Hello! I am sorry I've been sort of MIA recently. Partially it's been because of health issues - both mental and physical, partially because I've just been so busy, and in a large part because of the blow that finding out all the images were messed up on my stories did to me. I truly just didn't know what to do about it. For that matter, I'm still not sure exactly what I'll be doing about the large part of them. HOWEVER - I have finally taken the time to assess exactly what's wrong with them, and what it will need to fix them. (More on that below.) Health issues, as well, have been solved, and things are once again going really well for me. I have also mostly concluded a major "upgrade" to my streaming and filming set-up, which was the large part of being too busy to even consider what was going on with my website. With this "upgrade" in its finishing stages, I feel like I really am in need of doing some serious assessing and updating/upgrading on this website.... so, without any further blabbering from me, here's the updates:
So, I know I posted a few months ago about this: but ALL images other than the ones added AFTER the site migration (feature images and site graphics) ... are mostly missing and showing as either just a blank line or a broken image link. Which is terribly upsetting to me, because that's YEARS of images and work gone missing. So, it's taken me a while to really come to terms with the fact that I could be losing EVERYTHING... and to finally really have the mental fortitude to sit down and figure out exactly what's wrong, and how to fix the problem.
The long and short of it is that.... it's both worse and better than I thought it would be. Better... in that I have 100% confirmed that I do have EVERY image that shows as missing on this site still available to me - whether it's on the site and just linked wrong, or somehow never got uploaded at all - they're all still in existence. Yes, my old blog is pretty much gone. I put in the redirect, and somehow, within the intervening months, nearly 80-90% of the images that were still housed on that site (which were what this site was loading for its pictures, unfortunately) .... are corrupted or simply missing. So, there is NO way I can go back to that. The positive ... is that all those images that never go uploaded (which is pretty much everything from 2020 to November 2023) ... are still on my hard drive, safe and sound, and organized into neat(ish) little folders.
Now for the bad news. It is not going to be a simple matter of doing a find and replace in the code of each page to fix the URLs for each image. I was HOPING that was how I'd fix it... but unfortunately, that won't work. The folder/URL that the images that WERE uploaded to ... is completely different to what was on my old site. - and even worse, some of the image's names have actually been changed. So, I have to literally search each image down one by one and fix the URL. Then there's the problem of the images that haven't even been uploaded through some mistake of the transferring program I used (which was the best available). Those - I have to individually search for on my hard drive, and re-upload each individually. Yes, that means... a large portion of the 1200+ posts and pages on this website ALL need editing on an individual basis to make them all work again. For the most part, what is affected is my story writing pages. The challenge pages, are, for the most part, safe from this error.... because they didn't usually have a huge number of images on them. So, if you're here for my challenges, good news: almost all of them are perfectly okay. The only one I'm worried about is The Apartment Switch... but I will be setting aside some time to evaluate and fix it (and any other challenge pages affected) very soon. However, if you're here for my stories... at this time, they're mostly un-readable, which cuts me deeply. (More on this below.)
So, in conclusion: at this time, I'm still in the process of deciding what to do. I know for SURE there are about a dozen stories that I will be rescuing. Some more important than others. However, some of the retired stories or ones that are more or less on permanent hiatus... may actually be just deleted. I HATE DOING IT - because every one of them means something special to me.... but the sheer amount of time and work involved is absolutely prohibitive. Some things may have to go for my sanity and schedule. Which ones those are... is still up in the air. However, I will include a list of the ones that will absolutely be getting "rescued" - in order of importance to me:
Others that will be getting fixed for the sake of posterity:
Yes, that does mean that all the others are possibly on the chopping block. If you are particularly fond of any of the ones I DID NOT mention above, PLEASE comment and leave me a petition for me to add it to the list of stories I will be saving. I will also make a short note on the Build A World Challenge I started - that will also be moving to YouTube and getting restarted (once I finish writing the rules!!), so if that's one you liked, you'll still be able to follow it.
