therealljidol | Green Room - Week 39

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Green Room - Week 39 - Day 1

We are officially down to our TOP 7! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/840596.html

Season 1-3,6 and 8 were Final two
Season 4 and 7 were a Final three
Season 5 was a Final four

Why am I mentioning this? Because we are getting down to the nitty-gritty, and you never can be quite sure when the finale is going to happen.

There aren't many of you left, and the choice for who is going to end up filling those spots is only going to become more difficult the closer we get.

The new topic is up: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/840895.html

and so is the Home Game: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/841010.html helping us count down the remaining entries until we hit 20,000!!

You are almost to the finish line.

***

There is no easy transition, so I won't try to give one. But one of our Idolers has had a recent family tragedy. She didn't tell me to link this, but I'm going to do it anyway!

http://www.gofundme.com/n3mkro is to help her family get back on their feet.

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I'm excited about the finale! I have no idea which of us will make it, or how many folks will be in it, or any of that, but I'm keen to see how it all will go down. The end is in sight, one way or another!

I'm pretty keen to see how this all ends as well!

For such a tight end-game, there are still a lot of moving parts, and things that even I can't quite predict. Which is exciting.

In other news, I am really liking this topic (which is something of a relief after struggling with "overwatch". Heh). I've got a lot of different ideas I'm playing with, and the wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler%27s_fallacy) is actually pretty good. Basically, statistics are hard for the human mind to really grasp - it's not at all intuitive to most folks. And that psychological aspect gives so many possible ins to great stories. *grin*

Hey guys!

Something to read and review: http://www.singlemomtism.com/2015/01/so-here-it-is-super-colossal-mega-big.html

Help an Idoler out!

lrig_rorrim, how are you doing?

I'm doin' ok! I'm looking forward to a trip out to the west coast later this week - it's, like, FIFTY whole degrees out there. It sounds amazing. ;) I've been a busy person lately, and I'm still getting over this stupid lingering head cold thing (I think I've been "getting over it" for two weeks now), but you know, it's not so bad.

I got out of the house today to run some errands, and now I'm at my favorite tea place having some bubble tea and getting ready to do some editing and writing. I'm going to start on proofreading issue 3 of Uncanny (http://uncannymag.com/) here in a minute, probably, since that's got the closest deadline.

How are you doing lately?

Also, gosh, it sure is quiet today. Maybe everyone else decided to answer the question of "who" they were wearing and are busy making some outfits that will shock and dismay us all?

I wish someone in this cowtown would serve boba tea. Lucky you!!

We are seriously lucky to have this place here - it's run by a family of Taiwanese tea importers. They make all their money from moving huge amounts of tea, and just run the shop here because they like to, basically. It's the best boba I've had anywhere, hands down, and I hope like crazy they'll keep finding it fun to have this place open because it's one of my favorite places to go here in Madison. (And hey, if anyone's looking for some Taiwanese tea (http://www.jademountainteas.com/)...)

Oh, you really are lucky! That's great! And the Madisonians take advantage of this?

It's def addicting!

The café isn't really in a great location to get a ton of traffic, but there's a small and dedicated group of folks who make it out here regularly. The owners are really great, honestly - they let us have a going away party here and bring in a ton of outside food, and stayed open late just for us. I think they probably got a few more fans just by doing that. Heh.

I clicked the link to see if people were *shipping boba* through the mail? I wasn't sure how - but that was what I was checking! :)

I don't really like it. But Cynthia has a great place. (our niece is addicted)

Alas, no. The trick to great boba is in the cooking, as far as I can tell. It takes a looooong time to get just the right texture. I've tried it at home a couple of times, with allegedly really good tapioca and uh, it was gross. Heh.

You also need to use it in a certain amount of time. Which is why I was thinking "how are they shipping it???" :)

Yep. I have had zero luck replicating tea bar boba at home. *cries softly*

50 degrees?

Yeah, we've been having that cold front too.

Hopefully you can go somewhere *warm*!!

Oh, you were saying 50 was warm? ;)

Hellllll yes 50 is warm! I mean, it's actually warm enough to be snowing a bit here (it hasn't been warm enough for that the last little while) but the wind chills are still pretty wicked. :P

50 is FAR TOO COLD!!!

I don't like it. Not even a little bit.

This "winter" thing can end anytime now.

Ahhhh I remember the halcyon days of thinking 50 was cold. Heh.

I grew up in rural Ohio.

I know cold. I don't approve of it.

Now 50 is cold. I'm happy about that. That is a *good life decision*. :D

Edited 2015-02-24 18:54 (UTC)

Air Force brat here. Spent some formative years in Dayton....and I clearly remember wintertime and ice-skating in the streets. Dutch-style.

Ya know, as someone who made the opposite journey - I grew up quite near to where you are now and have moved to the upper midwest - I have to say that I really love winter. I mean, I'll still bitch about it (heh), but really I think it's lovely and I'm happy to be here. I'm just done with it right about now, every year.

