Peculiar: Bonus Schtuff (last one for Book 1!)
It's the LAST bonust schtuff for Book 1. Before we get to it, I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who reads and/or comments. Where would any "writer" be without readers? Big love to you all.
*does horribly disturbing butt shaking dance of joy*
Ok, now that that's out of my system (and before I break one of my old lady hips or something) lets get to this here bonus schtuff.
Growing Pains
This update solidified once and for all my undieing LOVE of the Ottomas clan. And not merely to use them as comedic fodder (which I've done a bit of). They are a wonderful family who everyone should play and fall in love with to.
Go, play the Ottomases RIGHT NOW.
Really, there's not much to report on from that update. The pics I used were pretty much all things that just happened in the game (Gran's death in particular, I didn't have to reposition anyone).
Since I know you all want funny out take pics, lets move on.
Punchinellos and Bovine Bracken ( Part1 and Part 2)
This title is my all time favorite. It fits the update so well and it's edjumacational. Learning is FUN when it's brought to you by sims. (and punchinellos is a great word--god bless my thesaurus)
I was so eager to do these two updates just so I could show off Klara Vonderstein (I'm a huge fan of her, too, if you haven't noticed) and DJ Verse (who's makeover I love so much).
It's nice to see some things never change. The college students just can't get enough of spying on Titania Summerdream. And they STILL get all worked up over what they see. (this pic is especially funny since I'm not sure Mic is really "into" girls).
I really wanted to use this pic to show the difference between Bella and Klara (this is Bella's room, by the way). But I think I managed to make their differences abundantly clear (and this pics isn't exactly that great, so best to save it to bore you all with in these bonus schtuff updates--I promise, the pics get better as we go).
Fun fact: Klara was preset (by maxis) to be attracted to fat sims. LOVE THAT. I just fiddled with her to make her like brunettes, and Klara the chubby chaser was born. The way I see it, Klara prefers brunettes but will pay attention to any fat boy. But she's definitely NOT looking at thin/fit boys. Fatness catches her eye and then she goes from there. Now, if she fell for a fatty who later got thin, I'm not sure how she'd react. She might keep them around.
To Have and To Hold ( Part 1 and Part 2)
*snort* Ok, so in the first part of part one, where Percy and Abe are cleaning up after dinner. . .Abe asks Percy if he wants to keep or discard the salad. When I was writing I wrote "No, toss it." as Percy's response. The minute I realized they were discussing SALAD and TOSSING SALAD, I had to change it. So juvenile, but it still amuses me.
In case you ever wondered, I usually don't go back and forth working on an update. I prefer to just sit down and go from start to finish. Occassionally I will have to save something and work on it again later. So the fact that I caught the "toss. . .salad" thing is doubly amusing to me (since I hate editing with a passion).
So, did I telegraph the whole "the cowplant's going to live with Aggie and Paul and Paul's up to no good" thing well enough? To me, it seemed fairly obvious (along with JKL's plot to off XYZ). I love doing that kind of thing, slowly tieing stuff together.
OK, so it's time for another funny pic.
I think Sarah Love's disturbed facial expression really sells this shot. This booby face plant brought to you courtesy of move objects. I wasn't intending for this to happen. I just wanted to move some party guests around. They all wanted to be in the t.v. room, standing around yapping when they should be jamming out to the rocking sounds of the Science Fiction Idols. (and Fava Bean there in the background just looks like he's thinking "Damn, did I accidentally go to The Club? I can't afford to pay for this. . .")
It was during said party that I was once again treated to the joy that is writing as I go (and being given a gift by the game). Robert Hiatt autonimously rubbed Sharla's back. I rarely see autonimous back rubbing at all, least of all from teens. Robert and Sharla aren't even "in crush" with each other or anything, either. So with that one autonimous interaction, the idea that Robert might be thinking about Sharla as a little more than JUST a friend was born (and from that idea birth, I went back and got the "Robert comforts Sharla" pics). After Robert pulled his autonimous shenanigans, Zondek went and hugged Sharla, too (which really was after they had their little meal conversation).
