therealljidol | Entries tagged with week 14

At this point, it's all going to be painful goodbyes.

This week proves no different, and it just goes uphill from here. One of them I was expecting a day or so ago when I checked on the poll and saw the "vote gap" where someone gets behind early on and it's an uphill struggle to get caught back up. I've seen it done, but not as often as I've seen it happen.

The other elimination though has been back and forth and when I hit that "close poll" and "refresh" I apparently hadn't been paying close enough attention because I wasn't expecting to see that name!

Goodbye to

swirlsofpurple and

rayaso (the Idol Sisterhood claiming their final victim)

Thank you for coming out and playing this mini season, I've loved having you here! I hope you've had fun and will consider home gaming, and hanging around to cheer on your favorites! (Well, for one of you that's guaranteed to happen! :D)

clauderainsrm

A few words from

clauderainsrm:

Here on the “good side of social media” we have exercises in creativity happening with our Top 10.

Tell a friend.

No, seriously, tell a friend. People need a break from real life right now, and it’s a fantastic time to give them something to do - like read some great entries!!!

We will be losing the two contestants with the fewest votes. Which with this group is going to be BRUTAL. So it’s more important than ever to read, comment and vote for your favorites!!!

The poll closes Monday, November 11th at 8pm.

Good luck to everyone!

Poll #32190 ’LJIdolMini-Week14’

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 42

Vote For Your Favorites!

autumn_wind's entry
15 (35.7%)

chasing_silver's entry
13 (31.0%)

erulissedances's entry
11 (26.2%)

flipflop_diva's entry
11 (26.2%)

halfshellvenus's entry
12 (28.6%)

inkstainedfingertips's entry
13 (31.0%)

littlebitofearth's entry
13 (31.0%)

rayaso's entry
10 (23.8%)

swirlsofpurple's entry
6 (14.3%)

xeena's entry
18 (42.9%)

clauderainsrm

The results are in from the Sudden Death Write Off - therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1172144.html

and so far the new prompt is empty, with a few more days to go. therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1171200.html I'm sure people are paying attention to "some other vote" right now. Apparently it's "important for the future of the country". Not sure which country people are talking about! There is only ONE country that matters, and that's 'Mercia, which extends to the end of my driveway. If you aren't a citizen of 'Merica then you are just damn dirty foreigners who need to be kicked!!!

(It's still "funny" how my parody has become not far off from actual political discourse over the years. But I digress)

How are YOU doing right now?

***

We are now at our Top 10. (just realized that I didn't remove the two drops, and had to delete an entire couple paragraphs and start over again! :D)

Was it the group you *thought* was going to be here at the beginning of this?

Immunity has expired, which means literally any person could be going next depending on how things shake out over the next couple weeks.

Unless I'm mistaken, there is 1 Idol newbie vs 9 vets, 5 of them who I know without even looking have been in the Top 10 before. (1 I'm not entirely certain, but I know she's been knocking on that door), 1 of them a previous two-time winner. You'd think "Oh, so those are the people you *don't* want near the Top 5. But then you also have those 3 (maybe 4) who we've haven't seen that "next level" of what they will do as they get close to winning it all! They could be gearing up to just blow everyone out of the water by kicking it up another 3 notches!!!! From a "Gary looks at things from a Survivor strategy POV" it's pretty much all "threats" going into this Top 10, and there hasn't been "anywhere to hide" for quite some time!!! I'm looking forward to seeing how all of this is going to play out. (Unlike tomorrow, where I'm not looking forward to it)

clauderainsrm

The results are in from last week resulting in another Write Off: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1170999.html

and the new prompt is up: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1171200.html

I suppose it's time for an update. Although *tap tap tap* is this thing even on???

I went to FEST in Gainesville last week, the 3 day punk music festival. Although we went to Pre-FEST as well, so it was a 4 day adventure. We checked Cynthia's Fitbit afterward and saw that we "walked" (some of it was dancing, but I'm sure most of it was walking in between venues) over 30 miles during those 4 days.

I have spend the last several days completed exhausted, to the point that I'm not feeling great today and took the day off. Pretty sure it's not COVID. It might be "FEST flu" but even then I'm suspecting it's just sheer exhaustion and being dehydrated.

