Confession of a Junkie

I have a confession to make. Not only am I a building addict and have plenty of build CC to keep me happy for 5 lifetimes, I'm also a... pattern junkie. GASP! Yes, I can't have enough patterns. I love color and changing everything about everything, from the pattern to the texture to the metal to the purpose. LOL It's madness! But I don't really have to stop because it's not a bad thing. I doubt my doctors will ever say, "If you want to live another 10 years, stop downloading patterns!" So phooey on them!

Erm... it looks like Iona passed inspection. That's my next lot of course, not a person. LOL This one... I dunno. I didn't get to decorate it all in one sitting and my moods changed. It will be obvious when you look at the rooms. Not that it's bad, just... varied. And there is a lot of coral/salmon/whatever. It's not pink, not orange, not red. It's... some sort of unnatural splatter of color. Quite girly, but maybe too much. The kitchen is good. I like the bedroom in plaid and floral. I don't usually do that and am not sure if it really works or not, but I thought I'd give it a try. I like the colors at least. And I went all itchy scratchy girly in the master bedroom with the fabrics and bed and furniture style. That fancy crap. I could not sleep in that room. But I'm not the one living there so it doesn't matter. As for the structure of the house, I like it. Very symmetrical. The carport is too cute and I love the ivy covered posts. Anyway, I hope somebody likes it. I have a sim in it and she's not planning on moving. Although she is living next to the Bunch household. They're better neighbors than I have.

I have been considering doing a lot with TSRAA stuff. I've always wanted to include stuff in my lots, but... I'm afraid I'll tick someone off or use something I shouldn't. A girl can only make so many notes about her CC before it's an absolute mess and lost cause. Guess I'll think on it some more. I mean I'm an outcast for "doing the right thing", having "high moral ground", an "overdeveloped sense of responsibility", and "standards". Huh. Can ya tell I've been analyzed a few thousand times? What would happen if I accidentally did something... shifty? Why, the next thing you know we'll all be living on an ice cube, naked, with squirrels for scarves. It could be total chaos. Fire, brimstone, and thundersnow!

Laugh. You know you want to. And one last tidbit of randomness...

"I want cake. Where is this cake? I was told there would be cake. The cake is a lie."

Kaitlyn

I usually blog about my lots so I guess I'll write a ditty about my latest lot, Kaitlyn. It's due out tomorrow. There isn't much to say about Kaitlyn since it's a small lot and fairly simple. What caught my eye when looking for floorplans was the entry bordered by two two-story pillars. It seemed a stylish touch for such a simple plan. I decided to go for girly girl decor. The living room and kitchen aren't too girly. A nice dark blue dominates those areas. The rest of the house though favors pinks and pastels. Not exactly my thing, but I like to challenge myself. You'll need Fast Lane for this one. I had fun in the garage, a tad. And the couch in the living room is from that pack. Not really much more to say. Small lot, great for a single mom or sisters moving out for the first time, or a very small family just starting out. Add a basement and you might fix any space problems your sims have as their family grows.

As for my next lot, I plan for that to be on the small size as well. I might try girly again. I dunno. Depends on my mood and how much I want to itch while decorating. I just don't do pink well. Or lace. Or ruffles. Or... girl things. Yep, I'm a girl, but I prefer brights and darks, or even sterile black and white, over pastels. I look good in pink but it is absent from my wardrobe. Maybe it's my older sister. She's all Mrs. Victorian. The more ruffles, lace, antiques, and embellishments, the better. Ugh. I can't stand it. Her home is beautiful though, I won't say it ain't. That's her thing though. I will allow bright pinks into my life, but they are still scrutinized and limited excessively. LOL I'm wearing a bright pink t-shirt now but it has Eeyore on it so he cancels it out. I love Eeyore.

Ahem, anyway, not too much else to say. I still want to try my hand at patterns. If I could mesh I'd add bangs to every flippin' hairstyle out there. I have bangs and I don't know what EA has against bangs. They're cute and make you look younger. I can never find a style for my selfsim. I can find lots of styles without bangs that resemble my hair, but alas, no bangs.

