@PenelopeT -- While the damaged ornaments are vintage glass, they've only been my heirlooms for a decade. The tree and lights were bought new back then, but all other ornaments have been an accumulation of thrift-store finds over the years, with those particular baubles being among the first year's finds. They're all my precious treasures now, but I know they were once precious to other people (well, except for things like the more modern still-in-superstore-package tinsel that seems to have been a mere product of someone's overbuying) and that eventually, I'll leave most of them behind in another thrift store. If this had been a normal year, I might have done so already, because I can't see myself shipping them between states or countries. That doesn't make me any happier about random destruction by chance and entropy, but this is the year for that. If this sounds too stoic an attitude to be real, it's because I have to seize that for the things I can regard in that manner. You have no idea the number of things I cannot take with similar equanimity! Playing TS2 is one of the things that has improved my ability to keep my temper with regard to unintended destruction, "glitchiness" or unexpected results, but Real Life getting corrupted (or at least feeling like it) has tested my limits.

@Sunbee -- Or worse, our Watcher has left the game unattended and it has been commandeered by a (maybe malicious, maybe oblivious) younger sibling with little idea of narrative continuity, storyline logic, or game stability. Or our Watcher has installed a whole load of new mods without quite understanding how they will interact and the effects on the game. (I did something like that with my old megahood shortly before this mess started, causing an unfolding disaster that was not constrained by lot edges, which is one of the reasons I can't play it now. Too traumatic a mirror to Real Life!) Or the younger sibling has done so...

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"Metaphorically speaking"? or not...

...when you see a car with registration plates "524 BFF" and say "Wow, how many BFFs."

You watch Lego City Adventures and the giant floating Cubby balloon immediately reminds you of the giant floating pig balloon.

Today I noticed that in addition to the typical gaming WASD keys and the spacebar, the P button on my laptop seemed to also be a bit greasier than others... I wonder what's making me press the P button so much, which coincidentally is the first letter in the word "pause"... we may never know...

When you open up a new realm of discovery when finally playing with the open for business part of sims 2. I decided to open up a home business to see how OFB works and wow is it ever fun.

..when you are temporarily stopped playing but still download interesting CC.

When I miss university so much that I'm building a university in the Sims....wait, does this show that I'm playing the Sims too much or that I'm not going to university enough?

When you are late to work because of The Sims 2.

When you go overboard creating a new playstyle, taking more time making calculations then actually playing. Really, there are endless possibilities when you consider the interests and personality panels (not to mention aspirations). I'm sure this is old news to most players who've done this for years, but until recently I never even looked at the interests panel, let alone have any real gameplay guidelines. I'm finding it so much more fun this way, but also trying to find a balance before I give myself too many things to remember.

One example. So I'm reevaluating a sims hobbies by his interests. He's high in environment and weather, so for me that makes him a nature-y sim. But now I'm wondering if he should grow crops or not since his food interest is low. I'm essentially trying to give each sim sub-activities within their hobby, so they're more individually memorable than just, say, another music & dance sim. One girl, for some reason, I could imagine loving violin, so that was one of her sub activities in music & dance. Fitness sims who also happen to be lazy I only give sub activities like having protein shakes, reading about fitness etc. They're the sims that talk the talk but don't walk the walk.

Yeah, this game is just a nightmare for heavy thinkers.

@Bubblebeam I like that the interests are dynamic, too- so you can have two sims get along better by sharing interests.
https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Interest
I like to follow their conversations, when you see a negative relationship gain they are talking about something that doesn't interest them, and you can have them change the topic to help the conversation along.

When you fall asleep to a video of people tapping on things and stuff, and your brain finds various sims-related ways to bring the sounds into your dreams, like some clicking sound being re-interpreted into going through a menu to choose fingerprints for a sim. My fave was a short dream where the grim reaper took a sim, only to then start tapping his bony fingers on their urn. Sims ASMR? That'd be something.

Also when you start mixing together real time and sims-time. Oh, almost seven, it'll be dark soon. No, that's the real time. Holy shit, midnight already? Nope, just in the game...

When you're downloading cc in your dreams.
Although idk if that's really playing too much or just downloading too much.

Usually it goes another way around. Oh, it's seven (actual sim time). I see it's dark outside. I have still time to play. Holy shit, midnight already?

Oh, yeah. Too true. I picked the game back up pretty recently and I'd forgotten how fast five hours can go by.

Well, this has most likely been mentioned as it's a relatively common issue. My sims have a better wardrobe selection than me.

Many of my Sims have more money to spend on clothes than I do. And, thanks both to Maxis and the creators of the stuff I've downloaded, the Veronaville shops stock a lot of clothes I'd be more than happy to wear, if only I lived in a place where the moral, sartorial and meteorological climate would let me. (In other words, if I lived in Veronaville, I'd dress just as outrageously as any of my male Sims.) (HarVee, I'm well aware that I owe you a reply to your message -- I'll get back to you soon!)

On the other hand, I'm glad I don't have to shell out two hundred Simoleons for a pair of shorts. Four pounds is more the mark for me.

I have a really hard time finding clothing, either in-game or cc, that I feel I'd wear for real. As why I never play a simself because she'd have like one outfit.
My sims are MUCH more adventurous and fashionable than I'll ever be.

But I often find when I am shopping for real clothes, I'll catch myself think "Oh I'd totally put this on a sim"

I made my simself a Rush T-shirt, now she's as badly dressed as I am!

I was trying to calm a (real) crying baby, and the only lullaby I could think of to hum in that moment was the TS2 nursery rhyme.