Confessions of a Hart-Breaker

[Brian Hart]

Well hello hello, Hosts, Housecalls, and people both real and imaginary. It's good to be playing again, and I'm quite glad that so far, everybody seems at least somewhat decent. First off though, so I don't seem quite as crazy down the line, I figure I'll clear up my mindset on a few things going into this.


1. When it comes to "alias" and all that, it's not nearly so much that "I'm bad at alias" as it is that "I don't give a shit about alias". I'm not going to flat out say who I am, or like advertise it and be the only person in the cast doing that, but I'm going to play and act like I'm going to play and act, and what comes from it will come from it. If someone suspects who I am as a result, then good for them.

2. Generally speaking, I don't really care who people "actually are". Like sure, there's maybe 1 or 2 people who might have a quirk or two that's similar to someone I've played with before, but that doesn't really matter. There's only like 3 (MAYBE 4 if I stretched it) people in the ORG world that would make me instantly throw caution out and just be like "I don't care, fuck you" and since there's nobody I have even the slightest urge to punch right now, I feel at least mostly confident none of them are here so it'd be dumb to waste time worrying about "the exceptions".

3. I may be blunt and straightforward with calling things how I see them at the time and oftentimes (especially in here) saying the first thoughts that come to mind about a situation, but it's not meant to be taken really personally. I'm just a bit...expressive at times.


That all being said, Sam winning the HOH actually turned out to be a really good thing for me since he was the first person I ever talked to in the game, and in our first conversation we joked about being "Coffee Inc", so I feel like I should be relatively fine this week barring me doing something crazy stupid. I've had a couple of talks with Gina, Zach, and Luke, but I'm not sure if anything's going to come of them. Neda and I seem to get along, and apparently Sam likes her too, but she comes across as potentially being a little "loose lipped".

Sarah and I have just freaking hit it off like crazy so far I think, and if I could get her and Sam on the same page to work together, but I haven't asked either of them what their thought on the other is. It seems a little more likely from what I've heard that Wil might be going barring Veto stuff, but I have to work a bit more on my relations with Mike, Sofia, and Jojo for now. Plus, I have to get a better read on Brittany since, even though I like her, I need to do a check to see if she's trustworthy.

[Brian Hart]

It's sort of funny how what I figured would be a simple matter of Wil being evicted on account of "who are you again?" has turned into some sort of complicated thing where I'm going back and forth on things. That being said, the most important thing that went down in all of this is that I managed to get myself into an alliance with Sam, Sarah, Brittany, and Zach. It was actually kind of easy to pitch to people since Sarah gets along with Zach, and I get along with Brittany, with Sam and Sarah being the first 2 people I talked to.

I feel a little bit threatened by Sofia, but that's ultimately not the most important thing this early on in the game since I don't have as much info as I'd want to make that sort of conclusion. I've wanted Wil to go because he hasn't spoken to me at all since the nominations were posted, and only had 1 or 2 forced semi-conversations with me that I had to initiate, so it's like "why are you even here?". It's just insulting to kind of think of someone who doesn't seem to care sticking around over someone who does and who could possibly be used to be a target by the rest of the house. However...I can't really be thinking of things from a "deserving" perspective like that because this isn't pre-merge Survivor.

Jojo also didn't exactly do herself any favours when she told me how she was really going to put up Sam and Sarah if she won HOH, and how she kept going on about being after Sarah and Sarah wanting her out. I mean, if she was going after Sofia, Gina, or Luke for instance, then that would be something I could try to swing to people to help her stay, but when she wants some of my allies for now out, I can't really let it fly. There's also that Gina and Wil are probably the 2 easiest nominations any HOH next round could make, so there's also that. I just have to hope that things start to settle in place a bit more and that this alliance with Sam/Sarah/Brittany/Zach works out. I'd be totally pissed if I was Jojo in this situation though.

Oh, and that Brittany doesn't think I'm an idiot for being surprised her character was from BB16, when I told her that I said "fuck this season" to it so early on that I forgot Brittany and like half the cast.

[Brian Hart]

I pretty much have a strong suspicion I'm not going to win this HOH, since I admittedly don't have the world's greatest eye for details like what's needed for these sometimes. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't have a BAD eye for detail, I just figure I'll probably have to guess for a few. And truth be told, it might actually wind up being okay if I don't win it either since I don't necessarily see a rational reason why people would target me so early on.

[Brian Hart]

Another DR's coming later today, but I've just gotta say the "Next Time on Gotham" thing that aired after the premiered bugged me (even though it might be a little thing). "How does a little girl become one of the most dangerous villains?". Excuse me, but Selina Kyle's an Anti-Hero.

