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Very Quiet Fourth
Jul. 4th, 2020 11:32 pmWell, on my family's end, anyway -- of course there have been fireworks going off all over the place this evening. Even now I just heard a boom. . . Really hoping all of that calms down after tonight. They've been setting these off for weeks now, and I am TIRED of it. (Especially since, half the time, they're setting them off at six and seven -- aka WHILE IT'S STILL LIGHT OUT. What the hell is the POINT then?!)
Anyway, like I said, fairly quiet Fourth for me and mine! We just hung around the house, watching an early Big Fat Quiz Of The Year (2005! that feels like ages ago, doesn't it?) and the latest QI (which didn't get derailed as much as last week's, but -- well, it just doesn't feel the same without the audience! As aptly demonstrated when they brought in a laugh track for one of the questions and everything just seemed that much funnier with it). My parents ended up marathoning some of Breaking Bad, while I:
-->Caught up on some of my Watch Later list on YouTube:
A) Starting with a pair of RT/Plumbella collabs – yup, it's the last two episodes of them playing LEGO Harry Potter together! Last two years of Harry and co. making an absolute mockery of the Potter franchise in LEGO form, helped by Plumbella and RT knowing a thing or two about chaos. XD Highlights included Plumbella stealing a milk float as Dumbledore and running over RT's Harry; RT getting a little too into spraying Plumbella's Hermione with Augamenti; Dumbledore's death scene including the death eaters in party hats and him landing head-first in the ground (as in sticking straight up out of it); Dobby's death scene BRIEFLY looking like he was going to be impaled with a fish (he was instead buried under stuff, and his death was immortalized by a sand castle with a sock flag); RT constantly stealing the items Jesse worked so hard for (with Jesse threatening him, to no avail); RT being WAY too happy to spit fire as a dragon at the guards in Gringotts; Snape's death being the result of eating the last biscuit – basically, these games just don't treat any character's death with the gravitas it deserves, honestly. Jesse confessed to be genuinely annoyed by that. Also, apparently Dobby from the second year had the most health out of any of the bosses and thus is the hardest LEGO Harry Potter character to defeat. No WONDER they had to crush him under a pile of random crap (and a fish). All good stuff – I'm glad I got to watch it. :)
B) Then it was a skip over to The Red Plumbob to see a comparison video about Servos throughout the Sims series! Well, Servos in 1, 2, and 4 – 3 had "Simbots" and "Plumbots," which were roughly the same thing. It was a cool video – I like seeing how various elements of the series have evolved over the years. Even if it convinces me that we really need to go back to how Sims 2 often did things – Servos in that game had a lot of personality, the ability to get fancy with formal wear, and the ability to become hybrids! I miss that. Maybe if we combined it with the fact that Sims 3 Plumbots got a proper Create-a-Bot system. . .
C) And then it was time for Plumbella on her own! She's actually currently taking a mental health break from videos, but I had a few older ones that I needed to watch, including:
1. A trip back to The Sims 1 Makin' Magic! Oh man, the nostalgia. . . Jesse made Severus (Potter-)Snape and her Simself, then proceeded to move them into and out of the same lot multiple times to abuse the Mystery Man always bringing newly-moved-in families a magic kit to get enough MagiCoins to actually move to Magic Town. :D Got the spooky old cabin with all the gnomes. XD And then – well, she tried to make things magical for her Sims, but she only learned one spell, Toadification, and most of her attempts to cast it ended up with her being Toadified. Not to mention, Sim!Jesse's needs were always in the toilet (occasionally literally). Perhaps not as magical as I would have liked, but still good for a laugh. :P
2. A ten-minute build challenge – in a video that is almost completely unedited (just with a brief intro card and her usual outro). It was a bit weird to see Jesse "raw," so to speak – I mean, she was still very clearly herself, just – I'm used to the fast cuts and the random sound effects and what not. And the poor girl admitted multiple times that not doing the edits made her super anxious, which – you know what? Relatable. You guys all know how well I've been handling my anxiety these days, so I seriously just wanted to give her all the hugs. You got a lot of people pulling for you, Plumbella! We're all in this together.
