Decently Productive Monday
Aug. 7th, 2023 11:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickThough it was a lot rainier than expected -- the bad weather was supposed to come in tonight, but instead it came in mid-morning. At least the plants liked it! And tomorrow's supposed to have pretty icky weather in the AM, then gradually get nicer -- we'll see how that turns out! As it stands, I was up by 9 AM, and managed to get a good chunk of stuff done --
Tumblr: Spent a good chunk of the morning catching up on the Victor Luvs Alice dash and tracked tags (popping a gif set of some favorite A:MR locations, including my beloved Cardbridge, and a cool Corpse Bride charcoal drawing of Victor and Victoria at the rehearsal into my drafts for later), then got the text, tags, and image alt text for one and a half of the remain four posts in the Chill Valicer Save update this week done before lunch, with the second post completed right after lunch. Not too shabby!
Sims 4: I did indeed get back to my Chill Valicer Save today – updated all those mods that I knew needed an update, left the rest, saved this current session in a new “save branch” so just in case something went monstrously wrong I wouldn’t lose the entire save. But so far, everything seems to be going well – I’ve done about half a day with the gang, getting back into the rhythm of things on the farm and getting back to the grocery store! Let me tell you about it –
A) Picked up with all the trio awake at about 3 AM on a very rainy Fall Tuesday morning, with Alice having just pulled herself out of a rampage – I sent her inside, still in werewolf form, to finish a surreal carrot painting she’d started earlier, then – seeing Smiler sitting down for a game of chess – had Victor (who was feeling extremely flirty) take the “Super Llama” costume off Shadow and go join them. It was a very good game for both of them – while Smiler ended up winning the game, Victor did get to level 4 logic skill, so that was a kind of win for him too. Alice, meanwhile, finished her carrot painting (with Guidry trying to talk to her all the while, please stop), then changed back into human form. This terrified Guidry (again, sir, I posit that you should be used to this as a supernatural investigator, AND a ghost, and that a werewolf going back to human in PARTICULAR should not inspire terror) –
And inspired a sad sentiment in Alice about how, being a People Person, the lapsing of her friendship with Guidry was painful. Oh, right, she picked up that lifestyle again despite it not really suiting her – time to get some Lifestyle-Go-Poof potion and drop that!
B) Anyway – with that sorted, I took a moment to move all the Spookfest decorations into the attic, then started looking for other things for my trio to do as I waited for the greenhouse to become harvestable and the hour to become decent. :P Alice, the lucky one, got sent upstairs to take the taco costume off Kelly and get a few extra ZZZs, while Victor and Smiler ended up being put on upgrading duty – Smiler adding a tungsten drum to the washer to stop it breaking so much (possibly at all), while Victor added a speed cycle to the dryer to make it dry clothes faster. Smiler finished first, so I sent them out into the greenhouse once everything started sprouting and had them set Bugs and Elmer (their garden-bots) loose in there to help with the weeding and watering and whatnot while they harvested all the herbalism-related plants. Victor followed after a little bit to start tending the garden with the bots – though, before he did, I noticed poor Moory’s shed stinking, had a thought, and checked Victor’s magic menu after clicking on it with him. Sure enough, he could Scruberoo it! :) I promptly had him do so and then start weeding the “oversized” crops (here in scare quotes because I deliberately grew them small this time for the shop) while Smiler went to feed the chickens and get the eggs (to my surprise and delight, they got five whole normal, unhatchable eggs! Nice) –
C) And then, when I went to check on the recently-refreshed Alice and see what I wanted her to do – I got a pop-up in the corner. About Alice discovering a fire. I was utterly BAFFLED for a few minutes as I tried to figure out where this fire was –
And then I looked on the back porch. Guidry had, ONCE AGAIN, co-opted the grill there to start doing herbalism, and had set it on fire. *heavy sigh* Victor and Smiler took care of the blaze with a double-blast of Chillio from Victor and mundane extinguisher from Smiler, while poor Alice ran around in a super-speed panic before heading outside. Victor and Guidry soon followed, and I was left utterly fuming over this damn ghostly annoyance. >( Guidry, what the ever-loving hell?!
Oh, and just to twist the knife a little bit, as I tried to calm my poor Sims down and get them to just eat some breakfast, I happened to notice that Victor’s cowplant out in the front had grown up. I promptly switched his aspiration back to Freelance Botanist, where it immediately completed and gave him the “Naturalist” trait. Which, in Sims terms, makes him FIREPROOF and allows him to put out fires INSTANTLY. *facepalm* Like, ten seconds earlier, Sims 4.
D) Well – with the excitement over, I managed to get everyone sorted and back to business – Victor used Delicioso to whip up a salad for his breakfast before heading back into the greenhouse to help the bots, while Alice cleaned all the empty plates and spoiled food out of the fridge and had some leftover choripán. Smiler, for their part, had a plasma fruit, then went to go tend to Moory, giving her a nice clean and asking her how to make friends with cowplants, which, for some reason, she didn’t appreciate – maybe she doesn’t like cowplants? Or just doesn’t want Smiler to assume she knows anything about cowplants? Smiler made it up for it by giving her a tip of $25 simoleons, which netted them a bottle of enriched milk along with the usual six bottles of regular milk! Apparently that milk, when drunk, provides a skill-building boost – good to know!
