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tfblovesmusic · 25 days

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Maligayang Pask-OH SHIP! Mixtape 1, Listening Guide 1

Section 1: The Ber Months Begin

Jose Mari Chan’s “Christmas in Our Hearts,” the official Christmas anthem of the Philippines, commences the playlist as a moderato overture. Immediately following it is Paul and Storm’s “The Way-Too-Early Christmas Song.” Though it takes place on November 1, the lyrics ring true too – at least in the nation in which its Christmas season kicks off 2 months prior. Bing Crosby’s actual “Christmas Song” follows it as a contrast.

A string of songs usher in the holiday season. The Washington Symphonic Brass’s arrangement of the opening chorus of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio - "Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage" - follows The New Christy Minstrels’ cover of “We Need a Little Christmas” in great fanfare. The Kidsongs Kids tell the listener, “Christmas is Coming.”

Rock band Jingle Punx exclaims, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” as Amy Grant announces, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Paul McCartney, Jimmy Fallon, and The Roots jam out, simply having a “Wonderful Christmastime.”

Section 2: Consumerism and Conniptions

For some secular people, Christmas means physical presents and great spending. Maestro Forte tells the Beast, “Don’t Fall in Love,” as the mall Santas convince elf Buddy that “Nobody Cares About Santa Claus.” The Bob Rivers Comedy Corp endures the “Twelve Pains of Christmas.” (As much as I don’t condone corporal punishment, the segments in which the kid throws a tantrum makes you want to take your tsinelas to his upos, di ba?)

The consumerism theme segues as the Pet Shop Boys sing their anthem on Christmas “Shopping” and Meryl Streep croons about “Money, Money, Money.” The Brothers Bright declare that “It’s a Wonderful Life.” As the consumerism gets deeper into the listener’s head, the ensemble of She Loves Me get stressed about “12 Days to Christmas.”

Section 3: In Search of Advent

Immediately after the tangent on consumerism, holiday stress, and seasonal villain songs, Faith Hill questions the true meaning of the holiday, asking, “Where Are You Christmas?” Then, treble Andrew Swait and pianist Andrew Plant vainly plumb through the confusion it with Benjamin Britten’s arrangement of “I Wander as I Wonder.”

The Gesualdo Six - Guy James, Alexander Chance, Joseph Wicks, Josh Cooter, Michael Craddock, and Samuel Mitchell – sing in anticipation of the Reason of the Season “Veni, Veni Emannuel.” The choir of All Saints Church in Beverly Hills – accompanied by organ and bassoon – likewise seeks out the infant Jesus in the David Hurd anthem, “A Stable Lamp Is Lighted.”

The Montreal Symphonic Winds plumb the mystery of Advent in their arrangement of Bach’s organ chorale Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659. Then, the Purcell Quartet, Dame Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, and Peter Harvey usher the listener deeper in the mystery via the opening of the cantata (BWV 61) of the same name as the chorale prelude.

Section 4: Cool Yule Jerk!

The segment naturally opens with Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” The Eurythmics declare a “Winter Wonderland,” and Barney, Baby Bop, and BJ announce that “It’s Snowing.” The Acoustix sing Kay Thompson’s medley of “Jingle Bells” and “Sleigh Ride.”

Then, the vocalists share two winter tales. Stephanie J. Block sings “The Ballad of Sarsaparilla Safirovich” and the Kidsongs Kids construct “Frosty the Snowman.” Then, Sarsaparilla Safirovich appears in winter clothes and does a jive with Frosty as The Capitols sing “Cool Jerk.” They join the kids in Bette Midler’s “Cool Yule.”

Section 5: Tree-Trimming Party

The Kidsongs Kids “Deck the Halls.” Meanwhile, the Bob Rivers Comedy Corp seems to have trouble doing so, stressing over “Decorations.” When all the trimming is sorted out, Amy Grant leads them to a dance party, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

Section 6: Christmas in War and Peace

It’s worth noting that some of the most inspirational secular carols were written during Christmases in times of war. And included in the section are a few musical perennials.

The segment commences with Anne Murray’s cover of a serviceman’s seasonal promise, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” The feelings are intensified on the widows’ walks of their hometowns, with Darlene Love bemoaning about being “All Alone on Christmas.” Mariah Carey also stands at her widow’s walk, belting, “Baby, Please Come Home.”

The servicemen who made it alive return back to their hometowns as the Carpenters announce they are "Home for the Holidays." The Oak Ridge Boys dedicate their ballad, “Sincerely, I Remain,” in honor of them. The listener envisions a POW table, dimly lighted by a sole flame from a candle as the Cambridge Singers solemnly sing John Rutter’s “Candlelight Carol.” Kathy Troccoli asks the listener – civilian, veteran, or active duty member – to “Go Light Your World.”

Calls for peace intensify, as Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli become united in “The Prayer.” Grant crafts her “Grown-Up Christmas List,” as Murray also asks Santa Claus for “A Little Good News” through the next year. Andreas Scholl sings a seasonal berceuse from Bach's Christmas Oratorio – “Schlafe, mein Liebster, genieße der Ruh'” – to the Holy Infant, amid the war and chaos.

As the Harlem Boys’ Choir prays to God to “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” Bette Midler assures the listener that God is watching them “From a Distance.” Crosby and David Bowie loudly beseech peace with their medley of “Peace on Earth” and “Little Drummer Boy.” Mme. Dion finally exclaims, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)."

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#Spotify #christmas songs #maligayang pasko #ber months #filipino christmas

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samprestonbigbadabruce · 6 years

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NXT Takeover: New Orleans - Thoughts and Review...

Sunday 8th April has been a very difficult day, due to my having to avoid any and all spoilers for this show. Normally, I’ll either watch the event live, or watch it at a later date knowing the results. But for a show like this, one that could legitimately be one of the best of the year, I wanted to immerse myself fully into the show, not knowing any results at all. Oh, NXT, you have made me your bitch with ease.

Of course, we have Mauro Ranallo (the one and only legend), Nigel McGuinness (who has really grown into the role fantastically), and Percy Watson (who has demonstrated some good commentary when given the chance), who are probably the strongest 3 man team on the commentary booth. My predictions are at this link.

Ladder Match for the inaugural NXT North American Championship.

EC3 (Ethan Carter III) vs Killian Dain vs Adam Cole vs Velveteen Dream vs Lars Sullivan vs Ricochet

The audience already knows who Ricochet is, his name resonating around the arena, and he gets the first major pop with a tremendous Shooting Star Press to the outside on Dain and Lars. Ricochet is so crisp and beautiful to watch in the ring, he’s instantly fascinating. One of the sub-plots of the match was the build-up to Lars and Dain facing each other, bumping into each other a few times, before an awesome tope onto Lars early on. Watching Lars throw a ladder onto his five opponents was a great moment, he’s starting to convince me he may be more than just a big hoss. He took a great powerbomb from Ricochet, Dream and EC3 off the ladder.

I loved EC3 & Cole, the two snakes who will just as soon betray you as use you, getting along briefly, before EC3 stole Cole’s “bay bay” Schtick, and super kicking EVERYBODY’s face off. The next big moment was Dream’s beautiful Elbow off the ladder onto Lars, some tremendous elevation. Bringing the ladders in so quickly seemed like a better method as it allowed them to hit the ground running. Killian’s Vader Bomb with Cole on his back onto EC3 under a ladder was reminiscent of Rikishi flattening Val Venis off the top of a cage. Lars Sullivan and Killian Dain throwing Ricochet back and forth was akin to two T-Rexes fighting over a pork chop, I laughed, but Lars catching Killain was awe inspiring. And then Ricochet beat it with a moonsault off a falling ladder onto Cole & Dain, that’s Highlight Reel material. Ricochet is coming across very impressive in this match, as I expected.

Dream’s rolling Death Valley Driver on Ricochet onto a ladder was terrifying, but looked amazing, then Lars SMASHING EC3 onto Dream THROUGH a ladder, just raised the bar again, only for Dain to metaphorically go for “Hold My Beer” and put Cole & Ricochet through his own ladder! This is insanity and I love it. I love the subtlety of having the two hosses, Lars & Killain, on one ladder, then the two heels Cole & EC3 on another ladder, and then Dream opening up the third, each ladder representing a different style, culminating in Ricochet joining him. Cole took down EC3, Ricochet took down Dream, and STILL the two beasts were on the ladder. And just as Lars was near victory, Ricochet made the save, the competitors continuously nearing so close, then getting knocked off, before Adam Cole stole the title!

I love how the match allows each style to get their own moment in the sun, either Lars smashing people, Killian’s agile destructions, Ricochet & Dream’s high-flying antics and great bumping, Cole’s smarmy opportunist, or EC3’s arrogant smarts, none were underutilised. I was surprised at the choice for Cole to win, I thought EC3 would make more sense as a heel for the others to chase, but Cole has earned the title, he’ll be The Miz of NXT, elevating the second title. Cole won in character, but everybody looked tremendous. Loved this match.

Adam Cole wins the NXT North American Championship.

