Board Thread:Season 28 - Generations/@comment-26281053-20151008235542

'''- Introduction. '''

Holy Crap! I can't believe we are finally here and it's been a long time in the making. I want to first start off by saying how awesome it was to be selected as an all-star for the New School generation. When I played in Rome, I had a bit of a stumble but I found my way back here and I am excited for the second opportunity to address a jury. I feel like this time around I played a much better game and I proved the first time was not a fluke, but a misunderstanding. Getting first boot was NOT my fault. It was a national holiday the night the game began. Lol jk, it was Mardi Gras. Party!

Coming into Generations I decided I would play the game at all costs and not get caught up in the blossoming friendships. At the end of the day the friendships I will find must test the trials of the season and if they can make it through, then they are friends I want to keep. All is fair in Love, War and Survivor. However that doesn't mean I don't want all of you to hold me accountable for my actions, as I think my actions are what led me here, and why I feel I deserve to win the game. The game is important, because we signed up to play it, we all wanted to win it, and that was my first priority. I feel I was strategic, social and a huge competitor.

'''- Shehr / New School. '''

(Tribe Mates: Molly, Tyler. P, Amelia, Tom, Jesper, Amber, & Jamie.) 

My journey began with New School and I quickly found myself in two alliances. On one side you had Jamie, Jesper and Amber and then on the other side you had a group created by Tom with Molly, Tyler. P and Amelia. To say I was torn would be a lie, and besides Jamie in the first alliance, my eyes were set to be in the majority.

Early on I bonded with Molly and Tyler. P and we found the Idol together. It was a great way to build trust, considering I didn't know them very well. Tyler was the one who figured out the unscramble first, so he laid claim to it. Down the line the three of us started to Skype a lot with Amelia and we became probably the core of the five person alliance. With Skype came the ability to talk freely and longer. It was easy to get stuck on calls for hours and because of this a lot of things were said and shared. I learned through Molly, Amelia and Tyler that they were friends with Sam, and that they were all a little closer then previously known. I was quite frankly not super involved in the who knows who, so I had to learn as we went.

Something that bothered me and was super revealing was the cross tribal communication. Molly and Tyler had let me know they had talked to Sam, and they told her about the Idol. To me I would have liked to be consulted, but in this game knowledge is power and I decided to take advantage of the situation. I had a feling that down the line Sam and Molly could meet up and join their forces, and while I would have been apart of those forces I knew that I would be at the bottom. I was also being grouped with all Endure people in some peoples mind, so I took the opportunity to talk strategy with Kevin and Yap. Even though we left on bad terms in Endure when it came to the game, I knew they had to see the position we could be in. Note this was my thinking at this point in the game.

We only had one discussion before the Joint Tribal stage, but the idea was for all of us to stick and stay loyal to what we were already doing. We talked about Sam, Jessy and potentially Tyler R being close and how Tyler, Amelia and Molly were close. We knew where we could stand if the groups came together, and decided we would tell each-other everything when we meet up and use all the information to make sure that we didn't end up pecked off. I have to admit I wasn't prepared for the majority of the cast to be chatting it up while on different tribes.

- New Bariq / Joint Tribals

(Tribe Mates: Amir, Skandi, Charley, Jamie, & Jessy)

I feel like this next part of the game was probably the most difficult time for me. We had just been divided into new tribes and I ended up with just Jamie on a tribe dominated by Old School, and a Middle School who at the time I was under the impression would want to work with us based on her prior connection with Jamie. At this point in the game I had seen Charley get pushed around from a far and I wondered if I was right that she felt on the outs? I really wanted to work with her and I saw the opportunity in her. It was under my impression that it would be me and the girls and we would ride it out -- thankfully we had a joint tribal twist in session for this portion of the game because I was being lied to left and right. Jamie and Jessy are scary players cause you can't predict what they will do, especially together.

