After the Calling

I’m releasing Part IX (B) tommorrow, hopefully.  It’s really short, like 10 pictures, but I need to reshoot them or I’ll stab my computer with a shoe horn. If not tommorrow then during the week while I’m at work. Post, I mean. Not stab my computer.

Technical stuff. I’m still getting used to the new layout and I’m just testing out the idea that I have space for ginormous pics. JUST THIS ONCE!

I edited these pics very differently, so they’re strange looking (especially since they’re fluffin’ huge). I don’t like them. It will never happen again. I add lighting to my pics in editing, not in game, because maxis brand is poo.  I was trying to do a sort of dark, fuzzy background and focused foreground sort of thing, It absolutely did not work.  Absolutely did not. I mean, I can get with bright hazy pics, but this story was meant for hard, dark, offensive edges. Not that my comp provides those, but, this doesn’t fit.  Just this one time, because I can’t bring myself to reedit.

I really like this new layout but… I kinda miss the old one. There I said it. 

Just so no one is caught of guard, I’m changing the overall appearance of the blog in like… two minutes I changed the overall appearance of the blog. I’m gonna be honest, when I first started this, I let wordpress suggest what theme to use, (as in, HERE IS WHAT EVERY SINGLE OTHER BLOG IN THE UNIVERSE IS USING SO YOU SHOULD USE IT TOO) and just kept it. I never liked it. I kept it because it had a dark background that kind of fit with the story theme. And the color for titles wasn’t bright red or fuscia. But, eh, I just don’t like it. There are things that peeve me, but you have to bitch and moan with creative html, or know what the hell you’re doing in CSS in order to fix it. Creative html is the bane of all existence and I don’t know CSS from a hole in the wall, so…

Anyhoo, I found something I like better, but the transfer of all of my creative html is a bit oxygen deprived, so the site is going to look messier than a clearance rack at a department store for a while until I get it together. Yay? Yay.

I’ve been Distracted McGee lately, and I can’t sit still long enough to finagle this how I want it, because it’s really an interim piece.  It’s more informational than anything and I can’t do much with it. I ended up just chopping it up, and I will figure out how to reinsert the abandoned portions later. I just hope the potholes aren’t obvious.

AND… I have a request. I just found a pose box that has a pose of a sim sticking his finger someplace where the sun rarely, if ever, shines. Someone PLEASE tell me if there is a story that is using that pose, under what context, and where I can find it. Because why else make a pose box with that pose, if you are not putting it on display for everyone in the known universe to gawk at, namely ME.

I am now completely resolved to find an in-game replacement for that pose, which I will feature in my next tutorial. Posing Without Pose Boxes Part III: Sh*t That Is Sh*tb@lls Insane.

Get this. There is a series of novels known as “The Calling Collection” by this dude (or dudette) named Caridad Pinero. And get this, the novel consists of smutty smutty smutty smut smut vampire novels with excellent names like “Blood Calls”, “Danger Calls”, “Fury Calls”, “Death Calls”, “Darkness Calls”, “Temptation Calls”, and “Desire Calls”. Although my favorite title of the entire series is… you guessed it, “Holiday With A Vampire”. I’m stoked. I didn’t mean to steal the name of an entire smut fiction franchise, but I am stoked. Because when you google either me or this series, it comes up with a mixture of “smutty smut smut smut VAMPIRE BLOOD SEX!” and “Posing Without Pose Boxes!”.  Awesome I say.  Awesome.

On a more dampened note. I was a doof and didn’t really look at any of the shots I took for the next two updates. If I had, I would have realized they were poo. I’m finaggling them right now, so I probably won’t update until obscenely late today, or sometime tommorrow YEAH THREE DAY WEEKEND… although having a job has never really stopped me from updating so… yeah.