***

It's a really tense time right now in the US and around the world. How are YOU doing?

clauderainsrm

Feel free to adjust the genders, since I'm using the actual quote. :)

The prompt for this week is from Thelonious Monk.

"“A genius is the one most like himself"

The deadline to link your entries back to this thread is Thursday, November 7th at 7pm ET.

clauderainsrm

There is a 5-way tie for the fewest votes of the week. Which means each of them will be receiving a strike:

adoptedwriter

alycewilson

drippedonpaper
engarian/

erulissedances and

roina_arwen

Unfortunately, that means that

adoptedwriter has received a third/final strike and has been eliminated.

Thank you so much for coming out for this mini season and I hope you will continue to home game!

clauderainsrm

A few words from

clauderainsrm:

I’m on the mend in more ways than one. *checks again* Well, OK… in one way. :)

But hey, any progress is a step in the right direction.

If you are viewing the poll, you will notice an “executive strike” displayed. Before anyone emails me about it, I promised her several weeks back that she had one due to that thing called “real life”. There have been weeks where she was going to use it, but managed to get something in anyway. This week, apparently didn’t work out. So I’m keeping my promise.

As for the rest of you - the crowd continues to shrink and the pressure continues to build!

Who will break out as this week’s unconventional star? Which two contestants will receive a strike? (spoiler: the two with the fewest votes)

The poll closes Sunday, August 7th at 9pm ET.

Good luck to everyone!

Poll #27349 ’Week14’

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 53

Vote For Your Favorites!

adoptedwriter's entry
6 (11.3%)

alycewilson's entry
6 (11.3%)

banana_galaxy's entry
7 (13.2%)

bleodswean's entry
14 (26.4%)

dadi's entry
17 (32.1%)

d0gs's entry
13 (24.5%)

drippedonpaper's entry
6 (11.3%)

dsrmousey's Executive Strike - Votes Will Not Count
3 (5.7%)

engarian's entry
6 (11.3%)

flipflop_diva's entry
13 (24.5%)

furzicle's entry
10 (18.9%)

gunwithoutmusic's entry
10 (18.9%)

hwango's entry
10 (18.9%)

itismeangied's entry
8 (15.1%)

marlawentmad's entry
11 (20.8%)

mollywheezy's entry
8 (15.1%)

ofearthandstars's entry
10 (18.9%)

roina_arwen's entry
6 (11.3%)

stellinasusan's entry
8 (15.1%)

swirlsofpurple's entry
9 (17.0%)

stellinas entry should be https://stellinas.dreamwidth.org/3452.html Obviously this will not count against her should she be eligible for a strike...

clauderainsrm

There's a new prompt therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1123425.html
and new person with COVID - me!!

Yes. I've joined the club. So no one else should join. It's no longer cool. ;)

I'm doing OK. it's minor compared to a lot of what I've heard people going through, But it's definitely not pleasant.

Hope you and yours are safe and healthy.

clauderainsrm

This week's prompt may seem a little unconventional.

Which makes a lot of sense, because this week's prompt is

Unconventional

The deadline to link your entries back to this thread is Tuesday August 2nd at 7pm ET.

This is going to be a really rough week for me at work, so you benefit by getting some extra time to write!

clauderainsrm

This is going to be a rough entry to read. It's difficult to write.

But we are losing three people this week, and that's the nature of the beast that needs to be fed.

The good news is that this week the Jury is gaining three new awesome members.

The bad news is who they are:

First off is the sacrifice. If you've read the entries, you know who it is, and why she has made the call to bow out. I will just say that I'm really annoyed by it. Not "sad" or "disappointed", but mad. Because she is one of the few people that I've never been able to eliminate!! Every time she shows up, she sacrifices! Come on,

bsgsix , let me officially eliminate you next time!!! ;)

The second contestant leaving us is the always awesome

wolfden .

The third?

Well, notice how I haven't told you the results from the Jury yet? Usually, it's a close vote. This time? It wasn't. This time they overwhelmingly decided to save

dmousey .

