2083, postcards from the edge, and December extras...

All work and no play for me these past couple weeks. But I do happen to have some funny gems saved up in my screenshots folder, so I thought I'd appease you all with some extras, outtakes, and updates from our supporting cast! ;)

And because you know you can never have too many pictures of angry Vicky! lol!

extras, birthday spam

Just a few extras and outtakes from setting up Stephanie's birthday party. I found this bunch surprisingly photogenic while I was working on them, and I ended up with a lot more pictures than I could actually use.

picspam, like a peace offering...

Sorry, no story update ready for you this weekend. But before you get very disappointed, I'm going to make up for it with pictures of Dallas and Lucy... and a very cute toddler ;)

picspam, bella's new house

So one day, I went and destroyed Bella's house, lol! Oh how she loathes me! Because the only other place I could fit her ever-expanding family is in the suburbs. She is SO not a suburban kind of lady. But I put them in Stoneview Court, which is a "gated community" - so that status should make her happy. And Cameron is happy because he's right across the street from Max. And the girls will have a nice sized yard to play in.

Of course, I had to start with her kitchen! :)

idle chatter: cool finds 'n stuff

I'm having to push back the second half of Jodie's story (part 2), mostly because my kid got sick this weekend and the past two days have dissolved into a pile of snotty tissues and vomit (oh hey, I know you're all super jealous of my life, lol!). And then I have some other things to finish the next couple days. I'll try not to make you wait all the way until next weekend, but it'll be Wednesday or Thursday before I can give it any proper attention.

But I do have a surprise mini-thing for you later tonight, from Amelia.

now, the building spam ends

And to wrap things up, I have some build month outtakes ;)

In real life, people don't teleport, so I always forget that Amelia learned how to do it. Here she is teleporting up to the third floor of Collins Hall for a graduate level drafting class.

testing things, breaking stuff...

Pardon me while I try not to make too much of a mess out of this place.

Testing some new image sizes...

take it down, extras

*warning: this is ridiculously long! No joke! *

Extras, outtakes, and misfits from the "take it down" season...

(I think I'll call them seasons now, rather than chapters. Does that make more sense? I mean, each entry is big enough to be its own chapter, right? Why didn't anyone ever tell me that made no freaking sense? lol! So since the collection usually spans about a season, it seems only logical. Season?)

Anyway, whatever we call it, this collection of stories was the longest EVER, and gave us a crapload of extras!!! These stories took me 8 months to write, covered five major story progressions and many independent pieces and mini-updates, and added up to a whopping 50,881 words!

(If I ever want to know why my novel isn't finished yet, I think I have my answer!)

Let us begin? ;)

from myself, extras and author's note

first, a note on the ending of stories:

Since this is kind of the first storyline that's been well and truly wrapped up in this blog, I thought I'd do a little author's note. I'll also probably want to give them each their own author's note when they're finished. For a time, I was doing the author's notes by round, but I think this works better, maybe.

But on the ending of stories in general, this is how it will work:

The storyline tags cover the arc of the story itself, from beginning to middle to end, and only the story. Both Micah and Mariah existed as Sims/characters before this story took shape, and those entries are not included. Likewise, the whole Buchanan family will still exist in Lakeside Heights in the future. You'll still hear from them in other stories, and they'll still get their once-a-round family update. But as far as I'm concerned, this story is finished, and I'm happy to let them have their peace, lol!

Basically, the storyline tags contain only what I would include if I were writing this as its own stand-alone book. It's still a work-in-progress, but main characters are also getting their own name tags as well, and those name tags will span the entire collection of stories, any entry they make a meaningful appearance in. So for further reading, you can continue to follow their tags: Mariah, Micah, and for entries relating to the whole family, Buchanan.

And James too. James is one of those who doesn't really have his own storyline, yet plays an important role in about three or four different stories. Or maybe he does have his own story, and I just haven't discovered what that is yet.

Anyway...

This obviously contains major spoilers, so if you haven't read through all the from myself stories, you'll want to finish those first.

Author's note on the "from myself" storyline:
The hows, and whys, and hitches in the writing of...

Price-Hudson wedding outtakes

For as simple as this wedding was, this was also the most FUN I've had doing a wedding in a really long time. They just wouldn't stop, lol! I thought I'd put all the funny in its own post, so not to disrupt the narrative flow ;)

This was actually the normal shot I thought I would use for the story (and that I'd put Chandler's "Score!" shot in the outtakes), but seeing as how they've always been a big bunch of goofballs, I just couldn't resist using it. But here, proof that they did have some serious moments.

this is the sorry excuse for why I've got nothing...

Well, this is how I spent my Simming time this weekend, but unfortunately, it did not amount to much shooting of the next story update.

But... Lakeside Heights now has skies!!!

one day, Carly gets a little spend-happy...

One day, Carly Cook gets a little spend happy. This is her shitting-a-brick face, because she just got the invoice for the reconstruction of the roof on her new boutique. "I didn't know a roof could cost $15,000," she says.

"Sure," I tell her. "That roof can. You want me to send it back?"

"Well, no," she says. "It's cute. Can we charge it?"

And so it begins...

You guys still have a story update coming this weekend, but Carly's boutique will be featured in one of the scenes, and I thought you might like a better look at it than just story shots. Carly's gone a little bit spend-happy in here, but you know, it was cute.

and one for the happy...

Because these people are breaking my heart around here lately. (Just wait until we get to the next chapter - it's like everybody decided to fall apart at the seams simultaneously.) So I decided to do a collection of happy and uncomplicated moments from happy and uncomplicated couples. Okay, so maybe not all of these couples are (or will be) completely uncomplicated, but they're all very happy together, for sure!

A lot of these were going to go in my extras at the end of the chapter, but it feels called for now :)

school extras, picspam

This post was scheduled ahead for Sunday, so I guess if you're reading it, that means it worked. I should be back online some time Monday to respond to comments... you know, if everything goes according to plans, which is always questionable in moving...

Scheduling entries ahead always makes me nervous, since you'll be reading it before I get a chance to see it published myself, and it could be loaded up with glaring horrible typos 'n stuff, lol! So good thing it's just a fluff post ;)

The extras are coming before the actual school update this time, but these aren't really the spoilery kind of outtakes. I just wanted to separate all this picspam and administrative stuff, so I could keep the story stuff all flowy and nice.

come undone, extras

Psst, Lara... that's not your husband...

After what was the longest "chapter" I've ever written for this story (totally got carried away there, lol!), I've decided to start doing these extras by chapter from now on, instead of by year.

Okay, so let's see what other extras, misfits, and outcasts we might have from the spring/summer 2083, "come undone" chapter...

graduation, extras

*** graduation extras ***

I think I like posting the outtakes separately when they're as plentiful as this. I wish I'd been doing it all along, so I could have my concise and well-planned story posts, and then my long-winded and rambling gameplay posts... but you know, I didn't. Ah, well ;)

prom 2083, revisited

With four different scenes, and travel time to community lots, that prom update took forever to shoot and produced a lot of fun outtakes. And I was also feeling very particular about the mood of my narrative, so I didn't want to throw a bunch of funny outtakes at the end.

And besides all that, it was plenty long enough on its own.

So to start things off, this is what Melissa thought of my first idea for her prom dress! She says, "My cleavage is showing, I feel so naked!"