![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Seriously, the idiots around here have been setting off fireworks since mid-afternoon. I mean, what is the POINT of all that? Mom did remind me that some "fireworks" are just the kind that explode with a bunch of loud bangs and stuff, but a LOT of these sounded like the kind that you shoot into the sky, and -- look, it was cloudy for most of the day, and then it was sunny, and in NEITHER KIND OF WEATHER could you have actually SEEN the damn fireworks go off! It wasn't until about 9 PM that I could see anything from my own window! And it's just been so FREAKING LOUD. . .ugh. At least it seems to be winding down a bit the closer we get to midnight. . .
Despite all the noise, though, I had a reasonably productive day --
1. Work on the HypnoKink Notes Document: Check! Timeline should be completed now – I’ve covered all the events in all the stories I have ideas for, and also done some additional worldbuilding/domestic stuff – namely, deciding when Victor and Alice get their pets (1877 – Alice promises Victor a dog at Christmas 1876, and they later find a Skye terrier (inspired by me reading a period-appropriate story about one online, looking them up, and finding them adorable) to adopt in early 1877 which Victor names Sweeper; Victor finds that one of his father’s employees has kittens to adopt out around Alice’s birthday that same year, and she gets a brown shorthair cat she calls Cocoa) and have children (their standard first biological son, Chester, is born November 5th, 1878 in this timeline, and then a few years later an anonymous woman leaves an unwanted baby on their doorstep, whom they end up adopting as their daughter Emma Elizabeth). So I’m happy with that. All that really remains is figuring out names for some of these stories – notably the “how they met” one, which, you know, I’d be starting with, and then going from there! :)
2. Clear out the Sims-related content from the Watch Later, listen to the latest Wyrd Sisters Podcast, watch Jon's latest FO4 YOLO episode: Check! :D Yeah, okay, I wasn’t able to watch any OTHER videos, but this means all the longest stuff – that podcast and the YOLO episode – is out of the way, and I’ve reduced what’s ended up in my Watch Later. That counts for something. So, without further ado –
A) First up, a video from The Red Plumbob comparing beekeeping across The Sims, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4 – yes, The Sims 2 did not have actual beekeeping! How weird. . .at any rate, this is one of those little things where Sims 4 actually improved upon what came before, by allowing you to bond with your bees and do more things than just gather honey and beeswax from them. Also, fun note – if you have any of the packs that contain bear costumes, a Sim who wears one while disturbing bees or otherwise interacting with the box is immune to getting stung! So that’s neat. :D
B) Then it was onto a Plumbella marathon, as she herself recently did the challenge “build the same house across all four mainline Sims games!” Like James, she started with Sims 1 and ended with Sims 4 –
I. Sims 1: Plumbella decided to go with a blue semi-Victorian style for the outside, slapping on a bunch of bay windows and getting nostalgic for some of the items in Build/Buy (while also being annoyed with it because HELL we did not have a lot of choice for anything in the first game, did we?). It had a formal living room with a bearskin rug, a more cozy living room on the other side of the main hall, a large dining room where everything was off-center, a large kitchen with a fishbowl, and four bedrooms and one (unfurnished) bathroom up top – the spare bedroom, the pet-loving kid’s room, the reading-loving kid’s room, and the parents’ room which was a crime against good taste. XD Original blueprint – set!
II. Sims 2: Plumbella exulted over the fact that she could place her own lot, and zoom in and out and move about however she wanted! And then started getting annoyed whenever the roof and stairs started giving her trouble. XD She did successfully recreate the shell, though, and get all the rooms done (with appropriate glow-ups from the increased variety and ease-of-use of Build/Buy – for example, she didn’t even CONSIDER curtains in the first game, but this version had them all over the shop). Reading child now also loves racing, and the Crimes Against Good Taste parents now have zebra print chairs too. XD Didn’t come out bad at all for this generation of Sims games!
