therealljidol | Entries tagged with day 04

The deadline is tonight and fewer than half of the field has posted their entry: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1035740.html

Get to work slackers! ;)

Either that, or I guess we are getting to our Top 20 faster than I thought. Or maybe Top 10! :O

***

It's Friday - what you ARE doing this coming weekend?

clauderainsrm

The countdown to the merge has started!

The Second Chancers are deciding who is going to make it: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1033408.html

and so are those in the main competition: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1033913.html

Who is going to survive? Once the collision happens - what will things look like as the dust begins to settle? Will the dust ever settle or will it just increase until there is zero visibility until the moment that one person emerges triumphant from the pile?

So far that dream I had is actually still (mostly) on track. (It was pretty vague) If there's even a little bit of truth in it, things are definitely about to get interesting! Even if it doesn't come true (and it probably won't, it's a dream, not a prophecy), I can see several potential storylines emerging and it's really going to be a treat to have a ringside seat on the coming slug fest!

clauderainsrm

The deadline for Second Chance is TONIGHT - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1028072.html

The deadline for the main competition is tomorrow - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1028498.html

The deadline for that bomb to explode is - You almost got me. I'm not telling you that. I'm not even going to confirm if there is an actual bomb. Or where someone, who wasn't me, has placed it. All I have to say is that if your writing drops below a certain pre-set speed, you might be in trouble.

So I'd suggest you keep writing.

clauderainsrm

On the last few days of the year, everyone always asks "What did you learn in 2018?" Which never really makes sense. Why were people asking me that in 1996?

But assuming that what I actually meant is that they are asking what you learned in the year that was ending - who cares?

The real focus is "What are you going to learn in 2019?"

What are your plans? Your goals? How are you going to make them happen?

I have plans to knock out two of my biggest goals in the late Feb/early March. But I've been working hard for the last year to try to make it happen, and have a lot more work to do in coming weeks.

***

Even more important than that - I hope everyone who is wanting a Second Chance is getting signed up https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1023709.html and getting their entry in: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1024362.html Right now we have 17 contestants and *2 entries*! Don't make it extra easy on those 2 people! :)

There's also the main competition who have a deadline on the 2nd - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1024845.html

clauderainsrm

My work Christmas party is today.

Yesterday, Cynthia's office had an office party (their "real party" is next weekend)

Not a single Hanukkah party.

No "Give Gary cookies" parties.

This "Holiday season" is a waste of time.

It's a month long focus on ONE of the many holidays that take place this month. No wonder people want to make war on Christmas! (Note: no one is actually warring on Christmas, except maybe me. But when I do, it's going to be a shock and awe sneak attack)

Fortunately, we are having a "Write entries and people get eliminated" party right here at Idol! https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1018259.html

That's always a good time! So bring your eggnog over and pull up a chair... unless you haven't posted your entry yet, in which case, no celebration for you until you do!

clauderainsrm

The deadline to get your entry in is tonight at 7PM. https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1015643.html So why are you reading this? You should be writing!

Unless of course you aren't actually reading this. Which I suspect might be true. Let me know if you're not reading this.

***

Cynthia gave me one of her pens to use at work. The Kaweco Perkeo with Noodler's Heart of Darkness ink. It's my first fountain pen! I can definitely see the appeal of it.

Nathan Tardiff is definitely an interesting character, I was thinking of trying to find one of his interviews or general rants, but I think you get some of what I'm talking about in his "Note from the Founder" on his own site http://noodlersink.com/the-noodlers-advantage/ I like to think of him as the Dr Bronner of the ink community.

I couldn't recall Dr Bronner's name, so I started my google search with "Doctor crazy soap" and it was the first result!

clauderainsrm

My favorite part of my job is getting to go to the National Adoption Day ceremony - where a group of people come before a judge and a new family is officially recognized.

It's always moving, and it's nice to see the faces of the kids, especially the ones that I recognize from having updated their cases in our system. It's a happy ending in a place that often deals in harsh beginnings and doesn't get as many "wins" as anyone would like.

This year - I missed it. It's happening right now. But I had a doctor's appointment, so rather than going to the courthouse to experience joy, I had to go in and get blood work. Blood work is NOT my favorite part of any experience.

Once I was done, I had to come directly into work.

***

The other sad news of the day is that we had an elimination last night: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1013018.html

So make sure to head over to say goodbye and read the entry that *was* submitted.

