Tails’ Blography

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 30 days later and I’m DONE DONE DONE!!!

It’s hard to believe but after hours and hours of typing, blisters on my fingers (not kidding!) and many a sigh later and I’m offically done with NaNoWriMo ’09!!

WOW what a feeling to have written a novel, or at least 50,000 words of one (it’s still not 100% complete)….and my bf was so proud of me, and was sitting right next to me as I finished! When I phoned my dad to tell him, he congratulated me and said he was so proud that I saw it through to completion, because I easily could have given up at any point.

I’m so exhausted! Having been off for a week while I was ill, I literally wrote a book in 3 weeks….wow. Just wow!

Now to take a 2 week break and then get editing with a fresh mindset! And there is the TGIO (Thank Goodness It’s Over) Party to look forward to this week! I’m so excited for my fellow nano’ers to have done this with me, whether you finished or not!

As a reward, I get to deck my house out in Christmas goodies and set up my tree!

I got a great surprise last night when the bf came home. He presented me with a toy to play with for the weekend…a 50mm f/1.8 aka the Nifty Fifty (nifty because its the best value for money for decent glass…its only R1299!)! For those who dont know, its basically a prime lens (one that doesnt zoom but stays at 50mm) that stops down to f/1.8. My current lens stops down to f/5 or so at 50mm, and f/3.5 at 18mm. Ok ok I can hear you saying “huh!??” already. Basically the f/1.8 makes the background in a photo blurry. The higher the number, the more in focus everything is. So at f/22, the background will be sharp (best for landscape photography) and at f/1.8, the background will be nice and blurry.

Got it?

Good.

So I get to play with it this weekend, and have already been harrassing my dogs for some nice photos, but they’re just not having any of it. In fact, Gizmo keeps looking away…purposefully! I didnt know dogs could be mean like that, after all, they’re supposed to be (wo)man’s best friend. Hurrumph.

Anyway, by Monday I’ll have to pass it back (boo!) but hopefully I’ll have some nice photos to show y’all. Some more good news is that I’ll be getting to play with a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens on the weekend of OC. That lens retails for around R14000!! Wee I am a lucky girl!

I’m also an angry girl, however, because I have a YouTube video tut waiting for upload, and I just cannot upload it. I dont know why YouTube just sits on “uploading…….” and never gets anywhere. SIGH. I’ll keep trying of course *said in a tired voice*

But for now, I’m off to play with my camera!

So my new camera finally arrived yesterday! I was on my way to the bank, and decided to check the PO Box for any mail (just in case, y’know) and wouldya believe it I found two collection notices for Speed Services Delivery! I almost missed it, as the 2nd one was a final notice to collect (would have been nice if the company had told me they’d sent it and sent my tracking number), but I didnt and that’s what mattered!

So I stood in line, and nervously collected my package (checking the contents before leaving). Everything arrived well packaged, the only thing missing was the tripod, but they emailed me about that already, so I that was fine. It’ll get sent when it arrives at their offices.

So after work, I got home and laid everything out on the floor and had a glorious hour of going through all the cool stuff that I got with the package (filters, lens, mini tripod, lens cleaning kit, screen guard and two lens adapters among other things). I put my 18-55mm f/3.5-f/5.6 IS lens on the body, added the UV filter, and applied a screen guard over the LCD screen (to prevent scratches – doesnt look that great, but ah well). I set the battery on charge while I got ready for a night out with some friends (might post pics later, if I find them on FB lol) and it just finished charging as we were leaving, so today is the first time I’ve had to play.

Spent a while setting different settings, just getting a feel for the menus and camera itself. Its a lot bigger than my Sony and certainly sounds different. Overall, its uber nice and I’m very, very pleased!

I have to give a shout out to Coza1Digital for their excellent service and absolute bargains! While they only deal via email, which made me nervous at first, they were quick and helpful every time I emailed or had a question. My order was sent promptly as expected and everything in good order, so a big “Thank You!” to them for their service! I found this to be an interesting read, something that a lot of businesses should apply – the world would be a much happier place in terms of service!

PS: While trying to figure out what to title this post, I realised it covered one of my 101 in 1001 items – in a big way! Score!!

(yes, thats me in the photo haha!) So the day I’ve been waiting for since 2007 finally arrived, June 2: The Sims 3 Global Release Day! Of course, as soon as I could, I pre-ordered my Collector’s Edition copy and my bf was so amazingly sweet to buy it for me as an early birthday gift!

“Collector’s Edition!?”, I hear you say.
“Yes indeed!”, I reply, with a knowing smile.
“What do you get with it?”, you enquire, intrigued.
“Aha!”, I say while rubbing my hands together gleefully…

The Collector’s Edition comes with the base game (which incidently is Mac-friendly), a free download of the European Styled Sports Car (see photo insert towards bottom of this post), R114 worth of SimPoints to spend online (total of 1000 points!), a Hints & Tips Guide (not as great as I thought…they really could have done more with this), and a 2gig green USB Plumbob™ Flashdrive (check out the photo, its just toooooo cute, seriously!!!). I dont think I’ll ever use the flashdrive (I have an 8gig anyway) lest it get sratched but its my first Collector’s Item of anything (my sister bought a gold Lord of the Rings authentic ring with elvish engraving and everything for R2k which is her Collector’s Item) and its super cute and I’m so proud of it!

