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Some of them are old-ish. Sorry!

On the topic of nightlights…

simper-fi said: I’m the same way with a nightlight :3

Nightlights rule! I’m sleeping so much better with one than without. Of course, the best option is to have someone else sleep in that room with you but that’s not always an option…

Last weeks replies

didilysims said: Thanks for the Tellerman reminder! I didn’t make that connection the first time. 🙂

You’re welcome!

Kaylynn’s house

didilysims said: That classy wallpaper with the uni school spirit flag really fits Kaylynn’s character. 😀

TWINS!

didilysims said: Twins just love poor families!

Well, Kaylynn does have the fertility reward. I should just stop giving that to EVERY family sim in this hood.

GLS statue

holleyberry said: I actually had a whole scene, during Don and Cassie’s date in my story where this was discussed.

I probably read it, but, to be honest, I currently have the memory of a goldfish. I handed out drinks today and almost poured coffee ‘into’ a saucer instead of a cup- three separate times!

arin-arryn said: I thought it was a shoe, hahaha!

Funny thing! I showed it to my boyfriend and he said exactly the same! I guess it does look a bit like a shoe.

MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | „FORGET“ OFFICIAL VIDEO

I was tagged by @holleyberry.

Rules: Pick a song that lifts your mood. Pick 10 people. Lift them up. Keep it going (no obligation) Share the music, share the love.

Marina and the Diamond’s “Forget” is the one song that manages to lift my spirits no matter how I feel, so here’s a link.

Since I’m a bit late as always and I’m really not good at tagging people (and anxious about forgetting someone), I’ll just tag ANYONE who hasn’t done it yet and wants to. Have fun!

MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | „FORGET“ OFFICIAL VIDEO

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Wait, she’s pregnant?

didilysims said: Dun dun dun

Dun, dun, dun indeed!

Paying off those loans… and wohooing

holleyberry said: Congrats you guys! Don’t ruin it by having another baby.

Oh, I think she’s getting too old to have another one.

Cressida Copur

littleblondesim said: love the name!

Thanks, I’ve had a soft spot for that name ever since I watched Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida”. And the name fit very nicely with both alien and plantsim naming schemes.

Baby Cressida… and Poppy

littleblondesim said: Loving how green and naturey this family is!

Well, they ARE plantsims after all!

Plantsim… behaviour

holleyberry said: It’s like Groot. She can grow that shit whenever she wants.

She probably is… and it’s not like we humans don’t pull out our own hair on occasion.

didilysims said: Eep I never thought of it like that before. D:

I was sitting in front of my PC, looked at Poppy playing that game and suddenly thought “Wait, what is she doing?”.

Jan and Komei’s relation

didilysims said: Sorry if you mentioned this and I forgot…did you make Komei and Jan related at all or is it coincidence they have the same last name?

Eh, it’s the one thing I think of ret-conning. They are ex-husband and wife. Best friends which decided to get hitched for career reasons. They split up when Komei publicly came out as gay ( I’ve decided that Jan would be his ex-wife when I created this neighbourhood, determined to eventually add her to the mix. Stuck to it when Komei rolled gay (not a good idea in my opinion). Should’ve made them siblings or something.). Jan kept his last name as he was somewhat famous back then.

Jan’s announcement

didilysims said: I really like this–great pictures. You go, Jan!

Thanks! I’ve felt like doing some storytelling again.

The pool

didilysims said: I actually cringed. 😮 Maybe just switching the diving board and ladder would be enough?

Yeah, I might do that. It’s easier (and cheaper) than expanding the pool.

TAG. YOU’RE IT. The rules are to state 5 random facts about yourself. Then go to ten favorite blogs and tell them they are it!

Oh, hi there!

1. I can’t sleep without a nightlight. If I try to sleep without one, I’ll get really antsy and have to check I’m all alone in my room every minute. I don’t believe in ghosts or monsters, but try to tell that my sleep-deprived, imaginative mind at 1 in the morning XD.

2. I’m always stressed out. About getting my degree, about catching the train, about whether I switched off the oven before I left the house, heck, even about what I would do if a plane crashed into our university and stuff like that…

3. I took acting lessons in school and even starred in a play in our local theatre (somewhat big and famous theatre). I stopped acting when my mother got sick and I started college. I kind of want to start again, but don’t know how.

4. I dressed up as Mary Poppins for ‘carnival’ at the school I’m interning at. Turns out, in comparison to the other teachers I was way overdressed. But it was a fun costume and the kids loved it (although most of them didn’t know what ‘a Mary Poppins’ was).