Sooooo, I was a little bit hesitant about doing this. Sims 3 comes out in like, 2 seconds, so I’m not sure how helpful these tutorials will be in the long term. I’m also finding that there is a significant amount of vitriol floating around the Sims 2 community.  Not directed at anything in particular… just… vitriol. I was completely unaware of it until recently, but now that I am, it’s a bit intimidating to contribute to a community where there is so much snark and derision. It makes me worry that we’re approaching the end of an era. I’m not really planning on getting Sims 3, at least not until it’s established itself within the gaming world and I can get some legitimate feedback on it. I couldn’t do anything, especially not these tutorials, without custom content and it seems like EA is keeping all modding abilities to itself, which is unappetizing to say the least.

Feh. All that said, I do hope this is of service. I’ll eventually get it up on the LJ, after I stop being afraid of it.

I happen to be the queen of self-sabotage. I sabotage myself like it’s my job.  ALL THE TIME. Like I get paid to be a self-sabotagologist. I just completely JACKED my Aeryn. Her file is so corrupt it could be the government of a third world country. She won’t let me clone her, and she’s crashing everything around her. And I didn’t back up my files. Because I am a buttmunch.

I’m hoping this won’t matter in the short term because I take pictures way in advanced and then occasionally do a reshoot. I have all the pictures for this chapter pretty much done, and although I haven’t looked at many of them, I’m hoping I can go without having to redo anything. In the meantime, I’ll have another go at Hadrian and try to remake her. The only reason why Hadrian got to be “Hadrian” is because he looks like Aeryn as a girl. I mean he’s cute and all, but Aeryn is where it’s at. I’m just gonna stare at pictures and try to remember how I tweaked him to make her.

That news out. Part VII is finally over with (C). It’s a short one for me, and I should probably use it as an example for future updates.  It also a big, giant advertisement for angled OMSPs. Enjoy.

It’s me who is squicked out. It’s me. I’m squicked, and I’m the one who wrote it. I spent way way way too much time on this, completely threw off my schedule, even opened the game after not looking at it for nearly a month, and now I’m behind in my actual storyline all for messing with this. I’ll admit I tamed it, but it’s 18+ all the same. I haven’t even touched my pictures for Part VII (C) (yes, it’s a C), or did any editing, and I probably won’t be able to until Monday, but I’ll get it out asap.

Any words that don’t seem like English… well, they aren’t, and I’ll translate at the end.

What the balls is After the Calling? I asked myself that question eighty klafrillion times. I’m still not sure. I’m crap at summarizing things. Especially stories that have nine (I counted. It’s nine) different story lines.  But I tried.

I personally think it takes most series writers a minute to find their groove and work out the kinks, as even the best storytellers can have awkward beginnings. But it took me an entire year to find my groove and sometimes I look at my first chapter, and my heart burns. I do have acid reflux, that is true, but it’s only around dairy and bananas. This kind of burn is entirely related to the fact that I clearly did not reread my first entries to this story until it was too late. Some of the stuff… I don’t even remember writing it. I go back and read and I’m like… THAT HAPPENED? Why didn’t anyone tell me?!

I don’t know if any of you have every played Gears of War 2 or 3, but there is something known as “the berserker”. Google it. That biznatch scares the holy bleeding crap out of me. Pardon my French, but she fucks with my DREAMS. I’ve actually stopped playing the game for months at a time so as not to confront her. And when I finally do confront her, there is screaming and TEARS and things are being thrown and dogs are barking and cats are hissing and boyfriends are trying to unplug the xbox… I’m so serious. I’m actually a fairly unflappable, quiet, reclusive individual, so that reaction, and its ever-predictable consistency, is a pretty big deal to everyone involved.  Animals and humans alike.

Chapter 1: Bliss of Reentry is like my own personal berserker of this story. It makes me cry and scream when I’m trying to get past it, and then I throw things when it kills me and mutilates my dead body.

Chapter 2: Madness In Sanity is one of the giant bugs from star ship troopers.  That would be a useless analogy except I have a stupidly strong, almost debilitating fear of insects.