III. Sims 3: Plumbella complained that her chosen world was waaay too dark and that Create-A-Style has its good points, but also maybe offers too MUCH customization, making matching everything kind of tedious. Again, though, she got everything done and in roughly the right dimensions (though the kitchen might be a little too big and the dining room a little too small in this version. :p Also the spare bedroom got sea-themed in this version (complete with a sailing-themed bed), the pet-loving kid’s bedroom got cowboy-themed, the reading bedroom now contains two children instead of one, and the Crimes Against Good Taste parents traded in their love-heart bed for red cow-print wallpaper and seats that look like stacks of pancakes and top hats. XD I hate the aesthetics of Sims 3 generally, but that’s fun, I want that in the latest game.
IV. Sims 4: Plumbella rejoiced over being back in the best version of Build/Buy in her opinion, going so far as to even improve the roofing a little! Though she was sour about having to go one wall height up when it comes to fitting in a front door. . .but the house was made and furnished, as per usual! The kitchen got a bit of a glow-up with an island counter in the middle and lots and lots of decoration, while the parents’ room went from Crimes Against Good Taste to Perky Goth thanks to Plumbella’s favorite ghost wallpaper. XD Also the reading-loving kid is on her own again in a giant room, and the sailing kid is now into trees. It was a journey, going through all these videos, but hey – it was a fun one!
C) Then, after supper, it was FINALLY time to listen to the latest Wyrd Sisters Podcast on The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents! It was an interesting listen, discussing how much of the book is talking about manipulation (Maurice and the rodents pulling their “Pied Piper” scam vs the Rat King’s attempt to basically take over the minds of all the rats, and eventually everyone else in the town), and what it means to be a person (with the rats, particularly Dangerous Beans, trying to find a balance between their new intelligence and sense of ethics and morals versus their animal instincts – I brought up the fact that Maurice’s cat instincts is kind of what saves everyone in the end in my comment). Also the fact that it doesn’t feel the same as some of the adult Discworld books (being a rare stand-alone). I was surprised to find Manning’s co-hosts didn’t know how the original “Pied Piper” tale went, and no mention of the Rats of NIMH from anyone! I thought for SURE that was going to come up. . . *shrug* Different life experiences! I did learn there’s apparently an animated adaptation of this coming out at some point with Hugh Laurie and David Tennant, so we’ll see what happens there.
D) And then, of course, it was time for Jon’s Fallout 4 YOLO run! An episode that started with Jon discussing his plans to attack Bradberton (full of ghouls, but without the rads that stop Finalley wearing her good armor), getting ready to leave, picking up a bottlecap mine –
And looking up to see a JUMPSCARE NUKALURK KING DESCENDING ON HIS CHARACTER FROM ABOVE.
By SOME COCKING MIRACLE, the damn thing did not actually LAND on Finalley, and she was able to shoot it in in VATS. Jon was reduced to gibbering incoherence within the first FOUR MINUTES of this episode because of that. XD Oh man, you’d think that would be a baaaad omen.
. . .You’d be wrong! With that jumpscare and Fallout 4’s capricious nature fresh in mind, Jon left the World of Refreshment taking a LOT of extra care, murdering the sole remaining Nukalurk and some spawn, stocking up on meat, then heading slowly and carefully in the direction of Bradberton. Finalley got there without issue, stumbling across some Pack raiders murdering some scavengers – she grabbed some ammo off the corpses and used the cooking pot to cook up the absolutely massive amount of Nukalurk meat she’d scavenged. Then she took on Bradberton and, despite Jon being extremely nervous both when he didn’t immediately see ghouls, then when he saw a lot more ghouls than he was expecting after they started crawling out of the scenery, she didn’t get jumped and instead just took everybody out nice and careful, getting a few lucky triggers of Idiot Savant and leveling up so she could get another point of Endurance. She walked the perimeter, killed every ghoul she could find, got Rachel’s holotape, and got out of there. A fine job well done.
And then Jon, despite noticing her energy levels were definitely starting to flag, decided it was time to do other things. Things like –
I. Clear the main path of Nuka World (the one linking all the lands) of enemies, including surprise Bloodworm Larvae and Flying Ant Swarms via frag grenades and accidentally blowing up a car on top of them!
II. Finishing Kiddie Kingdom by tracking down Oswald in the tunnels (admittedly the SAFEST part of the stupid kingdom) and then giving him the holotape, before assigning it to the Pack!
