New EP Next Month!!

Guys you can't deny... we are being pampered lately... New career, terrain manipulation and a new EP???

So yesterday we got a nice shiny teaser... Showing of a Sim surrounded by fans... Social media exploded .. we're not used to two EPs per year and that was a huge surprise ... We like how things are going...

Today we got the awesome Get Famous Trailer that got us on our toes... And OMG I can't wait. looks soo good , and even if it's not my cup of tea, I do feel excited about it

There is also a new Blog Post about it. You might want to go and check it out.

And of course what a release would that be , if there weren't any leaks... Apparently Origin made a blooper and leaked a few info.... 

According to The Sims Community Origin.com loaded a nice Expansion Pack store named Get Famous.. and of course awesome pics were included...

And a few key features have also been leaked from Origin....

Reach for the stars Rise to stardom as an actor or influencer and navigate the wild turns of wealth and fame. Audition for career-making roles, attend wardrobe fittings, buy a mega mansion & cruise through Del Sol Valley in style.
You’ve got fans The famous life was made for your Sims, so show off your fab celebrity lifestyle.
Claim Your Fame Embark on a glamorous career path and face the challenges that come with being a pop culture icon.
Act the Part Audition for commercial gigs or land a breakout role in the latest blockbuster
Run This Town Be the talk of the town when you find yourself in a mansion at The Pinnacles with a spot on the walk of fame.
Live a Lavish Lifestyle Go from extravagant set costumes to chic street wear as you strut down Starlight Boulevard

Original Article  on The Sims Community

Sound quite promising doesn't it? Can't wait for November 16th!

Terrain Manipulation

Finally!!!!

During the first Maxis Monthly live stream, Gurus informed us there's a new neat career coming in the next patch.

A work from home career, Style Influencer, where you can makeover other Sims. The higher your relationship is with target Sim, the most likely it is for them to accept a make over. Get higher on the career, and successful makeovers may end up being trends around the neighborhood. Finally we'll be able to get those horribly dressed NPCs , look decent... or not (insert evil grin here)

And just before the live stream ended ,and while Kate started talking about the Game Changers program .... SimGuruRomeo stole all her limelight. I'll be honest here. I watched the live stream a few times, in none of which did I manage to get a gist of what Kate was talking about ... It was all blah blah blah .. I'm sorry Kate, but I bet NONE of us managed to pay attention to what you were saying , while SimGuruRomeo was sitting there playing with shiny brand new TERRAIN MANIPULATION tools.

It has been one of the most asked features since day one. A feature a lot of people had given up on because "the Sims 4 wasn't built to support it"... And yet SimGuruRomeo happily sits there and playing with it while Kate is casually blabbing away about game changers like nothing was a big deal, or as if she didn't notice, what was going on at the screen next to her.. Well my beloved SimGurus , you know how much I respect and love you , but I have to admit, this was the biggest troll and tease ever!

Chat went wild ..people sending hearts and hugs and asking for more info.... Well we will be getting a live stream on October 11th at 11am PDT/8pm CET/7pm BT hosted by SimGuruKate, SimGuruRomeo and SimGuruGhost

Game Changers

Who are they? What do they do? How does someone become a Game Changer? Why is Bella Goth a Game Changer and Goopy Gilsgarbo isn't? He has more and better content than her!

So many questions in the community! I see them everyday in the social media, and the forums. So here are a few answers. By a Game Changer that has too little content to show off. Me.

Hi, I'm Geminia (as you might have noticed) and I am a Game Changer. And proud of it. In fact , the moment I got that precious E-mail, I wanted to get out to the balcony, in the middle of the night and shout about it. I'm pretty sure the neighbors wouldn't be as happy about it, as I was, and wouldn't care at all anyway.

Why was I happy?? Free content you say? Nope! If that's what Game Changers is to you , you have definitely been misled. If you are thinking of becoming one, just for that, think again, cause you are missing the point here. I was happy because I love The Sims, been playing it for years. Being able to somehow be a part of something I love so much, and offer anything, even the littlest thing I could to make it better in any way, feels your soul with so much happiness, so much joy. It's a feeling I wouldn't change for all the packs in the world.

What are Game Changers?

''Game Changers is EA’s community partnership program that fuses content creators and expert players directly into the game development process enabling early collaborative feedback for improvements. We also empower innovative storytelling by granting creators early access to gameplay capture."

Source and More info

Like it or not, The Sims team is made out of human beings, that have very demanding jobs, real lives, families, and there are just a few of them. They can't be everywhere , anytime. The can't read ALL the comments, in every single post/thread/blog in the entire Internet. That's where Game Changers come in.

There are a lot of "types" of Game Changers. Youtubers, Streamers, Gallery and CC creators, Bloggers , Tumblr, there are even Game Changers that have made AHQ their second home, just to help our fellow simmers. The Sims team is reaching out to everyone. All different people, from different countries, and different content or even almost no content at all. All this different people have also a different audience. And this is the key here.

 What do the Game Changers do? Feedback. It's Feedback. Feedback both ways. (And no we are not kissing EA's butts.) So different audience, means broader audience. Awesome feedback flow. We are spread in different parts of the community, and we can get feedback from everywhere to the team and from the team to every part of the community. We do not sugar coat anything. If we don't like a feature in the new pack, we say it. It's called Constructive Criticism. And that's what the team wants to see. No blames, no insults, no rants. Again the main reason Game Changers exist, is to make the voice of the community heard, to bring the community and Dev team closer, and make the game better. Without honest feedback there's no need for Game Changers to exist. So any Game Changer not being honest or sugar coating, would instantly kill their purpose as a Game Changer. We all have one thing in common. We are simmers , so part of the community ourselves. We are your voice. We are some of you.

