Lakeside Heights, street view

(a bus stop and depot in the Lakeside Heights city center.)

In honor of this week's craziness, not only Thanksgiving, but my hubby's birthday too, I'll offer you something quick and relatively painless (for me).

I took a couple of these shots when I was putting together my new marina, but then I found I couldn't stop, lol! The camera mods I'm using allow for some very interesting angles and viewpoints. Some of these shots you wouldn't get to see from any of the houses or community lots my Sims frequent. It's been a really fun project, all the in-between places you might see if you were a Sim, walking in Lakeside Heights, from one place to another :)

This also shows you the neighborhood in long-range shots that I can't normally show you because my computer is so old and fickle. I've got it so packed full I can barely take shots on Medium view without my graphics card crashing.

So...

Lakeside Heights:

The marina again. You might have seen this before, but I wanted to have it again in one of my sidebar posts. I took these pictures before I found the new boat recolors! Because yay boats! I might have to add a few more docks to the marina for more boats!!! :)

This is Lakeshore Road, with the Lakeshore Beach boardwalk along the left. On the right are the Deppiesse (Orion) and Riley-Kim families. Cabe Deppiesse's family is a little further down on the left.

These are the arches that mark the entryway to the city center. In the middle of the city is a really cool shopping mall that I built, that you guys never get to see because it's too big for my computer to handle, lol! Ah, well, rest assured, my Sims have a mall.

An overview of the city center. Lakeside Heights, even though it is quite suburban, does actually qualify for city-status because of its population.

Another bus stop, just outside the market square. I still need to add bus stops to Lake City and Bluewater Township. This is a bit of a work in progress. And after seeing Carla's hella cool airport, I think I might need one of those too! :)

These are the apartments where Jodie is currently living. The smallish office building on the right is Berjes's cosmetic surgery office. Next to that, you can see part of the open market square. Most of the buildings in Lakeside Heights I made myself, but the glassy building behind those apartments is the library, which I downloaded ages ago, by phazetex.

This is Brant Street, and the foundation of my most popular neighborhood in Lakeside Heights. On the left are the Thompson and Lind families, and on the right are the Jackson and Roseland families. Just out of sight of this picture are the Phoenix (Hayden), Nova-Day, Buchanan, and Centowski families.

Bluewater Township:

This is Main Street in Bluewater Township - I modeled this town after a lot of the charming little country towns in Michigan, where I grew up, with the one single Main Street strip, a bank, a market, and that's about it, lol!

Summer's Place is there on the left, and Charlotte and Leila's new pie shop at the far end. Chad's Gamer's Den is on the right.

This is the flip side view of Main Street, where you can see Charlotte and Leila's shop better.

I wish you could see the cars driving by from lot view. That's one of the things I look forward to in Sims 3, the feeling that the whole neighborhood is inhabited at once. I'd love to be able to look down Main Street and see people walking up and down, from shop to shop.

Custom neighborhood creation is quite obviously one of the "dealbreaker" things I'm waiting for with Sims 3 ;)

There is a big sprawling residential area in Bluewater Township, rather than any defined neighborhoods like my other towns have. Charlotte and Paul are here on the left, and across the street are the Leila and Matt, and their Watts Family Farm.

A long shot of the road where the McCullough family live, with the Hathe family at the far end. There are only four playable families living in Bluewater Township.

This is "the field" where the kids hang out sometimes. It looks much better from lot view. The church is across the street, and out of view to the right is the Watts Family Farm Market.

And here is the two-building complex that makes up Fort Bluewater. On the hill is an on-base residence, where Alon Hutchins will be living after they return. And below are the recruiting offices and other military resources.

Lake City:

Lake City is really hard to get pictures of, but I managed a couple before my graphics card crashed.

This cross-city shot of Lake City is a complete fluke, and might be the only one you'll ever see, lol! I can't usually point the camera across the city like this without my graphics card freezing up and crashing to hell (as you'll see below), so revel in it, enjoy it while you can. The area towards the bottom of the picture is mostly commercial, while the popular residential areas are toward the top - you can see all the plumbbobs ;)

Long view of Washington Avenue, from the west. (Named Washington Avenue, by the way, because all cities in the Great Lakes area, or maybe even everywhere in the US, have a Washington Avenue in their downtown, lol!)

This is the West Washington neighborhood, and the most popular residential area in Lake City. On the left is where Bella and Cameron live - on the right are the Phoenix (Jack), Nova (Patrick), and Miller families. That row extends around the corner as well, where Amelia lives. The tallest building on the right is the Loft Apartments, where Drew and Corbin are currently living, and the second tallest next to it is the Riley Estates Company building.

Also Washington Avenue, but from the east, on the LCU campus. On the left is the sports facility, the library, and Frosh Hall. On the right is the pub, and the Offices for Study Abroad.

