Looking at this charming house with the flower tubs at the entrance, nobody would guess what tragedy has taken place here last round. Do you remember?
The house belongs to Tom Freshe...
...and Ellen Frost.
Both Tom and Ellen have been on Permanent Platinum for a long time: Tom became Business Tycoon 19 days from Elderhood, and Ellen followed suit when she became Criminal Mastermind 7 days later.
Tom had a half-Alien daughter, Freiya. And that's the tragedy: Freiya died last round in a fire. For a change, it wasn't a fire induced by burning a pile of leaves, but - most unusually, and I think she's the only Sim I've ever had who died that way - she had been wearing the thinking cap for hours on end until it caught fire. She was only a teenager then.
By the time I come back here to play, though, neither her father nor Ellen (who was not related to her) ever seem to be thinking of Freiya anymore.
Just to show you that I am still experiencing graphics bugs in my game: These houses do not belong here - they somehow ended up in the middle of the road, but fortunately, the game treats them as "not there"; the helicopter (Tom's "car" pool for work) can land without a problem.
Freiya's womrat Blacky still lives with Ellen and Tom. They frequently roll wants for playing with Blacky, and although they are on PP, I direct them every now and then to clean the cage and fill the food dish.
On Monday, Justin Kim walks by and is greeted by Ellen.
In the afternoon, a group of friends are invited over: Zoe Zimmermann, Miranda Capp, Chaz Whippler...
...Jules Cleveland, Sirius Swain and Cedric Cooke.
Everybody gathers in the living room at first.
But then, the party moves to the dining room, where Tom and Ellen are about to blow out the candles on their birtday cakes.
Ellen is the first to sit down with a piece of cake (red dress, back to the camera).
The table with the "Don't wake the Llama" game is of course a focal point for the party. Charlie Cho was not originally invited, but happened to walk by and was asked to join - the more, the merrier!
After everybody has left, the now elderly couple relax on their bed. Both have age-transitioned into something red, so I suppose this is going to the new colour scheme for their outfits. Also, as has happened a few times in New Maximiliania already, as soon as they both were elders, they rolled the want to get married.
On Tuesday, Tom goes shopping for clothes. He is certainly NOT going to spend the rest of his life walking around in a track suit. Many other New Maximilianians are visiting Amelia's Closet at the same time, and the Unsavoury Charlatan puts in an appearance, too.
Ellen and Tom in their new winter outfits.
Gabriella Newson is Ellen's guest for the day.
On Wednesday, the dining room is prepared for Ellen and Tom's wedding.
The new Mrs. and Mr. Freshe!
And their guests. Somehow, not everybody looks as happy as they should be. I wonder what is wrong with Miranda Capp (back row, black dress) and Jules Cleveland (front row, burgundy dress).
The cake is cut.
Wedding cake and champagne; I wouldn't mind joining in!
Of course, the Llama game proves once more to be most attractive to the guests.
"Now I'm a married woman... who would have thought!" Ellen muses later on.
She wakes up Wednesday morning with Tom already up and about. "My Tom... I am so happy we found each other at college all those years ago," Ellen thinks.
Meanwhile, Tom cleans Blacky's cage.
Ellen clears the dining room table where there were still some empty plates left from last night's wedding party.
It is not yet daylight when she ventures outside and discovers that someone has kicked over the bin. Ellen is a sensible and neat Sim; I do not need to tell her to put the bin upright and pick up the rubbish.
Later, she even does the entire gardening on her own accord.
Tom is at work, and Ellen is always happy to have company. So she greets Hailey Hart and tells her all about how she is now Mrs. Freshe, not Miss Frost anymore.
I wonder whether Hailey really wants to hear everything about the wedding :-)
When Tom returns from work, Ellen has to leave. Today, Ellen wished for an orchard tree and a garden plot; as soon as the plot was in place, Tom wished to plant a seed. He is just fertilizing the soil when Georgia Newson comes visiting.
Juliette Davis later joins the Freshes for the evening.
The only thing maybe worth mentioning on Friday is that the repair service had to be called for a broken tap in the bathroom and a broken computer.
On Saturday, for a change, the couple are asleep at the same time.
When Ellen is at work, Tom asks passers-by Gallagher Newson in. Later, good friend Cedric Cooke decides to pay a visit, too.
You would rather expect a group of men watch sports on telly together or something like that, but these three prefer playing Don't Wake The Llama :-)
It is Sunday morning, and Ellen is grumpy. "Men!! He can invite them in and they can spend all evening together, but what my Tom can not do, apparently, is to clean up after them!" (Shortly afterwards, Tom got up, went to the kitchen and put the empty large bowl in the dishwasher - as if he had heard Ellen.)