Congratulations! She was actually due to be on the chopping block, which means the person with the next fewest votes is the one leaving us. In this case, that means someone is going by falling a single vote shy of causing a 5-way tiebreaker.

Which means that we are losing emo-snal. aka

aggienaut

I was hoping to see him last at least four more weeks. That may seem awfully specific - but that is how close he is to breaking the record for the Most Weeks Survived! That stat alone should tell you everything you need to know about him. He's just that good.

Thank you so much to all of you for coming out to this experiment. You helped shape this into a special experience, and as members of the Jury, you are going to have a direct role in deciding how this is going to play out!

Which means that someone else is going to be eliminated.

clauderainsrm

The poll closes tonight https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1039537.html so make sure to vote to keep your favorites in the running!

***

I've mentioned before that I've been doing freelance writing work for Cynthia's company. It's only a few articles a year, but it's a little extra money and gives me an excuse to write about subjects I have absolutely no interest in writing about, but doing it in a way that makes it fun for me.

Today I heard that the woman in charge of Marketing is leaving. She's been my point of contact now for the last couple of years of freelance writing. She let me know who I would be talking to now - and also let me know that her *new* job is going to be needing freelance writers in a couple months, once she gets settled into the new position! :) I know having *two* clients is no big deal to people who do freelance work on a regular basis. Or even semi-seriously. But for me it feels huge!

***

I finished a 1,600 word piece last night (it was due today, so of course it wasn't even half-finished!) and had that rush of "OMG! I finished it, and it's pretty good". It was such a relief to be finished writing it. When I expressed this to Cynthia, she was confused. "I thought you liked writing".

"Nope. I like HAVING WRITTEN SOMETHING. The actual writing process kind of sucks". I figured if there was anyone who understood, it would be people here.

Anyone else feel the same way?

clauderainsrm

A few words from Gary:

Here we are again, at the cusp of the Top 20. The last peek over the ridge into the land beyond, before all Hell breaks loose! Or maybe it will be calm. Who knows what is going to happen with this bunch.

This is a pivotal moment though. It’s the last week to use byes, and several folks ended up doing just that.
There was another name change and there is a sacrifice tucked away in there, if you don’t already know, I won’t spoil the surprise. (and no, it was NOT the one from my dream. I guess that is now officially dead, Which means even my unconscious doesn’t know who is going to win this anymore!

That is entirely in the hands of the voters, and we will be getting one step closer to that this week. Or rather, three steps closer. We will be losing a total of 3 contestants this week!

So make sure you get out there and read, comment and vote for your favorites! Then tell some friends to come check out what’s going on here. That’s the only way we continue to do this thing - is by spreading the word, and it’s certainly the only way that we will be doing another Dreamwidth popup! So if you love seeing us here, that’s what needs to happen!

The poll closes Tuesday Feb 5th at 9pm EST.

Good luck to everyone!

Poll #21272 Week14

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 53

The Ballot

babydramatic_1950's entry
20 (37.7%)

bellatrix-lestrange's entry
19 (35.8%)

bleodswean's Patreon Gift Bye Week – Votes For This Contestant Will Not Count
3 (5.7%)

bsgsix's entry
11 (20.8%)

dmousey's entry
11 (20.8%)

emo-snal's entry
14 (26.4%)

flipflop_diva's entry
15 (28.3%)

furzicle's entry
16 (30.2%)

halfshellvenus's Golden Ticket Bye Week – Votes For This Contestant Will Not Count
4 (7.5%)

hwango's entry
21 (39.6%)

itsjust_c's entry
17 (32.1%)

kehlen's entry
15 (28.3%)

kimschlotwrites's Bye Week – Votes For This Contestant Will Not Count
2 (3.8%)

onecheapdate's entry
19 (35.8%)

rayaso's entry
22 (41.5%)

song_of_thea's entry
18 (34.0%)

sonreir's entry
23 (43.4%)

spilledink562's entry
16 (30.2%)

static_abyss's entry
15 (28.3%)

wolfden's entry
9 (17.0%)

yachiru's entry
17 (32.1%)

zedmanauk's entry
15 (28.3%)

clauderainsrm

The deadline is tomorrow night: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1037999.html

Tonight is Lucinda Williams with the Drive-By Truckers!