III. Stopping by Dry Rock Gulch to pick up a Star Core and check out Finalley’s tribute chest (which didn’t have much great in it)!
IV. Stopping by the Nuka-Cade to pick up another Star Core and check out the weapons on offer (even worse than the tribute chest)!
V. Stopping by the Nuka-Town market to trade all of Finalley’s remaining caps and the weapons and unnecessary ammo she’s picked up for necessary ammo and whatnot!
Yeah, Finalley could literally barely keep her eyes open by the end (seriously, there was a screen effect and everything, Jon was surprised), at Exhausted levels of tiredness. Jon did eventually do the smart thing and drag her over to her bed for a good long sleep. And then he did an even smarter thing –
He decided to leave Nuka-World. The thing me and a couple of other commenters previously begged him to do. Because he looked at Safari Adventure with its Gatorclaws and thought “not likely,” and looked at the Galactic Zone with its many, many robots and thought “HELL NO.” XD So instead he headed back to the Commonwealth!
. . .In preparation for instead going to Far Harbor. So far, his justification is that his health bar has so much space for rads that it’s not a bad time to do this, though he’s also hinted that he may be looking for some items that help turn more rads into a bonus for Finalley (methinks she’s going to be close to the Children of Atom). He’s at least making some plans on how to handle this – he’s taking his BOS power armor, he’s done some more upgrades on his regular armor (including switching to a better piece for his left leg), and he’s considering what level-ups and whatnot he might need along the way. But I am not convinced this is going to be a good idea. . .then again, he survived this episode. We’ll see what happens!
3. Play Sims 4 (save file to be determined): Check – I ended up going back to my Chill Save today (the one where I’m just playing Victor and Alice in Willow Creek)! Because A) I like the Chill Save, B) I remembered it was SimCity Founding on their save – aka my version of 4th of July for Sims – and figured why the hell not? :) They had to celebrate late due to their class schedules (Victor in particular having a heavy class load), but I got them out late in the afternoon with their friend Felipe and Clement Frost (yes, aka Father Winter) to Magnolia Blossom Park, where I set up some sprinklers and a water balloon bucket so they could fulfill the “Water Fun” tradition and then had Victor and Alice set off some fireworks Alice had previously bought once it got dark enough. I ended up playing through Thursday too, which didn’t have much of interest happen beyond more classes, Felipe stopping by and taking some of Victor’s bluebells for himself (dude), and a bit of flirting. I might play them again on the 7th and see if maybe I can get in a last-minute look at the Sim Sessions concert – that IS the last day for it, and playing them through to Sunday shouldn’t be too hard? We’ll see!
4. Get in a workout: Check! Finally, huh? Got back on the bike today and finished off Helloween’s Untitled Goose Game stream, with him claiming the golden bell and getting it back home with minimal trouble. XD He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the game, and watching his stream has made me want to replay it myself. XD After that, I just rewatched Plumbella playing Sims 4 on “expert mode” (3X Speed, random family of eight Sims, no pausing, get through a week to win) – it was as chaotic as I remembered, with a massive die-off due to fire about midway through, and then the sole remaining adult Sim dying right at the finish line (aka midafternoon on a Saturday). Good times, good workout. :D
Additionally:
-->Ended up spending part of the morning with my mom playing hairdresser – turns out the “professional” I paid yesterday to cut my hair cut it all crooked. >( So Mom had to fix it up for me and try to get the bit that flips out to the side to curl under properly. Rather annoying! Though at least it’s done now and my haircut looks better for going out tomorrow to my aunt’s.
So yeah, not bad -- feels good to have checked off everything on my list! And there's not much going on tumblr-wise right at the moment -- yes, I have to catch up on my dashboards and whatnot, but it's quiet otherwise, yay. Which is good, because I don't want to stay up too late -- as stated above, we're going to visit my aunt tomorrow, and I believe I'm expected to drive (ugh). So let's get tomorrow's to-do done:
1. Edit some more on "Londerland Bloodlines"
2. Keep up on YouTube Subs -- James, Kevin, Gray
3. Work on tumblr queues for Wednesday
4. OPTIONAL: Play a bit more Portal Reloaded
I'm not doing a workout because we're gonna be at my aunt's for a good few hours, and while I would LIKE to play vidya games, I'd like to keep up with my Subs more. We'll see how it all shakes out! Night all!
