dragancaor

Gilbert Jacquet

2009-12-21T14:21:58Z

When I reinstalled my game, I put in clean templates for everything except Strangetown. So tonight, when I went to start screen-capturing the images for this chapter, I realised that I don't have Gilbert Jacquet - from Bluewater Village.
[headdesk] Thinking ahead; I do it well.

I've tried to export him before & he's gone strange. Is that the case for everyone? Has anyone successfully exported/cloned/remade him that would possibly share him with me?

If not, I'll just attempt to remake him in bodyshop. In which case, I'll make sure to share him so that anyone who wants his evil little self in their game can have him with or without Bluewater.

Countdown to ASLDT:13

2009-12-20T09:51:24Z

I officially finished college on Thursday. My final exams were the three theory sections of my internationals. I get my results in late January, early February.

So I've been working on typing out my scribbled version of ASLDT's chapter 13. I'm ten pages into it so far, with a couple more to go. Then I'll sit down to shoot the scenes, & then I can post it.

But today I was telling someone that I was working on it & they wanted a short summary of the chapter to understand why I was saying it was 'heavy'. Hidden behind the cut is my very short sum up.

Warning: contains story spoilers, though no names are mentioned.

There's an attempted murder, someone else dies because of it, then the partners all freak & lies are told because the truth is too dangerous.

& here are some screenshots of one of the locations where this chapter is set. I didn't build this set, I just tweaked it to suit (read: demolished/moved walls, changed room contents, changed wallpaper/floors).

The original lot, Mercy Hospital, was built by Sunni9676 over at MTS[2].

Hopefully it wont be too long, but there's a lot marked down on our calendar between going away & having friends arrive from interstate over the next 3 weeks so I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have for working on this.

The Sims Horror Movie

2009-11-22T13:20:18Z

No idea if any of you have seen this, but I just did & thought I would share just incase. A friend linked it into my forum, so it's technically cross-posted.

"There is no conceivable way of getting past this fence....."

College Humour

Progress report

2009-11-21T10:54:31Z

Woah.... last post was in July. Sorry guys, I guess I've been busier than I expected.

Needless to say, I haven't had the time to play my game... but I've not given up on my ongoing storylines.

The Tohno family is undergoing a slight change as generation 3 hits puberty. Nyuu finds herself in the middle of something big. Very, very big. The sort of big that has proportions fulfilling the epic description. Not being able to play due to endless assignments & photography work is actually quite hellish.

A Strange Little Desert Town has been in a bit of luck. I've managed to break my writers block & have been scribbling out more of chapter 13 while on the train in the mornings. Obviously this is easier on the days that I manage to score a seat, but I'm getting much neater as I practice my standing while writing in an A6 notebook. [grins]
Unfortunately, it is still going to be a very heavy chapter. Consider yourselves warned.

I'd give you a preview picture, but the chapter's words are not as yet complete... which means that the images are still only existing as an in the pipeline thing. Soon though. As soon as I can, without failing my exams from lack of study or late assignments.

If you're interested in my non-sims stuff, which is still pretty staggered but not quite as ignored as this journal has been during this semester, you're welcome to go look at my personal journal; draganin. It's mostly photos & the occasional rant.... plus a few bits & pieces from my college work.

Living in Your Imagination

2009-07-22T16:27:36Z

Okay... so going back into full time study kicks your previous time management in the proverbial. Gah. However, I'm having a metric f***ton of fun both studying & getting to do a photo documentary on the class/semester at the same time. Not to mention the networking.... picked up a couple of new models, possibly gotten a job photographing for a modelling agency & also getting to do a shoot for the college next week =)

So why am I writing this in this journal? Because one of the girls in class did special occasion / glamour makeup on my face today & I managed to get the shots all up to date online from class.... & a friend messaged me to tell me that I looked like Carrie Stripe (generation 5).

Carrie

Me

Makeup by Joanna Ho
22nd July 2009

So after a goodly amount of giggling at the fact that I didn't even notice & she's my bloody sim - my favourite sim - I thought I would share XD
& now I'm considering the Queen Armidala lippy for Friday. [shifty eyes]

Challenge? Time? Of course.

2009-07-09T20:10:35Z

I'm still around. Honest. I've been working on chapter 13 of A Strange Little Desert Town, though I'm still stuck on a section thats giving me grief. Kinda helps that the characters aren't enjoying it & that makes me hate writing it, but it needs to be written. Maybe I'll try working on it during my lunch breaks at college (I start on monday - [bites nails] - its been 9 years since I last studied). I'm also still playing the Tohno family. There is an update from them on its way - hopefully I'll get time to put it together on the weekend.... & I've been kicking around in WoW a bit lately (& got Lich King for my birthday along with collectors ed TS3) with lemon_lime35 & brilliantcat . It's rather amusing over skype.

Meanwhile I'm planning a new start on my apocalypse challenge. I didn't technically fail the last one... but I lost the save file amongst a heap of dvd backups & harddrive stores & I can't be bothered looking through 4TB of data for a challenge that was only up to g3.