E) And then I happened to look at the chicken coop and noticed it was STINKING. Whoops! Alice got put on cleaning duty (causing her to throw away all garbage on the lot – which took less time than usual, admittedly, thanks to her super-speed still being active), then offered the newly-grown cowplant some meat (which it rejected, not being hungry I guess), while Smiler went and got Elmer (whose battery was looking worryingly low) and brought the bot into the barn to do a few tune-ups. Alice then did some recycling out of the garbage bin while Smiler removed some eerie hands that had popped up in the front yard and played a little with the cowplant –
And I took a moment to purchase a couple of items of interest. Specifically, I finally got Alice her OWN tripod (putting it on the porch so she could easily slip it into her inventory), and I bought a certain mystical palmistry hand for the séance room that has the ability to make haunted houses easier or harder – and to STOP a certain ghost from showing up every single night. One click of “Guidry, I need my space!” on the resultant pop-up confirming I wanted to disable his visits, and my Sims are now free of ghost-related herbalism fires! Hopefully there will be no Sim-related ones in the near future. . .
F) With that, I just had to have the gang kill some time while I waited for Victor to finish up all his tending and harvesting in the greenhouse! Smiler went back to the chess board and played some solo games to get their Logic skill up to 9; Alice did some exercises (as she was feeling Energized) and played with Kelly; and I dealt with a weird glitch where the chicken coop’s little hovering tooltip also appeared every time I hovered over soemthing else to see its tooltip. O.o It wasn’t even the CURRENT one, it said the chicken coop was still dirty when it was very much clean. *shakehead* This game sometimes. . . Eventually, though, Victor was done – Smiler deactivated Bugs, Alice went upstairs in the party barn to do some dancing, and Victor took a toilet break –
G) And with that, it was off to the grocery store! Where, once again, I had the trio stand outside while I did some renovations! XD At least this time it was just partly cloudy in San Myshuno. . . I did a lot of fiddling, shoving shelves around randomly, moving items between shelves, buying new displays, selling new displays, and staring at the store and trying to figure out what I wanted to do where. This is how it all worked out in the end –
I. I ditched all the double-sided shelves for single-sided ones, and defined the main “aisles” of the store with half-walls (with a glass trim on top so Sims can’t put items on top of them) that the shelves would go on either side of. I thought it looked better, and it makes sure that all the items place facing the right way when I put them on the shelves!
II. I discovered that, thanks to the new Core Mod update from Brazen Lotus, her lovely produce stands (which function as retail fridges) now have mass take-out and put-away options! You can opt to put in all your various harvestables, or just fruit, veggies, or mushrooms and herbs. You can also fill it with “supplies” which include flowers and frogs and insects. :D This makes emptying Victor’s ridiculously-cluttered inventory so much easier!
III. After checking a number of shelving options, I decided to use somecreativeCC’s fossil-display shelves for the “endcaps” for each aisle, where we can sell things like Victor’s perfume and Smiler’s little toy robots. They were the ones that looked the best, even if finding a good color for them was a bit tricky. *shrug* We’ll make it work!
IV. After confirming that none of the oversized crops could go in the retail fridges, I ended rearranging the ones I already had in their displays – taking out the medium-sized ones I had in there so I could double up displays and not have to have a separate one for each crop (mostly because there’s five of them, and my aisles could only fit three of the refrigerated displays side-by-side). This DOES leave some gaps in the old eggplant display, though, so I may put a couple of the larger crops back in that one just to make it look less empty.
V. I also found the iced fish “fridge” item that I’d downloaded recently from Brazen Lotus and put that in the store – though I was surprised to discover that, unlike the product stand “fridge,” this one doesn’t come as its own separate stand. Instead, it’s an object that you put on top of something else. After trying and failing to get it on some counters, I discovered that it slots really neatly into the bottom of the Get To Work refrigerated display I’d been using for the oversized veggies and meat anyway. Couldn’t get it to go properly into the top, though. . .maybe I’ll just have Smiler slap some actual fish up there instead. XD
VI. I discovered an easy way to help mitigate my “help there are too many shelves to fill” problem (other than getting rid of some shelves) – space everything out more! I’d been bunching everything up like how you might actually see it in a real-life grocery store, with cans right next to cans so I could fit two products per shelf. Now, spacing them out, I can do ONE product per shelf, and thus actually fill up the shelves faster! :) It may look a little weirder, but it doesn’t look HORRIBLE, and – more importantly – it makes MY life easier as I try to actually get this store open!
VII. And I took a little time to start color-coding some of the shelves to figure out what goes where – canned veggies go on a bright green shelf, for example, dried herbs on a dark green shelf, meat substitute items on a red shelf, and so on. Just helps me divide the store properly into different “departments.” :p
And that is where I left off, as it was coming up on 4:30 PM and I didn’t want to be in the game all day – especially when I have a whole week and a bit off and can easily pick this up tomorrow. :) But it feels good to, hopefully, have a final layout for this store at last! And have space to put everything that I want them to sell. Tomorrow, we start making more product and seeing how best we can fill up those shelves!
Writing: As indicated, I did some more writing on my Valicer In The Dark fanfic snippets today – specifically, I continued editing the “Accused” snippet where, after being accused of the murder of Barkis after it’s discovered he was carrying a Spirit Warden mask, the trio have to run from the cops, in the process showing off (and name-checking) all their special abilities. Today was me editing the sequence where Victor tries to stand up for Alice and Smiler – only to be told he’s going to jail too when he can’t back up his (true) story with a bribe – and Alice, spurred on by Wonderland, showing she’s Not To Be Trifled With by successfully taking on all six of Tannen’s little Bluecoat squad essentially at once with her knife. :) Fun times – next, the gang start actually running, and Alice gets to demonstrate she also has The Devil’s Footsteps. . .
