The Place in Which Confessionals Shall Periodically Occur

[alexismaxwell]

The game has changed once again! I swear, it's like every time I sign in now, I'm in a new alliance. Apparently I was correct in fearing that the tribe would flip on Penner and I, as they now plan on voting for Penner this round. I'm not really sure how this all started, 'cause I wasn't on this morning, but now I'm in an alliance with Penner, Greg, Ami, and Malcolm(after this round). Our goal is to vote Sean out, which I'm down for. This is actually better for my game, because now I'm not rolling into the merge with a tight three. If Malcolm stays, we'll be the new three, and Greg and Ami will be rolling in with us! I just hope this isn't a ruse to make sure Penner doesn't play an idol. Further, if they do think he'll play an idol, I'm gone. I guess these people aren't as dumb as I thought, lol.

I need to control Penner a little better. He's been going around talking up Malcolm and I to people, which basically conveys that we're a strong three. He needs to cut that out, or I may be forced to vote him out, just so people don't see how well I'm set up after we merge. My goal is to inch my way closer to Malcolm each round. This round, I expressed my concerns about Penner, and he reciprocated, especially after finding out that he's being targeted already.

So essentially, I have to put all of my trust into Greg and Ami, because with multiple idols floating around, I can't risk trying to play both sides right now. I guess all I can do is sit back and watch how Tribal goes tonight.

[alexismaxwell]

Round 4 - Pre-Challenge

LOL, I'm playing with morons over here! Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they're nice people and all, but literally, every one of them made terrible moves this round except for Mike, Dave, and I. In particular, Greg, who has single-handedly ruined any prospect he had of winning in a single round. There's NO WAY they don't just take him out down the road as soon as they don't need him for numbers any more. He's basically shown that he's willing to flip on them in an instant. It was only last minute that he flipped back. I don't mean to sound like Probst, but Greg has zero chance of winning this game.

I'm over it, though. It's time to sacrifice my allies. Ami is kind of slow(sorry Ami), and she's relatively inactive compared to the rest of us. Malcolm has expressed to me that he's upset about Penner going, which I'm now using to make sure he's targeted before I am. In a perfect world, I'll have two rounds of safety before they come after me, but that's best case scenario. Actually, best case scenario would probably be another swap, but I don't see that happening.

I've got Mike, which is a good start. Apparently he doesn't want to see me go, and I don't want to see me go, either, so we're on the same page there! I need to work on Dave a bit, too, and continue to plant seeds about my allies like a cunt.

So here I am, stuck between badmouthing Penner behind his back, and throwing Malcolm and Ami under the bus. I've considered telling Greg about how he's pretty much fucked now unless he flips with us for real, but I'm truly not sure he's smart enough to see that. My best guess as to his strategy is that he'll try to flip again at the merge, which won't almost never works out right because of idols and other items. Perhaps he was simply down to vote Sean out, but not Mike? That bodes well for me, if they respect him or some shit like that. I need to keep Mike close, especially now that Penner is gone.

[alexismaxwell]

So, I may or may not be fucked. We're doing our immunity challenge tomorrow, and I'm pretty much going to be AFK all weekend because I'm visiting home. Not only does this mean I won't be able to participate in the challenge, but I also most likely won't be able to get on AIM until I'm back on Monday. I really wanted to speak with Dave and Mike today, but I haven't seen them on. I've only really gotten done about half of what I wanted to this round, and I'm really not sure that's going to be enough to secure my safety.  I guess in some ways, if I go now, I deserve it, both for being AFK at a crucial point in the game, and for not controlling Penner correctly. This was my first time trying this new strategy, though, so going this early was definitely not unexpected going into the game.

That doesn't mean I've given up, though. I've got no choice now but to put my life in this game into the hands of Malcolm. He "revealed" to me that he had an idol, and I took the opportunity to show him the ways in which I've been protecting him (read: myself) this round. Some of it was true, such as how I planted seeds about Penner being voted out with the idol in his pocket, to the possibility of Danielle having it if Penner didn't. I left out, though, how I dropped hints about he and Penner being really close, and him being upset about them voting Penner out. If he wanted, though, he could definitely put the target onto me while I'm gone. I'm not exactly trusting him not to fuck me over, but rather, that's the best play I could see for this round. It's either he does the other half of my work for me, or he stabs me in a back. It's a gamble, and I'm forced now to become a gambling man.

