Year Sixteen: Personal Thoughts

[Mark]

(Day 73 Thoughts)

Yay for Final 12! Although, that could've been my header for the last Year...

Anyhow, I've now lasted sixteen times longer than I expected to last. And, according to Jamie, I've lasted sixteen times longer than I was supposed to last. Brings me great pride to know that I've disrupted several people's plans.

As it stands right now, Xavante holds power. It will be an easy Final 7 to remain loyal, and hope for Tyler/Matt to pull through for us. But what's the fun in that? I came to Survivor to rebuild my imge... and I feel I've already done that. Doing any more goodness would just give me the image of being a naive dumbo. This game needs to be turned on its head.

At what point will things change? Final 11? Final 10? Final 9? Tori, Katie, and I need to discuss that. Ryan is looking to get in a better position, Stacy and Lexie must feel that they're in the same boat (and I wouldn't be surprised if they have an alliance already), and Zaza is probably meant to be screwed by remaining loyal. But at what point can we six join together and form a better, stronger alliance? Will those three even be up for doing that by the point in the game that we set it up?

The only person that I can see that wouldn't be up for it is Stacy. Sure, we can work on how much she can't trust Tyler and Matt, and how they voted out her ally Jamie, but what if she had been prewarned about that vote? What if it had all been staged all along? In that case, the best way to go at it is Final 9. In order for that to happen, the next Tribal Councils need to see Will, Matt D., and Lynne leaving. Unless circumstances change, there's a strong chance that that would be happening anyway, according to Matt O. He did claim that Ryan could be saved last on the "Bajau" chopping block, and I doubt that Lexie can be seen as a Bajau, only because she has no real trust to any of them, except for Ryan.

I would be more secure with an alliance without Stacy than with Stacy, but then again, Stacy has been friendly to me lately, so maybe she's not totally against an alliance with me. The only thing that this plan requires is patience. Lexie, Stacy, and I'm pretty sure Ryan all don't know of this entire plan yet. If Zaza did tell them about it, they could easily run to Ovambo and tell them of our deceit, and then the three of us are the next ones out. For now, I think the key method to ensuring that alliance happening is to remain totally friendly to all three of them. Perhaps at Final 10, or at the latest Final 9 (of course), we can tell them of our full intentions of the voting plan, and then the game can turn on its head.

And, if it all works out, Zaza is Final 3.

[Mark]

(Day 75 Thoughts)

My biggest fear has returned...

Okay, Chuck's return didn't happen. But my second biggest fear has happened...

THE BLASTED IMMUNITY RULE HAS RETURNED!!!

God, I hate that rule. It's really what screwed me in Wonderland. Without it, I'd have third place easily. And if the Final 3 immunity challenge would've been rescheduled to overnight, I MAY have won it. And if I made Final 2, I may or may not have won. My mind wants me to say I would've won, but I don't really know.

It was never clearly stated methinks, but if I didn't win the Final 5 immunity in that game, Travis was still likely to be voted out. So I would've been able to win Final 4, then Final 3, and then be in Final 2 anyway.

Moral of the story? It pays to not rack up immunity streaks. Which is why I'm not making a huge effort to win this one. The challenge itself seems simple in concept, and I'm sure there's some secret trick to rack up big points (such as avoiding the multiplier), but I'm not going to pressure myself into finding it. If things don't change, Lynne should be the next one voted out anyway. Although I really wanted to win 3 immunities in a row and beat my Wonderland immunity streak, the new rule forbids that, so there ain't no way I'm making any attempt at more than one in a row.

Lynne just needs to be the next one to go. Currently, things could be heading in that direction. Both Katie and Tori agree to that idea, and I'm always up for doing whatever they want to do. Personally, I like Will and Matt D. more than I like Lynne (I actually have yet to talk to her since the merge), and it's more likely for the "outcast" alliance to work out if there are less potential alliance mates for Stacy to go to. We've eliminated two out of the four in the Stacy/Jamie/Lynne/Kevin alliance. If Lynne goes, theoretically Stacy has no other alliance to fall back on, besides the "outcast" alliance.

But I'm not banking on her to pull through with the "outcast" alliance. I'm sure Lexie and Ryan would support it for being alliance-less (unless they've made different ones since the merge), but if Stacy still feels bonds with Tyler and Matt O., she's not going to budge. She could very well be in a stable Final 4 alliance with Tyler, Matt O., and Jen. If that's the case, she's not going to switch to our "outcast" alliance and jeopardize her game.

The great thing is that we can wait until Final 9 to switch things up. Lynne, Matt D., and Will mean nothing to this alliance, and can all be voted out with ease. Tyler, Matt O., Jen, and maybe Stacy could all be feeling confident in their game, because they believe Zaza is being loyal. If they're naive, they'll think Zaza will be voted out starting at Final 7. So we have enough time.

If they start voting Zaza out earlier than Final 7, they're just being dumb liars. It would be suicide for them to vote out a Zaza, because once an alliance self-destructs, then there isn't any hope left for that alliance. Case in point: Cheshire. Once we sacrificed Eric and Joey, Cheshire was screwed. It's time that I finally got my revenge against Tyler for Wonderland...

