#also its his birthday soon yippee

[beananium]

the clown-like urge to start a vocaloid kaito itabag

[dullahandyke]

yippee yippee yippee yippee eimear con haul!!!!

Hi. It was my birthday recently and I'm bad to shop for so instead of gifts I got money to spend at Kaizokucon. So here's a haul. Under the cut bcos I couldnt fit it nicely in one picture and I wanna ramble

ok we're gonna take it one picture at a time ^_^ the ID in the alt text explains what everything is if u just wanna see what i got without the rambling sure to come with it. links in rambling r to the artists of the fan stuff where i can find em ^_^ only one of them is a direct link to the product tho bcos some ppls shops r down and some ppl dont have all their stuff online. lemons_arent_green youre a real one

Ok the flat stuff!!! black rock shooter poster bcos i already have a figure but i liek her... badass anime girl ily.... was so so sure i saw a reigen keychain but when i went to go get one there weren't any so i got this sticker sheet instead :3 SPEAKING OF KEYCHAINS!!! yippee yippee kaguya i love you youre my special little tiempsy. yue you are a gay anime boy with a cool design. tomoyo ive always felt a kinship with you and its because im a desperate dyke. monokuma is here ig 🙄 i put him on my carabiner and hes fun to stim with. i am not immune to the sdr2 fanboying. also full disclosure ive not watched naruto (its in the spreadsheet) i just thought funko pop sasuke keychain was really really funny. my son who stares into my soul. comparatively i dont have as much to say on the badges!! luka luka fever for real girlie ily. the bandori ones were blind bags and i got himari on my first try <3<3<3<3<3<3 sorry eve i kind of dont care. 🙁 the dr girlies i kinda picked at random based on who i've been vibing w lately.

THE POKEMON DIORAMA!!!! its soooo cool, staff were setting up the trade hall so i was in there all day friday and this shop was one of the first to set up their stands and i was literally staring at it all day... so fucking awesome. the rings n the necklace r from the same shop look at them... im fucking obsessed w the catgirl necklace. literally look at her. i dont thiiink shes supposed to be a specific character but she might be. oh well. cat girl ily. aaaand the arisa stand is actually a little clip for papers n stuff!! she was also a blind box but specifically for popipa so i was gonna b happy w whoever <3

MIIIIKUUUUUU MY PRINCESS MY EVERYTHING!!!!! she was calling to me she beckoned..... shes actually rlly big irl shes the biggest figure i have, replacing my kokoro one... shes the one where i audibly said 'it was my birthday i can buy things' bcos figures spencey... she wasnt too bad actually i just like bitching. 6 euro axel for scale

BOOKS 💥💥💥 i was reading nana a while back and i dropped it but i gotta pick it up again... rlly pretty and awesome... aaaand the summer hikaru died!!! kay if youre seeing this then know you posting abt it convinced me <3 i originally got it bcos i was on door duty in a quiet area and didnt wanna spend my time draining battery life on my phone but after i bought it i realised that that was literally a terrible idea so <3 we'll get around to them soon

FINALLLYYYYYY TSHIRTS!!! the top yellow one was my staff t-shirt, it has 'staff' on the back i was wearing it all weekend and yippee i love it.... emotional bond.... and if this is a safe space can i just say. if kaito was a woman? would. next up FAYE FUCKIN VALENTINEEEE!!! do u remember that post i made going thru all the sellers that were gonna b at the con that started like 'i hate shounen fans. name a woman'? well this is the seller i was talking about but all was forgiven in the name of FAYE ! GODDAMN ! VALENTINE ! ugh i love you girlie. and the last t-shirt was given out free to staff after the closing ceremony!! it was the tenth anniversary of kaizokucon so we got this awesomes design yay.... wore it to classes today hoping somebody would comment on it and nobody did 😌and in the middle i got CLOW CARRRDS BITCHES!!!!!! i saw them and immediately all thought left my fucking brain. i needed them. so important. the seller also recognised the axel in my fanny pack yippee!!!! a few people recognised him over the weekend actually and i was always like yes!! the him

anyway. yippee! yippee! yippee! yippee! yippee! yippee! yippee! yippee! yippee! con con con con con :)

