And since I managed to get this thing looking good, I may as well post an update link as well! Beth and I just posted Sessions 10 called Used To. You can read the entry here -> Sessions 10 - Used To.

Those of you who haven't kept up can certainly read Sessions from the beginning here -> Sessions 1 - Blurry
Since this has been an ongoing collaboration for over 2 years, a bios/story summary here -> Bio/Story Summaries
Table of Contents should you be nutty enough to actually want to READ over 50 chapters is here -> For the Music - A Chapter Guide. Believe me, it is long.

Thanks to goodbye_sun I have a pretty LJ page! My title isn't showing up since I haven't found that particular bit to edit in the CSS (anyone care to point me there?) and I should give credit where credit is due to the creator of this layout, minty_peach. I used her Dumbledore's Army 31 layout and simply edited the colors. It is a WiP but I am slowly getting there. Although I have no plans to move here to LJ permanently, I am a little more pleased with the aesthetics.

EDIT: Found the code...still figuring out how to edit the rest...

I wish I could customize this journal. Maybe I can and just don't know it. Apparently I cannot upload other templates. Such is the way of the free LJ I suppose. Not that I use it often or anyone really reads it. I got bored with the old one. This one is, at least, easy on the eyes. And I am restless and procrastinating. When that happens I "clean house". Can't get much cleaner than this.

Let's see...the last time I posted I believe it was for chapter 7 of Sessions. We are up to chapter 9. Things are seriously heating up.

OK...last time I posted here Chapter 3 was up. I seem to have fallen back into the gaping hole shortly after. Here is a little breakdown of things:

( Breakdown behind the cut... )

Posted another update to Sessions called My Heart, Your Hands. For those of you keeping score, this is chapter 3! No particular warnings although there is some suggestive text. No pixelated nudity though. I know you're disappointed...

( Rather larger preview shot behind the cut )

Popping in quickly because I sat in the freezing cold wind (I swear it was hot when I left work today) watching my son play baseball and now I feel like I am getting a cold. That said, there is an update to Sessions called Helpless. Another joint effort. Musical accompaniment is a Neil Young song performed by kd lang also titled Helpless. IE users will hear it when the page loads. Firefox users can scroll to the playlist and of course if you don't like music when you read, you can turn the sound off.

Link to the chapter is here -> Sessions - Helpless

I really have been remiss in posting here...my bad. However I wanted to take some time to announce a big change in the story collaboration I do with eshuff . Future story chapters will be posted on a new blog called Sessions. It will be so much easier for us with both our work in one place and much easier than keeping up with the Table of Contents. So our link, For the Music, will no longer be updated. Rising Above and Skylights, a sub-plot blog, will continue to update.

So for anyone who links to our work, or would like to, here is the new link. -> Sessions

The first chapter has already been posted. It is called Blurry. I have been pretty bad about announcing updates here so if you are interested in reading you can either catch up with the older post on the aforementioned ToC or just jump right in. Hopefully it won't be too hard to follow for anyone who is new to our collaboration unless you really really REALLY want to read a gazillion chapters. I mean there really is a lot. This story has been going on for over two years by two authors.

So I have been reading many different stories and I know everyone has a unique way of doing things. The thing that always strikes me, not only in my own work but in others' as well, is dialog. I would really like to know what people think about two different styles and how it affects what they read or how they understand it.

1. Paragraph style where the conversation is combined or,

2. Separate lines for each character

Probably a dumb question but I am simply curious...is there a rule of thumb for this? A right and wrong so to speak? I would really love to know what people think.

I have an incredible sweet tooth. Don't ever believe me when I say I make anything because my kids will like it. I am purely selfish when it comes to sweets. I can't tell you how many times I have made something for them which just happened to be my favorite, not theirs...

With that in mind, and in an effort to fulfill one of the resolutions that LJ refuses to post properly, here is a pie recipe that I made yesterday afternoon. It is a pretty basic recipe but with a twist. And it is disgustingly sweet, sugary and bad for you...

( Mmm,Mmm...time for pie... )

I've tried twice now to post my resolutions. Behind a cut. It isn't working right. LJ just...

...doesn't like me.

Maybe one resolution should be how to learn to post on LJ...nah, that isn't going to happen. I'll try again later. Maybe.

LJ really makes it difficult to post...or is it my lameness shining through here. Anyway, you all probably already know but eshuff and I did an interview over at simstorytellers. For all those burning questions you had, the answers are here.

Really was an honor to be asked.

During my attempts at taking pictures in Cooper's hotel room, I discovered that when you place a massage table in a hotel room it comes with a masseur/masseuse. I got to thinking...do they ever leave? Of course I posed this question to eshuff who came up with this hilarious scenario that I just had to capture images for! We are so clearly on the same wavelength it's scary...but humorous nonetheless. At least we couldn't stop laughing about it...

