Green Room - Week 15 - Day 1

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

So, what’s new with you? ;)

Other than the new topic being up that is: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/690638.html

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day.

Mine was a mixed bag. Online – not so great. Offline – fantastic. Note to self: Spend more time off line.

Heh, yeah… right, that’s going to happen….

Comments

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

What happen online? Also... first?

[kajel.livejournal.com]

Yay first!! Pretty sure the need to terminate the poll was one of the big things. *hi you* ;)

[kajel.livejournal.com]

It was a pretty relaxing weekend. curiousdreams actually had Monday off. I topped off my three day weekend talking for hours about absolutely nothing with my bff tsumyah. I have recently talked her back to LJ. It had been so long she couldn't figure out how to get into her old account. lol

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

Um... wow. So I just saw what happened and... yeah. :\

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

Labor Day actually was the last day off in a 10-day stretch for me. I grilled up some marinated lamb and enjoyed some organic cola. Yea verily, a good day.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Grilled Lamb? *runs and hides*

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

So, is most of the work on the house done?

Or did you start a bunch of things that didn't quite finish, and will now haunt you into the next 2-4 weekends or after work each day? That's MY specialty. :O

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

:drive by wave while getting ready for work:

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

*Hellllooooo the Kizzy!*

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Back at work after a long weekend at Dragon*Con. We got home yesterday evening. We were at the convention all day Friday through Sunday evening, during which time I attended a total of 11 panels (which sounds like a lot, but each lasts for only 1 hour) - the rest of the time was either spent waiting in line (especially for the Warehouse 13 Super Mega Awesome panel, which was indeed quite awesome), pushing one's way through crowds, or finding your way to where the next interesting panel was at since it could be at any of five different downtown hotels (which were fairly near each other, but still).

Oh yeah, and I spent a good 30-40 minutes squished like a sardine on Saturday when I got caught up in the Parade crowd accidentally. I got glimpses of the parade between people's shoulders (I'm only 5' tall) or in the screen on their phone when they held it up to take photos, lol). That was NOT fun!!

So yeah - that was my weekend. :)

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

I feel like I've really missed a lot this season. I saw the termination of the poll and just... yeah. I was hoping I'd have time to read and vote when I got home from my trip to Australia & New Zealand because of the twist, but I didn't, and then that happened, so at least that means I should be able to make time for the next poll!

On my trip I got to meet up with 4 former Idolers, amongst other friends (most of whom I originally met online), but I don't even know if it's worth naming them since I kind of feel like people don't really know who we are any more ;) (and one isn't even on LJ any more).

Gary, you just need to mix your online life with your offline life more! I feel like that's mostly been a pleasant experience for me. :D

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I know who they are.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, mixing real life in with online life created this situation. Back in the day, I would have never skimmed a poll result and missed the crucial fake accounts. This time, I was preoccupied, and I did.

Until I found them the following week and took action. So even then, as I say in the FAQs, you might "get away" with it for a week, maybe two... but at some point I *will* catch you.

That said, there is a lot to be said about living a life where I get a "World's Best Dad" pin (from my niece, who considers me her Dad) and can spend a weekend surrounded by people that I love, and who love me. It beats sitting in my apartment with my cats pouring over the internet, trying to connect with people.

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

Additionally, I was browsing the Idol Amazon store and noticed the paperback of Idol Meanderings (http://astore.amazon.com/li0cd-20/detail/1908599014) is down to $5.69. I don't know if anyone's pointed that out yet. But if there are still people who haven't picked it up, why wouldn't you for that price? (And that's the link to the page that supports Idol).

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Two things that I've addressed today in other forums, but I should put them all in one place:

(1) The idea there there are "weak(er) contestants" in the Top 9. There will be contestants that have better days than others. As seen in, well, every single season. Those weeks happen. Most of the time when people think there is someone who "doesn't belong", it's someone that they aren't friends with.

It's pretty rare when someone who "isn't worthy" happens to be your friend. You tend to want the best for your friends, and think that people standing in their way shouldn't be... that said, if you extend this thought process to thinking there is anyone in this 9 who *can't* or *shouldn't* win, I can only assume that you either have very narrow taste, or are delusional.

All of them are really good at what they do, and I can't see a single person that I wouldn't be proud to say won this season.

It's an outstanding group of people, and writers, and anyone who says differently is the one with problems. So keep your collective chins up out there.

It's them. Not you.

(2) The idea that people are cheating the system by creating accounts more often than I say there are.

Everyone has conspiracy theories. Only one person knows about who IS voting, and who they are voting for...and that's me. I can speculate on *why*, but even I don't entirely know that.

I definitely do have the information to say who is doing what on that score though, and no reason, and certainly no interest, in wasting my time giving out inaccurate information.

Sometimes though, when people are voted out, it's easier to think that it's because someone else had an advantage.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Most of the time when people think there is someone who "doesn't belong", it's someone that they aren't friends with.

You crack me up. This is another facet of the argument YOU always make about how "people with big friends lists have big friends lists because people want to read them."

Yeah, people are friending people they want to read, so if they say someone "doesn't belong," it's not a shock that person wouldn't be on their friends list.


I can only assume that you either have very narrow taste, or are delusional.

Or they disagree with you.


