Could Have Been Worse Wednesday
Sep. 13th, 2023 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickThough I am running behind tonight, so let's just get this up and get going --
Work – Pretty quiet day at work – mostly duplicates, with a little bit of updating my boss on the latest credit card nonsense and getting his opinion on it before doing my catch-up call tomorrow with the credit card people. And, fortunately, while we did get some driving rain, we did NOT get flooded out, and neither my morning nor my evening commute was made on a road that had turned into a river.
. . .we did have a fucking TORNADO WARNING on my drive home, admittedly. That was fun. But, as you can probably guess by the fact that I’m typing this, I made it home safely, and no funnel clouds appeared to ruin my day. Still, I am so fucking over this horrible weather in all its forms. >( At least tomorrow is supposed to offer a bit of respite before we get whatever we’re getting from Lee?
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, back bouncing between James Turner HSY/DOR episodes –
A) “Building our first photo set! High School Years (Part 45)” – finished off this Breanne episode to start, with Breanne taking photos of the randos she’d pulled off the street in front of her various backdrops until she got level 5 Photography skill, then moving onto doing proper gigs – specifically, a pair of gigs that required her to work with a “style influencer” (Sims who, well, influence styles) to get pictures of Sims in cool athletic clothes (first gig) and fantastic everyday wear (second gig). James spent a bunch of money to build Breanne her first proper set (a little living room set-up) – he ALSO tried to get her a green screen to use for the second gig, but as it turns out while you can scale down the screen itself, you can’t scale down the projections, sooo he ended up just getting her a nice My Wedding Stories photo backdrop to use instead. XD Both gigs went reasonably well – Breanne got some nice shots of randos off the street (including a city maintenance worker – James was a bit sad to discover said worker’s work overalls were NOT her everyday outfit), and while the style influencers kept insisting that her photos were a bit out of focus and not lit well enough, Breanne ended up submitting them anyway and getting some HEFTY payouts (13K a pop!). And when they insisted on selfies, Breanne kept doing poses that cropped them out of the picture. XD So yeah, Breanne now has a decent amount of cash to burn on actually cleaning up and decorating her new space – James is going to do that as its own separate video, then it’s back to photography fun in the main series!
B) “I completely built up this house! Dine Out (Part 6)” – and I just started this almost-hour-long episode of Addison’s series! The problems from the end of the last episode have been fixed – the takeaway thing was a known bug that Carl patched; the “my chefs won’t actually work and sometimes just despawn” issue was a result of James accidentally setting BOTH of his chef stations to be “main” ones that only Addison can cook at, thus preventing his hired chefs from actually working (he thought that you could only ever set one and that if you switched them, it automatically unchecked the other). James unchecked one station and thus now can have a hired NPC chef again, though he was unfortunately unable to get back his fully-trained Agatha Crumplebottom, instead having to settle for one of her clones (who doesn’t even LIKE Addison because I think she was the one they hired and then immediately fired last time). XD He’s working on training her up – brought in all the staff for a quick late-night “meeting” just for that purpose at the very beginning of the episode, in fact. XD But yes, the restaurant should now be running a lot more smoothly –
Which is good, because James had Addison and Hilary try for a baby, and Hilary is indeed pregnant! So it’s very important that they make lots and lots of money so they can build up their “official” house for the newborn! Or possibly newborns – I’m pretty sure Addison ends up having two kids, but I’m not sure if they’re twins or two separate births. . .I guess we will find out! But first – as per the episode’s title – gotta build up that house! Time to cook your little heart out, Addison!
