Green Room - Week 0 - Day 7
Sep. 9th, 2026 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clauderainsrm posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
therealljidol The poll is here: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1222808.html
Sign-ups are here: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1219874.html There have been a few people who have signed up since the Week 9 poll went up. So make sure to go welcome them!
The FAQ is here for anyone who needs it!: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1218443.html
***
A few more housekeeping items:
- This is Year 20. Not Season 20. One of the not-so-secret behind the scenes "secrets" is that I was really dreading having a Season 13. There was definitely a point in my life where 13 was my lucky number. But at some point that reversed itself and I fell into the trap of triskaidekaphobia! ;) That, and LJ's steady decline is why I opted to make "full seasons" of Idol more rare and started doing more mini seasons and special events. It's silly I know. As time has gone on the distinction between mini and full seasons has blurred, although the mini ones do tend to have a "theme" and specific twists that are an inherent part of that event, and the regular seasons don't!
- I've been asked if contestants can have 3 byes this season. I'll make you a deal. You get me to 100 contestants (and no, I'm not saying people make alts that aren't going to actually play. But real honest to goodness returning and new contestants, and I will give you 3 byes! Honestly, it sounds like a good deal to me! You're at 74 right now and I know of at least another 6-7 people off the top of my head who said they were showing but haven't posted their intent yet. Honestly, I should probably make that number more steep now that I'm actually looking it. But you know what? I'm feeling generous and that was the number I picked off the top of my head before looking at the current number. So let's go with that! Go forth and recruit, and you will get an extra bye! (See, it pays to read the Green Room!)
- One of the main reasons why this isn't "All Stars" is the obvious - the only TRUE "All Star" was kittymichaels! He won the All Star season before it ever started, and he's also won this season and every other season that has been or ever will be! ;) (If you were there, you get it. If you weren't check out this link to his final post: kittymichaels.livejournal.com/58919.html
Which serves not only as a snapshot of Idol history but also as a teaser for a future Idol history lesson entitled "The Time When I Didn't Like Kittymichaels, and why!" Clearly I was mistaken and learned my lesson. But to get to there we have to get through some other stuff. And besides, that's enough to make you keep coming back! Because who doesn't want to know about someone being stupid enough to not like kittymichaels!!
***
That's a tale for another time though. Today I want to tell you of 3 women who shaped the earliest days of LJ Idol. If you've been around for any length of time, you've probably heard the names. But I want to set this up to give you some context and answer a question that I saw asked out there in the wilderness. (Without directly answering it of course. Because I'm nothing if not vague!)
Some important things to remember from the earliest days of Idol is that I did not actually have a laptop at my apartment. I did Idol at work, both my work station computer *and* the computers they had in the various break room(s) (Remember, this was the mid-2000s. Office jobs did things like that!) The other big one point of access was the library. Deadlines had to be set up when I could be at one of those places. OR, I had to have an assistant who copied and pasted a LOT of my spiel as well as set up the polls from Seasons 1-partway through Season 4. (Oh, and I also had an internet package with unlimited data - on my flip phone. Yes, they saw a sucker and took him for everything they could! But at least I could access Idol from wherever I needed to access it. (I had that phone until 2011!! Yes, you read that correctly)
The first of the women is allpeachy4u (Hilary) She not only was the one who kept bugging me to move Idol off my personal Live journal account (I hosted the 1st season there because it was just me hanging out with my friends and doing some weird little writing game to kill some time and amuse ourselves. Or rather, to amuse me! Mostly me!
But Hilary kept INSISTING that I move it to a community. I'd never set up a community. I'd never ran a community before (Well, I'd ran various groups and websites. but this was my first LJ community) I did not have a clue on how to set it up. She did that for me! I told her the general vision of how I wanted it set up and she did the actual early work.