3. A house-building challenge where she could only use custom content (except for the obvious stuff, like walls – and, as she could not find any custom stairs, she allowed herself those. No outdoor bin, though!). It came out really nice! She put in lots of big, gorgeous windows, build up a lovely little kitchen with a kettle, and designed a very dramatic master bedroom and a very cute kid's room. :) The custom content she had was cool too – she had stuff where you could basically slot things together to make your own custom-sized desks and wardrobes and whatnot. It was all very cool and makes me want to do – eh, maybe not building. I rarely have the patience to make the actual shell. XD Some renovations, though. . .
-->Played the beanbag game with the folks once the shade behind the house was adequate. I won the first game, with Dad winning the second two -- but they were so close that we actually tied twice! Hell, in the second game, we were tied for first for three throws until finally Dad was able to break the stalemate by getting a score of 31! So that was pretty satisfying, honestly. :P
-->Played some Sims -- followed Emmett to work, where he spent most of his time either mind-controlling his coworkers, or using his magical repair skills on broken objects. Well, he IS a TECHNO-WIZARD, so it only makes sense. XD I also managed to get him to save Marty (who was hanging around in the "tourist" section of the lot) from possibly freezing to death by having him fly down and ask to see him in his cold weather wear. Hey, it was a cold and windy day in the desert! Is still winter, after all. . .and then, after that, I had him and Nikal try for a baby one more time -- and it worked! Nikal is pregnant, and a new Brown-Kosperov is on the way! :D So this should be fun. Time to remodel the house!
-->Did a bit of writing -- but not on "An Introductory Guide to Magic." I'm just -- I'm not feeling that story, you dig? It's been so hard to get it to come together. . .instead, I went indulgent and wrote out a rough draft of the scene where my Sole Survivor!Victor meets his version of Malkavian!Alice. I'm in a Fallout 4 mood, and this is at least Valice-ADJACENT, which I need more of currently. My fave couple is one of the things keeping me sane in this stupid year.
-->Answered a bunch of anon questions in the Valice Multiverse -- wasn't expecting it to be so busy because of the holiday, but here we are!
Okay, and now I need to answer the comments I have on here, and then find an online birthday card for my Dad, as it is his birthday tomorrow. (Mom and I went halvsies on a new pair of slippers for him.) And then take care of my Victor Luvs Alice queue before heading to bed. Tomorrow at least promises cake! And more beanbag game, and if I have my way, more Fallout 4. So long as the weekend remains reasonably chill, I'll be happy. I need some chill right now. Night all!
Anyway, like I said, fairly quiet Fourth for me and mine! We just hung around the house, watching an early Big Fat Quiz Of The Year (2005! that feels like ages ago, doesn't it?) and the latest QI (which didn't get derailed as much as last week's, but -- well, it just doesn't feel the same without the audience! As aptly demonstrated when they brought in a laugh track for one of the questions and everything just seemed that much funnier with it). My parents ended up marathoning some of Breaking Bad, while I:
-->Caught up on some of my Watch Later list on YouTube:
A) Starting with a pair of RT/Plumbella collabs – yup, it's the last two episodes of them playing LEGO Harry Potter together! Last two years of Harry and co. making an absolute mockery of the Potter franchise in LEGO form, helped by Plumbella and RT knowing a thing or two about chaos. XD Highlights included Plumbella stealing a milk float as Dumbledore and running over RT's Harry; RT getting a little too into spraying Plumbella's Hermione with Augamenti; Dumbledore's death scene including the death eaters in party hats and him landing head-first in the ground (as in sticking straight up out of it); Dobby's death scene BRIEFLY looking like he was going to be impaled with a fish (he was instead buried under stuff, and his death was immortalized by a sand castle with a sock flag); RT constantly stealing the items Jesse worked so hard for (with Jesse threatening him, to no avail); RT being WAY too happy to spit fire as a dragon at the guards in Gringotts; Snape's death being the result of eating the last biscuit – basically, these games just don't treat any character's death with the gravitas it deserves, honestly. Jesse confessed to be genuinely annoyed by that. Also, apparently Dobby from the second year had the most health out of any of the bosses and thus is the hardest LEGO Harry Potter character to defeat. No WONDER they had to crush him under a pile of random crap (and a fish). All good stuff – I'm glad I got to watch it. :)
B) Then it was a skip over to The Red Plumbob to see a comparison video about Servos throughout the Sims series! Well, Servos in 1, 2, and 4 – 3 had "Simbots" and "Plumbots," which were roughly the same thing. It was a cool video – I like seeing how various elements of the series have evolved over the years. Even if it convinces me that we really need to go back to how Sims 2 often did things – Servos in that game had a lot of personality, the ability to get fancy with formal wear, and the ability to become hybrids! I miss that. Maybe if we combined it with the fact that Sims 3 Plumbots got a proper Create-a-Bot system. . .
