crossover_chick: Doc in goggles and holding a big old plug with the words "feeling sparky..." (BTTF: feeling sparky/creative)
[personal profile] crossover_chick
Which I attribute to not having to clean my room, mealtimes not being super-late, being able to shower, and getting a little more time to myself this morning. And being over my period, because I also seem to be extra-cranky on the LAST day of it too, possibly from hormones resettling. *shrug* Who knows -- all I know is that I didn't feel squeezed today, and I appreciate that.

Things I also appreciate -- a completed to-do list!

1. Start "Learn To Love Again" from the You Belong To Me Verse: Check! Document created, first page written! Just an establishing shot of Alice at the Royal Opera House, being given a broom by one of her cranky employers and sweeping the lobby while having a quick conversation with Cheshire about her current circumstances (working part-time both there and at Houndsditch, has a little flat of her own, has avoided jail time for Bumby’s death thanks to discovering his diary about his true activities, doesn’t really have any ambitions beyond ‘survive to the next day’). The doors to the main theater just opened, though – meaning within a page or two, her life is going to get a lot more interesting. . .

2. Catch up on James Turner, attempt to keep up on other YouTube Subs, watch Jon's FO4 YOLO episode: Check! :D Yup, by focusing on my subs I was finally able to catch up – though it also helped that the YOLO episode was a little less than an hour this week, meaning I had a bit more time for other videos this evening. At any rate, we have cleared out the following:

A) Started this afternoon with the James Turner Marathon –

I. The Sims 4 Cottage Living Build/Buy Overview! As per usual, James did a look at the stuff that came in Build/Buy with this pack – and there’s some weird oversights here. Like, I’m used to a lack of wallpapers and flooring options at this point, but there’s no matching toilet or shower to go with the bathroom sink and tub, and only one double bed for bedrooms – no single or toddler options! I mean, you put in YET ANOTHER new bar, you could have added that stuff too! Also there’s a new kitbashed computer made partially out of a typewriter, which suits my Fallout 4 aesthetics nicely, but it’s kind of pixelated compared to some of the other stuff. Not to mention the growing “why wasn’t the Country Kitchen Kit stuff included in this pack” feelings. . . What IS there is nice, though, and if you’re willing to get the cheats or mods to access the debug menu, there’s some REALLY nice stuff there. Seriously, why do they tend to hide their best decorations in there? *sigh*

II. A building video for the pack – a converted cowshed! This was inspired by something he saw on Grand Designs, where a couple renovated a cowshed that sloped down a hill into their home. James used platforms to get the same “descending down the hillside” feel inside and created a nice three-bedroom home with a small kitchen and living room and a couple of bathrooms (one of which with a window over the tub that provided a beautiful view). The outside had a nice pond, an animal shed, a chicken coop, a sloped series of farm plots (he’s – not entirely sure if they all work or not, but he’ll be testing it before it can finally be uploaded to the gallery), and lots and lots of pretty plant life. It was a very nice build, and really shows off what people can do with this pack!

III. The third part of his Early Access LP with Chaz! As per usual, Chaz had a very rough beginning – needs in the toilet, not a lot of money, and his attempt at a grocery store grift (buy a bunch of items to resell with the help of a free grocery delivery coupon) went wrong when James realized that a) the coupon only refunds the DELIVERY COST, not the full amount, and b) the items sold for WAY less than he bought them for (specifically a pomegranate, which went from $165 paid to $30 sold – James ended up keeping and planting it in the alley). Also Henther disappeared, and Chestnut the fox who wanders around his lot may be to blame. O.o But Chaz persevered, tending his little farm and learning all its quirks. Namely, he learned that Nightly Mushrooms have a different “harvest time” than regular crops – and that they sell for a LOT; the Creature Keeper will buy foraged fruit and fungi for a premium; and even putting in a poor-quality egg into the chicken fair will get you a participation trophy and a fruity treat to use for later. And that doing quick errands for the locals is a good way to get money and goods that can be converted into things like a bed, a toilet, a sink, and a fridge on his own lot so he can actually, you know, LIVE. XD We also learned that the Creature Keeper, Michael, is – well. He wanted berries and mushrooms to make a special mash, then asked us to speak to some wild birds while “mashed” and “really listen. . .” Basically the Sims is implying Michael just gave Chaz mushroom drugs. XD Cripes, taking some pointers from Basemental, are we? But yeah, stuff like this really makes me want the pack – it seems like there’s all SORTS of new harvestables, and I want to get growing and playing with them! My Victors all like gardening, after all!

