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Somewhat Meh Friday
Jan. 31st, 2025 11:56 pmYeah, it wasn't the greatest end to the work week, though it wasn't exactly the worst either, which is good. Let me give you the low-down --
Work – Well, it didn’t start out great – our (current, since the boss proper is out on paternity leave) supervisor texted us this morning to say she tested positive for COVID and was staying home (fortunately I don’t see a lot of her during the day when she is here, and I’m the one still wearing a mask at work, so...), and then midway through the GL the fire alarm went off, forcing us to go outside and wait in the cold drizzle while some firefighters checked things out (doesn’t seem to have actually been anything; I think someone tripped some sort of alarm on the boiler while messing with the heat). Oh, and of course no one got back to me about the credit card nonsense. Happily the day got a little better from there – I finished the GL, did more roster maintenance, and had a quiet lunch break when my other coworkers went out. Even the drive home wasn’t THAT bad – like, traffic was miserable, as it always is when it’s raining, but at least it wasn’t so bad that I had to take the alternate route home. *shrug* It could have been a lot worse, is what I’m saying!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – last night on the bike this week, pedaling my way through –
A) The end of “Cooking with Reuben in Tiny Town Challenge! - Part 17” by James Turner! The last chunklet of Reuben’s second episode consisted of Reuben:
I. Planting his quill fruit – and then, once it was all grown, making Curious Pizza and discovering it was a HELL of a money-maker at over $300 a slice! Between those and the Pleasantly-Unpleasant Waffles, it seems that if you want to make money selling food in The Sims 4, you have to make the REALLY weird food. XD
II. Becoming best friends with his aunt Scarlett, which is rather sweet. :) And it makes sense too, as Reuben’s been using the space under her tree house to grow the stuff he needs to make his food! So obviously they have a shared love of gardening. Not to mention he was the one she called about finding that ring in Patchy’s bag, so… :p It just feels right!
III. And hosting loads and loads of food sales, both to make money and to try and complete the other aspiration that came with Home Chef Hustle, Market Magnate, because the reward trait that comes with THAT one would allow Reuben to mark his prices up a full 500%. Unfortunately, while James was able to complete almost all of the goals via things like going to a couple of people’s houses in Evergreen Harbor to sell food (to complete “selling on a residential lot” and “selling on two different lots”) and letting some batter in his inventory spoil so he could use it to make poor-quality pancakes and then sell them for a high price (which took a couple of tries, because James let the initial batch spoil on the GROUND first, only to discover that he couldn’t put them in his inventory afterward) – the FINAL goal is to “sell ambrosia to a ghost so they’ll come back to life eating it.” Which, uh, is QUITE the ask! Especially since Reuben actually has NO Gourmet Cooking skill, just the base “homestyle” one. James was like “what the hell,” but ended up going around to both Finchwick AND the Magic Realm in search of a death flower to make the damn stuff, so I think he IS going to do it. Maybe it can be Reuben’s final glory in his Grand Finale. :p And hey, even if he didn’t get to complete the aspiration, all those sales DID get him the money he needed to renovate his house…
But, as the episode was already running long, James decided to pause, let the people give him ideas, and then do the house in a separate building episode! So next week, we’ll get to see Reuben’s home come together at last, yay. Time to get that poor guy out of that shoebox he’s been living in!
B) The entirety of “12 Secret Traits You Didn't Know About In The Sims 4” by Petey Plays It! A look at twelve traits you can gain through gameplay that you might not know about. Some of them are rather underwhelming (the “Immortal” trait from the Potion of Immortality just makes you immune to death by old age and makes your sim constantly followed by a stupid glowing infinity sign effect coming out of their neck; and the “Chopstick Saavy” and “Spice Hound” traits you get from learning how to use chopsticks and get used to eating spicy food just make a couple of related moodlets last longer), but others are actually rather fun and useful (the “Melt Master” trait you get by completing the hidden Grilled Cheese aspiration allows you to summon a grilled cheese and paint special grilled-cheese-themed paintings, and “The Knowledge” trait you get from completing the Entrepreneur skill gives you a MASSIVE boost to your pay in regular careers). So if you have a Sim that might benefit from one of these traits, either for story or gameplay purposes, go after them! As Petey said, it’s the best way to make your Sim a little more unique!