YouTube: Well, I didn’t get the video in my Watch Later watched – it proved slightly too long by the time I wrapped up my writing – but I did still get a bonus video on top of the Subs video –
A) First up, from onlyabidoang, “The Sims 4: ALL ABOUT INFANTS YOU SHOULD KNOW!” Yes, an older video, but given that I recommended his stuff to Moose when she was curious about infants in Sims 4, I felt I should make sure I should watch the video myself. XD And it was a very thorough, very good video, as is usual with him! Covered all base game infant gameplay, from CAS to lifespans to needs to interactions with other Sims to traits (with a little bit at the end explaining how Growing Together makes being an infant even more complicated XD). Most of this stuff I knew at least in part, but it’s always good to have someone explain it in-depth and show how it all works in-game! Even if I’m not planning on having any kids in my current save at the moment. (Maybe if someone mods in the ability to have a science baby with two people. XD)
B) And second up, from GrayStillPlays, “Cars vs Longest Jumps in GTA 5!” Yes, we had another Alex Torture Board today, all about making Gray jump ridiculous distances over ridiculous things. Gray had to find the right car to get himself over the Chilliad Jump (literally jumping Mount Chilliad in-game and landing on a platform on the other side – and also there was a blimp rotating around up there that Gray had to avoid while jumping), the Gender Reveal Party Jump (a big jump into a pair of pink and blue balloon poppers – according to Gray, the pink one had a LOT more explosion force than the blue one), the Multiple Moist Jumps (a series of three jumps over a bay that had to be completed all in one shot, with Gray leaping from the initial ramp over the water, then hitting the first platform and ramp and going over a static barge, then hitting the second platform and ramp and going over/past a tugboat doing circles before reaching the other side), the Thumbnail Hole Jump (exactly what it sounds like, a jump through a tiny circular thumbnail hole), the Double Thumbnail Hole Jump (also exactly what it sounds like, TWO thumbnail holes lined up right behind each other – one square, one circular this time), and the Straight Gap Jump + Double Stalking Windmills since you loved it so much (a large jump over a gap – with a PAIR of stalking windmills inside, ready to follow Gray and assault him with their blades). Most of the cars had trouble getting past the Chilliad jumps, being either too slow to get over the mountain, or not able to get the distance to land on the platform leading to the rest of the course. And of those that could, the red race car was stopped by the Moist Jumps and the tiny blue arena Bug with its boost was stopped by the initial thumbnail hole. The only car to make it was a pink-and-blue super car with incredible speed and a really straight jump, and even THAT struggled with the double thumbnail and the windmills. But it made it in the end – and hell, Gray nearly beat the board WITHOUT the car, as the first time it crashed thanks to the windmills, it got shot high enough that when he was ejected, he got his parachute and was able to glide his way over to the finish line. XD But he promised to beat it legit, and he did indeed do that. XD Good work, Gray – your suffering is our joy. XD
Workout: Back on the bike, and back to Oxventure Presents Blades In The Dark with the next episode in Season 2 – “The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire!” This one is a Barnaby and Zillah adventure, and opened with Luke declaring that, since he forgot to roll entanglements at the end of the last episode (Kasimir and Lilith infiltrating and then escaping the Spirit Wardens to rescue a Billhook spy, as a refresher), he did so off-screen and at some point they’re going to have to deal with the unquiet dead. Fun! XD As for Barnaby and Zillah, they’ve had a bit of a time of it between episodes – Zillah went and had a lovely old punch-up at her fighting club to relieve stress, only to come back and discover that Barnaby had overindulged his taste for fine liquor TWICE at the same bar, and TWICE insulted the same gang, and TWICE gotten beaten up and robbed by them. This had resulted in a bruised rib, forcing her to consult with their vet-on-staff to try and get Barnaby some first aid (aka Luke allowed Jane to roll to help heal Barnaby after Mike used up both of his downtime actions trying to destress Barnaby and failed miserably) – this did not work out incredibly well, as the vet was confused by how few nipples Barnaby had, and Barnaby only got some bandages and a cone. And Zillah squirting water at him every time he tried to mess with his cone. XD
ANYWAY – the actual score started with the two of them in Eleanor’s townhouse, with an excited Eleanor recapping that the gang has pulled in a fantastic amount of evidence on the Brightstone Society of Analytical Alchemy – including the fact that Barnaby’s uncle Montgomery is part of it! (Barnaby himself is NOT part of it, though he did have to check all the various membership cards in his wallet first.) She asked if there was a way for Barnaby to go talk to his uncle – Barnaby admitted that he hadn’t seen Uncle Monty since he was a kid, when he and his immediate family summered at the manor in Wisenshire, outside the city (racing the servants around – and by that he means they rode them like horses, complete with riding tack, gave them sugar lumps for good behavior, and sent one to the glue factory when he broke his leg (to WORK, Barnaby insisted, but I’m not entirely sure Zillah believed him XD)), and since then Uncle Monty had become much more reclusive and retired from society to the ancient Castle Wisenshire. However! Sure in the fact that everyone loves him and wants to see him, Barnaby said that he’d be happy to just head over to the castle, knock on the door, and ask Uncle Monty what was what. XD He did send his card ahead, so Uncle Monty would know he would have a visitor, and got one back with Uncle Monty specifically inviting him to dinner, saying he had a present for him and that he would need a sturdy valet to help carry it. Zillah more than fit that bill (Barnaby actually complimenting her a bit by saying she is the strongest person he knows), so the pair resolved to go to the castle. Pre-score planning consisted of Zillah searching out blueprints and pictures of the castle (she rolled a six, so while she didn’t get any blueprints (the actual layout of the place being a Fortesque family secret), she did get the general outline of the castle from various paintings and woodcuts, along with an indication that the castle itself fell to ruin years ago when the ghost plague started, and the knowledge that it’s PERILOUSLY close to the lightning barriers that keep the rest of the ghosts out of Volisport) and Barnaby attempting to ask his immediate family about Uncle Monty (he rolled a three, and thus his parents were out of town on holiday, so his only source of information was an elderly footman, who basically just confirmed everything Barnaby already knew). This plus the fact that, as far as the initial planning went, they were just treating this as an information-gathering social call and not doing anything bold or daring, resulted in a one-die engagement roll –
