Good Thursday Off
May. 18th, 2023 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickNo, mini-golfing was not had -- while it did warm up a bit as the day went on from the overnight lows, it never got warm enough to actually go, and with Mom deciding to go to Kohl's instead to look for clothes. . .yeah, I just spent the day hanging out at home. And I got a lot done, I'm happy to say --
Tumblr: Managed to get a decently early start this morning (complete with getting through the one playsession of Merge Dragons I needed to collect my daily reward and earn a few more things from the “Camp and Chill” thing they had going on), so I was actually able to be productive on tumblr today! Specifically –
A) I caught up on Victor Luvs Alice’s dash and tracked tags, and stuck a post featuring someone’s new clothing set for the fem!Malkavian mod from VTMB into my drafts for later posting (it’s great for people who don’t like the Malkavian fashion sense/stripper wear, even if the coveralls outfit makes me laugh because she looks like she’s about to go gardening instead of beat up gangsters and plaguebearers)
B) I finished the VLA Song Saturday post for P!nk’s “Trustfall” (talking about how it gives me the OTP and OT3 feels, particularly in regards to my Valicer In The Dark AU)
C) Finished off my next Not-Incorrect Valicer Quotes post (sleepytime edition, about them sharing a bed and sleeping together in the literal sense) around lunchtime (that is, I did most before lunch, and the last bits after lunch), then did quick drafts of two Valicer In The Dark AU posts (one about tweaks I want to make to their playbooks, example scores, things like that; one another Not-Incorrect Quotes post for that specific AU) before Sims 4, below
D) And then, this evening, I visited The Valice Multiverse and found one ask waiting for me (a silly “Deb Of Night”-themed one for my Londerland Bloodlines verse), which I chucked into the queue. Easy!
Very proud of all that, yes. :D Nice to feel like I’m actually caught up a bit on this stuff!
Sims 4: Well, it’s a good thing I had a day off where I didn’t have to clean, because getting through Love Day in the Chill Valicer Save took over two hours. XD What can I say, they lead busy lives, and I wanted to send them on some nice dates! Here’s how it all went down –
A) Started way early on the day with Smiler puttering around while Victor and Alice slept – after grabbing a random soul scrap from the porch (where did THAT come from?) and putting it, the spare Soul Sip, and the empty cup from the other Sip, back in the séance room (as Guidry wasn’t around to consume things without permission), I had Smiler take advantage of a brief power surge in the house to recharge Elmer the garden-bot’s battery and then set it loose in the greenhouse to help Victor with weeding and watering and whatnot. I mean, Victor’s maxed out in Gardening skill, so he definitely doesn’t need the practice anymore! Smiler also started a load of laundry and scrubbed the downstairs bathroom sink, which was looking pretty damn grody, bleh. The chores never end in this household!
B) Alice, meanwhile, got woken up by Kelly and – knowing that lecturing the animals for waking her and Victor up early never ends well – instead just chatted with her and amused her with a laser pointer, before getting in a quick wolf nap to avoid her “hibernation” werewolf temperament giving her trouble. Victor woke up shortly thereafter hankering for some breakfast – as there wasn’t really much in the way of food in the fridge, though, I had him head downstairs and use Delicioso to magic up some salad. Not your typical breakfast, but spellcasters can’t be choosers! (Literally, the food you get from the spell is completely random.) Alice, also hungry, didn’t have that option, so she had to see what she could make from what was in the fridge – fortunately, all that spare red meat she’d hunted meant she could whip up a family-sized portion of steak tartare, om nom~
C) With bellies full, it was time to embark on other chores – Victor took Shadow out for a very early-morning walk so she could do her business; Smiler upgraded one of their turbines to have a nice lightning rod (so it might get supercharged during the next storm) and repaired a broken one before cleaning the chicken coop; and Alice mopped a slime creature before calming a grumpy Kelly and getting some kitty hugs, aw. :) Smiler then caught a shower (as cleaning coops and rummaging around in parts piles isn’t great for your hygiene) while Alice, feeling inspired, went downstairs to do a flirty painting in honor of it being Love Day. Turned out to be a masterpiece, so THAT’S nice. :)
D) Victor eventually made it back home with Shadow (despite the dog’s constant attempts to glitchily pull ahead) as Elmer, done in the greenhouse, started wandering around randomly looking for plants to tend – Smiler finally caught up with the little bot to deactivate it after it checked on their own Snappy the Sixam Mosquito Trap. :P Victor spent a bit of quality play time with Shadow before taking some time to work on his latest song (note to self, FIND A MOD THAT SPEEDS UP SONGWRITING I SWEAR), while Alice and Smiler shared a nice chat, then Alice took out her new “meditate anywhere” poof to meditate in the downstairs hall while Smiler had a nice plasma pack on the back porch with a napping Shadow.