A couple nights ago was Sarah Shook and the Disarmers (if you are even a little interested in old school "Outlaw" country - you need to check them out!)

Right now? Right now is work. And this Green Room. And then more work.

By the end of this month, my life is going to be different. Maybe not in a huge way. But different in a good way.

By the end of this month, this tight group is going to be a lot smaller as we make our final approach to see how this thing plays out. So take a moment while you can, as we are poised in this moment, looking down into the Top 20 and beyond. Take a moment to appreciate where you are and who is around you.

Because it doesn't get any easier from here, and moments like this make the trek that is to come worth it.

clauderainsrm

The topic post is still very lonely: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1037999.html So start up a firepit in the middle of your home to thaw out and get moving on it!

***

It's funny because yesterday I was reminded of how I never recall how old anyone is. Sure, it's because online you all look alike to me. (Also in person) How do you look? Like damn kids that need to get off my lawn!

Part of it is that I'm just bad at guessing ages. (I always assume that everyone is "about my age" unless I knew them when they were kids. In which case then it becomes a reminder of just how young I was back then. :D)

As the social media marker moves the "LJ model" further from the norm, the older the Idol demographic has become. I think we still end up with a pretty good mixture of ages and backgrounds. But I was also reminded that those 20-somethings that I saw coming in a few years back and mostly 30-somethings now!
(and so on)

clauderainsrm

We had some results last night, or "lack of results", whatever you want to call it - the Write Off ended up leaving us with all of the contestants remaining in to fight on! https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1038507.html

The new topic is also up - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1037999.html and very lonely. You should visit it, and leave an entry there!

***

I always find it interesting when people turn social media into echo chambers, siloed side-by-side but rarely interacting with each other.

Twitter seems like performance art, where you just spout things you think someone else is going to like and retweet. And Facebook has gone from Hot or Not to You Are A Bad Person if you aren't raging about what everyone else is currently raging about. It's always funny to see issues that people are passionate about, and then a week later you stop hearing about it. :)

I think now is the time that we need the long form communication that a LJ or DW offers more than ever. It's a time when we need communities that bring all sorts of people together into one place. It's even better if that community forces them to compete against each other on a weekly basis until there is only one left. But I may be biased about that. :)

clauderainsrm

Week 13 took it's toll on us all last night: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1037657.html

and will continue to take it with another Sudden Death Write-Off about to start!

What could make things interesting is that 3 of the 4 have byes left - and a couple of them have more than 1. So, from a strategic standpoint, they *could* all use them and avoid the Write-Off altogether. (since I won't eliminate someone by default.)

OR, if they are confident of survival, they force the Write Off and then use the bye in Week 14 https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1037999.html, coasting into the Top 20.

OR, and there's one person in the competition who can do this, and they are in the Write Off, not use a bye at all and have that personal victory of being able to say that they never used a Bye.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens!

***

Speaking of byes, since I have the page pulled up:

Unused bye count:
1 person has a Patreon bye AND a Golden Ticket.
1 has a regular bye
1 an unused Golden Ticket
1 an unused Thanksgiving bye
1 unused bye and an unused Thanksgiving bye
~~That person mentioned above who has 2 regular byes *and* a Thanksgiving bye~~ Correction - they only had one bye left.
and finally 1 unused Golden Ticket

There are currently 22 contestants and 11 byes out there able to be used. If used that way, half the field could be protected! People have been saving up their weapons, and this is the last week to use them!

***

I'm not saying this to scare the people who don't have the advantages left. Or to motivate those who do to use them in specific ways. I'm just saying that *they could* do these things. Because the strategy, or lack thereof, of how people use things like byes always interests me.

(and of course I'm also trying to warn people in advance, there *could* be a lot of byes used. So if you are out of them - and can't ask someone for one, you had better *bring it hard* this week. Because the field could be really small.)

clauderainsrm

This is the final week before the Top 20, and the last chance to use the few byes that are still left out there in the wild.

This is that place in the competition where things "get serious". Or as serious as they get around here!

It's the time when the topic is

Firebreak

You have until Saturday Feb 2nd at 8pm EST to link your entries to this post.

Have fun!

