Klara Vonderstein: Week 1

For Klara's Senior year, see this post.

We have accompanied Klara Vonderstein "from afar", without really focusing on her, all through her college life. Now she is a Senior and has just graduated Summa Cum Laude in Political Science at Strangetown's La Fiesta Tech. 

According to Maxis, "Though Klara was at first excited about studying abroad, she finds Fiesta a bit provincial and her fellow students strange. She's not interested in spending time with anyone, really, and is working to overcome an espresso addiction." Nothing of it proved not to be true - she has made friends with most of her dorm mates, and even autonomously fell in love with Almeric Davis. 

Her aspiration is Knowledge, but unfortunately her heart is set on using any knowledge she can gain towards becoming a Criminal Mastermind. 

She certainly has no qualms talking about her career plans to the professor who has come to her graduation party! 

Eventually, the taxi is here to take her to Strangetown, where her former dorm mate and friend Stella Terrano has rented a flat in this building and told her that there are still two more available. 

The Landlord seems kind enough, she can afford the rent, and once Klara has signed on the dotted line, she can move in.

The second floor is all hers. Zaitrarrio Lee has recently moved into the ground floor, while upstairs from Klara lives Stella, and the upmost flat is rented by a townie.

The outfit Klara has found to be her everyday one upon growing up is very different from what she was used to wearing at college! Maybe this calls for a change in the rest of her appearance, too.

The new Klara seems to favour purple, although she does look a bit uncertain about the hair, I must admit. The lighter glasses and different lipstick suit her much better than what she had, I think. 

Of course, her college sweetheart Almeric is invited over instantly. Strangely enough, however, he can not be asked to move in, although he has graduated as well - but he has not had a party yet, and has not left campus for good just yet. 

Never mind the burnt toaster pastries - Klara happily spends the day with Almeric. In her four years at college, she only gained the one compulsory cooking point, can you believe it! 

William Williamson, another former dorm mate of Klara and Almeric, calls and asks them to meet a him and a bunch of friends at Games of Glory. 

The Grunt brothers, Blossom Moonbeam and Stella Terrano are all part of the group along with William, Almeric and Klara. 

The friends enjoy hotdogs after everyone has had a go at various games; then it is time for Klara to say goodnight. 

On Tuesday morning, Klara wakes up wondering whether today she will find a job in the criminal career.

Since she doesn't, she decides to learn how to cook - now that there is no dorm cook to rely on, it's the only way she'll be able to have proper meals on a regular basis. 

Kristen Singles walks by just as Klara has been to the mail box to pay the bills, and of course she is invited to come up to the roof terrace.

There, Klara applies her newly learned cooking skill and makes a batch of burgers for herself, her guest and her fellow tenants. Unfortunately, she insists on taking her own plate downstairs to her flat instead of sitting at the table with the others.

Wednesday sees Klara similarly engaged in household matters and skilling, but she greets passers-by Chloe Singles. This time, the hotdogs she's made on the rooftop grill are actually eaten up there under the starry sky over Strangetown. The ladies do not only have the same haircut, they also find that the one topic of conversation they agree on is fashion :-D 

There are no pictures for Thursday and Friday, because both days were almost identical to the days before: Klara still didn't find an opening in the criminal career, and as a Knowledge Sim, all she really wanted was to skill - and skill she did! I made sure she talked to at least one friend every day and had her meals and cleaned up, but that's about it. 

On Saturday, the Landlord hosted the customary tenants party and ordered pizza for everyone. At first, Karla was the only one to sit down and grab a slice.

But then she was joined by Stella (who is one of her best friends since they went to uni together) and Mr Lee from the ground floor. He made the mistake to admire Klara, which she found inappropriate. 

But soon afterwards, all three cheerfully joined in the Smustle :-)

Every morning, the first thing Klara has been doing was checking the Simternet for a job in her dream career, without success. On Sunday, she is finally lucky - but she will start as a Con Artist only on Monday. 

That gives her time to spend this first day of winter just as she likes best, which is of course skilling - but with a small Christmas tree on the coffee table :-) 

Before the week is over, I have her talk to Almeric on the phone; they only saw each other on Monday, but Klara never rolled a wish about him as seems to be the case quite often with my playable students and their college sweethearts once they have graduated and moved to a place of their own.

DJ Verse - Week 1

Click here for DJ's last semester at uni.

DJ Verse has recently graduated from La Fiesta Tech and is now ready to start the next chapter of her life. 

Maxis wrote about her that she "keeps herself busy by performing at local venues. She's creative, talented -- only staying in the sorority until she can find a place of her own." Well, that was meant for her time at college, which is now behind her. 

She is a Popularity Sim who dreams of serving the community as Captain Hero, and I firmly believe she'll do it.

Like several other La Fiesta graduates, she is renting an apartment on Strangetown's main street. Gunnar Roque, Sarah Love and Jessie Pilferson are the other tenants.

DJ's is the flat to the right on the ground floor, and when she moves in, there is only some basic kitchen and bathroom equipment. However, DJ has been saving most of the money from her student grants and can afford to buy good furniture as she needs (or wishes for) it.