Oh, the random bit for the day. I found a pair of earrings in a catalog I was really tempted to order. They were... cookies! M&M cookies! There was a necklace too but I don't do necklaces. I've only had my ears pierced for less than 2 years. It was sort of a... spontaneous thing I did during a meltdown. I don't regret it though. I love dangley earrings best. Dunno why. If these were dangley cookie earrings they'd be on my ears right now. Since they were studs I could resist. And if nobody out there cares about this, that's fine. DOT will care.

And this post has gone down the stupid path so I guess I'm done.

Got the Build Bug

Good news! I have a new lot. Yep, finished it last night. I still have to let a sim run around in it for a bit, make tweaks if necessary, and then get photos and do all that techie crap to submit it. It's adorable and girly. Sort of. I do not do girly well. It's really hard for me, but I don't think I did too bad. Anyway, be looking for new lots from me soon.

It feels good to be back in simland. Even my son was relieved to hear I was building when he stopped over last night. I didn't know he was coming over. Gee, maybe my Dragon Age devotion was bothering him. LOL Nah, he just never got into the game that much and he likes me to do what he does. I'm such a bottomless well of knowledge when it comes to sims that he loves tapping my brain. I haven't gotten into Fast Lane yet. I looked at some of the stuff as I built but nothing more than that. I try to use as much base game stuff as I can when I build to keep it simple for people that download my stuff, but... some EP and Stuff Pack stuff sneaks in here and there.

And as I stated in an earlier post, I gutted my game files and started fresh after I installed Fast Lane. Ah, nothing like a fresh game. I'll start installing CC again soon. I do love that new game smell. MOODLET!

I don't have a lot of time to chat so this is a short post. I just wanted to reassure everyone that more will be coming from me again soon.

Back to Business

Good news for all you sim fans! The Dragon Age obsession has passed. Well, more an obligation than an obsession really. I was merely prepping a save file for Dragon Age 2 and finishing up the latest downloadable content. I will most likely play off and on as work stresses me out. That kind of stress simply needs a release sims doesn't offer. C'est la vie.

Fast Lane arrived in my mailbox yesterday so I plan to install that tonight and dig in. I can't wait! And I'll probably gut my CC and game files and start all over again. I'm so OCD. It's annoying. LOL But hey, I'm dedicated. Doesn't matter what game I play, I'm always like this.

I still plan to do a series of smaller lots. I've got several floorplans picked out. I'm used to having a nice square to work with so I'm having a little trouble finding something pleasing to stick on a smaller lot. I want something your sim(s) can stay in for awhile. I'm sure you don't like moving your new sim into a one room shack just to get them started any more than I do. I just end up motherloding them up so they can move right away. Even better, the free real estate cheat is priceless. They still haven't worked out that imbalance between your sim's starting funds and a house the size they really need. We have loans. Sims are SOL.

Heh, here's my random ramble for this post. Forums with spoiler rules. I have never understood this. It's pretty simple. You don't want your game spoiled? Don't go to the forums. Period. I like to discuss things and discuss I will, spoilers or not. You decide what you want to read and what you don't. If you spoil it for yourself don't blame me. I honestly don't care if my games are "spoiled". I don't care if someone "spoils" a movie for me. I will still want to experience it for myself because my impression will still be different than theirs. And perhaps they got it all wrong. Consider the source. So forums that have these ridiculous NO SPOILER rules just baffle me. Here's the NO SPOILER section. Here's the SPOILERS ALLOWED section. Um... O... K... Are we going to talk about this game or play Jeopardy? C'mon folks. Alec, I'll take SPOILERS for 400. Having hampering rules like no spoilers is just asking for... well... SPOILERS! What is to stop someone that doesn't want their game spoiled from clicking the section that let's people spoil game events at will? Hmmm? Nothing you say? Exactly. And if they're searching the forums for help, well... it's likely going to find you the most useful information in the spoiler forum. Go figure. I'm evil enough that I'll run around posting spoilers in random places because I CAN. Nothing is stopping me from doing it. Ban me you say? Eh, whatever. I tend to expend my energy worrying about and solving REAL problems. I give a crap less whether or not some snot-nosed brat tells me my character dies at the end. Duh, the best characters always die at the end, if they're not already dead to begin with. Just play your role and shutup. I guess what I'm trying to say is people shouldn't take games seriously. It's... a... game. And if it has become your life instead of living your real life then... find a good therapist. My life sucks as much as the next person's but I never forget who I am, what is real and what isn't. So feel free to spoil my day, but don't play with fire unless you're willing to get burned.

