Ruth's (un)Officially Wacky Second Birthday Special
1. For this special second birthday feature, I present an in-depth look
behind the scenes of the latest Plot: how it developed, how I staged
it, how I came up with the characterization — the whole shebang.
And you know it’s accurate because I’ve been writing it for the
whole of the past year.
I do try to keep my readers happy.
Please note: Some of the pictures you will see are just for visual
interest, and don’t have much to do with the text below. Some of
them were even dropped in months after the text was written, just
because.
2. May 21, 2011
Well, that was a lullaby! I’ve had all possible names listed for ages, so let’s
pick the top four.
Girl names Boy names
Leila (a fairy from Iolanthe) Luiz (the “drum” from The
Gondoliers)
Lisa (an actress from The Grand Ludwig (an actor from The Grand
Duke) Duke)
There! Now I’m covered in case of twins. But I don’t want twins, so I won’t
get them. In terms of characterization, Luiz would be the most fun: since part
of the job of the original is to bang a drum to announce the arrival of the Duke
of Plazatoro, he can be a drummer and into all things rock-and-roll. (happily)
I’m looking forward to Luiz!
3. May through June 2011
Now let’s see — what plots would work?
Thespis Lost and notoriously bad
Trial by Jury Done: “Arbitration”
The Sorcerer Done: Chapter 10
HMS Pinafore Need a matched set of boys…
The Pirates of Penzance Done: Special feature
Patience Done: “Myrna”
Iolanthe Didn’t plan ahead enough
Princess Ida Could work
The Mikado Done: Special feature
Ruddigore Might work better as a special
The Yeomen of the Guard Could work
The Gondoliers Family compositions are wrong
Utopia, Limited Boring, never saw it
The Grand Duke Could work
5. Oh, it’s girls.
Two of them.
Whoopee.
Leila and Lisa are both spoiled, flat, un-feminist characters.
Well, crap!
6. June 10, 2011
Maybe P Shankel will be more interesting.
Girl names Boy names
Pitti-Sing (a “little maid” Pooh-Bah (Lord High
from The Mikado) Everything Else from The
Mikado)
Phoebe (a flirt with ideas Pish-Tush (a townie who
above her station from hangs about to fill in group
The Yeomen of the Guard) songs in The Mikado)
(happily) Pooh-Bah’s my favorite. I’m looking forward to playing
him.
7. June 20, 2011
Another girl! Another useless girl! Where’s my Pooh-Bah,
dammit?! At least there’s only one of her. (sulks)
Okay, fine. Phoebe or Pitti-Sing? There are like a gazillion videos
of Phoebe on YouTube, and it’s hard to find one with an easy-to-
pick-out Pitti-Sing, not that she gets an actual solo all to herself
anyway, which is plain highway robbery if you ask me.
Type “Phoebe”… Click the check mark…
Aaaaargh! Crap! I wish I’d picked “Pitti-Sing” instead!
8. June 21, 2011
(grumbles) This is so stupid! Why did the stupid game have to
throw all girls? And why did I go with “Phoebe” instead of “Pitti-
Sing”? Who cares if it’s easier to find a video on YouTube?
Nobody ever watches those things anyway. (sulks) So what if Pitti-
Sing isn’t really all that different from Leila or Lisa? Neither is
Phoebe, and at least with Pitti-Sing, I could do a “Japanese” thing,
like “yellow” was Buttercup’s thing. Phoebe’s just boring old
Elizabethan. (sulks some more)
9. Waaaaaiiiiit a minute… The Yeomen of the Guard is set in
Elizabethan times! That means that Phoebe could be even older-
fashioned than her father! She can talk in “thee” and “thou” –
correctly, of course; only with friends and family – and when she’s
old enough, she can wear those big old Elizabethan dresses like the
vampire ladies wear! And she can do that no matter what the Plot
ends up being! Oh, this is going to be epic!
Picture for The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Nova Scotia’s May 2011
production of The Yeomen of the Guard, available at
http://valleyevents.ca/event?id=8756 Accessed 25 June 2011
10. And Leila can wear the same face paint as Ruth did when she was a
kid: “If it’s good enough for Titania Summerdream, it’s good
enough for me!” Hmmm… I should go have a closer look at the
Summerdream household.
11. June 25, 2011
Oakapple and Oliver have both become plantsims, hooray!
(happily) I wanted them to have kids. Let’s see what we get.
12. More girls! Gah! Let’s have a look at that list of Plots again…
HMS Pinafore Need a matched set of boys…
Princess Ida Could work
Ruddigore Might work better as a special
The Yeomen of the Guard Could work
The Gondoliers Family compositions are wrong
The Grand Duke Could work
Hmmm… Is there any reason I couldn’t do a gender-swapped
version of Pinafore or Gondoliers? Depending on the gender of R
Shankel and the results of the heir poll, that could work. R Shankel
would need to be born soon, though, since these two will be
indistinguishable for a limited time only.
