@AndrewGloria I hope you are feeling better and don't have Covid. I hope when people stop coming it's for other reasons such as they stopped playing sims and are playing Dragon Age or doing something else enjoyable.

@wickedjr89 So sorry to hear about your husband.

I had horrible stomach flu a few weeks back, ended up in hospital. It set off one of my underlying conditions which had been under control. I am doing a lot better now, just have to be careful with my diet.

Boy, don't I hate trolls, because they think they're being funny when they're just plain old irritating and acting childishly. Immaturity seems to be their guiding personal trait. "I wanna be edgy and obnoxious!"
You're just being an idiot.

I know.
The hard thing hear is, that when somebody vanishes into thin air, one has no proof of anything, and can only make our own deductions - and one really wants to just be sure.
I believe Gazania has left us - indeed health issues, but she did tell me via PM that she was seriously ill, and that building an playing helped her a lot mentally in handling it. I would be the happiest person on earth if I am wrong.
As for music2ologist - I miss her too, and she always had these interesting sims, like Charles Dickens writing his new best seller.

At times, I don't post for a while because RL is hectic - but there certainly is a difference between that and vanishing completely

As for the others on here: the funny one on my previous post also seems out of place, doesn't it? Probably somebody with nothing better to do and no life to live, so do not take it seriously. I am a widow myself I understand the reaction to the likes so well, having heard many stupid remarks during my life from many, and it is exhausting, because one really has enough other things to handle.

@joandsarah77 - good to hear you are at home, hoping for a full recovery for you.

I saw a post saying that Bulbizarre was on one of the discords. I don't know if that's true, or if it was true at one time and now they're off the radar. I think about Chris Hatch, who was always in the Creator section or in Help, ready to lend his expertise, until he wasn't.

WickedJr89, I'm sorry about your husband. I remember when you returned, and I wish it was under better circumstances. Joandsarah, I'm glad you're doing better.

What happened to Chris Hatch? I wasn't aware he isn't here anymore, but I did check his profile, and the last time he was here was back in February.
I hope it wasn't the worst case scenario, but you never know how old people are and what their actual health is in real life.

I think it's because we all feel timeless and ageless on this forum, and we like to think everyone is the same age-about 25 and immortal. Alas, though, we are not.

I've wondered about Chris Hatch, too. He was really helpful and seemed to be a frequent visitor, but he just disappeared randomly. I hope he's alright. In fact, I hope everyone is okay after reading above comments.

@Charity, @omglo and @Justpetro Thank you. I shouldn't have fed the troll. Wish i'd thought of maybe it was a mishit. Like you said petro, one really has enough other things to handle.

My good news: My mother and I got our test results back and we're both negative. We haven't got Covid! So hopefully my meeting with the Grim Reaper will be postponed for a few years yet!

But my first thought was to make provision for my Sims!! Shows where my priorities lie! Maybe also says something about how mature I am. In my defence I can only say that, apart from my 92-year-old mother, I haven't got any real life dependants.

I'll post again soon!

It's the thing about online interaction, while we know every one of us has their real life to live and all it brings, we think the people we see here posting day in and day out are timeless, stuck in specific instance, almost like Gallifreyan art. And when we realise we haven't read anything from them in a while, that's when we snap back to reality and remember they're not. Though I do hope everything turns out for the best and they're just taking a break, like jo said, to play Dragon Age or something else. I know I take these breaks from the Sims all the time.

@wickedjr89 so sorry to hear that.

Guys, don't feed the trolls! It only gives them courage to click more buttons!

It's great to see members actually caring about each other's well being, humanity is not a total loss yet! But, could we please try to stay on topic? I really hate making swiss cheese out of threads.

finding that for some reason Downtown has been corrupted, red flashing in which ever hood I load it into. must be the tricous.

Maybe the most recent slew of posts (with their decidedly serious undertones) aren't the best example to point this out from, but I love seeing people so invested in their game, even if I myself have never been that connected to my Sims (or honestly probably even my buildings)...

I realized that the plumbots have animations related to temperature/ambient ... that drives me a little crazy They are robots!

who can also become zombie werewolf vampires... okay, who programmed those responses to being bit?!

Sims2Christain Yes, although it has always seemed like a kind of gift to hybrid fans to me, when I was little I loved trying those things.

I know I wanted to populate Arundel with more people, but good lord, women! You're all a passel of baby birthing machine!

I'm not sure how you stay on topic in a thread literally called random thoughts. XD

Yes, but Sims 2 random thoughts.

My laptop gets a little crazy when it's too hot, so I feel like it makes a certain kind of sense

I hadn't thought of it that way! although rather I was referring to breathe.

When I started this thread, my idea was that it would be almost impossible to go off topic, as long as your posts retained some vague connection to The Sims 2. Since The Sims 2 is a life simulation game, I think it's inevitable that people will draw parallels between things that happen in real life, and things that happen in our games. The present conversation started with me considering what was happening to me in real life (being ill) and thinking of the possible consequences of that real life event for my Sims. I honestly don't think any of us has gone off-topic -- not significantly so anyway.

Surely there can't be any objection to us occasionally expressing concern, and sympathy, for each other?

Well we're Sims 2 players, so it's Sims 2 related!

Not at all, it happens more than occasionally even. But many users expect that a random thoughts thread in sims 2, would be random thought about the game and not real life issues. Just trying to follow through for some users who dislike real life creeping into game stuff. And covid is a rather hot topic, much like politics or religion.

I'm just going to say that learning how to read the "Show Plague Info" on the FFS Lot Debugger has been a life changer as far as looking after poorly sims goes. I can now tell how long they could potentially be ill for and how long of a window I have to save them. It's brilliant! I can't believe I over-looked this for so long

So IS THERE a thread that is not Sim related, but IS about US?! We care about each other, and the Real Life issues we deal with. I'm old, I've lived a lot, and even if I can't be of much help, I can sympathize. And sometimes that's all I wanted when I've dealt with an issue (death of husband a year ago). I've tried to leave this site on more than one occasion from being mad at someone, or disgusted at some idiot...but I always come back. And it's not like I don't have a life, friends, etc. But all ya'll Simmers are Special. And I even gave my daughter directions to go here to tell people if I died...than thought ...meh, who cares.