Attack of the Lag

So last Saturday night I went on a downloading binge on MTS and then my game became laggy. It’s not as laggy as it was last summer, but it took 14 minutes to load an 8 Sim household that’s like 3 or 4 weeks old in game. And once the game fully loaded, it acted slow there, too. You know how if you go to a new room everything is white or gray at first? It stays white for a longer amount of time for me. And changing camera angle stuff takes forever now.

I wanted to see if it was just that game, but I went to my other Twinbrook family and they were laggy, too. Geez. I didn’t know a few teen clothes would be the apocalypse.

So this week I didn’t have that much homework, so we uninstalled a lot of stuff. But last night, it was still laggy. :/

I understand that that’s what happens when you download CC, but after like Generation 5 in the Timbersons, the game took literally hours to load but everything was better once the game started, and we had like twice the CC and 5 generations of Sims, including in laws for everyone. This is just an 8 sim household where everyone’s single. EA, if you’re going to be glitchy, at least be consistently glitchy. *rolls eyes*

One Year!

Today’s the one year anniversary of this blog! And for nostalgic purposes, here’s a link to the first post I made. According to that list, I still have to make a Self Sim (I have one but that was before I got better custom content) and Timberson posts. And I have a math quiz tomorrow. That’s kind of like algebra homework.

And when’s the Royal Wedding? Friday, 4 AM or Saturday, 4 AM? Because every source I check says a different thing.

The Armenian Genocide

-This post is about the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians. If you don’t want your holiday mood ruined, you know what to do.-

Today’s the 96th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In 1915, the Ottoman Turks exiled and killed 1.5 million Armenians. But why I’m bitter about it is because Turkey and the US don’t recognize it, and people ignore that it happened. Heck, you probably haven’t even heard of Armenia, let alone the Armenian Genocide. Here’s some personal experiences I’ve had with the Genocide.

- Last year in English, we were going to read a book about the Armenian Genocide, because to quote my teacher, ‘nobody ever talks about the Armenian Genocide’. The book itself was called Forgotten Fire! But the next week she decided that we had to read a book about the Holocaust because ‘it was much shorter than Forgotten Fire’. But after we read that other book (Night), we had to read it’s sequel because it was too short.

- At lunch one day, somehow the Armenian Genocide came up at our table, and a Jewish boy (I’m not trying to be racist, just pointing out the irony that someone who was indirectly affected from the Holocaust would say this) said the Armenian Genocide as ‘A million ‘Ethan’s(Turkish kid) beating up a million 'Dylan’s(Another Armenian kid). The whole table laughed. I felt so repulsed. If I said the Holocaust was a million Heidi Klums or whatever beating up a million Fran Dreschers, I’d be exiled from the school and I’d be on the front page of Yahoo or something, not applauded.

And during the ‘08 election, Barack Obama said he’d recognize the Armenian Genocide. 3 years have gone by, but he hasn't used the word ‘Genocide’ yet. All the Armenians I know are angry about it, but I’m not that upset. It’s annoying, but I’d rather have the economy fixed or whatever before having the Genocide recognized. Not to mention, every president since 1915 has denied it. What makes Obama the chosen one?

And sadly, not recognizing the Armenian Genocide will make history repeat itself. As cliché as it sounds, other ethnic massacres have been ‘inspired’ by the Armenian Genocide. Here’s a quote by Hitler about it.

Our strength is our quickness and our brutality. Genghis Khan had millions of women and children hunted down and killed, deliberately and with a gay heart. History sees in him only the great founder of States. What the weak Western European civilization alleges about me, does not matter. I have given the order—and will have everyone shot who utters but one word of criticism—that the aim of this war does not consist in reaching certain geographical lines, but in the enemies' physical elimination. Thus, for the time being only in the east, I put ready my Death's Head units, with the order to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish race or language. Only thus will we gain the living space that we need. Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?

Yeah. And then there’s the Rwandan genocide. And Libya can become like Armenia if we don’t do anything. History has already repeated itself 3 times (And these are only the ones I, a spoiled teenager, know about. What am I forgetting?). Let’s not continue the cycle.