13. Girl names Boy names
Rose (an etiquette-obsessed Ralph/Rafe (an able seaman
airhead from Ruddigore) from HMS Pinafore)
Ruth (a former nursemaid Ruthven (the “bad bart” from
from The Pirates of Penzance) Ruddigore)
Robin (a male farmer from Ruddigore,
but I’ll stretch a point not to repeat names)
I’m not going to hope for one or the other this time. I’ve seen how
well that works.
14. June 26, 2011
Hey, you know who played a lot of “soubrette” type roles? Marilyn
Monroe! Lisa can channel Marilyn Monroe.
Glad that’s settled.
Image of Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) available from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe, accessed 17 July 2011.
15. June 30, 2011
If Lisa wins, she’d be perfect for the role of Elsie in Yeomen. And
one of her sisters can do Princess Ida.
Who in the ‘hood could be Yeomen!Phoebe? She needs a non-
relative Teen boy to follow her to Uni – a matchmaker drop,
maybe? She needs to be in the Order of the Llama, she needs a
brother, and who would be her “father” equivalent? Or Dame
Carruthers, come to that?
Lisa would need an unrequited love as well – maybe a girl?
16. And “I have a song to sing, O!” is too long to be useful. Since Lisa
= Marilyn Monroe and I like Some Like It Hot, how about “ Loved
By You”? It’d still have pathos at the end.
I wanna be loved by you, just you
And nobody else but you
I wanna be loved by you alone
Boop boop be doop
Change “you alone” to “him alone” and I think it works. Heck, this
is such a good plot, I might use it even if she doesn’t win.
Bab [W. S. Gilbert], illustration for "I have a song to sing, O!," cartoon.
Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yeomen_of_the_Guard,
accessed 17 July 2011.
17. July 2, 2011
Abhijeet Phillips came home from work with Eddie today, and they
spontaneously started discussing wedding parties. This so totally
would be the perfect setup for The Grand Duke, with Abhijeet’s
daughter Ariadene cast as the “poor as a rat” Princess of Monte
Carlo. Eddie’s wife Celeste is a Fortune Sim as well, so that would
help explain the Sim!GrandDuke’s preoccupation with money.
Although the whole family is pretty nice, so I’m not sure the
callous fortune-hunting would work. And to have Abhijeet around
long enough, he’d have to be less close in age to Tirtha than I’m
currently picturing him…
18. July 8, 2011
I heard a great joke to replace Jack Point’s “Best joke – wasted!”
19. July 14, 2011
Random Thought #1: If we do a gender-swapped Pinafore, the
barrier should be relation, not class. Oliver’s daughter Fantine
would then equal Rafe Rackstraw.
Random Thought #2: Get the girls into private school so we can do
“Three little maids from school are we” as a chapter title.
20. What households will I need?
For Grand Duke: Eddie, Tirtha.
For Pinafore: Sally, Oliver.
For Yeomen: Jo & Cecil, but not right away
For Ida: Eddie.
How did I arrive at that conclusion? Well, I mentioned Pinafore
and Grand Duke already.
21. Yeomen
Combine Phoebe and her father, so that we only need a girl with a
brother. Jo and Cecil will work.
The yeomen in general should be the Secret Society, since they
have uniforms.
Fairfax should be either a non-Secret Society dormie or an aged
down version of the Mr. Big from the old ’hood. I still have those
pictures somewhere, right?
Wilfred can be a matchmaker drop in Teenhood.
Elsie can be our heiress, whoever she is.
Jack Point can be… um. A townie Teen? Or a boring playable.
Uncredited souvenir illustration from the 1888 New York Casino Theatre production of The
Yeomen of the Guard available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yeomen_of_the_Guard,
accessed 16 July 2011.
22. Which reminds me: I’m going to need something to do with all the
extra playables I’ll need for Yeomen. And “The Jack Point Home
for Boring Playables” sounds great for an asylum, doesn’t it?
Nah, not boring. What are some synonyms? Boring: colorless,
humdrum, jejune, monotonous, pedestrian, tedious, wearisome.
I like “pedestrian.” “The Jack Point Home for Pedestrian
Playables.” Oooh, very nice!
23. Princess Ida
-”Ida” is the heiress: “Heiress Fillintheblank” has a nice ring.
-”Hilarion” needs to be a playable unrelated male. Eddie’s son
Frederic is currently the only choice, and that’s pushing it.
-Hilarion needs two male friends (playable or not), one with a
sister. Check the last names on the dormies.
-Blanche/Melissa can be sisters instead of mother/daughter. They
can be not-playable – check last names again. If we go with
Descartes’ daughters, one of them wouldn’t be Awesome.
-We should probably dump Act III, so Ida doesn’t need any
brothers. Although we could always make them sisters instead.
Uncredited illustration for Princess Ida available at
http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/princess_ida/html/cast.html, accessed 16 July 2011.