Why does this matter? I'm wanting to make this further difficult - it's going to only be made up of pixel_trade sims. So once I reinstall ts2 on my laptop, I'll battle the empty hood idea & then start the townifying process. But here is the thing.... I want you to tell me which of your sims you want to see make their way into the hood. Please leave me a comment with the two boy & two girl sims of yours that you'd like me to install (& if you could link me to the page you've got them for download on that would be lovely).

[grins]
Thanks in advance!

dragancaor @ 2009-06-10T17:30:00

2009-06-10T09:46:31Z

Some of the photographs from my recent trip to China are beginning to trickle through the processing & reach the site. There’s just under 5,000 photographs to get through, though some of those are my holiday shots so will end up printed for my albums & wont be going into the gallery.

First to go up are the photographs from the Mu Tian Ya section of the Great Wall of China. Mu Tian Ya is about a 2.5 hour drive from Beijing, though that’s certainly dependent on the time of day & amount of traffic. Peak Hour in Beijing is second to none.

It was beautiful up there; sunny & hot, roughly a 34 degree day (that’s 93.2 fahrenheit for those of you not using the metric system) but the shade inside the guard towers was at least 10 degrees less, the ancient stones keeping the cool. The smog/haze wasn’t the greatest, but certainly wasn’t as bad as Beijing was 6 days later. The Chinese characters painted on the mountain [apparently] read “Honest Mu Tian Ya” - while I can speak a little Mandarin, I cannot (yet) read it.

Mu Tian Ya has been open to the public for 12 years. It’s not overly touristed, like Ba Da Ling is, but it’s definitely getting there.

Also uploaded are photographs from the Underground Palace in the Tomb of the 13th Ming Emperor. Not far from Beijing, this was the first tomb to be opened. It was only opened due to the manner in which it was ‘incorrectly’ closed; untimely deaths & bad weather.

The original coffins were replaced when the tomb was opened - the new wood of the replicas looking nicer than the original ‘old’ wood. Then, during the cultural revolution, the remains of the Emperor & his two Empresses were destroyed by the people. The marble thrones are still intact, as are the massive doors with their 72 doornails. It is considered good luck to throw money to the coffins of the Emperor & Emperesses.

The 2008 Olympics were held in Beijing & the jade factory that made the medals for the Olympians is open to the public to visit. They explain the manenr in which jade is found, the different types & grades of jade, traditions, as well as how to pick the real jade out from the fakes. Not only the item itself, but its position in your home & the direction it faces are important in Feng Shui. I've uploaded a few shots of the workers carving, some of the jade sculptures & the shop area.

To view images, click here to go to my gallery.

Ctrl Alt Del

2009-06-02T14:00:17Z

I have a rather big love of certain webcomics.... & I just had to share this one with all of you incase you don't follow Ctrl Alt Del by Tim Buckley.

They Track All

Seriously. Click. Read. Laugh til you can't breathe & then admit that you will be no different when you go to pick up your preorders. XD

Great Wall - MTS2

2009-05-21T07:13:29Z

So it's up on MTS2 finally =)

I got the screenshots sorted & asked why they weren't accepting the comparison photograph I'd included & I got a message saying it was approved. Perhaps they just didn't notice the attached photo that was also showing in the main body of the post =P

For those of you that would like to download the lot, its here.

So much for that

2009-05-19T10:33:33Z

I got home today, did a couple of chores & then sat down to reshoot the Great Wall lot to meet MTS2's pedantic standards. I resized & collated the images, labelled them & ensured they all met the size requirements. Satisfied, I went to MTS2.... & they are down for maintenance!

Gah!!

If their timer is still counting against my 72 hour deadline to fix the screenshots so that there is absolutely no pay content shown at all on anything including the model then I'm possibly not going to make it. In which case GLHF MTS2 coz I doubt I will bother trying again & will just upload it elsewhere. It shouldn't be so darn difficult to get a CC-free lot uploaded.

Though if they continue to tell me I need to include a comparison shot I'm going to ask them what the hell is wrong with the photograph I included in the first attempt. They can't even say OMG ITS COPYRIGHT - my copyright watermark has my full name *&* my internet alias on it (as my alias here is the same as my domain name).

[sigh]
[attempts to be patient & wait out the maintenance]

Community Lot: The Great Wall of China

2009-05-17T08:18:51Z

The Great Wall of China
Mu Tian Ya

This community lot has been designed specifically for, but not limited to, a Far East Vacation Destination.

It is based on the Mu Tian Ya section of the Great Wall of China, a couple of hours drive out of Beijing.
Two guard towers stand proudly with archways & windows, offering shade from the heat of the midday sun. Staircases offer the illusion of not-so-treacherous terrain.

The mountainous area surrounding the Wall is treed, creating a false sense of rolling hills, rather than the almost sheer cliffs hidden beneath.