I know I can’t do anything about it besides spread awareness. That’s the goal of this blog post: To spread awareness.  It’s not like there are that many Armenian celebrities to spread awareness about it, because there are the Kardashians, who don’t sound like the type to talk about the Armenian Genocide, Kim has this post on her blog. The only other Armenian celebrity I can think of is Jack Kevorkian… but he’s a doctor in trouble with the government, so yeah, no.

And Turkey denies it. They say that it was a civil war, not a Genocide. That’s just messed up. If it was a civil war, why wouldn’t they want it to be recognized? Why isn’t there Turkish literature or stories about the genocide? Why do they still have all their land? Why do they get rid of journalists who report the Genocide? Why are there pictures of Armenian refugees scattered across the Middle East?

Yeah, I’m extremely emotional on this topic, but who wouldn’t be?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! If you celebrate it, anyway. And Happy Passover, if anyone celebrates it.

I’m going to my Aunt’s house for dinner with the family today.

-The next part of the post talks about acne. If you're grossed out by that stuff, then you know what to do.-

And I gave up chocolate and McDonald’s for Lent. My face has like no acne now! I mean, there are still acne scars (I learned this from a commercial from TeenNick ) but my face looks less like a pepperoni pizza now. But my Mom bought a lot of chocolate, not including the Dove Chocolate bunny I got for Easter, so… yeah. We’ll see how that turns out.

That Was Fast

My school week is already over. And I had no homework this week, too. I have some this weekend, but I could manage it.

In Spanish, we have to do a project where we make a fake soap opera. I’m working with SS for it. A senior girl is working with us because she’s the only senior in the class and our group needed people. Things were working out fine, until another girl, ‘Julia’, joined. Actually, Julia was in another group, but Julia has a rep of being a workaholic control freak, so her other group kicked her out. No, I’m not making this up. 2 other members of Julia’s old group were talking in my history class which we had a few hours before Spanish, and they were thinking of ways to get Julia out of the group. Apparently, they didn’t even tell Julia she could go in, and she assumed she could, on her own.

So Julia joined and things went downhill. We spent at least 5 minutes giving each other our emails because she has three and thought it would be helpful to give us all of them. She wanted to write the script by herself this weekend, even though we already agreed to write it together after school next Monday. The Spanish Teacher stood behind our group just to eavesdrop and laugh. :\

Then Senior Girl told SS and I that we should suggest stuff, too. I said we could do like a Jerry Springer type of show, and SS and Senior Girl liked the idea. Julia, however, doesn’t know was Jerry Springer is, so we just summed it up as ‘a talk show where people talk about their problems but fight’. She just heard the talk show part and assumed we were going to be doing a Dr.Phil type of thing. But Senior Girl told her to look it up on YouTube, so we’re doing a Jerry Springer thing. IDK if we’re allowed though, because it’s soap operas and it’s a talk show, but whatever.

After class, my teacher talked to me and said if we needed an ‘outside force’ (Her) to talk to one of the group members (Julia) about being overbearing, we could just ask. But I don’t want to. I mean, she already got kicked out of one group and she has good intentions. I don’t want to hurt her feelings or anything, because that would be cruel and she’s not exactly the most popular person in the class already. But Julia is probably the most hardworking student in the class, or in the Top 5, anyway. It can’t be that bad, right?

This is why I hate group projects.

If I Could Turn Back Time

(Cher reference )

Spring break is over, so I won’t be on as much. I regret sitting around and doing nothing most of it, but then again, I didn’t have expectations. This week I only have 4 days of school, though which is good.

Oh, and I’m almost done with Season 4 of Degrassi. I started last Sunday.  

So… yeah. Bye, for now.

New Generations Info

I read some new stuff on Generations. I’m still gonna wait a while to get it though, like Christmas or Black Friday waiting. The only thing that would convince me otherwise is like, a winning lottery ticket or a billion SimPoints or something.