24. Basically, right now Frederic’s getting an arranged marriage
whether he wants one or not.
25. July 24, 2011
Today I went into the Summerdream house to have a look at
Titania. While I was there, I took a few pictures so that Leila can
have a poster up.
If Leila gets a poster, so does Lisa, so I took roughly ten minutes to
make a “Marilyn Monroe” for her. And most of that time was spent
on the custom dress.
I’m afraid that’s somewhat obvious.
26. July 25, 2011
Well, it’s official: R Shankel is Rose, which means that we
definitely have a female heir. But I had a very happy thought just
now – if Rose is so into etiquette, then that might work very well
for Princess Ida: she can’t marry a man to whom she has not been
introduced. In fact, speaking to strange men at all is a no-no. But
the roof constitutes an introduction, so she can talk to the girls in
her sorority.
Ooh! Ooh! And I’ll get to use the “Introduce To” option all the
time, now! And I’ll have to read a lot of Miss Manners! This is
gonna be fun too!
27. So… that’s a big Plot for Lisa and a big Plot for Rose. But what
about Leila and Phoebe? With my luck, one of them will win…
Nahhh – they’re both brunettes. They haven’t got a chance, poor
things.
28. July 29, 2011
Plantsim generations are short-circuited enough that I could
conceivably do Pinafore with my heiress and Fantine’s male
plantbaby. I’d have to eliminate the Little Buttercup/Captain
Corcoran angle, though, since that would make Sally gay.
Although if she turns out to be gay, I could always put it back in…
Anyway, Pinafore would work for either Leila or Phoebe. So no
matter who wins, the Plot is covered.
29. Dormies who could be siblings:
Jane and Camryn Bransfield (both female)
Julie and Gina Fuchs (both female)
Shelby and Caryl Steele (both female)
Zeeshan and Amanda Suwankiri (male and female, respectively)
Calvin Mamuyac (male dormie) and Laci Mamuyac (townie Teen)
Weldon, Derek, and Gwen Dai (male, male, female – Weldon and Gwen match
best)
Sinjin, Taylor, and Sadie Bear (male, male, female – none really match)
I think Zeeshan and Amanda look the most alike. Pity there aren’t any female
Hiatts, since “that snooty biotch” would make an excellent Lady Blanche.
Although I could always just lie about her “sister’s” last name. It’s not like
they’re actually related anyway…
30. July 31, 2011
Okay, Frederic, you’re off the hook!
This is Dmitri Leonidovich Sanders who is no relation to the
OWBC household. He has the same chance of a recessive red-hair
gene as Frederic (50%), and he’s got super-cool alien eyes made by
yours truly.
Welcome to the family, Dmitri!
31. August 3, 2011
So as far as Plots go, I can actually use all three that I’ve been
thinking of: Ida for Rose, Yeomen for Lisa, and Pinafore for
Phoebe or Leila. Then the one left without a Plot can begin setting
up either Iolanthe or Gondoliers.
32. I don’t need Abhijeet, so he can age up normally.
33. And I do need Saigon and Fantine to swap no matter what, so I can
set that up now.
Saigon will be yellow and Fantine will be green, since “Fantine”
and “green” rhyme and I’ll be able to remember them that way.
34. HMS Pinafore
Sir Joseph = Old Adam
Rafe = Fantine’s son
Captain Corcoran = Saigon’s child
Dick Deadeye = Spare OWBC child (I kind of hope it’s Leila)
Josephine = Favored OWBC child
Little Buttercup = Sally
Cousin Hebe = Myrna
Of course, there will have to be a little rearranging – Adam’s not going to want
to marry his own daughter! But he can object to her marrying her cousin, who
is basically a clone of her uncle.
Uncredited reproduction of 1878 poster for HMS Pinafore available at
http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/pinafore/web_opera/entracte.html, accessed 8 August 2011.
35. August 9, 2011
Maybe Phoebe should play up the whole “prison” angle instead.
(This is Rose, but no matter.) Black and white and solid orange,
short hair, prison slang… Then she could do both Dick Deadeye
and Don Alhambra as needed quite logically.
But whoever’s going to be Dick Deadeye needs to be picked soon,
so that she can utter platitudes and be criticized for them.
36. August 12, 2011
Hee hee hee – I am so clever! I bet nobody picks up on it, though.
37. September 2, 2011
Outfits for Princess Ida:
Hilarion is an ice princess:
I am a maiden, cold and stately,
Heartless I, with a face divine.
What do I want with a heart, innately?
Ev’ry heart I meet is mine!
Ev’ry heart I meet is mine, is mine!
38. Cyril is a flirt:
I am a maiden, frank and simple,
Brimming with joyous roguery;
Merriment lurks in ev’ry dimple
Nobody breaks more hearts than I!
Nobody breaks more hearts than I, than I!
39. Florian is shy/a wallflower:
I am a maiden, coyly blushing,
Timid am I as a startled hind;
Ev’ry suitor sets me flushing,
Ev’rey suitor sets me flushing;
I am the maid that wins mankind!
