A Productive Friday
Feb. 19th, 2021 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickYeah, I was surprised too -- but here, gaze upon my to-do list:
1. Clear out the Plumbella and onlyabidoang videos in my Watch Later, plus keep up on YouTube Subscriptions: Check, including an addition! This section got a little bit long, so I'll put it behind a cut --
A) Started with Plumbella, who I had two videos from –
I. A “shell challenge but worse” – renovating a house, but you can’t actually move anything. You can only change/upgrade what’s already there. Jesse was very eager to give it a go and had her Sim buty a house in StrangerVille – and promptly extended the back stairs and changed the wall height. XD And messed with the roofs to give the kitchen a skylight and the front this weird really complicated fin design. O.o Now, I guess the wall height and the roof thing is technically okay, given she didn’t actually move any walls, and the roof continued to cover the same amount of space, but – well, those stairs are a clear violation. As is her adding a window to the side while replacing them, but given she forgot the bedroom end table lamp, I’ll say those two balance out. XD She struggled with the style at first – pink Barbie dream house? – but eventually went for a darker modern build, complaining all the time about not being able to move things that were in ridiculous positions (like a single kitchen cupboard on the side of the kitchen, or toilet paper at least a good six feet away from the toilet). XD But it came out pretty nice in the end! She’s getting good at more modern builds, and I like the color scheme she chose, with the blacks and grays set off with dark reds, blues, and golds. It’s pretty nice! And makes me want to give the challenge a try at some point. :p
II. A look at some of the updates for Little Sim World, an upcoming indie life simulator centering around being a little nugget living in London (at least, that’s what the game map looks like). Jesse did a video on this a few months ago, and remains excited to see it come to life. The graphics have gotten a nice update (the nuggets now have proper legs!), and there’s going to be stuff like grocery shopping (which prompted a rant from Jesse about Tescos not properly delivering her ready meals – ugh, yeah, deliveries can be the worst) and going to the bank! It’s still very much a game in progress, but it’s coming along, and Jesse is eager to actually get in and play it once the initial alpha goes live (which may be next month!). It does look like a cute, sweet game in the vein of Stardew Valley or the like, and if you’re a fan of that genre, you might want to look this one up too.
B) Then it was over to onlyabidoang and his latest – 50 more details in Sims 3 that aren’t in the other games! As usual, there’s all sorts of little things that add personality in that game that could help make Sims 4 better. Things like favorites (food, music style, and color); a Sim’s traits changing the way they paint stuff (there’s actually a whole bunch of variations on the default for a variety of traits!); strollers for babies and toddlers (and given that Sims 3 babies are blanket burritos from the waist down, this would actually work better with Sims 4 versions); snow gradually piling up and having proper depth (WE KNOW YOU CAN DO IT NOW EAXIS SNOWY ESCAPE PROVED IT) – all sorts of stuff. Again, I find it a bit of a shame that I dislike 3’s art style so much, and don’t approve of all the rabbit holes – seems like it could be fun.
C) Quick off-the-list video, with Carl from Carl’s Sim Guides complaining about things that don’t make sense in Sims 4. Such as aspiration reward traits that just don’t make sense (mainly “aspirations that require you to become super-rich give discounts and rebates on stuff”), the fact that you can only license one song at a time while having like a million books published (add in that it takes AGES to even WRITE a song, and it’s a wonder any Sim is a musician), the whole “babies are mere objects and can’t even be moved out of their crib” thing (instead left staring at the ceiling their whole babyhood), and James’s favorite photography glitch (take a bunch of pictures of someone – insta-friends!). Also, apparently the creators just STOPPED making whims for anything after Get Famous because they’d turned them off anyway around the same time. *rolls eyes* This game sometimes. . .
