Shake it Off --- Confessions & Thoughts

[Drew Anthony]

Cause the players gonna play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate
Baby I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake
Shake it off ~~

Oh, snap! I do have a Diary Room. I was looking and didn't see it earlier. It kind of blended in. Anyways, I'll keep this quick, as I'm headed to bed. I am definitely excited to be here in this game. I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun, and I've enjoyed a few of the houseguests I've spoken to so far. 

craig Craig is my favorite so far. He seems easy going and fun. The topic of sex came up within the first like 2 minutes, so I can tell this guy is a feisty one. That's ok with me. Potential ally for sure. 

harry Harry seems decent enough. I wouldn't say we hit it off as well as myself and Craig, but the guy wasn't a total bore. 

monet Monet seemed very fake at first, but then she warmed up. I felt like our convo was a little forced, however. Like bitch, please. I know the round 1 game all too well. You're gonna have to stand out a bit more if you want to impress me. Will give her another chance tomorrow. 

Shilpa Shetty Shilpa was another mediocre person for me. I thought Shilpa Shetty was a famous person, not a Big Brother player? But what do I know. Apparently my own name is my last name, and so I stand out like a sore thumb on the memory wall with the parenthesis in my name. Oops. 

christopher Christopher and I barely got to talk, but my initial impression was good. I want to follow up with him tomorrow.

That's all I've talked to for now. Obviously, the first few days are putting out feelers for everyone, and trying to figure out who I connect with naturally. Now that I'm back in the saddle of these games, I've decided I'm not going to tip-toe around. If you're boring, then fuck off. I'll play nice to your face, but only because I'm not an idiot. If I like you, then good. After the first few days, I want to have a small handful of people to focus on, and the rest can kiss my ass for the time being. Hoping cruise-control can get me through the first few weeks before I need to kick it up a gear. 

[Drew Anthony]

I've decided to theme my Diary Room with Taylor Swift song titles because I <3 Tay.

[Drew Anthony]

So either my social game is NOT what it used to be -- which wasn't ever that great, but I wouldn't say it was horrible -- or these people are either boring or just not trying... Ugh. It's not that the people are shitty cast members, but so far I have only found like 2 people whose conversations don't die in a few minutes. Granted, part of that is my own burden to carry. Time for an update of who I have talked to and not talked to...

HAVE NOT TALKED TO
Ash Harrison
Dan Gheesling
Hayden Voss
Jillian MacLaughlin
Nick Starcevic
Rachelle Diamond
Tahan Lew

TALKED TO ALREADY
BEST CONNECTIONS
Craig Phillips
Christine Brecht
Shilpa Shetty

MEDIOCRE CONNECTIONS
Monet Stunson
Christopher Hall

BARELY TALKED TO
Ivette Corredero
Harry Blake
Ika Wong


This list is obviously just for the first day, so it will change. My goal though is to at least say hi to everyone. Hate getting a nomination based on "we haven't talked." Bitch, I'll say "hi" just to keep my ass safe week 1 until I see if you're worth my time. #noshame

[Drew Anthony]

You can move Ash, Dan, and Rachelle to the list of people I have talked to. I like Rachelle a lot. I started a group chat with everyone online, and we've been playing Truth or Dare. You might notice a few things like the Rumor Has It thread, Shilpa's impatient gif, and Craig's Shitney signature. These are all a result of my awesome idea. This Truth and Dare game was a nice way to see which houseguests are active/interesting, and which ones are just gonna float by. I did this strategically to help me get to know these people. More to come... 

[Drew Anthony]

So anyways, to continue from the above. Definitely think that Craig, Ika, Shilpa, Christine, and Rachelle are going to be some of the more outgoing, fun, active houseguests. I think Dan will fall in that category too, but he had to leave early, and I just barely got to talk to him. I want to work on some alliances with this group for a few reasons. A) These people will perhaps be more likely to win challenges, B) They will have targets equivalent to mine in terms of social game play, and C) They are just more fun. Period. 