This is a shot from my south end. I love my south end, even though I don't have many Sims bad off enough to live there. Maybe more after the next round of taxes, lol!

I don't know why I love it so much, with its smokestacks and cooling towers, and trashy alleys with busted cars on cinder blocks, it kind of reminds me of Detroit, lol!

Ah, home sweet home :)

*******

So anyway, I may edit this post in the future with any new developments on the "street view" level. I'm looking forward to adding bus stops and depots to Lake City, and an airport is looking likely in the future as well.

Oh, and by the way, Madison wants credit for all these Community Enrichment Projects when you all vote in the coming elections ;)

And photographic evidence that Lake City crashes my graphic card all to hell! Whenever I play Lake City, I can't linger on the neighborhood screen for very long before things start to freeze up. This degree of nonsense only happens when I try to point the camera across the city and move it around though (which I try not to do except for projects like this one), so it's not usually this bad. The grass will all just turn flat green and the buildings get all fuzzy.

(But the Harris and Shaw families can rest assured that their cars still look okay? lol!)

first, part 2

June 2083 - Ashlee Deppiesse is 43, Natalia is 13. (Charlie Roseland and Hazel Monif are 13, Fiona McCullough is 15.) Last update, February 2082.

It's probably much too soon for her mother to feel lonely. It's only been three weeks since they left. Instead, she just keeps herself busy here at the restaurant, which means Natty is kept occupied as well. It isn't that she minds spending time with her mother, if she were actually spending time with her, except that her mother is working, talking, selling, and Natty is left watching old cable reruns.

Which is better than washing dishes. Because she has that option too, her mother would say, if she wants to complain of being bored.

first, part 1

June 2083 - Charlie Roseland and Natalia Deppiesse are 13, Gabby Roseland is 4.

It's summer, finally. Charlie is just hanging out in front of his house, with his sister, doing what kids do on these long, sweaty days, which is waiting for something to happen. Nothing is happening here. He can't even score some free lemonade from his baby sister!

"That'll be a dollar ninety-five," Gabby says. "Just like everybody else."

hey, dad...

June 2083 - Ryanne Phoenix is 12, Hayden is 33.

"Hey, Dad," Ryanne says, stopping her father in the living room. "Summer and Tyler, you wanna know why they were really fighting?" She doesn't wait for him to ask, why? "He had sex with another girl."

"What?" Hayden says. "Who - where did you hear that?"

"Oh..." She stammers a bit as she realizes she can't exactly admit that she had her ear pressed to the window that morning.

sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g

A guide to different height kissing:

Height differences between lovers can add a lot of realistic value to a story, but the in-game standing kissing animations can get pretty wonky. This is always one of the first complaints people bring up when they consider using different heights in their game, and was also my biggest complaint until I found some work-arounds. In these romantically-inclined stories, you know how we need to get our kiss on around here!

So nobody specifically asked me to do this one, but I've been using different heights in my game for some time now, and discovered a few tricks, so I thought I would share them.

Dallas and Lucy are happy to oblige us in the demonstration of these techniques ;)

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 ;)

the rules

May 2083 (graduation) - Summer Phoenix, Dallas Deppiesse, and Vicky Garth are 18, Lucy Harris is 16, Sarah Harris is 14.

*soundtrack: "Rhinoceros," by the Smashing Pumpkins*

On the morning of their graduation, the seniors gather in the library to receive their ceremony plans. Dallas has picked up a random physics textbook, just to pass the time.

Summer says to him, "Haven't you learned enough already?"

NaNoWriMo 2009!

It's that time of year again!

I'm actually not planning on slowing down with the LH updates though, or at least not much slower than I've been recently (3-5 days or so). After missing most of September and October, I'd really like to keep this story moving. And besides, this year I'm only doing about half a NaNo, and instead striving for balance in all things, which includes this story. (I even have an update in the works to post soon.)

But my blog reading and commenting may fall short. Because the sad truth of it is that I spend MUCH more time reading and commenting on blogs than I should! There's just too much great stuff to read out there, and I can't possibly commit myself to following everything. So this month is going to have to be about priorities. There will still be leisure time (which will include reading and commenting on blogs), but maybe less of it, portioned out and better monitored.

So if I slack on commenting on your blog this month, it isn't because I don't like you, and it isn't because you smell funny (we're on the internet, I can't smell you at all!). It isn't because you offended me, and it isn't because I don't love you anymore. I love you all just the same! It's not you at all, it's me. I just need some... space. This isn't a break-up, just a break. I just need a little time on my own, to find myself, to see where I'm supposed to be going. And you know, in the end, if it's meant to be, it will be.

LOL, Summer much? ;)

But really, this month (for me) is all about putting things in priority. More novel, more teaching my kid to write his numbers and letters, more walking my chubby ass up some ass-kicking hills, more laundry (a little bit more, anyway) - less slacking, less facebook, less twitter.

