Round 7 Part 11: The Academy (2053-2057)

Rishell and Veronica are 42.

"The Lucky One"

narrated by Rishell Whitfill

Every now and then something happens that makes me feel old. Like when my twin sister actually slows down enough to have a hobby. She was doing pottery for a while and then branched out--no pun intended!--to flower arranging.

She also gardens now. Though she gardens while wearing silk pajamas, so maybe I shouldn't despair of her ever acting too old.

Oh, and she still has that boyfriend. The boyfriend who is very obviously living with another woman and their small children. I had hoped they would drift apart when she changed jobs so that they no longer work together, but no such luck.

At least they confine their "boxing practice" to the spare room so I'm not forever changing the sheets on our bed.

When Ronnie wants to be mean she says I'm trying to act like Mom, but really she's just as bad as I am with the interfering. We had our friend Ryker over with his girlfriend the other day and Jackie took a second to freshen up in the bathroom so Veronica asked when they were going to hurry up and have kids. (Ryker just laughed.)

Then as soon as Jackie came back, she switched the topic to asking if they planned to go anywhere on vacation this year. Sneaky thing.

The funniest part is that Ronnie says I'm acting like Mom when she's trying to be nice, too. Like when she complemented me for implementing a schedule of having our brothers and their families over for dinner. I figure that it's about time to get to know all our nieces and nephews now that most of them are getting to the age where they're thinking about college. I bet we could help them earn scholarships and things.

We had Donte and his girls over just the other night. Little Shelley is so bright--she's doing a report on the Far East for her geography class at school and was asking if Veronica and I would be willing to be interviewed for it.

Emmy's great too. I know Donte worries about her--she's getting a bit boy crazy--but even she talks about how nice it is to have everybody together. She thinks we should have a big family reunion sometime, and I'm inclined to agree.








Notes:

- I realized after I started writing this that Rishell narrated last time as well. Remind me to let Veronica say her piece next round...in, you know, two years or so real time.

- Veronica topped another career, becoming World-Class Ballet Dancer.

- Rishell, meanwhile, became Chief of Staff, which was a LTW as well. Now she wants to be an architect, but I'm getting bored of Sims constantly career-hopping.

Week Six Part Eleven: The Academy

Veronica Whitfill: 35 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. LTW: Become Hall of Famer. (Fulfilled: Become Prestidigitator.) Astrological sign: Libra.
Rishell Whitfill: 35 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Max All Skills. Astrological sign: Pisces.

The Whitfill family tree is still quite straightforward. We've already visited the twins' three older brothers this round. (In parts four, eight, and nine.)

"Rainy day"
narrated by Rishell Whitfill

One day, Ronnie and I were sitting around eating breakfast when I suddenly got an idea. So I said, "You know that money we've been saving for a rainy day? Well, it's raining now. Let's go on vacation."

So we did. Our brother Donte had gone on his honeymoon to the Far East and told us all about what a fascinating place it was. I think Veronica would rather have followed our brother Blake's recommendation and spent a week lying around on the beaches of Twiiki Island, but I won out this time. We'll go to Twiiki Island next time it rains and we have some spare cash lying around.

Ronnie managed to enjoy herself anyway...or so I gather, based on the fact that she had this ridiculous grin on her face half the time we were there.

I ended up making friends with this local woman, who even stopped by for a visit one day when she happened to be in the States anyway. I like her a lot, and I think if I asked her she'd go for settling down and starting a family, but when I'm honest with myself I realize that I'm just not ready to move on from Jill. I know, deep down, that our relationship will never be more than it is, but the desire I've had lately to start a family isn't strong enough yet for me to just wash my hands of her and move on.

Anyway. My love life isn't the best, but I'm still doing really well in other areas. I managed to get a perfect score on my SKILL test--Donte did that years ago, and I couldn't let him one-up me.

I also became known as an "ecological guru" because of some books I'd written. I think next I'd like to go into medicine...I think my research could really help come up with cures and vaccinations for some of the deadly diseases that pass through from time to time. (My biological parents were killed by guinea pig flu, did I ever mention that? Ronnie and I were just babies and Blake was a toddler.)

Veronica did well too. She had been a competitive boxer for many years (you wouldn't think, she's so tiny and sweet, but she has a mean right hook) and then a coach, and a few years back she was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Now she says that she'd like to get out of the limelight a bit, maybe do something in the science field, like me or our sister-in-law Millie.