There was a lot of good random stuff that helped make these updates. Don randomly showed up when I sent Lazlo to shop. Miles's head bonk on the light fixture was random (he was talking about music and doing the air guitar reaction--again, completely random). Mojito being on Lazlo's bed (which she goes on to do again in a later update, it's her "thing" to sleep on his bed). Oh and the great thought balloons. They inspire me (Lazlo's whole modeling his new clothes/"cool dad" thing would have been a lot different if not for that pacifier thought bubble). And the servo in the dream bubble? I couldn't have planned that better if I tried.
Fun Fact: The Drive By Trucker's song I used in this update ("Marry Me") has been used before in Nocheat. Onus used the line "I'd rather be your fool nowhere then go somewhere and be no one's" in his wedding vows to Jupiter.
Shuffle
The first pic in this update still cracks me up. Edwin is chawing on Marie's nose. That was a total glitch. Somehow they were standing too close to one another.
After I took a little heat for (what appeared at the time) not showing Marie and Pierre Curious heading off to college, I was happy to show it. (*snicker* I love when readers keep me honest like that--call me out on my bullshit, please!)
Not only did I get to show off the YA Marie and Pierre (I love Pierre's transition outfit--who wouldn't want Pierre to deliver his goods to them? so cute), but I got to finally make the full connection that Klara was going to meet Lazlo (and get his cherry) AND introduce Blossom Moonbeam.
Yes, Blossom, I had planned your meeting (and pairing off with) Pierre for a LONG time. Don't let her sour puss give you the wrong impression. She just got a glitchy face after she danced with Pierre. Now if for some reason they hadn't hit it off, I wouldn't have forced the pairing. But they hit it off from moment one. OH, and Blossom's weirdness (how she can see the sim stuff like the plumbob and later the first kiss hearts) that wasn't something I planned. I needed a fun way to intro Blossom (and a topic for their conversation) and that's the first thing that came to mind. Blossom was always slated to be a bit of a weird/hippy chick (thanks to the way maxis made her) though. I'm seriously tempted to create her matriarchal hippy commune living mother/family. I haven't completely scrapped the idea yet. I'm also kind of tempted to tie Blossom's hippy family to the hippy Woodstock family in Nocheat. I'd love to make references to Woodstock family founders Crunchy Granola and Gaia Earth Mother (G.E.M.) and their brood of oddly named children.
So, what do oldsters Kitty and Glam do to celebrate their final two kids going off to college?
"Ooh, now it's a wet t-shirt contest!"
(you can see by Marie and Pierre there in the background that horsing around is a genetic thing)
So is. . .
. . .adoration of Jigs.
I'm really surprised how much everyone really likes that little womrat (and yes, it's stil the original Jigs from way back when). I think I've seen just about every family member autonimously play with him at one point or another.
Frustration ( Part 1 and Part 2)
I love Percy's cat butt face after the twins' transition. He hates PDA and cat butt faces it all the time. It was great for his "jealousy" storyline.
OK, so now I finally have some bonus pics to really show off.
I really wanted to use this but it ended up not really fitting in once I got to writing. Abe and Zephyr's date became almost bittersweet once I wrote it and this was just a bit TOO silly (the photobooth fart stuff was just goofy enough).
Abe and Zephyr's date was really a timed date. And I only did it once.
Now since Abe (in particular) has more than one love and it being a community lot and all I didn't want him running into any of said loves and there being a big ole bitchslap fest, I had to turn off jealousy. So I had to hide the damn inSim stuff somewhere.
I present: Madame's Guide to hiding inSim stuff.
Is that little white thing on the roof a vent for the bathroom?
NO, it's the "cleverly" hidden inSim crap.
This public bathroom was the ONLY building on the lot and it was butt up against the property line. Since it was an open lot (not much big stuff or walls to hide things behind) AND right next to the bathroom was a coffee stand (eew, drinking coffee right by the shitter) I had to build a pointy roof onto what was originally a flat roof potty.
I am so smart. S-M-R-T.
The best thing about going to community lots is seeing who will show up.
Let's play "I Spy".
I spy with my little eye: Mortimer, Daniel, Frances, Glam, AND Jules "Death Wang". That's a nice turn out of controllables. I like when controllables show up, especially when couples show up (like Daniel and Frances there). I couldn't do anything with this bunch, but there have been other times when great storylines have been born just because someone showed up at a community lot.
