LJ Idol Presents:

In the end we had just under half of the Season Five contestants show up to cast ballots. It picked up a lot toward the end.

But *1 vote* made the difference between staying and leaving. (Well OK, two votes, one vote would have made it a tie - but you know what I mean)

Had a couple more people been convinced to come out and vote, the results might have been quite different.

They weren't though, and we go with the ones that we have. Because *any* results at this point is going to be a sad time.

Before I announce these results I just want to personally thank everyone who did come out and vote - as well as our 11 remaining contestants.

Thank you so much. We've come a long way, and there still is a little bit more road to travel.

Unfortunately there are 3 people who will not be coming with us.

Their journey in Season 5, as contestants, ends here.

I will come back later and add some personal notes, but for now I'm going to just list the names.

People have asked me, since there are folks who follow this sort of thing, to rank them in order of placement. Usually I don't - but since I did say it came down to a vote, as well as for the sake of people coming on this post in the future trying to figure out "So, who were the Top 11 in Season Five anyway???"

11th place - scienter: "But what about scienter?"
More often than not when I would see someone talk about how this person was their favorite, or that person was - that was the phrase that kept popping into my head. She was absolutely hilarious and always *real*.
Every season I come across so many of the same archetypes of contestants. Which isn't saying anything bad about them - but that I can usually pick the "OK, this is this season's so and so". That other person is our new such and such.
That wasn't the case with scienter. If anything I have a feeling that she may have *created* a new type of contestant for the future!
In her goodbye she mentioned people having the ""WTF is she still doing here" reaction. I'm not going to lie, I heard it from a few people. . . and every time I did I told them to take another look. Sometimes they "got it", sometimes they still disagreed. But I think she brought a great deal of life into this season and I for one am happy she didn't go to the gym that morning!

10th place - kittenboo: I'm writing this one last because it's the toughest one for me in a lot of ways. It should be the easiest, because it was the one that I was *expecting* to write this week.
I can hear some "what???" out there, so I'll try to explain.
As I was reading her entry for the week, the "sexy Idol fanfic", I kept saying the same thing "OMG- you're trying to get voted out aren't you????", "What the hell are you thinking???" When I got to the part where *I* show up in the piece and say pretty much that I was on the floor laughing! I even sent her an email telling her that. Because it was just hysterical that she nailed my reaction to it perfectly.
There's a lot to be said about going out on your own terms though. I'm starting to think that it was the theme for Week 24.*g*
In five seasons *no one* has been able to pull off the "ripping off pieces of your emotional being and throwing it at the reader" quite like her. She has this raw and untouched sense to her writing style that hits you in the gut.
I'd say this season had far more structured material than last season. But then again this season she seemed to playing more with what she could do, which is always fun to see someone discovering themselves - and then getting to go with them as they develop from that knowledge, that's a special thing to be able to witness.

She did say she's not going anywhere -and she's the only one of the 3 who are actually on my FL, so I know that I'll be able to personally keep reading her. (Another thing that's hard at the tail end of the a season - I know it's not "goodbye", it's "see you over there instead of here!*g*)

I know she's mentioned working on technique a bit more - which it's always a good thing to learn that. But I hope that she is able to take that and use it to harnass the fire she has naturally instead of letting the technique over-power the raw energy her words carry. (something I've seen happen far too often). I'm very much looking forward to seeing what that "next level" looks like with her. I have no doubt it's going to be incredible.

9th place - rm: Man, what can you say about rm that won't tear apart the internet?*g*
There are people who see her as a baby eating monster and people who see her as a baby eating saint! Obviously the truth of the matter is somewhere in the middle there: That she's human. (despite rumors to the contrary).

I can only judge by the rm that I've gotten to know over the course of two seasons. I will say that I don't know her all that well. What I do know though I think has come off as completely professional. I think she comes off as more detached than she actually is. . . and I think that tends to give people an impression much different than the person I've heard about from the folks who know her.

But that's kind of an overview, and not really about my impressions of her writing.
Every once in awhile someone with ask me for my impressions of their writing. When this happened earlier this season I looked at it and got back to them. One of the things I said was to look at rm's work, because I thought she had a great deal of control over structure and technique. She has an ability to make words go where she wants them to go. Which is much harder than it looks, and fewer people can do it than believe that they can.*G* She definitely can and that's something to be admired.
I will also say that her work this season was a lot more open and vulnerable than I've ever seen her.

What I saw of her work from Season 4 was good. But getting the chance to see more levels and explorations in it during Season 5 was even better.

You will all be very much missed.