5. I’ve recently started reading on my kindle during my commute again. It really helps me get off my phone (even though, technically, I just switched one display for another).

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littleblondesim said: Interesting…seems like the more modern English names are frowned upon where you are, then. Like the ones American celebrities all name their kids. Emma might be popular because it’s simple and pretty cute. My list is probably a little biased because I’m a barista. So the people I see all the time are slightly older and have money to spend on silly coffee drinks. 🙂

That’s pretty much it. Many people are very prejudiced against the more modern English names like “Maddox”; meanwhile, names like “John” and “Tom” actually have some sort of tradition in old trading towns like Hamburg or Bremen, where international merchants and sailor often visited. Emma is a very international name (it’s relatively easy to pronounce), and, to be fair, it IS cute. I can certainly understand why it is so popular.

Yeah, I’m very interested in how names and naming traditions change over time, including the current decade. I also lead a youth group (ages 8-12), so I know quite a lot of names that are popular right now.

holleyberry said: You know I’m a huge Sandy/Goopy shipper, but Brandon is a very close second. So happy these two are so happy…for now.

For now? What do you know that I don’t? (I’ll probably add Goopy at some point, but I don’t know whether it will be as a playable (when/if I feel like it) or if I’ll just add all of the remaining townies as… well, townies.)

eulaliasims said: One of my favourite houses in Middleground. 😀 That painting corner upstairs is cute!

Thanks! I really like how it turned out! I’m usually not very good at decorating houses…

holleyberry said: Perhaps they can get put of the weeds now.

Yeah, they really need the money… (At least I hope that’s what you’re saying. XD I still struggle with colloquialism.)

I underestimated how much German schools love “Karneval” (Carnival)… guess I’ll throw on a blouse and an old skirt, buy an umbrella and top head and call myself “Mary Poppins”?

(No, but seriously, I forgot how into “Karneval” German people are. I usually ignore it (I do love dressing up, but hate how everyone just wants to get drunk).

Replies, round 3

Even more replies!

hunnybunnysims said: Same thing happened to me in my first run of my megahood. They were alll over each other!

Now I’m tempted to strike up a romance between the two of them the next time I play a Veronaville. ^^

littleblondesim said: Interesting that English names are considered low class! What are some common names around where you live? I think the no. one name around here right now for babies is “Emma”. I know a lot of Marks, Stephanies, Saras, Jessicas and Matthews, though!

It’s actually not that easy. Some English names are actually seen as pretty neutral and international names are popular. So Elias is fine, but don’t you dare to name your kid Lennox unless you want your aunt Ulrike to ask you if you want to destroy your kid’s life… I guess the more common (old-fashioned) English names tend to be accepted more easily.

Popular names around here are Emma, Hannah and Mia for girls, and Ben, Jonas and Leon for boys (according to this list). Very non-offensive names and international. I can see the appeal in those names (I ALWAYS have to spell my name and it often get confused for better known “L”-names like Leonie, Lisa or Leona- “L” names were very popular back in the 90′s. Still are, actually.)

What is it with Emma that makes it such a popular baby name? Also, your list sounds somewhat old-fashioned to me. Here in Germany, some popular English names (as in, just English. Emma and the likes are also German, actually) are Henry, Liam, Aaron, Zoe, Emily/Emely/Emilie (I dunno what’s up with that) and Amy, or if you’re more daring, Jackson, Jaden/Jayden/Jadon/ etc., Cheyenne or Joelle (now that I think of it, those are names Germans can’t actually pronounce right unless they do speak English rather well. Those are also names that are perceived as being lower-class. So maybe it’s not the name itself but the mother screaming for “Tschäkson” or “Schajenn” that stigmatises the name?)

Even more replies :D

Wow, you guys are very chatty today. XD

twofee said: water safety courses are awesome. had so much fun with my lifeguarding class in highschool. im jealous of your skin diving, ive never gotten to do anything cool like that.

Yeah, it is fun AND it is an important skill to learn. It’s very sad to see how many kids cannot swim or are very insecure when swimming. The people who taught me how to swim are doing a very important job (I believe they are actually volunteers, so… wow.).

I’m kind of sad that I’ll never get to use skin diving outside of pools (I’m not very fond of open water and all the things that live in there). But yeah, it’s a cool skill to have.

littleblondesim said: Names are so interesting, yes! The name I think is tainted the most around where I am is “Steven”. I also like looking at how a name changes based on when and where it is. Like, Mary/Maria, etc.

