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Twitchy Grumpy Monday
Apr. 14th, 2025 11:52 pmYeah, it's unfortunately been one of those days where I'm kinda twitchy and oddly grumpy for no real reason. Like, I woke up, and my brain decided "okay, any minor thing that annoys you is really gonna tick you off today." *sighs* Really don't know what's up with that, but I'm hoping I'm out of it by tomorrow. In the meantime, here is the write-up:
Work – It was an all right start to the work week, even with me getting ultra-annoyed by little things – I spent the morning doing the GL and looking through the latest batch of exceptions we got back from the processing company, and the afternoon doing some credit card stuff (figuring out why a guy couldn’t see his full giving history and taking a couple of calls) and a QC file for the next capital campaign pledge billing. Nothing majorly exciting – just complicated enough that whenever I was interrupted, it was particularly irritating. Plus I had to deal with my coworker just – not reading things or paying attention to what she took out of the exceptions. *sigh* At least Talky Coworker is out for this week – I might have flipped my lid if I’d had to listen to HER bullshit. We’ll see if tomorrow is any better!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, returning to James Turner for “Trying to get rich from nectar in The Sims 1 (Part 2)!” Yes, having read in the comments of the first video that nectar can be a pretty solid moneymaker in the first game, James decided to have Old Semaj give it a go! While keeping his nurse job, juuuust as a safety net. XD Here’s the highlights from the first chunklet:
A) Semaj visiting Magic Town and – after getting shut down for even friendly conversation by Fairy Queen Mara – grabbing two grape vines and two elderberry sprigs to grow off the side of his house! And I mean that literally, because James ended up building a little barn-like extension where the veggie garden used to be to house the grape vines and elderberry bushes, the nectar maker, and his scarecrow. The game TECHNICALLY doesn’t let you place garden plots inside, but James got around that by building most of the walls, moving the plants into the technically-outdoors area, then finishing off the extension. XD The plants are growing, so yeah, good for him for cheating the system!
B) Semaj having another couple of dates with Iled! Though unfortunately, going out and about on the town with her remains a bit, uh, JANKY to say the least – his first attempt to take her downtown to a fancy restaurant resulted in the game crashing when James tried to look something up (pro tip: if you have the re-release of The Sims, don’t alt-tab out of it to look at other things), and the SECOND attempt to take her to that same restaurant resulted in Iled freezing in place in the booth (fortunately Semaj stayed active, so he just had his salad and then left). Fortunately, them visiting Old Town went much smoother, as they had a nice espresso at one of the fancier lots before indulging in their first peck. Though Iled was NOT willing to go much farther than that, as Old Semaj quickly found out. XD But they have a mutual crush and their “daily” relationship is pretty high, so that’s good! We’ll see if she actually moves in anytime soon!
C) Semaj having to deal with more crashes when suddenly he found himself unable to visit Magic Town again via his beloved hole in the ground! Which wouldn’t have been SUCH a problem if Magic Town wasn’t the only place Semaj could buy the precious sugar necessary to make nectar. *grimacing* Weirdly enough, though, Semaj didn’t have any trouble visiting OTHER lots during that time (indulging in some late-night basketball in Old Town), and Iled could get to Magic Town just fine. And after James moved the hole and waited for a little bit, problem cleared itself up. *scratches head* I – genuinely don’t know what was going on there. At least Semaj was able to get his sugar in the end!
D) And Semaj turning his first grape and elderberry harvests into nectar with his recently-purchased sugar! :D So far, the bottles he makes are selling for $50 a pop – not spectacular, but it is a nice little boost to the income he gets from his nurse job. Especially since he can’t yet advance in that because he needs another friend and some Body skill. Game, Semaj doesn’t have TIME to socialize and work out, he’s got nectar to make, damn it. :p
So yeah – maybe not the best start to this episode, what with all the crashing, but at least this money-making venture looks more viable than the old vegetable garden! Though when I left off, Semaj had just set his stove on fire again, so, uh, that’s not great. XD We’ll see how things progress with him (and Iled) tomorrow!