Ember Moon defends the NXT Women’s Championship versus Shayna Baszler

Okay, first of all, my favourite band Halestorm opened for Ember and it was awesome, such a rocking tune and great voice from Lzzy Hale. I found that a lot more interesting than Ronda Rousey being in the audience. If only Shayna wasn’t involved…I get that some people may like her, but I’ve found her generic and boring, a flat track bully. To be fair, her knee strikes were making ME feel sore, and it was something a little different, expanding her arsenal. Moon still comes across as the desperate champ struggling with the bully, including a dropkick to force Shayna into the ring steps. I have to admit, seeing Ember turn Shayna’s own elbow stamp onto Shayna was so gratifying.

Seeing Shayna trying to pop her shoulder back into place against the ring post was actually impressive, it feels like they are trying to create sympathy for Shayna, who has been a despicable bully so far. Ember’s finisher onto the outside was excellent, a great moment. Ember’s powerbomb on Shayna was even more impressive, I’ll admit, despite having no interest in this match, these two put in some great work to draw me in. And then, Shayna choked out Ember to win the title. I can’t say I’m surprised, and the match was better than I expected, but I do think it’s a mistake to give her the title so soon. I’m also curious about their decision to push Ronda as the babyface, only for her to be friends with despicable heel Shayna, lack of consistency.

Shayna Baszler wins the NXT Women’s Championship.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Final: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly) defend the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Authors Of Pain (Akam and Rezar with Paul Ellering) versus Pete Dunne & Roderick Strong

The Authors Of Pain have gone on strength to strength, improving every match, whilst Strong is consistent and tough, respected by the audience, Dunne is a tough nasty bastard, and The Undisputed Era are heat magnets…this match is such a great choice. The Authors Of Pain instantly come in and destroy the opposition, powerbombing Cole straight through the announce table. O’Reilly simultaneously holding an AOP & Strong in submissions was a great image and makes it believable for him to have to wrestle alone.

O’Reilly being German Suplexed, jumping up screaming, then falling out of the ring, was my favourite moment of the night so far. Dunne and O’Reilly are two hard hitters, and seeing them smash mouth each other was great. Dunne snapping an AOP’s fingers to avoid a move is one of those little character moments that add to a match, very in character. As the match continues, I’m starting to feel that Cole may stir from injury in time to steal the win?

Strong using AOP’s strength and speed against them, including into the steel steps, and then WHAT THE FUCK?! Roderick Strong turned on Pete Dunne and helped The Undisputed Era retain? What a twist, O’Reilly’s reactions are awesome. I remember Strong supposedly being a great heel on the Indie scene, I am legitimately shocked at this development, but it definitely makes things interesting. I assume until Fish heals, Strong and O’Reilly will defend the Tag Team titles?

The Undisputed Era win the Dusty Rhodes Classic and retain the NXT Tag Team titles.

Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas defends the NXT Championship versus Aleister Black.

Almas has already been so impressive as NXT Champion, really raising his game for the title. Black is awesome all round, and comes flying out of the blocks. A tremendous moment where Almas flipped out of a sunset powerbomb off the top rope, only to miss the knees, only to lead into a backsault off the top rope and another Moonsault onto Black, great flow to the match. Almas surprisingly matched Black with some great strikes, until Black kneed his face out of place. Almas has scouted Black tremendously, catching him out every time Black goes to his arsenal. And the few times Black did on top, Zelina spiked Black twice with hurricaranas, playing the ref like a fiddle. Third time should surely lead to Zelina getting Black Massed by Black,

When Black did hit the Black Mass, Zelina saved Almas, she does such an amazing job as a heel manager, saving Almas four times already! Several close shaves, including a tremendous Hammerlock DDT from Almas to Black that I thought would end it. But this leads into the perfect finish, as Zelina tried interfering again, Almas catching her, and turning into Black Mass!

Almas may have only had a brief title reign, but it was very impressive, a 5 Star Classic and a great victory, but Black was the right choice, he’d been on track for the title since he debuted, and he offers a different style to some of the previous Champions. Black has earned this victory, but Almas can take pride in his reign, and I cannot wait to see who Black faces first…maybe a returning Drew McIntyre?

Aleister Black wins the NXT Championship.

Unsanctioned Match: Tommaso Ciampia fights Johnny Gargano A story years in the making, two former friends and brothers, now hated rivals. Johnny Gargano placed his career on the line for the NXT Championship, and lost because of Ciampia. Now, in an unsanctioned match, one where you can only win by pinfall or submission, Johnny Wrestling gets the opportunity for revenge. If he wins, he is reinstated to NXT. If he loses...he’s gone. This won’t be a five star classic, it’ll be a fight.

The atmosphere is engulfing. The punches and kicks that started the match lead into Ciampia getting more vicious, slams against the guardrail, and threatening with an unprotected floor. Johnnny Wrestling, the nice guy, throwing Ciampia into the announce team, really helped sell how consumed by anger and hatred he was. They would tease with one act of violence (suplex on the unprotected floor, suplex on the table) and then subvert it with something just as violent (suplex OFF the announce table onto the mat), sprinkling little Chekhov Guns to come into play later. Seeing the top of the announce table used to be suplexed through was something I hadn’t seen before, these little unique moments really add to the match.

There was one uncomfortable bump where it looked like Gargano landed on his neck after he was Irish-whipped into the corner, flipping upside down and landing on his head. A great touch was when Johnny got to the ropes when Gargano had a submission on him, only for the ref to tell him “No rope breaks”, i loved that! Really adds to the authenticity of the unsanctioned fight. So far, the only element I disagree with is that to me, an Unsanctioned match works better if the wrestlers are in street clothes, but I digress.

So far, the weapons being used really tie back to the history of their rivalry, the announce table from when Ciampia first betrayed Gargano, then the crutches from the crowd tying into Ciampia’s injury and multiple attacks with the crutches. The unprotected mat came back in a vicious way, Johnny going for a slingshot DDT attempt, reversed into Ciampia’s finisher attempt, only for Johnny to slither out and powerbomb Ciampia onto the floor - I admit, I let out an involuntary noise at the sound of Tommaso’s back landing on the floor.

The tired tug of war over the crutch really amplified the war these two are going through, and the cathartic strikes on Ciampia by Gargano, who refused to let go of the crutch even when thrown out, leading to a sickening crack on the head. It was only after that and a slingshot DDT, that I think the first pinfall attempt was made, twenty plus minutes into the match, a great detail for such a volatile fight. The reverses keep on happening again and again, showing how well these two know each other, Johnny even willing to pull on Tommaso’s beard.

Gargano locked in his submission hold, and the rope breaks came into play again, almost reaching ironic glory, and then the roll back into the middle of the ring, ala Benoit/Triple-H at Wrestlemania XX, seemed poised for the ending, only for Tommaso to dig at Gargano’s eyes. The desperation of Tommaso was then intensified by using his wrist rope to try and strangle his opponent.such a brilliantly layered story. A low blow, crutch to the back, then powerbomb backbreaker had me convinced it was over, but Johnny Wrestling kicked out again. I have no idea who will win at this rate.

Johnny using Tommaso’s kneepad to drag himself toward Ciampia was such an iconic image, leading into the lawn dart into the unprotected turnbuckle, then two vicious low superkicks, the second eliciting another unexpected noise from me. I know I said this would be a fight, not a five star classic, but these two are pushing close. Ciampia did another powerbomb backbreaker onto his knees for a massive near fall, and the knee brace has taken damage, these two are going all out. And now the final callback, the removal of Ciampia’s kneepad, ala the Cruiserweight Classic, only for Johnny to smash the brace into Ciampia’s knee!

A brief moment with a callback to the sit down in the ring together, lead to an amazing STF on the knee with the knee brace pulling back on Ciampia’s neck, that looked diabolically painful! And Ciampia tapped, Gargano gets reinstated, Johnny Wrestling has done it! He’s beaten Ciampia, vanquished his demon, and he’s reinstated to NXT! What a brilliant match, such layers and story telling, reversals, hard hits, big moments, character moments, emotional and unforgiving, a rollercoaster ride, but the hero has defeated the psycho.

Johnny Gargano defeats Tommas Ciampia

Yet again, NXT Takeover does an excellent job, great matches, fantastic stories, and even my personal weakest match (the NXT Women’s Championship) is exactly that, a personal indifference, but still a solid match. In fact, I probably couldn’t call any of these a weak match. What a brilliant PPV, NXT just keeps getting better and better and better.

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survivor-uluru · 5 years

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OPENING STATEMENTS

GAGE:

Hello Friends! Local Cockroach Gage speaking. I hope y’all still remember that this game exists and that I do as well! I first off want to say thank you to the hosts Andrew, Johnny, and Adrian for hosting this game. Despite the ups and downs and trials and tribulations of this game, you guys were great hosts and I wouldn’t trade you guys for anyone else. I would also like to thank Monty, Nikias, and the rest of the cast for this experience. The main reason I play games is to meet new people and build stronger relationships with people I may have already played a game with, and I’m glad I got to make some new friends, rekindle some old relationships, and overall just have a good time interacting with y’all throughout the game. I’m gonna try to keep this short and simple, but I feel like my game can be defined by 3 main aspects: Making relationships, self-awareness/perceptions of others, and luck.

