Round 3

[porsche]

So Kaitlin left and that was good. There was a part of me that wanted to use Marvin's HOH to take out a bigger threat to my game, but Kaitlin leaving is not a bad thing at all. She isn't that active, and there's plenty of time. I talk with her the least out of everyone and since I have no idea where she stands, her going is good for me. I definitely did not want her to stay over Jen, although Jen is still calling me a socialite and saying there's no way I leave before final 7. It scares me because she's right (hopefully about the final 7 part too!) I have no idea how to take that or how to respond to her. Is she saying she might target me at final 7? I have no idea.

This HOH competition excites and scares me at the same time. It's exciting because it can expose a lot of the dynamics and who is tight with who. I'm very interested to see when people start hitting my blocks and who does it. On the other hand, I'm the one who might be exposed. I have some kind of deal with almost everyone and this is going to be a tough challenge to navigate without losing the trust of anyone.

I also really do not want to be HOH. A lot more people would be expecting safety than I could deliver. The only people who I do not have some kind of deal with are Mark and Will, and I guess I could put them up without making too many enemies (besides them), although I think some people would be upset I didn't nominate Marvin. But even if I get through the competition and nomination ceremony without too much needless blood on my hands, what do I do if the veto is used? What if Pandoras Box restricts my nomination choices like it did to Marvin? Could I resist opening Pandora's Box?

I don't think HOH would be too bad for me if everything went according to plan. But there's also a real chance for it to turn into a shitshow, and it doesn't make sense for me to win if I can throw it to a trusted ally.

I was thinking of targeting Cody soon. I like him and I've talked with him more than others. He even made a picture of the two of us. The problem is that he's photoshopping pictures for everyone and if he has the exact same flirty personality with everyone, how do I know where he really stands with me?

Except last night, Cody messaged me asking we share our boxes and pull in a couple people to make sure one of us got HOH. We talked about our thoughts of the cast and he was actually fairly detailed. Soooo I guess I won't be targeting him. I would like to stay out of a big group deal though. I'm already in two four player alliances and if I get exposed and it's found out that I'm in another, that will not be pretty.

safjewjjqwer why are all these people trusting me?

[porsche]

Mark Byron (16:37:46): Hey tell me your boxes for the challenge and I won't attack them
Mark Byron (16:38:02): I'd love to see you as HoH
Porsche Briggs (16:38:44): sure, I'd be happy to see you as HOH too
Porsche Briggs (16:38:52): my boxes are 2, 11, 21
Mark Byron (16:39:07): I'm 43, 10, and 37

dammit I was thinking of possibly targeting him if I won. I really do not want to win this. I had to tell Mark my boxes because not telling him would be awkward. Luckily I'm not doing well in this challenge. Cody "accidentally" hit mine. He said he wrote down the wrong number. I'm not totally sure whether I believe him but I do think he would have been smarter about it if he wanted to take me out.

I'm only down to one though, so at least I won't have to worry about being HOH.

[porsche]

Note to self: get better at throwing challenges

I was thinking that I didn't want this HOH, because who would I have put up? Will and ? It probably would have been Mark but with him sharing his numbers, especially if he helped me win at the end. That would have been awkward. I'm not thrilled about Mark winning because he probably would have been my target for the week. And I ended up helping him win lol. At the end, I failed to realize that everybody knew my last box and if somebody hit it there was no question it was on purpose. I just pretended that I wasn't online, until the end when it was down to me, Jen and Mark. I would have been happy with Jen as HOH but she was throwing it even harder so we ended up giving it to Mark.

This could work out for me. At the end Mark was promising me and Jen safety, and since I helped him get the HOH I would be shocked if he broke the deal, especially in week 3. So hopefully I can relax this week knowing that I have a spot in the final 10.

Who would it be good for me to get out though? I'm allied with almost every player in this game, and it's hard for me to even consider voting them out. But if I want to win, that means all but one has to go, so I need to start thinking about this strategically.

Amy: I really liked Amy at first, and according to Marvin she wanted to make an alliance with me and David, but since it's Marvin's version of events, who knows what really happened? I like Amy but I also feel like I'm a little bit distant from her and since that alliance was made, we haven't talked about it and it doesn't really feel like we're allied. Even when she's been busy it still feels like she's on good terms with a lot of people. I like her a lot too but if I'm looking at this strategically, she's sort of expendable.

