Date Posted: 11th Dec 2008 at 11:00 PM

I got all Apartment Life the weekend after Thanksgiving, along with all the stuff packs I ever wanted (hint: none of the clothing ones) because Best Buy was having an awesome sale. I'm sad that the Sims 2 won't be having any more packs, but not because I want more but because I'm sad people will eventually start moving on soon. I think I'll keep enjoying my "complete" game for many more months before I'm interested in the Sims 3 (still not especially excited by it).

I'm about to install all the newest packs when I get home tonight. Part of me wants to hold off a bit longer, and part of me wants to get everything set up before more hacks that I like disappear. I am quite excited to finally have ceilings and roofs, I just hope it doesn't bork up my game not having things like Inteen any longer.

Date Posted: 11th Sep 2008 at 8:59 PM

Hi all, I'd love to hear from you so please sign my guestbook if you like my stuff, especially if you want to see more of anything in particular.

Date Posted: 12th Aug 2008 at 8:14 PM

I have to say, I've been having a blast playing the three neighborhoods I've been developing. So much so that there has been no time to create (what with the new job and life and everything). Thanks to months of not having time to play and, thus, reading everything I could about the game on the Sims2Community.com, I've finally set up my game in such a way that I rarely have issues that stop me from playing. I almost don't want Apartment Life to come out and stop me from enjoying the perfection that is my game.

Ok, my neighborhoods aren't perfect. Each has its own little mistakes, but that's what helps keep them unique.

My oldest is Medieval Times - this one was started before I had a clue what I was doing. It is home to Cloitre St. Etienne, my version of a Romanesque Cathedral, as well as both of my tea houses. This was before I knew how to set up a clean neighborhood, so it's got all the regular townies. I'm pretty sad about that.

For the longest time it only had 4 families, which does not a neighborhood make. After a few generations, the King's family ran out of suitable queen-material as there was only one other noble family. Lots of inbreeding occurred. Likewise, I had one HUGE peasant family that got a little too wealthy, and then all the non-heirs from the nobles somehow made it into my cloister to await a marriage or to live a celibate life. There is also a small traditional Japanese community in one area of the neighborhood, but they only just started intermarrying and so had entirely their own history (kind of like Japan in isolation anyway). Then I abandoned this neighborhood for a long time.

I've finally opened up this neighborhood again and realized that the first thing needed were scores more serfs. What's a Medieval neighborhood without a steep social pyramid, where the small nobility luxuriates off the broken backs of a large serfdom? So I added a farming family and a potter family to the class that had formerly only included my fishing family. There is also another low-born family of tailors, but they work for the nobility (making their fancy clothes and all) so they are slightly better off than the other three families.

No new nobility yet, as they are currently raising a young generation I can't predict the plotlines of, but I might be added another family of knight class to the hood.

The cloister is in a bit of a turnover as well, as one of the king's cast-off daughters seemed to take a liking to the head monk. She had his baby, and has pretty much made herself unmarriable now. Most of the women and girls in the cloister have been married off or in old age, so it looks like we'll be needing a fresh crop of daughters to fill the barracks and run the place.

Anyway, that's why I'm not creating at the moment, but I don't want to leave you all completely high and dry. Stay tuned for discussion of my other two lively 'hoods.

Date Posted: 20th Jun 2008 at 3:29 PM

Life has been hectic, trying to find a new job, working on several separate web projects for my current clients, and of course wanting to play the game. I've only been able to play the game a handful of times over the few weeks. Right now, I'd much rather play than create. I think once some of the changes settle, I'll be much more into finishing up some of the steampunk recolors I started weeks ago.

I do have a new job, which I start in the coming weeks. I'm very excited, as it will be my first real job (salary, benefits, title, vacation, all that jazz). The hours are great and I think that I'll really be able to get back into my game in my spare time when the dust settles.

I've been trying to keep up with downloads but if anyone notices any Victorian stuff I ought not to miss, I'd love to receive a little poke in the right direction. See you next time with an upload, I hope.

