Weekend Randomness
May. 4th, 2008 04:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orikesCAR STUFF
Friday, I went out and did some test driving with my friend Rudy. Since my Dad is out of state, Rudy gets to play surrogate 'man in my life'. He might as well be a brother, so it works out well.
We first went to the Nissan dealership. We got a very new dealer who was obviously a little nervous, but nice enough. They're kinda cool when they're still new, before they've learned the shark mentality. Anyway, we took the Rogue out on the road.
I like it. A lot. We took out the base model, so it had nothing fancy with it. Everything in the version we test drove is standard, so no disappointing surprises if I decide to get one. It was a really smooth ride and everything felt very comfortable. From the seat to the way the controls worked. It took me a couple of moments to figure out the wipers and lights and all that, but that's pretty normal in an unfamiliar car. After I was done, Rudy hopped in and put it through its paces. The dealer actually buckled up in the backseat at that point. I felt a little bad for him, but I trust Rudy's opinion on the car, and he liked this one for the most part.
Next, we stopped in at a Saturn dealership and took a Vue out. I've always liked the look of the view, and I rented one a few years ago to drive from here to Columbus. I have to say, though, this one didn't compare to the Rogue. I liked the Rogue much better.
Ultimately, the Rogue is a little cheaper, better on gas mileage, and more comfortable. If it came down to those two vehicles, the Rogue wins hands down. I'm still a little uncertain about being able to afford the Rogue, but the more I look at things, the more I think I can do it. I'm going to try my bank for financing first, but I'll still see what the dealership financing will offer me, in case it's better.
MOVIE STUFF
Last night, I tried to meet up with a couple of friends to see Iron Man, but I got to the theater too late and couldn't get a ticket for the showing they were already in. Fooey. So, I decided to go see it as a matinee today.
I really liked it. I don't know that it had the same rush for me as the first Spiderman film, and I'm not nearly as emotionally invested in Iron Man as I was the X-men, but this one ranks right up there with my other favorite comic book movies. Robert Downey Jr. was perfect as Tony Stark (though I don't remember Stark being quite that glib in the comics). If you go see it, you MUST stay through the credits if you're a comic book fan. If you don't, you miss a great little teaser.
One thing I was thinking when I came out of the theater was how glad I am that my generation has started making movies. The geeks have gained enough of a standing to make the movies we've wanted to see for years. It seems like most of the storylines adapted to the big screen are based more on the stories that ran in the 1980's. Either way, it makes me happy.
SIM STUFF
I got a bit of random playing done this weekend. Pretty much all my main houses in the neighborhood are caught up to the beginning of summer. The only one that isn't is Ian's. I paused him in mid-Spring to try and figure out what I need to do from here to coordinate the next bit of plottiness to pull my hair out.
I also took some time to try and figure out a problem I've been having for awhile. Since the 'hood was stuck in permanent winter, I didn't really have much experience with growing vegetables or fishing. Now that spring is here, I've tried doing some gardening and fishing. I quickly learned that my fridges were all broke and no fresh food could be made from them.
I asked Jenn (Ndainye) about it, but she wasn't sure what it might be, so she suggested I ask over at MATY. So I did. And got the typical "Did you pull your downloads?" response. I got irritated, and then realized... no. I didn't pull my downloads. Oy vey. I should know better.
So, I pulled my downloads and opened the game. I popped into a placeholder lot to test things out. With no downloads, she could cook fish. Okay, all downloads except hacks. She could cook fish. I dropped half of my hacks back in the game. She couldn't cook fish. Hrm. I fiddled with this until I narrowed it down to three of TwoJeff's hacks. Checking out his site, I was shocked to discover that I had two very out of date hacks related to the fridge. I don't know which one was causing the problem, but once I updated both of them, my test subject could cook fish.
Now gardening and fishing will actually mean something in my game. Yay.
The test subject I used was an early placeholder named Misty Braeder. I think she might have hosted 2.2 or 2.3. I made her in CAS back before I had enough other folks in the neighborhood to serve as placeholders. I also created her to help me do something specific.
Add puppies and kittens to the adoption pool. In fact...
George and Wheezy there are Buttercup's parents. Wheezy is the one that looks just like Buttercup and George is the blonder one. I was actually expecting Buttercup to look more like him, which would have made her name make so much more sense. Alas..
The cat you see there is Andy. He's a ragdoll, which is one of the Sim breeds I adore. Since occasionally sims want kittens rather than full grown cats, I decided to try and get some Ragdolls in the mix.
So Misty also was trying to breed Annie and Andy. Unfortunately, Annie was a right bitch to Andy and just wouldn't make friends with him. She was 100/100 with both George and Wheezy, but constantly fighting with Andy. It was like she knew what I wanted and wouldn't help.