The second woman comes into play here - helenangel. She created that LJ Idol logo that I'm STILL using. I told her what I wanted, she did the actual work to create it! (and honestly made it better than it was in my head)
The third woman was onxyblue1. She took over as my assistant after Hilary and I had a falling out. I was stupid and apologized a long time ago. But for anyone reading this who has any doubt, I was completely in the wrong on that one and Hilary was completely right. No, I'm not getting into it because honestly it's personally embarrassing. Let's just say I was wound pretty tight and had an inflexible set of "right and wrong" even when it was not my business and where a third party was clearly manipulating us into a fight, using that against me.
Which brings me to back to onxyblue1 because in addition to doing all that work that I described earlier, and putting up with me being well, "Me".. being the nuts and bolts actually making the group work in those early days, she gave me some incredible advice that I did not take at the time and it cost me later. For me, even into season 3 when things were starting to take off (we jumped from 9 contestants to the 20s to 75!) I was still very much in the mindset of "these are my friends" I'd believe people when they told me something. I'd regularly give out my address and phone number to anyone who wanted/needed it. (More on that in Season 4. Oh yes. I'll leave the gun right here for that to be picked up in a later post!!) She told me that I needed to keep more of a distance and not be as naive as I was. She wanted me to be professional before I actually wanted Idol to be something even halfway professional. But asking me to not be naive was, and still is in some ways, a pretty big ask. I tend to want to think the best of people and then get surprised when it bites me.
She tried to spare me that and if I'd listened sooner I think a lot of what happened in the infamous season 4 could have been avoided. She said, and did, a lot more than that. But that's one series of conversations that has stuck with me this entire time and that I've gone back to quite a lot over the years.
She was a fantastic friend to me, and to Idol. One thing that does tend to be overlooked though when talking about her as my assistant is that she was a contestant in Season 1 and 2 and had shown herself to be a talented writer as well. I really enjoyed reading her entries and getting to know her through her words.
Who did something that was intended as a joke. I knew it was a joke. But if you look back over what I said the situation is, maybe you will spot what no one really thought too hard on, and I thought *way* too hard about.
During Season 3 (again, the first major expansion where a lot of these people weren't friends and friends of friends - they were several people removed from anyone who knew or really cared much about me on the best day) I went on a road trip with Season 2 winner (and my best friend at the time) and her teenage daughter. It was my first big trip of my post divorce life (About 4 years into it!) We had a blast. I left my trusty assistant in charge, the first time I'd ever just let completely go and put everything in the hands of someone else without constantly micromanaging them. (Because I needed to, see above; I did not have access myself. If I wasn't involved on a micromanaging level - was it really MINE? Sure it was my idea and I set the prompts (or topics as I called them then. Probably more on that later too!)
Cutting to the chase, she decided it would be funny to have a mutiny - Change the graphics and lock me out of the system. I won't lie, I was pissed. But far more accurately, I was scared out of my mind. I had just effectively lost this project that I cared about a lot, just as it seemed to be taking off. Everyone else seemed to love it and think it was the funniest thing. So I not only lost my competition, I'd lost the room as well.
There is only one reason why I got it back and we are celebrating the 20th Year of this thing we call Idol. Because oynxblue1 was someone of great character, who was a good friend to both myself and Idol, who made a joke that, probably without her even thinking about it, hit me squarely where I was the most structurally, and emotionally vulnerable. Idol had become a really big part of what was keeping me going at that point, and the thought of having it gone really shook me far more than I ever expressed at the time. (and I expressed a LOT!)
She actually stayed on for a bit and helped transition to a new assistant (kithan/Stephanie. Someone else who started as a contestant who moved into the assistant role. More on her later too.)
I've seen surprise that I would invite her for this event from people who only know the story from her Introduction, but being completely honest here, there was no way that invitation was not going to be sent. She was a HUGE part of Seasons 1-3 and something that was meant to be laughed about isn't how I remember her, nor do I want that to be her Idol legacy. I'm so happy to have her back in the fold to write whatever this next chapter is unfolding this season and I'm glad that other people will get the chance to meet this incredibly special woman who truly is a primary figure in why Idol survived this long.
***
Coming soon in the history lesson: the first Idol murder and when this business suddenly got serious. Getting Wise to Sophism. Lessons of boobgate and the two great betrayals (and why in 20 years there are only TWO former contestants with permanent bans) that shaped Season 4 and everything that happened after.
