Mrkgnao!
Well, Jimmy's back from his alien abduction none the worse as far as I can see. He appears to be a bit more outgoing, and he's certainly significantly neater.
Having survived that traumatic experience, I decided he needed a bit of a quick fix in the fun department, and instead of cultivating a stray, he should just go ahead and buy a cat. Off he went, and 399 Simoleans later, has a wee black lass called Severina - a quiet wee soul who adores him. Jimmy's social levels have never dipped since she came to stay, and he spends a lot of his day (in between reading, playing chess and practising piano) talking to and petting the cat. She's learnt some useful things as well: she has a skill point for hunting (she managed to catch a mouse on the second storey); he's been training her to dance, which she seems to enjoy; and he bought her a toy, which she placed (strangely, I thought) in the bathroom. Periodically she goes and worries at it, which boosts her fun no end, and then she chases her tail for a while. She's only peed on the floor once, but he didn't scold her, he simply cleaned it up and gave her a cuddle. Their relationship score is 100%. This saves Jimmy having to interact with the extremely dull neighbours. They come and ring his doorbell, but he can't be arsed to answer. They usually come at inopportune times, so he's perfectly within his rights. Anyway, if he does let them in, they only help themselves to espresso and then go and use his lavvie without asking permission. I ask you! Who in their right mind would put up with that crap?
Aye, a cat is definitely the best option for an single gentleman who enjoys the finer, more cultured things in life. OK, so he's maybe a bit antisocial when it comes to human Sims, and just a tad elitist in his leisure pursuits, but what the hell's wrong with that? The proof is in his fun levels after all. (Incidentally, I reneged on my principles and hired both a maid and a gardener. Cheap at half the price.).
This has taught me nothing new, to be honest. I've known since childhood that cats are better than most people; and I've always suspected that in order to live a contented life and fully enjoy a cultured and intellectual lifestyle, one needs an independent source of income, thus enabling one to avoid the daily drudgery of work. If anyone knows of a 'cheat' I can use in the real world to get the sterling equivalent of 1000 Simoleans a day, please give me a shout. I quite fancy a grand piano and a self-flushing lavatory.
Having survived that traumatic experience, I decided he needed a bit of a quick fix in the fun department, and instead of cultivating a stray, he should just go ahead and buy a cat. Off he went, and 399 Simoleans later, has a wee black lass called Severina - a quiet wee soul who adores him. Jimmy's social levels have never dipped since she came to stay, and he spends a lot of his day (in between reading, playing chess and practising piano) talking to and petting the cat. She's learnt some useful things as well: she has a skill point for hunting (she managed to catch a mouse on the second storey); he's been training her to dance, which she seems to enjoy; and he bought her a toy, which she placed (strangely, I thought) in the bathroom. Periodically she goes and worries at it, which boosts her fun no end, and then she chases her tail for a while. She's only peed on the floor once, but he didn't scold her, he simply cleaned it up and gave her a cuddle. Their relationship score is 100%. This saves Jimmy having to interact with the extremely dull neighbours. They come and ring his doorbell, but he can't be arsed to answer. They usually come at inopportune times, so he's perfectly within his rights. Anyway, if he does let them in, they only help themselves to espresso and then go and use his lavvie without asking permission. I ask you! Who in their right mind would put up with that crap?
Aye, a cat is definitely the best option for an single gentleman who enjoys the finer, more cultured things in life. OK, so he's maybe a bit antisocial when it comes to human Sims, and just a tad elitist in his leisure pursuits, but what the hell's wrong with that? The proof is in his fun levels after all. (Incidentally, I reneged on my principles and hired both a maid and a gardener. Cheap at half the price.).
This has taught me nothing new, to be honest. I've known since childhood that cats are better than most people; and I've always suspected that in order to live a contented life and fully enjoy a cultured and intellectual lifestyle, one needs an independent source of income, thus enabling one to avoid the daily drudgery of work. If anyone knows of a 'cheat' I can use in the real world to get the sterling equivalent of 1000 Simoleans a day, please give me a shout. I quite fancy a grand piano and a self-flushing lavatory.
posted by Cattie, Severin Books at 1:06 am
6 Comments:
Oh, dear.
As a SimCity 4 addict, I can identify with your obsession and frustration. Thankfully my game doesn't allow me to get emotionally invested in the lives of my citizens, so I manage to retain some time to do things in the "real world". In the game, however, I've learned to enjoy abandoning my principles -- you can only have so many cities run exclusively by windmill farms before you're just dying to screw up the view with a bunch of coal plants spewing a yellow haze everywhere.
That being said, this post made me wish I could have a cat. Yes, I'm now officially envying people who don't exist. (But given the number of times I've done Halloween as Special Agent Dale Cooper, I suppose that's old news...)
ps - I did a short paper once comparing Scotland's independence movement to Quebec's, but my reference materials were in English. Given this ignorance on my part, I'm assuming the title of your current entry is Simlish, not Gaidhlig -- surely even a culture dedicated to doing things the hard way wouldn't run 5 consonants together unless absolutely necessary...
Ah, Jamie, "Mrkgnao" is pure Joycean, rather than Simlish, or Gaidhlig (or even North East Scots, which is the language I drift into frequently here). It comes from Ulysses where we first meet Leopold Bloom in the Calypso episode sorting out his breakfast and interacting with his cat. "Mrkgnao!" is Joyce's rendering of the cat's miaow of greeting, and I've never seen the sound so beautifully (and accurately) transcribed.
Officially envying people who don't exist is a lifetime habit for me, so you're not alone there.
I watched the Better Half playing a bit of Sim City not so long ago.... Before seeing it in action, I'd found the idea quite appealing, but after 10 minutes of worrying about pollution and road junctions being in the right place, and pop up messages from moaning citizens and reports from bureaucrats, I decided it was too much like work. (No, if I'm truthful, I just couldn't bear the prospect of making an arse of my city). The better half has a scarily perfect SimCity, and this unnerves me somewhat. It's bad enough that he shows up my deficiencies by having a happy hard-working Sim who copes with life with no need for unlimited money cheats, without me embarrassing myself by having a SimCity that looks positively post-Apocalypse. Hmmmm, now I'm actually seeing some possibilities... I could intentionally create a city called Unthank, as a tribute to Alasdair Gray's novel, Lanark.... this warrants some further consideration...
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I fondly recall my Ulysses period, when I owned a nice paperback version of which I read the first thirteen pages or so about a half-dozen times over the span of a couple of years.
Then I lost it in a move, and I sort of miss the guilt of not having finished it yet... I should pick up a new copy to mock me from my shelf.
Aaaaahaaaa! I know your identity. I guessed it was you from the Dale Cooper and Quebec references, but now I have it confirmed, thanks to a quick trawl back over the TPG's Ulysses thread. :)
Treat yourself to a new copy and give it another go - it gets more fun after the first fifteen pages, believe me. No, really! You'll never need to guiltily avoid the book again.
I always think people get pissed off at the start because Stephen can be so tiresome, but once Bloom appears you get hooked.
[Note to self: try to limit the Joyce evangelising to once a month at most.]
Okay, I get paid tomorrow at midnight, so I'll pick it up the next day.
My report will be in by 2009 at the absolute latest.
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