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Shoulda Known This Would Happen
Apr. 14th, 2022 11:15 pmI mean, you should get an inkling a day isn't going to go well when you wake up about 4:30 in the morning with massive intestinal cramps and gas, and need to head to the bathroom to "unload," if you will. And it takes you a little while to get back to sleep, even though you have to be up by 8 AM. *sigh* Did fall asleep again eventually, got up JUST before my alarm, had banana bread for breakfast, did a little noodling around on the web, made my bed, got dressed, got all my stuff, then headed out to the dealership with Mom for the oil change around 9:30 AM. Made our twisty-turny drive there without any issue, got in, figured out where we were meant to go, dropped off the car, then settled into the waiting room. I played a Solitaire game on my phone, Mom I think was scrolling the news on hers. . .
And after an hour and a half, we finally went to ask what was up, because I'd been told that it would be about an hour on the phone when I made the appointment.
That's when we found out that the mechanics apparently didn't have the oil filter they needed -- apparently I have a TURBO when they only had standard. And because the dealership is technically a TOYOTA dealership, and the car I bought (lightly used) is a CHEVROLET, they had to send out for it special from a Chevy place. Which was potentially going to take another hour, hour and a half.
Yeah, we weren't exactly happy. With nothing for it, though, Mom texted Dad to come pick us up in his truck, and we moved outside to wait for him, with me looking over the paperwork to see if I HAD to bring this car to them for oil changes going forward.
And then Dad arrives, and as I'd guessed, he's fucking livid, because of COURSE he is. He storms back there to yell at people before we can stop him, and then -- well. Not only is the back seat in the truck not down when I first try to get in, he peels off before I can find the actual buckle for the seat belt (because it's caught between the two seats and I'm not having any luck getting to it). Had to ride for a good few minutes on a busy road with him ranting holding my seat belt in place, because there is NO fuckin' talking to him like that. Finally get myself PROPERLY buckled when they stop at Job Lot for a brush, and we make it home, with me doing my best to master my emotions. We have lunch, and we've just about finished eating when Mom gets a call -- it's the dealership, saying my car's ready for pick-up. So back we go, telling them AGAIN which number they should be contacting now (I tried to update it while making the appointment, and they sent the initial text to my phone, but I guess then they forgot), finally got my keys and car back, and then had to take a different, longer way home because the traffic was so bad it was easier to turn in the opposite direction of what I was planning. *sigh* Got back home shortly before 2 PM, meaning something that SHOULD have been done before lunch took most of my day and left me stressed out and pretty much furious with everyone involved. Fuckin' hell. . .should have insisted we change it ourselves in the garage and fuck the service plan.
So, yeah -- as you might imagine, my to-do list took some hits:
1. Free Writing Day -- work on whatever catches my fancy: No check – as you might imagine, my morning didn’t leave me feeling very creative. At least I’m between projects at the minute.
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – although, admittedly, that was pretty easy, given that there were only two videos in said Subs. But then again, really bad morning, so that and one very short bonus was about all I could manage –
A) Started just before beanbags with a quick one – Alton Towers’ promo video for their “Festival of Thrills!” It’s cool, showing off all the bands with a snippet of “In The Hall of the Mountain King” (the park’s “theme tune”) in the appropriate music style. :) I may not be able to go, but it is kinda nice to enjoy it vicariously.
B) Then, this evening, we had James Turner taking on the “No Skills, No Problem” Scenario again – this time, using club minions to earn the money for him! Yes, this Semaj – trading the “Loner” trait for “Insider” to make him love clubs, and the “Fabulously Wealthy” aspiration for “The Collector” one – moved to an empty lot in Windenburg, set up the “Money Please-a” club (supposed to be a pun on "Mona Lisa") with a bunch of random Sims, then – well, he needed some capital at first, so their first gathering was held downtown, so Semaj could try fishing up some stuff to sell to build a basement “painting hangout.”