Your Sim(s) can climb the wall & walk it's entire length & back - there is only the single access point to the section.

The lower area is well lit, while the Wall itself remains entirely unlit.

Below the wall are countless vendor stalls, food stalls, ablution block, relaxation spring, temple shrine, tour guide & rest areas.

The lot has been playtested & works both as a vacation destination & as a normal 'hood community lot. However there is no tour guide when placed in a standard neighbourhood & the Far East souveniers are 'currently out of stock'.

This community lot is 5x4 in size. Cost is irrelevant as sims don't need to pay to visit it.
Entire lot was levelled to Street Level prior to landscaping & building.

Lot includes:
Toilet, sink & mirror - male & female
2 Changrooms
Hot Springs
Ancestral Shrine (for making a wish)
Restaurant (Far East variety)
Shops - jewellery, pet collars, clothing, Far East souveniers
Photobooth
Bench seating
Community Phone Booth
Community Bin
Picturesque Views of an Ancient Wonder of the World XD

The metal, barred windows shown in some screenshots are made by Wood For Sims (in their Blood for Sims 2 section), & can be found in their Torture Chamber set.
They haven't been included in the set due to WFS's policy.
Instead, the Maxis windows above have been used.

This lot is currently in the Modeation cue at MTS2.
[crosses fingers for acceptance]
It's the first upload there for me.

& just so that you can see Mu Tian Ya as it really looks, this is one of my photographs of the Mu Tian Ya wall taken on 4th May 2009. Smoggy day, but not too bad.

The Great Wall.

2009-05-15T08:37:23Z

The Great Wall of China
Short, fun 'photo'shoot & stuff

It was beautiful up there on the wall. It was sunny & hot, roughly a 34 degree day (that's 93.2 fahrenheit for those of you not using the metric system) but the shade inside the guard towers was at least 10 degrees less, the ancient stones keeping the cool. The smog/haze wasn't the greatest, but certainly wasn't as bad as Beijing was 6 days later.

The Chinese characters painted on the mountain [apparently] read "Honest Mu Tian Ya" - while I can speak a little Mandarin, I cannot (yet) read it. Mu Tian Ya is the name of this section of the Wall; its about a 2.5 hour drive from Beijing, though that's certainly dependent on the time of day & amount of traffic. Peak Hour in Beijing is second to none.

Mu Tian Ya has been open to the public for 12 years. It's not overly touristed, like Ba Da Ling is, but it's definitely getting there.

I'll be building a new version of this lot as a community lot & putting it up for download soon. I'll be making sure to add lots of stalls at the bottom selling clothing & trinkets etc. I bought a black lace parasol instead of a tshirt - I know where it's from, that's all that matters to me XD

So this is me, sans glasses, standing just below one of the entry points to the Great Wall itself. We'd reached this height by cable car as we didn't have the time to spare walking 3 hours up the mountainside. I walked with Jay & Diogo (two friends I'd made that morning) along this section of wall almost to the end... before we ran out of time & had to turn around & walk back.

Photo taken by my mum ♥

Poverty, Blizzards & Feminism 2.00

2009-04-30T02:53:15Z

Poverty, Blizzards & Feminism
Tohno Family :: Generation 2.00

Poverty/Matriarch/Pixel_trade Challenge rule set

Featuring Sims from: selzi

Not only could I not find my downloaded Toodles (katu), but I kept forgetting to install Sebastian & the dogs. After all the messing around setting the Stripes back up, I just wasn't caring enough. So this will do. =P

Seth is by selzi

Jet is named for a character in Cowboy Beebop.

Nyuu is named for one of the personalities of a character in Elfen Lied (which is my favourite anime).

That's all for now. I'm flying to Beijing tonight (yay!) so there wont be any more until at least the end of May.

♥

ASLDT: Family Data

2009-04-14T19:04:46Z

So I decided, in my infinite stupidity, that I wasn't going to use old shots of the various Stripes for the "family photos" & that I would give them all a nice shoot when I set up the storytelling hood.

But I've mostly got them all in there now. Mostly. Generations five & six still need to go into that hood, but the story isn't there yet so I'm not in too big a rush yet. Especially as they are in the play hood. [grins] Keeping those separate was a wonderful idea.

I've posted the images to my site rather than here as there are story spoilers. If you don't want to know what generation four look like as adults or who they marry, (& so on & so forth once I finish shooting the next three generations) then don't click the link. =)

Send in the Clones

2009-04-03T20:50:02Z

Okay, so they aren't technically my original family, but they're acting right (thank you SimPE) & they're almost all settled into their new Strangetown.
It's taken far longer than I hoped, & I'm not entirely finished yet, but here's a couple of "Hurrah!" flags being waved.

The hardest part was not CAS.

It was the 3rd deaths (as they've all been re-deaded before in the tombstone shake down) & the family ties.
I started with Miranda & went all the way down the line.
Six generations. Glutton for punishment much?

