Captain's Log #2323
The attempt to reorganize my The Sims 2 custom content is extremely tedious but going very well! I've managed to save or refind most of the items I use the most and/or consider vital. I still need to find a bunch of clothing but I'm pretty set in terms of furniture, I think. I do need decorative accessories and stuff, such as paintings and plants and so on (why do I suck at that even in real life?). I'm trying to get versatile stuff and I'm being pretty brutal in my choosing, which is hard because it means going "This is a really, really, really cute bedroom and I want it badly...but I can't imagine an occasion when I would use it." Same with beddings! Oh, man, I found a TON of AWESOME, GORGEOUS bedding that I totally did get (I think I like country style stuff, like quilts and plaid and junk) but then I'd find, like...Rainbow Brite bedding and WANT IT but the truth is that I rarely use bedding like that because I have some sort of matching fetish and I don't even know.
Anyway, I still need male underwear for all ages, child clothes, toddler clothes, and, surprisingly, women's everyday outfits. I was shocked that I downloaded way more pajamas than actual outfits, which goes to show what my preference in clothes is.
But the thing is that I've been kind of doing this on the side. Like, I still have my original, messy, huge downloads folder in the game and I'm making this new one on the desktop. I still don't want to part with some of the stuff from my folder that I don't know where to find. I should really just let it go, though, so I'm seriously thinking I'll just delete it and just look for stuff whenever I need it. For example, if I go "I'll just put that awesome painting I had here and---OH NO, I NEVER REGOT THAT ONE, DID I!? T_T" I'll just homble on over to ModTheSims or something and get more paintings. If I go "Um. My boy underpants suck and I need more," I'll jus move on over somewhere and get them. You know, like how I did it originally!
I'm also trying to be super careful with meshes because I had so many outfits that showed up as not-the-outfits and so on because I guess I messed up with the meshes somehow. I'm trying really hard to keep track of those sorts of things. I think this is all worth it though! My old folder of downloads was 4 GB. This new one already has, like, 90% of the things I feel I "need" and it's only 1.25 GB. I tried loading the game with this new one a couple of times too and it loads way faster between screens and stuff, so I am GOOD TO GO almost. Ugh, but I'm so sick of looking for content and sorting it out and then trying to figure out why this thing isn't loading right and whatnot that I think I'll take a good break for a few days. @_@
Also, I finished The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind! It's the second novel in the series and I loooooved it. I loved Taiki tons and tons and he is the most adorable thing ever and I liked it even more than the first novel, even though I can see some people being like "Nothing happens till like halfway, waaah" or something. It felt almost...slice of lifey in a way. Anyway, just like how book 1 is about Yoko becoming king, this one is all about Taiki becoming a kirin (except Yoko's journey was horrible and almost killed her and Taiki's journey was...not difficult but he mostly had an awesome time being pampered by a bunch of ladies and becoming BFFs with Keiki). I am fighting back the urge to order the third novel from Amazon right now. RIGHT. NOW.
Okay, okay, quick, super brief crash course on The Twelve Kingdoms. Basically, you have this other world that has 12 kingdoms (SEE?) and each kingdom has a king and is divided into a bunch of provinces and regions and so on like, you know, a country. The king is chosen by this spiritual beast thing called a kirin that seems to be a weird cross between a unicorn and a horse and a deer and that can also turn into a human. The kirin is the ONLY one who can choose the king, as mandated by Heaven and they just KNOW. Even if they hate the person, they just KNOW that's the guy (or girl, because girls can be lady-kings) and they can only bow to their own king, who is their master (if they try to bow to some other person they...can't. Like, their body won't and they'll feel sick and stuff, like Ella in Ella Enchanted). They HAVE to choose that person even if they're all "WAIT, THOUGH, THIS GUY WILL SUCK AS A KING, FOR REAL." And basically, it goes like: Emperor of Heaven --> Kings --> Kirin --> the rest of the peoples. So kirin are second only to kings and only the Emperor of Heaven is above the kings. And if a king sucks hardcore at ruling, their kirin gets sick (called "shitsudou") and if the king doesn't get his/her act together and start ruling well again, the kirin dies.
Also, people in this series are born on trees. No, seriously! There's like...a tree for normal people, a tree for kirin, a tree for monsters, etc. A couple will wrap a ribbon they designed around a branch and pray for a kid and check to see if the branch has a fruit and wait 10 months and then the kid is hatched! And they don't look like their parents either.
