Rounds 7-9

[AJ Burman]

When I get them done, here they'll go.

[AJ Burman]

So, I wind up staying 4-1, and, on top of Talla saying she didn't think it was just Canada vs Aussies anymore, I suspect Talla was the vote to evict me (and did before she said that). She made sure to send me this PM after the eviction on how glad she was I stayed.

AJ,

Congratulations on surviving the block! Shortly after the veto ceremony, I was pretty confident that you would survive the vote. I'm not only happy you stayed because of personal reasons and my lack of knowledge on Rory... But it also makes me feel a little better about the possibility about a Aussie Vs. Canada thing going on.

Anyways! Congratulations... And good luck in the HoH!

- Talla

[AJ Burman]

I'm still here, and again I've had to rely on just being able to convince people to see the light of things in order to stay. It's also weird as hell that for the 3rd time off the top of my head that I can think of, somebody on the block that's gone home has told me a few minutes before results were posted that if they went home, they hoped I'd go all the way and win. With Liza, it wasn't a surprise because we were good allies and all that, but with Greg and Rory when they said it, I wasn't really expecting it. I mean, I've lied when I've had to, and I've been very blunt and forward about my thoughts and opinions on things to where I'll often be outspoken to say the least. Normally people can't stand that and it winds up getting that person labeled as some overly hated villain by most or at least half of the house. It's actually kind of odd to me.

This HOH is Jeopardy, or at least some variant of it and truthfully I could either do really well, or really poorly at it depending on the categories and questions. If they're about Survivor, the US version of Big Brother, and even the game here, I should be alright. With TV it's incredibly hit of miss since most of the stuff on TV these days is pretty much crap that I really have no care for, much in the way that Top 100s music stuff is just god-awful and I refuse to go near it. Movie stuff would depend on whether or not it has to do with actor names or not. Andrew, and Talla said that didn't go well for them, and I admittedly can't remember what Estelle said. Ryan just said "depends" and since we can't give specifics and discuss in detail (I'd imagine at least), I didn't press him. So, it's possible that everybody else just did so horribly that I could have a chance. Actually, I kind of hope so, because I'm normally relatively good at competitions and this is getting ridiculous.

[AJ Burman]

Well, uh....wow. I gotta say, what the hell is this crazy stuff people are watching and listening to these days when I haven't even heard of half the actors in the movie categories? 

[AJ Burman]

Talla. Talla. TALLA WON HOH.

[AJ Burman]

That whole HOH was just all kinds of weird. I mean granted, I knew there was going to be a bunch of crap that I'd never even remotely heart of but, it still didn't really help. Obviously that Aussie section was going to be an issue, and I kinda messed up on a couple of the Canadian ones, but holy crap on those last 3. Yeah, I heard of Dawson's Creek and Boy Meets World all that WAY back when they premiered and I'd heard of ER, but Greek? Greek? What the hell is Greek? It's the same with the movies since I don't give a shit to super follow actors and I only had a 50/50 shot when I guessed The Hunger Games since I figured X-Men First Class wouldn't have Jennifer Lawrence included in the 3. And the music stuff? One of the answers was "One Republic" and I'm like "who?", then the next one was "The Veronicas"? Who in the absolute HELL are the Veronicas?

It's all sorts of weird because like, I only really care about stuff like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Revolution, the big 3 of reality TV (Survivor/TAr/Big Brother, though others sometimes come up) and wrestling when I feel like watching it, and generally stay away from all of those sitcoms like 2 And a Half Men or The Big Bang Theory since they're kinda dumb and not funny. It's like how I think most Top 100 music is crap an stay away from it while focusing on rock, hard rock, metal, post-hardcore, and skate punk. So while I'm watching stuff, or listening to ESTK, Crossfaith, Pennywise, and Lacuna Coil, all this random stuff's going on that I don't give a shit about. Oh well, though.

Talla winning HOH has oddly worked out alright since she put Ryan and Krystal up and has both of them pissed at her with Krystal spitting venom like she's freaking Reptile. I'm not going to lie though, when I say that ideally I'd want Ryan to win POV and Dixie to get put up and get evicted. Then Talla can't play for HOH next week and it makes the situation potentially much better for me as Ryan and Krystal if they won would likely put up Talla (and Ryan would probably put Andrew up next to her) instead of me, and if I won I could switch some things up. Yeah, I know it makes me sound like a dick, but I'm not going to reach the F2 with Andrew and Talla if I go to the end with them, and that F4 situation of me/Andrew/Talla/Esty, doesn't work for myself or even Esty because of Talla being there and likely beating everyone competition-wise to get to the end. I won't reach the F2 or maybe even F3, going with Ryan, Krystal, and Dixie, so Esty and I need to look at just weakening and getting rid of challenge threats right now, since Estelle's who I've been hoping to go to the end with.