The game started to get crazy with the first joint tribal council with New Shehr as it ended with Tom going, which had Sam lying to Molly, and Kevin, Jamie, Charley, and Mihai all lying to me. I was the ONLY person on New Bariq who had voted in the minority and in turn I felt like I got screwed over by Kevin who should be in my corner. It was as if my days were numbered and I was going to be the next to go, especially if we ended up with New Qahtan, a tribe I virtually didn't know.

Low and Behold the Bariq curse was in full frutation and I was now at a Tribal Council with a TON of Old School and just around the same amount of Middle School. It really felt like Tyler. P and I would be screwed over, especially since no one was talking. It turns out the entire tribe was united on splitting the votes between us and Yap. Jamie ended up spilling me all the T and was pretty much telling me I was fucked. Literally everyone on Qahtan was double dealing, and it was hard to know if they were being truthful or not. Jessy having had received votes in the last round by all the Shehr's also was seemingly seeking revenge. In a last ditch attempt after it seemed Lukas had went to bed I talked Jamie into realizing how stupid it was to keep letting Old School get the best of us and she in turn went to all the Middle School who she was clearly closer to then I was and we switched the vote in the last hour. Lukas went home in a blindside, and if I hadn't spent time and effort in Jamie, well, it could have been me. I turned the tide.

'''To sum up the rest of this portion. The following things then proceeded to occur.'''

- Tyler. P gave me the Idol to go into the next tribal, as Qahtan would be immune. - Molly, Amelia, and I made amends with Sam and Kevin. - We voted out Skandi as a group, and while this happened Jamie tried to get Skandi to idol out Kevin. - The next round Jamie and Jessy wanted to get Molly or I out. Sam found herself in the middle, and we didn't understand why. She really pushed to vote out Charley, but I pushed for Jamie as Mihai had told me about the antics last round and that I was a target. - We went behind Sam and Kevin's back and voted out Jamie with old-school and I had at this point reconnected with Charley and we seemed to finally be on the same page. - Kevin told me Sam had the Idol, and he admitted that he had been telling Sam everything up until this point. He shared with me that he would no longer do this, and only tell me things, and this stayed true to the final four. He told me this because we should have had him vote out Jamie with us. - We then had a reward challenge, I won and got to start to pick my Tribe. The next few rounds we didn't see a Tribal Council, and saw Joan, Cali and Charley leave. Shehr + Yap sat pretty.

- Merge & Conclusion

However some rounds before I had started testing the waters with Sam. Molly had made it very clear to tell me how much Sam hated me, and for what reason, I will never understand. I never knew Sam before this game, and barely knew of her. However I knew she was the Queen of Qahtan and I wanted in on that side of this merge. So I worked effortlessly at making her like me, and we end up quickly becoming very secure with each-other. Our relationship was organic to the game. I knew that the alliance of Amelia, Molly, Tyler P, Sam and possibly Jessy could never happen with all that has happened in the game and I knew that left an opening for something sneaky. My fears at being on the bottom, were no longer a concern. Through Sam I had better access to getting rid of the Qahtan who were NOT on my side.

The truth of the matter is this. I was on a REALLY strong team with some amazing individuals. Molly was a strong player, but our ways of execution differed drastically. Tyler. P and Amelia are two of the most strong level headed people I had the pleasure of playing with. I was just always scared of the dynamic trio they could be and I was not playing for fourth. I was playing to make the end game, and the hopeful win. It was getting problematic for me.

The first round of the merge I had won immunity, and in turn it meant just in case that I should hold onto the HII if anything was to occur. Molly, Amelia and Tyler wanted to take out Sam because she had the Idol. So she would either go, or she would have to play it. Yap was suppose to do it, as was Mihai and Amir. All three of them were however not doing it, and were siding with Qahtan to try to take Tyler out unexpected. This gave me an opportunity to show my loyalty to Sam and tell her what was happening and in turn officially steal the Idol back from Tyler and officially claim it as my own. I feel bad for Tyler to go like that, but even without my snitching, we didn't have the numbers. So it was a no brainer to take the opportunity and run with it.