[yuukei-yikes]

now that u mention it i kinda wish we knew more of ayataka. like is their canon dynamic even strong enough to be GIRL BESTFRIENDS!! or are we really just left with yeah theyre friends

ermmm well. yeah id say its strong enough to be like YIPPEE GIRL BEST FRIENDS but like, BARELY...

all of ayano&takane's interactions onscreen are

1. their first meeting at the festival

2. takane offscreen organizing a party for ayano and taking her to the gaming event (where she was gonna take haruka too anyway but he was busy). this is all sort of offscreen because its from haruka's pov. takane still calls to ask if shintaro had remembered ayanos bday and if he had gotten her a present (he hadn't) so even if this one is definitely really sweet, its sad that its not explored bc its not their pov and also haruka and shintaro end up being there anyway. here is also where takane mentions her and ayano are like "penpals", at least until ayano finishes her school year and entered their same school. basically to say they kept in contact after the festival and it made them close to a point where takane was organizing a party for her so.. id say they are best friends :3

3. their talk on aug15 abt supplementary lessons and then about well. haruka and shintaro (attacks them both with hammers) GET OUTTA HERE

4. this one might not count because it wasn't ayano, but takane thought it was. it's from when kano is playing ayano at school. i don't like this moment because the talk is basically takane talking and talking and talking about HARUKA and then asks ayano(kano) if she has a crush on anyone. this is such bullshit lmao and kano is also so mean to her on his pov. he's like takane wont shut the fuck up abt haruka and also she looks surprised im making ayano say she doesnt like anyone bc she probably thought id say shintaro. like he's so mean abt it lol mostly probably to make a point of how much kano hated posing as ayano but still. im really annoyed how its written anyway. just takane talking abt haruka exclusively then asking who does ayano have a crush on like GOD who wrote this (side eye)

5. the email ene sends to ayano saying they will save her

...And i dont think im forgetting any!

i think the strongest moment to be able to say YES of course theyre best friends is the whole gaming event/birthday party bit from over the dimension. i think its so sweet takane organizes ayano a party and even if annoying its cute that she checks if shintaro bought her a present bc she knew it was gonna make her happy. takane mentions ayano was acting a little :( abt no hbd from shintaro and takane felt bad for her lol which is why she calls haruka to check if shintaro remembered. like... the boys are still very involved and stuff and takane was gonna also take haruka to the event she takes ayano but. we can still count it as a good one👍

i was thinking abt this yesterday actually because im like. what kinda relationship do they have post str that is outside of the shintaro bullshit and it pisses me off bc its difficult to work around it when canon doesn't help much.

i think once ayano and shintaro's little circus is over (and soon also shintaro and takane's) takane is super delighted that her relationship with ayano can go beyond what she can do for her and her relationship. i think she probably noticed that her and ayano were almost exclusively spoke for and about shintaro being a jerk and his wellbeing and etc.

maybe ayano is also a lot like omg tell me stuff abt your relationship with haruka :3 like trying to gossip and takanes like man we arent 16 anymore we got a lot more other shit to talk abt right?? and ayanos like 😇NO IF I DONT FOCUS ALL MY TURMOIL ON MY STUPID LOVE LIFE I WILL BREAKDOWN SO HARD AND I DONT WANT TO <- in the inside. in the outside says aww but im curious if youve kissed haruka already :3 shintaro already sat 5cm closer to me than last time👍👏 and takanes like man this sucks. like now that she's older and all this shit's happened takane realises how silly it feels and is relieved when ayano and shintaro separate and ayano starts being more normal LOL

i think like mekatrio and even haruka, takane is a lot like hey. ur like not. OKAY. im here if u need me etcetc but i think ayano was still not in a position of opening up and much less to her since takane's all like 🤞 with shintaro. i think in the quartet haruka's the one she opens up to i answered an ask like that a little bit ago hehe haruaya BESTFRIENDS but with takane, ayano sees a lot of things in between and can't bring herself to cross the line. like not only how shintaro may prefer takane as a gf (wrong ayano is just insane) but takane prefers shintaro as a best friend?? ayano just overthinks so much lol. so its kind of a weird one until both of their respective messy relationships with shintaro get sorted out at least!! after that i think they're both relieved to be able to just be friends and hang out without making it into a therapy session abt relationships or reassurements abt IM NOT gonna date ur lame ass boyfriend . yknow. qjdnwkdjwk ayano admitting to takane she is jealous and takane being all aauuuggghhhh WHYYYYYY!!! ayano is very thankful that takane sticks by her side even after the ridiculous dynamic they went through

anyways. i also wish we got more exploration of their friendship bc its like WHAT is there. we know they were close but its just mentioned so we have no idea what the dynamic is like or what the hell they talked about other than boys. its pathetic