2. Continue writing “Home Sweet Lair”: Check – Smiler has gotten to gush about the Fox-Lloyd chemistry bench that Elder Gutknecht owns, and the Lumiere ( ;) ) brand tinkering bench. Which has led to the revelation that Victor got a mechanical moth to flap its wings, and that Smiler has invented this world’s equivalent of the Roomba. XD Alice was deeply amused by their and Victor’s excitement over the crafting benches and has noted it’s looking more and more like they, at least, want to genuinely move in – and Smiler has admitted they’d be up for it just to get access to the chemistry bench. XD But right now, they’ve got one more level to investigate – the very top of the tower. They’re still nervous about the ghost Victor can sense, but as Victor pointed out, Smiler and Alice have their spiritbane charms, so that’s something. (Victor, of course, DOESN’T have his – he forgot it at home along with his wallet, and when he fled the rehearsal, he was more worried about angry parents than wandering spirits.) So they’re going to brave the stairs again on Friday to see what’s what up there. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check, another two-in, two-out tonight –
A) First, from Josh Way – “Job Search Ain't Going Great + Side Hustles!” Basically a “life update” video, detailing how his job search is not going great (short version: his 25 years experience as a webmaster and marketing coordinator at his old alma mater is actually working AGAINST him in the job hunt; he got rejected from the grocery store; and he wasn’t able to file unemployment for a while because he was one of those hit by COVID Unemployment Fraud schemes back in 2021 because people are assholes) and once again bringing up all his various side hustles in case we would like to help support him (he has TWO Patreons going at this point – one for monthly pledges, one for “certain number of posts per month” payments – plus an Etsy shop (where he is working on doing custom orders for people) and his usual art commissions and Ko-Fi and what not)). Poor guy is not doing great, but he’s trying to stay positive about it all, even if that’s hard some days. *nods* You keep at it, Josh! We’re all rooting for you! And maybe buying some of your stuff. :p
B) And second, from GrayStillPlays – “Cars vs Cursed Ramps in GTA 5!” Another Alex Torture Board, with a focus on making Gray get through the hardest, evilest ramps he’s come up with yet! Gray had to figure out the right car that could make it across the Human Cursed Ramp (a ramp made out of human bodies, both loose and wrapped in plastic, that shot Gray through a spinning human hurricane of sorts – oh, and did I mention there were invisible slow-down sticks in there?), the High Voltage Cursed Ramp (a horrible electric ramp that either stopped Gray dead in his tracks when he tried to use it or yeeted him off in a random direction, occasionally yeeting the vehicle out from under him in the process – getting through this was sheer LUCK), the Cursed Crotch Ramp (a “breather” ramp that was made out of the crotch of one of those titan statues – Gray just had to make sure to come through this one at the right angle to get across the gap), the Grave Yard Cursed Ramp (a ramp made of tombstones with two zombies passing in front of it that could and would yeet your car upward if you hit them, or at least slow it down horribly, which led into a spinning graveyard topped with tall spires that Gray had to thumbail-hole his way through – and then he had to crash into his own grave on the other side), and – after a checkpoint – the Fire Half-Spiral Cursed Ramp (which was actually a PAIR of ramps with that cool fire effect on them – Gray had to jump off one and transfer to the other, doing a half-barrel roll while lining himself up PERFECTLY with the other ramp so he could both hit it and STICK to it). As you might imagine, this one was kinda tough, with Gray having a lot of trouble getting past the just the first two ramps. The first car he tried, an orange one with an exposed engine, just ended up straight-up killing him the moment he got past the Human Ramp; both the motorcycle and the reverse trike got yeeted straight out from under him on the High Voltage Ramp; and while the Logger Beer race car did well, it just didn’t have the speed to make it through the Graveyard Ramp. The winner was a Pfister 811 super hybrid super car in a gorgeous shade of purple, which had the power, the speed, and the ability to stick to things that Gary needed to complete the course. And even THEN he needed a few tries on the fire ramp to properly line things up. Whew – poor Gray. I’m sure THIS one took a few years off his life! XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Kind of N/A today, as my Victor Luvs Alice queue is set for the week. . .but I did get a small jump-start on my upcoming Chill Valicer Save update by getting the first ten pictures done, yay! :) Rest of the evening was spent answering the latest message from Moose, though, so at least that’s off my plate!
And now it is time for bed again, so I can do all this tomorrow. At least we're supposed to get a little break in the weather tomorrow -- I am hoping. Night all!