2. Start final edits on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Chapter 4: Check – got through roughly the first eight-and-a-half pages of thirty-six tonight, covering Alice’s conversation with Victor before she left the apartment; Alice finding the decapitated and mostly-dismembered corpse of Milton in the crumbling warehouse near the Last Round; Alice getting the story of what happened from the witness to said crime (and convincing him to keep his mouth shut), finding the Luckee Star Motel keycard near the corpse, and telling Jack all about it; and Alice descending into the sewer after her plaguebearer prey, getting a hand from Mock Turtle in navigating the storm drains to him. *nods* Not a bad start – tomorrow, we should get through the fight with Brother Kanker and hopefully Alice finding her way over to the Brotherhood Of The Ninth Circle headquarters!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – just the one GrayStillPlays video today, “Testing paddle cars vs deep waters in GTA 5!” Yes, in their ongoing quest to Test Weird Tires On Vehicles, the GTA V Torture Team gave Gray an armored paddle tank, the Technical boat-truck with paddle wheels, and a Paddle Sherp, and four challenges to see which cars could perform which tasks. No rankings, no points to earn, just “test the cars and see which ones win which challenges.” So, what did Gray have to conquer, and which cars won each test? Well, in order, we had:
I. A set of underwater speedbumps (of varying heights) that Gray had to race over in 73 seconds to reach the checkpoint – he found that all of the cars were a lot faster than normal with their paddle wheels, but only the Technical Paddle Boat-Truck had the speed and agility to reach the end in the time limit (and even then, only on a perfect run)
II. A set of “leap the gap” challenges designed to test how much speed the cars retained in the water (by having them get up to speed on land, then go through the ocean for a bit before making the jump into the cut-out with the landing platform) – all the cars struggled with this, but after using the power of curb-boosting, riding the waves for extra height, and ramping off the backs of orcas, Gray was able to get the Technical Paddle Boat-Truck past all three jumps, yay
III. A “climb this very sheer rock sticking out of the water” challenge – in this case, all three cars acquitted themselves surprisingly well (paddles are shockingly good at climbing things!), but it was the Armored Paddle Tank that was able to make it all the way to the top and into the teleporter bubble
IV. And an UNDERWATER WALL RIDE complete with a shrinking ribbon section; seaweed, weird bumps, and buoys for Gray to dodge; jetskis and wind turbines for him to avoid; and a jump at the end that he had to come off REALLY low or else he’d get stuck in the final tube, inches away from the precious teleporter bubble – and shockingly, the PADDLE SHERP was the winner here, having not just enough speed, but enough downforce to stick to the sideways wall. Gray had to try QUITE a few times to get through all the obstacles and get that ending jump just right, yes, but he did manage it, and so the Sherp got the pleasure of driving through the winning circle! :D We do love to see our favorite FailBox winning. Even if technically the Technical Paddle Boat-Truck was the true champion, what with taking two challenges out of the four. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: N/A – it was a Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler)-only night tonight, and it being Monday, I didn’t really have anything to do for the queue. Plus I didn’t really have the time to work on any drafts anyway, because as usual things took longer than I thought and I kept getting distracted by stuff. Meh. Well, extra free time is coming soon, I’ll see if I can take advantage of that!
I guess not too bad a Monday -- I just wish the grumpy hadn't hit me so hard during all of it. But again, hoping things are better tomorrow. Let's see if I can get things off to a better start by getting to bed a little earlier -- night all!
Work – It was an all right start to the work week, even with me getting ultra-annoyed by little things – I spent the morning doing the GL and looking through the latest batch of exceptions we got back from the processing company, and the afternoon doing some credit card stuff (figuring out why a guy couldn’t see his full giving history and taking a couple of calls) and a QC file for the next capital campaign pledge billing. Nothing majorly exciting – just complicated enough that whenever I was interrupted, it was particularly irritating. Plus I had to deal with my coworker just – not reading things or paying attention to what she took out of the exceptions. *sigh* At least Talky Coworker is out for this week – I might have flipped my lid if I’d had to listen to HER bullshit. We’ll see if tomorrow is any better!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, returning to James Turner for “Trying to get rich from nectar in The Sims 1 (Part 2)!” Yes, having read in the comments of the first video that nectar can be a pretty solid moneymaker in the first game, James decided to have Old Semaj give it a go! While keeping his nurse job, juuuust as a safety net. XD Here’s the highlights from the first chunklet:
A) Semaj visiting Magic Town and – after getting shut down for even friendly conversation by Fairy Queen Mara – grabbing two grape vines and two elderberry sprigs to grow off the side of his house! And I mean that literally, because James ended up building a little barn-like extension where the veggie garden used to be to house the grape vines and elderberry bushes, the nectar maker, and his scarecrow. The game TECHNICALLY doesn’t let you place garden plots inside, but James got around that by building most of the walls, moving the plants into the technically-outdoors area, then finishing off the extension. XD The plants are growing, so yeah, good for him for cheating the system!
B) Semaj having another couple of dates with Iled! Though unfortunately, going out and about on the town with her remains a bit, uh, JANKY to say the least – his first attempt to take her downtown to a fancy restaurant resulted in the game crashing when James tried to look something up (pro tip: if you have the re-release of The Sims, don’t alt-tab out of it to look at other things), and the SECOND attempt to take her to that same restaurant resulted in Iled freezing in place in the booth (fortunately Semaj stayed active, so he just had his salad and then left). Fortunately, them visiting Old Town went much smoother, as they had a nice espresso at one of the fancier lots before indulging in their first peck. Though Iled was NOT willing to go much farther than that, as Old Semaj quickly found out. XD But they have a mutual crush and their “daily” relationship is pretty high, so that’s good! We’ll see if she actually moves in anytime soon!