After a while, we had saved up enough money to finish the big house we'd started for ourselves. We don't need the room, really, but who wouldn't want to live in a mansion and feel like a princess if they could? Plus, it gave us enough room to invite over our brothers from time to time. They're all so busy with their kids that they don't have as much time to plan and prep for parties, but Ronnie and I have tons of time and now tons of space, so we can have our whole extended family over as often as we'd like. I think Mom would have liked how we've all stayed close over the years.

I left their little studio apartment much as it was, because I didn't see any reason not to. 

Just across the lawn, they have their mansion: Kitchen, dining room, living room/front hall, hobby room, and a secret room behind the stairs for the cowplant. 

Upstairs there are 3 bedrooms, a whole bunch of bathrooms, a workout room, and a computer room. 

On the third floor is a laboratory.

I am not at all satisfied with the outside of the mansion. Any tips for getting that roofline to cooperate would be much appreciated.

Notes:

1. Rishell's lady friend actually got invited over because I needed to lock her in an empty room until she started doing Tai Chi so that somebody could finally learn it. (That method works much better than just hanging around the Far East for days, incidentally.) I would let them get together, but Far East Girl is a Family Sim and the population of this town just doesn't need that.

2. Rishell had enough lifetime aspiration points to roll a secondary aspiration of Family, which is why she's suddenly started to think about settling down. I'm happy because it means I can start distributing Comfort Soup among the Whitfill families. 

3. Rishell fulfilled her LTW and IW: Max All Skills. Her new LTW is to become Chief of Staff. She's also topped two careers: First Mad Scientist, and now Ecological Guru.

4. Veronica fulfilled her second LTW and third TOC when she became Hall of Famer. (Previously, she wanted to be Prestidigitator and also became a Rock God.) She's giving her brother Donte a run for his money when it comes to topping careers. 

Otherwise, this household was super duper boring. I might have to have Rishell adopt a kid just so I'm not so bored. 

Week Five Part Eleven: The Academy

Another not-creative lot name. I was going for something that sounded like a Fortune/Knowledge combo and ended up with an unfortunate Firefly connotation--especially unfortunate since River could very well live here someday. ;)

Veronica Whitfill, 28 years old, Aspiration: Fortune, LTW: Become Prestidigitator, Astrological sign: Libra

Rishell Whitfill, 28 years old, Aspiration: Knowledge, LTW: Max All Skills, Astrological sign: Pisces

Veronica and Rishell are on the right. They're the adopted daughters of founder Larita Whitfill, and I pretend they're twins because I can. They currently have two nephews and five nieces, as you can probably tell.

Note: After I created that tree I realized that Larita's death date should be in 2029 or so, definitely not 2037. I have no idea where I came up with that number. 

Hi! I'm Veronica. I guess I should start telling you about what my sister and I got up to after we graduated college. But maybe a little background first? Okay, cool. Let's do this.

We got adopted by our mom when we were really little, but then she died when we were eighteen. It was rough, I'm not gonna lie, but at least we had each other and our three big brothers looking out for us. Then we went to college; ended up in the same dorm as three other girls from our hometown, which was awesome. They were all super nerdy, so Rishell got along great with them. I'm pretty good at school myself, but I don't, like, LOVE it the way Rishell does. I figure you go to college so you can get a good job so you can have money to do fun stuff. We're pretty opposite. Rishell is kinda serious, keeps to herself, that sort of thing. I'm a lot more of a people person, a little more laid-back. But I guess we have some kind of opposites attract thing going on, 'cause we've always been best buds. So it was natural that we decided to live together after college, since we didn't have any boyfriends or anything. I think I'd have been lonely living by myself. Rishell probably would have been happy, but then she'd have never left the house.

Our brother Blake came to help us move in. We were living in an apartment over our garage while we saved up for a bigger house, and it was a bit tricky getting some of the bigger furniture up the narrow stairs. He was nice enough to compliment the turkey we made for dinner that day, though since he's a professional chef I'm sure he can make a much better one. 

Anyway, Rishell basically spent the next few years studying.

She got a job doing some kind of scientific research, but that just gave her an excuse to study more.