And that leaves Ash, Christopher, Harry, Ivette, Monet as some of the less active, less talkative players from what I've gathered. Doesn't mean I'm ruling them out, but I'm here to have fun. I invited some of them to the chat and they either said nothing or said very little. At least they rank above the people who I haven't even seen on AIM... Hayden and Nick. And also those who haven't even signed in yet... Jillian and Tahan. 

But anyways, I know that I kind went a tad bit overboard today on the social realm, but I want to be remembered. Some days I won't be able to be AS social, so I don't want people to link me with the non-active players. Week 1 is hopefully an easy week where someone who is less active and less interesting can get the boot. That is all for now. Good night, Big Brother!

[Drew Anthony]

No sense in dwelling on this since we can't strategize or campaign. 
I vote for Christine because she's fun and I hope this is a good thing. 
christine

[Drew Anthony]

So some of these people have still yet to even log onto AIM. Lame. I am thoroughly enjoying the small group that has been taking part in our group chat. Tonight we played Never Have I Ever. I lost. =X I don't know if they were answering questions truthfully or if they were being alias. I just answered truthfully, so I guess I'm the bad boy of the group. 

Anyways. I was kinda bummed to see the HoH was maj-rules. This means some twat waffle could win and then who knows what would happen. I feel like, as long as one of the more active people win, then we will see some of these bore-whores go week 1, which, really, will be best for everyone. I'm starting to get a decent grasp of some of these people though, and I'm formulating some plans for when I will actually need to target threats and not the nobodies. 

I picked Christine for the announcement 1 because I am gambling that its a good thing. I don't see what the fun is in making a twist revolve around some person who hasn't even been active, so I went with my gut and picked a gal who I've gotten along great with and would love to see her maybe have some power or something. I feel like I'd be safe with her too. My favorites so far are definitely...

1. Christine
2. Craig
3. Shilpa
4. Rachelle
^In no particular order.

Ivette is growing on me, and Ika and Dan are decent too. The rest have either been MIA, boring, or rarely on.

Anywho... I'm excited to see what this announcement is about, and I'm praying that someone in my top 4 wins HoH if not me. I honestly doubt my ability to win though. I find Ash and Christopher both hot, so that first question was a toss up. I just picked Christopher because I think he's more conventionally hot, but I could see it being pretty split, which makes getting past the first round a coin toss. Bed time for me though. Good night Big Brother!

[Drew Anthony]

Catching up on some thoughts!

HoH

Once we got down to the final 4, I was going to be happy with whoever won. I felt 99% safe with Craig, Ika, and Shilpa. I knew round 1 would be a toss up, and I had a sinking feeling I'd be in the minority for the Hayden/Nick question, but it's all good. My tie-breaker wouldn't have beaten the final 2 anyways, and I'm glad that Shilpa is HoH. She pretty much told me right away I'd be safe and said she'd have expected the same had I won HoH. It seems to be the concensus among the more active players that we need to trim the weeds, take out the trash, GET RID OF THE PEOPLE WHO AREN'T HERE TO PLAY!

MVP

Well, I wasn't expecting that! I woke up to find that I'm the MVP, and I have mixed feelings (mostly good though). This obviously means that I'm one of the more visible players to have gotten the majority vote. I just don't want this to paint me as a threat, which might be too late. Whatever. I've decided I am going to tell most of the active players that I'm the MVP and assure them that I am not after any of them. Trying to hide the fact that I'm the MVP could be risky, and I don't want anything to come back and bite me if people feel like I don't trust them enough to tell them. If the MVP had been selected by any way other than popular vote, I might try to hide it, but all it would take is for the others to compare who they voted for, and they could have a good idea that I'm the MVP.

That is all for now. Have to get back to work.

[shir]

Well, technically no one is allowed to discuss the vote anyway.