Night falls and townie's thoughts turn to sexing up Glam Curious. WOOT, you go boy, she's a lot younger than you, too. I bet Kitty would find this endlessly hilarious. (ooh, and I spy with my little eye Lakishmi Lewis)
I love Abe's kind of sad kind of confused face (he's actually studying some of the sculptures). But I only had this one grilling pic, so it had to be scrapped.
All that heavy petting lead to more than just seat wetting. Zephyr's next client might just get more than their money's worth (RUN, Fava, get in The Club and put your money where your dick is, you know you lust for Zephyr).
OH, and big shout out to Pao Mellon, who may or may not be Blossom Moonbeam's father.
Ok, now for some Frances spam. He was featured prominently (and scantily clad) in part 2 (and for the record, he was wearing swim trunks for his dirty pics with Lee, so there was no "funny business"--oh and I still think those Lee/Frances pics are hot even if the sitution they're depicting is creepy/disturbing)
Frances is an adventurer. This will figure into his storyline in Book 2. And it also gives me some great fun with work clothes. This outfit, with the pith helmet and neckerchief somehow really fits a man named Frances Worthington III, don't you think?
This pic makes me snort on so many levels. First, either that garbage has been sitting a LONG time or these two have a nuclear reactor in their basement and are trying to dispose of some seriously hazardous waste. Second, the way Daniel is lurking behind him, all sexual predator like. Third, random heart blowing always amuses me.
Their love is so powerful it can overcome ANY, and I do mean ANY, barriers.
(also, insert your own "they take safe sex VERY seriously" joke here)
Seriously, folks, these two are insatiable.
"Mmm, MMMMM, work those glutes, baby. Daddy loves them tight buns!"
(he really was blowing hearts and doing the "ooh, hot" thing, too)
". . .so your mother employed MALE prostitutes?," Frances pauses to think about it. "So, did Al and his brother. . .uh. . .WORK together?"
Daniel scowls.
"What?. . .I'm just saying. . .well. . .that's kind of hot is all."
That pic should have warned me what would happen when Al came over for his visit.
They REALLY hit it off. This was them saying goodbye (and they'd only just met for that photoshoot).
"Yeah. . .I can see why you make the fangirls squeel."
Silly horny sims.
Bye-Bye Baby ( Part 1 and Part 2)
Ahh, the Sunseri house. I love the slow simmering misery that is the Sunseri household. And I LOVE writing Circe.
And she loves talking about her own hotness. She KNOWS Loki is hopelessly devoted to her and she uses it to her full advantage.
She's so much like Mother XYZ but without the kinky/violent sex stuff.
In part 2, I had yet another "the game writes this shit for me" moment with Paul and Aggie's robbery. I think it was the first robbery in Peculiar.
And it got Paul all hot and bothered.
It also gave me a great excuse to show Auggie again. I wanted to show off his criminal involvement AND the fact that he has relationships with NON prostitute women (oh and show him off in that bath towel--I love men in bath towels almost as much as men in skimpy undies).
THEN, we got some mad toddlerage. With the mad toddlerage, came new load screens. Load screens frequently prove amusing. (remember Pascal holding both babies?)
I love how the dogs are in the foreground. They are the "first borns" and no toddlers are going to relegate them to the background. And Aggie and Paul are just so cute. Paul's trying to be "serious Paul" but Aggie's bunny ears get him laughing (I love his hand on Aggie's, like he's saying "focus Aggie, they're about to take the picture. . .")
So RIGHT after the girls transitioned, Aggie set to work teaching them the basics.
*Jenny's thoughts* Hmm, you don't say? You really should invite this gentleman over so I might judge for myself his *does mental air quotes* "hotness".
Fun Fact: After the girls transition, when Jenny is mauling Marsha, Aggie says, "Oooh, Paul, look, look, look." That line is a bit of a nod to the great Nickelodeon cartoon "Rocko's Modern Life". In particular, a character name Filburt. To widdle it down even further, there's an episode where Filburt and Rocko go to a disney style theme park devoted to Filburt's favorite tv show, the Fatheads. Filburt sees some Fathead memorabilia and (in his classic nasaly Filburt voice) yell-whines, "Oh, oh, oh. Look, look, look." My sister and I still use this line on each other all the time. (and we long for the day Nickelodeon pulls its head out of its ass and puts Rocko on DVD, until that day comes, we will have to make due with "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" and our beloved Rocko memories)
Random toddler spam! Jenny and Jill randomly got the same pj's (which are the same christmas pj's Edwin sports--must be all the rage amongst toddlers this season).