I don't worry about people cheating by creating accounts, because I know how closely you watch that. I do wonder about the twitter and FB voting, though, since those must be harder to track, and some people have forty-eleven-thousand twitter followers. I'm not going to drag out the whole "ethics of pimping" argument, though.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

For #1... I feel as if you're putting words in my mouth, or maybe someone else's.

I don't think anyone said there were any weak contestants. I know I said that not all entries are typically of equal skill/merit/whatever in any given week.

Toward the end, they tend to get closer and closer. But variation is part of the reality of being human and having ideas "click" or not depending on the topic, personal circumstances, whatever.

I know at least one person who is purely a reader who echoed the same sentiment.

The whole Facebook/Twitter thing... it's all variable numbers from variable sources, I guess. I have a decent-sized friendslist (bigger than some who are new here), but I'm not sure they're paying attention anymore. There are a lot of "dormant" accounts, or pretty darn close. Very few Twitter followers, and my Facebook life is completely separate from here, so I've really got nothing from those sources at all. Some contestants probably have fewer still, others have tons!

LJ's "everything to everybody" trend has really made things more volatile than they probably used to be.

[favoritebean.livejournal.com]

The statement of item #1 kind of raises my hackles a little. There are some very good writers in the top 9. While I don't like all of the styles of writing presented, everyone starts somewhere. Not to mention, there are a lot of best selling authors who write rather poorly compared to a fair number of contestants in this game's mini season.


Regarding #2, I'm a newbie, so I wondered if this kind of thing happened. So I really appreciate that you did keep an eye out for that kind of stuff. It seems like a pretty hefty job to do alone.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

The weekend... there was a lot of LEGO time, culminating in rebuilding all of Endor (3 missing pieces, one in questionable shape), trying to rebuild two other things that are missing pieces that we just don't have. Probably NEVER had, much like Endor-- I ordered replacements from LEGO, but we'll see if they think I'm faking it.

There was biking on Sunday, where the suicidal-squirrel lemming situation was better than last Monday. Barely. Running on Monday and getting caught in a surprise thunderstorm. \o?

We saw The Butler, and really liked it. Stay away from the discussion boards at imdb.com, because they are scary. As in, racism-denier scary.

We're ready to look for a second cat, after losing our very sweet one on Easter. I visited the adoption display at the pet store (mostly siblings and very young), so we have our eyes on a 4-5 year-old cat at the local shelter instead. My husband hopes to visit her tomorrow. *fingers crossed*

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

Labor day itself was awful for me, unfortunately. I had four migraines - or maybe it was just one zombie migraine that wouldn't stay down no matter how many times I shot it in the head with my usually-acts-like-a-magic-bullet medicine. Stoooopid neurology.

Today I am taking it easy, catching up with emails (warning: may be slower than usual, and I'm usually pretty slow!), and hoping my brain doesn't ambush me again. I've got stuff to do, brain. Back off. Honestly, if I get another one, I'm going to have my sweetie take me to the doctor right away, because this is pretty unusual for me.

In other news, my cats have been glued to me and purring, my sweetie's birthday was a good one, the new PS3 magic: the gathering game is looking pretty fun, I'm going to Seattle this weekend, and I'm thinking of taking an art class (either this one-off course (http://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/classes/2536-14-LSA.html) or a "drawing fundamentals" class to get back in the habit of making visual things regularly).

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

While in Seattle, you should definitely visit Archie McPhee's. For no good reason. ;)

Hope the migraines stay at bay. So miserable. :(

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Y'all, I cannot stop watching this video. I swear it's not a metaphor. Unless it is.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

I think this video is my new metaphor for the past week or so.

[x-disturbed-x.livejournal.com]

I was so bored on labor day but Doctor Who kept me occupied. :)

I have such a headache right now, ugh. We're supposed to go out to eat but it depends on how I feel.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

New Who or Old Who? :)

[favoritebean.livejournal.com]

Sorry yours turned out to be a mixed bag. The online stuff took me by surprise last night, for sure.

The weekend was okay, but I got some kind of bad news before bed, so I was rather anxious when I went to bed.

I was also planning to dye my hair a non traditional color, but I forgot to replace some supplies. Maybe tonight.

[x-disturbed-x.livejournal.com]

What color did you decide on?

Late commenter league!

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

Bah, you'd miss us eventually. Who would you abuse and torment for fun?? Whose souls would you beat and crush when you needed a pick-me-up?? Admit it, after so many years of having us at your beck and call to mercilessly torture for your own amusement, the neighborhood animals just wouldn't hold your interest for very long.

How was my weekend? Well, I spent most of it freaking out over a poll on this ridiculous online community I've been rather obsessively participating in, but other than THAT...rather non-eventful! There was a lot of bumming around the apartment, catching up on sleep, and cheering for my immune system to achieve victory over whatever mini-bug I was starting to get (immune system seems to have won, yay!). Oh yeah, and I had a run-in with some royal douchebag manager at the local CVS, and I just got off the phone filing a complaint against him with corporate. I am NOT normally a complaint filer against employees, because lord knows I've had my days at various jobs when I was new, overwhelmed, or just having a really bad day, and filing complaints against people in that situation falls squarely into the categories of "bad karma" and "kicking someone while they're already down" (see "bad karma" above). I call places and bitch about company policy and whatnot all the time, but trying to get specific people in trouble? Yeah, not my bag. Except today it was, because this guy was THE one jackass to rule them all. Rawr.