Monday morning came too soon; a distinct bite to the air as Haruo realized that it would probably snow soon. And frankly with all the things that they had to do, buying a vehicle was probably the better bet now that they were living off-dormitory. At least things were much more quiet and they were able to get a lot more studying done without the raucous music. Thanks to the monetary funds that they had saved up, the house that they had bought for the rest of the university term came in extremely handy. And they each bought themselves a car to use for the rest of the university term. It would remain in their personal inventory when they came back for their second term to finish off their university degree. Classes started at 10:00 in the morning and now that they were living off the main campus grounds, they were expected to be there an hour early as opposed to thirty minutes early. And yet, even so, Haruo had to run nearly all the way from the campus parking lot to the building in which his lecture was being held at. Well, there were trade-offs with living off-campus as opposed to living in the dorms on the campus grounds. But well in terms of being studious and not getting distracted by the other sims partying, well, it was better to live off-campus. The reason for the bitter cold soon showed itself; first the heavy clouds laden with moisture moved in... ...then the snow started falling...and by the time that River's first class was let out, the snow was definitely making a noticeable appearance. The air definitely was chilly now and River made her way to the SUB to get out of the cold. She could study there and enjoy the warmth. The SUB kept their heat on to a toasty 23 degrees celcius. By the time that class was finished for Haruo, the weather had completely turned to a major snowfall. Haruo did grab a bite to eat at the university cafe. His usual, brownies...well, he absolutely loved brownies. He could subsist off them. Then, since, as an Dean's List member, he had signed up to deliver a lecture on painting on Tuesday just before his own lecture class with Madeleine Noetal, so he practiced his public speaking skills to an empty room. After practicing his lecture, he headed over to meet up with his beloved wife, River. After all, what could be more romantic than snogging in the snow? OK...not going there...it would be rather cold. Night fell on the campus and well, everyone went to sleep...in preparation for yet another busy day. ...and naturally, the Chikamoris went to sleep as well...looking forward to new university experiences...especially the one where Haruo was supposed to give his first lecture as a master painter. Well...hopefully, the students will learn something...
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Ah...nothing like a little woohoo in the morning to get ready for school. Betcha River will be thinking about that ALL day. Since today was lecture-day they had most of the morning to themselves, but of course since Haruo had to do a lecture himself in the morning, well...it was good that they headed to the cafe near the university for an early-morning brownie snack. Then it was off to class for Haruo to teach. And well, River decided that since her morning before the lecture was free, she would sit in on Haruo's lecture to see just exactly what it was that he was teaching.
"Good morning class, Today we'll be discussing the work of Tintoretto and his utilization of perspective in painting, a technique that is common to works today in developing realism in painted works. Perspective is a technique that is used by many artists, visually to convey an object's relationship in distance from the eye. In many respects, visual artists before this Tintoretto in the Renaissance used to convey their painting in a flat one two-dimensional plane: there's the wall, there's the painting, that's it. Hence the reason why if you look at works like Bellini's or Fra Angelico, there is no depth within the painting, everything looks as though it has been painted on a wall...and you cannot visually walk within the painting with your eyes." "Tintoretto on the other hand, unlike his contemporaries utilized the human form in a fashion, where you could visualize the way people turned their bodies to give the illusion of depth in two dimension. He was the first to visually work with that kind of perspective to give the illusion that even though the painting was on a flat two dimensional wall, that there was depth; that your eyes were tricked into seeing a background that wasn't flat against a wall...that you could visually walk your eyes into the painting and go for a stroll and assume that you were visually seeing what you would see if you walked outside this classroom today." "If you look at your handouts" you will see a stark example of Bellini's work - Sacra Conversazione on Page 2 and further down that page you will see an example of Tintoretto's work, Finding of the body of St. Mark. If you will notice how the body is positioned in Bellini's work...it is flat and to the front as if the person was facing to the front 90 degrees to the plane of your eye-view as if the subject was facing you, and the way that the hand positions are held...are physically impossible, however that was the way that most Renaissance painters painted the human body at the time. Tintoretto in the second example used realistic body positioning and shading as well as creative uses of background perspective to give the illusion of three dimensions in a two dimensional painting surface. "Teacher, how is it that we learn such a basic concept in Fine Arts today...but it wasn't so prevalent in the Renaissance?"
Well, we learn the basic concepts because they were painstaking developed through the years and have formed the basis of our curriculum today. Today we are more into realism in painting, but the painters of the Renaissance worked with the knowledge that they had back then and it was left up to innovators like Tintoretto to push the boundaries of the knowledge that they had and to create new techniques...that we are lucky enough to have today. "You take a look at a work by McKinley - for example the Road Less Taken which is in Page 3 of my handout. He uses perspective in a linear fashion. You see the road coming from the corner of the image...and as your eye travels along that road, you see the trees in the image grow smaller...just as your eyes see down a road in real life. You can see how distance changes how your eyes perceive an object." "There are three types of perspective: First being linear perspective which is that objects of a similar size appear smaller as distance between the eye and the object increases. The second being aerial perspective where we are discussing the effect of air molecules on the perception of the object as distance increases between the eye and the object. If you notice as you look down a street, that the farther away an object appears, the more indistinct in features it appears. That's because of the effect that the airspace that separates your eye and the object is having an effect on how we can visualize the object. this muddying effect is due to the water vapor present in the air that diffuses light-rays so that less light rays come back from the object to reach your eyes. Three: The Perspective of Disappearance as Leonardo Da Vinci describes it, No matter where the viewer is standing in perspective in relationship to the painting, he or she will always psychologically place his/her eye-level at the perceived height of the horizon at a width relative to the center of the painting. This means that any objects placed on the painting have to correlate with the surfaces in which they are positioned. Distance from the eyes makes the object smaller in relation to those objects that are closest to the eye. Utilize atmospheric effects in painting to trick the eye into believing that those objects are farther away in a two-dimensional surface.
As painters, we utilize perspective in a way that allows us to view a three dimensional image on a two dimensional surface with subtle effects. In otherwords, that makes us visual magicians." Next class was Madeleine Noetal's class. And she successfully managed to put quite a few people to sleep. Clearly she was definitely insane because who comes to class in a bathing suit? Everyone tried their best to stay awake, considering the droning lecture... It didn't work... It hearkened back to last week's lecture which was more of the same droning that had put people into a coma. The final straw was when Haruo ended up falling asleep. When he woke up he decided that there was only one solution... ...and that was to take over the lecture himself... Citing examples from the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Rococo..and other art periods, he went over the reasonings behind the works of those days...and that kept the audience riveted. In fact, Madeleine Noetal was so riveted, she didn't even notice her bladder level and peed herself. Yay for art. It was a much happier student body that left the lecture hall that afternoon. Although I wouldn't recommend taking over a classroom for a fine arts lecture, unless you are a Level 10 in any artistic subject. Haruo was a Level 10 in both writing and painting, so well...there ya go.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
That evening involved a lot of studying. After dinner, Haruo and River went up to bed and discussed the afternoon's events going over key points that they had learned and would consider would be on finals. Haruo promptly got a wish to create some wall-art and got told off by the police officer for graffiti'ing the inside of his own house. Wow, what a surprise there. Darned campus cops... Wednesday was regular class day...and it started at ten. And because of the darned cop...he was nearly late for class... Class was basic review of all the concepts learned and an overview before exam-time on Friday. ...and of course a good-luck rainbow appeared over the University World. ...for a long while before it faded... It was a cold afternoon when River finally got out of class and of course the statue of the First Dean of Students of the University essentially was covered in snow. Since it was cold, River made her way to her and her husband's favorite cafeteria and enjoyed a brownie. I think the proprietor knew now to keep brownies available. In two days (which would be Friday) was final exams , Haruo and River decided that frankly they'd better pull an all-nighter because of the fact that they wanted nothing more than to graduate with full honors on their second term (Mind you this was their first term here, but they were looking at full marks for the future term as well and well, what is better than to graduate with honors after their second term?) Of course Thursday, the following day, was a Fine Arts Activity day, they got to study until such time as they had to leave for the class. ...where they got to sit on their butts in the snow and freeze their plums off (at least those who had any...like poor Haruo...give a whole new meaning to blue... ...OUCH...frostbite...
