Penny (to Joanna):
Helen (to Penny):
Brian (to Joanna):
Joanna (to Brian):
152
Helen (to Joanna): Haha, I realized that, and was like "oh shit, I need to set this straight so I don't accidentally start something bad"
151
Helen (to Joanna): And congrats on F4!!!
150
Joanna (to Helen): hah thanks nothing like being the last man standing <3
149
Helen (to Brian, Penny): Yay, you guys are awesome! Only one more to go! w00tw00t
148
Penny (to Helen): Almost there.
147
Brian (to Helen, Penny): We're one vote away. Let's do this!
146
Penny (to Brian): Yaaaaaay.
144
Joanna (to Helen): Also I was thinking, it's in my best interest to not tell you. You're just going to go to Penny because you trust her more and basically scare her into voting your way or she'd get voted out. At least that's the smart thing to do. Therefore I think it would be best to risk a tie in this sitch. Ya know?
143
Helen (to Joanna): It's up to you, it's your game. But like I've told you, loyalty is the only currency until it gets abolished. Once abolished, anything can happen. If you'd expect a better chance of beating Brian or I in a tiebreaker challenge than hoping we'd vote against someone who you could prove turned, that's your decision.
142
Penny (to Brian, Helen): If I had won a challenge before I wouldnt be bothering.
But I hope you guys are prepared to stay up all night.
Aussie time zone - dont forget.
141
Helen (to Brian, Penny): You definitely have the advantage for that, having nighttime later. Boo you!
140
Penny (to Helen): This is a pain in the arse but I havent won a challenge before. So I would like to win at least one.
139
Brian (to Helen, Penny): This is easily the worst night of the week for me because I have to get up early, and I have plans during the day tomorrow until the late afternoon.
Good luck you two! Keep Joanna from winning. :)
138
Penny (to Joanna): How do you think you'll go with that challenge?
I would rather Helen not win if you get my drift.
137
Joanna (to Penny): skyping sorry i'll be on later though. like way late. she's a baller though holy shit
136
Penny (to Joanna): Its alright, im in a different time zone. Its only 4 oclock in the afternoon where I live and ill stay up all night. Ill catch up to her eventually.
135
Joanna (to Penny): i wish i could help you. that should be allowed
134
Brian (to Helen): I hate my schedule. You are almost definitely going to get a lead big enough to clinch this by tomorrow afternoon I assume, at this rate. Keep it up!
And good night.
133
Helen (to Brian): No worries. Definitely lucked out with the timing though, because today or yesterday would have been just AWFUL for me, but tomorrow is aight. Hoping to get enough of a lead by tomorrow morning that Penny can't catch-up in the afternoon while I'm out. She'll probably do whatever she can to 2-2 it, but I'll do what I can here... me winning this should keep her loyal to the 3-1, I'd assume, since you/me should split votes whereas Joanna would take the Helios.
Don't fret about it. Have a good night, and good luck with your stuff tomorrow!
132
Penny (to Joanna): I wish you could too. Maybe ask Jeff? Lol.
131
Joanna (to Penny): I'd rather just go behind there back and sign onto your name
No sense now because they're reading this. You know this is impossible right? She is posting every 2 seconds like how is that even possible? Fucking nerd
130
Penny (to Joanna): She's got multiple windows open and typing them while the other page loads if that makes sense.
Hopefully she doesn't get too far ahead and I can catch her later tonight. Ill give it my best shot but fuck shes freakin miles ahead.
129
Joanna (to Penny): makes sense i'll do that although my case is hopeless. idk i just fear she is going to be uncatchable she already seems like it.
128
Penny (to Joanna): She definitely seems uncatchable but at least in my time zone I should be able to get her if she stops. Im not going to do anymore so she thinks ive given up.
127
Joanna (to Penny): yeah good call and good luck you're gonna need it lol
126
Penny (to Joanna): I know lol. Thanks.
124
Penny (to Helen): Aww man. You mean I have to spend my night chasing down 5000 posts?
Grrrrr.
123
Helen (to Penny): I can give you the Hunger Games mp3 that I'm listening to! lol
122
Penny (to Helen): I think ill put on the "LIVE TO WIN!" music by Paul Stanley.
Thats in South Park where they all play WoW.
Its practically the same thing lol.
121
Helen (to Penny): HAHAHA yeah same thing. Love that episode, too.
120
Penny (to Helen): Great episode.
Good effort staying up until 4:25 in the morning. :P
Its only 8.25pm here.