Austin: Apparently he's thinking me and Marvin have a final 2 deal because of Marvin's shadiness of setting up the me/him/Austin/David alliance, which we are calling the BDSM alliance after our initials even though that's not our initials  Anyway, he brought it up to David but didn't bring it up to me. I'm going to need to chat with Austin and make sure I'm still good with him. However, he set up an alliance with Sarah and Jen and didn't say a word about it to me. AUSTIN, DON'T YOU KNOW THAT I'M THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED TO BE IN MULTIPLE ALLIANCES? I feel like the difference between me and him is I made sure I had really good relationships with everyone first and then they all came to me for alliances while Austin set up the alliances first. I think I've been more successful but I haven't truly been tested. I'd like to improve my relationship with Austin, but he keeps climbing up and up my hitlist. I don't think I actually need him for my game, but I don't think he would go after me.

Cody: I don't have a lot to say about Cody that I haven't said. I don't feel super close to him but I've gotten to talk to him more recently. I think he's smarter than he lets on but I also don't think a lot of people feel super close with him. I also know he's one of the few who isn't in good with David and while I don't want David going anywhere for a long time that might not be the worst thing down the road? I'm getting too far ahead of myself. I have the tendency to map out the next six rounds which is just ridiculous in a big brother game.

David: I know I said otherwise in the Cody section, but I don't want him going anywhere for a while. He is a good player and I have to watch out for that, but I also really do feel like he's close with me. He's told me a lot of stuff, like Kaitlin and Will approaching him, and Austin talking about thinking me/Marvin have a final 2. I need him in the game.

Jen: I really like Jen, and I think that I'm close with her. Her bringing up how social I am does scare me. And also, I'm starting to notice just how many people are saying that they like her. Louise. Sarah. Mark. Cody. It's something to keep in mind for the future, but I know Jen is safe for this week and since she did tell me about Austin making an alliance with her I know I can trust her.

Louise: I still love Louise. We don't talk about the game a ton but I do really enjoy our conversations. Since Austin was going around making alliances and I had already let Jen know he approached me, I let Louise know too and that seems to have been a good thing. She's been talking about having me and Jen come together which I like, but I also don't want to be a part of every single group. If I had to guess, I would say Louise is Jen's #1.

Mark: 

Mark Byron (11:39:07): But I did want to make sure to talk to you today
Mark Byron (11:39:34): I really enjoyed working together yesterday on the challenge

Mark Byron (11:41:24): Cool! Do you want to keep our teamwork going in this game?
Porsche Briggs (11:42:00): you mean like an alliance?
Mark Byron (11:43:08): I would be interested. Thoughts? Is it too early?

Mark Byron (11:48:15): Cool. I'd love to play the whole game with you
Mark Byron (11:48:28): Jen too, if we both feel good about her

goddammit why does everybody want to work with me

I'm having a little bit of trouble talking to Mark though. I'm trying to talk with him about what he wants to do this week and he's being a little vague. I don't really feel like we're having as much of a conversation, but he is busy.

Marvin: So in addition to telling me Austin approached me for an alliance with me/David and Amy approached him for an alliance with me/David, he has told Austin that I was the one who got the alliance rolling. It was probably just Marvin's way of starting an alliance without looking like he started it, and it's so weird. He could have just asked me and Austin and David how we felt about it and it would have been different. I also don't like how I'm forced to be in mirrored alliances with Austin and Amy and I got no say in that. I also have noticed that he's keeping his Pandoras Box power a secret. But, I know that Austin and David don't trust him and the girls find him creepy and even Mark, who he said he was good with last week, is thinking about putting him up. Who does he really have? Amy? I see him as a very good shield. I don't want him going far because I don't think he's been totally honest with me, but I know someone else will probably take care of him down the road.

Sarah: I don't have anything official with her, but it feels like I do. She was letting me know about Austin approaching her for an alliance in real time and offered to bring me in as the third. I declined, since I'm already in a lot of alliances and since I'm close with Sarah and allied separately with Austin, it doesn't gain me that much. It did make me feel good about her and while I recognize she's a good player, I'm happy to have her on my side.

Will: Will going would be a good outcome for me I feel. He's friendly but he's also the one person I'm not allied with in some way. I'm a little nervous about what would happen if he won. I can't remember any gametalk we've had, but he is close with David so hopefully David could influence him.