Which got them a four, so not great, but not the worst. The pair chartered a carriage, brought along a big old steamer trunk for Zillah to hide all her useful items in, and then set off into the forests of Wisenshire for the castle. This proved a bit difficult, as not only did it get a lot darker and spookier as they headed toward the castle (with mists rising and clouds covering the full moon), but after a certain point, the goats pulling the carriage just stopped and refused to go further. Barnaby managed to coax them forward with the sugar lumps he’d brought (for the absinthe kit he has on him – Luke decided that didn’t count as load as it’s BARNABY), and they did reach the castle, which was your standard Gothic Dracula-esque all-turrets-and-spires-and-rusted-gates-opening-by-themselves deal – without further incident. Zillah securely tethered the goats in the stable so they couldn’t run away, then rang the giant iron bell-pull by the front door when Barnaby claimed weak wrists. XD A few minutes later, the world’s most giant butler answered the door – this was apparently a fellow named Bixton, and he was STACKED. Practically bursting out of his uniform. Barnaby greeted him warmly and said he was here to see his uncle and have dinner – and that Zillah would NOT be staying in the servant’s quarters all this time, she would be sticking with him. Because that’s the trend in the city now. Bixton didn’t seem to approve, but went off to find Uncle Monty (after taking a sugar lump). . .
And a short time later, Uncle Monty opened the door, looking rather better than Barnaby expected, given that the last time he saw him, the man was already in late middle age. But nope, he wore his years well, hair still black and everything. Barnaby complimented him on his skin-care routine and gave him a giant hug, staggering Monty but not causing him to explode into dust, as Barnaby briefly thought he might. XD Uncle Monty said that he’d be happy to have Barnaby at dinner, but that Zillah could not accompany him – Barnaby tried to spin it as “look, you be nice to your servants in public and that makes people think you’re not treating them poorly in private,” but the only concession that Uncle Monty made was that she could stand at the door and listen in. Zillah was actually fine with that, though, and so the pair headed inside, into a castle that had clearly seen much better days, with every piece of furniture not covered in a dust cloth having gone to mold. Uncle Monty led Barnaby to the room where the dinner would be taking place, and Zillah parked herself outside on the steamer trunk, indicating to Barnaby that she’d take a drink if he could get her one. Barnaby was swept inside by his uncle to mingle, and Bixton approached Zillah to ask if she would like to go to the servant’s quarters, or perhaps have her dinner here. Zillah was more interested in seeing Barnaby’s room so she could drop off the trunk, and Bixton agreed to show her, picking up the trunk for her.
Cue Zillah getting overprotective of her stuff, yanking it back, doing some squats to prove she could handle it, and then hugging it to her chest. XD Amusing as that all was, though, it made Bixton believe she was worried that he would look into, or perhaps even steal, her belongings, and he was HIGHLY insulted by the supposition. Oh dear. . .he did still lead Zillah to Barnaby’s room, though, if rather grumpily. The bedroom fit the rest of the house in being a rather dingy and horrible place (though at least the bed was clean), and Zillah did her best to get settled in there with the trunk –
And with that, cut to Barnaby, who found himself in the middle of a surprisingly cheerful party, full of people draped across on fancy chairs and chaise lounges, all laughing and chatting and having drinks. A puzzled Barnaby asked what the occasion was, and Uncle Monty said there was none – these were just his lodgers. Barnaby was surprised that Uncle Monty had felt the need to take in lodgers, asking why he hadn’t just asked Barnaby’s parents for help paying the bills, but Uncle Monty assured him that they all contributed in their own ways, and that Barnaby should go mingle before the supper itself began. Barnaby being Barnaby, he went straight to the bar and got himself a dreadful gin & tonic from the maid there (which he drank anyway, because his standards aren’t THAT high). He questioned the maid a little on the others in the room, and the maid confirmed they were Uncle Monty’s permanent guests, and that there were always new ones coming in. But the old ones never actually left. . .cue her realizing she may have said too much and fleeing to the kitchen. Uh-oh – seems like there’s a dark secret to this Castle Wisenshire. . .a dark secret I actually already have an inkling of, because this is another episode that I saw a chunk of during one of the “best moments of Oxventure” yearly wrap-up videos. XD I’m looking forward to seeing it in context, though – I want to know EXACTLY what’s going on here!
Not too shabby, right? And now it's time for me to wrap up everything so I continue to not wreck my sleep schedule. :p Tomorrow's plans include finishing up those last two drafts for the Chill Valicer Save update on Wednesday; going back to the Chill Valicer save to do more processing for the grocery store and continue filling those shelves; writing some more on "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland"; and seeing about that Watch Later video if at all possible! Plus a workout and probably helping my parents put away groceries in the morning, as they're planning a Wal-Mart run. *nods* Hopefully I'll get all of that sorted without issue! Night all!
