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Reasonably Successful Saturday
Apr. 9th, 2022 11:30 pmAs I believe you will agree when you see my to-do list:
1. Clean my room: Check – though it took longer than normal thanks to me trying to schedule my oil change appointment (happening Thursday morning, so yay, rest of Saturday to myself). Stripped my sheets at 11 AM, made the call, then PROPERLY started cleaning around 11:30. Finished up around 2:05 PM, with a break for lunch. *shrug* I’ve had worse days when it comes to cleaning my room! At least for now we’re still in the “not very dusty” stage of things. . .we’ll see what happens when I start opening the windows again!
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs and the videos in my Watch Later: Three-fourths check – one of the videos in my Watch Later got accidentally substituted with something shorter because I started watching the YouTubes late (because, you know, longer-than-usual room clean and whatnot). I still got most of the stuff I meant to watch, watched, so that’s good, at least –
A) Actually started with an old Alton Towers video, where a bunch of their Scarefest actors from the various mazes and attractions danced around to Katy Perry’s “Roar.” XD It was good silly fun, and a nice way to start the afternoon.
B) From there we moved onto a Plumbella video: “How fast can I get kids taken away in every Sims game?” Yes, a bit of a strange, dark humor video, where Plumbella went backwards through the games, neglecting children and seeing how long it took for the game to get them out of their bad situation. The results were interesting:
Sims 4 – random family of one adult, two kids, two toddlers, with the kids given free range of the living room while the mom had the kitchen stuff, bathroom, and bedroom all to herself. It took about three days from the start of the session for all the kids to be taken, but they were taken in stages – the toddlers were removed on Day 2, but it wasn’t until evening on Day 3 when the starving, school-skipping kids were removed.
Sims 3 – another random family of one adult, two kids, and two toddlers, this time with all the children being locked in an empty room. This time, it took two days of starvation and lack of socialization before the social worker arrived, and all the children were removed in one go that evening.
Sims 2 – random family of one adult, two children, two toddlers, similar situation to Sims 3. This one is where things went a bit off the rails, as the children were definitely pretty much in a position to be taken away the morning of Day 2 – but Plumbella forgot that Sims 2 houses don’t always come with fridges, and the dad ended up DYING before the kids could be taken away. Plumbella counted it as two days because it was probably gonna happen, and the kids WERE picked up by social services post-death, but yeah – invalid data point.
Sims 1 – Plumbella TRIED to do a random family of mom, dad, two kids, and then have a baby, but the game ended up crashing before she could get the parents to the proper relationship level. So she instead went to the Goths, locked Cassandra in her room, then had Mortimer and Bella kiss until they had a baby boy (Alexander, obviously). Baby bassinet was put in Cassandra’s room and the neglect began – and, interestingly, like in Sims 4, the kids were taken in stages. Cassandra tried to take care of her baby brother, but the social worker zapped away Alexander before the end of Day 1 – but it took at least until the end of Day 2 for Cassandra to be removed, and that WASN’T because of her low needs – it’s because she obviously wasn’t going to school, and being truant two days in a row ships your kid off to military school, which is basically the same thing.
So yeah – based on this, Sims 3 seems to be the winner when it comes to OVERALL caring about children! Who would have guessed? :p
C) Then, this evening, we had another entry from James Turner in his “playing the ‘Making Money’ Scenario” series – “I tried to earn $1,000,000 Simoleons with Archaeology!” Yes, this time his Semaj (again a Cheerful Loner who Loves The Outdoors and wants to be Fabulously Wealthy) went to live in Forgotten Hollow, with the goal of becoming a vampire archaeologist to become rich! James sent him to take pictures of Vlad until he could ask to be turned, then got some collectibles to fund a brief vacation to Selvadorada to start collecting artifacts. And I ask you right now – do you think this was a FUN million, or a SLOG million?