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Yes, the snow was cold...so much that Haruo and River both felt like their collective rear-ends were about to fall off. Thus an idea was formed. Why not exercise and get the blood flowing to the point where they warmed back up again. But considering their location, the first idea of Haruo's probably wasn't a good idea, unless they wanted to be arrested for indecent exposure in a public place. But his second, well, River hadn't trained in a while. And frankly, she needed to progress in her martial arts. Well...Haruo and River squared off...to the amazement of some of their classmates who had never seen a martial arts demonstration before. And on top of that. Haruo and River looked like your typical "mature students", more interested in studying instead of partying. And frankly, the rest of the student body didn't really know that much about Haruo and River since they hardly ever hung out with the rest of the students after class or were party-animals. They studied hard, got good grades and were dedicated to their studies. The only thing that the rest of the class knew about them were that River and Haruo were married and not much else. But ever since they had first started out at Shang Sim La with their martial arts, Haruo and River had been dedicated to the pursuit of their chosen form of exercise. Haruo had reached the pinnacle of Black Tiger Sim Fu and was able to wear the yellow/black martial arts outfit. Because Martial Arts was meant for self-defense, it meant that Haruo gave River no quarter constantly going on the attack and teaching her that defence was the primary goal. Pick your openings...and strike. Let your opponent wear himself out. Seek out the vulnerability. River got one contacthit in...but that was it. Haruo pretty much overwhelmed her with his attacks and won the match 2-1. Haruo and River knew that they had a lot of studying to do that night in preparation for final exams for the semester. But nothing prevented them from a bit of loving and a good night's sleep. Final exam day dawned with yet another day of snow. Haruo and River felt like they knew their material that they had covered the night before and on Wednesday night. Confident, but not too confident, but today was the day...they would know by the next day what their marks were. The studying they had done beforehand was beneficial as the test proved to be hard. ...and Haruo came out of the classroom feeling like he'd been run through a wringer-washer. One more test to go...with barely enough time to breathe in between.
River, on the other hand, was able to take a bit of a breather in between as her class didn't start until four. So to kill time, she played a little pool, and touched up on her studies for her second class... They had quickly sold their house at UBC and were now living back in the dorm for the final day...so it was good that they were able to quickly divest themselves of their belongings in their dorm room. River had a good feeling about her exam on her final class and well...took to celebrating by beating up a snowman. Now that final exams were over, they could relax until they got their results...after which they would depart for home...and back to their families. Haruo did change his LTW which he already accomplished for the LTW of becoming a awesome five-star chef - his main reason for that being to receive the Zero Kelvin Fridge. That would help matters when it came to keeping food fresh for an exceeding long period of time. And back in their dorm room, they spent some time together; River painting, Haruo watching her paint. ...and Happy Times were had by both. Studying was over...at least for this semester...
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Morning encouraged Haruo and River to take advantage of the pond on campus which had frozen over. Since they had been studying so hard, they hadn't had the opportunity to go ice-skating there. In that regards, after finals, having the opportunity to skate there was a great little bit of relaxation after the long grind of the semester. It was cold, but felt so wonderful to just have some free time to be able to spend time with each other. Evidently others were around enjoying their free time after exams too. Haruo gave his beloved wife, River, a heat-of-the-moment, impassioned kiss... ...after which they decided to go to the university cafe to get themselves their favorite snack: some brownies. They used the down-time wisely, getting to know dorm-mates that they had barely talked to during the course of the semester and cooking for them for the time being. As it was, Saturday was the day that they would be leaving the campus and it was toss-up as to when Haruo and River would be able to return in order to complete their degree. When it was time to depart, it certainly didn't take long for people to exit the dorm-rooms. Haruo and River bade their farewells to the barely introduced dorm-mates and headed home. The moving van was waiting for them and they packed their belongings in the van and off they went. Moving was the bane of all travellers, but they were certainly glad to be home... ...and none were so happy but River and Haruo to see their kids and their relatives.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Next morning, the kids were all happy to see Mom and Dad home from university, but still, it was a school day, so true reunions would have to wait until after school. Naturally the children were disappointed by that, but as their parents had so effectively demonstrated, the kids knew that school was important and even a reunion would have to wait until after-school. ...and eventually things settled back down to the point where it seemed to the children that their parents had never left for university. The same old grind of having to make money and pay the bills presented itself. And the kids pitched in to help as well. It was an all-out family effort. But with only five bedrooms, six if you counted the upstairs suite for themselves, Haruo and River were finding that the house that they had built was just not as convenient as when they first moved in. And frankly it needed an upgrade down the road. But until then, they would just deal with the tight quarters.
River sold yet another painting which paid off the taxes. ...and Haruo pitched in with a painting sale that brought in at least about §9,000 which helped add a bit to the coffers. River, for what reason, I have no idea, decided to sketch outside in the snow...nearly freezing her cute little tush off. Haruo, on the other hand, decided to stay warm and paint inside. But then decided...that to prevent his wife from collapsing from hypothermia, that he would go outside and entice her to come in the house. Needless to say: That worked splendidly... Yep...it worked well...and both were extremely satisfied at the end of it...
After shower was dinner...and both had certainly worked up an appetite for food after that bit of shower woohoo... The next morning brought a little bit of a bout of sniffles to Haruo...and so he headed off to the doctor to see if he could get a flu-shot so that he could prevent himself from coming down with the Pan-Asian flu...that seemed to be going around Riverview. It wasn't something to mess with... River had created herself a nice little gallery for the works that she and her husband created...however...it was relatively small in comparison to those who had shops in the city... ...and of course, Haruo did the cooking...as per usual. His life-time wish had changed to five-star chef...so he decided to get a job (at Level 9 of course since he had already mastered cooking - becoming a 5-star chef would just be a matter of time...and career influence, plus the Minus One Kelvin Refridgerator was an added plus) at the Bistro. What a welcome home. Back to the daily grind.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
It is said that sometimes life throws you a curveball...and that curveball arrived in the form of Masayoshi Chikamori, Haruo's cousin or Yasunobu's younger brother's son. The reason why he came over was because his father died on vacation in Riverview (drowning); after meeting his relatives, he opted to stay in town and decided to be with his cousin until he found a place of his own.
...and skeletons came crawling out of Fiona's closet when River opened the door to find a young woman standing there. You can very well imagine her shock when the woman said, "Hi, River...I'm Caitlin...your step-sister." That proved to be quite the skeleton popping out of the closet and saying "boo!" Needless to say, River had some questions to ask her mother as far as Caitlin was concerned. Masayoshi made himself immediately at home, talking to both Haruo and to Braden. He had plenty of tales to tell about Japan and all its temples and things to do. And it fascinated Braden who had plenty of questions. Of course, Haruo indicated that Masayoshi, Caitlin, River and everybody should go out and have a family dinner at the Bistro where he worked now. Haruo and the entire family (minus all those who had their own places and were busy with their own things to do) headed off to the Bistro for a sit-down meal together and a chance to get to know one-another. The meal was delicious and everybody ate their fill while at the restaurant. It also gave River a chance to catch up with her step-sister and in fact, it was a good way for Haruo to catch up with his cousin, whom he'd never seen before; after all, he'd never had reason to go to Japan and being able to see his cousin in the flesh offered a chance to discuss family with a family-member roughly about his age (although Masayoshi was younger than him by a few years) Then it was all pile into the vehicle and drive home... Since it was the weekend, it allowed the Chikamoris to catch up on family relations. River talked a lot with her step-sister and that was great to see them bonding even though the circumstances of their meeting was like a bolt out of the blue. Since River wanted to increase her fitness level, she also went ahead and worked out in the gym and Caitlin joined her. Masayoshi loved the snow and decided to go outside to build a snowman after getting his work visa and finding a job at the Science Center, which was awesome to see. Masayoshi was definitely a go-getter in terms of finding work...and he loved to keep busy. Hopefully the snowman didn't obstruct the door and keep sims from getting in to work. Caitlin relished the closeness of spending time with her step-sister...even though as they were exercising they didn't say much... When River finished her workout, she looked over at her step-sister and asked, "So what brought you to Riverview?"
"My Dad told me that my mom was from here. I went to Sunset Valley...initially to find you and Mom, but the people told me that you and your husband had dug up roots and moved to Riverview." She paused, "...so that's why I came here. Partly to find family, partly to find answers..."
River knew for a fact that since Caitlin had identified herself as step-sister; that Caitlin's dad would not be her dad. Her dad who had disappeared off somewhere to parts unknown and would forever be so...hadn't ever been around for the important parts of her life and River was skeptical if she would ever let him in...even if he did come nosing around. River also knew not to press the issue either. Caitlin if she was going to volunteer information on her family, would volunteer them on her own time-frame. Needless to say, they did have one connection together and that was their mother. "So have you had a chance to drop in on Mom?" River asked. "I have..." Caitlin said, "Mom's really tough to read though. I wasn't sure if she was happy to see me or what. I kind of felt like I upset the apple-cart and made hay out of her well-organized life..." "To tell you the truth, I don't know if I want to impose on her, since she has such a busy schedule, with her campaign and all that." River nodded at Caitlin's statement because that election pretty much defined Fiona's entire world now. She had gotten the political bug and had pursued it all the way to nearly the top of her field. Prime-Minister (Leader of the Free World) was in her sights and nothing appeared to phase her. River had even pulled back as even seeing her appeared to be an imposition on Fiona's time. But she was familiar with Fiona's obsessiveness and dedication to her job and well, she knew that her mom had a tendency to have a one-track mind when it came to a goal in sight. "I'm just glad that we can have a close relationship" Caitlin admitted to River.
"So what are your plans now?" River asked.
"I'm going to look around and see if there's a job in Riverview for me. Perhaps in Education, or I may look into University...and see if there's something in it for me in terms of a degree." she stated. "Your husband and you just came back from university, so I hear, from Mom."
