Round 7 Part 12: The Castle (2053-2057)

Corbin is 54, Audrey is 47, Charles is 11, William is 8.

"Shake it off"

narrated by Corbin Todd

I know Audrey and I aren't the most popular people in this town and maybe we deserve it (I'm immature and Audrey's a snob; I'm just gonna own that) but if Fate has a problem with us she's hasn't shown her hand yet. The only bad luck we've had lately was a minor break-in years ago, and nothing actually got stolen then. Audrey was unhappy about it, though. I'm not sure if she was more upset about a threat to her precious stuff or unnerved that the cops showed up. She's nervous around cops for some reason.

Audrey adopted a puppy after that in the hopes that he'd scare off potential burglars before the cops had to be called. I was a bit skeptical about whether this tiny fat puppy could scare a fly, let alone a burglar.

But within a year Leroy was a big brown and black dog, so I guess I would be intimidated if I met him on the porch on a dark night and didn't know he's a total pushover.

The boys kind of just do their own thing most of the time--Audrey and I aren't the sort of parents to sit there making up crafts for you during your summer vacation. They probably watch way too much TV, but they seem to be turning into decent people anyway. One time when they were in maybe 3rd and 6th grade they brought home this little kindergarten girl just because they thought she might be lonely and need friends. When I was their age I definitely wasn't sparing a thought for unpopular kids or the "babies" in the lower grades.

Charles turned 12 not long after that. I keep expecting him to get into girls but more and more lately he's got his nose buried in books! He's not shy or awkward at all, so I don't see why he doesn't get out more, but he says he wants to get good grades so he can go to college and become a teacher...so, basically, he wants to do well in school so he can do more school so he can spend the rest of his life in school. I don't know where he gets that studiousness from; certainly not from me.

When he's not doing his own homework, Charles is practicing his teaching skills on William--I swear William's never once come to me with a homework question! (Which is good because Charles probably knows the answer better than I do anyway.)

They do have fun sometimes, though. A lot of times on the weekends they'll spend hours fishing together and talking about their favorite sci-fi show.

Oh, and on top of all that, Charles has a part-time job helping out at the ER over at Sim City General. Like I said, no idea where he gets his altruism and work ethic...if he didn't look just like me I'd be seriously questioning his paternity.

As for Audrey, she's still working for Malcolm Landgraab, raking in the big bucks and having a great time spending them. Last year she bought herself a helicopter and took flying lessons as a 50th birthday present to herself. I teased her that she was having a midlife crisis and already had the fancy convertible so had to go one bigger. She pretended not to be able to hear me over the whir of her helicopter's blades.

I think William takes after his mom; he only just turned 12 and he's already talking about how when he's grown up he wants to run the whole town.

Lately when I'm home alone, instead of calling up my lady friends I find myself painting. I can really get in the zone and it feels like no time at all passes before the boys are home from school.

I've been doing a bit of pottery too.

My coaching job is going great; I even have my own star in the hall of fame. Lately, though, I've started to think that I spend an awful lot of time traveling and maybe it's time to cut back and really enjoy the last few years we have with them at home--maybe their school needs a basketball coach.








Notes:

1. Corbin is definitely coming across a little more mature and responsible in this update, mostly thanks to his new secondary aspiration being Family. But really I think that's kind of realistic--he seems like the kind of guy to party hard through his 20s and 30s and then one day up and decide that he's had enough of parties and wants to settle down a little. But of course that gets complicated when you father a few kids during those wild 20s and 30s. We'll see whether Corbin ever ends up rebuilding the bridges that got burnt when he broke up with Edith. 

2. Leroy the dog was actually Charles' 12th birthday present so he'd spin up a LTW, but it fit better in the story to have them buy a dog because of the break-in. He came with the name Leroy and I thought it fit well since it means "the king" and their last name is King.

3. Charles is a Knowledge Sim with the LTW to Become Education Minister, but currently working as an EMT because that was the job that happened to come up.

4. William is a Popularity Sim with the LTW to Become Mayor. He doesn't have a job yet.

5. Corbin maximized enthusiasm in his One True Hobby, Arts and Crafts. He also got his second TOC/LTW, Become Hall of Famer. Now he wants to Become Education Minister, amusingly enough. Sometimes the father takes after the son, I guess.

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.

Round 7 Part 10: Dejackome-Seifert (2053-2057)

Timothy is 46, Jeannie is 38, Caitlin is 10, Patrick is 7, Stacy is 3.

