The Cho "Brothers": Update 30.03.2017

Some time ago, I decided to add NPC students, townies and so on to the playable residents of New Maximiliania if they had the same surname as one of the Maxis-made Playables. Two of these relatively recently added Sims are Calvin (left) and Shane (right) Cho, "relatives" of the late Vivian and Etsu Cho.
After I had added these two former NPC students, I put them in a Greek house on their own - and sort of forgot about them. Now I think it is time to get them back in the game, so to speak. I have moved them to Pinenut Plaza dorms, the only building on Campus with playable residents at the moment.
Calvin is a Family Sim who dreams of celebrating his Golden Anniversary one day (but currently does not even have a love interest). Shane aspires to be a Business Tycoon, fittingly for a Fortune Sim. They are both Freshmen.

The others here are B'Elanna Beaker, a Sophomore...

...just like Callum...

...and Christopher Capp.

Wilma Williamson is the only one in her Junior year at the moment.
       

Meike...

...and Stephen Riley are Seniors.

The semester is off to a sporty start when the Campus coach appears and orders Christopher to work out.

Stephen informs one of the newcomers, Shane, that he will automatically be registered for a Major in Philosophy if he does not decide on a Major by the end of his Sophomore Year.

A streaker is paying a very quick visit, and as usual, nobody takes any notice.

B'Elanna and Callum are dancing, while B'Elanna's half-sister Wilma is looking on.

Later, B'Elanna has a sponge bath - with three perfectly good showers right next to her.

Meike and Callum... in bed together?! Not really - they happened to choose the same (most comfortable) bed in the house, which is actually in B'Elanna's room. They are friends, and therefore have no qualms about sharing a bed, without anything actually happening.

The next morning, Meike is seen mopping the girls' bathroom floor.
(You know how I play my student households: Until everyone has acquired all necessary skills and written their term paper, I control them. After that, they are pretty much left to their own devices.)

Calvin and Callum enjoy the sunny summer afternoon by tossing a football on the street.

Calvin is the first to complete the semester.

Callum takes out the trash.

B'Elanna has just found something to eat in the bin... yummm... :-D

Meike, Stephen and Wilma have just completed their semester.

B'Elanna and Christopher follow suit.

A fight has broken out in the upstairs common room! Who is involved?

Thankfully, none of the resident students - just the usual eternal rivalry between cows and llamas!

I have not forgotten that I mean to send each household to a community lot at least once each round. It is summer, after all, and so I send my students to the "Fiesta Swim Center", a community lot at La Fiesta Tech.

Nothing much happens except for some swimming, diving and hot-dog eating.
      

Callum has finished the semester, too.
       

This term, Christopher is the first to complete his Term Paper.
       

Shane is next.
       

Callum puts away the books other students have left about on his own initiative.
       

Meike is sure she'll make it to the Dean's List once more - it is her very last semester, by the way.
       

Stephen finishes his very last Term Paper.
       

Upstairs, Calvin is giving one of the sinks in the boys' bathroom a good scrub.
       

Meike has graduated Summa Cum Laude!
       

The next morning, she invites her closest friends. Do you know who everyone is?
       

Charlie Cho is invited, too - he is her half-brother (they have the same father, Hal Capp, who later married Sally Riley, Meike's mother).
       

While Meike's graduation party is in full swing, B'Elanna and Christopher return from their end-of-year exams.
       

Calvin retreats to his room for some rest after the party.
       

But it is yet another graduation party the very next day: Stephen has graduated Summa Cum Laude, too!
       

Some, but not all, of his friends are the same ones as Meike's.
       

He can't wait to get back to New Maximiliana and start working on his dream of becoming Space Pirate! Meike, by the way, wants to become The Law.
       

B'Elanna's lifetime want is to have 50 first dates. I have badly neglected this all "year", but here she is having her 1st (and VERY short) date # 35 with Mitch Wolosenko. "Students..." he seems to think, "...note to self: never get involved with a student again..."!
       