119
Helen (to Penny): That means you have classes start again in 12 hours, right? I can make it that long
118
Penny (to Helen): Im on holidays.
117
Helen (to Penny): Oh, Australia Day? Is that Wednesday or Thursday? I can't believe I forgot since I was actually there for it at this time last year
116
Penny (to Helen): Australia Day is Thursday here in Australia, which will be Wednesday in the USA. I have the entire week off.
I just saw how far ahead you are... yeah dont think I am going to bother now.
115
Helen (to Penny): You guys have all WEEK off!? That's awesome!
And thank you for sending that message, because otherwise, I would've stayed awake after my first alarm four hours ago
114
Joanna (to Helen): one last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer.
penny did indeed come to me. this may or may not be relevant since you will have the idol, but you said you wanted that reason and i'm giving it to you. i haven't talked to penny in god knows how long and she approached me.
she is the only person stopping you from a guaranteed win. think about it you need four to win she has erin, dan, me, christy, rob AT LEAST. you probably have ted and shawna will most likely vote with me and christy. it's her game to lose. if you don't do this yeah you'll feel good about your decision now but looking back you'll say i had the game locked in the bag if i would have just done something that penny was going to do to me ANYWAYS but didn't have the chance.
113
Brian (to Joanna): You keep sending me so many PMs! I can't keep up with reading them all.
112
Joanna (to Brian): I can't help it I just want to talk with my BFF :(
111
Helen (to Brian): *sigh* Joanna says that her, Christy, Rob, Shawna, Erin, Daniel all vote for Penny, and that taking Joanna to finals is the better call. Heh.
110
Brian (to Helen): Um, I think you're winning in the finals regardless of what they say.
I fear Joanna may get the Asterian vote if she makes it, and I'd just be happy with one vote.109
Helen (to Brian): Agreed. I still want Joanna out. She claims that Penny approached her to team up against us, so I'm going to ask her if Penny sent her the proposal this morning to catch her in a lie. Do you have any message numbers since you left last night?
I'll probably tell Joanna we'll go along with it until about 10 minutes before TC. I'll also probably tell Penny what I'm doing, explaining that it's with the intentions of keeping everything quiet until TC. Then, in the final minutes, I'll explain to Joanna how the message numbers prove that she has to be lying.
108
Helen (to Joanna):
*waving a lighter back and forth to the closing time lyrics*
Yeah, you present a very valid argument. And thank you for approaching me with that info, I really do appreciate you coming through. I'll update Brian on the happenings, but if you have a quote, that would probably be the best thing for me to forward to him to make sure that he's on board.
When I was online posting in the middle of the night, I saw (in "Who is online") that Penny came on and was composing a message. It didn't come to me, so I assumed it was sent to you or Brian. I'm guessing that's when she reached out to you, about trying to pull a 2-2?
107
Brian (to Helen): 3222 to Joanna, 3223 from Joanna. Both non-serious things about skyping. Hopefully even if Penny did approach Joanna, it was just to make sure I was the target rather than her.
106
Helen (to Brian): I'm missing 3189, 3197-3200, and 3203-3209.
I'm guessing that Penny actually did approach Joanna to force a 2-2 tie on me in the case that I didn't win immunity. They probably haven't talked at all since the immunity win has become all but official as Penny should realize (and I will explain to her in explicit detail) why it would be dumb to boot you, as Joanna would get the votes otherwise going to Penny and you/me will split.
This doesn't change anything; everything is still set on Joanna, but the fact that she's probably telling the truth does make me feel a bit worse.
105
Brian (to Helen): Yeah, Penny likely did approach Joanna, but I think we'll be fine still. If I go in a 2-2 tie, at least I don't have to answer jury questions?
I'd hopefully win whatever tiebreaker there was though.Tonight's going to be very intense. I probably should force some free time in my schedule to prepare for it, so I don't go down as a total joke, which is what I'm fearing that my jury perception will be since everyone associated us but mainly just discussed strategy to you. We'll see how it goes, though!
104
Penny (to Helen): Yeah no worries haha. I was never gonna catch you at 6000 anyway. So never mind lol.
Still the Helios Final 3. Im looking forward to being able to rename our tribe 'Helios'
103
Helen (to Brian): I seriously doubt that there'll be a tie. They haven't exchanged any messages since before 3am this morning. I think Penny only wanted to take me out and not you, hence why they haven't messaged since. You'll be fine.
I'm guessing that you weren't aware of any of the message numbers I listed before?
