Peeling the Onion Slowly

Beth has posted another wonderful update on Passages. I think we are both quite enamored with the Toad and the Princess. I am loving the journal style of these updates; they're revealing but only just so much...like a teaser!

And I have to say that Jimmy has an appeal that grows on me daily. I love LOVE this shot of him!

Check it out here: Passages 17

Which Way is the Wind Blowing

Please note, this shot was taken at night so I lightened it just a little making the colors a bit less natural but a little easier to see.

I have spent a lot of time looking for a new hair style for Wyatt and I came upon this one. My preference would have been for the back to be slightly longer but it isn't so it will have to do. It is most definitely the only one I was truly happy with and it is very close to his natural color but shinier which I would have expected given both his parents' shiny locks. I also added some piercings to his left ear, silver hoops, five of them in all.

Why am I doing this? Because I do not know how much more I will be adding to Rising Above. I spent a little time in university getting the boys up to speed. Jason is one year ahead so I currently have him set as a junior while Wyatt and Jett are both sophomores. For now. I don't have much on the horizon for Wyatt and Company. Sure I could allow Jett to blow through a few more girls or continue to allow Jason to glare disapprovingly at Wyatt for deflowering his sister but...no. Been there, done that. I don't know where that leaves me right now. Maybe if anyone reads this, you can toss some plot points at me or let me know if there is anything at all you haven't seen from these guys that you are interested in. There may be no interest at all which is fine.

Cooper's sister Ericca is also at university seeing as she and Wy are the same age. So I will probably move her along as well. Maybe she will follow in her mother's footsteps and go into the science field. Or get married and raise a family, not that there are any prospects on the horizon for her. So while I am not completely finished, it is definitely winding down which is probably a good thing since I have hit a dry spell in general from which I can't seem to move away.

That's about it. For those of you who don't like writers that can't update regularly, sorry about that. It is what it is.

Princess and the Frog

New update on Passages. As hard as Beth is on herself I have to say the amount of work and care she puts into her updates really shows, always. This one is no exception!

Please go check it out if you haven't already done so!

Saturday's Child

In Appreciation...


I have been lucky these last few years to have met some very incredible and awesome people. To those that made birthday cards for me as well as sent their birthday wishes, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was completely unexpected and you have made this birthday one I will cherish.

All of you have brought joy to me through your friendship, your support, your generosity and your kindness. Your stories have delighted and inspired me.

I especially want to thank my cohort in crime, Beth, for putting this birthday surprise together. I was totally surprised and thrilled! What you did, what you always do for others, is unparalleled. Despite being ill, having your own hands full with real life, you are there for me. There is no better friend. You pick me up when I fall, kick my ass when I'm being a brat, make me laugh as well as cry, and you do all of this without asking for a thing in return. You have my word that I will crank the music up loud and keep it there.

I lift my glass in thanks and recognition to those of you I have had the pleasure of knowing these last few years as well as to those of you with whom I have only recently become acquainted. You have made me feel very special and this is something I will never forget.

We Have Received Your Spit - Take 2

Can you imagine the giggle I got seeing that as the subject of an email in my work Inbox? I kid you not. I composed a whiny, fussy, crybaby rant the other day. I couldn't bring myself to post it. So I didn't.


St. Patrick's Day in the Fitzgerald house was celebrated non-traditionally this year. We had pasta. The boys aren't fond of corned beef and cabbage anyway but they do love pasta night. That is one thing I don't screw up too often. There was Guinness to be had however. If I'd had some Jamesons, there would have been car bombs.

On the Sims front, not much to report. I did manage to actually play the game. It was fun and miraculously it did not crash. I've also been toying with another blog for occasional pieces that don't fit within the Sessions main story but might be fun for filling in blanks or just catching up with what the rest of the people in my Sims world are up to. More on that if/when it happens.

That's about it. Sun is shining, its warm outside, barbecue weather. I loaned my BBQ to one of my son's friends. Need to get it back ASAP. Yeah.

