My P-A R Sims had a REALLY Bad/Busy day...

So, My long-time test family for my "Post-Apocalypse Rebuilding Challenge" - In Creation... had a really important day planned.

They've gotten most of the challenge unlocked, and I'd quit playing for a long time as I had so little time to play, and I had other new EPs to play with.

I recently began playing them again to try to incorporate "Dumpster Diving" and a few other new items/races/interactions.

Let me give you a bit of key background...

This is Bloom Gardenas on Day 1 of her challenge... She had a Firepit to cook food, once she fished it up or grew it herself... A sleeping bag, a recycle bin, a latrine, a Bicycle, and a Pond to get water from for bathing and watering the garden. 

(see that big wooden tub? That's where she kept her dirty water for bathing and watering...)

- Later I added a cheap pedestal sink to starter supplies, because they don't spawn at the junkyard, and you need them for dishes...

In order to rebuild her world after the disaster so that Surviving Sims can return to the surface, she has a LOT of scavenging for junk items and materials to begin rebuilding.

A Bed to sleep in... Or add to others to convert to a double!

She'll need THIS too... For the adopted children... AND her own.

Fishing can give surprises...

Bloom has done well in building a home... She can almost support a family...
She needs just a Single bed then they can begin bringing children in.

After adding in a new Twin bed, Bloom has a nice simple wedding, in the home she's built.

Bloom and Shark were too excited to have children, and had a daughter of their own before adopting.

This is Daisy. See her little toy Pat? He will become very important to her.

Afterwards Bloom and Shark did their civic duty by having an infant brought in from the bunkers. 

This Adoptee's name is River.

Blooms' husband Shark maxed logic, discovered potions, and created Plumbing while Bloom took care of the Day To Day living of Gardening, Fishing, and Scavenging for building materials and furnishings.

Bloom is happy they've created the Plumbing infrastructure.

Remember Daisy's Imaginary Friend Pat? 

Once they became teens, Shark gave her a potion she could use to make her dream a reality.

(I treat Imaginary friends as Teen-Move-In adoptees from the bunkers. Non-related... eligible for Romance)

This is Bloom and Shark's Official Adoptee Son River with HIS Moved-In Imaginary Friend Riley.

So. Back to the important Day...

"So.. Pat... We're young adults now. We've got a BIG home, 2 stories!!! Yes.. we need more privacy.. and Electricity would be good.. but still... We've been together a LONG time, and I want it to stay that way. Let's make it official and get married!!"

Ok...  five of Dad's friends are attending as witnesses.. Plus those annoying Paparazzi. 

Time to say our vows!!!

...PS... Don't tell the Paparazzi we already had our kid...

(I planned to marry them right away, THEN remembered the Generations Forced Time Off... Which the family needed to NOT have at that moment.)

... Meanwhile, Inside the house...

(The game said a fire started LONG before one showed... and Bloom rolled the want to upgrade the fireplace to fireproof... They HAVE no fireplace. As fast as this fire spread once I could see it, I think a non-existent fireplace caught fire, and kept catching OTHER things on fire until it completely burned away.)

Bloom had to put herself out too.

Not only is there a HUGE fire, but a toddler is crying!!! How dare he cry!!

And where'd he come from? They're not married yet, but have a kid?

BURN!! (Literally)

The fire is finally out... Someone change that kid's diaper!!

I'm NOT doing this again... For some reason the guests haven't left. LET'S DO THIS!!

"Do you, Pat.."
"Can you guys wait? I have to pee!"
"NO!! Do you Pat take me as your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health... even blazing infernos..."

The annoyed guests kicked down all of the magic gnomes. 

Right after the ceremony it began to rain and I had River start standing up my gnomes.

Like a bolt out of the blue, Fate stepped in and speared him through!!

Getting River showered and ready to go to work, 

He suddenly saw lights he HAD to check out...

(I somehow missed getting any photos of the abduction...

