Birthdays

I have decided to start giving my Sims retroactive birthdays. (I currently have about 50 Sims in-game.)

Here is how I'm doing it:

Each day of Sim time is equal to one year. Monday of Week One was 2011 (because I started this challenge in 2011). Midnight on Tuesday, it became "2012." And so on. In most cases I either know what day of the week my Sims were born or can extrapolate based on their age compared to siblings, etc. (The main problem is having the cutoff be midnight instead of 6 p.m., when Sims age up. I might change this later if it's too much of a pain.)

Then I use Random.Org to generate a number between 1 and 12. This is the month in which the Sim was born. For example, I just rolled for Lauren Whitfill and got a 5, i.e. the month of May.

Then I used Random.Org to generate a number between 1 and 31. (If I had rolled April, I would have generated a number between 1 and 30, if February between 1 and 28 or 29, depending on the year. Etc.) I got 14 for Lauren.

Then I used Random.Org to generate a number between 1 and 24 and got 11, but didn't like that because you can tell very obviously from the pictures that Lauren was born at night. So I rerolled a number between 1 and 12 and got 4. For baby Sims that are obviously born during daylight/darkness, I will roll a number between 1 and 12. (Someone who was born in daylight and got a 6 would be born at 6 p.m., someone born in daylight who got a 7 would be born at 7 a.m. It's very convenient that Sims have exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 of darkness every day.) For Sims who are not obviously born at one time or another or who were not born in-game (i.e. CAS Sims and ex-Townies), I'll roll a number between 1 and 24.

Then I rolled a number between 1 and 60 and got 57.

So, Lauren was born May 14, 2037, at 4:57 a.m.

EDITED TO ADD: Yeah, the cutoff from one year to the next is 6 p.m. I just could not handle trying to calculate relative ages otherwise.

Week Four Part Eight: Paradisio

Or: What happens when a Knowledge Sim lives alone.

(Compare to this post about Donte's brother Blake.) 

New college grad Donte Whitfill, like the Pons and Riedmayer-Todd families, fell prey to the Great Flu Epidemic of '32. As soon as he recovered, he started work as the CEO of an electronics firm.

One evening after work, Donte invited over his good friend Gretchen Dejackome, who was currently attending Sim State with Donte's sisters.

I found out thanks to this little episode that if you use "merge students" to put teens in a dorm, you have to load it once before they'll actually age up. So Gretchen was still a "teen" and couldn't interact romantically with Donte. Oh well.

Gretchen and Donte amused themselves with a game of chess. At one point, Gretchen said how grateful she was to have such a good friend.

Can you tell they're both Knowledge Sims? :)

Donte made a late dinner of salmon, which Gretchen enjoyed very much.

Fun fact/spoiler: I found out during their honeymoon that Gretchen's favorite food is salmon. (When Sims are at a restaurant looking at menus, they'll get a particular food in a thought bubble over their head.) Go me!

(Donte's favorite food is spaghetti.)

Just a few years after starting as CEO of a single company, Donte found himself a Business Tycoon. He had to admit it was kind of cool riding to work in a helicopter, but the business world really just wasn't his thing. He still dreamed of being a teacher someday.

This promotion was due to a chance card, though I think Donte qualified anyway. Thanks to the chance card, he got a $35,000 bonus in addition to the usual promotion bonus. That was pretty cool.

This was TOC #1 for Donte, but no LTW yet.

While he waited for an educational opening to present itself, Donte worked on honing his skills.

Inspired by his brother Blake, Donte strove to become a better cook and had soon mastered Lobster Thermidor.

This is Donte's little bachelor pad at the end of the week. It's small but pretty well-furnished, especially with that state-of-the-art kitchen. It's definitely better than the house with no back wall that Donte's mother had after her first week on a new lot.

And the outside.

It was a boring but very successful week for this lone little Knowledge boy.

Week Four Part Seven: Riedmayer-Todd Estate

Ed. note: This story wasn't coming out right in my usual style, so I decided to go for something different.

Hey. My name is Ingrid--Ingrid Beata Riedmayer. Yeah, I know. What a name. Anyway, I'm 17 and a senior in high school and...that's not really important. What is important is that today I'm going to tell you all about my messed-up family. Think I look weird with my black lipstick and whatever? Trust me, a little black lipstick will seem like nothing in a few minutes.