[Drew Anthony]

Well this week ended up being pretty straightforward. Nick evicts on strikes... saw that one coming. I'm just glad that we still get to evict another player and that his expulsion didn't end the round. Is that bad of me? There are just a handful of these players who really don't seem to care, and the quicker we can get them out, the more fun this game can get. Let's speed through these first few boring rounds, shall we?

Shilpa wins PoV, bitch isn't afraid to be a target, is she!? I mean, there was like 0 need for her to sweep this week, yet she beasted that PoV challenge. Noted.

Afterward, she comes to me and is like "we need to talk!" Ummmm. ok? I wasn't sure what the urgency was, but apparently she was worried Harry wasn't going to be around either. She kind of wanted to use the PoV so that Harry could get nominated, because she felt bad for Hayden and Jillian, it seemed. Though, I'm confused because apparently Jillian wanted nominated, and then turns around, does the PoV, and wants to stay in the game... ok? As for Hayden, he supposedly messaged her and said he's just been very busy. 

In the end, she decided to not use the PoV for fear that it would put a target on her for using it week 1 on some semi-incative players. Whatever. I just made sure to let her know I was 100% behind whatever decision she wanted to make. I even told her that we should keep Harry off the block if he was just going to self-evict. My goal is to take as few rounds as possible to get rid of the weeds. *shrug*

So that's week 1. I made some good friends, and set up some nice foundations for some alliances to be made. Hoping week 2 is just as straightforward with getting out the people who aren't here to be fierce. <3

[Drew Anthony]

First official alliance. <3
Beauty and the Beast. More on this later. 

[Drew Anthony]

Ok, so a few things have transpired. First up, Christine approached me asking if I had heard anything about alliances. Literally, this was not even 5 minutes after I was strong considering making her the first person I pledged my allegiance to. We both agreed that we trust each other, blah blah blah, and boom Beauty and the Beast was created. 

We talked about bringing in other potential players, and we agreed that Shilpa, Ivette, Craig, and Rachelle seemed to be the most social, and potentially strong players. I suggested we each create another strong duo and see who they suggest, rather than Christine and I making suggestions to them and coming off as a clear duo to others. She agreed to talk to Shilpa, and I would talk to Ivette for starters.

When I brought it up to Ivette, I probably seemed like a huge spaz, as I played it off that I was worried about others aligning and me missing the boat. When, in all honesty, I really don't think others have started to align yet. Our group chat has still been going strong (with 10 of the cast, just missing Jilian, Sheila, Nick, Hayden, Christopher, and Ash, I believe), so I think that most players are using that as an unofficial alliance for now. We even discussed the vote in there since Hayden and Jillian were not in it. The weird thing about the chat though is that there are the main ones who do all the talking, and then like Harry, Monet, and Dan do no talking. Ika talks a lot, but I kind of rank her in her own group She's super active in the chat, but it's clear she's playing a character. 

Anyways, Ivette kind of brushed aside my worries, saying she hadn't heard of anything, and she was sure I would have been invited if there were any alliances. I really thought I could rope Ivette into a final 2, but she kind of avoided any alliance talk and left very little holes for me to casually lob in the idea, so I will have to revisit that option. 

My next plan is talk to Craig more and maybe work a final 2 with him and then build upon that while Christine works on Shilpa. We want to have a strong core group, but also want to make sure we have our bases covered in case one of them tries making a move against us. 

I know this is week 1, but sometimes you have to lay a groundwork early, and I am feeling pretty comfortably with where I stand. Obviously, anything can happen, but I'm happy with this week. 

In terms of the eviction, I made it VERY obvious to anyone/everyone that I talked to that I was the MVP and I would be voting to evict Hayden for that reason. I didn't try to push anybody in that direction, as I don't want Shilpa being angry at me. She, however, didn't really indicate who she wanted to go. At this point, I know a few others are voting for Hayden, as they've said so. So, perhaps he will be the first one gone. I didn't even mean to influence that to happen, since I don't really care between Hayden and Jillian, but it just shows that people are willing to be a follower the first few rounds. Just hopefully they don't decide to turn against their "leader" later.