40. Or I could just go with the good old standard that they always use
in musicals and productions of Princess Ida and so forth and give
them all the same outfit in different colors.
This one works okay as a male outfit.
41. September 10, 2011
We have a winner! It looks like I’ll be majoring in Yeomen of the
Guard, with a double minor in HMS Pinafore and Princess Ida.
Leila will have to figure out how to do either Don Alahambra in
The Gondoliers or the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe.
Or, y’know, both of them. I mean, she’ll be doing Dick Deadeye
already, and why not simply add Jack Point to her list of cast-
aside/quasi-villainous male roles too?
Aside from the whole then-she’d-have-to-be-in-love-with-her-
sister-thing. This requires more thought.
42. September 13, 2011
Leila is okay for Jack Point even without the romantic interest if
we make it so the girls have a childhood pact or something to forgo
stinky icky boys and travel the world and become famous. She can
still want that while Lisa has grown out of it. But what’s Lisa’s
motive for agreeing to the marriage? Or “Colonel Fairfax”’s
motive, come to that?
Oh, and Hilarion’s “musicals”-type outfit is the same as Leila’s
“fairy” outfit. One or the other will need to change.
43. September 15, 2011
Actually, Leila can’t be Jack Point – we need the romantic
complication for both pathos and motivation. So Jack Point will
need to be a matchmaker drop or something, which means I’ll have
to play him through. Boo.
But Leila can play the warden, which would explain why Lisa is
willing to agree: her beloved twin, who nobody else pays credit to,
has asked her for a favor.
Therefore, Jo and Leila need to be friends with “Colonel Fairfax”
and probably with each other to make things easier.
44. I am in favor of Phoenix Wren for Wilfred. He’s got both the look
and the connections.
But why would “Colonel Fairfax” a) need to get married and b)
need to join the Order of the Llama?
In the original, his cousin wanted Fairfax executed for witchcraft
so that the cousin could inherit, which wouldn’t happen if Fairfax
were married. Nobody gives a flip about witchcraft in the Sims, so
perhaps this cousin has come up with a plot to feed “Fairfax” to a
cowplant, but cowplants don’t eat Society members? Except that
they will, and everybody knows it…
45. September 16, 2011
So let’s see: I make the inheritance laws. Therefore, “Fairfax”
marrying could indeed foil his murderous cousin if I say so. But the
wife is in danger too, so they need to be married in ninja outfits and
dark glasses to protect her. Also, assuming a secret identity and
joining the Order is a good way to hide. The cousin can then be
eliminated by Ernie the Spoon for non-payment of gambling debts,
which was why he needed money in the first place.
46. Why wouldn’t Leila just marry “Fairfax” herself? Answer: either
she’s gay or she’s already engaged. (Engaged probably makes more
logical sense, as she only needs to be married for about a week or
two and even a gay woman could probably put up with a paper
marriage for that long.)
How about “He was creeping/He was crawling”? If they were
married in disguise, Lisa wouldn’t recognize Fairfax. But she could
have heard his name by accident and then repeated it. (There’s no
escaped prisoner to handily need shooting, remember?)
47. September 19, 2011
“Jack Point” needs to be playable. That means he needs to be either
a new creation or a promoted dormie. Jay at the frat house has
already been established as a) unstable and b) playable. He’d be an
inmate of the asylum anyhow, so why not make him Jack? And
since we don’t want Cecil inconveniently ruining any shots, we’ll
pledge him and move him in to hold the spot.
I reckon it’s fair to use the college clock with him since he’s not a
member of the OWBC household.
48. September 20, 2011
So we’ll make use of Zeeshan and Amanda Suwankiri. Amanda
will get Frederic and Zeeshan will get Lilly’s “sister.” Then he will
die, triggering a Nickel and Dimed Challenge.
Unless Cecil filled that slot, with Rebecca or Anastasia as the
“sister”? Nah, because Rebecca and Anastasia are probably too
close to Frederic to marry him. Their parent’s generation was
unusually close…
49. September 29, 2011
If we use a dormie for “Fairfax,” then we can use his clone for the
cousin, and we can really drown him for “creeping creeping
crawling.”
But why on earth would Leila not recognize him? Or if she did,
why wouldn’t she say something?
Oh, and the title? “The Order of the Llama, or, The Performer and
Her Pianist.”
50. September 30, 2011
Leila doesn’t recognize “Fairfax” because 1) he avoids her and 2)
he wears that face-obscuring anime hair in a non-natural color.
But why doesn’t Lisa say “Hey, that’s not my cousin!”?
Because Josephine does some fast talking and convinces her he’s
Cecil McClellan, Jo’s cousin on her other side; Cecil’s an old
family name according to Jo. Heck, I can’t name my cousin’s other
cousins, the ones that aren’t cousins in common. How many people
do you think could?