Anyway there's this weird crazy calamity storm thing called a "shoku" that happens every once in a while and it brings that world in contact with ours (well, just Japan, apparently). In fact, it's like the two worlds literally crash or something and sometimes people from Over There (Japan) end up in that world or vice versa. The first novel is all about how this high school girl from Japan became king of the kingdom of Kei after she went through a jankload of crap when her kirin went to fetch her from our world. It seems that she the eggfruit she was in on her people-tree in Kei got shoku'ed over to Japan and then he had to go fetch her but then stuff happened and it was crazy. I can't even describe the journey (okay, maybe later).
((MORE SUPER EXTREME SPOILERS FOR NOVEL #2 BEGIN HERE))
So the second novel is all about a KIRIN that got shoku'ed to Japan. The kirin of the kingdom of Tai got shoku'ed over there as an eggfruit too (by the way, shoku'ed eggfruit actually do end up in women's bellies, so they get born like normal people and that's why nobody's like "OMG MY BB CAME FROM AN EGG" or anything) and then he gets found by his peoples who were supposed to raise him but he's already 10 years old by that time and doesn't know a lot of stuff a kirin should know, like turning into his animal form and collecting Pokemon--I mean, his sirei (monsters that are like their bodyguards). Or, you know, how to choose the king. Everyone is all, "Oh, you'll just know and find out" but he's like "SERIOUSLY I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING HELP ME" so they get the kirin of Kei (aka Keiki aka the dude what brought Yoko over from Japan in the first novel YAY I LOVE CAMEOS except he's actually pretty important in this novel so I guess it's not a cameo) to help him out. Keiki's a stoic dude, though, so he's like...not very helpful at first. Taiki (who is super sweet and timid and gentle) is all like "So where do you live? o.o" and Keiki's like "In a kingdom to the east" and then he can't explain how any of the other stuff works because kirin just are born knowing, so Taiki's all ":( Thanks anyway, though T_T" in a nice way. However, there's an awesome side to this because Keiki, who was cold and stoic, becomes like a big brother to Taiki and becomes awkwardly gentle and does cute, caring, awkwardly gentle things for Taiki throughout. And he even smiles! A little.
Then the ceremony comes and Taiki has to choose a king (if the king IS there at all, cause sometimes they're not among the hopefuls who come) and Taiki's all "Man, I'm not getting this 'revelation' or whatever." All he knows is there's this dude that FREAKS HIM OUT. And he's super scared of him. But then he meets this lady who's nice and the dude and the lady want to go hunting and Taiki goes with them and is weirded out because the dude FREAKS HIM OUT and yet he's kind of...an awesome warrior, so Taiki likes him and being with him but is scared at the same time. And then the guy's gonna leave cause he's clearly not the next king if Taiki hasn't said anything and Taiki gets all CRAZY ANXIOUS and does not want this man to leave at all, so he pretty much turns into his animal form all suddenly (by the way, he's the only black kirin because they're usually blond) and chases the guy down before he leaves and is all "I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF WHO YOU ARE, SCARY GUY" and bows before him and the guy is like "OH, SWEET! SCORE! I ACCEPT!" and steps on Taiki's forehead (don't worry, he's okay. It's part of the ceremony for kingships) and everyone is all "YAY A KING WE HAVE ONE NOW WE WON'T BE MOCKED ANYMORE" but Taiki is like "OH MAN. I didn't even feel any revelation and I just picked this guy because I have this weird...thing with him where I just don't want him to leave. I NEED TO BE WITH HIM. But I didn't get the REVELATION, though! I have chosen a false king and Heaven's gonna punish us both, waaaaaah!" (if you've read this whole malarkey you will easily be able to spot the thing where Taiki should have figured out that SPOILER ALERT this dude IS the king).
So the guy starts his rule and Taiki gets kicked out of his house (well, kirin are supposed to leave and go live with the king in the kingdom once they choose the king) and he is anxious and scared the whole time because he's like "OH MAN ANY MINUTE NOW THE EMPEROR OF HEAVEN IS GONNA FRY US BOTH FOR MY SIN" and he can't be calm, so Gyoso (the new king guy he chose) is all like "Yo, Taiki, why are you like shaking all the time, seriously? Talk to me; we're a team now!" and Taiki's like "Naw, naw, it's cool (SAVE ME)" and says naught. Then Keiki comes to visit cause he promised he would when Taiki found the king but Taiki won't even tell Keiki what his deal is, so Keiki is all "*FROWN*" and then Taiki admits the whole choosing the king just because he couldn't bear to be away from this dude thing. Keiki is like "*FROWN* Um. Bye" and Taiki is like "T_T KEIKI HATES ME NOW TOO" and is even more bummed out.