***

Keep in mind that the deadline is TONIGHT AT 7PM EST! So make sure to get your entries in! There's not a lot of them right now. https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1011492.html So hopefully everyone is busy writing.

clauderainsrm

TONIGHT's the night! https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1009402.html

Make sure to get your entries in.

Speaking of "Tonight's the night", I heard that Rod Stewart song at the grocery store the other day and it started me wondering why it was so catchy. Because I'm not a Rod Stewart song by any stretch of the imagination, but there's always been something appealing to me about it. So I looked it up.

Sure enough, the backing musicians on that song were the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section aka The Swampers. As in the line from "Sweet Home Alabama" from Lynyrd Skynrd "Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two (yes they do)
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feeling blue, now how bout you?"

Even if you don't think you know their work - you know their work. Glance through if you don't believe me. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1247

(People talking about the recent death of Aretha Franklin obviously know her cover of "Respect" - that was the Swampers playing)

(and that's just some of the highlights)

***

While we're talking about "Sweet Soul Music" (the Arthur Conley song that the Swampers played on, I'm on a theme - the final album from the late great Charles Bradley just came out.

I noticed that it was on Spotify this morning, so it's probably on whatever service you use as well. If you enjoy soul, you definitely should check out the Screaming Eagle (Bradley's nickname). :)

clauderainsrm

To our pagan friends - Happy New Year!

Unless you are one of those weirdoes who celebrate it at Yule, but that makes no sense so go ahead and change your deeply held spiritual beliefs to better reflect my personal whim!

Trust me, you will feel better about your life choices once you do.

To our non-pagan friends - Happy Halloween!

To our friends who don't acknowledge Halloween or Samhain - Happy Survivor Day! (a new episode is on tonight)

To those who don't celebrate anything, for any reason - generic greeting to you. I hope your day is satisfactory.

***

They say that Samhain is the time of year where the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest. It's a time to remember those on the other side of it.

If that is the case, that must be why it's been weighing so heavily today. Either that or the fact that I realized that 4 years ago today is when I found out we had lost our first contestant. Which means last night is when it actually happened.

Nathalie (agirlnamedluna) loved to post as close deadline as possible. She was particularly skilled at coming up with these amazing entries at the last possible moment, making everyone wonder if she was going to make it in time or not.

She literally died at her computer the night of a deadline. I wonder if the thought that "Idol has killed me" is a thought that went through her last moments. I doubt it. It was probably about her daughter - but Nath would have been the first one to laugh and say that she knew Idol would end up killing her.

It doesn't seem like 4 years. It seems like 10. I'm a different person. Idol is a different place. (Literally a different place at the moment!)

In some ways, I've fought to keep Idol going over these last 4 years, and trying to find ways to keep it going despite LJ being LJ, *because* we lost Nathalie, and she would want to keep playing.

Nath was the first. But she was followed by Cris, Talesia, Fran and Alex.

The grief, the loss, it piles up. It surprises you at the most unexpected moments.

But you go on. You move forward. Because it's important to celebrate them. It's important to remember them.

And, maybe if that "veil" really is at it's thinnest today, maybe, somehow, they know that we do.

I miss all of you. Thank you for being a part of this crazy little idea that I had. Thank you for being a part of my life.

***

As for the rest of you - *kicks you*

The topic deadline is tomorrow: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1005921.html Get to work you slackers!

Also - We eliminated a couple more last right with the results of the Write-Off - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1007275.html Make sure to head over there and say a little something to them.

clauderainsrm

Just barely getting in here with a Day 4 Green Room!

Sorry about that. But it was my last day at work for the rest of the week, and apparently everyone expected me to "get stuff done"! I tried to explain that my REAL JOB needed me, but they weren't convinced! ;)

At any rate - it's still in plenty of time to remind you that the deadline for this week is TOMORROW AT NOON EDT!!!!!

I'll throw in a couple more !!!! that make sure you get how important that is.

https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1003960.html

The majority of contestants still haven't submitted an entry. Hopefully that changes quickly, otherwise this trend could make for a really short mini season (or a faster path to Second Chance than was expected)

***

Hope you are doing well.

No. Wait. Sorry. Of course I didn't mean that.

Hope you are suffering under the weight of my imperialist boot like the hippie scum you are!