I would say that there is something seriously wrong with you - but you signed up for Idol.

So I suspect you already know that! :)

Have you ever considered blind polling, G?

It depends on what you mean by "blind polling"?

if you mean "post everything to a neutral account and take everyone's name off their entries".

That idea keeps coming up, with the same response.

It doesn't work.

There was actually a "We Hate Idol" group that founded because they knew a lot better than I did about how things worked. One of their big things was "anonymous entries so that people could get REAL AND UNBIASED FEEDBACK!!"

By the second week they were having problems, because people were emailing each other about their entries. :)

Short of a way for me to be standing over every single person and monitoring their social media, and real life, interactions, you can't keep even a relative sense of integrity to that set-up.

Heck, even that wouldn't work - because all it would take is people to start recognizing each others's writing styles - or reoccurring characters - events from real life in their non-fiction. :)

The closest I get is when I grab Gatekeepers who have no idea what Idol is, or anyone involved in it - and you have no idea who they are.

For the most part though, there's always going to be a certain amount of people's personal bias involved in any decision.

Knowing that, and how crafting a brand identity works - as well as the pitfalls of being an author in social media, all of those elements sort of set-up well in the standard Idol poll structure. (IMO)

(and I've got plenty of other things to say on the subject if you get me rolling. :D tl;dr - Yes, I've considered it. :D)

Hahahaha! I love seeing your responses to questions such as these. You really are THE expert and it sounds as though you get so much more "input" than some of us could even begin to imagine.

Okay, so, yeah, human nature...I thing I rarely consider in the "real world" always has a way of sideswiping...we are our own worst enemies, aren't we?

I'm just going to go back to pondering the hows/whys of folks believing that the universe remembers them....

Unless you want to keep holding forth. I do enjoy reading you!

I've gotten a few "helpful suggestions" over the years.

Which is why I never... OK, RARELY... mind actual questions. :)

If nothing else, it gives me the chance to highlight that yeah, I've thought quite a bit about this stuff. :)

We have couples in Idol and parents/children not to mention groups of close friends that serve as each other's beta readers.

Above and beyond the "practical reasons why it doesn't work" though is the fact that I'm *glad* that it doesn't. Because if people want to send out a submission to a faceless entity and put their fate in the hands of unknown inner office politics (which exists in every level of publishing - and life) there are plenty of opportunities to do that.

What I love about Idol is that part of it is these creative people, forced into a situation where bonding and getting to know each other is all part of the experience.

I guess...just to cut straight into the meat of the heart....folks getting upset about the single votes.

What I love about Idol is that part of it is these creative people, forced into a situation where bonding and getting to know each other is all part of the experience.

There is no question that I have met some of the most amazing people this past year and can call several of them "friends" now. On that level, this "game" truly is an exceptional experience!

Edited 2015-02-24 18:41 (UTC)

People getting upset about "single-votes" is definitely something that has happened.

One thing that popped into my head the other day, that I don't think that I've said "out loud" before - is how is that different from people who vote for the *same two people* every week?

Because that's something I've definitely seen happen over the years. (not saying anything about this season, but that's an example I can easily pull.) You can change the numbers of that and still come to the same thing.

Someone can just as easily say "Vote for me, and my buddy!" as they can "Vote for me!"

They can. They have.

There's a certain amount that you can control, and a certain amount that you have to hope that if people see something they don't like, something that truly bothers them - they stop voting for those people until the forces are re-aligned.

It would be pretty scary if I *wasn't* "THE expert"! :)

I will say though that even the complaints have taught me things.

I keep bringing up this example, but if it wasn't for being told, by a couple people, that I needed to resign and hand over control of the group to a woman or PoC due to my "white male privilege" I may have remained ignorant of those concepts.

(of course, they always had that "someone" in mind. Trust me, they always do.)

I honestly thought they were joking at first, until we talked a little more.

Learned a great deal then, and (hopefully) they learned that I'm not in charge because of being a white male. I'm in charge because I came up with all of this! :D

Damn, G. I would offer you a *hug* for putting up with colossal amounts of bullshit....pc bullshit is the worst....but I know you aren't the huggy type.

I have no answers. I don't have the mental make-up or personality for a job such as yours. I will say that you seem to be the perfect match of all the qualities required and I'm glad over the years your skin has gotten more teflon-like.

clauderainsrm isn't the huggy type. He would kick you for that.

Gary, in real life, is though. So I'll take it in the spirit that it was meant. :)

I literally created the job. :)

Seriously though - Season 4 was a "perfect storm" of badness.

it combined the second explosion of Idol, where people I didn't already know finally FAR out-numbered the ones I did and a sense of "this was a THING" rather than me just goofing around with friends.