C) And then it was time for Plumbella on her own! She's actually currently taking a mental health break from videos, but I had a few older ones that I needed to watch, including:
1. A trip back to The Sims 1 Makin' Magic! Oh man, the nostalgia. . . Jesse made Severus (Potter-)Snape and her Simself, then proceeded to move them into and out of the same lot multiple times to abuse the Mystery Man always bringing newly-moved-in families a magic kit to get enough MagiCoins to actually move to Magic Town. :D Got the spooky old cabin with all the gnomes. XD And then – well, she tried to make things magical for her Sims, but she only learned one spell, Toadification, and most of her attempts to cast it ended up with her being Toadified. Not to mention, Sim!Jesse's needs were always in the toilet (occasionally literally). Perhaps not as magical as I would have liked, but still good for a laugh. :P
2. A ten-minute build challenge – in a video that is almost completely unedited (just with a brief intro card and her usual outro). It was a bit weird to see Jesse "raw," so to speak – I mean, she was still very clearly herself, just – I'm used to the fast cuts and the random sound effects and what not. And the poor girl admitted multiple times that not doing the edits made her super anxious, which – you know what? Relatable. You guys all know how well I've been handling my anxiety these days, so I seriously just wanted to give her all the hugs. You got a lot of people pulling for you, Plumbella! We're all in this together.
3. A house-building challenge where she could only use custom content (except for the obvious stuff, like walls – and, as she could not find any custom stairs, she allowed herself those. No outdoor bin, though!). It came out really nice! She put in lots of big, gorgeous windows, build up a lovely little kitchen with a kettle, and designed a very dramatic master bedroom and a very cute kid's room. :) The custom content she had was cool too – she had stuff where you could basically slot things together to make your own custom-sized desks and wardrobes and whatnot. It was all very cool and makes me want to do – eh, maybe not building. I rarely have the patience to make the actual shell. XD Some renovations, though. . .
-->Played the beanbag game with the folks once the shade behind the house was adequate. I won the first game, with Dad winning the second two -- but they were so close that we actually tied twice! Hell, in the second game, we were tied for first for three throws until finally Dad was able to break the stalemate by getting a score of 31! So that was pretty satisfying, honestly. :P
-->Played some Sims -- followed Emmett to work, where he spent most of his time either mind-controlling his coworkers, or using his magical repair skills on broken objects. Well, he IS a TECHNO-WIZARD, so it only makes sense. XD I also managed to get him to save Marty (who was hanging around in the "tourist" section of the lot) from possibly freezing to death by having him fly down and ask to see him in his cold weather wear. Hey, it was a cold and windy day in the desert! Is still winter, after all. . .and then, after that, I had him and Nikal try for a baby one more time -- and it worked! Nikal is pregnant, and a new Brown-Kosperov is on the way! :D So this should be fun. Time to remodel the house!
-->Did a bit of writing -- but not on "An Introductory Guide to Magic." I'm just -- I'm not feeling that story, you dig? It's been so hard to get it to come together. . .instead, I went indulgent and wrote out a rough draft of the scene where my Sole Survivor!Victor meets his version of Malkavian!Alice. I'm in a Fallout 4 mood, and this is at least Valice-ADJACENT, which I need more of currently. My fave couple is one of the things keeping me sane in this stupid year.
-->Answered a bunch of anon questions in the Valice Multiverse -- wasn't expecting it to be so busy because of the holiday, but here we are!
Okay, and now I need to answer the comments I have on here, and then find an online birthday card for my Dad, as it is his birthday tomorrow. (Mom and I went halvsies on a new pair of slippers for him.) And then take care of my Victor Luvs Alice queue before heading to bed. Tomorrow at least promises cake! And more beanbag game, and if I have my way, more Fallout 4. So long as the weekend remains reasonably chill, I'll be happy. I need some chill right now. Night all!