[Brian Hart]

So, after embarrassing myself almost as much as I figured was bound to happen with the HOH, Neda wins it and puts up Luke and Gina. I'm like "Sweet!" because I wasn't sure on where my situation with Neda quite was. It's awesome though because I'm like totally feeling like I'm in a much better position than I could've been if I got a bit lazy. I really need to work on my non-main group relationships with people though, since while I feel pretty confident that I'm on good terms with Neda, Mike and Sofia are probably people I need to get a better bond with. I keep having to remind myself how drastically different Big Brother is than Survivor and how I have to keep constantly trying to make sure I'm covered in as many situations as possible.

Brittany and I were talking a bit over the nominations and stuff. You know, we were just talking about Neda winning HOH, Luke and Gina being up, and the thought of one of them going home. Needless to say it pretty much went like this:



Regardless though, I actually get to freaking play in the Veto! And it's a puzzle thing, so I likely won't suck at it! Well...unless of course it's like a thousand pieces...or is a complete spawn of the devil by having rotating pieces. If that's how it is, then well...I probably will wind up spending over 30 minutes getting progressively more frustrated and trying to think of a way to stick my foot up a puzzle's non-existant ass. Well, I wouldn't go THAT far, but it wouldn't do much to help what people think of me, and would do even less to help keep me safe in case Neda turns out to be wanting to do something crazy.

[Brian Hart]

Huh, well I lost the Veto not so much by doing badly (because realistically, I did decently, had a relatively solid time, and could've shaved a minute off if a piece or two didn't get lost for a little bit), but because the others just did better, so hey.

Still though, I was talking to Brittany before the results and was like "watch Neda win with 2:30" or something like that...and she winds up winning with 2:32...the fuck? Hmm...maybe I'm secretly getting psychic powers.

[Brian Hart]

(Holy crap this wound up longer than I meant it to. I just kinda like putting a lot into my DRs though, so...hey.)


Pretty much as anybody could predict, Neda didn't use the Veto, so the nominations are well, you know, the exact same as they were before. It's looking from what I hear that Luke is going to wind up staying and Gina's going to be going home, which is something I'm not sure how I feel about. I mean, it's really early in the game still yes, but I have to try and look at keeping myself safe a bit even beyond just the alliance of 5. Luke's goofiness and quirks might disarm people and keep him safe, but I think as it stands now, Gina might be less likely to actually put me up if she wins HOH, than Luke is. Plus well, Luke did surprisingly well in the Veto, and it could be important to start taking out people outside the 5 of us that might win competitions. But Sarah said that Luke likes me/Zach/Brittany/Sarah, so at worst case we might have to convince him to not put Sam up or something.

The past two days though, I'm seriously tempted to try and get something going and make a big move for the next round. I'm thinking Neda could actually in the long run turn out to be the biggest obstacle for my group down the line, so it's like...why not just try and take the chance to deal with it here and now? The sooner any potential obstacles get out of the way, the better off we'll be and the less chance we have of being stopped. I'm worried as shit about the idea though, because like...I think I'm on Neda's good side, and maybe I could both use her to deflect any attention away from us with her potentially being that "person who the rest of the house targets", and as somebody I might be able to use to help me make a move down the line.

This is going to be the Final 10 though, and she's not going to be able to play in the next HOH competition while all 5 of the people in my alliance are going to make up the majority of people playing. As the rounds go on, Neda's just going to get more and more likely to be picked for the Veto, and she could potentially win the Final 9 HOH depending on what it is. Like, we pretty much agreed that the next two logical nominations would be Wil and Sofia, so the chance to backdoor Neda if one of us is HOH is there. I mean, it's hard to say for sure since it's not the next round yet, but it could be done without her even playing in the Veto.

I don't know though...like, I feel like I'd be such a damn scumbag for doing something like that this early, and it kind of bugs me. The thing is though, there's no way I can get through this and win without things getting messy at at least some point, and I have to try and look out for myself. Everyone here is looking to make the right moves to win, and the fact of the matter is that I can't let any "nice guy mentality" like what I normally have in my daily life get in the way of me making the necessary game decisions. A guy hasn't won this series since Season 2, and I have every intention of being the man who changes that.

[Brian Hart]

Well, that vote wound up being pretty clean. It's looking like Wil and Sofia might have gone and voted to evict Luke, but frankly if someone else was one of the votes and is covering their ass by pinning it on them, it doesn't really bother me. I just hope the HOH isn't Endurance because I kinda don't want to spend a few hours on an HOH this early, and I certainly don't want to try and justify spending a ridiculous amount of time on it when as far as we know, the jury hasn't even started and I shouldn't be in danger.