Slog million – first things first, Semaj nearly died a couple of times because while all James REALLY wanted from being a vampire was the bat form for quick teleportation, he had to fight Lilith Vatore LOADS of times to quickly level up (as Dueling other vampires under the Mean interaction is the best way to get experience fast) because, well, not burning to death in the sun is actually pretty high up there in the power rankings. And then he did it some more because he realized that permanently maxing out the hygiene, social, and fun needs were also powers and he might as well, right? XD Secondly, leveling up the Archaeology skill and establishing excavation sites to get loads of artifacts took a lot of time – as did AUTHENTICATING all the artifacts. Literally took him like three in-game DAYS hanging out at the temple to get through all the ones he picked up on the way (both from pre-spawned sites and from ones he found by surveying for dig sites). So after that he started just sending them away (which had the weird side effect of making him famous). And after THAT, even though he was using the selling table and selling everything for a 300% mark-up? Nothing was going for enough – even when he started going on temple runs for the treasures as well, the most he ever got from one haul (and dozens of yard sales to sell all of it) was like $100,000. He was at about halfway to the goal, having done countless excavations, four temple runs in a row, and having gotten super-cursed and super-poisoned, when he finally snapped and just went back to Vlad and asked him to move in. And then, when Vlad proved not to have enough, he then went and befriended the very elderly Geoffrey Landgraab and took all of his money too. 23 days in-game, four hours out of it, and Archaeology is NOT a good way to earn loads of money in The Sims 4. Poor James – he really does need an easy one next time!
D) And finally, we had GrayStillPlays and more Happy Wheels! Started with the traditional bottle flip – this one featuring both a points system where getting certain flips added a certain amount of marbles to a container, with you needing to pile them up to get to the "win" area, and a Florida Man who would drink poorly thrown bottles and throw you into a blender to be turned into booze if he got too angry (Gray got minced a few times, but he eventually managed to win by getting a bottle into The Rectum – you know what I mean), then we moved into “Not An Easy Level,” which was basically a rope swing into THE WORLD’S WORST THUMBNAIL HOLE (blocked by rotating axes and a spinning bar, surrounded by spikes, with a land mine just before the win and a harpoon on top of it – Gray spent SO LONG trying to get through and just getting minced); a harpoon run that was also not kidding around (though once Gray realized what he needed to do, massive amounts of speed got him through on the second try); a fun level where Segway Nixon just got to be Godzilla and knock down an entire stick figure city (complete with helicopters!); Pogo Guy going on an assassination mission (which involved being kicked down a slope, crawling through a vent, and killing his target by telekinetically crushing him with a public bathroom door); a killer challenge level all done in green, where the “go slow over these bumps so you don’t impale yourself on the spike ceiling” part was IMMEDIATELY followed by the “GO SONIC GO THROUGH THE HARPOON RUN” part (Gray somehow took like a dozen harpoons up Bike Dad’s butt and SURVIVED – for a short while; actually winning took some more finesse and finding his way past the killer jet wall); a brief game of golf where you had to hit the ball into the hole in one (Gray got it first try); and finally a ride on the golf cart with its own hood-mounted crossbow, where you had to get past a minefield (this involved shooting everyone currently lounging on said minefield so THEY blew up, then driving over the carnage). Some great stuff today, especially if you like Gray suffering through some particularly difficult levels. XD
3. Play Sims 4 and get through at least another day with Smiler: Check – got through TWO days, in fact! Mostly because the days when they’re going to class a lot aren’t too exciting:
Thursday – Like this one. Smiler did their homework, then did the first draft of their presentation for their first core class, “Thinky Roots: Psychology I” before heading off to campus. I had them play some hoops at the commons, then had some trouble getting them to STOP playing hoops to talk to people. (Seriously, what is up with the basketball hoop?) They chatted briefly with their friend Davion, and met and instant-friended Tsutoma before heading to their class building. They practiced singing before class (getting up to level 3), got through another lecture, then went fishing down by the fishing hole! They caught a daisy in a treasure chest, a bass, a perch, and a betta (the latter two using some chrysanthemums as bait) – the latter three all got mounted for the Angling Ace aspiration. Then it was time for their next class, and then after that (after failing to leave an offering for academic success at the statue), to attend another guest lecture on engineering and AI (for the Academic aspiration). And then it was back home, to start on the Media Production homework before heading off to work. Busy day, but not in a particularly interesting way.