51. October 19, 2011
My movie came in at the library. Looks like it’s time to sit down
and do some difficult and serious research.
52. November 18, 2011
For Chapter 16, I need to put in at least one clue about the
upcoming Plot. I’ve used a song from Yeomen for the title of the
chapter, so that should help. I also made sure that Ryan’s favorite
song was from HMS Pinafore – a nod to Phoebe’s plot – and
mentioned dire consequences if Rose’s engagement doesn’t go
through, which is a reference to the plot of Princess Ida. Also,
Rose is twice Dmitri’s age at engagement, corresponding to
Hilarion being twice the age of Ida at their wedding.
Hmmm. That’s two Princess Ida references to one each of the
others. I’ll have to do better than that…
53. Okay, I’ve established that Leila is forgettable/ignorable/wrong
even when she’s right.
Which unfortunately works for Pinafore, not Yeomen – although it
would allow her to announce that “Cousin Cecil” is not in fact
Cousin Cecil without ruining the Plot…
54. November to December 2011
This was the time when I was moving, and apparently in the rush a
lot of decisions got made without being recorded. I’ll just mention
them here, although the exact order and thought process may be
lost.
55. I want Leila to wear Titania Summerdream’s dress in college. That
means that Dmitri can’t.
56. Now that I know how to fiddle with the color balance, I can make
more colors of dresses that didn’t have enough colors before. Yay!
Why, yes, this picture was taken much much later to fill in a blank
spot! Why do you ask?
57. I’m not going to do a full version of Princess Ida. That would
introduce too many additional households to play. That means that
Frederic will have to delay attendance to fill the role of Cyril, and
Dmitri and Rose will come to college early so I don’t have to play
any more of it than I absolutely have to.
58. I want to keep everyone’s time as school pretty well lined up, and I
can’t use the college clock on any household the OWBC kids are in
because it’s against the rules. That means that all residents of the
lot have to go everywhere off-lot together, all the time.
This turned out to be a giant pain in the rear, but it worked.
59. December 14, 2011
Fantine’s son and Phoebe can meet cute when she gets a job at the
farm stand. (Makework, of course; three hands are enough.) Chant
or Root or whatever his name is can be real excited about meeting
a pretty new girl, Mom can try to discourage him.
60. December 23, 2011
Okay, Lisa’s conversation with the Headmaster is basically the
exact plot of Elsie’s half of Yeomen. Foreshadowing/hints for
Chapter 17: check!
Also, the chapter title references Princess Ida, so that’s a bonus
hint for a bonus Plot.
61. December 27, 2011
Here are the ages at the start of the current three-day rotation:
Jo and Cecil, Anastasia and Rebecca = 12 to Adult
Leila and Lisa = 14 to adult
Ariadene, Frederic = 1 to Teen
Phoebe = 3 to Teen
Cathrynne = 4 to Teen
Rose = 6 to Teen
Dmitri = 7 to Teen
Dmitri is going to have to go to college early and be adjusted with
Elixir after graduation. Rose too, probably.
62. December 28, 2011
Uh-oh. Jo and Cecil will be going to Uni next rotation. Leila and
Lisa will be following at the beginning of the next rotation. I
haven’t got hardly anything written. I haven’t cast a good chunk of
the important roles, either. This is Not Good.
I better get cracking…
63. January 1, 2012
Well, Act Two is complete! I know you can’t read it, but see all the
slides with writing on them? Those are all the slides that
correspond to scenes and/or songs from Act II of The Yeomen of
the Guard! They’re complete and in order. The blank slides are
spaces where I can put in anything that isn’t from the opera. That’s
important, because a) this is an unpredictable game and b) there are
people I’ll need to update on who aren’t involved with the Plot.
But I still don’t have Act One. Or casting for Fairfax…
64. Problem solved! Say hello to Jeffina Twain, created as a
personality, aspiration, skill, and turn-ons/turn-offs clone of Lisa.
Of course, she doesn’t look like Lisa, but she doesn’t have to. She
just has to look right on paper. After a quick kaching so she can
afford the TwoJeffs Find-A-Mate Crystal Ball, she can run a search
for a mate. Whoever has chemistry with her should also have
chemistry with Lisa. I don’t believe any of the candidates are
redheads (hard to tell with the mascots), and Glen Cameron comes
in first no matter how you sort the results, so Glen Cameron it is.
Welcome to the family, Glen!
Jeffina can now drop out and sit in the Sim bin until I come up with
something to do with her.
65. Also, in case anybody asks, this is when I created Ernie the Spoon.
He looks a lot more menacing when he’s not smiling.
Oh, and I looked up the mascots in the ALT guide. 2/3 of them are
black-haired, and I can’t tell from the headshots whether Lisa’s got
chemistry with the exception or not. Safer to go with Glen. (nods
firmly) Hooray for penguingirl’s Dormie Guide: Academie La Tour
Edition!
