LJ Idol Presents:

A few words from clauderainsrm:

The comments lately have been a ghost town, and I won’t lie, I get sad about that. But then I read the entries like these, and all of the other entries from the last few weeks and I have that moment where I’m still feeling good about what is happening here - there is still a vast amount of talent on display, people just aren’t commenting on the community itself. Which, that happens. Would I even mention this if I wasn’t on cold medicine? Probably not. :D But whooo hooo that I am… and “not whoo hoo” that I am…

These entries though, I can’t say enough good things about them, so I’m going to leave that to YOU, the voters. Read the entries. Comment on them. Vote for your favorite(s) - then tell people about it! Let them know what you have read, and what you love about it!!

One of these two is coming to the end of their road, just a couple steps from the finish line. Which is tragic that one of them won’t get into the Final 4. But it would also be tragic if one of the others weren’t in it, so that’s just the nature of numbers I guess! You can’t have 5 people in 4 spots!

Blame numbers.

This poll will be closing Saturday, December 14th at 8pm ET. The writer with the fewest votes will be eliminated.

Good luck to both of you!

A few words from clauderainsrm:

5 writers are left. All extremely talented and deserving of making it to the end. But that isn’t going to happen. (Sorry, but that’s not how this works)

So YOU, the voters, have the decision of who isn’t going to get to 4.

Read the entries. Comment on them. Let them hear what you have to say about their work. Who doesn’t love feedback?!? Vote for your favorites! It’s pretty straightforward. Then - let other people know about what is happening here and what you’re reading and enjoying! That’s how new people find us after all, you tell them about it!

The poll closes Tuesday, December 10th at 8pm ET. The writer with the fewest votes will be eliminated.

Good luck to everyone!

 Last week results are in, and it's another Sudden Death Write Off!!! (in retrospect, this mini season should have been called "Sudden Death Write Off") therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1175899.html

The new prompt is up though for those who want to get started. therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1176122.html

How was your Thanksgiving? ( For those in the US who celebrate. )How was your Black Friday? (For those who celebrate.) How was your weekend? (For those who celebrate? :D) 

Anyone looked up the definition of the new prompt yet? Any ideas flowing? 

Yes. I did close the polls late.

Which that the "freak occurrence" has now happened twice in the same mini season. Honestly, it was pretty silly of me to think I was going to have the time to close a poll while packing for the trip.

Enjoy your good fortune!

You are spared. The Queen would have wanted it that way.

 The deadline to get your entries is TONIGHT.  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1127096.html

But if you don't know that by now you are probably going to miss it anyway.  ;( 

***

How is everyone doing? 

Me? I'm excited that I'm getting closer to actually having some time off! Not only do we have Labor Day off (and I can't work without sacrificing my holiday pay, which nope not doing that!) but we are going on vacation to San Francisco!!!

One of you already knows this, so I figured I'd make sure everyone else does as well, since it's going to impact the schedule for the next couple weeks 

it's finally something to actually look forward to!! We are going to celebrate Cynthia's 50th. and yes, I did suggest that we should celebrrate her 50th in Anaheim. But apparently her birthday ISN'T about me going to Disneyland, which seems wrong.  ;) 

Other than that, just work.  A whole lot of work. Things are finally calming down. But of course now I'm facing the prospect of TWO people leaving in the next month or so, as well as our part time employee who had stayed to help get us stable. Since I'm going to be walking into a potential storm when I get back. I'm going to enjoy this trip as much as I can!!

The longest week in the history of Idol has come to an end.

I've taken the results of all five polls, and averaged them out.

For those who like trivia, the person with the fewest votes averaged 6.8 votes fewer than the person with the most votes overall.

All 5 people leaving were in the bottom 5 of at least two polls. Which, is to be expected. I don't say that as anything other than to say "it can happen to ANYONE on ANY GIVEN WEEK". Because there were only *3* contestants who were NOT in the bottom 5 of at least one of these polls.

I think that says a lot about how divided this was, and how taking an average of not 1, but 5 polls, on different topics and using different methods, did a decent job of evening out the field.

Another sign of how close these results were was the vote from the Jury for Immunity. 8 individuals received multiple votes. It came down to a single vote in deciding who it would be awarded to - the final vote I received.

The Jury awarded immunity to bleodswean . Congratulations on officially making it to the Top 8!

Unfortunately, there are 5 contestants who will not be joining you there.

Leaving us this week - and moving over to become a part of the Jury who will help shape what remains of this mini season are some absolutely incredible writers.

People who I would have loved to see continue, and I hope we continue to see Home Game.

I'd say they were going out "before their time", but at this point, there can only be one winner. Everyone but one person is going to go out before they "should".

Goodbye to

babydramatic_1950 
d0gs 
flipflop_diva 
yachiru 
zedmanauk 


That's a painful list to write. The Walking Dead episode for tonight is going to feature a scene much like this one, an emotional gut punch.

Thank you so much to all of you for coming out for this mini season, and adding so much with every entry. I hope you got as much out of it as others did (myself included) from reading your work!

A few words from Gary:

At long last, it’s the final poll of Week 17.

With four of the five votes in that will determine who will be going home - I can honestly say that there are only 2 of the 5 spots that I think are “filled”, and with the Jury voting - even that isn’t true.

Anything can, and probably will, happen.

So once more into the breach - and read, comment and vote for your favorites!

They need you to survive!  This is your last chance to solidify their place, a heartbeat away from the final four, or send them to the Jury.

The vote is open to everyone. So spread the word!

The poll will close Sunday March 24th at 7pm EDT.

Good luck to everyone!

 

The longest week in Idol history is still has a few days to go!

The poll closes tonight and a new one will go up.

It's interesting to see how the same writer, with a different piece, is supported. Only 2 of the bottom 5 from Round 1 were in the bottom 5 of Round 2. And it's not looking like at least 1 of those 2 is going to be in the bottom of Round 3.

Then again, with everything averaged, I have no idea how this is going to end up turning out!

It's far too early to be making any predictions, or mentally preparing myself to say goodbye.

***

What are YOU up to this week?

I'm busy trying not to burn the house down.

The second round of voting has started: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1051975.html so take a small part of your attention and direct it there.

The rest of your attention should be toward wishing my wife and bonus daughter a safe flight as they head off to Vienna and Prague today! And of course for the world, since I will be unsupervised for a week! :D

***

What are YOU doing this weekend?

The Contestant Only vote for the first topic is happening now: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1051279.html

It ends tonight. The voting for Topic 2 will start soon.

***

Last night, Cynthia mentioned how proud she was of me for taking the trip to California.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how proud I was of myself as well. People do things all the time.

But this was the first time that I had ever just came up with an idea, planned it out, and executed it on my own - and fulfilled two lifelong dreams in the process. I guess I should be kind of sad that it took me until my late 40s to do this. :) Now I just need to figure out what to do next - and how to accomplish it!

Knowing that I have that single-minded focus that I displayed to make this happen, that was a treat to find out about (and kind of scary - I was *super focused*. :D But I guess that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has spent time in Idol. Once I get an idea, I just keep at it!! :D )