• Imaginary Friends- eh. They sound creepy. They look like SimBots or something and they appear from nowhere? You could have romantic relations with them?… Yeah, that’s not weird at all.
• Day care career- It sounds okay for spouse hunting in legacies. But are they gonna be actual kids from townies or people we’ll never see again?
• No new town- I’m bummed. They could’ve have a cute little 50’s town with suburban houses, or something. It could’ve have retro rabbit holes, like the Diner could’ve been a milkshake place with a jukebox or something. XD But they have the 50’s store set, so that probably has something to do with it. But maybe because there’s no new town, it’ll cost less? I remember I read that the new towns have to do with the cost, like a WA formula: 3 towns (3 * 10) + 10 dollars of online bonuses = 40 dollars.
• New community lots- I hope they put effort into them and people actually will go there.
• Treehouses- Yes, this gets its own category. I hope that it won’t be like the Jungle Gym thing which is horrible for pictures. Seriously, it’s too small and there’s no good camera angles for anyone. I heard you could use it to spy on others or do pirate attack stuff, which sounds fun.
• Rabbit hole schools: This sounds really good. Apparently, you could send kids to schools like military academies or sports academies, but it’s out of town. I’m happy because it could clear out slots in legacy houses, and I could use them to play around with genetics until I get the combo that I want.  
• Bunk beds & Loft beds- Amazing! I didn’t know what Loft beds were, but I Googled them and wow! They look cool.

All my info was from here.

Lady GaGa Rant

I’m not a fan of her new image. I mean, at least with Born This Way she was kind of trying to be equal for everyone, but with Judas it feels like she’s trying to offend people. I don’t even understand the lyrics because they’re incomprehensible because of the techno sound effect stuff. And really? Could she pick a worse time to release the song? Easter, Palm Sunday and Holy Week are next week. At least when Kelly Clarkson had a song called Judas, it was about being betrayed by someone, not whatever the lyrics are. And based on the Wikipedia article, it feels like she’s praising him.

I miss it when she sang about fame and was less abstract. I started disliking her with the Alejandro video, but Judas completed it.

I admit that I’m offended by it because I’m a Christian, but the song also masks her vocal talents. It feels like her videos are getting sloppier, too. Honestly, anyone could go the clearance aisle of a costume store and add ‘symbolism’ to everything. And her fans have gone rabid. If you dislike her, you’re automatically a racist homophobe who’s inbred, or something. What happened to being open minded, Little Monsters?

I like her metal remixes on YouTube. Well, they’re not hers, but people just made their own metal remixes of her songs. They sound better than Judas, IMO.

Oh, and I hate watching her on YouTube because her page got sold out to VEVO, a corporation thing that adds a million advertisements before, during, after videos and on their official YouTube pages, along with an annoying username.

Now, it’s time to add a bunch of videos to this post. I won’t link to the song itself because I don’t feel like giving Lady GaGa anymore views or hits, but yeah.

EDIT: That’s disgusting. I just went on a Judas video for Kelly Clarkson and a bunch of ‘Little Monsters’ just commented with Lady GaGa’s lyrics. Real mature, kids.

Judas by Kelly Clarkson. Unofficial music video.

A Lady GaGa rock remix.

Another rock remix.

Alejandro- Rock remix.

What do you think of the new GaGa?

Degrassi Season 3 Review

I finished up Degrassi Season 3 last Friday. This season has really matured since Season 2. The plots have gotten more serious and it feels less like a Disney sitcom. This has also been the first season with reoccurring themes and plots, like less standalone episodes. So, the reviews will be a little different from now on. But first, the like/neutral/dislike table with a new category: Why are you even on my screen?.