And I think you have a much better argument for FTC than you give yourself credit for. It's just a question of communicating it. We have a few hours to prep. Part of my prep is definitely drafting an explanation of just what it is that Penny did every round, but probably saving that as a response to a question and not for my opening.
102
Helen (to Penny): Haha sorry
Me too! So excited for that! Joanna came to me and said that she wanted to vote you out tonight, and went on to claim how you approached her about taking me out. Looking at the message numbers in the address bar (like this message is probably #3232 or something close to that), I'm guessing that you guys probably did have a conversation for five to ten messages back and forth last night, but haven't revisited it since. But that's fine, I honestly totally understand and it's no worries. Everything is still on track, as far as I'm concerned. Obviously, I want us three Helios still standing at the top to fulfill the alliance that we've had since Day 01, but also, I'd imagine that you realize it's better for you for Brian to be sitting there instead of Joanna, since Joanna will take away votes that you'd otherwise be getting (like Daniel, probably Erin, and even Rob tbh, maybe Christy), and since me/Brian being in finals means that he and I will split votes, which would also be better for you.
So, it's still Joanna tonight. Everything should be all-set. We can revive our champagne toast from the first night
And then move in to a hopefully enjoyable FTC! Everything sound good there?101
Penny (to Helen): Well I think if Joanna goes to the end she may potentially win, since she could get votes from Asteria members just to spite us.
So I think we should be prepared for a little bit of back lash by the Jury.
Yeah Joanna and I had a chat last night, it was mostly about the challenge though since I told her she was probably going home.
It was just along the lines of;
'Holy shit Helen is miles ahead'
'lulz that girl is cray'
'So excited for Final 3'
'Yeah im not voting for you bitch, Helen is going to win'
'Suck me off Joanna you fat cow'
Obviously I cant be bothered going to quote them lol. Im actually doing the Fallen Comrades thing in my confesh at the moment. But yeah, our PMs basically turned into a bit of a bitch fight at the end.
100
Helen (to Penny): Haha like I said, it's no worries. That does sound pretty funny though
And thanks for reminding me, I totally forgot about Fallen Comrades! I'll get to that now, I guess. Are you posting in confessional or public?99
Penny (to Helen): Im just doing it on confessional, cos then I can format it all and make it look all nice and I dont have to worry about people posting in it while I do it.
I am borderline OCD where everything has to be set out right or I will flip out. Ahahaha.
98
Helen (to Penny): LOL I'm the same way though. I even made [attempted] witty, bolded titles for my confessionals (or each topic therein). Upon re-reading Jeff's instructions, I think that I'll put my rites of passage in confessional, too.
97
Penny (to Helen): Yeah I have the pictures and bolded text and then like a little paragraph per post, and if somebody was to post like, in between some of my posts and ruin it going in succession, I think my head would blow up.
96
Joanna (to Helen): Quote: How do you think you'll go with that challenge?
I would rather Helen not win if you get my drift.
Her and I were PMing last night so it was probably me although I still don't know what you're talking about with the "Who's online" were do you find that?
She wanted to do the 2-2 with getting you out but that was before you won. Regardless that you've won though, you shouldn't let blind loyalty to someone who isn't loyal to you let you lose this game. All want is to see the finale not to win. Penny is going for the win. Erin, Dan, Myself, Christy and most likely Shawna will vote for her. And I'm not bluffing with the "I will vote for her if I'm on jury". You always pimp her up saying she was the one behind the plans. If I go it's because of you and Brian, not her. Those two very solid reasons are reason alone. She has been on the radar since the beginning and managed to survive. That's a huge deal. She has given you a reason to be disloyal, now run with it.
95
Helen (to Joanna): Okay, so two things. The "Who is online" thing is at the bottom of the index page. If you click the title of that, it brings you to a page where you can see what other people are doing, it's cute. Also (cards on the table), I asked you when she approached you because I was hoping to trick you up. If you look at the address bar, you'll see the number assigned to this message (probably like 3240 for this one, or something close). So, based on that, I knew that no one was having conversations that I wasn't privy to since like 3am this morning. However, after I sent that, I noticed that you and Penny probably did exchange 6-10 messages last night (which she told me what you guys talked about, though it may not have been truthful). I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you were telling the truth, but that's where I have to leave it. It was absolutely a valiant attempt, and one that I probably would've tried, as well, in your position, but that's not a decision that I'm going to be making tonight.
Now, to re-visit this from Thursday...
Helen wrote:
Joanna wrote:
If Penny really has been painting you as the genius in charge when in reality she is then hats off to her she has my vote.