I strategized with him. I mean, REALLY strategized. I tend to hold myself back a lot when I talk strategy with people, but I felt the need to go all out for some reason this time. Probably due to sleep deprivation. 8:30 classes are a fucking bitch, man. Anyway, I explained to him that there's most likely no possibility that Dave/Mike/Sean turn on Greg this round. Ami must be the one to go, unless he plays his idol, and plays it correctly. Once Ami is gone, or we're in a tie-scenario, I could definitely see them either targeting or sacrificing Greg. I'm confident that they're smart enough not to go to rocks in order to save somebody who'll try to flip on them again within the next few rounds. For now though, Ami or idol play. I've left it in the hands of Malcolm.

We have code words, too, what with me not being able to get on AIM and all. If the plan needs to change during the weekend, he's going to say one of the code words at Tribal Council, and I'll switch my vote. I like Malcolm, and respect his game. I'm much more of a cunt. If I were him, I'd be throwing myself under the bus all weekend long!

Knock on wood?

[alexismaxwell]

This is going to be the worst fucking confessional y'all have ever seen. I got on AIM with IM+ this week, so it takes me like two minutes to write messages . . . which makes me look like I'm choosing words too carefully, ergo I'm lying or manipulating.
Which I am. But they shouldn't be able to tell! Grr, fuck this app, man.

Anyway, so I pretty much leaked a bunch of info to Mike this round so he'd trust me, and he gave some info back to me in return, that he, Sean, Dave, and Greg were voting for Ami, which they did. Apparently Sean was supposed to be targeting him this round, though, so I let him know. I had a whole plan, but this fucking app messed it up for me, so whatever. Two people I mistrust are tied, and one of them is going home. Fuck it.

[alexismaxwell]

Round 5 - Pre-Challenge

Guess who's back! And in a terrible spot!

That's right, you guessed it -- me! Woo! Alright, I'll cool it on the sarcasm a bit, but shit, I've probably got more than a half chance of going this round if we lose immunity again, which we probably will, because the tribe is made up of morons. Let me explain . . . so apparently Sean was going to flip on Mike last round, whereas Malcolm, Ami, and I were going to vote for Greg. With the penalty vote, that'd make it 4-3-1. However . . . I didn't put as much stock into Sean flipping, because again, these people are morons. So I went to who I thought was the least moronic character left, Mike. I told him about Sean's plan to flip on him. I explained that if him and I were to vote for Greg, then we'd at least tie the votes, so that Dave could side with us and vote Greg out. In reality, I just wanted him to throw away his vote for that side of the tribe, but he didn't follow through, anyway, because he's sadly also a moron. I'm very disappointed in this tribe so far. It really feels like the bulk of these players are more concerned with simply making the merge, rather than what they can actually do once they're there. Greg and Sean have both tried to flip on Mike the last two rounds now, and like I explained to him last night, this is his last chance numbers-wise to get rid of one of them before merge. If Mike doesn't flip this round, he's either got numbers in reserve that I don't know about (I know Sean and Greg do, for sure), or he's simply a moron.

I'm really hoping he's not a gigantic moron, though. There's a difference there. Greg and Sean, they're gigantic morons. Only a gigantic moron tries to flip, everybody finds out about said flip, and then they don't follow through with the aforementioned flipping. I think they both just want to make the merge to meet up with their old numbers from the other tribe, but I'm going to fucking die when they've moved on, and now they're at the bottom of an old alliance, and nobody else wants them in a new one, because they're known flippers. Congrats on merge, though, I guess? Then again, even Brandon Hantz made the merge.

I digress. I really have no other options for this round than to pull a hail mary. Malcolm has his idol, so he's fine, but the other side has the numbers to simply split the votes between us, in which case I'm gone. So, my plan is to try and get Dave and Mike to work with Malcolm and I for a new final four. One that won't consist of two flippers with numbers on the other tribe. Like I said before, this is Mike's last chance to get somebody out who's targetting him before we merge, so as long as he's not a dumbass, or the flips were deliberate psyche outs, he should be all for this deal. At the risk of insulting him again, I'll simply say my hopes aren't very high.