Friday – This one, however, had a bit more to offer. After coming home from work, Smiler caught some katydids for the insect collection, then headed over to Bonewood Crypts to hang out for a while! They did some graffiti in the lower levels of the crypt, then met, insta-friended, and drank from one Sofia Bjergsen, because, well, she was available. XD (Actually, she and a ton of other teens were just hanging out in the general area – I have to check if this lot has “Teen Hangout” as a trait.) After that, Smiler finished up their Media Production homework and refined their presentation in the crypt, before heading home for a shower and finishing up the presentation. They went to class from home for a change, since they only had the one –
And then, half-hour after they got home, it was Keg Party time! :) I bought a Pineapple-Lime Keg (since that’s apparently the “happy juice” variant), got Smiler dancing, and waited as the guests all showed up – Caleb Vatore, Angela and Lilith Pleasant, Victor and Alice Van Dort, and Nalani – er, forget her last name. ^^; It took a number of tries to get the keg successfully tapped – Angela, Alice, and Smiler all failed before Smiler finally got the damn tap to stay in and not explode out in a fountain of fizzy juice, and it took a bit to coordinate everyone, but after that, party went well! Smiler IS able to drink keg juice without negative repercussions to their stomach, for some reason – confusing, but good for party goals. They told some jokes and thanked everyone for coming, and after some false starts, finally got the majority of the party dancing together AND was able to do a successful keg stand with Victor! And a less-successful one with Nalani. XD This drained the keg, which was the main goal of the party, so Smiler ended with a gold medal score, a new golden keg in their inventory, and TWO whole skill-ups in Charisma! Nice! :D And they made friends with Lilith Pleasant right afterward, which was also great. :) Friend of the World aspiration is within reach, folks! Smiler left their guests to chill out and drink the rest of the juice as they went to work, and came home with a promotion to Deep Sea Fishing Master! And a house full of dirty dishes, but eh. XD So yeah, life’s going pretty good for them so far! :) I don’t know what I’m going to do with them over the in-game weekend yet – well, besides write their term paper for their Psych II class – though I do know they need to throw more parties. And, apparently, they need to be base game parties, as the Keg Party didn’t count toward the Party Animal aspiration (at least in terms of thrown parties). *grumbles* Darn Sims games, not keeping up with their own expansions. . .hoping that’s just a glitch!
4. Continue writing “Learn To Love Again”: Check – I have wrapped up the latest chapter with some speeches from Victor and Alice regarding how they made each other’s time in London over the past couple of months so much nicer and how they both consider the other “worthy of devotion.” As you might imagine, the rest of the family is giving each other significant looks – which Alice doesn’t get yet as she hasn’t realized the depth of her feelings for Victor yet. XD Basically everyone else thinks they’re already courting when they’re both oblivious. XD Just one more chapter to go now, with Victor and Alice saying their goodbyes to Oxford and each other. . .and Alice becoming a lot LESS oblivious as a result. Heh heh heh. . .
Not too shabby, eh? :) And it was fun doing Smiler's party -- even if everyone only drank from the keg after the party ended. XD Now I just need to configure things so Alice can be one of Smiler's best friends without her having to give up being best friends with Victor -- apparently I can do that with MC Command Center? That mod has so many options I don't know about. . .
But that's for next week -- right now, it's time to set up the to-dos for Sunday:
1. Keep up with the FO4 Playthrough Progression
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs, the A:MR video from RagnarRox, and Jon's F:NV "Utter Chaos" video
3. Play Fallout 4 and solve Oberland Station's problem before heading to Diamond City
4. Work on tumblr drafts
5. Get in a workout
Nothing too special -- and we'll see if workout happens, given it's entirely possible I'll get caught up in other stuff. *shrug* Whatever will be, will be and all that -- night all!