[porsche]

So Mark won, and I was trying to get a chance to talk with him to figure out which nominees would be best for our (my) game. But it was very difficult to talk to Mark. He was busy and kept disappearing and when he did talk, it felt like he kept asking me questions and wouldn't say his thoughts. It felt very vague and not like a back and forth at all.

But he put up Amy and Sarah, which I actually feel really good about. Sarah I like but I'm not allied with and she'll be fine. Amy I feel like I've drifted apart from and I'm not sure where she fits in my game. Even before she was nominated I was thinking it could be good if she left.

I was happy when David won the veto. He and Cody are doing great in these competitions. I wanted the veto to not be used because who knows what Mark would have done. I feel good that it wouldn't have been me but depending on who the replacement nominee was, things could have changed. I'm happy to just be in the final 10 and to have these be the final nominees.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be voting for Amy. Technically I'm allied with her through the 4 person deal with Marvin and David but I keep forgetting that alliance is a thing. Me and Amy definitely haven't talked about it besides for five minutes after it was set up, and I feel closer to Sarah. One argument for voting Sarah would be that it would weaken Jen. I like her but I'm noticing a lot of people feel close to her. But for now, Sarah's been open and honest with me and I think it's enough to recognize the problem now while it's early and vote off someone who I don't really need.

I also don't think the votes would be there to save Amy if I even decided I wanted that. I guess if I got Louise's or Will's vote and got Marvin to use his power she would stay but I don't think it's worth it, and it's probably better for Marvin to keep his power. I finally found out what it is, it's the power to cancel 3 votes but Marvin says it expires after next week. That's a really good power and I'd prefer for Marvin to keep it. He's a good shield and the longer he stays in the better for me. I just hope that if he is nominated, I'm not nominated too.

David and Austin also don't trust Marvin. I logged on last night, and Austin had made a chat of everyone in the me/him/David/Marvin alliance except for Marvin. David had also told him about the mirrored alliance with Amy which I wasn't thrilled about. David didn't even discuss it with me and it could have made me look shady, though luckily I had told Austin I wanted to talk strategy earlier but we had never gotten around to it so he assumed I was going to reveal the Amy alliance.

Austin also revealed some info. He finally told me about his alliance with Jen and Sarah, only he said that they came to him, which contradicts what Jen and Sarah told me. Is there any chance Jen and Sarah did set the alliance up and tell me Austin did it? That would be genius if they did but I don't know. Sarah/Jen told me about it first, and Sarah was giving me live updates on it and even asked me if I wanted to be the third with her and Austin. If it was some mastermind plan cooked up by her and Jen to make me feel comfortable and I accepted the alliance with Austin, then there would be a Sarah/Austin/me alliance and a Sarah/Austin/Jen alliance.

Yeah, that feels too far fetched. The simplest explanation is Austin isn't telling the complete truth about how the alliance started and he really was the one who set it up. I do trust Austin more now that he told me about it, but I don't trust him completely. He's off my hitlist and I want to work with him, but I'll be keeping an eye on him. I hope he's not trying to play the middle.

Speaking of alliances that aren't going to work, Mark started an alliance! He kept hinting every time I talked to him that he wanted to make an alliance and I didn't want to be a part of anything more than I needed to so I kind of put it off. But while I was talking to him earlier today I realized I wanted him to feel good about me and like I was listening to him and I didn't want to give off the vibe that I didn't need an alliance, so at the end of our conversation I told him that I wanted to talk about making an alliance when I got back online later.

So I logged back on, expecting to chat with Mark, see where his head was at and who he felt good about and who he didn't, and end up concluding that either we didn't need an alliance or that we should make something small with Jen. But when I log on, I see that Mark has already made an alliance with Jen and Cody! He even created a chat!

Help. Me. This is exactly why I see Mark as a lower priority than my other allies. He's impulsive and does what he wants and I don't feel like that's someone I can work with. I mean, I'm happy he included me and that he kept me safe but he's such a big wildcard and I still don't know where he stands and I've been wanting to have a really good game conversation with him for a whole round. I'll go along with the alliance and I'll work with him if I need to but this foursome is not a long term plan for me. I'm not sure who I should tell about this. I'd like for it to be an option if I need it but it's also a good chance to build trust. I don't really want to go telling everyone in the game about it though.