I'm not saying that she's the genius in charge. Let's make that clear. We both know that I've lied about shit and planned shit, no hiding that. All I'm saying is don't believe everything you hear that people pin on me. That's not to say that EVERYTHING you hear that I do is actually Penny's doing. But if Penny has some idea to approach you/Christy about people targeting you or her, even though it's made-up, (a plan, which, mind you, is 0 for 2 in its attempts now), would you expect her to claim that she's the one who came up with it all, or that Brian and I are the ones conspiring your ouster? It's rhetorical, so don't answer. But it's just food for thought, is all.
Penny has come up with plans; I can't deny that. Some of those plans have worked. Others have failed miserably. The same can be said for me, and the same can be said for Brian. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to face the jury to explain all of those plans and whose they were. Example: us joining you guys to take out Daniel (who hardly ever spoke to me, and who was a potential vote along with you/Penny/Erin if Rob had gone), Penny didn't even know about; Penny telling you guys that I wanted us to vote for you, and you guys should vote for Rob to take out his "idol" which resulted in Erin getting booted was a plan that Penny implemented completely on her own (the things she said about me that day were her own fabrication as a part of her "plan," and I had no sway because she insisted on taking full control herself and ignored anything and everything that the other three of us said, and we see where that got us.
If you vote for Penny, that's fine. It's your vote and it's entirely up to you what determines it or who it goes for. Nonetheless, best of luck tonight, whatever happens; you're absolutely hysterical. I hope you realize the things I've said to you for the past few days has been real. If you leave tonight, I do think that you've played a great game to get to this point; and if you do end up still around, then I'm looking forward to an exciting and competitive FTC with you sitting there
94
Brian (to Helen): I'll be slow to respond now, but I haven't received any PMs from anyone else besides you in hours.
Thanks! I mean, I think you played a great game and are the favorite, but I'll do my best here. I'm going to be slow to respond the next few hours focusing on it so I actually have a chance to communicate it.
93
Penny (to Helen): How is it like, when we NEEDED the time to strategise we would have Tribal Council like 2 seconds after the challenge.
Now, we've sorted everything out and Jeff is making us wait 2 HOURS.
Gawwwwwwd. Im bored lol.
92
Helen (to Penny): AHAHAHA i know, right? Just for laughs though, maybe I should send you two or three messages right before TC so that you can have that thrill of having "3 New Messages" going into Temple before PMs get cutoff (although, clearly, nothing new is going to come up).
91
Penny (to Helen):
Then I can bitch to Jeff about how he cut off my PMs?
Im already going to complain about the challenge hahaha.
90
Helen (to Penny):
Ask him to bring Rob back so you can complain about something else!89
Joanna (to Helen): You're making a huge mistake. You will lose girl :(
88
Helen (to Joanna): Then I lose
If I'm gonna lose to Penny, then I would lose to you, too, then (Daniel, Rob, Christy, Penny) Whatever happens, happens; I can handle it. It's been great playing with you, Jo, I've loved every minute of it. Sorry that it's come to this.87
Penny (to Helen): Bahahaha. How boring lol.
Rob blindside was amazo. I wish he got a bit more angrier though.
86
Helen (to Penny): You won't be saying that when he's angry at all of us tonight
85
Penny (to Helen): Hahahaha.
Let him be angry! Come at me Rob! Ill shut him down hardcore if he even starts with me.
84
Helen (to Penny): Gonna be totally honest, I think that he'll actually vote for you. Which would be just HYSTERICAL.
83
Penny (to Helen): lol no.
He made it quite clear if you made it to the end with us two that you would win. Lulz.
82
Helen (to Penny): Let's put it this way, Rob and Joanna have each told all three of us different stories
81
Penny (to Helen): Leaves everything up to interpretation at Final Tribal then I guess.
80
Helen (to Penny): trudat
79
Penny (to Helen): Weeeew cant wait! Im legit excited.
78
Helen (to Penny): ME TOO!
77
Joanna (to Penny): so you gonna vote for me?
76
Joanna (to Helen): I betrayed Dan, I shit talked Rob and pissed him off, Penny will vote Helios over me we didn't talk all that much but whatever. You're going to remember this talk I had with you
75
Penny (to Joanna): Probably. Im not gonna lie to you. I expect you'll be voting for me as well.