I'm going to try everything I can to get him on my side, though, from making a new chat group, to making him feel like Malcolm and I aren't that close. I may even try to make a secret final three deal with him and Dave, so he feels like either one of us will take him to the end. Perhaps I'll have Malcolm make the same deal.

[alexismaxwell]

RAD Update: So, I went to Mike and proposed the new alliance to him, saying that I'd bring in Malcolm, and he'd bring in Dave. Mike seems hesitant still, though, which is hilariously ridiculous. The bigger problem is, though -- Dave has no reason to flip. I've heard he's fairly intelligent, and if he realizes how well he's set up right now, why would he flip? I'm banking on him being close enough to Mike that he'd flip for his "buddy", but if Mike isn't conveying confidence while talking about the alliance, then that's not very inspiring. We'll see what happens with all of that, but I'm not getting a good feeling about it.

So . . . alternative plan. Greg. This isn't ideal, but if I don't feel relatively safe within an hour or so after TC is posted, I may approach Greg and explain to him that he's likely fucked if he goes into the merge with this group of people he's "alligned" with currently. I also know of the supposed Final 6 deal which excluded him, so I could also use that to my advantage. Problem is, I don't trust this friggen guy one bit, and if he goes back and rats me out to his masters, all of my work this round will be undone. On the other hand, if I don't do this, and then Mike is an idiot and doesn't vote with me, I'll be regretting it all the way to pre-merger's Ponderosa.

Ugh, I just hate these people so much, y'know? It's fucking terrible. I legitimately haven't dreaded talking to people like this since my very first ORG. Mike/Dave/Sean/Greg. The Offline Foursome. I think I've seen them online more during the challenge tonight than the last several days combined! It's annoying as fuck. They'll pop on, and you can talk game with them for about fifteen minutes MAXIMUM before they go offline again. When they are online, though, they basically just circlejerk each other in the group chat . . . which is amusing, if they weren't the majority on this tribe. They get along together well. They're friends now. Sure, two of them tried to flip already, but it's okay, because we all like dick jokes! HAHAHAHA, GOOD ONE!!!
Granted, I haven't really seen Dave take part in these acts of hooliganism, but a new theory about him is formulating. What if he's actually a good player? Perhaps it was a conscious choice to surround himself with morons. It interests me immensely. Except not really.

It really isn't being voted off that bothers me, either. It's just, having almost no chance to play the game and save myself, and then going out early at the hands of three inactive Drew Christys is such a disappointing way to end my experience here.

[alexismaxwell]

Round Who Gives a Shit - Post-Challenge

Oh, what a surprise, we've lost another challenge! I'm gone. Bye.

I've honestly been on the verge of quitting the past two days, and that's just sad. There's almost no drive left in me. I fucking hate these people, man. They're so goddamn bad at the game. I understand, like, yeah, you're friends, but this is a fucking Survivor simulation, not a speed dating event. I've had so much fun in my last three ORGs, but this one, I just haven't been feeling it at all. That's got nothing to do with Kenny, either -- he's been a fantastic host (though I could take or leave the challenges, really). It's more so just the people. It's like I'm being drained simply from being around them. I resent having to sign into AIM lately. It's like I'm back working customer service again. Obvious half-answers and inactivity. Ugh.

I feel like I would feel a little better about how everything has gone if it weren't a series of mistakes that lead the season to go this way. Greg was apparently genuinely going to flip the round Penner went, but he decided to make the worst possible move for his game and vote Penner out. He claims to regret it and acknowledges that it was a mistake, and that he likely won't win. Great. Thanks a lot, buddy. I guess every season needs their share of dumbass recruits, though.

Legitimately, I'm not even like this as a person, but I've had it. Fuck these people. I'm going to burn down the shelter.

[Host Kenny]

*hugs*

[alexismaxwell]

Round 6 - Pre-Challenge . . . ALSO MERGE.

That's goddamn right, I'm still here! GREG BUIS HAS FELT THE WRATH OF ALEXIS MAXWELL. Seriously, though, dude, you not only make a horrible mistake once, but you repeat the same horrible mistake twice?! Kek. Ah well. I'm sure you're a cool guy outside of here, but you did not deserve merge. I wish you all the best, regardless!