At some point, when I last played this house, I penned Annie and Andy up together in an attempt to force them to get friendly. As I mucked around trying to fix my fridge problem, I spent enough time there that their relationship finally got better.
Of course, that didn't stop her two kittens from running away from her as fast as they could once they arrived. Now I've got two ragdoll kittens waiting in the adoption pool for the next time I decide to get someone a kitten.
Another interesting tidbit I confirmed during this play session is that Grimlock is a man skank. I don't care that his aspiration is Knowledge. Misty is the SECOND placeholder that I've got him hanging around and sexing up with ACR. When I wrote him being a skank with Sophie, it was because that was how he is when Kirstial isn't around.
When he and Kirsti are together, they're all over one another. But whenever I'm out playing other houses, he shows up and gets himself some from the other single ladies in the 'hood. Misty is family, so we all know what she wants out of the relationship. I actually turned on the ACR option that lets unmarried sims try for baby. I didn't realize it was there until I poked at it tonight. If she does happen to get herself knocked up, that's definitely going into an update.
I also caught Tamara being a skank tonight, but I'll spare you the pictures. She's got Jake tagged as her one, but while I was playing Kirstial's house to work on Ophelia's LTW, I heard someone making out somewhere on the lot. I could see Kirsti and Opie right in front of me, so for a second I was afraid that Grimlock and Tamara were getting it on despite their lack of boltage. I found her in the bathroom with some strange guy I didn't even know was on the lot. I think he might have been one of her starter friends that townies and dormies get before they move in. This guy must have been outgoing enough to let himself in the house when he did a walk-by.
Tamara gets a bit abused by me. I'm not trying to fulfill her LTW (Earn $100k), and I'm actively trying to make sure she ages up in the green. I don't ever fulfill any of her wants on purpose, and I really do use her as a servant in their house. I think I'm still angry at her for almost ruining Zoey and Christian's marriage. I don't consider myself as a vindictive person, but she gets what little I do have in me.
I'm probably going to be working on Day One of the BC before I do another Pseudo update. No guarantees on when I'll have it finished, but I'm hoping to start writing this week. I just need a couple more pictures and a cover and I'll have all the images done.
Anyway, enough rambling. Time for bed.
Friday, I went out and did some test driving with my friend Rudy. Since my Dad is out of state, Rudy gets to play surrogate 'man in my life'. He might as well be a brother, so it works out well.
We first went to the Nissan dealership. We got a very new dealer who was obviously a little nervous, but nice enough. They're kinda cool when they're still new, before they've learned the shark mentality. Anyway, we took the Rogue out on the road.
I like it. A lot. We took out the base model, so it had nothing fancy with it. Everything in the version we test drove is standard, so no disappointing surprises if I decide to get one. It was a really smooth ride and everything felt very comfortable. From the seat to the way the controls worked. It took me a couple of moments to figure out the wipers and lights and all that, but that's pretty normal in an unfamiliar car. After I was done, Rudy hopped in and put it through its paces. The dealer actually buckled up in the backseat at that point. I felt a little bad for him, but I trust Rudy's opinion on the car, and he liked this one for the most part.
Next, we stopped in at a Saturn dealership and took a Vue out. I've always liked the look of the view, and I rented one a few years ago to drive from here to Columbus. I have to say, though, this one didn't compare to the Rogue. I liked the Rogue much better.
Ultimately, the Rogue is a little cheaper, better on gas mileage, and more comfortable. If it came down to those two vehicles, the Rogue wins hands down. I'm still a little uncertain about being able to afford the Rogue, but the more I look at things, the more I think I can do it. I'm going to try my bank for financing first, but I'll still see what the dealership financing will offer me, in case it's better.
MOVIE STUFF
Last night, I tried to meet up with a couple of friends to see Iron Man, but I got to the theater too late and couldn't get a ticket for the showing they were already in. Fooey. So, I decided to go see it as a matinee today.
I really liked it. I don't know that it had the same rush for me as the first Spiderman film, and I'm not nearly as emotionally invested in Iron Man as I was the X-men, but this one ranks right up there with my other favorite comic book movies. Robert Downey Jr. was perfect as Tony Stark (though I don't remember Stark being quite that glib in the comics). If you go see it, you MUST stay through the credits if you're a comic book fan. If you don't, you miss a great little teaser.
One thing I was thinking when I came out of the theater was how glad I am that my generation has started making movies. The geeks have gained enough of a standing to make the movies we've wanted to see for years. It seems like most of the storylines adapted to the big screen are based more on the stories that ran in the 1980's. Either way, it makes me happy.