74
Joanna (to Penny): No I'll probs vote Brian but yeah I figured! :(
73
Helen (to Joanna): I will. And you're free to say "I told you so" on Thursday
72
Joanna (to Helen): I'm just curious do you honestly think you have a chance? Or do you know you'll probably lose and just don't think a win is worth voting out an alliance member?
71
Penny (to Joanna): Brian huh?
Even if we both vote Brian we'll still get a tie. I was depending on Helen losing but when I saw how far ahead that bitch was I just didnt even bother trying to catch up.
70
Joanna (to Penny): Yeah it was understandable. What a fucking psycho. Are you willing to throw a tie with me? Be HoNeSt!!
69
Helen (to Joanna): I think that I still have a chance. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I lose, and that's fine. But, even though you disagree, I'm content enough with these odds to go for them. It's not blind loyalty or obligation.
68
Penny (to Joanna): I am being honest.
If I knew what the tie was, then I would. But we dont know what to expect, like if its that ridiculous thing where the two people who got votes become immune then I end up going home lol.
67
Joanna (to Helen): I mean I understand it's just frustrating seeing you pick a maybe over a definite
65
Joanna (to Penny): Ugh you're over thinking but I guess I understand :/
JOANNA BOOT
64
Helen (to Brian): I love how she still doesn't understand the Daniel boot, pushes the blame of her own failures on us, and seems to think that we willingly followed her plans to condone logic and not out of some combination of force and ignorance. #typical-should-have-expected-this
63
Helen (to Brian): *sigh* oh well...
Just to be sure, we aren't delusional and misremembering what actually happened this entire game... right?
62
Brian (to Helen): No, we aren't delusional. Penny is. But it's going to come down to you and her, and I'm very legit nervous that she's actually going to win. And it'll be disappointing for me to see tat.
The honest truth was, I was INSANELY BUSY while playing this game. I think that's why I semi-sucked. I talked about it in my confessional all the time. Otherwise I may not have been as super loyal to you and tried to do more things on my own, but I could hardly log in and send PMs without something else coming up and having to do it.
I also rushed my answers and have typos and wrong words in like every single one. Plus I posted the wrong draft of the Ted pictures that wasn't the one where I had everything written out in sentences.You played well, and I really do hope you win.
61
Helen (to Brian): I think she's going to win. If our explanations of her misguided attempts at strategy came off as being less reliable than her rivalry-motivated retroactive ramblings, then that's what the jury is going to believe. As I read over it, that isn't what I see, but maybe it comes across differently to them. It's fine, though. But I'm most curious to see her confessional, and see if the jury's opinions of her change after seeing her confessional.
And, honestly, in spite of you saying how little time you've been able to dedicate to the game, I'd still say that you were surprisingly communicative (to me and others) and active during live events that being pre-occupied was something you hid well.
I also wouldn't be too hard on yourself. They surely don't realize how much of an active role you had in the strategic moves and the innate sense of decision-making that you brought to the table, and that's probably my fault for keeping it hidden. Especially given the constraints that you've mentioned, I'd still be proud of your game and the process that you actively followed to get here.
60
Brian (to Helen): It's clear that some of the jurors at least prefer Penny and her game/responses, but I find it really frustrating how she's claiming she was responsible for EVERYTHING and that we're struggling to find an angle against her when it's entirely untrue. It's almost sickening reading some of her responses, and I hope the jurors see it. She's trying way too hard to appeal to them and suck up whereas all of your responses were made with logic.
I think, if Penny believes she was in control the whole time, her confessional will be untolerable once it's opened. Mine basically will show that I was very, very aware of what was going on because I made comments like every 5 minutes during live events. But there's still a part of me that wishes I played like the true Brian, even though that would've involved betraying you. I'd have a better chance of winning, but I also in some sense like the feeling of being loyal to an original alliance and there's a sense of accomplishment in making it to the end with Erin and Penny. There is more to these games than winning, and the experience in this was fantastic.
59
Helen (to Brian): Agreed. I loved the experience, and went on a beyond lengthy monologue about how I was satisfied with whatever the outcome when I thought we were doomed at F6.
I'm obviously glad that you stayed loyal to me, but if you did boot me, I'd have understood, and you'd have still had my vote.
Her confessional will be intolerable. Expect it. It's going to be misery.
58
Brian (to Helen): We still made final 3! And you and Penny will likely be final 2. My goal is a vote, and I think if I would've put 5-10 more minutes into Ted's answer, I possibly could've done something a lot better. Although I don't even know if he was on tonight to read answers and even base his vote on the response?