[Mark]

(Day 76 Thoughts)

The good news is that I don't have immunity, and it doesn't appear like I'm a threat to be voted out.

The bad news is that the vote isn't going the way I thought it would be going. Lynne isn't going to be voted out. It's going to be Will.

What sucks about this whole plan is that it's mostly Matt O.'s doing. I IMed him today, and he claimed that Katie, Stacy, and Tyler already supported that vote. Is he sure? Zaza's Katie supports the Will vote? Did I get hit in the head by a coconut?

I could've sworn Katie was all up for voting Lynne out. But whatever... Matt O. could be approaching the lying stage of the game, or he's trying to become the leader of this game. What do I have to say to that?

DOWN WITH MATT O.!

There's no real way I'm voting for Will. I like the guy... but this is what killed me in Wonderland. I liked Tyler, Travis, Angela, and Chuck to an extent. And they backstabbed me. Will claims he likes Tori and I for being "real", but it could be a Bajau act in order to regain power. But, voting out Lynne would save the guy I like, and eliminate more Bajau power.

Will also sent me a PM, saying that his vote is going for Jen. It would kill me to do it, but I might just vote for Jen. My vote isn't going for Will at all. I just can't do it. I can't stand the thought of some Lynne/Matt O./Tyler/Jen/Stacy alliance.

At this point, my vote is going for either Lynne, Jen, or Matt O. I just need to wait and see if the voting plan is going to change any time soon.

[Mark]

Well, well, well... my big mouth, and my stubbornness, seems to be paying off... hopefully.

I talked to Tori about voting for Lynne, and she's immediately for it. She feels the exact same way I do. She was just concerned that this vote would reveal the "outcast" alliance sooner than it needed to be revealed.

So I talked to Ryan about the vote. He said that he doesn't matter for Will or Lynne, but then said that he'd prefer Will because he's more threatening. But then he said I can PM him if anything important happens.

I talked to Jen about how I would prefer to vote for Lynne, but all she said was that she understands why. She didn't say she would vote that way.

I talked to Matt D. about the vote, and although he likes Lynne to an extent, he likes Will more, and to save Will he would vote for Lynne.

I talked to Lexie, and she doesn't like Lynne at all. She prefers any Bajau to go, but is voting for Lynne.

I talked to Tyler, and he said that he would vote for either Lynne or Will. He did say he supports Will, but "whatever the group wants."

Matt O. also claimed that he talked to Katie, Stacy, and Tyler about voting for Will. Tyler just said that he received a PM from Matt O. to vote for Lynne. Hm... SUSPICIOUS.

I'm definitely voting for Lynne now. *Draws up parchment*

[Mark]

My head's spinning.

I've established a voting block with Lexie, Matt D., Will, and Ryan to an extent. That was under the assumption that Zaza would all vote the same way.

However, Katie didn't agree with how I took charge, without asking her. And now I feel extremely guilty for making the vote go the way it could be going.

Tori and Katie don't want to vote a separate way from Xavante. However, differing ideas are starting to be seen. Tori wants to align with Lexie/Ryan/Stacy and take Final 6. Katie wants to stick with Xavante.

I want to break Xavante up, but I have a lot of ideas on how to do it. One of which involves Will and Matt D., and the other with Lexie and Ryan. Katie wants to vote Ryan out, which screws up all of the plans. It's all just very confusing right now, I don't know what to believe.

There's still an evergrowing chat between all Xavantes on how the vote should go. I already voted for Lynne, but my vote can still be changed, and I don't think I really should do that. The rest of Zaza wants to vote out Lynne, but the rest of Ovambo wants to vote out Will. It's really butting heads, and nothing conclusive is coming out of it. But it really feels like, for the betterment of Zaza, Lynne needs to be voted out.

[Mark]

We've reached a concensus. It's Will. I get to keep my vote change, though. Which is good, because it sorta makes it look like I voted with Bajau, and can sorta keep them thinking I'm a good guy or something. Eh... maybe not.

[Mark]

(Day 77 Thoughts)

Wow, Will... goes to show what respect you have for your "allies," calling them all out as you get voted out. Now I'm sorry that I voted for Lynne.

This has just been a pissy day, and now I come home to find that Will destroys everything in camp. Yay for anger... everything just piles up and up and up. And there's no way for me to harness, control, relieve, etc. my anger. Someone's going to be on the wrong side of it...

Well, for this next vote, I'm going to have to just be quiet and vote for Lynne. No more "secret strategizing" from Mark. Will put all of Zaza in the spotlight with his departure, and now, any strategizing we make would appear to be deception against Ovambo. I still would love to get rid of Tyler/Matt O., but premature planning would kill me at this stage. Patience is key...

Ideal boot order, since Will's been out:

11th: Lynne
10th: Tyler
9th: Jen
8th: Matt D.
7th: Matt O.
6th: Ryan
5th: Lexie
4th: Stacy
3rd: Katie

[Mark]

I came to Survivor to rebuild my imge... and I feel I've already done that. Doing any more goodness would just give me the image of being a naive dumbo.

Too late.