The Weekly Update: 4/23/17

 
 

My tennis elbow is hurting too much to ignore and I’ve actually been trying to rest it the past couple days, so I don’t know how much commenting I’ll be able to do today. I might have to leave a quick, generic comment sometimes just to let you know I stopped by or only comment every other Sunday or something because Sundays are the hardest on my arm, but I don’t want you all to think I don’t care about your Sunday posts :-/ Even if I can’t always comment, I still plan to stop by to see what’s happening in your lives! And the rest of this was already typed, so…

*TRIGGER WARNING: even though what I’m about to say is about The Sims, it’s also about death and grief.* So I was playing the Sims 3 a bit last week, and I have this one game with a house full of eight sims. It’s modded so that it’s split up like two households, and I usually only play with one sim but can switch to the rest just to make sure they don’t starve or to make them do the cleaning or whatever, but that’s not the point. Most of the time, those other sims are doing their own things that I pay no attention to. And one of those other sims managed to drown in the pool. And I guess because I just never let my sims die (I turn aging off and restart the game at the last save if it ever accidentally happens), I’ve never actually seen this kind of thing before. And, seriously, this sim’s death was the saddest thing I’ve ever witnessed in all my years of playing! A bunch of the other sims came into the room to watch as the Grim Reaper showed up to take her away, right? Well, one sim was openly sobbing the entire time. Other sims had the saddest, most unhappy facial expressions I’ve ever seen sims make. Others started sobbing after she left. It was terrible! Afterward, one sim just sat somberly at the kitchen table drinking from a mug, staring at nothing, not speaking to anyone. I don’t think that was actually related to the death, but it was oddly fitting. Then, for days after that, all the sims would just randomly burst into tears sometimes. And if you’ve never played and think I’m kidding or exaggerating about any of this…

Sims Mourning Over Fellow Sim's Death

(The blond guy was the one sobbing the whole time. It was heartbreaking!) Also, during the same day (well, night), one of the remaining sims got abducted by aliens (another thing I had never experienced in the game) and was then dropped back off like an hour later, along with a new wish to have sex with an alien o.0 (Sims have wishes that you can fulfill and it makes them happier and gives them points you can use to buy certain things.) So this household is turning out to be all sorts of… interesting.

In real life, I’m having problems with ants aimlessly wandering around my apartment again and a roach infestation at the place I’m going to be moving to (and I’m terrified of roaches), but honestly I kinda just wanna pretend all the stressful things don’t exist at the moment, so I’ll just stick to talking about The Sims. Oh! And this video that I found on Twitter because I can’t stop laughing at it lol:

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Blog/Bookish Updates:

I won a $10 Amazon gift card in the Saturday Situation Comment Giveaway @ Pure Imagination! Thank you, Lori!

 

Books I Received for Review:

Reality Alternatives by Lesley L. Smith
 
 

Books I Finished:

Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Galdranorn and the Fury
The Human Wilderness by S.H. Livernois
 

I don’t know what’s been going on with my reading lately. Warm Bodies, Unhooked, Vicious, The Human Wilderness—I keep ending up with books that aren’t bad but just don’t grip me or make me feel invested or make me want to pick them back up every time I put them down. I keep turning to webcomics because regular books keep disappointing me. Speaking of which, Galdranorn is not on Amazon or GR, so I just linked to the comic. Not the most amazing story I’ve ever read, but it was enjoyable and the artwork was gorgeous! (And NSFW.)

 

Song of the Week:

“Pillow Talking feat. Brain” by Lil Dicky – This song is REALLY WEIRD but the video makes it really hilarious once you get past the sex in the beginning. I don’t agree with all the things either character says, but I still think the whole thing altogether is so funny, especially since this is definitely not what you think of when you think of pillow talk lol. Both the video and the lyrics are very NSFW though.

 
 

In Case You Missed It:

– I asked whether or not blogging is a creative outlet for everyone.
– I reviewed Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith, a crazy intense post-apoc w/ fantastic world-building and writing!
– I reviewed Pandora by Marguerite Labbe, a suspenseful, character-focused, M/M sci-fi that totally changed my opinion on BDSM in books (in a good way)!
– I created and did the Birthday Party Book Tag in honor of my birthday!

 

The Sunday Post Link-Up:

Once again, I’m linking up to The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer 🙂

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Have you found any great books, music, or videos recently?
Do you play The Sims?
Does it also crack you up when the one kitten is put on top of the other kitten??

