Final Day Off And Dad Is Home
Aug. 12th, 2024 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickYup, he was cleared to come home earlier today, and Mom brought him back from the hospital around 2 PM-ish! He's doing all right -- he's still got all those staples in his stomach (apparently they staple wounds together instead of stitch them because the staples can hold them tighter), and he's moving kind of slow and needs to take his fair share of meds, but he's up and moving and eating actual food, so that is a win. There will of course be follow-up appointments and suchlike, but we're past one major hurdle. So that's good. *thumbs up*
Also good -- having a quite nice final day off! Here's what I managed to accomplish --
Tumblr: Being as it was Monday today, I only had Victor Luvs Alice to worry about – and let me tell you, the universe really seemed determined to make up for me not getting anything done on tumblr yesterday besides the absolute minimum –
A) After a little bit of dash catch-up pre-lunch (made somewhat more difficult by the fact that it seemed to be prime reblogging time for a couple of my friends), I headed into the drafts and got my Wednesday post sorted for this week – the Smiler CAS Lookbook I did for their birthday back on May 31st! Because while I shared that with you guys at the time, I’d never actually put those pictures up on tumblr! So I figured this week would be the perfect time to rectify that. Even better, I was able to steal both the main text and the image alt text from Dreamwidth this time, due to having shared the pics on DW first. XD So that made putting together the post a lot easier! Still had to tweak some stuff, but it all came together pretty fast.
B) I also finished off the first VITD “Fun With Special Abilities” post I made listing out some of the fun powers and bonuses Alice, Victor, and Smiler will be picking up during their tenure as the Three Pillars. I ended up doing this in two sections – finishing up Smiler’s section around the time Dad came home, then doing a final clean-up of the main text and adding the tags later in the day, before my workout – but it IS done, so if I want to post it this week, I can. :)
C) Had some extra time tonight because of a lack of Long YouTube Videos (see the “YouTube” section), so I ended up properly catching up on my dash and reblogging a bunch of stuff – specifically a post about “I ship these people because it brings me joy and whimsy” (Valice/Valicer vibes, thanks); a post about a puppy at a Colorado adoption event testing positive for rabies, so if you attended PLEASE SEE THE NICE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE (I don’t know if anyone who looks at my tumblr is from Colorado, but as rabies is no fucking joke); a post about remembering to tell people you like their stuff when you read/look at it (trying to get better about this myself); Moose’s latest McFly July fic (about the McFly family helping Linda get her boutique set up before opening day – very cute and funny, with Dave and Marty making sure to razz Linda as much as possible before assuring her that they think her business will be a success :) ); another post about making sure to comment, recommend, and reblog stuff, and asking creators not to delete their stuff (again, trying to get better about that, and also a good reminder to me not to get too pissy about a certain fanfic of mine as I move into PMS/period times); and finally a poll about what matters most to AO3 writers (comments is winning by a mile). So we cannot say that I was NOT active today!
Portal Reloaded: Finished up the last three chambers and the grand finale today, just like I’d hoped! And, as per usual, said last three chambers involved me managing to figure out the first part of the puzzle on my own, but then having to consult a walkthrough to get through the rest. In my defense, I thought that excursion funnels wouldn’t travel through emancipation fields in Chamber 23 (turns out they will), and in Chambers 24 and 25, I had a bit of trouble getting elements to pass through my portals correctly (for example, I had one excursion funnel that wouldn’t pass through a grate for unknown reasons until I put the portal elsewhere and retried it, and a laser that for some reason was coming out of a portal too high to hit a reflector cube, again until I redid the portal). But I did eventually make it through all the chambers, then accidentally ended up getting both endings (the one where your character is vacuumed back into stasis, and the one where she escapes being put into stasis, then the facility itself, via portals and time travel) because I flubbed my first attempt to get Test Subject 4509 out of there before she reached the vacuum tube. XD Ah well, probably makes sense to get both, since they’re both really simple to get. And now I am done with my Alternate Vacation Game, yay~ Thursday, we return to Sims 4, where I will be doing my best to finish up the Ministry Of Joy!
