Pretty Solid Saturday
May. 22nd, 2021 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickWell, except for the waking-up part -- I went to bed shortly before 2 AM, and ended up waking up at 6:46 AM because I had to use the toilet. I did that, put my music back on (I listen to music while going to sleep -- this month is the American McGee's Alice soundtrack), then managed after a bit to go back to sleep until about 8ish, then (after some flopping about) managed to get back to sleep AGAIN and finally got up at 10:38 AM. Latest I've woken up in a bit -- good thing I didn't have any major plans for the day! Hoping I sleep a little more soundly tonight. . .
Anyway, how'd I do on the old to-do list?
1. Work some more on my new notes document for the new self-indulgent hypnokink verse: Check! Rather late in the day check, but it did happen. Finished up the list of stories that would be in the verse – the three I originally wrote, one story that one of the original three hints at, two new stories (“how they met” and “how they handled going hypnokinky”), three stories adapted from a DIFFERENT hypnokink universe I wrote a lot earlier (pre-A:MR), and a “shorts” collection for a couple of small scenes I have in mind. Also looked up when Easter was in 1876 to get an idea of when they would meet (the idea being this is post both their canons, and the Van Dorts are in London for the Season to find Victor a society bride, with that really kicking off post-Easter; it was April 16, 1876 in case you’re curious), and I may attempt a timeline before going to bed. Nothing too major, but it’s all in good fun!
2. Watch the Plumbella in my Watch Later and keep up with YouTube Subs: Check! Got through everything listed, no problems!
A) Started with good old Plumbella and her two in the WL –
I. A speed build featuring the items from the new “Courtyard Oasis” kit in a vaguely-Greek inspired build, with lots of open-air covered balconies and such. It came out really nice – she chose a strong blue and white theme for all the windows and archways and flooring and such, which gave the house a nice character. She admitted she’s still flip-flopping on the kit itself, though – she loves the doors, windows, flooring, and some of the lamps, but she feels like the rest of it. . .you’d REALLY needs to love the style. Which, fair. She also gave some life updates, talking about waiting for cupboard doors she ordered in April to clean up her backdrop (they’re apparently going to be delivered in JUNE, cripes), how much she loves her cats, and how she hopes to upload daily for a little while to get herself back into the swing of things. She seems to be doing pretty well, and I’m glad for her. :)
II. Her reaction to the Dream House Decorator Game Pack trailer! Hers was somewhat more mixed than James’s, mostly because she’s a little sick of the Mid-Century Modern style that the Sims team tends to lean on for new packs (pointing out we have similar-looking furniture items in Tiny Living and Nifty Knitting). She’s all for sectionals, though, and she’s excited about separated stovetops and ovens. Also for the career the pack is based around – she’s hopeful this will be a “Sims 4 has the best vampires” situation and the interior designer career will be more user-friendly than its Sims 3 counterpart. Fingers crossed! Also loving the bunk beds and whatnot. . .we’re all hopeful this pack will be a winner!
B) Then, this evening, it was onto Call Me Kevin and Papers Please! He continued on from his previous episode, buying booth upgrades instead of feeding or warming his family – and then proceeded to be a bit shit at his job, making lots of mistakes and getting four citations. On a day with a terrorist attack, meaning he got out of work early and thus didn’t get his full paycheck. Meaning he ended the day in the red and was promptly arrested for being in debt. XD Ooof. On top of that, his family had downgraded themselves to cold AND sick, meaning they were in danger of dying – cue Kevin doing his absolute best to make as few mistakes as possible, accusing every foreigner in line of wanting to kill his family. XD It didn’t work out quite as well as he’d hoped – he ended another day in the red, forcing a restart, and then ended the episode with his son having died from coldness, sickness, and hunger – but hey, his inspector still has his job! And his wife is getting medicine, if nothing else. Yaaay? XD Oh, this is going to be a clusterfuck in future episodes, since I KNOW at least one family member has to survive for you to win. . .