 
 
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Your Thoughts

 

52 thoughts on “The Weekly Update: 4/23/17

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  1. Nannetter Demmler

    I had no idea that the Sims game was so realistic. Wow. That kitten video was the cutest thing ever. I once visited a shelter that had a kitten room and at the time they had around 50 of them. It was sort of like that video, especially when I tried to leave the room and they all wanted to follow me out. 🙂 Hope your elbow feels better soon.

  2. Di @ Book Reviews by Di

    Oh no Kristen! I’m sorry about your tennis elbow. 🙁 I did see on twitter that you’d managed to stay off your computer a bit and I hope that’s helping you and you’re able to chill out for a bit. I don’t mind a generic comment on my blog – I really don’t!

    I used to absolutely LOVE playing the sims and I would also turn off aging sometimes. I love that you still play it! I definitely will have to load it back onto my computer when I’m a bit more caught up on blogging and a bit more caught up on work!!! 🙂 For the record I’ve had someone die AND abducted by aliens. Geepers… Abducted by aliens used to happen when you used a telescope if I remember correctly?

    Also – I’m sad you didn’t love Vicious? I’ve heard such good things!?!?! I’ve not yet read a Schwab but I WANT TO.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks for understanding if I have to use genetic comments sometimes 🙂

      Yes you should start playing again! I just love TS3 and it never gets old because it never ceases to amaze me or surprise me. But my sims don’t even own a telescope! So apparently it can still happen.

      I’m sad too that I didn’t love Vicious :-/

  3. Greg

    Talk about herding cats! lol that cracked me up. There’s no way to control that many !! I love how at the end they’re jsut all going in different directions…

    That sucks about your elbow, hope you get some relief soon. And that Sims story is awesome! I mean, not awesome that he died, but seriously… the Grim Reaper comes to get them??? Wow. And aliens took another one? Dang…

    A roach infestation? I wouldn’t be going anywhere near that place lol but I hope they get it taken care of before you arrive? Yeah that would stress me out too. I frickin hate bugs anyway. Oh and your video… yeah. “Want to get a pizza? Fuck yeah”! lol… that cracked me up.

    1. Kristen Burns

      The Sims is full of all sorts of weird stuff lol, especially depending how you play it. I generally stick to the realistic side of things, which is weird since with books I read SFF lol.

      It’s either live there or live in my car. And they fixed the leaking pipe where the nest with hundreds of roaches was, but I keep telling then that’s not gonna get rid of all of them, and they keep denying there’s a problem and saying it’s normal to have lots of roaches -_- Glad you like the video lol.

  4. suzanna

    Sorry to hear you’re having all kinds of trouble with the elbow and bug invasion.
    I’m still laughing at the Pillow Talk video.
    Hope the Sims are more cheery soon

  5. verushka

    Oh no! Your tennis elbow sounds awfule — rest up!

    The Sims game is somewhat confronting — I never realised this game was so intense! And OMG, the kitties are SO cute!

  6. Evelina

    So sorry your elbow still hurts 🙁 it makes me sad, it’s been the third week I’ve been reading everyone’s updates, and everyone’s been having such a shit time, it seems :/ your elbow hurts, Hayley is sick, Kimba is ill as well, I’ve been having no-spoon days… Gosh 🙁 is everyone miserable :/ I just want everyone to be happy -.- right?

    I hope you get better soon :/

    I feel ya on the roaches. We’ve had them all my life (it’s an apartment and no matter what you do, they will come back from both the neighbours and the seams of the blocks, meh). You will.. Either get rid of them or get used to them. I hope you get rid of them though xD

    Oh gosh, that kitty video 😀 made my morning!

    Congrats on winning the giveaway too 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks. Sorry about your no spoon days, those are tough too :-/

      I lived with an infestation for years, and instead of getting used to them, the opposite happened. I went from just being scared of them to a legit phobia or something close to it. So I just can’t with roaches anymore.

      Glad you like the kitty video 😀

      1. Evelina

        We actually had something funny with the roaches happen. One year, these spiders appeared. They started eating the roaches. So I was like, don’t squash the spiders! There’s like 3 of them, they will eat all those roaches?