Writing: Back to my usual schedule this Monday, and thus back to “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Chapter 3! And back to Alice sneaking through the parking garage Downtown to secure a certain briefcase for a certain Fat Larry. I had a bit of trouble getting started again – the first paragraph didn’t want to come together for unknown reasons – but I got past it and got Alice through most of level 2 of the garage, past the anxious Tong at the entrance and a pair of Operators patrolling the garage near the exit via the use of a handy vent. She just has to get past levels 3 and 4 and all their guards now. Good thing she’s a Malkavian and thus has the power of Obfuscate – I can confirm from multiple playthroughs that it really DOES make any mission requiring sneaking like fifty million times easier.
YouTube: Well, I ended up skipping my Subs video tonight, because while GrayStillPlays uploaded, he uploaded a video I did not actually want to watch (more AI-based nonsense – I don’t want to watch you play with ChatGPT, Gray!). So instead I substituted in a trio of video from Petey Plays It, since I do enjoy his Sims 4 stuff:
A) “All Servo Powers And Abilities | The Sims 4 Guide!” And older video of his about the robotic Sims that we know and love from Discover University and all the stuff they can do! Which isn’t THAT much, as Petey fit it all into a six-minute video. XD But he went over all the basics (Servos can talk to and flirt with your electronics, discuss “Important Robot Things” with Utili-Bots (spooking nearby human Sims), hover (which I STRONGLY recommend over walking, as they are sloooow), and scan Sims for traits and their current mood); how Servos enhance themselves and what they get out of it (they can download data or acquire skills to fill the invisible “enhancement” bar, and each level of enhancement gives Servos a boost to skill-building, charging faster, and staying durable longer); and the behavior modules they can unlock (which include prioritizing fixing things, gardening, cleaning, partying, defending their human Sim friends and family, and being the ultimate robo-nanny). All good information for me to have when it comes to figuring out how to turn Marm L. Iser into the best robotic companion to the Chill Valicer Save trio! I mean, being made by Smiler, he HAS to get the party-bot module once it becomes available…
B) “Britechester World Secrets And Features | The Sims 4 Guide” – a more recent video by Petey, covering the world of Britechester from Discover University and what Sims can find there! Which – isn’t THAT much, but it’s good to see where all the various walking paths go and where you can go to sit in on skill classes and guest lectures. And where the kiosks to buy necessary posters, bikes, and laptops are. XD I did learn something surprising, though – there are actually spots in the world that have swimmable water! o.O I didn’t think Britechester had any of that! But as per Petey’s video, there’s a spot at the end of one of the paths in the University of Britechester campus that leads to a little beach with a swimming spot, and according to the comments, there’s a similar spot in Foxbury! Huh! I’ll have to see if I can find ‘em at some point. :) Always nice to discover something new from one of these videos!
C) “The Sims 4 Runway: Get Together Looks You Need To See” – a video highlighting a bunch of different outfits Petey made using the CAS items that came with Get Together! Some that looked really nice (that blue-and-white-striped dress I put on Alice in a past “CAS Lookbook” section made an appearance, along with one of the other color variants of Smiler’s old triangles shirt with the headphones (this one looking like comic book panels)), while others were rather more – questionable (both the men and the women got a party outfit where there were just too many belts involved – though the women’s was especially weird, as the item with too many belts was a pair of SHORTS. With the belts coming off the legs. The fuck). But it was a fun look at a bunch of the outfits you get with this pack – I mean, I didn’t even know the Weird Belt Shorts existed before now. XD Oh, Sims fashion, why are you like this sometimes...
Workout: Back on the bike again, and back with the GrayStillPlays compilation “1000 Ways to Murder the King!” I have finished his trip through the Murder Mafia game (which saw him get endings including saving his best bro – and getting assassinated; saving his wife – and getting assassinated; saving his best bro AND his wife – and getting assassinated; and saving neither but still getting assassinated because Gray thought it was funny to keep saving the assassin), and am mostly through Gray’s playthrough of – well, I don’t recall the name of the game, but you play as a meathead knight making his way through a tower, and you are constantly confronted with three doors from which to choose from – two of which lead to an amusing death, and one of which actually lets you progress. Gray of course tried to get the guy killed in as many ways as possible. XD I’m up to the point in the video where he’s escaping the hat-and-weapons merchant who turned into a demon who wants to eat him via desperately picking doors. XD We’ll see the end of this tomorrow – I am pretty sure it involves Gray getting randomly teleported out of a bathroom – along with whatever comes next!
