#I’m not a painter usually so this was hella difficult

[lavaflowe]

Grief

[nineyellowgirl]

Can I go with sims? Because sims are great :)) Johnny/Ophelia, Ripp/Stella, Ripp/Jill, Buck/Jill, Angela/Dustin, John Mole/Natasha Una, Bella/Mortimer, Cassandra/Don, Jenny/Buzz (and what motivates you to ship them, I'm really really curious, they seem interesting together but I haven't put too much thought on them before), Lazlo/Crystal, Circe/Vidcund, Circe/Loki and lastly Jasmine Rai/ Zoe Zimmerman If you feel it is too much I understand, you can choose to answer only the ones you like :)

I LOVED doing this! It gave me such TS2 nostalgia, but also made me think about Postcards form Nowhere and asdfgdfshj thank you I love you

First one - answered already!

Ripp/Stella -  C (not a bad ship)

Actually, I’ve never thought about this one before! I guess they would meet in college and it’d be a short-term relationship, but they would split up peacefully and remain friends later in life. Ripp, as he grew up with the Smith, knows hella much about Aliens and I’m sure Stella would admire that. Also, Jenny (as his spare momma) would surely send him packs of home-made snacks, so Stella and her love for cookies would benefit from this!

Ripp/Jill - A (love it)

When I was younger, I thought this ship was insane, but I somehow grew to love it after some years of thinking over the TS2 PSP storyline. It applies to Postcards, too; in my story, Buck is dead (I’m sorry) and they both try to somehow build their lives around the absence of him. After some time Jill falls in love with the characteristics of Ripp that she’d have come to love in Buck if he’d survived and grown older with her. It’s the softness and caring side; on the other hand, Ripp admires in Jill the same traits. She can bring some peace and rationality to his messed up, artistic soul. Ripp would find it difficult to summon up the courage to tell Johnny about it though, which reminds me Harry, Ron and Ginny situation in Harry Potter XD

Buck/Jill - B

Again, one of the ‘classical ships’, no hard feelings, though I had a mental barrier which I had to break in order to accept Jill/Ripp pairing. I think they would have ended up together for sure if Buck had survived. They both soft and caring souls, yet Jill is the dominant one when she needs to, she took it after Jenny.

Angela/Dustin -  B/C

I used to ship it hard when I was younger, but now I just… do. I mean, it’s lovely that Dustin has somebody close in this hard time and I totally see Angela babysitting the babies for a symbolic amount of money, but now that I’ve read much more stories, I see it as a schematic Bad Boy/Mary Sue (haha, a pun) relationship, and… I don’t know, just no strong emotions.

John/Natasha - A+ (OTP)

Oh damn yes. I ship it so hard! You see, he’s the weird and worrying guy the whole neighbourhood is talking about, but nobody really gets to know him, they’re slightly afraid maybe, but he doesn’t let them in either. And she’s the cheerful extravagant painter and actually the only one not to judge him. She challenges herself to make friends with him, and though he’s not really interested in it at first, he grows closer to the funny redhead and he doesn’t even realise it. They drive each other insane sometimes, but are ready to defend the other one when needed and soon become the weirdest couple in the neighbourhood. It seems odd to everyone else, but they actually understand each other’s peculiar ways of life pretty well and are tolerant to the small oddities (I mean, John walks around in an ankle-length black coat in July, and Natasha refuses to serve anything but grilled cheese for dinner. And they both just shut up and live with it).

Bella/Mortimer - A+

Both classical ships AND hard feelings. What to say more? I ship it like hell. One of my first OTPs actually, it could have started even back in 2007!

Cassandra/Don - E (don’t really like it)

I know there’s a whole community of Dossandra shippers and I myself love one story where they’re together, but as for the relationship itself, I don’t think their characters match. They’re just so different from each other - too different to change. They both wouldn’t be happy in this relationship.

Jenny/Buzz - A+ [long rambling below]

This Juzz madness has been actually started by my best friend, as a joke I believe; I fell into feels though. Why I ship it? Well, I think Jenny’s strong but caring character would sooth Buzz’s anger, grief and bitterness that poison his soul after Lyla’s sudden death (for which he blames himself, though he never told it to anyone). She isn’t blind to what he did (we all know he was a shitty father; he never hit his children, but he was far from Lyla’s motherly softness), but she understands his pain, unless everybody else. Jenny still sees the young Buzz beneath the surface - before the failed marriage and loss hardened him - and she’s desperate to get that old Buzz out again. I think everyone sees him as someone only hurting people; she knows he’s hurt, too. She actually defendedhis children from him when he was mad at them for nothing (usually it applied to Ripp) and she strongly disapproves his violent reactions, but she sees the way to solve this whole crisis by also healing him, as she thinks Buzz hurts people mostly because he is tangled up in all this pain and grief and anger from these years after Lyla’s death (and she’s right).

