LJ Idol Presents:

I don't game.

Other than LJ Idol of course.

I've been known to watch people play video games and be perfectly happy. I'm just not very good at them.

I enjoy playing Galaga. But I'm not very good at it. The same goes for skee ball, but that's not really the same "sort of game" we're talking about. :) (I'm "OK" at both, but I keep getting reminders that my skill set may be lacking these days, whenever it is that I do play)

There is one game though that I used to really love playing. If you'd asked me a couple weeks ago, I probably couldn't have told you. Because I'd forgotten. But thanks to an app on my phone, I have rediscovered the obsession of SimCity.

I am currently trying to manage between a traffic crisis and a lack of police in several, spread out, areas. (I *just* got the trash/sewage back under control and I'm good for power and water for at least a little bit)

It's only been two days of playing - but I'm already back into the thick of my obsession. (and yes, I'm sure there are "cheat codes" out there - and I know they have in-game purchases but I have an in-wallet vacuum and even if I didn't, I'm quite sure I don't want to go down that particular black hole)

The only game I ever played with "cheat codes" was the PC-version of Civilization? Why? Because I loved nuking small towns and villages. Or rolling over primitive civilizations with tanks. Yes, I am truly the white cis-male people have warned you about. :D (at least in that particular game)

Other games that I used to enjoy - Star Trek Engineering (it was some Star Trek game, but I played with two friends - one would take the controls for the away missions, one handled the space battles and I kept the ship going and supplied in the engineering department - and no, I didn't get "stuck with it" either, that was my choice...), Super Traitor (Not sure what the game actually was, some sort of Desert Storm mission game. It became Super Traitor because I would shoot up my own guys, hospitals, media trucks, etc...); and of course, Super Space Traitor (See above, but it was a space game where I'd turn around and try to blow up my own base) I was obviously a troubled teen!

With SimCity though - and this is definitely as true, if not more so, brings out my compassion of wanting to help my citizens. I take all of the compassion that I should feel for Idolers and give it to little dots on my phone! :D

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There is no compassion happening in the poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/995007.html so if you want to give some to your favorites - now would be the time to do that.

The only way to for any hope at all for the Second Chancers is to get their entries i by tomorrow night http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/995134.html

Today - one poll closes: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/987604.html

and another poll opens: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/986817.html

That's the way of life though isn't it? Or something close to that. Seems really familiar. ;)

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Who needs more love in the poll right now? What are you favorites who should be getting more attention?

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How was your weekend?

This morning I woke up with one of those weird thoughts of "If LJ ever went away/if we decided to move Idol somewhere else, I could keep the name and just make the LJ stand for something other than 'Live Journal'!"

My favorite, in this daze was Literary Jihad! :)

So I went to see if this was a thing - and it kind of is... http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/08/battle-lines-jihad-creswell-and-haykel

Jihadists LOVE poetry. Who else do we know who seems to love poetry? Seaaon 10 LJ Idol contestants... Coincidence????

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See for yourself what "those people" are up to (and by "those people" I mean "current contestants" and by "current contestants" I mean hippies in the need of a good kicking. http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/979718.html


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One more day. One day more!

Good morning and welcome the LAST Day to vote!http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/969972.html

So make sure to get out there and support your favorites!

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What massive conspiracy is distracting you from the *truly important* things you should be concentrating on today?

With my luck, by the time Second Chance rolls around - the energy around the 2017revival will have faded. I really hope not though, because bringing people back to the LJ fold has long been something I've wanted to see happen. It's something that Idol, in it's own small and twisted way, has been doing in it's own shouting into the wind way.


I've noticed though, that there are a lot of different people who all seem to have their own notions about what was so awesome about LJ "back in the day". What do YOU want to see return, and what do you hope never does?



The break week topics are over here: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/961914.html

The poll is still up: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/956559.html So make sure to get over there and give some love.

Who needs more of it? I'm sure there are entries where you are looking at the current results and saying "Wow - they deserve more attention!" Well, now is a good time to point people to them! Far better than waiting until they are eliminated!

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We started cleaning out the attic last night. Which is funny, because all of it is from back when Cynthia was married to her ex, so there are a lot of their memories - and by "memories" I mean lots of random papers thrown into a box accompanied by boxes of computer disks which I'm sure contain *lots of really, really important data* that were thrown into a box and put into the attic back in the '90s! :)

There's a lot more to dig through though, so who knows what other important things are going to appear.

