For some reason I find myself focusing on Rainer at the moment - perhaps he's the new shiny toy? Or perhaps I am just waiting for him to slip up lol. He hasn't, not yet anyway.

When you concentrate on a sim as much as I am on Rainer, you start to notice minor... imperfections. Rainer isn't the most "buff" sim in town, and for some reason it was starting to bug me. He was also unemployed, but thankfully already had the desire to become a world class chef, and with encouragement from Emily, is on his way to making that goal happen. I'm sure that will make Emily happy, she can't stop eating at the moment. Lucky for Rainer, there is also a way to address his cuddly features, and it's called the Gym!

By the way he ran on the treadmill, he had clearly never seen the inside of one before lol. It was amusing if not a little pathetic. For the first time this week however, I had another sim distract me from Rainer - and it wasn't even a sim I control. Nope, it was this guy:

Bottom left hand corner, the dopey bugger looking longingly at the hot blond beside him. He spent his entire workout with those puppy dog eyes focusing on every piece of ass in there besides his own. I wonder if he's related to Max in any way?


That face didn't change, not once. As Rainer was leaving the Gym, this guy was heading back up the stairs, and once again, checking out the women.


Of course, I don't know any female that goes to the Gym dressed like that, especially as she's heading upstairs where the work out equipment is, and not the downstairs toilets to get changed. Either way, Mr Hot Stuff there clearly thinks she looks fine... is that a "till death do us part" image above his head? Or more a ... "drop dead" thought?

If anyones thinking someone should drop dead, I don't think it's him. Check out the face on her!!


Ouch!!

I got Rainer out of there pronto in case he got caught in the middle. I did notice when he got home (as he stopped past the letterbox to pay some bills, naaaaw) that the workout did seem to take affect already. I wish a 20 minute run on the treadmill helped me lose weight that quickly!

So, I have three main families now:

1. Melani Banks, my first "family" orientated sim. Has recently asked Hal to move in with her in an attempt to move past his cheating ways. Hal came coupled with his other love child Muhammad...
   
   
2. The Waters Family. Multiple deaths by electrocution took out both Evil family members, Emily had a mental break down, Susie age-warped past her entire childhood and Thomas is turning into a devious little boy.
   
   
3. Or Max and his recent love triangle between the Melani in his town and his new love Bella Bachelor.

Or of course you might love all three?

The reason I ask is I notice more readers hitting the blog on certain families, and numbers dropped off on one of them. While I'm not about to change my playing habits entirely to suit the readership, there are moments like now, where I've had enough of one family for a moment (Hal's stressing me out too much lol) and I want to check in on one of the others. I'm not real fussed which one, and if there was a particular favourite amongst my loyal fans, I'd be more than happy to allow that to influence my choices.

So, is there one family in particular you just can't wait to read more about? Perhaps two you follow and one you don't really care for? Or maybe you just like reading about all three - after all, there's more than one neighbour in Ramsey Street...

LOL, how's this for a bit of a glitch?

Everyone was just way too excited at one of Max's autographs sessions and not watching who they ran over before they parked lol.

Here's something I didn't actually know... you can chat to sims, and invite them over from your friends panel! I've always used the phone, then called sim, invite over and then selected them from the list. Not sure if this way is much quicker, but it was still a cool find!

No no, don't panic. My lack of updates has nothing to do with my poor little Sims heh. They're all alive and kicking... well crap, last time I checked on them they were! And even if they were all dead, that would mean an influx of posting, not lack of. =p

Nope, my uncharacteristically quiet patch is nothing more than time getting away from me. Saturday we had the in-laws here and even my little munchkin didn't get to bed till almost 10pm, oi! Then Sunday it was just too many things, not enough sleep and a decision to have an early night. So that's an entire weekend of no sims. Oh my gosh!

There will also be no simming for me tonight because Aion is out! It's here! The servers are live waahoo!! For those also following my @Velcro_Monkey twitter account, a new MMORPG called Aion is currently distracting me and will be sharing my gaming spotlight for a little while.

Unfortunately, my main PC is a little out dated now a days, so much so that the sims really couldn't run on it. That's why I play it on my laptop. And now, with Aion and it's oh so beautiful graphics, I've had to use my laptop for that as well. Sorry my helpless little sims, I can't play two games at once. I could if I upgraded my PC, I could have one running on that, the other on my laptop. But until money starts falling in my lap, then I will have to play swapsies - one night on Aion, one night on The Sims.