The flowers are placeholders for missing grave markers - due to forgotten sims. Yeah. Oops. Jason (sim) & Siem (G2 dog) are both still MIA. I'll fix it. Soon.

Also, thanks to the Paint Custom option, the heir portraits are being redone.

Left to right: Miranda, Nervous, Mike, MacKenzie, Jacinta

Left to right: Daniel, Ash, Corey

[spoilers left out on purpose]

The one of Miranda as an elder is going to need to be staged entirely as that was an in game portrait & I have no screenshot to work from. That was, amusingly, the only portrait that didn't turn into a sunset. Five of Mike's Uni paintings did, as did a few of the custom painted ones on various lots, but never the one of Miranda. She was that damn good even the glitches were wary of her wrath. Until I stage it, they will have to make do with this one.

The new house

As well as the graveyard's occupants, there is another grave marker beneath the trees at the front by the creek. Myalup is rather insatiable.

Also, there are the extended family tucked away into their own lots. There are 4 households running in the hood, all Stripes. The main house, Carrie's, has 7 sims who span across 3 generations & 3 dogs who cross 2. Then there is a house of 6 sims (also 3 gens) & 2 dogs, & two houses of 3 sims & 1 dog.

So, basically, I'm feeling largely proud of myself.

I'm also going to update the Stripe's spoiler thread on my website forum tomorrow to incorporate the family tree.... if I get the time.

I'm almost at the can play stage.
[beams]

But as it is 0445 down here, I'm going to go & crawl into bed.

Bubble, bubble, toil & trouble...

2009-04-01T07:46:18Z

I finally got the pc mostly reinstalled & running. It's still missing MS Office (coz I can't find the damned disk) & a couple of games, including Fallout 3, Battlefield 2 (coz pete's borrowed my copy as he can't find his) & Overlord. I've been a weee bit distracted with Left 4 Dead... which has me itching to play the Zombie Survival challenge with Fightclub & the zombie hack. That's a story thats been sitting in the pipeline since 2 EP releases ago.

But I finally got the game running & placed Carrie & her husband (who is a Maxis ST playable that will remain unnamed until the story reaches that point). Aside from realising that I had missed a couple of my more favoured downloads (like Anva's Lashes For All Races) & my hair (Zombiejill's alpha edit of Nouk's pigtails which is my hairstyle) I suddenly noticed there was a rather large issue.... I hadn't noticed at first because I didn't have testingcheats enabled.

The error from before was still happening.
In a fresh install with fresh 'hoods.

The moment it finished an action, a sim would flip from west facing to north facing. It's profile picture would change. Each time it tried to act on it's own free will, or it finished something I told it to do, the same would happen. If left to its own devices, the sim would stand in the same spot, jumping around & with its portrait changing constantly.
Even on PAUSE.

I immediately went through all my hacks, chucking out the 'new' ones & whittling away at what I might live without. Still happened. So I took them all out. Still happened. So, not a hack issue then.

My DL folder is nicely subfoldered. So pedantically subfoldered, in fact, that it's close to anally retentive. For instance, hair is broken into female & male. Then inside those is websites & then further into creators. Further still into each individual hairstyle (My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads\body shop\hair\female\GoS\steerpike\chopchop). It never used to be like this, but after what happened to my last install I wasn't going to have the same mess I had before.

It paid off though.

Instead of doing the 50/50 method, I took out everything except hacks, default replacements & bodyshop stuff (makeup, clothes, hair). No issue.
So I put the Buy Mode folder back in. Loaded, & BAM. Flick flick flick flick flick goes the sim. Closed the game, took out everything from that folder that wasn't separated into specific creators with more than one item (so bathroom, nursery etc). Loaded & it still happened.

Then I went through my creators, three at a time (adele, ats-sandy, blakeboy). I got all the way to the last three; Targas, Windkeeper & Wood for Sims. Knowing that wfs was a large folder, I just placed Targas & Windkeeper. Lo & Behold - the issue occurred.

Long story short: the bad files were by Targas. There is somethng very bad with the antique camera & the backdrop screens. [sigh]
I can live without them, but I hadn't wanted to.

But at least my game is now working again.

Perseverance.

2009-03-27T05:04:42Z

I have been procrastinating again. While my main data backups have been done of the drives I intend to format, I still feel like I've missed something. So I've put off the killdisk for the moment & am passing the time going through files (mostly photographs) with fine tooth combs to make sure I will lose nothing.

I've also spent about 12 hours working through sims backups to see who I can save. I've gone through 41GB of neighbourhood backups (most of those are just N002). However there is good news.

Of the 54 sims & pets that make up the Stripes, I've managed to save 50. Esmerelda, Mason & Lanei, all generation 6, are unable to clone. I'll see how I go rebuilding Ezzie, but Mason & Lanei were only toddlers, so I'll just replay those years. The other sim I can't get out properly is Gilbert Jacquet. So I suppose I will just have to use his subhood & get him back that way instead of building a custom shopping district.