Despite all the noise, though, I had a reasonably productive day --
1. Work on the HypnoKink Notes Document: Check! Timeline should be completed now – I’ve covered all the events in all the stories I have ideas for, and also done some additional worldbuilding/domestic stuff – namely, deciding when Victor and Alice get their pets (1877 – Alice promises Victor a dog at Christmas 1876, and they later find a Skye terrier (inspired by me reading a period-appropriate story about one online, looking them up, and finding them adorable) to adopt in early 1877 which Victor names Sweeper; Victor finds that one of his father’s employees has kittens to adopt out around Alice’s birthday that same year, and she gets a brown shorthair cat she calls Cocoa) and have children (their standard first biological son, Chester, is born November 5th, 1878 in this timeline, and then a few years later an anonymous woman leaves an unwanted baby on their doorstep, whom they end up adopting as their daughter Emma Elizabeth). So I’m happy with that. All that really remains is figuring out names for some of these stories – notably the “how they met” one, which, you know, I’d be starting with, and then going from there! :)
2. Clear out the Sims-related content from the Watch Later, listen to the latest Wyrd Sisters Podcast, watch Jon's latest FO4 YOLO episode: Check! :D Yeah, okay, I wasn’t able to watch any OTHER videos, but this means all the longest stuff – that podcast and the YOLO episode – is out of the way, and I’ve reduced what’s ended up in my Watch Later. That counts for something. So, without further ado –
A) First up, a video from The Red Plumbob comparing beekeeping across The Sims, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4 – yes, The Sims 2 did not have actual beekeeping! How weird. . .at any rate, this is one of those little things where Sims 4 actually improved upon what came before, by allowing you to bond with your bees and do more things than just gather honey and beeswax from them. Also, fun note – if you have any of the packs that contain bear costumes, a Sim who wears one while disturbing bees or otherwise interacting with the box is immune to getting stung! So that’s neat. :D
B) Then it was onto a Plumbella marathon, as she herself recently did the challenge “build the same house across all four mainline Sims games!” Like James, she started with Sims 1 and ended with Sims 4 –
I. Sims 1: Plumbella decided to go with a blue semi-Victorian style for the outside, slapping on a bunch of bay windows and getting nostalgic for some of the items in Build/Buy (while also being annoyed with it because HELL we did not have a lot of choice for anything in the first game, did we?). It had a formal living room with a bearskin rug, a more cozy living room on the other side of the main hall, a large dining room where everything was off-center, a large kitchen with a fishbowl, and four bedrooms and one (unfurnished) bathroom up top – the spare bedroom, the pet-loving kid’s room, the reading-loving kid’s room, and the parents’ room which was a crime against good taste. XD Original blueprint – set!
II. Sims 2: Plumbella exulted over the fact that she could place her own lot, and zoom in and out and move about however she wanted! And then started getting annoyed whenever the roof and stairs started giving her trouble. XD She did successfully recreate the shell, though, and get all the rooms done (with appropriate glow-ups from the increased variety and ease-of-use of Build/Buy – for example, she didn’t even CONSIDER curtains in the first game, but this version had them all over the shop). Reading child now also loves racing, and the Crimes Against Good Taste parents now have zebra print chairs too. XD Didn’t come out bad at all for this generation of Sims games!
III. Sims 3: Plumbella complained that her chosen world was waaay too dark and that Create-A-Style has its good points, but also maybe offers too MUCH customization, making matching everything kind of tedious. Again, though, she got everything done and in roughly the right dimensions (though the kitchen might be a little too big and the dining room a little too small in this version. :p Also the spare bedroom got sea-themed in this version (complete with a sailing-themed bed), the pet-loving kid’s bedroom got cowboy-themed, the reading bedroom now contains two children instead of one, and the Crimes Against Good Taste parents traded in their love-heart bed for red cow-print wallpaper and seats that look like stacks of pancakes and top hats. XD I hate the aesthetics of Sims 3 generally, but that’s fun, I want that in the latest game.