Cast analysis to follow! (sorry, so much writing up there to read) 

[Drew Anthony]

Going to give them 2 scores on a scale of 1-5. 1 being weak, 5 being strong. First score will be my relationship/connection with them, and the 2nd will be how much of an overall threat I think they are at the moment, not necessarily to my game, but as a whole. 

Ash - 2/2 - Ash and I had a brief conversation, and I did like him. But otherwise, I haven't seen him much, so he's really a wild card now. Hope to get to talk more to him later. 

Christine - 5/5 - I like her a lot, and I think this girl plays a very similar game to me. She's likely going to be my final 2 throughout this game, and I look forward to going far with her. Hopefully she's not playing me!

Christopher - 3/3 - I really enjoyed Christopher. He's been kinda MIA due to work, but I seem him potentially being a good ally and decent player. I gave him a 3/3 until I get to see more of him. 

Craig - 4/5 - Craig and I started off awesome, but have kind of faded a little bit lately. I want to work with him as well, and he will definitely be a backup final 2 if I get what I want. The flirtmance was strong at first, but then that faded too. Need to work on this one a little more, as I think he could be a good under the radar yet active player, and I want to have tabs on him. 

Dan - 2/3 - While I've seen him more than Christopher, I feel like we didn't connect as much. Granted, he just asked who I voted for, and then told me he would do the same and keep it under wraps. I can't tell if he's just a floater or sitting back and waiting to show his cards and might be a really good player. The fact that he's playing as Dan scares me a bit. 

Harry - 1/2 - He was boring to me. I almost even gave him a 1 in terms of his threat status, but I don't want to underestimate him. From our first convo, I think he's smart, so maybe he's just laying low for now. 

Hayden - 0/1 - We haven't talked. He could be leaving. The one thing that would such major balls is if he stays and then wins HoH and decides to come after me if he finds out I was the MVP to nominate him. But... I am not all that worried at the moment, since he seems pretty invisible to most people. 

Ika - 3/5 - While I might not be as close to Ika as some others, she's definitely visible and seems to have a strong "connection" to me. I do worry that she's being very fake though, and I'm not counting her out as a threat. 

Ivette - 4/5 - I thought we had something really good going, but today she kinda of seemed a bit off. Maybe it was because I was trying to get more out of her than what she's ready to share. Definitely a threat though, and a potential ally. Will continue to get to know her. 

Jillian - 0/1 - Haven't talked. No reason to see her as a threat, as she should be targeted in the early weeks and might even be leaving this week. 

Monet - 1/1 - We talked, but she's kind of boring. Nobody seems to have that good of an impression on her. Can't see her as a threat at the moment either. 

Rachelle - 3/5 - Rachelle is one that I really want to be able to chat to more on a one-to-one level. She's super active in the group chat, and I think she could be a Dark Horse. I want to keep working on her as well. 

Sheila - 0/? - Haven't talked, but something in my gut says she could be more of a threat than the rest of the inactives. IDK why. I need to meet her to get a better gauge of her though. 

Shilpa - 5/5 - Another strong connection and high threat level. Damn, she wasn't scared to show her competition skills week 1. She's probably the biggest threat in my eyes, but for now, I have no reason to go after her. And, I do like her a lot, so she could be a potential ally. However, I am calling it now, she could be the one to beat, and I want to make sure I have a plan to take her out if I need to. Nothing personal, all game here!

[Drew Anthony]

Craig wins HoH and I'm just like... ^^^

I mean, ok, it's not THAT exciting, but it means another easy round should be coming our way. Ideally we see any combination of Ash/Harry/Jillian/Sheila nominated. As for MVP, it's a crapshoot. I really hope it's not one of those 4 mentioned, as I haven't even talked to two of them yet. 

