Where's all the Llama's?

[eliices]

Me: Okay. I’m going to do a simple gameplay legacy, nothing fancy. Just gonna develop it as it goes along. Yeah. Nice. And. Simple.

Also me: Let’s write a story! Wait that character needs a backstory! Adds another side character. I’m going to give them full blown personalities complete with personality test results, for “fun”. Spends hours finding face claims and voice claims. More side characters!! Spends hours finding the perfect world and even longer creating the perfect home and even LONGER finding the cc.

Me: Fuck.

[eliices]

20 Questions Tag!

Weeeelp! My blog has been silent for a hot minute and I wanted to boot it’s arse awake so I thought I’d join in! Please excuse any rambling, I just read a load of Marauder Era fics and I have a lot of feels right now ;^;

name: Natalie

zodiac sign: Libra  ♎

height: 5″5′’ 

languages spoken: English (and I even screw that up, yikes.)

nationality: British

favourite fruit: Cherries and Pineapple.

favourite scent: Fresh cut grass, impending thunderstorms and heavy rain after a hot day, that first smell of the beach after you haven’t been in decades. I literally thrive off natural smells, m’kay?

favourite colour: Blue! 

favourite animal: Burbs (I want a cockatiel so baaaaad). But also kitties and puppers.

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: Tea, any kind. I live off tea.

favourite fictional character: Literally everyone from Harry Potter. Except Peter bloody Pettigrew. Peter is a humongous arsewipe...you traitorous bugger. You literally destroyed so many futures and possibilities so now I have to get my fix from the amazing fics and head canons on Tumblr and AO3 that make me sob cause I WANT TO SEE JAMES AND LILY RAISING HARRY. I WANT TO SEE SIRIUS TEACH HARRY STUPID THINGS AND BE THE BEST GODDAMN UNCLE EVER WITH REMUS AT HIS SIDE. I WANT TO SEE HARRY GROW UP WITH A SPARKLING CHILDHOOD AND STILL BE A LITTLE SARCASTIC SHIT BECAUSE HIS FATHER IS JAMES GODDAMN POTTER AND HIS GODFATHER IS SIRIUS FUCKING BLACK HOW COULD HE NOT?! Screw you rat-boy. Screw youuuuuu.

dream trip: 'Murica. Just so I could finally smoosh friends faces. Otherwise Egypt. 

when was your blog created: Bloody hell I actually have no idea (is that bad?) I’ve been creeping around for a good while though, just liking stuff and whatnot, but apparently I officially started posting in July 2017!

last movie you’ve seen: Dungeons and Dragons (2000) or Indiana Jones, I can’t remember which one I watched last (Is my nerd showing yet?)

song you’ve had on repeat:  Not so much a song but I’ve been on a huge musical binge lately. I’ve played the Wicked soundtrack on repeat 4 times today and I’ve just put Billy Elliot on again for the 2nd time tonight.

favourite candy: Parma Violets. 

favourite holiday: When I was around 11 or so my entire family, my best friends and their families all got together for a solid month and a half driving down the coast of France and back up again during the Summer break. The weather sucked but I have amazing memories of that summer. (I don’t really celebrate Christmas, etc. so this is all that came to mind!)

If you haven’t done this and want to do it, I choose tag you!

[josiesimblr]

I do not believe you have to personally experience trauma to write about it. There are many writers who write about the Holocaust who were not actual Holocaust victims. Writers who were never raped who write about the psychological damage rape victims suffer. People who were never slaves who make movies about the horrors of slavery. People who were never veterans who create murals about war.  I’m currently  writing a novel about the era of the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, who committed many atrocities against humanity ( genocide, murder, etc) but I did not live in the era of Trujillo, nor did I suffer under his rule. However, I’ve done enough research and interviewed survivors who still remember his reign of terror and I know my book is as meaningful as someone who actually did live in the dark age of Trujillo. The terror of Trujillo is my plot point.

 Many writers and artists and musicians create works of art based on painful experiences they did not actually go through. We as humans have this wonderful ability- it’s called empathy- and it allows us to understand and commiserate with one another’s pain even when it didn’t personally happen to us. It’s why we can cry seeing images of war torn lands we may never visit. It’s why we get sad when an acquaintance tells us of the death of their loved one we never met. It’s why we can get angry over injustices committed- Trayvon Martin’s death may have hurt you even if you’re not black American, the captives in North Korea sadden you even though you are not North Korean, the Syrian refugees trouble you even though you may not carry Syrian blood, the water crisis in Flint angers you even though your tap water is potable. And you may even be angry and hurt enough to want to create a story, a poem, a painting, a song about or in tribute to these events- even though it’s not your own personal pain.

Yes, trauma can be a plot point. It is OFTEN the plot point in movies, documentaries, songs, art. It is the plot point of the memorial to 9-11. It is the plot point in movies like Schindlers List, Roots, Boys Don’t Cry, The Burning Bed… movies where I’m certain not everyone who was a part of the movie actually experienced the topic at hand. 

