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Getting Back Into It Monday
Nov. 28th, 2022 11:49 pmAnd, as usual, I'm running a bit late as a result. . .then again, I had to stop for gas on the way home, AND we ran into an issue with the kitchen sink after supper where Dad discovered the pipes were leaking a bit every time we used the hot water (apparently it's just a matter of tightening the couplings more or something, but for FUCK'S sake), so I've had some legit distractions here. And I did get a decent amount of stuff done --
Work – The first day back after a long weekend is never great, and today proved that – started off with some people doing credit card updates right off the bat; then had some guy’s check prove to be at our processors’ place (they kept it for a month!); and also someone didn’t properly shove the Brita water thing back in the fridge, so it leaked all over it and soaked my lunch container (fortunately not my lunch ITSELF, but. . .). Just kind of an irritating day all around, I’m afraid. At least I was able to properly read the next chapter of "Beneath A Broken Sky" during lunch! Just have to write the review now...
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike tonight, ending one video and starting another as I pedaled up a high mountain:
A) Finished off Episode 14 of James Turner’s High School Years Rags To Riches – The University Episodes! James showed off his lovely Britechester thrifting and boba tea store – and then Sidney just straight up stole the table and chairs James had him and Reginald sit at. And then the thrift store owner came up and stole it AGAIN when James replaced it. Took him a minute to clock that what had probably happened was that “Sharing Is Caring,” the Neighborhood Action Plan that turns all Sims into kleptomaniacs, was active in this neighborhood. Whoops. XD Seriously, that one is the worst, and why I am DILIGENT about having my Sims vote on NAPs to quickly fill up the slots with stuff that’ll actually benefit them.
Anyway – after that drama, Sidney and Reginald did end up having a lovely gold-level date, though James was very sour about discovering that Sidney considered himself “single” despite being “promised” to Reginald (I don’t think they’re officially boyfriends anymore because Reginald aged up first). Reginald also took the opportunity to make a new outfit to sell (Streetwear is the hot new thing in Britechester, apparently), then headed back to the dorm to set up a kegger for the evening to celebrate the fact that it was New Year’s! He also made a resolution to complete an aspiration milestone, and did all of his homework while his “homework club” had fun around him. XD James ended it before the big New Year’s party, expressing the hope that he could maybe get through roughly a week of university for the next couple of episodes so he can get going on Reginald having a family and raising up the next generation and all that. We’ll see how that goes later!
II. Started “High Rollin’ Oxventure: When Worlds Collide,” a crossover between the Oxventure (featuring Johnny as DM, Luke as Dob, and Andy as Corazon) and the High Rollers (featuring the High Rollers DM Mark playing one of his NPC characters, a hippie centaur druid going by Rosemary, Kim playing her hexblade nerdy air genisi warlock Nova, and Rhiannon playing her Mom Friend construct guardian paladin, Sentry)! I know nothing about the latter group, but fortunately I do not need to know anything about them, because the premise of this adventure was that Dob, Corazon, Rosemary, Nova, and Sentry were all plucked bodily out of their worlds and put into a strange waiting room in a confusing pocket dimension while they were sleeping. The two groups were naturally rather confused when they woke up – Rosemary and Dob made instant friends, with Valley Girl Hippie Rosemary loving Dob’s “natural musk” (“the pond water MUST be brackish,” he told her, as poor Nova gagged), while Corazon decided all the others had to be constructs of his dreaming mind and did a backflip to do prove it (Andy got a nat 20 and Johnny told him it was the most real-feeling dream backflip he’d ever done). He started poking around to figure out what his subconscious was trying to tell him –
Cue one wall lighting up with the image of a humanoid figure with a hippo’s head, saying that they’d been brought her for a “great purpose” – and then asking if they wanted to buy anything. Turns out they’d been brought to the waiting/browsing room of Astro-Barn, a shop that claims to sell just about ANYTHING. (But not the shards Nova needs to reforge her sentient blade Tiangong. They don’t know when those will be back in stock.) The gang ended up buying stuff including rocks, a basket to carry everything in, and the ballad of Inception after it was mentioned when Corazon kicked Dob in the crotch to determine whether or not he was dreaming. XD However, when they went to checkout, it was revealed that they did not pay in money, but rather in time – that is, they now owed the store two hours’ worth of labor! They were promptly dumped into a strange vat of goo that formed into special semi-custom uniforms for them all (like, the designs were personalized, but they were all the same uniform slate gray color with nametags and suchlike). The question of how a centaur wears trousers came up, and was immediately avoided by having Rosemary wear a dress. XD She was not fond of her new dress, though, as it was clearly manufactured instead of being hand-woven or something – but she also found that she could NOT take it off, which is a bit worrying. (Granted, she biffed the strength roll required, but still.)
And that is where I left it, with the two gangs pressed into service for what I assume to be Evil Fantasy Amazon. ADVENTURE! XD No, seriously, I’m enjoying it so far, and I’m eager to see where working for Evil Fantasy Amazon goes. Here’s hoping they get to fight Hippo-Headed Astro Guy before it all ends! And that they get to keep their rocks and basket and all that. XD
2. Start writing gift fics: Check – as I was in a bit of a BTTF mood after doing my list of stuff I want for Christmas/my birthday (involving me going to some online stores in search of good BTTF merch), I did Mary’s request – an 80s AU featuring her character Lily, Victoria, Victor, and Emily going to see BTTF together in theaters. :) Just a quick scene of them hurrying to the theater and talking about the premise of the movie – and how neither Victor, Victoria, nor Emily would want to go back in time to meet their parents at their age, but Lily is all for it. XD Needs some polishing, but that’s what the second draft is for – I just hope she likes the finished product!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Two-thirds check – I was hoping to get all three, but I started watching just a bit too late to get to GrayStillPlays today, sadly. Just have to double up tomorrow. But for tonight –
A) Started with Josh Way’s latest – “My Art Journey,” which was him telling us all about how he got into art (was a kid who loved copying comic book and comic strip characters and was obsessed with Disney), how he struggled with how he wanted to express his art over the years (deciding the hard work of animation was not for him and instead going into Communications in college; doing a handful of webcomics that never really became popular and left him kind of burned out as he was doing everything himself), and how he came back to it during the pandemic (deciding he wanted to be an artist while weathering the Corona storm, trying another webcomic, and FINALLY realizing that “no, I just want to do fun portraits and faces and stuff like that”). It was good stuff, and I’m glad he found his niche. :)
B) And then it was over to Call Me Kevin and his latest – “I played goat simulator 3 so you don't have to!” Yes, Goat Simulator 3 is out, and it is basically MADE OF CHAOS. This thing starts with a Skyrim parody (waking up in a wagon) and just never stops being weird from there. There’s a strange old woman on the starting farm with a ball launcher that can send you to space if it hits you right, and to defeat her, you must find a way to get close enough to headbutt her. And then the game has you go into her basement and play faux-Castle Wolfenstein to unlock her AS A WEARABLE WEAPON. You can go to the graveyard and pay your respects to open up the church, then force everyone around to run on the treadmills inside for their “Cross Fit” program. You can visit Suburbia, sneak your way into a water tower lab, and launch a very familiar-looking nuke at a semi-familiar-looking cul-de-sac – and then detonate it to give everyone in the general area extra limbs growing out of random places and unlock a “Fallout Boi” costume for yourself (Vault 55, if you were wondering). You can run around the zoo, visiting the “Tall Goats” (giraffes) and freeing Billy the cubed orca by headbutting him out of his cube and then slinging him into the sea with your tongue (or, if you’re Kevin, actually THROWING HIM OFF THE MAP and then ending up underneath it). You can find some guy whose birthday party isn’t going well and drag people in to be his friends (and in return, he will become your loyal assistant in your home base!). You can visit a logging facility and get the log machine working again by throwing lumberjacks in to complete a circuit, then run along the log to the big city – or even further. If you don’t fall off. Like Kevin did. He was very sour. And along the way, you can find all sorts of special trophies to level up and earn points to buy different characters, like the Tall Goat, or “Tony Shark,” a hammerhead on a longboard (I am embarrassed to admit it took me until the end of the video to realize that one was a play on Tony HAWK). And then visit your “Goat Towers” to check on the progress of your goat castle. XD And that’s barely scratching the SURFACE of how weird this game is. Kevin clearly had a blast with it, and I’m not surprised – it’s the kind of super-weird, super-chaotic game that fits his play style perfectly. XD Perhaps one day we will get to see more!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: N/A on the tumblr queue stuff itself, but I DID just answer all of Moose’s messages from the other day, so I’ll call that a substitution check. XD
*nods* Not too shabby. And now it is time for bed -- after I send this e-mail about my Christmas/birthday list to my parents, now that I've come up with a few things for them to get. :) Night all!
Work – The first day back after a long weekend is never great, and today proved that – started off with some people doing credit card updates right off the bat; then had some guy’s check prove to be at our processors’ place (they kept it for a month!); and also someone didn’t properly shove the Brita water thing back in the fridge, so it leaked all over it and soaked my lunch container (fortunately not my lunch ITSELF, but. . .). Just kind of an irritating day all around, I’m afraid. At least I was able to properly read the next chapter of "Beneath A Broken Sky" during lunch! Just have to write the review now...
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike tonight, ending one video and starting another as I pedaled up a high mountain:
A) Finished off Episode 14 of James Turner’s High School Years Rags To Riches – The University Episodes! James showed off his lovely Britechester thrifting and boba tea store – and then Sidney just straight up stole the table and chairs James had him and Reginald sit at. And then the thrift store owner came up and stole it AGAIN when James replaced it. Took him a minute to clock that what had probably happened was that “Sharing Is Caring,” the Neighborhood Action Plan that turns all Sims into kleptomaniacs, was active in this neighborhood. Whoops. XD Seriously, that one is the worst, and why I am DILIGENT about having my Sims vote on NAPs to quickly fill up the slots with stuff that’ll actually benefit them.
Anyway – after that drama, Sidney and Reginald did end up having a lovely gold-level date, though James was very sour about discovering that Sidney considered himself “single” despite being “promised” to Reginald (I don’t think they’re officially boyfriends anymore because Reginald aged up first). Reginald also took the opportunity to make a new outfit to sell (Streetwear is the hot new thing in Britechester, apparently), then headed back to the dorm to set up a kegger for the evening to celebrate the fact that it was New Year’s! He also made a resolution to complete an aspiration milestone, and did all of his homework while his “homework club” had fun around him. XD James ended it before the big New Year’s party, expressing the hope that he could maybe get through roughly a week of university for the next couple of episodes so he can get going on Reginald having a family and raising up the next generation and all that. We’ll see how that goes later!
II. Started “High Rollin’ Oxventure: When Worlds Collide,” a crossover between the Oxventure (featuring Johnny as DM, Luke as Dob, and Andy as Corazon) and the High Rollers (featuring the High Rollers DM Mark playing one of his NPC characters, a hippie centaur druid going by Rosemary, Kim playing her hexblade nerdy air genisi warlock Nova, and Rhiannon playing her Mom Friend construct guardian paladin, Sentry)! I know nothing about the latter group, but fortunately I do not need to know anything about them, because the premise of this adventure was that Dob, Corazon, Rosemary, Nova, and Sentry were all plucked bodily out of their worlds and put into a strange waiting room in a confusing pocket dimension while they were sleeping. The two groups were naturally rather confused when they woke up – Rosemary and Dob made instant friends, with Valley Girl Hippie Rosemary loving Dob’s “natural musk” (“the pond water MUST be brackish,” he told her, as poor Nova gagged), while Corazon decided all the others had to be constructs of his dreaming mind and did a backflip to do prove it (Andy got a nat 20 and Johnny told him it was the most real-feeling dream backflip he’d ever done). He started poking around to figure out what his subconscious was trying to tell him –
Cue one wall lighting up with the image of a humanoid figure with a hippo’s head, saying that they’d been brought her for a “great purpose” – and then asking if they wanted to buy anything. Turns out they’d been brought to the waiting/browsing room of Astro-Barn, a shop that claims to sell just about ANYTHING. (But not the shards Nova needs to reforge her sentient blade Tiangong. They don’t know when those will be back in stock.) The gang ended up buying stuff including rocks, a basket to carry everything in, and the ballad of Inception after it was mentioned when Corazon kicked Dob in the crotch to determine whether or not he was dreaming. XD However, when they went to checkout, it was revealed that they did not pay in money, but rather in time – that is, they now owed the store two hours’ worth of labor! They were promptly dumped into a strange vat of goo that formed into special semi-custom uniforms for them all (like, the designs were personalized, but they were all the same uniform slate gray color with nametags and suchlike). The question of how a centaur wears trousers came up, and was immediately avoided by having Rosemary wear a dress. XD She was not fond of her new dress, though, as it was clearly manufactured instead of being hand-woven or something – but she also found that she could NOT take it off, which is a bit worrying. (Granted, she biffed the strength roll required, but still.)
And that is where I left it, with the two gangs pressed into service for what I assume to be Evil Fantasy Amazon. ADVENTURE! XD No, seriously, I’m enjoying it so far, and I’m eager to see where working for Evil Fantasy Amazon goes. Here’s hoping they get to fight Hippo-Headed Astro Guy before it all ends! And that they get to keep their rocks and basket and all that. XD
2. Start writing gift fics: Check – as I was in a bit of a BTTF mood after doing my list of stuff I want for Christmas/my birthday (involving me going to some online stores in search of good BTTF merch), I did Mary’s request – an 80s AU featuring her character Lily, Victoria, Victor, and Emily going to see BTTF together in theaters. :) Just a quick scene of them hurrying to the theater and talking about the premise of the movie – and how neither Victor, Victoria, nor Emily would want to go back in time to meet their parents at their age, but Lily is all for it. XD Needs some polishing, but that’s what the second draft is for – I just hope she likes the finished product!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Two-thirds check – I was hoping to get all three, but I started watching just a bit too late to get to GrayStillPlays today, sadly. Just have to double up tomorrow. But for tonight –
A) Started with Josh Way’s latest – “My Art Journey,” which was him telling us all about how he got into art (was a kid who loved copying comic book and comic strip characters and was obsessed with Disney), how he struggled with how he wanted to express his art over the years (deciding the hard work of animation was not for him and instead going into Communications in college; doing a handful of webcomics that never really became popular and left him kind of burned out as he was doing everything himself), and how he came back to it during the pandemic (deciding he wanted to be an artist while weathering the Corona storm, trying another webcomic, and FINALLY realizing that “no, I just want to do fun portraits and faces and stuff like that”). It was good stuff, and I’m glad he found his niche. :)
B) And then it was over to Call Me Kevin and his latest – “I played goat simulator 3 so you don't have to!” Yes, Goat Simulator 3 is out, and it is basically MADE OF CHAOS. This thing starts with a Skyrim parody (waking up in a wagon) and just never stops being weird from there. There’s a strange old woman on the starting farm with a ball launcher that can send you to space if it hits you right, and to defeat her, you must find a way to get close enough to headbutt her. And then the game has you go into her basement and play faux-Castle Wolfenstein to unlock her AS A WEARABLE WEAPON. You can go to the graveyard and pay your respects to open up the church, then force everyone around to run on the treadmills inside for their “Cross Fit” program. You can visit Suburbia, sneak your way into a water tower lab, and launch a very familiar-looking nuke at a semi-familiar-looking cul-de-sac – and then detonate it to give everyone in the general area extra limbs growing out of random places and unlock a “Fallout Boi” costume for yourself (Vault 55, if you were wondering). You can run around the zoo, visiting the “Tall Goats” (giraffes) and freeing Billy the cubed orca by headbutting him out of his cube and then slinging him into the sea with your tongue (or, if you’re Kevin, actually THROWING HIM OFF THE MAP and then ending up underneath it). You can find some guy whose birthday party isn’t going well and drag people in to be his friends (and in return, he will become your loyal assistant in your home base!). You can visit a logging facility and get the log machine working again by throwing lumberjacks in to complete a circuit, then run along the log to the big city – or even further. If you don’t fall off. Like Kevin did. He was very sour. And along the way, you can find all sorts of special trophies to level up and earn points to buy different characters, like the Tall Goat, or “Tony Shark,” a hammerhead on a longboard (I am embarrassed to admit it took me until the end of the video to realize that one was a play on Tony HAWK). And then visit your “Goat Towers” to check on the progress of your goat castle. XD And that’s barely scratching the SURFACE of how weird this game is. Kevin clearly had a blast with it, and I’m not surprised – it’s the kind of super-weird, super-chaotic game that fits his play style perfectly. XD Perhaps one day we will get to see more!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: N/A on the tumblr queue stuff itself, but I DID just answer all of Moose’s messages from the other day, so I’ll call that a substitution check. XD
*nods* Not too shabby. And now it is time for bed -- after I send this e-mail about my Christmas/birthday list to my parents, now that I've come up with a few things for them to get. :) Night all!
