The Story

Being inspired by the many others out there doing it, I decided to make a playlist for myself; I already made one for DS, and for and Margo (which is on her blog), but this one is more just about me... And I say 'about', because the original order of the songs sort of tell a story about the last few years of my life.

broken road

the story of my path to him<3

Beautiful Disaster	i started out a mess, confused
Losing My Religion	and i lost all my hope and my faith
All For Love	while a mess, i fell dangerously in love
Baby, Please Don't...	but he pushed and he pulled and pushed and pulled
Right Here	so many times i didn't know how to stop waiting for him to return
What I Would've Give	but when he never did, i never though i'd heal
Broken	somehow, in the midst of it all, i found someone to cling to
Here With Me	and he turned my world upside down from within
Near to You	it took time to heal the scars, to forget the boy who'd made me this way
Kiss from a Rose	and yet, our first kiss changed my entire future
Swing Life Away	and though we don't have much
Livin' On a Prayer	and though we pry won't ever have much
The Story	i am here, now, because of him. <3

All of my love. <3

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30 Day Sim Challenge: Day 26

- Day Twenty-Six -

Favorite Place to Download Custom Content

One of the biggest problems I had using CC in my game was that, as beautiful as some of the hairs CC-creators have made are, the shading and shine on them just wasn’t my style; I like the more ‘matte’ finish of EA’s hairs… I just hate the bland meshes and weirdly painted texture.

Retextures are a perfect middle ground for what I was looking for. I like Anubis’s too, but if I have a choice I tend to go with Lotus’s Retextures; they have very subtle shading, and that just fits my style!

(If I had choose a runner-up, though… I am starting to get a *ridiculous* amount of Pose Packs, these days.)

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Fotografia ala Margo

As some (all) of you know, when Margo reaches teenager-hood she is getting her very own spin-off blog to serve as a journal, as well as a bit of a 'portal' between my game and the interwebs. Call me crazy, but I'm ready to do something a little different, and that involves letting all of you guys interact with Margo in a way that could possibly influence her decisions--an idea that was inspired from something the amazing Kittycattylion was doing with one of her stories.

I've been doing a lot of brainstorming about it recently (even have the blog up and ready to go, as some of you have discovered), and one of the ways I plan on giving it it's own "feel" is editing all the images I use to give them a photographic feel, something that makes a lot of sense given that once she's that age, her friend Veronica is going to be teaching her photography.

I've been playing around with how I'm going to do this, and here's some results:

and a more recent one:

There's a couple of things going on here:

• A few different Photoshop actions to give them a vintage feel, I use this one (THANK YOU Christina, for introducing me to those--you are the bomb)
• Film Grain to slightly emphasize how crappy Margo's camera is
• Lens Blurring (Blurring behind the subjects to account for distance, you can read how to do that here)
• Lens Flare (Which I'll only use on outdoor shots, anyways)

The Lens Blurring takes a bit of work, so as you probably already assumed, Margo's posts are going to be rather short; 5-10 photos max. Though there probably will be some unrealistic scenarios where Margo takes pictures of herself that are physically impossible, there will definitely be occasions where the photos taken will be by Veronica instead, and some from her camera--I haven't decided what "Style" her photos are going to have yet... I'll probably be poking you for ideas on that, PiB.

As of right now, the plan is for this all to go live in about a month; this season is nearly over, and the next one is going to be a shorty. Even so, it may seem a bit early for me to start thinking about this--but there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff I have to do to prepare for this, including building the massive set for the school, deep-cleaning my neighborhood to prepare for new families, writing Season 7... Having everything thought out a ways prior is going to save me a lot of headache.

I'll be mentioning this again in a couple of weeks, but I'm going to be doing a tally soon of how many kids I have in Margo's age group; I'm going to need quite a few, so if people want to make/lend me some families, I'd gladly take them. I'm going to be seperating the teens by social 'class' (jocks, preps, jerks, and nerds), so I need about an equal amount in each. We'll see if I can manage that, I guess. XD

Anyways--too much blah, not enough worky worky... There you have it, a taste of things to come! Smooches!