E) And then – gardening! Well, sort of – Elmer had already tended all the plants, so they were good. But Victor had some poops and compost sitting in his inventory, so he used that to fertilize a few things, then evolve what he could. He also bonded with his bees before collecting some honey and some beeswax – and a swarm, since I’ve never actually done that with him before. Then it was harvest time, with this day’s harvest (except, obviously, for the flowers) going straight into the fridge. Yes, they need produce to sell at the store, but they also need produce to actually MAKE FOOD at home thanks to “Simple Living!” Gotta remember that. :p
F) Smiler, of course, was on chicken-tending duty while this was happening – cleaning the coop, spreading feed, chatting to chickens, and scaring off Wild the fox when he tried to attack one of the roosters (I didn’t see which one, but the rooster pretty easily fended him off). They even got to pet Leghorna, which was cute. :) I then sent them inside, hoping that maybe they could watch some romantic TV with Victor and Alice (as that’s a tradition for Love Day in my game) if the power cooperated –
G) And then I saw Roxana Lopes chilling out on the front porch, noted Smiler was feeling a bit thirsty, and sent them outside to say hello, offer a pep talk, and share some Love Day spirit! Naturally, with the intention of then asking for a drink. Things seemed to be going well. . .
But then Roxana pulled out a glob of clay. And all of Smiler’s attempts to ask for permission to drink timed out because she was too busy playing with the clay. >.< Damn NPCs. . .I eventually had Smiler just shoo her because she wasn’t going to be of any further use. Meh.
H) Okay, THAT brought us all the way to 1 PM in-game, and the gang had barely done anything for Love Day yet. Time to get this party started – first by having Alice (who’d meditated her way to Wellness skill 5 – she might levitate while meditating now!) surge passion so she’d be appropriately flirty, then by having Victor ask her on a date! (Which actually got Alice to like “Affection” in conversation – well, sure, as long as it’s Victor! Or Smiler, I suppose, but they don’t really interact like that.) After a quick poke around San Sequoia that didn’t suggest any particularly “romantic” places to start the gate (I’m not sure going to the rec center counts as romantic, anyway), I had them head to Copperdale instead – in particular, to ThrifTea, the thrift store and bubble tea shop! The pair headed there right away –
And then I hit “save,” and had the game bring Smiler over to the lot as well. Which revealed something interesting about the UI – namely, SMILER also had the date goals visible. I don’t think any of their interactions with Victor and Alice counted for the date – I know Smiler goofed around with Alice a bit – but it kind of sold the illusion of them having a threesome date there, which was cute. :)
I) Anyway – ThrifTea date proved to be very busy, mostly because a fashion show ended up starting halfway through it, meaning the place was SWARMING with people in very, very bad clothing. For some reason, sea captain hats seem to be in in Copperdale. O.o The trio made the best of it, though – Victor used his swarm of bees to woo Alice (because that’s one of the things you can do with bees), then they sat on the couch at the side of the shop for a while, chatting and flirting and kissing. Smiler gave them a bit of space by browsing the clothing available on the thrifting racks and making friends with the visiting Dominic Fyres (who likes purple, apparently – good color choice, dude!). Though, again, I couldn’t get Smiler to ask for a drink, this time because Dominic pissed off before Smiler could. -.- NPCs, man. . . Eventually everyone took a moment to watch the people posing for the fashion show and to express their disdain (seriously, these townies looked pretty awful, and I normally find townie fashion DEEPLY amusing), then Victor and Alice went back to flirting and exchanging flowers (Victor giving Alice a tulip, Alice giving Victor a rose) while Smiler went back to scanning the racks before heading outside, catching some locusts, and playing some chess at the little local green area nearby. I also TRIED multiple times to get Victor to order a bubble tea from the counter, but for whatever reason most of the time all that came up was the “Magic” menu to set it on fire, so eventually I just had him steal an unclaimed Lychee Milk bubble tea. I was – unimpressed with how little hunger it filled, both for Victor AND for Alice when she grabbed one. Seriously, what the hell? Alice also broke the toilet while using it – fortunately Victor’s Repairio and Scruberoo spells came to the rescue and quickly cleaned up the mess. Not sure how many of the other patrons appreciated his quick spell-slinging – he seemed to get a few funny looks. Ah well, the important thing is that the DATE went well – Victor and Alice got Gold from fulfilling the main goal to socialize, and ended things with a nice slow dance and dip kiss in the corner before watching Smiler tell jokes on the microphone with the store’s owner. XD
