TS4: The Purdues - Week 2

For week 1 with this household, you can either click here or on the label with their name and scroll down.

It's been 5 1/2 years in real life since I last played this household - thinking of all that has happened in my life since then is quite overwhelming! But before I start boring you with it (and that's what my other blog is for anyway), let's get reacquainted with the Purdue twins, Ollie and Cassidy.

Ollie is an aspiring Master Painter and Cassidy works hard at becoming a Musical Genius. They have both reached several minor milestones during their previous week, and Ollie has been providing for them financially by selling most of his paintings as soon as the paint was dry on them.

They are still in their modest trailer-like home, and no improvements have yete been made to it.

On Monday, Ollie finishes his first masterpiece - it is worth a lot more than a painting that is "excellent", and can be sold off to a gallery. Of course, he does just that!

Meanwhile, Cassidy is hardly doing anything else but practice, practice, practice on her guitar:

I want these two to meet as many other playable Sims as possible, and so I send Cassidy out to greet Alexander Goth when he walks by. Later, she meets Geoffrey Landgraab, and Ollie meets Travis Scott.

Here is Ollie getting breakfast on Tuesday morning. Needless to say, the paintings here are all his own - painted while in the "confident" mood.

It's a beautiful day, and many Sims are out walking or running. Giulianna Riley is today's new acquaintance for Cassidy.

On Wednesday, the shower needs repairing. Because he is "between paintings", I have Ollie complete the task.

Next door lives Betty Larson, recently moved in. Could she be a potential romantic interest for Ollie?

It looks like Cassidy and Giulianna are getting along like a house on fire!

As far as I can tell, Summer Holiday is friends with both twins. She is friends with almost everyone now, as befits someone with the lifetime want of being "Friend of the World".

By Thursday, Ollie completes his fifth masterpiece - another milestone for him.

Almost every day this week, Summer rings and asks to come over. She is never denied, even though Ollie and Cassidy mostly just go about their usual painting and guitar playing, no matter who is around.

I send Ollie over to Betty Larson's house, just across the street.

Nobody is home, though.

This picture shows the layout: The house at the top is Betty's, the Purdues live at the end of the cul de sac.

Summer comes visiting without ringing first:

Cassidy is writing a mournful song. Writing five songs is her next milestone, and it takes me a while to figure out how it works, with a stack of sheet music in her inventory, and clicking on them to complete each song.

It is mostly Ollie who does the cooking here, and he seems to be quite pleased with what he produces for their meals:

Summer talks to him just as much as to Cassidy.

On Saturday, Cassidy has Alice Kim-Lewis and Giulianna Riley over for lunch.

Ollie works on his friendship with Travis Scott.

It is Sunday, and the Purdues have not been anywhere but home (and across the road, but that hardly counts). I send them to the "Blue Velvet" nightclub.

Cassidy has never before played the piano, but as an aspiring Musical Genius, she is not shy and starts tinkering away regardless of her audience. And even though her skill level on this instrument is still at the lowest end, she receives tips from almost everybody:

Some familiar faces turn up; look at the beautiful hairdo on Dina Caliente! The man in the light blue shirt is Brent Hecking, another playable.

It looks like Cassidy's piano playing is appreciated by everyone.

Dina and Ollie end up sitting at the same table for a while...

...before he goes to the bar in the back room and has a drink along with Brant Hecking, Brent's husband.

It is time for the siblings to head home, their week is over. As they board the taxi, I spot Dina Caliente, Eliza Pancakes and Nancy Landgraab dancing the night away.

This could have been a boring week, what with Ollie and Cassidy almost non-stop painting or playing the guitar. But I broke it up with visitors coming over and passers-by being greeted, and of course the trip to the night club at the end of the week. Ollie is not far from reaching level 10 in the painting skill, and Cassidy on the guitar. Maybe they will be my first TS4 Sims to reach their lifetime wants.

The Powers Household - Week 11

(Week 10 is here.)

This house was not always light blue, but I really like it that way. Maybe you remember it as the place originally assigned by Maxis to the Grunt family, General Tank and his sons. They have long since moved on - literally and metaphorically - and the house was then owned by Jonah Powers, his partner Roxie Sharpe and her brother Edwin. Jonah gave birth to Perseida after a visit with the Aliens. One after the other, Jonah, Roxie and Edwin died peacefully of old age, leaving Perseida on her own.

Here she is, just getting up and writing in her diary.
Perseida never had to work in her life; the joint household account boasts an impressive 335,000 Simoleons. She could afford working on her lifetime want all the time and managed to have 20 best friends while still at uni.
There is currently no romantic interest among her relationships, and she knows several 2-bolt-men but no 3-bolter.