66. January 22, 2012
Now that people are in college, it’s time to start taking pictures for
the Plot. If the picture doesn’t involve Lisa, Leila, or Glen in
disguise, there’s no reason to wait. Some -- like the conversation
between Jay and Phoenix -- are easy. Some take a bit more work.
Like this one, of Cecil coming back from his Far East trip, which
I’m still not sure if I’m going to use or not.
67. Or, you know, leaving for it.
Enter Buy Mode…
Shift-Control-C…
Enter “moveobjects on”…
68. Grab Cecil, turn him around, and place him next to the cab…
Hit the “Design Tool” button to get rid of the grid lines…
Enter Cameraman Mode, zoom, frame, etc., and ta-dah! Cecil
returns from his trip instead.
I love using “moveobjects on” for this type of thing. You can get a
great mix of reactions.
69. January 23, 2012
Jo got into the Order of the Llama today. I took lots of extra
pictures of the crowd, in case I need them for Glen’s admission.
This one won’t be included, I think.
70. January 24, 2012
Today I got everybody who needs to be playable pledged into the
fraternity, made playable, and made over. Also, Leila stopped by
for some reason, and I seized the opportunity to make her friends
with Glen.
Who says it wasn’t it a productive day?
71. January 27 and 28, 2012
I took some awesome shots (and lots of bad ones) for Jo proposing
to Glen that he pretend to be Cecil. Now the only question is: Do I
use the daytime shots or the nighttime ones? It all depends on what
time of day it is when Lisa goes to City Hall…
Incidentally, Phoenix was walking into Glen’s room, Jo was
smiling at him, and Glen was walking across the lawn -- he doesn’t
make those “thoughtful” gestures on short walks. Hooray for Build
Mode and moveobjects on!
72. February 1, 2012
Well, last night Fantine rolled up a Very Bad Want.
joandsarah77 helped me regenerate my game files, which seemed
to work, but the problem came back when I replaced my
downloads folder. I concluded it was a problem with my cc, and
spent several hours going through the 50-50 method to find the
issue. It appears to have been caused by TwoJeff’s No Pet
Obsession hack, which seems odd. But the hack is now gone, and
maybe I’ll be able to start playing again, after two days of a borked
game.
73. February 2, 2012
I’m not going to have the story done in time. Look: 2/5 is the next
episode of Snap! (not that anybody reads it) and 2/12 is the next
episode of Ruth’s that isn’t Plot, and then on 2/19 I have to have
the Plot all finished.
I’m never going to make it! And my bonus feature is nowhere near
ready, either.
Just shoot me now…
74. February 4, 2012
Glen got inducted into the Order today. Kind of a pathetic
showing, isn’t it?
Good thing I took a bunch of pictures of the enthusiastic crowd
when Jo got inducted!
75. February 5, 2012
Invited Cecil over to talk to Jo today. Had to do some emergency
redecorating of Jo’s room so that you saw more than just a blank
wall.
Shooting that scene was extra hard because Glen decided that he
was going to come in and do his homework in Jo’s room. (to Glen)
You have a perfectly good desk in your own room, you know!
76. February 6, 2012
I shot the bar scene today. That was difficult, partly because people
who weren’t supposed to be there kept intruding on the shots.
For example, Lisa and Glen in the background here.
And then Cecil wasn’t controllable, so getting him to do what I
wanted was tricky.
77. I did manage it eventually, with lots of shots, and I’m not sure that
I got the best shots the game would give me. On the other hand, I
got the best I could without hacks, poseboxes, or anybody wetting
themselves, so it’s all good.
After that, it was just time for a little photo retouching. There’s a
cheat that’s supposed to make the speech bubbles and person-
person plus-plus things go away, but I’ve never been able to make
it work. Either I’m stupid or that function doesn’t work on Macs --
I’d only give you 50-50 either way. Fortunately, I have a good
photo editing program. Now you see them…
78. …Now you don’t!
The trick I used only works with simple, repetitive patterns,
preferably involving vertical lines and no perspective. Which
describes this shot quite nicely, no?
Now, the question is, have I shot everything I can without Ernie the
Spoon, or not?
79. February 8, 2012
I really can’t do anything else without a) Ernie the Spoon, b) the
mail coming, or c) Glen and Lisa being in love. Point c will just
take more time, and I don’t want Jo or Phoenix to graduate out. I
have no idea how the game decides whether Point b happens or
not, but if I have Ernie the Spoon moved in, then I can get to work
on all the scenes with him in them. Since I already have 8 Sims in
the dorm, someone has to go. Anastasia is the least interesting and
least useful, so bye-bye for now Anastasia.
She just moved out to a new place; she didn’t drop out.
80. And yes, I had to use a posebox to get Ernie the Spoon’s
expression right for a couple shots. The game really doesn’t offer
many menacing faces to work with. I also used a posebox to get
Leila in a ballet pose.
I’m sorry.
The posebox is Decorgal’s “Custom Modeling Poses Hack v2
w/Facial Overlays,” available from Mod The Sims.