Finally, this is not going to be happening right away. As you read on, you'll find out why. I have a lot of "projects" on my list that are higher priority than fixing the images - including finishing up my current "project" of upgrading my Stream set-up and updating all my Challenge rulesets. (However, getting Jaz's story fixed may happen sooner, because, quite frankly, I would like to start being able to write again on my days off!)
Some other things to note - I realize there are some "broken" things on this site that still need fixing. The sidebar needs a major over-haul, since some of the things I put there no longer work. Which stinks. I also need to fix the build pages, challenges, and anything else that needs the images rescued from the above problem. I do still have plans to add a LOT more tutorials to the tools page, but it will have to take a bit of a backseat to actually fixing what's broken first. I think the only pages that should be mostly unaffected are the "home" pages. Simply because those weren't even written until after the problem even occurred.
I recently started taking an additional day off during the week. My reasoning was solidly in the fact that I miss writing, and I wanted to get back to it. However, with the whole mess in the above section... I honestly was feeling like I was being forced to choose between two pieces of my soul... streaming, and blog writing. I was feeling like I simply did not have the time to do both. I'm still struggling with how to find time.... and for that matter, I CANNOT get back to writing without fixing the previous chapters of any story I wanted to write on. I use those to help me remember where I've been, and to get back into character for writing.... not to mention, I want the whole story to available to anyone visiting the site to check out new chapters. Which means... there will be no new chapters coming... until I have time enough to fix at least one of the stories listed above. As I mentioned, my top priority is Jaz's story, because that's the one I really wanted to get back to giving weekly updates/chapters for. I will attempt to keep you updated on how that's going, so you'll maybe know approximately how long I have before I can get back to writing, even on a limited basis. (SAD!!) At this time: I have gotten approximately half of Jaz's first month in Magnolia Promenade FIXED.... but that means I still have more than 50ish posts of theirs to fix - as well as rescuing the home page for Jaz's challenge (which is in a dire state at the moment!). So... it'll be a while. However, I will emphasize... this is NOT the end of writing for me, as I feared. I will be back. It'll just take longer than I wanted it to take.
Things are going pretty well with my content creation - as opposed to pretty much everything else, this is one part of my life that is still going great. I have recently been accepted to be an Ubisoft Partner, and EA has extended an invitation for me to be a full EA Affiliate - which means - I now have my own creator code!
With that little promo out of the way, my Twitch Schedule has been updated a good bit. I will edit the affected schedule page on this website, but, for now, here's the new schedule:
Now... Youtube. In the last few months, I have started posting some Youtube-Exclusive (in other words, they are not Streamed on Twitch first) Let's Play series. This is, honestly, where MOST of my Sims 4 content is going currently, and I would VERY much appreciate a subscription (it FREE!) there as I'm working really really hard (and very slowly) towards getting to being monetized on Youtube (which is quite a bit tougher than on Twitch, I will say!) All of my Exclusive Let's Play's post first thing each morning, at 9 AM eastern US time.
Now, finally, the news everyone is probably reading this post to find out.... "When are your challenges getting updated??" The answer: soon. Very soon. I actually have some things to wrap up first - which I will be finishing up this month, then the following two months are scheduled with only one thing other than my normal Youtube filming and Twitch streaming: Updating my challenges and Spreadsheets.
My "Priority list" is below:
Once I finish this list, I will be moving on to finishing the Build a World Challenge I adopted and adding the 1850s-1890s to my Hard Mode Decades Challenge. (Among other projects - like fixing this website!!)
Also, for anyone interested... I also have two other spreadsheets in progress I will be publishing soon - a complete Planet Zoo database, and a Subnautica database.
Yep, lots going on. But thanks for sticking with me. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, PLEASE comment on this post, I will reply as quickly as I can.
Hey there! I have been following this site for a while for the Master Simmer Challenge and checking it periodically to see of any updates (I completed quite a few until my laptop was stolen so I had to do it all over again!). Glad to see that it will be updated soon!
It certainly will! Expect it to be updated within the month!