Okay, I'll stop feeling myself up now. I absolutely couldn't have survived that round without Malcolm. I was practically a shell of the player you saw at the beginning of this game, and instead of just taking the easy way out and letting me take the hit, he instead pulled me out of a rut and together we somehow managed to make the merge. This is going to make it REALLY hard later on when I inevitably have to stab him in the back. I already feel bad about it in advance.

[alexismaxwell]

Computer started to freeze, so I posted half-way through my confessional. Here's the rest:

So, I thought I'd go ahead and sort of explain the move. Basically it was a given that whoever we played the idol on, the other would likely go home. Mike said he and Dave were going to flip on a re-vote, but I don't really trust Mike all that much, but I saw that as my only option, and I was too down to look for any others. Malcolm came up with that he'd tell Greg he a vote doubler and an idol, in hopes that Greg would flip (where we were just trying to get him not to vote for me), and I told him about how in that scenario, even if he does end up voting for Sean, we could pull off the angle that it was all our plan to expose Greg as a flipper, and Mike and Dave may have actually then voted him out after the tie. Our goal was to get Greg to rat us out to his masters, telling him about how we were using a vote doubler from exile, and how Malcolm had given me the idol to play on myself. It worked perfectly. Greg almost immediately ran back to Sean and ratted us out, which forced them to put three votes on Malcolm in order to avoid a tie. Malcolm played his idol, we voted for Greg, and that was the end of Greg Buis. RIP in Pepperoni.

So now we're merged now, which is amazing! I was worried that I'd have to throw Malcolm under the bus earlier than I wanted to, if we were going to merge at 11. I'm so happy to be out of that tribe, and with the merge and the move working out, I feel like I'm actually going to have fun playing Survivor again, ergo I feel like I'll be able to play again! Everybody thinks they're a target now, including me. Would it not be a fair assumption that they may try to target Malcolm or I over the move we just made? Not out of vengeance, but rather the perception that we're strategic threats. I'll have to be careful. So far I'm making sure to go around to everyone saying "Malcolm is amazing" and other things like that, so they kind of pin the move more-so on him rather than me. With the way I type, though, I don't know if it'll be all that effective, and there are still a lot of morons left in the game. Still, there are a lot of big players here, too, including Fairplay, who I've spoken some game with last round. He probably thinks I'll side with him, and perhaps I may. On the other side, you have Mike, who also probably believes I'll side with him. Really, it all depends on where the majority is. My plan is to just chill out, don't make waves, and try to regroup with Danielle and Dolly. For now, I need to mine for some info about the Nsync tribe.

[alexismaxwell]

Round 6 - Post Challenge

Alright, so I'm still on my weekly excursion of visiting family, but I thought I'd go ahead and pop out a quick confessional while everyone is asleep. I managed to get on AIM today from shitty IM+, and I was immediately overwhelmed with information. Holy shit, it's crazy. So, let's start off here . . . I'm in an alliance now with, I think it was, uh, Fairplay, Lindsey, Stephanie, LJ, and Malcolm, which makes six including myself. That's enough to at least tie up the vote, assuming Dolly and Danielle are dumb. It's good, too, 'cause apparently Malcolm and I are being thrown around as targets outside of the aforementioned alliance. Kek. My best guess is that Erik and his allies were just looking for a way to gain the upper hand over Fairplay and his allies. Take out the big strategic threats early, right? They're a power duo! Oh, what? No, just cause Dave, Sean, and I hang out and jerk each other off all the time doesn't mean we're a power trio! Whatever gave you that idea?!

For real, though, it does worry me a bit. I haven't played with these people yet, and lawd knows how dumb they could potentially be. I need to play my cards right . . . which I probably didn't do, 'cause I immediately confronted Erik about it. He denied, of course, and after a while of scrambling, proposed a shitty deal to me. I bring Malcolm into and alliance with myself, Erik, Dave, Sean, Mike, and some mystery person not named. Yeah, that sounds like a great group to align with, especially after A) One of them admitted to trying to betray me, and B) I just finished bamboozling their buddy. Yeah, no. I'm forced to go with Fairplay and Steph. ( I did tell him I'd be considering it, though, which I did for about ten minutes whilst on the toilet.)

Fairplay and Steph want to blindside Dolly because of the penalty vote, and thusly avoid a tie. I'm down for it. Dolly is nice and all, but she also shouldn't have broken whatever rule she did. RIP, hopefully.

