Much like my bootlist, I regret having to do this confessional after the fact, but I can't just not do one! So, here it is...

- I think the big story of the round is all of the momentum we as Rejects lost that round. After successfully taking out Debbie and realizing that we were now the Final 15, I was really hoping we would rally together and find a way to send our adversaries and former tribemates to tribal council to take out another threat from our old stomping grounds. Instead, we had one person refuse to participate, one person who refused to do what the rest of us were doing, one person who showed up extremely late, and two people who couldn't help but be discouraged by how terribly things were going. I think you can guess which people go with which traits. That challenge as a whole was really discouraging to me, because I really liked the challenge and originally thought we had a good shot of holding our own, but I was seriously mistaken. That was a really tough blow.

- In terms of strategizing, there wasn't really much to do. Jean-Robert and I had been furious with NaOnka after she told everyone else in the game that she had played an idol, which was far from the truth and only made us look bad unnecessarily. We decided that Nay and Abi were both crazy, but that we needed to take out NaOnka and not give anyone else a chance to think about keeping her. I don't foresee that being an issue with Abi. So, throughout the day, I tried to avoid much interaction altogether. I touched base with JR and had a pretty good chat with Peter, where I proposed that we keep this vote secret and he proposed that the three of us considering working together more in the future, citing our normalcy as what set us apart from Abi and Nay.

- I've been playing my cards extremely conservatively with Abi lately. Frankly, I kind of hope that she thinks I'm a floater. I have no desire to give her any insight into my strategy or even my thought processes, for that matter. She has proven that she is a loose cannon that can go off at any time. When she does go off, I have no desire to be standing on the wrong side of the trigger. I talk to her often and try to pick her brain about her plans as much as possible, but I provide her with very little insight about me. Most of our conversations involve me just playing dumb and acting like I'm very undecided on things. In the long run, I think I'll be glad I adopted that approach with her.

- Speaking of idols earlier, my gut tells me that we have several in play now. It's just too likely at this point. Unfortunately, that is something we are going to have to think about each and every round now. If people are smart, they will keep that information entirely to themselves, but I'm still banking on the word getting out somehow. I'm anxious to see how idols affect the game moving forward.

- I tried to not think about the game too much this round. Realizing that we were in the process of embarrassing ourselves in the challenge, I took a night off to go out and enjoy the evening with some friends. I was too tired to chat or strategize after that, so I spent most of this round not on AIM much. Honestly, I kind of enjoyed that break from the action. We were able to take out a pretty strong player in the game, and I exerted very little energy in the process. It was a win-win.

- Final point, the lower the numbers dwindle, the more I keep bracing myself for what lies ahead with a potential merge coming up soon. Several people still in the game have a very set agenda of people they would like to see gone and who they would like to see stick around for a little while. Something tells me that the merge is going to be filled with a bunch of small alliances and a large number of people ready to make some big moves. I hope I get to that point, because I'm looking forward to seeing what all is in store.


Betsy