It is Tuesday when I enter the household, as I left off here last time with the death of Edwin Sharpe. In spite of the snow, Perseida does some gardening on her own accord just as the mail carrier delivers today's bills.
Other than paying the bills, greeting passing neighbours and talking to her friends on the phone I am not going to direct Perseida much.

Johnson Fleig, former head of the Aspirational Laboratories and recently moved to New Max permanently, walks by and spends the rest of the afternoon and evening as Perseida's guest.

Perseida seems not to be much interested in cooking. Whenever she gets too hungry, she grabs herself a drink or a bag of crisps or cookies, just like she does here on Wednesday morning for breakfast.

Today, Carmelo Capp walks by...

...followed some time later by Kennedy Smith.

Perseida has an odd sleeping pattern: She will lay in one of the three beds in the house, sleep a little, but get up again long before she is fully rested.
As she is on Permanent Platinum, I do not do much about her or her wishes, but when she rolls the want to buy an orchard tree and a garden plot, I decide it is a good idea and let her have both.

Perseida's disinterest in cooking and healthy eating becomes more and more apparent. On Thursday, she eats about 4 or 5 bags of crisps and cookies altogether, dotted throughout the day. Of course, none of it is really filling.

No wonder then that she keeps reminding ME (!) of how hungry she is - when all she needs to do is go to her well-stocked fridge and make herself a salad or sandwich, a plate of spaghetti or anything else that is possible with two cooking points.
I seriously begin to worry that I may lose Perseida to starvation, brought on entirely by herself.

Two wolves play with each other while Perseida has one of her many naps, usually interrupted by another snack in the shape of cookies or crisps.

When Camryn Lee walks by and I have Perseida greet her, my hope is that she will serve a meal for her guest - sometimes a Sim will do that, if not for their own sake, then at least for their guests. But what does Perseida do? She goes to bed, leaving Camryn to her own devices.

On Friday, I want to see what Perseida does when she has more than just one casual guest, and have her throw a party for a bunch of her friends (I am sure you recognise some of them). The guests arrive, and what does their hostess do? She goes to bed and sleeps through the entire party, which, by the way, still turns out a success!

Apart from her less than healthy diet and irregular sleeping pattern, Perseida is quite capable of looking after herself, her house and garden. She begins Saturday morning with a nice hot bath.

Later that day, I have her invite Cooper Seifert over. He is a firm candidate for permanent residency in New Max, what with his surname being one of a real-life colleague of mine.
The two of them get along very well, but in spite of it being spring, neither of them starts any romantic interaction. It might have something to do with the one chemistry bolt between them.

Sunday sees Perseida doing more gardening; she has been clipping her rose bushes and pulling weeds almost every day this week.

She is unwell and almost everything she does interrupted by coughing fits. With her living on cookies and crisps, it is no wonder that her body can not fend off colds and other diseases.

Half-brother and good friend Sirius Swain comes visiting, and then - you guessed it - it is time for bed again.

Monday morning is the beginning of summer, and I have Perseida change into different clothes found in the household wardrobe.

I also realise that it is her last day of the week (which began on Tuesday for her), and she has not yet been to a community lot. I make her drive over to Hunter's Park, certainly an attractive spot in the summer.

At first, not many other Sims are there.

But by the time Perseida has autonomously grilled hotdogs, Camryn Lee, Isabella Indie and a few other New Maximilianians have appeared. Perseida joins one of her many half-siblings, Lilo Landgraab, at the table.

Back home, she takes care of a few household chores.

Then, she invites Cooper Seifert over and asks him to join her here as a permanent resident of New Maximiliania. Cooper accepts, adding exactly 1 Simoleon to the bank account! Never mind, Perseida has more money than she'll ever be able to spend.

Cooper is a Knowledge Sim and has the lifetime want of becoming City Planner. He is lucky and finds a job in the architectural career right away.

His skill profile is interesting: Full charisma - and nothing else! His inventory is empty.

In the evening, I find Perseida gardening again. And just as I am thinking, 'nobody has been playing with the model railway set all week'...

...she puts aside her gardening shears and plays with the railway! I love it how the little streetlghts light up at night, and even the train windows.

Cooper has changed out of his rather overdressed outfit into something more comfortable and more summerly.

The two new housemates end the evening in the dining room. Now that Cooper is here, fully directed by me, Perseida will get proper meals whenever she decides to join in.

So far, there is nothing romantic going on between the two. Are they going to remain "just friends"? Is Cooper going to advance in his career and stay here at Perseida's?