River did raise her eyebrow at that, "Well...Mom was always telling me while growing up that university was a definite shoe-in to higher grades...I couldn't see it at the time, but I learned a lot about fine arts in university since that's what I decided to major in. River and Haruo decided to cook together once he got back from work...and it happened to work out nicely. It helped River's cooking skill and it filled up the fridge with left-overs for everyone in the family.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Life was great in many regards for the children, especially after Haruo put in a 1 lane bowling alley for them to utilize. Haruo and River had too many other things to do and didn't get much use out of it but their kids just absolutely loved it. It certainly allowed them to do things that they normally wouldn't be able to do, as they weren't able to make use of the pool table and it was too cold to swim outside. Since Haruo was busy with his job at the Bistro (trying to become a 5-star Chef), he was unable to cook a lot for the family, so insofar as that, River had to don the mantle of family-cook - at least it increased her skill in it. The family gathered at the kitchen table to eat. ...and when Haruo got off that night from his cooking shift, he came home and cooked a meal that was to be utilized for left-overs...oh, and "hugged..." let's just say that was what happened... his wife. The next morning after breakfast, Haruo decided that he needed to cut some gemstones and smelt some metals. It was still a hit and miss proposition with the elixir store in terms of consigning metals and gemstones. He wasn't too sure about how much he would get for them, so instead, he hoarded them - increasing the family's net value and not only that; causing them to get taxed to almost §14K each time taxes/bills came around. But even, so they still had the money for it. In terms of wealth; the rich didn't get rich by spending a whole lot of money, they saved, increased passive streams of income (such as investments - and Haruo was deeply considering that in any case) and finding a way to make his money work for him. There was no room for exhorbitant frivolous spending. Even at §11M it only took one bad investment or an economic downturn to cause the money to evaporate. So Haruo was a low-risk type of individual in terms of investment. River got the mail from the mailbox then she went out to take care of a sale of a painting. It wasn't all tiberium that pulled in the money even though tiberium had been the bulk of their wealth. But it would be shrewd investing that would allow their fortunes to increase. River parked by the bridge where her customer, Haruo's dad, was waiting.
"River..." her father-in-law said as he met her gaze. "Dad...how are you?" she conversed with him for a bit before getting down to brass tacks regarding the sale of the painting. "How are children?" Yasunobu asked in halting English, it had been a while since they had all been together. "Study hard in school?"
River let him know that his grand-kids were on the honor roll.
Yasunobu looked satisfied, "Good...School important...need school to get good job...you OK?"
"I'm good, Dad, I really am..."
"OK...now you need to get out of cold...you get cold, you get sick...not good." In many ways...River loved Haruo's Dad...this man had been her guiding light for quite some time in the absence of her father. If she had anything that she needed, all that River had to do was ask his guidance. And it seemed fitting that he was her father-in-law. "I love you, Dad..." she said as she hugged him tightly and that name fit...Yasunobu was like her Dad in many ways even though biologically he was her husband's father, he had filled in as Dad in her own biological father's absence. ...and even though it didn't completely erase the hole that her biological father's absence had created; just knowing that her husband's father loved her as a real father should, helped fill in some of those missing pieces in her life.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Haruo did a lot of things around the house...including picking up gemstones and precious metals. It brought in a bit of a surplus when sold, but not at all like the tiberium. When he was done doing those tasks, he headed upstairs to fix Brianna's computer which was throwing off sparks and generally making it known that it was dying. ...then he indulged himself by going to Hogan's Diner (evidently it's a franchise - since there's one in Sunset Valley too. Meanwhile his kids were at the police-station on a field trip. And they got to see everything that the dispatchers do and ponder if they, themselves, wanted a policing career. It appeared that while he was out, their dishwasher (a top of the line Dualterium Dishwasher by Corebital Designs) decided to throw off sparks and give up the ghost. Darn, that thing was well over §700, closer to §800, well...instead of paying §500 to get it fixed which would pretty much be just as much as buying a brand-new dishwasher, Haruo decided to fix it himself. And considering that he'd maxed out his handiness skill, it proved to be no problem at all. No shocking experience. River then decided to take a soak...spending her time dreaming about her husband...
...and that really kinda "wound her up"...to say the slightest. Something about some itch needing to be scratched. Yeah...that's another way to put it...
Meanwhile, Haruo's evil mother, Mayumi, haunted the graveyard. Well at least she wasn't anywhere near them any more and that was a relief. In the morning, River and Haruo's kids had breakfast with Auntie Caitlin then headed off to school. [img]https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0GIhmws-🐸🐸🐸🐸/Wmual6hcCVI/AAAAAAAAKCo/Aid7snWHw6QlLU19epnRcuHyuTQIULotgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot-113.jpg[/img] Haruo fixed yet another broken computer...and then went out to play with stinging insects, while Caitlin went off to play in the garden. After the kids came home from school, it was homework time, no matter what. Even if they didn't want to do homework, they still had to. Good grades were important. It was at this point that Haruo headed out to the stadium to start his round of spending money to create a stream of investment income, or passive income stream to ensure that he and River had money coming in every week without having to worry about whether or not to sell assets to pay the bills. Tiberium was at best an uncertain income stream and whether it would run out or be a renewable resource was up for debate, so investing in local businesses and owning real estate would probably be one of the things that he would have to do in order to create a passive income. River provided the "active" income stream as well as Haruo's writing skills in completing books. However, as they aged, their activities would be more strenuous to complete and they woulnd't be able to keep up the energy level required to maintain that income stream...so in that regards, they would have to be investors and build up an investment portfolio in order to be able to create the kind of income stream needed to maintain their lifestyle. Was it doable? Yes... But it would certainly take time and effort to develop those passive streams of income. ...and Haruo certainly wasn't averse to spending money to improve their situation, including a stop at the bookstore to buy another skill-building (personal development) book. They say that the world's richest people increase their knowledge by reading personal development books and putting those skills into practice. In fact, they set time out of their day to read.
Of course, time with the family was important too...and that was a key factor in the strength of their relationship. It was certainly easy to fall into the trap of "Oh, I'm busy, I don't have time to do everything" but if it came down to it...what was it that you were working so hard for, if it wasn't for your family...and if it wasn't important for you to take time to spend with your family to strengthen your bonds, what was all the meaning of all that "hard work"? If you worked too hard that you neglected your family, your family fell apart, and all that hard work was for naught. That was one of the reasons why Haruo and River took time out of their day to spend together, even if it was just a brief moment of eating together...and woohooing together in the shower. It was a bond...and that was the glue that held the foundation of what they were shoring up.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Well, early mornings got the kids out the door in time for school. Haruo and River decided to do some dishes and clean up the kitchen. After all, a clean kitchen was a sign that the house was well-taken care of... River got a call from Toshiyuki (her step-father - who was married to Fiona, her mother) who also wanted to buy a painting from his step-daughter. And River gave him a hug too to let him know how much she appreciated the family's pitching in to help out. He also asked about how the kids were doing and if they were doing well in school. They were a closely knit family and well...it was so nice to see her mother happy with someone again; a good man, this time. But of course there were other things that she had to do... One of which was selling more paintings...one to an individual in town, the other to her mother and River let Fiona know just how much her daughte loved her. Of course, Haruo got a chance to have some "alone" time with his wife and they had some fun in the company of two bars of woohooium. Masayoshi spent time working on science experiments. and Haruo and River spent time watching "the wall"...I presume it was interesting. And when they got inside to thaw out...they spent a ton of time trying to inhale each other's lips off their faces. Ah...love, what a wonderfully disgusting display...of slobbering affection.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