Meanwhile, I achieved my dream of becoming a professional prestidigitator. It was great work, but I decided I needed something a little more active and switched to professional athletics.

To wind down when I wasn't working, I took up painting. It's a very relaxing hobby, and the fact that it brings in some extra money can't hurt, right? Rishell sold her first novel a few years after we graduated, but it didn't sell too well. She's didn't let that get her down and has had a lot more success since then. But I'll have to save that for next time.

This is what the house looked like at the end of the week. Since there are only the two Sims living here, I felt no particular need to build them a big house, though you can see the empty shell of their future big house in the background.

A Fortune/Knowledge pairing isn't much more exciting than a Knowledge/Knowledge pairing, so there's really nothing else to say here.

Week Four Part Ten: Sim State Dormitory + Zeta Zeta Epsilon Greek House

Taking my cue from several other Prosperity bloggers, I decided a while back to start taking portraits of each family at the beginning of a round. Now you all finally get to start reaping the fruits of my labor. 

So, the new college students, from left:

Jeannie Dejackome, 17 years old, Aspiration: Knowledge, LTW: Become Head of SCIA, Astrological sign: Aquarius

Mildred "Millie" Landgraab, 20 years old, Aspiration: Knowledge, LTW: Become Education Minister, Astrological sign: Gemini

Veronica Whitfill, 21 years old, Aspiration: Fortune, LTW: Become Prestidigitator, Astrological sign: Libra

Rishell Whitfill, 21 years old, Aspiration: Knowledge, LTW: Max All Skills, Astrological sign: Pisces

Gretchen Dejackome, 17 years old, Aspiration: Knowledge, LTW: Become Criminal Mastermind, Astrological sign: Aries 

You can really see the results of the wave of Knowledge teens I got a while back. Also, I think it's funny that sisters Jeannie and Gretchen have such opposite Lifetime Wants. Also also, I think it's funny that of the five girls in "The Whitfill Household", four will have the last name Whitfill at some point in their lives. But I get ahead of myself.

On to the story:

The students of Sim State University were not immune to the Great Flu Epidemic of '32. Millie Landgraab and Rishell Whitfill had to spend most of their first semester in bed.

Veronica didn't get sick, so she started work on getting them into the Greek House. Timothy Seifert was delighted to admit her.

Rishell followed in her sister's footsteps as soon as she had a clean bill of health.

Then all five girls had to hit the books to make up for lost time so nobody would do poorly on finals.

(Actually, Gretchen had the college meter glitch. So I kept them studying as long as possible as extra insurance. Fun fact: The Sim who had that glitch first was Gretchen's future husband, Donte Whitfill. I am almost looking forward to seeing if their children get it.)

The next semester, Jeannie managed to get into the Greek House.

As soon as everybody got back from their first day of classes, the girls all went clothes shopping.

The next night, Gretchen asked Timothy if she could join ZZE. He said yes, of course.

Millie took the opportunity to ask as well.

The night after that, Rishell managed to get into the Secret Society. (There are no real secrets in a group of five girls.)

Meanwhile, back at the Greek House...

Jeannie found herself thinking more and more about Timothy Seifert. She made sure to call him from time to time to make sure he didn't get too lonely in that big old house all by himself.

Side note: As a result of befriending all the girls, Timothy was Big Sim on Campus by the time I got back to him.

Near the end of the semester, Timothy invited Jeannie over, saying he needed some advice on fixing the place up before all the girls moved in. Jeannie never made it past the living room, however.

The first morning of the fall semester, Timothy welcomed everyone with pancakes and a rousing discussion of robots.

Don't forget, Timothy is also a Knowledge Sim.

Jeannie, Veronica, and Millie were all inducted into the Secret Society that semester.

Look, it's a Landgraab in the Landgrabb Society! (Relatedly, EA Games needed a better copy editor.)

Living under the same roof did nothing to dull Jeannie's fascination with Timothy, or his with her.

Near the end of their sophomore year, Timothy decided that he never wanted to live apart from Jeannie again and asked her to do him the honor of becoming Mrs. Seifert. Jeannie agreed, as long as she could hyphenate her name.

Something I might as well note here as anywhere else: I have the women take their husband's last names, as Prosperity rules dictate. However, on this blog I refer to married women by whatever name seems to best fit their personality and background.