[vocatharsis]

Cogs’ TS2 Apocalypse Run (IX)

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Earlier this year, I started revisiting The Sims 2. After a bit of messing around, I decided I’d take a shot at doing an apocalypse challenge run (specifically Phaenoh’s tiered, mod-enforced version). I didn’t succeed the first time, and didn’t document it with screenshots etc. anyhow, so in this second attempt I’ve resolved to do both. 

(Lots of screenshots & commentary below the cut. If you’re into Sims, nostalgia, challenge runs, and/or silly reflective commentary, feel free to read on!)

THE SMITHS’ FREE STATE, PART 9 - SO LONG, SHELMERDINE

Two mercifully-timed birthdays -- i bet he steals answers on homeworks too -- bidding the founder farewell -- oh goodie, some crap I can clean off the floor -- Muuuum, stop plaguing my sleep -- people in uniforms -- I imagine Foucault would be proud (or not).

Welcome back! Now, this is a sad chapter. The character I started this run with, Shelmerdine, is going to die of old age pretty soon. She’s had a fantastic go of it - managed to max all skills before elderhood, survived the terrible interval in which greyhairs had complete free will, reached perma-platinum for her aspiration. But now it’s time to bid her farewell. 

As a small mercy, she’s set to pass on the day after the two toddlers Aaron and Forseti are eligible to age up via birthday cake, so I won’t have to deal with the toddler ‘relative dies’ fear tanking both of their aspiration meters the day before they start childhood. 

First, let’s do Forseti--

He looks nice when he’s happy ^^

And I waited until morning to age Aaron up, since everyone was kind of tired at that point. 

Yippee!

Love Forseti’s little jump there. 

As I’ve established before, kids & teens aren’t currently allowed to go to school, nor use any skill-building object that isn’t also simultaneously fun. So childhood in the apocalypse is all about grabbing whatever skill points you can, with whatever objects aren’t banned. The most obvious of these is playing chess, for Logic: 

It seems that, with his really low Niceness score, Forseti is inclined to make unconvincing attempts to cheat while playing with others. Attempts of the “hey, look over there” variety, which always end with the other person turning around just as he’s moving he pieces around. I’ll need to find a way to make sure he doesn’t tank his friendships with father and/or brother while he earns his smarts.

Age-rollover time is fast approaching. It’s time to say goodbye to indomitable old Shelmerdine. 

Of course, I had to get a photo with all of her descendants in it. Then she said goodbye to each of her children individually.

*sniff*

And here comes bonesy... 

You guys remember how the death sequence for fulfilled Sims goes, right? It’s a hell of a thing. The Grim Reaper hits on you...

... tells you to pick up an unexplained suitcase (which might contain anything from what was in your Sim’s personal inventory to their emotional baggage, I dunno)...

... and hands you an extremely ethnic-looking alcoholic cup-thing.

And then you become a ghost.

BYE-BYE, SHEL, YOU WILL BE MISSED.

poor, poor Kent

Back to business; I decided on a solution to the “Forseti pissing people off during chess” problem. Basically, he plays on his own in a corner of the basement,

although I will say that this has a second benefit: Juan needs to level his Logic, too! It’s the only skill he needs maxed to be a master architect. 

Both of the careers I’m intending for Aaron and Forseti also require some Logic, but even if this weren’t the case, maxing Logic actually increases the skill-gain rate for everything that isn’t Body or Charisma by 25%, so it’s still worthwhile. 

Get a load of this guy:

Name’s Amar Ku. I was completely blindsided by this guy walking down the street, since I’ve never seen him before. Is his hair dyed, or...? Upon greeting him, he did the ‘Kiss Kiss Darling’ gesture, which means he’s a socialite; he must be Juan’s replacement, rolled randomly to fill the gap in the townie roster when he married in.

Panoptica’s got all the skill points she needs to win that final promotion, so I just have her building some other skills to fill her aspiration meter. Like Body skill!