What's in *your* attic right now?

Heck, we can even get a bit meta with this, and what is in your creative/emotional attic, and do you really still need it?

It's the last day to get your votes in: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/936711.html

Today is already looking like it's going to be challenging. At least dealing with my co-workers... really just one of them. Because I was out yesterday and she is in some frantic state (as well as angling to get back her old responsibilities, so any time she can point to something "wrong", she does so loudly and without any regard to (1) what's actually happening and (2) who gets run over if people listen to her without actually stopping to check facts.)

So today is going to be "fun".

Yesterday? Yesterday was actually FUN.

Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate the wonder that is Katie!! <3

http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/880185.html and http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/880602.html is where the action is today! The polls are closing tonight!

Which brings up that usual question of:

What have been some of your favorites this week?

More importantly: What have you loved that hasn't (in your opinion) gotten the love it deserves?

People tend to be busy, maybe they haven't checked it out yet... and they are just waiting for you to point them in that direction!

The polls are up! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/869530.html for the Teams and http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/869815.html for the Individuals!

Remember to check out both polls though to make sure you are getting to read everything! (and trust me, you'll want to be checking out things from both!)

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Going through my email/comments I've seen there are some questions - I'm going to answer them here so that if anyone else is asking, I can cover them as well.

- Why are vote totals so low?

Because not many people have read and voted so far. Be sure to get the word out! The best promoters of what is happening here are our contestants. Tell people to come out and read! Not just your stuff, but everyone's. I'm positive they are going to find stuff they love that they would have never encountered if not for you!

- Do the Teams work like Redemption Tribe?

For those who don't know, the Redemption Tribe is something we've had in the past to deal with ties. If you tied in the elimination spot, you were separated from the main group and someone from that tribe would go.

So I guess the answer is "Yes" and "No". "Yes" in that they are small tribes and the one with the fewest votes is going to lose someone.

But "no" in that only the team with the fewest votes is going to have that happen - and someone leaves every time there is a poll, so that's not "just like the Redemption Tribe", that's Idol.

- "if a member of a team were to drop out while a poll was going on, would their teammates automatically be safe?"

Let's assume we are talking about "One person is leaving" scenarios. (like this week).

If someone from a team drops out *while a poll is up*, then they are counted as the elimination for that week.  In a multiple elimination week, then they would be counted as *one* of the eliminations. They are considered to be "sacrifices". They are literally sacrificing their spot in the game.

If two people from Teams were to drop, in a single elimination week, only 1 would "count". There would still be someone leaving from the Individuals though.

- "What if the team member dropped while a topic was up but before the deadline?"

Drops before the deadlines (regardless of team or individual) are quits.  They are not counted toward the number of people to be eliminated that week.

- "in either scenario, does the team disband and remaining members get all byes?"

If a team drops below 3 members, it disbands for a week. (or however long it takes for the members to form a new team)

If that team is polling their byes, then yes, the remaining members will split the byes as evenly as possible.



Any other questions I may have missed?

What have you read so far that you want to make sure other people check out?

Good morning Idolers!

For Christmas, I lost my voice - but not my ability to post! :)

What did YOU receive?

Heck, even if you don't celebrate Christmas, what have you received recently that you are especially excited about?

Cynthia bought me a new Chromebook.

Which... yeah, I definitely wasn't expecting that. Although, looking back, her comments about how I needed to get a new computer because the old one was *literally* falling apart should have been a clue. (There were a couple keys missing - thanks cats!! and it would frequently freeze up to the point that I had to remove the battery and reboot)

I've *never* owned a new computer before.

Every previous computer has been passed down from a friend - or in the case of the last one, it was a refurbished one. (Which was *awesome*, and I'll never forget the people responsible for giving that to me.) So this is all new territory. I also have to figure the ins and outs of a Chromebook. (I'll be keeping the other one as well, as backup - which is a luxury I could have never imagined having)

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Not sure if Santa got you any Free Topics: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/818372.html But I sure did!

If Santa didn't get you an LJ Idol shirts - now might be a good time to get them! The original is only available for 4 more days (Dec 30)! http://teespring.com/LJIdol and the variant http://teespring.com/LJIdol3 only has 11!

and of course, if you are doing any "after Christmas sales" on Amazon - click through here first! http://astore.amazon.com/li0cd-20