LJ Idol Presents:

 It was the week that would not end.  But it finally has. Unfortunately for two contestants, their journey for this mini season has ended as well. 

Compared to how this week *could* have gone (with Milton) honestly being eliminated in Idol isn't that big of a... wait, who I am kidding? This is way worse than anything people who went through Helene and Milton underwent. Idol is everything!! 

Right? *Looks around for agreement* 

Seriously though, thank you for everyone's patience with Milton prep and then Tampa Electric. I know a lot of people in our area are still without power, so I am grateful that I am able to be here with you, even if it means saying goodbye to two of my favorite writers, and people. 

In a mini season where there was "no room to hide" every week has been saying goodbye to a favorite. This week is no different. 

Goodbye to alycewilson  andgunwithoutmusic  

Thank you so much for coming out this mini season and for sharing your talent with all of us.  I hope that we will continue to see you in the Home Game, and in the Green Rooms!

 I've done something unprecedented.  I have suspended the poll.  Closed it, and it WILL reopen. 

Why? Because I don't want to "eliminate" anyone right before Milton hits. Seems the wrong thing to do "karma" wise.  :D 

Yes, go ahead and kick me. 

We are boarded up (We got some unexpected help from a new-ish neighbor) 

I will be reactivating the poll, either on Thursday or Friday... depending on the power situation. If it's longer than that, you may have been spared. 

Maybe I'll put up something else for you to click on, since I know you love the clicks.  :) 

A few words from clauderainsrm:

Since 2014, there is an annual event called the “Pelikan Pen Hub”, which is a worldwide one-day celebration of fountain pens. Each area (that met the qualifications) has a “hub” where people gather to use their pens and hang out. It is sponsored by Pelikan pens, which is a German company that has been in the business since 1838, making pens and ink!

The annual hub took place last Friday, which for Florida (and much of the southeast coast of the United States) was when Hurricane Helene showed up with its path of destruction. Most of the area where the Hub was to take place had streets completely underwater. Pelikan had sent out an email to all of the Hub Masters in the Southeast US letting them know they were free to reschedule the event (the first time it’s happened, so it’s unprecedented).

That reschedule date - for my area - was last night. Which is why everyone ended up having an extra day to write and edit their entries. So you can thank my wife’s love of analog writing for your extra time!

From what I’ve seen as I was linking the entries (a brief scan, my full read will come this weekend), it seems like you used that time well!

How well though is going to be determined by the voters. So make sure you read, comment and vote for your favorites!

We will be losing TWO contestants again.

The poll will be closing Tuesday, October 8th at 8pm ET. Good luck to everyone!

 This is the last Idol post I will be making as a 52 year old. 

The results/Sudden Death Write Off thread was posted last night: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1165241.html

and the new Prompt was posted this morning  https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1165556.html

I'm starting to think that we should stop the regular polls and just have a rotating Sudden Death Write Off between randomly selected people!  :D 
Might save some time!!!  ;) 

***

What are you doing to celebrate my birthday this weekend???   I wasn't planning on being off today but thanks to the hurricane my office is closed!  So no real damage (other than a little bit of clean up and putting everything back where it goes) but a free day to relax!  I wish everyone could be as lucky. (since there ARE people without power/significant damage) and those who are still in the path of the storm. 

 I've got to say, if these votes are any indication of how people think this "should" shake out, we are in for one hell of a ride these next few weeks!

The good news is that although it was a tie for the second spot at the bottom, only person is being eliminated due to it being their third strike. 

Which is the bad news, that there is one person leaving us. 

The contestants with a strike are: 
alycewilson 
hangedkay  and
stellinasusan 

The one being eliminated is, unfortunately, our youngest contestant, the always great yamyam_kat 

I hope we will be seeing more of her work in the very near future!! (Home Game!!!) 

***

As with all contestant only votes, if you want to know how you fared, just send me an email [email protected] and I will let you know "bottom/middle/top" 

 I've seen this quote attributed to a couple different people, but for some reason when I googled it this morning I could only find a couple links. So I'm not sure where it actually comes from. But I think it's meaning is clear enough. 

“Surgery often looks like murder if you judge it halfway through”

The deadline to link your entry back to this post is Sunday, June 26th at 7pm ET.

Have fun!

 With how the weeks ended up being spaced out, this is the second Weekend Edition of Week 11! 

It's also the last day of the poll for the main competition - so make sure that your voice is being heard! 

Anything out there that you think needs to be getting more recognition in the votes department? https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1030811.html

With only 3 members of the Jury seated for this vote, this week is going to be interesting to see who receives immunity. I will tell you this, it is coming down to the final Juror to make this decision... unless of course it gets thrown into a tie in which case then it gets thrown into a tie-breaker.... which is pretty rare. 
***

Second Chance ie already moving forward with their final topic: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1031859.html after another brutal round of eliminations: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1031601.html

***

Tomorrow is going to be the first official day without my least favorite co-worker. I can't recall if I posted this or not - but a couple weeks ago she put in her notice, and then insisted that she be allowed to take her PTO for almost all of those two weeks. It's not "allowed" but she complained loud and long enough at HR that they ended up just letting her do it.  I'm guessing they wanted her to go away as much as I did. :) 

Which means the last week or so have been great, especially since my second least favorite is on a cruise.  I think she comes back this week though, I'm hoping things will be better once she does, because I liked her before she became so close with the "bad one", so maybe without that influence she will go back to being nice again. 


