Rebuilt house and new kiddo!

Hiya! Again, not much to report from my real life life - since there's nothing going on. I had tacos for dinner and it was de - li - cious! But that was pretty much the only interesting thing that happened all day. Enough about me, on to Queenie and Travis!

As mentioned, I didn't really like the house that I made for them, so I tore the whole thing down and made a new one in the same location. I really liked the area, so I wanted them to stay there. This new house is a sort of greek, "Mamma Mia" kind of style. It's not perfect, far from it, but I like it better than the last one.

So I moved them in, and they were getting ready for their little "bundle of joy" (more like "bundle of diapers", I guess, but still...). Queenie did some sunbathing on the new porch, and got a very nice tan!

Then the little miracle arrived! It was a girl, and I decided to call her Dina, mostly because it was the first and only thing that popped into my head.

Cute, isn't she? So, now I have three Sims to look after. I always do this, I put too many characters into the game, so that it gets more difficult and then I just give up on the whole thing. Well, not this time, not if I can help it. Let's hope Dina will be a good girl and not cause too much trouble.

That's it for today, more Simming this weekend! Have a good one!

Ok, that was unexpected...

Hiya! So, very uneventful day here in real life quarantine land. Noodles for dinner, rain outside, restless dog, not much on TV. The Sims' life is way more interesting, so let's move on to that!

So, I said I'd maybe wait a bit with letting Queenie and Travis spawn some offspring, but it looks like that went faster than planned! I have a mod (a moderation to the game) called MC command center and one of the features is that the Sims can get pregnant sort of "by accident", without the player trying to make it happen. I think it happens 1 in 10 times or something like that. And it turned out, Queenie got the option "take pregnancy test" when she went to the bathroom, and then she got the message "eating for two"!

So I felt like I had to get them a new house. They didn't really have a lot of money, still, so I decided they would keep all their furniture, and I could build them a semi-cheap house somewhere nice. I moved them to the world called Oasis Springs, and built a little house. Then I nearly had a heart attack when I for a moment thought that all their furniture had gone! I couldn't find it in the inventory where it was supposed to be! But, luckily, after I closed the game and reopened it, the furniture was back and could be moved into the house. Phew!

And then all was well and they lived happily ever after... Uhm. No.

Because even before I'd actually finished the house, I'd decided I was unhappy with it. So, I guess I have to start again, and build a new one. I guess I'd better hurry to finish it before she actually has the kid. Oh well. Back to build mode.

See you tomorrow!

Love is in the air!

New day, new opportunities... to stay inside and keep safe! I'm not complaining. I've actually been feeling OK today. I hope it lasts.

It's been a good day for Queenie and Travis, too. Both got promoted at work, so that's great. Travis is actually making a lot of money now, working in the computer career. What a catch! Had no idea about that when Queenie first met him. Not that making money is everything, but, you know, it's a great bonus ;) Queenie's income is not that great considering how much time she's spent on improving her skills and practicing her gardening in her free time, but I guess it's fine for now.
Look at all this stuff she's planted! And now that the snow is gone, you can actually see it :)

So, love day came along (same as valentines, I guess) and I decided it was time for these two love birds to get engaged. They're meant to be, that's for sure. So Travis went down on one knee and sealed the deal. Very traditional, I know, but they seem to be a sort of traditional kind of couple. Maybe the next generation will be a bit more wild.

Talking about the next generation... I've been debating with myself as to whether it's time for them to start a family or not. I'm not sure I want them to do that just yet. They will need some more space, and perhaps a whole new house (I'm not totally happy with this one) so it might be nice to have a bit more money first. But then, I don't want them to wait until they're old and grey, either... We'll see, maybe it will happen soon.

I noticed I seem to have fallen into a pattern where Travis does most of the repairs around the house and Queenie does most of the cooking. It just happened to turn out that way, as she has more cooking skills and he has more repair skills. And I don't want them to eat bad food or have dangerous repairs going on. Still, it feels a bit like they're living in the fifties. And it's a bit... strange. I guess we have to change things up a bit.

That's it for tonight, see you tomorrow :D

Christmas in March...