J) But hey, that’s only one half of Love Day for this trio – now it was time for Victor and Smiler to have their official date! And bring Alice along, of course. Smiler kicked things off by giving Victor a daisy (which Victor didn’t appreciate – look, I don’t think the game HAS your and Smiler’s favorite flower, daffodils), then asking him on a date, taking him over to the other side of Copperdale into Totter Park! But that was only the waypoint that they, Victor, and Alice used to get to their REAL destination –
The pier amusement park! Yeah, this is one of the things that actually tempted me about High School Years, gameplay-wise – I’ve been wanting my Sims to be able to go to a theme park or something similar on vacation, and this is like the best option the games have presented so far. I figured it would be perfect for the trio to visit for Love Day –
K) And indeed, they had a lovely time! I started with Victor and Alice getting some Plumbite Pier ice cream (Victor didn’t really need it, because I’d had him drink a Potion of Plentiful Needs back at ThrifTea after seeing how little the bubble tea had actually done for his hunger, but who turns down ice cream) – Alice strawberry and Victor chocolate, of course. They sat with Smiler at the nearby picnic table and chatted, Smiler telling an outrageous story before deciding to set the mood with a burst of flirtiness for everyone. Alice did some stargazing and then went to examine the “Frank The Womp-Womp” statue for “historical insights” while Victor and Smiler did some more flirting and tender gazing –
And then I spotted the photobooth behind them and went “oh, yeah, pictures! They totally need pictures!” So Victor and Smiler went to get a picture in the booth while I directed Alice back to their general area, then Victor and Alice took a snap while Smiler waited outside and had some plasma fruit. From there I directed everyone to ride the Ferris wheel, with Victor and Smiler going together and Alice going on her own – she ran ahead and thus finished her ride first, while Victor and Smiler got stuck on an awkward ride together because the game insisted on giving me a pop-up where Victor could either ask Smiler what was on their mind or tell a story, and apparently asking what was on their mind was the wrong choice. *grumbles* At least it didn’t penalize me with a bad moodlet or sentiment, at least! While I was waiting for them to get back off, I had Alice try to get a snap of the Ferris Wheel with her fancy camera – and thanks to having to have her back up to get more of the wheel itself in the picture, she actually caught Victor and Smiler exiting the ride, so that was nice! :) From there, it was over to the Cuddle Carts – this time Smiler went on alone, with Victor and Alice riding together (after Smiler already got off – apparently you can’t get multiple Sims to ride separately but at the same time, like with the Ferris Wheel). Hilariously, the game gave me a pop-up for THEM about whether Victor should make a move on Alice or ask to remain friends – game, they’re adults. They’re MARRIED. They’ve been married for a while. XD At any rate, I had Smiler get a picture of them entering the Carts when they got off, then hang around the entrance practicing their singing until they got off again. :) Hooray for having fun pictures of their date! Also ended their date with Victor a few minutes before the 2 AM holiday deadline (it only had like fifteen minutes to go anyway) so it would count toward Love Day – between the three of them, they all had a fabulous time!
L) At that point, though, Alice was about ready to drop, so after a bit of last-minute flirting on the pier, I sent them home. Alice curled up for a wolf nap on the ground outside the house, while Victor gave Smiler a bit of plasma before heading over to the chicken coop to hatch another chick (I don’t know what kind this one is yet) and then heading up to bed. Alice followed soon after after being barked away by Shadow, and I had Smiler focus on repairing more broken wind turbines while I ended the day getting the best of all their latest pictures up on the wall (currently behind the cat tree – I may move them).
Whew – lot going on there, huh? But that’s my Sims game for you. XD I’m very glad that I got to play through all that today, it was fun. :) Saturday, though, I think my focus will be on seeing if I can somehow complete Alice’s New Year’s Resolution – she needs to get fit, so I suspect the gang will be spending the day at the gym! We’ll have to find a fun one to visit. . .
Writing: Got to this a little late as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write for a while, but – well, as evidenced by the “Tumblr” section above, I was in a bit of a Valicer In The Dark mood today, so that’s what I worked on! Specifically, continuing edits on the scene where Emily tracks down Victor in the Mangled Mermaid, Smiler talks her down from throwing an electroplasmic hissy fit, and – in the bit that I just edited – Victor reveals he’s already engaged and didn’t even know Emily was down that street – he was just wandering around trying to practice his vows after making a mess of his wedding rehearsal. And now Nanny’s on the verge of revealing that she’s just heard that Victoria Everglot has just gotten married. . .there’s a lot going on in this bit, it’s safe to say!