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

I was really busy lately, so I brought in some hired help. My friends from United Airlines will now be handle any and all complaints. Just raise your hand if you need help with something, and they will show up and escort you to a special debriefing area we have set up. If you're feet are hurting, don't worry - they will just carry you there.

I've also brought in some old friends from Pepsi to help with our new ad campaign - where voting in LJ Idol polls destroys all racism and everyone is happy. Don't believe me that is what occurs? Go check out the new one and see for yourself! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/1003004.html

I've also brought some folks from Livejournal itself in to consult on some long term planning ideas and to help with general communication. Those are areas they have always been outstanding in, so I'm sure this is going to be *great*!

Please help welcome our new additions to the staff!

***

For those of you on Facebook - I'd highly recommend checking out my FB friend (and all around good guy) Steve Helling's pictures and stories from his trip to visit Syrian refugees in Iraq. They are all public, so just click here https://www.facebook.com/steve.helling and go see them!

He had the opportunity to see first hand what a lot of people talk about, but not many fully understand.

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

A few words from

clauderainsrm:

People share their stories. It’s what we do.

These days a lot of them are told, and shared, on the internet. But at the heart of it, they are still our Campfire Stories.

Which is fortunate, because that was the topic this week!

When they write the tale of this week in the history of LJ Idol, those brave souls who delve into our history remark on what an “interesting” time it was in the blogging world, and how many external factors came into play. More likely than not, they will note that this was one of the turning points on the road toward Gary gaining full control of the world and amassing his armies to sweep across all of space and time.

It all started here, with this week’s entries. So thank you for being a part of that!

Unfortunately, we had two drops, someone saved by a “gift bye” and a sacrifice.

The last two I will let you find on your own. But as for the first bit - we are saying goodbye to two dear friends of Idol. One of them because of running out of byes and the other is vanishing from these parts entirely.

Goodbye to eeyore_grrl and sinnamongirl.
And no, I didn’t realize until I just cut and pasted their names into that spot that there was a “theme”. ;)

Thank you so much for coming out for this season and helping to make it special. I hope we will continue to see you around to root for your favorites and to Home Game. (Well, one of you probably will, and I hope that the other finds a way to be comfortable doing that, because you will definitely be missed)

As for the rest of you, we have our usual business, with a not-so-usual twist. This Week is the first week of the Second Chancers joining the main competition, and all *10* of them have a special, one week, immunity. Which should make life a little more interesting…

We will be losing 3 contestants this time around!

So make sure to read, comment and vote for your favorites to stick around!

The poll closes Friday April, 14th at 9pm EDT!

Good luck to everyone!

( Click here to Vote! )

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com

It's deadline day!

So make sure you are getting your entries in http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/1001426.html

Still quite a few people who haven't posted yet. So go kick them until they do!!!

***

What did YOU do this weekend?

Profile

LJ Idol Presents: Idol Mini

June 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Syndicate

Page Summary

Active Entries

1: Prompt - Week 2
2: The Wheelhouse - Week 2 - Weekend Edition
3: Results - Week 1
4: Twist Reveal - Week 2
5: The Wheelhouse - Week 1 - Day 10
6: The Wheelhouse - Week 1 - Day 11 - Poisoned!!!
7: Vote - Week 1
8: Prompt - Week 1
9: The Wheelhouse - Week 1 - Day 5
10: The Wheel of Chaos Sign Up

Style Credit

Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jun. 29th, 2025 01:07 pm

LJ Idol Presents:

The Wheel of Chaos

Entries tagged with week 14

Results - Week 14

Vote - Week 14

Green Room - Week 14 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 14 - Weekend Edition

Prompt - Week 14

Results - Week 14

Vote - Week 14

Green Room - Week 14

Prompt - Week 14

Results - Week 14

Green Room - Week 14 - Day 7

Vote - Week 14

Green Room - Week 14 - Day 4

Green Room - Week 14 - Day 3

Green Room - Week 14 - Day 2

Green Room - Week 14 - Day 1

Topic - Week 14

Green Room - Week 14 - Day 7

Vote - Week 14

Green Room - Week 14 - Day 6

Profile

June 2025

Links

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Active Entries

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags