![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Stuffiness Back With A VENGEANCE
Mar. 9th, 2024 11:49 pmYeah, irritatingly, after getting better the previous day, the stuffiness chose to get WORSE today -- like, my nose isn't running wetly today, but I've spent the day with that feeling of having a clogged head. Which is very annoying. And affected my productivity, as you might imagine. >( Got most of the important stuff done, which is good, but I have also spent a lot of time on the old TV Tropes too, sooo. . . Here's how my to-do list shaped up today --
Cleaning & Laundry: Pretty typical Saturday in this regard – cleaning started at 10:40 AM, got paused around 1 PM for lunch/dishes, then picked up again around 1:45 PM for Swiffering and vacuuming, getting that all sorted by just after 2:15 PM. Laundry started going in around 11:45 AM (just my blankets, bathrobe, sheets, and pajamas today; Mom’s doing the rest of the laundry tomorrow), and I finally got the last load at about 5:15 PM (right after writing Newt’s birthday fic in fact, see below). On the plus side, I was listening to YouTube on my phone again, and I’ve officially added videos for the songs “Angel With A Shotgun,” “People Like Us,” and “Legends Never Die” to my Liked videos. :) Always nice to get new music! Especially new music that can double as Song Saturdays on my Victor Luvs Alice tumblr. . .
Tumblr: As with most Cleaning Saturdays, I didn’t get much done here –
Victor Luvs Alice – Basically just managed to keep up with my dash, though I did put a note in my “Smiler’s Otherland: Incorrect Quotes” draft to add a scene with the trio visiting the Butterfly Jungle and meeting Mr. Explorer, as I didn’t have any scenes of them in Victor’s Otherland in my current collection (it’s almost entirely them in Alice’s Wonderland). We’ll see if I can concentrate better and get the scene actually written up tomorrow.
Valice Multiverse – One anon ask in the inbox this evening, asking if couples who marry on Leap Day only have anniversaries every four years. . .Alice responded that people probably treated it like Leap day birthdays and celebrated on 2/28 all other years. Though for a couple that didn’t want to do anything fancy for their anniversaries, it would be an ideal date. :p It’s something!
Writing: Wrote up my first draft of Newt’s gift fic, which – given his current obsessions – ended up being Victor and Alice reacting to the first Saw movie after watching it as one of Smiler’s friend group’s Halloween Movie Nights (Thirteen’s pick, unsurprisingly). I couldn’t bring myself to watch any more than just the trailer for the original movie, though (which came out in 2004, incidentally, meaning this series is twenty fucking years old) – that kind of horror film is very much NOT my bag. So instead I just had Victor grossed out (understandable), and Alice mad that Jigsaw didn’t live up to his own ideals (based on a post I saw Newt reblog earlier in his Saw mania that Adam technically WON his “game” – he just had to survive until six o’clock, and he did – and died anyway because Jigsaw’s an asshole). And took the opportunity to make fun of the series for completely abandoning its numbering system for the seventh, eighth, and ninth movies. And talk about the apparent homoerotic tension between the two main characters, Lawrence and Adam, because Newt reblogged a lot about THAT too. XD First draft is a little rough, expectedly, but gets the job done – I’ll refine it next Saturday, and then it should be ready to post the Saturday after that, yay. :D
YouTube: Ended up spending more time on TV Tropes than YouTube, but I still got in a few videos –
A) Started with a couple of Petey Plays It videos, just for fun –
I. “6 Creative Wedding Venue Ideas To Consider | The Sims 4 Guide” – a video discussing various ways to spice up your weddings, from holding it at the chateau gardens in Windenburg (which again featured his “function center” revamp of the chateau), to hitting the park, to doing a barn-themed wedding with the help of Cottage Living, to adding a bit of Moroccan style to your space (with the help of the Courtyard Oasis kit), to making a church lot (Petey’s was a more Gothic church as the couple getting married here were vampires, but he said you could also go more traditional), to hitting the Sulani beaches with Island Living, to – as an honorable mention – getting spontaneously married at the Romance Festival in San Myshuno with City Living. All excellent ways to make a Sim’s wedding a bit more fun – and none of which require you to buy that awful My Wedding Stories pack! Ugh.
II. “5 Crystal Creations Objects You Need To Start Using | The Sims 4 Guide” – another one of Petey’s “check out these items in this pack” lists, this one not only featured the obvious items like the gemology table, the crystal charging grid, and the crystal tree, it also highlighted some decorative jewelry boxes that were actually also storage containers (perfect for storing jewelry in); the Moonstone crystal (because of its effects on occult Sims when charged); the pack’s selling table (great for making a HUGE profit on your crafted jewelry); the new square storage shelves with glass fronts that snapped together (perfect for building wall-mounted displays of your various collectibles); and the new bookcase with a ladder attached for reaching higher shelves (just because Petey really liked the look of it XD). Fun stuff, and always useful for maybe learning a thing or two you didn’t know before (like the whole “jewelry boxes are actual storage container” things – handy!). Makes me want the pack even more, though I’m determined to wait until I’m sure most of the bugs have been handled (that hotfix that came out recently revealed that putting on and taking off crafting jewelry was changing Sim physiques for some reason – this is why I don’t buy on release dates, people!).
B) And then it was over to the Subs for the latest from GrayStillPlays – “Which car is best at rescuing in GTA 5?” Another Alex Challenge Board, themed around SAVING people and cars for a change! Gray had to figure out which of his given cars (including the Wastelander, the Sherp, a tow truck, a flatbed truck, the brightly colored Scoop tank (with a bulldozer-like scoop on the front), and the bright blue armored Insurgent car) could complete the following challenges – each was worth a point, and the car with the most points at the end was the most adept at saving people:
I. Which Vehicle Is Better At Rescuing Drowned Cars? – Gray had to find the right vehicle that could get through some deepish water up onto a sandbar, then push or tow the stranded car there to the beach on the other side, all without drowning or getting backhanded by the barrier that would pop up around the car if Gray took too long. The obvious choice of the tow truck either wasn’t fast enough or got stuck if it did get past the barrier, the Sherp (which Gray insisted on trying just because) could NOT get past the barrier (it kept physics-breakdancing), and the Scoop drowned even in the slightly-shallow water, so the winner ended up being my beloved Wastelander! :D So high up it can’t drown, and powerful enough to roll that car to whatever counts as safety with Gray.
II. Which Car Is Better At Escorting A Rescue Mission? – Gray had to find the right vehicle that could protect an ambulance driving across the world’s most dangerous road, with multiple prisoners either shooting at it or FIRING ROCKETS at it. And, due to some of those people being on platforms that were not easily accessible, Gray had to make sure his car could tank a few shots! He accordingly started with the Scoop, it being a tank and all – a tank with a jump function and boost no less. Sadly, the tank being so low to the ground meant that rockets generally flew right over it, and it wasn’t really fast enough to stop the ambulance from dying even if Gray tried to get ahead. The Sherp proved surprisingly good at taking out protective wooden pallets and taking shots, but it got set on fire pretty early on, so it was also out. No, the winner on this course was obvious – the Insurgent, which has plenty of armor and enough speed to make it to trouble ahead of the tank. It still took Gray a few tries to beat the board (especially since he fell off RIGHT at the end because there was a gap that only filled up with road when the ambulance crossed it), but he did it, earning the Insurgent a point!
III. Which Vehicle Is Best At Rescuing Stranded Cars? – Gray had to find the right vehicle that could rescue two stranded ATVs (well, he only had to get ONE out of danger, but ideally he’d save both) and take them up and around the rocky mountain paths, getting around a rockslide and to the “safety circle” in about a minute. Fail, and he’d be blocked off by yet more falling rocks. Once again, the obvious choice of the tow truck failed immediately, because as it turns out, the hook can’t attach to ATVs. (Free mythbusting in this episode!) And the Wastelander, while easily able to climb all the nonsense in the mountains, proved unable to keep the ATVs in its bed – they just kept slipping around all over the place! So the winner this time was the Flatbed truck – the ATVs were able to actually STAY on the back of that thing, and it was able to navigate the mountain roads reasonably well – even performing a cool cinematic jump across the ravine next to the rock slide before landing on some deer. XD So that brought everything to a three-way tie before the last challenge. . .
IV. Which Vehicle Is Best At Rescuing People? – Gray had to find the right vehicle to get up a shallow river and around and over the waterfall at the other end to save at least three of five convicts before a train fell on them, then get them back down the river, through a few rapids, and over to their prison bus in roughly thirty seconds. Gray promptly tried the flatbed, but while he was impressed with how well it handled the water, it just wasn’t fast enough to get to the prisoners before they got squished. And given the way the people were loaded in by the script circle (attempting to appear either atop or in the bed of whatever Gray was trying), Gray didn’t think it worth it to even try the Insurgent –
Meaning the winner was the Wastelander! :D Yes, people end up sticking in its bed a lot easier than ATVs do – and Gray was helped by the fact that one guy got into the cab with him, meaning that only two prisoners out of the remaining four in the bed needed to stay. Things got a little dicey at the end when he arrived in the winning circle JUST as the time limit barrier came up, but despite the barrier launching his guys into the air, the game still gave it to him, and he was able to get teleported to the official win. :D Wastelander Supremacy, baby!
So, yeah, glad to get the cleaning done and my writing sorted. . .just might have been nice to keep up on a few other things too. But -- yeah. *sigh* Hopefully tomorrow things will be better and I'll be able to concentrate more -- plans include working on tumblr drafts; playing Fallout 4 and getting Victor and Ada on their way to the Glowing Sea; updating the Playthrough Progression; keeping up with GrayStillPlays and Jon of Many A True Nerd; and getting in my workout. We'll see how much I can accomplish -- night all! Oh, and remember to push your clocks forward an hour.
Cleaning & Laundry: Pretty typical Saturday in this regard – cleaning started at 10:40 AM, got paused around 1 PM for lunch/dishes, then picked up again around 1:45 PM for Swiffering and vacuuming, getting that all sorted by just after 2:15 PM. Laundry started going in around 11:45 AM (just my blankets, bathrobe, sheets, and pajamas today; Mom’s doing the rest of the laundry tomorrow), and I finally got the last load at about 5:15 PM (right after writing Newt’s birthday fic in fact, see below). On the plus side, I was listening to YouTube on my phone again, and I’ve officially added videos for the songs “Angel With A Shotgun,” “People Like Us,” and “Legends Never Die” to my Liked videos. :) Always nice to get new music! Especially new music that can double as Song Saturdays on my Victor Luvs Alice tumblr. . .
Tumblr: As with most Cleaning Saturdays, I didn’t get much done here –
Victor Luvs Alice – Basically just managed to keep up with my dash, though I did put a note in my “Smiler’s Otherland: Incorrect Quotes” draft to add a scene with the trio visiting the Butterfly Jungle and meeting Mr. Explorer, as I didn’t have any scenes of them in Victor’s Otherland in my current collection (it’s almost entirely them in Alice’s Wonderland). We’ll see if I can concentrate better and get the scene actually written up tomorrow.
Valice Multiverse – One anon ask in the inbox this evening, asking if couples who marry on Leap Day only have anniversaries every four years. . .Alice responded that people probably treated it like Leap day birthdays and celebrated on 2/28 all other years. Though for a couple that didn’t want to do anything fancy for their anniversaries, it would be an ideal date. :p It’s something!
Writing: Wrote up my first draft of Newt’s gift fic, which – given his current obsessions – ended up being Victor and Alice reacting to the first Saw movie after watching it as one of Smiler’s friend group’s Halloween Movie Nights (Thirteen’s pick, unsurprisingly). I couldn’t bring myself to watch any more than just the trailer for the original movie, though (which came out in 2004, incidentally, meaning this series is twenty fucking years old) – that kind of horror film is very much NOT my bag. So instead I just had Victor grossed out (understandable), and Alice mad that Jigsaw didn’t live up to his own ideals (based on a post I saw Newt reblog earlier in his Saw mania that Adam technically WON his “game” – he just had to survive until six o’clock, and he did – and died anyway because Jigsaw’s an asshole). And took the opportunity to make fun of the series for completely abandoning its numbering system for the seventh, eighth, and ninth movies. And talk about the apparent homoerotic tension between the two main characters, Lawrence and Adam, because Newt reblogged a lot about THAT too. XD First draft is a little rough, expectedly, but gets the job done – I’ll refine it next Saturday, and then it should be ready to post the Saturday after that, yay. :D
YouTube: Ended up spending more time on TV Tropes than YouTube, but I still got in a few videos –
A) Started with a couple of Petey Plays It videos, just for fun –
I. “6 Creative Wedding Venue Ideas To Consider | The Sims 4 Guide” – a video discussing various ways to spice up your weddings, from holding it at the chateau gardens in Windenburg (which again featured his “function center” revamp of the chateau), to hitting the park, to doing a barn-themed wedding with the help of Cottage Living, to adding a bit of Moroccan style to your space (with the help of the Courtyard Oasis kit), to making a church lot (Petey’s was a more Gothic church as the couple getting married here were vampires, but he said you could also go more traditional), to hitting the Sulani beaches with Island Living, to – as an honorable mention – getting spontaneously married at the Romance Festival in San Myshuno with City Living. All excellent ways to make a Sim’s wedding a bit more fun – and none of which require you to buy that awful My Wedding Stories pack! Ugh.
II. “5 Crystal Creations Objects You Need To Start Using | The Sims 4 Guide” – another one of Petey’s “check out these items in this pack” lists, this one not only featured the obvious items like the gemology table, the crystal charging grid, and the crystal tree, it also highlighted some decorative jewelry boxes that were actually also storage containers (perfect for storing jewelry in); the Moonstone crystal (because of its effects on occult Sims when charged); the pack’s selling table (great for making a HUGE profit on your crafted jewelry); the new square storage shelves with glass fronts that snapped together (perfect for building wall-mounted displays of your various collectibles); and the new bookcase with a ladder attached for reaching higher shelves (just because Petey really liked the look of it XD). Fun stuff, and always useful for maybe learning a thing or two you didn’t know before (like the whole “jewelry boxes are actual storage container” things – handy!). Makes me want the pack even more, though I’m determined to wait until I’m sure most of the bugs have been handled (that hotfix that came out recently revealed that putting on and taking off crafting jewelry was changing Sim physiques for some reason – this is why I don’t buy on release dates, people!).
B) And then it was over to the Subs for the latest from GrayStillPlays – “Which car is best at rescuing in GTA 5?” Another Alex Challenge Board, themed around SAVING people and cars for a change! Gray had to figure out which of his given cars (including the Wastelander, the Sherp, a tow truck, a flatbed truck, the brightly colored Scoop tank (with a bulldozer-like scoop on the front), and the bright blue armored Insurgent car) could complete the following challenges – each was worth a point, and the car with the most points at the end was the most adept at saving people:
I. Which Vehicle Is Better At Rescuing Drowned Cars? – Gray had to find the right vehicle that could get through some deepish water up onto a sandbar, then push or tow the stranded car there to the beach on the other side, all without drowning or getting backhanded by the barrier that would pop up around the car if Gray took too long. The obvious choice of the tow truck either wasn’t fast enough or got stuck if it did get past the barrier, the Sherp (which Gray insisted on trying just because) could NOT get past the barrier (it kept physics-breakdancing), and the Scoop drowned even in the slightly-shallow water, so the winner ended up being my beloved Wastelander! :D So high up it can’t drown, and powerful enough to roll that car to whatever counts as safety with Gray.
II. Which Car Is Better At Escorting A Rescue Mission? – Gray had to find the right vehicle that could protect an ambulance driving across the world’s most dangerous road, with multiple prisoners either shooting at it or FIRING ROCKETS at it. And, due to some of those people being on platforms that were not easily accessible, Gray had to make sure his car could tank a few shots! He accordingly started with the Scoop, it being a tank and all – a tank with a jump function and boost no less. Sadly, the tank being so low to the ground meant that rockets generally flew right over it, and it wasn’t really fast enough to stop the ambulance from dying even if Gray tried to get ahead. The Sherp proved surprisingly good at taking out protective wooden pallets and taking shots, but it got set on fire pretty early on, so it was also out. No, the winner on this course was obvious – the Insurgent, which has plenty of armor and enough speed to make it to trouble ahead of the tank. It still took Gray a few tries to beat the board (especially since he fell off RIGHT at the end because there was a gap that only filled up with road when the ambulance crossed it), but he did it, earning the Insurgent a point!
III. Which Vehicle Is Best At Rescuing Stranded Cars? – Gray had to find the right vehicle that could rescue two stranded ATVs (well, he only had to get ONE out of danger, but ideally he’d save both) and take them up and around the rocky mountain paths, getting around a rockslide and to the “safety circle” in about a minute. Fail, and he’d be blocked off by yet more falling rocks. Once again, the obvious choice of the tow truck failed immediately, because as it turns out, the hook can’t attach to ATVs. (Free mythbusting in this episode!) And the Wastelander, while easily able to climb all the nonsense in the mountains, proved unable to keep the ATVs in its bed – they just kept slipping around all over the place! So the winner this time was the Flatbed truck – the ATVs were able to actually STAY on the back of that thing, and it was able to navigate the mountain roads reasonably well – even performing a cool cinematic jump across the ravine next to the rock slide before landing on some deer. XD So that brought everything to a three-way tie before the last challenge. . .
IV. Which Vehicle Is Best At Rescuing People? – Gray had to find the right vehicle to get up a shallow river and around and over the waterfall at the other end to save at least three of five convicts before a train fell on them, then get them back down the river, through a few rapids, and over to their prison bus in roughly thirty seconds. Gray promptly tried the flatbed, but while he was impressed with how well it handled the water, it just wasn’t fast enough to get to the prisoners before they got squished. And given the way the people were loaded in by the script circle (attempting to appear either atop or in the bed of whatever Gray was trying), Gray didn’t think it worth it to even try the Insurgent –
Meaning the winner was the Wastelander! :D Yes, people end up sticking in its bed a lot easier than ATVs do – and Gray was helped by the fact that one guy got into the cab with him, meaning that only two prisoners out of the remaining four in the bed needed to stay. Things got a little dicey at the end when he arrived in the winning circle JUST as the time limit barrier came up, but despite the barrier launching his guys into the air, the game still gave it to him, and he was able to get teleported to the official win. :D Wastelander Supremacy, baby!
So, yeah, glad to get the cleaning done and my writing sorted. . .just might have been nice to keep up on a few other things too. But -- yeah. *sigh* Hopefully tomorrow things will be better and I'll be able to concentrate more -- plans include working on tumblr drafts; playing Fallout 4 and getting Victor and Ada on their way to the Glowing Sea; updating the Playthrough Progression; keeping up with GrayStillPlays and Jon of Many A True Nerd; and getting in my workout. We'll see how much I can accomplish -- night all! Oh, and remember to push your clocks forward an hour.
