Ty Bubbler: Freshman Year

Busy times lie ahead! We are at Sim Sate Uni of Desiderata Valley, and this dorm has no less than 14 rooms. It is going to be the home of seven playable students, two of which I have made so by sending townie teens with "playable" surnames to college.

Here they are, left to right: Jimmy Phoenix, Jack Kim (ex-townie teen), Ty Bubbler (the reason we are here, as he is the next Sim on my alphabetical list), Sam Thomas, Jared Starchild, Toby Scott (another ex-townie teen) and Erik Swain. Sam is the "head" of this household, at least according to Maxis. The household bio reads: "How can Sam, the girl next door, and two guys coasting their way through school possibly get along? Will they find some common ground and become friends?"

Let's have a look at the dorm now. There are five bedrooms on the ground floor as well as shower rooms and toilets, a computer room and a canteen. Wisely, Maxis have built a generous staircase. A chess table and easel are on the patio.

More bedrooms are upstairs as well as more showers and toilets. One bedroom (top right corner) sticks out in that it sports more "feminine" colours - I act according to Maxis' obvious idea here and assign this one to Sam, the only playable girl here. This floor also has a tiny common room with a book shelf and TV, and I take some of the 3,815 Simoleons of the dorm's account for a second easel. A chess table is already here.

There is a third chess set in the rooftop room, plus a dart board. A cheap telescope and a couple of chairs are on the roof. Nothing in this dorm is of very good quality; all furniture and other equipment is cheap, but it is practical and will do for now.

While I am going to make sure all playables acquire their skills and write their term papers, my focus lies on Ty Bubbler. According to Maxis, he enjoys spending time with Allegra, Jared and Castor discussing his philosophical theories, but his favorite activity is watching the happenings around campus out on the quad.. His aspiration is Popularity and he dreams of being a Celebrity Chef one day.

Naturally, at a dorm with 14 Sims, there is always a lot going on, be it at the cafeteria... 

...or in the tiny common room.

Toby Scott, one of the two former townie teens, has a good skill profile. It is no surprise that he is able to write his Term Paper before anyone else.

Next are Erik Swain (front) and Jack Kim (back), the second former townie teen.

Jared Starchild (front) and Ty Bubbler (back) follow suit. 

Then it's Sam Thomas' turn...

...and last but not least, Jimmy Phoenix completes his Term Paper, too.

The next day, bills need to be paid and playable students greeted. Here, Jimmy greets Jane Stacks... 

...and Sam greets Martin Ruben.

Toby Scott has just declared his Major in Mathematics and now seems a bit at a loss as what to do. Maybe he feels a bit out of place - among the students at this dorm, he is the one with the highest skill profile and the only one wearing a suit.

Everyone else does not seem to have trouble socialising.

Ty is one of those Sims who think nothing of it when they walk around the dorm in just their PJ bottoms.

Toby Scott looks once again a little left out when Erik and Jared engage in a pillow fight. 

But then the young men share some juicy gossip about the dorm cook, and finally Toby feels like he belongs.

Ty even goes to his meals in the cafeteria wearing nothing but his PJ bottoms! Jared does not seem to mind.

Their first semester ends for all seven with A+ grades and spots on the Dean's List. The household accounts now boosts a healthy 10,995 Simoleons - enough for some improvements to the modest rooms, if I can be bothered :-)

The first part of their second semester is a blur of skilling and writing Term Papers for the Freshmen.

This time, Ty is the first to finish his Term Paper - and fully dressed, too!

Toby and Sam are next.

Jimmy has been skilling for hours, and by the time he could have a meal, the dorm cook's shift has ended. Good job there are a small fridge and microwave in the common room.

Jared's Term Paper has just been completed.

The next morning, Jared and Ty share a table in the cafeteria. Jared, whose turn it appears to be to walk around in his undies, thinks that his friend used to be chattier over breakfast.

Jack and Erik are the last ones to finish their Term Papers.

Now I can lean back (most of the time) and just watch what everyone gets up to. Sam and Ty used to be an item when I played them in New Max, if I remember correctly. Here, they are really good friends, but so far there have not been any romantic wishes or interactions.

Toby is being his usual grown-up self and takes care of the yard work without having to be told.

 By carefully monitoring everyone's schedules, I finally manage to send the seven Freshmen to a community lot. I intend to play each community lot in each neighbourhood (and each sub-hood such as affiliated campus etc.), and so I have the taxi to drop them off at 452-498 University Way.

Ty and Jared meet and greet Brittany Upsnott. Most of the other visitors here are NPC students.

Toby once again does the most grown-up thing by ordering a glass of bubbly for himself and Jimmy, who happens to be the only one at the bar right now. Then my game crashes... because the EA App wants an update!! grrrr... As soon as the game is up and running again, I find that everybody is back at the dorm with no memory of, for instance, having met Brittany, even though the pictures are there.

The campus coach makes his first appearance all of this "year". He tries to find someone who will heed his command to work out, but students are either hiding in the bathroom or pretending to need to go to class right now, and so he leaves after a while. (This really happened - nobody listened to him, and he left without success.)

Just as I was beginning to think no romance was going to happen among this group, Sam takes the initiative with Ty by tenderly carressing his face, and hearts are a-flying allover.

Ty seems to have just been waiting for her to make the first step, and jumps right into her arms. We have our first "item" among this group of students! (Only one bolt between them, by the way, but they have been best friends for quite a while now.)

Exam Day coincides with the first snow of this winter. Everyone has done really well again, returning a few hours later with A+ and their names on the Dean's List. Next time we'll meet these students, they will be Sophomores. And with their bank account showing a healthy balance of 18,771 Simoleons, I really should start on improving their modest rooms.