Once I've ensured that all my lightroom processing has been exported to my completed photos drive in both sizes, I'll start that format. The list of installs I need to do, not including drivers or games is a page long.

~*~*~*~
Edited to add:
Format went well. Reinstall is slow going.

Also, I hate serial keys. Numerical dyslexia & serial keys do not a good team make.
It's not like they work anyway. People still pirate & get around DRM.

My favourite game doesn't even HAVE a serial key. You just stick the disk in & go. *&* it's written by Terry Pratchett's daughter. ♥ Overlord

It gets worse.

2009-03-24T10:46:43Z

I can't extract most of generation 6 of the Stripes.
Each set of twins is frakked. I can get Adam but not Eric, both Nadine & Esmerelda are borked, & I can get Lanei but not Mason. Sarah isn't a twin & she's fine.
More than half the character files, viewed through SimPE, for both Strangetown & Angkor 'hoods are incomplete.

I feel like I've been kicked in the guts.

Miranda Stripe was created in March 2007. Almost 2 years ago to the day. Her descendents have gone through countless re-installs & new computer builds.

Every single one of them got full play time; infant to death & they all moved home to the main lot before they died.No one got stuffed in the bin or made into a townie, though townies were made playable. Not even the pets were sold.

I'm going to need to re-play all of generation 5's adulthoods, marriages & get them to beget their progeny all over again & they wont be the same one's I've been playing til now.

Technically, they wont be the same Stripes at all. Just very good look-a-likes.

I don't really care about the Latrodectus', Karma or Tohno families. They're easy to recreate. But the Stripes have been through so much.... & I've put in so much.
I shouldn't feel so crushed. Hell I'm not the sentimental type, certainly not with video games.
Damn it.

It had to happen sometime

2009-03-23T06:52:30Z

My game is corrupting itself.

I played the Stripe lot at 93 Road to Nowhere, Strangetown, night before last & both sims on the lot as well as both dogs (all four of whom were elders) were erroring every time they finished something. Nothing I tried would fix them.

Today I played the Tohno lot in my custom hood, Angkor, & the same thing was happening.

Looking at those error messages, that's the end of this install. In fact, the end of those hoods entirely. There's no point in reinstalling broken hoods.

What I'm going to do today is extract all of them, screenshot their DNA & write them all to DVD. It's going to be a huge task. There are the Stripes... which is well over 30 living sims across 3 generations (4-6), then the Tohnos (5), Karmas (9), Laridian (5), Latrodectus (15), & all my simsperiment kidlets (18). The other families I run aren't on this pc, so they aren't as urgent.

Then I'll screenshot all their homes so that I can recreate them in the fresh hoods.

Whil I'm at it, I'm going to format this install of windows. It's been on my mind, I just haven't wanted to go through & reinstall everything. Gah. That is a couple of days on its own.

Perfect time to start my downloads from scratch though.
[sigh]

A Strange Little Desert Town - Chapter 12 (5/5)

2009-03-22T05:18:22Z

A Strange Little Desert Town
Chapter Twelve - Accidental Truths
Part Five of Five

| Previous Entries |

~*~*~*~

Jacinta looked over at Wendy. Her blonde hair hung past her shoulders & the jewels strung on fine wires throughout it glimmered in the light. Wendy smiled back, her teeth hidden behind closed lips. Jacinta was sure there was something different about it tonight. She couldn't be sure however. Their hands brushed each others' across the table.

"Jass," Wendy began, unsure for the first time since they had known each other. "There is something I need to talk to you about."

Jacinta looked at her girlfriend. Their relationship was clandestine. Wendy was a Countess, hidden in this town from those who opposed her family's rule. A day would come when she would have to leave, & Jacinta would not be able to follow. It was an affair fraught with danger; aside from the social issues arising from same sex coupling, Wendy would one day have to marry for political gain. As the second child of Miranda Stripe, Jacinta had nothing to offer even had she been male.

Here it comes, thought Jacinta fearfully. She has to leave.

"Yes?" she asked, steeling herself for the ending to begin.

Weeks ago, after Bella’s funeral, Jacinta had called Wendy to come over. She didn’t want to be alone. They had discussed mortality & relationships. Perhaps it was seeing Jacinta so distraught that led Wendy to her suggestion. Whatever the reason, Wendy had come out with the truth about who & what she was; a Nightwalker. She offered Jacinta the chance to join her. To be able to watch over her extended family for as long as she chose.

Jacinta had accepted. She suddenly understood why Wendy hadn’t been able to attend Bella’s funeral. And so it was that she joined Wendy as a Nightwalker. She would never be able to safely watch a sunrise, & she had needed to move to the safety of Wendy’s home, but these had been sacrifices she was willing to make in the long term scheme of things.

She was brought back from her reverie with a jolt.

"Your mother's first partner," Wendy spoke softly. "How much do you know about him?"

"Nervous?" Jacinta asked incredulously.

"Hush," warned Wendy. "Normally I'd say we were safe within my walls, but in this I am not so sure."