The kids had homework...and well, they ended up having to do that, while River sat by the entrance on the floor and sketched for a bit. I would say that Allan had a bit of cognitive dissonance seeing his mother sitting on the floor in front of the door, oblivious to anyone, sketching. "Hey...Oh...isn't it a bit cold? Nope...ok...well, I'm gonna go do my homework...ya...that's what I'll do..." ~raises eyebrow~ "o...k..." ~wonders if Mom has finally lost what marbles she had. Meanwhile for Molly, ever since she and Satoshi decided to leave the fold of the family, was having deep regrets. They were financially struggling, but did her frustration with having to leave Sunset Valley burn the bridges that she had had with the family and Satoshi was having second thoughts. It wasn't going well...so sitting on a park bench outside the grocery store seemed to be par for the course these days. Haruo emerged from his place of employ now a partial owner of the Bistro, and making his way to the Spa...where he laid down another wad of cash to become part owner of that business as well. Certainly there was a lot to be said for ensuring that there was a steady stream of passive income coming in for the family. That was his last investment stop and he decided to go over to the Apothecary to drop off a few gemstones for consignment. Evidently the consignment store had a new proprietor. After a lively negotiation, he dropped off the gemstones that he wanted to consign and left. There really wasn't a great selection of potions to purchase anyways; at least that time. Caitlin realized that the computer got broken so she set about fixing it...to improve her handiness skill. Although computers are a royal pain-in-the-rear, she managed to fix the thing and get it to boot properly (although in real life, if you have sparks and smoke coming out of your computer, your motherboard as well as your power-source is fried and the 'puter is pretty much on a one-way trip...to the dump) When Haruo got home, he had the bright idea of going out and "messing with bees"...probably not the brightest thing to do "in the dark". And well...the screams pretty much told the rest of the family that Haruo wasn't the brightest spark in the universe when it came to life-decisions. Kinda makes me wonder how he made it half-way through university. Evidently book-smart doesn't equal life-decisions-smart. River went down to the park on the promenade and did some painting of the statue...and the result hung up in the gallery where one could see it clearly. Evidently it was classed as a Masterpiece. It was becoming evident that this house wasn't big enough for the family which was growing older...and it would be soon that each growing child would require a room of their own and their own space to be able to expand out their desires to learn...and well, Haruo was finding that this house just wasn't big enough to contain their dreams. Which meant yet again that they would have to rebuild the house. Well...it also meant that they would have to temporarily move into a motel or something that they could live out of while the construction of the house took place...and so they did... After a long serious discussion with the family...they found a designer and an architect to draw up plans for a larger house. with not only room enough to grow, but also enough bedrooms to realize that if they needed to consolidate their entire family together in one house, they would have the room to do so. Plus, River wanted a few aesthetics on the property...and thus we leave the Chikamoris for the period of time that it took to build their home. (Author: Really...it's not that interesting...to have to watch them go about their daily business while waiting for the house to build.)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
We pick the story up eleven months later as Haruo, River and family move into their new home in Riverview. The new house was substantially more ornate than the other one and it had several garages. After selling several of their cars, they were able to downsize to the point where they were able to utilize the garage's parking spots. Haruo did enjoy the two Minus One Kelvin fridges in the kitchen. As a Level 10 5-Star Chef, he was able to whip up most dishes with relative ease. Alanna was amazed at the house and how it looked as she walked in the door of the home. There were quite a few nice new things about the new home that would make the family feel comfortable: the kitchen with the double Minus One Kelvin fridges, the wall-size TV, the wonderfully ornate dining room with the panelled walls. Spending the money to be able to afford a nice house like this was worth it, Haruo thought to himself.Seeing the look on River's face is worth all the money in the world. Of course, the first thing that River gravitated towards was the easel and with her job as a painter, it was the logical thing for her to do. River's step-sister headed downstairs to the ice-rink to spend some time on the couch reading. ...while River concentrated on producing more paintings to sell. She was now making over §20,000 per commissioned painting and it was a far cry from the days when they were newly married and struggling to get by. They had enough money that they were making a comfortable living. Haruo, after seeing that his family was settling in, headed up to the Aleister's Apothecary Shop to see if there were any items that he consign that would be profitable. He was rather hungry so rather than going home, he headed off to the diner to grab a bite to eat. The Chikamori family and Satoshi had grown estranged since Molly was not happy with the move out of Sunset Valley to Riverview, but that really couldn't be helped. When one ends up being married, you support your spouse with your heart and soul, 110%. For the Chikamori family it meant that even though they weren't together as an extended family, it certainly meant that life would still go on regardless of the situation that they found themselves in. Satoshi threw in his lot with his wife and hopefully the two of them would make it. Haruo and River had threw their lot in as far as taking care of Aidan (Satoshi's son and Haruo's cousin) and raising him so that he would have a chance. Molly didn't like the situation, but she knew for a fact that if she had to deal with Aidan, he'd probably have been taken by now and there was no way in hel that Haruo would let that happen to his family, nor would Yasunobu be happy about that situation either.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
As enormous as the house was, it wasn't really a practical house...with only one entrance to the entire house...so it was back to the drawing board again. In that regards, it was spring again before they could move back in once a few things were adjusted (think entire house rebuild) When the new house was finally finished, Masayoshi did some science research and then tried to create nanites. And River sold paintings while Haruo wrote books. It was hard living in the house while certain sections got demolished and others got built...but they managed admirably. They could have afforded to move into another place while it was building, but they figured, what the heck...why waste money when they could just move around the house while the house was being altered to fit their needs and city hall's requirements: y'know...city by-laws regarding houses having to have two exits and built to code. At least they had the money to revamp the house. When the new house was done, Haruo decided to celebrate by trying to learn to play the violin. Yeah...that didn't go over too well with the rest of the family. It sounded like a cat getting its tail surgically removed without anaesthesia. While River painted next to him. Haruo decided to play on the Bosenklavier concert grand piano (it's supposed to be a 9' Bosendorfer 920 concert grand piano) which cost him §100,000 mainly because he bought two. He was at Level 10 for piano playing which meant listening to a lot of Wolfgang Simis Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastiasim Bach but River indulged her husband's musical proclivities. Of course it didn't stop him from torturing their ear-drums again with the violin. After all Bach did write the Double Concerto in D minor. And it would be nice to get to the point where he could play that. Though unfortunately it would probably take a number of "tortured cats" to do that. Mama Fiona bought yet another painting from her beloved daughter and even though she was busy with fund-raising for her next run at public office, she still had time for a hug from her daughter. Weekday mornings were usually hectic with the five kids and two of the four adults in the house having to fly out the door. But at least weekends were less so giving them the opportunity to relax and enjoy the morning as a family, before heading off to do their individual things. The kids took advantage of the bowling alley (in their basement); well, when Dad and Mom are rich, you get to enjoy the finer things in life. Allan try to mix up a potion and well, the results were rather frying. He might want to try to remember the mixture amounts a little better the next time around.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Things didn't stay quiet for long. After all, cosmic objects flying around ended up dropping into Riverview, causing a fair-sized explosion landing right in the middle of a demonstration. That didn't make for a very comfortable situation for the protestors. It never really is fun to be the target of a five ton celestial object that crashes down right in your midst as you're going along doing your daily business. Imagine how suprised you'd feel if you ended up having such an object land right in your midst. Caitlin got up the next morning and cooked breakfast for everyone. Through diligence and hard work, even though she was in the teaching career, she ended up mastering the cooking skill. It would stand her in good stead, when she was able to cook virtually any base recipe with the exception of having to go to the bookstore to get recipe books so that she would be able to cook other menu items. It also allowed her to be able to pull the items out of the oven without burning them as she was skilled enough to know when those items were done. Aidan and Caitlin enjoyed chatting about things while eating breakfast and Masayoshi also ate since they had to head in to school and work respectively very shortly. It was unusual to have a farm in the middle of the basement...but Haruo and River did. The manure was used for the indoor garden. It was a win-win situation, they could stay warm while milking the cow and harvesting the eggs and well as feeding the cows and chickens. Why not: winter was a chill -16, even though it was starting to warm up and turn into spring. Thankfully the cold winter was over and the weather was now over freezing at 4 degrees celcius. It's Canada; we use the metric system. The grow-rugs had to be useful for something, right?
The renovated house looked far different than the one that they moved into and it was fully spring by the time that the renovations ceased and they were able to live in the house in peace and quiet. It was a picturesque home and they were able to enjoy the yard as opposed to barely having one in the other yard. They filled in the pond and redug it, making sure that all the fish were moved along with the re-siting of the pond. Also the kids got an outdoor "football" (soccer to you Americans) net so their kids would have something to do. Also they got a treehouse to play in too which overlooked the pond. After all a well-occupied kid is one that stays out of trouble. Give them something to do and they'll stay out of trouble. Haruo when he was done fishing, which was something that he was enjoying doing now that the pond had unfrozen to the point where the fish were active again and the water had warmed up to the point where the fish weren't in torpor. The two double-fountains, one large and one small, kept the water circulating too. Each day the daytime average temperature was rising and it helped that he could continue to pursue fishing as a hobby albeit self-employment. The novelty of being a 5-star chef had worn off and the sheer drudgery of the work had taken its toll. So it was just fun to be able to call his boss and tell him to take his job and shove it(and having the finances to be able to do so) pretty much was the icing on the cake.