To never create works of art about traumatic events unless you personally  experience them closes dialogue. It makes these experiences hidden, dark, it makes victims afraid to come forth and say, “ Thank you for understanding my pain”. It gives the perpetrators power in knowing that they inflicted pain and it was never meaningfully discussed.

Now do I think the Sims is the best medium to use in writing about traumatic events? Probably not. For many people, The Sims represents escape, a happy place, a cartoon land where dark topics shouldn’t penetrate. But to tell someone “Don’t write this because you can’t because you never went through it” is perhaps not being open-minded about whether the person is intelligent or sensitive enough to handle the topic. If they write about the topic using sensitivity and common sense, research and respect, and use the appropriate trigger warning tag, then yes. Absolutely trauma can be a plot point. 

[eliices]

Another sim! At this rate I’m going to have enough to fill every house... oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The challenge will be giving them all unique personalities and stories.

Victoria or Tori as she prefers is THE gal to know. Wanna go to Jared's party on Thursday? Tori can hook you up. Wanna know about any surprise pop quizzes this week? Meet her in the lunch court Monday morning. With more friends than she can count and a good pair of nosey ears, Tori is a constant source of information with a friendly can-do attitude.

[eliices]

I really should be working on getting my legacy up and running but I keep making background Sims and falling in love with them and making MORE stories. The struggle is real.

Meet Bea Fisher, named after the famous Beatrix Potter, a garden enthusiast and budding author. Always cheerful this bundle of joy loves making new friends, daydreaming and watching horror movies despite her squeamish nature.

[eliices]

SO in-between furnishing a house I plan on using in a story and fleshing out said story I decided to play around with Cassandra.

And OMG I love her?!

[eliices]

SO in-between furnishing a house I plan on using in a story and fleshing out said story I decided to play around with Cassandra.

And OMG I love her?!

[eliices]

Another bedroom! This time for a younger Sim, perhaps a Child, who is an avid dancer, especially of Ballet. 

This was inspired by my love of the After School Activities in Sims 3. 9/10 would my Sims end up doing Ballet just because I loved the interactions with it!

This one was a little harder to make, especially seeing as there is very little Ballet CC for Sims 4. Definitely one of those “I wish I could make/do this kind of mod/cc.”

[eliices]

So, I made a promise to myself to try and stay as low CC as possible except when it came to CAS...

A grand total of 8 HOURS LATER do I finish (I use that term loosely as now looking at these screenshots I’m seeing spaces I can fill...shit...) the bedroom and en-suite of the red haired Sim I’ve been playing around with and it's filled TO THE BRIM with CC.

The thought of what it will look like without CC sends literal chills down my spine.

[eliices]

Hey ya’ll it’s been a hot minute!  I played around in cas a little now I’m on spring break and I made this cutie? I love her. I wanna make a story with her. 

[eliices]

I’m so sorry for the lack of updates recently. My semester finally finished yesterday so I am officially done until the end of January!

I’ve also been very uninspired with Sims after everything was lost. I’m honestly at a loss as to what to do; rebuilding everything just seems like so much work that could take weeks to complete, especially when I’m so discouraged to do so, but at the same time I don’t want this Tumblr to go silent. 

I might just have to bite the bullet and start all over again with a new family and micromanage save files and whatnot. 

I’m honestly so angry and upset.

I was really looking forward to working on the stories I had planned :(

[eliices]

I’ve had to delete everything.

The game refused to open. I repaired, checked for corrupt CC, removed all CC and now I’ve had to do a clean install of the game to see if that works.

I am so angry and upset right now.

I was so excited to play again during my break.

[eliices]

Please noooooo :(

Not the endless loading screen >.<

[eliices]

More updates! School has 100% been kicking my arse recently with exams and finals on the horizon so I haven’t had much time to really do any building for my NotSoBerry Family but today I finally got some time to relax and finished the upper floor!  I struggled A LOT with Rose’s bedroom. I had everything decorated but it still looked…empty. The boys were a lot easier because I knew their personalities so throwing athletic and gaming decor around wasn’t too bad but I had no idea what kind of skill/personality Rose has until I found the instruments while browsing! So little Rosie is going to be a creative Sim who’s really into the Arts, specifically Music but who knows where she might go to next. I also love Rose’s bathroom. I want it so much!!!  Also pictured is Isla randomly sitting in her sons’ room looking like she’s doing their homework for them! Bad mama!! (She’s not she’s reading a book.)

[eliices]

I finally finally got Darcy and Valentine’s bedroom finished! It’s surprisingly therapeutic and really good character development when building a room. I love the little personalised areas beside their beds. I had a little too much fun with those stickers! 

[eliices]

NotSoBerry Legacy

Huge thank you to @smubuh for the amazing Family Tree Template.

[eliices]

An update on the Family Tree! 

I’ve finally managed to “remake” the family, though they do look different now!

Now onto their new home! ♥

[eliices]

You know you’ve been playing too long when the Animal’s start passively aggressively telling you to go sleep  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