Name:	Category:	Reasons:
Paige	Like	She’s slowly turning from the Queen Bee into an actually nice person. And she didn’t suffer from Plot Induced Stupidity Syndrome.
Ellie	Like	She’s interesting, but I think she ‘outed’ Marco kind of poorly. I like her relationship with Sean.
Ashley	Like	A lot of the fanbase hates her, but she’s one of my favorites. I think anyone would be pissed if their boyfriend cheated on them. Most teenage girls I know act as overdramatic as Ashley, so her characters is pretty accurate. And I like her hair and singing, too.
Terri	Like	She’s a nice friend but… that’s it. The writers didn’t use her a lot, which kind of makes her a 1 dimensional character. At least it was her decision to leave the show.
Sean	Like	He’s so far the only boy that’s not extremely irritating or out to get the ladies. I like how’s he responsible-ish, and he’s more mature than the other guys (Spinner, JT, Toby)
Emma	Like	I’m warming up to her for several reasons. Miriam McDonald looked like she actually slept for more than 20 minutes in this season; her character was interesting in Manny’s plots, and Emma and Chris were a cute couple, although I don’t think anyone expected them to be soul mates, though.
Jimmy	Neutral	He did nothing this season. His acting bored me and… I don’t even remember anything about him. Let’s hope he gets better from season 4 and on *cough school shooting*. I like him with Hazel, though.
Hazel	Neutral	She’s boring. But she did nothing for me to hate her, so… yeah.
Marco	Neutral	I liked him in Pride, but I don’t like how he expects the worse to happen out of everything. And all of his plots revolve around homosexuality, but that’s the writers’ fault.
Liberty	Neutral	She got better this season, but she’s still a bit nerdy. But we’re all nerdy on the inside, so… yeah. I guess I like how she’s learning to let go sometimes. Like, she’s not stalking JT anymore and she accepted Sean’s rejection of her.
JT	Neutral	I don’t like how he left Toby & the crew but I don’t like Toby, so it’s okay. I like how he was close with Manny at the end of the season, but based on the episode Mercy Street,… yeah, no.
Toby	Neutral	He’s boring and I dislike him from previous seasons, but I feel bad for him because of JT leaving him.
Manny	Dislike	Oh God, where do I begin with Manny. Her makeover is the wrong way to approach guys, she annoyed me in the love triangle and she ruined her friendship with Emma so many times. The only thing that redeemed her this season was hooking up with JT, but I just finished Mercy Street, so that ship has sailed. And she kind of looks like my cousin who’s only 14, so .
Craig	Dislike	The love triangle, basically. And the hat he wore in Holiday. And he expected Manny to keep the baby AND Ashley couldn’t be sad or angry because he cheated on her.
Spinner	Why are you even on my screen?	He conned a lot of people into trading their lockers just for Paige, he outed Marco cruelly, he treated Dylan like his personal chauffer (Is that the driving one?) monkey, his hair sucked, he’s intolerant, he encouraged Craig to cheat… the list goes on and on.

Now, time for the reoccurring plot reviews:

• Manny’s new look

I dislike this plot because it’s not Manny’s look that bothers me, but how she thinks that’s the only way she could get guys. Ashley, Emma and Paige all got guys without being slutty. And it’s her behavior that’s annoying, too. Not dressing like a 5 year old and being Maury material are 2 different things. Like, most of the sluts at my school know not to break up a relationship or have some morals, or act like sluts if they’re single. For Manny, she could be married and she’ll still fool around. And she tried to get Emma’s friendship back so much after she screwed it up. Heck, she even used Mrs. Nelson-Simpson but screwed that up, too. The abortion episode wasn’t my favorite episode of her, and I’m surprised some pro-life group hasn’t said ‘Abortions are only used by slutty teenagers who are cheating on other people’ or something, but it’s a Canadian teen drama, so it’s not like any pro-life group knows about it. Oh wait, The N banned it in the US for 2 years because of protestors.

• Marco’s homosexuality

It’s not Marco being gay that annoys me. It’s that he’s only ‘the gay one’. And he annoyed me in The Power of Love. Oh, and his relationship with Dylan seems shallow. And once again, the writers make it seem like ‘there’s 2 gay people in the same school! They’re soul mates!’. But it’s not Marco’s fault, so… yeah.

• Sean & The Sesame Street Gang

I could see why Sean would leave JT & Toby because he’s not with Emma anymore, but I’m pretty sure that Jay & the Sesame Street Gang (My term for poser gang people) aren’t the only other guys in the school. I think they didn’t have to steal Snake’s laptop and they were just immature in general. I guess I like them individually, not as a group. If that makes sense.