But that's ok, one night on the Waters family gives me about a weeks worth of blogging lol! And with Melani's recent arrival of twins, and the fact their household now has eight people, I'm sure they'll give me the same treatment. So there shouldn't really be any noticeable difference in the postings on here. And if you are into Aion, I also have a blog for that too! Check it out here: http://aionexperience.blogspot.com/

So yes, that's all. Everything's ok. Please just give me a night to experience Aion for the first time and I promise, there will be sim blogs galore up tomorrow!

Melani discovered a new comet! Cool! I decided to name it after a store I have visited three times this past month lol. Plus, I had just finished renovating and moving lots of furniture around, so it was the first somewhat different name that came to my head. I mean, I'm not about to call it "Diet Coke"....

That's the claim Whitetigerz is making over on the official sims 3 forums. And I have to say, I doubt anyone's going to be able to beat it!

• Perfect of every fruit/veggie/special thing you can grow besides Omni plant stuff
• Perfect Mounted Robot fish and Shark
• A small meteorite
• All 10 beetles from roach to rainbow beetle
• Perfect Shark and Lobster in bowl
• Crystal and Oval cut of every gem but pink diamond
• Perfect Mounted Vampire, Swordfish, and Death fish
• 10 iron/gold/silver
• large meteorite, 3 palladium/plutonium
• Every gem cut for plummbob and brilliant cut gems except pink diamond
• All 10 butterfly's
• and the list goes on and on...

Check out his thread here to see all the pics. I think the first response summed it up nicely... "WOW.... "

I feel pretty bad as this is all completely my fault, but Max got hit by the repo man last night. See, he had the money to pay the bills, that wasn't the problem. Instead of paying his bills though (I never pay attention to my sims mail boxes), I went and installed a new kitchen for him. Oops! Especially oops for a sim that doesn't even cook lol...

After the brand new cupboards, overhead storage, stove, fridge and garbage disposal, there wasn't enough left to pay his bills. With the "you have one day left" warning flashing, I sent him down to central park to play for some tips. He made enough to pay his bills, but unfortunately I have a memory that make fish jealous, so sent him straight to bed when he got home. Second oops for me...

The next day, Mr Repo man showed up.

My first spotting of Twins! At least they're not mine hehe. Happy little suckers aren't they?

Have the lifetime Wishes in The Sims 3 seemed too random for your tastes? You seem to never be able to get the Lifetime Wish you want? The Lifetime Wishes suggested in Create a Sim are selected based on the personality traits of your sim, and some wishes are more rare than others.

Gee that sounds like a sales add at the beginning doesn't it? I was browsing around for an image version of all the Sims lifetime wishes when I chose Seth's as I wanted to include it in the blog. Still haven't found what I was after. But what I did find was a handy little table that aligns all the lifetime wishes with the best personality traits which was kinda cool.

Over at the wikihow (never been there until recently, how many "wiki" websites are there?) someone put together the information in two tables. First one is sorted via traits - so you can chose traits you like and see what lifetime wishes it will offer you. And the second one is sorted by lifetime wish, so if you have that as your primary goal, you can then see which traits you need to pick.

Apparently this information was gathered from observation alone, and not some data mining in the game files or from EA inside information. It may be wrong for some trait combinations, as not all of them were tested. Still, pretty cool huh?

I was over browsing the Sims3.com forums and came across a really interesting thread: ~ Life as a Priest in Sims3 ~

Strawheart decided to try playing a sandbox lifestyle, one that didn't follow a direct career path or lifetime goal. She created a priest. Instead of just having a sim live in a church, and call it a done deal, she also set up some goals:

Goals

• Brighten people's days.
• Master Charisma, and all it's special titles. Be the friendliest sim ever.
• Self sustained: Grow enough fruit, catch enough fish, find enough rocks, to stay out of employment and pay the bills. This is amazingly easy after skills are mastered.

