Congrats on the final 7!!!

Another TC, another blindside. Do you think the trend will continue for the next TC?

What's the plan for tomorrow?

I feel like there's so much animosity against me (not that I don't deserve it). From the players, for being a liar. And from the staff, for not making things interesting. So, sorry, to all of you reading this, whichever category you may fall into.

Anticipation

I think the blindsiding is done. Brian and I have finished our positioning so that we are now in a group that shouldn't (note: SHOULD, not WILL) eliminate us before F4 because it won't be in their best interests. The lines are pretty clearly drawn now between Helios and Asteria, and we'll have to see how the game goes, from here. With everything setup now, the Temple's will probably get a lot more interesting---both for idol play and for actual arguing.

I have to wonder what would have happened if we blindsided Rob last round instead of Ted. Got rid of (perceivably) Rob's idol, if Ted would've flocked back to us, or not. Maybe staging a rivalry between Rob and Ted (that Rob wanted to take Ted out) would have been a better route than the current one. But it's too late for that, now.

Anyways, this next round looks pretty cut and dry.

I feel bad for continually lying to Rob/Christy/Joanna, and don't want to make a habit of it more than it already is. So, aside from Ted having had the idol, I want the truth to come out now. Both to just move past all of this, but also so I can explain my motivations to them, because if I let it sink in for a few days, I might stand a better chance of getting their jury votes (although I've accepted that I'd be destined to lose an F3, at this point, even if it might not be true).

We have to keep Penny/Erin loyal to the Helios 4. But having them be the bad guys this round might be a good call. They can fake team up with Asteria, and get the backlash next round. They can pick a vote target, which might lead to Rob not playing the idol, or we'd need to outfox him to figure out if he'll play the idol on the intended target or someone else.

Another mini-game is getting Rob/Christy/Joanna's votes to not be for us, in case Rob's idol does come into play. The best way of doing that is making them think Erin will play her idol on me or Brian and not her or Penny, since that would be the opposite of the obvious move. And, since a new idol hasn't yet been hidden, it would seem that Ted was truthful about only having one.

Endgame

It's evident from their TC responses that Daniel and Shawna don't like me. That's fine, because them not liking me is the very reason they were put on the jury in the first place, hah. They never spoke to me, and I never spoke to them. Messaging is a two-way street, bitches. Don't blame me for your laziness or antisocialness, because of the 2400 PM's at Kronos right now, 1/3 of them have gone through me in one respect or another, so don't even try to pin that "bad communicator" shit on me.

I'm not claiming that I have any shot of making it to the end or winning, but if I do, the following might help.

(1) Making Joanna/Christy/Rob hate Erin/Penny as much or more as they currently hate me/Brian.

(2) Explaining my motivations and strategy more vocally at TC, now that things are more open, so that I'd stand a better shot at winning if I make it to the end.

(3) Ensuring everyone knows that the entire jury fucking loathes me and that I have no shot at winning, so that they aren't intimidated to bring me to finals, and might even want to.

(4) Developing finals deals and relationships with me/Brian/Penny (from our initial blossom), me/Brian/Erin (out of sanity), and attempting to fracture Erin/Penny at F4 so that they don't tie it up; communicating to Brian that I have every intention of taking him as far as possible and getting him the win if I can't have it.

Also, I have no idea if Rob is actually the martyr that he claims to be (being so selfless) or only hasn't tried to strike us since he hasn't had the chance. But, as long as he's in the game, it's in my best interests to treat him as the former. Only after he's gone can I acknowledge the latter. And if he is the former, then damn, I really do feel bad. But I suppose that's why it is a game.

Pls do.


..now where have I heard that before..?

Every single round to date

Epitaph

I just want to put this here because I don't want to forget it:

But Ted is the only boot thus far that I genuinely feel bad about. Not only is he, by far, the most powerful person of the nine to be eliminated (based on his own in-game performance) making him "deserving" of being around, but I truly do believe that he would have been loyal to Brian and I. But, the path that he envisioned to get us there and the path that we envisioned were radically different. Although I think he'd have been true to us, the route that he wanted to take to bring us to the end was far to dangerous for our well being (while much safer for his own, understandably). And, he's shown that if we aren't interesting in following his plan, that he'll take initiative to accomplish it on his own at our expense. For someone as soft spoken as he was, he was a brilliant player, and I hope that he left as amicably as he final words at Temple implied.

Embalming

Saying this about Ted calls into question whether I'll be saying the same thing about Rob when he (hopefully) leaves, if I do, in fact, survive him. And I'm not sure. For the longest time, I've been inclined to believe Rob when he's said that he's completely with us. For that, I am sorry that I screwed him. But unlike Ted, Rob *should* have a far greater interest in turning on Brian and I. He keeps claiming that he's always been loyal and never lied to us, but that's because he's never had the chance to. His vote-outs were Penny, Daniel, and Penny, again---none of which are people that he wanted around, and certainly no one that should be considered a sacrifice for him. If the first or third vote in that series had gone the way that he'd intended it, we have no way of knowing if he'd have taken that opportunity to begin systematically eliminating us. The entire principle of my game here is to not afford people those opportunities, even if I am inclined to believe him to be telling the truth.

So, where is Rob now? Doing the same thing he's been doing every round now. Trying to pull at guilt and heart strings for us to give him his way. It's the only card that he has left with us, because it's the only card we've allotted him as we've already taken all of the other cards away, for our own safety. After three rounds and three lies, I'd certainly not expect him to believe us again. And, if we did go along, I'd be astonished if he didn't use that gift to take the upper hand and take us out. And the fact that he even tries to imply that he wants us to team up with him again (albeit one of his only moves to try to make), speaks to me that he's full of shit about all of his loyalty that he's been trying to use to guilt us. No sane person would take someone who's screwed them thrice and come back for more. Yet his persona remains the same, which is why I find him to be unbelievable. I'm sorry for having a hand in handicapping his game whether he's telling the truth or fibbing right now, but if it turns out he's been honest all along, I'll feel a bit more remorse. But, it's still a game, and we're all players. So win or lose, I won't claim that it's been a series of moves that I don't stand being or wouldn't do again, because I do, and I would.

Blind

This entire game, Penny has been blinded by the need to eliminate Rob. Every plan, every vote, every mutiny, she has been motivated by eliminating him. And when she sees a potential opportunity to take him out, she ignores all sense of reason and takes any question of of credibility ("would she really betray her biggest ally for no reason?" or "would she be lie to me about voting for him?") and throws it out the window like it doesn't exist because she sees a chance to boot him. People lie. People plan. People trick. But anytime it has to do with Rob, she believes them, because she cares so goddamn much about beating him that she's willing to ruin her own game or the rest of ours not for any rational purpose but just out of blindness.

Tonight, it is my prediction that me or one of my comrades will fall victim to a tiebreaker or an idol. And chances are, Penny's blindness will be to blame.

Have you considered telling her this instead of us and Brian?

Anytime I try to explain why her plan won't work, she is more insistent in going through with it anyways. Time and time again has proven that it doesn't matter what I tell her. That's the entire reason that I call it permanent "blindness" and not "temporal-aversion-to-reason".

Am I right about that? Probably not. If you're bringing it up, then I'd probably stand a chance of convincing her. But in my mind, why bother, it's just going to fail and make her irritated by me more.

Currently writing a confessional about the challenge, but omg, I love Ted in TC right now. He's my fav.