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30 Day Sim Challenge: Day 24 & 25

- Day 24 -

A video you made yourself with Sims

This was my second machinima; it’s not perfect by any means, but it really helped me see the direction I need to take to improve. The premise for the video was a story near and dear to my heart, too, so it’ll always be very special to me. <3

- Day 25 -

Something that happens in Sims you wish happened in real life

I live over a thousand miles from any family, any of my old friends, and even greater distances from the internet friends I’ve made who are near and dear to my heart. I can’t be there for any of them the ways I wish I could because of distance, and being able to do that would just be… amazing. Nuff said.

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30 Day Sim Challenge: Day 23

-Day Twenty-Three -

The most awesome Sims you’ve ever had without cheating

Oh my is this belated or what… Oh well!

Anyways, Kaylee and Karamel were my first set of twins—unintendedly, too—and left diapers just in time for the World Adventures release. With them I max’d nearly every skill available between them, on top of Kaylee conquering every tomb that came with WA… and this was before I started playing with 500+ Day lifespans.

Even though their accomplishments are mere numbers, their awesomeness isn’t just that—they were the first Sims in my family that I REALLY bonded with, and 100% cemented my commitment to the Kane family once and for all.

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Tumbletumbletumble

Back when Blogger was down for more than 24 hours (and rolled back a ton of comments, and lost people some really important drafts they were working on--ohmanIamsosorrystillJennifer <3), I gave in and made one of those 'Tumblr' things. Considering I already have this blog I didn't really need it, but ya know. I wanted it. So there! ;D

Check it out!
http://kaleekalo.tumblr.com/

I'll be using it for all sorts of things, but teaser screenshots from upcoming posts, WIPs, and random fun Kane screenshots have already made their way onto it--so if that's the sort of thing you'd be interested in seeing, check it out!

As for what'll happen to *this* blog... I think in the next week or so I'm going to give it a bit of a makeover, and then use it more for longer, and possibly more RL related things--which means it might start collecting dust, and/or might not be too interesting to any of you. I'll probably still post some Sims stuff on here too, but only really the stuff I feel like I need comments on; tumblr is comment free, which is pretty refreshing.

I really don't mind; I also like the way tumblr doesn't make me feel guilty for posting 20+ things a day, and not including filler text. I don't know why, but Blogger makes me feel like I have to write... probably from spending a year staring at this box every time I'm working on a Desperate Sim's post. ;)

PS: I've also  been using Twitter a ridonkulous amount lately, so if you've got one... Add meh! :D

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30 Day Sim Challenge: Day 21 & 22

Since I've fallen quite a bit behind on the 'do one a day' I swore to myself I was going to do (just to prove I was capable... guess that fell through!), I'll be doing two today...

... and guess what: they're both Amelia-related! Hang on to your Cowboy Boots!

- Day Twenty One -

Something that happened/could happen that made you quit without saving

There's nothing like Story Progression getting a little over-zealous in hooking up single sims, and a couple weeks ago I had THIS little doozy happen because of the Crazy Cupid.

Before I'd officially set Amelia's relationship to 'steady' status (they were still Romantic Interests, I wasn't sure if they were ready to be an item yet), I moved Junior Notorious into the hood, and SP was *insistent* that he and Amelia start dating. Even after I restarted the save, it happened *AGAIN*...

I'm sorry, Junior, but she really ain't your type. XD

In the end I just fixed everything with Master Controller, but seriously... W. TF.

- Day Twenty Two -

The most scandalous thing you’ve done with Sims

No, being gay is not scandalous. It never SHOULD be scandalous. The whole idea of it being something other than normal is totally preposterous--and given the fact I've made no secret about my own sexual interests, clearly adding a Lesbian couple to my story was anything but 'scandalous'--at least, to me.