D) Then, this evening, it was back into my Watch Later to check out the latest Atop the Fourth Wall episode: “Youngblood: Strikefile #2!” Yes, it’s time to honor his old text blog by reviewing another terrible comic about terrible superheroes and how they got to be so terrible. This one was a continuation of the stories from the last time Linkara looked at this series, with Chapel (drowning in too many dark inks from his illustrator) nearly getting gunned down during a liaison with a woman (who indeed dies, because 90s violence and misogyny), meeting up with one of his enemies, and then shooting him to bits after refusing an offer to kill their mutual enemy Wynn; and the easier-to-look-at-and-more-colorful Die Hard trying to rescue Super Patriot from the cybernetics company that has him hostage, only to be forced into a fight because apparently the guy’s brainwashed. The latter story was definitely better, if only because it was nicer to look at, but both sucked and Linkara made no secret of it. Bleh.
E) Then into the actual Subscriptions for tonight’s offerings there! First up – Fun With Shorts, with “Banks and Credit!” As you can imagine, with some of the issues we’ve had in the past with banks and credit and whatnot, there were a few jokes about “too big to fail” and evil government spending. It was a decently informative look into how a bank works, though, I guess. We’ve dealt with shorts a lot more boring on this channel!
F) Second in Subs – Call Me Kevin, back with highlights from GTA V Chaos Mod, Twitch Chat Edition! XD There was a lot of Griefer Jesus and Extreme Griefer Jesus in this one, to Kevin’s “delight.” XD Hell, during one part of the first mission (Michael and his friend Lester casting a jewelry store for a later heist), we had Jealous Jimmy (Michael’s son with a gun) AND Griefer Jesus at the same time! I think they eventually ended up killing each other, not that that REALLY helped Kevin. . .but he did manage to complete the mission, despite his car constantly either exploding, being launched up, being subject to moon gravity, and Michael being so eager to run that he accidentally ran off the roof. XD He wasn’t so lucky with Franklin – not only was he teleported off a roof during a moment where peds and cars were spinning like crazy, he also suffered from a gravity field in the ammo store, had his friends killed by a scooter cop, and suffered both a fake crash and a real one. The chat was very pleased with themselves, while Kevin looked like he kind of wanted to punch something. XD
G) And finished off with some GrayStillPlays and more Happy Wheels! Requisite bullshit bottle flip with him getting one of the “impossible” spots (landing it on a tiny wedge between the two launchpads); a stair run followed by massive amounts of harpoons and arrows and other bullshit (Gray died a couple of times on the stairs themselves, but, as usual, eventually made it); a pogo jump into seventy million harpoons (the winning jump took one up the crotch but survived to touch the finish line!); a bottle run with so much yeet the dad exploded (Gray SOMEHOW managed to keep him in one piece long enough to reach the end like after twenty or so tries); and a jet wall run where a missing chunk of floor right in front of the requisite spike wall meant that Gray fell to his harpoon-ridden death a lot more times than he wanted (taking off his arms was the only way to win). I especially love how, in three separate levels, “GrayStillPlays” was used to indicate the hardest bit to beat. XD Guy’s becoming a legend!
2. Write up the gift fic for a tumblr friend's upcoming birthday: Check! This is my friend who RPs her own version of Victor and Alice’s daughter (Madeline) – I asked her last night if she had any requests, and she said something with Bruce Wayne, as she has a verse where he and Madeline are dating. I came up with an idea for Madeline tending Bruce after a fight and them having a bit of a chat about what he does and what her parents might think, and whipped up a rough draft this morning. I’ll let that sit for tomorrow, then revise Sunday, which will put me right on track for posting it on Tuesday, her actual birthday. :)
3. Update MC Command Center and play Sims 4 (choice of save file): Check – updated MC Command Center this morning (along with Sims 4 Studio so I had the latest version of that), reloaded my mods, then played the game itself shortly after lunch! Spent a couple of hours with my Victor and Alice in what I’ve now renamed “A Chill Save” – their university term has officially started, so most of their time was spent either going to class or completing homework. Alice has a slightly more balanced course load (two classes each day of the week), while poor Victor has three classes more or less in a row on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one class at midday Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Guy continually suffers from fun depletion, which I have done my best to counteract by actually using the earbuds that came with Fitness Stuff. Look at me, making actual use of the packs I’ve bought. . .