• The Ashley/Craig/Manny Love Triangle

I think that both parts sucked. I didn’t want Ash and Craig because Craig cheated on her, but I disliked Craig and Manny together. I think Ash wasn’t a prude and Craig should’ve dump her if he wanted to be with Manny. But whatever gives Ashley Kerwin more screentime, the better.   

• Terri and Rick

I see where Terri was coming from for not dumping him, because she’s plus sized and it’s not like she could be picky about who she dates and whatnot, but she could’ve just hang out with him in groups. I’m surprised nobody reported him to the authorities or anything. I wish Christina Schmidt (sp?), Terri’s actress, didn’t leave the show because I’m gonna miss her, and I’d rather have her graduate out of the story than be transferred to another school. At least she gets to teach people about abusive relationships.

School Lunch Rant

I have spring break this week, but I’m blogging about… school. I know, what a shocker.  

Anyway, a school in Chicago banned students from bringing in their own, homemade lunches. This is ridiculous. They claim they’re doing it because homemade lunches are only Cokes and other junk foods, as opposed to the wonderful healthy foods they serve. What. I’m sorry, but that’s just bullshit.

Sure, I know some kids whose parents forgot to give them money that morning so they usually just go to a drive-through that morning and get something off a dollar menu. I know people who bring Cokes as their own lunch. Heck, my own lunch consists of a bagel with cream cheese, iced tea or some other juice box, and a ‘dessert’ thing like peanut butter crackers, a muffin, cookie, Ritz crackers, and so on. I know, I’m spoiled. But yeah. Sure, some meals are unhealthy, but it’s not as bad as what schools serve, and some people bring in healthy food.

In my high school, seniors are allowed to go out for lunch. We have a lot of restaurants in the area, so they just order To Go then they eat it at school. Most people go to fast food places, but I see some healthier options, occasionally.

That ban is just a scam, in my opinion. At my friend ‘Ashley’s school, the freshmen aren’t allowed to eat out because Ashley’s school’s lunches are so horrible that if they offer people to go out, nobody would eat at the school and they’d lose money, so freshmen have to eat at the school. My friend ‘Clare’ also went to Ashley’s school, but Clare was a senior, so she went out to eat everyday. So, yeah. Ashley’s school forced freshman to stay in for lunch just so they could make money. And I know from an animal welfare club I’m in at school, we’re not allowed to sell stuff or offer food during lunch because it might take away business from the lunch people.

So… yeah. It’s stupid that they’re forcing kids to eat chemicals and other horrible stuff (Although kids with allergies get to bring their own lunches in) just for money. And I heard that Red Dye 40 makes kids hyperactive, so if they’re making kids hyperactive, then punishing them for being hyperactive… yeah.

Then there’s the costs. I know homemade lunches are sometimes expensive (Not like buying a new car expensive but compared to lunches), but I’ve seen people eat leftovers from the night before, which would be way cheaper than at least an additional 2 dollars a day. And just because the daily lunch is 2.70 or something (In my school), doesn’t mean people won’t buy additional stuff like mozzarella sticks (1 or 2 dollars), cookies (.50 cents each), drinks (1 dollar at least) and vending machine stuff (at least 1 dollar). Sure, these prices are for my school alone, but someone could hypothetically eat 5 dollars of food in one day, as opposed to leftovers from last night’s dinner or PB&J or something.

Banning homemade lunch is like turning off sinks and water fountains and plumbing in general during lunch because it’s competition to the overpriced and crappy water bottles they sell in the cafeteria. And what, are they going to convert 50 students to school lunch buyers? Is 100 dollars a day going to add up for the expenses of hiring the food provider people? :/ And are they going to walk up to people who bring their lunch and say ‘no, you can’t have that!’ and take it away?

And a last note, which is paraphrased from a comment I read on the Yahoo! article: Does this apply to teachers and principals, too?

Side note: I’m craving fast food now. xD But for Lent, I gave up McDonalds and Chinese food (In addition to Dove Chocolates) so I have to wait another two weeks. The Subway workers memorized my order because I only go there now. So… new restaurant time.