New day! And it's an eventful one! It's my little sister's 19th birthday today! Hurray for the lovely little worm who's always there for me. Love you, sis! Of course, there was no big party due to the circumstances, but we had a nice evening anyway, with a family Kahoot-game, cake and presents. My gift? Sims expansion packs, of course!
In the game, thing have progressed fast. Queenie and Travis took their relationship to the next level when Travis moved in. So now they're living a life in sweet harmony, both trying to excel at their jobs (she's still a gardener, he's a computer developer) and their hobbies (he's a gamer, she's taken an interest in exercising.)

Before I knew it, they were suddenly celebrating Christmas! Well, I think in the game it's called "winterfest" or something like that, but it's Christmas - there's turkey, presents and Santa. Or, Mr. Frost, if you will.

And Santa has a nice blue coat and everything. He gave them some lovely and very expensive presents, and of course they sold them immediately, to have money for stuff they actually needed. Like, a shower that doesn't break all the time. Or bills. Or food.

You know that week between Christmas and New Year's? I feel like being quarantined is sorta like that. There's a sense of limbo, no one really knows what's going on. But at least you can watch Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music and stuff. While quarantined, if you want to watch movies that fit with the theme, I guess you could watch some apocalyptic stuff, but I don't think I'd feel better after. I think I'd better stick to the Sims...

During Queenie and Travis' limbo week, they spent their time building a snowman (they somehow never finished the work, but lord knows they took their sweet time with it) and they also went to a dance party in a club. Both ended up sleeping on benches outside the club, so I guess we can declare the evening a success.

More updates tomorrow! Have a good night! :)

It's Monday! Am I losing it?

It's Monday! Aaaand...it's just the same as Sunday. Or Saturday. Go figure.
Seriously, it's been a long day today. Both in the literal sense, as I've been up since about 5 this morning (had a bad headache, couldn't sleep), but also in the sense that it feels like this day's been going on for about a week. Oh well.

What have I been up to? Well. Work calls. Work emails. Podcasts. I saw some TV shows. My mum stopped by. I ate some home made sweet potato fries. I took the dog out. Saw the news and got updated on Norwegian corona deaths (3 new today, that's 10 in total). Oh, and I played the Sims 4. More on that shortly.

But first... I think I had a bit of a break down today. I mean, this whole situation is apparantly beginning to take it's toll on me, even if I'm trying to stay positive. I mean, it could be worse, right? I'm not ill. The people I love are not ill. Knock on wood. But so many others are. And there's all the sterilizing stuff constantly, and the antibac, and the washing of hands every half hour and all the other surreal stuff. So I had a bit of an episode, I'll admit it.
I was looking at some Sims videos on Youtube, trying to get some inspiration for my game. I was checking out a channel by someone called Plumbella (great channel, btw) and she was playing and doing a challenge where she had to try and keep a family of 8 Sims alive for a week, while playing in fast mode. Not an easy task. And it failed, so miserably. Kids got taken away by social workers, parents were set on fire, bills were not paid, the house was swarmed by skunks, and cockroaches and other vermin, and there was garbage everywhere... And as I sat there, watching this, I began to laugh. And I laughed, and laughed, hysterically, until I was crying all over the keyboard and could barely breathe. It felt so strange and so good, at the same time. What's going on?! Am I losing it? Maybe in a few weeks time I'll just be sitting in front of a laptop, giggling like a maniac and whispering "Look, that woman is on fire, it's sooo funny!", I don't know... Here's the video, if you want to take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpvEG3EVp2A

Anyway, I bet you're wondering how my own game turned out yesterday? Well, I made a new Sim, specially for this blog. Here she is:

Her name is Queenie Sims. Queenie because it was as close as I could get to "Quarantine", and because she's the queen of my game right now. Sims because, well, she's a Sim.
I built her a little house, nothing fancy, her funds are limited after all. Then I got her a job as a gardener. I figured she could roam about and explore nature, now that my own life is so very "indoorsy".

So far so good. But then... Just as the lovely Queenie was beginning to settle in in her new house, there was a bit of an incident. Yup, Queenie became a victim of a nightly vampire attack. See, that kind of random shit can happen in the Sims 4. A vampire shows up at night and bites your neck, making you miserable for the whole next day. I really do not like this "lore" part of the game that much. Luckily, it's not the sort of thing that happens often. As mentioned, I've played this game a lot for the past two weeks, and this is the first time in that period that this has happened. And now it won't happen again, since I got Queenie some garlic to keep her safe. I love it when problems have an easy solution.