Calvin and Shane Cho were the reason why I played this round at the dorm. Now Calvin has completed his semester, and just like Stephen had told him at the start of the year, he was automatically signed up for the Philosophy Major.

With two students (Meike and Stephen) gone, who will come to live here next?

The Cho-Riley Household: Update 08.03.2017

More than a year ago, I last played this household. You can read what happened then here.

Now let's have a look at who lives here now.
We have Charlie Cho and his mother Etsu, née Cho, widowed Riley...

...as well as Hal (formerly Capp) and his wife Sally Riley.
All four are on Permanent Platinum and are rarely controlled by me. The elderly Sims are all 78 years old. I know Sally was much older than Etsu when the game began, but what with uni and other events, somehow they ended up being exactly the same age.

Just to give you a quick reminder, here are some family portraits from this house:

Left to right, we have Vivian Cho, Timothy Riley and Etsu Cho as a teenager. Vivian and Timothy were married, but after Vivian's death (she was considerably older than Timothy), he suddenly discovered what a beautiful woman his step-daughter Etsu had become. I did not at all like the two of them developing feelings for each other, but it was their own choice and I did not stop them, either.

The next painting is of Sally when she was a teenager. I have always had a soft spot for her, not only because she and I have the same surname :-)

At first, Hal Capp was Etsu's boyfriend. But when he moved in with the family, and after he and Etsu had Charlie, he and Sally realised they could not ignore their 3-bolt-attraction any longer. Later on, they married, and Sally had Stephen while Etsu had Meike with Timothy. The complex relationships in this household were not always easy to handle, but eventually, all the adults decided their mutual respect and friendships were more important than jealousy, and let the past be the past.

Stephen and Meike are currently at college.

The week at this house starts on a Sunday, and we find Sally cleaning up the various coffee mugs dotted around the place, left there from yesterday's guests, on her own accord.

Angela Pleasant passes by and is welcomed by her friend Etsu. She is followed a short while later by Jill Indie.

When I entered the lot, I noticed Charlie had a locked wish: Get married to Tina Traveller. So, Tina is invited over, and we'll see what there is between the two of them. Sally welcomes her.

Tina comes from a family with... let's say complex relationships, too, so she can relate to the situation at Charlie's home. Her mother left her father when she was still a little girl, to go and live with her 3-bolt-man Carlos Contender. Tina's father died in a fire (like so many other New Maximilianians), so that Tina had nowhere to return to after college. Carlos Contender had died by that time, too, leaving his house and fortune to Trisha, Tina's Mum. The two ladies reconciled, and Tina moved in with her Mum.

Monday morning starts with Charlie stargazing and wondering whether everything he's heard about Aliens is actually true.

As is so often the case here, a jealous or otherwise angry Sim has kicked over the trash can. The skunk is happy to find something to eat in there.

Remember my new rule to send every household to a community lot at least once each week? It is still only Monday, but why not do it now. So I send the family to St. Simius - for a reason :-)

It is Tina and Charlie's wedding! Trisha is a very proud mother-of-the-bride and wishes her daughter and son-in-law all the best.

Everybody else is happy, too:

Meike and Stephen have come all the way from uni to attend their half-brother's/uncle's/whatever's wedding.

Here are some more snapshots from the wedding - it was great fun to play, and I was happy to see Charlie and Tina choose the proper chairs without me directing them:

On Tuesday, Tina started to work on achieving her lifetime want again. She is currently the only household member not on PP, still trying to have 50 first dates. Not easy for her, now that she's married! When she moved in with her new family, she had 33 first dates under her belt - Charlie had been her # 4 years ago.

Money is not an issue in this family, and so Tina can splash out the full 5.000 Simoleons every time she enlists the help of the Matchmaker. Her 1st date # 34 is Callum Capp, distantly related to her now via Hal, her father-in-law.

Later that day, Prezioso Picaso walks by.

Just as Etsu comes home demoted (due to the wrong decision with a chance card, of course), Tina is having her 1st date # 36 with Alon Kalson.

