Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Journal of Phillip Grant - Apr 3

Two of my favourite girls out playing catch. It's good to see that Penny successfully convinced Vanessa to play. Sometimes it's not easy to convince Vanessa that she should get up and out from time to time.

Well, I gave this dude back the long lost treasure. He's one of the members of the Temple of Heaven.

He sent me back out,  to scour the countryside for metal and gems.

I had forgotten exactly how much cross country running is involved in these adventures. I think next time, I'll send one of the girls to do the running around. I'm getting a bit old for this.

Vanessa went fishing for the day, which she always loves.

I think she's caught almost every fish you can in China. We should head for France or Egypt next time for her to find some new types of fish.

It took awhile to track down my contact.  He took the metal and gems off me gladly. Then gave me a key for the inner sanctum of the Temple of Heaven. This one opens the path to a much deeper area.

I wonder if there will be traps? I hate traps.

Penny has reached a new level of martial arts. She can meditate now.

The V's doing what they love. Sitting on a comfy sofa, reading a new book.

Ronnie is very much Vanessa's girl. They both love their books, both quiet and studious. Penny belongs to my side of the family; athletic and a bit of a slob.

So far, so good with the trap situation. No traps at all.

There are a lot of statues that I must haul all over the room. First I had to get them out of my way.

Then I had to start pushing them to the various floor switches to activate them.

Stupid statue - move. Move I say.

I'm too old for this.

This particular area of the Temple of Heaven is nearly like walking a labyrinth. Fortunately for me, there is only one way forward, I'm not likely to get lost. But it's huge and I keep walking around and around and around.

That's interesting. Penny can float?

Apparently having a very tranquil mind can have some very interesting results.

Well, I finally found it; the central treasure room. I wonder if it's going to take nearly as long to walk out of here as it did to walk in? It's getting late, I'd rather not get to base camp at 2 in the morning.

I was in luck, I didn't have to walk through all the passages again. As I opened the chests, they each  triggered a secret door. Walking out was a fairly direct line back to staircase up and out.

Thank god for that. I was not looking forward to spending hours backtracking through those passages.

Penny spent so long meditating that she could get back to camp by zenoport.

"Dad, it was so cool."

"What was Penny?"

"Meditation. After a while of relaxing and concentrating on a mantra, I felt so light."

"You were floating."

"I was? Cool. Then I found I was one with the universe. That's when I knew I could teleport here."

"We should set aside some time to meditate. It's good to clear your mind of all distractions now and then."

"Ok Daddy, I'll remind you."

Traveling by zenoport would be fast if you didn't have to spend hours meditating first.

The next day, I had to deliver the treasure I had finally discovered last night. 

While I was tracking down my contact, Penny went for her first official martial arts tournament challenge. On her first try, she lost her match. My girl didn't let that deter her at all.

She challenged her opponent again.

On her second try, Penny won her challenge. She was pretty pumped by her success.

Vanessa spent a few more hours fishing.

Ronnie? I think she was either reading or playing chess.

When I had delivered the package and Penny had won her match, we returned home.

20 comments:

  1. That fishing hole is gorgeous! I've never been fishing in Shang Simla, so I've never seen that before. Simply beautiful.

    I adore Vanessa and Ronnie and their bookworminess <3

    Poor Phillip! Those statues are heavyyyy.

    I've been to that temple- it really IS mazelike. Annoyed the crap out of me.

    Penny's floating? XD Niceeee.

    Lovely trip!! Makes me want to go to Shang Simla.

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  2. To that temple in-game. I must clarify more often.

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  3. I think all three travel locations have some gorgeous spots to travel to. I tend to forget about them myself, but with 4 Sims to keep busy... :)

    Vanessa is pretty easy to entertain while away. Send her to any spot with enough water to have fish and check from time to time on how many she's caught.

    The V's reading away. I thought it was pretty cute.

    Yes, the temple of heaven is huge. Most annoying, once upon a time forever ago, Sam Grant actually solved the worst bit and found the Axe of Pangu. He used it about twice and it vanished. I really should use the cheat to give it to the family because it should be a vital heirloom for them.

    Penny floating and teleporting. Meditation is pretty cool if you are a Sim. :)

    Thanks for the comments! <3

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  4. Yeah, my sim got the axe too! Never used it on anything, however.

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  5. I do remember Sam using it on a few big boulders. Then I wanted to finally eliminate the boulder in France outside the Landgraab place and it was gone. :(

    Maybe I should save that for Penny. Pretty girl who wields a very mean axe. :)

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  6. Poor Phillip. He looks like he's in pain moving those big statues around. Wow, Penny really looks like Rachel. I really see it in the floating picture.

    Such a lovely spot for Vanessa to enjoy her solitary fishing. She really does look quite content!

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  7. Eh, Phillip is a Grant - he's faking that whole "I'm too old" stuff hoping that his next holiday is a holiday. LOL

    Yep, Penny does look quite a bit like her great granny. If Penny had Rachel's hair, it would probably be quite stunning resemblance.