England

All About Style, one of the better CC websites I’ve seen, has created a Kate Middleton set. I think they kind of nailed it, although I don’t know if I’d actually get any of them. Some of them look similar to default stuff, but then again, they’re making Kate’s wardrobe, not their own dresses, so yeah. I like the hair, though. And the third dress is probably my favorite, probably because I’ve seen the original one so much. It’s kind of annoying but refreshing for the media’s obsession with them. It seems like Kate and Will truly love each other and it’s nice to see something good happen, for once. I don’t like how there’s a lot of ‘buy Kate Middleton’s engagement dress/ring/toothbrush/etc. knock-off to celebrate the special day for 19.99! It’s the gift of a life time!’. Just let the couple have their special day.

And I was right. FarmVille did let me go to the English Countryside after waiting a while. And I went… and there’s nothing. Which is kind of stupid because they pumped it up so much since February. They were all ‘Sheep Breeding! New crops! Themed items! Fertile land!’ and everything but when you go there, there’s literally nothing besides a few plots of land, some default animals and trees, and a cottage or two. I hope things get better. I mean, it truly sounded fun but it’s even worse than when FarmVille originally started out in 2009.

Spring Break!

Hi guys! I have spring break this week!  

That’s it, lol. I’m gonna be playing a lot of Sims and watching a lot of Degrassi.

And the weather has been good so far *knocks on wood*.

The Result(s) of my Downloading Spree

Remember how I said I started to learn how to download CC Saturday? I went on a downloading spree, and this is what I got…

Yes, a single Newsea hair. Well, not like a hair off of Newsea themselves, XD. That would be creepy. But like one hairstyle designed by Newsea.

Everything else I wanted was .package format.

But still, I love this hairstyle. I like the bangs and how they’re organized but not too organized and how the hair isn’t too majestic horse-ish or whatever. Sure, I don’t think I’ve seen someone with this IRL, but it looks better than a lot of other hairs that look like this, or try to get this result. It looks better in game, but I forgot to take pictures, so… yeah. I want to know where Newsea got the name, though. Like seriously, is Janine or whatever too unoriginal?

Oh, and I got the TMobile EA content. If you don’t have the code yet, it’s GET CONNECTED. But you could only unlock one a day, so start getting the stuff you like the most before EA ends the promotion.

 

… Did I just take your trademark, SS?

Finally

ABCFamily announced that they’re going to have new episodes of Melissa & Joey starting June 29, 2011. It’s really late, but this way there will be little to no competition for other Tuesday night shows (American Idol, Glee, etc.). Besides, other comedies have been screwed over unfairly by ABCFamily over the same Tuesday Night Death slot. 10 Things I Hate About You had to compete against Glee, and a bunch of other shows I forgot since I read about it being cancelled. I was surprised that they kept around a sitcom with 2 aged sitcom stars rather than a fun teen dramedy with 2 teens and an attractive cast.

They also have several new shows on the way. The Great State of Georgia features Raven Symone who moves to NYC to follow her acting dream. It’s gonna be on the same night as Melissa and Joey, too. I’m only interested in this show, to be honest. There are 3 others planned, with 2 of them being dramas and the other one not specified as a drama but it’s about a twin who wants to find out who murdered her sister, according to Wiki, so I don’t see how that’s not a drama.

But yeah… I have a feeling Raven and Mel & Joe are gonna be screwed over because the network treats comedies horribly.

I’m in a CC mood

I just learned how to download Custom Content not from the exchange. Well, SS was telling me exactly what to do each step in the process so I won’t screw up. I suck at the whole CC scene. But yeah. I’ve had the game since… December 27 2009?

It doesn’t help that I’m reading a Sims 3 Custom content related magazine, Sensation. It’s more like Sim Modeling and stuff, and they creatively mention what CC to get. Like, it’s not like ‘so and so made this dress. Download it now!’, but more subtle stuff like dresses for fun nights out.

In other news, the weather is getting better here. And it didn’t really snow that much yesterday around here. I saw Massachusetts in the news and they had a lot of snow, to the point of shoveling. o.O