(Note: They can’t do Yoga until they have 3 points in the skill, which means they have to level it by doing radio exercises. These are annoying because they drain Hygiene and Energy, and build the skill more slowly than pretty much any other method. im not gogna have fun)

Meanwhile, Forseti, as our first absurdly-neat descendant, gets to experience the joy of building Cleaning skill really quickly from actual cleaning, as opposed to reading books:

You can’t see it in this picture, but he’s smiling. His Fun need actually increases a little while he’s scraping crap off a toilet seat. Jeez, Forseti.

Oh, minor thing for any 90s kids and/or incidental Homestucks that might be reading this -- the household’s crappy stereo was on while Panoptica was working out, and I had it set to the ‘Techno’ station ‘cos the classic default Salsa mix was getting on my nerves, and then I hear, of all things, a no-vocals version of Chromeo’s ‘Fancy Footwork’ come on.

(I mentioned Homestuck; it was the song used in this fandom meme that I didn’t discover until after the comic had ended [*slight sniff*]. Gods, it’s catchy.)

Upon discovering said song’s presence in the game, I promptly moved the table with the stereo on it up a floor so I could hear it better. Here’s Panoptica doing her jog-on-the-spot routine.

And getting buff, apparently.

Looking good, looking good

Oh, I seem to recall saying back when Kent died that ghosts usually take a night to register that their remains have been moved elsewhere, so Shelmerdine’s debut as a ghost was unlikely to take place on the roof. 

Unfortunately, unlike Kent, she did clamber down the ladder from the attic to the floor with all the beds on it, making it really impractical to send anybody up there for some shuteye tonight. If I send them to bed, they’re guaranteed to cancel out of the action at some point, and let the ghost do its Scare action, which drops each of the victim’s needs a bit.

I realised at this point that I actually have more Sims than I do beds, so I worked out a solution to this one-night problem: buy a bed for the basement.

John starts work earlier than Panoptica, so he had priority here. Otherwise, they took it in turns to kip underground until dawn broke and Shelmerdine buggered back off to the Styx, at which point everybody who didn’t have a job collapsed into their own beds.

Well, today’s the day that Panoptica, with any luck, will get promoted up the final rung of the Intelligence ladder! There’s a chance it might take two shifts, even with an almost-full mood. Here she leaves the house in... I don’t know what kind of coat, while Forseti falls victim to my ever more ambitious experiments with the in-game camera:

(I honestly need to brush up on my vocab for types of clothing, I think. When I do write creatively, it’s quite often urban fantasy-type stuff, and it’ll help me to form a clearer picture of how characters look...)

This here below would be a great picture, if only the yellow sports car didn’t have a wonky interior that didn’t show up when you moved the camera inside

Like seriously Panoptica has a great photo face, it’s a shame

The snow actually thawed for a little while (since it’s always Winter, this only happens when it doesn’t snow for a couple of days in a row) leaving behind some puddles... which of course I sent Forseti to mop up so he could get more experience.

Night falls, and both goasts come out to play, in this rooftop graveyard of empty fridges. (I can’t sell them right now, due to restrictions - I just buy a new one and dump the old one up here.)

And does Panoptica get her final promotion? She does!

Time for some lowkey family celebrations! Here’s Aaron coming outside to give her an after-work hug:

And here’s Juan, being all romantic, though I swear he looks more like he’s just grinning rather than puckering up...

Now I can do lots of new things! Including:

> Let people come inside the house, even if they aren’t already a family friend

> Redeem Popularity aspiration perks (letting John build friendships faster)

> Use the Ask pie menu to scout out townies with good skills/jobs, and

> Chat on/answer the phone! 

This makes things much easier. Also, Panoptica’s got a snazzy uniform.

Heh, now both second-generation kids have dark green uniforms.

So, Panoptica has succeeded in living up to the name I gave her! A pleasant development. It’d have been a shame if I’d given her that name only to see her fired by a chance card or something. (I’d probably have thought about Law Enforcement for her, but that’d have required her to max Body, which would be annoooooying, at least until Juan lifts Architecture.)

So, another successful update, another restriction lifted, another gravestone for the roof... hm. I’ve covered a lot of ground here; I think two more updates maximum before I catch up to where I’m currently at with the run.

Stay tuned, and thanks for reading! 