        …two years later we’ve got 100 roaches + 100 spiders. Okay, so I might have miscalculated there.
        #truestory

  7. Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium

    OMG roaches. My nemesis. Only worms are worse for me so I AM SO SORRY you are experiencing them! and so sorry too to hear about your elbow. Don’t know if you say it already but… have you had it checked??? I hate to think you are in so much pain 🙁 I have never played Sims. I once played War and got so caught up with it [like literally not sleeping and obsessively thinking about how my kingdom was doing ALL day] that even It took a couple of fights with B-Dad for me to quit playing l! I had to say NO WAY NO GAMES for me. since it seems I’m of gaming addictive nature. I used to play Resident Evil 24/7 before the kids too so I decided to stay away from them. It was such a scary experience I decided to include some of it in my WIP. So I can definitely believe and relate to all those reactions the players had. How did you react and feel?
    I’m hereby giving you a waiver to stop by and say hello. I always miss you terribly when you don’t but YOU NEED TO REST girl!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thank you, I’m really stressed about the roach thing :-/ No point in seeing a doc for my arm, I know what it is, and the only real cure is rest. Oh my, yeah you should prob stay away from games lol.

  8. Samantha

    Oh I haven’t played the Sims in forever but I have seen characters die before. Its SO SAD! I have been having an ant problem as well. Our mailbox was FULL of them. Like hundreds of ants. I refused to get the mail until my husband sprayed the box with raid. It was crazy! And gross. And creepy. Ugh! Hopefully you get all your bug problems worked out. Bugs give me the willies!
    Have a great week! I hope no more of your Sims die!

  9. Annemieke

    Oh wow. I played sims but never was able to maintain a household. I would lose my attention too quickly, haha. Interesting though. I hope your arm will get better with the rest. <3

  10. chucklesthescot

    Sorry to hear you are still in such pain. Maybe a Chinese herbalist could do something for you? I’ve never tried one but a lot of people do alternative therapy these days. Or maybe acupuncure? I shared a house for six months with woodlice when I was working near London and it was gross on every level. The darn things would not die! I worked in a hospital at one point who had cockroaches in the basement. When you switched on the lights you heard them scurrying to hide. Lovely stuff. I got used to working around them but I wouldn’t want to live with them…

    I don’t play any games at all through lack of time. I used to play Crash Bandicoot and Pac Man. My dad is the real gamer in the house. Sorry, I hate cats! I never look at cat videos!

    1. Kristen Burns

      If I could afford one, I’d try that :-/

      Awww, but all baby animals are cute! Well, except sloths. Those are just always creepy no matter the age lol.

  11. Michelle @Because Reading

    I know how sad it must have been but I am so sorry it made me laugh. The alien abduction is the best. Never had that happen. I made my girl Sim and the made a house of 5 guys. I was trying to decided which one I wanted her to be with. I finally found one guy I thought would work. I decided to visit. The house had 3 females and a bunch of babies in the house (all sleeping on the floor). I was like WHAT!!! The guy I picked had two kids plus the other woman was his girlfriend. I deleted their house and started over again. LOL

    I hope your elbow starts to feel better! 🙁 Have a great week, Kristen! Happy Reading! ox

    1. Kristen Burns

      I wasn’t even playing with that sim, so I didn’t really care about her death, but the way all the other sims reacted was crazy! Oh gosh, your baby story is hilarious lol. I’ve never seen something like that! Once I created a guy sim specifically for a girl sim and then he turned out to be gay and I wasn’t gonna force the guy to be in a straight relationship so that plan didn’t work. Damn sims messing up or plans lol.

      Thanks!

  12. Lampshade Reader

    So sorry about your elbow.

    I would say I’m sorry about the death of your SIM but it seems like their world became more entertaining for you! LOL –I was laughing the whole time you were explaining the situation. (I’m evil) LOL

    Awe I love the kitties! Hope you have a great week 🙂 ~Aleen

    1. Kristen Burns

      This household HAS become really entertaining. But don’t worry, if you knew about the way lots of people play The Sims, or how everyone who ever played the original purposely killed sims just for fun sometimes, you wouldn’t feel so evil lol. Thanks!

  13. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    Ok, that video was hilarious! Like, I was a bit confused at first but then it got funny. And then the aliens came! And then there was brain. And God. Just, everything about it was spot on. I will be watching that again when I need something funny to watch.

    Anyway, sorry to hear your tennis elbow is playing up again. That sucks, I hope you can rest it up soon so you can at least so everyday stuff if nothing else. I’m also currently picturing an army of ants just marching through your living room if your house. I hope they get rid of the roaches before you move. I would be freaked out by them, they’re so weird!

    I completely relate to your sims problems. They are so dramatic when something happens to them. It’s like world ending stuff no matter what. I always find a little funny how OTT they are when a sim dies but yours seemed a little traumatised by it. I am way more controlling of my sims. I control every action so random deaths hopefully don’t occur and if they do I get really annoyed. It doesn’t factor into my plans.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I’m glad you liked the video too! I’ve watched it like five times already lol.

