shay480's Blog
:
June 2009
Diarmuid's latest top 40 hit
POSTED ON
06/16/09
Ode To My Llama
by Duirmuid Painter
I tied my llama to a post
and watched him gnaw the rope
If not fer Doc an\' Juliette
I mighta give up hope
His innerds, they was fulla string -
enough to span the crick
But Doc and Julie yanked it out
and he\'s no longer sick
The brightest moment in this dark
and dreary escapade
Was when my darlin\' Juliette
assessed I\'d made the grade
She plopped herself upon one knee
gazed at my grinnin\' face
An\' on my grubby cowboy paw
a bangle she did place
Now me an\' Julie\'s man an\' wife
an\' she\'s a brand new mama
All of this because of one
ol\' greedy, stinkin\' llama
Chorus:
Llama, llama, where are you now?
Yer my bud an\' I\'ll never fergit
the way you used to chew twine from a stick
and look me dead in the eeeeeeyyyye
an\' spit.
Llama llama llama llama llama llama llama ..... (fade)
More book titles
POSTED ON
06/16/09
Ghost in the Machine: Mechanic in the Attic, by Siobhan McKinney. An exploration of the unusual circumstance of being a Sim.
Pass the Peanut Butter, Please! By Sammi Jo Painter. A little girl\'s true story of living on testingcheats. \"What is this thing called \'food\'?\", she ponders.
What Happens at Stonehenge STAYS at Stonehenge. By Liam Painter. A tell-nothing tale about seven kids, a box of bugs, and a hot summer day in the hills.
The grass is always, um, kinda purplish, actually. By Sammi Jo Painter. Coming from the child of Lida, we\'re not surprised.
\"Ohh, Giblets!\", and Other Things My Famous Daddy Says, by Liam Painter. A kid with all the advantages makes use of them.
Run on down to the book store and buy your copies now, y\'hear?
Speaking of which ...
POSTED ON
06/16/09
I had to go and open my big mouth. As I finished my blog, the game crashed in the midst of a save. Again. I\'m almost afraid to go back in. Mama always said we have to face our fears, however, so it\'s cranking up as I type. I have a backup, but it\'s from before Piper re-entered the world.
Crossing my fingers and my eyes, taking a sip of my root beer (it\'s the strongest thing I\'ve had to drink in years) - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Aaaaand, . . . . Shwew! (I always thought that was the cutest word in Sims 2) - Anyway, shwew! She\'s still there!
Wait a minute . . . . . . . . .
Yep, we\'re good. Piper is on the treadmill, working on level eight. Liam is writing the book he had finished just before the crash. All 6 gnomes are still in their frozen states. Looks like no harm done. We got lucky this time around. I try to remember to save at the end of each big event and several times between, but I\'ve gotten error messages twice in two days saying the save is a no-go. I\'ve had to shut the machine down hard both times, which makes me cringe like you would not believe.
I have two gigs of RAM, so that shouldn\'t be much of an issue at this point. I think it\'s probably the graphics card. What I\'m using atm is an ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro, which is listed as a supported card. Still, it\'s way low end. I got it from a Walmart clearance rack for $70, if that tells you anything. I\'m looking at nVidia, but what I want is a lot more money than I want to spend until I see how this game and its EPs will go.
I\'ve just realized that Lida is still in the park. She\'s at level five on her guitar and wants to make $25 playing for tips. Before the crash she had spent several hours on this endeavor and had not met her goal. Bless her crazy little heart. She did do a few good deeds around the house before she left, though. She performed scientific experiments on some much-used items and caused them to enhance the experience for their users. Liam\'s computer, the treadmill, the weight machine, and a garden gnome all offer a healthy dose of strength (or something) to whoever is near them. I guess I can live with the annoying radiating green circles around them if it helps them in some way. The first time she did this she caught the radio -- and the living room -- on fire. That was a big \"oh, *****\" moment for me.
Shwew!
She's Baaaaa-ack!
POSTED ON
06/16/09
Piper hit the jackpot. Diarmuid has a 10 in cooking, Lida in fishing. Together they were able to set before her a plate of the most wonderful dish she\'d ever tasted: Ambrosia! It was luck that Diarmuid had, only that week, been given the opportunity to take a stone to the lab. He picked up Piper\'s, and off he went. Lida spent the weekend casting for deathfish, and in the process finished her quest for robot fish for work.
