Family names and related posts

Monday 13 December 2021

The Loves - Week 2

Demi's first week is here, Ryker's is here.

This tiny house is currently the home of...

...Demi Love, former NPC Police Officer and now working as a University Guest Lecturer...

...and her "cousin" Ryker Love, former NPC student and currently working as a juggler - juggling his way up the entertainment career, so to speak, with the lifetime want of becoming Prestidigitator.

As for lifetime wants, Demi surprises me by having autonomously switched to becoming a World Class Ballet dancer. She looks for a job in the dance career right away on this Monday morning, but is not lucky.

She is off to work a couple of hours before Ryker, who takes advantage of the beautiful autumn day for some gardening.

When Demi comes home, Ryker is at work, but passers-by Margaret Turner is greeted.

A little later, Ryker and Demi ask Margaret to join them for their tea, and then it is already bed time.

What's that? This is not Ryker, sneaking about the house? No - the outfit is the same, but the intention is not! And it happens just when I am about to move the household to a larger place - it's really too small a house for two Sims.

Fortunately, the game lets me leave the lot and go into neighbourhood view before the burglar can strike. I move Demi and Ryker to this house, not far from their former place. It is another one of those Maxis-made ones where I have - to my knowledge - never played. What is it like inside?

Generous! There are three bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms and toilets, a kitchen and a study as well as a large open-plan living/dining area. A patio at the back looks like it is just waiting for a BBQ. There is not even a telephone in the house, only the cheapest of bathroom and kitchen appliances.

I make the bedroom facing the street Demi's (with the light blue bed) and the one at the back Ryker's. Everything else will be done as needs arise or wants appear.

The welcome committee is here; it consists of Pablo Picaso, Amin Fleig and Abhijeet Turner.

You know that with moving house, the Sim-week starts all over again. On this second Monday of the week, Demi is lucky and lands a position as Interpretive Dancer. The career rewards object is available to her right away, and she uses it for a little while before her car pool arrives.

All that warming up must have done the trick - she is promoted on her very first day and will now work as a tap dancer.

Demi and Ryker both have the next two days off. While Demi's skill profile is very high already, Ryker needs to work on quite a few skills in order to get promoted.

Demi wants new clothes, and so I send the two of them to Belle's Boutique & Tayloring.

After they have done with their shopping and greeting several New Maximilianians, the taxi takes them home again. Demi puts on one of her new outfits right away.

Late in the evening, when Ryker is actually ready for bed, Jill Smith - his three-bolt-lady - rings. It is nice to know she has not forgotten about him, in spite of her lifetime want of having 20 loves!
She asks him to meet her downtown, but he is too tired to go out again, and declines the invitation.

There is not much to say about Wednesday, the second day off this week for both Demi and Ryker. One of the three showers in the house needs repairing, and Demi sees to it.

Somewhat clumsily, Ryker makes use of Demi's ballet room, which has been redecorated to better suit its purpose.

The cheapest possible car is bought on Thursday in order to fulfill a wish of Ryker's.

They could have spent more - Demi is promoted the same evening and gets a nice bonus. She will start to work as a Ballroom Dancer tomorrow; here, she is still in her Tap Dancer's outfit.

Demi knows that dancers do not only need to practice dance moves, but also work on their overall fitness. With that in mind, she begins Friday morning with a round of jogging.

Ryker later joins her at the dining table, where she heartily tucks into her breakfast while Ryker entertains her with talking about how much he misses kissing. He has not seen his love interest all week, but then it was he who declined Jill's invitation to meet downtown earlier this week.

The afternoon sees them both leave for work and return at the same time - Demi with another promotion to Flamenco Master.

This calls for a celebratory dinner, and so out comes the champagne to be enjoyed with salmon.

When Demi isn't physically working on her fitness, she reads about it, as she is doing here on Saturday morning on her own initiative.

For Ryker, an easel has been set up next to the big windows in the dining room, in order for him to work on the creativity skill necessary for his promotion.

Demi's diligence pays off when she returns from work that same night in her Flamenco outfit - with a promotion to World Class Ballet Dancer! She has now achieved what she set out to do, and reached her lifetime want 14 days before Elderhood.

The week with the Loves ends here, because they had two Mondays - no Sunday for them until next time I play them.
Will Ryker see Jill Smith again, or will someone else catch his eye?
What is Demi going to do with herself, now that she has reached her lifetime want?

Tuesday 7 December 2021

Jason Lewis: Week 1

We are quite familiar with this duplex, aren't we; in the left semi, the Swain-Gavigan family have been living for what seems like forever. But this week, were are here to visit with Jason Lewis, former landlord and now tenant of his own property - his is the semi on the right side.

