Demi Love - Week 1

[I don't think I have ever played in this Maxis-made house before, but now is the time - this is the new home of...

...Demi Love, former Police Officer and NPC. She was eligible to become a permanent resident of New Maximiliania because of her surname being that of a playable Sim, original student Sarah Love.
You can read about how and where she moved in here.
Her "relative", Sarah, has died of old age some time ago; I am not sure the two ladies ever met.

Demi dreams of becoming Education Minister - her work in the Police Force must have shown her that good education is the best crime prevention. She is a Knowledge Sim and has 16,929 Simoleons left after purchasing the house.

You can see she will need some of that money - the house is spacious for one person, but sparsely furnished. I do what I often do when a Sim moves to a new place: I let them decide on what to buy first. In Demi's case, she wishes for a fridge and a book case.

Also, she needs a job in the Education career if she wants to make her lifetime want come true. Mr. Humble has already delivered his customary welcome package, and Demi is lucky - she can start as a Substitute Teacher tomorrow. Her good skill profile certainly helps.

Another one of her "relatives" is former NPC student Ryker Love. The two are friends, but not good enough friends yet for Ryker to move in. He happily accepts Demi's invitation to visit her at her new place, though.

The welcome committee consists of Beta Beaker, Stephen Riley and Lance Landgraab (not pictured). Demi quickly set up a table and chairs and prepared a batch of hamburgers.

Then, Isabella Indie rings and invites her for an outing. As I still want to stick to my rule of sending my Sims to a community lot at least once a week, and Demi is not overly tired yet, she accepts the invitation. The taxi drops the group off in front of Belle's Boutique and Tayloring.

Demi can't keep wearing her uniform now that she is not in the force anymore. And what better company for clothes shopping than a group of ladies! Jill Smith (next to Demi), Isabella Indie (the elderly lady) and Meike Riley help her choosing outfits for all seasons and occasions.

On Tuesday morning, the alarm clock on Demi's bedside table rings just in time for her to have a bath and get dressed before the car pool arrives to take her to her first day at the school.

She returns home not only with a promotion to Elementary School Teacher, but also with colleague Nellie Newson in tow. Nellie's uncle Gavin is just passing by when the ladies get off the car. He seems to find their driver very attractive!

Nellie helps Demi with marking, a task all teachers are familiar with. (Of course there is no such thing in this game, but let's pretend there is.)
Later, Demi pays her bills (80 Simoleons) and then goes jogging to fulfil a wish and get her back in shape.

Yesterday's running has paid of very quickly, and so has Nellie's help with the marking - Demi is promoted to High School Teacher on Wednesday. Her work outfit is still the same, but she is now taken to and from work in a better car.

Maintaining existing and establishing new friendships is important, especially for a Sim living alone like Demi. Here she is talking on the phone to friends before leaving for work, in spite of looking still a bit tired.

And again, her efforts have paid off when she returns from work as University Guest Lecturer!

Her schedule has changed now, so that she has more time in the morning. She takes advantage of that on Friday and prepares herself a nice omelette for breakfast.

After work, she invites Ryker Love over again. Strangely, she makes the "attraction" gesture in spite of him showing a crossed-out bolt in her relationship panel. Also, no romantic interaction is possible between the two; maybe the game does indeed consider them as related! (But in that case, the "attraction" gesture should not be possible, either.)
- - - Moments after I had typed this, all of a sudden, romantic interactions WERE possible, as if the game wanted to prove me wrong! I am not working on that just yet, though.

In fact, Demi seems really much more interested in making her "long lost relative" a best friend for life than a lover.

It is Saturday morning, and while the repairman is here to look after the clogged toilet, Demi has all the time in the world to ring her friends - she does not work on weekends.

It has become considerably colder, and she spends some time in the brisk morning air playing with a paper plane she made out of today's newspaper.

One of her oldest and best friends, Cedric Stacks, comes visiting on his own accord, wanting to know how she's been getting on during her first week as a resident New Maximilianian.

Demi invites a few other of her friends over and then proceeds to cooking. But although she is actually not a bad cook, she is destracted and burns the mac'n cheese. Never mind, everyone still eats it.

Nellie Newson and Perseida Powers are new friends; Nellie was her colleague when she started work at the school earlier this week, while Perseida was part of the group Isabella Indie had gathered for her outing on Monday night.

