For summer holiday, that is... Vacation is officially over for me and I'm back at work. Since I'm (pretty much) the only one here I'm even more bored than I would be if I had company. I spent a week in Madrid in June with my parents where we overdosed on art (Velasquez gave me goosebumps. Caravaggio too <3), and two weeks in July mostly at home, doing useful stuff. I wish I had another week left.

Oh well.

I've also installed TS3 and I'm having fun ... sort of... I'm still exploring it, starting new 'hoods every time I open the game, fiddling around in CAS, trying to find a way to make the sims interesting, failing, starting over again, etc. We'll see, it's a nice break from the familiarity of TS2 (still having fun, just not much of a challenge anymore) but it hasn't captured me in the way TS2 did back in 2004.

And there are still 'firsts' left for me in TS2! Risky woohoo pregnancies, for example :D The family trees in my custom 'hood are pretty very complicated by now, second cousins and half-siblings everywhere. Many sims in  generation C have been pretty hesitant about getting married but that doesn't stop them from trying for babies, having unprotected sex or getting abducted. Or in the case of married Fortune sims like Cyd I'm-not-sure-I-want-children-at-all, getting cheesecaked by m-i-l Jane I-want-six-grandbabies-dammit Barber. *snrk*

( Actions and consequences )

What do you get when you have two family sims, one Aries and one Taurus?

Exactly, three bolt stalkers.

( What do you get when they're both also women? )

Anyone knows what's up with my romancing girls these days? 

( Not that it bothers me, mind you ^^; )

After a couple of months of rebuilding my custom 'hood from scratch I've started playing it again. Yay! I still have some relationships to rebuild but I'll do that while I'm playing them. I'm sick of both SimPE and the SimBlender right now and need a little break. 

Last night was the first time something NEW happened in New Livelywoods. I opened the lot of my newly graduated pleasure sims and found matching marriage wants... Ummm....LOCKED!

( What else could I do but throw the first wedding party of the generation?  )

And all on her own too.

I restarted the three-in-one Maxishood this weekend. Long story short, I fucked up the other one and started over. I popped into every household, refreshed every portrait, gave a few makeovers, and played every household from some sim hours to a couple of days. The Goths were the last house I played. In the meantime Cassandra had visited the Curious brothers and discovered her boltage with Lazlo. I don't think there's a future for them but it was enough for Cass. Right after I loaded the Goths Cass spun away her want to marry Don, replaced it with a want to befriend Lazlo and dragged Don off to bed to Try for baby instead. She's still afraid Don will leave her at the altar but she doesn't want to marry him anymore either - she just wants to have a baby. And be best friends with Lazlo. Good for you, Cass! *thumbs up* 

5 days, 16 movies. Sore eyes and "movie goer's knee" - film festivals are exhausting but ohsomuch FUN! Back to work today...

Sometimes I wish I had a real talent for writing stories. I don't, and never have. My imagination sort of stops working somehow. Dunno. Anyway, even I can see the potential in this lineup my teen presented to me yesterday. 

( I'm afraid I have some MOAR teen drama  )

Right now I'm totally high on the combination of good stories and the fast approaching weekend, and I cannot seem to concentrate properly at work. I can't concentrate at all, really. (I mean, after all, I'm here when I should be working). I'll be home alone tonight and I'll be squeezing in as much playing as I possibly can - I might even make a plan *lol* Anyway, I thought I might do a more complete update on what's happening in my 'hood - so far this season has been all about the elderification of generation B. After winter rotation I was really looking forward to spring. (Yes, in-game too.)

( This way for moar parties ) 

TV meme copied from aledstrange

I've watched way too much TV in my time. Now I mostly prefer my sims or TV shows on DVDs *LOL* This is Empire Magazine's list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows ever, and I'm particularly thrilled to see what's in 2nd place :D

1. Bold the shows you watch/used to watch.
2. Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of.
3. Post your answers.

And I'm also stealing Ale's addition of underlining the ones 'I can't have enough of (and some of which I own on DVD and watch again and again)' - 'cause I'm a nerd as well :P

( What's on TV? )

I'm used to stalking threebolt spouses. I'm used to playful sims zooming in on toddlers. What I'm not that used to is overly protective and endlessly embarrassing fathers of teenaged girls.

( Now also in simlish! )

Some weeks ago my doctor confirmed what I sorta already knew  - I have tendinitis/tendonitis (?) in my left hand (and arm) and have to stay away from the comp as much as possible. I can use the right one (Yay! Some simming! I have some pics too...) but typing is difficult :( Lucilky I can still scroll and click so my reading ability remains the same :) I'm still terribly bored though, and I just want to get well again so I can start doing what they're paying me to do...

To be honest it's always summer in my Strangetown - but this was their first one. I spent the season with the Singles. I haven't played the Singles household (technically the Curious-Smith, Loste and Beaker household) before, they've been sitting on a lot containing nothing but a phone. Building suitable houses really isn't my strength. I ended up having a lot of fun. 

( Part one... )

Actually, not so much mayhem. Just the mayhem that babies, kids and teens manage to make, and they have been remarkably well behaved so far. And the deaths have all been from old age.

( First some goodbyes... )

I cannot believe how much I've missed having Seasons installed. I still have some SPs to install (and some EPs to buy) but right now I'm just thrilled to have weather in my game again. And gardens! The new computer arrived day before yesterday and the change is massive. Huge screen, 4 gigs of RAM and a pretty nice graphics card equals one happy simmer and an amazed WOW-er in our household. Shadows, reflections and neighbours! Oh my!
( *cannot stop grinning* )

I'm working on a family tree (thanks Holly =) and family portraits from my custom 'hood so things are evolving kind of slowly in my game right now. Might have something to do with the generation who's just started dying too. Not fun! Tonight however I popped into my Maxistonia/Maxishood to finish up the Uni rotation; I've been putting that off for a while, mostly because many of the households live in houses/dorms that are difficult to play and finding them new houses is obviously too much of a chore... *roll eyes* Now how lazy is that?

( I played two semesters with the Pleasant sisters and their boyfriends... )

Finally!

Ordered tonight. I'm happy. We're happy. And a bit ridiculous, I know, and I don't care =) 



Woooohoooo!

I finally have a mean born-in-game sim in Livelywoods. Cyd is a Taurus, 10-9-3-7-1. 



Woo! That is all :)