List Of Doables.

[genlisae]

I was going to write this all out in entirely song lyric quotes because it is Lyric Sunday. (It has been pointed out to Mathew and I that a large portion of our conversations are either song lyrics or quotes from movies/TV/games leaving everyone else kind of baffled what were are talking about ... and when they aren't one of the above they trigger one of the above and next thing you know I am singing bad 80's pop ... yeah. Today we will speaking to each other EXCLUSIVELY in lyrics and quotes just to see if it is possible to do it.) Fortunately for you guys I couldn't think of an appropriate title which kind of ruins the whole thing. So you get English. More or less.

Right!

Last weekend the list in my head looked something like:

1. Update CD.
2. Finish extracting all lots and sims from the Pleasantries hood.
3. Learn how to slave a second harddrive to a borked MB (Because the CD drive hasn't worked in FOREVER. It works in other computers, just not mine).
4. Copy ALL needed data to the second harddrive.
5. Bribe Mathew to replace my motherboard.
6. Reformat.
7. Reinstall EVERYTHING from backup on second hardrive.
8. Rebuild ENTIRE Pleasantries hood and all sims.
9. Cry. A lot. Most likely while realizing I forgot to save stats and CC lists for several sims that I now need to guess/hunt down in order to recreate them.
10. Have mini-mental breakdown on about week 3 of the rebuild process.
11. Get sick of the whole damn hood in the process of rebuilding and ignore the whole thing for several more weeks.
12. Finally get my act together and get the next update proofed and finished.

... You can see how this hasn't been done yet?

Well! We can now take a giant red marker and cross off that whole damn list! (Okay, don't actually do that, unless you have like a dry erase marker and a CRT monitor. If you DO have a dry erase marker and a CRT monitor, go right ahead. For everyone else, just pretend.)

Thanks to the miracle of *poof!* Magic! caused by "I wonder what happens if I ..." and actually getting an update done on CD, this week's list now looks like:

1.Learn how to slave a second harddrive to a borked motherboard.
2. Make really quick backup copies of the stuff I need on the second harddrive, just incase.
3. Bribe Mathew to replace my motherboard.
4. Reformat.
5. Reinstall everything from backups.
6. Get the next update of Pleasantries proofed and finished.
7. Celebrate this whole process only taking a few days instead of weeks!

Which means, dear secret maker of secret 21, they are coming back really soon!

:D

Oh, I am also keeping the second harddrive. Just don't tell Mathew. It is technically his "spare", but you know, it has been just sitting there, all pretty and shiny in it's packaging and mine has just been getting fuller and fuller ... I'm sure he will understand.

Comments

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I have a harddrive that has photos and writing on it, from my old computer, and one I goton sale at a store that was closing out that has most of my back-up sims stuff on it and that I intend to move recolor resources and so on to as I no longer want them in the desktop projects folder.

If I can have two external harddrives, you can have one, at least!

[genlisae.livejournal.com]

hehe! I am going to direct him to this post as soon as he goes "wait? What? You are keeping my HD?" and then I can say "See! I have permission ... just not your permission."

[debbycus.livejournal.com]

What's Matthew's bribe price? And what's yours? Cause lately I had to deal with so much technological fuckery that soon my brain will decide to shut down as well. ..Yes, I'd like some cheese with that.

So! Summer. Means I have time and no games to distract me, so throw me some proofreading material! I will also be abusing your reading list for at least a while. :D

[genlisae.livejournal.com]

He tells me he will work for favours ... O.o I would so not trust that if I were you. What happened to your computer though (or whatever technological fuckery it was)? I remember you mentioned a power surge and it fried your harddrive, but that was a while ago wasn't it? This sounds like new issues.

Proofing sent! I hope ... (double checks) Yes! I did click the send button!

Also, I love the new Upic :D

[debbycus.livejournal.com]

Favours are shady, agreed. It's like selling my soul to someone, and I bet Matthew has harvested enough souls already.
The power surge was about a year ago. Since then, I've painstakingly rebuilt my game and a new hood for a story which I have been planning for months now. I have no idea what happened this time around though... My PC was running, and a couple of minutes later it wasn't. I tried to turn it on again, but nada (the CPU fan twitched a bit, but that was all). After switching around a few parts with my boyfriend, we concluded that the HDD's circuitry was completely busted, as in it devoured all of the power and nothing would start if the HDD was plugged in.