Sign-ups are here: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1219874.html There have been a few people who have signed up since the Week 9 poll went up. So make sure to go welcome them!
The FAQ is here for anyone who needs it!: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1218443.html
***
A few more housekeeping items:
- This is Year 20. Not Season 20. One of the not-so-secret behind the scenes "secrets" is that I was really dreading having a Season 13. There was definitely a point in my life where 13 was my lucky number. But at some point that reversed itself and I fell into the trap of triskaidekaphobia! ;) That, and LJ's steady decline is why I opted to make "full seasons" of Idol more rare and started doing more mini seasons and special events. It's silly I know. As time has gone on the distinction between mini and full seasons has blurred, although the mini ones do tend to have a "theme" and specific twists that are an inherent part of that event, and the regular seasons don't!
- I've been asked if contestants can have 3 byes this season. I'll make you a deal. You get me to 100 contestants (and no, I'm not saying people make alts that aren't going to actually play. But real honest to goodness returning and new contestants, and I will give you 3 byes! Honestly, it sounds like a good deal to me! You're at 74 right now and I know of at least another 6-7 people off the top of my head who said they were showing but haven't posted their intent yet. Honestly, I should probably make that number more steep now that I'm actually looking it. But you know what? I'm feeling generous and that was the number I picked off the top of my head before looking at the current number. So let's go with that! Go forth and recruit, and you will get an extra bye! (See, it pays to read the Green Room!)
- One of the main reasons why this isn't "All Stars" is the obvious - the only TRUE "All Star" was kittymichaels! He won the All Star season before it ever started, and he's also won this season and every other season that has been or ever will be! ;) (If you were there, you get it. If you weren't check out this link to his final post: kittymichaels.livejournal.com/58919.html
Which serves not only as a snapshot of Idol history but also as a teaser for a future Idol history lesson entitled "The Time When I Didn't Like Kittymichaels, and why!" Clearly I was mistaken and learned my lesson. But to get to there we have to get through some other stuff. And besides, that's enough to make you keep coming back! Because who doesn't want to know about someone being stupid enough to not like kittymichaels!!
***
That's a tale for another time though. Today I want to tell you of 3 women who shaped the earliest days of LJ Idol. If you've been around for any length of time, you've probably heard the names. But I want to set this up to give you some context and answer a question that I saw asked out there in the wilderness. (Without directly answering it of course. Because I'm nothing if not vague!)
Some important things to remember from the earliest days of Idol is that I did not actually have a laptop at my apartment. I did Idol at work, both my work station computer *and* the computers they had in the various break room(s) (Remember, this was the mid-2000s. Office jobs did things like that!) The other big one point of access was the library. Deadlines had to be set up when I could be at one of those places. OR, I had to have an assistant who copied and pasted a LOT of my spiel as well as set up the polls from Seasons 1-partway through Season 4. (Oh, and I also had an internet package with unlimited data - on my flip phone. Yes, they saw a sucker and took him for everything they could! But at least I could access Idol from wherever I needed to access it. (I had that phone until 2011!! Yes, you read that correctly)
The first of the women is allpeachy4u (Hilary) She not only was the one who kept bugging me to move Idol off my personal Live journal account (I hosted the 1st season there because it was just me hanging out with my friends and doing some weird little writing game to kill some time and amuse ourselves. Or rather, to amuse me! Mostly me!
But Hilary kept INSISTING that I move it to a community. I'd never set up a community. I'd never ran a community before (Well, I'd ran various groups and websites. but this was my first LJ community) I did not have a clue on how to set it up. She did that for me! I told her the general vision of how I wanted it set up and she did the actual early work.
The second woman comes into play here - helenangel. She created that LJ Idol logo that I'm STILL using. I told her what I wanted, she did the actual work to create it! (and honestly made it better than it was in my head)
The third woman was onxyblue1. She took over as my assistant after Hilary and I had a falling out. I was stupid and apologized a long time ago. But for anyone reading this who has any doubt, I was completely in the wrong on that one and Hilary was completely right. No, I'm not getting into it because honestly it's personally embarrassing. Let's just say I was wound pretty tight and had an inflexible set of "right and wrong" even when it was not my business and where a third party was clearly manipulating us into a fight, using that against me.
