First impressions:

- my assigned assassination target. I've had a few conversations with him. We've bonded over his love of food and the fact that he's from Iran (because my dad went to Iran at some point for a conference). He seems pretty easy to get along with too. I would've preferred it if my target was more annoying though. I haven't had any interactions with him or anyone else that suggest they should be the first out of our tribe (hoping that doesn't happen for a while), but Reynold's my preferred boot at the moment purely because he is my target.

- haven't talked to him very much at all. He was apparently having some trouble with his AIM, and he didn't get on until late this evening. Hopefully he'll be on tomorrow and I'll be able to talk to him then.

- this guy is a bit crazy. As I'm writing this, he is watching curling live (he's actually at the curling stadium or whatever it's called). I had no idea people watched curling seriously and not as a joke. He told me he's a "smart accountant" who's getting a degree online. I actually have no idea who this guy is. Is he smart, is he Chicken, or is he some kind of mix between the two? I'm keeping an eye on this one for sure.

- anyone who chooses Debbie is a pretty interesting person. She's had some pretty cool life experiences (although some of them might be completely fake), including living in a small town in Iowa and serving as a safari guide in Brazil. I'm getting some real good vibes from her.

- my main alliance at the moment. I completely misjudged him on the meet n greet board, he's actually a really cool guy. We have really similar opinions about Survivor (neither us get the hype for Michele or Julia) and we've been getting along well. He told me that I'm his target but he won't try to get me out. He's probably the main person I trust right now. I'm not sure if I 100% trust him, but he thinks I trust him and that's what's important right now.

On the Ozato tribe, I've heard that Alexis has private chats going with her tribe members but she hasn't put her AIM on the board or talked with any of us (the other Coast tribe). I don't think that's really cool, so she's my least favorite person over there right now. I haven't gotten around to talking with Sydney yet, but she seemed nice on the meet n greet board. Of the people I've talked to, Kat and Dana seem like good people. Both of them are really genuine and nice. Sugar seems really weird. My one conversation with her consisted mostly of dog memes. I don't really know what that was about. I'm pretty sure Tom is a strategic player like I am. Everyone else started their conversations with "hey Gervase" or something like that. The first thing he said to me was "why did you pick Gervase?". He might just be socially clueless and trying to start a conversation, but, from a strategic perspective, it seems like he's trying to figure us out and learn things about us based on how we answered his question. He was also talking shit about Gervase on Survivor: Borneo, which I really didn't like, even though the things he was saying were kind of true.

Anyway, it looks like we've decided as a tribe to do the challenge tomorrow (Sunday). I'm really looking forward to my first ever challenge experience. Hopefully it ends with a win.

That challenge was insane. We organized things really well with the Ozato tribe (we even made a spreadsheet to keep track of everything), but it wasn't our night. Having two people miss the challenge definitely hurt us, but it was really close and I think we can bounce back with a win next time around.
I have an alliance of four with myself, and
We've named ourselves "The 3 Firewood Bandit Amigos and Debbie". came up with the name, I have no idea where it came from. Within the alliance, I'm the least tight with mainly because he's my target. If I had it my way, he wouldn't have been in the alliance, but three people approached me and there's no way I'm turning that down. I'm hoping that we'll win enough challenges so we won't have to turn on each other, but voting him out is my backup plan for the rest of the phase.
is going to be the first voted out. He hasn't been on as much as everyone else and he missed the first challenge, so none of us have bonded with him as much (making him the easy vote). I highly doubt that there's going to be a blindside or change of plan. If the others try to plan something, I've made sure that is voting the same way I am (plus I'm confident that is with me). Assuming gets voted out, none of us are really sure who he'll pick to go to Ukiyo. We're all hoping that he doesn't pick so that our alliance can have control of the information and whatever is on Ukiyo. I accidentally let him be the shogun tonight when I had the opportunity to do it instead. In hindsight, it was a good move because it gives me the opportunity to do it at the next challenge or later on (hopefully on a day when we win the challenge).

It was frustrating that Ozato didn't win either. I was hoping at least one of us would get immunity. I talked with today, she actually seemed great. Despite my initial anger with her for not sharing her AIM, it seems like it was just a misunderstanding (or she was busy over Easter weekend). We're cool now, so I've officially formed good relationships with everyone over there. Out of all of them, I'd prefer them to vote out because I've connected with her the least, but I have no control over that. said they're having trouble choosing someone to vote out; there's serious potential for a wacky tribal council over there.