C) And of course, more GrayStillPlays and a GTA V stunt board! This one was repeatedly said to be made by Jigsaw (of the Saw movies), because it involved bad choices and needing to think about what you do. Tricks included invisible walls in front of gaps in the scenery, invisible floors after glitching your way through a wall and thinking you’re about to fall to your death, a hell-maze with fake ramp exits with slow-down sticks, yeeting through the triangles of pain, going up a ramp only to get insta-killed to get to the next area, going up and around all the neon arrows of hell with their various benches and boxes full of styrofoam, jumping from bullseye to bullseye, making it through the yeety tubes with surprise gaps, driving as fast as possible over rapidly-moving billboards, and destroying ALL the fruit carts. It was a fair bit of precision platforming and jumping, and Gray was NOT pleased. XD But he made it, and even got to knock down all the pins in the end. :)
3. Play Sims 4 and complete another day in Eric's cycle: DOUBLE check! In the sense that I completed Eric’s Thursday, saved the game, looked at the clock – and realized I’d only been playing for about half an hour, so why NOT just press on and do Friday as well? :) So now I’m all caught up on Eric’s part of the latest Newcrest Adventures cycle, which is exactly what I wanted out of this weekend! :) And I got exactly what I wanted out of his playsession too:
I. Picked up a bit more Knitting skill and knitted a few more items (like a mailbox cozy!) – he also got a rocking chair for his bedroom so he could knit on it and complete that portion of the “Lord of the Knits” aspiration
II. Maxed out his Medium skill (via a few more ceremonies, communing with the dead, and turning himself into a ghost briefly with the Ghastly ritual), getting Guidry’s special outfit and the Paranormal Investigator’s license
III. Quit his Detective job to become a Paranormal Investigator, and did a gig over in Sulani! I went ahead and did an Adept-level investigation – Eric was never able to actually complete a séance thanks to the amount of specters on the lot, but there were so many cursed objects to remove he successfully completed the exorcism anyway. And got a nice doll out of it, w00!
Plus he got the Brave trait (he had more than enough reward points to get it), and successfully trained Laserwolf not to eat or play in trash. And got that special “inheritance” phone call – as he has no romantic prospects, I chose the option where you ask about the conditions, which nullifies the usual “have to get married” condition and just gives you the money – $2,500 in this case. So yes, very satisfying. :D And now I can do whatever I want on Monday, Sims-wise – maybe work a bit on the Ice Cream Conery?
4. Get in a workout: Check! Another 25 on the bike to start Episode 16 of “Nuka-World Level One Survival!” Having captured every park and gotten herself the best bit of power armor available in said parks, Minnie talked to Gage and learned it was time to start “franchising” out into the Commonwealth! Gage directed her to his buddy Shank, who suggested a few places to try and take over, either by convincing the settlers to leave or just by killing everyone there. Minnie, out of a desire not to travel too far from her beloved theme park, suggested the Red Rocket by Sanctuary Hills, and had Shank send some Operators over there to scout the place out.
And at this point, Jon used mods to re-enable fast travel in Survival Mode, because the “Home Sweet Home” questline of setting up an outpost in the Commonwealth involves a LOT of slogging back and forth between Nuka-World and your chosen settlements, and Jon was NOT going to keep going back and forth the slow way. He normally likes the limited “fast travel” options in Survival Mode, but come on – that would have been just painful.
However, Minnie had not yet actually VISITED that Red Rocket, so she did have to use the good old tram to get back to the Commonwealth at least once, and so she returned to the depot station – and promptly found herself in a fight with a bunch of Gunners! Kaylor’s Gunners, in fact, as Jon had genuinely forgotten he’d run past most of them after nuking the Assaultron in a bid to get to Nuka-World as fast as possible. Now level 20+ and with a decent set of Quantum-themed X01 Power Armor, Minnie happily killed the lot of them, then fast-traveled to Sanctuary before meeting up with her gang, discovering Concord, and then discovering the Red Rocket –
And Dogmeat! Yes, Minnie never even went near this place when she first started, remember? So she never met everyone’s favorite German Shepherd. Jon decided it was okay for Minnie to adopt him, since he’s not a “real” companion and doesn’t negate her Lone Wanderer perk. :P With new pet on a metaphorical leash, she and the Operators cleared out the mole rats at the Red Rocket (the Operators were a bit embarrassed by the lack of humans to kill and asked her to make something up when talking to the others), then she fast-traveled back to Shank to appraise him of her progress. He told her the next step was to bully some farmers into providing the outpost with supplies – Jon picked Tenpines Bluff out of hatred for them pretty much always being the settlers chosen for you to see to complete the first Minutemen mission (I think there’s a small-but-nonzero chance you get sent to Oberland Station instead occasionally). She, the Operators, and some roaming members of the Pack went over there next, and with the help of one of the Pack’s predation grenades (grenades that summon dangerous animals – sometimes; Minnie’s may have summoned a Glowing Radroach) and a lot of firepower, Minnie and her raiders were able to overpower the settlers and a couple of mercenaries they’d hired for protection. Minnie gleefully informing them that they’d been chosen to help out the outpost was hilarious – she may have gone to Nuka-World just out of sheer obsession, but she has DEFINITELY embraced the Overboss lifestyle now!
