Meet Ana and Ramir Patel, one of the pre-made families that come with a few Maxis-made pictures and a little background story. In this picture, we are obviously witnessing Ramir proposing to Ana, and from her expression we can tell she is delighted.
The next picture shows a bunch of townies, along with Ana and Ramir (who sits in the back), listening to someone making a speech.
According to Maxis, Ramir hopes for his heir to follow him into politics. We can therefore assume this to mean something like Ramir's induction into local politics by a senior politician, which ties in with his current job as a City Council Member. His bio reads: "Ramir has always been a leader and hopes to be a great father, too. He loves his job and wants to insure the financial well being of his family."
About Ana, Maxis say that she "is focused on getting ready for her first baby. She appreciates that her husband is such a good provider because she wants to have many more." A typical Family Sim, she dreams of having six grandchildren eventually. Here she can be seen cooking, maybe in preparation for her work at a restaurant - her current job is that of Hostess.
Next, we see Ana talking to her husband in what could be the room they have prepared for their baby. Her mention of money could mean that she is of the opinion that they certainly have enough money for them to live comfortably without her having to keep her job at the restaurant.
In any case, the last of the Maxis-made pictures shows the Patels happily awaiting their baby.
According to their family bio, "They say women glow when they're pregnant and Ana is no exception. She can't wait for her new baby to arrive and is already dreaming about having more of them. Ramir hopes his heir will want to follow him into politics." Funnily enough, Ramir's lifetime want does not match what Maxis have intended for him: He wishes to become a Celebrity Chef - nothing to do with politics, but still fitting his Popularity aspiration. Maybe Ana can help him into the culinary career, seeing as she already works at a restaurant.
In my game, I have moved the Patels into the rented flat on the right-hand corner of Ocean View Apartments in Belladonna Cove. Let's have a look inside.
The flat spans two floors. On the ground floor, the front door opens into an open-plan kitchen/dining/lounge area. A small bathroom is tucked in the corner behind the spiral staircase, and next to the kitchen is a tiny private court yard.
Upstairs we find the master bedroom, a bathroom, a study that also contains workout equipment and an empty room which is going to be Baby Patel's room. The flat comes fully furnished, but much of it is a bit on the cheap side. With almost 26,000 Simoleons in the bank, Ana and Ramir can afford to make some improvements right away.
Ana makes use of the much improved kitchen to make vegetable soup. Healthy eating matters to her now more than ever. By the way, she has indeed managed to arrange for Ramir to have her job - he will start as a Host at the restaurant on Wednesday, now that her leaving the work force has freed up the position.
They will be so happy here!
Samantha Cordial, a friend of the Patels, invites them to Rodney's Hideout. This is a community lot I have not played often.
Ramir gets talking to the restaurant staff in order to learn a few things for his new position, and discovers that the bar tender's surname is Kim. Of course he will befriend Alec Kim and try to make him a permanent resident of the Cove.
Samantha has brought a bunch of other friends along: Armand DeBateau can be seen in the back, then there are Vivian Cho, Carlos Contender, Gabriel Green and Connor Weir.
The restaurant is so full they can't all get a table, and so Ana and Ramir head home for a quiet romantic meal under the starry sky in their little private garden.
A couple of hours before sunrise on Tuesday morning, Ramir wakes up because Ana is so restless next to him.
At around 5:30 that morning, a healthy little girl is born, named Priya after Ramir's paternal grandmother. Her parents are over the moon!
Once the baby is asleep and Ana has a well deserved rest, Ramir makes use of the chess table outside their block of flats. He wants to have a head start in his new career which will start tomorrow.
"Asking you to marry me was the best thing I ever did," he says over dinner that evening, again in their private little court.
He is a very much hands-on Dad and doesn't mind feeding his baby daughter or changing her nappy.
Ramir's first day as a Host at the restaurant is so successful that he is promoted to Waiter right away. (Not sure that really IS an improvement... I would think the job of a Host carries more prestige than that of a Waiter.)
Ana feels that she is the happiest woman alive - her second baby is well on the way, and while her firstborn is thriving under the loving care of herself and her husband.
Speaking of Ramir, he is promoted to Prep Cook on this Thursday after he took the right decision with a chance card (but he had the necessary skills anyway).
Ana makes use of the baby being asleep and gets to know one of the other tenants over a game of chess.
That evening, Ramir helps Priya with her birthday. Amidst a shower of confetti she turns into a toddler.
Mother and daughter enjoy a tickling session on Friday morning.
Only a few hours later, Priya's little sister arrives! She is named Taline after Ana's maternal grandmother.
More good news for the Patels arrive when Ramir returns from work with yet another promotion, this time to Sous Chef. He now needs to brush up on his creativity and logic in order to further advance in his career.
But his family matters more, and he does not even change out of his cooking uniform before giving his new baby daughter her first bottle.
Saturdays and Sundays are the busiest times at the restaurant, and Ramir is picked up for work at 1:00 pm, not returning until 9:00. He makes sure to spend the morning with his little girls, at the same time giving Ana a chance to breathe.
She invites her acquaintance Jessica Peterson over for a chat, and the two women become friends.
Later, she helps Taline into toddlerhood.
Now the two sisters can play together at the activity table set up in the study - the computer desk and workout equipment have made room for it, since neither Ramir nor Ana had time to use either.
This was a busy but good week for the Patels.
Maybe Ana will stop at two children; they are enough to make her dream of having six grandchildren come true easier than with just one child. But three would make it even easier... I haven't decided on that just yet, and it will be a long time before we shall visit this family again.
Ramir has done well with his change of careers, but less good on his friendships. Alec Kim, whom he wanted to befriend so that he'd be able to move to the Cove for good, has needed many phone calls to become friends and is not yet at best friend status.
The apartment lot is hopefully not yet bugged - at one point, it took a LONG time to save the game, but then things seemed to go very smoothly again. Next to be played is Jessica Peterson, who has just become friends with Ana.
It's funny how your and my Ana want to have 5 Grandkids but our Ramir's LTW's are different.
ReplyDeleteYou had a very busy week with them and it's lovely they have two girls, even an outing! Isn't it a pain when you go for a group meal to be told 'there are no tables' or something like that. I feel our playables & their groups should always get priority!
Yes, it is fun to compare what's different and what's the same in our games.
DeleteI knew the Patels would be way too busy for an outing once the baby was there, and so I had them accept Samantha's invitation to meet downtown right away on the Monday night. I couldn't believe it when the message kept popping up that there weren't enough tables - hardly any seats were occupied!