Thursday 21 May 2015

The Liebster Award - Maisie's questions

Please read Tuesday's post for a brief explanation of the Liebster award to see my list of nominees and questions and my responses to Shannon's questions and Wednesday's post for my response to Emma's questions.

1. What is your favorite part of your sims & your neighborhood?

Well, my goal with Sullivan was to create a cohesive hood, where the families were close like a lot of real families (I can't tell you how often family relationships would drop to zero in my old hoods - cannot imagine playing that way now!). So I think that's my favourite thing about my hood. Looking at my sims and being able to think "oh, that's so-and-so's cousin and that's what's-his-face's grandmother" and have those relationships actually mean something. That is really fun to me.

2. What are you really good at, be in regards to the game, real life, work, anything?

In the game: decorating and posing pictures are my strengths, I think.
Real life: making people laugh.
Work: developing a rapport with kids. When I've done substitute teaching, teachers have told me that their kids have requested for me to come back, even when I've had them once for just a couple of hours. I love my job, so I'm happy if my presence can make school a slightly more pleasant experience for kids.

3. How do you relax or unwind after a trying day?

I lie down on my bed and zone out watching YouTube videos. They generally require even less brain power than a TV show, so they're perfect for relaxation. I have a lot of gamers who I follow on YouTube.

4. Favorite vacation or vacation you’d love to take?

I would love to go back to New York, because American Airlines kind of ruined my first trip there by not letting us get there until 15 hours after we'd planned to! Then I was sick the first day and had to waste time looking for a new suitcase after the airline basically destroyed it, so we didn't get as much time there as we wanted. 

In terms of places I've never been, I would really love to visit Paris one day.

5. What projects do you have planned or hope to accomplish for your game?

Well, my high school is my current big project. I'm focusing on that at the moment. After that, I'll do a primary school.

6. How large is your sims CC folder?
Bang on 3GB. Not nearly as large as it used to be, in Sullivan 1.0. I miss all my old CC but I've promised I will add things back slowly and I'm sticking to that.

7. What is your blogging and playing process? (Write first, plan, play first…)

I write notes first, then I expand those into actual sentences and paragraphs. The update is generally written before I even start to play. But if I play and things aren't going the way I'd assumed they would (which is often), I change what I've written. I just need that structure though or I cannot even get started. It's weird, because it's the complete opposite of how I was when I first started blogging.

8. What is your favorite family tradition ether now, or from childhood?

Birthday dinners! It's a newer tradition, only since my sister and I have become adults, really. We didn't make a habit of going out to dinner when we were younger. Birthday person gets to pick the restaurant and everybody else pays. Mine was just this weekend and it was amazing. :D

9. Where do you find your inspiration for buildings (community/residential) that you build/decorate?

Real life, sometimes. I'll often go to a place and try to remember it in my mind to sim out later. And from other simmers too. It's nice to be inspired by other simmers, because you don't get that frustration that sometimes happens when you're trying to replicate a room with a feature that doesn't exist in the game. I also browse through Houzz.com pretty frequently. I even have the app on my phone, so I can browse at the bus stop!

10. Favorite pizza toppings?

It would be easier to say what pizza toppings I will not abide, because I'll take pretty much any of the standard ones. I love pizza and would eat it every day if I could! But keep artichoke, pineapple, any kind of seafood and actually, any kind of fruit at all (except tomato) off my damn pizza!

11. What’s your favorite season in real life and in the sims game?

Autumn in real life. It would have been nice to have one this year. It was summery weather right up until late April, then the leaves started to change and a week later, it was cold. Yay? 

In game...I don't think I really have a preference in game! I don't have to live in it, so I don't care much. ;) I do like the thunderstorms, though I don't know if they're tied to any particular season. I think my sims have had them in all seasons. 

10 comments:

  1. So cool that you love making kids experience at school better!

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    1. It was one of the main reasons I became a teacher, so it's gratifying. I think it's a goal (or should be) for most teachers, so it's nice to achieve it.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. How interesting to read Maisie's answer to # 7! I am the exact opposite - I play, take notes while playing and then simply report what has been going on in my game. Maybe that is why my blog is nowhere near as attractive as the stories from Sullivan :-)

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    1. I think as I moved to a more story-based format, it was harder and harder to come up with that stuff on the fly or after the fact. My earlier stuff was more observation/commentary, which is easier to write after you've finished playing (though you could definitely write it as you were playing as well, and I often used to).

      Today, I'm starting a session with only notes, which is unusual these days! But I'm confident there's a decent structure there, so I should be okay. Hopefully!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. I think it's wonderful that students enjoy you and request you, that's awesome. You were actually my inspiration to #7, I was curious about your process when you mentioned having an issue closing an update. I have the story notes, and direction, but I do the actual writing afterward. Now I want pizza, yum! I'm with you, except I don't mind pineapple now and again.

    Your NY trip sounds like a mess, what a bummer! I've never been, and if I were you (coming from Aus) to visit, I would have been upset. Hopefully you can make it back someday. On your trip here, what states did you end up all hitting? Paris, that would be nice!! Though my french is beyond rusty, I'd be terrified of being yelled at. (Had a bad experience at a french bakery in Seattle, so mean!).

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    1. Well, the update that went up today, I wrote the notes first and tidied it all up and turned it into proper writing as I went. But I can't do the writing afterwards, or I'll end up not having the pics I need. So it's easier for me to do it at the same time.

      We were pretty disappointed with the NY trip, especially the way it started. We also had a super-rude shuttle driver, who didn't even deserve to have a job let alone a tip. :\ But the trip improved - just too short. We also went to LA, San Francisco, DC, Chicago and Las Vegas. And a brief stop at the airport in Miami on our way to NY. We were there for about an hour between flights, lol!

      Do you speak another Latinate language? Apparently, some French people don't like it when you speak English but if you try Italian or Spanish, they're a lot more accommodating. My Italian teacher told us a story about it in high school. The friend she went to Paris with only spoke English but they were able to get around just with my teacher's Italian! So I'd probably try my meagre French and then give the Italian a shot, if I couldn't make myself understood!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. I love watching genetics turn up in later generations as well, I think it's part of what keeps me ineterested in my hood!

    I've never been to New York, but would love to see it one day, I'm affraid of flying though, so I might have a small problem there, would love to see Australia one das as well, but again the flying ... I could recommand Paris though, it's a beautifull city, I went there when I was in high school.

    I mostly write notes before playing, and if my sims don't roll any important wants, I ussually play out what I've written down. But I always write to update afterward, which is part of the reason I always have so many things to write :)

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    1. Definitely. Genetics are so much fun. I'm not sure what they've done with TS4 but I always thought it was a shame they dumbed genetics down so much for TS3.

      I'm mildly afraid of flying but I don't let that stop me. The worst part for me is actually landing and by the time that comes around, it's literally almost over. I'm kind of jealous of all of you in Europe who have all those interesting countries so close by. Everything is far away from here!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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    2. I don't understand why they left off genetics like they did. Sims 4 has some form of genetics but it's not as straightforward as the Sims 2 ones, I don't think, and I miss it. I loved the Mendelian ones in Sims 2 so much. It seems like they should have kept it; it totally makes sense for a computer program and it is so interesting to follow.

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    3. Ugh, so they did dumb genetics down again then. :\ I really don't know why. I heard so many complaints about the crappy genetics in TS3.

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