Which brings me to back to onxyblue1 because in addition to doing all that work that I described earlier, and putting up with me being well, "Me".. being the nuts and bolts actually making the group work in those early days, she gave me some incredible advice that I did not take at the time and it cost me later. For me, even into season 3 when things were starting to take off (we jumped from 9 contestants to the 20s to 75!) I was still very much in the mindset of "these are my friends" I'd believe people when they told me something. I'd regularly give out my address and phone number to anyone who wanted/needed it. (More on that in Season 4. Oh yes. I'll leave the gun right here for that to be picked up in a later post!!) She told me that I needed to keep more of a distance and not be as naive as I was. She wanted me to be professional before I actually wanted Idol to be something even halfway professional. But asking me to not be naive was, and still is in some ways, a pretty big ask. I tend to want to think the best of people and then get surprised when it bites me.
She tried to spare me that and if I'd listened sooner I think a lot of what happened in the infamous season 4 could have been avoided. She said, and did, a lot more than that. But that's one series of conversations that has stuck with me this entire time and that I've gone back to quite a lot over the years.
She was a fantastic friend to me, and to Idol. One thing that does tend to be overlooked though when talking about her as my assistant is that she was a contestant in Season 1 and 2 and had shown herself to be a talented writer as well. I really enjoyed reading her entries and getting to know her through her words.
Who did something that was intended as a joke. I knew it was a joke. But if you look back over what I said the situation is, maybe you will spot what no one really thought too hard on, and I thought *way* too hard about.
During Season 3 (again, the first major expansion where a lot of these people weren't friends and friends of friends - they were several people removed from anyone who knew or really cared much about me on the best day) I went on a road trip with Season 2 winner (and my best friend at the time) and her teenage daughter. It was my first big trip of my post divorce life (About 4 years into it!) We had a blast. I left my trusty assistant in charge, the first time I'd ever just let completely go and put everything in the hands of someone else without constantly micromanaging them. (Because I needed to, see above; I did not have access myself. If I wasn't involved on a micromanaging level - was it really MINE? Sure it was my idea and I set the prompts (or topics as I called them then. Probably more on that later too!)
Cutting to the chase, she decided it would be funny to have a mutiny - Change the graphics and lock me out of the system. I won't lie, I was pissed. But far more accurately, I was scared out of my mind. I had just effectively lost this project that I cared about a lot, just as it seemed to be taking off. Everyone else seemed to love it and think it was the funniest thing. So I not only lost my competition, I'd lost the room as well.
There is only one reason why I got it back and we are celebrating the 20th Year of this thing we call Idol. Because oynxblue1 was someone of great character, who was a good friend to both myself and Idol, who made a joke that, probably without her even thinking about it, hit me squarely where I was the most structurally, and emotionally vulnerable. Idol had become a really big part of what was keeping me going at that point, and the thought of having it gone really shook me far more than I ever expressed at the time. (and I expressed a LOT!)
She actually stayed on for a bit and helped transition to a new assistant (kithan/Stephanie. Someone else who started as a contestant who moved into the assistant role. More on her later too.)
I've seen surprise that I would invite her for this event from people who only know the story from her Introduction, but being completely honest here, there was no way that invitation was not going to be sent. She was a HUGE part of Seasons 1-3 and something that was meant to be laughed about isn't how I remember her, nor do I want that to be her Idol legacy. I'm so happy to have her back in the fold to write whatever this next chapter is unfolding this season and I'm glad that other people will get the chance to meet this incredibly special woman who truly is a primary figure in why Idol survived this long.
***
Coming soon in the history lesson: the first Idol murder and when this business suddenly got serious. Getting Wise to Sophism. Lessons of boobgate and the two great betrayals (and why in 20 years there are only TWO former contestants with permanent bans) that shaped Season 4 and everything that happened after.