YouTube: Well, got TWO videos out of the old Watch Later along with the Subs stuff today, so I’m happy about that! Making progress at whittling this all down, w000. :D
A) Started with a pair of OXBoxtra videos that had been waiting in the WL for a while –
I. “7 Bizarre First Appearances for Famous Game Characters” – Luke and Ellen talking about the strange first appearance of some iconic video game characters! Did you know Sonic was put into the Rad Mobile racing arcade game by SEGA as an air freshener to promote his own upcoming title? How about the fact that Starkiller of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, thanks to delays on his own game, was first seen in one of the Soul Caliber fighting game titles (along with Darth Vader)? Or that Patches the traitorous cowardly merchant from FROM’s famous series of games (all the Souls titles, plus Bloodborne and Elden Ring) in fact debuted as a mecha pilot (with a habit of sniping people from high places, possibly because he couldn’t kick them) in their old Armored Core franchise? The mind boggles, it really does. O.o
II. “7 Games That Were Secretly Judging You: Commenter Edition” – Andy, Mike, and Jane talking about more games that were secretly noting your actions and making judgment, as suggested by the comments on the last video! Did you know GTA V was tracking your actions and will show you what Michael’s psychiatrist thought in a psychiatric report at the end of the credits? How about that all non-hostile creatures in Don’t Starve have innocence points that translate into naughtiness points when you kill them, and once you get enough, a Krampus monster appears to steal all your stuff? And can you believe that Haunting Ground has a bad ending you can lock yourself into by mistreating your beloved canine companion Hewie, and that people might have seen it?! (To be fair, I think if you get that ending, you probably had to be going for it, because I imagine most people, even if they don’t lavish Hewie with praise, probably don’t go out of their way to KICK him either.) Games be judgy, yo.
B) Then it was over to the Subs for today’s Josh Way – “SKETCHY: Red Dwarf!” A quick video showing some drawings he made of the four main characters of the space Britcom Red Dwarf, Lister, Rimmer, Cat, and Kryten. Good art as usual, even if I’m only passingly familiar with the show, and even then only because some friends of mine online are fans of it. If you like it, maybe go check that video out! Only two and a half minutes!
C) And finally, as it was Thursday, we had the Standard GrayStillPlays Thursday Minisode: “Busting 5 Ridiculous Myths in GTA 5 #shorts!” Myth One: You can’t get a blimp through the Miriam Turner bridge – false! Gray pulled it off, despite it being a rather tight fit. Myth Two: You can break your parachute while skydiving if you use your flare gun – true! Fire the flare gun at the parachute, instant breakage. Myth Three: If you land a blimp on water, it will float – true! It bounces weirdly a couple of times, but it DOES indeed float. Myth Four: You can defeat a mountain lion with a five-foot-tall ledge – true! Gray showed us the method – you climb on the ledge, wait for the mountain lion to follow you to attack, jump off the ledge, and watch as the mountain lion runs off, ragdolls, and dies for no apparent reason. Myth Five: You cannot skydive into a deer because it will sense you and run off before you can – true! Gray attempted it and hit the ground so hard that he died as the deer bounded off. XD Thank you again for your myth-busting services, Gray!
Workout: Back on the bike today, watching “Testing 100 Dangerous Vehicles in GTA 5” by GrayStillPlays! Yes, after my very long Chill Valicer Love Day session in Sims 4, I decided the best way to take care of his latest compilation video was to watch it with my next couple of workouts (and finish off whatever was left on Friday night). As per usual, Gray was kind enough to include some new content at the beginning, and delightfully it was Gray trying out a trio of different cars against A LOOP MADE OF WINDMILLS. Yes, Gray had to make a 90-degree turn in cars that REALLY liked to try and slide off the road, then go around a pair of half-circles made of windmills (with the blades on opposite sides on each half), before hitting a platform and then racing down it avoiding MORE windmills clipping through it to make it to the ramp and the checkpoint. It took a good few tries, and Gray getting stuck in some awkward places above and in the power plant the course was built around, but once he got his beloved pink car, he DID manage it! :D The rest of the video so far has been “The Troll Pull” (that board where Alex had Gray drag a big Merryweather crate through a number of ridiculous obstacles, including his own version of a chemical train derailing and over an icy wall ride, only to tell him he didn’t actually need the crate to complete the board at the end) and “The Bulges” (where Gray had to test trucks and tanks and other large vehicles against Alex’s various hell hills – I’m currently in the middle of that one). Looking forward to seeing which other GTA V Alex Torture Boards make the cut!
Other: We may not have mini-golfed, but we did play beanbags once Mom got back from her Kohl’s trip (she got a bunch of new pants and some new purple-framed sunglasses for me) – we all kinda struggled, but poor Mom just could NOT get it together today. I managed to pull out a last-minute win in the first game, but Dad, as usual, had the best day. Final scores were me W-2-2; Dad 2-W-W; Mom 3-3-3. We’ll see if tomorrow is better (possibly because it might be warmer!)
