LJ Idol Presents:

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.

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?

That person posting about the evils of bombing Syria is the same person who once told me that the NFL is rigged and all games are predetermined.

That person who thinks Trump is doing a great job is the same person who once notably told me that she didn't think women should be allowed to vote.

The person on the front lines, making life or death decisions, can't figure out how to set up their background on their IPhone.

I had a bunch more personal examples, of people I know - but I thought that was enough to get to my point, which is "People are idiots".

It doesn't matter how many "You are so smart!!!" responses they can from people who agree with them.

That's something that I have to keep reminding myself about. There are people who *are* experts in their fields, and who also possess the ability to be able to explain those things to the rest of us. Those folks are golden. The rest of us? Talking out of our asses. Sometimes we can repeat the things we've heard, and those sources will be good. But it's still a lot of throwing thoughts out there on the wall and seeing what will stick.

I'm mostly posting this for myself, as a reminder. Because I keep reading posts/opinion articles/comments and I keep staring going "That's not true at ALL..." (based on the things I *do* know), but because it fits what other folks are already feeling, they swarm over with the "YES!!!!" I need to remind myself that other people have opinions about stuff, but at the end of the day, that's all they are - opinions. Some are going to be more right than others. And when someone *is* right about one thing doesn't mean that they are right about anything else.

The guy writing this once wore one dress shoe, and one tennis shoe, to work and didn't notice until about midday. He's probably the biggest idiot of them all. Which is something else that is worth remembering.

***

A fact that I can tell you is that the place to post this week's entries is http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/1001426.html so hopefully current contestants are doing that.

Anyone wishing to Home Game can post it in the Green Room.

We are moving forward again!

Which means there is a new topic.

What is it?

Well, gather around and I'll tell you!

it's

Campfire stories

I'm sure you have some good ones!

The deadline to link them back here is Monday, April 10th at 8pm EST

Have fun!

This is why you don't make decisions when you have to wake up and get going extra early in the morning.

Because then you spend your entire bus ride realizing that you've made a huge mistake and need to wait until you get into work to correct it.

I had intended on extending the deadline for the Second Chance poll until Thursday. I didn't. But this morning, after seeing that I had completely spaced on closing the poll (Seriously - WTF Gary???? I don't do that... again though, I thought that I had already extended it. I should have checked to make sure.), I posted and extended it.

Only problem with that? Now if *different* people end up eliminated, they have a legitimate beef that the rules were changed.

I know *I* would be upset if I were in their position and I was safe when the poll *should* have been closed, and eliminated due to someone else's mistake.

So I'm forced to go back to precedent. Which could be the fourth error in a row. But it's the *correct* way to err IMO. So at least if people are mad about it, they can look back over the years and see a consistent pattern of people being mad. :)

So here it is, the final decision on this mess:

The poll is now officially closed.
No one is eliminated.
This was the last round of Second Chance.
Which means all 10 contestants have now re-entered the main competition.
This is double what I had planned - but I am going to honor my original commitments, *including* what is down on paper, but not announced - which, to give those Second Chancers a fighting shot, they all have Immunity in Week 14. (not a bye. They are coming in without that particular safety net. But they get 1 week to get their footing)

So, congratulations beldarzfixon, d0gs, encrefloue, fodschwazzle, i_17bingo, kajel, karmasoup, lolaslaughter, mossmonday and wildrose - and welcome to LJ Idol (and your DOOM!!! Maybe just Idol... but probably also that DOOM thing...)

Sorry for the confusion. Things should be on track now. The new topic and Work Room will be up shortly.

I wrote this tonight, and was going to post it tomorrow morning when I woke up, then I decided screw it and I'm posting it now. If an Idol Week can be 12 days long and counting, why can't two Idol days overlap a real one!!! :)

***

I knew I should have just made in Week 14... if you've tried logging on, I'm sure you have seen the new terms of service agreement notice.

I've had a couple people email me about it.

I'm not going to get into what differences there are between this one, and the one that people previously signed when they got on the site. Mostly because I don't know what the differences are, and am probably the last person you should ask about these sorts of things.

I do know there is some concern that the Russians might be able to access your privacy locked entries and reproduce it. Because nothing excites Putin more than finding out about your sex life and reading your poetry. If it's poetry about your sex life - that's when it ends up on Russian state owned broadcast media.