Borrowing one of my first abduction in another neighborhood.)

THEN...

Camera recenters.
River had his birthday... Off-Camera...
-Riley had eaten a life-fruit autonomously, so I gave him a cake to catch him up.

"Happy Birthday Riley!!!"

"Run to work boys!! You're LATE!!" "We're MEN now!!!" "...Ok... Run to work MEN!!"

(Couldn't they have had the birthday to Young Adult BEFORE the abduction?? 

Riley already got abducted twice as well... NOT Shark or Pat.)

THEN...

"Happy Birthday Bloom!!! - Se that huge 2-story house in the background? You've come a long way baby!"

Of Migraines and Men!

I mentioned in a previous post that I get migraines...
There I only discussed in very brief my Ocular migraines...
Today I want to tell you more.

I want to help you understand what migraines are.
They are SOOOO much more than a little pain in the brain.... Or even a lot. :)

First, a bit of background.

When I was young, my father often got migraines...
But I never did, and hoped I never would.
He'd sit in a dark room, very very grumpy, often with a cloth over his eyes.
Boring. Annoying. In pain.

Later, I began getting headaches... Then they began getting worse.
Even these bad headaches were just headaches though.. take pain-killer... wait... pain would go away.
They were nothing but pain.

Then I began having really really BAD headaches.
The migraines had begun.
I didn't know they were migraines to start with.
Later I began suspecting it, but continued just taking regular over the counter pills and trying to work through the pain, or on rare instances, call in to work.

Then one day, I went blind while driving.
Really.

I was on my way to work, almost there, (fortunately... although home would have been better) I'm going speed limit down a 2 lane busy road... then the world went black.
There we have the split-second moment of panic that seems like an eternity.
My mind racing as to what to do, how to avoid a wreck which would hurt/kill myself and/or others.
-Hit the brakes? -NO! I don't know if anyone is tailgating me.. if they are, they'll hit me!
(I start slowing instead... light brake tap... while I think.)
-Pull over the side of the road? -NO! there's a drop-off there... I can't risk doing that!
-Well, OBVIOUSLY keeping driving is out of the question!! -AGREED!

As I made the decision that I should risk the tailgater, and stop in the middle of the road but with a slight veer to the right to be certain I didn't stop in the oncoming lane... Then let someone who would hopefully stop to see what was up move my car out of the road... My vision began returning... very blurry, very limited, very slowly.
I could see through perhaps a silver-dollar sized circle fairly clearly directly ahead... around that the rest of my range of vision was extremely blurry, with sparkles flashing through it.
WAAY better than blind though.
From what I could see, I could tell I had stayed in my own lane, and hadn't covered more than a few feet of distance while blind... It was a mere split-second that had lasted that eternity.
I could see the driveway to my job just ahead... I couldn't see any safe place to pull off the road, and I wanted to be somewhere with help and a phone anyway, since I didn't know what had just happened... so I drove slowly, carefully, on to work.

I went to the doctor the next day for the migraines Diagnosis.
I was surprised.
While I was blind, my head hadn't hurt in the least... Don't migraines hurt??
Not always.

So.
Much time has passed since then.
Friends and family often wonder why I refuse to drive as a normal course of action.. and will only drive in emergencies. Believe me. If you have something like that blind driving thing happen, you'll think twice too.

Luckily, I didn't get migraines really often, and have only had a couple Ocular episodes...
Then something changed.
I got pregnant.
The doctors told me "We only have one migraine medication approved for prenatal, but here's some wonderful news! While women are pregnant, their migraines go away!! We don't know why, but they do!"
Unfortunately, I'm a very different case.
During my pregnancy, my migraines became more and more serious and frequent... I had one pretty much every day.
Worse news.
After my daughter was born... They continued.
I can count the days with NO migraine since I had my daughter on ONE hand.. with fingers left over. At this point I count a day with a MILD migraine as a 'good' day.