First things first, though: She invites her college sweetheart over. River Smith arrives almost instantly and is obviously very pleased to see his girlfriend, but he can not yet move in with her - he's not graduated yet. 

But another of DJ's friends can move in - and out again immediately: Zaitrarrio Lee, former cook on a community lot (or was he a Dorm Cook? I can't remember!). Anyway, he seems to be pleased to leave his working life at college behind and move to his own place. We will of course visit him in due time. (One of his "relatives", ex-townie Camryn Lee, already lives in Strangetown; she is General Grunt's second wife.)

Meanwhile, DJ is looking for a position in the Law Enforcement career, but can't find anything.

She proceeds to make hot dogs for everyone at the communal grill outside the apartment building, but it shows that during her time at the Tri-Fruhm Sorority, Sarah Love did most of the cooking! The fire fighters have to come to the rescue.

It seems like DJ's first day here isn't under a lucky star... soon after the fire, lightning hits Gunnar Roque and River Smith while they are in the hot tub - and Sarah Love is totally unaffected! Of course River needs to go home immediately. 

And just as the taxi pulls up to carry DJ to an outing downtown, lightning strikes again - this time hitting the palm tree near the building. The fire fighters appear for the second time the same day! Nobody comes to any harm, thankfully. 

DJ is happy to share a meal at the FM with Sarah Love, Zoe Zimmerman and Gunnar Roque. Another one of her former "sisters", Tiffany Riley, and the third former Shifting Paradyme, Jasmine Rai, are also part of the group but sit at a nearby table. 

She has no luck job-wise on Tuesday, either, but she takes advantage of her free time by gaining more cooking skill. 

Sarah and Gunnar come over uninvited; DJ looks a bit uncertain as what to think of this invasion of her privacy. 

Later, long after her uninvited guests have gone to their respective flats, she wakes up from loud music and voices from the other side of the wall. That's Gunnar's, and DJ bangs against the wall for him to stop the noise. She wonders whether he'd be more considerate if they were best friends.

On Wednesday, she lands a position in Strangetown's Vice Squad, but will only start tomorrow. Therefore, she makes use of the extra day and brushes up on her logic skill, as required for the job.

Meet Detective Verse! A promotion right on the first day after starting a new job is not unusual for our Sims, but since it took DJ until Thursday to get started on her lifetime want, I am particularly pleased for her. 

She spots a man walking by and greets him. Blake Cho is his name, and because of his surname, he is of course going to be befriended and hopefully made playable eventually. 

Later, Bella Goth walks by and is also greeted by DJ.

More cleaning skills are in order, and the fingerprint scanner is hers. Therefore, on Friday morning before work, she puts in about an hour of scanning. Surprisingly, Pollination Technician Smith's fingerprints can be found in DJ's bedroom - he certainly has not set foot in this house since DJ lives here, but I have seen him walk by when she was too busy to go out and greet him.

Returning from work with a promotion to Lieutenant calls for a party! 

DJ invites her boyfriend River over, as well as his sister (I treat them as such, since they have the same surname) Danielle Smith and fellow sorority member Tiffany Riley. The party ends a roof raiser, last but not least thanks to DJ making sure she played Red Hands with everyone, and River was kissed several times. 

DJ has the weekend off, and good part of Saturday is spent skilling - got to take advantage of autumn making this so much faster! Unsurprisingly, the fingerprint scanner reveals that River has been here :-) 

Landlords have the habit to throw parties for their tenants on Saturdays, and this one is no exception. He has ordered pizza, and DJ is the first to grab a slice - a reminder of her years at the sorority house, no doubt! 

Later, Erin Singles walks by and is greeted, but instead of hostess and guest spending time together, Erin wanders off to the hot tub while DJ brushes up on her logic skill at the chess board on her own. 

Sunday is off to a firey start when DJ accidentally sets the kitchen stove on fire. There is a fire alarm, and the firefighter comes to the rescue only moments later; nobody comes to any more harm than DJ having to eat burnt omelette for breakfast. 

Later, she joins her fellow tenants and friends Jessie, Gunnar and Sarah (in the hot tub) for a drink on the patio.

Sunday evening goes by quietly with DJ reading on her bed... alone. 

She has not rolled any wishes about her boyfriend, but seemed happy enough to see him when he came over during the week. Mostly, though, she was focused on skilling and maintaining friendships, all in view of her lifetime want of becoming Captain Hero.

 

It was nice to add another ex-NPC to my list of playables in Zaitrarrio Lee. Next on that list is Klara Vonderstein.

Brittany Upsnott: Senior Year

For the previous year with the Tri-Var Sorority, click here.

It's Brittany Upsnott's Senior Year, and here she is with her two live-in "sisters" Heather Huffington and Tiffany Sampson, who are both Juniors. About the Tri-Var Sorority, Maxis have written: "The Tri-Var sorority may be the nicest Greek house on campus but with sisters like Heather and Brittany will Tiffany be able to convince anyone else to join?" That doesn't make Heather and Brittany sound very nice, does it? 

And there's more along those lines in Brittany's personal bio: "Even though Brittany is the queen bee of the sorority no one wants to spend time with her. If anyone could break through her shell though, they'd find that in truth she's insecure and just wants to be liked." 

