LJ Idol Presents:

Before I get to anything else - I just want to say "THANK YOU". I'm pretty sure this is the first time that I've ever had the votes counted so quickly, because instead of the contestant only votes coming in during the final hour, you spaced them out! That's very much appreciated.

You also followed *most* of my requests about how to submit them to make the process easier - which, for a group of writers is more than I expected. ;)

With that out of the way, now comes the part that everyone hates - the eliminations.

Given that it was a staggered closing time, that is the order that the eliminations happened in, for those wanting to figure that kind of thing out.

First we have the immunity, given out by those participating in the Home Game/Killing Floor. It was really close, with 16 people receiving votes to keep them safe. Ultimately though, it was decided by *2 votes*. This week immunity was awarded to dmousey.

Congratulations.

I would say that it didn't end up being needed, and that would be true, but it *did* impact who else went home. Because we are losing 6 from the Contestant Only vote, because if we went any higher, then the immunity *would have* been played, and we would be losing 11. (and I'd already set the maximum at 10)

There were two sacrifices: icaruslived and n3m3sis43 that counted toward this total, plus 4 others:

eeyore_grrl
ellison
sorchawench
strryeyedgrrl

Which in turn, meant that they were already gone by the time the poll itself closed - and the next three lowest were eliminated (one of them by a single vote!)

cheshire23
eternal_ot
medleymisty

Definitely some favorites in this group - as well as some surprises (at the "midway point" it looked like it was going to be a different list for the contestant only voting!)

Thank you to all of you for coming out this season, it's been a delight to have you.

I hope that we will continue to see you in the Home Game, as well as hanging out in the Green Room to cheer on your favorites, or just to chat! :)

The poll closes tomorrow night: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/809247.html and given that people are going to be leaving from both the public poll *and* the contestant only one - we are looking at some potentially huge shifts in this game when the results are announced.

At least if what I am seeing at the moment can be believed.

(Granted, that probably depends on what you personally think would be a "huge shift"!)

Regardless of the outcome though, it's going to be a shot to the gut to lose so many people at this stage of the competition.

Hopefully, you have gotten your votes in.

You can have one additional way of impacting the results by participating in the Home Game/Killing Floor: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/808357.html

***

Since this is "Cyber Monday" - you should check out the Idol Store! http://astore.amazon.com/li0cd-20 (or just click there before going to Amazon to buy whatever you were going to buy anyway!)

***

How was your extended weekend? Did anyone actually finish their Christmas shopping or are you just getting started?

It's weird, because it wasn't that long ago when my Christmas shopping consisted of what to get my cats and just getting through the holidays. I always loved Christmas in general, but it was still a sad and lonely time that reminded me of what I didn't have.

If there is anyone else in that place right now - and I'm sure there are - reach out to your Idol family! They helped me through some rough patches. I'm sure they will help you as well.

What was your Favorite thing the Great Turkey brought you yesterday?

(What do you mean "What's the Great Turkey?" He comes into your house on Thanksgiving Eve and leaves presents and fully cooked feasts for all the *good people of the world*. Well, maybe *that's* why you don't get visited....)

***

What's your Favorite thing in this week's poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/809247.html ?

Heck, what's your Favorite thing in our Amazon store: http://astore.amazon.com/li0cd-20 ?

What are some of your Favorite books (that you think we should add to the "Other Books You Might Enjoy" section, for others to check out)?

Or you could always just type in your Favorite number into that Paypal link from yesterday. :P http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/809887.html

***
How likely to do you think "Favorites" is going to be something that shows up sometime soon? ;)

It was a dark and stormy night...

No, really, it was.

Really stormy.

It didn't make matters any better that there ended up being a water pipe that burst a couple streets over from where we were heading.

Traffic is bad on an average day when you are leaving the city and coming into suburbia. But when you add "bad weather" into the mix, it's just going to get worse. Throw in "traveling on bus" - and then once you get home, needing to run back out into it - yeah, it becomes less of a "am I going to be late" and more of a "HOW late am I going to be?"

Especially when you haven't factored in actually eating dinner.

But that's what you sign up for - sometimes you just have to *not* eat in order to get everything done that needs to get done.

When those "perfect storm" situations hit, you try to be more understanding about other people who may be going through something of their own on their end of the internet.

Which is why I send out my patented "You coming?" emails to people who haven't made it in yet. To find out what is going on - and if they just forgot to link their entry. When I'm running ahead of schedule, I tend to look for those myself - and usually end up finding a few on even the best of weeks. (rarely the same person)

I understand - things can happen.

Which is a long way around getting to the question that I have multiple copies of in my inbox last night/this morning. What it boils down to is "Do you enforce the deadlines/why have rules if you won't enforce them?"

There are definitely people who have come in on the wrong side of being late for a poll and have been eliminated as a result.

Deadlines are set. But, since Season 1, the policy has always been "If you get it in before I post the poll - I'll allow it." That's always the been the rule for what gets in the poll and what doesn't.

I can think of someone off the top of my head (a personal favorite of mine that season actually) who ended up submitting their entry less than a minute after a posted the poll. *That* was heartbreaking, but it's one of the dangers involved with posting at last minute. You never know when I am going to be have things ready to go! Things like last night, or where LJ just goes wonky/something wrong with the coding are pretty rare. The closer you get to that edge, the more likely it is to end up costing you.