IV. Sims 4: Plumbella rejoiced over being back in the best version of Build/Buy in her opinion, going so far as to even improve the roofing a little! Though she was sour about having to go one wall height up when it comes to fitting in a front door. . .but the house was made and furnished, as per usual! The kitchen got a bit of a glow-up with an island counter in the middle and lots and lots of decoration, while the parents’ room went from Crimes Against Good Taste to Perky Goth thanks to Plumbella’s favorite ghost wallpaper. XD Also the reading-loving kid is on her own again in a giant room, and the sailing kid is now into trees. It was a journey, going through all these videos, but hey – it was a fun one!
C) Then, after supper, it was FINALLY time to listen to the latest Wyrd Sisters Podcast on The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents! It was an interesting listen, discussing how much of the book is talking about manipulation (Maurice and the rodents pulling their “Pied Piper” scam vs the Rat King’s attempt to basically take over the minds of all the rats, and eventually everyone else in the town), and what it means to be a person (with the rats, particularly Dangerous Beans, trying to find a balance between their new intelligence and sense of ethics and morals versus their animal instincts – I brought up the fact that Maurice’s cat instincts is kind of what saves everyone in the end in my comment). Also the fact that it doesn’t feel the same as some of the adult Discworld books (being a rare stand-alone). I was surprised to find Manning’s co-hosts didn’t know how the original “Pied Piper” tale went, and no mention of the Rats of NIMH from anyone! I thought for SURE that was going to come up. . . *shrug* Different life experiences! I did learn there’s apparently an animated adaptation of this coming out at some point with Hugh Laurie and David Tennant, so we’ll see what happens there.
D) And then, of course, it was time for Jon’s Fallout 4 YOLO run! An episode that started with Jon discussing his plans to attack Bradberton (full of ghouls, but without the rads that stop Finalley wearing her good armor), getting ready to leave, picking up a bottlecap mine –
And looking up to see a JUMPSCARE NUKALURK KING DESCENDING ON HIS CHARACTER FROM ABOVE.
By SOME COCKING MIRACLE, the damn thing did not actually LAND on Finalley, and she was able to shoot it in in VATS. Jon was reduced to gibbering incoherence within the first FOUR MINUTES of this episode because of that. XD Oh man, you’d think that would be a baaaad omen.
. . .You’d be wrong! With that jumpscare and Fallout 4’s capricious nature fresh in mind, Jon left the World of Refreshment taking a LOT of extra care, murdering the sole remaining Nukalurk and some spawn, stocking up on meat, then heading slowly and carefully in the direction of Bradberton. Finalley got there without issue, stumbling across some Pack raiders murdering some scavengers – she grabbed some ammo off the corpses and used the cooking pot to cook up the absolutely massive amount of Nukalurk meat she’d scavenged. Then she took on Bradberton and, despite Jon being extremely nervous both when he didn’t immediately see ghouls, then when he saw a lot more ghouls than he was expecting after they started crawling out of the scenery, she didn’t get jumped and instead just took everybody out nice and careful, getting a few lucky triggers of Idiot Savant and leveling up so she could get another point of Endurance. She walked the perimeter, killed every ghoul she could find, got Rachel’s holotape, and got out of there. A fine job well done.
And then Jon, despite noticing her energy levels were definitely starting to flag, decided it was time to do other things. Things like –
I. Clear the main path of Nuka World (the one linking all the lands) of enemies, including surprise Bloodworm Larvae and Flying Ant Swarms via frag grenades and accidentally blowing up a car on top of them!
II. Finishing Kiddie Kingdom by tracking down Oswald in the tunnels (admittedly the SAFEST part of the stupid kingdom) and then giving him the holotape, before assigning it to the Pack!
III. Stopping by Dry Rock Gulch to pick up a Star Core and check out Finalley’s tribute chest (which didn’t have much great in it)!
IV. Stopping by the Nuka-Cade to pick up another Star Core and check out the weapons on offer (even worse than the tribute chest)!