# 37 is Neil LeTourneau...

... and Phoenix Go- who is just seen leaving here - is # 38. She has two more 1st dates that day. # 39 is one Darren Johnson and # 40 Sullivan Vijayakar, all of them townies/NPCs.

Here is how I handle these dates: In order to not create unnecessary scenes of jealousy and accusings of cheating between husband and wife, I let Tina pay the Matchmaker for a blind date and wait only until she can greet them and the date-meter pops up. As soon as that happens, I click on "end the date" without any further interaction. That way, she does not fall in love with the men. It makes for very bad dates, of course, but then it is not her LTW to have 50 dream dates - only to have 50 first dates.

On Wednesday morning, while it is still dark, Charlie returns from a visit aboard the Alien space ship.

I keep thinking how nice a half-Alien baby in this household would be and have been making sure Charlie did plenty of stargazing. However, he is now only 5 days from Elderhood, and I know that is the limit - after that, a male Sim will not become pregnant. I was playing with the sound on mute at the time, and so didn't hear whether there was the baby jingle or not.
Unfortunately, over the next few days it became apparent that Charlie was not pregnant. So, he suffered through the abduction (it was a bad memory for him) all for nothing. Sorry, Charlie!


Not only does Wednesday see Charlie's return from the Aliens. Justin Kim walks by and is greeted by Etsu.

Then Lilith Ottomas comes visiting (you can see her at the far right of the picture) while Tina has her 1st date # 41 with Scott Kwa.

# 42 is Larry Owens. Wow, only 8 more to go!

I did expect this, and yet it was sad: Etsu dies at the age of 82. I really liked her, not only because she was one of the prettiest Sims in my opinion.

Charlie is devastated, as you would expect him to be.

On Thursday, he gets up early and spends a considerable amount of time at the computer.

His wife is having her 1st date # 43 with Johnson Fleig.

At 6:00 pm, Sally is approached by the familiar hooded figure with the scythe. She was 83 years old. I am glad she is not the last "Riley" in my game!

Hal comes home from work a little later, with colleague Calendula Capp in tow. Prezioso Picaso is there again, too.

When he becomes aware of his beloved 3-bolt-wife's death, Hal is very sad.

On Friday morning, a grief-stricken Hal is seen lounging on the settee, still in his work clothes from the previous day.

Tina and Charlie have breakfast together. Spring has finally arrived, and Tina is happy to report she has found the first daisies on the lawn outside.

There is more to be found on the lawn outside: Her 1st date # 44 is Sebastian Collins.

Hal has not had to wait long before he is invited to follow Sally and Etsu to the Great Lot in the sky. He was 84.

Tina has not many 1st dates left to cover; her # 45 is Ocean Pederson...

...and # 46 Todd Gergis.

Saturday is the last day of the week here. Once more, Charlie begins it at the computer.

Tina is really speeding up things now. Her 1st date # 47 is Joseph Kody, falling out of the rain clouds just as the repair service is pulling up in front of the house.

Knut Alioto is # 48...

...and Jim Reeves # 49.

Meanwhile, Charlie greets some "proper" New Maximilianians: Maria Monty...

...and Nellie Newson. Don't you think Nellie is super-pretty?

And finally, Tina's 1st date # 50 is here: Avri Long fulfills her LTW! No more annoying, repetetive conversations with the Matchmaker!

The week ends with Charlie and Tina and their guests in the living room. Charlie is wondering what his two distant cousins, townie-students by the surname Cho, are doing. We will find out soon!

This was a long week!!! I knew the elderly Sims would all die, as they were getting on a bit and their lifetime bars looked full from the moment I entered the lot. I also knew there could be complications with Tina's LTW, seeing as she was now married. But the only thing that really made matters unnecessarily long was that the Matchmaker kept summoning the same Sims over and over again - sometimes four times in a row, before she'd finally bring in someone new! Repeat dates logically do not count as 1st dates, but still Tina had to pay for them and end them as soon as possible. It was time-consuming, to say the least.
Also, a slight disappointment when I found out Charlie was not pregnant.

All things considered, it was fun to play here, and I hope I did not bore you too much with the many dates!