When Haruo was done telling his boss where to go and how to get there, he spent some time fulfilling a wish to utilize the training dummy which he hadn't touched for several months. And then he started cutting gemstones. He had a lot of them in his inventory that he had to go through, but he would do them a little at a time. He hadn't been getting much of a reception from the Apothecary when it came to handing off his cut and polished gemstones for consignment. So far in three days he hadn't heard anything from the apothecary and Haruo was starting to wonder if the apothecary was pocketing the gemstones and feeding him a line (But Haruo is not Evil_Haruo in this story-line) and he decided that he would just feed the apothecary low-end jewels to see if what he was suspecting was true before he took action to get the police in on it. River took the opportunity that evening to sell two of her paintings; one large and one medium paintings that in total brought in a fair amount of money into the household, more than enough to be able to pay the tax-bill without having to do too much worrying. When their children came home, it was first crack the books and do their homework. River and Haruo were both stringent on that. Adhering to that strict rule and getting the best marks, even if they didn't feel like they were doing much other than learning by rote and regurgitating the lesson, it meant that they would have a leg up in a higher institution should they choose to go to university. When their kids were done, they ate dinner and headed upstairs to bed after having a little free after-school time to do what they wanted to do. Sometimes school is sheer drudgery but instilling hard work-ethic was important to do at this age. After all when they got out into the real world, the realization that they needed to adhere to social norms and part of that was the ethic of working for a living: the more education that they had, the easier it would go for them. But River and Haruo knew too that the world was changing and that they would have to change with it. Be open to change Each successive generation would have their own pitfalls that they would have to negotiate.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
It was a cloudy spring morning in Riverview as the Chikamoris got up for their day. River set about doing another painting to make sure that she had ready stock to sell. She looked at the painting with a practiced eye and shrugged at how it looked because it really didn't seem to be one of her "masterpieces", but suffice it to say, when it was finished it topped §4000.00 appraised value, but it would go for much more than that. She did receive a call about selling one of her paintings and she headed out the door to make sure that she was able to get to the buyer in time. Evidently, being deputy PM (Vice-President) of the Free World (Canada...sorry... ) gave Fiona quite a bit of money and well as such Fiona was able to help out her daughter periodically with buying paintings. And as such, River was certainly grateful to her mother for helping her out financially with buying River's paintings. Her entire extended family did so. River was able to sell a few more paintings to other people which certainly helped the coffers even more and it was well-evident that the Chikamoris were getting very well-heeled in Riverview. Haruo on the other hand milked the cow. Breakfast the next morning was a hurried affair and everybody had things to do. When Masatoshi came home from the Scientific Research Center, he headed straight downstair to do some science research at home. Haruo made dinner and Caitlin worked out on the weight machine. But no activity was as good as personal time with River, Haruo thought to himself. Just he and his beloved wife. That made all the struggles, all the hardships worth while, just because he could lose himself in River's embrace.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Thank goodness this was the weekend and things were relatively quiet in the Chikamori household. There wasn't much happening. Both River and Haruo were home-bodies and the kids didn't really do much other than writing books and painting for enjoyment as well as use the downstairs basement bowling alley. Haruo got the idea to torture cats again...(yes, that's another euphemism for trying to play the violin). Surprisingly no one clapped their hands over their ears in utter agony. Yehudi Menuhin, he ain't...
Masatoshi decided to go downstairs and work on the science research station and conduct some experiments. Hopefully he won't turn himself into a plant-sim. It appeared that the rest of the family were having financial difficulties so Haruo and River shrugged their shoulders and told them all to move back in again. ...and Yasunobu certainly made himself at home at the concert grand piano. Watching Grandpa play was great fun for the kids and they were happy to see Grandpa Yasunobu and Grandma Fiona in the same house again.
Haruo made himself busyin the kitchen. ...then decided to show off HIS mastery of the piano to which Yasunobu was very gratified that all the music lessons in Haruo's youth paid off, which further attracted even more attention from the kids who enjoyed watching Dad play. Of course that would be the last for a while since River and Haruo decided that since the parental units had moved back in, that they plus Masatoshi would head back to university and get finish off the credits that they needed to graduate with a degree. ...and so packing for university, they headed off to wait for the moving van. Would they get their degree after so much effort? Well, the university had somehow lost track of their last courses and they had to do an aptitude test before they headed off to university. Anyways, they scored high on their aptitude test and ended up in receipt of a scholarship for their efforts. So...off they went in pursuit of higher education.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Along with Masatoshi who was a new student at University, they intended to finish off their degree. Right off the bat, they rented outside of the dorms - they managed to get a single family residential home with two bedrooms that allowed them to each have an individual room, River and Haruo got one bedroom (the one with a queen-sized bed and Masatoshi got the other. Considering that in real life dorms are pretty much Party Central, anyone wanting to get any shred of schoolwork done stays out of the dorms; okay, well that and frat-houses. They came with the intent of getting their degrees, not partying (I'll have a game for that later - Watcher).
They also realized that getting around expediently involved having a car. Since the family arrived on a Sunday, they went to the student union building to collect their course materials...and of course, Haruo and River gravitated to the pool table. (The Watcher and his wife (in real life) also enjoy pool...if he wins the Lotto Max - Canada's big lottery, he's going to get a billiards table - it's more challenging to play pool on a "billiards table" - Oh...those long corner to corner shots - a big 12 footer; I played a lot of pool in my college days - oh so long ago) She won of course (just like my beloved wife - @Featherbelle is a pool shark) ...then...considering River and Haruo were both masters in their respective instruments (Haruo (piano) and River (guitar)), they decided to do an impromptu jamming session in the SUB which caught the attention of some of the new students who enjoyed the concert. Haruo and River introduced Masatoshi to their favorite little spot, the cafe across the street where River and Haruo used to get their brownies every morning while at university the last time. But all too soon it was time for bed and classes would start the next morning so they made the most of the free time that they had and made sure that they were well-rested for the next day. It was going to be a long semester and even worse, they only had two semesters in which to complete their fine arts degree. Masatoshi had it even worse and decided to go in for a science and technology degree, but then again he was a Level 10 nerd and had a lot of the stuff down from working in a science research facility. Susan had achieved Creature-Robot Cross Breeder and was able to give Masatoshi a hint or two with some of his experiments. Next morning was a hurried rush out the door with barely enough time for River and Haruo to breathe, let alone think and frankly it was hard enough getting in the door of the building with the amount of people jamming up the front entrance, but everyone got in and the classes started. Spring in British Columbia was a major pain in the rump. Nothing but endless rain between the end of winter and the start of summer. Rare were the blue skies. Masatoshi had to scuttle like a water bug to get to his next class in a torrential downpour. He didn't have time to even watch the rainbow in the sky. And Haruo had to make it to the Stadium for his next class. Considering the UBC campus was quite the familiar place to him now, Haruo enjoyed the ambience of the university. River and Haruo had varied classes even though they were taking the same major of Fine Arts. Even though the evenings were free, they went out to eat and then decided to save the studying until the next day. Thank goodness for a comfortable bed and a warm body to curl up against. River did enjoy that even though Haruo was an early riser and left the blankets for River to have to pull up again, when he went down in the morning for breakfast. One of these days, she'll have him trained.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Tuesday mornings were devoted to studying, except for Masatoshi who had a morning lab but was able to study during the rest of the day. Haruo and River had a lecture later on in the afternoon, but used their computers in the morning to study their course materials. Haruo never even cracked open his texts at all during the whole semester. When they showed up for their lecture, the lecture start time came and went with no teacher in sight. Who pays these teachers anyways? Finally Haruo got disgusted and since he had mastered Art the hard way, he went up and did the lecture that was supposed to be taught. Thank you, non-existent teacher. He should get some credits for this. At least most of the students found it interesting. River didn't realize that her husband knew some of this stuff and found it quite enlightening if not rather annoying that he didn't partake of this information prior to this. She figured that she'd have a rather quiet talk with him about withholding information. After intensely studying and making that knowledge meter go up...they went to bed resting for the intense class day on Wednesday. Morning came soon enough. Yawns, early morning stretches and all. Before first class was punctuated with a run for brownies. Morning class was for two hours and Masatoshi and River managed to get into their first classes easily and when it was done, they waited for a few moments before heading to their second classes. Haruo was over at the Stadium for his second class of the day. Classes were scheduled two hours apart which made things really tight to get around campus and invariably there were unsurprisingly logjams at the doors. "Hey, guys..." River exclaimed irritatedly, "It would be nice when you exit the class lecture halls, that you all kindly move away from the door...so other people can get out!" Haruo went off to the apothecary to get rid of some gem dust so that they could get some monetary recompense and not have to spend a whole bunch of their life savings other than buying each person of their family who was going to University a vehicle so that they could get around - there went §60,000. He then met up with River and Masatoshi at the burger joint and had a bite to eat while River and Masatoshi studied at the outdoor tables. Luckily it wasn't raining or they and their computers would have gotten soaked. Then it was back home to go to sleep...and rest up for Thursday...which was yet another classroom activity day...which mean one practical lab day for Masatoshi and an activity day for River and Haruo. Nighty-night to all three of them and they had pleasant dreams, especially River and Haruo, spooned up together.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Thursday was a class-activity day...which meant that they would be plunking their posteriors in the grass and sketching in their sketch book - always fun. Mornings in the student house was early with the lights going on at about 5 AM. It happens when you wear yourself out mentally, you crash early and Haruo was more than happy to have his head hit the pillow...especially when he was so near his beloved wife. As usual, like on Tuesday, mornings were reserved for study. River had her face in the computer making sure that she studied. It was apparent from day 1 that she intended to be on the Dean's List, and she was making great headway on that task. ...even when distracted by hubby. The clock soon rolled around to 10:30AM and they had to leave the house and head down to the Arts Building at the University in order to be there in enough time for their activities class. No-one could tell who the instructor was supposed to be...and it had been like that for Tuesday. This was getting seriously annoying. When they got there, they figured that they might spar a bit before class started, but eventually time ran out and class started. Still no instructor in sight, but just everyone planted themselves on the ground and started sketching. In fact some just ended up yacking through the entire activities class, but River and Haruo were not - they were studious and attended to their sketches as they were supposed to do, instructor or no instructor. Meanwhile, Masatoshi was messing around with that big research machine in the plaza which all science and technology majors tended to congregate around. Frankly no-other majors in the whole advanced education field knew what that thing did, only that it was complicated and no-one could make heads or tails out of what that thing was supposed to accomplish. There were three entry terminals and an activation lever. For all the rest of the students could figure out, that thing could blow up the world or cause a black hole that would suck them all in including everything that existed...and science and technology majors tended to be a weird bunch of nerds who had no problem discussing the esoteric concepts of advanced AI and other things which caused those who didn't have that kind of understanding of those concepts to get serious headaches. River and Haruo did spend their time mostly doing sketches and once the class was finished, they decided to do some sparring. Then it was time to make dinner, throw out the food that had gone bad and study... The next morning (Friday) was mid-terms, which would make up 50% of the assessment of their final grades which went towards qualifying for graduation and morning came soon enough. Class-time was early and they had to be there early to write the tests. With the stress of midterms, certainly there was no shortage of drama on campus. Haruo wasn't happy with certain things (probably the non-existent teachers for the activities and lecture classes and I guess the stress-level got a bit much for him. He pulled out his megaphone and started ranting about teachers not showing up for their classes. I guess he finally flipped his gourd: Isn't university fun?