V. Stopping by the Nuka-Town market to trade all of Finalley’s remaining caps and the weapons and unnecessary ammo she’s picked up for necessary ammo and whatnot!
Yeah, Finalley could literally barely keep her eyes open by the end (seriously, there was a screen effect and everything, Jon was surprised), at Exhausted levels of tiredness. Jon did eventually do the smart thing and drag her over to her bed for a good long sleep. And then he did an even smarter thing –
He decided to leave Nuka-World. The thing me and a couple of other commenters previously begged him to do. Because he looked at Safari Adventure with its Gatorclaws and thought “not likely,” and looked at the Galactic Zone with its many, many robots and thought “HELL NO.” XD So instead he headed back to the Commonwealth!
. . .In preparation for instead going to Far Harbor. So far, his justification is that his health bar has so much space for rads that it’s not a bad time to do this, though he’s also hinted that he may be looking for some items that help turn more rads into a bonus for Finalley (methinks she’s going to be close to the Children of Atom). He’s at least making some plans on how to handle this – he’s taking his BOS power armor, he’s done some more upgrades on his regular armor (including switching to a better piece for his left leg), and he’s considering what level-ups and whatnot he might need along the way. But I am not convinced this is going to be a good idea. . .then again, he survived this episode. We’ll see what happens!
3. Play Sims 4 (save file to be determined): Check – I ended up going back to my Chill Save today (the one where I’m just playing Victor and Alice in Willow Creek)! Because A) I like the Chill Save, B) I remembered it was SimCity Founding on their save – aka my version of 4th of July for Sims – and figured why the hell not? :) They had to celebrate late due to their class schedules (Victor in particular having a heavy class load), but I got them out late in the afternoon with their friend Felipe and Clement Frost (yes, aka Father Winter) to Magnolia Blossom Park, where I set up some sprinklers and a water balloon bucket so they could fulfill the “Water Fun” tradition and then had Victor and Alice set off some fireworks Alice had previously bought once it got dark enough. I ended up playing through Thursday too, which didn’t have much of interest happen beyond more classes, Felipe stopping by and taking some of Victor’s bluebells for himself (dude), and a bit of flirting. I might play them again on the 7th and see if maybe I can get in a last-minute look at the Sim Sessions concert – that IS the last day for it, and playing them through to Sunday shouldn’t be too hard? We’ll see!
4. Get in a workout: Check! Finally, huh? Got back on the bike today and finished off Helloween’s Untitled Goose Game stream, with him claiming the golden bell and getting it back home with minimal trouble. XD He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the game, and watching his stream has made me want to replay it myself. XD After that, I just rewatched Plumbella playing Sims 4 on “expert mode” (3X Speed, random family of eight Sims, no pausing, get through a week to win) – it was as chaotic as I remembered, with a massive die-off due to fire about midway through, and then the sole remaining adult Sim dying right at the finish line (aka midafternoon on a Saturday). Good times, good workout. :D
Additionally:
-->Ended up spending part of the morning with my mom playing hairdresser – turns out the “professional” I paid yesterday to cut my hair cut it all crooked. >( So Mom had to fix it up for me and try to get the bit that flips out to the side to curl under properly. Rather annoying! Though at least it’s done now and my haircut looks better for going out tomorrow to my aunt’s.
So yeah, not bad -- feels good to have checked off everything on my list! And there's not much going on tumblr-wise right at the moment -- yes, I have to catch up on my dashboards and whatnot, but it's quiet otherwise, yay. Which is good, because I don't want to stay up too late -- as stated above, we're going to visit my aunt tomorrow, and I believe I'm expected to drive (ugh). So let's get tomorrow's to-do done:
1. Edit some more on "Londerland Bloodlines"
2. Keep up on YouTube Subs -- James, Kevin, Gray
3. Work on tumblr queues for Wednesday
4. OPTIONAL: Play a bit more Portal Reloaded
I'm not doing a workout because we're gonna be at my aunt's for a good few hours, and while I would LIKE to play vidya games, I'd like to keep up with my Subs more. We'll see how it all shakes out! Night all!