With that done, it was once again back to Shank, who told her that some rival raiders in the Commonwealth were going to attack their outpost. So it was back over to the Red Rocket to take care of Sinner and his raiders, this time with the help of a Disciple Fury grenade to enrage everyone and get them to fight each other. Minnie brutally knifed as many raiders as she could while the Operators and Dogmeat helped out, and soon the attack was repelled. With that taken care of, Shank FINALLY consented to come to the Commonwealth himself and set up shop in the Red Rocket. Minnie set up a few beds, a powered water pump, and a few chem vending machines for everyone to make the gang happy, and Shank praised her for her efforts –
Only to tell her that, basically, she has to go through this whole process twice more before they could be said to be proper settled in the Commonwealth. XD Yeah, a) I really get now why Jon wanted that fast-travel mod reenabled, b) I suspect a lot of this is about to be done off-camera. Anyone want to complain again that the Minutemen missions get samey?
Additionally:
-->Despite a few scary clouds in the afternoon, we did get a chance to play five rounds of the beanbag game – and I DID indeed improve my skills! Won the first two games, got second in the third, then lost the last two. Dad won the remaining three games, while Mom came last in the first three and got second on the last two. Not too shabby – I’m starting to wonder if playing while stressed from work affects my game.
-->Got the pictures for Eric’s next Newcrest Adventures update sorted – looks like it’ll be three posts this week! Which makes sense, since Eric both celebrated Winterfest AND had a visit from Temperance, the big scary ghost of Paranormal Stuff, sooo. . .
-->Found hour-long versions of two bits of video game music that I love on YouTube! Both of which I’ve lost to videos being blocked or deleted! The Resident Evil Remake save theme (with rain and thunder added in), and my beloved Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2 AM theme! :) So that’s nice.
And I've been doing the RP thing at the moment -- just completed a long reply to a long opener a friend posted. So yeah, this has been a pretty nice day! Now I just have to start catching up with DW comments and get the to-do list for tomorrow ready:
1. Work some more on my Hypnokink Verse Notes or draft out some more tumblr posts
2. Watch the OXBox/OXtra list videos in my Watch Later and Jon's latest FO4 YOLO episode, along with keeping up on YouTube Subs
3. Play Alice: Madness Returns and get up to just after the last Radula Room
4. Get in a workout
Again, I feel like all of this is reasonable. Especially if I manage to wake up a little earlier. XD I'm just doing my best! Though I do have to take into account there's a possibility of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon. . .
Well, we'll see what happens. Right now I have a comment to take care of and a tumblr RP blog to try and stay on top of for a little bit longer. Night all!
Anyway, how'd I do on the old to-do list?
1. Work some more on my new notes document for the new self-indulgent hypnokink verse: Check! Rather late in the day check, but it did happen. Finished up the list of stories that would be in the verse – the three I originally wrote, one story that one of the original three hints at, two new stories (“how they met” and “how they handled going hypnokinky”), three stories adapted from a DIFFERENT hypnokink universe I wrote a lot earlier (pre-A:MR), and a “shorts” collection for a couple of small scenes I have in mind. Also looked up when Easter was in 1876 to get an idea of when they would meet (the idea being this is post both their canons, and the Van Dorts are in London for the Season to find Victor a society bride, with that really kicking off post-Easter; it was April 16, 1876 in case you’re curious), and I may attempt a timeline before going to bed. Nothing too major, but it’s all in good fun!
2. Watch the Plumbella in my Watch Later and keep up with YouTube Subs: Check! Got through everything listed, no problems!
A) Started with good old Plumbella and her two in the WL –
I. A speed build featuring the items from the new “Courtyard Oasis” kit in a vaguely-Greek inspired build, with lots of open-air covered balconies and such. It came out really nice – she chose a strong blue and white theme for all the windows and archways and flooring and such, which gave the house a nice character. She admitted she’s still flip-flopping on the kit itself, though – she loves the doors, windows, flooring, and some of the lamps, but she feels like the rest of it. . .you’d REALLY needs to love the style. Which, fair. She also gave some life updates, talking about waiting for cupboard doors she ordered in April to clean up her backdrop (they’re apparently going to be delivered in JUNE, cripes), how much she loves her cats, and how she hopes to upload daily for a little while to get herself back into the swing of things. She seems to be doing pretty well, and I’m glad for her. :)
II. Her reaction to the Dream House Decorator Game Pack trailer! Hers was somewhat more mixed than James’s, mostly because she’s a little sick of the Mid-Century Modern style that the Sims team tends to lean on for new packs (pointing out we have similar-looking furniture items in Tiny Living and Nifty Knitting). She’s all for sectionals, though, and she’s excited about separated stovetops and ovens. Also for the career the pack is based around – she’s hopeful this will be a “Sims 4 has the best vampires” situation and the interior designer career will be more user-friendly than its Sims 3 counterpart. Fingers crossed! Also loving the bunk beds and whatnot. . .we’re all hopeful this pack will be a winner!