Jason became a permanent resident of New Max back in January.

A view from the back reveals no surprises.

Jason is much younger than he looks; in fact, he is at the very beginning of his adult age. Now that he has quit his life raking in profits as a landlord, he dreams of becoming Chief of Staff at New Maximiliania's hospital.
He has plenty of money (see, I knew it!) and starts out with 30,904 Simoleons in his bank account. Funnily enough, the entire Monday goes by without the notice popping up that he must not forget to pay the rent - apparently, it really IS his property :-D

The ground floor holds a garage, a small front room and the kitchen.

Upstairs are two generous bedrooms and two bathrooms as well as a tiny box room. Jason is single (for now) and therefore will only furnish one of the bedrooms.

His next door neighbours, the Swain-Gavigans, are also his friends. But wait - what's that on Sirius Swain's head? Let's zoom in for a closer look.

What the...?! It is a small sculpture of a flying dinosaur! How did THAT end up on Sirius' head, I wonder? Hopefully, this is not the first sign of yet another seriously bugged family!

Anyway! It is Monday evening by now, and Jason accepts Lilo Landgraab's invitation to meet downtown. The taxi pulls up in front of Baliwood Star Lanes.

Lilo herself is of course part of the group, as are Candice Walter, Shaun Singles, Caryl Lee and (not pictured) Clarence Gavigan.

Jason grills ribs for everyone; bowling makes hungry!
He leaves soon afterwards and goes home on his own.

The first thing Jason does on Tuesday morning (after he's been to the bathroom) is to look for a job. Just like yesterday, though, there are no positions in the medical career available.

The rest of the day goes by uneventfully. Jason studies physiology (a wise decision and also his wish - typical for a Knowledge Sim like him), while his neighbours seem to feel very much at home this side of the wall that separates the two semis.

Jason is lucky on Wednesday: He can start on Friday at the hospital, working as a Resident!
One of his wishes that keeps coming up is to be fit, and so he takes advantage of the day off by doing yoga until the desired effect is achieved.

His semi is a veritable hot spot for Sims of all ages! Not only his next door neighbours are almost always there (unless he sends them home for the night and locks the door), today he also has visitors in passers-bys Calvin Broke and Catherine Capp, while at the same time another of his aquaintances rings for a chat.

On Thursday morning, Jason posts his bills and has a chat at the mail box with his neighbours. I am pleased to see that Sirius is now without his funny headdress - I used the move_objects on cheat to "sell" him, and when he reappeared, the glitch was gone.

Now that Jason has gained the physical fitness he so desired, he spurns his friends on to follow suit, and the Swain-Gavigans happily accompany him for a run around the neighbourhood.

When I send Jason to his wardrobe on Friday morning, I find that apart from the well known options such as formal, athletic, everyday and so on, he also has the option to dress "special". Of course I want to know what that means - and find out that Jason has a household help's outfit available. Maybe he started out as a cleaner before he became a landlord.

Speaking of household help, the landlady is busy raking leaves in Jason's back garden. "That used to be my job," Jason thinks.

Speaking of job - today is his first day on the new job! He starts out as a Resident and, thanks to a chance card, gets promoted to GP right away.

Jason has been stargazing with his telescope for good part of the night, and so it is no surprise that it is almost 9:00 before he wakes up on Saturday. But he has the day off, and can pretty much do as he pleases.

After a spot of housework and a few phonecalls, I give in to Jason's wish and send him to a community lot for the second time this week.

He wants to buy new clothes, and as his wardrobe really is rather limited, plus money is not a problem, he has the taxi drop him off at H&M.

While Jason chooses and buys several items, I watch who else is here. There is Calvin Cho, for instance.

Cameron Capp has truly come to the right place - his outfit shouts "replace me!"

Back home, Jason slips into one of his new outfits, suitable for the late autumn day, and spends the rest of the afternoon working on his charisma.

On Sunday morning, Jason has an equally late start, but he is up in time to meet and greet Gunther Ottomas who passes the house on his jogging round.
The day is spent unspectacularly, mostly with the Swain-Gavigans and Gunther as his guests, and with a few phone calls in between.

The week ends with Jason wondering what REALLY is out there. I don't know whether he will ever find out for himself - maybe next time I play him.

Another relaxing and pleasant Sim-week is over. I like Jason, although - or maybe because - there is is nothing special about him. He just goes about his daily life in a quiet, orderly manner, but is friendly with his neighbours and other New Maximilianians.