This isn't the first time people have been concerned about what the Russians are going to do now that they own Livejournal. Nowadays there are people who are concerned about what the Russians are going to do now that they own the United States. ;)

People are afraid that they can't say the Vladimir Putin enjoys sucking dog's testicles. I am not sure why they would want to say that. Because obviously he's a great man and should be respected, and I would be saying that even if he wasn't standing right behind me right now with what I *hope* is a gun pressed into the back of my head.

Being in the US, I have a greater freedom knowing that it is unlikely that I will be rounded up and taken away for saying Putin really does love those dog testicles. Not that I *would* say that, because that would be a completely ridiculous thing for someone to say! Could I, or someone else, lose access if they were to say something like that. I'm sure it's possible. But I'm just as sure that they might as well shut down the Livejournal site if that happens, because really who is going to show up to use it (other than people really into Japanese boy bands)?

If I lived in Russia, I would probably feel differently. I'd probably have my own opinions on Putin and on the Russian government - and on what the rest of the world thinks about them. I wouldn't know what those opinions would be though, given that, as previously stated, I am not Russian. Or have I downloaded pictures of Putin committing those acts alluded to before, because seriously - who would want to see that???

Seriously though, I'm not sure what this is going to mean in the big picture. Or even if there is a big picture. I just know that people are talking about it, and if you, like me, hit the "agree" button, and are

I really wish this hadn't happened in the middle of such an important vote. But that's part of the deal, you play on the field you are given. So this week will play through as planned, and we will see what is coming next when it comes! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/1000163.html

A few words from clauderainsrm:

There are going to be people asking “Where is the new topic for the main competition? Where is the Work Room?”

So I’m going to get right to it without a lot of suspense - they will be coming, once this poll closes!
Why? Because this is the last week of Second Chance Idol, and the five contestants with the most votes will be (re)joining the main competition!

One half move on, and one half fall just short of the goal line.

In order to get everyone back to the same footing - this is what we are concentrating on right now. For a couple days at least. Because the poll will close Thursday, April 6th at 9pm EDT and the next stage of LJ Idol will begin.

So make sure you read, comment and vote for your favorites!

Good luck to everyone!

[Poll #2065643]

Good afternoon!

The company picnic went about as well as company picnics ever go. There was a "mixer" activity that involved finding people from other groups within our "system of care" who fit certain criteria. I didn't feel like doing it. In fact, I spent most of the time off to the side reading my book. One of the coworkers though was extra motivated. She likes meeting new people, and is extremely competitive.

At one point, I just decided to follow her around and she could meet people and I could get the signatures I needed. When that was over, I turned in my bingo card, and I went back to reading my book.

At the end of the picnic, they pulled random bingo cards to win door prizes.

Who won a prize? Yeah, that was me. It was a RTIC tumbler. So, I won something and I mostly avoided other people. So that part is good.

***

The poll for the main competition closes tomorrow http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/998161.html
and the final Second Chance deadline is an hour after that http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/998873.html

It's not an April Fools joke. All of this is real. But what was been *your* favorite April Fool's joke (today or of all time)

Good Almost-Afternoon,

There's a lot of stuff to cover, so let's get to the links:

The Second Chance Results:http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/998421.html
The Second Chance FINAL topic: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/998873.html

The main competition poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/998161.html

***

Maybe that wasn't "a lot", but it felt like it was last night when I was posting. :)

There are certainly some big implications though to Second Chance coming to an end after this week. With the new people coming into the competition, after fighting their way (back) in, it's definitely another stage of the game that will be unfolding. How will it impact the main competition? We've had people come back from Second Chance and end up in the finals!

It's going to be interesting to see what happens, and who those contestants end up being.

Second Chance results posts hurt even more than the regular eliminations do. Because these are people who went through that, and who are trying to get another shot. And when the results are filled with contestants that I've gotten to know over the years (two of them I've actually spent time with in person)... yeah, that's never a fun post to have to make.

But "have to make it" is what it comes down to. It's why we are here. Only a handful of people are going to make it out of Second Chance, and at the end of the day, only one person is going to win Season 10 of LJ Idol!

Which means that there will be eliminations, and all of them are going to be sad.

So, might as well rip that bandaid off instead of just talking about it...

Leaving us from Second Chance, and hopefully joining us in the Home Game, are

copyright1983
dee_aar2
estelle
lawchicky
sra33

I'd say that my stomach hurts writing that. But I'm not sure that has anything to do with the results. ;)

Thank you so much for coming out this season and helping to make it special!