When it comes to playing games, I try my best to make relationships with everyone whenever I’m able to find the time to (mostly just because like I stated before, I like to meet new people and forge stronger relationships I may have already interacted with in the past. I was very thankful to be put into a game with new people I have gotten to talk to before, as well as meeting people from my past (including Monty, Drew, Corey, Sammy, etc.). These new and old relationships I feel like are the reason I was able to get to this point. Monty and I worked together throughout the entirety of the game, as we voted together throughout the entire game and are the only two people (and also Drew rip) to vote correctly throughout the “merge”. My relationship with Drew from previous games I feel helped me out significantly as well, especially when it came to the infamous judgement twist. Working and building with a relationship Corey however was probably the most important relationship I knew I could have. Ever since we were put on the moral tribe together, it became very clear that Corey was able to build relationships with castaways in which I could not, and I knew sticking with this social icon was my best to not only keep me in the game, but also to make sure I was able to get information from others that I did not have such a close bond to. At the same time, I do feel like that the social bonds that I personally made as well is what kept me here to. At the tremor tribal and we were subjected to Lukas’s rules, Sammy and Veni targeted each other and Lukas promised to vote wherever I told him to vote. Lukas could have easily gotten Bo and Maddie to vote me out 3-2-1 which would have inadvertently caused the most cracks in alliances and chaos in the gave up until that point, but instead he kept me in the game, and I was able to stay since I had closer relationships with Sammy and Veni than they had with each other.

I also feel like I got to where I’m in this game by being self aware of the situations I’m in and trying make sure to where my perceptions of my castaways. As stated before, I knew that Corey was always the most interconnected tribe member throughout the game, and the round where we had the infection immunity challenge during the beginning of the “merge” solidified this belief. Once people were also aware of how Corey was interconnected to the slowly forming jury, I was able to get him out at Final 6, which is insane because I think Corey played the best game out of everyone this season. Winning touchy subjects also helped me build confidence in my perceptions as well. When I play touchy subjects, I always make my personal list the same as my “majority think” list. Touchy subjects revolves around the idea of groupthink and if you guess what the majority said, then you most likely have a good read on tribe dynamics. I was able to win this iconic immunity challenge, something that I have been able to do in the vast majority of games that I have played. I knew coming into this game that I was going to be a big target because of being a big winner, and I made sure to align myself with people who would always be targeted before me. This was a big reason why at the tremor tribal, I decided to vote out Sammy over Veni. Sammy is known to play UTR and be very good at this strategy but I would always be targeted before him, Veni was someone up until that point had already played a great game and was very clearly trying his hardest to win. I knew Veni was always a bigger jury threat than me and this was a perception that was also carried by the rest of the tribe by the time of this tribal, and I feel like this decision was a catalyst for how I was able to sit here at the end in front of this lovely jury.

And last but not least, I think the BIGGEST reason why I am here today is because of luck. I was lucky to be casted in a game where I played with certain people already before coming into this game, which a lot of individuals did not have this privilege that I had. I was lucky to be cast in a game where I knew that people would always be bigger targets than me, and then have a twist implemented where a twist was meant to keep these big targets in the game. I was lucky enough to be able to avoid tribal during the majority of the game, as well as lucky to be able to survive in scenarios thanks to unpredictable circumstances.

Like I said, I want to try and keep it short and sweet (mostly because I have been so busy) but please please please please ask me questions about my game or anything in general and I would be more than happy to elaborate. I do a lot better answering questions from the jury where I can be open and honest about my game and thoughts, point of views, and purposes of doing what I did throughout this game. Once again, thank you so much for this opportunity hosts and jurors (because I would not be here if it were not for your help as well), and I hope we get to talk more during FTC and after this game <3.

MONTY:

Sup yall! Long time no see, too long yeah. Before I go into the meat of this, I wanna say that all this info is covered in the video as well so take your pick lol. Beyond that, I wanna start off by saying thanks to the hosts for putting up with this shit show, Gage and Nikias for putting up with my BS and having my back from the get go, and also to all of you on the jury. I've had a good time getting to know you all as people and players. I have nothing against anyone in this game, and I hope the feeling is mutual or at least enough to hearing me out and considering to vote for me tonight.

I think my game was fairly well rounded. Most people break Survivor into three parts; social, strategic, and physical (I consider four, adding advantage management in there too) and I think I had a good grasp on all three (or four) aspects of the game.

I think my social game, was very strong throughout the season. I made several early connections on the original Maverick tribe, as well as using the One World twist to make some early conversation with people like Lukas, Gage, Corey, and Chrissa. I only had three votes against me, one that I decided to give myself, and two from a plan that half the members changed before tribal. I was only blindsided once during the TJ vote (and I thank Maddiesus christ ever day for that). I even was able to work with people who had I had worked against in the past, such as Eddie during the F6 vote. In addition, I knew when I could and couldn't take voting risks, such as when to abstain my vote for Dreamtime, and when to give myself a penalty vote for an advantage. However, the strongest aspect of my social game was my positioning of myself in the middle of my alliance so that I had all the information about who was wary of who, who was throwing out alternate plans, who the members of the minority were trying to flip, and what advantages people had.

I've already gone a bit into my strategic game, but I do think this is where I shone the most. As I mentioned before, the only time I voted incorrectly was when Maddie played her idol, and during a split vote plan. That's 9/10 tribal councils I voted for the person leaving, and 10/10 I voted in the majority. My most bold strategic gameplay came during the mutiny abomination with the Jose and Bodhi votes, the two tribal councils with the most people to navigate. During the Jose vote, he was trying to put together an alliance of himself, me, Lukas, and Bodhi, then also Corey, then also Eddie. At that point it was too messy for my liking, so I turned it around and got the votes on him with Corey, and Sammy. During the Bodhi vote, Bodhi was trying to make an alliance where he would be in the center of his original tribe, and swapped tribe being connected to everyone. I made this information know to the the people who would be in my alliance and simultaneously helped get out someone who would be a threat to my game later on, and quietly put myself in the very same position that he got voted out for trying to be in. During the merge, I took to my maverick roots and stayed loyal to my alliance until they weren't loyal to me. I got information that Veni had an extra vote and was on the verge of flipping, so the next round I gathered the numbers to eliminate him instead. Several rounds later, I found out that Corey was trying to go behind my back on a vote so I made the tough decision to vote him out instead. I kept around people who wanted to keep me in the game and be honest with me, both in my alliance and not, and that allowed me to have influence at every tribal I attended, and a key role in some of the most influential votes of the season.

Physically, the statistics might not seem like I was all that great, but in a season full of challenge beasts, I wasn't a slouch. On my tribes, I was a key challenge player during the early letter number and scavenger hunts, and I won the Jeopardy challenge for my tribe. I eased up a bit during the merge, but then lasted over four hours in the final immunity challenge to win the last, and most important, immunity of the season and give myself complete freedom with the final vote. While there were many other beasts this season like Lukas, Drew, and Veni, I definitely held my own when I needed to to either prove my physical worth to my tribe, or win important immunity challenges.

And now onto my personal fourth category advantage management. As I said earlier, I knew when I could take the voting risks that came with Dreamtime, and I took them early to ensure that I was the first person to search the Dreamtime. In the dreamtime, I searched all 4,000 pages to find all 8 possible advantages. (a judgement legacy advantage, Veni's vote steal, a light round, 10 judgement votes hidden twice, a rock block and Lukas's tremor) as well as a Super Idol. I put in the work to make sure I was the first person in Dreamtime, and once there I put in more work to make sure I got the best advantage I could. To get the Super Idol, I had to incur a penalty vote at the tribal of my choosing (Jose's) and I had it ever since. I kept it a secret until final five, and I still never needed to use it due to the strength of my social and strategic games. Then the one round I didn't have the safety I was able to win immunity and guarantee myself a spot here. I knew about all the special advantages from the early effort I put in, and was able to the secret of the best one to myself.

In conclusion, I do believe I should win Uluru because I put my heart into it right from the start. I put in early work to make sure I was in the best position I could be coming into the merge, working with those who wanted to keep me around and tell me their thoughts and plans, no matter which side of the game they were on. During Touchy Subjects, I was labeled as the one actually in control of the game, and that is often a death sentence, but I had made early bonds and alliances and taken early risks to ensure that even though I in that powerful position, I controlled my own destiny as much as I could, and I pushed this game in the way I wanted it to go (even while moving half way around the world). I have more I could talk about, but I'll save the rest for questions and I'm looking forward to any you have for me; I'll answer them all openly and honestly. Thank you all again for such a fun season love you all.

Video Format:

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NIKIAS:

Hello folks

I would like first of all to say a big thank you for this fun experience, this was a cast that I personally really appreciated it even if we were messy with timezones, I feel I could take stuff from all of you. Maybe some of you don’t appreciate me game-wise, and that’s fine. I would like to address that if you don’t appreciate my gameplay, I won’t take it personally, and I just hope you won’t take personally the fact that I was a gamer and I was willing to do whatever it takes to make beneficial moves for my game. I would like to ask you all before you make a decision to be open minded and read and make questions instead of just assuming who should be the winner. I feel each and every one of us in the F3 deserve to be heard.

