Britney-ing and Sims-ing

I am enjoying a long vacation off work and won't be back until Thursday. Then I'll just work for two days (Thursday and Friday) then it's a five-day vacation for me again (I'll be on leave from Saturday to Monday and then rest days on Tuesday and Wednesday). This is the life. I was on the dumps last week, feeling tired and bored with my job. I want something new, something more challenging I guess. But then it is not practical to be without a job these days, so I guess I'll just stay put until the employment opportunity abroad I am waiting for comes (which would happen this year so I just need a little more patience). Besides, I love the people I am with in my workplace and it'll be difficult to leave them. Everything's so much more fun with them around.

So, back to my long vacay, I am just lounging here at home, maximizing the use of my computer (which I missed terribly, her being broken and all for a couple of months). Yesterday my Tita Jean and cousin Jerico went to Citisquare to buy blank DVD-Rs and some other stuff. I finally got this month's copy of Cosmopolitan Philippines! I never fail to get a copy of it every month, it is my bible! I used to collect Candy and Seventeen Philippines but I guess I am too old for them now. Now they are in my room here at home, carefully kept and preserved (they are even covered in plastic! I am that careful of my mags Ö) This month's Cosmo ish is a little bit more special for me because Britney Spears is on the cover! Yeah, I love her so much and never stopped liking her even when she was in her dark days. Heck the success story I wrote in the second activity of the Powerbooks' Creative Writing Workshop: Writing a Success Story I attended is about her! Ö

Cosmopolitan Philippines January 2009: Britney Spears
photo from Summit Media

Won't you look at that. Hot!

So what else am I doing while hibernating?

Just the best PC game ever invented (in my opinion, that is)!

The Sims

You all know what The Sims is about, yes? If not, then a quick overview from Gamers Download Zone:

The Sims, lacking definite goals or objectives, which are common in most other computer games, focuses entirely on the lives of virtual people called Sims, placing the player in control of their virtual “world” and their daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, reading, and bathing. Will Wright, the game’s designer, calls it a “digital dollhouse”. Although players are encouraged to make their own characters, certain pre-made characters, such as the Newbie and Goth family, have become popular.

The player controls almost all aspects of the lives of a family either premade or self-created. Many choices lead a player’s sim to a large family or a lonely life.

Read the rest here.

They have also released several expansion packs already to make for more interesting gameplay:

Hot Date focuses on your Sims' relationships (platonic or romantic, but mostly romantic) with other Sims. Livin' Large introduces new characters that border on eccentricity (alien Sims, anyone?). House Party, as the name suggests, enables your Sims to have a rockin' party.


Unleashed lets your Sims take care of pets. Vacation takes your Sims to other locations to enjoy a (okay, this is redundant) vacation, whether it be on the beach for some sunbathing or on the Alps for some skiing!

Superstar lets your Sims experience the perks of being a celebrity. Your Sims can be a movie director, a supermodel, or a singer. It's your call! Makin' Magic meanwhile taps into your inner wizards and witches and enable your Sims to brew their own spells or turn their neighbors into toads.

I love that I am able to create families and design houses for them to move in. Indeed, it is a digital dollhouse. And I've always loved Barbie dolls and creating stories with them, so this game more than satisfies the girly-girl and geeky-geek sides in me. Excellente!

Now I know they have already released The Sims2 and The Sims3, so why the eff am I still stuck with the first version? Well it's because I like the interface of it more, plus the fact that I can focus more on the designing houses and neighborhoods part. For the succeeding versions the gameplay concentrates more on the controlling the Sim part. I guess I am not that much of a megalomaniac haha! I used to joke that this game is for megalomaniacs since it gives you the power to control the entire neighborhood Ö

So, are you a Sims player as well? If not, what games do you like? And what do you do during long vacations? Ü