Rules of Attraction
I was so tempted to title this update "The Courtship of Edwin's Father". I still might use that title (I jotted it down) but it just didn't work here. I also tried to work up something about robots and magnetism but it just didn't pan out.
Klara's first vision of Lazlo was born of a drabble prompt (shout out to drabblegroup!). It also makes me think of the cheesey James Bond movies, where the hot chick comes up out of the serf (in slow-motion). Lazlo is a bond chick! I should have put him in a white bikini.
This update also gave me another of those "the game is in control" moments. Mojito really did pee on the floor RIGHT as Marie and Klara came in. I didn't have to set that up except to move Klara closer while Marie did the scolding. (oh and Mojito is STILL not housebroken and probably never will be)
Ripening
I think the opening pic on this update is the "dirtiest" I've ever had. Lakishmi's eagerly grinding self, all dry humping Miles right before running to vomit. . .how romantic!
This is also the update where I fell in love with Tommy Ottomas. Up to this point I liked him a lot, but this really sealed the deal. I'm a little worried for the youngest Ottomas kids, though. What if I don't love them as much as the oldest three?
Random pic of David Ottomas.
He's a fortune sim majoring in economics with a LTW to top the music career track. He's also hit it off with William Williamson (not pictured) who share the same aspiration and major. I'm going to show their friendship more in Book 2.
Time for another shout out to drabbles. This update features a reworking of a little snippet I did for the simstoryteller's community (challenge prompt "death"). I'm going to get a bit more into the skeletons in the Ottomas family closet as I work with Tommy more in Book 2. It's nothing too crazy, just some drama centered around their father's cheating past.
Blow the Man Down
This title makes me act all juvenile just because of the word "blow" and then I open with the "barerly surpressing their desire" pairing of Bella and Mort. I just know they'd both like a good blow. And THEN, they have conversations like THIS:
Anyway.
Here are some cute pics of Stuart to help me get my focus back.
I think maxis did a pretty good job of capturing pet behavior. I love when dogs randomly lick like this. My dog (the late Merlin Rager, may he rest in peace in my parent's backyard) used to do this all the time. He'd also CHEW his nails (an his empty nut sack, but that's another story)
See, the dogs KNOW a bad apple when they smell one. SIC-EM, Stu. Bite that Lee Vie.
This update was the first time I've ever edited pics. Did you know that photobucket has a picture editing feature? Yeah, how sweet is THAT?! I don't have any kind of photo editing software on my sims computer. I have MS Paint. That's IT. And it HATES .jpg's. HATES THEM. It's good for the screencaps as long as I don't want to DO anything with them (or when I make the occassional labeled overview pic).
This was also another update where I had to work to get the right title. I needed something pirate-y since the main focus was Mother JKL (who has all but lost her pirate speak just because it's too laborious for me to do with any good consistency). I had originally wanted to use Blackbeard in the title but it just seemed heavy handed. I'm glad I scrapped that original idea.
Mother XYZ tried her best to keep with the pirate theme, too. A trooper to the very end, that XYZ.
And no, XYZ is not sleeping in Davey Jones's locker. Just the sim bin. I might need her for flashbacks so I didn't really kill her. So that meant I had to fake the whole upset Morrow thing (she would have bawled her face off if I had really killed XYZ--and a lot of other sims would have too, including Al and Abe, who both LOVE her).
JKL did some fabulous ad libing for XYZ's death scene. I had her come into the room and she autonimously looked and waved (that's a popularity sim for you). THEN, she autonimously went and had a pee. I really need to give her a raise. She's great at this "acting" thing.
An Affair to Remember ( Part 1, Part 2, Part 3: sec 1, sec 2, sec 3)
First off, this is by far the biggest update I have ever done (meaning most parts under one title) and I apologize for it. I try not to have more than 3 parts to any one update. But when I got to part 3, it was too damn big for LJ, so I had to break it. This was also and update where I did write/save/come back and write more. There was no way I could have done it all in one sitting. Impossible.