B) Then, this evening, it was onto Call Me Kevin and Papers Please! He continued on from his previous episode, buying booth upgrades instead of feeding or warming his family – and then proceeded to be a bit shit at his job, making lots of mistakes and getting four citations. On a day with a terrorist attack, meaning he got out of work early and thus didn’t get his full paycheck. Meaning he ended the day in the red and was promptly arrested for being in debt. XD Ooof. On top of that, his family had downgraded themselves to cold AND sick, meaning they were in danger of dying – cue Kevin doing his absolute best to make as few mistakes as possible, accusing every foreigner in line of wanting to kill his family. XD It didn’t work out quite as well as he’d hoped – he ended another day in the red, forcing a restart, and then ended the episode with his son having died from coldness, sickness, and hunger – but hey, his inspector still has his job! And his wife is getting medicine, if nothing else. Yaaay? XD Oh, this is going to be a clusterfuck in future episodes, since I KNOW at least one family member has to survive for you to win. . .
C) And of course, more GrayStillPlays and a GTA V stunt board! This one was repeatedly said to be made by Jigsaw (of the Saw movies), because it involved bad choices and needing to think about what you do. Tricks included invisible walls in front of gaps in the scenery, invisible floors after glitching your way through a wall and thinking you’re about to fall to your death, a hell-maze with fake ramp exits with slow-down sticks, yeeting through the triangles of pain, going up a ramp only to get insta-killed to get to the next area, going up and around all the neon arrows of hell with their various benches and boxes full of styrofoam, jumping from bullseye to bullseye, making it through the yeety tubes with surprise gaps, driving as fast as possible over rapidly-moving billboards, and destroying ALL the fruit carts. It was a fair bit of precision platforming and jumping, and Gray was NOT pleased. XD But he made it, and even got to knock down all the pins in the end. :)
3. Play Sims 4 and complete another day in Eric's cycle: DOUBLE check! In the sense that I completed Eric’s Thursday, saved the game, looked at the clock – and realized I’d only been playing for about half an hour, so why NOT just press on and do Friday as well? :) So now I’m all caught up on Eric’s part of the latest Newcrest Adventures cycle, which is exactly what I wanted out of this weekend! :) And I got exactly what I wanted out of his playsession too:
I. Picked up a bit more Knitting skill and knitted a few more items (like a mailbox cozy!) – he also got a rocking chair for his bedroom so he could knit on it and complete that portion of the “Lord of the Knits” aspiration
II. Maxed out his Medium skill (via a few more ceremonies, communing with the dead, and turning himself into a ghost briefly with the Ghastly ritual), getting Guidry’s special outfit and the Paranormal Investigator’s license
III. Quit his Detective job to become a Paranormal Investigator, and did a gig over in Sulani! I went ahead and did an Adept-level investigation – Eric was never able to actually complete a séance thanks to the amount of specters on the lot, but there were so many cursed objects to remove he successfully completed the exorcism anyway. And got a nice doll out of it, w00!
Plus he got the Brave trait (he had more than enough reward points to get it), and successfully trained Laserwolf not to eat or play in trash. And got that special “inheritance” phone call – as he has no romantic prospects, I chose the option where you ask about the conditions, which nullifies the usual “have to get married” condition and just gives you the money – $2,500 in this case. So yes, very satisfying. :D And now I can do whatever I want on Monday, Sims-wise – maybe work a bit on the Ice Cream Conery?
4. Get in a workout: Check! Another 25 on the bike to start Episode 16 of “Nuka-World Level One Survival!” Having captured every park and gotten herself the best bit of power armor available in said parks, Minnie talked to Gage and learned it was time to start “franchising” out into the Commonwealth! Gage directed her to his buddy Shank, who suggested a few places to try and take over, either by convincing the settlers to leave or just by killing everyone there. Minnie, out of a desire not to travel too far from her beloved theme park, suggested the Red Rocket by Sanctuary Hills, and had Shank send some Operators over there to scout the place out.
And at this point, Jon used mods to re-enable fast travel in Survival Mode, because the “Home Sweet Home” questline of setting up an outpost in the Commonwealth involves a LOT of slogging back and forth between Nuka-World and your chosen settlements, and Jon was NOT going to keep going back and forth the slow way. He normally likes the limited “fast travel” options in Survival Mode, but come on – that would have been just painful.