BUT THEN Keiki comes back wiiiiith the king of En! And Enki, his kirin! And they're like "Heeey, Taiki! We're people from another kingdom come to visit! *smile smile* So um, show us the courtesy etiquette stuff and bow to the guest king, like everyone has." And Taiki's like "Oh! Yeah, right away! *bow--WAIT, NO BOW*" That's right! Our little buddy can't bow! The king of En even gets up and is all "BOW TO ME *PUSHES HIS HEAD TO THE GROUND*" but Taiki is just like "T_T *nausea* *still can't bow*" and it is sad (don't worry, the king of En is awesome and a funny guy, he was just acting). But, like I said way way before, the kirin can only bow to his king! So the fact that he COULD bow to Gyoso PROVED he was the king! But, of course, Taiki didn't know and Keiki's like "Oh. I could have told you more stuff about how stuff works, right? My bad, my bad" and everyone laughs and all ends well and everyone becomes BFFs.
And so, that is the tale of how Taiki got his act together and softened the hearts of those around him. He also got his very own first Pokemon and it was an AWESOME one. Seriously! He managed to get this weird monster that is like...if you got...the most legendariest, awesomest Pokemon as your very first Pokemon on your first try. Everyone was like "Yaaaay, Taiki got his first Pokemon, yaaay--HE GOT A WHAT!? Those things are a MYTH OMG!" And it's funny because his Pokemon turns into a cute little brown dog with white paws when he's not being terryfing (so like when he's in the Pokeball?)
Man, it seems that a common theme with shoku'ed peoples are that they actually have crappy family lives in Japan. Yoko's dad didn't care about her and she had no friends at school and people thought she was a delinquent who dyed her hair cause it was naturally red. Taiki's grandma totally hated him, his dad didn't really like him, his younger brother bullied him, he had no friends...only his mom cared, really. Unlike Yoko, though, Taiki was a lot more okay with staying in that world (Yoko was all sorts of "I AM SO GOING HOME JUST YOU WATCH ME" until, like, the last couple of chapters. In fact, that's what kept her going and kind of saved her life).
Seriously, I loved it. >.< A LOT. TAIKI. UGH. BE MY BABY. T_T
Oh, yeah! And you know how Keiki became awkwardly gentle and nice? Well, this change in him caused his crappy lady-king who sucked at ruling to fall desperately in love with him and she got super jealous and went nuts and either exiled or executed all the women in Kei. Of course, Keiki got all sick with sitsudou because his king sucked and the only way to save him was for her to relinquish her title by dying. So she did. And that's why Keiki had to go fetch Yoko in the first novel!
I apologize for my run-on sentences and other grammatical mistakes. It was the only way to get it all out and I just HAD to. It was a pressing need.
Anyway, I still need male underwear for all ages, child clothes, toddler clothes, and, surprisingly, women's everyday outfits. I was shocked that I downloaded way more pajamas than actual outfits, which goes to show what my preference in clothes is.
But the thing is that I've been kind of doing this on the side. Like, I still have my original, messy, huge downloads folder in the game and I'm making this new one on the desktop. I still don't want to part with some of the stuff from my folder that I don't know where to find. I should really just let it go, though, so I'm seriously thinking I'll just delete it and just look for stuff whenever I need it. For example, if I go "I'll just put that awesome painting I had here and---OH NO, I NEVER REGOT THAT ONE, DID I!? T_T" I'll just homble on over to ModTheSims or something and get more paintings. If I go "Um. My boy underpants suck and I need more," I'll jus move on over somewhere and get them. You know, like how I did it originally!
I'm also trying to be super careful with meshes because I had so many outfits that showed up as not-the-outfits and so on because I guess I messed up with the meshes somehow. I'm trying really hard to keep track of those sorts of things. I think this is all worth it though! My old folder of downloads was 4 GB. This new one already has, like, 90% of the things I feel I "need" and it's only 1.25 GB. I tried loading the game with this new one a couple of times too and it loads way faster between screens and stuff, so I am GOOD TO GO almost. Ugh, but I'm so sick of looking for content and sorting it out and then trying to figure out why this thing isn't loading right and whatnot that I think I'll take a good break for a few days. @_@
Also, I finished The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind! It's the second novel in the series and I loooooved it. I loved Taiki tons and tons and he is the most adorable thing ever and I liked it even more than the first novel, even though I can see some people being like "Nothing happens till like halfway, waaah" or something. It felt almost...slice of lifey in a way. Anyway, just like how book 1 is about Yoko becoming king, this one is all about Taiki becoming a kirin (except Yoko's journey was horrible and almost killed her and Taiki's journey was...not difficult but he mostly had an awesome time being pampered by a bunch of ladies and becoming BFFs with Keiki). I am fighting back the urge to order the third novel from Amazon right now. RIGHT. NOW.