2. Continue working on “A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded”: Check – the trio met the Duskwall version of June Thatcher, aka Alice’s replacement, today, who was very confused to find these three strangers in her kitchen. Fortunately for the panicking Alice, Smiler immediately took over and eased June’s fears, saying that they were all Advocates looking to start a partnership with Dr. Bumby to help the children! Why, they themselves are a decent alchemist, so surely they could help with medications and such. And because they are very charismatic, June bought the story hook, line, and sinker, praising them for their charity and directing them to Dr. Bumby’s office. I left it off with the trio successfully escaping the kitchen and their first obstacle toward getting that ledger – tomorrow, Victor asks how the hell Smiler even DOES that. XD
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Half check – thanks to Game Night running a touch long (we played a bunch of Sequence tonight, and both the first and last games took a while – Mom won four games, Dad won three, and I won two) and me really wanting to make sure I got in my “A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded” chunklet above, I only had time for one of the two videos in there. And, as is my wont, I picked GrayStillPlays and “Boat Cars vs Impossible Loops in GTA 5!” A Torture Board where Gray didn’t have to find out which of the boat cars he was given could complete all of the challenges, or which one earned the most points across all the challenges – nope, this one was purely all about figuring out which car or combination of cars could complete which horrible loops! Which included:
I. The opening Minecraft loop (which Gray had to do TWICE with two different submarine cars, because the trick here was, at the very end – past a jump through Reginald’s legs, and right before the checkpoint – was a teleporter covering a big old gap that would teleport Gray backwards if he tried to drive through it. Gray thus had to blast the one car across the teleporter gap using the other car’s boost, and then use a yeeter in the water below to yeet himself to the other car so he could actually get the checkpoint)
II. A LEGO loop (which multiple cars could do – so long as Gray could avoid hitting the LEGO studs – but only the quad could truly complete, as there was the world’s narrowest thumbnail hole before the checkpoint at the end)
III. A Planetary Loop (where Gray had to go around the rings of a sideways Saturn and knock a couple of rocks out of the way to open up a crate beneath the water to get the next checkpoint – the boost car proved to be the right one here, both for the speed to do the loops (and get himself back in the challenge area should he get knocked out) and the missiles to smash through the final layer of plywood in front of the checkpoint)
IV. And the closing Moving Loop (where Gray had to figure out the timing to do the loop and land on one of three platforms, and from there figure out which one had the actual teleporter to the win – Gray ended up getting it with the non-boosty submarine car, and on the second platform! Once he managed to land on it, anyway XD)
So yeah – fairly complicated board! Though it is interesting to see one that’s just a puzzle of “which cars can do what things” instead of ranking them or finding out which one is the Chosen One. Mixes things up a bit, I appreciate it. :)
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check and check again –
Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – Updated the “Valicer Not-Incorrect Quotes Valentine’s Day Edition” post with the gift that I decided Alice would get Smiler – a small plush of a yellow-banded poison dart frog, since she knows frogs are their favorite animals and yellow is their favorite color. :) So that’s all the presents sorted – now I just have to write the scenes!
Valice Multiverse – Actually had something to chuck in the queue tonight! An ask from Toonsisters, featuring a picture of a “shorse” (a shark head on a horse body – it is as weird as it sounds) and her noting that such a combination was a scary idea. Cuddlepile!Victor was just “…” while Smiler asked Alice when it would be showing up in Wonderland, with Alice responding that she wasn’t sure yet where it would fit, given the creature combination on display. XD I guess a shark thing would have to be part of the Deluded Depths, right? Ah, but the horse body really makes it seem like a land creature...hmmmm…
Aaand I just got distracted for like a good half-hour looking at old Chill Valicer Save screenshots and being all nostalgic -- like, watching their house slowly but surely morph into its final version, seeing all the adventures they had...I really loved that save file. It was a good time. *sigh* Eventually I will be able to set up its successor, the Tiny Fandom Town save... But for now, I really do need to get to bed. Tomorrow is a full Cleaning & Laundry Saturday, bleh -- but I hope to also play some more Baldur's Gate III (and get through the encounter with the mind flayer and rescuing Gale at least); work some more on A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded (and get the gang into Alice's room at least); and keep up with my YouTube Subs (Josh Way and the latest GrayStillPlays at least). We'll see how that all pans out! Night all!