Not too shabby. I think I needed a day off like today, with no expectations of going anywhere or having to do anything necessarily. And without getting too distracted by what's going on on my phone. :p And now it's time to head to bed so I can head back to work for one single day. XD Night all!
Tumblr: Managed to get a decently early start this morning (complete with getting through the one playsession of Merge Dragons I needed to collect my daily reward and earn a few more things from the “Camp and Chill” thing they had going on), so I was actually able to be productive on tumblr today! Specifically –
A) I caught up on Victor Luvs Alice’s dash and tracked tags, and stuck a post featuring someone’s new clothing set for the fem!Malkavian mod from VTMB into my drafts for later posting (it’s great for people who don’t like the Malkavian fashion sense/stripper wear, even if the coveralls outfit makes me laugh because she looks like she’s about to go gardening instead of beat up gangsters and plaguebearers)
B) I finished the VLA Song Saturday post for P!nk’s “Trustfall” (talking about how it gives me the OTP and OT3 feels, particularly in regards to my Valicer In The Dark AU)
C) Finished off my next Not-Incorrect Valicer Quotes post (sleepytime edition, about them sharing a bed and sleeping together in the literal sense) around lunchtime (that is, I did most before lunch, and the last bits after lunch), then did quick drafts of two Valicer In The Dark AU posts (one about tweaks I want to make to their playbooks, example scores, things like that; one another Not-Incorrect Quotes post for that specific AU) before Sims 4, below
D) And then, this evening, I visited The Valice Multiverse and found one ask waiting for me (a silly “Deb Of Night”-themed one for my Londerland Bloodlines verse), which I chucked into the queue. Easy!
Very proud of all that, yes. :D Nice to feel like I’m actually caught up a bit on this stuff!
Sims 4: Well, it’s a good thing I had a day off where I didn’t have to clean, because getting through Love Day in the Chill Valicer Save took over two hours. XD What can I say, they lead busy lives, and I wanted to send them on some nice dates! Here’s how it all went down –
A) Started way early on the day with Smiler puttering around while Victor and Alice slept – after grabbing a random soul scrap from the porch (where did THAT come from?) and putting it, the spare Soul Sip, and the empty cup from the other Sip, back in the séance room (as Guidry wasn’t around to consume things without permission), I had Smiler take advantage of a brief power surge in the house to recharge Elmer the garden-bot’s battery and then set it loose in the greenhouse to help Victor with weeding and watering and whatnot. I mean, Victor’s maxed out in Gardening skill, so he definitely doesn’t need the practice anymore! Smiler also started a load of laundry and scrubbed the downstairs bathroom sink, which was looking pretty damn grody, bleh. The chores never end in this household!
B) Alice, meanwhile, got woken up by Kelly and – knowing that lecturing the animals for waking her and Victor up early never ends well – instead just chatted with her and amused her with a laser pointer, before getting in a quick wolf nap to avoid her “hibernation” werewolf temperament giving her trouble. Victor woke up shortly thereafter hankering for some breakfast – as there wasn’t really much in the way of food in the fridge, though, I had him head downstairs and use Delicioso to magic up some salad. Not your typical breakfast, but spellcasters can’t be choosers! (Literally, the food you get from the spell is completely random.) Alice, also hungry, didn’t have that option, so she had to see what she could make from what was in the fridge – fortunately, all that spare red meat she’d hunted meant she could whip up a family-sized portion of steak tartare, om nom~
C) With bellies full, it was time to embark on other chores – Victor took Shadow out for a very early-morning walk so she could do her business; Smiler upgraded one of their turbines to have a nice lightning rod (so it might get supercharged during the next storm) and repaired a broken one before cleaning the chicken coop; and Alice mopped a slime creature before calming a grumpy Kelly and getting some kitty hugs, aw. :) Smiler then caught a shower (as cleaning coops and rummaging around in parts piles isn’t great for your hygiene) while Alice, feeling inspired, went downstairs to do a flirty painting in honor of it being Love Day. Turned out to be a masterpiece, so THAT’S nice. :)
D) Victor eventually made it back home with Shadow (despite the dog’s constant attempts to glitchily pull ahead) as Elmer, done in the greenhouse, started wandering around randomly looking for plants to tend – Smiler finally caught up with the little bot to deactivate it after it checked on their own Snappy the Sixam Mosquito Trap. :P Victor spent a bit of quality play time with Shadow before taking some time to work on his latest song (note to self, FIND A MOD THAT SPEEDS UP SONGWRITING I SWEAR), while Alice and Smiler shared a nice chat, then Alice took out her new “meditate anywhere” poof to meditate in the downstairs hall while Smiler had a nice plasma pack on the back porch with a napping Shadow.