I just hope she doesn't have a secret deal with Talla because then I'm screwed beyond screwed. Lord, I'm going to come across like such a douche if this ends up that Talla and Andrew actually trusted me 100% despite trying to screw me a couple rounds back.

[AJ Burman]

So, I just realized I legitimately have made zero effort in trying to figure out who people in this game might be and if I know them. Well, other than Liza who I guess exposed her own identity. Oh well, it's probably for the best to just focus on them in the context of the game anyway.

Speaking of for the best Ryan winning Veto is only for the best so much as myself or Esty don't wind up getting put on the block as replacements.

[AJ Burman]

Shit, I misread the part about #10 in the POV where it's supposed to have to do with you or your game. I mean, yeah it's my fault for being in such a hurry to do POV that I didn't slow down to read it, or ask about it, but I still feel really dumb because like, come on, I know better than to do something stupid like that.

[AJ Burman]

Just repaying the favour to Dixie, my ass, Talla. She's probably with Dixie and if it ties is going to evict Esty and then get punched in the face. Hell, she barely even took any time to think about it either, and she does this after going out of her way to tell Esty she wants her in a F4 too. If Talla thinks I'll take her to Final 3 or let her near it without her winning every HOH and POV possible, she's got another thing coming.

Still though, I hope everybody doesn't talk and compare notes about me (or me and Esty even). Actually...why HAVEN'T they talked then? And now that I'm thinking about it, what if they HAVE and this is Talla's way of showing me, since that suggesting Estelle was to try and fish out if I felt close to her or not?

[AJ Burman]

It's amazing how something that I just casually brought up the idea of at the start has worked out so well and turned into something that has helped bring me this far into the game. We were thinking on how we should reference it, but I finally present to you officially, Fire & Ice. Complete with clarification on who's who, and fancy Game of Thrones pictures because really, it just seems more epic that way.

Fire & Ice

Fire (Estelle)                                                                     

                                                            

Ice (AJ)




The last round went all right, and while Krystal went off as she went, and Ryan made some comment today to me on "are you going to stick with Canada to the end?" along with some things Krystal told me before results were actually kind of funny since I never had plans of having some all-Canada F4 or F3 or whatever. It might just mean that Esty and I are doing a good job of keeping our little Fire & Ice alliance hidden, which is a pretty big plus if true. It's pretty imperative that we actually win this HOH though, since I could use it to actually get Talla out if possible, and do so while still being able to play in the Final 4 HOH.

Apparently Andrew's dropped off the 24 hour clock too, so it might even be possible somehow that he won't even do it and that Estelle (aka Esty aka Fire) and I will wind up with a 50/50 shot at this. Of course, I keep getting the urge to change my answers 100 times and keep going back and forth because I really want this HOH and want everything to be freaking perfect, but I don't want to change out a bunch of right answers in my quest to quadruple check everything answer-wise. I'm hoping that the "worst comes to worst" situation tonight with this is that Ryan wins and puts up Andrew and Talla. I would lose my shit out of joy if Esty won HOH, but I want this HOH to be mine so so badly. There's not a lot of them left, and I can just taste this HOH like it's a rack of honey garlic ribs. A win here would do so much, not only for my alliance, but for my chances, my morale, and just me overall after all those times in the past of falling short for who knows why.

[AJ Burman]

Oh FFS, again? Andrew goes and wins that crap now? I'm seriously sick to death of this. Like, when I'm just as good as everybody else and wind up looking like I'm useless in competitions that I'm almost winning it's just so frustrating and really makes me sometimes wonder if I should bother. But...oh well, if I just give up and do nothing, then fucking Talla or Andrew will win, and that'd be pretty shitty.

[AJ Burman]

Apparently "somebody" has been playing detective and overexamining everything...


(12:52:46 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: do you mind if I ask you something?
(12:53:11 AM) ThaBurman3: sure, you can ask me anything
(12:53:29 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: ok did you play in the Big Brother Brawl series?
(12:54:08 AM) ThaBurman3: that sounds familiar. was that the one that had something happen where some stuff got deleted?
(12:54:41 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: ummmm I am not sure if stuff was deleted or not, but I have been out of the ORGing world for a bit
(12:54:51 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: did you play as Roddy?
(12:54:55 AM) ThaBurman3: jason?
(12:55:19 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: no I played as Dustin
(12:55:27 AM) ThaBurman3: awks


(1:05:28 AM) ThaBurman3: so why did you think it was me? Was it the whole "guy who keeps coming in 2nd all the time" thing?
(1:05:55 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: ummm, someone told me that they thought that was who you were
(1:07:45 AM) ThaBurman3: who was that?
(1:08:01 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: Im sorry I cant say
(1:08:15 AM) ThaBurman3: I'm not going to say anything to them about it. promise
(1:09:28 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: Suzette had it figured out but I dont know how she did
(1:09:40 AM) ThaBurman3: I don't even know who suzette is
(1:10:18 AM) ThaBurman3: unless she was jeff
(1:10:19 AM) RiseNFall - Andrew: IDK how she knew who you were, maybe alias?