Tumblr: Spent a good chunk of the morning catching up on the Victor Luvs Alice dash and tracked tags (popping a gif set of some favorite A:MR locations, including my beloved Cardbridge, and a cool Corpse Bride charcoal drawing of Victor and Victoria at the rehearsal into my drafts for later), then got the text, tags, and image alt text for one and a half of the remain four posts in the Chill Valicer Save update this week done before lunch, with the second post completed right after lunch. Not too shabby!
Sims 4: I did indeed get back to my Chill Valicer Save today – updated all those mods that I knew needed an update, left the rest, saved this current session in a new “save branch” so just in case something went monstrously wrong I wouldn’t lose the entire save. But so far, everything seems to be going well – I’ve done about half a day with the gang, getting back into the rhythm of things on the farm and getting back to the grocery store! Let me tell you about it –
A) Picked up with all the trio awake at about 3 AM on a very rainy Fall Tuesday morning, with Alice having just pulled herself out of a rampage – I sent her inside, still in werewolf form, to finish a surreal carrot painting she’d started earlier, then – seeing Smiler sitting down for a game of chess – had Victor (who was feeling extremely flirty) take the “Super Llama” costume off Shadow and go join them. It was a very good game for both of them – while Smiler ended up winning the game, Victor did get to level 4 logic skill, so that was a kind of win for him too. Alice, meanwhile, finished her carrot painting (with Guidry trying to talk to her all the while, please stop), then changed back into human form. This terrified Guidry (again, sir, I posit that you should be used to this as a supernatural investigator, AND a ghost, and that a werewolf going back to human in PARTICULAR should not inspire terror) –
And inspired a sad sentiment in Alice about how, being a People Person, the lapsing of her friendship with Guidry was painful. Oh, right, she picked up that lifestyle again despite it not really suiting her – time to get some Lifestyle-Go-Poof potion and drop that!
B) Anyway – with that sorted, I took a moment to move all the Spookfest decorations into the attic, then started looking for other things for my trio to do as I waited for the greenhouse to become harvestable and the hour to become decent. :P Alice, the lucky one, got sent upstairs to take the taco costume off Kelly and get a few extra ZZZs, while Victor and Smiler ended up being put on upgrading duty – Smiler adding a tungsten drum to the washer to stop it breaking so much (possibly at all), while Victor added a speed cycle to the dryer to make it dry clothes faster. Smiler finished first, so I sent them out into the greenhouse once everything started sprouting and had them set Bugs and Elmer (their garden-bots) loose in there to help with the weeding and watering and whatnot while they harvested all the herbalism-related plants. Victor followed after a little bit to start tending the garden with the bots – though, before he did, I noticed poor Moory’s shed stinking, had a thought, and checked Victor’s magic menu after clicking on it with him. Sure enough, he could Scruberoo it! :) I promptly had him do so and then start weeding the “oversized” crops (here in scare quotes because I deliberately grew them small this time for the shop) while Smiler went to feed the chickens and get the eggs (to my surprise and delight, they got five whole normal, unhatchable eggs! Nice) –
C) And then, when I went to check on the recently-refreshed Alice and see what I wanted her to do – I got a pop-up in the corner. About Alice discovering a fire. I was utterly BAFFLED for a few minutes as I tried to figure out where this fire was –
And then I looked on the back porch. Guidry had, ONCE AGAIN, co-opted the grill there to start doing herbalism, and had set it on fire. *heavy sigh* Victor and Smiler took care of the blaze with a double-blast of Chillio from Victor and mundane extinguisher from Smiler, while poor Alice ran around in a super-speed panic before heading outside. Victor and Guidry soon followed, and I was left utterly fuming over this damn ghostly annoyance. >( Guidry, what the ever-loving hell?!
Oh, and just to twist the knife a little bit, as I tried to calm my poor Sims down and get them to just eat some breakfast, I happened to notice that Victor’s cowplant out in the front had grown up. I promptly switched his aspiration back to Freelance Botanist, where it immediately completed and gave him the “Naturalist” trait. Which, in Sims terms, makes him FIREPROOF and allows him to put out fires INSTANTLY. *facepalm* Like, ten seconds earlier, Sims 4.
D) Well – with the excitement over, I managed to get everyone sorted and back to business – Victor used Delicioso to whip up a salad for his breakfast before heading back into the greenhouse to help the bots, while Alice cleaned all the empty plates and spoiled food out of the fridge and had some leftover choripán. Smiler, for their part, had a plasma fruit, then went to go tend to Moory, giving her a nice clean and asking her how to make friends with cowplants, which, for some reason, she didn’t appreciate – maybe she doesn’t like cowplants? Or just doesn’t want Smiler to assume she knows anything about cowplants? Smiler made it up for it by giving her a tip of $25 simoleons, which netted them a bottle of enriched milk along with the usual six bottles of regular milk! Apparently that milk, when drunk, provides a skill-building boost – good to know!
