Ori's Orations

There's not too much to report in this belated Sunday Picspam, but I did do a little bit of playing. Mostly I waffled between knowing I should be working on the update and wanting to play. So I didn't really do much of either.

What playing I did do, though, involved lots and lots of kid parties.



( As Nanny Kendal can attest, they were more than a little chaotic... )

Hey look! It's a two-for-one special! You're getting Sunday Picspam combined with Behind the Scenes "footage"! Okay, so maybe it's not that special and some of you would have preferred to get Behind the Scenes stuff and then also get Sunday Picspam. I figured it would be easier just to combine the two.

I was actually hoping to cover more in 4.10, but when I pulled the pictures I already had and estimated what I would need for plotty scenes and filler pics, I had over 220 slides. For most people this would mean a double update, but not for me. I've tried to do the double update thing and I fail every time. Once I've got one half finished, I can't wait. I upload it and then take a week or so to get the other half done. 4.11 will be coming before the end of the month, but I'm going to be gone next weekend and I still need to do some of the staged scenes.

So, on to the blather about 4.10!



( First up, Boy's Night Out! )

Picspam is a little light this week. I spent some time going through the pictures I had and pulling the ones I think I'm going to need for the next update. That was then compared to my outline, so I know what scenes I still need to shoot. There's still quite a bit to go, but I'm fairly happy with what I have so far.

A little bit of what I was doing involved playing my simself's house. It felt wrong without any cats, so my simself now has simpet versions of Malakhi and Pashenko.



( More ramblings about simpets and Headmasters within... )

Hey look! It's Sunday Picspam on a Sunday. That's a first, isn't it?

With the holidays over, I finally had a weekend to myself. Friday gaming was canceled due to colds and flu-like symptoms. I still went out to dinner with some friends and played a bit of Wii at one of their houses. Beyond that, most of the weekend was spent either taking down and packing up Christmas decorations or simming.

This was the first time I'd actually had a chance to PLAY in the new neighborhood. I'd obviously done lots of work getting things set up and I'd staged several scenes in the new 'hood, but for the most part, I hadn't just played.



Oz was quite pleased to actually be played since this meant he got to learn all his toddler skills. Again.

( Cut for obvious reasons and spoilerish stuff from 4.9 )

No holiday themes here. Yet. I've been loving the holiday photoshoots that everyone has been doing, but I haven't quite found the time to put something together yet. It's been a crazy busy time of the year, but that's generally expected about now, isn't it?

For the first time in six years, my dad is going to get to spend Christmas Day/Eve with my brother and I. It's also the first time he'll be staying with me while he's up here, so I've been trying to make sure the apartment is as presentable as possible. I want to make this as nice as possible.

In sim type news, I've been plugging away at getting Chapter 4.9 together. There were a lot more pictures I needed to get than I originally realized. Partially because I didn't take the pictures I needed and partially because I decided I wanted to reshoot certain scenes. There's also been some little stuff to continue doing with the rebuild.



"Uh, who are you and why are you giving me presents?"

( Like finishing up some of the portraits. )

Anyway, that's all for today. It's looking more and more likely I won't have an update ready to go by Christmas, but it should still be before the new year. I want to get out at least one more update before the end of the year. :)

I had intended to do picspam this weekend, but between the virus and my work's holiday party, it didn't even come close to happening. Lucky for you, that just means you get Sunday Picspam a couple of days late.



Here's New Terra Lostundo. One of the reasons why the rebuild has taken so long is that I spent quite a bit of time making sure the hood itself was going to be as useable as possible while still keeping things where they were. This meant I spent time smoothing the roads and terrains out and making sure I could fit in as many houses as I wanted to.

Over on the right hand side, you can see Legacina Main. Up on the hill above it is the Walton house, while closer to the lake is the Thompson house. I write that the Walton house is actually far away, but it's probably physically the closest populated home to the main house. Also on the right side of the screen is the 'business district' of the neighborhood. That's where all of Matthew's businesses are located, as well as a couple of others I built. Adrian and Adrian actually own a flower shop there.

Speaking of unpopulated houses, I've got placed in there some of my own houses, some houses I downloaded and some I built specifically on these lots. I've got a few empty lots placed down to reserve unique locations. When I want a distraction, I'll probably head into those lots and build something to make it look a little more populated.

You're probably bored with my rambling about the neighborhood, aren't you?

( Well, I'm never going to let you down when it comes to regular picspam. )

I'm currently working on 4.9. I had wanted to have it out by Christmas, but with losing a whole day to the virus, I'm not sure if that is going to be feasible now. I'm still going to try, though. I've got a bunch of scenes I need to shoot to get what I didn't get the first time around or pad scenes that I need padded. There's also one plotty scene I need to shoot that may take a little time.

Anyway, that's where things stand for now. :)

I've had a chance to play the Fall rotation among some houses. I was debating on how to do this since a couple of chronological things caused me to second guess myself.

First, Star was the first Gen 5 kid born in the neighborhood. By the order I was playing houses, though, Jacob was going to grow up into teen first. This made me hesitate. In the end, I decided it'd be close enough for horseshoes and sims playing.

( So, without further ado, allow me to present ... )

Click on the link to be taken to the update. Oof. Finally done.

I'll probably do a Behind-The-Scenes tomorrow night or Monday. Tomorrow afternoon I have a two-year-old's birthday to go to. The rest of tonight is intended to recuperate. ;)