I have a good feeling I'm really going to love Jenny and Jill Pollinator. Just seeing them making crazy "Aggie-like" faces put me over the moon. And seeing Aggie interacting with them makes me all girly and aww-ish. (and now that I have FT in, I'm really excited to have Aggie and Paul teach the kiddies songs, those animations are super cute--I promise not to put too much toddler spam into Book 2).
Speaking of toddler spam, the toddler party was partly just a way to spam the HELL out of all the toddlers, who to this point hadn't had TOO much spam (except Edwin, because at the time he was definitely my favorite).
SO, how's about some more toddler spam right now?
Peter is fascinated to learn about high chairs. The dogs really did crowd all around too, mostly because Aggie's practically sitting in their food bowls.
I really wanted to use these, but the scene was already too long, so you get them NOW.
"Come on, Jenny, do it. . .like this. . .JAZZ HANDS!"
Jan: Finally he has someone else to bother. . .when's he going to feed her so I can lick up what she drops
*Aggie squeeling*
Jan: If that was any higher pitched even I wouldn't be able to hear it.
Aggie has the best dejected look. And Jenny is so SMUG. I think Jenny and Jill have twin toddler telepathy, forging an alliance to make Aggie work extra hard at every task he undertakes with them.
This was another pic I really wanted to use (either from Abe or Kitty's pov) but just couldn't. And *counts heads* I think EVERYONE at the party was pictured here (except for two of the dogs). I'm still impressed by that feat (no move objects used, either).
Part one also had intros to THREE new characters. The first two are exactly who you think they are. They are the notorious sisters from Pleasantview, Dina and Nina Caliente. Well, with a twist. I like Nina in green and that outfit. Fun Fact: I had to download a whole sim JUST to get that jaunty little wee hat. WORTH IT since I got that hootch outfit, too. Yea for hootch outfits. And (back to the hat) I originally downloaded it thinking MARIE would wear it. But it's not for teens so that scrapped that idea. I think Marie's better off with her silver hair.
The third new face is that of Shelby Spacey.
I think she's adorable.
All I needed was a place holder for the community lot turned residental lot where the party was being held. BUT when I went into CAS I got to fiddling about and the next thing I knew I'd made Shelby and fell in love with her. Then I put that cap on her and realized she could be VERY useful in Peculiar. (oh and despite how she looks, she's not a direct clone of Johnny Smith--though when I realized she had the look, I did accentuate it by thinning her lips and making her nose a bit more pointy)
For those that have never read Nocheat (or who have forgotten since Nocheat's all moldy oldy) Shelby's cap is THE sign that a girl is a member of Nocheat's Bubble slinging girl gang, the Soulja Girls. For story purposes, Shelby heralds from Bluewater Village. Bluewater Village is right next door to Nocheat and also houses everyone's favorite money hungry playboy Malcolm Landgraab IV. Malcolm is deep into the criminal going ons (which tie to the Servo Rights Movement) in Nocheat.
So Shelby is going to be useful in tieing Nocheat and Peculiar to one another. She'll definitely be meeting with Rocky Khillian (since Rocky's the Bubble producer for Nocheat). She'll also come into contact with Pascal Curious since Pascal also works with Rocky (SPOILER ALERT: Pascal will be opening a business that will be a front for the Bubble traffic to and from Peculiar--at least that's the idea as of the writing of this update).
Shelby got so drunk she didn't even realize she had lost her cup!
Part one was also where LAZLO FINALLY GOT LAID!!! What a way to end Book 1, huh? Lets have a round of applause for the boy.
I feel I need to apologize again. I know I jumped around A LOT during "An Affair to Remember". That's also something I try not to do. Overall I didn't think it was too confusing, but I'm the one writing this stuff so I kind of have a bias. If anyone was lost/overwhelmed, so sorry.
I was glad David met Lakishmi Lewis. David's LTW is to top the music career, so that ties in nicely with Lakishmi's career and all that. Perhaps the Ottomas kids will start their own little music promotion business and give Lee Vie and Nee High a run for their money?