1. Clean my room: Check – though it took longer than normal thanks to me trying to schedule my oil change appointment (happening Thursday morning, so yay, rest of Saturday to myself). Stripped my sheets at 11 AM, made the call, then PROPERLY started cleaning around 11:30. Finished up around 2:05 PM, with a break for lunch. *shrug* I’ve had worse days when it comes to cleaning my room! At least for now we’re still in the “not very dusty” stage of things. . .we’ll see what happens when I start opening the windows again!
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs and the videos in my Watch Later: Three-fourths check – one of the videos in my Watch Later got accidentally substituted with something shorter because I started watching the YouTubes late (because, you know, longer-than-usual room clean and whatnot). I still got most of the stuff I meant to watch, watched, so that’s good, at least –
A) Actually started with an old Alton Towers video, where a bunch of their Scarefest actors from the various mazes and attractions danced around to Katy Perry’s “Roar.” XD It was good silly fun, and a nice way to start the afternoon.
B) From there we moved onto a Plumbella video: “How fast can I get kids taken away in every Sims game?” Yes, a bit of a strange, dark humor video, where Plumbella went backwards through the games, neglecting children and seeing how long it took for the game to get them out of their bad situation. The results were interesting:
Sims 4 – random family of one adult, two kids, two toddlers, with the kids given free range of the living room while the mom had the kitchen stuff, bathroom, and bedroom all to herself. It took about three days from the start of the session for all the kids to be taken, but they were taken in stages – the toddlers were removed on Day 2, but it wasn’t until evening on Day 3 when the starving, school-skipping kids were removed.
Sims 3 – another random family of one adult, two kids, and two toddlers, this time with all the children being locked in an empty room. This time, it took two days of starvation and lack of socialization before the social worker arrived, and all the children were removed in one go that evening.
Sims 2 – random family of one adult, two children, two toddlers, similar situation to Sims 3. This one is where things went a bit off the rails, as the children were definitely pretty much in a position to be taken away the morning of Day 2 – but Plumbella forgot that Sims 2 houses don’t always come with fridges, and the dad ended up DYING before the kids could be taken away. Plumbella counted it as two days because it was probably gonna happen, and the kids WERE picked up by social services post-death, but yeah – invalid data point.
Sims 1 – Plumbella TRIED to do a random family of mom, dad, two kids, and then have a baby, but the game ended up crashing before she could get the parents to the proper relationship level. So she instead went to the Goths, locked Cassandra in her room, then had Mortimer and Bella kiss until they had a baby boy (Alexander, obviously). Baby bassinet was put in Cassandra’s room and the neglect began – and, interestingly, like in Sims 4, the kids were taken in stages. Cassandra tried to take care of her baby brother, but the social worker zapped away Alexander before the end of Day 1 – but it took at least until the end of Day 2 for Cassandra to be removed, and that WASN’T because of her low needs – it’s because she obviously wasn’t going to school, and being truant two days in a row ships your kid off to military school, which is basically the same thing.
So yeah – based on this, Sims 3 seems to be the winner when it comes to OVERALL caring about children! Who would have guessed? :p
C) Then, this evening, we had another entry from James Turner in his “playing the ‘Making Money’ Scenario” series – “I tried to earn $1,000,000 Simoleons with Archaeology!” Yes, this time his Semaj (again a Cheerful Loner who Loves The Outdoors and wants to be Fabulously Wealthy) went to live in Forgotten Hollow, with the goal of becoming a vampire archaeologist to become rich! James sent him to take pictures of Vlad until he could ask to be turned, then got some collectibles to fund a brief vacation to Selvadorada to start collecting artifacts. And I ask you right now – do you think this was a FUN million, or a SLOG million?
