Mostly about the Sims. Also bloody literature.
Yesterday surprisingly productive. I did some cello practice and FINALLY worked out where the hell my fingers are going for at least half of the Bach piece we've been doing, which is nice. And then I got a new computer! At least, I got a slightly souped-up version of Dad's old computer because he's getting a really quite souped-up new one. And oh, it is so shiny. It is so fast and beautiful and it behaves itself, and I can even talk to the downstairs network properly. I've got a sound card that doesn't hate me, and a graphics card OF JOY, and... *snuggles it*
Of course, the Sims expansions still don't work. I am really really pissed off because this time I suspect it's partly my own fault for not checking the forums first. *headdesk* I found a thread where it turned out that someone else having the exact same problem as me spent an hour on the phone to the tech people and they decided that the problem was with the sodding Maxis patch. The one you download from the website. Apparently, if you apply the patch and then try to install the expansions, they don't work. Of course, going through the motions in a sensible and reasonable way, what was the first thing I did after installing the base game? I installed the patch. Well FUCK YOU Maxis, and the llama you rode in on. I uninstalled the base game, I made sure all the registry files were gone, I reinstalled it and tried again and it still doesn't work.
The base game does work on its own. Just in case it was confused because there was no data in the saved games files, I installed Ms Beta Tester in a little house (it didn't work) and it is true that I am having slight palpitations over how fast and beautifully it runs without any of the expansions or custom content in it. But I'm not stopping trying to get my expansions working, because dammit, I loved University and I want to play Nightlife and now I have a computer that would cope I am really itching to get my hands on a copy of Pets...
So, question: are there Simmers on my flist? Does anyone else (apart from anotherusedpage who had one but hasn't seen it since moving back from Oxford) have a copy of the Sims 2 they can lend me? I wouldn't need to keep it, because if installing a different copy works and I can put Uni and Nightlife on the computer I'll only need the most recent expansion disc to play it. You see. Anybody?
The really silly thing? Is Final Fantasy XII is coming on the 23rd, and that is more exciting than the Sims if not usually quite so enduringly entertaining so I will probably forget about the Sims for a little while. BUT still.
Edit: No, no, I am counting my blessings, honest. I have working USB slots! Like, four or possibly even five of them! I have an up to date iPod, and enough room for ALL my pictures on the hard drive, and, joy!
Edit the second: And SIBELIUS. For some complicated reason Sibelius can't be easily moved from computer to computer and for the moment it is being stored on mine. SQUEE. It's not that I can't use it on the downstairs one, it's just, I don't really like doing composing when there are people around. I'd rather be cloistered upstairs with only the computer playback for reference than have the piano on hand but have other people possibly listening. Odd, but for the moment just more cause for sqeee.
Aethelbert (Edit the Third): What do you people know about Invictus, the poem by W E Henley? I found a file on my computer with it written in, and have fallen in love and yet... I'm getting this nagging feeling that it's... wrong. That Henley was actually an utter and total bastard, or that it's secretly about strangling kittens or something. It might just be because it reminds me of Kipling and I have reservations about Kipling's character. But, before I embarass myself further, I want to make sure I at least know if he was a Nazi or something...
Edit the Last, no really: ... it is entirely possible that actually, I don't have the reservations about Kipling. It is entirely possible that I just think I'm supposed to. It makes me nervous. The whole thing smacks of not being bothered to make up my own mind on the merits of the texts themselves, and then again not knowing enough about the context leads to missing references and feeling stupid. It's like Narnia. I now want to read the Just So Stories again, because they are my first point of reference, but on the other hand I'm afraid to in case I see things in them I don't like. And on the other hand, what if I'm so paranoid about it that I read things into them that genuinely aren't there?
I hate bloody literature. Thank god I didn't attempt to do English at university.
Of course, the Sims expansions still don't work. I am really really pissed off because this time I suspect it's partly my own fault for not checking the forums first. *headdesk* I found a thread where it turned out that someone else having the exact same problem as me spent an hour on the phone to the tech people and they decided that the problem was with the sodding Maxis patch. The one you download from the website. Apparently, if you apply the patch and then try to install the expansions, they don't work. Of course, going through the motions in a sensible and reasonable way, what was the first thing I did after installing the base game? I installed the patch. Well FUCK YOU Maxis, and the llama you rode in on. I uninstalled the base game, I made sure all the registry files were gone, I reinstalled it and tried again and it still doesn't work.
The base game does work on its own. Just in case it was confused because there was no data in the saved games files, I installed Ms Beta Tester in a little house (it didn't work) and it is true that I am having slight palpitations over how fast and beautifully it runs without any of the expansions or custom content in it. But I'm not stopping trying to get my expansions working, because dammit, I loved University and I want to play Nightlife and now I have a computer that would cope I am really itching to get my hands on a copy of Pets...
So, question: are there Simmers on my flist? Does anyone else (apart from anotherusedpage who had one but hasn't seen it since moving back from Oxford) have a copy of the Sims 2 they can lend me? I wouldn't need to keep it, because if installing a different copy works and I can put Uni and Nightlife on the computer I'll only need the most recent expansion disc to play it. You see. Anybody?
The really silly thing? Is Final Fantasy XII is coming on the 23rd, and that is more exciting than the Sims if not usually quite so enduringly entertaining so I will probably forget about the Sims for a little while. BUT still.
Edit: No, no, I am counting my blessings, honest. I have working USB slots! Like, four or possibly even five of them! I have an up to date iPod, and enough room for ALL my pictures on the hard drive, and, joy!
Edit the second: And SIBELIUS. For some complicated reason Sibelius can't be easily moved from computer to computer and for the moment it is being stored on mine. SQUEE. It's not that I can't use it on the downstairs one, it's just, I don't really like doing composing when there are people around. I'd rather be cloistered upstairs with only the computer playback for reference than have the piano on hand but have other people possibly listening. Odd, but for the moment just more cause for sqeee.
Aethelbert (Edit the Third): What do you people know about Invictus, the poem by W E Henley? I found a file on my computer with it written in, and have fallen in love and yet... I'm getting this nagging feeling that it's... wrong. That Henley was actually an utter and total bastard, or that it's secretly about strangling kittens or something. It might just be because it reminds me of Kipling and I have reservations about Kipling's character. But, before I embarass myself further, I want to make sure I at least know if he was a Nazi or something...
Edit the Last, no really: ... it is entirely possible that actually, I don't have the reservations about Kipling. It is entirely possible that I just think I'm supposed to. It makes me nervous. The whole thing smacks of not being bothered to make up my own mind on the merits of the texts themselves, and then again not knowing enough about the context leads to missing references and feeling stupid. It's like Narnia. I now want to read the Just So Stories again, because they are my first point of reference, but on the other hand I'm afraid to in case I see things in them I don't like. And on the other hand, what if I'm so paranoid about it that I read things into them that genuinely aren't there?
I hate bloody literature. Thank god I didn't attempt to do English at university.