. . .he caught a freaking DJ booth worth $2,000. O.o Who knew the Collector aspiration was THAT powerful?? Anyway, that funded his first attempt at a basement, which was actually just a sunken platform with some stairs and a roof on columns with a handful of easels. This worked for a little bit, but soon needs became a problem (mostly because of the lack of walls), so – once he had enough money to do so – James built a PROPER basement, and slowly added needs stuff so he and his club could live down there (bathroom, simple kitchen with bar counter, bedroom). And so the process began of having all the club members paint, and Semaj sell all their paintings for himself! XD There were a few tweaks to the formula as they went on – getting more easels so club members could keep painting once they’d finished their current one; getting a few new members (like Katrina Caliente and Bob Pancakes); buying all the inspired boosts and whatnot; changing up the house so it was a tiny home instead (Tier 2 for the skill boost for the minions) – but the biggest and most profitable change to the formula?
Painting sale wall, baby! Once James remembered THAT existed and started having Semaj do yard sales, the money started rolling in – mostly because his club members were all skilled enough to do regular masterpieces. (AND they were all at least a bit famous, which was great.) Yes, Bess Sterling needing capital for her business kept taking $1,000 here and there, but after ten days, Semaj hit his $400K goal! And it would have been sooner if he hadn’t had to keep stopping to care for his needs. . .a weird but fun one, to be sure!
C) And then it was over to Call Me Kevin playing more BitLife! And he finally fully leaned into being an evil bastard over there. XD Though, really, Eve Hill wasn’t THAT different from a lot of his other characters in this game. Though they did get started on the manslaughter early, killing a classmate when they were eleven. From there they studied finance in university and eventually got a job as a business analyst (after being rejected for “mortician” and “foot model”); had a hook-up with a woman, then refused to acknowledge the resultant baby, Jimbo, as his son – even beating a court-mandated paternity test!; started adopting tons of children and then IMMEDIATELY abandoning them; had a hitman kill the mother of his biological child because she wouldn’t stop harassing him; stole a teddy bear from a cowboy’s house; adopted a fluffy white Persian cat and named it THE NIGHTMARE; stuffed said cat so full of food it’s a wonder it didn’t explode, then abandoned it – unsuccessfully, someone found it; got into a fight with his estranged first adopted daughter, Morgan, during which THE NIGHTMARE bit her brain somehow; got fired from his job and ended up in a new position as a clown; had a failed penis enlargement surgery and successfully sued his doctor; watched his sister die from choking right in front of him; mourned THE NIGHTMARE when they passed and then adopted a very crazy dingo; called a hitman on his mother for not supporting his clowning; got two-and-a-half million from his father’s death (of Kevin causes in the editor mode); moved into a haunted house and kept adopting more children to abandon; had a fight with a spirit while washing the dishes; personally murdered Morgan by shoving her off a cliff; and finally died of a heart attack after meeting Gloria the demon at age 49. Nobody could be bothered to come to his funeral. XD And, amazingly, thanks to money and good lawyers, he never even spent any time in prison, which has become kind of a staple of Kevin BitLife LPs. Ahh, gotta love Kevin being evil in video games. . .
3. Play Sims 4and more Smiler Always: Half-check -- yeah, thanks to the fucking hell of my oil change, by the time I booted up the game, I wasn’t sure if I’d really have time or energy to play a day or two of Smiler’s life. So instead I decided to do some minor save renovation – namely, I updated Ward Park in Del Sol Valley! This is a tiny park in the commercial area, that to my bafflement was listed as a NATIONAL park. It literally had nothing on it except a couple of benches and a grill. So I switched it back to a STANDARD park, and added a couple of chess tables over in one corner, built a single-stall bathroom by the grill and picnic table, removed a bit of the shrubbery to put in a swing set and a toddler slide, and repainted the terrain paint so that the paths made sense again. Also added the Convivial, Bracing Breezes, and Child’s Play lot traits just ‘cause. It’s still no great shakes (the lot’s kinda too small for that), but at least Sims have something to do there besides just grill. And have a toilet available, because I didn’t see any public facilities nearby. . .