Slog million – first things first, Semaj nearly died a couple of times because while all James REALLY wanted from being a vampire was the bat form for quick teleportation, he had to fight Lilith Vatore LOADS of times to quickly level up (as Dueling other vampires under the Mean interaction is the best way to get experience fast) because, well, not burning to death in the sun is actually pretty high up there in the power rankings. And then he did it some more because he realized that permanently maxing out the hygiene, social, and fun needs were also powers and he might as well, right? XD Secondly, leveling up the Archaeology skill and establishing excavation sites to get loads of artifacts took a lot of time – as did AUTHENTICATING all the artifacts. Literally took him like three in-game DAYS hanging out at the temple to get through all the ones he picked up on the way (both from pre-spawned sites and from ones he found by surveying for dig sites). So after that he started just sending them away (which had the weird side effect of making him famous). And after THAT, even though he was using the selling table and selling everything for a 300% mark-up? Nothing was going for enough – even when he started going on temple runs for the treasures as well, the most he ever got from one haul (and dozens of yard sales to sell all of it) was like $100,000. He was at about halfway to the goal, having done countless excavations, four temple runs in a row, and having gotten super-cursed and super-poisoned, when he finally snapped and just went back to Vlad and asked him to move in. And then, when Vlad proved not to have enough, he then went and befriended the very elderly Geoffrey Landgraab and took all of his money too. 23 days in-game, four hours out of it, and Archaeology is NOT a good way to earn loads of money in The Sims 4. Poor James – he really does need an easy one next time!
D) And finally, we had GrayStillPlays and more Happy Wheels! Started with the traditional bottle flip – this one featuring both a points system where getting certain flips added a certain amount of marbles to a container, with you needing to pile them up to get to the "win" area, and a Florida Man who would drink poorly thrown bottles and throw you into a blender to be turned into booze if he got too angry (Gray got minced a few times, but he eventually managed to win by getting a bottle into The Rectum – you know what I mean), then we moved into “Not An Easy Level,” which was basically a rope swing into THE WORLD’S WORST THUMBNAIL HOLE (blocked by rotating axes and a spinning bar, surrounded by spikes, with a land mine just before the win and a harpoon on top of it – Gray spent SO LONG trying to get through and just getting minced); a harpoon run that was also not kidding around (though once Gray realized what he needed to do, massive amounts of speed got him through on the second try); a fun level where Segway Nixon just got to be Godzilla and knock down an entire stick figure city (complete with helicopters!); Pogo Guy going on an assassination mission (which involved being kicked down a slope, crawling through a vent, and killing his target by telekinetically crushing him with a public bathroom door); a killer challenge level all done in green, where the “go slow over these bumps so you don’t impale yourself on the spike ceiling” part was IMMEDIATELY followed by the “GO SONIC GO THROUGH THE HARPOON RUN” part (Gray somehow took like a dozen harpoons up Bike Dad’s butt and SURVIVED – for a short while; actually winning took some more finesse and finding his way past the killer jet wall); a brief game of golf where you had to hit the ball into the hole in one (Gray got it first try); and finally a ride on the golf cart with its own hood-mounted crossbow, where you had to get past a minefield (this involved shooting everyone currently lounging on said minefield so THEY blew up, then driving over the carnage). Some great stuff today, especially if you like Gray suffering through some particularly difficult levels. XD
3. Play Sims 4 and get through at least another day with Smiler: Check – got through TWO days, in fact! Mostly because the days when they’re going to class a lot aren’t too exciting:
Thursday – Like this one. Smiler did their homework, then did the first draft of their presentation for their first core class, “Thinky Roots: Psychology I” before heading off to campus. I had them play some hoops at the commons, then had some trouble getting them to STOP playing hoops to talk to people. (Seriously, what is up with the basketball hoop?) They chatted briefly with their friend Davion, and met and instant-friended Tsutoma before heading to their class building. They practiced singing before class (getting up to level 3), got through another lecture, then went fishing down by the fishing hole! They caught a daisy in a treasure chest, a bass, a perch, and a betta (the latter two using some chrysanthemums as bait) – the latter three all got mounted for the Angling Ace aspiration. Then it was time for their next class, and then after that (after failing to leave an offering for academic success at the statue), to attend another guest lecture on engineering and AI (for the Academic aspiration). And then it was back home, to start on the Media Production homework before heading off to work. Busy day, but not in a particularly interesting way.