Okay, okay, quick, super brief crash course on The Twelve Kingdoms. Basically, you have this other world that has 12 kingdoms (SEE?) and each kingdom has a king and is divided into a bunch of provinces and regions and so on like, you know, a country. The king is chosen by this spiritual beast thing called a kirin that seems to be a weird cross between a unicorn and a horse and a deer and that can also turn into a human. The kirin is the ONLY one who can choose the king, as mandated by Heaven and they just KNOW. Even if they hate the person, they just KNOW that's the guy (or girl, because girls can be lady-kings) and they can only bow to their own king, who is their master (if they try to bow to some other person they...can't. Like, their body won't and they'll feel sick and stuff, like Ella in Ella Enchanted). They HAVE to choose that person even if they're all "WAIT, THOUGH, THIS GUY WILL SUCK AS A KING, FOR REAL." And basically, it goes like: Emperor of Heaven --> Kings --> Kirin --> the rest of the peoples. So kirin are second only to kings and only the Emperor of Heaven is above the kings. And if a king sucks hardcore at ruling, their kirin gets sick (called "shitsudou") and if the king doesn't get his/her act together and start ruling well again, the kirin dies.
Also, people in this series are born on trees. No, seriously! There's like...a tree for normal people, a tree for kirin, a tree for monsters, etc. A couple will wrap a ribbon they designed around a branch and pray for a kid and check to see if the branch has a fruit and wait 10 months and then the kid is hatched! And they don't look like their parents either.
Anyway there's this weird crazy calamity storm thing called a "shoku" that happens every once in a while and it brings that world in contact with ours (well, just Japan, apparently). In fact, it's like the two worlds literally crash or something and sometimes people from Over There (Japan) end up in that world or vice versa. The first novel is all about how this high school girl from Japan became king of the kingdom of Kei after she went through a jankload of crap when her kirin went to fetch her from our world. It seems that she the eggfruit she was in on her people-tree in Kei got shoku'ed over to Japan and then he had to go fetch her but then stuff happened and it was crazy. I can't even describe the journey (okay, maybe later).
((MORE SUPER EXTREME SPOILERS FOR NOVEL #2 BEGIN HERE))
So the second novel is all about a KIRIN that got shoku'ed to Japan. The kirin of the kingdom of Tai got shoku'ed over there as an eggfruit too (by the way, shoku'ed eggfruit actually do end up in women's bellies, so they get born like normal people and that's why nobody's like "OMG MY BB CAME FROM AN EGG" or anything) and then he gets found by his peoples who were supposed to raise him but he's already 10 years old by that time and doesn't know a lot of stuff a kirin should know, like turning into his animal form and collecting Pokemon--I mean, his sirei (monsters that are like their bodyguards). Or, you know, how to choose the king. Everyone is all, "Oh, you'll just know and find out" but he's like "SERIOUSLY I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING HELP ME" so they get the kirin of Kei (aka Keiki aka the dude what brought Yoko over from Japan in the first novel YAY I LOVE CAMEOS except he's actually pretty important in this novel so I guess it's not a cameo) to help him out. Keiki's a stoic dude, though, so he's like...not very helpful at first. Taiki (who is super sweet and timid and gentle) is all like "So where do you live? o.o" and Keiki's like "In a kingdom to the east" and then he can't explain how any of the other stuff works because kirin just are born knowing, so Taiki's all ":( Thanks anyway, though T_T" in a nice way. However, there's an awesome side to this because Keiki, who was cold and stoic, becomes like a big brother to Taiki and becomes awkwardly gentle and does cute, caring, awkwardly gentle things for Taiki throughout. And he even smiles! A little.