So in general statements I would like to present some facts from my game.

- I had zero votes all game even though I haven’t had one single individual immunity. I manage to protect myself and fly utr in the middle and making decisions that would benefit my game long term. The reason that I am mentioning that is because I believe some of the jurors believed that I was doing whatever benefits others people gameplays, though I think when you are the only person who hasn’t received a single vote in this game (again, without invidual immunity or a super idol) it was me that was most benefited from every decision that was made.

- Second I believe that I was open to every suggestion and I feel like I gave an equal opportunity to every single one of you to work with me. Some of you maybe call it shady. Maybe it is. That’s fine by me, I just wanted to stay open-minded and have open bridges and make the decision that would ended up to be the most beneficial.

- I wasn’t ever disrespectful to anyone. I played the game hard, but I was always friendly to everyone. I was cutthroat, and I was never afraid afraid to cut someone (with the expection of Corey) if I felt that I had to do it in order to put myself in the best position that I could. Game wise I was very selfish- I own it because I would want everyone to do whatever is best for their game. I think you have heard me saying that a lot of times.

- I was the reason that an alliance of me, Monty, Drew and Sammy was created. I knew Monty created this alliance typically but I was the one who suggested to him and Drew, and I just ask Monty to ask Sammy and to create the chat so incase something goes weird I want to make it look like it was Monty’s idea and not mine.

- In Jose vote, I choose not to vote, only for the fact I wanted to enter the Dreamtime and I wanted to complete my first task. I saw that everyone was pretty much gunning for him, so I decided to find the benefit in it.

- The moment that someone came for me (Bodhi) in an immunity challenge and throw my name to people, I immediately learn it, and I decided to attack him on this immunity pretty obviously and make him vulnerable for tribal. Not only was the person who threw my name voted out of the game the moment that he threw it, he also didn’t have the numbers from his side to come after me. Which ended up moving the target from myself to Gage. So incase something went wrong, I wasn’t gonna be voted out. It was obviously that I would be one of the people who would vote for Bodhi so I decided to complete my first task obvious.

Then a twist came. 6 people would be immune and 6 would go to tribal council. I literally wasn’t good at this comp no matter how hard I tried. After lying to almost half of the cast, I was afraid that I would be vulnerable for tribal if I didn’t have the numbers with me. Though I considered that it was a very good opportunity to get rid of Gloria, she wasn’t very active in challenges and I figure out she would have been on the bottom 6. Knowing that my number one ally Corey wasn’t doing well either, I decided to ask Sammy and Monty to throw the comp, not only to secured my safety but to also to orchestrate a 2-2-2 split vote and securing the safety of the people that I was working with, all while keeping my word to Maddie. I did that. It was beneficial since I already have put 2 judgemental points to glo in order to enter the dreamtime.

Then Jury started (YAY) a lot of you know how excited I was because if I wouldn’t have made it to the end I would have loved to be on the jury and have a word on who should be the winner. Lukas wanted to have more fun with the game, so he decided to work on this twist and separate the merge into tribes. Unfortunately that ended up being the demise for Sammy’s game- however I would like to say that I was one of the people that was saying to (Veni, Gage and Sammy) from what I remember that if Lukas had an idol, he wont play it this round and that they should just voted him out. (I know that’s easy to say since I was immune) but I ended being right which shows my game instinct I believe. This should be evident to those I spoke with.

-I turn my back on Veni. Literally I didn’t believe that I had the guts to do it, because Veni I like you so much, but you were way too strategic to be beneficial to my game. I don’t feel you were coming for me at that moment, but I did believe you would have seen that I was in a very good spot- and the kind of player that you are, you would have realized it, and I know if you gotta take out someone who is a threat to you, you got the guts to do it. It was way more beneficial to keep Lukas at this point of the game because I still needed the Lukas vs Gage situation so I could stay in the middle and the focus would have been there, instead of on me.

- I manage to use my advantage correctly. I was the reason that a big player (Drew) in this game was out of the game. He was one of the most skilled players here, with a lot of connections. I remember the influence that he had in one vote on Monty and Gage and I wanted them to be my closiest allies, not Drews closiest allies. I gain the 10 judgemental votes advtantage from the Dreamtime and I put them on him, WHILE I knew people were putting judgemental points on him, and I was trying to get Corey on board to make that move and get him out of the game when the time was right at F8. I used the twist to my advantage the most of anyone.

Seriously, Corey was an incredible player and I have a friendship with him from before, but he is a gamer so he understands that in this game we work together, but I did what would get me to the end and I had to make a tough decision on the revote and take out my friend. I knew it was the best move for my game but I vote with him at first to make sure it was the move I wanted to make, and to give him a chance to change other people's minds. Corey, I hope you understand how well I played and that I did what I had to do to give myself the best chance to win.

I did betray Eddie: Omg that is another heartbreaking one. Eddie I love you so much but legit I don’t think our cast saw how charismatic you were with your moves, you played a big part on some moves and I saw it and legit and I didn’t wanna sit next to you because you were a very good underdog player and I do believe that you would be one of the players that would surprise us with your speech in the end. I chose to evict you over Gage, clearly because I saw you more as a threat. You were clearly the only other person that hadn’t received votes at this point and you played a huge part on some of the votes.I was the swing vote here, because I left my options open, and I decided to end Eddie's game and benefit my own.

- Lukas I choose to evict you over Gage because genuinely again you were a bigger threat than him. You had a very good underdog story (which a lot of juries seemed to reward in this community) and also I know you can articulate very well which was something threating and I honestly find you bigger threat to my game than Gage.

Obviously it may not seem as though I have a lot of control in this game, but I hope you read everything and will see that perception is not reality. I was always in the know, always making decisions to benefit me, was always respectful, and played as hard and as smart as I could. I appreciate your questions and hope you can see me as the gamer I am and the heart I play with to win this game.

#announcement

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survivetashirojima · 5 years

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Episode #1- “This cast...this cast...this cast.“ -Timmy

who’s ready to get atomic up in this bitch?

okay so, first impressions(Aka First night vibes) Brien- you seem cool JG - KALOKAIRI BUDS Dylan - I have played 2 games with you, what up bud! Stephen - the third of the many Kalokairi Kevin - haven't played with you before, but im excited to Andrew- Heyo, you hosted me, im super excited to your playing style. Jacob- I've been in VL's with you but never played. Timmy- yet another Kalokairi buddy Jay? - you seem really cool. Joanna- I can't wait to play with you Julia- Montenegro gal! please don't vote me out first this time. Madison- i feel like we are going to confused for eachother alot. Pat- I want to get to know you better Tom- I have feelings about you, but I can't tell if they are good or bad yet Veni- BRO you don't know how happy i am to see you Ricky- I have a good feeling about you dude. Kenny- i can't wait to play with you! and to vibe check myself? STRESSED. this twist gave me a panic attack. we are good now. i am already freaking out about keeping my grade up (since i'm already failing a class) and challege is tonight and i have no time to do it. FUCK.

Day 2: still alone lost in the vast wilderness. No civilization in sight... the gods have forsaken me.... someone please send help... wait what is that I see? A camp? PEOPLE???? ITS BEEN SO LONG!!! Jkjk the hosts added the wrong person so I got added in like 2 hours after the actual start which isnt terrible Bc now i can just pretend I’m a pitiful little soul. Also like 1/3of the cast is people I’ve played with before but I haven’t even touched skype in like a year and a half so I have no idea any of them anymore!!! I hope we can all be friends again since from what I can remember, we were all on pretty good terms. My reaction to the “twist” is, it’s amazing. It fits my play style much more. Who needs idols? I rarely ever went to search for one and I was fine? Maybe... oof... also the whole everyone is in one tribe thing is really cool. More the merrier. It’s just really annoying Bc Skype is a pos. Anyways so far so good and I’m loving the people that are in the cast so far. Amazing cast and even more amazing hosts. I love all of them

okay so. first game back since surgery. olivia and lukas, love those bitches, but i was like i'm a working woman now so do you think that my work will interfere too much? and they were like nah, and i was like okay, so naturally, the first (live) challenge starts right in the middle of my shift. and this one tribe thing, wacky. this is gonna be one comeback game (if i get voted out first i am going to get surgery again and then never come back ever) (jk) (...kinda)

I wanna win immunity 😭😭😭

This cast...this cast...this cast. So i know like 90% of these people. I'm currently hosting 4 of them...was hosting 5. It's a very strong cast which is great, but it also means that anyone can go at any time. I'm just gonna talk about them in order of the cast reveal. Brien: I've never spoken to him and have still yet to. He's one of the people in ihos but he's quiet there. Andrew: another ihos person who I haven't spoken to. I've seen him around for years but we've never played a game together. Or at least have never been on the same tribe. Madison: big titty queen. I love her with all my heart and I have no idea what is going to happen with her. She messy but amazing so who knows. She did meet JG and Jacob in person a few weeks ago so they are all close, so i do need to keep an eye out for all of them, even though I am close with them. Ricky: another ihos, and he is friends with Andrew. I doubt he's going to work with me so that is concerning. But it's early so who knows. I'm already getting bored of typing things about everyone. Kevin: no idea, but he seems nice. Madeleine: A true queen and a sweetheart. Julia: no comment. Pat: i've seen him win 2 games that i have played with him. He is quiet but dangerous and I need to watch out for him in time, but for now he will be a good ally. Stephen: king, but does tend to go early. Idk where he will stand this game but we're already in an alliance together. Vi: haven't seen her in over a year, kind person. Dylan: cracked Kenny: no idea Joanna: scary legend who will go hard, but has been very quiet thus far. I wonder who quit right before the start of the game. Jacob: we never talk, but as of now he is who i have been talking to the most and I really do trust him. I am hoping this game is different for us and that we will actually work together. I'm excited to see what happens. Thomas: can't wait for him to strike out JG: King, who also is close with a few people, but i do trust him, but he can be a snake. Jay: It's been a minute since he's played. Not sure how to feel.