TGIF. I just needed to complain about something meaningless. It makes real life seem less drab.

"Temptation lies in the forbidden."

Procrastination or Obsession?

Hey! I'm still here! Yes, yes, I know. I haven't submitted in awhile and I haven't been playing or building in the sims either. Why, you ask? Of course you want to know why. Well, life sucks. Therefore I am driven to play Dragon Age instead of sims. Why, again? Blood. Glorious blood splattering everywhere and the occasional decapitation. Harsh, so? I love RPGs as much as I love sims so when I have a good one to play it's hard to do both. Each one fits different moods and purposes. However, my Dragon Age days will be coming to a close soon (I won't promise anything). I had stopped playing a bit ago and was going gung ho with my adventure sim, exploring the vacation spots, tombs, locals, etc. He makes a pretty good living off the junk he collects. Anyway, then work got crummy again and I started killing stuff. Uh, digital stuff. BUT, the final chapter of my Grey Warden's role will soon be available for download and I'll be able to wrap up that whole thing. I'm really kind of shot on Dragon Age as I've played the heck out of it on two platforms and just can't tolerate all the stupid parts any more. Alas, I realized once BioWare/EA announced the Morrigan DLC that GASP, my Warden that would fit in with her content and that I completed the game with (one of many) is on my PS3 version. BLAST! I don't want to play the PS3 version any more because honestly, it sucks compared to the PC version. So I had to remake my dude on PC and now I'm running him through the game as fast as I can to meet the Sept. 7 download date and wrap it all up. No time for sims until I get him through. I am hoping to finish him up over the long weekend, just in time to download the new mission. Eh, I got Awakening too so I might spend the 20 hours of gameplay to do that with him too. It's a snore and a half.

Uh... so anyway, that was a really long excuse for why I haven't been simming. Like anyone really cares about what I do in my spare time. LOL I can pretend can't I? An odd thing is happening while I'm playing Dragon Age now. The more I play the more I want to build. I got the build itch bad now. And I was having a blast with my new sim so I'd really like to get back to wreaking havoc in his life. Mwhahahahahahaha.

My next series of builds will be on small lots I think. My son has expressed his need for decent lots, with no CC, on 20x30 lots as that's about the biggest lot his Mac will handle and still allow him to have a family living there. Don't get me started on all the shortcomings of attempting to sim on a Mac. He is stuck in the same restrictions I had when I simmed on my Mac for Sims 2. Small to medium lots only, no building cheats, families of 5 or less sims, bad things happen when you get past 5, no reflections, and the list of unacceptable lag tripe goes on and on. Anyway, I thought I'd do some lots aimed at computers that are limping along with the game. I have a plan anyway.

I guess you got your daily dose of randomness from me with the whole Dragon Age spiel. At this point, I'm glad DA2 doesn't come out until March 2011. I can sim until then. LOL

Oh! Almost forgot. I got my copy of Simspiration a few days ago. I'm very impressed that it arrived in my rural mailbox in the armpit of the US in almost perfect condition. Better than my regular mail comes anyway. I think it's awesome. So much good stuff and eye candy too. Kudos to everyone involved!

73,000 and counting...

Yowzers! Zoinks! Jinkies! I've hit 73,000 downloads! Wow, that's a big deal for me. It's the silly, little things in life ya know. Like Fridays. And rainbows. And kittens. And cookies. Thank you all for your comments and creative criticism, and, of course, your downloading.