81. February 9, 2012
Although in the story it looks like Jay is talking to Ernie the Spoon
along with Phoenix, he is actually talking to this enthusiastic
dormie in the white shirt, named Sadie Bear.
Phoenix really is talking to Ernie the Spoon. Since this is the first
time I’ve ever gotten the “showheadlines off” cheat to work, I have
no idea what they were talking about.
82. Squeeeeeeee! The mail came!
I was so afraid that Glen was going to graduate without being able
to shoot the scene at the mailbox -- and since Lisa sleeps alone and
doesn’t talk in her sleep, I couldn’t figure out any other way for
Glen to figure out that Lisa was who he married.
83. February 11, 2012
Nobody is ever gonna believe me that Ernie the Spoon was really
in the same room as everybody else here. And I’m not too happy
with how the scene came out.
On the other hand, I don’t think I could do better without multiple
poseboxes, OMPSs, freezer clocks, and other paraphernalia that I
don’t want to get into. I hope my readers forgive me.
84. And thank you Mr. the Spoon! We are done with all your scenes,
so take your polka-dot boxers and head on out of here.
85. I just hope nobody’s been paying close enough attention to
Sandersville geography to notice that there’s no way Pong could
see the courthouse from here…
86. February 12, 2012
If you ever see anyone in my pictures and you don’t see their head,
it’s because I can’t get the head to match what they’re supposed to
be doing. See?
87. Also, shooting day-for-night rarely looks good. If only I had
remembered to turn the lights on!
“Shooting day-for-night” is a movie term which describes shooting
a night scene during the day, but with a filter on the camera to make
it look like nighttime.
It doesn’t look any better in Hollywood.
88. February 14, 2012
Now all I have to do is get everybody through college.
Aaaargh! This is going to be so hard without the college clock! I
mean, Lisa and Leila still have four terms to go!
89. February 18, 2012
Okay, I’ll leave them to skill while I take care of winding up some
plot threads. Like getting Rebecca engaged to Pong.
92. And making sure that with absolutely everyone’s free time they’re
painting portraits of Jack Point for the asylum. I want one per room
and spares for humorous effect. (We’ll see if I actually remember
to use them that way.)
I think Jack Point might actually have Glen’s facial template.
Whoops.
93. February 24, 2012
Leila’s “job interview” actually took place in a redecorated dorm
room and was courtesy of moveobjectson.
94. February 25, 2012
Aw, nuts! I’ve confused my readers!
I should never ever try and plot anything myself. All my planning
-- useless!
95. March 1, 2012
Well, that’s the Plot finished!
Boy, am I tired! I don’t want to play The Sims, or read about them,
or do any more writing, or do anything except graciously respond
to the wild outpouring of praise and adulation from my legions of
adoring fans.
As long as I’m delusional, I’d also like to have Elijah Wood come
over and give me a massage.
96. March 4, 2012
I’m going to have to work on the other two Plot-ettes still, aren’t I?
Crap!
97. QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
March 7, 2012
Oh crud -- I should have been studying Princess Ida for a good
while already, even if I am only using Act II.
Except I’m not just using that, since I’ll have to at least put in the
part about “twice as old” and the no-boys-allowed rule. But I am
eliminating almost all of Act I anyway. And even more of Act III.
Uncredited photograph from a 1921 production of Princess Ida available at
http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/princess_ida/webop/pi_16.html, accessed 12
May 2012.
98. Strategy for Pinafore:
1. Send Phoebe to buy something at the farm stand and to talk to
Chant
2. Have Phoebe call Chant repeatedly to get the relationship up
3. Have Leila meet Chant
4. Have Chant call Leila and make friends
5. Get Chant and Phoebe together
6. Have Chant invite Leila and Phoebe both to stand and initiate
romantic stuff in front of Leila
7. Have Chant invite Phoebe over and hire her
99. March 17, 2012
This represents the sum total of my Simming for the week.
I guess when there’s a death in the family, that’s okay, right?
100. March 29, 2012
I’ve started playing this household again. I’ve also found a bunch
of old pictures that I waited too long to use. This one, for example.
I don’t know why I’m so unmotivated right now. I’ve got almost
half of Not-Heiress Rose written, and I’m looking forward to both
Lisa and Glen’s wedding and meeting Baby O. Blegh.
I suppose I’ll put on some Gilbert & Sullivan to inspire me.
101. April 1, 2012
Well, I accomplished the following in today’s play session:
- Got Lisa and Glen married
- Got Leila hired by the asylum
- Got Old Adam to tell Rose about her engagement
- Got Old Adam to give Glen The Outfit (although I think I’ll save
that for the next chapter)
- Got Phoebe and Rose off to Uni
Not bad for one day! And it’s all true, regardless of the date.