And yes, you , who is now reading this blog post can be a Game Changer too. How? Let's ask a more important question here first. Why?  Why do you want to be a Game Changer? Do you want to give to the game you love? Do you want to help and make it better?Do you want to somehow feel to be a part of it? Do you want your own part of the community's voice heard? Then you are in the right track.

SimGuruKate had an awesome twitter thread explaining a few things.

So no you don't need to be a Super YouTuber or streamer with thousands of followers. Nor your content need to be super perfect, like HD videos, with perfect sound. You need to be active in the community in any way. You need to be kind and respectful. And your content need to be T rated of course. Yes quality of content is considered, but not in the form of what your hardware can pull off, but in the form of your skill as a simmer. That's all you need. Just keep an eye on Twitter, as Sim Guru Kate often tweets when the program is open for new applications. Don't fret! If you think you have what it takes and for the right reasons , go ahead and apply!

You applied and didn't get in? It's OK. You can apply again. There are thousands of applications each time, and only a few can be selected each time. Don't give up!!! Try again and again. If you think you aren't good enough and your skill isn't enough , do what our Sims do! Skill up! Watch tutorials on YouTube, try different things with your builds for example. Just don't give up!!!

And for Sims sake, do not bash a fellow simmer who got in , and you didn't. Because this, my friend, is your ticket "out" . This is the kind of attitude the Sims team do not want to see in a Game Changer. Don't let jealousy take you over. Turn it around and try harder. What they did better than you? Work on it! And try again!

Anyone, and I mean it when I say anyone, can become a Game Changer if they have what it takes. If they want it enough, they can do it. Follow your heart and chase your dreams. It's your life, you can make it the way you want it to be! It's all in your hands to mold the shape you want it to be! Don't give up!

Minor Sim News And Personal Update

Hey guys :)

We are living for "vacation" on Saturday. We'll be visiting my folks for two weeks. So not actual vacation, but at least change of scenery and family and friends reunions (haven't seen them since Easter)

Currently uploading my first video on YouTube. It's nothing special , just a House Flipper video, sped up , and me rambling so ppl can get to know me. The sound is horrible, the editing is horrible, the voice over is horrible, and the video has filmora's watermark (My bad as I didn't research it well and had no clue until I tried to export) Bare with me as I'm still trying to figure out the tools, and get used to speaking to "public" in English. Plus I'm on a Razer Electra head set which is not the best , but it's all I could afford atm.

We are expecting a new update at some point. SimGurus say "soon" but no idea when that will be. They did mention though that there is going to be a fix for the blurry screenshot issue.I think it was SimGuruKate on twitter.

I've seen numerous complains about that issue, and i really don't get it. I know blogs need to be updated, Screenshots need to be shared so lots and Sims can be showcased. Be patient my fellow simmers. No game is bug free, and will never be. I once had a mammoth stuck on a tree on Skyrim. The only way to get it out of there was to restart the game. A few friends of mine have mentioned they use FRAPS as an alternative, so maybe check that out?


For more gallery issues see here:

Gallery Issues on AHQ

There is also some frustration about how the gallery is showcasing the uploads. Most popular seems not to be that popular (pun?) The team is looking into this. 

Well that's it for me now. I'll have more builds showcased in the future. Some are old with CC and no gallery links, and I'll also start working on new ones as soon as I get back from vacation. Already working on a Challenge by Simarchy, but it's gonna take a while (I'm a slooooow builder) 

See ya next time guys , and Happy Simming 

Gallery Update

As promised, I took some nice screens from the new gallery tonight. I'm really in awe. Looks so sleek and it loads so freaking fast!!!

Once you open the gallery, you immediately find yourselves looking at other simmers creations. Let me say here that I found myself looking at some jaw dropping builds I've never seen before

Clicking on a a creation will bring up the details , with the comments now on the side. Much easier to read and add comments, favorite or add to library now (featured build here is randomly picked, the first on my list. Still freaking awesome though)

Next, there is your usual "news" tab

Then we have your profile tab , where it showcases your creations, in a big window and then random creations around it. It also lists your overall stats like downloads , followers and shared content. It also has two buttons. "Friends" which obviously brings up your friends list  and a "view catalog/view profile" toggle, for which will talk about next

The "view catalog/view profile" toggle will take you to your uploaded creations page, where you can see everything you've uploaded, and clicking on it again will take you back to your main profile page.

Last but not least , there is "my library" tab where you can see whatever you've saved in your library (obviously🙄)

So that's all for now. I'm really happy with this update , as it seems the gallery is way more efficient. And as it was mentioned in both the stream and the patch notes , there are several more gallery updates to come, and I 'm really looking forward to them.

As a side note, I'm also looking forward to more streams as SimGuruKate mentioned. We finally get more communication and IMHO, it is really needed. Exchanging feedback between the community and the Gurus, is a definitely something we need to cherish. It will help our beloved game get better and more fleshed out , exactly the way we want it to be.

That's it from me today. Enjoy the rest of your day and Happy Simming!!! 

New Patch Guys!!

Hey guys there's a new patch out!! It seems The Sims team has finally started Upgrading the gallery. YAY!!! Also there are several bug fixes as well. Finally our sims will be cooking and washing dishes where they are supposed to, and not in the thrid floor bathroom.


Patch notes by SimGuruGrant

UPDATE: 07/31/2018 - PC 1.45.62.1020/ Mac 1.45.62.1220

Hello Summers!
Hopefully the weather isn’t too hot in your neck of the woods, because then you’d be...Simmers. *cough*
In addition to several fixes and tweaks to improve your game experience, we’ve overhauled the Gallery! This is something we’ve been working on for a while and is the first step to keep enhancing the Gallery to make it an incredible platform for this community to share its creations.
Read below to find out what we changed with the Gallery as well as various improvements throughout the game.
Gallery Update
Our goal with the Gallery is to shift the focus towards the creators making incredible content and make it easier to download the content.