Also some ground rules to guide him:

Rules

• Absolutely no romantic relationships. Flirting is also not okay (if another sim flirts with the priest, it's alright as long as he doesn't flirt back)
• Watch your flock: Always pick up the phone! Even if it's 3am, and all bars are red. If someone asks him to make a house call (invites him over), do it. If there are periods of spare time, use it to make phone calls.
• Live as meekly as possible. Only buy better appliances and furniture if it's in your budget.
• Fix and upgrade things by himself. Clean his own stuff (no maids)
• Produce own food whenever possible. Always cook (no quick meals) unless it's an emergency.
• No career. This sim already has a full time job!
• No enemies. Maybe one or two evil people if it absolutely cannot be helped.
• Attend community events whenever possible. Take challenges whenever possible.

I thought this was really interesting and a very different way to play the game. Of course, coming from a MMORPG background, I expect priest to equal healing and sending holy nukes around, so was very intrigued by the title. I got VERY excited at the thought of magic in the Sims, especially since I never got the Magic expansion from the previous Sims games.

Still, a very interesting idea and one that I think deserves a bit of publicity. You know, to the whole 3 of you that read my rambles heh.

Follow the storyline here: Life as a Priest in Sims 3 I'm impressed by the house at least, pretty well done!

You know what they say - a change is as good as a holiday. First of all, yeah right! As if anything could replicate a holiday other than, oh I dunno, a holiday!! But, a chance is nice too. Nice if it's coupled in with a holiday!

As a girl, one of the first things I tend to change is my Hair. Easy to fix if you go blond and change your mind, not so much when you go black. Trust me, blond higlights after dying it all black does not equal fixed!

Thankfully, changing your hair in the Sims is a lot easier. And if you're looking for a new do, then look no further that this page. Click Me! ybboccobby04 (there's someone who created their name by sneezing and hitting their keyboard with their face) put it together after their thread on the Sims3.com forums got deleted.

Advanced hair? Yeah yeah!!

((may need to know the Shane Warne add for that last night... ))

I can't get over just how much I'm enjoying The Sims 3. And not just the building and creating, which ironcally, I've actually done less than, and tend to skip right over it which is a complete opposite of previous Sims games. But the actual playing of the Sims I am enjoying, and really, for the first time. Ever!

I originally got into the Sims a little backwards - I played The Sims Online before I played the normal Sims games. I've always been an online game fan. Hubby introduced me to it back in the days of EQ, and during one of my breaks from it, I found TSO. After enjoying that, but wanting to move on, I gave the offline version a go.

I never played for long though. A week or two of building houses, seeing just how many motherloads you could do before the game broke, and building the best first portions of a house you could find. See, I would start off the with a grand design and a story plot to match. I would motherload myself into oblivious using the background story that:

• they'd won the lottery and decided to move to a new town at the same time
• the single female sim had just divorced her horrible husband and taken all the cash
• they had some big settlement...
• they found a bag of cash...
• it was inheritance from a family member...
• etc, etc, etc.

There was always a reason for the money which made it ok to cheat. It was part of the story line. It was also a necesity as I found it impossible to play without at least a basic start to life.

The reason for the first part of the house being so grand, was because I usually got so bored of builing everything that I would start off with a great idea, and an hour later just want to bloody play! The second half of the house was always fairly slapped together. About an hour or two after it was complete, after fast-forwarding through work, sleep and any queue'd up tasks, I would log off bored.

Now though, with TS3, it's so different. I've yet to use a single cheat which I am very proud of! That's right, not a motherload, not a skills cheat, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. And yet, I'm enjoying the game SO much more.

And while each family has a storyline and goal - be it master theif, surrounded by family, etc. And they are all working towards said goals. But they're all doing it at their own pace, with what ever house they can afford in the beginning. And for the first time ever, I am actually PLAYING my sims after creating them. Of course, I'm playing five different families and as such haven't really advanced with any of them, but I'm playing them, which is nice.

I've had this game for what, nearly 2 months now? And the only nights I've not played it are when I am having to work on my latest project, have been cleaning up my last project to hand over to it's new owner, or have been distracted with our latest purchase, Mario Kart. Outside of that though, I've played and played a lot!

This is so different to previous Sims where I would buy the latest expansion, think it was going to be the best thing since slice bread and solve all my Sim problems, which of course I had forgotten since the last time, and begin playing again. The playing would last usually no more than a night or two per family, and over all, it would be less than two weeks later it was all forgotten. Rinse and repeat for each expansion.