E) And then – gardening! Well, sort of – Elmer had already tended all the plants, so they were good. But Victor had some poops and compost sitting in his inventory, so he used that to fertilize a few things, then evolve what he could. He also bonded with his bees before collecting some honey and some beeswax – and a swarm, since I’ve never actually done that with him before. Then it was harvest time, with this day’s harvest (except, obviously, for the flowers) going straight into the fridge. Yes, they need produce to sell at the store, but they also need produce to actually MAKE FOOD at home thanks to “Simple Living!” Gotta remember that. :p
F) Smiler, of course, was on chicken-tending duty while this was happening – cleaning the coop, spreading feed, chatting to chickens, and scaring off Wild the fox when he tried to attack one of the roosters (I didn’t see which one, but the rooster pretty easily fended him off). They even got to pet Leghorna, which was cute. :) I then sent them inside, hoping that maybe they could watch some romantic TV with Victor and Alice (as that’s a tradition for Love Day in my game) if the power cooperated –
G) And then I saw Roxana Lopes chilling out on the front porch, noted Smiler was feeling a bit thirsty, and sent them outside to say hello, offer a pep talk, and share some Love Day spirit! Naturally, with the intention of then asking for a drink. Things seemed to be going well. . .
But then Roxana pulled out a glob of clay. And all of Smiler’s attempts to ask for permission to drink timed out because she was too busy playing with the clay. >.< Damn NPCs. . .I eventually had Smiler just shoo her because she wasn’t going to be of any further use. Meh.
H) Okay, THAT brought us all the way to 1 PM in-game, and the gang had barely done anything for Love Day yet. Time to get this party started – first by having Alice (who’d meditated her way to Wellness skill 5 – she might levitate while meditating now!) surge passion so she’d be appropriately flirty, then by having Victor ask her on a date! (Which actually got Alice to like “Affection” in conversation – well, sure, as long as it’s Victor! Or Smiler, I suppose, but they don’t really interact like that.) After a quick poke around San Sequoia that didn’t suggest any particularly “romantic” places to start the gate (I’m not sure going to the rec center counts as romantic, anyway), I had them head to Copperdale instead – in particular, to ThrifTea, the thrift store and bubble tea shop! The pair headed there right away –
And then I hit “save,” and had the game bring Smiler over to the lot as well. Which revealed something interesting about the UI – namely, SMILER also had the date goals visible. I don’t think any of their interactions with Victor and Alice counted for the date – I know Smiler goofed around with Alice a bit – but it kind of sold the illusion of them having a threesome date there, which was cute. :)
I) Anyway – ThrifTea date proved to be very busy, mostly because a fashion show ended up starting halfway through it, meaning the place was SWARMING with people in very, very bad clothing. For some reason, sea captain hats seem to be in in Copperdale. O.o The trio made the best of it, though – Victor used his swarm of bees to woo Alice (because that’s one of the things you can do with bees), then they sat on the couch at the side of the shop for a while, chatting and flirting and kissing. Smiler gave them a bit of space by browsing the clothing available on the thrifting racks and making friends with the visiting Dominic Fyres (who likes purple, apparently – good color choice, dude!). Though, again, I couldn’t get Smiler to ask for a drink, this time because Dominic pissed off before Smiler could. -.- NPCs, man. . . Eventually everyone took a moment to watch the people posing for the fashion show and to express their disdain (seriously, these townies looked pretty awful, and I normally find townie fashion DEEPLY amusing), then Victor and Alice went back to flirting and exchanging flowers (Victor giving Alice a tulip, Alice giving Victor a rose) while Smiler went back to scanning the racks before heading outside, catching some locusts, and playing some chess at the little local green area nearby. I also TRIED multiple times to get Victor to order a bubble tea from the counter, but for whatever reason most of the time all that came up was the “Magic” menu to set it on fire, so eventually I just had him steal an unclaimed Lychee Milk bubble tea. I was – unimpressed with how little hunger it filled, both for Victor AND for Alice when she grabbed one. Seriously, what the hell? Alice also broke the toilet while using it – fortunately Victor’s Repairio and Scruberoo spells came to the rescue and quickly cleaned up the mess. Not sure how many of the other patrons appreciated his quick spell-slinging – he seemed to get a few funny looks. Ah well, the important thing is that the DATE went well – Victor and Alice got Gold from fulfilling the main goal to socialize, and ended things with a nice slow dance and dip kiss in the corner before watching Smiler tell jokes on the microphone with the store’s owner. XD