Piper is among us once again, and working to rebuild all the skills she lost when her best save of the game disappeared into thin air. I\'m not sure what will happen after that. Should she stay with the Painter family or get a place of her own? I\'ve transferred some big money gems and such into her inventory for just in case. The kids have all been given items as well. I started loading them up when they were babies, knowing that they will be split up eventually and will need some startup cash.
Speaking of the little angels, they\'ve all rolled their lifetime wishes, and I gave them the first thing they each asked for. The boys both want to be Renaissance Sims, meaning they\'ll need to level out in 3 different skills. Sammi Jo, the eldest, wants to become an Illustrious Author. That means she\'ll have to master the writing and painting skills. Wouldn\'t you know, she\'s over half-way there. Liam and Branson have each got one more skill to conquer. I figure if I work them now they\'ll be ready for anything the world has to throw at them. I won\'t get to stay with all of them once it\'s time to move out, after all. I just hope the game doesn\'t throw me another curve ball and vanish this family as well.
Lida's Book Titles
POSTED ON
06/14/09
Lida got an opportunity to write three books, and had very little time in which to do it. Here\'s what she came up with:
Insanity: Fun For the Whole Family!
So, Your Mama\'s a Nut: How to Make Insanity Work for You
And, last, but not least,
Crazy: It Is All It\'s Cracked Up To Be
Never a dull moment with that one.
So much for that
POSTED ON
06/14/09
No fishing for Lida tonight. She seems to have her own agenda. She threw on her formal to play in the sprinklers, and is now happily dabbing sparkles all over her painting. I don\'t have the heart to send her out.
It\'s 11:49 pm in the game, and Piper has arisen. She\'s headed for the door with two thought bubbles: one is of the fridge, and the other is the starving sim sign. That is how she died, after all, so I\'m thrilled that she makes herself at home and takes care of her needs. She\'s especially fond of Goopy Carbonara. Looks like it\'s hamburgers tonight. She\'s the only one in the house who cooks, and I bought the most expensive appliances just for her. I don\'t know if she\'s glitched or what. The only interaction anyone has with her is to \"dance together\" when the radio is on. I want to try her with Parker Langerak, her fiance, but I can\'t leave the family for fear that the game will move them away.
I could get him to move in for a bit though. Yeah ... I might just do that.
Oh, and Lida eats like nobody\'s business. I keep her needs maxed out 24/7, but she is forever pulling out fruit and devouring it several pieces at a time. I had to get her the high metabolism reward to keep her from piling on the poundage. And I have to keep all the best produce in Diarmuid\'s inventory. Every time she harvests I have to go in and transfer tons of food so she won\'t use up what we might need for an Opportunity. Or Ambrosia. I\'m determined to bring Piper back, one way or another.
Piper Snores
POSTED ON
06/14/09
Diarmuid has made it to the top and is a thriving rock star! Huzzah! Lida has also topped out and become a mad scientist. I love the look on her! The babies are all toddlers now, all potty-trained, all walking and talking, and all skilling like mad on the toys. I don\'t know why we\'re in such a rush. I\'ve got it set on the longest age, so they\'ll be toddlers for 66 days each unless I step in, which I probably will.
Lida went to the cemetery and got Piper\'s stone and brought it back home with her. We\'ve got a nice little place for her at the side of the house. And Piper has a routine. Every night around midnight I hear her ghostie noises as she rises and heads straight for the kitchen to fix herself a meal. She then washes her dishes and goes to the bedroom for a nap. After that it\'s anybody\'s guess. She jumps into the plants a lot, and occasionally scares a family member. I get the feeling the todds are a bit on the noisy side where she\'s concerned. She walked in tonight and covered her ears as they played their little xylophones. Testingcheats keeps the family up and fed forever, because I don\'t want to have to deal with all the sleeping and eating stuff.
Diarmuid is beginning to get on my nerves a little. He won\'t do anything - ANYTHING - until I tell him to. That\'s a good man, I reckon, but jeez, can\'t he have a thought of his own? So I catch him standing around and put him to work on the garden most of the time. At night he runs off to perform his concerts, and since Lida is home with the kids today, he\'s in the park playing for tips.
Lida, bless her heart, keeps me in stitches. I caught her rummaging her own trash can a few minutes ago. Nothing good in there today.
I\'ve decided to scale down their garden some. They\'re both super green thumb, gardening fools, but that\'s all they ever do! If I just keep a select few plants it will give Lida more time to work out. She does that on her own as well, though she does not have the athletic trait. She is an insane friendly green thumb artisitc angler. That reminds me --- she needs to go fishing for work.