      Thanks. They keep denying that the roaches are problem though and I keep arguing -_-

      That one guy has the brooding trait, and I think it makes him more emotional. I seriously felt so terrible for him though when he was sobbing the whole time! I micromanage the hell out of my sims too, but like I said, this household is a different thing. It’s like I have my one sim, and the seven (now six) others are like roommates, so I don’t control them much. But if I want, I can switch over while in game to play them, which is useful. I just made it this way to make the game more fun/interesting/realistic for my one sim.

  14. Stacy Renee @ LazyDayLit

    I actually miss playing The Sims sometimes, though it’s been years for me. I remember I had a whole graveyard going at one time.
    Oh, that’s disappointing about all the mediocre books. I was hoping Vicious would be good since I loved her Shades of Magic series. 🙁
    I hope you have a great week, Kristen! 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      I’ve gone years without playing before, but I always come back to it! Haha, I’ve never been the make a graveyard type of player, I love my sims too much to let them die. Vicious was my first Schwab book, so if you like her others, you might like Vicious more than I did! Thanks 🙂

  15. Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    I’ve been having a lot of issues with my arm/elbow for the past couple of months too and I’m worried that it’s a tennis elbow sort of thing. Sometimes it gets so bad that picking up a small item hurts (the opening and closing of my hand sometimes triggers the pain). I’m scared to find out what it is because I don’t want to stop using my computer! (I know this is NOT sound thinking, by the way). The Sims thing sounds absolutely heartbreaking—I had no idea the game was like that. But those kitties are adorable and they made me smile from ear to ear!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Prob either tennis elbow or carpal tunnel. You could always Google, that’s what I do, haha. And don’t worry, I’m not one to judge since I’m the worst at resting injuries lol.

  16. S. J. Pajonas

    My oldest child plays the Sims occasionally so it looks like I should have some talks with her about her Sims dying. Thanks for the heads-up on that one! Sorry your elbow is hurting so much. I wish there was something you could to do get it fixed. 🙁

    1. Kristen Burns

      It’s normally not so sad or serious, most people kill sims on purpose for fun or to make graveyards or to get other sim’s money or to bring the grim reaper so they can befriend or various other weird things lol, but not a bad idea if you wanted to use it as a springboard into serious conversations.

  17. Jane @ Raincity Librarian

    What the what? That Sims experience just sounds a bit too traumatic for me. :'( I’ve never actually played The Sims – I’m not much for computer games, but my husband is a big RPG player, so I’ve been a backseat player for a bunch of his games. 😉

  18. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    I’m sorry your elbow is acting up. My husband keeps wanting me to go to the Doc or Quick Care facility but I know what aggravates it, but my job involves typing so even if I stopped recreational computer use, I still use them at work and I can’t take a week off so…..

    Sorry about the bug problems – I hate bugs. Although I hate snakes more. I LOVED the kittens are you are right about the one on top. Hope you read some awesome books next!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Exactly, I know what aggravates it, doctor’s just gonna tell me not to use the computer.

      Idk, not sure if a roach or a snake infestation would be worse, haha. I’d much prefer a kitten infestation 😉

  19. Lola

    I am sorry to hear your tennis elbow is hurting so much. I hope the pain is getting less soon. The Sims is pretty realistic at some parts. I remember a Sims game I played once with a family and the mother died and eventually one of the character befriended the Grimm reaper I think.

    That kitten video is so cute, I saw it earlier this week somewhere. I follow some animal pages on fb so I see some cuteness during my day, it can really cheer me up sometimes.

    Sorry to hear you’ve been picking up some books that don’t really grab you, but it does sound like you found some good webcomics! I hope you’ll have a great week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks 🙂 And yeah, I think they can befriend the grim reaper, but I’ve never tried that. I’m kind of boring with how I play, haha, never trying the weird things.

      I’ve become addicted to webcomics lol. Thanks, same to you!

  20. Cee Arr

    I don’t game that much, but when I do, I manage to accidentally kill myself. A lot. Like, in the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, I tried to make Link jump to get a gem thingummy… so… I kind of jumped off a cliff, bounced off a house, fell in the ocean, and drowned. I really didn’t think that was possible – but apparently it is!

    Thanks for the webcomic link, I’ll have to check it out 😉

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lmao that really doesn’t sound like something that’d be possible, which makes it even funnier. Let me know what you think if you end up reading GatF!

      1. Cee Arr

        I ended up reading GatF yesterday – I liked it, although I did have one or two issues with it. I’ll be writing a li’l bit about it in my comics wrap-up. Thanks for letting me know about it! 🙂