(Also pictured: BJ Bigfoot)

"Iris"

narrated by Timothy Seifert

You'd think I'd be used to my life not being exactly normal at this point, given that I have a Sasquatch living in my house. But honestly, most of the time I think about what every guy my age thinks about--like the fact that my daughter somehow became a beautiful young woman overnight and I should really buy a shotgun so I can sit on the porch and clean it when boys come over. Not that Cait brings boys over for anything but study dates. She's like me and her mom, nose always buried in a book. But if any of her study buddies start getting fancy ideas, I'll be ready.

All of the kids are getting older right under my nose, come to think of it. Stacy has started school now.

We managed to get her into private school with the other kids--I was worried we'd have trouble on account of BJ but the headmaster babbled on for a while about being in tune with nature and then informed us our application had been accepted, so I guess that's a success. At least she'll have Pat with her at the elementary school for a few years so she'll be looked after.

It used to be that Pat and Stacy shared a room, so poor Cait wouldn't get woken up in the night every time one of them had a wet diaper or a bad dream, but now that everybody's older and Pat's getting to the age where he wants a little more privacy, we rearranged things so Cait and Stacy are sharing.

(They have two dressers and another desk on the opposite side of the room.)

Pat's room is huge--Jeannie says it's bigger than the whole house she and her 3 siblings grew up in, though I think she might be exaggerating a bit--but it's not his fault he's the only boy.

So, yeah, life is pretty boring. The most exciting thing that happens is usually eating breakfast with my lovely wife and listening to her talk about how she's investigating some celebrity stalker.

And the kids have friends over near every day, which keeps things loud and crazy.

Anyway, I meant to talk about the telescope thing. Jeannie got it for me for my 50th birthday, a huge fancy thing. And sure, I guess I might have been spending a little too much time out there, late at night, when the kids were in bed and I should have been too since I go to work pretty early in the morning.

Jeannie says that I probably got so tired I started hallucinating, but all I'm going to say is it sure didn't seem like a hallucination when I got sucked into a giant flying saucer and then spat back out on my front lawn a few hours later, with no memory of what happened in between. I guess we'll see if I come down with any funky alien diseases or anything.

Notes:

1. Caitlin is Knowledge aspiration, LTW City Planner, turned on by blond hair and mechanical skill but turned off by black hair.

2. So! Turns out that if your Sim's Science enthusiasm gets high enough, they can "summon aliens." Which results in...summoning aliens. I don't know if this is going to lead to little green babies in this already weird household, but I guess we'll find out next round.

Week 7 Intermission: Pinenut Plaza Dormitory (2053-2057)

Joseph Pons is 21, Todd Riedmayer is 19, Seth Pons is 17, Lauren Whitfill is 16, Alexis Kules is 22

"22"
narrated by Alexis Kules

My dad never got to go to college, and the way he talked about it made it sound like it was a very small step down from dying and going to Heaven. I wasn't expecting it to be quite that great, which is good, because I would have been disappointed. Being at college is pretty much exactly like being at home, except my room is a lot smaller and the food isn't as good. And I don't have Dad constantly inviting me to study with him.

It doesn't help that I was kind of lonely the first semester. The only people I already knew were the Pons boys (since I'm kind of dating their little brother), and they spent all their time trying to pick up women. Todd too. He's got a little more style than his cousins, but at heart he really just wants to pick up women too.

They didn't seem to have much luck, though. Apparently whenever they went out they only saw other guys, and none of them swing that way. I must admit I am glad of it; I don't really want to hear about their romantic adventures with people of either sex. I got enough of that from my mom when I was growing up.

I got straight A's the first semester, and so did the other girl from our town, Lauren. The boys did okay, but they were more a mix of A's and B's.

The second semester, the boys apparently gave up on women in favor of gambling. I swear their butts were glued to the chairs around that mah jong table. Within a few months Todd and Joe were both gold members of their gaming club or some such nonsense.

Seth didn't do quite as well. I think he found out that when you stop acting like an idiot trying to pick up women, then women start to actually like you. At least, he seemed to be having some pretty long conversations with this girl Anna--my brother Jaden knew Anna a little bit and says she's "smart," which coming from him means "off the charts brilliant." I wonder what she sees in Seth--maybe it's an opposites attract thing?

Meanwhile, I discovered that I'm not a total hopeless nerd like Dad and Jaden. There's this basketball hoop just outside the dorm and I actually really like going out there and shooting some hoops to clear my head. Lauren ended up going out there with me most of the semester. She confessed to me about two weeks from finals that she doesn't even like sports; she just got lonely without any friends and thought maybe I'd like her if she played with me. I do kind of like her now, though I told her she can feel free to suggest the activity next semester.

