The Riley Family - Week 1

For Week 1 with Vivian and Etsu Cho, click here.

The Rileys are one of the families Maxis have prepared a set of pictures for to provide them with a bit more background than just their written biographies. In their case, the series of snapshot starts with Timothy holding his daughter Sally while they stand at a tombstone - we are of course to assume that it is Timothy's wife and Sally's mother, Olivia Riley, who is buried here. 

The next picture goes back in time a bit, showing Oliva becoming Mrs. Riley, and making Timothy the happiest Sim alive. 

According to Maxis, "Timothy and his wife were quite the team of brains. They were both devoted to their careers and doing well. The freak electrical accident that ended her life was devastating to both he and Sally. He knows that they need to look to the future and he hopes Vivian and Etsu can be a big part of it." 

And we can see here Timothy getting down on one knee in front of Vivian Cho - which suits his wish to get engaged with her. 

Next, we see Timothy at work in what looks like a hospital environment with some sort of surgery training going on, with Timothy as the trainer (?). He is unemployed at the start of the game, but has the career rewards object for the Medical career in his inventory. Also, this suits his aspiration and his lifetime want: A typical Knowledge Sim, he wants to become Chief of Staff. 

The last of the Maxis-made pictures shows Timothy and Sally having hamburgers with Vivian and Etsu Cho. Etsu was still a toddler when this was taken - having played the Cho household almost exactly a year ago, Etsu is now a child and goes to school along with Sally. 

Sentinel Apartments in Belladonna Cove is still the Rileys' address, as it is the Chos'. Vivian and Etsu are renting the downstairs flat, while Timothy and Sally live one floor up, in the one with the green grill on the balcony. 

The flat is fully furnished and decorated with a master bedroom for Timothy in the upper left corner followed by a narrow bathroom. Sally's room is next, and the top right corner holds the kitchen. The dining room is next, then the tiny balcony. The biggest room is the living room, with a generous seating area with TV, a piano, book cases and a desk with a computer. 

Although he is unemployed at the moment, Timothy has quite a bit of money: At nearly 32,800 Simoleons, he can well afford not to work - but it doesn't help his lifetime want.

Therefore, on this Monday I have him looking for a job in Medical right away. 

Sally, by the way, has a lifetime want even though children normally don't have them until they turn into teenagers: She wishes to Max Out all her skills. About her, Maxis say that she "... likes having her father all to herself. She's working hard to do better at school so he'll be proud of her. Although she thinks Etsu is cute as a doll, will she be open to having new members of the family?"

Timothy spots Vivian walking to the mailboxes and asks her upstairs. "I've been thinking..." he begins.

The rest of their conversation is private, but the result is obvious when Vivian is off to work a little later :-) 

Timothy is not a good cook, but he knows how to make hot dogs, and he puts some on the grill for him and Sally just as the school bus drops her off.

My Sally, he thinks. How is she going to react when I tell her that we are really going to be a family with Vivian and Etsu? The rest of the afternoon and evening is spent doing homework, talking to friends on the phone and some skilling.

Sally gets up on Tuesday morning and without anyone telling her, she makes her bed. 

Her Dad leaves the house an hour after she has boarded the school bus: He starts work today as Belladonna Cove's latest General Practitioner! 

When Sally comes home from school, her Dad is still at work, but the Nanny who already works for the Cho family has come upstairs to make sure the girl is not on her own and does her homework. 

Sally spots her friend Etsu on the playground with another kid but needs to do her homework first.

Timothy is promoted to Specialist. Well done on his first day! 

It is just after sunset but not very late yet, when Sally finally joins Etsu on the playground. The girls stay out on this mild early autumn evening nearly until bedtime. 

Nothing noteworthy happens on Wednesday. Sally and her Dad have breakfast together, then she's off to school and an hour later he's off to work. They return; homework is done, bills are paid, and Timothy pays a brief visit downstairs to Vivian and Etsu as per his wish. Over the phone, he makes a friend of Jason Cleveland, necessary for his next promotion. 

Going to bed a few hours after Sally, his last thoughts are of Vivian. 

On Thursday morning, not only the daily paper is left on the Rileys' door step (they don't read it - there never seems to be enough time) but also a magic lamp. For now, it is put in Timothy's inventory. 

While Sally is at school and her Dad at work, a fight breaks out on the playground. Who is involved?

It's Vivian against Kaylynn Spitzig, one of the townie tenants in the building. Vivian wins the fight, and a message pops up saying something like "Whoa, you sure aren't a Sim to be messed with. From now on, I am going to stay out of your way." I hope it's true - I hate those fights!

Timothy having made friends with Jason Cleveland yesterday has paid off: He is now a Surgeon.

Then I make a stupid mistake and have him wear his Thinking Cap for some skilling late in the evening without checking first that he is on Gold status. Well, he wasn't, and "too much thinking can burn you out", the game says - poor Timothy falls asleep right there on the floor, and no skills are acquired that evening.

Friday goes by after the same pattern as the other days: Breakfast, then school / work, then homework, talking to friends (existing and prospective) on the phone, another meal, shower, bed. But while Sally and Timothy are out, I watch Vivian for a while; she's on the swings quite a long time, then tries to catch some butterflies. 

And so much for Kaylynn's intention to stay out of Vivian's way...!

On Saturday morning, Timothy manages to produce a tasty breakfast of pancakes for himself and Sally.

Vivian and Etsu are on the playground, and I want to send the foursome to a community lot together. But just like when I was playing the Cho family, they are unable to leave - the message that "I can't bring myself to leave the little ones alone" keeps popping up. Which is silly and definitely a bug, because a) children CAN visit community lots and b) I did arrange it as an outing for the casual group consisting of Timothy, Sally, Vivian and Etsu. 

Seeing as they can't seem to leave the lot other than for work or school, they are around when the customary Saturday's Tenants Party Pizza is delivered. Politely, they all have a slice, but then go their separate ways - relationships between the tenants aren't the best, apart from the Rileys and the Chos of course. 

Father and daugther spend the afternoon reading... 

...and the evening playing chess.

I try the community lot visit again on Sunday, this time not as a casual group but only sending Timothy and Sally on foot - and it works. 

They arrive at Similar Sights Sculpture Park, a place I am not familiar with. There doesn't seem to be much to do for a child, but we'll see whether Sally will have some fun nonetheless. 

Timothy meets and greets a townie named Sam Hart - at least I think he's still a townie and not an ex-townie who has already been made playable by someone else's invitation to move in. (He is of course eligible to become playable because of sharing his surname with Matthew Hart.) 

The bubble blower, surrounded by fire pots, is hugely popular with a bunch of townies. Their giggling can be heard all over the park.

And Sally discovers that she can roast marshmallows in the flames that shoot up at regular intervals :-) 

It starts to snow soon after the Rileys arrive back home.

The week ends with Sally turning into a teenager - sorry, love, I have forgotten to throw a birthdy party for you! 

Unlike with most other Sims, I do not cast my dice to determine Sally's aspiration. She already has her lifetime want of maxing out her skills, and comes from a very "brainy" father and mother, according to the family bio. Therefore, anything but the Knowledge aspiration would be against her nature. 

It was a good week with the Rileys, but they will definitely move to their own place next time. Timothy is now 9 "years" younger than Vivian, but they still have three bolts for each other, which I am not going to ignore much longer.