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Mid-terms were aced and the second week flew by just as quickly. Haruo spent a lot of time at the Stadium honing up his athletics by playing sports during the time that they were there and when he had free time when he wasn't studying. The Watcher thinks that there may have been some who were still shell-shocked from the mid-terms who didn't do as well as they'd expected. "Wha-at the heck happened to my GPA?" The week went by in a blur and everyone was into Final exams... For Haruo, there was always time for practicing the school cheer! "GOOOO SHERBITS!!!" - must be the Simlish name for Thunderbirds...(and Llamas).
When they got their grades for Finals it was certainly quite the revelation that all three: Haruo, River and Masatoshi ended up on the Dean's List having aced their finals and graduated with an "A" average. When they got their notice for convocation (fancy term for graduation) ceremonies they arrived at the stadium doors. Well...it was a log-jam. (Finally the Watcher used MC Debug Enabler and gave Haruo, River and Masatoshi their diplomas to make sure that they got their graduation and their extra trait, yay! Some of the university graduates waited so long to get into the stadium that they peed themselves...what fun. The Watcher got a Fiendishly Delighted moodlet from watching those little stinky puddles appear. Then it was back home to Riverview as celebrated University graduates armed with a degree. That and a buck will get you a small premium roast coffee at McDonald's (in Canada).
When River got up the next morning she ran into Masatoshi and Caitlin making eyes at each other. River knew that Masatoshi was a shy, retiring fellow after hanging out with her husband's cousin and realized that if he was too shy that Caitlin wouldn't respond, but he seemed to be more sure of himself, now that he had his degree, that he was confident enough that his opinions at work would be held in higher regard and that translated to his home-life as well. He seemed to have his courting of Caitlin well in hand as he offered Caitlin a bouquet of red roses. ...which she happily accepted and that was punctuated by a shy kiss, which it seemed, Caitlin greatly appreciated. Of course a lot of lip-locking ensued between Caitlin and Masatoshi and River decided to sneak back up-stairs to give the love-birds a bit of privacy, all the while chuckling to herself. The whole McIrish clan had snared themselves a Chikamori. Molly decided that now would be a great time to rant about taxes in the living room. And Fiona was listening to Yasunobu play the concert grand piano. Like his son, he loved Bach's Prelude in E major BWV 854 from the Well-Tempered Clavier. And when he wasn't breaking space-rocks, he was playing the piano. Still don't know how his fingers weren't all wrecked to heck from pummelling super-hard rocks then still having the flexibility to play piano. Must be the dichotomy of strength versus softness. Or something like that. Meanwhile...poor Sandi got in deep doo-doo from Haruo for the pee-poor grades that she was getting. That didn't really do too well for her. Haruo expected better from his step-cousin. Poor Sandi. Well, she was going to learn one way or another that school work was important and that she'd have to get her grades up if she wasn't going to fail miserably.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Sandi's birthday party was a private affair with only her family attending and considering how large of a family it was, it certainly made it so that adding more people was darn near impossible. Sandi stared at the cake for a long while before blowing it out. As the puffs of smoke billowed from the extinguished candles, she aged up to teen. She must have been overjoyed. Evidently she also got the evil trait as well. She aged into quite the pretty teen-ager. Haruo was wondering if he would have to crank out the shotgun and make certain that any boyfriends that came over were petrified. River talked with Satoshi about Sandi's grades and how she needed to improve them to avoid being sent to military school. And the family spent the rest of the day listening to piano playing. Anyways, it was a great way to end off the day.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
As much as Haruo would have preferred to stay a Young Adult forever, age has a habit of catching up to us all. He had his birthday and turned into a somewhat more mature version of himself. And if you believe that, I have some swampland in Louisiana to sell you...complete with American alligators. Maybe he was more mature, physically...and facial features-wise, but inside that skull of his was the mind of a teen-ager. "Hey...Phil...hold mah beer!!! Watch this..." And to think this Sim was a father of two boys and two girls. Heaven help us all. Haruo stared at his cake for a long while wondering just how fast life went...the fact that the young adult portion of his life was now over and the latter half of his existence lay before him. It was soon time to make a wish and hope that he would have a long life together with the woman he loved more than life itself. Everybody partook of the cake and as well as an Baked Angel Food cake that Haruo cooked so that everyone at least would have a piece. Birthday cakes...were restricted to 8 servings. Why; this Watcher has no idea. At least it was cake...cake agreed with Haruo's stomach and not those McDonald's Shamrock shakes (aye and begorrah, they're magically delicious)...which were exceedingly tantalizing but ended up gastronomically terrorizing his stomach and ending up with him excreting leprechaun poo. (couldn't resist). (Watcher aside: By the way, if you live near a McDonald's, they have Shamrock Shakes on right now until March 17th... ~this is not a paid advertisement for McDonald's Corp.) But the best present that he could have gotten was a passionate kiss from his beloved wife. That prompted Masatoshi to plant a nice kiss on Caitlin's lips too. Teenage hormones also influence the evil trait...and Sandi was no exception in that, in which she tried to scare Toshiyuki but failed as he turned around just before she did, and so she tried to backpedal with some convoluted story that made absolutely no sense. That was the insanity trait. If Phil wasn't a decade and a half older than Sandi and roughly the same age as Haruo, I'd match him up with Sandy - he's insane too. Toshiyuki wasn't buying the fish-story. Fiona McIrish-Chikamori had a pre-election rally to help her cause for becoming Prime Minister (Leader of the Free World). After all, Canada needed a strong leader and current GQ model PM wasn't cutting the mustard. Fiona was running on a platform of "strong military; strong economy; and strong social welfare and health care. After all, she wouldn't dismantle benefits that were created by W.A.C. Bennett who had advocated for universal medical, dental, hospital, and pharmaceutical insurance coverage in the 1950s, (1955 to be exact) for the benefit of all Canadians and if Fiona even tried to touch universal healthcare, there would be a hue and a cry for Fiona's blood, so she ran on the Federal Progressive Conservative Campaign with the slogan "Canada is stronger with McIrish. Vote Fiona...for Prime Minister of Canada" Haruo wished his mother-in-law the very best, as far as her bid for parliamentary leadership. It was a late affair...as far as rallies go and Fiona came home well-pleased with the outcome of the rally and the amount of support that it garnered. Everybody else, by this time had gone to bed. ...and night fell over Riverview.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Well, Monday morning came soon enough for the Chikamori kids and Sandi. First day in high-school for Sandi and she knew that she had to get her grades up if she wanted to avoid being sent to military school. She knew that even though her step-father was an anomaly, being a free-spirit and a party-animal, the rest of the Chikamoris were uptight and results oriented. They thrived on order and routine as well as a good shot of good fortune. Even Aunt Fiona had turned into Medusa, as far as Sandi was concerned. She was so focused on her political career that her family, if they weren't so focused themselves would have wondered about her. Since she was only a teenager, she couldn't very well tell Aunt Fiona about that. It would not go over well. So off to the school bus she went...no matter how much she hated school. Morning for Haruo involved walking out to the mailbox to get the mail and pay the bills. Thanks, mail-lady. Just what he needed to start off the day; a §7952.00 tax bill. Guess what, your yearly taxes are due...from the Incorporated City of Riverview, Canada. You get to pay the lobster meal for the mayor of Riverview.../dripping sarcasm/ ...that pompous, opinionated windbag. Congratulations...that's where your tax-dollars are going. Even though he had enough money to eat out without worrying about finances. §13M was definitely a good chunk of money to live off of, he knew that he couldn't spend this money willy-nilly. If he wanted it to last and be a financial legacy to his kids he needed to nurse that money and make sure that the only expenditures that he made were actually financially needed. Even the cars, a seeming extravagance at University were so that he could use his time more efficiently instead of biking everywhere and wasting valuable study time commuting. Study time was important and that's why he, River and Masatoshi graduated on the Dean's List in comparison to other sims...so he came home and cooked a meal for himself and made several othe servings to use as left-overs for the rest of the family. Sandi came home from school and belly-ached and moaned about her schoolwork, but she sat down anyway and did her homework. Especially with someone watching her, it wasn't easy to cut school or avoid doing her homework. She definitely couldn't do either of those things without the consequence of a one-way ticket to military school. Yasunobu spent a lot of time on the piano playing. As he grew older, he enjoyed the little things in life and spending time engrossed in music was one of them. He also enjoyed tinkering in the garden, being self-employed in gardening. ...and very soon, there was a birthday party to celebrate the aging up of Alan to a teenager. As with all the Chikamori birthdays, it was a private affair, restricted to family members only and Alan didn't mind. It wasn't as if the Chikamori house was a town hall...and had enormous amounts of room for people to gather. Plus for him, it meant that the people who he cared about were around him. Then it was River's turn to age up. Haruo thought she was beautiful and hugged his wife. ...and Caitlin went downstairs to work off the cake just in case. ...and so River and Haruo grew into adulthood and Alan became a teenager and the march of time went on.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