E) And then I happened to look at the chicken coop and noticed it was STINKING. Whoops! Alice got put on cleaning duty (causing her to throw away all garbage on the lot – which took less time than usual, admittedly, thanks to her super-speed still being active), then offered the newly-grown cowplant some meat (which it rejected, not being hungry I guess), while Smiler went and got Elmer (whose battery was looking worryingly low) and brought the bot into the barn to do a few tune-ups. Alice then did some recycling out of the garbage bin while Smiler removed some eerie hands that had popped up in the front yard and played a little with the cowplant –
And I took a moment to purchase a couple of items of interest. Specifically, I finally got Alice her OWN tripod (putting it on the porch so she could easily slip it into her inventory), and I bought a certain mystical palmistry hand for the séance room that has the ability to make haunted houses easier or harder – and to STOP a certain ghost from showing up every single night. One click of “Guidry, I need my space!” on the resultant pop-up confirming I wanted to disable his visits, and my Sims are now free of ghost-related herbalism fires! Hopefully there will be no Sim-related ones in the near future. . .
F) With that, I just had to have the gang kill some time while I waited for Victor to finish up all his tending and harvesting in the greenhouse! Smiler went back to the chess board and played some solo games to get their Logic skill up to 9; Alice did some exercises (as she was feeling Energized) and played with Kelly; and I dealt with a weird glitch where the chicken coop’s little hovering tooltip also appeared every time I hovered over soemthing else to see its tooltip. O.o It wasn’t even the CURRENT one, it said the chicken coop was still dirty when it was very much clean. *shakehead* This game sometimes. . . Eventually, though, Victor was done – Smiler deactivated Bugs, Alice went upstairs in the party barn to do some dancing, and Victor took a toilet break –
G) And with that, it was off to the grocery store! Where, once again, I had the trio stand outside while I did some renovations! XD At least this time it was just partly cloudy in San Myshuno. . . I did a lot of fiddling, shoving shelves around randomly, moving items between shelves, buying new displays, selling new displays, and staring at the store and trying to figure out what I wanted to do where. This is how it all worked out in the end –
I. I ditched all the double-sided shelves for single-sided ones, and defined the main “aisles” of the store with half-walls (with a glass trim on top so Sims can’t put items on top of them) that the shelves would go on either side of. I thought it looked better, and it makes sure that all the items place facing the right way when I put them on the shelves!
II. I discovered that, thanks to the new Core Mod update from Brazen Lotus, her lovely produce stands (which function as retail fridges) now have mass take-out and put-away options! You can opt to put in all your various harvestables, or just fruit, veggies, or mushrooms and herbs. You can also fill it with “supplies” which include flowers and frogs and insects. :D This makes emptying Victor’s ridiculously-cluttered inventory so much easier!
III. After checking a number of shelving options, I decided to use somecreativeCC’s fossil-display shelves for the “endcaps” for each aisle, where we can sell things like Victor’s perfume and Smiler’s little toy robots. They were the ones that looked the best, even if finding a good color for them was a bit tricky. *shrug* We’ll make it work!
IV. After confirming that none of the oversized crops could go in the retail fridges, I ended rearranging the ones I already had in their displays – taking out the medium-sized ones I had in there so I could double up displays and not have to have a separate one for each crop (mostly because there’s five of them, and my aisles could only fit three of the refrigerated displays side-by-side). This DOES leave some gaps in the old eggplant display, though, so I may put a couple of the larger crops back in that one just to make it look less empty.
V. I also found the iced fish “fridge” item that I’d downloaded recently from Brazen Lotus and put that in the store – though I was surprised to discover that, unlike the product stand “fridge,” this one doesn’t come as its own separate stand. Instead, it’s an object that you put on top of something else. After trying and failing to get it on some counters, I discovered that it slots really neatly into the bottom of the Get To Work refrigerated display I’d been using for the oversized veggies and meat anyway. Couldn’t get it to go properly into the top, though. . .maybe I’ll just have Smiler slap some actual fish up there instead. XD
VI. I discovered an easy way to help mitigate my “help there are too many shelves to fill” problem (other than getting rid of some shelves) – space everything out more! I’d been bunching everything up like how you might actually see it in a real-life grocery store, with cans right next to cans so I could fit two products per shelf. Now, spacing them out, I can do ONE product per shelf, and thus actually fill up the shelves faster! :) It may look a little weirder, but it doesn’t look HORRIBLE, and – more importantly – it makes MY life easier as I try to actually get this store open!
VII. And I took a little time to start color-coding some of the shelves to figure out what goes where – canned veggies go on a bright green shelf, for example, dried herbs on a dark green shelf, meat substitute items on a red shelf, and so on. Just helps me divide the store properly into different “departments.” :p
And that is where I left off, as it was coming up on 4:30 PM and I didn’t want to be in the game all day – especially when I have a whole week and a bit off and can easily pick this up tomorrow. :) But it feels good to, hopefully, have a final layout for this store at last! And have space to put everything that I want them to sell. Tomorrow, we start making more product and seeing how best we can fill up those shelves!
Writing: As indicated, I did some more writing on my Valicer In The Dark fanfic snippets today – specifically, I continued editing the “Accused” snippet where, after being accused of the murder of Barkis after it’s discovered he was carrying a Spirit Warden mask, the trio have to run from the cops, in the process showing off (and name-checking) all their special abilities. Today was me editing the sequence where Victor tries to stand up for Alice and Smiler – only to be told he’s going to jail too when he can’t back up his (true) story with a bribe – and Alice, spurred on by Wonderland, showing she’s Not To Be Trifled With by successfully taking on all six of Tannen’s little Bluecoat squad essentially at once with her knife. :) Fun times – next, the gang start actually running, and Alice gets to demonstrate she also has The Devil’s Footsteps. . .
