone throwing up to starboard. Perhaps after hearing this record.

upside - all of that
downside - there's a risk involved with being "all over the place" in entries. Will they lose a sense of "who you are and what you are about" in the process. Will that even matter? Will they just enjoy the individual adventures as they come? That and letters are something that I've seen before - but then again, I've seen most forms of entries by now, so it's going to be difficult to "be original". You did a decent job with it though.

walkertxkitty

http://walkertxkitty.livejournal.com/611791.html

Next up with walkertxkitty - another "non surprise" for me as far as someone that I figured would be writing during the break and getting her entry in early. A "seasoned vet" her work really doesn't need much in the way of introduction to anyone who has been reading Idol entries for any length of time... for those who haven't though, this might be a good jumping on point.

I think the "lovely" comments tend to be spot on. It's another one of those entries that when you skim it seems like it's going to be long, the pacing does mostly work here though.

It's another in the series of excerpts from your life, which I personally tend to like. Of course, the whole user name thing tends to throw me. (But I get that in a lot of people's LJs, in regular entries, so I probably should be used to it by now. It's just a little jarring)

I really like the sense of place it has though, and the way you bring people into your world with little things like winding the hair around his fingers. It was a real moment captured beautifully.

upside - There are some wonderful moments and as I said, I think the pacing mostly works here, so it flows really nice. (as usual)
downside - It does *look* long, and maybe a couple paragraphs could have been altered or cut to improve the flow. That said, were they needed there because they were part of what gave it such a warm and inviting atmosphere to the piece? *shrugs* Ultimately not *my* decision. That comes down to intent and the way other readers see it.

Re: The first series of free topics part 1

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

Cutta Ho thanks you for the support and has some MP3s he'd like to send you as soon as he figures out how to use the computer.

first set of free topics - part 2

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

plastrickland23

http://plastrickland23.livejournal.com/475937.html

This truly was a "journal entry". A page torn out of your life and put in as a free topic! :) Which means it doesn't read like your usual entries at all. There tends to be a nice flow to them,whereas this was choppy. I think it was the abbreviations were what caught my eye the most when I first scanned over the entry.

"esp", "XMas" "AM" in close range with "6-????", "175", "DS89" and capitalized words made it a bit of a jumble coming in and then hitting the first line of "This is an LJ Idol entry" (something that tends to bug me due to it's cutting into the general flow...) you were going to have an uphill battle.

upside - When you explained it in the comments, I *really* wanted to read *that* story. I'm sorry you had the live it (obviously) but all the raw materials where there for something that would have had me on the edge of the my seat reading, and living the moment with you until the last line, were right there.
Based on your other work, I really think that had this been an actual entry, you would have ended up doing exactly that.

downside - I thought it was a little too all over the place, leaving newbies to your work not that sure what was going on.

pixie117

http://pixie117.livejournal.com/381784.html

The pixie charm comes out. :)

It was looking a bit touch and go there. You can't know ahead of time where you are going to be posting, or the order you will read. But considering the issues I had (above) when I took the first drive by over your entry I noticed a few of the same elements. The capitalized words and the quotes. I already had a headache (BEFORE that other entry) and I'm more than a little out of it. So it through me a bit.

You did pull it out though with the opening line. It's not flashy or the type of thing that kicks you in the groin and takes your money.

It's more of the type of line that lets you know that there is milk and cookies inside, so come in and sit by the fire.

upside - sharing that moment with us and what you got out of it.

downside - hmmm... probably the spacing. Granted, everyone has their own unique voice and I've had people swear up and down that *their* structure is the only true way of doing things. So don't listen to me - I'm obviously a hack!
I would have probably let that first line stand on it's own and space out the last couple. From a presentation standpoint it seems a little bottom heavy.

drjeff

http://drjeff.livejournal.com/1983260.html

A drjeff photo entry - you know going in that it's like hot chocolate on a cold day. It's going to make you feel good.

upside - Obviously the pictures. As usual a top notch job on those. *love* your disclaimers.

downside - People are either going to love or hate photo entries in something like this. As a "free topic" though I think most people just go with the flow.
I dunno. The frame work seemed to be either unnecessary or just a bit light. Again - free topic, so whatever. . . I just think the context could have been established another way.

first set of free topics - part 3

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

whirled

http://whirled.livejournal.com/414551.html
I enjoyed the opening line. I really did. It made me really, really want to like this piece. Really.

Let's go ahead and throw a few more "reallys" in there for good measure.

You had me. Then, somehow, you lost me.

Of course the whole "zombie" thing ended up being a - "really? zombies? again?" moment. I guess zombies are just so 2009. Maybe 2007 or 2008. Granted, she put this out in 2009. So maybe it was still "a thing". ;)

upside - it was well done. But you don't need me to tell you that. You are well aware that you are a talented writer.
downside - That said, I've come to expect *a lot* from your entries and this one was just kind of "there". It didn't have anything close to your usual punch. Which means it is less "I didn't enjoy it" and much more of a "I didn't like it as much as I have come to expect like your entries".


thaliontholwen
http://thaliontholwen.livejournal.com/560006.html
Spot on. Of the "first group" of entries - this one might actually be my personal favorite. Excellent pacing and narrative flow all the way around this thing.

It's just plain good. Not really sure what else to say other than that. You said you were going to "have fun with it" and it shows.

upside - what I said.
downside - Maybe increase the text size default a bit. I really like the journal style and the font plays beautifully against the white. I just think maybe a little bit larger in size might work better. As I said with other comments, it might just be me.

Re: first set of free topics - part 3

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

thaliontholwen is a friend of mine so I might be biased but I do think she is really a talented writer who has been overlooked a bit, perhaps due to her not having much time to participate in green rooms and other social activities as much as others. I highly recommend her to people who don't always read all the episodes!

[impoetry.livejournal.com]

I sir am prepared for doom at all times.
I'm from New Jersey.

[lawchicky.livejournal.com]

I thought the first rule of living in New Jersey was never to admit to others that you live in New Jersey ;)

[lawchicky.livejournal.com]

Ugh- doom sounds too ominous :(

I'll be out of town the 8th-17th, with limited internet access, so I'm just praying I don't miss any deadlines, especially with the "Gary of Doom" on the horizon!

[viagra.livejournal.com]

I'm starting classes on the 11th, so I'm worried about this whole next semester! But I refuse to let the RL monster get me down. :)

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

[drippedonpaper.livejournal.com]

I love the new icon:)