• We’ve re-arranged the content images so that you can now Follow the creator, Favorite the content, and download the content on the front page.

• We’ve moved the Search bar and popular hashtags front and center.

• Popular Now is the default filter, which means you should see more fresh, different content.

• We’ve renamed and re-arranged the tabs. You now have Gallery, for content, News to find out who is uploading and sharing content, your Profile (with your name), and your Library, to see your downloaded content.

• We’ve updated the art and visuals throughout the Gallery.

• You can now download and place Lots and Rooms from the Gallery even if you begin in Live mode. Hurray! At last!

Just a reminder in case you haven’t used the Gallery before: The Gallery will not download custom content or mods to your machine. There is a filter to see items created with custom content, but it will not install the custom content for you. So, you can rest assured that items downloaded from the gallery will not break your game.
The Sims 4

• You can now move Easels into your inventory and Live Drag them, which means you can paint out and about in the world! Be sure to pick up your easel before you leave!

• Removed unnecessary “seams” that appeared when wearing some full body toddler outfits.

• Sims should now use the closest counter to prepare Garden Salads of any portion size.

• Sims should now use the closest sink to wash dishes.

• Sims should now only use a single Kitchen space to prepare a meal, even on Lots with multiple kitchens.

Get to Work

• The “Ask About Suspect” interaction is now available during an APB event in the detective career.

Get Together

• You can now select Hot and Cold Weather attire via the Closet.

• Sims who belong to an Infamous Club no longer get the Intimidated by Fame moodlet at a gathering.

Seasons

• The temperature in the Kiddie Pool is now consistent with other pools. Sims will get the “Uncomfortable Chilled” moodlet, but won’t immediately begin freezing to death.

• Vampires are now protected from the Sun when using an umbrella, though it probably gives things away, wouldn’t you say, Vlad?

• Decorations no longer clip through the rooftops when viewing a Lot in Free Camera mode.

• Electronic objects will now function properly during the rain, assuming they are indoors and beneath a roof.

• Sims will no longer freeze to death while playing basketball in cold weather. One could say that as a result of their skillful play, they’re on fire.

• Father Winter has been banned from all Clubs and will no longer appear when adding Sims to a club. Seems Father Winter has been naughty.

• Pets will no longer stretch bizarrely while Sims are opening presents.

• The Sing Together… interaction is now available on the Kinara, Menorah, and Holiday Trees when a Holiday Tradition is active.

• The Flower Bunny no longer appears on random holidays and events, which is good, because Flower Bunnying is a full time job and they were really slacking.

• Sims with the Responsible Trait now have their Daily Tasks automatically completed for the Gardening Career. R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-L-E doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Sorry, Aretha.

• Sims who die while skating now die like you’d expect them to die. There was some weirdness, but now there isn’t. Just good ‘ol standard death.

• Sims were sometimes slipping indoors while walking TO a mud pile, which is silly. They now slip and fall like you’d expect.

• Sims disturb their bees less frequently. We told them to buzz off.

• Plants pollinated by bees will now evolve more quickly, which is how they bee better.

• Facial hair now appears while the Hot and Cold Weather filters are active.

• Banana, palm, and fern trees no longer drop leaves.

• While using the randomize function with a mannequin you can now see Hot and Cold Weather options appear.

• We fixed various typos in the Scouting Career. Apparently our Scouts didn’t earn the spelling merit badge…

• Handiness Whims are now completed when Handy Sims work on the Sprinklers and Weather Controller.

Jungle Adventure

• Vegetarian safe options purchased from local vendors are now actually vegetarian safe.

• Purchasing items from a vendor now contributes to the Jungle Explorer Aspiration progress.

Perfect Patio Stuff

• Broken Sparks visual effects now go away once you repair a Hot Tub.

Backyard Stuff

• Birds will once again appear when a bird feeder is placed.

Vintage Glamour Stuff

• The vanity table should now apply makeup appropriately once more.

Laundry Stuff

• Clothing should no longer disappear after hung on the Model T Clothesline.

I'll try to get back later with screenies. Need to watch the stream though and  get the kids to bed. So it might take a while

ETA: A little note from SimGuruNick on Twitter

A Different Sim

Trying to fiddle with my files and get a CC free save. Mostly for challenges, gallery builds or showing off new content. I need a sim to start the file.. Gemmy (my sim self that looks nothing like me) is the most appropriate one. She is representing me everywhere, hiding the face I'm too shy to show off. She deserves that.

Searching my library ..There she is with Mike and the kids..all black, bold and naked (Mods folder is sitting comfortably on my desktop) ..Oh well it can't be that bad making them over a bit ....

Yeah, about that... No just no... LOL It's scary. Well ok not that scary, but I'll need to get used to them. Especially Gemmy... I already miss her dark purple hair. Why don't we have a dark purple swatch for hair? I needz it!!!

She is pink now. I thought it was light lilac , but nope. It's pink..Cotton Candy pink. Don't get me wrong I love that pastel shade of pink. In fact she is actually wearing pink. But not on her hair. She is all I want to be, she is the "inside" me . I can't do purple hair irl. Not unless I keep visiting the hairdresser once every 10 days. I can't do that , my fragile hair will abandon me. She is the one who has to sport it... She doesn't look like me at all , she is 4 times smaller than me, and not worn out by life. She is also a YA , when I'm already past my mid thirties..

Oh well I'll get used to it.

The family also needs a home. Just placed them in an empty lot in Willow Creek, it's early spring and it's raining. I'll need to get working on that , but not tonight. It's already 3am. The real Gemmy will need to go to bed at some point, and building a house usually takes me quite a while.