For a lot of people, though, it is. Not only did I hook them up, I wrote a very drawn out story of a girl in love with her best friend since High School, and then about a girl who's been abused and mislead by men and ends up falling into those best friend's arms for a last hope at love. Their story isn't a clean cut "happy ever after" love-affair. It's still awkward, it'll always be awkward, and to me, THAT'S the scandal. It's a relationship that had no business working out, and yet somehow it manages to teeter-totter along on the edge of a blade, waiting for one little push to shove it into disarray.

Still, the most scandalous thing I've done with them is made them wait until today for their first Woohoo--and got some really sexy shots of it that no one will ever see because society has a problem with nudity. So, I guess, if anything, getting some nude shots of my les-girls getting it on is pretty scandalous. XD

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Love is Blind: Drawing & WIPs

Though part of the reason I created this blog in the first place was to have somewhere to motivate myself to draw more by posting up doodles and sketches and what-not, this particular drawing I was unable to do so because it was done as a gift. Now that the gifty-ness has taken place, I can finally share it with y'all!

Love is Blind

Granite & Tranquil, Splash of Color

(Link to the drawing on deviantArt.)

Two incredibly well portrayed characters by an incredible writer: the unstoppable blind Tranquil and the bad-boy-with-a-heart Granite.

I was initially inspired to draw Tranquil because of these screenshots here; the scene Berry wrote about how Tranquil, a blind girl, experienced standing on this deck--and her determination to get into a 'real' school--totally struck a chord with me.

I knew her story was going to end up vastly different than most generations, and I was right--and in the end, Granite ended up being just as compelling to draw as her. :) I would digress into why, but... I'd really just prefer you went and read their story! Go! Go now!

A couple of people have seen these, but for those who'd like to see the process:

(click image for fullview)

Some brief notes:

• The original concept behind the drawing was Tranquil blindly reaching out to touch Granite's face, while they were standing in a darkened hallway; the drawing was going to be called 'I See You', but as I started working on it I realized that was a bit too ambitious for my current artistic ability. Whoops. XD
• Granite's face is mostly hidden on purpose--it has to do with the 'mystery' behind the character, as well as the fact that she can't see him the way we normally would.
• When I decided to opt for music in the background, I picked up the sheet music for "Only Hope", and chose two measures to use for the backdrop--they aren't consecutive so it'd be pointless to say which, but I like to think the song does have some meaning for them.
• The 'circles' are meant to represent sound waves, and the paint splashes are for "Splash of Color". (Have you figured out how cheezy I am, yet?)

Anyways. I'm continually aiming to do better in my artwork, and while this wasn't a *giant* leap in the right direction, I'm still really happy with the outcome.

Cheers!

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30 Day Sim Challenge: Day 20

It appears that whoever designed this challenge neglected to add in a 'Day 20'--so I'm just going to make up my own! Which means, today's challenge is:

- Day Twenty -

Favorite Screenshot That I've Taken

Long before I knew how to use camera mode or how to get rid of thought bubbles or any of that cool stuff, I took this shot. It's simple, but I think the reason I'm always drawn back to it has nothing to do with the composition of the picture (though I did do some editing to it, obviously), but the story behind it.

Karamel was a hopeless romantic; a genius author, but too lazy and too timid to do much of anything but sit in her office wasting away, writing romance novels about the loves she wished she had. Her sister, Kaylee, was always off galavanting with various men over distant lands, but despite all her envy Karamel did nothing.

Until, that is, Kaylee dragged Karamel with her on one of her explorations in Egypt. After seeing Kaylee with her lover, Karamel decided, on a whim of courage, to flee to France and try to find her true love. She did: Gaston. However, it wasn't until after they rushed into marriage and moved back to Sunset Valley that Karamel discovered her new husband was a clumsy hydrophobic; not long after their son was born, Gaston tripped into a swimming pool and drowned.

Karamel began to waste away, as her heart belonged only to her husband and without him, she was devastated. Desperate to keep him near forever, she kept his ashes near her pillow--and at night, while everyone was asleep, she would wait for her husband to appear, where they would secretly spend hours wishing to be reunited once more.