My DL folder is mostly still available on my bf's PC (he was too lazy to build his own), and I won't mind rebuilding the custom hood since I saw a much better terrain file on GoS. I was also ridiculously relieved when I saw that the few pictures taken of one of the protagonists are uploaded to Photobucket.
So the problems are not the games, but the fact that I also lost some important files. And (be still, my heart) the photos from the Kamelot and Haggard concerts. D;

I swear, shit like this always happen in June. Next year I will quarantine my PC for at least a month.

Nyan Vworp TARDIS :D

Please allow me to make a few suggestions...

[(Anonymous)]

If you're going to be moving all your Sims CC around from harddrive to harddrive, remember to defrag after you've got everything in place. It also may help to check for driver updates for graphics/video, and to increase your paging file. ^.^ I'm sure you're already planning to do all that, but just a friendly reminder!

I know how much work unborking a Sims game is - since I'm usually the only Sims-playing IT person on staff at my job I get to fix all of the Sims game problems that customers bring to our attention. Just a couple simple things, will typically take you less than 15 minutes and will definitely help prevent some of the issues that can break a Sims game.

[genlisae.livejournal.com]

O.O Oh ... ouch. The pics :( Irreplaceable and then ... gone. :(( Stupid technology.

You have protagonist pics? Preview? Pretty please? (I want to read your story! Would bribery help to get you writing? Cookies? Begging?)

Hehe! I had to chuckle at the hood rebuilding though. It amazes me how much difference the terrain makes. It shouldn't! But it does. That snippet I sent you to find out if I am way off? (Yes, that is only a snippet. I have like another 14000 words already written ... so much for "not getting too far into it" before I asked for a reality check >.>) I have rebuilt that hood on new terrain three times. *headdesk* Three complete rebuilds. Why? For one shot of a small portion at the very beginning? It doesn't seem worth it really.

... Of course you (I) do it anyway ...

Re: Please allow me to make a few suggestions...

[genlisae.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the reminder! I would have remembered the driver updates and the paging file ... I NEVER remember to defrag. Which is why it is awesome that Mathew does. Every so often he will nudge me to do it (or do it for me) so I am sure he appreciates someone else reminding me as well!

[debbycus.livejournal.com]

What would get me writing would be more confidence... and a less perfectionist attitude towards my work. I have sooo many ideas, but I rarely do anything about them because they have to be 101% detailed in my mind before I am satisfied. I suppose something similar happens when it comes to hood decorating too.
But until then, here, have at it. :D

[genlisae.livejournal.com]

Confidence, hmm, that one is tough. It gets better with practice of course, but that doesn't help taking that first step much. Being a perfectionist is not always a bad thing either, though I can see how it could be detrimental to getting things going.

I know you can do it though (and I am sure you know you can). It is just a matter of doing, as ridiculously difficult as that is when you bog yourself down with "Does this even make sense? Does this really need to be here? What purpose is it serving? If I have this will it effect something later and screw up my whole plot?". The answers to which are usually, Yes, Maybe, leave it anyway, Furthering the plot/characters (and occasionally it will simply be fanservice which is just as important), and Probably, but the plot will screw itself up as you go along and parts of it will be rethought, reworked, and occasionally completely overhauled to the point it no longer resembles what you had to begin with. All of this is okay. It will ultimately end up where you intended it to go. Or sometimes not because a better resolution that makes more sense for the characters will present itself.

And now I have rambled at you and not really said much. The point is, again, you can (and should and I hope will) write down those ideas and share them! As far as I can see you are already ahead of the game. You have an uncanny eye for characterization (even those which are not yours!), detail and picking up on the subtext and less obvious motivations. If this is the kind of thing you do with others writing, yours can only be better for it. So deep breath, give yourself permission to make mistakes and do it!

(And yes, because I would be surprised as hell if you didn't just read through that wondering where all the "totally"s and "really"s and "like"s are, I am typing this with Word open. My brain is in writing mode, the useless words will be back as soon as I get this finished :P Now go write something so I can completely, shamelessly, fangirl it! I already know I will!)

[debbycus.livejournal.com]

Erm, wow... *mega-shy super-blush*

To be honest, your rambling at me made a lot of difference. I suddenly have a great amount of inspiration and motivation! :D So thanks, wholeheartedly <3
I could have used this before I revamped the very first chapter though. :P Actually, no, scratch that. It's much better this way as it adds a whole new subplot and character background. However, many of the characters still need to be simified. Urgh, CC-hunt, here I come.

This is the part where I would start complaining about the fact that I can write academic essays with almost ridiculous ease, but that is not true. The worst part with those? Introductions. Yup. So based on previous experiences, I should just dive head-first into a major happening in the story. ... Yeah, no.

Anyway, I'm off to do some stuff. Thanks again VERY much for this! ^_^ *hugs*