You know what? I might even record that and upload it as my first speed build. Hoping my headphones and mic will arrive soon so I can do a voiceover, as I'm pretty sure that if I use random music on it I'll end up using copyrighted stuff. I'm a total newb LOL . I'll get there ... hopefully

For now good night , sleep tight and have fun . Carpe Diem - Seize the Day
Happy Simming

5 Years Later...

And I'm back... So many things happened, I really have no idea where to start.

I have two kids now

Older one turned 4 last March, and younger one enters the Terrible Twos on September, even though he is already throwing tantrums all over the place for a few months now.

Both kids seem to be late talkers.
Older one finally started talking once he hit three, but we are doing speech therapy any way , just to help him clear up. He has done awesome progress so far. He even seems to like English too, as he easily learned a few words and even can count to 10 in English.  He is starting pre-school this September.
Little one has yet to blurt out a word, besides "Dada" He does communicate by pointing pretty well though. We've appointed a speech evaluation right after his second birthday.
All in all , they are good kids, quite active and happy. Always finding way to keep me running. I admit I'm a helicopter mom, mostly because of my anxiety. Def need to work on that and chill out a bit.

My hands have been full. And still are. Two kids, a house to take care of, hubby coming home from work late, away from my friends and family and with no help at all.. Struggling to keep up with everything and me time squished somewhere between midnight and 4am, where I force myself to go to bed. Still, finding it hard to relax and sleep, and usually managing to do so around 6 am.

And the money issues... Paycheck by paycheck would have been nice. We're struggling. Hubby got a serious pay cut 3 years ago. They literally halved his salary. It was supposed to be a temp thing. And it was, in a way. He did get a raise at some point , but still not as much as he used to get payed. I don't want to be ungrateful though. We have my family behind our backs. They might be 200km away, but they are here. My father, my mother and her husband, my uncles, they are all supporting us however they can..

Somewhere between all this, I felt I was loosing myself. I was getting cranky, impatient (and patience is a thing I'm known for), and soo bored. I was bored to even do the things I loved so much like play the sims. Most likely bored with my life I guess. Not that I wasn't happy. I can't say that. It was just all this stress, the everyday routine, not being as creative as I wanted to...they started taking me down

A couple of months back, I forced myself to get up. I have two children and a spouse and this people need ME. My family needs ME. The real me. Not the shadow I was turning into.I HAVE to do something. I started being more active in the community, started playing sims again, and creating houses that I so much loved. What if I started a YouTube channel ? Or streaming ...Nah I don't have and can't afford the hardware or the software to do that. And there was this EA Game Changers program I've been reading about that had lit a fire in me... But how, haven't been active for ages, I'm no youtuber nor streamer. I don't have "the audience" needed..

I started researching. Graveyardgirl started out YouTube with here phone as a camera. LuckeySimsYT had mentioned his low end hardware a couple of times and yet his videos are just fine for me, and really fun to watch. They all started somehow...Why not me?? I kept researching. Seasons released and I managed to upload a couple of builds , before giving in and getting my CC back in my game. I love my CC.

My builds are usually loaded with CC and I hate linking them. So I can't really upload them. I could start that YouTube channel I was thinking about and do speed builds or walkthroughs of them. But would people be interested if I didn't list my CC? I did a poll on twitter about it. The results came back , with the whooping amount of two votes, that they didn't really mind... OK convenient result , low number of voters though.. not enough to push me to actually do something

And then it happened....As I was checking my email, I see it ... It's an invite to join the Game Changers Program. I don't know how, I don't know who. All I know is that as soon as I opened it, I blurted out "OMG YES!" I felt all warm and fuzzy, I felt so much energy , like it opened my eyes to see that I CAN do something. I can get up and take a step forward. It was the push I so much needed.

I downloaded OBS, and Filmora. treated myself with a nice razer set of head phones and microphone (cheap but for now its ok), checked out a few tutorials and ...oh wait I somewhere have a blog too

And here I am writing down those lines, trying to figure out my plans better. Looking back , not that back really, where I was, where I am and where I want to be.Hoping that someone might read this , and get the push they need to get back on their feet and take the next step forward. Because in the end you can do whatever you want or at least something similar (I'd love to work at EA in The Sims, but yea that's a few hundreds of miles away) all you have to do is keep your eyes open and let NOTHING get you down.

As for this blog, I'm planning to be more active from now on, I'm just moving things around a bit, adding new links, killing old ones, so bare with me until I've set everything up and running. The blog seems to be the easiest of all of what I'm trying to accomplish, but as I'm starting up again from almost ground zero don't expect any fireworks just yet. Taking minor steps slowly and carefully. At least now they are going forward.

If anyone actually reads this...Cheers, patient reader , kudos for reading all that essay of nonsense. To you. Cause for me it was a weight on my chest that I had to lift. Thank you for helping me with that.

See ya!!! (Soon hopefully) 

To run or not to run?

Hey guys,
I hope everyone is doing great. We have finally settled in the new house, but I'm still trying to get used to the new city. The house has everything we need, apart from very few things.

My computer time has been cut off massively, due to all the preps, and since I got Skyrim, my simming time has been minimised even further. I do try to get up earlier in the morning, as I can only play when Mike is at work, but even if I manage to do that, I finish all the chores around 1:00 -2:00 pm so that leaves me 3h of gaming tops, since i have to stop whatever I'm doing around 4:00pm to heat up the lunch and prepare the table.

The wedding is very close now, only 10 days away, and everything is almost ready. We do have a few things to do still, but they are mostly stuff that need last minute checking and planning. Like the menu of the reception party, or the bows that we'll decorate the apt balcony with.