I GOT A POINT WOOOHOOOOOOOOO ONLY MISSED THE FIRST HALF OF THIS CHALLENGE

So. Uh. I got -3 points. I’m so talented. It’s okay though. I pretty sure I’ll be voted out first so it doesn’t matter how low of a score I get. I’m just trying to bribe everyone else with cute animal pictures DX even if people hate me, maybe they’ll keep me just for more cute animals.

Update: I lost another 5 points. Let me die already... at this point I don’t even need to piss off everyone else to lose. I’ll probably get like -500 points and automatically get kicked out of the game for being bad

-22 baby. I petition for the hosts to change the chat name from Tashirojima Challenge chat to Challenge chat. What the fuck. I keep reading it as the main chat Bc tashirojima seems like a tribe name. AT THIS RATE MY JEST OF -50 POINTS IS ACTUALLY GONNA COME TRUE!!!! AHHHHHH WHAT ALLIANCES I CANT EVEN FOLLOWRULES LET ALONE FIGURE OUT HOW TO WIN PEOPLE OVER TO MY SIDE ahhhhhHhhhhHhHHHHHH

Night 2 Vibe Check! (Featuring a quite drunk Maddie!) Andrew- haven’t talked to you much, but I want talk to you more! Ricky- you seem cool, we haven’t Talked yet today Tom- smooth Dylan, damn you and your fast phone Kevin- you are a freaking challenge beast! JG- I missed talking with you, I’m glad we are again Stephen- I hope you feel better soon! Jacob- you are good at challenge (This is where I stopped and started the next morning when I was sober) Jay- you’re cool! I like you Julia- imma take you to the end sister. Love you! You make me feel safe In this game Pat- I can’t quite get a read on you yet Vi- I can’t believe they added the wrong person! You are really cool! Love ya! Brien- you are really nice! Timmy- I am super excited that we are playing together again! Joanna- I’m sorry I keep forgetting your here! Kenny- you seem really cool but I need to get to know you better Madison- I don’t think we’ve talked yet, but I want to. And how I’m feeling, well I just lost immunity, so I don’t feel safe, I’m interested to see how this goes, this season is definitely interesting!

Hey out there! Long time no see! To be honest, I don't really have the first idea at what I'm doing. I kinda missed the first day and a half because I was working and then immediately went out with friends, but I think I'm making up for it! I'm starting to chat one-on-one with people, no strategy talk yet though. Which could be real dangerous since I don't have immunity, but there are people that just...haven't talked at all, as far as I can tell at least. Luckily I have a few prior connections in Madison, Joanna, and Andrew. I know Pat and Ricky too but I'm iffy on how they feel about me. I'm pretty sure I ghosted Pat's game earlier this year, SORRY PAT! I got busy and then I felt too embarrassed to show back up D: and I've just never been too sure about if Ricky likes me or not. But other than that I've talked a bit to Madeleine and Vi and I love them both, messy challenge chat icons. I totally missed some messages from Brien, Jacob, and Kevin though, but I've messaged them all back now so hopefully they don't hold that against me. Tribal isn't until tomorrow, so I assume that's when the real scrambling will begin. I just don't know when to jump into alliance talks, I don't want to play too hard too fast. But then I again, I want the chance to play at all.

Idk why Vi was so hard pressed on me not getting immunity. First it seemed like a joke, then they..... were really into it.

Interesting notes from within the first few days: Me/Jacob/JG recently met irl so that's cute Ricky/Andrew I think met a few months ago or something Brien and Pat are both from Philly hmmmm Everyone and their mother works retail in this game so we all suffer together or not at all Day 2 i got an alliance with Jacob and Timmy so that's cute but I'll probably be out first because let's face it I'm a threatening human and i ain't afraid to pull a machete on these kiddos.

Night 3 tea spill!* *has been cancelled due to emotions

So far I’m loling brien, and Vi. Madeline is kind of annoying if I’m honest. BUT we’re all in an alliance. I have a few familiar faces, Jay, Madison, Joanna, so I’m excited to see what happens this season

https://youtu.be/-_5c-vMFG9E

Quick Cast Assessment Time: Brien: we're in ihos spain together and we talk on and off but apparently ricky was like omg look at this ihos crew and brien was like whos andrew so i think thats where we're at rn. might work with him might not who knows Dylan: biiiig dylan fan personally and i know he can be sketch in games so i wanna be on his good side so he doesnt fuck me over right away Jacob: cool dude but ticking time bomb and idk if i can work with him but maybe i can work with him by proxy of ricky.......if he shows even one sign of being a bad ally he's literally out of this game Jay: furry back back back again and him and i usually work well together so im hoping something can come from that JG: i like him personally but hes just one of those people that exudes almost constant sketchiness which idk if thats necessarily his fault lmao and yeah idk i have to keep an eye on him Joanna: nice girl! wanna get to know her better for sure. i neglected to message her up until today when she actually messaged me first so whoops Julia: absolute crackhead who doesnt like me for funsies bc shes a troll but i think more and more people are hopefully seeing her mentally unhinged troll thing as tired lately and i really dont want her to last very long Kenny: i havent talked to him yet but hes a cool dude that i played literally one game with like two years ago so idk maybe we can reconnect Kevin: so i think he probably literally talks to everyone in the exact same fake nice gay man way so i have to be mindful that its prob just not me that hes overly nice to bc i know he can be intense and i know he can be good at these games so hes one im gonna try to keep close but also be willing to cut at any time Maddie: literal love of my fucking life who i want to work with closely in this game bc i know shes loyal and i know she can have my back if she trusts me enough Madison: nnnnnnn i mean i called her stupid in a diary room from bb gilmore over the summer which i think prompted her to leave our reunion chat so not the best start there. also i think her and jacob are up each others asses ever since they met irl so love that for me Pat: i just know hes mildly attractive Ricky: absolute number one ally who i trust with my entire coochie and the goal is to hopefully subtly run this entire game together Stephen: a nice man! we havent played together in a while and we worked together in that one game so maybe we can reconnect maybe idk Timmy: havent had the best personal experiences with him attacking my friends in vls.........idk i just find him annoying lmao is that mean Tom: hopefully going home tonight! Vi: i literally dont know if this is even a real person like i know she got goated in her first main series game for being the actual worst and then we brought her back for seychelles where she was one of the worst players ive ever seen so maybe she'll just disappear one day so i dont have to deal with her

I’m only voting tom cause that’s the only vote I’ve been told. It’s probably wrong but we’ll see

First off: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10IWN3bqYXYdJ232wG5fUhPmnDee8SP2i/view?usp=drivesdk damn thing finally loaded Second: God Vi gets on my nerves. Intentionally. I need to remember to just not talk to her or she’ll manipulate the view point to make me seem bad. She can’t play survivor to save her life but she’s god can she fuck up someone elses game. I look forward to voting her out.

CASUALTIES:

EPISODE 1 CAST ASSESSMENT:

PART 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jztyauZhcBY&list=PLB-4yJ0EHce-bxHQVmQVdrV6tx36_6Jly&index=5&t=0s

PART 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjoFbmrLSTc&list=PLB-4yJ0EHce-bxHQVmQVdrV6tx36_6Jly&index=5

#Purrvivor

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survivorinternational · 5 years

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Episode 3 - "I wish you were BORN in 1920 so you wouldn't be in this org" - Emily

I was close to getting an idol without searching more than twice. Michael told me he had been gathering info and narrowed down to three locations, I had already searched one so thats two. Tyler was going to search one, micheal the other. So i thought: if i beat one of them to an idol search i will have it without then knowing. But idol was gone, rip. At least I have an alliance now, i like tyler idk about michael though. Anyone who can gather that much idol info must be shady to some degree.

I am pretty good at Semantris but we are not winning this challenge.

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Oh yeah I guess maybe I shouldn't try too hard to not be a challenge target at merge. I guess I'll try to get the promised 6k ; my top 5 scores are 6k - 9k for comparison so it might not be the easiest thing.