Update on the group chat... it currently consists of Christine, Craig, Dan, Drew, Ika, Ivette, Monet, Rachelle, and Shilpa. I kicked out Harry last night because he hasn't said a damn word in the chat for like a week. That gives us 9 people in the chat and 5 who are not. I kind of want to invite Christopher in since he does talk more than the others, but the other day he acted weird after I told him that I had him somewhere toward the bottom of my hit list in the HoH challenge. Granted, stupid me shouldn't have told anybody anything about my hit list since I didn't get to even use it once. Lol. I just figured that honesty was the best policy going into the challenge, because I honestly expected I would at least get 1 or 2 in the fastest. Nope. 

Rachelle proved she's another competition threat with that challenge, and ironically she didn't even win. #sucks2suck. I do like Rachelle though, but damn, it's looking like I am going to have some tough people to beat in these comps, which means my social/strategic games both need to be spot on, and now. 

No more news on alliances. We will see how this week fares before pushing that too much. That's all for now. Let's keep executing these boring bitches so that the game can really get started!

[Drew Anthony]

While it sucks that there are these handful of inactive players, and I'm sure it ruins the plans that the hosts have, I do like that we aren't wasting extra weeks to get rid of them. 4 people evicted in 2 weeks, and I'm just like THANK GOODNESS. Now we can actually start playing this game without easy weeks to skate by.

After this round, there is pretty much 1 inactive player left - whichever nominee survives. At least they are doing competitions and not getting strikes, but their social game is like non-existent, so really they are still dead weight. It will be interesting to see who wins HoH and if they bother to make it one final week of "taking out the trash." I would like to see that happen, only so that the person doesn't get dragged to the finals as an easy win. So lame if that happens.

Anyways, in preparation for the weeks to come where we will ACTUALLY get to play the game of Big Brother, I spent last night strengthening my bonds with people. I do want to create an alliance of like 4-5 people just for numbers, but I've not found the right "door" to make this happen yet. So, for now, I am just working on my connections. Here's an update...

TIER 1 - BEST CONNECTIONS

Christine - Still my only official alliance (Beauty and the Beast), and I do trust her a lot. I tell her pretty much everything so that she knows I trust her. She's got the most potential to screw me in the end, but I've gotta count on someone, right?

Craig - We have an unofficial Crew (Craig/Drew) alliance. Or, maybe it's official? IDK. Either way, I have been sure to chat with him daily and make him realize I'm on his side.

Ash - Ash and I finally chatted a lot yesterday, and I love this guy. I feel like he could be a great ally down the road.

---

TIER 2 - DECENT CONNECTIONS
Ivette- I talk to Ivette a lot. She could potentially be one of my best connections, but something about her makes me a little wary... Still working on this one. I might defintley include her in any group alliance, just to make sure I know what she's thinking and potentially have a warning in case she tries to make a move.

Shilpa- We talk a decent amount. She's definitely a strong player, but I haven't really made a super strong connection with her aside from general chit chat every day. I would also consider keeping her in a group alliance just to keep tabs on her. However, Christine is working this connection, so I can rely on Christine's judgment here. I also need to be careful to watch in case Christine would make a final 2 with Shilpa that she might honor over me.

Rachelle - Rachelle is another potential ally, but I am still working on this one. Again, I wouldn't mind some sort of an alliance with her just to keep tabs.  

---

TIER 3 - MEDIOCRE CONNECTIONS
Ika- Ika worries me. That is all. She's active, and I don't know how much of what she's doing is fake and how much is genuine. I don't see me working with her only because I'd question her loyalty at all times.

Dan- This guy seems nice, but he seems super floater/UTR. He will be a number for now. If he's sitting back and playing it quiet and ends up being a threat, then that could be bad. I just haven't gotten to talk to him enough to figure it out yet.

Christopher- He's been apparently having trouble with his AIM. I do like him, but he's bordering on inactive in terms of his social game with me.

---

TIER 4 - NO CONNECTIONS
Monet- She is in the group chat, but I feel like 0 connection to her. Maybe I need to try more?

Jillian- Have never spoken. 

Sheila- Have never spoken.