The first thing I remember happened when I was four--the Jerk moved in. He's my dad, biologically speaking, but I prefer to call him the Jerk. You'll see why in a minute. Anyway, he and my mom were engaged, but they didn't get married when he first moved in because Mom was pregnant again and didn't want to wear maternity clothes to her own wedding. My grandma did, to her wedding with my step-grandpa, and they seem happy enough together. But that's beside the point.

Anyway, then Mom and the Jerk both got the flu--my aunt Joan and uncle Greg had it at the same time; apparently it was going around back then. So Mom was on bedrest for most of her pregnancy. Here's a picture of her and the Jerk reading together in bed. Aren't the matching pajamas gag-worthy? Mom says she didn't do it on purpose; those pajamas were just on sale. But Mom is a hopeless romantic, so she probably did do it on purpose.

The Jerk got better faster than Mom. Apparently he was fooling around as soon as he wasn't contagious anymore. My uncle Mal--yeah, I have a lot of aunts and uncles, try to keep up--says he was doing some shopping downtown and saw the Jerk wrapped around this cheerleader girl. Uncle Mal didn't know Mom that well--she's like 20 years older than he is or something--so he knew she wouldn't believe him if he called her up and said this guy she was wild about was cheating on her. But he says he kept an eye on us after that, to make sure we were all okay.

I remember walking in on the Jerk and this lady in a black dress--her name is Audrey, but I'll have to talk about her enough later, so I won't now. I think Mom was taking a nap because she was still real tired and sick, and the Jerk didn't realize it was time for me to come home from school. Anyway, I said I'd tell Mom and the Jerk said that if I did I'd regret ever being born. I don't know if you've noticed in these pictures, but the Jerk was a pretty muscular guy. And I barely knew him, so I definitely couldn't have said for sure that he was the kind of guy who wouldn't slap around a five-year-old. So I kept quiet. Judge me if you will.

Right after that, my brother Todd was born. The Jerk's name is Corbin Todd, so Mom named my brother Todd after him--Todd Riedmayer, not Todd Todd. 'Cause she and the Jerk still weren't married. By then I think they'd given up on ever getting married; otherwise why give my brother such a silly name?

Mom was all over the Jerk all the time--I really don't know what she saw in him--but she still found time to help with my homework and stuff. One time I asked her if she noticed that back then I cried when my dad walked into the room. She said she always figured I was still getting used to having him around and that things would sort themselves out in time.

Todd was still real little when Mom found out she was having another baby. I guess she figured that once you have two kids with a jerk you might as well go for broke and have three.

Okay, I'll say one thing for the Jerk. He was nice to Todd. Maybe he liked having a son. Maybe he just liked having a kid who couldn't talk back. But we have lots of pictures of them together, and the Jerk actually looks like a sort of nice person instead of like a jerk.

Todd was an easy kid to like. I loved him too. I felt like he was my only friend sometimes. I couldn't talk to Mom about anything, and I was terrified of the Jerk. But Todd was always there when I needed a hug.

Here's my other brother, Frederick Riedmayer. We call him Fritz. Weird, I know. But at least he can go by Fred or something when he grows up. I'm stuck with Ingrid forever. Not like I can start going by Ingy. Or Grid.

Todd got older. Here's his picture for his first day of kindergarten. He looks kinda dorky in that outfit Mom picked out for him at the thrift store, but he's still cute. Maybe a little too cute for his own good. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When Todd was in second grade or so, Mom got pregnant again. That's right, four kids with a guy who wouldn't marry her and didn't even have a job. While she was pregnant Mom didn't pay a whole lot of attention to me and Todd. We could get our own food out of the fridge when we got back from school, after all. She just took care of Fritz and napped.

It was okay, though. Todd was still my best friend. We didn't need anybody else as long as we had each other.

Well, that's all for today. I think I hear my carpool out front.

This is what the house looked like at the end of the week. It's not much improved over the previous week; most of Corbin's money went to his shiny red convertible.

And the outside. On the right you can see the Landgraabs' driveway.

I hope you enjoyed hearing from Ingrid...all two of you who read this blog. We'll see if she comes back to tell us about Week Five.

Side note: I was going for a vaguely Germanic theme with Edith's kids, but realized recently that Ingrid is actually a Scandinavian name. Oopsie. I decided not to be too bothered about it. After all, I made that mistake as a third- or fourth-generation German-American (I can't remember if my great-grandparents were born in Germany or not), and Edith is supposed to be a third- or fourth-generation German-American too. So she'd totally make the same mistake, right?

Week Four Part Six: Bridgeview

Near the end of Joan's second pregnancy, she and Greg both got sick with the flu. Joan couldn't take any strong medications, of course, so she just got plenty of rest and made some chicken soup. 

