Episode I

[chase]

Don't mind me. I'm just here to watch the analyzing...

[thiago]

You alumnus post in here more than I do! I appreciate the company.

So to give a little insight on how today went:

I decided to tone it down a bit and stay on away for most of the day via my phone. This way I was "online" so people could still contact me, but I wouldn't be total absent from any changes that went on. Given how quietly we all agreed to vote Mark last night, I figured any resistance from Mark could easily shift the vote onto somebody else. And sure enough, it did.

Mark was on most of the day as he promised. He worked both Zac and Dion really hard and Dion decided that Mark deserved a chance. I'm sure that she saw this as an opportunity to save someone, and that this person would then feel indebted to her and be an ally. It's not a terrible play, but I think Dion is making the mistake of not recognizing her surroundings: everyone is playing a very quiet game. When everyone is being quiet, any loud moves will make you an immediate target. And sure enough, with every message I received today about Naomi being the new target, the words "Dion will take the heat for it" were echoed over and over again. Given that Dion is my competition, I can't be too sad about it.

Regarding the vote, I wasn't too excited to vote for Naomi simply because I felt I was one of the few people Naomi actually spoke with. I did feel bad because Naomi really tried in the challenge. Starr was being bossy and undermined Naomi's position to make the images. I appreciate Starr trying to help us win, but she should have offered to be the image maker from the get-go. Instead, she waited for someone to fail and turned into the heroine. To me, this is a sign of a savy player and I absolutely cannot trust Starr. I may be in an alliance with her, but Starr is looking out for Starr. She already recognizes that I am a social threat, it's only a matter of time before she cuts my throat too. Until that day, Starr will think I completely trust her as a friend and will feel she has the upper hand.

Starr asked me who else I feel I can trust. I think she wants to expand our alliance. However, I really don't want to tell people who I trust "the most" because those are cards I want to keep to myself. Sure, it could help me get people I trust into safety, but any group that goes down will usually go down together, so having allies in the "minority" side of the tribe can only be useful if and when I have to jump ship. Right now, I think my truest allegiance is to Gabe and Zac. I think that they are both honest, straight up people that I can depend on. I think I can control Zac more, but I respect Gabe a lot for some reason. There's something my gut tells me with Gabe is good. Having good social players who know how to play this game are great allies and I see that in Gabe. I think we could me a great team.

Here are reasons why these people, most of whom I am actually alligned with, are not who I want to go deep in the game with:

Starr - she really has no allegiance to anyone but herself, and she's always looking to take people down; this type of destructive game play is too messy and any affliation with that can really hurt your reputation

Bree - her character is going to bother a lot of people, and I think it's going to be difficult for anyone to feel truly connected to her because her character is so put-on; I can't go all the way with someone I don't feel connected to. The same applies to Julian, here.

Pilar - similar to Starr but a little less mature but a little more cautious; I can see strategizing with her down the road being a nightmare when her hormones dictate her strategic thinking. I think she thinks she's more objective than she really is

Knox - he's a player; he doesn't make the best first impression and I think he's willing to slit throats; he's one of those people who sweet talks everyone and plays it real cool - all I smell is a sugar-coated snake, and that's not someone you can depend on

I really don't talk to Reese. I really should but I think that Reese and me will simply be on different ends of this game. I could make the effort but I think being buddy-buddy with EVERYONE is going to hurt me at some point. I have to have people that I really don't talk to very much, and that person is going to be Reese. He seems cool, though. Being a social butterfly will only raise "shady" alarms and that's exactly the opposite persona I'm going for out here. My aim is to be viewed as non-threatening, friendly, a little quirky, and reliable.

Anyway, that pretty well sums up the first round through my eyes.