It’s really sad that “Kevin” became a ‘tainted’ name, because, it’s a nice name. But it was a name that was very en vogue around the time I was born. That and the fact that English-sounding names are often perceived as lower class names (class has become a huge factor in naming your kids- parents are afraid that they’ll disadvantage their kids if they give them the wrong names). Add in a discussion about a paper that claimed that teachers hate “Kevins” with a fiery passion because they are unruly, wild children and parents afraid of being associated with the lower class and ‘problematic’ children and you have effectively tainted a name for at least 50 years… Seriously, “Kevin” and “Chantal” are now the cliche names for poor, stupid, lower class people my age- and that paper that started all was basically bullshit from an academic point of view…

A currently popular variant of Mary/Maria in my country is “Mia”. It’s actually the number 1 girl name right now (depending which statistic you trust- there are several different ones out there, some counting first and middle names, some counting them separately). “Mila” is also becoming popular, and “Marie” is the most popular middle name here…

Yeah, as you can see, I’m very passionate about names. XD

littleblondesim said: Also, I found this yesterday which you might be interested in:time.com/3856405…

Aw, it doesn’t even know my name! To be fair it’s a very rare German name, only somewhat known among Catholics…

katatty-main said: haha, i was playing veronaville and he greeted her with a kiss even though theyre enemies!! nuts.

This could make for a very interesting story. And a very, very dysfunctional relationship…

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Jan/ Leo break up

moocha-muses said: Maybe Jan should have just gotten him fixed.

Your comment had me snorting out my drink. Nice! (Although I can assume that there are ethical concerns concerning the “fixing” of partners even in the Simworld).

littleblondesim said: Go Jan!

littleblondesim said: I adore your version of her and only want the best for her and I just don’t think Leo is going to give her that.

I agree with you. Their relationship just wouldn’t work out. They really are too different (I actually noticed that in-game- they roll completely different wishes). Jan just wants to be successful and meet new people (and woohoo them- she is a Romance sim, after all), while Leo was hellbent on settling down. So, in a way, Kaylynn’s pregnancy was exactly what they needed…

Lonely Jan/ Peptalk

littleblondesim said: i believe in you bby

If Jan can’t do it, who can?

Getting to know me

littleblondesim said: ooooh, I’d join a name enthusiast fandom!

Great, then we’re already two! Names are just so fascinating, like “Where did they come from?”, “What makes a name popular?” and “Why are people more biased against some names than others?” (Seriously, DO NOT name your child ‘Kevin’ in Germany. I’m sorry for all the Kevins out there, but it has become a tainted name here.)

twofee said: “swim team was weird” thats a large understatement! what was your best/fave event?

Eh, I should elaborate. It wasn’t a competitive swim team, it was actually an organisation that taught you to be a safe swimmer and how to rescue people (that was the fun part!). After training with them for almost ten years before stopping in 2012, I’m actually qualified to work as a lifeguard (well, I would be if I had bothered to renew my license). My favourite part was probably when I was taught how to skin-dive (I actually am a qualified skin-diver, too). I’m also not as crazily fast as actual competitive swimmers, but I’ve got a great stamina and can swim for a long time without getting tired.

I did, however, join the swim team at my school. We never did do competitive swimming, either, but we did a lot of fun stuff like learning how to play water polo. It was fun.

Long overdue replies

Joe, the ~~idiot~~ emotionally stumped sim

holleyberry said: You are a tool Joe.

Yeah he is. (I think, at this point, not even Joe himself would try to dispute that claim…)

moocha-muses said: There’s a difference between “emotionally stumped” and Romance Sim, Joe.

There definitely is. Putting the fact that Brandon has always had very healthy relationships and definitely isn’t emotionally stumped aside…

Pet breeds

hunnybunnysims said: It’s like they just barely tried. Jussstttt barelllyyy

plath-sims reblogged this from aondaneedles and added:

It has always been concerning. I deleted all of them lol.

Barely… I mean, that plush pug was like 8€. Can’t imagine a lot of designing effort went into that.

Yeah, might want to download some CC pet breeds. Had corgis once, they looked pretty nice.

It’s Poppy!

didilysims said: Poppy seems like a very sassy child. 😀

She is. She is veeeery chatty and always ends up doing rather weird stuff/ reacts in interesting ways. She’s great.

Heated pools

littleblondesim said: sims are so spoiled that they all get heated pools

I love little details like this. The pools look so awesome in winter. Must resist the urge to build a pool in everyone’s backyard.

Jan and Leo

littleblondesim said: Does she know about the nooboo?

Well, now she knows! XD

Jan and Kaylynn

littleblondesim said: oh dear

This is going to end badly…