The fourth pass through trying to write this and nothing seems to be coming other than how very sorry I am to be losing these two.
Yes, we have to lose people every week, and yes, they got to 7th and 8th place out of a crowd of 195.
But saying goodbye to these particular contestants, these amazing women, isn't easy. One I've said goodbye to before. The other made it to the finals in her first season. Both are former Top 10 contestants who have managed to do it again. Which I think speaks volumes about their ability.
Heck - one of them managed to do it, twice, in *a foreign language*!!!
The other managed to do it, twice, while living in the middle of nowhere in Georgia!!*G*
*ducks*
Seriously though, hopefully I'll be a little more on the ball with writing the goodbye comments this time. (If you missed them, they are here: http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/245073.html)
But until then I will just make the official announcement and let everyone else have their say.
This week we are saying goodbye to
8th place:
agirlnamedluna: One of my personal favorite Damn Foreigners of all time, and not just because she bribed me with a baby! (Although it certainly didn't hurt!)When I saw her sign up for this season there was a mix of "HELL YEAH' and "Oh no!". The "hell yeah" because she's an amazing writer and I knew she would do well. Especially since she has a tendency to pretty much think that *every* week is the time she is about to be voted out. So surviving each and every week was a victory in a way that other people might not be able to truly appreciate.
The "oh no" was because having made the finals in Season 3, I knew she was going to be hard pressed to top that mark. Most people don't even come close their second time through the process.
She came damn close - and I know that I've said it before to the point of hammering it into people's heads, but I think that it's important for folks to remember - English is NOT her native language. It's not even her *second* language.
To anyone who sits around and says "I can't do that", this woman is a f-ing rock star. She should be one of your personal heroes.
Overall I'd say her writing has gotten so much better since Season 3, and this season we were treated to her trying her hand at fiction again. Which, again, I've always been lukewarm at best about fiction in a *LJ based* competition. There were a few people this season, her included, that have made me open up to the idea a lot more than I thought possible. (Thank you for that)
I could feel her getting tired over the last couple of weeks. It's pretty difficult for someone *not* to be showing signs - and I think the time differences for deadlines certainly didn't make anything easier. But you see what I said above about the f-ing rockstar business? Yeah. That. She pushed through the stress of RL and the competition itself and found herself shining like the, whatever they have in Foreignland that's really shiny. . . troll loot or something.*G*
Finishing 3rd in her first season. Being the 3rd to last veteran left in the compeition in her second. There seems to be a pattern here!*G*
7th place:
monkeysugarmama: Monkey. Sugar. Mama.3 words that are outstanding on their own but come together to form the veteran competitor that *I* had pegged from the start to be the last veteran standing, and thus the one with the best chance to win the season.
Obviously this didn't happen, but she was the second to last veteran standing and I think right there is a pretty big accomplishment. (As well as joining the ranks of the Two Time Top 10 Club - and the Doing Better the Second Time Around Club!! Two amazing accomplishments.)
I'll admit to another thing here - every week I do a mental check list of who I think will be going. I've said that before, and sometimes I'm right and sometimes I am wrong.
This week I will outright admit that I didn't think that I would be saying goodbye to MSM today. The first part of the entry made me go "Um..." and I wasn't quite sure how she was going to bring it around to the topic, but the way it tied into the second part I thought was hilarious, and oh so true. Right up until that last minute I thought she was going to stage a comeback.
But, to beat that particular horse into the ground, 7th out of 195, Not bad at all.
"Gary is going to really miss MSM"
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