J) But hey, that’s only one half of Love Day for this trio – now it was time for Victor and Smiler to have their official date! And bring Alice along, of course. Smiler kicked things off by giving Victor a daisy (which Victor didn’t appreciate – look, I don’t think the game HAS your and Smiler’s favorite flower, daffodils), then asking him on a date, taking him over to the other side of Copperdale into Totter Park! But that was only the waypoint that they, Victor, and Alice used to get to their REAL destination –
The pier amusement park! Yeah, this is one of the things that actually tempted me about High School Years, gameplay-wise – I’ve been wanting my Sims to be able to go to a theme park or something similar on vacation, and this is like the best option the games have presented so far. I figured it would be perfect for the trio to visit for Love Day –
K) And indeed, they had a lovely time! I started with Victor and Alice getting some Plumbite Pier ice cream (Victor didn’t really need it, because I’d had him drink a Potion of Plentiful Needs back at ThrifTea after seeing how little the bubble tea had actually done for his hunger, but who turns down ice cream) – Alice strawberry and Victor chocolate, of course. They sat with Smiler at the nearby picnic table and chatted, Smiler telling an outrageous story before deciding to set the mood with a burst of flirtiness for everyone. Alice did some stargazing and then went to examine the “Frank The Womp-Womp” statue for “historical insights” while Victor and Smiler did some more flirting and tender gazing –
And then I spotted the photobooth behind them and went “oh, yeah, pictures! They totally need pictures!” So Victor and Smiler went to get a picture in the booth while I directed Alice back to their general area, then Victor and Alice took a snap while Smiler waited outside and had some plasma fruit. From there I directed everyone to ride the Ferris wheel, with Victor and Smiler going together and Alice going on her own – she ran ahead and thus finished her ride first, while Victor and Smiler got stuck on an awkward ride together because the game insisted on giving me a pop-up where Victor could either ask Smiler what was on their mind or tell a story, and apparently asking what was on their mind was the wrong choice. *grumbles* At least it didn’t penalize me with a bad moodlet or sentiment, at least! While I was waiting for them to get back off, I had Alice try to get a snap of the Ferris Wheel with her fancy camera – and thanks to having to have her back up to get more of the wheel itself in the picture, she actually caught Victor and Smiler exiting the ride, so that was nice! :) From there, it was over to the Cuddle Carts – this time Smiler went on alone, with Victor and Alice riding together (after Smiler already got off – apparently you can’t get multiple Sims to ride separately but at the same time, like with the Ferris Wheel). Hilariously, the game gave me a pop-up for THEM about whether Victor should make a move on Alice or ask to remain friends – game, they’re adults. They’re MARRIED. They’ve been married for a while. XD At any rate, I had Smiler get a picture of them entering the Carts when they got off, then hang around the entrance practicing their singing until they got off again. :) Hooray for having fun pictures of their date! Also ended their date with Victor a few minutes before the 2 AM holiday deadline (it only had like fifteen minutes to go anyway) so it would count toward Love Day – between the three of them, they all had a fabulous time!
L) At that point, though, Alice was about ready to drop, so after a bit of last-minute flirting on the pier, I sent them home. Alice curled up for a wolf nap on the ground outside the house, while Victor gave Smiler a bit of plasma before heading over to the chicken coop to hatch another chick (I don’t know what kind this one is yet) and then heading up to bed. Alice followed soon after after being barked away by Shadow, and I had Smiler focus on repairing more broken wind turbines while I ended the day getting the best of all their latest pictures up on the wall (currently behind the cat tree – I may move them).
Whew – lot going on there, huh? But that’s my Sims game for you. XD I’m very glad that I got to play through all that today, it was fun. :) Saturday, though, I think my focus will be on seeing if I can somehow complete Alice’s New Year’s Resolution – she needs to get fit, so I suspect the gang will be spending the day at the gym! We’ll have to find a fun one to visit. . .
Writing: Got to this a little late as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write for a while, but – well, as evidenced by the “Tumblr” section above, I was in a bit of a Valicer In The Dark mood today, so that’s what I worked on! Specifically, continuing edits on the scene where Emily tracks down Victor in the Mangled Mermaid, Smiler talks her down from throwing an electroplasmic hissy fit, and – in the bit that I just edited – Victor reveals he’s already engaged and didn’t even know Emily was down that street – he was just wandering around trying to practice his vows after making a mess of his wedding rehearsal. And now Nanny’s on the verge of revealing that she’s just heard that Victoria Everglot has just gotten married. . .there’s a lot going on in this bit, it’s safe to say!