However, Minnie had not yet actually VISITED that Red Rocket, so she did have to use the good old tram to get back to the Commonwealth at least once, and so she returned to the depot station – and promptly found herself in a fight with a bunch of Gunners! Kaylor’s Gunners, in fact, as Jon had genuinely forgotten he’d run past most of them after nuking the Assaultron in a bid to get to Nuka-World as fast as possible. Now level 20+ and with a decent set of Quantum-themed X01 Power Armor, Minnie happily killed the lot of them, then fast-traveled to Sanctuary before meeting up with her gang, discovering Concord, and then discovering the Red Rocket –
And Dogmeat! Yes, Minnie never even went near this place when she first started, remember? So she never met everyone’s favorite German Shepherd. Jon decided it was okay for Minnie to adopt him, since he’s not a “real” companion and doesn’t negate her Lone Wanderer perk. :P With new pet on a metaphorical leash, she and the Operators cleared out the mole rats at the Red Rocket (the Operators were a bit embarrassed by the lack of humans to kill and asked her to make something up when talking to the others), then she fast-traveled back to Shank to appraise him of her progress. He told her the next step was to bully some farmers into providing the outpost with supplies – Jon picked Tenpines Bluff out of hatred for them pretty much always being the settlers chosen for you to see to complete the first Minutemen mission (I think there’s a small-but-nonzero chance you get sent to Oberland Station instead occasionally). She, the Operators, and some roaming members of the Pack went over there next, and with the help of one of the Pack’s predation grenades (grenades that summon dangerous animals – sometimes; Minnie’s may have summoned a Glowing Radroach) and a lot of firepower, Minnie and her raiders were able to overpower the settlers and a couple of mercenaries they’d hired for protection. Minnie gleefully informing them that they’d been chosen to help out the outpost was hilarious – she may have gone to Nuka-World just out of sheer obsession, but she has DEFINITELY embraced the Overboss lifestyle now!
With that done, it was once again back to Shank, who told her that some rival raiders in the Commonwealth were going to attack their outpost. So it was back over to the Red Rocket to take care of Sinner and his raiders, this time with the help of a Disciple Fury grenade to enrage everyone and get them to fight each other. Minnie brutally knifed as many raiders as she could while the Operators and Dogmeat helped out, and soon the attack was repelled. With that taken care of, Shank FINALLY consented to come to the Commonwealth himself and set up shop in the Red Rocket. Minnie set up a few beds, a powered water pump, and a few chem vending machines for everyone to make the gang happy, and Shank praised her for her efforts –
Only to tell her that, basically, she has to go through this whole process twice more before they could be said to be proper settled in the Commonwealth. XD Yeah, a) I really get now why Jon wanted that fast-travel mod reenabled, b) I suspect a lot of this is about to be done off-camera. Anyone want to complain again that the Minutemen missions get samey?
Additionally:
-->Despite a few scary clouds in the afternoon, we did get a chance to play five rounds of the beanbag game – and I DID indeed improve my skills! Won the first two games, got second in the third, then lost the last two. Dad won the remaining three games, while Mom came last in the first three and got second on the last two. Not too shabby – I’m starting to wonder if playing while stressed from work affects my game.
-->Got the pictures for Eric’s next Newcrest Adventures update sorted – looks like it’ll be three posts this week! Which makes sense, since Eric both celebrated Winterfest AND had a visit from Temperance, the big scary ghost of Paranormal Stuff, sooo. . .
-->Found hour-long versions of two bits of video game music that I love on YouTube! Both of which I’ve lost to videos being blocked or deleted! The Resident Evil Remake save theme (with rain and thunder added in), and my beloved Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2 AM theme! :) So that’s nice.
And I've been doing the RP thing at the moment -- just completed a long reply to a long opener a friend posted. So yeah, this has been a pretty nice day! Now I just have to start catching up with DW comments and get the to-do list for tomorrow ready:
1. Work some more on my Hypnokink Verse Notes or draft out some more tumblr posts
2. Watch the OXBox/OXtra list videos in my Watch Later and Jon's latest FO4 YOLO episode, along with keeping up on YouTube Subs
3. Play Alice: Madness Returns and get up to just after the last Radula Room
4. Get in a workout
Again, I feel like all of this is reasonable. Especially if I manage to wake up a little earlier. XD I'm just doing my best! Though I do have to take into account there's a possibility of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon. . .
Well, we'll see what happens. Right now I have a comment to take care of and a tumblr RP blog to try and stay on top of for a little bit longer. Night all!