So yeah -- very glad I was indeed allowed to make up for missing out my tumblr time yesterday, and that I was able to finish up Portal Reloaded, and generally get myself back on track for my final day off. ...Well, my final day off of this particular chunk, as I actually have Thursday off this week because of religious holiday stuff. XD But you know what I mean. And now it is time to prepare to head to bed and hopefully get some halfway decent sleep. We'll see if work has any nasty surprises for me when I return -- night all!
Also good -- having a quite nice final day off! Here's what I managed to accomplish --
Tumblr: Being as it was Monday today, I only had Victor Luvs Alice to worry about – and let me tell you, the universe really seemed determined to make up for me not getting anything done on tumblr yesterday besides the absolute minimum –
A) After a little bit of dash catch-up pre-lunch (made somewhat more difficult by the fact that it seemed to be prime reblogging time for a couple of my friends), I headed into the drafts and got my Wednesday post sorted for this week – the Smiler CAS Lookbook I did for their birthday back on May 31st! Because while I shared that with you guys at the time, I’d never actually put those pictures up on tumblr! So I figured this week would be the perfect time to rectify that. Even better, I was able to steal both the main text and the image alt text from Dreamwidth this time, due to having shared the pics on DW first. XD So that made putting together the post a lot easier! Still had to tweak some stuff, but it all came together pretty fast.
B) I also finished off the first VITD “Fun With Special Abilities” post I made listing out some of the fun powers and bonuses Alice, Victor, and Smiler will be picking up during their tenure as the Three Pillars. I ended up doing this in two sections – finishing up Smiler’s section around the time Dad came home, then doing a final clean-up of the main text and adding the tags later in the day, before my workout – but it IS done, so if I want to post it this week, I can. :)
C) Had some extra time tonight because of a lack of Long YouTube Videos (see the “YouTube” section), so I ended up properly catching up on my dash and reblogging a bunch of stuff – specifically a post about “I ship these people because it brings me joy and whimsy” (Valice/Valicer vibes, thanks); a post about a puppy at a Colorado adoption event testing positive for rabies, so if you attended PLEASE SEE THE NICE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE (I don’t know if anyone who looks at my tumblr is from Colorado, but as rabies is no fucking joke); a post about remembering to tell people you like their stuff when you read/look at it (trying to get better about this myself); Moose’s latest McFly July fic (about the McFly family helping Linda get her boutique set up before opening day – very cute and funny, with Dave and Marty making sure to razz Linda as much as possible before assuring her that they think her business will be a success :) ); another post about making sure to comment, recommend, and reblog stuff, and asking creators not to delete their stuff (again, trying to get better about that, and also a good reminder to me not to get too pissy about a certain fanfic of mine as I move into PMS/period times); and finally a poll about what matters most to AO3 writers (comments is winning by a mile). So we cannot say that I was NOT active today!
Portal Reloaded: Finished up the last three chambers and the grand finale today, just like I’d hoped! And, as per usual, said last three chambers involved me managing to figure out the first part of the puzzle on my own, but then having to consult a walkthrough to get through the rest. In my defense, I thought that excursion funnels wouldn’t travel through emancipation fields in Chamber 23 (turns out they will), and in Chambers 24 and 25, I had a bit of trouble getting elements to pass through my portals correctly (for example, I had one excursion funnel that wouldn’t pass through a grate for unknown reasons until I put the portal elsewhere and retried it, and a laser that for some reason was coming out of a portal too high to hit a reflector cube, again until I redid the portal). But I did eventually make it through all the chambers, then accidentally ended up getting both endings (the one where your character is vacuumed back into stasis, and the one where she escapes being put into stasis, then the facility itself, via portals and time travel) because I flubbed my first attempt to get Test Subject 4509 out of there before she reached the vacuum tube. XD Ah well, probably makes sense to get both, since they’re both really simple to get. And now I am done with my Alternate Vacation Game, yay~ Thursday, we return to Sims 4, where I will be doing my best to finish up the Ministry Of Joy!
Writing: Back to my usual schedule this Monday, and thus back to “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Chapter 3! And back to Alice sneaking through the parking garage Downtown to secure a certain briefcase for a certain Fat Larry. I had a bit of trouble getting started again – the first paragraph didn’t want to come together for unknown reasons – but I got past it and got Alice through most of level 2 of the garage, past the anxious Tong at the entrance and a pair of Operators patrolling the garage near the exit via the use of a handy vent. She just has to get past levels 3 and 4 and all their guards now. Good thing she’s a Malkavian and thus has the power of Obfuscate – I can confirm from multiple playthroughs that it really DOES make any mission requiring sneaking like fifty million times easier.