Date Posted: 2nd Jun 2008 at 9:51 PM

So I'm now a college graduate, and like many of my fellow graduates, I find myself somewhat unemployed. So you know, if any of you have any interesting entry-level jobs available in the NYC area, wink-wink, nudge-nudge, let me know.

Aside from that though, I've had little time to create because I've been reveling in the fact that I can actually PLAY for the first time in years. My neighborhoods are developing at breakneck speeds and have really been fascinating me. So much so that creations are on a bit of a hiatus. I can say, however, that in my next project, I am converting a few more objects into steampunk. My Victorian sims just can't go without some electronics and I'd prefer they at least fit in with the decor.

For now though, I'm downloading, playing and enjoying my sims.

Date Posted: 14th Mar 2008 at 5:51 PM

I uploaded a Victorian home, one of several that I may be uploading in the coming days/weeks.

I handed in a draft of my thesis, which happens to also be a project on those lovable and quirky Victorians. That gives me a little time to work on my newest neighborhood project. Buckinghamshire, a sweet Victorian landscape. I'm even going to add a city portion once the Victorian London contest is over - I'm sure there will be all kinds of goodies with which to augment my game.

Thinking back to when I first got in to building theme houses, and the Victorians, I realized that it started more than 2 years ago. I was a sophomore in college and taking my literature requirement - Victorian Poetry and Criticism. The class was very loose and informal. For our final, we were asked to find something about the Victorians that grasped us and present it to the class in whatever way would best express what we had learned. One student created her own version of the diary in the Importance of Being Earnest. Another brought tea sandwiches and tea for the class and spoke about the ceremony of afternoon tea.

What did I do? I made a Victorian home replete with the styles of the time, on which I did much research. I created the Barrington family, an upper class family with an estate, complete with their own live in nanny. I walked the class through the house and the daily life of the family with screenshots on a powerpoint. I got an A in the class.

Date Posted: 4th Mar 2008 at 12:42 AM

I haven't had much time to create or play, and I probably won't again until May. I'm graduating university and so of course things are a bit all over the place.

On that note though, as I say goodbye to the college life, I am taking some enjoyable art history classes as a treat to myself. A class I took on Chinese and Japanese art history about a year ago is what really got me started with some of my Japanese building projects. We learned about Sen no Rikyuu's development of the tea ceremony and all that goes into this distinct tradition. In my survey art history course today, we finally made it back to Japan (after a semester and a half of mostly Europe, not surprising). Rethinking the teahouse architecture is exciting for me, since I think that I've had ample opportunity to reconstruct it. I doubt I'll do much more with it, since it has been done to death with BV and all, but then again, maybe I'll be inspired.

My newest project however, which will probably not be uploaded for many months, if I even get to work on it soon, is some Haussmann style Parisian apartments. I just love those distinct blue roofs and I think I could do them justice for the sims. I'm also falling back into a bit of a Victorian mood, in time for the next contest, so I'll probably try to submit something over springbreak if I can.

Just got FreeTime and Glamour Life today (huge sale at Circuit city, $12 off each). After some hacks get updated, I'll probably install and try my hand at the new features. Though I haven't had as much time to play, I've been all over the forums and don't want to miss out on the fun of creating for a new EP.

Until my work gets finished, I'll just have to hang in there though.

Date Posted: 20th Nov 2007 at 6:34 PM

Currently, I am experimenting with Numenor's BaseGameStarter to make lots which require fewer eps but are just as awesome. Look for something cool here in December, once my coursework is out of the way.

Something I'm also really interested in lately is developing a local economy in my game. There's been lots of talk about this at S2C as of late. There's something just so delicious about the idea of having a running town to delve into... if only it wouldn't create weeks to set up. I'm hoping that I will have some time before the Sims 3 comes out to really explore this. And of course, that I can find a good neighborhood terrain to do it with. So many Sim ideas, so little time!