    Vanessa may be a couch potato but she does enjoy fishing. She's actually caught enough varieties of fish to master one of the challenges.

    So, Chrysame, did you get Riverview or BB working?

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  8. I've got Riverview installed now. I deleted the DCcache and reinstalled Riverview. Worked like a charm! I haven't tried BB. I've been too busy playing.

    Sam hooked up with a cute immigrant celebrity so Marta missed out on anything long term with him. I had also installed Jack and Phillip (Sam's brothers in my game). Jack married Amelia Kane and Phillip went for Yumi Sekemoto. Yikes. I fixed that and now he's sharing Marta's home and bed.

    He's quite the flirt so I let him have a bit of fun on tours. Marta keeps Jeb Kane on the side so everyone wins!

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  9. Oh, I'm so happy deleting DCcache did the trick. Of course, I remember because that's how I finally got my store content back.

    LOL - I love the idea of Jack and Phillip being Sam's brothers. Funny.

    Amelia Kane actually married on her own? Congrats, she's been very quiet in every hood I've tried her in.

    Phillip and Marta, interesting. And they both have fun on the side, very nice. :)

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  10. Amelia married yet Naomi hasn't although I think she has a partner. I think she switches off between sims quite a bit.

    Phillip is a stitch. He really seems very pleased after a nice flirt. Marta did have to finally dismiss the female butler. Phillip was having way too much fun with her and Marta was getting a bit peeved. Discretion, Phillip!

    I'm still getting used to the updates to Twallan's mods. I'm not sure how to use Register yet!

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  11. Awww, glad to see Vanessa's still trying to get out and active--as well as Phillip. He may complain he's not as young as he used to, but keeping at it is the fountain of youth!

    Penny and her levitating--hehe. Oh, the wonders of teleportation. She looks like she was kicking butt at martial arts, too! Guess that's fairly easy when you inherit your family's athleticism though, hm?

    Had a bit of a chuckle at Vanessa's shoes on the last image. ^^ Heels and martial arts clothing. Hehehe.

    Looks like they had oodles of fun on their vacation--or at least had plenty of relaxing!--but I'm sure by the end they were ready to go home. :)

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  12. @Chrysame

    I'm glad Phillip is that fine flirty Sim he was meant to be for you. Even if it does tick the fine Marta off some. He has never yearned to stray in his real blog, it's been stunning.

    I haven't been doing much new with Twallan - I have yet to install the most recent patch. :)

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  13. Hey Kaleeko,

    Vanessa has to be asked by someone before she gets physical. As for Phillip, he may complain but he won't be stopping any time soon.

    Penny is going to be as kickass as her great grandmother. Rachel was known to outscore her sons well into her elder years.

    Damn, I was tired of Vanessa wearing her dress fishing but I forgot to double check shoes. I'm hopeless at that. :)

    Most of them had fun and relaxation. Phillip had a lot of running and walking everywhere...mega exercise.

    <3 for stopping by

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  14. I'm stunned by the number of cars that are removed each sim night by the mod. They've never fixed that bug? Sheesh.

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  15. Loving this! ;)
    Shang Simla is the only place I can actually stand being for a day or two. And I think it's only because I can realte to the martial arts skill since I take karate...

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  16. Hey Drew,

    Shang Simla is good for the martial arts and the best location for multiple Sims. Le Champs is good for romance. Al Simhara is best for lovely piccies and adventure.

    Ta for popping by with a comment.

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  17. Lovely vacation!

    He might be old but he can surely move the "scary" statue. Temple of Heaven is quite a frustrating place if we are sims. I'm so glad that he managed to get out of there.

    :) Penny had discovered a new power.
    I have tried it on my sims, but it took time for the sims to get the option to do zenoport.

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  18. Hey again MJ.

    Yeah, Phillip did manage to move a lot of statues. He also did a lot of grumbling about moving them. The Temple of Heaven is huge, it takes forever to finish.

    That's the disadvantage of zenoport. They have to meditate for a couple of hours first. Which means it's the slowest fast transport ever.

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  19. I think Phillip should be careful moving those statues. He wouldn't want to strain something. lol

    Wow the twins are growing up! :)
    I'd watch out with Penny and her martial arts, she looks like she could really kick some butt!

    Aww, Vanessa is still so lovely even as an elder.

    Trying to catch up a bit now. I like the changes you've done to your blog too. Great banner!

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  20. Hi Jennifer! Nice to see you.

    Yes, Phillip doesn't need to strain anything. Fortunately, he'll start to take Penny down into the tombs with him so he'll have help next time.

    The twins are growing up. And Penny will definitely kick butt - she wants to be a martial arts master some day. :)

    Vanessa and Phillip both aged up well. I was quite pleasantly surprised by it.

    This is one banner I did take some time over. Cause it won't have to change for a long time!

    So happy to see you pop by.

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