Zoe Zimmerman: Week 1

[Note: This was played and written in December 2009, long before the events of the previous two chapters.]

We've been here before - it is the apartment building where some of our graduates have moved, namely Delilah O'Feefe, Jessie Pilferson, DJ Verse and...

...Zoe Zimmerman. Zoe's surname is the last one on the alphabetical list of Maxis-made Sims, and so hers is the last household to complete the 2nd round I play in this neighbourhood. Her aspiration is Popularity, and she wants nothing more than to have 20 simultaneous best friends. By the time she arrives in New Maximiliania, she has 11 already - so she really used her time at university well, apart from graduating Magna Cum Laude in History and having earned membership cards for "Games of Glory" and "Will's Garage".

If you are a Popularity Sim and want to entertain lots of friends all the time, you should make your apartment as welcoming as possible. Her guests will certainly be able to feel at ease, hanging out with Zoe at her very own bar!

Food and drink is not all a perfect host should offer - Zoe also provides entertainment in the form of TV, a stereo and a table to play "Don't Wake The Llama" at, as well as putting her own computer at everyone's disposition instead of tucking it away in a private study or her bedroom.

Delilah, DJ and Jessie (from left to right) all live here, and so does the NPC townie to the far right. Looks like there are some hard feelings growing between DJ and Gunnar Roque - don't tell me these two had something going on at some stage? Umm... indeed they had; she was No. 6 on Gunnar's list of Sims he has had woohoo with!

Other guests are less peculiar, like Leod Broke (née McGreggor and, so far, the only Sim in my game that I ever witnessed turning into a Plantsim), Isabel Baldwin and Aldric Davis.

Zoe loves to gather her guests round the games table and play "Don't Wake The Llama" with them - they all enjoy it!

She also strives to meet & greet as many of her fellow New Maximilianians as possible, like Jacob Martin here. My, has the boy grown since we last saw him! He is a young man now, studying at university.

And of course, he is invited in for a game of Llama.

Uh-oh... looks like Delilah O'Feefe does NOT agree with her landlord on something! I have no idea what it is - the rent? noisy neigbhours? an unkempt front garden?

It must be serious, because they get into a fight, watched helplessly by DJ Verse, who hardly surprising takes her friend's side.

Delilah wins...

...but minutes later, they are at it again!!

Delilah wins again, and instead of waiting for a third fight, I make Zoe call Delilah over and give the landlord a chance to get away from his aggressive tenant.

Zoe is great with people - she manages to persuade Delilah and the landlord to sit next to each other and have a plate of Chef Salad in her apartment. They are joined by Jonah Powers (far left) and Hannah Bell, whose age transition into an Elder we watched only recently.

After the salad, Delilah and the landlord even agree to play the Llama game with Jonah and Zoe. Who would have thought those two were able to smooth over their differences so quickly?

Herbert Goodie and Cynthia Kim are Zoe's latest acquaintances.

Here she is, making her 15th best friend - only 5 more to go and she will be on Permanent Platinum!

One of the NPC tenants in the apartment building, a certain Sandy Fairchild, is best friends with Zoe, and suggests she can set her up with someone she is sure Zoe will not simply like, but LOVE. Zoe agrees, and who other than New Maximiliania's only Zombie, Beaumont DeBateau, appears for the blind date?!

Zoe has 3 bolts for Beaumont (like almost every female Sim who has ever set eyes on him), and needless to say, their date turns out a Dream Date.

Another round of the Llama game, this time with Marcel Jocque (who still looks as ridiculous as when we last saw him coming out of Malcolm Landgraab's beauty salon!), DJ Verse and Sanjay Ramaswami.

Beaumont had already left a bouquet of roses on Zoe's doorstep last night - tonight, he leaves a hot tub for her! She decides to put it in her inventory for now. Although she does not work, she is in no financial trouble, having accumulated quite a nice sum through her grant money at university, but having a little back-up in the form of an expensive object in her inventory is certainly no mistake.

Saturday is here, and the landlord is hosting a BBQ in the playground. (Note: Delilah has not put in an appearance!)

And on Sunday, the first snowflakes silently start falling...

...soon covering the ground...

...until by the time the sun has set, there is enough snow for a snowball fight, in which Zoe and her friends engage with a lot of enthusiasm!

A bit too much enthusiasm - Jessie and Delilah do not seem to be very reasonable when it comes to dealing with the cold, and fall to the ground, frozen stiff.

Are they going to survive and recover? Our Zoe looks a bit off peak herself, to be honest... but she is doing fine: 17 out of the 20 best friends! Round Two is complete - I hope you all enjoyed reading about New Maximiliania as much as I did playing here, and I promise I am going to start on round 3 quite soon