Early Sunday afternoon, it starts to rain, much to Ellen's and Tom's dismay - they were planning their first outdoor party of the year, with it being the end of spring.
Fortunately, by the time it gets dark, the rain has stopped long enough for the ground to be dry again, and everybody is happy to gather round the fire, roasting marshmallows and telling stories.
Those who are less inclined to sit outside in the dark are of course playing the Llama game, and some watch telly.
I liked playing this week, although I did intervene more than I usually do when playing PermaPlat Sims. For their wedding and the other parties, I made sure both Tom and Ellen were well rested, showered and dressed.
It was nice to see Juliette bringing Jennifer Burb along when she was invited; it means that the elderly ladies living at the Senior Residence still get out and about every now and then.
Hello and welcome to the first time this round that we'll spend a "year" at university.
The reason why we are here is this young lady, Deirdre Dreamer. She has only just arrived. Who else of the playables lives at this dorm at the moment?
Pablo Picaso, who is in his Senior Year...
...Nigel Newson, a Junior...
...Sirius Swain, a Sophomore...
...and Ramon Ramirez, another Junior.
So, Deirde is the only girl (of the playables; there are some NPC students here as well). How is she going to fit in?
For her first meal at the cafeteria, she joins one of the female NPC students at her table. "One of my fathers is from a different planet," she tells the girl.
sRamon is the one who, on his own accord, does most of the cleaning here.
My playing policy for campus households is that I only control a Sim until they have acquired the requested skills and written their term papers. After that, they can pretty much do what they want. There is one exception: I try to make sure that each playable gives a phone call to one friend back home every day.
Deirdre writes her Term Paper early on, even before she decides on her major. On her second day at uni, she rolls the wants for two majors, politics and psychology. Her lifetime want is to become game designer, but neither of those two majors show special benefit for that career. Therefore, I simply have her choose the first one in the wishes panel, and that is politics.
Sponge baths are popular here, it seems. If I am not very much mistaken, I see at least one every time I play a uni household. No need to tell you that of course the shower room upstairs is fully functional!
Deirdre has been given the corner room at the back of the ground floor.
In Pablo's room, the synthesizer still proves to be popular, as Nigel Newson here shows, but not quite as much as it used to be.
Deirdre is happy to have one of her many half-brothers live here, too.
Everyone loves to hula and would do nothing else if it weren't for those necessary interruptions for eating, sleeping and... well, classes.
Pablo Picaso is, true to his name, a good painter. He chose to finish this painting on his own accord, and therefore I think I'll put it in his inventory when he graduates and moves back to New Maximiliania.
Nigel is now a Senior.
Pablo's graduation party has just begun - he finished Cum Laude in Physics. His girlfriend Hailey Hart is of course invited.
And so is his family. Here, he welcomes his big sister Pauline. The man in the blue t-shirt is Gary Greenman, one of Rose Greenman's plantchildren who turned human and married Jessica Picaso, Pablo's mother, after she was divorced from her first husband (and Pablo's father) Matthew.
Here she is, Jessica proudly hugging her son.
After the party, Pablo is ready to board the taxi that will take him back to New Max and start the next chapter in his life. Good luck and bye-bye for now, Pablo!
Sirius now begins the 2nd semester of his Sophomore year, and Ramon of his Junior year.
Deirdre is not quite as neat and tidy as Ramon, but occasionally, she empties the trash bin in the cafeteria.
Her first semester is already over.
Ramon is doing his best to keep the boys' shower room and toilets in an acceptable condition.
Sometimes the cafeteria cook decides to wash the dishes in the boys' bathroom - although there is a perfectly well functioning dishwasher downstairs in the kitchen.
Half-siblings Sirius and Deirdre get along very well. Sometimes Sirius even gives his sister a backrub on his own initiative - I always thought backrubs count as romantic interactions and are not available for relatives.
Ramon has been giving financial consulting all day, and by the time he should get ready for his exams, he is exhausted and hungry. I intervene and have him drink espresso and eat a plate of spaghetti before he has to leave.
Deirde wakes up happy. Campus life agrees with her, it seems.
For the first time this "year", the campus coach appears and urges Deirdre to do something about her (admittedly sorry) state of fitness.
She needs a good rest after that work-out!
A fire in the cafeteria is quickly put out by the sprinkler on the ceiling. Fortunately, only NPC students were around at the time.
Deirdre has successfully completed her Freshman Year.
There are currently 4 rooms available at this dorm. Are they going to be filled this round, now that New Maximiliania's population is at its lowest ever?
