Stephanie Stacks: Week 1

Stephanie's Senior Year can be found here.

A long time ago, I gave this Maxis-made house to the Ramaswamis (if I remember correctly). It was then decorated and furnished by me, but this one is the completely untouched version directly from the lots & houses catalogue.

Downstairs are the most basic kitchen, a cheap table and two chairs. In the corner where the picture is taken from is a book case.

Upstairs is a bathroom containing the cheapest shower/tub combination and a toilet - no sink. The bedroom looks like this.
But who are we here for?

Not Mr Humble, who has just delivered his customary package.

It's Stephanie Stacks, the only remaining daughter of Cedric and Helena Stacks.
She has just graduated Summa Cum Laude in Biology and actually meant to move back in with her parents. But then she decided to try life out on her own for a change, knowing her parents weren't lonely with Vyn Scott, her two adopted sons and her three-bolt man Waylon Lam. Suddenly, the idea to live in a house so full of people who were strictly speaking not her family did not hold much appeal.
Here she is on this Monday, looking for a job in that will eventually allow her to reach her lifetime want of becoming The Law. As a Fortune Sim, she will certainly start to roll "buy me" wishes soon - until then, I won't do much about the house.

The welcome party consists of Gabriella Newson and Vince Walter. The redhead is a townie who won't be asked in. Vince seems to be attracted to his new neighbour, but the feeling is not mutual - there is a crossed-out bolt for him in Stephanie's relationship panel.
All through her college years, she has not been romantically involved with anyone. Is that going to change at some stage?

Oh dear! The Stacks family seem to be hit particularly hard with fiery incidents and accidents. Here, the tree next to the house is hit by lightning. Thankfully, Steph and her guests were indoors having lunch meat sandwiches, and only Gabriella ran out, and the rain put the flames out quickly.

Later, Steph receives a phone call from Steve Riley who invites her downtown for a group outing. She accepts and boards the taxi, but then the game just did not stop loading without ever getting to the community lot. I had to force it to shut down and lost the outing gameplay, but when I entered the lot the next day, Steph just got off the taxi - with no memories of any outing.

No job for Stephanie on Tuesday, either. But there is enough to do for her at home, such as cleaning the bathroom, doing the crossword and recycling the paper, and paying the bills.

She sits down for a lone and late breakfast.

One of her many half-sisters and good friend Hailey Hart comes visiting on her own accord.

Somehow, Steph made it through four years of college without acquiring more than one single cooking point. Thererfore, her wish to ask someone to serve a meal is not surprising, and Hailey happily obliges.
Over their hamburgers, she explains the situation to her half-sis. "You know, if were just for my Mum and Dad on their own in the house, I'd move back in tomorrow. But with the boys... I don't know."

I send Stephanie out to rake the leaves on Wednesday morning. I also make her burn the pile, knowing full well what that could lead to. But nothing happens.

She rolls the want to gain a skill point, and since cooking is not exactly her forte, that's what she studies - with obvious pleasure.

She is a lot prouder than she looks here, ready to eat the first hamburger she has ever made!

As every Sim (and Sims player) knows, Thursday means a new set of bills to pay.

For Steph, it also means a wished-for visit to a community lot where she can buy clothes - another wish of hers. Remember what happened on Monday evening with her failed outing? Although she never called anyone but only asked for a taxi for herself, she gets off at Amelia's Closet with the entire group Steve Riley originally got together for the Monday outing.

Never mind! Stephanie makes her choice of outfits and heads home after a while... still with the group in tow.

Before they leave, the community lot is bathed in golden light, summoned by a visiting good witch. I've not seen that in a while!

With so many unexpected guests joing her at her humble home, Stephanie decides to order pizza to feed everyone. Most of the group are half-siblings of hers, but she hardly knows them.

Finally, on Friday morning Stephanie starts working towards her lifetime want. She has found a position as Legal Biller and is picked up at 8:00 in the morning. Her own car is not quite as comfortable, and so she happily opts for the car pool.

Upon her return, an unlikely colleague accompanies her: Otto Ottomas. He is only a teenager and has no job - how can the game treat him as if he were Steph's colleague? Anyway, he is yet another half-sibling (or nephew?), and so he is not immediately sent home.

It is actually nice that he is here, because Stephanie now asks her parents over. Unfortunately, Helena is booked for a performance (remember, she is a Rock Goddess), and so Cedric arrives without her, but with the two boys left behind by the late Vyn Scott.
The foursome spend a pleasant enough evening together, giving Stephanie the chance to meet the boys on her own terms.

After that first day at work and a not-so comfortable night's sleep still in the same cheap bed that was already in the house when she bought it, Stephanie feels still somewhat sleepy when she gets up relatively late on Saturday morning.

But she has invited her parents and the boys over for lunch and spends some time in the kitchen - unfortunately, not quite with the desired result.

Nobody remarks on the slightly burnt food, though; instead, once the boys are elsewhere in the house, Cedric tells Steph that he wishes for her and the boys to become best friends.

Helena knows her husband won't be around much longer and decides to tell their daughter; it would be so good to have her back at the family home before it is too late for Cedric.

[Maybe starting a new job and having the house full of guests - even if they are family - for three days in a row was a bit much; anyway, by Sunday Steph comes down with a cold.

A hot bubble bath is always nice, and certainly helpful when one is not feeling well.

By evening, Steph is well enough to work on her Charisma skill, necessary for her first promotion.

Will we see her moving back in with her parents next time the Stacks household is played? Is there any Sim out there who eventually will catch her eye (and heart)?

And are the strange happenings (the "outing that never was", the casual group appearing on the community lot with Steph and her teenage "colleague") signs of my game being in danger?

Stacks-Scott Household: Week 2

Week 1 for this household is here.