The weird thing is that that game I was in with Andrew was years ago and I barely remember parts of it. Not to mention it was an AS game with Andrew being from another season, and if Suzette somehow suspected, she could have easily been from either my original season or that AS season. Oh well, whatever. I'm still not all that close to the worst alias in the world, and I'm not super-hated for just being who I am, so I'm not super worried. It's just a little frustrating though.

[AJ Burman]

As I kind of guessed before I even read the nominations, I'm up on the block, so that absolutely sucks. It's kind of funny since when Esty and I were talking the night before, and she asked me what Andrew was going to do nomination wise, I told her "hey says he's putting up Ryan and Dixie, but you know how he is" because I suspected something like this. My saving grace though, is that he DIDN'T put Estelle up next to me, so there's plenty of chances to work something to get us both through the round. It seems pretty fair to say that if the nominations stay the same, Talla's going to evict me, and Estelle's going to evict Dixie, which makes Ryan the swing vote. In that case, I have to hope that Ryan sees going with what Andrew and Talla want to be suicide on account of them from an outside perspective, looking to be much closer than Esty and myself.

Now, if I win Veto and take myself off, there's a 50/50 chance that Estelle goes up. If I were to Veto myself off the block, I'd obviously want Ryan to be the replacement because that means the vote is 100% dependant on Fire & Ice, and ultimately to hell with what Talla wants. If Estelle were to go up in my place, then it comes down to Ryan again, and...I'm less confident in that situation. That's why, in what could either be a really smart, really risky, or really stupid line of thinking, I'd kind of almost prefer that Estelle wins the Veto over me. With her winning that, she'd be unable to be a replacement nominee, and if she used it on me, we'd have 100% of the voting power in deciding who getc evicted. Plus Andrew's reaction and seeing him be all "what the fuck?" would be kind of hilarious and TOTALLY worth it. Of course, since it's one of those "sub-boards, and mini-boards within it" competitions, it's not only something that's usually trouble, but not really one of those competitions I could really throw to her anyway.

Pretty much, my hope is to go for the Veto just in case Estelle accidentally messes up or something, so that I can at least get myself off the block, and hope that Esty's faster. All while praying to the Big Brother gods that Dixie doesn't win POV and royally fuck up EVERYTHING.

[AJ Burman]

Man...let us NEVER speak of that POV competition again. I even tried to prepare for it and then it's like "Days? Who cares to follow DAYS instead of events?".

[AJ Burman]

Holy shit, Estelle won the Veto!





Like, she just burned through that entire thing and when I figured everybody else would get like 12 minutes at worst, the 2nd best time was actually 15 minutes with everybody else way back. Hell, I didn't even come in last because Dixie couldn't complete the competition. I actually have a potentially goood chance of being able to stay now because things could get changed up, since I don't have a clue what Ryan's relationship with Dixie is like at the end of the day. So all Estelle would have to do is take me off the block and bam, both of us are here playing in the F5 HOH, we can evict Dixie, and try to essentially make it so the Final 5 is a 3 vs 1 situation with it being me/Estelle/Ryan vs Talla, with all of us deciding to put up Andrew and Talla if we win.

This is awesome because Andrew made it clear that he wants me out this round, and now there's a very real possibility that he won't even get to see how the votes would play out, which would no doubt get him a little bit worried. Plus, I've gotta admit seeing Andrew and Talla be all "what the fuck..." would give me some strange glee that I can't explain for some reason. The only thing that's in my mind now though is that Ryan told me that if the nominations stayed the same that he would keep me. While I feel partly inclined to believe him, I can't honestly say that I know if he would or if he has anything with Dixie. In other words, if I trust him unconditionally and tell Estelle not to Veto me, then there's ultimately nothing stopping Ryan from getting his mind changed and evicting me.

I say this knowing that Talla's most likely going to evict me, which would make all pressure be on Ryan. Whereas, if Estelle Vetos me then her and I decide the vote 100%, and even though Ryan likely goes up and Andrew/Talla would push for him to go, we could do what we wanted and evict Dixie, and it wouldn't matter at ALL what those two wanted to happen since they'd ultimately have no say. The only thing is, if Estelle takes me off the block, people are obviously going to have suspicions about us working together (which, as far as I know, we are since Fire & Ice is a thing), but I think at the end of the day, having a bit of suspicion on that is worth keeping us both off of the block this round and the potential position it could put us in next round.