After last night's little imprompty party, Demi wakes up on Sunday morning and discovers that it is snowing.

It stops snowing, but a little has remained on the ground by the time she is dressed and ready to greet passing Sims, such as Ariel Capp here.

She has become best friends with Ryker Love over the phone and invites him to join her for Sunday lunch. The chili con carne is warming and delicious, but when she asks Ryker if he wants to move in, he says no.

This was Demi's first week on her own. She did well in her career and with her friendships. The house is still not furnished and decorated in much detail, as she has been working hard and spun no more wishes for items to be bought.

Will she keep getting one promotion after the other? Is there a chance for her and Ryker to combine households... and maybe become more than just friends?

TS4: Betty Larson - Week 1

Betty Larson was a townie, but with the same surname as a playable household in TS2 (the Larson twins), she HAD to move in. You can read about that here.

Betty started out with the Caliente family, but their house proved too small for another house mate, and so she has found her own place in Willow Creek. After having spent most of her starter money for the modestly furnished house, she has 4,641 Simoleons left.

Here she is, wearing her work outfit - her job is that of a Professional Painter, which suits her fine; after all, she aims at becoming Painter Extraordinaire.

Did the estate agent selling the house to Betty place this bottle of champagne in the house to welcome the new owner? Let's pretend it was the agent's nice gesture.

We find Betty getting up on Monday morning after her first night's sleep in her new accomodation.

And just in time for the Welcome Wagon, consisting of Summer Holiday, Travis Scott and Cassidy Purdue (I think), all three playables.

 Betty's mismatched default outfit has to go. Doesn't this suit her much better?

After the three welcomers have left, she meets and greets Mortimer Goth and Olivia Spencer-Kim-Lewis.

Then, Travis Scott is back, and Dina Caliente pops in to see how her friend is getting on, living on her own. 

Betty ends her first day painting at her new easel, the (so far) only item she has added to the already existing furniture.

Work is stressful on Tuesday, and because she takes the wrong decision with a chance card, Betty returns home in a sad mood. As if on cue, Dina comes visiting and cheers her up.

By Wednesday, Betty completes another milestone when she starts a 3rd painting while inspired. Note that she has autonomously changed into her mismatched default outfit again.

Whenever possible, I have my Sims in TS4 greet other playables when they pass by, just like I do in TS2. Here, Geoffrey Landgraab is on one of his countless rounds of jogging in the neighbourhood. With all that running, I wonder how he still keeps his belly!

I use the wardrobe to change Betty's default outfit to this one; it was randomized but I like it much better. Note the MySims figure - Betty found it inside a time capsule she dug up at the start of the week.

It is Thursday morning, and Betty makes herself a cooked breakfast. The paintings on the wall are her own; she made one of them at level 2 of the painting skill and the other at level 3 - no difference.

Look who's visiting! Don Lothario, housemate of the Caliente family where Betty moved in originally...

...and Andre Da Silva. Betty invites both young men in, but nothing happens, in spite of the champagne bottle in the living room putting everyone in a flirty mood.

It is Friday, and Geoffrey is back, this time on a walk, just as Betty returns from work.

Don has come back as well. Maybe he was hoping to catch Betty without other visitors present? He looks a bit disappointed when Geoffrey does not seem to get the hint, and stays for a plate of fish tacos.

Saturday is Betty's day off. She did not have a very good day yesterday and woke up with the lowest fun level of the whole week. Watching a bit of morning TV while still in her PJs helps.

Later, her good friends Dina Caliente and a townie (Celia McCarth or something like that) join her to finish the leftover fish tacos.

Betty has to work on Sunday, but the museum is still open when she comes home. Her next milestone is to view or admire three paintings at a museum or gallery, so she travels there.

Brent Hecking is the only other visitor inside the museum, and Betty is happy to have a bit of an artsy talk with the as yet unknown neighbour.

Out in the museum's garden, I notice three children diligently doing homework together. Probably a school project! Unlike in TS2, in this game, children seem to be able to decide on doing homework on their own accord, even on community lots.

Across the road from the museum is a small picnic space by the river, with public grills. Betty meets Nancy Landgraab there; she has just made herself a burger, and the two ladies eat and chat.
It's getting dark, and Betty is tired; I send her home, where she goes to bed almost immediately.