In the end, Kaylee discovered what was going on and pulled her sister from her frantic obsession with her husband's ghost, and they gave him a proper burial--but those nights, when Karamel would wake up to spend those precious few moments with Gaston's ghost, are some of the favorite moments I've ever had simming, despite the fact I never wrote about them.

Now, why exactly did Gaston die? He wasn't interesting--until he was dead.

Moral of the story: Boring sims are drastically improved by killing them. ;)

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30 Day Sim Challenge: Day 19

- Day Nineteen -

One Thing You Would Change About the Game

Fairly self explanatory; I don't particularly MIND Rabbit Holes; don't get me wrong, I understand why they used them! And I agree that it was a good idea in order to get the open neighborhood to work smoothly--but if I had the brainpower to come up with a way to easily change Rabbit Holes into fully-functional buildings? EA would be being hit with a petition, baby!

At least at this point, I've invested a lot of time to building sets underneath them--I just wish those sets were a bit more functional.

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30 Day Sim Challenge: Day 18

- Day Eighteen -

The longest family tree you ever had/the Sim you played with the most and why

Several days after the Sims 3 came out, I installed the game and made one sim. My goal with making that sim--Issa--was that I was going to attempt to play the game as long as possible with that family, without cheating for money, and see how far I could get.

I guess I got pretty far: I never did end up playing anything else.

The surname has changed a couple of times--and it will continue to do so--but I do call them the 'Kanes' as that's what they've been for the past 6 generations. This was never really meant to be a "Legacy", so I never stuck to any sort of rules like that; I just sort of went with the flow.

Now, WHY I've stuck with the Kanes is a relatively easy question to answer: they have history. Why start something new when I have a family with flaws and quirks and a past that has thousands of screenshots to look back on? I honestly love my family as an author loves the characters in their novels: they're all extensions of myself with personalities I put a lot of love and care into designing. I can't see leaving them behind for something else.

This family is definitely nothing special compared to some families out there, especially now that I play with such long lifespans that have moved it's progression to a snail's pace, but that's not really important to me, anymore. What's important is that they're special to me--something that will never change. :)

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30 Day Sim Challenge: Day 16 & 17

Due to pretending I have a social life, I missed my window to update yesterday: which, naturally, is very heartbreaking. It's okay to cry--the tears ease the pain!

Seriously, though--here's yesterday and today's questions:

- Day Sixteen -

A music clip/YouTube video of the background music you enjoy most

I'll happily admit to tuning my Sim's radio station to Electronica just to listen to this song, which I will backtrack onto several times because it's easily the best dance song included with Late Night. But I guess you can disagree with me if you want to. ;) /kid

The song they used in the World Adventures trailer was a close runner-up (can't remember the name off the top of my head), shortly followed by OK Go's unnoticably Simlish ballad. I was also tempted to track down some Sim's 1 Build Mode music too, because the nostalgia factor every time I hear it is pretty intense, but Brave is pretty hard to beat in my book.

And--I neglected to post the Simlish version of this song because now I can point out how insanely sexy Kelis is. <3

- Day Seventeen -

Your Favorite “Special” Sim Species

It might be a slight under-exaggeration to say that I'm a sci-fi nerd, so I've been fascinated with robots ever since my Dad and I used to sit in his shop for hours, building those simple walking 'spider' constructs that looked like a weak version of the Replicator from the Stargate universe. The idea of creating a mechanical life form seriously intrigues me to no end, so the Servos/Simbots in the Sims games have given me a little taste of what I've always wanted.

The Simbots/Servos get a lot of flack I find rather undeserved, considering they're rather adorable looking metal constructs and they have a lot of functions designed to make them helpful, buuutt, whatever; I guess that just means more simbots for me! :D *raises army!*

(Oh, and I used the insanely poorly altered above image from I, Robot because it's definitely one of my favorite movies. I <3 you, Sonny!)

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