Last time we spent a week here, it was for the surname Scott. Now we are already back because there is another surname here - Stacks, the family I moved into this house originally. Let's do a quick check on who is who, sorting by age:

Cedric Stacks is 71. Before he married into the Stacks family, his surname was Cooke. Rings a bell? Yes. Maxis-made playable Julien Cooke was his human father. Cedric became Chief of Staff, thus reaching his lifetime want, three days before elderhood.

Helena Stacks is 67. Her mother was Maxis-made playable student Jane Stacks, her father was Matthew Hart, another playable student. She reached her lifetime want 8 days before elderhood when she became Rock Goddess.
Together, Helena and Cedric used to have three daughters. Two of them tragically died in a fire that started with a short-circuit in an outdoors Christmas ornament. Only Stephanie remains; she is currently at uni.

Helping the Stacks to cope with their grief, their good friend Vyn Scott moved in. She is 62 and has the typical Family Sim lifetime want of having six grandchildren. At her age, the only chance she has at achieving this is by adoption, and so she adopted two children who will hopefully each have three kids while Vyn is still alive.
Sharin her bed is Waylon Lam, an NPC student who was conjured up for her by the Matchmaker and turned out to be her 3-bolt-man.

Vyn's two boys are George and Geoffrey, both still kids.

On this Monday morning, I observe Helena making pork chops on her own initative. As she and Cedric are both on Permanent Platinum, they receive little direction from me.

Waylon is using the sunny morning for some rope-skipping on the back porch.

The boys return from school just as Waylon and Helena are setting off for a run around the neighbourhood. Off the bus with them gets Nero Newson.

In between homework and playing Red Hands, George (left) and Geoffrey (right) become best friends.

For Geoffrey, Tuesday morning starts yet again with a slightly burnt muffin for breakfast.

Cedric is providing his own entertainment.

Later, he goes to work. As Chief of Staff, he rides to hospital in an impressive stretch limousine. Can you imagine a real head of a hospital doing that?

Waylon has gone jogging again, and his effort is rewarded when his fitness level increases.

The same evening, Geoffrey grows up into a teenager. My dice assigns him the Pleasure aspiration, and the game assigns him to become Criminal Mastermind as his lifetime want.

As is often the case when children turn into teenagers, he changes his hair style.

Vyn and Waylon share a tender moment early on Wednesday morning.

"Morning, little brother!" Geoffrey smiles at George.

Now that he is a teenager, Geoffrey is dropped off by the school bus two hours before his younger brother. Today, class mate Cadence Shin accompanies him. She is an NPC teen, but if she were Geoffrey's three bolt girl, I would make him do something about it. As it turns out, though, there is no chemistry between the two, and so she is sent home and Geoffrey sits down with his homework.

Vyn is usually the one to look after the orange tree at the back of the house.

The evening ends with George growing up, too. His aspiration is Romance and, not very romantically, he wishes nothing more than earning 100,000 Simoleons in his life.

Thursday has only just begun when Waylon is at the telescope again. Apart from the possibility of an invitation aboard an Alien space ship, he really wants to acquire another logic skill point.

Later, Vyn joins him at the kitchen table for lunch while the boys are still at school. Cedric is at work and Helena is left to her own devices.

After they have finished their homework, I keep the boys busy with a mix of things they want to do and things that need doing around the house. Repairing the trash compactor is not such a good idea when one has zero mechanical skill, as Geoffrey finds out. Fortunately, he is right as rain again once he has had a shower and something to eat.

Helena does not feel well on Friday morning.

It is the first day of autumn; still warm, but the leaves have begun to turn.

Waylon is promoted to Rookie and brings colleague Lisa Gieke along from work.

The boys stay out after dark, talking until it is time for dinner.

Vyn and her boys end the evening, chatting over plates of spaghetti. Cedric joins them, while Waylon is resting and Helena is once more left to her own devices.

It is Saturday, and Vyn takes the family car to drive herself and the boys to the park.

Hunter's Park is always popular, and as our trio arrives, some townspeople are already there.

Vyn makes hot dogs, much to everyone's delight. They head home only when it begins to rain.

Couldn't that rain ending their park outing have lasted a little longer? It would have saved poor Vyn from a fiery death. She was 68, and now her two adoptive sons won't need to have children in order to fulfill their mother's lifetime want.

It is a sad day for the Stacks-Scott household.

But being a Rock Goddess means the show must go on, and so Helena boards the limousine taking her to tonight's concert venue. A passers-by sees her, thinking to himself - "Hey, that's the famous Rock Goddess Helena Stacks, isn't it!"

The boys brood over their plates of spaghetti. George can't really bring himself to eat in his grief.

Early on Sunday morning, Waylon decides (or rather, I decide for him) to move out.
He was never meant to be a fully fledged New Maximilianian, but only moved in because he was Vyn's three bolt man.
The boys were not particularly attached to him, and neither were Helena and Cedric.

George's lifetime want is to earn 100,000 Simoleons, and why not start on it today? He makes his first fiver by selling an admittedly not very good painting.

[Geoffrey is a Pleasure Sim, and one of the pleasures of autumn is flying a kite. "Give my love to my Mum if you meet her up there," he calls softly after the rising kite.

When the boys are in bed and Helena is still at work, Cedric has a lone meal of leftover salmon. He is now 78 and won't be around much longer, if I interpret his lifetime bar correctly.

Helena comes home a little later but goes to bed immediately. She is now 74 and still performing; how much longer is she going to manage such a demanding schedule?

This week was not very exciting to begin with, but took a dramatic turn with Vyn's death.
The boys are going to stay here until it is time for them to go to college, and I think Stephanie Stacks will return to her childhood home very soon.