YouTube: Well, got TWO videos out of the old Watch Later along with the Subs stuff today, so I’m happy about that! Making progress at whittling this all down, w000. :D
A) Started with a pair of OXBoxtra videos that had been waiting in the WL for a while –
I. “7 Bizarre First Appearances for Famous Game Characters” – Luke and Ellen talking about the strange first appearance of some iconic video game characters! Did you know Sonic was put into the Rad Mobile racing arcade game by SEGA as an air freshener to promote his own upcoming title? How about the fact that Starkiller of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, thanks to delays on his own game, was first seen in one of the Soul Caliber fighting game titles (along with Darth Vader)? Or that Patches the traitorous cowardly merchant from FROM’s famous series of games (all the Souls titles, plus Bloodborne and Elden Ring) in fact debuted as a mecha pilot (with a habit of sniping people from high places, possibly because he couldn’t kick them) in their old Armored Core franchise? The mind boggles, it really does. O.o
II. “7 Games That Were Secretly Judging You: Commenter Edition” – Andy, Mike, and Jane talking about more games that were secretly noting your actions and making judgment, as suggested by the comments on the last video! Did you know GTA V was tracking your actions and will show you what Michael’s psychiatrist thought in a psychiatric report at the end of the credits? How about that all non-hostile creatures in Don’t Starve have innocence points that translate into naughtiness points when you kill them, and once you get enough, a Krampus monster appears to steal all your stuff? And can you believe that Haunting Ground has a bad ending you can lock yourself into by mistreating your beloved canine companion Hewie, and that people might have seen it?! (To be fair, I think if you get that ending, you probably had to be going for it, because I imagine most people, even if they don’t lavish Hewie with praise, probably don’t go out of their way to KICK him either.) Games be judgy, yo.
B) Then it was over to the Subs for today’s Josh Way – “SKETCHY: Red Dwarf!” A quick video showing some drawings he made of the four main characters of the space Britcom Red Dwarf, Lister, Rimmer, Cat, and Kryten. Good art as usual, even if I’m only passingly familiar with the show, and even then only because some friends of mine online are fans of it. If you like it, maybe go check that video out! Only two and a half minutes!
C) And finally, as it was Thursday, we had the Standard GrayStillPlays Thursday Minisode: “Busting 5 Ridiculous Myths in GTA 5 #shorts!” Myth One: You can’t get a blimp through the Miriam Turner bridge – false! Gray pulled it off, despite it being a rather tight fit. Myth Two: You can break your parachute while skydiving if you use your flare gun – true! Fire the flare gun at the parachute, instant breakage. Myth Three: If you land a blimp on water, it will float – true! It bounces weirdly a couple of times, but it DOES indeed float. Myth Four: You can defeat a mountain lion with a five-foot-tall ledge – true! Gray showed us the method – you climb on the ledge, wait for the mountain lion to follow you to attack, jump off the ledge, and watch as the mountain lion runs off, ragdolls, and dies for no apparent reason. Myth Five: You cannot skydive into a deer because it will sense you and run off before you can – true! Gray attempted it and hit the ground so hard that he died as the deer bounded off. XD Thank you again for your myth-busting services, Gray!
Workout: Back on the bike today, watching “Testing 100 Dangerous Vehicles in GTA 5” by GrayStillPlays! Yes, after my very long Chill Valicer Love Day session in Sims 4, I decided the best way to take care of his latest compilation video was to watch it with my next couple of workouts (and finish off whatever was left on Friday night). As per usual, Gray was kind enough to include some new content at the beginning, and delightfully it was Gray trying out a trio of different cars against A LOOP MADE OF WINDMILLS. Yes, Gray had to make a 90-degree turn in cars that REALLY liked to try and slide off the road, then go around a pair of half-circles made of windmills (with the blades on opposite sides on each half), before hitting a platform and then racing down it avoiding MORE windmills clipping through it to make it to the ramp and the checkpoint. It took a good few tries, and Gray getting stuck in some awkward places above and in the power plant the course was built around, but once he got his beloved pink car, he DID manage it! :D The rest of the video so far has been “The Troll Pull” (that board where Alex had Gray drag a big Merryweather crate through a number of ridiculous obstacles, including his own version of a chemical train derailing and over an icy wall ride, only to tell him he didn’t actually need the crate to complete the board at the end) and “The Bulges” (where Gray had to test trucks and tanks and other large vehicles against Alex’s various hell hills – I’m currently in the middle of that one). Looking forward to seeing which other GTA V Alex Torture Boards make the cut!
Other: We may not have mini-golfed, but we did play beanbags once Mom got back from her Kohl’s trip (she got a bunch of new pants and some new purple-framed sunglasses for me) – we all kinda struggled, but poor Mom just could NOT get it together today. I managed to pull out a last-minute win in the first game, but Dad, as usual, had the best day. Final scores were me W-2-2; Dad 2-W-W; Mom 3-3-3. We’ll see if tomorrow is better (possibly because it might be warmer!)
Not too shabby. I think I needed a day off like today, with no expectations of going anywhere or having to do anything necessarily. And without getting too distracted by what's going on on my phone. :p And now it's time to head to bed so I can head back to work for one single day. XD Night all!