Chapter 3: Secret of Desperation (or Despair, depending on when you caught me, or which hand I was using to write the outline)  is like a giant tarantula. I don’t have a spider phobia. I’m actually cool with them because they eat insects, I just don’t like to look at them for longer than necessary.  So it’s like, you can be around, please do kill and eat the last chapter, but just try not to let me see you.  I don’t want to know you’re here.

Deceiving the Lie, despite the length and laze of Part VI, is like the light at the end of the tunnel. You can’t stop holding your breath yet, but you know you’re getting there. And being that we are approaching the halfway point of this venture, I think it’s about time we started seeing some light.

All that said, people who have read my story from the get… AND ARE STILL READING DESPITE THE FACT… you are amazing.  For those who comment, you always always always make me smile, and for those that link me, sometimes I can’t believe you even want to be associated with me. And now that I’ve sworn off of torture, I promise it will be clear waters from now on.

That said, those who do not want to experience the torture that was AtC coming into its own (who can blame you), or just want a taste to decide if you want to risk berserker-type heartburn, I have assembled a story summary to get you where you’re going. The full story synopsis can be found at the SWA Summaries site, and in my Synopsis section under Site Trimmings. Separate chapter synopses are coming soon.  I finally got a Terms Dictionary up, also under Site Trimmings, but it is a SERIOUS work in progress. The problem here is that I don’t even know what half my terms mean. At least enough to make a decisive definitive definition.

Example: Aura.

What the monkey testicles is an aura?!  Mickey even gave a fully indepth definition in Madness Part: VIII. She DEFINED the aura, and then DEFINED purana. And yet I, creator of Mickey, don’t know the definition of either.  At least a definition that is shorter than Madness In Sanity Part VIII, which had a word count somewhere in the three thousands.  I know. I’m terrible. But yeah, working on it.

Thank you tons for just being here,

Veron

This is a smidge early because I just got back from a business trip and per usual, jet lag has destroyed me. 10 hour flight for a two day trip to arrive back at home at zero in the morning. Business trip planning fail. I’m going to bed now, and hopefully I’ll be awake by Monsundnesday, but I don’t want to risk falling behind. I’ve been doing sooo well. I’m also posting a lot of side stuff next week (a couple of background stories, chapter synopses, etc.) and I don’t want it to feel like a free for all with so many updates. So, I figured I’d post now so as not to worry about it later.

New subject: I’ve never avoided sexuality in my writing, but I don’t think I’ve ever approached it as directly (or with possibly unnerving implications) as I have in this update and in upcoming updates. I would never be overtly graphic, or obscene, but I’ve decided to completely commit to the 18+ness of 18+. That said, this is 18+ with strong sexual themes. 

I would actually still like to hear the opinions from my readership about the line between squicky and sexy, edifying or terrifying, but I am so fuzzy right now, I can’t really create a coherent foundation for discussion, so I’ll come back to it.  But I will say, this may be leaning toward the squicky side of things. Edit: My readership is awesome, and I think too hard. Nevermind.

Me: Complain. Complain. Complain. My chapter parts are too long.
Boyfriend: Shorten them.
Me: I CAN’T.
Boyfriend: Why not?
Me: Because I can’t leave anything out. Everything has to happen or nothing can happen!
Boyfriend: Okay, then break them into smaller parts.
Me: I CAN’T.
Boyfriend: Why not?
Me: Because I’m on a schedule and I told myself that this specific part would happen by this specific time!
Boyfriend: Why’d you do that?
Me: …
Boyfriend: …
Me: … …
Boyfriend: … Okay… so, then… break them… into… smaller parts… ?
Me: … … Go walk my dogs.
Boyfriend: I already did. And I put gas in your car. And I bought you more avocados.
Me: *blink blink* I’m gonna go break my chapters into smaller parts.
Boyfriend:  You go do that. Have fun.