Alas, I have not gotten back into building yet. I do have several plans picked out and they're on my desk staring at me, quietly calling my name. I know I'm not obligated to upload stuff for everyone to download, but I do want more lots for my own games, and I enjoy building and creating. It's just work has gotten bad again and I find myself more exhausted and going to bed early instead of putting in an evening of fun. It's just not possible to fit all the fun I NEED into a weekend so something's gotta give here and there. Right now my sim life is giving. My Dragon Age life has taken over and I'm using that as anger management for work. I have goals too. Dragon Age 2 is due out in March so I have maybe 7 characters I'd like to get through the game before that comes out. I want to import my playthroughs into DA2. I've already ended it several times on the PS3 version. I got that first. But now I'm working on the PC version. And after playing that, I don't intend to get DA2 for PS3. I'll stick with the PC version. The graphics and control and most things are so much better. However, I did notice that in the PS3 version your companions are much chattier and funnier, but the graphics suck. It's odd how a game that supposedly came out for all platforms, except Mac of course, at the same time are so different. Theoretically it's the same game, yet not. Maybe just anal, overly perceptive individuals like myself notice this. If I could merge my two versions it would be a much better game all around. Kind of like Sims 2 and Sims 3. If I could merge those I'd be in heaven.

Uh, I got off on a rail of randomness there. Sorry about that. Anyway, back to building. The next few lots I hope to do will be single story ones. Oh heck, I can throw a basement or two in there since it's finally worth messing with. It only took them HOW long to get the concept right? I don't want to talk about it. Basements have caused me plenty of frustration and lag in the past so I was never an advocate for the under-life. Not an issue now. Wonders will never cease.

Remember, it's the little, albeit silly, things in life that make it worth waking up every day. Think small.

What To Do

I'm back again. Like that bad penny. Aw, c'mon, you love me anyway. Maybe.

So I've finally let myself play a family long enough to get 6 kids going. The oldest will hit YA soon. The youngest is a toddler. I've really given a couple of my lots a full 8 sim salute. Heck, if I could have more than 8 on that lot I would. This couple makes some dynamite offspring. Too bad everyone else in the hood is fugly. Guess I'll have to seed the town again with more of my "stock" sims. Every kid that has come home with my sim's kids has been down right scary in the face region. The kids have nightmares about their friends. Who makes this stuff? And make them stop!

One of the funniest things the Dad sim did was wake up at 2 a.m. and drive over to a kid's house to tell her to behave after she upset everyone in his household with rude behavior. ROFL How'd he know? He was sleeping the whole time and once the rest of the family went to sleep he got up to yell at her. Bad dream? The wife slipped him a note in bed? What? The girl was still up and her parents were in bed. They didn't seem to care some ticked off father was in their house at 2:30 a.m. yelling at their daughter. Their only child too, which is really sad because she has horrible traits. She was insane, a kleptomaniac, and grumpy. Those are the 3 my sims picked up anyway. We won't be calling her over for dinner. Another day some kid came home with my sim and he was evil, over emotional, and... friendly. How does that work? A... evil crybaby that really loves people? He laughed that wicked laugh the whole time he was there. Creepy. And the multitude of other sims my sims have come across also have crap traits. I think that AI needs some tweaking EA. Shame they can't get that to a better state after 3 games. If I let my sims go on autopilot they're dumber than Sims 2 sims. They'll starve, pass out and pee themselves all while doing homework or chatting on the computer. Real urgent stuff there.

The one place I did find decent sims is France. Most of them are decent looking and have neutral or positive traits. It's not a country full of evil nutjobs that steal your laundry. China is kind of crazy. They're all a bit "off". I don't spend much time in Egypt. It makes me hot I guess. I don't like hot. And I like sand even less.

Well, it's been interesting, and fun. I'll need homes for all the kids so I'll probably get back to lot building soon. I don't have enough freetime to do everything. Work is getting bad again so Dragon Age may get dusted off and popped back in the laptop.

I'd like to thank everyone again for leaving comments on my lots and other positive things. I do appreciate it.