With two teenagers in the house, things were ripe for disagreements. And especially since teenagers tend to be rather volatile, it was definitely overdue for a blowup between Alan and Sandi. Alanna ate her key lime pie while watching the war going off between her oldest brother and Sandi. It was certainly even more quiet when the kids had gone off to school. Haruo and River had a chance to eat quietly in peace. Molly stared vacantly off into space trying to decide what to do next. Toshiyuki went to his room to paint a picture of a "i don't know what that thing is supposed to be (all I want is for it to be out of my house; it creeps me out)". River decided to work on a sculpture. Right now she had a 50/50 chance of it succeeding or ending up with a gemstone. Haruo decided that the fridge needed restocking and cooked for the benefit of the family. ...then took out the garbage because it was starting to stink. Of course, he was corralled by River who was feeling rather *ahem*...uh...well...yeah... frisky...yeah, that's the word. (No more randy pictures on the forums at least...I think the mods are cracking down on that). Suffice it to say, River and Haruo had fun or as the moodlet would say, "Good Clean Fun..." Take that as you will. Needless to say, the jacuzzi got a good workout too. Yasunobu for some reason decided all of a sudden that he was going to learn to play the drums. Caitlin decided to get into martial arts and started practicing. When she reached yellow belt, River, who was now a brown belt, decided to practice sparring with her. Needless to say, Caitlin got her butt handed to her by an older, more experienced half-sister and martial artist. And Caitlin coveted earning potentially the black belt, something that was worn by the husband of her half-sister. Masatoshi and Caitlin decided to go out on an impromptu date. And considering how affectionate the two had been around each other, River and Haruo thought it was high time that Cait and Masa decided to do something about their situation. Evidently there was a haunting going on at that moment at the Bistro. Masatoshi and Caitlin were so engrossed in each other, they didn't care and ignored all the paranormal stuff that was going on around them, remaining in complete composure even when a Slimer-type entity went screaming down the aisle next to their table chased by a paranormal hunter. Yep, everything's OK...situation normal...everybody's alright, the food tastes great...how are you? They embraced when they emerged from the restaurant; their stomachs sated and happy. Masatoshi being the quintessential Lev 10 Nerd decided that he wanted a selfie with Caitlin and then on a whim wanted to sit down and watch the stars. Yes, it was a very romantic night and well, Masatoshi found that it was the perfect time to propose to the "woman of his dreams"...hopefully she would say yes. Which of course, she did... ...which capped off a wonderful end to their date. ...and now all the McIrish girls had captured Chikamori boys.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
It was a Sunday when Braden aged up to teen. Sunday morning started out as usual with everyone doing their own thing. Haruo went downstairs and cooked breakfast and everyone ate. As breakfast meals go, it was nothing special: a mushroom omelette. Whatever kept the entire family fed or at least eight portions which meant that he did have to cook multiple portions for the whole family of sixteen to be able to eat. After he did that...was he able to sit down and enjoy his first meal of the morning. Yasunobu went downstairs and spent time with the plants, tending them and ensuring that they were watered and weeded. It was nice to have a section of floor laid down with sod rugs, that were able to be utilized to plant many different necessary foodstuffs. It was cost-effective when it came to keeping supplied with food as they didn't have to go to the store as often with the exception of meat. On top of that, as Yasunobu progressed in his ability to produce higher and higher grades of plants, he would be able to plant other types of plants. Of course the sad part of being a green thumb was having to dispose of the barren, dead plants and that pretty much caused Yasunobu to weep. Masatoshi went downstairs and played with the science station trying to craft new seeds and conduct horticultural experiments. However pummeling an experiment with ionizing radiation probably wasn't the best way to get a better quality seed. Well, it seemed as though as Yasunobu aged, he was less and less able to keep things straight and forgot about the cows and the chickens, so Haruo had to go down and collect eggs and milk. Evidently he was down there so long that River had to send out a search party for him - luckily she found him herself and took advantage of the moment. It was a rather hazy morning that morning. The sun was barely visible through the clouds...and it loomed large on the horizon. While others slept in, Caitlin took the opportunity to get some hoops in, for a while she was on fire shooting buckets for a while, but ended up throwing up several bricks in a row, bouncing off the rim. Well, it was soon time for the party and Braden showed up at the table to blow out the candles on his cake, while everyone cheered him on. Taking a moment to make a silent wish, he blew out the cake candles...and...he aged up. He ended up with a rapper crewcut with shaved lines on shaved head to start... The Watcher decided to be kind and give him a somewhat decent hair-cut for his age. It was at that point that Caitlin, even though she still had 56 days of being a young adult left, she knew that she was getting older and it wasn't too certain if that realization sat very well... Just in case that there wasn't enough birthday cake to go around, Haruo decided that he would make a key-lime pie. ...and Braden's birthday turned into better weather with the clouds clearing relatively nicely. ...so it made Braden's birthday a great day and now he would start the tumultuous, hormonal path that was the path of all teenagers. The one where he'd have mood-swings, have the desire to set booby-traps all around the house and generally make his parents wonder why they ever had kids in the first place.
PS: Even with all the frustrations and the grey hair-inducing moments, they're still worth it...
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Comments
Snow at University
Monday morning came too soon; a distinct bite to the air as Haruo realized that it would probably snow soon. And frankly with all the things that they had to do, buying a vehicle was probably the better bet now that they were living off-dormitory. At least things were much more quiet and they were able to get a lot more studying done without the raucous music. Thanks to the monetary funds that they had saved up, the house that they had bought for the rest of the university term came in extremely handy. And they each bought themselves a car to use for the rest of the university term. It would remain in their personal inventory when they came back for their second term to finish off their university degree.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Haruo Takes Over the Lecture Stand
Ah...nothing like a little woohoo in the morning to get ready for school. Betcha River will be thinking about that ALL day.
"Good morning class, Today we'll be discussing the work of Tintoretto and his utilization of perspective in painting, a technique that is common to works today in developing realism in painted works. Perspective is a technique that is used by many artists, visually to convey an object's relationship in distance from the eye. In many respects, visual artists before this Tintoretto in the Renaissance used to convey their painting in a flat one two-dimensional plane: there's the wall, there's the painting, that's it. Hence the reason why if you look at works like Bellini's or Fra Angelico, there is no depth within the painting, everything looks as though it has been painted on a wall...and you cannot visually walk within the painting with your eyes."
Well, we learn the basic concepts because they were painstaking developed through the years and have formed the basis of our curriculum today. Today we are more into realism in painting, but the painters of the Renaissance worked with the knowledge that they had back then and it was left up to innovators like Tintoretto to push the boundaries of the knowledge that they had and to create new techniques...that we are lucky enough to have today.
As painters, we utilize perspective in a way that allows us to view a three dimensional image on a two dimensional surface with subtle effects. In otherwords, that makes us visual magicians."
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Whole Lotta Study Goin' On...
That evening involved a lot of studying. After dinner, Haruo and River went up to bed and discussed the afternoon's events going over key points that they had learned and would consider would be on finals.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
A Spar Session and School is Finished (For Now)
Yes, the snow was cold...so much that Haruo and River both felt like their collective rear-ends were about to fall off. Thus an idea was formed. Why not exercise and get the blood flowing to the point where they warmed back up again. But considering their location, the first idea of Haruo's probably wasn't a good idea, unless they wanted to be arrested for indecent exposure in a public place. But his second, well, River hadn't trained in a while. And frankly, she needed to progress in her martial arts.
River, on the other hand, was able to take a bit of a breather in between as her class didn't start until four. So to kill time, she played a little pool, and touched up on her studies for her second class...