C) Semaj having to deal with more crashes when suddenly he found himself unable to visit Magic Town again via his beloved hole in the ground! Which wouldn’t have been SUCH a problem if Magic Town wasn’t the only place Semaj could buy the precious sugar necessary to make nectar. *grimacing* Weirdly enough, though, Semaj didn’t have any trouble visiting OTHER lots during that time (indulging in some late-night basketball in Old Town), and Iled could get to Magic Town just fine. And after James moved the hole and waited for a little bit, problem cleared itself up. *scratches head* I – genuinely don’t know what was going on there. At least Semaj was able to get his sugar in the end!
D) And Semaj turning his first grape and elderberry harvests into nectar with his recently-purchased sugar! :D So far, the bottles he makes are selling for $50 a pop – not spectacular, but it is a nice little boost to the income he gets from his nurse job. Especially since he can’t yet advance in that because he needs another friend and some Body skill. Game, Semaj doesn’t have TIME to socialize and work out, he’s got nectar to make, damn it. :p
So yeah – maybe not the best start to this episode, what with all the crashing, but at least this money-making venture looks more viable than the old vegetable garden! Though when I left off, Semaj had just set his stove on fire again, so, uh, that’s not great. XD We’ll see how things progress with him (and Iled) tomorrow!
2. Start final edits on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Chapter 4: Check – got through roughly the first eight-and-a-half pages of thirty-six tonight, covering Alice’s conversation with Victor before she left the apartment; Alice finding the decapitated and mostly-dismembered corpse of Milton in the crumbling warehouse near the Last Round; Alice getting the story of what happened from the witness to said crime (and convincing him to keep his mouth shut), finding the Luckee Star Motel keycard near the corpse, and telling Jack all about it; and Alice descending into the sewer after her plaguebearer prey, getting a hand from Mock Turtle in navigating the storm drains to him. *nods* Not a bad start – tomorrow, we should get through the fight with Brother Kanker and hopefully Alice finding her way over to the Brotherhood Of The Ninth Circle headquarters!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – just the one GrayStillPlays video today, “Testing paddle cars vs deep waters in GTA 5!” Yes, in their ongoing quest to Test Weird Tires On Vehicles, the GTA V Torture Team gave Gray an armored paddle tank, the Technical boat-truck with paddle wheels, and a Paddle Sherp, and four challenges to see which cars could perform which tasks. No rankings, no points to earn, just “test the cars and see which ones win which challenges.” So, what did Gray have to conquer, and which cars won each test? Well, in order, we had:
I. A set of underwater speedbumps (of varying heights) that Gray had to race over in 73 seconds to reach the checkpoint – he found that all of the cars were a lot faster than normal with their paddle wheels, but only the Technical Paddle Boat-Truck had the speed and agility to reach the end in the time limit (and even then, only on a perfect run)
II. A set of “leap the gap” challenges designed to test how much speed the cars retained in the water (by having them get up to speed on land, then go through the ocean for a bit before making the jump into the cut-out with the landing platform) – all the cars struggled with this, but after using the power of curb-boosting, riding the waves for extra height, and ramping off the backs of orcas, Gray was able to get the Technical Paddle Boat-Truck past all three jumps, yay
III. A “climb this very sheer rock sticking out of the water” challenge – in this case, all three cars acquitted themselves surprisingly well (paddles are shockingly good at climbing things!), but it was the Armored Paddle Tank that was able to make it all the way to the top and into the teleporter bubble
IV. And an UNDERWATER WALL RIDE complete with a shrinking ribbon section; seaweed, weird bumps, and buoys for Gray to dodge; jetskis and wind turbines for him to avoid; and a jump at the end that he had to come off REALLY low or else he’d get stuck in the final tube, inches away from the precious teleporter bubble – and shockingly, the PADDLE SHERP was the winner here, having not just enough speed, but enough downforce to stick to the sideways wall. Gray had to try QUITE a few times to get through all the obstacles and get that ending jump just right, yes, but he did manage it, and so the Sherp got the pleasure of driving through the winning circle! :D We do love to see our favorite FailBox winning. Even if technically the Technical Paddle Boat-Truck was the true champion, what with taking two challenges out of the four. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: N/A – it was a Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler)-only night tonight, and it being Monday, I didn’t really have anything to do for the queue. Plus I didn’t really have the time to work on any drafts anyway, because as usual things took longer than I thought and I kept getting distracted by stuff. Meh. Well, extra free time is coming soon, I’ll see if I can take advantage of that!
I guess not too bad a Monday -- I just wish the grumpy hadn't hit me so hard during all of it. But again, hoping things are better tomorrow. Let's see if I can get things off to a better start by getting to bed a little earlier -- night all!