At this point no one on my original side knew I flipped and the three of us left decided to try to make Mihai and Amir flip again to vote out Tyler R. They were down to take a middle school out but they wanted to target Yap or Kevin. This didn't sit well with me, because it was obvious they were trying to cripple people they deemed to be in my corner. Having that we just had the auction and won all the items but a few Kevin won, I made sure Kevin played the Gary Hawkins to save himself and made sure everyone but Jessy was on board in taking out Tyler R. This was also a major test to see if I could convince Sam into turning on her own. Even if Mihai and Amir decided to not work with us, I had also convinced Kevin, Yap and Sam to vote out Tyler R as well.

The next round everyone wanted to vote out Kevin. The deal with old school was if they vote out Tyler R, they get Kevin next. I may have said yes, but no fucking deal was being kept. Kevin was not going anywhere. Amir, Mihai, Molly and Amelia were all on board, and in the last few hours of the tribal I convinced Amelia that Amir and Mihai were planning to vote Kevin out and then jump back to Sam's side. With doing so I had created a majority to ensure Amir went home, and didn't make it look like I was doing it for shady reasons. In reality I wanted Amir to go, I had agreed to Kevin, and Molly had already voted for Kevin. I had to switch it so I didn't look like I was double dealing, and I did. I encouraged Sam to get on a call to mess with Amir's head a bit. Cause we didn't want him to play the Idol.

Now it was time to repay Sam for voting out Tyler R and proving her loyalty, and we were going to vote out Molly. At this point in the game even though I liked Molly as a person, I didn't think we had an end game together. I also knew I was getting my way so much that I needed to give something to Sam. I needed to keep my allies happy. However then Molly won immunity and the vote switched to Amelia. This is not a vote I wanted to make because they are someone who I felt like I could talk to and despite not wanting to go to the end with them, I didn't want to vote them out. The way I rationalized it was that by getting rid of Amelia at that point, it would make it easier. I don't think I could have done it later on, and I needed to cut the tie before I felt too bad.

At this point it was obvious we needed to take out Molly, but it wasn't the smart move for me, it was a smart move for Sam! So my eyes were set else where. Yap and I discussed how we could get out Jessy! Molly, Jessy, Mihai and Kevin had talked about trying to get Sam out, and Jessy revealed that she STOLE Sams idol somewhere during the merge. Kevin who could have done it, decided to come and let us know. Jessy was hands down the only person standing in my way from keeping Sam most loyal to me -- and because of her move and Kevin sharing the info, we easily got Jessy out with her Idol, followed by Mihai and Molly.

I played a damn good game, and I went from the bottom and got myself right to the top. I maneuvered myself through this merge and took out threat after threat. I never needed to play my Idol for my safety, but got to play it for novelty at the final five. If I ever had any issue, I was up front and if I said it behind your back, you got it to your face as well. I wish I didn't have to type all of this, but I feel like it had to be done. I have a suspicion this jury is going to be so willing to credit an other. If you were to compare our games with facts, it's pretty revealing.

I was in the final four with three people most loyal to me. Kevin even voted Yap, didn't even give anyone the opportunity to possibly target me. I had deals with all of them, and cause of it I felt pretty safe, actually I felt 100% safe. I feel like throughout this game it was a huge pattern that everyone would come to me with most things, and not to others. I also obtained an Idol, while others got theirs stolen, or got voted out with them. Sam and Yap played a good game, I am not saying anything otherwise and Kevin was a stronger advesary then people will credit. I just believe I played a stronger one, and had a much harder journey then most in this game. Hard work just paid off, and the merge got easier because of it.

Now it's on to you guys to figure out what your decision is, and I am excited to hear from every single one of you! The good, the bad and of course, always, the ugly! I haven't been able to talk to any of you since you were voted out, so I am nervous and excited to see what you all have to say. 