Ugh, I literally just had to go back and read the dates of the finale and events to even realize they were all taking place tomorrow. I'm going to bed, and this will be my last message of the night because I'm exhausted. I hope that if Penny does win, she's at least tolerable afterwards. I really look forward to the whole Reunion and wrap-up to talk to everyone outside of the context of the game. And discussing the game further would be fun at a different level where we're not all trying to prove that we're the best. Please, please, please don't make it intolerable Penny.
This is the last "night" of our game PMs, so have a good one and I'll talk to you tomorrow!
57
Helen (to Brian): Haha sounds goods. Agreed on everything. I hope your goal pans out, and talk to you tomorrow! And good game, nay, great game.
48
Penny (to Brian, Helen): Good luck both you guys tonight!
47
Brian (to Helen): Thanks! We'll see what happens in a bit. I actually have time tonight. Tuesday and Thursday are my busier days, so Monday and Wednesday were mostly when I had to get off early.
I feel like I'm so used to signing in and writing strategy PMs that right now, I'm actually somewhat bored.
46
Brian (to Helen, Penny): Let's do this!
45
Brian (to Helen, Penny): Kidding, good luck to both of you as well! It's been an incredibly fun experience, and I'm especially looking forward to the reveal and AIM wrap-up party.
44
Helen (to Brian, Penny): Same! Good luck, guys!
43
Helen (to Brian): Haha, yeah, true. I'm ready for it to be over though since real life has revved back up to its normal speed now, so not having to send long strategy PMs is going to be a huge relief. I realized that if this game actually ended next week instead of this Thursday that I've have been total toast and would have fallen off the face of the planet. Luckily, it didn't, so it was fun while it lasted
42
Brian (to Helen): I experienced that same thing after the merge and managed, and I bet you would've still managed to find enough time to make it to the end somehow. It would've just made your life insanely busy though.
Even though I was consistently multi-tasking during the events, I feel like the end of this will free up 3-4 hours a day for me, so I just think it'll be nice to get some relief before potentially playing in another game...someday. But not for a while.
41
Helen (to Brian): Was this your introduction to the world of ORGs? Honestly, this is probably on the higher end of games along the spectrum of time-demandingness. Probably because of the PM setup. Most other formats will just have you do AIM contact (so it's faster, more realtime, less checking-and-waiting) with either live or non-line challenges. The truth is, this format is much more realistic, and I enjoyed it since it was quite refreshing. But if you're interested in more games, the ones you come across will probably be a bit more manageable (although, also, a bit less professional in presentation, scheduling, and execution).
40
Brian (to Helen): I've played other games on different formats, which is something that I'm sure we can discuss after this is over, but I'm just completely burnt out right now with online activity in general. This format is incredibly time-demanding. I need to stop complaining and focus on enjoying the finale tonight. ^_^
I think it would be nice if everyone involved could make it. I've never had a finale of a game appear to be QUITE this built-up and sophisticated, so it'll hopefully be a night to remember with ORGs? If you could pull out a win, that would be fantastic. Although to shield yourseld from potentially losing, I'm guessing you've got your hopes down?
39
Helen (to Brian): I mean, I had "my hopes down" going into FTC. After night one, I was keeping my hopes down thinking "hope for the best, prepare for the worst," since I thought that our rebuttals to her Erika Landin FTC approach sounded logical. But after last night, I genuinely think that keeping my hopes down is preparing for the most realistic outcome, because it sounds like jury perception (at least from someone as vocal as Joanna who was clearly campaigning as much as she could) of how FTC went didn't match with our own. Considering most of it was Penny and I going back and forth attacking each other's strategies while defending our own, I was alarmed to see that Joanna perceived it as a very one-sided thing even though Penny initiated the banter by quoting opening statements to begin with.
If there was one thing that I could mention again, it would probably be that if Penny did attempt to take me out, she'd have been shooting herself in the foot. It's like the HvV Sandra paradox: she told the jury her entire strategy was to get rid of Russell, but without Russell sitting next to her in FTC, she'd have lost. With Penny, she told them she wanted to get rid of me if not for immunity, but we ensured to immobilize her at F10-F8 so that she couldn't afford to do that without shooting herself in the foot. If she booted me at F7, she'd have forced a tie at F6. If she booted me at F6, she'd have been next on the hitlist at F5 with an Asteria majority. And if she booted me at F5, Asteria would've taken her out at F4 bringing you to finals. So it defies logic, but like many things, she insisted that it'd have been part of her strategy anyways, yet I neglected to explain it. Oh wellz.