As for the game, well it blows my mind! I’m extra happy with all the new features and how they’ve kicked it up a notch (pun intended, those who’ve played will know what I’m talking about…if they have hungry chef-sims hehe).

After playing for a while, my sim progressed to the dating stage, and eventually got married and had a kid. However, when she went into labour, she had the option of having the baby at home or at the hospital (new feature!). I chose the hospital of course. So I expected her to call a cab (she couldnt afford her own car at that time) but instead she hopped on her bicycle and cycled to the hospital…in labour!! Shortly after she arrived (you cant follow them inside, though its rumoured to be part of the expansions at a later stage) her husband ran in after her to be there for the birth, which I thought was a sweet touch.

After her own kid grew up to the teenager stage, she was working out at the local gym (here you can follow them inside) and an NPC-sim was working out in front of the gym’s TV. I noticed she was pregnant. Well, apparently doing jumping jacks in your final hours of pregnancy is a big no-no as she promptly went into labour. Other sims gathered around to watch, and I offered to take her to the hospital (also a new feature, and there’s me and that hospital again hehe) which I did…but this time in my car haha. Shortly after we went in, the father-to-be dashed in and my sim stayed to watch the birth (after which she had a happy Moodlet for the next while for Witnessing a Birth).

Other weird but funny things that have happened include a sim dying at my sim’s birthday party – talk about a mood killer! People kept mourning! But I guess thats what happens when you invite someone who’s on their death-bed haha.

There are so many cool things I just cant think of them all right now and it would take a bunch of pages for me to elaborate on anything (if you have questions, just ask!) but a few favourites are:

:: Ever-changing neighbourhood – really makes you feel a part of a community. Sims get married, move out, have kids, etc all around you all the time. (tip: read the newspaper daily for neighbourhood updates!)
:: CAS (Create-A-Sim) – this has been revolutionised and you can now make your sims as thin or as obese as you want. You can also customise everything from muscle tone to the shape of the tip of your sim-nose!
:: CASt (Create-A-Style) – this is what we’ve been waiting for FOR EVER! Everything is customisable! You can make matching furniture, clothing and shoes, wallpaper and flooring! Everything! I even made pink appliances!
:: New placement options – this bugged me quite a bit in TS2. If you had a couch that took up three squares, and a TV that took up two squares, you couldnt centre the TV with the couch. You could either have the TV aligned with the first two squares, or the last two…but now, you can work in half-squares, allowing things to be centred and you can finally place items at an angle to make a more pleasing layout!
:: Age control – you can choose whether your sims have short lives (25 sim-days) or longer lives (1000 sim-days)
:: New work options – during your working hours, you control how your sims spend their time. Choose from Word Hard to Suck Up To Boss to Slack Off. Each option has its own reactions and consequences, so choose wisely
:: Faster loading times – huge plus! Loading saved games are quicker as well as entering CAS/St within the game and this makes the whole purchase worthwhile on its own!

Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Of course I miss all the stuff I had in TS2, like weather and vacations, but I’m uber happy with TS3 and how they’ve created it! Very happy! Very, very happy!

So now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to Sim! Hehe!

So during my phase of baking, I decided for Christmas I wanted to make Gingerbread Cookies (as I’ve probably mentioned before). So I set out to find the cliche gingerbread man shape. Not the one with a fat body and tiny head, not the one with spindley arms, not the one with hands and feet…just your typical American 3″x3″ gingerbread shape.

I searched high and low through all the shops in my area…and then the ones outside of my area…and I even went so far as to ask an online friend to source one for me from America (thanks, Christy )…and then I found it!!! Hidden in an obscure location was a catalog on a baking website….the Wilton’s 101 Piece Cookie Cutter Set!! {cue Hallelujah choir singers)
Only one problem…its in Pretoria. I’m in Cape Town. To make a long story short, eventually after a lot of thinking, I managed to find someone who was willing to collect it for me, and post it to me They arrived today!!!! I hastely unpacked the 101 pieces, found the gingerbread man (right at the bottom!) and sighed in relief. This Christmas shall be complete with Gingerbread Man. Of course now I have 100 extra cookie cutters hahaha. Not to worry, with extras like dog bones, I plan on making doggie biscuits (for dogs), with the pumpkin/ghost/bat/scaredy cat cutters I can make halloween cookies, with the snowman/Christmas trees/stocking/candy cane/gingerbread men (there are actually 4: two small, two large – male and female of each) I can make Christmas cookies, and then there are some random themed ones like footballs and helmets (American Superbowl…not really our thing here though), hands and feet (for baby shower), transport (I assume for a bon voyage gift), animals like ducks, eggs, dinosaurs, etc for random cookies, and then the numbers and letters of the alphabet (and a question mark…hahaha I’ll wait for the “Will you marry me?” baking expedition from my bf….LOL)

Then I had to rush off to a Canon EOS Roadshow talk (very entertaining and believe it or not, R-18 what with the vaginal flatulance jokes and all! Dont ask haha). Came back, went through the cutters more slowly to check they were all there, and then……I couldnt pack them back into the bucket they came in. Whoops!

But, no fear, I’ll survive with my 101 cookie cutters haha.