LOL, Brynne. I used to have a live pet mouse named Nutmeg. The other one was named Kate. (I'm a Shakespeare fan.) Nutmeg was, well, nutmeg-colored and Kate was black and white spotted. They were adorable. (Don't ask what happened to them. That wasn't so adorable.)

I too have a rule about not quitting if something happens I don't like, including death. My first Buffy Summers lasted exactly two minutes, real time, before being hit by a satellite. And my favorite sims had a boy for their only child when I really wanted a girl, but I dealt with it and now I'm glad I did. It wouldn't have felt right to just delete him.

The only time I quit without saving is if I really screw up a remodel or if the game gets glitchy on me, like the time my sim walked in circles and wouldn't get into the @90! cab. Or do anything else, for that matter.

Not incoherent at all.

You're absolutely right. If it's not fun, why do it?

Eventually it will pull you back in, or it won't. Life goes on.

I get this problem quite often, which is usually when I take a break and do something else. Or, I'll improve a community lot, or make a new one ... I made one modeled after the Bronze that has a stairway to hell in the middle of it. Did you know the underworld is filled with marshmallow roasting flamethrowers? Now you do.

I write a story thread on World Sims, which helps with my creativity when it's low. I also have rules I've made for myself based on my experiences with the game. First and foremost is, never have too many sims. I have one main family and only create peripheral characters when the story calls for it. My total sim count (including a beautician I invented for the purpose of helping the NPC fashion victims in the game) is 21 right now, and that includes three generations, three husbands that married in, a fiance, a live-in biker nanny and the frat and sorority sims that came with Sim State. Since I altered/incorporated the "greeks" I count them as players, now. (The girls are vamps, the two remaining boys are nervous ...)

Second rule? Never do the same thing twice. Each sim's story should be unique, otherwise I agree you're heading for Groundhog's Day. That's not to say that some of the things can't be the same, but variety is the key to keeping things interesting. I like to try different aspirations and combinations of aspirations, and if a relationship is getting complacent it's 1) time for them to become elders and be put out to pasture or 2) time to shake things up.

I like the wild card idea, though I'm a bit too much of a goat to do what I'm told. Ever. I admit it's a problem.

However, if someone comes up with something really diabolical I'd be tempted to try it.

My current story thread? A knowledge sim who's a bit too interested in vampires is heading for trouble ...

Oh, and I'm a control freak. I choreograph their every move. So once in a while, just for fun, I let them do their own thing, as long as it's not stupid. Sims in love, for example, can be really sweet to each other, left to their own devices ... my vampire couple is head over heels and are always after a smooch or a cuddle if I let them.

Of course, if I have a sim who clearly has to pee who then goes to use the easel the hand of goddess must intervene.

I hate cleaning up puddles.

Yes, I did. I'm at work, so I don't have the exact wording, but it said something like, "If you're wondering, should I call again, you should." Or something like that.

Anyway, she didn't. She doesn't like him that much. 

And beg to differ about romance sims leaving expensive gifts after a bang-up date. I had two romance sims go on a date that should have been "triple dream date" they racked up so many points. They didn't live together at the time, though I've since had them get married (yes, I know, I'm cruel).

Roses. That's all she got for 7 woohoos on one date. One stinking bunch of roses. 

On another occasion, I got a pinball machine from a knowledge sim, so unless he was trying to teach her the laws of physics, I'm still of the opinion that the giving of gifts, and the gift itself, is a random thing.

Hope he realizes how lucky he is. Or rather, was.

Has anyone had married couples give each other a gift? Or does it only work if they don't live together? Just curious.

I've got a married couple who have only dated each other (no gifts, only roses). They've got 13 dozen roses lining their front walk. They need one more dream date to even it up, LOL, and then there won't be any more room. Maybe they'll have to fence their yard in them too ... 

Rainbow, I've got the same glitch. My married couples drive me nuts with the picking up the roses and putting them back down. Sometimes they stop on their own, sometimes they need help.