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So far Vilma, Richmond (Clash) and Ginger have said they will attend the watch-together. Hopefully we have a good time.

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Day 5: God that music video is hilarious... basic... but funny Immunity win! YES! Still undefeated as a tribe. Continue to build social relations. Worked out most places that have been searched... Maybe i should do a spread sheet. Tomorrow Me and Tyler will search the last few places and hopefully find the idol. Day 6: GG Ruthie. Reward challenge, Word association, ok. Idol search has produced nothing... This is concerning... Someone must have it by now but no-one is saying. My guess is that its Stephen. Dean is more distant, this is also concerning. Dean is sitting out this challenge. Approached Tyler and Stephen about an alliance, Its going ahead, invited Jacob to be a 4th. If all goes to plan, I should know where all votes are going atm, It seems that most players trust me the most and are willing to work with me, but this is a double edge sword. Talk of a swap is happening... god i hope not yet.

So Laelaps comes up and tells me that there's an alliance of 4 forming with me not inside - Tyler, Stephen, Jacob and himself. Yes it does give me some comfort that he's told me and that we're still sticking together, but I don't like being possibly on the outside 4 to 2. I'm just trusting in my alliance of Jacob and Laelaps that even if they're playing both sides they'd rather take me, and I'm trying to appear less threatening to save myself here.

I hate to sound like that brawn comp beast girl but my tribe is full of inbreds and incapable of doing anything well. first of all, our music video was SHIT because only me and patrick actually tried and contributed something worth anything. second, this flash game is literally so easy..... and they're all like uWu I can't do it :/ like are y'all dumb dumb STUPID dumb? like what's up man? I've been doing this for like an hour at most and I've been getting 4400+ consistently and Patrick goes "my high score is 1920" bitch WHAT I wish you were BORN in 1920 so you wouldn't be in this org that was mean I'm kidding lol but im not I hate this tribe they're all so BORING I need some different timezones in my life. someone put vilma on my tribe. I don't know her and post season I really hope she doesn't think these confessionals are creepy. vilma I want to be your best friend everyone on my tribe sucks ): also last vote (sorry I didn't make a confession about it early) was okay - Ruthie wanted to go so we voted her out. ): rip her I love her so much. I was really looking forward to playing with her. but the good thing was it was easy and simple. if we go to tribal again idk if it'd be as simple lol. also im so bad at talking to these people???? they're so bland!!! maybe others are talking but im certainly not getting anywhere socially except with randy occasionally. I'd want to work with randy or Patrick. im not the biggest fan of liana or Daniel so if we went to tribal again that's who id want to go. I think I could make it happen too. maybe? who knows maybe they have it out for me fjdlkasjflas uhhhh okay bye bye

if the 24 hour challenge is word race i will flip

I love European Michael, he is the best European.

During the word making immunity challenge the Europeans were up at 4am kicking our butts and Tyler who isnt participating starts talking about a European girl on their tribe that seems to be good at everything so I go to check and I think it's Vilma and want to confirm with him. Then the next word we had to make was coincidentally V5, so guess what I wrote xD

I think I'm coming off bossy in my tribe. Which I don't want to seem. But everything has got to be perfect and in order so there are no mistakes. We must win.

You know what? im going to bed. If we lose the challenge so be it, itll be healthy to vote someone out. I am not slugging away through a 24hr challenge against a beast. I’m just not. And if Veni whats to make himself known as a challenge beast, he can do that, I’ll just be gunning for him come merge/swap. I know other people might do the same. But, you know, good for him.

So the w9 game is going on and my tribe has 3 and the others have 20 so it’s like for sure that we’re going to tribal tomorrow. And I have professed my love for randy and he returned it and I like Emily and we’re talking about our idol searches, so that’s 3 of 5 already. My tribe is just like a very quiet tribe nobody talks besides Emily. When I saw how good the other tribes music videos were I got very concerned about their amount of communication compared to ours. Idk who I want to vote out I think I like David a little more but I’ll see what the other two think.��

I am literally so happy I've got such devoted comp beasts like Vilma and Veni in my tribe ! And we're also close allies ;) It's cool, I don't need to slay comps to win this... I just need my social skills with me and they can continue to write words :)

Patrick keeps calling Daniel David and if that doesn't tell you enough about my tribe idk what does. but who does it say more about? Patrick or Daniel? honestly who cares. Patrick, Randy, and I kind of banded together like "we're the only active ones lol let's vote together" so I think it's gonna be Daniel! sorry but the dude does NOT speak. and I know this is his first org over here and we're super boring... I feel bad. but yeah he's also boring! and he's sort of good at comps but not really dude. so I think it's gonna be him. after this tribal, im pretty sure that we are tribe swapping. yay final 14! I don't mind going to tribal honestly. I feel safe because I'm slightly more active than some of the other people. like it's sad to say im the most active member of my tribe but im constantly out with my friends or at work or neglecting my responsibilities. oopsie! yeah so im gonna hope and pray no one is planning a blindside on me but like if they were they'd be fucking stupid also there's no god damn way they're pulling something they don't care enough? like genuinely this tribe is so quiet. it's not that they're not talking to me. it's that they are not here. that makes the pre-merge easy for me because I can control what happens on my tribe for the time being... because it's easy? and everyone kind of thinks of me as a leader I think? because I TRY. that's IT. anyway lol yeah my plan is to vote out Daniel. and then swap onto a tribe with Vilma pls

Our tribe results: *posted early in the afternoon that we lost* Tribe: *doesnt talk to me* Me, a few hours later: *messages everyone trying to start a conversation and no one responds for a while* Emily: *responds once and goes offline * Pat: *responds once* Emily: *gets back online and I see both her and Pat's green circles but neither has responded to me* Me: "are you bitches conspiring against me?" Whatever I will probably have to play my idol and I am thinking about playing it against pat or Emily. Daniel is just new so that's a good excuse for him.

If it wasn't a double tribal we'd all still be here but unfortunately we have to go to tribal tonight. Tonight for me could go very simply, keep my alliance of Michael and Jacob happy by voting out Dean who no one seems to have connections with, but I am getting a bit paranoid because besides Tyler, knowing seems to be talking to me or continuing my conversations which to me is a telltale sign that you're not included. The good thing is that I do have an idol and if I need to play it I will because better safe than sorry.

All right, so we’ve got alliances out the wazoo rn. Along with a heavy handed dash of loose lips. So tyler tells me that sluggy made an alliance with everyone but me and dean, then sluggy tells me he had a super early alliance with michael and jacob. All this tells me that Micheal especially is playing the middle, being in two alliances with him already myself. It also tells me that sluggy cannot be trusted with info. But sureeee ill be in a 2man alliance with you sluggy -_- Right now I dont trust anyone, even tyler, but ill keep this info to myself, if sluggys playing me this might be a test to see if i tell tyler or anyone else. I just need to make sure I lay low and keep the target off my back. Fingers crossed I don’t get blindsided, but at least I know I am in no way in control of this tribe, keeps me on my toes.

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So i think ive settled things enough to feel safe, i think everyones voting dean, deans voting jacob. The only wildcard is jacob who wants to split, but doesnt know who. Tbh if he does i dont want him to tell me who it is, ill only feel guilty if he does. As long as it aint me right?

I guess to summarise the word race because I doubt I did confessionals during that. - Michael the helper was really cool and I really enjoyed our banter in tribe chat hopefully we cross paths again. We did add eachother on Snachat. - Me and Vilma once again were the most dedicated scoring 34/35 for our tribe together. She is absolutely my ride or die partner in this and I will do anything to get one of us to win the thing. - Survivor Africa watch was good, we watched the first 3 episodes though it was just me and Vilma (see the trend?). Sadly apparently that will become illegal if we swap and are not on the same tribe which is pretty sad. - Swap is incoming, everyone knows that. Question is, will it be entirely random? If so, I flipped a coin to test my luck and it failed me. My predictions have been on point this season so moral of the story: this swap won't work well for me. - ALSO I CALLED THAT IT'S WORD RACE I HATE YOU ALL BECAUSE I AM TOO DEDICATED FOR MY OWN GOOD GODDAMNIT peace out homedogs

After that intense tribal council I am shaking so much, I did get to talk to Stephen and Tyler a bit alone afterwards in the call so it was nice to be able to get a feel for their true feelings without the disguise of text. At this point if Dean didn't have that idol, either Michael/Stephen have it, or it hasn't been found yet. The good news is that with it being final 14 i can expect a tribe swap into 2 tribes of 7, and that gives a lot of room for bonding, I'll continue to do what I've been doing with the friendliness and hopefully I'm not just swapped alone. I can always try to weasel my way into the cracks of a team if I am, but I'm not quite ready to play the victim card, I still have a long stretch of game left in me before I do that.