Each time I do something with one family, it gives me an idea for a few family. My first family had three members, one of which I started cooking with - that gave me an idea to make a master chef Sim. I had also been watching The Gilmore Girls and really liked Sookie lol. But it seems the ideas are endless, and my biggest hurdle at the moment is which of my Sims do I play?

So thankyou Sims creators, you've finally given me a Sims game which makes me want to keep playing. Now just fix all the other little annoyances and I'll be a very happy customer.

I know there's a few around, but can anyone link to a trusted download for the Sims 3 Nude patch? I know, I know, I'm a sick and twisted individual that wants to watch my Sims shower. Which is actually true, but not for those reasons. I don't get a big blurry patch over me when I shower, or pee, so why should my Sims? I personally would love the ability to have them walk around the house naked - ever run to get the phone mid shower? Coz I KNOW they don't have skin pockets to have it on them.

I'd like more realism in my game play - I'd like to see a pile of clothes on the bathroom floor when they are showering, laundry baskets and washing machines, a clothes line and a nappy bucket. But, since we're playing a "virtual real world" game that's really not that real at all, I'll settle for at least looking normal when they shower.

And since we're on the topic of it - how many of you out there use the nude patches? What are you reasons? Do you prefer with or without it? What were your choices for wanting it?

Remember the other day when I was catching my fish for the Alley Catfish challenge? Well I discovered, after catching a goldfish, that if you purchase a fish bowl, you can pull a fish, which has been in your bag for a good day or two and the magical fish bowl will make them alive!

Annoyingly you can only have one fish per bowl which means if I wanted to save all the helpless gilled friend I fished up, I was going to need a hell of a lot of bench space! And a heads up, although they can survive hours stuffed in your inventory without water, they will die if you don't feed them. I forgot for a couple of days and then couldn't figure out why Kat was getting so disgusted by her sparkly clean surroundings. Dead fish smell!

Have you ever visited the graveyard at night time? I mean real night time, in the middle of it, like 2am? If you've not had the pleasure of doing this, wake your Sim up and check it out. It's really cool.

Kat, my latest Sim (the gardener, wanna be chef) had an assignment from work to catch some Alley Catfish, which I thought would be easy given her existing fishing skill level. Of course, I didn't realise that certain fish can only be caught in certain locations, and wasted majority of the allotted time catching everything but the Alley Catfish.

Frustrated at the approached deadline and not having the fish I needed, I ventured up to the Graveyard late one night as I remembered there was water there. No idea if it was fishable water, but I was going to test it out. No catfish was found, however an experience was had.

Between the ghosts walking around, muttering to them selves and chatting, there was the shaving, levitating statue and many another amusing things. I won't list them all as really, you have to check it out for your self. One thing I will mention, because I found it hilarious, is the frustrations of Sims in your way doesn't exist only for the living... they may be able to walk through walls when dead, but they still can't pass through each other. Hysterical.



Oh yes, by the way, I did eventully find my Alley Catfish and complete my task. Apparently they have to be fished from the sea. I caught it, and then 5 of it's friends as soon as I arrived. I also discovered that you can actually see the schools of fish in the water if you look for them, and if you inspect the water, it will tell you what fish can be caught there. Not sure if that requires a certain level of fishing or not, but very handy non the less.

I also found a good fishing guide that tells you what bait, and where abouts you can catch all the fish. Sims 3 Fishing Guide

In EQ and WoW it was called alt-itis. It's the playing of many characters. In WoW you tend to have one 'main' character, and then you have your alts, or, alternative characters. I suppose you could call it the same for Sims, but since I haven't even managed to land on a main family yet, it's simply Sim-itis at this stage... I think.

Since Nicky (the thief) discovered those seeds and planted them, it's been making me want to tend a garden. But really, a thief... gardening? Just doesn't fit in with my image of her. Although at least all black clothing won't show the dirt too bad lol.

My very first family included a wanna-be chef. I knew I'd play a cook before the game was even released, right after I heard that you could follow that career path. I had planned to own my own restaurant, but of course there is no Open for Business portion to TS3. I have since found out you can own shares in community lots, and eventually buy the business out. So I want to look into that avenue.

Anyway, getting sidetracked. Since having the garden, which Nicky has neglected as it just takes too much of her time being evil and stealing things, I've wanted to do it properly. Last night laying in bed, I was day dreaming of making yet another Sim! I want to make an athletic (likes to jog), fantastic cook who jogs through the park to find seeds to create her master garden. Which of course become the ingredients in her simply fantastic cooking.