Work – Well, it didn’t start out great – our (current, since the boss proper is out on paternity leave) supervisor texted us this morning to say she tested positive for COVID and was staying home (fortunately I don’t see a lot of her during the day when she is here, and I’m the one still wearing a mask at work, so...), and then midway through the GL the fire alarm went off, forcing us to go outside and wait in the cold drizzle while some firefighters checked things out (doesn’t seem to have actually been anything; I think someone tripped some sort of alarm on the boiler while messing with the heat). Oh, and of course no one got back to me about the credit card nonsense. Happily the day got a little better from there – I finished the GL, did more roster maintenance, and had a quiet lunch break when my other coworkers went out. Even the drive home wasn’t THAT bad – like, traffic was miserable, as it always is when it’s raining, but at least it wasn’t so bad that I had to take the alternate route home. *shrug* It could have been a lot worse, is what I’m saying!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – last night on the bike this week, pedaling my way through –
A) The end of “Cooking with Reuben in Tiny Town Challenge! - Part 17” by James Turner! The last chunklet of Reuben’s second episode consisted of Reuben:
I. Planting his quill fruit – and then, once it was all grown, making Curious Pizza and discovering it was a HELL of a money-maker at over $300 a slice! Between those and the Pleasantly-Unpleasant Waffles, it seems that if you want to make money selling food in The Sims 4, you have to make the REALLY weird food. XD
II. Becoming best friends with his aunt Scarlett, which is rather sweet. :) And it makes sense too, as Reuben’s been using the space under her tree house to grow the stuff he needs to make his food! So obviously they have a shared love of gardening. Not to mention he was the one she called about finding that ring in Patchy’s bag, so… :p It just feels right!
III. And hosting loads and loads of food sales, both to make money and to try and complete the other aspiration that came with Home Chef Hustle, Market Magnate, because the reward trait that comes with THAT one would allow Reuben to mark his prices up a full 500%. Unfortunately, while James was able to complete almost all of the goals via things like going to a couple of people’s houses in Evergreen Harbor to sell food (to complete “selling on a residential lot” and “selling on two different lots”) and letting some batter in his inventory spoil so he could use it to make poor-quality pancakes and then sell them for a high price (which took a couple of tries, because James let the initial batch spoil on the GROUND first, only to discover that he couldn’t put them in his inventory afterward) – the FINAL goal is to “sell ambrosia to a ghost so they’ll come back to life eating it.” Which, uh, is QUITE the ask! Especially since Reuben actually has NO Gourmet Cooking skill, just the base “homestyle” one. James was like “what the hell,” but ended up going around to both Finchwick AND the Magic Realm in search of a death flower to make the damn stuff, so I think he IS going to do it. Maybe it can be Reuben’s final glory in his Grand Finale. :p And hey, even if he didn’t get to complete the aspiration, all those sales DID get him the money he needed to renovate his house…
But, as the episode was already running long, James decided to pause, let the people give him ideas, and then do the house in a separate building episode! So next week, we’ll get to see Reuben’s home come together at last, yay. Time to get that poor guy out of that shoebox he’s been living in!
B) The entirety of “12 Secret Traits You Didn't Know About In The Sims 4” by Petey Plays It! A look at twelve traits you can gain through gameplay that you might not know about. Some of them are rather underwhelming (the “Immortal” trait from the Potion of Immortality just makes you immune to death by old age and makes your sim constantly followed by a stupid glowing infinity sign effect coming out of their neck; and the “Chopstick Saavy” and “Spice Hound” traits you get from learning how to use chopsticks and get used to eating spicy food just make a couple of related moodlets last longer), but others are actually rather fun and useful (the “Melt Master” trait you get by completing the hidden Grilled Cheese aspiration allows you to summon a grilled cheese and paint special grilled-cheese-themed paintings, and “The Knowledge” trait you get from completing the Entrepreneur skill gives you a MASSIVE boost to your pay in regular careers). So if you have a Sim that might benefit from one of these traits, either for story or gameplay purposes, go after them! As Petey said, it’s the best way to make your Sim a little more unique!