SIM STUFF
I got a bit of random playing done this weekend. Pretty much all my main houses in the neighborhood are caught up to the beginning of summer. The only one that isn't is Ian's. I paused him in mid-Spring to try and figure out what I need to do from here to coordinate the next bit of plottiness to pull my hair out.
I also took some time to try and figure out a problem I've been having for awhile. Since the 'hood was stuck in permanent winter, I didn't really have much experience with growing vegetables or fishing. Now that spring is here, I've tried doing some gardening and fishing. I quickly learned that my fridges were all broke and no fresh food could be made from them.
I asked Jenn (Ndainye) about it, but she wasn't sure what it might be, so she suggested I ask over at MATY. So I did. And got the typical "Did you pull your downloads?" response. I got irritated, and then realized... no. I didn't pull my downloads. Oy vey. I should know better.
So, I pulled my downloads and opened the game. I popped into a placeholder lot to test things out. With no downloads, she could cook fish. Okay, all downloads except hacks. She could cook fish. I dropped half of my hacks back in the game. She couldn't cook fish. Hrm. I fiddled with this until I narrowed it down to three of TwoJeff's hacks. Checking out his site, I was shocked to discover that I had two very out of date hacks related to the fridge. I don't know which one was causing the problem, but once I updated both of them, my test subject could cook fish.
Now gardening and fishing will actually mean something in my game. Yay.
The test subject I used was an early placeholder named Misty Braeder. I think she might have hosted 2.2 or 2.3. I made her in CAS back before I had enough other folks in the neighborhood to serve as placeholders. I also created her to help me do something specific.
Add puppies and kittens to the adoption pool. In fact...
George and Wheezy there are Buttercup's parents. Wheezy is the one that looks just like Buttercup and George is the blonder one. I was actually expecting Buttercup to look more like him, which would have made her name make so much more sense. Alas..
The cat you see there is Andy. He's a ragdoll, which is one of the Sim breeds I adore. Since occasionally sims want kittens rather than full grown cats, I decided to try and get some Ragdolls in the mix.
So Misty also was trying to breed Annie and Andy. Unfortunately, Annie was a right bitch to Andy and just wouldn't make friends with him. She was 100/100 with both George and Wheezy, but constantly fighting with Andy. It was like she knew what I wanted and wouldn't help.
At some point, when I last played this house, I penned Annie and Andy up together in an attempt to force them to get friendly. As I mucked around trying to fix my fridge problem, I spent enough time there that their relationship finally got better.
Of course, that didn't stop her two kittens from running away from her as fast as they could once they arrived. Now I've got two ragdoll kittens waiting in the adoption pool for the next time I decide to get someone a kitten.
Another interesting tidbit I confirmed during this play session is that Grimlock is a man skank. I don't care that his aspiration is Knowledge. Misty is the SECOND placeholder that I've got him hanging around and sexing up with ACR. When I wrote him being a skank with Sophie, it was because that was how he is when Kirstial isn't around.
When he and Kirsti are together, they're all over one another. But whenever I'm out playing other houses, he shows up and gets himself some from the other single ladies in the 'hood. Misty is family, so we all know what she wants out of the relationship. I actually turned on the ACR option that lets unmarried sims try for baby. I didn't realize it was there until I poked at it tonight. If she does happen to get herself knocked up, that's definitely going into an update.
I also caught Tamara being a skank tonight, but I'll spare you the pictures. She's got Jake tagged as her one, but while I was playing Kirstial's house to work on Ophelia's LTW, I heard someone making out somewhere on the lot. I could see Kirsti and Opie right in front of me, so for a second I was afraid that Grimlock and Tamara were getting it on despite their lack of boltage. I found her in the bathroom with some strange guy I didn't even know was on the lot. I think he might have been one of her starter friends that townies and dormies get before they move in. This guy must have been outgoing enough to let himself in the house when he did a walk-by.
Tamara gets a bit abused by me. I'm not trying to fulfill her LTW (Earn $100k), and I'm actively trying to make sure she ages up in the green. I don't ever fulfill any of her wants on purpose, and I really do use her as a servant in their house. I think I'm still angry at her for almost ruining Zoey and Christian's marriage. I don't consider myself as a vindictive person, but she gets what little I do have in me.
I'm probably going to be working on Day One of the BC before I do another Pseudo update. No guarantees on when I'll have it finished, but I'm hoping to start writing this week. I just need a couple more pictures and a cover and I'll have all the images done.