I was also thinking I could throw party animal in there and treat it more as a hosting of dinner parties than throwing all out raves. Basically any excuse to cook...

That will be my 4th city save spot though. I'm kinda glad they only give you 4 right now. I'd jump between all my Sims depending on what mood I am in that night, but do you think that will take away from the game play a bit? People get so attached to their sims that they stick through generations of them. Me? I don't even hit adulthood before I'm jumping ship to the next new thing lol.

Maybe I'll look it more as a Sitcom... my families are just the different story lines.

I know they're going for some sort of realism, but really, rush-hour traffic? Um, yeah, I don't think so. I'd love to see The Sims implement mini 'movie' scenes with in the game. Remember in The Sims 2 you had the opportunities pop up at work where you had to make a descision? Like do you or don't you go and get the donuts for your work mates? You had to choose yes or no. I'd like to see something similar implemented in TS3, but depending on what answer you pick, you got a movie cut scene...

I'm a get away driver, and I'm parked outside a job. I see a police car. I get the option - wait for my fellow theives and risk a high speed chase when the Police spot us? Or make a break for it now? Then, depending on what I choose, you'd get this movie scene of it happening.

What do you think? Cool? Or no...?

I loved it when I discovered you could have a toilet roll and towels hanging in your bathroom - for some odd reason it's something as small as that, that really makes The Sims 3 much better than previous versions. Makes the rooms much more complete, which in turn, makes the game feel so much more 'real'. Well, real in the sense that it's more believable my Sims are living a proper life lol.

Apparently, if you go to the store where you buy groceries and look under household items, You can get a lil ducky for your Sims to play with in the bath, and also buy bubble bath! All you then need to do is place either of those on the bathtub to be used. I thought that was rather nifty.

Last night I found you can also get a small fish bowl under the entertainment section. Not exactly cool, but still nifty...

When I want that break from my main Sim of choice, I can't. I get attached to my town and the people in it, but I don't always want to be playing the same Sim. Max is still waiting for me to get bored of Melani and come complete his music career - thank GOD Sims in other cities don't continue to age while you're away. Oh crap, I hope they don't!

I'm getting bored of Melani though. I think it's the kids factor. It's really bizarre - prior to me having children in real life, I always longed for the 'family' life in The Sims. Now, I have my own needy, attention seeking toddler and I'm wishing I had of focused Melani more on her career. I miss those morning jogs to work, the walking into town to do a spot of grocery shopping. The, freedom.

Part of the problem is the lack of prams. That really bugs me. No where do people carry their child everywhere they go - and I should know, I've got one of the most hip loving, velcro babies around. But still, I use a pram. So why can't Melani chuck Seth and Ricky into a tandem pram and walk to the shops? Hell for that matter - why can't she hold/carry TWO children at once. Sure, it's not the easiest thing in the world, but any woman who's had two children close together can agree with me that it can be done.

So yes, I'm getting a bit bored of the same routine that playing Melani brings. Get up, let Seth out, change Ricky, feed Seth, take a mouthful of food herself, feed ricky, let screaming Seth out, grab another mouthful of food, clean up Seth's mess, comfort Ricky, go to the toilet, play with Seth, change Ricky's nappy, cuddle Seth, blink. *takes a breath* Feed Ricky, feed Seth, grab a bite to eat and shower. Cuddle Seth, cuddle Ricky, change Ricky, put Seth in bed.... collapse. Sleep.

Rinse and repeat the very next day.

So I want to start a new Sim. I want to LIVE for goodness sakes!! I'm toying between having a really athletic Sim, but doesn't follow the athletic path. Or, going for a really fun way to play and making an insane, genious, kleptomaniac and seeing what 'wishes' they are given.

The only hurdle stopping me making another Sim, is the fact that I want them in THIS town, but I can't. In order to play a new Sim in the same town I have to give up Melani and let her age as the game sees fit. I'm not ready to say goodbye to her yet. But, if I put my new Sim in a new town, it doesn't feel the same. I want to be able to pass my own Sims, but without them getting a life of their own. But I want them to age, but I don't want them to split up or GOD FORBID have anymore children.

Ahh, the dilemnas. I think I'll just make a new town, but it's frustrating...