Work – Pretty quiet day at work – mostly duplicates, with a little bit of updating my boss on the latest credit card nonsense and getting his opinion on it before doing my catch-up call tomorrow with the credit card people. And, fortunately, while we did get some driving rain, we did NOT get flooded out, and neither my morning nor my evening commute was made on a road that had turned into a river.
. . .we did have a fucking TORNADO WARNING on my drive home, admittedly. That was fun. But, as you can probably guess by the fact that I’m typing this, I made it home safely, and no funnel clouds appeared to ruin my day. Still, I am so fucking over this horrible weather in all its forms. >( At least tomorrow is supposed to offer a bit of respite before we get whatever we’re getting from Lee?
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, back bouncing between James Turner HSY/DOR episodes –
A) “Building our first photo set! High School Years (Part 45)” – finished off this Breanne episode to start, with Breanne taking photos of the randos she’d pulled off the street in front of her various backdrops until she got level 5 Photography skill, then moving onto doing proper gigs – specifically, a pair of gigs that required her to work with a “style influencer” (Sims who, well, influence styles) to get pictures of Sims in cool athletic clothes (first gig) and fantastic everyday wear (second gig). James spent a bunch of money to build Breanne her first proper set (a little living room set-up) – he ALSO tried to get her a green screen to use for the second gig, but as it turns out while you can scale down the screen itself, you can’t scale down the projections, sooo he ended up just getting her a nice My Wedding Stories photo backdrop to use instead. XD Both gigs went reasonably well – Breanne got some nice shots of randos off the street (including a city maintenance worker – James was a bit sad to discover said worker’s work overalls were NOT her everyday outfit), and while the style influencers kept insisting that her photos were a bit out of focus and not lit well enough, Breanne ended up submitting them anyway and getting some HEFTY payouts (13K a pop!). And when they insisted on selfies, Breanne kept doing poses that cropped them out of the picture. XD So yeah, Breanne now has a decent amount of cash to burn on actually cleaning up and decorating her new space – James is going to do that as its own separate video, then it’s back to photography fun in the main series!
B) “I completely built up this house! Dine Out (Part 6)” – and I just started this almost-hour-long episode of Addison’s series! The problems from the end of the last episode have been fixed – the takeaway thing was a known bug that Carl patched; the “my chefs won’t actually work and sometimes just despawn” issue was a result of James accidentally setting BOTH of his chef stations to be “main” ones that only Addison can cook at, thus preventing his hired chefs from actually working (he thought that you could only ever set one and that if you switched them, it automatically unchecked the other). James unchecked one station and thus now can have a hired NPC chef again, though he was unfortunately unable to get back his fully-trained Agatha Crumplebottom, instead having to settle for one of her clones (who doesn’t even LIKE Addison because I think she was the one they hired and then immediately fired last time). XD He’s working on training her up – brought in all the staff for a quick late-night “meeting” just for that purpose at the very beginning of the episode, in fact. XD But yes, the restaurant should now be running a lot more smoothly –
Which is good, because James had Addison and Hilary try for a baby, and Hilary is indeed pregnant! So it’s very important that they make lots and lots of money so they can build up their “official” house for the newborn! Or possibly newborns – I’m pretty sure Addison ends up having two kids, but I’m not sure if they’re twins or two separate births. . .I guess we will find out! But first – as per the episode’s title – gotta build up that house! Time to cook your little heart out, Addison!