This vote is CRUCIAL because it'll show people who they can and cannot trust for the next couple of rounds. Being in the minority, my best option is to simply take the best deal offered to me and work from there. If I go, then it's sort of out of my hands, which is a bit of an annoyance. On the other hand, if I stay, I can continue to worm my way up the totem pole with people I have and inch of reason to trust. Based on where I was the last few rounds, that's huge.

[alexismaxwell]

Round 7 -  Pre-Challenge

RIP Dolly. One down, some amount more to go.

My new allies came through for me, as expected! What I didn't expect, though, was that Erik and his allies would actually go through with voting for Fairplay! Kek. They're probably in a really bad spot now, where Fairplay knows he was not only lied to, but targeted by them. This is brilliant for me, because once again, I should be safe this round! Erik probably does feel a little betrayed by me, though, since I assured him that I'd vote with him, but he doesn't have too many options right now than to get over it and move on. I told him before the vote that I don't want him to go yet, and I'm going to stick by that. If he's a moron, though, he'll throw mine and Malcolm's name around as targets once again, whether for shitty game-related reasons, or simply out of spite.

I understand that by sticking with Fairplay for the next couple rounds, I'm only giving him and his original allies the power to take the game, but for now, I believe that to be my best play. There's no way I can work with the other side at the moment, because I know a few of them are targeting me, and the majority of them are mediocre players at best, which means a lack of targets.

Here's the way I perceive the game right now: People view Malcolm and I as a duo. Steph and Fairplay are a duo. Lindsey and Steph are also likely a duo. Mike/Dave/Sean/Erik are a power foursome made up of weak duos and trios. If I stick with Fairplay and Steph, I think they're the only other duo in the game right now who might be targeted before Malcolm and I, due to their supposed idol and presence. They'll most likely try to weaken the foursome on the other side, and then look to take somebody from our side out. Likely Malcolm. I may need to let that happen, if all else fails, because everyone likes Malcolm, and he has the potential to beat me in the finals. Later is better than sooner in this case, though --  true loyalty is hard to find. I think at that point, the move would be to flip and work with whoever is left over on the other side (Likely Danielle, Mike, Dave, and perhaps Erik). That's a strong six, which would be the majority. For that first vote, I could potentially get them to keep Fairplay and Steph in the game, too, claiming we need to vote for Lindsey because Fairplay could play his idol. That's all assuming things go to plan before then, though, and they most likely won't. That's why when you have a gameplan like this, you have to be willing to throw it in the toilet almost instantly. You need to be able to adapt to each round as the game goes on.
Okay, fuck, I don't know what I'm even writing about anymore. Pardon the digression.

Anyway, yeah, so I'm most likely going to allow Fairplay and Steph take the steering wheel again this round, while I work on keeping Erik's . . . something in which keeps him from wanting to write my name down. Let's gooooooo 

[alexismaxwell]

Round 7 - Post-Challenge

I'm a pretty big cunt when it comes to Survivor. I realize and acknowledge this fact. Malcolm ended up winning the idol clue, and he trusted me enough to share it with me . . . and now I've got Fairplay helping me find it before he does. I feel pretty bad about betraying his trust like this, but I don't want to end up in the position I was in at the end of the Letterman tribe again, where Malcolm has an idol, and others are splitting the vote between us. So far, we've "found" the second clue. Fairplay having the idol won't effect my game too much, at least not directly, so him having it wouldn't be so bad. I have some interesting plans set for the future if he does indeed get it.

Outside of being a cunt, though, Danielle finally reached out to me today, and I think I may have succeeded in creating a new ally/puppet to do my bidding! I explained to her about how she, Malcolm, and I are all in a relatively good spot at the moment, so long as people don't begin to see us as a trio. To that end, I've gotten her to continue voting with Erik until the time comes to make a move, which will most likely be at . . . 9. That seems to be when the numbers are in our favour, and as long as they don't make a move on Malcolm and I at 10, it should set us up pretty well for the mid-jury game.

