Post by Dorothy Hui on Aug 24, 2016 15:31:23 GMT
^Possibly me during this round because of how often I expect I'll have to be mobile.
I'm still technically on vacation visiting friends and family, so over the last few days I've been spending time with them and away from AIM, although I've still checked the boards frequently and made sure to keep up in my journal. But now we've got a live challenge coming up that I can't be at because I've had these plans with this group of friends since even before I made the trip here in the first place.
The fact that this challenge looks like it's another tribal challenge is a swerve in the first place. I thought for sure this would be an individual challenge with both tribes going to Tribal Council. Turns out we're not quite at that point yet, but the fact that this challenge is another LIVE one is a second swerve. I figured that regardless of if the challenge was individual or tribal, I'd have 24 hours to participate, and I could easily pound something out late at night when I'm done hanging out with people. I guess that's not happening this time?
Well, what's good for NuAmsterdam is they've had four Tribal Councils to weed out some of the more inactive members. Granted, they still have a guy who straight up forgot to vote in the Tribal Council that served to separate his original tribe, and only three of them showed up for the last live challenge. Maybe we'll be lucky enough that they won't have full attendance again.
I feel bad having to miss this challenge because I'm pretty sure I'm one of the more active members of my tribe. I like to think I can usually be depended on for challenges like these, but this time the circumstances are getting in the way. I just have to hope that whoever participates in this challenge, they can all be around at the same time. Considering we have no choice other than to field Carrie, I'm not so sure that will be the case.
Since I can't participate in the challenge, my dream team that I hope is picked based on activitiy levels to participate along with Carrie and Jaclyn is Burnie, Ian and either Dustin/Tim. At least one of Dustin/Tim can usually be around in the evenings, Burnie is usually good about being able to play in challenges regardless of what they are, and Ian is just around in general a lot of the time. It can work out, I hope.
If not...well, I'll have to explain to more of my friends what ORGs are since I'll need to abuse my mobile AIM app to make sure the votes happen the way I want them to. Awkward...
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^I felt a little bit like this when I was talking with Ian yesterday as we discussed Glyn's departure. Apparently, Glyn was the guy Ian was closest to back on Luxembourg - now that Glyn is gone, Ian said he felt as if he had nowhere to go. He feels like this tribe is still in its honeymoon phase because we've never lost, and that when the real loyalties come out at Tribal Council, he's concerned he won't be anyone's first choice. I think the drafting troubled him more than I realized - if Glyn got to choose which tribe he went on, that would mean Ian was the very last draft pick.
Ian feeling like he was lost was the last thing I wanted to hear come out of his mouth, because I've bonded with Ian a lot more than I've bonded with Tim and Dustin. I want to work with Ian badly because I trust him after all we've talked about during this phase of the game. With Tim/Dustin having the idol, Ian being on my side, specifically MY side as opposed to Tim/Dustin's, is more important than ever.
I know Ian is close with Tim and Dustin, and he's gotten along with Burnie. He expressed that he feels like Julia is social with everyone but him, which I assured him isn't true and that if she was doing that, she wasn't doing it on purpose (I hope she wasn't doing it on purpose, anyway - she hasn't been as active with me either, which I assumed was because she's leaving for college next week). I encouraged Julia to talk with Ian more, and Ian said he would use his charm (and that he's still waiting for it to work on me, so no, I don't think the flirting will ever completely stop).
Regardless of his comfort level with Julia, he's close with three out of the other four people I want in the core of NuBruxelles. Before we jump to the merge, I want to tangible group that can promise to stick together and work toward getting as far as we can in this game. I want that core to be Triple Helix (Dorothy, Julia and Burnie), Tim/Dustin and Ian. Kathy's not around enough to consider her as anything other than an emergency boot at this point, and I feel like Jaclyn would be out the door immediately following...or even Carrie, since she's not the greatest, most active social player in the world. I don't feel like Carrie would have anywhere else to go than OG Bruxelles, so eliminating her isn't the best for my game, but leaving her out of the alliance to give Tim/Dustin/Ian peace of mind is fine with me.
Who knows with Kathy and Jaclyn? I don't know Kathy well, but she seems smart enough to know that she may be on the bottom of things (assuming Tim/Dustin are telling the truth and actually want to work with Triple Helix). Jaclyn is gamebotty enough to probably flip if she feels like she's in trouble. I want us to win again so the threat of flipping becomes less terrifying and NuBruxelles can just have a power alliance to take us all to F9. That would be slick.
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Looking at NuAmsterdam now, it's the four OG Amsterdam members vs. Jasmine. I have to give Jasmine props for being alive, I guess. According to Tim, the only reason she outlived Steuart was because she bluffed an idol. I wonder if that will work again if she loses and doesn't go to Exile this time. And if she does survive and we merge with her, what then? She seems like the biggest wildcard out of anyone left.
Well, it's out of my hands, at least for now. Priority one is to confirm that core NuBruxelles alliance. If I can do that, I hope I can stay safe for a long time.