Back On Stage with Passion

This is so much more than an update, it is a celebration. I think we both wondered if the well had gone dry but since neither of us are ready to toss in the keyboards just yet, we managed to find that spark, that hook that took us in a fresh direction. Blood, sweat, tears, long long conversations about what we can do that is fresh and new and back to our roots. This update is the beginning of that.

It isn't always easy to collaborate like this but Beth makes it a complete pleasure. So thank you Beth for hanging in there with me and for your friendship. I could not have gotten off the floor without your hand moving me forward. This is for you. Thank you for more than I can say.

Side note: The shots look WAY better on my Mac than they do on the PC.

Today I Spit in a Tube

At work we are all about the DNA so we had an opportunity to swap spit, or actually submit spit with a company that is going to tell me a whole lot of fascinating information about my DNA, more specifically my personal genome analysis. In a few short weeks I will know more about myself and my ancestry than I probably care to. Hopefully I am not predisposed to serial killing.

SB and I are on the verge of an update. I had a minor meltdown over the shots. It's been awhile. I wasn't prepared. A lot of them are less than inspired. My mantra has always been that the shots are just gloss but when they suck, they stand out. So. If and when it gets posted, please excuse the crappy photos. I just don't have the energy to retake them.

And to expand on a post from last week, the Chameleon update has been scrapped. I just don't think I can shoot it. Back to the drawing board I go to have a stab at it from a different angle.

This morning I learned how to make beads of sweat in Photoshop. It looks better on a bottle than on a body though. Now if I could only get that sheen that comes from hot sweaty bodies I will be a happy camper. And if anyone knows how to do a drape, as in a silky satiny scarf sort of drape on a female Sim body, please tell me.

That is all.

Revamping Slowly

I discovered Pages last month and have been playing around with them bit by bit in an effort to unclutter the main page. I don't use the link list since I use Google Reader to stay up to date with the blogs I follow so I am creating pages with story/blog links. It is a work in progress but if you are wondering where all my links went, now you know.

So why, you ask, am I doing this instead of updating or finishing the last scene of Sessions so we can edit it? Because I procrastinate and more importantly because I am at work and doing anything that requires my full attention when I am interrupted by...actual work...is difficult. This is busy work, mindless stuff, copy/paste/preview stuff.

So anyway, there is a box on the right currently at the top that takes you to my Pages. Again this is WiP so it ain't pretty yet and may never be pretty.

Not So Deep Thoughts

"There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." ~W. Somerset Maugham

A couple of weeks ago I finished a chapter for Chameleon and have no idea how I am going to shoot it. There is a lot of internal monologue, a shot here, a shot there, references to people who do not exist, reflections on events I have no intention of shooting, it saps my energy just considering it. Quite possibly I may scrap it and start over.

On another note, let's talk about the Sims itself. If I were to redesign it, and when I take over EA Games I will definitely do just that, the catalog would be like the dock on a Mac where the icons would magnify as the mouse glanced over it. Am I the only one on the planet who thinks the catalog icons are impossible to see? And how about a sort function? Or a Search function?

And CC creators, I love you to death, worship in fact, since I cannot do what you do but for Pete's sake, can't you properly categorize your CC? I mean, shouldn't an end table be IN the end table section? Or a rug with the other rugs? Or a candle in the lighting? Seriously? I know you guys are out there nodding your head in agreement because I KNOW you have done a search of the entire catalog looking for a piece of CC you just downloaded and cannot find.

I'm going to delete my character twitter accounts. I barely have the energy to read or write and honestly I am so distracted by new shiny things...at the time I thought it was a fantastic idea and I still do but...just not for me. Hey maybe I'll set up a Facebook for them instead.

Let's see...what else can I whine about in this little vacuum of mine...I know there were other things...oh yeah, I attended an offsite, similar to Macworld only not, and I was invigorated. Then I went back to work.

Blah, blah, blah.