These last two pictures really were a semester apart, by the way. Jeannie liked that drum kit almost as much as she liked Timothy.

Also during their sophomore year: Jeannie and Gretchen made Big Sim on Campus; Gretchen made Secret Society.

Although there was only one in-house couple at ZZE, love was in the air for some other residents. Millie invited over her old friend Blake Whitfill and they discovered new feelings for one another. Unfortunately, he had the flu, so he couldn't stay long.

Blake's brother Donte stayed longer, at Gretchen's invitation.

Meanwhile, Rishell Whitfill invited her friend Ryker Owens to pledge. She wasn't interested in him that way, but he was a great guy and Tim was kind of overwhelmed by all the estrogen in the house.

Ryker Owens
S2 skin, blond hair, light blue eyes
Aspiration: Fortune
LTW: Become a Prestidigitator (because you can NEVER have too many of those...)
Astrological sign: ???
 

Around the time Ryker pledged, Millie came down with the flu for the second time in her college career, probably thanks to Blake. Gretchen also got sick. She blamed it on Millie, but Millie said she'd probably picked up some germs while sharing spit with Donte.

Other junior year accomplishments: Rishell makes Big Sim on Campus.

By the fall of their senior year, Millie and Gretchen were back to full health. They used some of their newfound energy to play videogames late at night. Ryker, who had just moved in, had a blast watching them.

Later that semester, the members of ZZE had a toga party. Nobody felt like singing a folk song, so instead they formed a rock band, The Angry Tribbles. Their first performance, Jeannie was on lead guitar, Gretchen on bass, Rishell on drums, and Timothy on piano.

Most awkward picture ever: Happily married mother of 4 Joan Pons is in the hot tub NAKED with Ryker Owens. (Ryker had the decency to wear his swimsuit.) Ryker just nonchalantly carried on a conversation. Nothing untoward happened; Joan just does that because she has 10 outgoing points. It's still disturbing.

Thanks to his Greek House connections, Ryker was able to make it into the Secret Society later that semester.

In no time at all, the older members were getting ready to graduate. All of them managed a 4.0.

You can see Millie's scary eyebrows in this shot. Her two younger sisters have them too. Usually they're covered by hair.

The Angry Tribbles held a parting concert (with Timothy on lead guitar, Veronica on bass, Millie on drums, and Gretchen on piano) before packing up their things and heading back to Prosperity Plains (Timothy, the only non-native, was more than willing to move for Jeannie), leaving ZZE Greek House in Ryker's capable hands.

Now it's finally time for some Greek House pictures!

The ground floor. The kitchen (on the right) was part of the original massive renovation near the beginning of Week Three, during which I knocked down almost all the walls in the area to the left of the stairs. The pool (in back) and hot tub/bar area (far left) were added at the end of Week Three.

The red sports car almost never leaves the driveway; it's there mostly so the students don't clog their wants panels with "buy a car." It's also useful for acheiving Dream Date status, if you take my meaning.

The second floor was renovated the most during Week Four. If you have Sims 2 University, you've almost certainly seen this house (it's 80 Crumplebottom Road at SSU and it's also available in the Lots and Houses bin in the regular neighborhood). So you'll know that in the original design there were two bedrooms just to the left of the stairs.

At the beginning of Week Three, I added the two bedrooms and bathroom to the right of the stairs, for a total of four bedrooms and two bathrooms. During Week Four, I knocked out the two original bedrooms and added on a wing over the hot tub wing downstairs, so there's a huge open study/hang out area. (The musical instruments used to be in the open area downstairs; now that's a dancing/mingle area for when they throw parties.) Then I added two bedrooms and a bathroom over the pool wing in back to make up for knocking down the old ones.

Here's the attic area, also known as the computer lab. The wing with all the desks was added at the beginning of Week Three. That's also when I knocked down the wall to the little room where the black desk is in this picture. (When I had a bed up in the attic, it was useful to have the noisy computer behind a closed door.) Notice that there is a mini-fridge and a trashcan so that term-paper-writing Simmies can grab a snack and throw away the wrapper without leaving the computer lab.

The attic bathroom is the only room in this entire house that remains unchanged...for now. 

And, last but not least, the outside. It's becoming a cumbersome-looking house, but we'll leave aesthetics for the main neighborhood, right?