In my headcanon they weren’t a couple in teenage years; only good friends. I think they had to change through their life (I see young Jenny as even more stubborn than adult Jenny), get older and wiser to realise what they mean to each other, and after all this time of hurting and fighting, finally build love on common understanding.

Lazlo/Crystal - B

Oooh they’re such hippie dorks! I mean, I see them being around 30 in TS2 and they still act like in high school. They have nothing against showing their love to each other, so they kiss in public, go to Lazlo’s science parties together and play video games whole afternoons because they’re nerds. Tbh (spoiler) I’m still unsure whether to kill Crystal off in my story or not, because I think Lazlo would die without her…

Circe/Vidcund - A+

As I’m more into simblr community, I see that most Simmers interpret Circe as the ‘worse’ of the Beakers couple, but to me, it’s always been Loki, even before I joined the community! I ship Circund for life; I see Circe being stuck between a rock and a hard place, as she either married Loki for money or splendor (he had already made a name in the scientific society, unlike Vidcund) and at first their marriage (or, more, cooperation) was inspiring for her, but then he started to experiment on people (Nervous, Gimi) and she didn’t want it, but couldn’t get out; didn’t know how. Loki abused her to remain silent, and she had no one to turn to and nowhere to escape.

In my story, she works with the Curious brothers in the military lab and there’s a huge tension between her and them (when she broke up with Vid, well, he took it hard, and you know, family support), but Vidcund still secretly dreams that they will somehow get together one day. I think their relationship would be even more inspiring for Circe’s scientific side and her ambition to learn and develop, and it would be healthier, for sure. I mean, in my headcanon Loki just ruins her life slowly, so yeah.

Circe/Loki - F (NOTP)

Explained above!

Jasmine Rai/ Zoe Zimmerman - N/A (don’t know well enough)

I saw many people shipping these girls, but I personally never got into Uni pre-mades’ personalities really, so I don’t have an opinion. I might think about this ship when I get back to playing TS2 one day though!

To everybody who read the whole thing - let me shake your hand and kiss you.

[jadedamber]

So you’re slugging it as a temp...

I’ve debated whether it would help anyone if I posted my thoughts on temp workers in office situations in general and in creative fields in particular, and decided, heck, yes, maybe. So here goes.

I’ve been a creative supervisor in corporate field long enough to have gone through managing a number of temps, and while some (two, let’s be real) managed to stay on to become permanent additions to our department, we parted ways with a much greater number of temps who did not work out for various reasons.  

If anyone reading wants to break into a design job, and is roughing it as a freelancer/temp for now, hopefully this will help you up your game.

Things to remember right off the bat:

I. If you’re getting hired as a temp, it probably means one of two things:

1. The company is cheap as hell and doesn’t want to pay for full time workers, and/or 2. It’s a temporary and sudden crunch time, and they need bodies to throw at the crisis.

Both of these things mean that the poor shmuck who will be supervising you is overworked, overstressed, and does not have enough time and resources to train you. It’s not their fault. Most of them would train/hire you in a heartbeat if they had that power. Most of them are happy you’re there, and are dearly invested in you picking up the necessary skills to succeed (because your failure will be on that supervisor’s head).

That means:

II. Attitude is everything. I mean, I’ve had workers who came in with false information about what the job would be (for various reasons) and panicked/resented the fact that they did not know the things we needed from them, but because some of them were open to learning, I had no problem teaching them on the fly, and one such former temp just had their second annual review, if you catch my meaning. It was a good review, too. The other ones used their time with my team as a learning experience and a resume fodder. Still others were gone after a couple of miserable days.

Plus, a good reference from your direct supervisor is a commodity (as I’m learning), and when you’re a temp, your supervisor knows you’re most likely looking around, so most of them are less twitchy about being asked for those.

III. If the supervisor tells you to please ask questions if you don’t understand something - TAKE THEM UP ON IT!  I cannot stress it enough. My teammates and I would much rather be interrupted in our work than have to redo something that was done incorrectly due to assumptions or lack of knowledge - or worse, be confronted with the mistake with 15 minutes to hand-off time. If something does not feel right, say something. If something doesn’t add up - speak up. It won’t make you look incompetent, I swear. No one expects a temp to know all the ins and outs of a particular company.

That brings me to next point:

IV. No one cares if you project-managed elsewhere. I don’t care if you delegated tasks to others before. Here and now, I am your boss and if I say we have to do it a certain way, don’t fucking cowboy it out. If you think there’s a better way, and your supe seems cool, by all means, voice it (in a concise way, please) but don’t salute ok and then do it your way because it’s better in your opinion. You may not know something. There might be reasons that are beyond your scope of knowledge. If your boss seems too busy/assholish, ask your teammates. 