However my neurotic trait has completely taken over me. I feel that we are forgetting something very important, or that when we'll arrive at the Town Hall , that they'll kick us out because they have not noted down the date right. Plus I've lost a bit of weight with all the running around and stress, and I'm afraid that the drees will simply slip off of me...

This past months have been very stressful for both of us. Finding the apt to rent, looking for furniture, cleaning the apt that was extremely dirty (I'm pretty sure the woman who lived here with her family before us, was divorced with house chores all together.), waiting for the furniture and appliances to arrive, buying all the essential nick knacks (sp?) around the house,moving all my stuff here, my GC dieing because of the move, Mike's car crash that thankfully did not hurt him, but it hurt our pockets as the car was rendered useless and we had to buy a new one and then the wedding planning..

Apart from the cleaning part, we got no help from anyone. At all. I wasn't expecting much from my folks, as they are 200km away - they did offer though- but from Mike's folks we were definitely expecting just a bit of help.

The public transportation here at Patras is not as good as back home at Athens, plus I know very little about going to places here, so for almost everything I have to wait for Mike. Mike gets off work around 5:00 - 6:00 pm. Stores are open till 8:30pm , except Monday and Wednesday when they close at 3:00pm. So in that time frame , between 6:00 and 8:30 pm Mike returns home, takse a quick shower, eats lunch (lunch here is a full meal usually eaten somewhere between 1:00pm to 4:00pm)and then we run around for wedding plans.

No one, and I mean it when I say no one, offered to help in all this. No one offered to drive me anywhere I could go alone , to spare Mike the trouble. No one offered to suggest any stores, but they were kind enough, after we settled on something, to tell us off for not going to the x store that was cheaper and not looking properly for better prices. Not to mention the fact that the same people were also pressuring us to hurry up, so there will be no stuff left to do at the last moment.

We were also told to buy Mike's parents formal outfits for the wedding, as they couldn't afford them themselves. We did not say no to that, but when my mother's in law needed shortening, again no one offered to take it to the tailor's. In fact they refused to do that, when we kindly asked, so we had to do that as well. With lots of whining before and after, they did at least change my father's in law shoes.
At some point we got the stunning answer "why? what do you have to do" when we told them "can't you do it? we don't have enough time"

My head is still ringing with "what? you still didn't do that?Hurry up! before you know it's time is gonna come and it won't be ready!" shortly followed by "how much? that's so expensive! Why didn't you research more?I know a store that is at least 20% cheaper"

And then we come to the money part..I'm very very grateful to my father. We had LOADS of "Fatherload" help, and we still have...We knew from the start that Mike's family didn't have a dime to offer, so we were not expecting anything..On the other hand we got and still are getting lots of "gimme.." suggestions..

"Gimme 30 euros to go to that party", "gimme 20 euros to buy my gf a birthday present", "buy me a pack of cigs", "I need some money to buy shoes for your niece", "take your nephew to the barber", "I don't have gas in my scooter, drive me there" and the brilliant "I need 100euros to pay my speeding ticket, I'd ask our uncle but he'd want the money back" ...Did any of them notice that we are starting our own family now and we have a TONE of stuff to pay for?Did it occur to ANY of them that currently Mike is the only one working right now?Nope. I'll tell you exactly what they think "Mike is working and is getting payed, and the fact that he is getting married means he has money to do so, so lets ask him for some". Yup, that's exactly what they are thinking.

Last but not least we have the wedding part as a whole."Why are you doing a town hall wedding and not a church one?", "why are you spending so much and not doing it like my friend did? the groom,the bride, the parents and the mayor?", "why did you buy a dress? It's a town hall wedding, you could go with a pair of jeans"...Yes it's a Town Hall wedding and it's OUR wedding for God's sake and we are gonna do it anyway WE like.

All I can say is that psychologically I'm a wreck. I don't have enough time to relax, I feel pressured by everything, I'm stressed , I miss my family and friends that were left behind when I moved here and I feel like I have to do everything completely by myself since as much as Mike does help by driving me around and being extremely patient with everything (he is very hot headed in general) he still leaves all the decisions on my shoulders. It does sound cool and charming having the guy let you take the wheel, it comes with major responsibility and stress that sometimes is really hard to live with.

I can't say I'm not happy. I am. And grateful. I'm delighted that this moment has finally arrived. It's every girls dream right?After 7 years together, we are finally tying the knot, and we've been living together for 4 months now. But this stress, this pressure, this whole thing in my head it's driving me nuts and I can't enjoy this special moment. I am happy but I can't relax and live it! I just want to get on with it so I can finally relax. I just want to fall asleep and wake up 15 mins before the wedding. Is it possible?

Now I get why people get cold feet...
10 days to go..do you think I still have time to run?

It's been three months...

...since my last post and my little rant about my files being reported right and left. Finally a few days ago I got my mediafire file back...After it ended up completely taken down that is

It took 2 counterclaims, and 4-5 emails to mediafire and the complainer, to get my save file back up. Mediafire responded in most of my support tickets, but the complainer never responded to my counter claims or my emails.. That actually in some way makes me more suspicious...

Why didn't they respond? Admitting they were wrong is not such a hard thing to do, unless of course there is something fishy in the whole thing. More like a "hit and run" short of thing. At least at this point that's how it looks like.

I also noticed that The Mare's Nest had some similar issues with files being reported out of nowhere.  Since they understand those stuff better than I do, English is their native language after all, and as they seem to have figured out how to get their files back in no time, I  gave it a shot  and send another support ticket and a mail to the complainer, and also asked for help from TMN.