Right after her basketball revelation Lauren apparently got a bad grade on a quiz or something and it put the fear of the SimGoddess into her--or at least the fear of academic probation--and I barely saw her again until we were back home for the summer. I think she would have done fine either way, but who am I to tell her she's not supposed to study at college?

She rubbed off on Seth too (or Anna rubbed off on him) and he spent finals week locked in his room cramming for all his tests. Cramming is one thing I just don't get. Either you know the material or you don't; trying to speed-read everything the night before the test isn't going to do a thing.

Of course, I probably shouldn't judge, considering Seth made the Dean's List while I averaged a B minus in my finals. That stung a bit. And I know Dad's not even going to say anything; he'll just sit and play chess with me all summer like he's been doing my whole life. And maybe someday I'll figure out what the chess is supposed to be a metaphor for.

Notes:

- Alexis and Lauren both have 1 outgoing point, but Alexis has 1 nice point whereas Lauren has 6. So I see Alexis as much more the prickly, standoffish type of shy, whereas Lauren is the more socially anxious type. At any rate, they're well on the way to becoming BFFs now.

- End of year stats:
Alexis: Undeclared major, GPA 3.4
Joseph: Psychology major, GPA 3.7
Todd: Politics major, GPA 3.8
Seth: Art major, GPA 3.8
Lauren: Psychology major, GPA 4.0

Lauren and Seth have career-related LTWs, so I picked their majors for them. Joe and Todd rolled wants for their majors. So far Alexis seems to be drifting a bit, not rolling any school-related wants at all. (She mostly rolls wants to play chess and computer games and things, with a few basic romantic wants thrown in--unfulfillable, since her intended is still in high school.)

I got bored of everybody getting a 4.0, so I am trying a new tactic where I only make college students study if they roll wants (e.g. "Get a skill point", "Write term paper"), or if they roll a fear of academic probation. So far nobody's flunked out, but we'll see what happens when the skill requirements get higher.

Round 7 Part 9: Lothlorien (2053-2057)

Francine is 51, Jihoon is 44, Lauren is 16, River is 13, and Elijah and Tamara are 8.

"Hold Us Together"

narrated by River Whitfill

It's been crazy lonely here since Lauren left for college. Everybody in this family is super shy, but Lauren still somehow had this knack for getting along with people and I think that sort of held the rest of us together. Now we're all going off in our own separate directions.

At least the twins did get into private school with me. Mom and Dad couldn't afford tuition for all of us before, but then Mom quit her job with the ballet troupe and started working at Granddad's business, doing bookkeeping or something. She doesn't talk about it much; says it's super boring but at least it pays the bills and she can keep doing it when she's old, unlike with ballet.

They're teenagers now, the twins, so they're even in the same building as I am at school. Eli has kind of turned into a tool--all he talks about is how he's going to get a job and get rich, or how he wants to marry a woman who's a good cook but not too smart. Plus he likes to sit around in his boxers all day on the weekends. Boys...

But Tam is super nice. Nicer than me, I'll admit. She says she wants to get married and have a ton of kids and see them get married and have a ton of kids and so on down the line.

That's definitely not for me. I like my siblings and all (even Eli, most of the time), but I don't get that big family togetherness thing. Mom and Dad always make sure there's food in the fridge and we have all the books and things we could want to entertain ourselves, but then they kind of go do their own thing. Now that we're all pretty self sufficient I swear they spend all day making out in their pajamas.

Or locked in the bedroom. Mom always makes excuses like, "We're going to go do taxes!" but I'm pretty sure nobody gets that excited about taxes. My parents are seriously gross.










Notes:

- When River refers to "Granddad" she means Francine's stepfather, Malcolm Landgraab IV. We all know what his "business" involves and why Francine might not want to discuss it with her 13-year-old. ;)

- Elijah is Fortune aspiration, LTW Business Tycoon, turned on by blond hair and cooking skill but turned off by logic skill.

- Tamara is Family aspiration, LTW Marry off 6 children, turned on by formal wear and glasses but turned off by blond hair.

- Jihoon's LTW is 50 dream dates and my rough count suggests that he's had about 16. He's nearly an elder, so if he has any hope of making it to 50 he and Francine pretty much do need to spend all day making out in their pajamas!

- Next up: College update! Hopefully I'll get a little more caught up on profiles as well.