V. Ask your teammates about your supervisor. If they seem reluctant to answer, that should be as clear a signal as if they complained to you for an hour. On the other hand, in my experience, if the boss is cool, people will be pretty happy to tell you. Take them seriously, but watch non-verbal cues, of course, as those are more accurate, usually.

VI. If your goal is to learn as much as possible and move on - GO ALL IN. Ask your teammates questions, watch how they do things, pick up the lingo, volunteer for difficult tasks. And most of all, shut up and listen.  I mean it kindly. If your goal is to learn, then don’t waste your time teaching (or explaining how wonderful you are). You’re there for knowledge, not an ad campaign (unless you’re temping at an ad agency (I’m hilarious, I know, shut up)).

VII. Remember, you’re “just a temp”. I don’t mean it in a derogatory way, but as a reality check. So you think you’re more talented/better worker/whatever than this full-timer over here? Watch and learn what it is that made the company hire that person. You might not want to copy them, but you should at least know what the rules of the game are.  Until you find your stride/voice/strengths, it helps to absorb whatever you can.

VIII. Remember, you’re “just a temp”. This also means that your career is not hinged on this job, so if you keep being treated like crap, pick up the subtle (or not so subtle) cues, and talk to your agency about finding another gig. It’s not worth getting shat on if there are other projects out there, and you won’t know until you ask your rep. 

IX. Make yourself useful. Literally if you’re a temp and you become hella helpful to your supervisor, most of them will fight for you to become full time, if that’s at all a possibility. It doesn’t mean you have to be Gal Friday (or Guy Friday) and be a perfect employee. For example, one of my teammates freaks out every time I split her project with another person, but in a crisis situation she’s the one most likely to stay late and get it done, and I value the shit out of her for that. Another one is kind of slow and I don’t give her any of the most urgent projects, but trust me, if there’s anything that takes finesse and painstaking labor, she’s my go-to person. So, if you act like your boss has to, like, deserve your best effort - nobody cares. No one owes you to “get to know you” or discover you. You might be a fabulous painter, but if you can’t cut a straight line (literally a recent problem we had), I’m sorry, but I can’t use you. Go find a job painting, not working in a fast-paced corporate environment.

X. Take them seriously. This should be a no-brainer, but somehow, it’s something that keeps coming up. I respect your right for self expression, but if the company policy states that you can’t wear graphic t shirts, please fucking listen. If you’re supposed to come in at a certain time, please listen. If you’re told that you’re supposed to check in after a certain task, even though you’ve been doing that task since before you were born and can perform it asleep, drunk, in negative degree weather, on your head - please. please. fucking. listen. 

I just had to let someone go who was very surprised at the news, despite having had several private conversations/warnings regarding following instructions, and it was frustrating for both of us. They thought they were being very productive, because they were doing so much. I thought they were a waste of everyone’s time and resources, because they kept screwing up - not for lack of knowledge, but because oh... they really meant it not to do THAT to a cricut machine... huh. And oh, I guess THAT’s why you save this file a certain way. Like, I don’t got time to deal with that, bye. 

BONUS: If you’re let go, very good chances are, no one will tell you the reason. Your now former supervisor is still overworked and overstressed, It’s an unpleasant conversation no one wants to have, and - since you clearly haven’t made good enough impression - nobody cares about you to give you some tips for the future. 

That’s ok - take the silence as your one huge cue, try to remember all the times things went wrong and what, in retrospect, you should have done differently. Again, you were just a temp, it’s not like you messed up your chances at the Project Runway or American Idol or whatever. 

Just learn. 

It’s not fun, and it’s tough, but hey, you’re the one who wanted a creative job.

Plus it could be that it’s not even you - the agency’s fee might’ve gone up, the big boss has deemed that the crisis has passed (whether it’s true or not), or the budget for a temp has dried up. Most big bosses I’ve dealt with really seem to not consider the fact that temp workers have lives and budgets like the rest of us, and it’s ok to just tell the agency we don’t need them to come in anymore. If your supe is cool, and they have insider knowledge, they WILL warn you if they at all can and they feel like they can trust you not to throw them under the bus.

Use this also to figure out if that is the field you want to be in. One of my best teammates had no clue what they wanted to do after college, temped for my team, and realized they were really into consumer goods (vs. say, web or ad jobs). Another temp knew she wanted to do publishing, worked with us anyway, confirmed it for herself, and left to follow her dream. You just don’t always know right from the start, and it’s ok.

All of the above used to seem very common sense to me, but life disabused me of that notion. And because I realize not everyone is on the same level in life, I hope me sharing these tips will help someone to succeed in this field that increasingly wants more and more experience for entry level positions. Because sometimes temp work is how you get there. 

Go get ‘em, tiger!