Jacinta was blown away. This was not a topic she had ever expected to hear outside her own family. Her half brother's father was something that only her mother & Mike had ever spoken of. He had died long before Jacinta was born. Knowing Wendy was older than her was one thing. Jacinta didn't really like to think about it too hard & she had a strong suspicion this was going to drive it home. Hard.

But why was whispering necessary? Who would be listening?

"I know he died when my brother was two," Jacinta answered quietly. "He was engaged to mother. There was an incident."

"Surely that's not all," Wendy prompted.

Jacinta thought for a moment before continuing slowly.

"It happened in the spa. Mother wasn't fast enough to help. He caught fire & burnt to death right there in front of her on the night of Mike's birthday," Jacinta said. "Mother never got over him."

Wendy nodded.

"There is more to it than that," she said. "Think back to everything you know of him. This is important, Jass."

Jacinta furrowed her brows both in puzzlement & in concentration. What had Mike spoken of?

"He was a scientist," she continued, sorting through memories of conversations both shared & overheard. "He was often working late or steadily & was only able to give mother random allotments of time when he could find it. She didn't mind."

She paused & collected her thoughts.

"Mother was one of his only friends. He had two others in town & no one else. Not that he would have had time, I suppose. That's really it. He's not spoken of further than that. At least, not around me."

Wendy nodded.

"Parts of it are true," she said, her words sending Jacinta reeling. "He did work in science, but he wasn't a scientist. He was the experiment."

Jacinta's jaw dropped.
Wendy reached over & gently closed it. Even alone together they tried to keep the habit of not showing their teeth wherever possible. Their eyes met & Jacinta could see the heavy weight of sadness from the truth within Wendy's eyes.

"Essentially he was owned," Wendy continued. "His relationship with Miranda should never have happened, but somehow it did. There is a good chance it was allowed to happen as some sick twist in their research. Personally, I wouldn't put it past them. I don't know exactly what their research entailed, only the small bits & bobs that I can dig up. Circe & Loki Beaker are vile creatures, with no respect for the human race. Nervous was one of their success stories; & he only lived a half-life. His brother was far younger when his body caved in to the pressure."

Jacinta looked up, startled.

"His brother?!"

Wendy nodded.

"Nervous had a twin. They were identical, which was why they were chosen. Suddenly orphaned at the age of two years, they came to be in the possession of Circe & Loki. Renamed & rarely allowed out, they were written off within the case file as deceased with their parents. Circe planned it, Loki executed it.

"Over the years, Nervous & Tense were subjected to all manner of horrific experiments. They suffered electrocution in various ways, not only the more commonly known electro-shock therapy but also heinous concoctions dreamt up by Circe. Tense died during one of these obscure experiments when the boys were 19 years old. Nervous was devastated but was given no real means of mourning. One night, he snuck out of his basement quarters & off the premises entirely."

"Was that when he met my mother?"

"No," Wendy shook her head. "This was the night that he met Pascal Curious."

~*~*~*~

Poverty, Blizzards & Feminism - Part 2

2009-03-20T03:51:28Z

Poverty, Blizzards & Feminism
Tohno Family :: Generation 1.01

Poverty/Matriarch/Pixel_trade Challenge rule set

Featuring Sims from: katu, selzi, brilliantcat, xel_quirgle_ox & madame_ugly

Warning: Some coarse language. Teaser has nothing to do with anything. Maybe.

Ciel spends a lot of time stressing, crying & fretting.
With the rule against hiring Nannies, she can't work.
They are forced to live off the land & as a fortune sim that really grates on her nerves. It also makes her feel like she isn't doing enough for her children.

Rei constantly rolls wants to torment her older brother.
Then she runs around the lot teasing him.

Rei decided that a stray dog was no longer stray.
Lala is courtesy of madame_ugly.
Not only is this a pixel_trade poverty legacy, but I'm intending on breeding the dogs with shared dogs. More mouths... but they can't get jobs.

Mind you, for a sim who is obsessed with Grilled Cheese, Ceil does a bang up job of ignoring it other than to sleep in it.
Perhaps that's part of her fetish with it? The greasy cheese & rough texture of the toast on her face......

Louis Campall, courtesy of selzi, wandered past & Rei decided that she had to greet him & play catch.
Oh the ways of childhood love - playing games & longing.
Ceil will make certain that nothing happens between them.... at least until she's legal & hopefully old enough to take it seriously & make intelligent & informed decisions...

But Ruby Red Drop, courtesy of brilliantcat is one hell of a cantankerous bitch.
Stealing newspapers from sims with less than 3 simoleons. That's just... evil.

What the hell is it with kids drinking the bubble liquid?!?!

Sparkly dog!!
& the now teen Sebastian.

Bastian & Belladonna Galaxy, courtesy of xel_quirgle_ox, get along really well. She constantly calls him just to chat =P

How brilliant are the grown up Dogs??

