Some member or other of the Cho family has settled in several of my Maxis-made neighbourhoods, not just the original playable Vivian and Etsu Cho. We're now back in Veronaville for a week with Carl Cho, who after graduating from uni has bought this small house at No. 31 Mendoza Lane in Downtown Veronaville.
Carl's move to Veronaville is documented towards the end of this post.
Here he is; a Knowledge Sim who dreams of becoming Chief of Staff.
He did not feature prominently during his time at uni, but it was where he met Chaz Whippler, who eventually befriended (and be-romanced him) enough to invite him to move to Veronaville for good and become a proper resident instead of an NPC student.
As you can see, the inside of the small house is rather bare.
Everything in here is of the cheapest quality. It would do if Carl had no money, but he is actually surprisingly wealthy and has over 25,000 Simoleons to play with.
One of the first things he does on this Monday morning is of course set up the computer that has just been delivered from Mr Humble. He looks for a job in the Medical career and is lucky: Tomorrow, he can start as an EMT.
He happily shares it with Titania Summerdream and Kent Monty (formerly Capp). A third person was part of the welcome committee, but Kaylynn Spitzig is an NPC townie who is of little to no interest in my game and was therefore not asked in.
In the evening, former co-student Emily Lee rings and asks Carl to join her and a bunch of friends at Dreamy Fields, the sports hobby lot where I have very rarely, if ever, played before.
Emily in front is followed by Bianca Monty, Chris Cho, Ellen Frost, Chaz Whippler and Mitch Indie.
Apart from Bianca, everyone went to uni together at least for a while, and know each other, while not all of them are friends. Carl makes hot dogs for everyone after a friendly game of basketball.
He ends up sharing the table with Chris Cho who must be a distant relative of his, but they have not really talked before.
Because he'll have an early start tomorrow for his first day at work, Carl heads home soon after the meal. This is what his house looks like now; he obviously likes orange, and therefore I have made it a dominant colour.
His early start on Tuesday morning allows for a bit of stargazing (a typical wish for a Knowlege Sim) before he is picked up for work.
From his first shift as an EMT, he returns with a promotion to Paramedic. Now he only has a few hours to eat, shower and have a nap before his second shift of the day starts.
He leaves just after dark, as witnessed by a skunk - what it is doing there I have no idea, because Carl's place is spic & span, inside and out.
Carl has Wednesday off but still wakes up early.
He uses most of the day for skilling (it being autumn means he makes rapid progress), but is also glad to get some socialising in, for instance when Christian Love walks by, and later with a phone call to Kent Monty.
On Thursday, Carl diligently makes sure he has the skill required for his next promotion before he invites Kent over to help him test the new recipe for Chili con carne he wants to try. He has almost all day until he is picked up for work at 7:00 pm, and the two men part as almost friends.
At 2:00 am on Friday morning, Carl returns from work with a promotion to Nurse. That means he can only grab a couple of hours of sleep if he wants to have a shower and eat before work as well, and he is not in the best of moods when the car pool is back at 6:00 am.
Also, much to his dismay he notices that Kent, whom he left sitting at his computer when he went to work on Thursday evening, must have "done" (!) something to clog the toilet... but neither does he have time to unclog it now, nor does he wish to leave it until he returns from work, and so the repair service is called last thing before he gets into the car.
When Carl returns from work, everything is in order again. He has a nap and then invites over Kent and his wife as well as Christian. After a meal of Mac & Cheese and a game of kicky bag, he is finally friends with both men but is only just beginning to get to know Bianca.
On Saturday, Carl is super-busy, but also super successful: First, he returns from his Nurse shift with a promotion to Intern.
With the help of the thinking cap, he acquires another cleaning skill point and heads back to work for another few hours, with the result that he is made Resident.
As if that wasn't enough, he yet again makes sure he has another cleaning point under his belt, then lies down for a couple of hours before he walks back to the hospital to put in two more hours of work.
At 1:00 am on Sunday morning, he his dropped off in front of his house, looking quite exhausted... but it was worth it: He is now a GP, well on his way to reaching his lifetime want. But FIVE points for various skills are required for his next promotion...
Give the poor man a rest, I think, and I shall let him do as he pleases all of Sunday.
Luckily, as a Knowledge Sim Carl rolls lots of wishes about skilling, and so he may just as well work towards his next promotion at the same time.
But it's not all about skilling for him today: Late afternoon, he asks uni friends Marla Biggs and Emily Lee over as well as Kent and Bianca Monty and Christian Love. Neither Bianca nor Christian turn up, but the party goes well nonetheless, and this is where Carl's first week after graduation ends.
Phew! Carl's rapid progress was good to watch, but I had to make sure he also took time to maintain his few existing friendships and establish new ones. Somehow, that didn't come easy for him, maybe because he is rather shy and tends towards grouchiness.
When I spotted Chaz Whippler at the outing, I was worried there would be nasty jealousy scenes, but thankfully, everybody seemed to be politely staying out of harm's way!
Happy to report that the game only crashed twice during the entire week of playing - first when he left the community lot, and then once more without any apparent reason; that one might have been down to some application or other running in the background on my computer.
Chris Cho, another former NPC student, is next.
