Alright, I just gotta get this out or I'm going to explode

Gay marriage. If you're honestly against it, what are your reasons? So far, the reasons I've heard don't hold much water when you really think about them.

#1 Gay people shouldn't marry because it will ruin the sanctity of marriage

Riiiight because Kim Kardashian's 3 second marriage is really held sacred. And didn't Britney Spears break some kind of record for the shortest marriage? Oh and of course Newt Gingrich will squeal on and on about how "the gays" will ruin marriage, but cheated on and then left his first two wives while they were sick with Cancer and MS. I could go on with other examples of why this "sanctity of marriage" issue is bullshit, but I'm trying to keep this short.

So, maybe when straight people can start treating their marriages as sacred, then maybe they'll have an argument.



#2 It says in the Bible that it's wrong

Oh please. You know what else the Bible says is wrong?  Wearing two different kinds of cloth. You wanna know what's okay in the Bible? The death penalty for people who have committed adultery and children who swear at their parents. All in the same chapter..... 

NEXT



#3 If we let gays marry, then we'll have to let people marry animals, objects, even children

First of all, wow. That's a really large leap in logic, considering that animals and objects are not sentient and therefore cannot actually consent to the marriage. And children, while sentient, are not mature enough to make those adult decisions and therefore, cannot legally consent to any marriage.

Secondly, and quite frankly, I find anyone who states this reason truly offensive. They are essentially drawing direct parallels between homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia. WTF.

Third, there was a time when blacks and whites couldn't marry because someone else thought it was wrong. It was actually a law in many states. I personally know an elderly couple who had to prove before a judge that they didn't have any black ancestry before they could marry in Virginia. And that was after 1967 when interracial marriage was legal at the federal level.



So yeah, if those are the three major reasons why gay people shouldn't marry, then people need to start being more reasonable. Any other excuses I missed?

Mass Effect forums

So I finally broke down and decided to start up a profile for the Mass Effect forum. Despite it being, quite possibly, my favorite game of all time, I didn't want to get involved with the forum for reasons I'll get into below. Since Bioware is owned by EA, the forums are pretty much the same design as the Sims forums, so if you're a fellow simmer and have an account over at Bioware, don't be afraid to hit me up!

Why did I not want to be a member of the Mass Effect forums you might ask? Well, I'm already a big geek when it comes to the ME series. I can probably start reciting obscure data from the game's codex, I have (and read) all the books and comics (except for that flaming POS Deception), I have an action figure or two, and I might have a certain favorite character's name as a license plate for my own car. So yeah.....I think I have a borderline unhealthy obsession with the game series (but really, it's kind of my generation's sci-fi adventure so that's okay right? It's like avid fans of Star Wars or Star Trek and they're pretty normal right???) and I didn't want to add "forum poster" to that list of "why I'm such a loser super cool." Sigh...


So what made me change my mind you might ask? I could go into some long-winded explanation about how I'm eager to share my Mass Effect Sims with other fans or how this is the time when Bioware is combing through the forums looking for ideas for future DLC, improvements, and suggestions for the next ME game they make, but I won't.  Instead, here's the short answer: I don't have anyone in RL to talk about Mass Effect to the same extent that I do. Sure I have friends who like the game series well enough, but they're not obsessed about it like me. And many of them are still pretty pissed off about DEM ENDINGS (but that's a topic for another day).

OH and Happy Towel Day!

Mass Effect Sims Coming Soon

So....since having a baby, I haven't had a lot of time to play my other video games in a while. I've got a large backlog of games that need to be played and some aren't even opened! However, I did finish Mass Effect 3. I love this series. It might actually be my favorite game series of all time. I've even read all the comics and books. (NERD ALERT) Anyway, it inspired me to try making all the characters from the Mass Effect games (all 3) as Sims. Since many are aliens with very different physiology, they all have to be human. Not a problem though, because as with everything I do, I'm going to make it as detailed as possible.