Well what's cooking is that I really really think it's gonna be me this vote lol, no one has talked to me and well, yeha

2 immunity wins in a row hell yeah! Ngl, I wasn't SUPER worried about this one because if we lost, I think it was almost certain that Ginger would go. Ginger didn't submit in the last immunity and barely helped in this one and has barely spoken to any of us. Clash and I had a call the other day which was good and gave us an opportunity to discuss a bit of game which was good. We talked about who we liked/disliked and I found out that he knows Ginger but doesn't like him. It's almost certain that next round is a tribe swap and I'm praying I get put with Clash. Right now, my ranking of who I'd want to go forward with is probably : Clash>Vilma>Veni>Ginger

Oh bless at us winning but at the same time I don’t trust ginger so idk if that’s the best but let’s hope for the best and hope I am in a tribe with Vilma and randy next tribe swap hehe

Where is this idol?? No one claims to have found it and I sure haven't either. Could use a clue right now. Too bad my tribe mates didn't agree, since THREE of them STRIKED at the reward challenge. I literally burst into laughter when I saw that. My I C O N I C fail of a tribe. Veni and I are the only ones who truly care about challenges. Well Allan cares a bit as well, but he also seems to have a life, so, I'm happy for him, although jealous! But I bet we would've lost every single pre merge challenge if Veni and I weren't overly enthusiastic about them. I just hate tribal, okay? Plus I guess I admit I'm somewhat competitive, because I don't think I could handle just throwing a challenge without trying at all. That would feel simply wrong. Veni and I went all out in the immunity challenge too, we napped in shifts and made sure one of us was around throughout the entire challenge so we had the possibility to score a point at all times. Plus we made a huge ass google sheet so we could just copy and paste answers whenever a new letter got posted. The first 15-17 hours or so I thought the Aussie tribe was for sure going to beat us (they were soooooo fast, but so was Veni thank god), but I guess they got sleepy by the end and we won!!!! YAYYYYY NO TRIBAL Veni almost posted a gif of himself as a chicken to the challenge chat I would've died if we got a warning for that He meant to post it on tribe chat https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/410716559632367616/599331778934603786/mmm_veni_2.gif I don't know who I'd vote if we went to tribal that's why I really would like to avoid it Plus I'm scared Veni and I's activity is pissing people off Don't wanna go home yet I'm having fun Ugh fuck I'm losing focus LOOK AT THAT FOUR AUSSIES GOING AGAINST ONE LITTLE ME HELP Ugh Veni will be busy in about 30 mins and then I'm gonna be in big trouble At least he let me shower I feel like a human again But it'll be tough If I was normal I'd just chill but I don't have it in me I don't know how to chill I love winning too much I gotta get that bag It's a thug life It's a thug life WE WON CHALLENGE WE GOT A BIG LEAD THEY CANT CATCH UP FUCK YEEE I CAN SLEEP EARLIER I am just glad we don't have to vote anyone out Would've sucked I feel like these past 24 hours brought closer together So I would've hated it if someone had to leave (Especially if it was me) But F14!! WOOP We're surely going to swap after the double tribal and I'm excited but scared!!! Excited because I'm ready to meet some new faces even though I've grown a liking to my flop tribe, and scared because I feel after the last challenge it's pretty apparent Veni and I were the more active members of our tribe and we could get targeted for that. My plan is to try to lay a bit low at swap, but still make sure I get to know everyone one on one to make solid new connections. I really hope I don't get swapfucked, hope to remain in the same tribe with as many og Faatasi as possible. Let's go!

Damn work keeping me to busy to do confessionals. Reward Challenge: This appears easier as we go on. Quite enjoy this. Aim for over 5000. Got 7200 in one of my first tries... Aim is 10,000 Settled for 8200, sick of looking at my screen. Some of these word associations don't make sense. Who doesn't associate Video games with words like Play or fun... REWARD CHALLENGE WIN! AWWW YER!!! Comfort Items get! And in comfort items... A Vote Blocker!!! BOO YAH!!! Immunity Challenge: I called this 12 hours before the challenge began. I am a legend. Seems that most people are busy this weekend. I will do what I can but i will be busy for a good 6 hours of it as well Veni and Vilma are thorns in my side with this, they just type so quick VENI DOESNT SLEEP WTF!!! I cant keep up, I tried my hardest but cant keep going at 3am. We lost :( Tribe life: Current Alliances: The UHC Alliance, The Idol Hunters Alliance. Sluggy has suggested an Alliance between Tyler, Jacob, himself and me which I agree to. Vote is very straight forward, We are all voting Dean as he isn't very active unfortunately. I wanted to try and keep him around but I think I was the only one chatting to him. If Dean has an Idol then it will be Jacob going, which is also fine with me as I think Jacob will be a hindrance later in the game Dean is voted out 5-1 The idea of a swap is brought up, which we all agree is likely to happen. In the UHC chat, Sluggy brings up the point that Veni could spill the beans about knowing each other out of this survivor. Its a good point and I really didnt want to but I told my Idol Hunter Alliance about the fact I knew Jacob, Sluggy and Veni outside of the game but I play each survivor without using my relationships from outside the game effect it.

RIGHT so here we go again u crack heads. Hate u all, this is for round 3 btw so dont get it TWISTED, sorry I made a VIDEO confessional and forgot to post it OOPSIES. Anywho, like the who’s from whovillie here we are partying minding our own business, well me at least because while I went out clubbing everyone else had to do the challenge. Sorry about it. They all love me anyway so ALL good in the HOOD. Here we are thriving Michael is absolutely carrying the team. So while the challenge was popping off Sluggy approached me asking if I was in any alliance, I high key avoided the question and just said who im trying to trust, and HIGH KEY dropped hints that dean wasn’t one of those people. He start saying if we should make an alliance chat, I was elated by the idea and smiles were HAD. The alliance included Myself, Sluggy, Michael and Jacob which is everyone expect Dean and Stephan. This is the exact same as the other alliance chat but without Stephan and Sluggy in his place! I like Stephan tho, so I went and dibba dobbed on sludgy real quick, like a speed demon u could say. Sluggy was out here trying to make ME make the alliance chat, like no thank u that can be UR job I need to tell people I was DRAGGED into it so I CANT make it SORRY. Anywho he made it. So we accidentally LOST the challenge, and much to my SURPRISE due to my lovely CONNECTIONS with these lovely people! I wasn’t targeted at all even tho I sat out and went clubbing. Yee haw, I exclaimed out of excitement. My target is Dean going into this tribal. A.) he seemed really arrogant and annoying during the music video round. b.) his video submission gave me NIGHTMARES now I can’t even hug my pillow without feeling UNSAFE and C.) we dont talk. So ooop here come the kiddies lining up in formation asking what we should do for the vote. Ooo I want to vote Dean but I simply never say it because im not a GOOSE well I try not to be a GOOSE. I say how I feel good with … but never include dean, I then wait for them to say anything negative about dean and oops I agree real quick and keep the convo focused on dean. People were talking in a alliance chats but I was highkey ignoring them because I COULDNT BE BOTHERED I talked to everyone in pm’s tho, love that for me. So Michael is over here being everyones friend so I threw him just a BIT under the bus for a later date. Like I built the ramp and the final destination is under the bus but we aint gonna push him yet. ANYWAY Dean went home yay he will be missed just not by me.

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camryndaytona · 6 years

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Today marks the beginning of the Fairyloot Box Monthly Photo Challenge, so I thought it was as good a day as any to post my unboxing!!!

Travel Mug║Narnia║$20

I am super in love with this mug, even though the lid doesn’t exactly seal (it seems to stay on the mug nicely, but there’s no way to close the drinking hole part). So I better not tip it over!! The body of the mug has a really cool map of Narnia and the lid has the Fairyloot fairy on it!!!

Tote Bag║The Hobbit║$20

This is probably my favorite thing in the box, no joke. I got a Throne of Glass tote in last month’s Shelflove Crate and I will probably be keeping this and giving the Throne of Glass tote to my BFF. It seems pretty sturdy (it needs to be, I’m not known for being gentle on my belongings) and I’ve been using it to carry my knitting projects and a book.

Theme Card & Bookmark║Whimsical Journey║$5

This is the month’s theme card (which is super cute!) and a matching bookmark. It also includes a spoiler card for items in the box!!!

Notepad║Let’s Carpe the Hell out of this Diem║$5

By Little Inkling Designs (Etsy, society 6, Instagram)

I always love having notecards around, and this one made me laugh so hard. The phrase I wrote “Veni, Vidi, Legare” is what I used for my senior quote for Graduation and it means “I came, I saw, I read.”

Enamel Pin║Percy Jackson║$10

I am really obsessed with pins (don’t judge me) and this one is super cute so I’ll probably be wearing it a lot!!

Button Pin║Ace of Shades║$3

This was considered a “bonus item” and it will go great with this month’s Owlcrate Box!!!

Luggage Tag║Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them║$20

By Lovely Owls Books (Instagram, website, redbubble)

I’m not sure what I’m going to put this on (although I’m traveling this summer, it will DEFINITELY go with me) but my school backback might be in need of some extra decor!

Fairy Loot Letter & Art Print║$5

Most book subscription boxes come with letters from the author and this was no exception.

Candle║Leif’s Ship║$8

By Flick the Wick (website, Instagram)

This is based on the Book of the Month, and the author helped in it’s creation to imagine what Leif’s ship would smell like, so I’ll definately be using this while I’m reading.