I really liked playing Betty! Her week was a breeze - of course it helped that she was at work almost every day. Somehow, she still managed to find time for her friends and for painting. Also, she did all necessary household chores, even repairing the toilet at some stage. She is an extraordinarily pretty Sim, something I had not really noticed before - I was probably distracted by her ugly original outfit.

With spending very little money and working hard, she has 7,653 Simoleons in her account at the end of the week. Maybe a new, more comfortable bed and a bigger telly would be welcome. She held the job of Professional Painter when she became playable. For promotion, she needs logic skill and higher levels of painting skill; a cheesboard might be an idea.

Will she find a romantic interest - or will she be found as a romantic interest as I play the other households? This week, she has been focusing on her job and milestones.

TS4: The Landgraab Family - Week 2

Click here for Week 1 with the Landgraabs in TS4.

So far, I have not moved around many (if any) Sims in TS4, and the Landgraabs are no exception; they are still in their ultra-modern mansion:

Also, the original set-up of the family has not changed since their first week. We have Geoffrey Landgraab, the Good Sim of this family, working in the Law Enforcement career...

...his wife Nancy, a materialistic lady with an evil streak (but very much in love with her husband, and also good friends with her son)...

...and of course their son Malcolm, who has inherited his mother's evil streak and is currently enjoying his time as a young adult with no obligations such as school, university of work interrupting is days of leisure.

On the Monday morning of their second week, the Landgraabs have breakfast together. 

Geoffrey is the first to leave for work today. He seems to be really looking forward to work.

Nancy greets Katrina Caliente, who interrupts her jogging for a brief chat.

Malcolm meets Ophelia Kim-Spencer-Lewis.

Later, he chats to Alexander Goth just as his Dad returns from work.

On Tuesday morning, one of the three toilets breaks. I have Nancy repair it; she has enough time on her hands, and since she wants to be fabulously wealthy, it is in her own interest to save the money otherwise spent for the repair service.

With both his parents out for work, Malcolm goes exploring the neighbourhood and finds several places where he can dig for crystals, time capsules and other such findings.

Cassandra Goth turns up on her own initiative. She is still a teenager, but that does not mean she and Malcolm can not be friends.

Here the two of them are taking their picture together - something the Sims in this game seem to like doing on their own accord.

Look who's here - Summer Holiday is always interested in making new friends or improve existing friendships.

It is Wednesday morning when Nancy, still in her work outfit from the night before, makes a garden salad. The cleaning up after her is left to her husband.

Finally, Malcolm gets a job - he needs to be in the Criminal Career like his mother in order to reach his lifetime want. He starts today as a "Tough Guy", while his Mum is now a "Minor Crimelord" (shouldn't that be Crimelady?).

Today, he also opens the three time capsules he has found so far this week.

All three contain MySims figures which are placed in one of the book shelves.

On Thursday morning, I have Malcolm empty the kitchen trash can into the wheelie bin outside the back door.

He then pepares Mac'n Cheese.

When Geoffrey returns from work, he finds one of the bathroom sinks needs repairing.

The same happens on Friday morning, this time with the kitchen sink, and it falls on Malcolm to repair it.

Geoffrey is a family oriented Sim whose milestones revolve around children. As his own son is already grown-up and he wishes to read to a child for two hours, I have him talk to Pierce Delgato (whose family we visited last August) when the little boy walks past the house.

And indeed, Malcolm manages to read to Pierce for an hour, and hopefully will complete this milestone before the week is over.

Summer Holiday is back; she knows Geoffrey already quite well and happily shares a meal with him.

Trolling the Forums is a good way to have Nancy and Malcolm indulge their need for mischievous actions without really hurting other Sims' feelings, and so I have Nancy do just that on Saturday morning.

Husband and wife share a sandwich... and a romantic moment.

There is all this workout equipment in Malcolm's room, and so I finally make him use it on Sunday morning.

The week ends with everyone having reached a few milestones, but nothing earth-shattering. Much time was spent working, and there are two decisions I should make next time I play here:
1) Get a household help (maid/cleaner/butler) for the family? I have not yet played any TS4 household who has help, I think, so it would be something new.
2) Change Geoffrey*s lifetime want, or have the couple have or adopt another child? Malcolm needs a child in order to reach his next set of milestones; Malcolm is too old for them (they have to do with homework and high school stuff).

What do you think?