YouTube: Well, I ended up skipping my Subs video tonight, because while GrayStillPlays uploaded, he uploaded a video I did not actually want to watch (more AI-based nonsense – I don’t want to watch you play with ChatGPT, Gray!). So instead I substituted in a trio of video from Petey Plays It, since I do enjoy his Sims 4 stuff:
A) “All Servo Powers And Abilities | The Sims 4 Guide!” And older video of his about the robotic Sims that we know and love from Discover University and all the stuff they can do! Which isn’t THAT much, as Petey fit it all into a six-minute video. XD But he went over all the basics (Servos can talk to and flirt with your electronics, discuss “Important Robot Things” with Utili-Bots (spooking nearby human Sims), hover (which I STRONGLY recommend over walking, as they are sloooow), and scan Sims for traits and their current mood); how Servos enhance themselves and what they get out of it (they can download data or acquire skills to fill the invisible “enhancement” bar, and each level of enhancement gives Servos a boost to skill-building, charging faster, and staying durable longer); and the behavior modules they can unlock (which include prioritizing fixing things, gardening, cleaning, partying, defending their human Sim friends and family, and being the ultimate robo-nanny). All good information for me to have when it comes to figuring out how to turn Marm L. Iser into the best robotic companion to the Chill Valicer Save trio! I mean, being made by Smiler, he HAS to get the party-bot module once it becomes available…
B) “Britechester World Secrets And Features | The Sims 4 Guide” – a more recent video by Petey, covering the world of Britechester from Discover University and what Sims can find there! Which – isn’t THAT much, but it’s good to see where all the various walking paths go and where you can go to sit in on skill classes and guest lectures. And where the kiosks to buy necessary posters, bikes, and laptops are. XD I did learn something surprising, though – there are actually spots in the world that have swimmable water! o.O I didn’t think Britechester had any of that! But as per Petey’s video, there’s a spot at the end of one of the paths in the University of Britechester campus that leads to a little beach with a swimming spot, and according to the comments, there’s a similar spot in Foxbury! Huh! I’ll have to see if I can find ‘em at some point. :) Always nice to discover something new from one of these videos!
C) “The Sims 4 Runway: Get Together Looks You Need To See” – a video highlighting a bunch of different outfits Petey made using the CAS items that came with Get Together! Some that looked really nice (that blue-and-white-striped dress I put on Alice in a past “CAS Lookbook” section made an appearance, along with one of the other color variants of Smiler’s old triangles shirt with the headphones (this one looking like comic book panels)), while others were rather more – questionable (both the men and the women got a party outfit where there were just too many belts involved – though the women’s was especially weird, as the item with too many belts was a pair of SHORTS. With the belts coming off the legs. The fuck). But it was a fun look at a bunch of the outfits you get with this pack – I mean, I didn’t even know the Weird Belt Shorts existed before now. XD Oh, Sims fashion, why are you like this sometimes...
Workout: Back on the bike again, and back with the GrayStillPlays compilation “1000 Ways to Murder the King!” I have finished his trip through the Murder Mafia game (which saw him get endings including saving his best bro – and getting assassinated; saving his wife – and getting assassinated; saving his best bro AND his wife – and getting assassinated; and saving neither but still getting assassinated because Gray thought it was funny to keep saving the assassin), and am mostly through Gray’s playthrough of – well, I don’t recall the name of the game, but you play as a meathead knight making his way through a tower, and you are constantly confronted with three doors from which to choose from – two of which lead to an amusing death, and one of which actually lets you progress. Gray of course tried to get the guy killed in as many ways as possible. XD I’m up to the point in the video where he’s escaping the hat-and-weapons merchant who turned into a demon who wants to eat him via desperately picking doors. XD We’ll see the end of this tomorrow – I am pretty sure it involves Gray getting randomly teleported out of a bathroom – along with whatever comes next!
So yeah -- very glad I was indeed allowed to make up for missing out my tumblr time yesterday, and that I was able to finish up Portal Reloaded, and generally get myself back on track for my final day off. ...Well, my final day off of this particular chunk, as I actually have Thursday off this week because of religious holiday stuff. XD But you know what I mean. And now it is time to prepare to head to bed and hopefully get some halfway decent sleep. We'll see if work has any nasty surprises for me when I return -- night all!