Which isn't what I was going to talk about today. It was about work, but not about that. Just before Christmas break, the newest co-worker invited us all out to lunch, her treat.  Only two of us took her up on it. 

It was nice - until I was confronted with something I didn't see coming. I should have.  I'm being purposefully vague, but let's chalk it up that I have food related trauma in my past and leave it at that - to the point that there are things that I actively avoid, but I've gotten better over the years. To the point that I can be at the same table as it.  I just position myself so that I'm not looking at it, or smell it.  Because everyone has their own triggers and that's one of mine.  Probably the biggest. 

It ended up right in front of me (directly across) with the person asking if I wanted to share... I tried my best to cover, but I wasn't doing a great jnb of it and my co-workers ended up being concerned asking if I was OK. I said that I was and that I'd tell them later... but it pretty much ruined lunch. 

I did end up sharing the bare minimum of the story.  Food related issues involving my step-father and that item. One of them chimed in with "Oh, it's PTSD. That makes sense now" and we actually ended up sharing a tiny bit of our own stories with each other. 

I'm only bringing this up because since then, the new co-worker and I have actually started talking quite a bit. Not about that day, but in general - about real life, and she's mentioned things she didn't bring up that afternoon. 

So what was a really embarrassing moment for me at the time has actually opened up a new friendship.  

This is my vague and roundabout way of saying don't be afraid to be vulnerable.  In your life, or in your work.  There are people around you who can relate, even if you don't always see it right away. 

The Second Chance poll has been extended by a day. https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1030373.html I was setting the poll for the main competition and realized "I'm not going to be home Friday night!" I could close it from my phone, but I couldn't really properly deal with the results. So I'm going to give them a little extra time. And you - the reader - you deserve to have a little extra time with those entries. You're welcome! ;)

The main competition's poll debuted last night - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1030811.html and you should be spending some time there as well!

***

If you've been looking at the math, next week is the last week before the Top 20. Which means it's the last time to use your byes. Which should make next week interesting.

But if you've been paying attention to the math, you also know there's a chance that the Top 20 we're hitting isn't the *real* Top 20. After all, if enough people come in from Second Chance, there's a chance there will be TWO "Top 20"s!

Because of this - I've decided that starting this week, everyone who leaves (in the main competition AND Second Chances - is now part of the Jury! sorchawench and encrefloue are now our first two members of the group who are going to help shape the rest of this mini season!

It's deadline day for the main competition! https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1028498.html

There's also a Second Chance poll happening: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1030373.html

So once your entry is in (for those in said main competition) make sure you head over and see what's happening with SC. If that doesn't make you a little scared about who is coming at you in the coming weeks, I'm not sure what will!

***

Last night I met up with an online friend. He also has a podcast. So it was kind of weird - because I've seen his picture, knew what was going on in his life, and even heard his voice before. We'd just never met face to face! :)

I know there has been some concern about if the US Government shutdown was going to impact Idol.

I just want to reassure you that "America" isn't the same as "'Merica". Our government (me) is still fully operational, and still deeply committed to eliminating all but one of you.

Also - the US system of justice don't come into play when it comes to backstreet, no-holds-barred Literary Prize Fights. I realize that there is a lot of confusion about that, since if you glance at it, a lot of white people end up winning, and it's run by an older white guy. So you might think it's the US justice system. But if you take a step back, you'll realize that it's mostly women who get ahead/have the advantage in this system, so you'd realize that no, they most certainly aren't the same.

Since it's looking like the IRS might not be open for the start of tax season, you can now pay what you owe the US government to 'Merica instead. As I understand it, it's totally OK with them. Or, if it's not, they are too busy being shutdown to be able to refute it.

***

Here are some links

Second Chance has a topic due tomorrow: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1028072.html

the main competition has one due on Wednesday: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1028498.html

There is a Home Game thread for people who want to write for either of those, who isn't in that group of contestants: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1028659.html

We had someone hit 100 weeks https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1029195.html (and I revealed that we have 2 contestants going for breaking the record of the most weeks survived!) Not sure that either of them are going to break this mini season, but next time they show up they definitely both will!)

The Write-off result was posted - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1029604.html

***

It's not a link, but I was going to say (above) that I was an older cisgendered white guy. But I couldn't recall if it's properly "cisgendered" or "cis-gendered", so I looked it up - and learned that apparently it's now a problematic term and "non trans" is the term. Or "a term" at least. I thought I was keeping up, but apparently I'm way behind. This is why I just call everyone a bunch of damn hippies and kick you instead of trying to relate to anyone.