The Sims 4 Rewired My Brain

Greetings GwenPal!

I write to you in the eye of the storm of a whirlwind of tasks aimed to get me to "the better place", wherever and whenever that may be. A part of me genuinely believes that if I keep working and working and ignoring my need for leisure at (in)appropriate times, somehow I'll get to this imaginary state called "where I should be" and all of my problems will go away. Turns out, simply saying the phrase "i just have to do this one thing and then I'll be good," was not (and never has been) the most constructive way to spend my yea- YEAR????

This year went by faster than the breeze of a fart between my buttcheeks.

But where are my manners? Approximately 35 days (i counted) of radio silence and I return only to talk about my flatulence?

That is so me, unfortunately. (Unless you're into that. No judgment)

My apologies. I can't pretend that this is not a regular occurrence (it is), and while no one is holding me accountable for releasing my newsletter every two weeks, it is something I promised I would do for myself. GwenPal is more than just a pen pal (but Gwen), it's a means for me to keep track of my thought process, writing habits and an overall playground for my creativity. I cannot afford to be casual about it. To let it sit in the corner of my mind and collect dust. It would be a shame.

What even kept me so far for so long, you ask? Apart from my propensity to doubt that I truly did finish my classes early (and subsequent decision to stress out during finals week despite already finishing my finals), I have been sucked back into the time-sucking attention seizer that is The Sims 4.

I fucking love The Sims 4.

I realize it was a fundamental aspect of my childhood nostalgia. I fervently remember yearning to play the Sims, watching other people play the Sims, and that feeling I got (when I was finally old enough to make my own purchases) getting to play the Sims for the first time. Y’know, when the base game wasn't free. (I bought it when it was five dollars).

The base game means nothing though. The Sims are quite dull without the DLCs. So now that I'm privileged enough to have multiple expansion packs, it really is destroying my sleep schedule (which is pretty rich coming from me considering how I literally released a newsletter about my cursed sleep schedule-- which you can read about here). In the past, the most I ever did in the Sims 4 was interior decoration. Once I learned how to download mods, it got a little more interesting, but it was always limited to what I could do with the base game.

This begs the question: why are the game's main selling points secondary to the actual game itself? It's like selling a car without the seats or buying a laptop without internal storage. The whole reason why people want to play the Sims 4 is for the features offered in the expansion packs. Electronic Arts knows this, which is why the base game is now free (and I recommend you get it). Even having just one expansion pack isn't enough. You have to have multiple to get decent gameplay going.

And because I'm feeling so, so generous (and I have no other use for this knowledge), I will list the expansion packs I find the most beneficial for versatile (and potentially time-consuming) gameplay.

❤️ Seasons

❤️ Cats & Dogs

❤️ Horse Ranch

❤️ Cottage Living

❤️ Get Together

❤️ Discover University

❤️ High School Years

❤️ Lovestruck

❤️ Life & Death

While I have yet to fully explore some of these expansion packs, I find that they provided the same gameplay elements I sought out in mods, especially Lovestruck and High School Years. I also am a sucker for animals of all kinds, so Cats & Dogs, Horse Ranch, and Cottage Living are all up my alley. Not to mention Get Together and Seasons are wonderful and add another layer of gameplay over all the other DLCs and I love to make my own custom holidays.

(Notice how Get to Work is not on the list? Enough said.)

While I'm sure there are other staples of Sims 4 gameplay (and of course a whole list of mods I've yet to discuss), this list reflects the gameplay I value the most and the stories I love to create. I hope they elevate your gameplay as well.

Sul-sul!

What’s the Worm In My Ear Singing?

In this week's letter, I will talk about the soundtrack of the movie Divergent.

It's been a while since I first saw (part of) this movie trilogy at the ripe old age of 11 years old. I was a devout reader of the book series of the same name. I first got into the series in the 4th grade, but between library check-outs and borrowing books from classmates, I could only read the first two books. By the time I had access to the third book, I had already seen so many spoilers and it ruined the experience for me, so I never read Allegiant or watched the movie in protest.

I always had a firm hatred for the movies that lasted as long as I could remember, not for the movie itself, but for the deviations I noticed from the original story. Now that I've been rewatching the film, I've realized that they're not nearly that bad (Shailene Woodley is serving Debby Ryan lip-biting, hair-tucking, and Kristen Stewart gasp realness to the table. Also, my attraction to Theo James has aged like a fine wine…Not that I was old enough to know the first time). And one of the reasons I came to this conclusion was the banging soundtrack.

From Ellie Goulding to Woodkid, the composition, tension, and artistic vision of the movie collide in one beautiful, slightly corny, nostalgic mess. I am in love with this soundtrack, and rewatching the movies brought back that feeling and coaxed me to tears.

Anyway, you already know my rating.

❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹/5 bleeding hearts

One day I'll do a full-on review of the Divergent series, books and movies (I'm so serious. This is necessary for my brain development). Today is just not that day.

I hope you enjoyed today though. And I hope that you throughly enjoy tomorrow too. I'm glad you're here to read to the end, it really means the world to me.

Happy Kwanzaa! ❤️🖤💚 Today is Ujamaa, cooperative economics day of Kwanzaa, so I encourage you to support your local black businesses (today and every day. No shade to white businesses, we're just greasing the squeaky wheel, y’know?)

Until next year (Happy 2025! 🎉)

XOXO,

Your GwenPal <3