[Brian Hart]

Aww crap...AND this 2 HOHs/4 Noms/Battle of the Block nonsense too? That shit was seriously one of the main reasons I stopped watching BB16 after Week 3 and never once saw a BOTB Competition. Like, seriously, that was out of protest, and now in some twist of irritating irony, I'm stuck dealing with it myself.

Well...I guess I shouldn't be TOO surprised. A "2 HOHs" thing is how I got HOH last time I played a Big Brother game. I'm just curious on how we're going to be able to swing things this week without being entirely exposed.

[Brian Hart]

Well, this HOH is going to be something that's admittedly not the most fun thing in the world. With there being 2 HOHs though, it's pretty important that myself and someone else in my alliance win HOH. Even more than that, it's crucial that one of us winds up as HOH when the Battle of the Block happens because otherwise some random shit like Wil or Sofia being HOH could happen, and if one of them, or BOTH of them wind up winning HOH, then I'm going to be absolutely freaked out and possibly terrified at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.



The others also happen to not really be pleased over it, but everybody's giving it their best shot. I mean hell, I could easily be wrong about this, and at some point we're going to have to go after each other (since only 2 of us can be in the finals), but it feels like we're in this as a team for the time being. Like, if we're the fucking X-Force, then I'm Cable, Brittany's Domino, and Sarah's X-23 (and a totally under-appreciated and underused Point and Middle character in Marvel 3 at that...). I'm not about to let a twist like this get in our way and stop me. Though, I'm still debating whether to use the name "New Kids on the Block" like Sarah joked, "Hellions" (which is a combination of being horribly lamer, kind of cooler, and sounding like a hair metal band), or something else entirely.

Ultimately, I'm going to give HOH the old college try and do the best that I can do as someone normal and stuff can be expected to do without issues or being super dead for any job interviews coming up. I just hope nobody like Wil goes and does something ridiculous and pulls out 16 hours for who knows what reason.

[Brian Hart]

10 and a half, and 11 hours? And this early, too? What the holy fuck? Well...at least Zach got an HOH for us, and at least Wil/Sofia didn't.

[Brian Hart]

Judging by the way HOH and the nominations went, this week could either wind up being awesome, or really bad. It pretty much depends almost entirely on whether Sarah and Brittany pull through and win the Battle of the Block against Wil and Luke. One thing though, is that it is kind of suspicious that not only is Mike seeming to target Sarah (even if they barely talked like he said), but that he put Brittany up next to her instead of Sofia. I mean sure, you could argue that like he said, he thinks Brittany will stay, and that Sofia would go home if she was put up, but...why should he really give much of a shit if Sofia goes? Though, they might well have something, and since Mike said that he'd have nominated Sarah and Luke if Zach didn't make his nominations first makes me wonder if he's got something with Wil too. Of course, I'm not sure if that's easier said than done since Wil has a tendency to well...have difficulty holding conversations.

I just hope this isn't turning into some faction war already where it's like me/Sarah/Brittany/Zach/Sam (which Sarah actually suggested we call "Kids Next Door" and not "New Kids on the Block", but that's not important now) vs Neda/Mike/Wil/Sofia with Luke in the middle. Granted, part of why I hope that's not the case is because it'd probably be the smart thing for them to do, and that would just make my job more difficult. Also, part of why I hope that's not the case is because with Luke being nominated by Zach, regardless of how this week goes Mike can just tell Luke "hey, Zach nominated you, not me". You know, any and all possible specifics aside, and any attempts to point out that Mike said he wanted to be the one to nominate Luke possibly just coming across a trying to be baseless claims to make Mike look bad.

While I'm not fully sure that there's some other big alliance and think it might just be Mike and Sofia, with Wil doing his own thing and Neda trying to do her best to get in with everyone, I'm not going to be a total idiot and say it's impossible. And sure, it's true that there's always a hierarchy within alliances, and I need to worry about myself, but now's not the time to even consider going dumbass and breaking faith with the group when it's not only not in anybody else involved's interests, but not in mine either. I think in a worst case situation where Wil and Luke win the Battle of the Block, I should still be good enough with Mike (and Neda if I need her) to have some sort of say in stuff depending on how Veto goes. Oh man, one way or another this is gonna be a dirty round.

[Brian Hart]

Fuck, yeah! I knew Sarah and Brittany could do it! Whew, this is such a freaking relief! Step 1 is now underway.

[Rhian Sugden]

Step 1?

[Brian Hart]

Yeah. Step 1 is I stop being paranoid of the round. Step 2 is where I discover I've retained my sanity.