OK.
Now, What's a migraine?
I've already given a story about what a serious Occular Migraine episode was like.
Now let me explain the way my brain works (or doesn't) with a plain jane Migraine.

Migraines, in addition to or instead of the pain.. can cause information retrieval issues, and other impaired functions.

I'll start with another story, then give similes.

One day, through my 'Not too severe, but not mild either' migraine, I was trying to tell my husband something I needed him to buy at the store. Try as hard as I might, I just could not tell him. Here's something like how it went. "Honey.. we need some... some... Umm.. some.." (He's there prompting me... He understood somewhat what my migraines did to me.. but it can still be aggravating trying to talk with me.. poor guy.) "Yes?" "Well, I need you to buy something.. I just can't think of the word... but it's something really common.. " "We've got plenty (insert his incorrect guess here) " "NO! Not that !! It's Its... WHAT'S THE WORD!!!!" I then explode in frustration... "It's that WHITE condiment you find in the middle of the table for putting on your food next to the pepper!!!" "Salt??" he asks... "YES!!!! WHY couldn't I get that word!!!"

So.. look at that. I'm a native English speaker (OK.. AMERICAN English.. :) )
I could say the word CONDIMENT and use it correctly in a sentence.
I COULD NOT think of, or say, the word SALT.

That basic exchange is repeated quite often in conversations with me... only it's a different word or concept every day/few-minutes that my brain cannot wrap it's way around. Sometimes I can barely even type. This makes email conversations through a migraine especially difficult... as, even if I'm able to work my way around missing words or thoughts, my phrasing may be a bit off, and give people the incorrect assumption that I'm being 'angry' 'upset', etcetera...
To that end, When I write someone, I ALWAYS state that I'm writing through a migraine, so that if things seem stilted they understand why.
( Even so, I get upset people sometimes... I'm a very even tempered individual, but it really hurts to be accused of these things when they are not meant. The latest round of this, I've read through my emails repeatedly to see if I in fact said anything wrong, but I see nothing whatsever except slightly odd phrasings here and there. ) (sigh)

OK.. now let me give you a look inside my brain during one of those 'missing thought/word/concept' episodes.

Here are the best visualizations I've come up with... There are several different ones for different types of migraines.

Have you ever seen a Moth trying desperately to fly into a lantern to get to the candle flame?
Well, That's me too
Inside my head, my consciousness can be visualized as a moth.. the concept I'm trying to reach is the flame. There is a hard, solid barrier in between me and what I seek... I fling myself bodily on it painfully, repeatedly, trying to reach my destination.

Sometimes, instead, I visualize it more as me (not the moth) trying to work my way through a tall maze of thorns... Sometimes there is a clear path to where I'm going, sometimes the brambles fill it in. Sometimes I can push through with much pain to get to the prize I seek... but in the process, I block my way back to other things I need and I have to push my way through again.

Migraines are sometimes entirely different from the expected. NO PAIN. but they can STILL be severe.
For this, take my thorn example from above, and replace it with.. marshmallow I guess... only no good flavor. I have to push my way through a thick thick sticky mess to get anywhere I need to go, and it's elastic nature is constantly trying to drag me back to where I started.


When I have a severe migraine, these obstacles to thought are always there... they affect language, imagery, memory, original thought.. everything. Sometimes less severely than others... but they're always there.
Migraines can also include:
-The traditionally known/thought of "light sensitivity" and "sound sensitivity"
-Horrendous nausea..
-Enlarged, Exploding head/eyeballs... Well, it just feels like it. :)
-And emotional instability.
(my dad's 'Grumpiness' for example... and I'm afraid sometimes mine too)


After 4 solid years of almost daily migraines I've discovered how completely they can change your life... And I don't like it.
At first, I worked through them... Only on rare occasions did they win so that I couldn't work. When they were severe almost every day, that became... Tough.
Shortly after my daughter was born, I was laid off my job.. the whole place closed down.
Since then I've been a work at home mom... And as the migraines get worse and worse, and more and more frequent, I have more and more trouble envisioning myself getting and holding down another job.
Even my own Work At Home Business I have trouble doing.