4. Work on tumblr drafts: . . .I’m gonna call this one three-quarters check. No, I didn’t get any new post drafts done on Victor Luvs Alice, but I got two ask replies into my queue on Valice Multiverse tonight, and I did at least get sorted all the pictures I wanted for the upcoming Chill Save update (forty screenshots of Smiler’s first day at Foxbury and celebrating SimCity Founding). So that counts for something.
5. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike this evening, to finish off the Oxventure Stream “The Corn Ultimatum!” With Rust having very smoothly taken McClusky hostage, Dob barreled in through the guards and demanded McClusky tell them to put down their weapons. McClusky – a bandit who basically tries too hard, wearing a bunch of mismatched furs (Merilwen asked if it was “overkill”) – was only too happy to agree. Of course, this didn’t take care of ALL the bandits – the ones on the wall and fighting the fire were still a problem. Fortunately, Merilwen was able to make up for her previous biffing by running up to one of the three guards on the wall, distracting him with a cute growl around Dob’s knife –
And then NAILING HIM IN THE FACE WITH HER POISON SPRAY SPELL. Dude basically melted. The remaining two guards found this unacceptable and attempted to attack with their scimitars, but both missed, one bouncing his blade off Merilwen’s rock-hard abs instead. XD Corazon, doing what he always does in a situation where falling over would help, cast Grease to trip them up – one JUST managed to keep his feet, but one fell dramatically over the edge and – despite it not being a large drop – died (maybe he landed wrong). This brought us back round to Egbert, still hanging out with Gary – he promptly encouraged the treant to wreck the shit out of the bandit camp. Gary obliged, letting Egbert ride on his shoulder as he did. Quite a bit of math later (as treants, as it turns out, can do two Slam attacks at once, and do double damage to structures, meaning there was a lot of rolling of D6s and adding and multiplying – Mike was not pleased), it transpired that Gary did 70 points of damage to the camp as a whole, and basically just destroyed half of it, ripping off the roof of the mead hall in the process. Combat was basically over at this point, except for the one remaining guard on the wall, who was determined to fight to the death!
Corazon kicked him in the nuts – and got a nat 20 on said kick. We don’t know how that man died, but we do know it was painful. XD After that, it wasn’t hard to get the bandits to line up to be tied up by Corazon (Egbert noted McClusky was taking giving that order well, and he was like “well, we’re bandits, it’s not the first time”). McClusky himself was tied up and thrown onto his throne for a – rather sloppy interrogation, as Dob – doing the interrogating – had kind of lost track of what they were doing and why. XD They did manage to determine that it was just him and his little bandit clan, and that the corn harvest was just for them to eat (McClusky, in response to Prudence’s question about it, asked what she ate, and she was like “I live off hatred”). Also, Egbert egged Gary into stepping on McClusky, which didn’t kill him, but definitely drove home the point that his bandit chief days were over. Rust smartly declared that they should probably take the guy back to the village to stand trial there, and the others agreed (after, of course, taking the guy’s cash box – fortunately Merilwen got her hands on it before Dob could XD). Lewis back in Little Avery was thrilled to see McClusky brought so low, and even agreed to Prudence and Corazon’s demand for a 10% tithe on corn sales going forward (figuring it was better than them having to give up ALL their corn and possibly their lives). He also invited them to stick around to see Little Avery justice done!
. . .Little Avery justice is shoving the offender in a giant ear of corn made out of wicker and setting it on fire as the townsfolk sing songs and get drunk on corn whiskey. XD Prudence and Corazon both approved. XD Merilwen, trying to be nice, gave Rust ten gold pieces for his trouble, but Rust was so fixated on the idea that one gold piece is a lot of money that – as per a wisdom check – having ten in his hands just completely broke his brain. XD Merilwen got around that by giving him each piece one-by-one, though Corazon ended up just pickpocketing nine of them back anyway. Though he did also give Rust Cornazon, his corn effigy self, so that was kinda nice. And Dob, being a good sort, insisted on everyone coming with him to plant the flowers he promised Gary he’d plant. Most weren’t into it (Corazon using Minor Illusion to pretend to help), but Merilwen, being a druid, was all for it, and even made one flower sprout early for Gary’s pleasure. Though he did warn her that if she planted any sycamores, he’d end her. XD Another Oxventure in the bag! :)
Additionally:
-->We did indeed play beanbags, even if it never got as nice as they said it would. Three rounds, nice and simple – I got 3-W-W, Dad got 2-2-2, Mom got W-3-3. Considering my general mood today, I’m gonna count that as impressive.