There, that felt better! More "on brand".

clauderainsrm

Tomorrow is the deadline, so if you have been holding off writing your entry, you had been get on it! https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/998324.html Not literally of course. Because your entry exists in your head, until you write it down and then it's on a website and "getting on it" would either require that you get on yourself, which sound awkward or somehow physically get on a website. Maybe if you track down the server and stood on top of it, perhaps that would count...

ANYWAY... you should be writing your entry!

Also - if you know someone who hasn't signed up yet, you should definitely kick them until they show up: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/996363.html

clauderainsrm

The Sign Up Sheet is getting a little more love: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/996363.html But don't forget to keep bringing in more folks. The deadline is Monday October 1st! So now you know what you'll be doing this weekend! ;)

Bring me my 1,000th new contestant for my birthday! :D

***

Spoiler: I *probably* won't be posting a Green Room tomorrow. I'll post one for the weekend though.

***

Anyone check out Survivor last night? Or Big Brother? (I don't watch BB but I've heard people who've had strong opinions)

***

There's a lot of important stuff going on in the world right now. Things that take up your time and attention. Thank you for remembering that the MOST important thing of all is Idol! ;)

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

Good Almost-Afternoon,

There's a lot of stuff to cover, so let's get to the links:

The Second Chance Results:http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/998421.html
The Second Chance FINAL topic: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/998873.html

The main competition poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/998161.html

***

Maybe that wasn't "a lot", but it felt like it was last night when I was posting. :)

There are certainly some big implications though to Second Chance coming to an end after this week. With the new people coming into the competition, after fighting their way (back) in, it's definitely another stage of the game that will be unfolding. How will it impact the main competition? We've had people come back from Second Chance and end up in the finals!

It's going to be interesting to see what happens, and who those contestants end up being.

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

Tomorrow is the deadline for the Second Chance poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/996359.html where people will be fired, like Brad's wife.

It's also the deadline for new entries to be posted for the main competition: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/997016.html I guess like the opposite of Brad's wife.

Either way, there is an internet meme involved! So everyone post thousands of comments! Even if it's one that's several days old, it's still "timely", right? Right? *kicks you* Right????

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

It's Deadline Day!

Our Second Chance poll is coming to a close: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/988636.html so please take the time to read, comment and vote for the people you want to see hang out to continue to fight for a spot back in the competition!

BTW - For those not sure, This means that Second Chance's topic will go up tonight.

It's also the deadline for the main competition's entries: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/989342.html

Which, for those under a rock, means their poll will go up tonight!

So make sure to get your entries in!

***

Any big weekend plans?

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

LJ Idol is all about your personal growth as a writer.

Or it's all about the fun.

Or the strategy.

Or the torture.

Or the combination of all of these things!

Perhaps it's about the all-you-can-eat virtual buffet!

The bottom line is that it always ends up meaning something different to different groups of people, which means that the way folks approach it are going to be completely personalized.

Sooner or later, the idea of "who "deserves" to move forward over others always ends up coming up.

Different people are going to approach that differently.

I'll use an example that I *think* is safe because it can be a real life one, that hasn't really come up this season - and I'm pretty sure the people involved won't see this to take personally. (hopefully no one related to them does. Because it isn't.) The kids participating in Idol this season.

There is a huge difference between Season 9 and Season 10 in that regard. Week 1 of Season 9 the kids and the "troll accounts" (people who folks thought were just there to stir things up) were eliminated. In the coming weeks the remaining "troublemakers" were taken out. Pretty much every time you poked your head up, the voters were chopping it off.

For whatever reason, people in that season decided that it was going to be "really serious", and the overall tone reflected that. And you can't have kids outlasting adults in something that's "really serious".

I'm still trying to figure out what Season 10 is, and honestly, I don't think we will know it's full shape until we see the first couple of post-Second Chance weeks, if not even later than that. But, for whatever reason - maybe as a reaction to the seriousness of Season 9. Or maybe because of the influx of new blood who make their own rules - "the kids" have done better/gotten further than almost any Under-17 year old contestant. Which I think is remarkable. Does that mean they will be gone soon? Does that mean that people are grading them on a scale and they could end up outlasting *all* of the adults? I'll be honest - I literally have no idea right now. That is entirely up to the voters. It's up to YOU.

Not just with the kids, but with every other person - and every kind of writing that you see. You get to decide the "who 'deserves' to stay". That's all you.

The collective "you" has the power to shape the kind of place you want this to be this season, and the bigger story you want to tell. Let's make it a good one!