2. Continue working on “A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded”: Check – the trio met the Duskwall version of June Thatcher, aka Alice’s replacement, today, who was very confused to find these three strangers in her kitchen. Fortunately for the panicking Alice, Smiler immediately took over and eased June’s fears, saying that they were all Advocates looking to start a partnership with Dr. Bumby to help the children! Why, they themselves are a decent alchemist, so surely they could help with medications and such. And because they are very charismatic, June bought the story hook, line, and sinker, praising them for their charity and directing them to Dr. Bumby’s office. I left it off with the trio successfully escaping the kitchen and their first obstacle toward getting that ledger – tomorrow, Victor asks how the hell Smiler even DOES that. XD
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Half check – thanks to Game Night running a touch long (we played a bunch of Sequence tonight, and both the first and last games took a while – Mom won four games, Dad won three, and I won two) and me really wanting to make sure I got in my “A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded” chunklet above, I only had time for one of the two videos in there. And, as is my wont, I picked GrayStillPlays and “Boat Cars vs Impossible Loops in GTA 5!” A Torture Board where Gray didn’t have to find out which of the boat cars he was given could complete all of the challenges, or which one earned the most points across all the challenges – nope, this one was purely all about figuring out which car or combination of cars could complete which horrible loops! Which included:
I. The opening Minecraft loop (which Gray had to do TWICE with two different submarine cars, because the trick here was, at the very end – past a jump through Reginald’s legs, and right before the checkpoint – was a teleporter covering a big old gap that would teleport Gray backwards if he tried to drive through it. Gray thus had to blast the one car across the teleporter gap using the other car’s boost, and then use a yeeter in the water below to yeet himself to the other car so he could actually get the checkpoint)
II. A LEGO loop (which multiple cars could do – so long as Gray could avoid hitting the LEGO studs – but only the quad could truly complete, as there was the world’s narrowest thumbnail hole before the checkpoint at the end)
III. A Planetary Loop (where Gray had to go around the rings of a sideways Saturn and knock a couple of rocks out of the way to open up a crate beneath the water to get the next checkpoint – the boost car proved to be the right one here, both for the speed to do the loops (and get himself back in the challenge area should he get knocked out) and the missiles to smash through the final layer of plywood in front of the checkpoint)
IV. And the closing Moving Loop (where Gray had to figure out the timing to do the loop and land on one of three platforms, and from there figure out which one had the actual teleporter to the win – Gray ended up getting it with the non-boosty submarine car, and on the second platform! Once he managed to land on it, anyway XD)
So yeah – fairly complicated board! Though it is interesting to see one that’s just a puzzle of “which cars can do what things” instead of ranking them or finding out which one is the Chosen One. Mixes things up a bit, I appreciate it. :)
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check and check again –
Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – Updated the “Valicer Not-Incorrect Quotes Valentine’s Day Edition” post with the gift that I decided Alice would get Smiler – a small plush of a yellow-banded poison dart frog, since she knows frogs are their favorite animals and yellow is their favorite color. :) So that’s all the presents sorted – now I just have to write the scenes!
Valice Multiverse – Actually had something to chuck in the queue tonight! An ask from Toonsisters, featuring a picture of a “shorse” (a shark head on a horse body – it is as weird as it sounds) and her noting that such a combination was a scary idea. Cuddlepile!Victor was just “…” while Smiler asked Alice when it would be showing up in Wonderland, with Alice responding that she wasn’t sure yet where it would fit, given the creature combination on display. XD I guess a shark thing would have to be part of the Deluded Depths, right? Ah, but the horse body really makes it seem like a land creature...hmmmm…
Aaand I just got distracted for like a good half-hour looking at old Chill Valicer Save screenshots and being all nostalgic -- like, watching their house slowly but surely morph into its final version, seeing all the adventures they had...I really loved that save file. It was a good time. *sigh* Eventually I will be able to set up its successor, the Tiny Fandom Town save... But for now, I really do need to get to bed. Tomorrow is a full Cleaning & Laundry Saturday, bleh -- but I hope to also play some more Baldur's Gate III (and get through the encounter with the mind flayer and rescuing Gale at least); work some more on A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded (and get the gang into Alice's room at least); and keep up with my YouTube Subs (Josh Way and the latest GrayStillPlays at least). We'll see how that all pans out! Night all!