Not as bad as it could have been, but -- yeah. Pretty fuckin' shitty start to my long weekend. (Literally, no less.) At least tomorrow I don't have to get up early, or go anywhere I don't want to go. So let's set up some fresh to-dos for that:
1. Free Writing Day -- work on whatever catches my fancy
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs and start working on the Watch Later
3. Play Fallout 4 and move Victor on toward Diamond City
4. Work on tumblr drafts
5. Get in a workout
Yeah, we'll see how well I do on all that tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm gonna go read TV Tropes in between doing some social stuff. Night all.
And after an hour and a half, we finally went to ask what was up, because I'd been told that it would be about an hour on the phone when I made the appointment.
That's when we found out that the mechanics apparently didn't have the oil filter they needed -- apparently I have a TURBO when they only had standard. And because the dealership is technically a TOYOTA dealership, and the car I bought (lightly used) is a CHEVROLET, they had to send out for it special from a Chevy place. Which was potentially going to take another hour, hour and a half.
Yeah, we weren't exactly happy. With nothing for it, though, Mom texted Dad to come pick us up in his truck, and we moved outside to wait for him, with me looking over the paperwork to see if I HAD to bring this car to them for oil changes going forward.
And then Dad arrives, and as I'd guessed, he's fucking livid, because of COURSE he is. He storms back there to yell at people before we can stop him, and then -- well. Not only is the back seat in the truck not down when I first try to get in, he peels off before I can find the actual buckle for the seat belt (because it's caught between the two seats and I'm not having any luck getting to it). Had to ride for a good few minutes on a busy road with him ranting holding my seat belt in place, because there is NO fuckin' talking to him like that. Finally get myself PROPERLY buckled when they stop at Job Lot for a brush, and we make it home, with me doing my best to master my emotions. We have lunch, and we've just about finished eating when Mom gets a call -- it's the dealership, saying my car's ready for pick-up. So back we go, telling them AGAIN which number they should be contacting now (I tried to update it while making the appointment, and they sent the initial text to my phone, but I guess then they forgot), finally got my keys and car back, and then had to take a different, longer way home because the traffic was so bad it was easier to turn in the opposite direction of what I was planning. *sigh* Got back home shortly before 2 PM, meaning something that SHOULD have been done before lunch took most of my day and left me stressed out and pretty much furious with everyone involved. Fuckin' hell. . .should have insisted we change it ourselves in the garage and fuck the service plan.
So, yeah -- as you might imagine, my to-do list took some hits:
1. Free Writing Day -- work on whatever catches my fancy: No check – as you might imagine, my morning didn’t leave me feeling very creative. At least I’m between projects at the minute.
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – although, admittedly, that was pretty easy, given that there were only two videos in said Subs. But then again, really bad morning, so that and one very short bonus was about all I could manage –
A) Started just before beanbags with a quick one – Alton Towers’ promo video for their “Festival of Thrills!” It’s cool, showing off all the bands with a snippet of “In The Hall of the Mountain King” (the park’s “theme tune”) in the appropriate music style. :) I may not be able to go, but it is kinda nice to enjoy it vicariously.
B) Then, this evening, we had James Turner taking on the “No Skills, No Problem” Scenario again – this time, using club minions to earn the money for him! Yes, this Semaj – trading the “Loner” trait for “Insider” to make him love clubs, and the “Fabulously Wealthy” aspiration for “The Collector” one – moved to an empty lot in Windenburg, set up the “Money Please-a” club (supposed to be a pun on "Mona Lisa") with a bunch of random Sims, then – well, he needed some capital at first, so their first gathering was held downtown, so Semaj could try fishing up some stuff to sell to build a basement “painting hangout.”