2. Continue writing “Home Sweet Lair”: Check – Smiler has gotten to gush about the Fox-Lloyd chemistry bench that Elder Gutknecht owns, and the Lumiere ( ;) ) brand tinkering bench. Which has led to the revelation that Victor got a mechanical moth to flap its wings, and that Smiler has invented this world’s equivalent of the Roomba. XD Alice was deeply amused by their and Victor’s excitement over the crafting benches and has noted it’s looking more and more like they, at least, want to genuinely move in – and Smiler has admitted they’d be up for it just to get access to the chemistry bench. XD But right now, they’ve got one more level to investigate – the very top of the tower. They’re still nervous about the ghost Victor can sense, but as Victor pointed out, Smiler and Alice have their spiritbane charms, so that’s something. (Victor, of course, DOESN’T have his – he forgot it at home along with his wallet, and when he fled the rehearsal, he was more worried about angry parents than wandering spirits.) So they’re going to brave the stairs again on Friday to see what’s what up there. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check, another two-in, two-out tonight –
A) First, from Josh Way – “Job Search Ain't Going Great + Side Hustles!” Basically a “life update” video, detailing how his job search is not going great (short version: his 25 years experience as a webmaster and marketing coordinator at his old alma mater is actually working AGAINST him in the job hunt; he got rejected from the grocery store; and he wasn’t able to file unemployment for a while because he was one of those hit by COVID Unemployment Fraud schemes back in 2021 because people are assholes) and once again bringing up all his various side hustles in case we would like to help support him (he has TWO Patreons going at this point – one for monthly pledges, one for “certain number of posts per month” payments – plus an Etsy shop (where he is working on doing custom orders for people) and his usual art commissions and Ko-Fi and what not)). Poor guy is not doing great, but he’s trying to stay positive about it all, even if that’s hard some days. *nods* You keep at it, Josh! We’re all rooting for you! And maybe buying some of your stuff. :p
B) And second, from GrayStillPlays – “Cars vs Cursed Ramps in GTA 5!” Another Alex Torture Board, with a focus on making Gray get through the hardest, evilest ramps he’s come up with yet! Gray had to figure out the right car that could make it across the Human Cursed Ramp (a ramp made out of human bodies, both loose and wrapped in plastic, that shot Gray through a spinning human hurricane of sorts – oh, and did I mention there were invisible slow-down sticks in there?), the High Voltage Cursed Ramp (a horrible electric ramp that either stopped Gray dead in his tracks when he tried to use it or yeeted him off in a random direction, occasionally yeeting the vehicle out from under him in the process – getting through this was sheer LUCK), the Cursed Crotch Ramp (a “breather” ramp that was made out of the crotch of one of those titan statues – Gray just had to make sure to come through this one at the right angle to get across the gap), the Grave Yard Cursed Ramp (a ramp made of tombstones with two zombies passing in front of it that could and would yeet your car upward if you hit them, or at least slow it down horribly, which led into a spinning graveyard topped with tall spires that Gray had to thumbail-hole his way through – and then he had to crash into his own grave on the other side), and – after a checkpoint – the Fire Half-Spiral Cursed Ramp (which was actually a PAIR of ramps with that cool fire effect on them – Gray had to jump off one and transfer to the other, doing a half-barrel roll while lining himself up PERFECTLY with the other ramp so he could both hit it and STICK to it). As you might imagine, this one was kinda tough, with Gray having a lot of trouble getting past the just the first two ramps. The first car he tried, an orange one with an exposed engine, just ended up straight-up killing him the moment he got past the Human Ramp; both the motorcycle and the reverse trike got yeeted straight out from under him on the High Voltage Ramp; and while the Logger Beer race car did well, it just didn’t have the speed to make it through the Graveyard Ramp. The winner was a Pfister 811 super hybrid super car in a gorgeous shade of purple, which had the power, the speed, and the ability to stick to things that Gary needed to complete the course. And even THEN he needed a few tries on the fire ramp to properly line things up. Whew – poor Gray. I’m sure THIS one took a few years off his life! XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Kind of N/A today, as my Victor Luvs Alice queue is set for the week. . .but I did get a small jump-start on my upcoming Chill Valicer Save update by getting the first ten pictures done, yay! :) Rest of the evening was spent answering the latest message from Moose, though, so at least that’s off my plate!
And now it is time for bed again, so I can do all this tomorrow. At least we're supposed to get a little break in the weather tomorrow -- I am hoping. Night all!