At this point , I want to thank TMN for posting a helpful article with my name on it. It was not a long read but cleared up a lot of things , especially how things work in mediafire.
So a big thanks to TMN for clearing things up for me

I'm gonna point out just a paragraph of this...
"When this happens, they will either e-mail Mediafire to say that they are withdrawing the claim they made ‘in good faith’ and asking Mediafire to restore the file (thus legally covering their own backs from being sued by them and you for the false report and wasting everyone’s time!), or they will never be heard from again (the latter often being the case with a malicious reporter, who by this time is usually shitting themselves)."

In my case it was the latter ... they were never heard from again.. Once more making me frown and making me believe even more that I was right to suspect this whole thing was on purpose, and that someone, for reasons unknown has something against me.

I have yet to find out who that person might be and why they are doing this, but I'm not sure if i really want to know in the first place. Yes , curiosity is itching me badly, but I have no idea how I will react if I ever find out.  

To rant, or not to rant? Backstory included

First of all, I do not consider myself as a famous simmer, not even a well known one. I do not have a big name in the simming community nor I'm trying to acquire one. However I was lucky enough to make some very special friends, some of them I consider as real life friends, even though I've never met them in person. I really appreciate my luck for this.

I usually try to be friendly and patient in the forums and my pages, I try to help people anyway I can, and most of the time I manage to hold back my sarcastic comments. I also love creating. I mess with sims, lots, worlds, even stories depending on my mood. This whole thing of course results to constant friend requests from people I've never seen before.

 When this whole social thing was firstly introduced, I tried to keep my friends numbers down by only accepting requests and adding people I've talked to, to keep my gameplay sane. At some point  I gave in and stated accepting everyone. Well this seems to have somehow backfired on me I think...

Here is the long story...

After creating Crystalline Cove I had the honor to see it featured. My hard work has been recognized. My friend's hard work who spend hours in testing this world has been recognized. I was thrilled!!
A month later some people post on the worlds thread, that the download link does not work..I check the world and realize horror struck that the world has been hidden because it was violating the TOS.
After contacting SimGuruHydra and SimGuruRusskii, I finally had my world back up , with  the feature DL and rec count. From what I understood it has been reported and was autohidden. Of course it was not violating the TOS whatsoever since if it did it wouldn't be back up now. Simply someone reported it just for fun.. I put the whole incident behind me , and move on with my life without trying to research any further..

A week ago I was in game , having fun with Lucky Palms that my friend Crinrict gifted me and with my  friend's Boltz avi as my sim, posting memories to tease him, and have fun with our mutual friends. The comments were wild and we were really having some fun.
I'm using a few of Twallan's mods so my game can create all shorts of drama on it's own. At some point Boltz's avi ends up completely naked in a party after having woohooed with the host in a room full of guests.
I carefully take a pic of boltz's back from waste up ( so made sure nothing inappropriate was showing) and caption it like this: "No blushing at all. Standing butt naked in the middle of a room full of party guests , doesn't seem to bother him at all"
Big mistake. Next day I get a nice warning from EA for inappropriate language. Apparently , the phrase "butt naked" that is used here by 3 year olds is considered inappropriate for teens in the US...( i suppose they are not allowed to watch "Friends" either? remember the "I like big butts and I cannot lie" episode?)
Ok I cannot complain about that, other than the fact that difference of cultures can get me banned. I contact CS to point out that little issue with culture differences, and weirdly enough I end up talking with someone that could speak decent English, and was friendly and helpful. They seemed to understand the issue and told me that they will look into it , and pass on the info to the appropriate people. Good? No.
Someone had reported me again about something completely silly, that even Boltz himself was having fun with (after all it was his avi that was butt naked in that party). Further more this was a memory post. Something that was posted ONLY on my friends pages. So basically one of those simmers, that want to be in my friend list for whatever reason, had completely lost their sense of humor and reported me. Or they felt memory spammed and instead of blocking me, opting out from viewing other people's memories or unfriending me, they simply chose to report me. Nice friends I have there, right?

Third hit...
I check my mail today, and get shocked.. Crystalline Cove came with a save file, that is up on mediafire.
That save has been reported to be violating Section 512(c)(1)(C) of the DMCA, and has been suspended...WHAT??? It's a freaking save file!!! it includes nothing , except data that is completely USELESS if you do not own the Sims 3 Base game, the sims 3 EPs, SPs and store stuff I used, and the world. If you miss any of these, your game will either crash, will not show the save file, or the save will be missing objects.
How on earth am I redistributing content I do not legally own with a simple save file?? It is simple data that tells your game , where things, you already have PERMISSION to use by EA, should go and how they should be set up. There is no freaking content in a save file other than code that is already on people's games.
Before  filing a counterclaim , I go ahead and contact EA's CS , in order to clear up if I'm crazy or not and if there is any legal restriction for uploading save files to mediafire...And since CS usually sucks (apart for the one time mentioned above, I've never managed to communicate decently with any EA CS representative, ever ) I end up with that:

Seriously EA??? How the heck do you hire those people?
And what's up with the "No, they will  not" answer? Am I trying to reason with a five year old or something?
"Kreacher won't, Kreacher won't , Kreacher won't!" O.O
They are clearly refusing to help me for whatever reason. What do the Forum Mods have to do with what is clearly a CS issue? Forum Mods are not supposed to know if I'm legally allowed by EA to upload a save file on a third party site. They are FORUM mods, aka moderators for the freaking FORUMS. Just go ahead and tell me " I do not want to help you because I'm lazy, and I'm busy chilling with my friends on facebook anyway". "I do not speak good English to clearly understand what the freak you are talking talking about" would also work for me too. I'm not the greatest English speaker either, but at least I'm not working for a huge US company in their CS section trying to communicate with their customers. It is not my job to speak great English, but it's your job to at least try and figure out what my problem is and help me out.
I cannot file a counterclaim, before making sure, that I am allowed to upload a save file on a third party site. And the only way to clear this up is talking with EA's CS and not  the Forum Mods...
By the way the rep seems completely unaware that there are several forum mods, as he mentions that i can contact "THE forum Moderator" so once again they have no idea what they are talking about. Not even bothering to criticize the Spartan answers or even the lack of ability to decently use the appropriate syntax on bigger than three word sentences.