B) Then, this evening, we caught up with Call Me Kevin playing The Game of Life 2! This is a computer game sequel to the original board game where you also collect attributes (Happiness, Knowledge, and Assets/Money), and having the most gives bonuses to your score! Kevin played against bots Blythe, Kurt, and Paige, starting with a college degree (and the subsequent loans) before becoming a video game designer, getting married, having two baby girls, going back to college to become an astronomer instead, before retiring third out of the bunch to work on his bucket list! Not too shabby, except for all the times he had to pay the other players for life events (and then his taxes when he took the risky path. . .) He ended up second in the game overall – while he outclassed her in happiness and knowledge, Paige ended up with more assets (two houses, despite a ton of bank loans) and ended up having the highest score when she hit retirement. At least he managed to beat his arch-nemesis Blythe, a pet groomer who made a ton of money, favored his cat over his husband, and chose a pension over following his dreams in retirement. *shakes fist* Damn you Blythe!

C) Then it was time for GrayStillPlays and another look at Universe Sandbox 2! Today’s fun was flinging quarter-sized earths with immense atmospheric weight at the main Earth, starting at lightspeed and going WAAAAY up. The first one (the “baseline”) caused a tiny explosion but not much else, but the others – oooh man. You had exploding Earth, you had flash-frozen-then-suddenly-vaporized Earth, you had exploding-so-bad-it-made-the-Sun-go-supernova Earth. Basically you had a lot of Earths that didn’t survive the hit, and occasionally took the entire solar system (except for Jupiter and Saturn, somehow) out with them. It was amazing. Gray loves science, but science don’t love Gray. XD

D) And then, of course, it was time for Jon’s Fallout 4 YOLO episode! :) Last week, he claimed the plan was to start heading toward the Nakano residence to start the Far Harbor DLC, but this week, he realized that was a stupid plan and that there was a much better, easier DLC for him to complete – Vault-Tec! This is the one that adds Vault 88, which has a bunch of small quests and is largely building-based, so it’s arguably the safest of all the DLCs that actually add new missions. Jon saw this as a great way to get Finalley at least ONE level-up, and to boost her Endurance even more, so off they went down the PERFECTLY SAFE ROAD by Big John’s Salvage and Jamaica Plain!

Fortunately, the Perfectly Safe Road wasn’t actually this chaotic this time. Finalley did spot a vertibird near Big John’s Salvage, but it was a friendly Brotherhood of Steel one that dropped off some Knights to take on the few Super Mutants still clogging up the area (and possibly a nearby sentry bot). Jamaica Plain was nice and quiet – Finalley checked on the artillery, then stopped to build a nice water pump to quench her thirst before moving onto the raider-filled quarry that Vault 88 is hidden in. This was, of course, a problem for Finalley, so she moved in cautiously, sniping off a guard before maneuvering to toss an artillery grenade in –

And was distracted by a ghost vertibird – no pilot, no gunner, absolutely empty – randomly landing on some nearby buildings and just – sitting there. Menacingly. She did her best to ignore it and tossed the grenade – it took a while for her cannons to respond, but they did, and a good number of the raiders in the quarry itself were taken out. And also the ghost vertibird randomly exploded, but nothing hit her, so win. Finalley popped on her hazmat suit (as the quarry is VERY irradiated – damn thing is on top of a bunch of uranium, remember), snuck in, was startled by a few raiders still hanging out by the entrance to the vault but managed to kill them, then took off her hazmat as soon as it was safe and headed into the interior cell. Killed the raiders trying to break in, one-two-three, opened up the Vault, killed the feral ghouls coming toward her, killed guaranteed Legendary Andersen for his control board (and a Cloaking Leather Left Leg, which was so bad Jon just left it rather than even sell it), killed the ghouls around Barstow, chatted with her, agreed to help set up the vault, built her desk, activated the beacon, and then sat on her butt until the settlers showed up. Yeah, Jon was NOT opening up any of those other tunnels – one good hit from a MOLE RAT might take out Finalley now, never mind the radscorpions, deathclaw, and Mirelurk Queen guaranteed to be in there!