It came at a time when I was in the need of several root canals (but couldn't pay for them) and some legal problems (caused from the last time that I was in a lot of physical pain and didn't pay attention to something I should have)

Honestly, anything after that has been "I should just end this now!!" rather than "I should just end ME now"

And now THIS is the kind of story that perks my ears up! The psychology of the "perfect storm of badness" is fascinating and so very human. The endless variety of factors that go into a single moment, the culmination which buds then breaks forth in a blossom of....the untold beauty of a rose or the horror of a corpse flower.

Actually, the corpse flower is pretty neat to regard. And I found the stench to be more overwhelming at 100-200 paces than right up next to it. (Our local one bloomed in the not too distant past, so we paid a visit.)

I was about to say, "blind polling" wouldn't work, because people will talk. I mean, Hell, Idol's a very social game. I've learned very quickly that anything that's said in e-mail is likely to end up discussed amongst people unless I specifically say "hey, this is private."

Oh well. :P

That's interesting! I'm not sure that is true across the board, though.

Edited to correct myself: I know this is not true for everyone.

Edited 2015-02-24 20:32 (UTC)

I've found that without exception, whomever I talk to is going to end up bringing it up at some point or another with someone else.

It doesn't bother me, at all, it's just funny to note. Even the people you'd think wouldn't do it! :)

Hmmmmm....well, as you and I have never talked, I cannot attest to this inevitability. ;)

It does have something to do with a kind of group dynamic, though.

I promise, if you e-mailed me, I would post it EVERYWHERE!

...wait, no...

Yeah, it comes down to group dynamic and whom you're interacting with. I think in Idol there is a certain inevitability mostly because when we e-mail Gary it's usually to get a very specific question answered, and we share the answer amongst ourselves (things like, "is there Jury immunity this week?" among other things).

...stuff gets said in email? Man, I'm Idolling all wrong.

Perils of being friends with my competition! ;)

Unless you were talking about only allowing blind people to vote.

That hasn't happened *yet*!

Although there have been people who happen to be blind on the Jury and Gatekeepers in the past. Just not exclusively! ;)

Hee!

:waves:

*waves back* Still buried in the evil cold white stuff?

Please please tell me the Satanic ritual required to bring the evil white down upon us......

Ok, I'm going to tell a silly (and probably overlong and rambling) story.

I have a thing for keys - I had a pendant commissioned a while ago that's a winged key, and I wear it often; I basically described to the artist a key I'd dreamed of, and she made it happen. I think of it as a kind of talisman which helps me get in touch with my creativity. It's not a necessary thing for me when I'm trying to put stuff into the world, but it makes me happy, and that's what matters.

Anyway, a couple years ago I saw another key by the same artist for sale at the WisCon art show - it's this beautiful silver wire wrapped key with a snowflake charm and little white and sparkly light blue beads. It's beautiful and I loved it and got it immediately. And dubbed it The Key to Winter.

Fast forward a bit to this last December. One of my sweeties is in town, visiting from warmer climes, though he's a Wisconsin native. He laments to me about how warm the winter has been here so far - there's hardly any snow on the ground, and it was likely to be more of a brown Christmas than a white one. I jokingly tell him that I'll wear my Key to Winter and see if that helps.

Cue big snowstorm and windchills that are quite impressive a few days later.

It seems that once the door to winter is opened, it is not so easy to shut again...

So, if you really want some of that evil cold white stuff, consider a key from Silver Owl Creations (http://silverowlcreations.com/). As for me? I'm thinking about getting a Key to Spring.

(For what it's worth, I know correlation and causation aren't the same thing. But daaaaamn it's been cold since I wore that necklace. Heh.)

I have worn three antique miniature skeleton keys around my neck for all of my adult life.

Hmmmmm.....

I loved this tale very much!

I may homegame to help us get to the fabled 20K. ;)

Due to a COMEDY OF ERRORS I am sans Canadian for the moment. We shall see. So I have time. :P

Being sans-Canadians is a good thing!!!

...wellllllllllll except for the bit where he's totally unreachable and I am honestly a bit worried. :x

(He was supposed to get in this morning in the wee hours; I waited for three hours and he never showed up. Called the station this morning to see if I'd just missed the arrival of the bus or whatever—you have to bus into my town, there's no other way in—and was told that "some man from BC" had been there, but that his ride had never showed, so he'd gone back north. Couldn't get a straight answer as to whether it was him or not—stationmaster was like, "whatever, he changed his ticket and left before my shift started at 7:30"—and so now it's like, "...are you okay? What happened?")

eta: AHA. I managed to reach him!

Long story short, comedy of errors happened and he ended up stranded here about five hours after he was supposed to arrive, with no working phone, none of my contact info (it was on the phone which took a dump and died), no money (his credit card is frozen and while he has a little bit of cash on hand, it wasn't enough for a hotel room or anything) and no way of contacting me to let me know that he'd arrived and was OK. So he changed his tickets and everything and we're going to aim for May.

But he's okay! Everything is okay! :)

Edited 2015-02-25 01:27 (UTC)

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Green Room - Week 39 - Day 1

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