(Sickness is so much easier with Family Sims.)

(Also, please forgive the underwear. Family Sims are almost as bad as Romance; they just stick to one person.)

Just a few weeks after they recovered, Joan gave birth to a son, who had her skin tone but Greg's bright blue eyes. They named him Joseph.

Things were picking up for Joan at work--she was doing fashion photography now. She convinced Greg that the extra income meant they could afford a third child. Greg pointed out that when she had wanted a second child she'd said it was a good idea because things were slow for her at work; now a third child was a good idea because things were picking up at work? Nonetheless, he cooperated with her plan.

Random portrait:

Greg Pons

Former townie teen

Black hair, S4 skin, light blue eyes

Aspiration: Popularity

Lifetime want: Become General 

Astrological sign: ??

Joan's third pregnancy was more difficult for her than either of the others, so Greg had to pick up a lot of the slack at home. He helped Sarah with her homework in the evenings so that she would do well in school.

Meanwhile, poor Joseph spent a lot of time talking to his rabbit toy, since all the people were too busy to pay him much attention.

During her third trimester, Joan got a new, lower-maintenance hairdo--no dye, no straightening, just her natural black curls cut in a simple bob. Although he was the one who had suggested blond hair in the first place, Greg assured Joan that he thought she was gorgeous. After all, he'd fallen in love with a girl who had black braids.

Finally, the time came for Seth to be born. As a newborn he looked pretty much exactly like Joseph.

 

When Joan suggested a fourth child, Greg didn't bother to argue. He did worry a little, though.

Fortunately, Joan felt much better during her fourth pregnancy. Joseph had started school by then, and she spent many evenings helping him get the hang of homework. Sarah, who was 3 years older than her brother, was already excelling in school.

With less stress at home, Greg found himself actually enjoying his children. He liked it better when they were kind of self-sufficient and could hold a decent conversation...even if the conversation was about toy airplanes.

Although both Greg and Joan had good jobs, the money seemed to disappear as fast as they made it. After Joe outgrew his crib they didn't have money to buy a big-boy bed for him. So he shared with Sarah for a year or two. Joan figured it wouldn't do him any harm; she'd shared a bed with her sister for years and had been in a lot rougher circumstances in general and she had turned out just fine.

Fortunately, the kids seemed happy with their simple lifestyle. Their favorite thing to do was gather around the activity table and play with the blocks and crayons.

From left: Joe, Sarah, Seth

Soon, it was time for Baby #4's debut. It was another boy, and he looked just like his brothers. He was given the name Gabriel.

Note: The boys do not have Firstborn Syndrome, though they certainly look like it on first glance. They just happen to have the same coloring.

This is what the house looked like at the end of the week. Front left is the master suite. Back left is the nursery with attached "nursery bath" (holding a changing table and potty chair). In the middle is the common area...kitchen, dining room, study, etc. all rolled into one. Front right is the boy room, currently inhabited by just Joseph, with attached bath. Back right is the girl room, currently inhabited by just Sarah, with attached bath.

And the front of the house. Not much to look at, but it's big enough to hold everybody, which is what counts.

I had forgotten how hard it is to have several Sim children all in a row. When I've done it before, it's been with a dedicated stay-at-home mother Sim, and even then the hardest phase is when there's a toddler, a baby, and another on the way. With a working mother, that phase was almost impossible. (Joan had maternity leave, of course, but she worked during her first day of pregnancy and then I tried to have her skill so she could get promotions between babies. Eventually I gave that up in favor of survival.) Nonetheless, I look back on this period with fondness. (I'm a bit behind in blogging still; in my game I'm through Week Five with this family. Sarah and Joe are teens and Seth and Gabe are children now.) I think real mothers have selective memory like that too.

Week Four Part Five: Riedmayer-Landgraab Estate

Millie left for college at the age of 20, a few years younger than any of her half-sisters. Mal, who was 17, decided to stay home for a few more years.

(In hindsight, I really should have sent him, but that's water under the bridge now.)

Since the older pair were pretty much independent, Beata and Malcolm were free to focus more attention on their younger pair of children. Although she tried not to play favorites, Beata felt a special bond with her daughter Marion--perhaps because Marion was the only child she'd tried for and longed for. The others had all just sort of happened.

I just like this picture of Beata in her military uniform and Marion in her private school uniform.

Malcolm, on the other hand, focused on Margaret, the baby of the family. Beata was feeling her age and seemed kind of tired of the daily grind of motherhood, but it was important to Malcolm that all his children succeed--especially the little girl who was named after his own mother, who had died when he was just a child.

