Still alive...

Oh damn. Two chapters in and I'm already doing this.

I wouldn't say that things have been crazy, but time has just kind of wandered away from me. First, I got Seasons and Apartment Life in late July, so I've been playing around with those for a while. One of my favorite things about the Sims 2 (other than actually playing the game) is checking out all of the new stuff that comes with the expansion packs. I'm a very match-y person, so I want to look through all of the folders, and I want to redecorate every single house, etc. I also did an impromptu Asylum Challenge to play with decorations, but they're on the third winter and nobody's died. I swear, they just want to spite me.

Second, I've had to build some places, so I've been doing a lot of procrastinating. It's kind of weird, but I really hate building for some reason. I don't know why that is -- maybe it's because half of whatever my dad says is about building something and I automatically equate building with boredom. Maybe it's because I think I'm a crap decorator. I don't know. But I was procrastinating.

Third, I've been having thoughts on the story. Even two chapters in, the story here is already very different compared to the monstrosity that I'm trying to type up (currently, there are about 1,700 words that I don't hate). I'm constantly thinking of new ideas (different types of werewolves! a thieves' guild, except for assassins!), and I don't know if I should always add them in the Sims story as well. For some of the ages and such, it would make playing much easier if I did, and for some other things (like the aforementioned guild for assassins), it would make no difference, but I worry that if I make too many changes, the stories will become too different and I won't be able to keep track of everything.

Anyway, enough of my ranting. This is one of the things I've been working on. It shows up a little in the next chapter, but will have a bigger role in the second arc.

To the right is the bar, and to the left is the stage. Preferably, there would be a band playing and bartenders making drinks.

Upstairs is mostly miscellaneous crap that people dragged up there. Whoever owns the bar only rented one of the upstairs rooms so people could play pool without being tempted to throw the chalk at bad bands, so people bring their old crap and dump it in the other rooms.

Oh hey, someone stole a keg from one of the Greek houses!

For some reason, this shot is what I think of when I think of this place.

Finally, I have a question for all two of you who read this: Does anyone know of a good screen-capture program that they'd recommend? I've been using Print Screen and pasting that into MS Paint (then cropping and editing it using a different program), and it's really bothersome to have to minimize the game every time I take a shot. It doesn't really take that long, but sometimes I do stupid things like open another program, which is really annoying.