In addition to higher education, Victor’s spent a fair bit of time fishing and gardening (I got him a planter box for some strawberries and bluebells), and Alice has started her vampire journey by getting the first tome of the vampire encyclopedia. They also had a nice visit from their friend Felipe, who gave Victor a Trevor Verily MySims statue, played the lottery but didn’t win, and – well, Victor got a phone call from Nancy Landgraab informing him of an inheritance that some friend of a super-distant relative left to him, but he’d need to get married in a week in order to claim it. No problem, since he and Alice are already engaged – I just went ahead and set up a wedding event for Sunday, well within the time period! :) (And yes, I know that particular pop-up also has the option to ask about the conditions, which will just get you the inheritance thanks to a separate clause in the will, but come on – if they’re already engaged. . .) So yeah, that save is going well – good way to get me back into the game!
And in addition to all that:
-->Had a nice parfait for breakfast, om nom
-->Got the matching Sims update for my Victor Luvs Alice tumblr queue drafted (with one bit to edit -- I have to look up where I got the Chill Save Victor and Alice's house!), along with a post for Thursday about Fallout of Darkness and Far Harbor. I am -- ahead!
-->Just finished up my Valice Multiverse queue for the night -- made up a quick list of "ask verse codes" people can use to specify a specific verse when sending me an ask (as one anon sent me something intended for the "Londerland Bloodlines" version of Doc, but I interpreted it as for the "Secundus" version of Doc), queued another ask I'd gotten recently, and even slapped a little meme in there just to fill it out.
So yeah, I was good at doing things today! Nice! And I'm not done yet, since there is Friday Night Writing Thing to do yet, along with a comment to answer. . .first though, Saturday to-do list:
1. Catch up on the OXBox/OXtra in my Watch Later, as well as trying to keep up on YouTube Subscriptions
2. Do some writing -- more potential tumblr posts, actual story snippets, etc.
3. Play some more Sims 4 -- Newcrest file, starting the McFlys' week
4. Get in a workout
This feels reasonable! Hopefully I can keep this productive streak going for a bit. And if not -- well, as long as I can fit in "Three Ways to Play Hitman 3," I'll be happy. XD Night all!
1. Clear out the Plumbella and onlyabidoang videos in my Watch Later, plus keep up on YouTube Subscriptions: Check, including an addition! This section got a little bit long, so I'll put it behind a cut --
A) Started with Plumbella, who I had two videos from –
I. A “shell challenge but worse” – renovating a house, but you can’t actually move anything. You can only change/upgrade what’s already there. Jesse was very eager to give it a go and had her Sim buty a house in StrangerVille – and promptly extended the back stairs and changed the wall height. XD And messed with the roofs to give the kitchen a skylight and the front this weird really complicated fin design. O.o Now, I guess the wall height and the roof thing is technically okay, given she didn’t actually move any walls, and the roof continued to cover the same amount of space, but – well, those stairs are a clear violation. As is her adding a window to the side while replacing them, but given she forgot the bedroom end table lamp, I’ll say those two balance out. XD She struggled with the style at first – pink Barbie dream house? – but eventually went for a darker modern build, complaining all the time about not being able to move things that were in ridiculous positions (like a single kitchen cupboard on the side of the kitchen, or toilet paper at least a good six feet away from the toilet). XD But it came out pretty nice in the end! She’s getting good at more modern builds, and I like the color scheme she chose, with the blacks and grays set off with dark reds, blues, and golds. It’s pretty nice! And makes me want to give the challenge a try at some point. :p
II. A look at some of the updates for Little Sim World, an upcoming indie life simulator centering around being a little nugget living in London (at least, that’s what the game map looks like). Jesse did a video on this a few months ago, and remains excited to see it come to life. The graphics have gotten a nice update (the nuggets now have proper legs!), and there’s going to be stuff like grocery shopping (which prompted a rant from Jesse about Tescos not properly delivering her ready meals – ugh, yeah, deliveries can be the worst) and going to the bank! It’s still very much a game in progress, but it’s coming along, and Jesse is eager to actually get in and play it once the initial alpha goes live (which may be next month!). It does look like a cute, sweet game in the vein of Stardew Valley or the like, and if you’re a fan of that genre, you might want to look this one up too.