Then the ceremony comes and Taiki has to choose a king (if the king IS there at all, cause sometimes they're not among the hopefuls who come) and Taiki's all "Man, I'm not getting this 'revelation' or whatever." All he knows is there's this dude that FREAKS HIM OUT. And he's super scared of him. But then he meets this lady who's nice and the dude and the lady want to go hunting and Taiki goes with them and is weirded out because the dude FREAKS HIM OUT and yet he's kind of...an awesome warrior, so Taiki likes him and being with him but is scared at the same time. And then the guy's gonna leave cause he's clearly not the next king if Taiki hasn't said anything and Taiki gets all CRAZY ANXIOUS and does not want this man to leave at all, so he pretty much turns into his animal form all suddenly (by the way, he's the only black kirin because they're usually blond) and chases the guy down before he leaves and is all "I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF WHO YOU ARE, SCARY GUY" and bows before him and the guy is like "OH, SWEET! SCORE! I ACCEPT!" and steps on Taiki's forehead (don't worry, he's okay. It's part of the ceremony for kingships) and everyone is all "YAY A KING WE HAVE ONE NOW WE WON'T BE MOCKED ANYMORE" but Taiki is like "OH MAN. I didn't even feel any revelation and I just picked this guy because I have this weird...thing with him where I just don't want him to leave. I NEED TO BE WITH HIM. But I didn't get the REVELATION, though! I have chosen a false king and Heaven's gonna punish us both, waaaaaah!" (if you've read this whole malarkey you will easily be able to spot the thing where Taiki should have figured out that SPOILER ALERT this dude IS the king).
So the guy starts his rule and Taiki gets kicked out of his house (well, kirin are supposed to leave and go live with the king in the kingdom once they choose the king) and he is anxious and scared the whole time because he's like "OH MAN ANY MINUTE NOW THE EMPEROR OF HEAVEN IS GONNA FRY US BOTH FOR MY SIN" and he can't be calm, so Gyoso (the new king guy he chose) is all like "Yo, Taiki, why are you like shaking all the time, seriously? Talk to me; we're a team now!" and Taiki's like "Naw, naw, it's cool (SAVE ME)" and says naught. Then Keiki comes to visit cause he promised he would when Taiki found the king but Taiki won't even tell Keiki what his deal is, so Keiki is all "*FROWN*" and then Taiki admits the whole choosing the king just because he couldn't bear to be away from this dude thing. Keiki is like "*FROWN* Um. Bye" and Taiki is like "T_T KEIKI HATES ME NOW TOO" and is even more bummed out.
BUT THEN Keiki comes back wiiiiith the king of En! And Enki, his kirin! And they're like "Heeey, Taiki! We're people from another kingdom come to visit! *smile smile* So um, show us the courtesy etiquette stuff and bow to the guest king, like everyone has." And Taiki's like "Oh! Yeah, right away! *bow--WAIT, NO BOW*" That's right! Our little buddy can't bow! The king of En even gets up and is all "BOW TO ME *PUSHES HIS HEAD TO THE GROUND*" but Taiki is just like "T_T *nausea* *still can't bow*" and it is sad (don't worry, the king of En is awesome and a funny guy, he was just acting). But, like I said way way before, the kirin can only bow to his king! So the fact that he COULD bow to Gyoso PROVED he was the king! But, of course, Taiki didn't know and Keiki's like "Oh. I could have told you more stuff about how stuff works, right? My bad, my bad" and everyone laughs and all ends well and everyone becomes BFFs.
And so, that is the tale of how Taiki got his act together and softened the hearts of those around him. He also got his very own first Pokemon and it was an AWESOME one. Seriously! He managed to get this weird monster that is like...if you got...the most legendariest, awesomest Pokemon as your very first Pokemon on your first try. Everyone was like "Yaaaay, Taiki got his first Pokemon, yaaay--HE GOT A WHAT!? Those things are a MYTH OMG!" And it's funny because his Pokemon turns into a cute little brown dog with white paws when he's not being terryfing (so like when he's in the Pokeball?)
Man, it seems that a common theme with shoku'ed peoples are that they actually have crappy family lives in Japan. Yoko's dad didn't care about her and she had no friends at school and people thought she was a delinquent who dyed her hair cause it was naturally red. Taiki's grandma totally hated him, his dad didn't really like him, his younger brother bullied him, he had no friends...only his mom cared, really. Unlike Yoko, though, Taiki was a lot more okay with staying in that world (Yoko was all sorts of "I AM SO GOING HOME JUST YOU WATCH ME" until, like, the last couple of chapters. In fact, that's what kept her going and kind of saved her life).
Seriously, I loved it. >.< A LOT. TAIKI. UGH. BE MY BABY. T_T
Oh, yeah! And you know how Keiki became awkwardly gentle and nice? Well, this change in him caused his crappy lady-king who sucked at ruling to fall desperately in love with him and she got super jealous and went nuts and either exiled or executed all the women in Kei. Of course, Keiki got all sick with sitsudou because his king sucked and the only way to save him was for her to relinquish her title by dying. So she did. And that's why Keiki had to go fetch Yoko in the first novel!
I apologize for my run-on sentences and other grammatical mistakes. It was the only way to get it all out and I just HAD to. It was a pressing need.