I'm pushing for Mike to go this round, because A) I don't trust him so much anymore, and B) It's necessary for my game to move forward. I think Mike'll jump ship soon, too, and so taking him out before he can do that would be best, as then he doesn't have the chance to indirectly mess my game up. I'm framing it that, with all of the mystery items from the auction floating around, we need to vote for the second-to-least likely player they'd expect us to, which is Mike. They seem to be down for it, so here's hoping the vote goes down without issue once again.

I'm keeping myself close to Erik, too, because he tries to talk game with me a lot, and I appreciate that both as a person, and as a gameplayer. He hasn't shown me frustration, even after Dolly went. From what I've seen so far, he knows how the game is played, and I want to keep people like that in the game as long as I can.

[alexismaxwell]

Fuck fuck fuck fuck, Malcolm found the idol. Double edged sword. This could be good, though, so long as nobody knows about it, and I plan accordingly. You never know when people are going to try and #blindside you, though, hence the name. This guy is a fucking CONNOISSEUR of idol finding, though, god damn. I spent a good two hours looking for the thing, but no luck. Apparently the trick was to just spam quotes from famous 90s shows that I haven't seen. Welp, kudos to Malcolm! Now we've got a secret Vote Nullifier, AND a secret idol!

I've been telling everybody I got a bowl of rice and a glass of water from camp. They seem to be buying it, but I highly doubt they really are. It's like on Survivor Worlds Apart, where you could choose between the medium bag of beans, or the small bag of beans and an idol clue. Even if you take the former, people will suspect that you're lying. They're right to do it, too. You can't go into the game looking for the good in people -- you have to look for the bad. That's my philosophy, anyway. Malcolm seems to be the opposite, which could indeed be why we've worked so well together thus far. Sort of like a devil on the left shoulder, and an angel on the right.

Everyone is submitting their votes for Mike right now, including me. I thought it'd be a hard sell, but everybody seems to be on board, especially Fairplay. I think he trusts me a lot more after we searched for the idol together last night, ergo he trusts my opinion. I discussed the benefits of voting Mike earlier on in the day, and I guess that was the right move, 'cause he's currently advocating for the Mike vote in our alliance chat. Little does he know, he may be signing his own death warrant . . .

Erik came to me last night, too, and asked me about what to write in his Tribal Council question concerning All-Stars. I pretty much told him not to bring up Malcolm and I, and to instead focus on the obvious people, such as Fairplay, and maybe Penner. And so he did. That would have been really bad for me, if my name came up there, so I'm pretty relieved that he asked me about it first. In exchange, I've sort of let him in on my plan to flip relatively soon, and that he's going to play a big part in that plan. It's a leap of faith to trust him with that information, but if he keeps it to himself, he'll be much more likely to stay loyal to me after the plan is carried out.

And if it doesn't, I just pin everything on Malcolm. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[alexismaxwell]

Round 8 - Pre-Challenge

Ugh, shitballs. I forgot about majority rules competitions. This could either supplement my game, or cripple it. I'm leaning more towards the latter. I mean, for example, the question "Who thinks they're in control, but  actually aren't?". Who do you write there aside from myself or Malcolm? Erik? That wouldn't make sense. Maybe they won't write mine, either, though? Especially if they want me to flip. Or perhaps they will, in attempt to make me paranoid. Damn. Hopefully they write Fairplay with me.

This all leads me to feel like I may have to flip early, meaning this round. If my name comes up too many times, and I feel like I'm on everyone's mind, I'll have to pull something off quick, because the alliance doesn't really need me to secure their majority at the moment, assuming that Malcolm sticks with them. It'd be really easy for them to simply pull together some votes to separate Malcolm and I, especially when we're likely going to pop up in that one question, "Which two players are closest?". Can't have that. Won't have that.

Right now, Malcolm is offline, and people are already inquiring about the flip I promised them. I'm taking a page from Max Dawson and telling them that I need to see what "the big man" thinks. Make it look like Malcolm has the final say sort of thing. It's really up to me, though, in the end. I'm trying to consider everything; numbers, idols, powers, loyalty, etc. Fairplay can't go first, and he won't go first. Most likely Lindsey. I can force Fairplay to play his idol, though. Should I have him play it on the correct person? A lot of tough calls here. I'm not sure I want to let Sean get any deeper in the game. He's dangerous. Conversely, if my name comes up too many times in the challenge, I'm going to be paranoid as fuck about being blindsided this round. An idea is formulating in my head as I write this, actually.