I still love you all, and I'll still be here, but you know, I just can't be everywhere.

So happy NaNoWriMo! Is anyone else working on a novel this month? Good luck to everyone participating!

LH sci-fi dork-fest... or the making of a space base

After viewing this video, a tour inside our current ISS, I've had to revise my plans for my happy little space-goers. A free-floating space station wouldn't have as much space or large windows with beautiful views of space like I'd envisioned. And it would not be very aesthetically pleasing at all. It would be cramped and cluttered and every bit of available space would be used.

But they can generate oxygen from their urine! That's hella cool! LOL!

So anyway, if I want to keep this story as realistic as I usually try to, then that means staying true to the kind of possibilities we might see in the next 70 years. So I've changed my original intentions a bit, and I'll now have their "home base" built on the moon rather than a free-floating station in orbit. So from this point forward, that's where they'll be. And I'll try to go back and edit the story to reflect that.

one day, long-dreaded...

May 2083 - Cabe Deppiesse (41), Andy Bradshaw (56), Joel Harris (41), Alon Hutchins (27), Jeremiah Day (26), Keri Riley-Kim (22), Tyler Jackson (19), Stephanie Day (23).

*note: box of tissues warning!*

They felt it coming, there were rumors, there was an atmosphere in the news reports of preparation. They're getting ready for the first contact. They've built up the bases to support a troop surge, so now they need the troops.

Protect the planet is their mission, their first and most important order. They need all the help they can get, and they'll take it from every available unit around the globe. As far apart as they might be in culture or distance, they are all in this one together. Some units went ahead of them, and later more followed. Then last week, one long-dreaded day, there were these pamphlets in the mail: Your Loved Ones on Active Duty.

Soon after, Lake County unit 212 was called to duty.

one day, at Fort Bluewater...

May 2083 (mini-update) - Tyler Jackson (19), Jeremiah Day (26), Joel Harris (41).

One day, at Fort Bluewater, Tyler finds a helicopter. He's never seen one this close, the large metal monstrosity poised there on top of the roof, as if ready to spring into the sky.

more whining about photobucket

Well, Photobucket finally went through my archives and compressed everything all the way back to the beginning.

(Oh, bah! I promise I'll stop bitching about Photobucket soon. Just indulge me this one last time.)

Keri thinks this looks disgusting, and I have to agree with her.

Poor pixelated Piper :(

Dallas and Lucy's super sweet moment all spoiled :(

Some of the only pictures I have of Summer's mommy, all blurry :(

I was hoping maybe they wouldn't compress EVERYTHING. Because if they hadn't, I was just planning to relink enough to get me under bandwidth again, and leaving the archives as they are. It would have saved me a lot of work. But they did compress everything...

So not only do the archived pictures look like crap, but I'm sure they'll continue to max out on bandwidth and go down before the 13th of the month until I can get more of the pictures moved over.

So the relinking process is taking forever, but considering the sentimental attachment to some of my archive pictures, I just can't bear to leave them like that. The relinking will continue and will be finished eventually. I'm currently back through about the middle of March 2009.

LOL, only a year's worth of pictures left to go!

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!"

the things that make you panic

May 2083 (prom) - Dallas Deppiesse (18) and Lucy Harris (16) // Elijah Roberts (17) and Melissa Fortney (15) // Vicky Garth (18) // Summer Phoenix (18) and Tyler Jackson (19).

*** Sorry, I just realized three of my four girls have long dark hair, so I hope that doesn't get too confusing - none of them are wearing the same style. The first section kind of banks on you already knowing who these characters are, so new readers might want to read the linked posts above first. Before you think you're going crazy, yes, the first half is written in a wandering second person POV - and I intend it that way ;)

Box of tissues warning, and maybe NSFW?...

Soundtrack, "Details in the Fabric," by Jason Mraz/James Morrison. ***

You're young. You're growing up by the very minute, but inside, you're not much different from one minute to the next. Not deep down, where it counts, where you still feel the same things you've always felt. You're still the same girl you've been all along.

LCU, life in present tense, part 3

LCU, spring semester, 2083 (part 3 of 3). Part 1, part 2, part 2.5.

*soundtrack (for all three parts), "Lifeboats," by Snow Patrol*

She was supposed to have an appointment with a recruiter, but instead it's General Deppiesse who walks into the room. He is confident, casual, and so eased in his stride she wonders if he actually knows she's sitting here. He finally says a simple, "Hello," without even looking her way. She figures he must be talking to her since there's no one else in the room.

This is her mother's doing, isn't it? When Keri wanted to study abroad, her mother wouldn't step in to help, but now that Keri wants to join the military, she's all over it. Keri is convinced her mother is dead-set against everything she ever wanted to do with her life. She's surprised her mother didn't somehow step in to call off her wedding. In fact, for all she knows, her mother probably tried.