Friday, June 3, 2011

English Legacy: ÜBerlin (Chapter 38)

Hey now, take your pills and
Hey now, make your breakfast
Hey now, comb your hair and off to work
Crash land, no illusions, no collision, no intrusion
My imagination runs away
I know, I know, I know what I am chasing

I know, I know, I know that this is changing me


Deanna English's Weblog
Mood: Slightly Overwhelmed

Hello, again, readers! It's Dee here again, and as you can see, we're back online after moving to a new server! Apparently, the increase in traffic since my latest book, "The Scrapbook" came out, was too much for our old single-core box. I may nearly be an Illustrious Author, but I'm still a Whiz with a Computer, so, my son Kevin and I specced out a new box to replace that loyal but overworked dinosaur.

The new server has got dual hex-core SimCore 7 processors and 24 gigs of RAM, so it should handle both my long-time fans and the new fans who have been coming out in droves since "The Scrapbook" hit the New Sims Times' Bestseller list! So please, make all the new members that show up on the forums feel welcome!

I'm going to say this right now, as a request from the moderators - please, PLEASE, stop trying to get the newbies to click on that video. It was funny once - after that, it was just disturbing. My husband Zebulon still cannot look at a baseball, a windsock, or a chemistry table without cringing, and he's a World Renowned Surgeon!

Anyway, I just got back from meeting with my agent who told me that the success of "The Scrapbook" has made me a bit of a national Celebrity! For some reason, she had me meet her at a tattoo shop. I'd never been there - my long time fans will know that I don't leave the house much; I don't like the Outdoors, but obviously it turned out well.
One interesting tidbit - while I was there, I noticed a man who looked oddly familiar. I introduced myself, and learned I was actually talking to my cousin, Justin English! I hadn't seen him since he was just a baby, when my uncle Chris and aunt Latricia moved out soon after he was born. (Oh, thank you all for the kind words when uncle Chris passed away. It really helped.) I had heard that he was a bit of a Mooch from my sister Liz, but apparently he's very good at it, since he is still unemployed.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that due to an unexpected bonus of sorts I received, I'm going to be taking a break from writing for a bit. Nothing bad, and no, I'm not pregnant again, but this does have to do with my family, specifically my daughter Jessica.
Meeting my cousin Justin like that, and realizing that I really didn't know him at all, made me think my relationship with my daughter. Jessica is a lovely little girl, very active, and we're pretty sure she's a Genius like my sister and mother. She spends a lot of time with her "Best friend", which is actually her cousin Andrew, who is literally within hours of her age. Together they've faced down horrors such as their bus driver, whom they have named "She Who Does Not Move Or Speak."
Still, I wanted to get closer to her, as did her father, who had mentioned to me that he'd been feeling the same way. Now that he's made his Lifetime Want, he's been wanting to spend more time with me and the kids. We like to help her with her homework, but she's so smart she almost gets it done before we can even sit down.
Still, we don't mind. We're glad to be spending time with her. She doesn't Hate the Outdoors like I do, but she's not in love with it like her cousin Cass and her uncle Brendan, and she loves playing outside in the pool, the treehouse, and on our new water slide.
Her brother Kevin, has taken time from his Adult life to pillow fight with his baby sister from time to time, even when he has barely gotten home from being a Toddler Sports Coach. Thankfully, for his sanity, he's now a Minor-Leaguer. Hopefully soon, he'll be on his uncle Brendan's team!
Jess and I enjoy playing chess together. Well... at least I used to enjoy it more before she started wiping the board left and right with my pieces. I'd never heard a plastic chess piece scream in terror before. I can't beat her, though Jess is always a good sport about it. I think her Genius Aunt Liz has been tutoring her though... note to self, borrow Andrew's shower booby trap set.
But wow, her imagination! She likes to get on the couch and take imaginary Joyrides while sitting on it. At least she's sensibly wearing her helmet; can never tell when she might drive over a rough section of carpet. She was almost late to school once because she was taking a bath.. or rather a Submarine Excursion. Heck, in our new treehouse- the Sci-Fi hideaway, she takes Trips to the Stars, she told us. Well, so did Zeb and I, you might say... thought we did get the splinters out. Ouch.

You really didn't have to share that with the readers, you know.

Jess and I have really gotten closer in the past few days. Even though she's a genius, she's still a little girl, and likes being read bedtime stories, even if they're from a Handiness book!
Well, that's all I have for now; though I have a suspicion that a certain Creator has more to say. Really, He should start His OWN blog! Take care, readers, and I'll see you on the forums!

"... start his OWN blog"?? Good heavens, she reminds me a lot of her mother....

Anyway, unlike a certain Bridgeport family, the English legacy hasn't really run across any bugs resulting from Generations, but there certainly is plenty of weirdness. take the picture above for example. You may be saying "How cute, Deanna is reading a Handiness book to Jessica as a bedtime story, and they're both getting skill gains," followed by "Wait, why is Jessica in her parents' bed?

The answer to that question is - "Because Reading Bedtime Stories is weird." First of all, I didn't know it was a feature until Jessica got a Wish for someone to read her a bedtime story. The game doesn't exactly tell you how to do that. I finally stumbled across it only by having Jess change into her sleepwear, and only THEN could she ask an adult to Read her a Bedtime Story. What happens then, is you can choose any book in the house for the parent to read.
Repeat, any book in the house. Including the Romance novels her mother has written, even the ones with the suspicious titles. The book in the pic above was titled "Special Snowflake", and bored Jessica to sleep real quick. Yes, she's sleeping in her brother's bed. I don't understand it; it's not like she doesn't have her own bed that she's slept in since she became a child, over a week ago...
Way to go, Zeb. You bored your daughter to sleep with one of Deanna's Romance novels. I don't know about the bored part, but it seems to me Jess fell asleep a lot quicker than she did when Deanna was reading her to sleep with the Handiness book.

Oh, the "special bonus" Deanna mentioned? Well, apparently playing around with the new cheat to Edit Sim in CAS has the potential to reset a Sim's age... I've been able to reproduce it by shift-clicking a Sim to Edit while a different Sim is the current active Sim. Resets the age meter every time. I didn't notice it until I'd changed Cassandra and Elizabeth, so I went ahead and did Zebulon, Deanna, and Brendan too so their ages are similar again - the lot of them were only two days from becoming Elders too. Obviously, the Legacy rules went out the window years ago. Literally.

And now for something completely different. A very, very, fat bartender.