Wanta is named after the stray dog in Elfen Lied (which is one of my favourite animes).
Heen was the name of the dog in Howl's Moving Castle.

Now that the kids were old enough to look after themselves, Ceil got herself a job. She waited 2 days for it to start, only to make the wrong decision on a chance card on her first day. She came home, fired & was not paid.

Ceil has a gold gardening badge, so she can convince the plants to thrive.
This is how her family survive. Sales of the harvest purchase things like bricks & floor boards. (& I buy graffiti too, just to squander).

Rei as a teen is sickenly cute. I deleted a heap of unwanted CC the other day (over 1000 pieces) & her unwanted genetisied skin was one of them. So now she has the default she should have had. =D

& Harvey caught her first foolish townie. One of Rei's friends from school.
I think Ricky Cormier went straight to the cake after climbing off the bus.
He discovered it was a lie, but it was already too late.

& as per the rules, the oldest sim on the lot has to drink it immediately to free the plant back up. Ceil transitioned to elder moments before she drank Ricky.

Houses to Last the Generations....

2009-03-20T02:38:51Z

So I've been considering building some more houses. Possibly a community lot or two as well, but mostly the idea has been houses.

What would you like to see in a house? Especially one that needs to house larger families.

Which EPs would you like it to include? All or only one or two?
I have all the EPs & SPs, & have an Anygame set with the ones that were released for Mac. I can create one that is Base & Nightlife only if that's what people would prefer.... or I can attempt with Base Game only, but that's pushing it. I don't think I'm good enough to make that look good =P

So what would you like to see?
How many bedrooms, bathrooms, what sort of landscaping, colour schemes & themes?

A Strange Little Desert Town - Chapter 12 (4/5)

2009-03-17T04:23:33Z

A Strange Little Desert Town
Chapter Twelve - Accidental Truths
Part Four of Five

| Previous Entries |

~*~*~*~

It was raining.

Good. It suited the mood. Daniel only wished it would wash away reality. Or at least the pain.

Lightning flickered across the sky, thunder rolling through just moments later. The storm was almost directly overhead. Yes, he thought. This is precisely the weather suitable for today. Anything else just wouldn't be fair.

Daniel kept placing one foot in front of the other. It had gotten him through the last week at work & had gotten him through the earlier pre-cremation service. It was still difficult for him to believe that she was really gone. He kept expecting her to phone, or to bump into her at the shops. Or to see her hatchback in her driveway. After everything. In spite of everything. She was gone.

Steps. They'd climbed these together so many times over the years. Never again. They would never again try to climb in step with their arms around each other's waists. She'd never again tease him by skipping steps & changing pace. Nor would she ever again attempt to race him.

Ash looked down at her twin. He was really torn to shreds over Bella's death. It was obvious to most people that he & Bella had been perfect for each other, but no one besides Ash knew of Daniel's truest feelings. The twins shared everything, including their deepest secrets. Too much had gone before for them not to. Each was the reason for the other's survival & secrets found no place in their relationship as siblings. Even compared to most twins, Ash & Daniel were close. So it was that Ash was the only other soul who knew of Daniel's plan to ask Bella to marry him.

Oh Danny, she wished she could do something, anything, to ease the pain her brother felt. As he reached the top of the staircase, she reached out to him. He crumpled in her arms, sobbing as though he would never stop. Remembering the pain of Daniels' short-lived death, Ash couldn't even begin to fathom the pain he felt now.

They were going to scatter her ashes to the wind. Let her fly out over the town she'd loved so much. To become a part of its soil & sand where she chose to rest. Bella hadn't been born here, but she'd loved it nonetheless. She'd come from one of those seemingly "pleasant" little places that are all about sugar cups & baking for neighbours, until you turn your back. She had nothing but bad memories of the place & preferred not to speak of it. Daniel could remember the pain in her eyes just before she would change the subject.

Jacinta watched her nephew. He was a wreck, understandably so. For all that he wasn’t the type that would settle down, Jacinta always got the feeling that if he was it would be with Bella. There was something in the way he looked at her. Something that said more than words ever could. She wished that there was something she could do. But he could only handle Ash’s sympathy, not anyone else’s. For all that she was their aunt, Jacinta had never felt more like their younger sister than she did then.

Seated beside her brother, she felt totally alone. Mike had not been his normal self in weeks. He’d closed his laboratory & had stopped leaving the house unless it was essential. Jacinta was sure he wasn’t here. He was more likely reliving the memory of his late wife’s funeral all those years ago. Looking to Ash & her husband Cory only made her solitude at this funeral worse. She wished she could have brought her girlfriend, Wendy. But she couldn’t get time off work. Wendy worked twelve hour shifts, seven days per week, & was allotted no holidays. Not even a day off for a funeral. At least Ash had Cory for support.

The eulogy that Sam & Daniel had written for Bella was beautiful. It was different to the memorials given at the service earlier. This one wasn’t a memory so much as a release. Daniel’s voice cracked as he struggled to keep his emotions under control. Sam wept openly, unable to speak at all.