Anyway, enough rambling. Time for bed.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 06:18 pm (UTC)ACR is apparently a major force in your game. I feel bad for Tamara, but you're right. She deserves her servant duties. The dogs are all adorable. I can't wait to see Ian's plotiness, (Though he does annoy me with hie intense emo-ness) and The BC! I am all kinds of excited. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 06:56 pm (UTC)It's funny... even though Rogue was one of my favorite characters from the comics, I could accept the changes they made to her character. But what they did to Scott? I kept thinking, "THAT'S NOT HOW IT HAPPENED! WTF people!?!?"
ACR does play a fairly major factor, but I try and keep it under control where I can. I'm very leery of letting married couples cheat on one another. It really needs to be in their character for me to let it happen (or they need to be faster than I am). Sanjay Ramaswami is also a man skank. Victoria actually cheated on Charlie once with Sanjay after she brought him home from work. I was doing something with the kids and then I heard the crushing hearts noise. Grrr. I just pretended it didn't happen. Then more recently, I caught Miranda and Sanjay in someone's hot tub together.
Of course, Miranda is a really desired piece of realestate. She actually did fool around with Xavier in addition to Sanjay. The other one I've had to watch like a hawk, believe it or not, is Flavius! When she was a teen, he started making the moves on her (this was before I figured out how to disable teen-adult interactions) and then at her graduation party, I caught him naked and relaxing in one of the bedrooms. I canceled it in her queue and continued on with the party. I really need to get that boy fixed up with the professor.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 07:53 pm (UTC)I wanted to add ACR, but I am playing for points, and by the old rules(when ACR was still a twinkle in twojeffs' eyes) so that wouldn't really be acceptable. Its nice to see all the havoc it causes in other people's games though.
I'm gonna pretend not to know that about Charlie and Vic, they were one of the cutest couples ever. :)
AND I KNOW!! (About Scott) I was really upset. Like, he is one of my favorite characters. I know he was originally ~emo~ about it (I actually have the original Dark Phoenix Saga, my uncle gave it to me, I'm not sure how much its worth, but I don't want to sell... Anyway!) But SHE DID NOT KILL HIM. GRRRR.
(I'm actually kind of surprised that you like X-Men, girls don't usually like comics, much less ones as action packed as X-Men. M girl friends usually end up reading my old Avengers issues...)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 09:05 pm (UTC)Yay for kittens! My new kittens haven't been born yet. Since Praline has a lot of black fur, they might be very different.
Thanks for the review on Iron Man. I was thinking about taking a bit of time off this afternoon and going to see it. My little city actually recently put in an arts movie theatre--in the Village! Walking distance! YAY!--and though they show documentaries and arts films, they also show some "regular" movies. I was pleased to see that Iron Man was listed. So if you liked it, I'll definitely make the time :).
Good idea to go car shopping with another person. Don't be afraid to dicker a bit. Car sales are slumping big time, so they probably really want to make a sale. If there's another Nissan dealership anywhere near, make sure the price is competitive.
PB
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 09:19 pm (UTC)I stopped collecting when I was getting frustrated with the writers and the direction they were taking things and it was getting too expensive to justify. They'd maimed or destroyed too many of the characters I was fond of (mostly the New Mutants cast).
I was a pretty serious comic collector in general for a while. The X-books were my big draw, but I followed quite a few books for a while. On top of being a comic book geek, I'm also a gamer geek. I've been playing D&D since 1987. Before I got hooked on Sims2, I was a hardcore Everquest player. I think at my height, I was the top three rogue on my server. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 09:24 pm (UTC)Of course, looking at those plans, I'm thinking I've got enough plot for two updates when combined with the random family happenings going on. We'll see.. I need to get a few things shot and see how many slides I absolutely need to include.
I'm definitely taking Rudy with me when I go shopping shopping for a car. I'll probably call all the dealerships first and see what type of deal they're willing to tentatively offer over the phone. There's four in this county, and I'm betting there's at least one more a county over. I should be able to get a decent deal. I hope. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 09:33 pm (UTC)I totally know what you are referring to though, I know that they writers of those books did a lot of damage back in that day.
Oh really? I haven't played D&D... ever. And Everquest? That seemed cool, but I never really got into it.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 09:40 pm (UTC)I propose that a big reason X-3 sucked is because it was directed by Bret Ratner, the same guy who made Rush Hour 3. if you listen to the DVD commentary you can hear him making jokes about cleavage and progeria. a class act he is not.
anyway, those are the cutest sim doggies and kitties ever! :D that breed of dog always looks like it is smiling.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-04 10:58 pm (UTC)And yes, I agree with the Brett Ratner hate, grrr.
(I'm so sorry Orikes for the hijacking of your LJ, sorry! xP)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-12 08:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-12 09:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-12 09:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-14 01:49 am (UTC)Anyways, have fun and glad you fixed your downloads folder.