And yes I do not thing the whole thing with all the reporting against me is just a coincidence anymore... I mean seriously, 3 times in 3 months? Someone , for reasons unknown does not seem to like me very much. And if my suspicions are true I'm pretty sure that EA can find out if anyone has been constantly reporting me and do something about it. Again clearly a CS issue.
I don't mind getting banned. It's the least of my problems. I have all my store stuff backed up, as i always do with everything else, and I won't be the first nor the last, to register a new account with the next pack.
But reporting me for distributing content that is copyrighted and not my own, is clearly pointing the finger at me for practicing illegal activities and I will not tolerate such a thing, when i have done nothing wrong. I have a nice clean criminal record and I want to keep it that way. Does "sue for slander" ring a bell to anyone?

I'm planning on contacting some of the Gurus. Also I went ahead and deleted anyone from my friendslist that I do not know, and of course I will no longer  be accepting friend requests from random people. As I said at the beginning I'm not social butterfly, I'm not hoping to become one nor even care if ever do or not. You like me? Good. You don't like me? Good again. Just leave me alone. I have more serious issues in my life to worry about and the last thing I need is to get accused for something I never did. I've never harmed anyone, and even if I did , I'll be glad to apologize and short things out with a nice civilized mature way. Throwing false accusations at me, that can get me in to serious trouble is evil, and i have done nothing to deserve that.

Hello Everyone

To who it might concern I'm still alive. :P Posting this to confirm your suspicions that I will not continue Eros's story. At least I currently do not have plans to. I'm getting easily bored with my saves, so no idea if i ever get back to him . I will post a more decent update in a few with a nice rant towards EA and more

Chapter 5: Gemmy, Scarlett and The Birthday Party

Saturday night, and we find Eros in a club kissing Gemmy

The music was kinda loud , so they had to yell to each other.
"Um don't you think we should go somewhere more private?"
"We can't go to my place, my roommate is going to be there"
"Is she as hot as you?"
"Ha Ha funny! She is as hot as me, but don't turn me off now OK?"
"Let's go to my place then"
They walked to his car and drove to his place. They didn't even care to turn on the lights. Only the lights from the pool where making the room a bit brighter.

"I really want you, baby"
"I want you too, stud"
"Can I have your roommate as well?"
"Shut up"

Firefighter Gemmy was the first one that spend the night in Eros' Place. She seemed to know this game pretty well, and, boy, she could play with fire. In fact Eros thought she was the fire herself. Could he play with fire?
"Crap! I'm late! I've never overslept before! Aren't you supposed to be in Payn now?"

"Slow down. It's Sunday. I do not work on Sundays"
"But I thought you were blabbing something about going to the base today, or was it the booze?"
"I have to go to the base to pick up something. It's my sons birthday today and I thought to give something that has something that has to do with daddy's job"
"You have a son?"
"Two of 'em. But I don't get to see them that much. Only on special occasions"
"So young and divorced already?"
"You are new to Longview, aren't you?It's a longer story than that, but since you are on a rush we'll talk about it some other time"
"Um , sure, got to run now...Kiss goodbye?"

And then she run off...But Eros did not have a number, or a last name.He run outside to ask her but she was already gone. How on earth would he contact her again? Well Longview was not that big, she would come to find him anyway, they all do...Wait a minute...Was Eros mind thinking all these? He wasn't the kind of guy that would worry if he ever saw a girl again...Was he getting soft?
Well after last years incident with Pary, he sure liked the independence Gemmy gave him, but was it independence or he had just been used???
As he drove to the base, he kept thinking about Pary, who lately started trying to contact him again, and Gemmy that left without leaving any trace behind.

As he walked in to the base, he found a weird, rather hot girl, wandering around
"Excuse me, this is a restricted area, how did you get in?"

"Hi , I'm Scarlett, you are..?"
"I am Eros Amore, I work here"
"Nice to meet you Eros, can you help me get in? A guy named Gus won't let me in"
"Why do you want to get in?It's a military base, you can't just barge in"
"I know that but i want to see the Blibbering Humdingers and the Umgubular Slashkilters you guys are bringing here from space. I want to take a picture of them"
"The what?"
"The creatures you bring here from the space!I want to take a picture of them to prove to my roommate that they really exist!"
"We bring creatures here from space?"
"C'mon don't give me that story too. I know you've been keeping alien animals here"
"We do?"
"Of course you do!"
Eros was looking at her completely dazed. Such a beautiful girl and so completely insane!
"Look, I can't get you in right now. Give me your phone number and I'll call you later today. I'll find a way to get you in later"
"Sure!Thanks a lot Eros!"

Later that day, he called Scarlett and invited her over. She accepted and in no time she was ringing his doorbell.
They chatted a while , especially about the whereabouts and habits of the Blibbering Humdingers and the Umgubular Slashkilters, until she jumped up of her seat and pointed at the guitar.
"You can play???!!!"
"Um... yes"
"Awesome!!! Play something for me!"
She was looking at him with such excitement, that he couldn't find the courage to refuse.