B) Then it was over to onlyabidoang and his latest – 50 more details in Sims 3 that aren’t in the other games! As usual, there’s all sorts of little things that add personality in that game that could help make Sims 4 better. Things like favorites (food, music style, and color); a Sim’s traits changing the way they paint stuff (there’s actually a whole bunch of variations on the default for a variety of traits!); strollers for babies and toddlers (and given that Sims 3 babies are blanket burritos from the waist down, this would actually work better with Sims 4 versions); snow gradually piling up and having proper depth (WE KNOW YOU CAN DO IT NOW EAXIS SNOWY ESCAPE PROVED IT) – all sorts of stuff. Again, I find it a bit of a shame that I dislike 3’s art style so much, and don’t approve of all the rabbit holes – seems like it could be fun.
C) Quick off-the-list video, with Carl from Carl’s Sim Guides complaining about things that don’t make sense in Sims 4. Such as aspiration reward traits that just don’t make sense (mainly “aspirations that require you to become super-rich give discounts and rebates on stuff”), the fact that you can only license one song at a time while having like a million books published (add in that it takes AGES to even WRITE a song, and it’s a wonder any Sim is a musician), the whole “babies are mere objects and can’t even be moved out of their crib” thing (instead left staring at the ceiling their whole babyhood), and James’s favorite photography glitch (take a bunch of pictures of someone – insta-friends!). Also, apparently the creators just STOPPED making whims for anything after Get Famous because they’d turned them off anyway around the same time. *rolls eyes* This game sometimes. . .
D) Then, this evening, it was back into my Watch Later to check out the latest Atop the Fourth Wall episode: “Youngblood: Strikefile #2!” Yes, it’s time to honor his old text blog by reviewing another terrible comic about terrible superheroes and how they got to be so terrible. This one was a continuation of the stories from the last time Linkara looked at this series, with Chapel (drowning in too many dark inks from his illustrator) nearly getting gunned down during a liaison with a woman (who indeed dies, because 90s violence and misogyny), meeting up with one of his enemies, and then shooting him to bits after refusing an offer to kill their mutual enemy Wynn; and the easier-to-look-at-and-more-colorful Die Hard trying to rescue Super Patriot from the cybernetics company that has him hostage, only to be forced into a fight because apparently the guy’s brainwashed. The latter story was definitely better, if only because it was nicer to look at, but both sucked and Linkara made no secret of it. Bleh.
E) Then into the actual Subscriptions for tonight’s offerings there! First up – Fun With Shorts, with “Banks and Credit!” As you can imagine, with some of the issues we’ve had in the past with banks and credit and whatnot, there were a few jokes about “too big to fail” and evil government spending. It was a decently informative look into how a bank works, though, I guess. We’ve dealt with shorts a lot more boring on this channel!
F) Second in Subs – Call Me Kevin, back with highlights from GTA V Chaos Mod, Twitch Chat Edition! XD There was a lot of Griefer Jesus and Extreme Griefer Jesus in this one, to Kevin’s “delight.” XD Hell, during one part of the first mission (Michael and his friend Lester casting a jewelry store for a later heist), we had Jealous Jimmy (Michael’s son with a gun) AND Griefer Jesus at the same time! I think they eventually ended up killing each other, not that that REALLY helped Kevin. . .but he did manage to complete the mission, despite his car constantly either exploding, being launched up, being subject to moon gravity, and Michael being so eager to run that he accidentally ran off the roof. XD He wasn’t so lucky with Franklin – not only was he teleported off a roof during a moment where peds and cars were spinning like crazy, he also suffered from a gravity field in the ammo store, had his friends killed by a scooter cop, and suffered both a fake crash and a real one. The chat was very pleased with themselves, while Kevin looked like he kind of wanted to punch something. XD
G) And finished off with some GrayStillPlays and more Happy Wheels! Requisite bullshit bottle flip with him getting one of the “impossible” spots (landing it on a tiny wedge between the two launchpads); a stair run followed by massive amounts of harpoons and arrows and other bullshit (Gray died a couple of times on the stairs themselves, but, as usual, eventually made it); a pogo jump into seventy million harpoons (the winning jump took one up the crotch but survived to touch the finish line!); a bottle run with so much yeet the dad exploded (Gray SOMEHOW managed to keep him in one piece long enough to reach the end like after twenty or so tries); and a jet wall run where a missing chunk of floor right in front of the requisite spike wall meant that Gray fell to his harpoon-ridden death a lot more times than he wanted (taking off his arms was the only way to win). I especially love how, in three separate levels, “GrayStillPlays” was used to indicate the hardest bit to beat. XD Guy’s becoming a legend!