So far, though, she has not been any less likeable or friendly than other students. She is a Popularity Sim who aspires to be Media Magnate one day. 

Winter ends as the spring term begins.

Brittany wakes up full of energy. What will the day bring?

She only needs one charisma point for this semester, and she gains it at the mirror in the downstairs toilet. 

While she is at class, I check the other girls for wants and to make sure they have their required skills and can write their Term Papers. Heather, however, shows the wish to influence someone to write her paper for her, and therefore I have her greet a random student passing by who does indeed write Heather's paper.

Brittany sits down to do the hard work herself, and once she has finished, she can focus on other things. I will mainly let her do as she likes while still making sure there are some wishes fulfilled. 

Now that she's mostly left to her own devices, it becomes apparent that Brittany is not very good at taking care of herself. She seems to be stuck in a loop here: She sits down at the piano, starts to play, breaks off because she is hungry, gets up from the seat, sits back down and starts to play again, stops again because she is hungry, gets up from the seat... you get the idea! 

This is repeated about 10 times before I have enough and send Brittany to the kitchen - not to make a meal, but to check food supplies in the fridge (which often results in a Sim then preparing something to eat).

The only computer in the house broke last night while Tiffany was very close to finishing her Term Paper. The girls have not forgotten last year's near-desastrous attempts to repair it themselves, and so this time they have a professional come to do the job. Soon afterwards, Tiffany is the last one to complete her paper this semester. 

With the other two at class, Heather works on her lifetime want, and sure enough, Professor Kody becomes the 4th of the 20 lovers she wants eventually.

Brittany returns from class just as the professor leaves. "Did I just see what I think I saw?" she smiles at her friend. Yes, she did, and Heather has no qualms about it - she's a Romance Sim and can't help her lifetime want. 

Brittany still can't cook, but finally she produces a platter of sandwiches. Why nobdy has brought pizza from Campus so far, I don't know. 

It would have been nice to send all three to a community lot together, but their schedules are so different that there just never seems to be a good time. Therefore, Brittany goes to the shops to stock up on groceries on her own.

She makes her purchase and then has a look around to see who else is there.

Ty Bubbler, a good friend of hers, looks half asleep when Brittany talks to him. Then the message pops up, informing me that her exam will be in five hours, and as I send her to walk back to the sorority house, the game crashes... grrr!!! 

However, next time I open the game, it is as if nothing happened. The three girls still are in sync when it comes to their exams, and although I normally do not direct them once they have met all the requirements for the current semester, I now have them eat and get their needs and moods up so that they are ready for their exams.

And indeed, all three of them make the Dean's List, receive an A+ and the full grant money. Brittany's very last semester begins!

For the first time this entire year, one of the "sisters" visits campus and returns with a free pizza. This used to be their staple food, and I was beginning to wonder whether my game was so bugged that this action simply didn't turn up anymore. 

After Brittany has acquired another charisma point, she sits down at the computer and fully focuses on the very last term paper she is ever going to write. 

Meanwhile, Heather (who has already written hers) is making an otherwise irrelevant student her 5th lover. Only 15 more to go!

Over the almost four years she's been here, Brittany has become really good at the piano.

Left to their own devices, Brittany and Heather choose to share a room - although there are 9 beds in the house, and most rooms with just one. 

Heather is even worse than Brittany at taking care of her needs and is close to starvation more than once. Saved by the pizza!

Same goes for Brittany today. 

During a phone conversation with Jack Kim, he becomes another friend of Brittany's, and the Greek House reaches Level 6. I suspect that's going to change once she graduates and leaves.

Not long now until the final exam and graduation, but Brittany does not forget to take care of the day-to-day running of the sorority.

Both she and Heather want to have a toga party, and many of their friends are invited. Not everyone sticks to the dress code, though. Here are Jimmy Phoenix, Jack Kim, Kevin Beare and Genesis Lee... 

...as well as Castor Nova (in his impossible outfit) and Ty Bubbler.

Hmm... I was quite sure that Kevin was already on Heather's list of lovers, but here it seems he has fallen for her all over again. 

Parties have a tendency to leave a lot of cleaning up to do for their hosts, and this one was no exception. Brittany mops the bathroom floor on her own accord - maybe also in an attempt to calm her exam nerves. 

It must have worked, because she returns some hours later along with her "sisters" - all three of them have done very well once more, but while Tiffany and Heather are now Seniors, Brittany has just graduated. 

The next morning, she makes the bed that was hers for four years for the last time... 

...and then invites her friends to her graduation party.

Almost everyone is there except for Castor Nova. Sleepy Ty seems to have misunderstood the theme - the toga party was the other day, this is Brittany's graduation party!

Anyway, it's a roof raiser of a party, and a happy but slightly apprehensive Brittany boards the taxi to The Valley, where we will of course meet her again in due time.

It's been a while since I last played at college, and I enjoyed this "year" with the girls. Of course, as expected, the Greek House is now back at Level 5; the two remaining "sisters" will need to make more friends, and seriously think about finding new live-in members if they want the sorority to keep going.