Some people don't like that. They say it shows too much mercy.

Some people don't like when I have a twist that they think is too cruel.

To me - the mercy and the cruelty ends up evening out. :)

I can let people into the polls. Or come into the game late through special events and powers. Ultimately though YOU will decide if they are going to stay.

That's your power as voters. If you want to use "were they on time?" as a criteria - that's your criteria.
"Have they been here the entire time?" Again. Your criteria.
"Can I beat them?" (I've seen that one used before) That's on you.

The main one should always be "What did I think of the entry?" But those are certainly valid tie-breakers if everything else is equal.

This week has a Contestant Only vote component to it: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/809247.html which is a chance for the contestants to have their say. I hope that you will use it - and if being late to the party is something that bugs you - don't vote for them. If it's not, and they are putting out something you enjoy, do.

This is one small area where it really is "your call", where your will is going to be enforced! Use it wisely.

So...

Ferguson...



(wanders away and watches the 100 comments come in before continuing)

We also have some stuff happening here that I need to let you know about.

The deadline is TONIGHT: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/807797.html
So make sure to get your entries in!

There is a Work Room for your last minute panic attacks: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/808175.html

For those already finished, or those who are not (or no longer) contestants - there is the Home Game/Killing Floor - a place for entries *not* for the competition to be posted and constructive criticism given! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/808357.html

***

So, what ELSE is going on?

Today is just one of those "blah" days for me.

Not sure if it's the weather (it's been cold, by our standards, but today is actually warmer than it has been) or just things being overcast... the "winter blahs" maybe. Maybe just having one more former co-worker's funeral last night sent things over the mental edge...

Or just plain having an "off" day.

So give me some good news. Or at least something to help snap me out of this funk.

***

Important links of the day:
Results from last night: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/807585.html
New Topic: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/807797.html
New Work Room: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/808175.html
New Home Game/Killing Floor: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/808357.html

and because people have been asking about it: (which I suppose is a good thing) http://www.patreon.com/user?u=70027

and our Amazon store (I've added a bunch of new titles from Idol and Idol-related authors) http://astore.amazon.com/li0cd-20

This is an intense week, with a lot of information to cover.So, let’s start off with the good stuff:

Due to the sacrifices of drjeff and similiesslip, things worked a little bit differently for the “Disappear” Tribe. They had two things going on, that no one else did: (1) The tribe member with the most votes would receive a bye (that had to be given away) and they sent in ballots for immunity to give someone from another tribe.

Both of these powers are good between now and the Top 25.

The person who wins a bye that must be given away, as voted on by the General Voting Public is halfshellvenus

As for the immunity, I’ve got to say, this was really close. One vote separated the person who is receiving this from the person in second, and only 2 votes from the pack in third. It may have been a single vote, but it was the one that awarded this immunity to porn_this_way!

Congratulations to you both.

As for the other tribes, the makeup of the groups, based on the topics people selected, seemed to throw things off. Which, from a game perspective is good. But that doesn’t mean that the results can’t still be tragic.

I’m definitely losing several personal favorites this week, including someone who topped my personal list not too long ago!

Of the powers that are still out there (until the Top 30), there was a possibility of meeting the “conditions of use” of two of them. Three, if you count a previous instruction that would have sent everything into a tail spin had it not been recanted. However, ultimately, it came down to one of the conditions being met, and unfortunately, there was only one power to use, so it went in order of their selections...

Which is a long-winded way of saying that n3m3sis42 used her immunity to save jem0000000 from Tribe Appropriation.

Unfortunately, that means the person with the second fewest votes is eliminated.

Which means those leaving us this week are a talented group of contestants, and definitely an All-Star class of individuals:

Goodbye to:
alephz
copyright1983
karmasoup

The one “good” piece of news in this - if there is one, is that not only did these people do an incredible job this season, making it to this point - they have just become the first members of THE JURY, who will be granting immunity every week from now until they run out of people to give it to! (No one can have it, from the jury, more than once)

I think it should be “The Troubles, with Tribbles” retelling the story of the conflicts in, and regarding, Northern Ireland with self-multiplying furball aliens. I think it would be a successful Off-Off-Broadway production, with the right script. So get on it.

Right now.

I’ll wait.

Did you remember that it’s a musical?

No?

Then go write the songs too! What am I paying you people for? Wait. I’m not paying you. You’re not even paying ME!

Something is definitely wrong here.

I definitely expect a piece of the profits from TTWT.

Until then though, you can refresh a poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/573331.html

The deadline is tonight at 7pm EDT. Note the earlier time! So make sure that you (and/or your favorites) have finished their entries, unlocked them (so people can actually read) and posted to the thread http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/571850.html BEFORE you go off and comment about the JCPenney Father’s Day ad campaign!

I’m sure you have something to say (other than “It’s better to burn out, than fade away”) about it. Mostly because you people have something to say about pretty much everything!

And when I say “You People”, I mean “You Damn Hippie Foreigners Who are Attempting to Ruin the Lives of Good, Honest ‘Mericans!”. So, it’s not intended to be offensive in the least. : ) I’m merely identifying you by name and classification! :D

There are plenty of topics to choose from this week, http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/571850.html

So, if you are Home Gaming any of them – and anyone can! – well, this would be a good place to link those entries! :D

Have fun!