The gifts are definitely random. I was going to have a romance sim support herself that way but after receiving the bust of that dead roman guy and a piano she now only receives roses. Her yard (if you can call it that, since she lives on cement) is littered with them, either for her or her husband. Just for fun I had them read each other's roses. Man, was that a fight. I thought he'd never forgive her. It's hard to see a grown vampire cry.

I never should have moved my sims out of their first dorm. They received three gifts in a row there and after they moved to a rented house ... only roses. I wonder if they would have gotten more gifts if I'd left them in the dorm.

Also, just a cute little aside: my male, definitely straight, vampire went on an outing that turned out pretty well (not perfect, but not bad either) and afterwards another guy left him a gift! He got a "bit o' this and that" but since he rarely eats he sold it for cash. That's what gifts are for, right?

Do you have NL? Since I got it, random sims can't meditate. Heather Huffington, for one, and she's not that playful (I don't think, anyway.) I thought it was because she's a vampire but my other vamps can meditate, so I think it could be a NL glitch.

Also, one of my vamps who can meditate can't always meditate, or do yoga. Sometimes he can, sometimes he can't.

Which is why I'm thinking glitch.

Baby controller? Is this a hack or a standard in game thing?

Oh, I did too. I'm just saying, it wasn't great cinema. It was aimed specifically at us, and it hit its target.

No shame in it. It just helps me keep from lamenting the state of my daughter's favorite movies. They're no worse, or better than the stuff I liked.

Must be something about the mail carriers. Sheldon Handby also has a lot of skill points and maxxed out fairly easily.

Probably random by game. I didn't like him at all and so haven't checked him out since the new install. He wasn't a nice guy, and made a lousy stepfather. His wife, the former Brandi LeTourneau, ran away in the middle of the night, taking the children with her. And it was her house!

Yes, I know I should have kicked him out, but this way was much more dramatic. Her stepson came back from college and kicked him out, invited her back in and married her, even though she was an elder by then.

How's that for twisted? 

I didn't watch television at all for three years, and I loved it. Others in the house watched but I found other things to do.

Now that my daughter is 8, she has shows she likes and I've gotten sucked in again. I do enjoy Kim Possible, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and Jimmy Neutron, but that's about it. She's obsessed with this stupid made-for-television movie the Disney channel keeps showing called Twitches, starring the stars of Sister, Sister. It's truly dreadful. But then I remember the shows I was obsessed with at her age and cut her some slack. Escape From Witch Mountain, anyone? Or was that Escape To Witch Mountain. It's been awhile. 

I draw the line at reality TV, though. In fact, I don't have any shows I feel I have to see, other than the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the occasional South Park.

Oh, and if the Gilmore Girls is on I always get sucked in. I've never seen it before, so the reruns are new to me.

Hmmm ... I've only had singletons so far with NL, but I've only let my sims have three babies and adopt another one, so maybe twins are just waiting in the wings?

I am trying to get a sim abducted. Alien twins would be cool.

Speaking of old cats, my cat is 20. She's in perfect health, except she needs to eat all the time. I think she's not getting enough nutrition from her food. She doesn't show any ill effects, though. She's the skinniest little thing you ever saw: I think being skinny has helped her live this long, much like with people ... which doesn't bode well for me LOL.

She's deaf as a post and has apparently lost her sense of smell, but there's nothing wrong with her eyesight. Or her yowl. 

I'm a writer, currently bored to death by my job and looking for something new. I write novels but so far am not published. So I guess I'd better hold on to my day job, sigh.

Tell me about it. Take it like a man, why don't you? Fortunately, most of my brawling sims kind of growl and hit the other sim back. Helps to be a bit of a grouch, possibly.

My less manly (or womanly) sims cry, but I'd expect it from them. They're tender hearted wussies. 

Um, who is Justin? Everyone seems to have a Justin.

And my vamp isn't that nice. He's a bit on the grouchy side, which is why the tears confuse me ... of course, he does clean spontaneously, so maybe it's just the filth that bothers him?

This guy, as mentioned, is a vampire. A really scary vampire who's apparently very upset by bugs. Kind of blows his whole image as the scariest dude in town.