102. April 22, 2012
Why didn’t I see it before? Ariadene is both Florian the
superfluous third and Lady Blanche, not to mention the sister who
knows what’s up. Although Ariadene doesn’t want to be in charge,
she’d love to be a permastudent: parties, hot college boys, and easy
As from all her male professors? Yes please!
103. May 6, 2012
Nuts! Sending Phoebe to the farmstand from college doesn’t make
Chant show up so they can meet cute.
104. Thank goodness for Phaenoh’s telephone book! (Available from
Mod The Sims.) It works like the Head For Numbers perk and lets
any Sim look up any other Sim. It just gets the target Sim in the
looker-upper’s contact list with a relationship of 0/0, though.
July 25, 2012
Although I am leaving the above comment in for historical accuracy, I have
pulled all of Phaenoh’s work from my game following the release of her
“Eugenics” mod.
105. It’s up to me to make sure they spend a lot of time on the phone so
they can get to know each other.
106. May 12, 2012
Okay, now that they’re god enough friends, Chant can invite
Phoebe over while the family is there running the business. That
makes things lots easier!
107. Thank you, strange and creepy dormie, for giving Rose a reason to
want to start a no-boys-allowed sorority! (happy dance at how well
her Sims are cooperating)
109. May 13, 2012
Well, that’s all the plotty bits of OFB Farmstand shot. They mostly
look pretty lousy, actually, but I really don’t think I can get any
better with both Old Adam and Phoebe being uncontrollable. Now
I just need three pictures and a cover picture before I can declare
that chapter done.
I also need a cover and a title for regular chapter #20. (wails) But
nothing happened! Gilbert didn’t write any songs about house
tours…
110. May 15, 2012
Now I’ve shot the last couple Rose-and-Phoebe dorm pictures, I
should move them into a house and start a sorority. I suppose I
should pledge in Dmitri’s whole crew, too, huh? Certainly that will
be easier than the whole join-in-the-dorm thing, since each Sim
only needs to be friends with one other member to be asked to
pledge, and then they just need a certain number of hours under
their belt to become a full-fledged member.
111. And all that takes is keeping them from wandering off.
I only had to invite Ariadene over twice, and the other three only
required three invitations. (scoffs) Just because they insisted on
little things like sleeping and peeing!
112. May 17, 2012
You know, these male Lolita dresses from MTS look better from
more angles than my homemade cc, and they’re funnier. I’ll go
with them instead.
This one just looks wrong on Frederic. Dmitri could pull it off, but
I personally really don’t like that choker/collar/halter thing.
113. On the other hand, the pink dress is inoffensively sweet, and that
black-and-white number was made for Frederic!
I don’t anticipate doing anything else to these two except possibly
putting some makeup on Dmitri. I think he’d like that.
114. May 19, 2012
Got ’em engaged, finally!
I wonder if I’ll get all this Plot posted before it’s time to post this
journal…
115. May 20, 2012
Go on, tell me Frederic doesn’t look adorable in his Lolita dress. I
dare you!
(smugly) You can’t, can you?
In other news, I’ve shot everything that needs to be shot at the
dorms, and am now ready to move the boys into the sorority. (And
Cathrynne and Ariadene too. I’ll be damned if I play two
households when I don’t have to.)
118. May 31, 2012
I need two songs for the montages: one when Dmitri’s in a dress
and one where he isn’t. Candidates:
P’raps if you address the lady = Nope, hanging isn’t romantic
Come, Cyril, Florian = Nope, there are better options
I am a maiden = Perfect for song #1!
A woman of the wisest wit = Actually relevant for song #2
Would you know the kind of maid = Nope, too concerned with
woohoo
This helmet, I suppose = Nope, too military
119. June 11, 2012
Here you see the setup for the big scene with Rose falling off the
porch. Rose is using the Uni animationbox (green) -- the “fall off
treadmill” animation, which repeats over and over until you tell it
to stop. To have her at the right level, I used Fat D’s UpShift,
which is sort of like an OMSP, except that it moves things up by
the height of a foundation tile.
The yellow box is Paul’s Reaction Tester, and everybody else is
about to “Watch Distressed” repeatedly until the animations line up
for a good shot.
120. The original plan was to have Dmitri use a Bone Phone to bring
Rose back, although I’ll be darned if I knew how he was going to
get one. Once I realized I could do the “Plead for Loved One,”
though, that plan went out the window.
In fact, everything worked out so nicely that I didn’t even quit
without saving, which was also part of the original plan.
121. June 11, 2012
And the rest, as they say, is history. I mean, since I had them
become besties before college, this was never in any doubt.
Now I just have to force Frederic and Dmitri through Uni and then
everyone can get married and live happily ever after.
122. June 18, 2012
And that is how I wrote all the Plot for this year. If I continue this
journal any longer, or in any more detail, it will contain spoilers
when it’s posted, so I’ll stop now.
Thank you all for reading, and for all your lovely comments
throughout the past year! I hope you enjoyed this special
anniversary feature.
Until next time, Happy Simming!