Friday – This one, however, had a bit more to offer. After coming home from work, Smiler caught some katydids for the insect collection, then headed over to Bonewood Crypts to hang out for a while! They did some graffiti in the lower levels of the crypt, then met, insta-friended, and drank from one Sofia Bjergsen, because, well, she was available. XD (Actually, she and a ton of other teens were just hanging out in the general area – I have to check if this lot has “Teen Hangout” as a trait.) After that, Smiler finished up their Media Production homework and refined their presentation in the crypt, before heading home for a shower and finishing up the presentation. They went to class from home for a change, since they only had the one –
And then, half-hour after they got home, it was Keg Party time! :) I bought a Pineapple-Lime Keg (since that’s apparently the “happy juice” variant), got Smiler dancing, and waited as the guests all showed up – Caleb Vatore, Angela and Lilith Pleasant, Victor and Alice Van Dort, and Nalani – er, forget her last name. ^^; It took a number of tries to get the keg successfully tapped – Angela, Alice, and Smiler all failed before Smiler finally got the damn tap to stay in and not explode out in a fountain of fizzy juice, and it took a bit to coordinate everyone, but after that, party went well! Smiler IS able to drink keg juice without negative repercussions to their stomach, for some reason – confusing, but good for party goals. They told some jokes and thanked everyone for coming, and after some false starts, finally got the majority of the party dancing together AND was able to do a successful keg stand with Victor! And a less-successful one with Nalani. XD This drained the keg, which was the main goal of the party, so Smiler ended with a gold medal score, a new golden keg in their inventory, and TWO whole skill-ups in Charisma! Nice! :D And they made friends with Lilith Pleasant right afterward, which was also great. :) Friend of the World aspiration is within reach, folks! Smiler left their guests to chill out and drink the rest of the juice as they went to work, and came home with a promotion to Deep Sea Fishing Master! And a house full of dirty dishes, but eh. XD So yeah, life’s going pretty good for them so far! :) I don’t know what I’m going to do with them over the in-game weekend yet – well, besides write their term paper for their Psych II class – though I do know they need to throw more parties. And, apparently, they need to be base game parties, as the Keg Party didn’t count toward the Party Animal aspiration (at least in terms of thrown parties). *grumbles* Darn Sims games, not keeping up with their own expansions. . .hoping that’s just a glitch!
4. Continue writing “Learn To Love Again”: Check – I have wrapped up the latest chapter with some speeches from Victor and Alice regarding how they made each other’s time in London over the past couple of months so much nicer and how they both consider the other “worthy of devotion.” As you might imagine, the rest of the family is giving each other significant looks – which Alice doesn’t get yet as she hasn’t realized the depth of her feelings for Victor yet. XD Basically everyone else thinks they’re already courting when they’re both oblivious. XD Just one more chapter to go now, with Victor and Alice saying their goodbyes to Oxford and each other. . .and Alice becoming a lot LESS oblivious as a result. Heh heh heh. . .
Not too shabby, eh? :) And it was fun doing Smiler's party -- even if everyone only drank from the keg after the party ended. XD Now I just need to configure things so Alice can be one of Smiler's best friends without her having to give up being best friends with Victor -- apparently I can do that with MC Command Center? That mod has so many options I don't know about. . .
But that's for next week -- right now, it's time to set up the to-dos for Sunday:
1. Keep up with the FO4 Playthrough Progression
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs, the A:MR video from RagnarRox, and Jon's F:NV "Utter Chaos" video
3. Play Fallout 4 and solve Oberland Station's problem before heading to Diamond City
4. Work on tumblr drafts
5. Get in a workout
Nothing too special -- and we'll see if workout happens, given it's entirely possible I'll get caught up in other stuff. *shrug* Whatever will be, will be and all that -- night all!