As he was playing the phone rung.Eros picked it up and knew exactly what was expecting him
"You are still home? Seriously? You totally forgot about it, didn't you?"
"No, Auntie, I was busy ...You actually caught me while I was leaving to come there"
"I know your business Eros, Regina was so right about this, get your butt here now!"
"Crap, I've got to go"
"But I just got here!You can't just leave me all alone here! It's rude!"
Eros was not planning to leave Scarlett in his place of course, but he was sure that if he tried to ask her to go, she might start talking about weird creatures again or ask him to play the violin or something. She might be insane but she was fun, looked quite harmless and well she was hot.
"You'll come along"
"Cool! Where are we going?"
"My sons birthday party"
"A party?? Awesome I love parties! But I'm not dressed properly! Do you happen to have a gown?"
Eros looked at her for a moment, completely flabbergasted, and after a few seconds looking at her with his jaw dropped , he finally snapped back to reality.
"No dear, it's a themed party, the theme is ..um..."come as you like"... OK?"
"Perfect! I'll go home and get my butterfly costume then"
"We are already very very late, so leave your butterfly costume for another time OK?"
"OK"
Being proud of himself, that he finally managed to reason with Scarlett, he led her to his car and drove off. Since the boys where brothers and their birthday was a week away. Auntie had told Eros that she would hold the party for both of the boys at the same day so he could have a chance to see Cedric as well. So there was a surprise waiting for him in Aunties place, that he did not expect,and with Scarlett's blabbing he did not really had time to thing about it. Regina.

"Oh , it's you"
"Hey Regina"
"You finally decided to show up? And how nice of you to bring company along. Auntie is going to be so happy about this"
Scarlett was waving frantically left and right, and jumping up and down in excitement
"Of course you didn't expect us to wait for you? The boys have already blown the candles and are almost ready for bed.Go and kiss them goodnight, and after that Auntie is waiting for you in the back yard.I'll let her know you are here and that you have also brought a maniac in the house"
Scarlett has already left his side, and was chatting with some guests, who looked bewildered and freaked out. Eros grabbed her arm and pulled her with him blurting a quick and low "I'm sorry" to the guests she has been talking to, and led her upstairs.
"Where are we going?"
"I'll introduce you to my sons"
"Why aren't they attending their own party?"
"Because they are almost sleeping"
"They are sleeping? I never sleep when I have a party! It's rude! Only if....Hey! You never told me it was a slumber party! Was that your wife down there? I'll ask her if she has an extra set of pyjamas to lend me!"
"Just stand here and wait for me. Do not go talking to anyone, OK?"
"OK"
Eros entered the nursery and was astonished to see two identical little boys staring at him. It's been a while since he last saw them, but he hadn't noticed before how much they looked like him. The only way he could tell them apart was their eyes. Dewayne had his mothers eyes, while Cedric had Eros's.
He first approached Dewayne's crib.
"Hello big boy, daddy is here. Happy birthday"
He pulled a toy rocket out of the bag he was carrying and gave it to the child, who was looking at him curiously

"Dadda?"
"Yes it's daddy, sweety. Sweet dreams"
He kissed Dewayne on the forehead and moved to Cedric's crib
"Hey there player, what's up? Daddy got you a birthday present too! Look!"
And another toy rocket came out of "nowhere"as probably Cedric thought, as he was looking at it completely lost

"Woket poof?"
"It's a rocket , yes! Goodnight to you too big guy"
He kissed Cedric on the forehead too and turned around to leave the room. He found Scarlett staring at him with the most amazing gaze. She looked so normal.
"That was the sweetest thing I've ever seen" she said
He had reached too close to her. They where looking in each others eyes for a few seconds. She pulled her hand and stroked his cheek, he could feel her soft lips pressing against his, and the time had stopped. He could feel every inch of her body pressing against him when he heard a voice behind them landing him back to reality

"You should be ashamed of yourselves!" They have been seen....

"I cannot believe you! Not only you forget about it, not only you arrive late once again, but you go and bring a nutshell in here that terrorises my guests , talking about Blibbering Slashsomethings or whatever they are called, and go making out with her right in the boys face! And you even let Writing Reg see you!Thankfully she is a very dignified lady that won't go blabbing about it to anyone, and came straight to me!You are so unreliable Eros! I should have listened to Regina, and not invite you. You don't care anyway"
"I'm sorry"
"That's all you have to say? You are sorry? I'm sorry I've ever met you! Just take your "date" and leave, OK? Just go!"
Eros did not even try to defend himself. He grabbed Scarlett , who was staring emotionless to a shrub, and got in the car. Auntie's words were harsh and partially true. He was unreliable. A bad father. He knew that. That's why he didn't want to have children anyway.Not because he didn't like children, but because he never learned to support them. But he did care. Even if Auntie and Regina did not believe it, he loved his sons and really cared about them. He just had no idea how to show it to them.
 Neither he or Scarlett talked in their way back to his place. Like if she knew he wanted her to pretend she didn't exist for a while.
When they arrived to his house, Scarlett silently followed him upstairs. She kissed him tenderly and slowly they started undressing each other. They where not speaking at all, and their lips only moved to meet the other's  ones

It was Eros who first spoke after at least two hours
"Thank you"
"For what?"
"For being quiet when I needed it"
"People might thing I'm crazy , but I know when to shut up"
"I really like you, Scarlett"

"What?"
"I like you, you are fun, in your own unique way of course , and supportive"

"Woa there big guy! you have to be kidding me!"
She got up and put her clothes on.
"I have to go. I need to go to the forest before 5am to find some Nargles. And i think you should get some sleep too. You don't want to fall asleep in the tank with the Umgubular Slashkilters, they'll suck your liver through your nostrils in no time!"
Eros bit his lip trying not to burst out laughing. She sure had a way to cheer him up.

"I just thought ,maybe you want to hang out more often." He said to her almost laughing,and completely certain she wouldn't refuse

"You are a good, attractive guy and all but you've got some issues and i'm not sticking around to deal with them"
She picked up her shoes, that Eros just noticed looked like honeybees, put a rugby helmet on and left.