Another Year Older...

Humbug. Another year has come and gone. My bday was yesterday. Bdays are so unexciting once you're a grownup. All the pizzazz is gone. Oh well. I'm not really old and I've been stuck at 18 forever anyway so it really doesn't matter. I don't plan on getting old and gray either. I'd prefer to go while I can still feed myself and wipe my own butt. Call me crazy. Just because modern medicine can extend our lifespans much longer than ever before doesn't mean we really should live that long. That's just my opinion though. I know, I'm so cold and heartless. Whatever.

I've been thinking about traits again and I can't wait for the addition of shy with Late Night. Since I have that trait in real life I noticed it was missing right away (you'd never guess if you've only met me online, invisibility is power), and loner ain't the same thing. Actually, just do introvert and extrovert. Or I guess you can settle for shy and friendly. Less scientific terms. I think touchy feely, incontinent, hyperactive, OCD (neurotic and insane don't come close), and many others should be added as well. We need to get some stereotypical problem children in the hood. And I don't care to be touched so those people you come across in life that like to get really, really, really close to you when they talk and touch you and hug you for no reason really give me the heebie jeebies. Do not invade the personal space. My radius is far larger than that of a normal person. And shouldn't there be age-specific traits too? Like incontinence for old farts, picky eater for children, eating disorder and low self-esteem for teens, near-sighted and far-sighted, etc. So you actually have a reason to give your sims specs. Cripes. Glasses aren't just decoration. Most people don't wear them for looks. What a stupid idea. It's like wearing a cast on a perfectly good limb or braces on teeth that are fine or a hairpiece on a bald head. Just be bald, be fat, be lazy, be ugly, be... whatever. Like the crazy parachute pants with useless zippers on them in the 80s. God awful noisy things and every zipper was useless. There weren't even pockets to get to. Just zippers. And stirrup pants. What exactly are we riding? Have pants gotten so unruly that we need stirrups to hold them onto us? And why can't toddlers have a favorite blankie they drag around like Linus? And it stays with them their entire life. And they can snap their siblings in the butt for getting out of line. You find them sleeping with it as an adult when the first baby is on the way or they lost their job. Stuff like that. I mean, c'mon, if ya want to get weird, get weird already! Why can't neurotic sims read self-help books to get better? Why are sims so nasty when they play catch? I mean, my GOOD sims, with the trait and everything, turbo their girlfriend in the face with the football. What the H? Idiots! I say the girls should whip it back with a bullseye on the family jewels. Take that you testosterone driven pig. How is inflicting pain on someone you love funny? Or a parent to a child. That's abuse! It's one thing if they miss the catch but deliberately launching it at them at a speed and angle that they totally can not intercept for a giggle is just sick. And I really don't think the make funny face interaction should be allowed past child. Maybe teen boys. Doesn't it seem... wrong when you're downtown and adult sims are making strange noises and faces at each other. I always feel like I just took a trip to the land of very-few-brains-and-even-less-friends. DAR! DAR! DAR! droool... If somebody did that to me in real life I'd back away slowly and look for a weapon. Heck, if I was a sim I'd carry at least a nightstick with me at all times just to smack stupid sims like that. A tazer would be better. And I'm confused. How does being mauled by a bear burn your sim to a crisp? Is it a fire-breathing bear? Does it shoot lightning out of its eyes? It's a magic bear ain't it. Evil voodoo bears are lurking in every mausoleum. Forget the dead, undead, and just the generally creepy. We need VOODOO BEARS! Why don't sims have iPods and why can't they text each other? I'm not a fan of texting but you'd think sims would have something cooler than just a cellphone by now. I think it ought to be like a Star Trek communicator and you can just beam yourself places. Minus the nasty jumpsuits of course.

Um... OK. I'll stop. That's just a bunch of randomness for you today. I'm sure I'll have another lot or something soon if work sticks to a normal pace for awhile. Tally ho and all that rot.