Anyway, settlers arrived, were properly outfitted, and Finalley set up the “Power To The People” experiment with the Powercycle prototype and a windmill to power its terminal (yes, a windmill – Jon couldn’t build the standard generator). She chose the nice “Ted” experiment, Clem did his thing, Barstow rolled her eyes, and the quest ended, unlocking the final version of the Powercycle! Which, when Finalley gave it a pedal, gave her a boost to her Endurance! That, coupled with a level-up from the raiders at the door, allowed her to boost it all the way to 14 – 10 base, +3 SCAV!, +1 Powercycle. Yes, she’s slightly less agile now, but she has almost 300 hit points again, so good trade.

Anyway, Barstow told Finalley that the next experiment required her to go to Hallucingen, Inc. to pick up some research they have. Finalley agreed, exited the vault, managed to sneak around the two surviving raiders in her hazmat suit (as she couldn’t teleport straight out the door with those enemies nearby), then zapped herself back to the Institute, then back to the center of Boston, not far from her target location. However, Jon had no intentions of going inside – not to face a bunch of drugged-up Gunners, that’s for sure! Instead, Finalley went to turn in another few old quests – delivering the mysterious serum to the Cabots, and turning in a Jackpot quest for the Railroad – to get some XP. Because as it turns out, the back door of Hallucingen is not chained, but instead just Master-locked, meaning if she can get her lockpicking up, she can hop in there and skip the dungeon, which – yeah, not surprised Jon’s looking for ways to skip fighting people in tight spaces! Sadly, closing out those quests wasn’t enough to help her, and the monetary rewards terrified Jon, who can’t let her have money because it might kill her (no, seriously, the SCAV! boost to Endurance with no cash is helping keep her alive – if she loses that and then gets too hungry, the game won’t ACTUALLY kill her, but there will be a pop-up stating “run over, sorry Jon”). Fortunately, Tinker Tom was willing to take all her cash in exchange for grenades, and she returned home to Hangman’s Alley safely.

Where Jon announced that next week we’d be starting the journey to the Nakanos and Far Harbor. *facepalm* I’ll let you know if this actually happens or if we’re stuck in a “Jon realizes this is a bad plan” timeloop.

3. Play Sims 4 Newcrest Adventures and follow Emmett to work: Check! Did this after the first two parts of the James Turner Marathon. It actually turned out to be the Lottery in the Newcrest Adventures save – I had Emmett and Nikal each buy a ticket, because why not? XD Emmett also traveled to the Magic Realm and made the acquaintance of one Manuia Niu to duel him for knowledge – after a tough opener, Emmett ended up winning and learned the spell “Burgliate.” XD From there he went to work, where he got a new mind control option on the Sim Ray – “Eat!” Apparently it makes Sims super-hungry – or, in Emmett’s lab, super-thirsty, as they kept going for sodas and waters. He also mind-controlled them to change outfits (as the game always tells me to do), used the microscope and the observatory, and generally bummed around. Came home with his paycheck and did animal flash cards with Julia before he and Nikal each had supper and went to bed. Fairly quiet day, but a good one!

4. Start sorting out tumblr queues for the upcoming week: Check! Mostly in the form of getting screenshots sorted for the next update from the Chill Save – combining their date to the Calico Club in Brindleton Bay and the SimCity Founding festivities into one update with two posts. Then the Sim Sessions weekend will be another update, then we’ll get back to Newcrest and Emmett and Nikal. I actually prepared for that by getting the screenshots for their next update, the Egg Day holiday, sorted – not drafted up on Victor Luvs Alice yet, but they’re ready to go when I am! Then it’s just a matter of catching up to my present playsession. . . I didn’t INTEND to get this far ahead, but this serves as a great buffer in case the Cottage Living patch breaks all the things! Though I think when I play this upcoming weekend, I’ll be focusing on my latest house shell in my building save. ^^; (Also, on Valice Multiverse, one ask reply, nothing special.)

5. [OPTIONAL] Get in a workout: Check! Showers are back, so I did thirty minutes on the bike while watching The English Simmer go over some of the gameplay in Cottage Living – what you can do with animals (kids can do a lot of work with them!), breeding and raising chickens (and dealing with foxes); helping important NPCs with errands (and learning a lot about them in the process); stuff like that. It was fun and informative, which is what I like in a Sims 4 video. :P

Additionally:

-->Did indeed get my FF.net PM out of the way last night, yay~ Good to no longer have that looming in the inbox!

So yes, good productive Sunday -- just have to finish up here, answer my remaining comment, and then head to bed. Fullish week of work coming up! At least I have the half-day Friday to look forward to. And if I can figure out a way to get anything out of my Watch Later before then, even better. :p Night all!

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