OH, before I forget, I have to give props to all the songs I RIPPED OFF for this update. All of them were (act surprised) Drive By Trucker's songs. The song Zoey opens with is "Guitar Man Upstairs". This song is really upbeat and a great opener. It also makes a nice tie in to the "nothing good" that's going to happen later at the Pollinator household. The second song (which Lazlo is singing) is "Goddamn Lonely Love". Yes, I also used this one as a title to an update. I adore this song. The last song featured (as the background to Bella and Mortimer's budding romance--that's no coincidence, either) is "World of Hurt" (you can hear it HERE, just go off to the right hand side and download it if you feel so inclined--totally free, too). I had intended to use a Black Crows song ("Jealous Again") to showcase Percy's love troubles but my big issue was, "Jealous Again" has some kick ass piano on it and there's no piano at this concert. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief to a certain point (meaning all the music I rip off has a LOT more guitar than lone guitarist Lazlo could produce--including steel guitar) but even I can't pretend that "Jealous Again" wouldn't have ANY piano. But "Jealous Again" has some great lyrics: "Don't you think I'd want to, don't you think I would, don't you think I'd tell you baby if I only could. Am I acting crazy? Am I just to proud? Am I just plain lazy? Am I, am I, am I ever. . .jealous, jealous again." AND, Chris Robinson has a very unique voice which is not the voice I imagine Zoey has. In my mind, she has a voice more like Mike Cooley (from DBT--who has a very deep and wonderful voice). So Zoey sings DBT songs that Cooley performs and covers a few of Patterson Hood's songs, too. Lazlo's "voice" is more that of Jason Isbell (who broke off from DBT and does solo stuff now--good stuff too) but I could see him covering Patterson's stuff, too. I'm not sure who would cover Shonna Tucker's songs (she's DBT's bassist and has a great song on their newest album).
ENOUGH DBT wankage.
THAT'S better.
We're here to discuss SIM wankage.
Focus. . .
Fun Fact: Paul's flashback pics (where he's with his superiors) had been on my computer FOREVER before I got around to using them. I almost used them sooner but I'm glad I waited. Once pbucket got that photo editing addition, I was able to make the black and white pics, which is EXACTLY what I wanted.
Another Fun Fact (with pics):
That's one of the "superiors", Dick Jingo.
Once again, animals can tell when someone is NO GOOD.
The three superiors are Dick Jingo, Karl Jingo, and Deliza Jingo. Their names are DELIBERATE in every way shape and form. Dick is named for Dick Cheney. Karl for Karl Rove. Deliza for Condeleeza Rice. I hope I don't have to explain the last name? Yeah, I'm inserting politics into this. But don't worry, I don't plan on any of the superiors ever having major rolls. It's just a fun fact for you to do with what you will.
OH, and Deliza is the placeholder for Aggie's garden. Since it's a separate residential lot, it needs a caretaker. Dick and Karl live on the set lot (where I got the flashback pics).
(random funny, Dick Jingo showed up at Abe and Zephyr's date and was all about discussing kissing!)
WAIT, I'm not done JUST yet.
Don't get all pissy with me mister Aggie. I have a few more pics to show off. They have men in underwear. You like that, right?
"I like PAUL in his underwear. . .RAWR!"
Yes, we all know that.
(*snicker* As you can see in these pics, Aggie got fat during the party. I had to inSim him back to regular size for continuity's sake)
Do I really have to write any captions for those two pics?
I didn't think so.
I don't have much more to discuss.
"Aww, it's over?"
Yes, sweetie, I'm afraid so.
But don't fret, my pet, I'm already starting to work on Book 2 (it's in the thought stage).
What can you look forward to? Well, first off I think it'll open with a WEDDING!! It's time for Piquant and Vidcund to finally make it legal. It won't be a big affair like Aggie and Paul's though (meaning no formal wear). I'm thinking since they have a pool it will be a luau/pool party doings. The guest list will include the Pollinator clan (yea toddlers), Fava Bean (and perhaps Zondek, not sure on that), the Curious clan (all of them, including Albert), the Khillians and Loki and Spencer!
Book 2 will also see the birth of the Lewis child, the birth of Loki's alien spawn, a crop of college students graduating, more from Frances and Daniel (what's going on with Frances, anyway?), more from the Ottomas clan (show us your skeletons), MORE BABIES (I will tell you one will come from Percy), AND a few new characters!
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you're having a great time.