Malcolm invited over the headmaster for the third time. By that point the visit was hardly more than a formality.

The next day, Margaret trotted off to school in a hand-me-down uniform, looking exactly like her sister Millie.

About a year later, Marion turned 13. She started saying that she wanted to have plenty of fun and maybe go on some dates, but not get into a serious relationship. Her father told her she could do that on her own dime once she moved out. To please him, Marion got a job at the local science facility. She wasn't really interested in science, but that job paid the best, which would make her father happy.

Marion Landgraab, daughter of Beata Riedmayer-Landgraab and Malcolm Landgraab IV.

Aspiration: Pleasure

Lifetime Want: Have 50 1st Dates (Ay yi yi)

Astrological sign: Gemini

Malcolm was getting older too. He decided to stop bothering coloring his hair, since it was pure white underneath now.

He had reached the top of his career (all his wife knew about this career was that it was "business"; he didn't tell her what kind of business), so he could start winding down a little bit. He didn't bother to retire; he worked so few hours that it was like being retired but with better pay.

Pictured: Malcolm becoming Criminal Mastermind, his first top of career and lifetime want. He won't be reaching another TOC, since he's an elder. His new LTW is Own 5 Top Level Businesses.

Malcolm's favorite part of the day was still when Maggie would run out to greet him as soon as he got back from work, even though she was supposed to be asleep by then.

I thought the contrast between the Criminal Mastermind suit and the frilly pink nightgown was funny.

Meanwhile, Beata pushed herself to get the last few promotions she needed to reach her dream of becoming a general.

Pictured: Beata maxing her body skill at the Platinum Gym. (Fitness hobby lot.)

Meanwhile, Mal just tried to fly under his parents' radar as much as possible. He was still dating Theresa, and he took over the grocery shopping so he'd have an excuse to get out of the house and meet new people. One time he was out and ran into both his half-sister Francine and Millie's friend Blake Whitfill.

This picture is for jungfrun68, whose Sim Helena Landgraab has a stubby nose like Mal. Francine's very long nose, which you can also see in this picture, is the same as their mother's.

Since they had had to have a very small, rushed wedding, Beata was determined that she and Malcolm would have a blowout 25th anniversary party. To this end, they had a patio poured behind the house and set up all sorts of fun things.

(Yes, I know what a "golden anniversary" is. But it seemed more appropriate for a couple whose oldest child was in college to have a silver anniversary.)

Maggie, who seemed to take naturally to parties, led a huge crowd of guests in a smustle dance.

I hope you all appreciate my attempts to label a mob of people. All people without last names are Landgraabs. The parenthetical descriptions say how each guest is related to Beata.

I had Mal invite Theresa over separately from the inviting guests to the party interaction, and clicked "invite household" because I figured it couldn't hurt. Much to my surprise, Melanie and Gavin both came.

Some other guests admired the new rose trellises.

This picture is labeled just like the last one, but more coherently thanks to fewer people.

Then Mal led everyone in a toast to his parents, wishing them another 25 years of happiness. 

Didn't even bother labeling this one.

After the party, everyone was tuckered out. Maggie didn't even make it inside; she just flopped down in the new hammock for a nap.

Unfortunately, having a party in winter meant that the flu got passed around, and most of the family spend the next week in bed.

With party planning out of the way, Malcolm started taking up a new hobby of robotics. Beata wasn't fond of that thing being in their bedroom, but there wasn't a whole lot of room with 3 kids still in the house.

Soon, Maggie turned 13, leaving her mother with no small, dependent children for the first time in 45 years. Maggie had apparently really liked that anniversary party, since she kept saying she wanted to have lots of friends and lots of parties.

Margaret "Maggie" Landgraab, daughter of Beata Riedmayer-Landgraab and Malcolm Landgraab IV

Aspiration: Popularity

Lifetime Want: Have 20 Best Friends

Astrological sign: Gemini

You might notice that we have a bad case of Firstborn Syndrome here--Millie, Marion, and Maggie are all 100% identical, down to their preferred hobby. (Fitness.) Mal is different since he was born in the same play cycle as Millie. At least the girls are prettier than he is--though they have scary eyebrows that I always hide with their hair.

This is what the downstairs looked like. The Party Patio (as I like to call it) is the biggest change, and you saw that already.

Upstairs. Beata is working on charisma so she can get promoted.

The exterior. They didn't keep the buffet table or the champagne table, but they kept most of the other stuff that was bought for the party.