Well, it's a bit off topic, but I set up a music corner in Lucky's Card Shack, which I thought was too nice so I scuzzed it up a bit too. The bar, not the corner. I got rid of the Karaoke machine and now they have live music instead. It has a bass, guitar and piano. I thought about adding drums but I have two vamps and I was afraid that the odds of getting two GOOD musicians to join in were pretty minimal. So I took a chance that maybe one creative person might be hanging around ...

So now they can go to Lucky's and either play for tips, tend bar or play poker. Last night they did all three and took home around $500. (Joe Carr joined in on piano even though he hates them both on sight. He's pretty good.) I plan to post pictures on WorldSims, where I've got a storyline going about my new town ...

It may not be much moola, but they're vamps. They don't need food, just to pay the bills and buy a fun toy if they can afford it. Oh, and a cool car, eventually. And clothes. She's a bit of a clothes horse. Gotta look good when you're scaring the townies.  They go on a LOT of dates but since they've stopped breathing they don't seem to need to eat so going out is, for the most part, free.

She does plan to attempt to seduce a few saps for some prezzies. Too many roses, not enough pianos, I say. But that's covered in another thread.

That is, however, money making method #4. Fleece the townies. 

Just become a vamp. You'll never have to eat again! My vamps have had a total of two meals in the last ten days of game play. I'm considering deleting my stove on that lot and just having the fridge around for emergencies ... though of course there's also the energizer machine for dire emergencies, like when they are forced to go out in the daytime.

But now that I've figured out a fun way around conventional jobs that doesn't involve a money tree, they may never see sunlight again ...

Hmmm ... are they lazy sims? My lazy vampire will go to a community lot in her jammies if I don't tell her to get dressed first. Her more active boyfriend changes automatically.

When my computer needed an upgrade I lost the change into work clothes thing entirely. They'd spin around and just be wearing their everyday clothes. Could it be your computer is too slow, combined with laziness on some of the sims' part?

Or, it could be a download. My game is really slow since I installed custom content. I'm deleting most of it tonight. I like speed more than  motorcycles. Sigh. Wish they'd come up with one in-game.

I find the contanstly tipped over trashcans at one of my lots hilarious. I do not, however, enjoy the fact that my otherwise tough-guy sim cries like a little girl every time he sees roaches.

Is there a "no crying over roaches" hack by any chance? I mean, toughen up, dude. You can kick the crap out of anyone else in the game, so why are you so upset about a bunch of bugs?

They just spray, or call the exterminator. The problem is, they're vamps, so if the can is kicked over early in the morning there's a real chance that there will be roaches by the time they wake up.

I suppose I could wake one of them up to call the exterminator and then go back to their coffin, but seeing as they're a pair of romance sims this could end up being a daily occurrence. 

Hiding in a hut? Running the village with Draconian efficiency, more like.

I didn't know the help could die spontaneously! Had you invited her to move in? I killed a maid once, but that was on purpose. She refused to leave my house after I installed Uni ... so I locked her in the bathroom.

The nanny I liked was Callista somebody. Kendal was always a pain in my patoot. She spent her entire day on the swingset.

You expect nice from JMP? You ARE living in a fantasy world. 

Yes, I've noticed that too ... and I agree. I hate having to tell everyone to make their own meals. So much easier if one person just does it. I don't care about wasting food.

My big food pet peeve is the occasional fridge glitch I get that only lets my sims have instant meals. This happens to them no matter what their cooking skill levels are. I even had it happen to a celebrity chef once. Everyone else in the house can have whatever they want and this sim has to have instant meals unless someone else cooks for them. This has happened to me more than a few times. When I exit and come back in the glitch may, or may not, be gone. I had one sim who ate nothing but instant meals for what seemed like forever.

Is the game trying to keep my sims from getting fat? 

That's exactly what I did ... I have a ruined mansion in the business district inhabited by a pair of romance vampires. They leave the roses scattered about everywhere like fallen lovers ... picturesque imagery, no? I've started a row of them along the edge of their property, which is mostly cement.

They just moved in together, so no fireworks yet, but just wait ... they're bound to start.