Big Brother Lot

Wooow... I finally finished it! My Eamon lot is due out tomorrow. This is a lot based on my Teagan lot but with added bells and whistles so to speak. This is what happens when I get my hands on a floorplan and then do my own thing. Teagan is the original floorplan and exterior look. Eamon is me adding my practicality and creative flair to it. Color! I love color. That is one reason Eamon's exterior has so much more punch to it than Teagan's. Well, so architects are too conservative. LOL I dunno. Guess that's why on the inside of Teagan I used orange throughout. I had to put color somewhere. There is more to life than shades of beige and gray. What we all need to practice is color used tastefully.

So, this lot is finally done. It was really bugging me because my life got way out of whack while this was halfway made over. GAH! Then I lost touch with whatever creative mood I was in when I started the makeover and so... now... there's some variance throughout the lot. The first floor flows pretty well in color and decor. Upstairs is a different story. It's chopped up by tons of bedrooms so I decided to put different moods in every room. The master suite goes with the downstairs, but the boy's room is trendy and bold with horizontal blue stripes, a guitar, and computer. The girl's room is old fashioned and soft with shades of rose, beige, and brown. But, I still got ornery and gave it polka dot wallpaper to add fun and youth to the room. The pink boombox helps too. The exercise room can be another bedroom if your sim family just has to have them babies, or worse, the in-laws move in. GASP! Right now it's just a sterile workout area. Black and gray. The nursery is fun and cute with polka dots and plaid. I love yellow and blue themes. I just plain love yellow. You'd never guess I was a yellow person in real life. It's a secret. Ssshhh... LOL Not really, but whatever floats your boat. Ya know, I really need to make a cookie pattern... that would be cute, and my favoritest yummy thing in the world. Or did you miss my giant cookie header? I know, it's so subtle. What was I thinking? LOL

I think my favorite part of my Eamon lot is the basement addition. I did it up as a man cave and despite being female, I wouldn't mind hiding down there. I added a bathroom to fill an awkward space not suited for much else. It too is manly. *grunt, grunt*

As usual, I didn't use CC in this lot. I like to stick to the basics in lots I share to make it easier for people to implement them into their games. I add my CC later when I move a family in. My whole neighborhood could be filled with nothing but one house style and not one would be the same. I tailor the look and feel of a home to the sims in it.

My boss is back in the office this week. Hopefully no more overtime for me for awhile, at least. I'm still draggin' from the last two weeks. I thank the powers that be every day that I have a job, but... sometimes I think and feel like it will be the death of me, and is that really worth it? Well, I won't go all philosophical on you because I can really get going. Thinking is one of my favorite pastimes. Do what you love. Really. It's priceless. A goal of mine is to be employed in a field of work that I love, inspires me, and is meaningful. I want to make a difference just as much as the next person. There's so much room for improvement in the world and failure is not an option. Make your job one you love and get paid for it so you can pay your bills (heh, dream on macgirl...). That's a win win, for everyone really. A life of regret will shorten your lifespan faster than a diet of fast food. And... I guess... that's your random dose of nonsense from me for the day.

Check out my Eamon lot and I plan to have more lots in the near future. Right now I'm just happy to have closure to this one.

I reject your reality...

Hi all. I thought I should drop by, just because. I haven't been around much. What have I been doing? Well, the short version... working. And working. Did I mention I've been working? Yeah, overtime. I'm ready to drop. But, the weekend is upon us once more and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to sim.

I'm still working on my alternate version of my Teagan lot. I was in it last night after Dragon Age crashed on me one too many times and sort of stared at it and thought, "What the heck was I doing with this again?" LOL There are also several other floorplans that caught my eye, but, one lot at a time. *sigh* So many lots, so little time. It's been weeks since I loaded the game so I was feeling pretty lost.

I have been perusing the lots here at TSR. Anything that catches my eye I try to leave a comment, even if I don't always download it. I just like to look. A little creative feedback never hurts and I get ideas or at least daydream about my next lot. I would like to rebuild all my popular Sims 2 lots for Sims 3, but I have these new floorplans making me drool at the moment. But someday...