Then there's my daughter.
I remember how bad my occasionally Grumpy daddy was..
His migraines were nothing compared to mine. A few hours in the dark quiet, and he was fine.
My daughter deserves better than 'Grumpy Mommy'. :(

Well,
I showed more of my own personal state here than I meant, rather than just 'What a migraine is/feels like'... But I hope you enjoyed the read anyway, and that this maybe helps you understand a friend who has migraines a little better...
Or if YOU are the friend with migraines, it helps you figure out how to explain them better to your friends/co-workers.

And I hope I didn't sound too 'Stilted' or 'Grumpy'...
Yes, I typed this through a migraine. :)
With me, Everyday is Migraine-day.

Interesting game.

Blindness and Psychics.

Skeptico: How do you prove photography to a blind man?

My response to this article... :

Interesting.

I think of it more like this, however.

I have ocular migraines, every now and then, really rarely, I lose my sight for a brief instant... Then it returns, but very dimly and blurred before coming back for good.

What if all mankind were blind....
But people with migraines or something wrong(right?) in their heads would gain this startling instant of clear sight.
Maybe they would instead get blurry sight.
Maybe they'd just see big blobs of color.

Whatever way, they've had no experience with sight.
They have to learn how to interpret the colors and images they see.

Then they have to learn to do it reliably.

I'm neither a believer nor a disbeliever of psychic phenomena.,, I'm still taking a wait and see attitude at age 39.

Nonetheless, I've had brief flashes of "something".
Is it just random splotches of colors I don't know how to name?
Is it just misfirings in my brain, such as cause the ocular migraines to begin with?
Is it instead something more wonderful.. but I'm so inexperienced with processing the information that I could never prove it, to myself or anyone else?

Maybe someday people with these 'brief flashes of something will be able to interpret them better... Will be able to summon them reliably... won't be plagued by disbelievers who feel that just because some lonely person PRETENDS they also see these flashes of color in order to get attention, that everyone who sees them is also faking it.

Or maybe someday science will determine how exactly to finally and conclusively prove that it's only random misfirings in peoples brains causing them to see things that their brains then interpret as something convenient which it isn't at all.

Meanwhile, I'll continue waiting and seeing.

Cheryl

The Mariposa's

Who are the Mariposa's?

The Mariposa's Live in the game, The Sims2, in the ProsperityII neighborhood.
They are named after butterflies.

You can see the whole family above.

Monarch, the dad, is king of his section of the Fairy World, but once his Empress faded due to disappearing woodlands, he decided it was time to see how well his family could fare among the Normal Mortals.


It is their job to try to teach the mortals how to live in harmony with their environment.

First, however, they must learn to get along in this mortal world.

Copper, seen on the left, is highly enthusiastic about their prospects.

His twin sister Vanessa also has high hopes about their mission.



Monarchs eldest Daughter, Princessa, however, has doubts.

The very night they moved to town, she had a horrible dream of her father Monarch being crushed by a falling object, then eaten by flys... She told herself she was being silly, and went back to sleep.
Her dreams then included him burning to death while drowning, and simultaniously plummeting to his death in an elevator.



Nonetheless, Princessa knows her duty... Try to fit in among the mortals... No matter how oddley they dress.

Should her dreams become a reality, Princessa knows she will somehow still succeed.. even without her father.

She just hopes freinds will be easily made, and plentiful!

Happy Easter!!!

Hatchling Eggs

I remember, a long time ago, a website where you adopted eggs or pots, and eventually the eggs hatched and the pots grew flowers... I thought it was stupid then, I still do now...
But then again, both then and now I think it's kind of a cool idea.

The old site, where you hatched fairies and unicorns and such, I do not think still exists, but there's a new website reviving the trend.
Too bad they hatch stupid things like Neopets and feet...