Heather Huffington - Week 1

This sunny looking house by the Sea is the new home of...

...Heather Huffington, who has just graduated Summa Cum Laude in Economics and now wants to start working on her LTW, that of becoming Rock God. Maybe you remember her from the chapters about the Grunts; she is Ripp Grunt's true love but won't settle with him until he is through with his LTW of having 20 lovers. After having bought the piece of land and the house, she still has 13.000 Simoleons, thanks to having been parsimonious with her grant money during her university years.

She furnishes her bathroom like this.

The open plan dining / living room / kitchen area still looks rather sparse, but friendly and sunny.

The same area, seen towards the kitchen.

Heather's bedroom sports a "Hawaii" theme. She is left with a mere 50 Simoleons on her account but is optimistic about finding a job soon.

The welcome gift, Rod Humble's computer, is very welcome!

After pulling up one of the three chairs from the dining table (she didn't want to spend her last few Simoleons on a desk chair), Heather immediately logs onto the Simternet and browses the job agency's website. There is nothing available in the Music career, though.

In the meantime, her welcome committee, consisting of Alexander Goth, Priya Ramaswami and Gary Greenman, has gathered outside.

For some strange reason, although this is Heather's first day in New Maximiliania and she has not yet made any meals, she finds this plate of lunchmeat sandwiches as leftovers in her brand new fridge.

While her guests are munching on the sarnies, she welcomes Vidcund Curious, who happens to walk by.

She should not have invited him in - he starts arguing with Priya, and before I know it, the two of them are fighting!

Priya loses the fight, and I wonder whether either of the two will ever be invited again by Heather.

After her guests have left, Heather is just settling on her bed for a bit of a rest when her phone rings. Ripp Grunt invites her for an outing with friends.

They meet at the Lucky Shack, and Heather is hoping for a game of poker and winning a bit of money - it is, after all, Tuesday tomorrow, and Tuesdays mean bills in New Maximiliania.

Ripp has gathered a group of friends: Ophelia Nigmos is there, as well as Jacob Martin, Jennifer Burb and Sandra Roth and Alexander Goth.

To Heather's dismay, although there are two poker tables at the Lucky Shack and seats become available in turns, she can never join the others in a game. (This was really strange - every time I clicked on "join" or "play", the icon appeared for a few moments, only to disappear again, and Heather didn't get a chance to play poker at all. Has anyone else ever had that happen?)

Sandra Roth's skill with the cards is amazing! Where did she learn this, I wonder? :-)

Tuesday morning, Heather finds that, over night, the last of this winter's snow has fallen.

But spring is as good as here, which means she has to do a bit of gardening already on the 2nd day in her new place.

Ajay Loner walks by and is greeted by her.

In the evening, Heather invites Ripp over. She can only bear being without her three-bolt-love for so long!

He spends the night and stays for breakfast.

He is still there on Thursday, and tries to cheer Heather up when she still can't find an open position in the Music career.

While his girfriend is having a shower, Ripp goes to salvage the bin on his own accord. Whatever it is he finds in there (looks like a small greyish lump), he eats it - uuugh!

On Friday, one of the guys Heather studied with at uni, Aldric Davis, drops in for a surprise visit.

Gilbert Jacquet happens to walk by and is also asked in. He turns out to be another 3-bolt-man for Heather, but he is happily married to Daisy Jacquet, Rose Greenman's eldest daughter, and way too old for Heather anyway.

Jill Smith is # 3 of unexpected guests for Heather today...

...and Stephen Tinker # 4.

Heather is not a good cook - she somehow made it to graduation with just two cooking skill points - and so she decides to splash out and order Chinese food for 30 Simoleons for her guests.

"This, by the way, is my boyfriend, Ripp," Heather makes sure none of the men in the room have any doubt about whom her heart beats for most fervently.

When she gets up on Saturday morning, even before she starts clearing up the remnants of yesterday's impromptu party, Heather sits down at the computer, calls up the job site - and is finally lucky: she can start tonight at 9.00 pm as a studio musician.

When her carpool arrives, Heather changes into her (horrible!) work clothes and leaves for the studio.

Heather has returned from work and gone to bed, exhausted after her first night on the new job, when a burglar appears.

Although the bathtub and sink are much more valuable, he only takes the mirror from the bathroom.

Similarly, from the bedroom he takes the (cheap) curtains instead of, for instance, the bed.

In the living room, it is not the computer he takes, but the chair in front of it.

In the meantime, Heather has managed to sneak to the phone and call the police. Just as the burglar takes hold of another chair, the officer arrives.

The ensuing fight between burglar and police officer is won by the latter, and Heather gets 500 Simoleons for having helped to catch the criminal.

She would have rather not have the 500 Simoleons and NOT have been burgled, I think!

After the nightly disruption, Heather gets up rather late and spends a few hours doing yardwork.

She would have loved to invite Ripp over again, but decides against it. Instead, she sits in the newly set up reading corner in her bedroom and studies mechanical skill - she needs two points before she can start thinking of a promotion. 

This single Sim household made quite a change from the bustling families I have been playing recently - I was able to play most of the week on fast forward. For her next week, I hope she will advance in her career, while Ripp should get closer to fulfilling his LTW before it is Heather's turn again on the alphabetical names list.