YouTube: Well, I didn’t get the video in my Watch Later watched – it proved slightly too long by the time I wrapped up my writing – but I did still get a bonus video on top of the Subs video –
A) First up, from onlyabidoang, “The Sims 4: ALL ABOUT INFANTS YOU SHOULD KNOW!” Yes, an older video, but given that I recommended his stuff to Moose when she was curious about infants in Sims 4, I felt I should make sure I should watch the video myself. XD And it was a very thorough, very good video, as is usual with him! Covered all base game infant gameplay, from CAS to lifespans to needs to interactions with other Sims to traits (with a little bit at the end explaining how Growing Together makes being an infant even more complicated XD). Most of this stuff I knew at least in part, but it’s always good to have someone explain it in-depth and show how it all works in-game! Even if I’m not planning on having any kids in my current save at the moment. (Maybe if someone mods in the ability to have a science baby with two people. XD)
B) And second up, from GrayStillPlays, “Cars vs Longest Jumps in GTA 5!” Yes, we had another Alex Torture Board today, all about making Gray jump ridiculous distances over ridiculous things. Gray had to find the right car to get himself over the Chilliad Jump (literally jumping Mount Chilliad in-game and landing on a platform on the other side – and also there was a blimp rotating around up there that Gray had to avoid while jumping), the Gender Reveal Party Jump (a big jump into a pair of pink and blue balloon poppers – according to Gray, the pink one had a LOT more explosion force than the blue one), the Multiple Moist Jumps (a series of three jumps over a bay that had to be completed all in one shot, with Gray leaping from the initial ramp over the water, then hitting the first platform and ramp and going over a static barge, then hitting the second platform and ramp and going over/past a tugboat doing circles before reaching the other side), the Thumbnail Hole Jump (exactly what it sounds like, a jump through a tiny circular thumbnail hole), the Double Thumbnail Hole Jump (also exactly what it sounds like, TWO thumbnail holes lined up right behind each other – one square, one circular this time), and the Straight Gap Jump + Double Stalking Windmills since you loved it so much (a large jump over a gap – with a PAIR of stalking windmills inside, ready to follow Gray and assault him with their blades). Most of the cars had trouble getting past the Chilliad jumps, being either too slow to get over the mountain, or not able to get the distance to land on the platform leading to the rest of the course. And of those that could, the red race car was stopped by the Moist Jumps and the tiny blue arena Bug with its boost was stopped by the initial thumbnail hole. The only car to make it was a pink-and-blue super car with incredible speed and a really straight jump, and even THAT struggled with the double thumbnail and the windmills. But it made it in the end – and hell, Gray nearly beat the board WITHOUT the car, as the first time it crashed thanks to the windmills, it got shot high enough that when he was ejected, he got his parachute and was able to glide his way over to the finish line. XD But he promised to beat it legit, and he did indeed do that. XD Good work, Gray – your suffering is our joy. XD
Workout: Back on the bike, and back to Oxventure Presents Blades In The Dark with the next episode in Season 2 – “The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire!” This one is a Barnaby and Zillah adventure, and opened with Luke declaring that, since he forgot to roll entanglements at the end of the last episode (Kasimir and Lilith infiltrating and then escaping the Spirit Wardens to rescue a Billhook spy, as a refresher), he did so off-screen and at some point they’re going to have to deal with the unquiet dead. Fun! XD As for Barnaby and Zillah, they’ve had a bit of a time of it between episodes – Zillah went and had a lovely old punch-up at her fighting club to relieve stress, only to come back and discover that Barnaby had overindulged his taste for fine liquor TWICE at the same bar, and TWICE insulted the same gang, and TWICE gotten beaten up and robbed by them. This had resulted in a bruised rib, forcing her to consult with their vet-on-staff to try and get Barnaby some first aid (aka Luke allowed Jane to roll to help heal Barnaby after Mike used up both of his downtime actions trying to destress Barnaby and failed miserably) – this did not work out incredibly well, as the vet was confused by how few nipples Barnaby had, and Barnaby only got some bandages and a cone. And Zillah squirting water at him every time he tried to mess with his cone. XD
ANYWAY – the actual score started with the two of them in Eleanor’s townhouse, with an excited Eleanor recapping that the gang has pulled in a fantastic amount of evidence on the Brightstone Society of Analytical Alchemy – including the fact that Barnaby’s uncle Montgomery is part of it! (Barnaby himself is NOT part of it, though he did have to check all the various membership cards in his wallet first.) She asked if there was a way for Barnaby to go talk to his uncle – Barnaby admitted that he hadn’t seen Uncle Monty since he was a kid, when he and his immediate family summered at the manor in Wisenshire, outside the city (racing the servants around – and by that he means they rode them like horses, complete with riding tack, gave them sugar lumps for good behavior, and sent one to the glue factory when he broke his leg (to WORK, Barnaby insisted, but I’m not entirely sure Zillah believed him XD)), and since then Uncle Monty had become much more reclusive and retired from society to the ancient Castle Wisenshire. However! Sure in the fact that everyone loves him and wants to see him, Barnaby said that he’d be happy to just head over to the castle, knock on the door, and ask Uncle Monty what was what. XD He did send his card ahead, so Uncle Monty would know he would have a visitor, and got one back with Uncle Monty specifically inviting him to dinner, saying he had a present for him and that he would need a sturdy valet to help carry it. Zillah more than fit that bill (Barnaby actually complimenting her a bit by saying she is the strongest person he knows), so the pair resolved to go to the castle. Pre-score planning consisted of Zillah searching out blueprints and pictures of the castle (she rolled a six, so while she didn’t get any blueprints (the actual layout of the place being a Fortesque family secret), she did get the general outline of the castle from various paintings and woodcuts, along with an indication that the castle itself fell to ruin years ago when the ghost plague started, and the knowledge that it’s PERILOUSLY close to the lightning barriers that keep the rest of the ghosts out of Volisport) and Barnaby attempting to ask his immediate family about Uncle Monty (he rolled a three, and thus his parents were out of town on holiday, so his only source of information was an elderly footman, who basically just confirmed everything Barnaby already knew). This plus the fact that, as far as the initial planning went, they were just treating this as an information-gathering social call and not doing anything bold or daring, resulted in a one-die engagement roll –