All shots behind the cut. Warning: Irritated character wearing a towel and colorful language.

You can check out anytime you like...

( ...but you can never leave. )

I don't know, it feels rather shameless and self-promoting which I hate to do but I wanted to let everyone know who sees my LJ that eshuff and I will be in the storytellers spotlight at Sim Storytellers this month.

So if there are burning questions you have been curious about and were too shy to ask, now is your opportunity! It's really an honor to be featured so we are looking forward to it!

Just me trying out different effects and hoping they work. Nothing much here although I would be interested to see if following the Soft Focus tutorial seems to have worked here.

( The shots in question... )

 I have been considering replacing mine in-game and wondered if anyone else has done this? How does it work exactly? And is there some way to get rid of that annoying line that goes around the head/neck area and around the hair? I was trying to create a character and that horrible space...whatever you want to call it...is just awful. Around the hair, the jawline and neck, there has to be a way to eliminate that. Does that happen when someone does a skin tone recolor? Do they not do the face template? And I mostly notice this with the darker skin tones which was what I was trying to work with.

Anyway, suggestions/advise/commentary welcome.

Stayed up most of the night to get this one posted. As expected there are a few blunders I will eventually fix when I can see straight and have a clear head.

The chapter is called Duets. Mature theme so if pixelated nudity and strong sexual references aren't your thing, you may want to skip it. Otherwise, bring a fan...or a bucket of ice water.

I have been noticing lately that much of my CC has simply vanished. Ever since I did my re-install, things are just gone. I saved my downloads folder but even so, hair, clothes, furnishings have disappeared. So, I am looking for Lakin's hair (shown below). I have checked Rose's site, XMSims, Raon, and Peggy (as much as I could anyway; her site makes me dizzy scrolling through page after page), whose hair I really believed it was since she has very similar styles. If anyone has seen this hair (it could have been someone's edit after cutting off a braid or pony tail for all I know) please give me a shout. I would really like to get it back.

I have really been struggling lately to find a balance in my chaotic life as many of you may already be aware. Keeping up with my reading, commenting, writing, game clean up (I am moving everyone AGAIN to a new neighoborhood) and managing (or not managing) real life has been very very hard. I have been in a very dark hole with no will to get out until lately. I did manage to post a couple of updates in the last month.



The latest installment of Dark December the Other Side of the Stage is here: Reverb

The most recent is an update to Rising Above here: Pas de Deux

I have been lurking about and reading as much as I can and, although I am sorry I haven't commented much, I am thinking of you all.

Snagged from ysbal  who  borrowed it from goodbye_sun who grabbed it from azzy 

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next seven sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST

They also call us "the pit." They joke about us at lunch. They laugh about us in the halls. And they are right. Heck, many of us hate coming here, and even we call this a pit. I think we can and should change that; I want you to know why.:

The startled expressions were now replaced with truly stunned expressions. The silence was complete."

Taken from the book, Fish! written by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul and John Christensen

A book we are given as inspiration to find fun and creativity in the workplace. Touted as A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results.

X-post from my main blog at blogspot:

I will confess I am quite the download junkie. I can't help it. Really. I can't. So when I download a hairstyle and someone "Nouks it" I get what they are doing to a point. Sort of. But not really. So my question is this...what exactly does it take to use a texture from one style on another? I tried and failed. Multiple times in fact. To that end I have been on a quest to find a color and style that will match and work. Hence the ever growing downloads folder. OK that is not the only reason it is so huge but it contributes.

My dilemma and the reason why I ask...Professor Walker has long hair. She wears it up except on weekends when she let's her hair down so to speak. The creator of her hair makes long versions that will compliment her style EXCEPT in the color on the good professor's head. Stupid in my humble opinion. Obnoxious reds are oozing from the CC sites but this ONE hair that I HAD to use and NOTHING else would do evades me. Another creator has used a similar color but it isn't quite the same and the style would be wrong.

Same with my self sim's hair color which I manipulated to get the color that closely matches my own. Like an idiot I didn't write down what I did to change the color. Not that it would matter much considering I could use the same colors and not have it look the same on a different texture. But as in real life, I would like to change styles without changing the color that much. Maybe it's a little anal, but I don't care. And I would like to maintain the hair color on the professor and any other character who decides they need a new style but not a new color. Most of the time that isn't an issue but sometimes...well, it is.

Long story short, is there anyone out there who can tell me how to apply a texture to a hair? I know it's a copy/paste thing but it is not that simple. I've tried and while I am not the brightest bulb in the box when it comes to this, it can't be that hard can it?