Stephen's being made playable by accepting Ripp Grunt's invitation to move in is here.
Our next, but not yet last, stop for a member of the Cho family is in Strangetown. Stephen Cho has just bought this not very welcoming house at No. 73 Road to Nowhere, and it cost him nearly all his savings - he only has 3,732 Simoleons left to furnish it and keep some back for the bills.
There isn't much to say aboutt his house apart from that it is not very nice, and what installations are there are all of the cheapest variety. I remove the unnecessary walls and gate by the front door, which raises Stephen's account to 4,693 Simoleons.
Here he is, having just made a batch of Comfort Soup and wondering whether he should call the adoption service.
You can already guess a lot about him from this one picture: Stephen Cho is a former NPC waiter who used to work at several restaurants in Strangetown. His aspiration is Family (hence the soup), and he dreams of marrying off three children - maybe starting by adopting one, since he has not yet developed a romantic interest in any lady who could be the future mother of those three children.
Understandably, one of his first wishes is to find a job, and with the help of Mr Humble's computer he chooses the position of Spelunker in the Adventure career - simply because it offers the highest pay of the five available options. However, he will only start tomorrow, which allows him time to welcome his distant cousin Abhijeet Cho, who lives just down the road (and is so distant a cousin that he does not even appear in Stephen's family tree), and Christian Love.
More of Stephen's wishes are about getting fit and gaining a skill point, and so the three men set off for a jogging round. It does not yet yield the desired result, but it was worth a try.
Soon afterwards, the two others go home, and Stephen has a shower, another bowl of soup and then goes to bed. Because he was out running, he has missed the customary phone call inviting him to meet downtown, but that can't be helped.
He starts work on Tuesday afternoon and returns after sunset with a promotion to Multiregional Sim of Some Question. The day's pay and the promotion bonus are VERY welcome!
While he was at work, a stray wolf has dug a hole in front of the house. Stephen has learned a thing or two on his job as a Spelunker and decides to give it a try right here, but all he unearthes are a rock and the model of an ocean liner, hardly worth selling.
Wednesday is a day off for Stephen; not good in financial terms, but it allows him to walk up the road to the small town "centre" to buy some badly needed clothes - he can't remain in his waiter's uniform forever, can he!
He's made his very modest choice and then meets and greets first Jill Smith...
...and then Pascal Curious. I have him scope the room, but although he finds the townie lady in the green top "hot", he has only one bolt for her, and nothing further is done in that direction.
Back home, he invests into an easel and spends the rest of the afternoon and evening painting, satisfying wishes to gain skills and finally selling his first painting for 28 Simoleons.
On Thursday, not only is Stephen promoted to Deep Sea Excavator, he is also accompanied by colleague and (yet another) distant relative, Blake Cho.
While Stephen tells cousin Blake that he has recently taken up painting, his guest somehow manages to eat soup through the helmet. Maybe it's for demonstrative purposes, because Stephen will wear just such a helmet tomorrow, too.
Blake comes back from work with Stephen again on Friday.
This time, he does not only stay for dinner, he moves in!
Blake Cho is a Romance Sim who fancies himself as Professional Party Guest - he will switch career as soon as he finds a suitable offer. He only brought 1,000 Simoleons with him and had nothing in his back pack; his skill profile is modest but he has a few friends which should help Stephen towards his next promotion.
Until the latter finds himself a girlfriend and potential mother of the three children he wants to see married before he dies, Blake will stay here.
I like checking on my Sims' dreams, and early on Saturday morning, Blake dreams of college. When I check his memories, he has actually been to college, but there is nothing else such as choosing a major or graduating.
Instead of the promotion (and especially the bonus!) Stephen was hoping for today, he is fired after he has taken the wrong decision with a chance card.
"Unfair!! How could that happen?!" it sounds dimly from inside the helmet. Well, he wasn't really into his career anyway, just wanting to get a bit of money before starting on a family.
It is Sunday morning, and the cousins are busy in the kitchen. Stephen makes sure that Blake has a good breakfast - bad enough that he has to work on a Sunday.
When Blake is off to work, Stephen walks to Maple Springs Pool and Spa. His turn-ons are swimwear and underwear, and since he is still looking for that future mother of his three intended kids, chances are that he'll bump into a lady in swimwear there. However, everyone he meets there has a maximum attraction of two bolts for him, and he leaves after a while, in time to make dinner for himself and Blake.
I have decided to get rid of the narrow passage behind the dining table, moving the table and chair back to the wall, adding a fourth chair and freeing some money.
After I took this picture, I've done some more: bought them a better stove and good bath/shower tub, and got rid of the small room in the middle which has not yet been used but caused them to go all the way around the back porch every time a Sim wanted to go to the bathroom. When Stephen will start a family, the house has enough space to be converted into children's rooms, even the roof terrace.
Sunday evening ends on a social note when Gunnar Roque jogs by and is invited to join the cousins for bowls of freshly made vegetable soup. Blake tells his fellow Romance Sim how he longs to meet someone new who could capture his interest.
Well, that was Stephen Cho's week. It was a success in that we have a new member of the Cho family added to the neighbourhood, but he did not make any progress at all towards his lifetime want, apart from earning a bit of money to provide a home for his future family. I still had fun playing him but wished for more money to enlist the help of the Matchmaker.
For a while, I was considering making the "cousins" a romantic couple and have them adopt those three children Stephen wants, but I actually want him to enter the gene pool of Strangetown, and Blake as a Romance Sim will probably happier without kids.