Sticker║Beyond a Darkened Shore║$3

Find Your Reading Buddy

This is a fun thing that Fairyloot does where you can put in your hashtag which is shared with 5 other subscribers. It gives you your own little club! I’ve never seen something like this before but I love the idea!!! Mine is #mybookbuddy012532

Art Card║Fictional Places║$5

By Fictiontea Designs (society 6, Etsy, Instagram)

Bookmark║The Fates Divide║$3

This was considered a “bonus item” and advertises the upcoming book The Fates Divide, sequel to Carve the Mark. The author is Veronica Roth (who I once got into a fight with on Goodreads, oops).

Fairy Loot Bag / Booksleeve║$5

I think this comes with every Fairyloot box. The book was tucked inside it to protect it in transit. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be using it, I LOVE having little bags to tuck things into.

Book of the Month║Beyond a Darkened Shore║$18

Buy from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Target

The Fairyloot edition of this book comes with exclusive gold foiling on the cover!!!

Vikings meets Frostblood in this romantic historical fantasy stand-alone from author Jessica Leake.

The ancient land of Éirinn is mired in war. Ciara, princess of Mide, has never known a time when Éirinn’s kingdoms were not battling for power, or Northmen were not plundering their shores.

The people of Mide have always been safe because of Ciara’s unearthly ability to control her enemies’ minds and actions. But lately, a mysterious crow has been appearing to Ciara, whispering warnings of an even darker threat. Although her clansmen dismiss her visions as pagan nonsense, Ciara fears this coming evil will destroy not just Éirinn but the entire world.

Then the crow leads Ciara to Leif, a young Northman leader. Leif should be Ciara’s enemy, but when Ciara discovers that he, too, shares her prophetic visions, she knows he’s something more. Leif is mounting an impressive army, and with Ciara’s strength in battle, the two might have a chance to save their world.

With evil rising around them, they’ll do what it takes to defend the land they love…even if it means making the greatest sacrifice of all.

Box Cost: $54.26 (this includes international shipping, ugh)

Total Estimated Value: $130

Estimating the value on subscription boxes is always hard because the items are mostly exclusive!!! When I’m calculating the values I try to look at other things that the artist has done (for example, checking their stores to see if their sell other versions of an item) and if that fails I try to guess what I would pay for the item.

I probably won’t be resubscribing to Fairyloot anytime soon, because even though I loved all the items and certainly got my money’s worth, I’m not sure it’s worth the cost for me. Fairyloot alone cost almost as much as my Owlcrate and Shelflove Crate subscriptions alone!!!

Fairyloot║Whimsical Journeys Today marks the beginning of the Fairyloot Box Monthly Photo Challenge, so I thought it was as good a day as any to post my unboxing!!!

#book blog #books #fairy loot #fairyloot #reading #subscription box #Unboxing

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itsjaybullme · 7 years

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U.S. Weightlifting Has Its New Olympic Hope. He Just Needs to Get Through High School.

Joseph McCray

"What’s next?"

That’s the question that, in part, led to the resurgence of the U.S. men’s Olympic weightlifting team.

When Harrison Maurus was 11, his sport was gymnastics—and right around then, gymnastics stopped being interesting. The time commitment was too much, and he “was never gonna go very far” in the sport, he says—so he decided to put his power and explosiveness toward other endeavors.

Even at 11, though, Maurus hit the weight room with his coach, Kevin Simons, to stay in shape. As luck would have it, Simons also coached in the weightlifting spectrum, so he recruited Maurus for the sport. “I was really strong and he recognized that and he just kept going with it,” says Maurus, now a 17-year-old high school senior.

At first, the two set their attention to powerlifting—squat, bench press, and deadlift, the sport of brute strength. But during Maurus’ lone year in powerlifting, he veni, vidi, vici’d the sport.

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"I quit gymnastics at age 11 and trained in powerlifting for a whole year," Maurus says. “I started powerlifting at the age of 12, and I started Olympic weightlifting at the age of 13... Then, after 2012, we kind of hit the top end of what I was going to do with powerlifting—I had already won Nationals for my age division in powerlifting—so it was kind of like, what's next? Then we moved into Olympic weightlifting, and I've been doing that now for close to five or six years.”

Same stuff, different day

An average day for Maurus, he says, consists of waking up at 7 a.m. and arriving at Auburn Riverside High School by 8. He’s in classes until 2:35 p.m., and then at 3:30 heads to the gym, where he'll work out until “six-ish”. Then the 17-year-old (he’ll turn 18 in February) comes home to eat dinner, do his homework, and get some shuteye.

“I’ve been repeating that five out of seven days every week for the past year,” he admits. “I take Sundays off; that's just because he doesn't open the gym. If he opened the gym, I'd be there on Sunday.”

During the summer, though, training becomes a beast. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he’ll do two-a-days—working out in both the mornings and afternoons to get in a little extra technique work and break up some of the strength movements, he says.

“I really enjoy two-a-days,” Maurus explains. “I feel like it gives me something to do in the summer so I don't get bored too quickly. I feel like I make the most progress when I do two-a-days.”

Ho-hum.

Lifting his interest

Maurus says his favorite part of Olympic weightlifting is trying to push himself. He also enjoys how easy it is to measure your progress: “I mean, it's literally just adding weight to your lifts.”

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Another allure of the sport is the travel: He's been everywhere from Peru (twice), El Salvador, Malaysia, Thailand, and Mexico, with trips to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the Dominican Republic lined up in the coming year.

“Malaysia was my first Asian trip, and it was really fun,” Maurus confesses. “That was for Youth Worlds, [where] I took silver, so it was a really good competition for me. They had some awesome food. It was a great team. My mom, my sister, my coach, and my coach's wife all went, so it made for a really cool trip for all of us.”

The trips also help solidify the bonds with his teammates. Traveling to foreign countries—sometimes for as long as two weeks at a time—helps everyone get to know one another, and forges enduring friendships.

“I've gotten to know a lot of [my teammates] real well, and, yeah, we do stay up-to-date and everything,” he says. “I mean, we see what each other is doing on Instagram, we talk to each other, figure out where people are. It's cool. I've made a lot of good friends.”

He adds that he doesn’t have a favorite lifter, per se, but enjoys taking in the technique of good lifters everywhere to sharpen his own skill set.

“I definitely like watching the technique of a lot of really good lifters that we have here in the U.S.,” Maurus says. “Of course, also watching the international lifters’, like the Chinese, beautiful technique. There's no one person. It's fun to see how people move differently throughout the world.”

Break a leg…or some records

Perhaps no trip was more satisfying for Maurus than a recent domestic trek down I-5. In late November/early December, Team USA showed up for the 2017 IWF World Championships in Anaheim, CA—and didn’t leave before making its mark. More specifically, the team ended a pair of medal droughts for the red, white, and blue, while Maurus crushed one of his own records.

The lifting phenom earned bronze medals in the men’s 77kg weight class via a 425-lb clean and jerk, and a 767-lb total. The last male lifter to accomplish that was Wes Barnett, who earned a silver and bronze in the 108kg weight class in 1997. The last woman to pull off such an achievement was in 2005, when Cheryl Hayworth won two bronzes.

“That was actually amazing,” Maurus said of his accomplishment. “It didn't really sink in my mind that, holy cow, I had just broken my own record that I had set a couple months ago and became the first American male [to medal] in 20 years.

“On my second clean and jerk, my leg seized up and I had to pass my third lift, so I was in the back getting worked on by doctors trying to get my leg to let go. I actually didn't know I had won until the head coach came over and gave me a hug and told me I had won third place, so it was kind of shocking to me. It was cool. It was really cool.”

[RELATED3]

Coach Simons definitely concurs, as he’s previously told M&F: “I could not be more proud of the kid. I’ve been working with him since he was a little boy, since he was 10 years old. To see him become one of the greatest American weightlifters of all time is surreal. It’s amazing.”

So now what’s next?

Maurus says he wants to go to college—immediately, with no year off after high school, although he says he'll most likely take a break from school in 2020 if he makes the Olympic team. Two schools, the University of Washington and Hawaii Pacific University, have already accepted him.

Both colleges have their appeal: “U-Dub” is close to his Auburn, WA, home, while the latter has a doctor of osteology program, in which Maurus would love to enroll and make his post-lifting career.

“Seeing how my chiropractor, physical therapist, and all the team doctors on Team USA work with athletes and help them, I want to return the favor to the next generation of weightlifters or schools or athletes in general,” Maurus says. “I mean, you're only gonna be able to be a weightlifter for so long. But being a doctor, that'll hold you through your life.”

Bringing the first medal—two, actually—in 20 years to the U.S. men’s weightlifting team? Check. Having a good head on his shoulders and an incredible work ethic? Check. Showing modesty, tact, and decorum along the way? Check.

Giving back to future athletes by returning the favor of helping people? That’s what’s next.

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from Bodybuilding Feed https://www.muscleandfitness.com/athletes-celebrities/interviews/us-weightlifting-has-its-new-olympic-hope-he-just-needs-get-through via http://www.rssmix.com/

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