At the moment, I've made female Commander Shepard, Liara T'Soni, Garrus Vakarian, Tali Zorah, and Wrex.  The trouble I'm running into is whether or not to do a literal interpretation of the alien characters or just make them as "attractive" representations of themselves. It hasn't been too difficult with Liara and Tali since they're human-like anyway, but Garrus and Wrex are very challenging. I've modeled Wrex's face after Kratos from God of War. Figured that was pretty accurate if he was a human, except no scars sadly. I wish the Sims had scars to add.

Anyway, if I had chosen to go the literal interpretation route, than Wrex's eyes would be far apart and beady, his nose would be almost non-existent, he'd need a large back hump, etc. So I don't think I'll be going that route. Clothes are also pretty challenging. This game takes place in the distant future so futuristic clothes are a must. Also a lot of importance is placed on military style as well. Since there isn't a whole lot of choices for "armor" in The Sims 3 (/sarcasm), I'm currently trying to give the characters fashionable alternatives. I still want things to look futuristic and alien, but not ridiculous and cheesy.

This project should take up most of my time playing. Just bought Lunar Lakes as it would be the perfect neighborhood for these characters. And how far am I going to go with this? Pretty far. I'm planning on making ALL THE CHARACTERS. Going by this amazing work of art, 25 + Javik, EDI, Hackett, and Kai Leng. That's 29 new sims! I might even throw in Traynor or Kelly Chambers for an even 30! Haha......but seriously, this won't be easy.

I should go.  ;)

My Double Genetic Challenge House

 I've been working on this house for a long time. It's my pride and joy, and also my continual work-in-progress. The design of this house is based on having two separate families living together under one roof.  This was built for two genetic challenges that I play on the Sims forum. Octojenn's Ebony & Ivory Challenge and Heckstress17's Genetic Challenge Version 2. They're both a lot of fun and everyone who plays has been really sweet. 

Let's start the tour shall we?

This is the front of the house. I'm not very good with exterior design so sorry if it looks like crap. Any suggestions will be appreciated. 

The front of the house at a different angle. 

This is a view of the back. There's not much of a yard since I built this house on an empty plot of land in a wonderful town created by Coasterboi called Los Aniegos. It's really fantastic and everyone should check it out. There's a large garden in the back behind those trees to the bottom left. 

 

Next I'll show you the inside of the house. When you first walk inside, you'll see a set of stairs and a room to the left. This is the living room. 

This room has paintings and pictures made by the sims who live here. Also, that fish tank has 7 Deadly Deathfish lurking in the water just waiting for someone to feed them fish flakes. :)

Next room I want to show off is the modern kitchen. It's light and breezy with plenty of space for these 2 families to make meals. I hate small narrow kitchens with no space, so I wanted the opposite of that. 

The door there leads to the back patio and pool area. 

 

And here is the patio, located at the back of the house. As you can see, the pool is paneled with windows to the basement. It makes a really cool effect when sims are swimming while other sims are in the basement during a party. 

The back patio also includes a fire pit, perfect for sharing ghost stories while eating a marshmallow or two.

Back in the kitchen, there's an archway on the left that leads to the dining room. 

The space is perfect for birthdays!

Next is the library. Here's the entrance. 

The library has large windows to let in the maximum amount of natural light. There are plenty of plants and a cozy fireplace.

The bookshelves have been filled with books of all the same type. Like the large bookshelf to the right has everything a sim could need about cooking (including many recipes) and gardening. There's a bookshelf dedicated to fishing and a bookshelf for music. 

Well that was the first floor of the house. The next few pictures are of the upstairs. The upstairs contains most of the bedrooms.  In the picture below, you can see the nursery. It's done in unisex colors so it's just right for a boy or a girl.  My two families that live here generally have to share the nursery. It's full of things any growing toddler needs to get a head start in life. The bookshelf contains all the child development books and the Jimmy Sprocket children's books. 

The next room is the child's room. It's a large enough room for two children to share. This picture shows the boys side. 

This picture shows off the girls side. It was designed like this because I had a little boy and a little girl at the time. The children's room has it's own bathroom too. 

Next up are the two master bedrooms and bathrooms. Again, because this house was designed for two families in mind, I wanted the heads of the household to have their own master bedrooms with separate bathrooms. I thought it would be weird for two couples to share a bathroom. This room was made for Scully and Zak from GCV2.