. . .he caught a freaking DJ booth worth $2,000. O.o Who knew the Collector aspiration was THAT powerful?? Anyway, that funded his first attempt at a basement, which was actually just a sunken platform with some stairs and a roof on columns with a handful of easels. This worked for a little bit, but soon needs became a problem (mostly because of the lack of walls), so – once he had enough money to do so – James built a PROPER basement, and slowly added needs stuff so he and his club could live down there (bathroom, simple kitchen with bar counter, bedroom). And so the process began of having all the club members paint, and Semaj sell all their paintings for himself! XD There were a few tweaks to the formula as they went on – getting more easels so club members could keep painting once they’d finished their current one; getting a few new members (like Katrina Caliente and Bob Pancakes); buying all the inspired boosts and whatnot; changing up the house so it was a tiny home instead (Tier 2 for the skill boost for the minions) – but the biggest and most profitable change to the formula?
Painting sale wall, baby! Once James remembered THAT existed and started having Semaj do yard sales, the money started rolling in – mostly because his club members were all skilled enough to do regular masterpieces. (AND they were all at least a bit famous, which was great.) Yes, Bess Sterling needing capital for her business kept taking $1,000 here and there, but after ten days, Semaj hit his $400K goal! And it would have been sooner if he hadn’t had to keep stopping to care for his needs. . .a weird but fun one, to be sure!
C) And then it was over to Call Me Kevin playing more BitLife! And he finally fully leaned into being an evil bastard over there. XD Though, really, Eve Hill wasn’t THAT different from a lot of his other characters in this game. Though they did get started on the manslaughter early, killing a classmate when they were eleven. From there they studied finance in university and eventually got a job as a business analyst (after being rejected for “mortician” and “foot model”); had a hook-up with a woman, then refused to acknowledge the resultant baby, Jimbo, as his son – even beating a court-mandated paternity test!; started adopting tons of children and then IMMEDIATELY abandoning them; had a hitman kill the mother of his biological child because she wouldn’t stop harassing him; stole a teddy bear from a cowboy’s house; adopted a fluffy white Persian cat and named it THE NIGHTMARE; stuffed said cat so full of food it’s a wonder it didn’t explode, then abandoned it – unsuccessfully, someone found it; got into a fight with his estranged first adopted daughter, Morgan, during which THE NIGHTMARE bit her brain somehow; got fired from his job and ended up in a new position as a clown; had a failed penis enlargement surgery and successfully sued his doctor; watched his sister die from choking right in front of him; mourned THE NIGHTMARE when they passed and then adopted a very crazy dingo; called a hitman on his mother for not supporting his clowning; got two-and-a-half million from his father’s death (of Kevin causes in the editor mode); moved into a haunted house and kept adopting more children to abandon; had a fight with a spirit while washing the dishes; personally murdered Morgan by shoving her off a cliff; and finally died of a heart attack after meeting Gloria the demon at age 49. Nobody could be bothered to come to his funeral. XD And, amazingly, thanks to money and good lawyers, he never even spent any time in prison, which has become kind of a staple of Kevin BitLife LPs. Ahh, gotta love Kevin being evil in video games. . .
3. Play Sims 4
4. Work on tumblr drafts: . . .I’m gonna call this one three-quarters check. No, I didn’t get any new post drafts done on Victor Luvs Alice, but I got two ask replies into my queue on Valice Multiverse tonight, and I did at least get sorted all the pictures I wanted for the upcoming Chill Save update (forty screenshots of Smiler’s first day at Foxbury and celebrating SimCity Founding). So that counts for something.
5. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike this evening, to finish off the Oxventure Stream “The Corn Ultimatum!” With Rust having very smoothly taken McClusky hostage, Dob barreled in through the guards and demanded McClusky tell them to put down their weapons. McClusky – a bandit who basically tries too hard, wearing a bunch of mismatched furs (Merilwen asked if it was “overkill”) – was only too happy to agree. Of course, this didn’t take care of ALL the bandits – the ones on the wall and fighting the fire were still a problem. Fortunately, Merilwen was able to make up for her previous biffing by running up to one of the three guards on the wall, distracting him with a cute growl around Dob’s knife –
And then NAILING HIM IN THE FACE WITH HER POISON SPRAY SPELL. Dude basically melted. The remaining two guards found this unacceptable and attempted to attack with their scimitars, but both missed, one bouncing his blade off Merilwen’s rock-hard abs instead. XD Corazon, doing what he always does in a situation where falling over would help, cast Grease to trip them up – one JUST managed to keep his feet, but one fell dramatically over the edge and – despite it not being a large drop – died (maybe he landed wrong). This brought us back round to Egbert, still hanging out with Gary – he promptly encouraged the treant to wreck the shit out of the bandit camp. Gary obliged, letting Egbert ride on his shoulder as he did. Quite a bit of math later (as treants, as it turns out, can do two Slam attacks at once, and do double damage to structures, meaning there was a lot of rolling of D6s and adding and multiplying – Mike was not pleased), it transpired that Gary did 70 points of damage to the camp as a whole, and basically just destroyed half of it, ripping off the roof of the mead hall in the process. Combat was basically over at this point, except for the one remaining guard on the wall, who was determined to fight to the death!
Corazon kicked him in the nuts – and got a nat 20 on said kick. We don’t know how that man died, but we do know it was painful. XD After that, it wasn’t hard to get the bandits to line up to be tied up by Corazon (Egbert noted McClusky was taking giving that order well, and he was like “well, we’re bandits, it’s not the first time”). McClusky himself was tied up and thrown onto his throne for a – rather sloppy interrogation, as Dob – doing the interrogating – had kind of lost track of what they were doing and why. XD They did manage to determine that it was just him and his little bandit clan, and that the corn harvest was just for them to eat (McClusky, in response to Prudence’s question about it, asked what she ate, and she was like “I live off hatred”). Also, Egbert egged Gary into stepping on McClusky, which didn’t kill him, but definitely drove home the point that his bandit chief days were over. Rust smartly declared that they should probably take the guy back to the village to stand trial there, and the others agreed (after, of course, taking the guy’s cash box – fortunately Merilwen got her hands on it before Dob could XD). Lewis back in Little Avery was thrilled to see McClusky brought so low, and even agreed to Prudence and Corazon’s demand for a 10% tithe on corn sales going forward (figuring it was better than them having to give up ALL their corn and possibly their lives). He also invited them to stick around to see Little Avery justice done!
. . .Little Avery justice is shoving the offender in a giant ear of corn made out of wicker and setting it on fire as the townsfolk sing songs and get drunk on corn whiskey. XD Prudence and Corazon both approved. XD Merilwen, trying to be nice, gave Rust ten gold pieces for his trouble, but Rust was so fixated on the idea that one gold piece is a lot of money that – as per a wisdom check – having ten in his hands just completely broke his brain. XD Merilwen got around that by giving him each piece one-by-one, though Corazon ended up just pickpocketing nine of them back anyway. Though he did also give Rust Cornazon, his corn effigy self, so that was kinda nice. And Dob, being a good sort, insisted on everyone coming with him to plant the flowers he promised Gary he’d plant. Most weren’t into it (Corazon using Minor Illusion to pretend to help), but Merilwen, being a druid, was all for it, and even made one flower sprout early for Gary’s pleasure. Though he did warn her that if she planted any sycamores, he’d end her. XD Another Oxventure in the bag! :)
Additionally:
-->We did indeed play beanbags, even if it never got as nice as they said it would. Three rounds, nice and simple – I got 3-W-W, Dad got 2-2-2, Mom got W-3-3. Considering my general mood today, I’m gonna count that as impressive.
Not as bad as it could have been, but -- yeah. Pretty fuckin' shitty start to my long weekend. (Literally, no less.) At least tomorrow I don't have to get up early, or go anywhere I don't want to go. So let's set up some fresh to-dos for that:
1. Free Writing Day -- work on whatever catches my fancy
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs and start working on the Watch Later
3. Play Fallout 4 and move Victor on toward Diamond City
4. Work on tumblr drafts
5. Get in a workout
Yeah, we'll see how well I do on all that tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm gonna go read TV Tropes in between doing some social stuff. Night all.