2. Write up the gift fic for a tumblr friend's upcoming birthday: Check! This is my friend who RPs her own version of Victor and Alice’s daughter (Madeline) – I asked her last night if she had any requests, and she said something with Bruce Wayne, as she has a verse where he and Madeline are dating. I came up with an idea for Madeline tending Bruce after a fight and them having a bit of a chat about what he does and what her parents might think, and whipped up a rough draft this morning. I’ll let that sit for tomorrow, then revise Sunday, which will put me right on track for posting it on Tuesday, her actual birthday. :)
3. Update MC Command Center and play Sims 4 (choice of save file): Check – updated MC Command Center this morning (along with Sims 4 Studio so I had the latest version of that), reloaded my mods, then played the game itself shortly after lunch! Spent a couple of hours with my Victor and Alice in what I’ve now renamed “A Chill Save” – their university term has officially started, so most of their time was spent either going to class or completing homework. Alice has a slightly more balanced course load (two classes each day of the week), while poor Victor has three classes more or less in a row on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one class at midday Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Guy continually suffers from fun depletion, which I have done my best to counteract by actually using the earbuds that came with Fitness Stuff. Look at me, making actual use of the packs I’ve bought. . .
In addition to higher education, Victor’s spent a fair bit of time fishing and gardening (I got him a planter box for some strawberries and bluebells), and Alice has started her vampire journey by getting the first tome of the vampire encyclopedia. They also had a nice visit from their friend Felipe, who gave Victor a Trevor Verily MySims statue, played the lottery but didn’t win, and – well, Victor got a phone call from Nancy Landgraab informing him of an inheritance that some friend of a super-distant relative left to him, but he’d need to get married in a week in order to claim it. No problem, since he and Alice are already engaged – I just went ahead and set up a wedding event for Sunday, well within the time period! :) (And yes, I know that particular pop-up also has the option to ask about the conditions, which will just get you the inheritance thanks to a separate clause in the will, but come on – if they’re already engaged. . .) So yeah, that save is going well – good way to get me back into the game!
And in addition to all that:
-->Had a nice parfait for breakfast, om nom
-->Got the matching Sims update for my Victor Luvs Alice tumblr queue drafted (with one bit to edit -- I have to look up where I got the Chill Save Victor and Alice's house!), along with a post for Thursday about Fallout of Darkness and Far Harbor. I am -- ahead!
-->Just finished up my Valice Multiverse queue for the night -- made up a quick list of "ask verse codes" people can use to specify a specific verse when sending me an ask (as one anon sent me something intended for the "Londerland Bloodlines" version of Doc, but I interpreted it as for the "Secundus" version of Doc), queued another ask I'd gotten recently, and even slapped a little meme in there just to fill it out.
So yeah, I was good at doing things today! Nice! And I'm not done yet, since there is Friday Night Writing Thing to do yet, along with a comment to answer. . .first though, Saturday to-do list:
1. Catch up on the OXBox/OXtra in my Watch Later, as well as trying to keep up on YouTube Subscriptions
2. Do some writing -- more potential tumblr posts, actual story snippets, etc.
3. Play some more Sims 4 -- Newcrest file, starting the McFlys' week
4. Get in a workout
This feels reasonable! Hopefully I can keep this productive streak going for a bit. And if not -- well, as long as I can fit in "Three Ways to Play Hitman 3," I'll be happy. XD Night all!