Here's the bathroom connected to the bedroom. 

This bedroom is where Ebony and Ivory slept as you can see from their portraits hanging on the wall. 

The bathroom is connected and private as well. 

The upstairs area doesn't just house bedrooms and bathrooms though. There's also a study and hot tub area. Here's the study. 

This is the hot tub. It's on the second floor and surrounded by a half wall for a bit of privacy. 

Lastly, there's an attic that can be found upstairs. It's full of heirlooms and achievements from both families. The black and white box holds Ebony/Ivory Challenge things, while the wooden box contains GCV2 stuff.

Finally we make our way downstairs to the basement. The basement holds the skill building rooms, 2 separate bedrooms and their private bathrooms, along with a party area. Here's a look of the basement when you walk down. 

The basement has a lot of fun activities for parties, including a nice bar for mixing drinks.

There's also a dance floor for sims to boogie down. Here you can really see the pool. 

Next I want to show the two bedrooms. These bedrooms were designed for teenagers/young adults in mind. The room pictured was for Zak and Scully's child, Matt. He has pictures of his wife and son displayed. 

There are a lot of personal touches to this room. That's a robot fish on the night stand. This room has it's own bathroom. 

The next bedroom is nearby and belonged to Ebony and Ivory's child, Kelly.

This room has a lot of detail and has it's own bathroom too.

The first skill room I want to show is the Art room. Here you can find everything you need to build painting, sculpting, and design skills.

This picture shows the entrance to another skill room.....the Dojo.

The Dojo room is mirrored so a sim can watch their forms while working on their martial arts skills. There is also a treadmill to the right of this picture that you can't see. 

Here's a picture of the Music room. It has all the instruments for a sim to become musically inclined. 

One of the newest additions to the basement was the Nectar room. Here you can see the nectar-making machine and the door to the walk-in nectar chiller. There's already nectar included and divided by type. 

Close to the Nectary, there's a Laboratory. This lab has an inventing station, computer, time machine, and space to show off inventions. Once the Generations EP comes out, I plan on putting the Chemistry Set in this room. 

The Laboratory has a secret though. Can you spot the secret door that leads into a deeper basement?

If you find the secret passageway, it will lead you into the Treasure room. Here's the display table where you can perform treasure transfiguration.

And here's some already transfigured gems made into large skulls! Fun huh?

There is one final secret in this room. It's another hidden door!

The door will lead into a vampire crypt. It's cozy enough for any vampire taking a refreshing nap. 

And that's all for my house. I hope you liked it. It's a little on the eccentric side, but I think that's because I'm kinda eccentric too, lol! It's lay-out may not be "normal" but it's functional and has everything a long running generation challenge family could need. And it fits two families easily. You can find me at Heckstress's challenge here, and Octojenn's challenge here.  Look us up and join in the fun! 

Sim houses in real life

Mark my words....this will be my house someday. I would eventually like to move out to the west coast. I think my husband might be on board but we've got a lot of time and work in D.C. still so it's only a distant dream....le sigh....

What I love most about playing the Sims though, is that it offers me a chance to "live" in the house right now. I just need to build this thing and move a family in....

Oh and get a load of this house's nectary! Kick. Ass. =====>

Anyway, I'm having some trouble with my double challenge house that I uploaded on Sunday. I went through every room of the house and took out everything that was CC. I don't have much to begin with, but what I did leave behind made a mess for a fellow Sims buddy so I feel bad and must rectify the situation soon! I've been working on this house for so frickin' long that to have a CC pattern ruin it up makes me so frustrated.  Oh well, it's going to work out. I just need to investigate some more and find out what exactly is left. I may have just uploaded the wrong house because she did mention that one of the sim's hair and makeup was CC and this sim was the only one that used CC and I'm certain I went into CAS and removed those. Did I save it properly after that? Blarg. I gotta find out!

Sim Memes

Found some funny memes about The Sims that I wanted to share. Hopefully you find them entertaining as well.

If you've found more, please share in the comments section below!