Apart from the encounter with the vampire (fittingly named Vlad), Queenie was spending her days alone, most of the time. So, the in the next few Sim days, I tried to make her a little less lonely, and I made her connect with a random guy from the same street. I think his name is Travis. He stops by all the time, and they seem to like each other. So her social meter is usually pretty full, even though she lives alone.

Here they are:

I know, in this picture she doesn't look too keen on him. But I think it's mostly because she's so tired. Being a gardener, and also being a good friend, is hard work, especcially with vampires lurking around every corner. 

So now we'll see where Queenie's life path takes her next. I'll give you an update tomorrow. You know, if she hasn't burned to death and I'm busy laughing about it. I'm kidding, I'd never hurt Queenie ;)

See you tomorrow!

First post...

So… The world has changed a lot over the past few weeks. That’s not news. Corona, covid-19, the virus, call it whatever you want. Yes, yes, I know, Covid-19 is the source and corona is the result or something like that, I don’t know. And “the virus” sounds like something from a bad sci-fi show. Anyways, it doesn’t matter.

The point is, something weird happened, and we didn’t think this could happen, and now we all have to stay home all the time. 300000 people are confirmed to have been infected worldwide. Life has changed, faster than we thought possible. It’s highly confusing, and, in some ways, scary, for all of us.

For me, personally, things have changed a lot. I’ll start by giving you a little bit of info about myself. I’m Ane, I live in Bergen, Norway, and for the past 10 days, I’ve been quarantined. See, I’ve got this "neat" diagnosis called SMA II. It’s a genetic disorder, and it’s the reason why I’m a wheelchair user, depending on a lot of assistance to be able to live a semi-normal life.

But usually, that is exactly what I do, I live my life in a way that is as normal as possible. I drive my car to work in the morning, I spend the workday with other people, I go to meetings, rehearsals, and so on. I go to events, movies, shows. I take my dog out for walks. I go shopping. I go away for the weekend, or the whole week.

But, as of last Thursday, I’ve been stuck at home. I’ve been in my apartment, or on the porch right outside it. That’s it, I haven’t been anywhere else. See, this diagnosis that I have doesn’t only make my arms and legs weaker, it also weakens my lungs. A lot. So basically, if I catch corona, I’d probably end up very ill, or I might die. I’m one of those “persons with pre-existing medical conditions” that we hear so much about these days. And that means, no leaving the house for a while. I’m quarantined.

At first I thought I’d get so much done while this was going on. No driving through heavy traffic twice pr day = more time to do stuff! I could write some new scripts! Maybe a novel, even? I’ve always wanted to try, but I haven’t had the time. Now I have plenty of time. I still work a bit from home, but after that’s done I still have many, many hours each day where I could get a lot done. I just don’t.

I hear a lot of people have the same experience. We’re at home, we have time, there’s all this stuff we could be doing, but for some reason it’s so hard to concentrate. Suddenly, 12 hours have gone by, and, whoops, nothing’s been written, or tidied up, or sorted or planted or washed or whatever we wanted to do. Instead, we’ve watched some Netflix or listened to a few podcasts or read newspapers online (all about corona, of course). Or, if you’re like me… you’ve played The Sims 4.

I’ve played the Sims on and off since the first version came out more that 20 years ago. For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a game which is kind of a digital dollhouse. You create people (Sims), move them into houses, buy them furniture, get them jobs, hobbies, and so on. The past few years, I haven’t played a lot, I’ve mostly kept in on my computer because my little sister likes it.

But lately… it’s all I do. Even though I keep telling myself to go and do something more useful, there I am, building little houses and creating families and all that stuff. Last night I even dreamt about the game.

So I thought I’d try to get something out of all this seemingly meaningless gaming. I decided to start this blog, and to write something every day, about myself and my Sims. I’m stuck inside, but the Sims can still roam about their world, constantly on new adventures. This way, I’ll let myself play, but I’ll also make myself write. I’ll bring some structure into this weird limbo existence I’ve been living in lately. Well, that’s the hope, anyway.

So now I’m off to create a brand new Sim, and begin a new story. Tomorrow I’ll update this blog, and describe the first day of this Sim’s life. It might be boring as hell, I don’t know, but it’ll give me something to do. Wish me good luck! See you tomorrow!