(If you’ve read through this and/or any of my other updates, please let me know if there’s a particular style in one that’s more enjoyable to read than the others. It’s fluctuated a little as I figure out how best to do it. Thanking you in advance!)

[unwritrecipes]

Grilled Zucchini, Mozzarella & Israeli Couscous (and some BIG news too!)

Sorry to be MIA these last couple of days, but when you hear what's been going on with us, I think you'll understand. First off, my mom had rather last minute knee surgery. She's doing great but didn't want her two pretty badly torn menisci (is that the plural?) ruin a long-planned summer trip. Add to that my niece Zoe's 7th birthday for which I made this family favorite, my daughter's crazy finals schedule and, not to bury the lead, but OUR SON AND HIS GIRLFRIEND GOT ENGAGED and you can see why posting got pushed to last place!!! We are over-the-moon excited about it and you couldn't find two more perfectly matched people on the planet!! They (and we) are just so darn lucky!!!! What a year it's going to be!! 

I wanted to bake some extravagant celebratory dessert with lots of fancy piping involved, but who has the time?!! So instead, I'm just going to jump right in and start with what I was actually writing before all of the above happened...Every year my farmer boy husband likes to plant his "crops" in the little patch of dirt on the side of our house.  He's had great success with tomatoes and cucumbers (we spend half the summer making pickles) but every time he tries zucchini, he only winds up with a few puny specimens, which is a crying shame because zucchini is one of my favorites. I like it roasted in a little olive oil, fried in batter and shredded into a muffin or cake--its versatility is a thing of beauty! And used here, simply sliced into rounds and grilled, it elevates a simple pasta dish into a memorable meal. Which means I'm going to have to either trade in my farmer or buy my zucchini. Hmmnn...

The zucchini really is the star here. Golden brown, soft and crisp at the same time and slightly smoky, it's so, so good and so easy to make! I could eat it every day!!

And then there's the Israeli couscous. Are you familiar with it? Truthfully I don't think I ever had it till I made this wonderful Israeli Couscous with Mushrooms, Peas and Sweet Potato Sauce and then this "Almost" One-Skillet Chicken with Israeli Couscous, Asparagus and Parmesan and now it's one of my favorite grains! Nubby little chewy beads that look so appetizing and taste so satisfyingly starchy without being heavy. If you've never tried them before, I urge you to do. I think you're gonna love 'em!

Rounding out this dish is the fresh mozzarella adding a little creamy mellowness and the shaved parmesan cheese, with it's sharper salty tang, perfectly balancing out one another as well as the zucchini and couscous.

It's a great warm weather dish--easy to prepare, light and vegetarian. So simple and yet so special. It's definitely going to become a summer staple around here!

Meanwhile, I'm on cloud nine and who knows when I'm coming down. We have a wedding to look forward to!!! Yippee!!!! 

Grilled Zucchini, Mozzarella & Israeli Couscous

Makes 4-5 servings

Prep Time:  35-40 minutes

Ingredients

6 large or 12 small zucchini, cut into thin rounds

1/4 cup olive oil (you may need more or less)

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous

8 ounces fresh mozzarella

2 ounces parmesan cheese, freshly shaved

the juice from half a lemon

The Recipe

1.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat and add the zucchini in batches. Watch out it might splatter! Season with a bit of salt and pepper. As soon as the rounds start to turn golden brown, lower the heat to medium and turn them over. When both sides are golden brown, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Repeat the procedure turning the heat up so that the zucchini can get nice and brown and then turning it down again so that they can cook through.

2.  Cook the Israeli couscous according to the package directions, drain well and put into a large serving bowl. Toss with a tablespoon of the olive oil and season with a bit of salt and pepper.

3.  Tear or cut up the mozzarella into chunks. Add to the bowl as well as the parmesan cheese and lemon juice and zucchini. Toss well and taste. Season with more salt and pepper if necessary and add more olive oil if you like. Serve immediately or let cool and serve at room temperature. It's great either way. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for several days in an airtight container and reheated in the microwave or eaten cold.

Enjoy!

Note:  Recipe adapted from Simple by Diana Henry. I revamped this recipe in a large way. Subbed Israeli couscous for the fregola, fresh mozzarella for the burrata, parmesan for the pecorino and cut the basil because I didn't have any. Also cut the amount of lemon juice in half and used less olive oil.