Which got them a four, so not great, but not the worst. The pair chartered a carriage, brought along a big old steamer trunk for Zillah to hide all her useful items in, and then set off into the forests of Wisenshire for the castle. This proved a bit difficult, as not only did it get a lot darker and spookier as they headed toward the castle (with mists rising and clouds covering the full moon), but after a certain point, the goats pulling the carriage just stopped and refused to go further. Barnaby managed to coax them forward with the sugar lumps he’d brought (for the absinthe kit he has on him – Luke decided that didn’t count as load as it’s BARNABY), and they did reach the castle, which was your standard Gothic Dracula-esque all-turrets-and-spires-and-rusted-gates-opening-by-themselves deal – without further incident. Zillah securely tethered the goats in the stable so they couldn’t run away, then rang the giant iron bell-pull by the front door when Barnaby claimed weak wrists. XD A few minutes later, the world’s most giant butler answered the door – this was apparently a fellow named Bixton, and he was STACKED. Practically bursting out of his uniform. Barnaby greeted him warmly and said he was here to see his uncle and have dinner – and that Zillah would NOT be staying in the servant’s quarters all this time, she would be sticking with him. Because that’s the trend in the city now. Bixton didn’t seem to approve, but went off to find Uncle Monty (after taking a sugar lump). . .
And a short time later, Uncle Monty opened the door, looking rather better than Barnaby expected, given that the last time he saw him, the man was already in late middle age. But nope, he wore his years well, hair still black and everything. Barnaby complimented him on his skin-care routine and gave him a giant hug, staggering Monty but not causing him to explode into dust, as Barnaby briefly thought he might. XD Uncle Monty said that he’d be happy to have Barnaby at dinner, but that Zillah could not accompany him – Barnaby tried to spin it as “look, you be nice to your servants in public and that makes people think you’re not treating them poorly in private,” but the only concession that Uncle Monty made was that she could stand at the door and listen in. Zillah was actually fine with that, though, and so the pair headed inside, into a castle that had clearly seen much better days, with every piece of furniture not covered in a dust cloth having gone to mold. Uncle Monty led Barnaby to the room where the dinner would be taking place, and Zillah parked herself outside on the steamer trunk, indicating to Barnaby that she’d take a drink if he could get her one. Barnaby was swept inside by his uncle to mingle, and Bixton approached Zillah to ask if she would like to go to the servant’s quarters, or perhaps have her dinner here. Zillah was more interested in seeing Barnaby’s room so she could drop off the trunk, and Bixton agreed to show her, picking up the trunk for her.
Cue Zillah getting overprotective of her stuff, yanking it back, doing some squats to prove she could handle it, and then hugging it to her chest. XD Amusing as that all was, though, it made Bixton believe she was worried that he would look into, or perhaps even steal, her belongings, and he was HIGHLY insulted by the supposition. Oh dear. . .he did still lead Zillah to Barnaby’s room, though, if rather grumpily. The bedroom fit the rest of the house in being a rather dingy and horrible place (though at least the bed was clean), and Zillah did her best to get settled in there with the trunk –
And with that, cut to Barnaby, who found himself in the middle of a surprisingly cheerful party, full of people draped across on fancy chairs and chaise lounges, all laughing and chatting and having drinks. A puzzled Barnaby asked what the occasion was, and Uncle Monty said there was none – these were just his lodgers. Barnaby was surprised that Uncle Monty had felt the need to take in lodgers, asking why he hadn’t just asked Barnaby’s parents for help paying the bills, but Uncle Monty assured him that they all contributed in their own ways, and that Barnaby should go mingle before the supper itself began. Barnaby being Barnaby, he went straight to the bar and got himself a dreadful gin & tonic from the maid there (which he drank anyway, because his standards aren’t THAT high). He questioned the maid a little on the others in the room, and the maid confirmed they were Uncle Monty’s permanent guests, and that there were always new ones coming in. But the old ones never actually left. . .cue her realizing she may have said too much and fleeing to the kitchen. Uh-oh – seems like there’s a dark secret to this Castle Wisenshire. . .a dark secret I actually already have an inkling of, because this is another episode that I saw a chunk of during one of the “best moments of Oxventure” yearly wrap-up videos. XD I’m looking forward to seeing it in context, though – I want to know EXACTLY what’s going on here!
Not too shabby, right? And now it's time for me to wrap up everything so I continue to not wreck my sleep schedule. :p Tomorrow's plans include finishing up those last two drafts for the Chill Valicer Save update on Wednesday; going back to the Chill Valicer save to do more processing for the grocery store and continue filling those shelves; writing some more on "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland"; and seeing about that Watch Later video if at all possible! Plus a workout and probably helping my parents put away groceries in the morning, as they're planning a Wal-Mart run. *nods* Hopefully I'll get all of that sorted without issue! Night all!