***
Second Chance sign-up http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/981280.html and the first Second Chance Topic:http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/986817.html

The main competition topic, due *today, March 2nd* - http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/985303.html So make sure to get yours in!!

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

#NotMyGreenRoom

Oh wait, nevermind - yes, it is. It's totally my Green Room!

We have a topic, that is due tomorrow - with *a lot* of empty space right now. So hopefully you are hard at work on your entries: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/981676.html

and the Second Chance sign-up sheet: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/981280.html

***

What isn't yours today?

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

Remember that time when your favorite singer-songwriter wrote a song about your upcoming wedding? Yeah, me too.

Good times. I assume this is just something that happens, right? ;)

https://soundcloud.com/garydreslinski/prayer-tree

***

What is something that has "just happened" to you? Other than me kicking you. Which is about to happen. Better brace yourself.

Because the deadline is tomorrow and the topic thread needs a LOT more love: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/977744.html Mass elimination *is not* what I asked for as a wedding present. So let's not do that, OK? ;)

If you still need some help, pop into the Work Room: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/978031.html

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

Today is your deadline http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/974915.html and right now things are looking more like Week 5's massive bye-fest rather than the sweet sight of Week 6's redemption story. Hopefully you are just a bunch of slackers and the rest of the field will get there by tonight. (Honestly, you're a bunch of slackers regardless. Damn hippie slackers. Don't tell me you've been too busy interviewing for the job of Acting US Attorney General! You could have fit in an entry as well, it doesn't take that much time to use a rubber stamp!)

***

Last night Cynthia saw something online that made her go into a rage. Was it a story about the government? No.

Was it a story about something horrible that happened to a child? Nope.

Was it... no. Whatever you were about to ask, that wasn't it. UNLESS you were about to ask "Was it that meme with Kermit the Frog?" In which case - yes, that was it.

I know you've seen it - it usually has something cynical and snarky followed by "but that's none of my business" with a picture of Kermit drinking Lipton tea. I'm not entirely sure why Kermit is doing that. Was there a Muppets endorsement of Lipton at some point? Is this entire meme just a Lipton counter-ad campaign? I'm not sure.

But any cynical or snarky use of that beloved figure makes Cynthia completely see red.

For me? It's seeing people using Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes) on their trucks. I don't care if he's peeing, or praying, or just standing there. Bill Watterson told you NOT to do it, and you are doing it. Which means you deserve to be shot in the face.*

(*Note - maybe not literally. Although, perhaps. That could just be an additional factor in the reasons it needs to happen.)

What seemingly simple thing makes YOU go into "irrational anger mode"?

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

Good morning.

I just responded to something from yesterday. I had something else in mind to talk about in the Green Room today, but the comment really hit me so I wanted to check in where more people would see it.

When I posted the "List of Shame" yesterday, there were some people who knew what it was about - and others who didn't.

The "List" used to be a regular thing - with everyone on the same page that the idea of "shame" was a playful, tongue-in-cheek thing. (That List part though was totally serious. It was a real list. :D)

It was my way of using the LJ tagging system to give people a "heads up" that the deadline was approaching, so it didn't blindside them.

Over the years though, "shame" started being a much more serious thing. Or rather - more to the point - people started recognizing that it was an actual serious thing.

The word became more loaded, and I started being a little uncomfortable with it. (and honestly, my assistant used to put it together and I stopped having as much time)

That lasted for awhile until Luna died. She had been the #1 advocate for bringing it back. So I brought it back, in her honor.

Seeing that did actually *demotivated* someone though - that brought the questions back up in my mind, that second guessing... because all of the evil being brought to bear (and believe me, none of the actual evil has surfaced yet this season, it's coming though!) is to get people writing and having a good time. I hope people *do* end up enjoying themselves this season, and if something *does* come up where you are impacted negatively by something that you let me know. Not saying that it will change anything - because it may just be that you're wrong. ;) But I definitely do want to know.

***
Reminder: The deadline is TONIGHT http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/965056.html

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LJ Idol Presents:

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Entries tagged with day 04

Green Room - Week 13 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 12 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 11 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 10 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 8 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 7 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 6 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 5 - Day 4

Green Room - Halloween

Green Room - Week 3 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 1 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 0 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 13 - Day 6

Green Room - Week 13 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 11 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 10 - Day 4

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Green Room - Week 4 - Day 4

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