Lida went to the cemetery and got Piper\'s stone and brought it back home with her. We\'ve got a nice little place for her at the side of the house. And Piper has a routine. Every night around midnight I hear her ghostie noises as she rises and heads straight for the kitchen to fix herself a meal. She then washes her dishes and goes to the bedroom for a nap. After that it\'s anybody\'s guess. She jumps into the plants a lot, and occasionally scares a family member. I get the feeling the todds are a bit on the noisy side where she\'s concerned. She walked in tonight and covered her ears as they played their little xylophones. Testingcheats keeps the family up and fed forever, because I don\'t want to have to deal with all the sleeping and eating stuff.
Diarmuid is beginning to get on my nerves a little. He won\'t do anything - ANYTHING - until I tell him to. That\'s a good man, I reckon, but jeez, can\'t he have a thought of his own? So I catch him standing around and put him to work on the garden most of the time. At night he runs off to perform his concerts, and since Lida is home with the kids today, he\'s in the park playing for tips.
Lida, bless her heart, keeps me in stitches. I caught her rummaging her own trash can a few minutes ago. Nothing good in there today.
I\'ve decided to scale down their garden some. They\'re both super green thumb, gardening fools, but that\'s all they ever do! If I just keep a select few plants it will give Lida more time to work out. She does that on her own as well, though she does not have the athletic trait. She is an insane friendly green thumb artisitc angler. That reminds me --- she needs to go fishing for work.
How many times can I say Frammit
POSTED ON
06/12/09
We\'ve lost Piper again. She had all her skills, all her goodies lined up, just waiting for the plant to ripen. I saved the game so it would be nice and smooth for her transition, and in the middle of it, CRASH!
Nothing but desktop.
When I went back in there was no trace of her game. I had a backup from just before she moved in with Diarmuid and Siobhan, so I started over with them again. Diarmuid has married an insane sim named Lida Painter, and they have an infant daughter, Abbie, and brand new twin sons, Liam and Branson. (I didn\'t expect the second one, so I grabbed the first name that presented itself. As fate would have it, my friends were talking about their visit to Branson, Missouri.) Voila! So, everybody in the family is Irish except for the *******. (r e d n e c k. Did you know that was a cuss word?)
We\'ve placed Piper\'s tombstone in the cemetery, prepared for the next disaster. Someone will have to be able to get to her. Hey, it\'s easy access and she\'ll have tons of folks to party with out there.
Diarmuid is still climbing the rock star ladder. Siobhan became President (or the sim equivalent) before we lost the Piper game, but this time around she\'s aiming for medical excellence. She\'s wanted to be a doctor all along, but I didn\'t realize it until she was practically Queen.
Lida is a trip. She wears her formal to work, goes to the gym in her underwear, talks to herself more than I do, and makes the most wonderful faces! I\'m so happy I decided to try CAS again rather than go back and repeat the same game for the third time.
My pizza\'s getting cold.
...
She's baaa-aack . . .
POSTED ON
06/09/09
Long story short, we did get Parker to move in, and he took Piper\'s tombstone to the science lab and revived her. Sort of. She\'s a ghost who can do anything she used to do, of course, and now she\'s fully skilled in gardening and nearly there in cooking. She has enough death fish to stock her own pond, has the ambrosia recipe, and has only to finish skilling so she can read it.
Siobhan has three partnerships and is proud owner of the bistro; Diarmuid is moving right along in the music track, but we have yet to throw a party for him to perform at. I always hated parties in Sims 2. Maybe it won\'t be so bad in this game. We\'ll see; Parker switched from science to medicine; and little Abbie is just a speed bump in their lives at baby stage. I don\'t want to age her up until I can get her mother to cook some ambrosia and leave it sitting for her. I really hope it will work for her too. I haven\'t heard yet either way.
Anyway, back to the game!
SOME Sims. Sheesh!
POSTED ON
06/07/09
I have Siobhan and Diarmuid basically living in the park, thanks to testingcheats. ( so much for not cheating, eh?) It just makes more sense to have them right there working on their skills and chatting up the townies in their off time. When I just had Piper in the game I had no lag, no drag, no real issues. However, having two of them is setting the game off tilt a bit. It takes longer to get to the map and move around. Not much longer, but still ... And I\'m now having to wait a few seconds with each move to get the colors and textures lined out. So, even though they just live behind City Hall, I like for them to hang out in the park and and have their neighbors available to them when they need to improve on charisma and such. Diarmuid, being a budding rock star at level nine, made almost $900 in one night playing his guitar for tips. Can\'t beat that with a stick, eh?