"And so we give you to the land & air that you loved so much," Daniel managed.

Everyone was given a handful of Bella’s ashes. Stepping to the edge, overlooking the town, they all said their own goodbyes to a wonderful friend & openly caring person. Daniel let the remainder from the urn go, catching the wind & blowing out over the plain.

He broke at that point.
Ash caught him in an embrace & he sobbed into her shoulder long after the others had slipped away the cars below.

~*~*~*~

Custom Content Anonymous

2009-03-16T12:47:51Z

I think I should possibly create the above community. A How to Say No to Downloading support group. Designed especially for those people who have over 6gb of custom content & struggle to not add to that.

[looks pointedly at uys, brilliantcat & bondchick_nett]

As of when I loaded Delphy's Download Organiser two & a half hours ago, I had 8gb, give or take a couple of kb.

Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it: guess how much, to the closest mb, that I remove tonight just through the use of this lovely program.

Also, would you guys be interested if I created the afore mentioned community? Or does it already exist? If it does, please link me? I think I need to join. [grins]

A Strange Little Desert Town - Chapter 12 (3/5)

2009-03-13T10:41:00Z

A Strange Little Desert Town
Chapter Twelve - Accidental Truths
Part Three of Five

| Previous Entries |

~*~*~*~

Daniel opened the top drawer of his dresser. Nestled between two piles of folded pants was a small red box with gold trim. The catch on the top caught the light & sparkled, tempting him to open it. He reached for the box & opened the clasp, the two halves of the top breaking apart to reveal a band that glittered with three precious stones set side by side.

The ring itself was white gold, yellow was too common for her. The three diamonds & their placement had meaning. They signified Past, Present & Future. It was the true, traditional engagement ring, one from before the fashion conscious had needed to brag with large solitaire diamonds. This was truth. For in truth, Daniel loved her.

He turned the ring over in his hand, letting the many facets of the jewels create dancing light faeries throughout the room. His thoughts cast back to his twin sister's wedding; to Ash's offhand comment at the end & to Her response. She'd been wrong. Just that once. But then again....

She was gone.

The lights skittered & played across the room. Daniel thought of her teasing smile. The light would twinkle in her eyes. You could easily drown in their hazel depths. He reminisced on the sultry look she would get when they were playing. The way she'd arch on eyebrow & bite her lip. How she'd look at him through her long, black eyelashes.

Daniel Stripe was a ladies man. It was no secret that he had a way with women, or that they seemed to find him charming & sweet. Miranda used to say it was because he had his grandfather's eyes. Mixed with his police officer's uniform, those eyes had women eating from the palms of his hands.

His twin sister, Ash, was closer than any to him. She wasn't just his twin, she was his best friend & the reason he was alive after that incident back when they were sixteen. She was also the only person who knew that Daniel wasn't into monogamy. He had numerous girlfriends who didn't know they weren't his sole love, much to his sister's chagrin.

There had been a knock at the door. Danny had opened it to see his partner, Sam, in uniform. Immediately he'd known that something was wrong.

"Hey Danny," Sam's expression was serious.

"Sam? What's going on?"

"May I come in?"

"Er, yeah?" Daniel had motioned for his friend to come inside & take a seat on the lounge before joining him.

"Why so serious, Sam?" Daniel recalled asking. "What's this about?"

"It's about Bella, Danny," Sam's voice had been leaden.

The colour had drained from Daniel's face.

"She...." Sam trailed off into silence. He'd stood up & started at the candlesticks on the nearby table, a tear trickling down his cheek.

"She's gone, Danny," Sam then finished, trying to hold himself together.

Daniel had sat there in shocked silence as his mind attempted to absorb his friend's words. He couldn't be serious. But Sam never lied. There was no way this could be real. But it wasn't something to joke about. Bella couldn't be gone.

The look on Sam's face had told him it was no joke. Sam wouldn't have even considered joking about something like this. Especially not about Bella.

"Where?" Daniel had managed to croak. "What?"

"There was an accident," Sam explained.

A road train. Bella had been coming back from a meeting in the city & an impatient driver had tried to overtake her over double white lines. Just around the blind bend had been a B-double. The air horns blared & the four wheel drive swerved suddenly back into the left lane; where Bella's hatchback was. Smashing into the drivers side of the hatch, the 4WD pushed her off the road. Bella's car had hit the soft shoulder, dug in & flipped. It rolled five times before finishing with its wheels to the sky in the ditch. The driver of the Road Train had called it in. The 4WD never stopped.

Bella was pronounced dead at the scene. The paramedics who attended believed her to have died at the moment the 4WD impacted.

The funeral was today. Everyone would gather at the lookout above wireless hill. It had been her favourite spot. They used to go there in the late evening & stand at the edge, looking down over their town with its lights twinkling. It was a sheer cliff face, with a drop of 100 metres, but they would stand at its edge for hours, saying nothing. Just his arms around her while they watched life go on below them.

~*~*~*~