I thought it would be nice for Siobhan to help out the starving townsfolk and grill up a couple of plates of hot dogs. She also pulled out a radio for entertainment since her brother was at work and couldn\'t handle this himself. Well, Iliana Langerak walked over to the tables and threw away both plates of hotdogs, turned down the radio, pulled out a book, and walked away. Hmph! Dustin Langerak, not to be outdone, stole Siobhan\'s plate and ate her lunch for her. To his credit, he did drop off his picnic basket in return.
Cuteness alert: While Diarmuid was playing for tips one morning a daddy brought his baby up and let him drop some cash into the guitar case. Awwww!
I\'m enjoying the game again. Yay! But now I need to get Parker into the family somehow. I guess his buddy D could invite him to move in and see how that goes. You see, while Siobhan was working on her computer skills in the park one night, I happened to notice some activity across the street. It was Piper\'s ghost, come back to haunt me at the restaurant where I accidentally ended her young life. Her \"children\" are not physically related to her in the game, but Parker was engaged to her. If I could skill him up, maybe I could at least get back her tombstone. I\"m not sure how the whole resurrection thing works yet in this game. It has something to do with the science lab, right?
I\'m off to give it a shot. Later !
Frammit 2.
POSTED ON
06/06/09
Piper had no children. She had no family of any sort. She had a lot of friends who stood and mourned as Grimmy hauled her off to that great sandy beach in the sky. And she had me. I\'ve decided to give her a legacy. I\'m pretending that Parker did come back, and that they had a good couple of years together. And two screaming toddlers.
Come back in about two decades, and the babies are all grown up and out on their own. Sort of. Their daddy is probably running around town somewhere, but they haven\'t crossed paths with him yet. He couldn\'t stand the place after Piper passed away, so he\'d moved off with the kids to Pleasantview. The scenery wasn\'t quite as good there, but they\'d had some kick-butt houses to choose from and the neighbors were nice enough. Once the kids had finished school he laid it on them: Their mama had been a wealthy woman, and they had trust funds to burn through.
They went back to the old homestead and packed up all of Piper\'s belongings. Her paintings will stay with them forever (or until I do something stupid again), and they\'ll hang on to her furniture for a while. She designed it herself, after all. They couldn\'t bring her dead plants or even catch one of the red herring she\'d stocked her pond with, but they did manage to grab the high-dollar appliances and that fancy-pants bathtub. There was something kinda creepy about a sister and brother setting up housekeeping in a one-bedroom home, so they pulled out some of that trust fund money and bought a bigger place.
Siobhan took a job (and a partnership) at Doo Peas Corporate Towers where her mother had earned her fortune. Diarmuid is pursuing a career in music. He just wants to be a rock star.
So far it\'s the same old stuff for me. Siobhan is getting all the same perks and opportunities as Piper. Maybe Diarmuid will be able to pull me out of my funk. I\'m pretty much done with cheating for a while, anyway.
Frammit!
POSTED ON
06/06/09
So, I created my first Sim in TS3. Her name was Piper McKinney, and she had it all. I started her out in a little one-bedroom house on Lotus, or whatever that road is. She was a business woman, and became a power broker in no time at all. I gave her the longest life possible, I thought.
She was becoming quite good at fishing and gardening, had collected scores of rocks and insects, had topped out the painting skill and was working on guitar. I thought maybe she would marry her former boss, but she ran into Parker Langerak in Central Park one day and had to have him. They were best friends in no time at all, and were soon engaged.
Piper invited Parker home and asked him to spend the night, to which he readily agreed. They kissed and cooed like there was no tomorrow, and in a heartbeat were in the bedroom, where Parker threw on his raggedy old pajamas and ... went to sleep. Piper was disappointed, but she cuddled up to her man and drifted off to dream beside him.
The next morning she ran off to work and he just plain ran off. She never saw him again.
A few days later I had her invite a friend to dinner, and I learned a very important lesson about testingcheats. In TS2 you could pull the sliders all the way to empty and back to full again with no lasting ill effects. Not so in TS3. I starved her to death right there on the spot. Grimmy came, Piper went, and that was the end of my game.
Frammit.