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
There and Back Again
Morning encouraged Haruo and River to take advantage of the pond on campus which had frozen over. Since they had been studying so hard, they hadn't had the opportunity to go ice-skating there. In that regards, after finals, having the opportunity to skate there was a great little bit of relaxation after the long grind of the semester.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Back to the Daily Grind
Next morning, the kids were all happy to see Mom and Dad home from university, but still, it was a school day, so true reunions would have to wait until after school. Naturally the children were disappointed by that, but as their parents had so effectively demonstrated, the kids knew that school was important and even a reunion would have to wait until after-school.
River sold yet another painting which paid off the taxes.
After shower was dinner...and both had certainly worked up an appetite for food after that bit of shower woohoo...
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Life Loves to Throw Curveballs
It is said that sometimes life throws you a curveball...and that curveball arrived in the form of Masayoshi Chikamori, Haruo's cousin or Yasunobu's younger brother's son. The reason why he came over was because his father died on vacation in Riverview (drowning); after meeting his relatives, he opted to stay in town and decided to be with his cousin until he found a place of his own.
...and skeletons came crawling out of Fiona's closet when River opened the door to find a young woman standing there. You can very well imagine her shock when the woman said, "Hi, River...I'm Caitlin...your step-sister." That proved to be quite the skeleton popping out of the closet and saying "boo!" Needless to say, River had some questions to ask her mother as far as Caitlin was concerned.
"My Dad told me that my mom was from here. I went to Sunset Valley...initially to find you and Mom, but the people told me that you and your husband had dug up roots and moved to Riverview." She paused, "...so that's why I came here. Partly to find family, partly to find answers..."
River knew for a fact that since Caitlin had identified herself as step-sister; that Caitlin's dad would not be her dad. Her dad who had disappeared off somewhere to parts unknown and would forever be so...hadn't ever been around for the important parts of her life and River was skeptical if she would ever let him in...even if he did come nosing around.
"So what are your plans now?" River asked.
"I'm going to look around and see if there's a job in Riverview for me. Perhaps in Education, or I may look into University...and see if there's something in it for me in terms of a degree." she stated. "Your husband and you just came back from university, so I hear, from Mom."
River did raise her eyebrow at that, "Well...Mom was always telling me while growing up that university was a definite shoe-in to higher grades...I couldn't see it at the time, but I learned a lot about fine arts in university since that's what I decided to major in.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Filling Missing PIeces
Life was great in many regards for the children, especially after Haruo put in a 1 lane bowling alley for them to utilize. Haruo and River had too many other things to do and didn't get much use out of it but their kids just absolutely loved it. It certainly allowed them to do things that they normally wouldn't be able to do, as they weren't able to make use of the pool table and it was too cold to swim outside.
"River..." her father-in-law said as he met her gaze.
River let him know that his grand-kids were on the honor roll.
Yasunobu looked satisfied, "Good...School important...need school to get good job...you OK?"
"I'm good, Dad, I really am..."
"OK...now you need to get out of cold...you get cold, you get sick...not good."
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Shoring Up the Foundations
Haruo did a lot of things around the house...including picking up gemstones and precious metals. It brought in a bit of a surplus when sold, but not at all like the tiberium. When he was done doing those tasks, he headed upstairs to fix Brianna's computer which was throwing off sparks and generally making it known that it was dying.
Of course, time with the family was important too...and that was a key factor in the strength of their relationship.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
A Helping Hand
Well, early mornings got the kids out the door in time for school. Haruo and River decided to do some dishes and clean up the kitchen. After all, a clean kitchen was a sign that the house was well-taken care of...
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Passive Income and Life Decisions
The kids had homework...and well, they ended up having to do that, while River sat by the entrance on the floor and sketched for a bit. I would say that Allan had a bit of cognitive dissonance seeing his mother sitting on the floor in front of the door, oblivious to anyone, sketching. "Hey...Oh...isn't it a bit cold? Nope...ok...well, I'm gonna go do my homework...ya...that's what I'll do..." ~raises eyebrow~ "o...k..." ~wonders if Mom has finally lost what marbles she had.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
The New Home
Eleven Months Later
We pick the story up eleven months later as Haruo, River and family move into their new home in Riverview.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Renovation Annoyance and Finally Moving In
As enormous as the house was, it wasn't really a practical house...with only one entrance to the entire house...so it was back to the drawing board again. In that regards, it was spring again before they could move back in once a few things were adjusted (think entire house rebuild) When the new house was finally finished, Masayoshi did some science research and then tried to create nanites.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
The Activities of Life
Things didn't stay quiet for long. After all, cosmic objects flying around ended up dropping into Riverview, causing a fair-sized explosion landing right in the middle of a demonstration. That didn't make for a very comfortable situation for the protestors.
The renovated house looked far different than the one that they moved into and it was fully spring by the time that the renovations ceased and they were able to live in the house in peace and quiet. It was a picturesque home and they were able to enjoy the yard as opposed to barely having one in the other yard. They filled in the pond and redug it, making sure that all the fish were moved along with the re-siting of the pond. Also the kids got an outdoor "football" (soccer to you Americans) net so their kids would have something to do.
When Haruo was done telling his boss where to go and how to get there, he spent some time fulfilling a wish to utilize the training dummy which he hadn't touched for several months. And then he started cutting gemstones. He had a lot of them in his inventory that he had to go through, but he would do them a little at a time. He hadn't been getting much of a reception from the Apothecary when it came to handing off his cut and polished gemstones for consignment. So far in three days he hadn't heard anything from the apothecary and Haruo was starting to wonder if the apothecary was pocketing the gemstones and feeding him a line (But Haruo is not Evil_Haruo in this story-line) and he decided that he would just feed the apothecary low-end jewels to see if what he was suspecting was true before he took action to get the police in on it.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Selling Paintings and Other Duties
It was a cloudy spring morning in Riverview as the Chikamoris got up for their day.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
More Edumacation
Thank goodness this was the weekend and things were relatively quiet in the Chikamori household. There wasn't much happening. Both River and Haruo were home-bodies and the kids didn't really do much other than writing books and painting for enjoyment as well as use the downstairs basement bowling alley.
Masatoshi decided to go downstairs and work on the science research station and conduct some experiments. Hopefully he won't turn himself into a plant-sim.
Haruo made himself busyin the kitchen.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Back at University
Along with Masatoshi who was a new student at University, they intended to finish off their degree. Right off the bat, they rented outside of the dorms - they managed to get a single family residential home with two bedrooms that allowed them to each have an individual room, River and Haruo got one bedroom (the one with a queen-sized bed and Masatoshi got the other. Considering that in real life dorms are pretty much Party Central, anyone wanting to get any shred of schoolwork done stays out of the dorms; okay, well that and frat-houses. They came with the intent of getting their degrees, not partying (I'll have a game for that later - Watcher).
They also realized that getting around expediently involved having a car.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Where's the Teacher?
Tuesday mornings were devoted to studying, except for Masatoshi who had a morning lab but was able to study during the rest of the day. Haruo and River had a lecture later on in the afternoon, but used their computers in the morning to study their course materials. Haruo never even cracked open his texts at all during the whole semester.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Midterms
Thursday was a class-activity day...which meant that they would be plunking their posteriors in the grass and sketching in their sketch book - always fun. Mornings in the student house was early with the lights going on at about 5 AM. It happens when you wear yourself out mentally, you crash early and Haruo was more than happy to have his head hit the pillow...especially when he was so near his beloved wife.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Graduation and Back to the Grind
Mid-terms were aced and the second week flew by just as quickly. Haruo spent a lot of time at the Stadium honing up his athletics by playing sports during the time that they were there and when he had free time when he wasn't studying.
When they got their grades for Finals it was certainly quite the revelation that all three: Haruo, River and Masatoshi ended up on the Dean's List having aced their finals and graduated with an "A" average. When they got their notice for convocation (fancy term for graduation) ceremonies they arrived at the stadium doors. Well...it was a log-jam. (Finally the Watcher used MC Debug Enabler and gave Haruo, River and Masatoshi their diplomas to make sure that they got their graduation and their extra trait, yay!
When River got up the next morning she ran into Masatoshi and Caitlin making eyes at each other.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Sandi's Birthday
Sandi's birthday party was a private affair with only her family attending and considering how large of a family it was, it certainly made it so that adding more people was darn near impossible.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Like It or Not; Age Catches Up
As much as Haruo would have preferred to stay a Young Adult forever, age has a habit of catching up to us all. He had his birthday and turned into a somewhat more mature version of himself. And if you believe that, I have some swampland in Louisiana to sell you...complete with American alligators. Maybe he was more mature, physically...and facial features-wise, but inside that skull of his was the mind of a teen-ager. "Hey...Phil...hold mah beer!!! Watch this..." And to think this Sim was a father of two boys and two girls. Heaven help us all.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Alan and River Age Up
Well, Monday morning came soon enough for the Chikamori kids and Sandi. First day in high-school for Sandi and she knew that she had to get her grades up if she wanted to avoid being sent to military school. She knew that even though her step-father was an anomaly, being a free-spirit and a party-animal, the rest of the Chikamoris were uptight and results oriented. They thrived on order and routine as well as a good shot of good fortune. Even Aunt Fiona had turned into Medusa, as far as Sandi was concerned. She was so focused on her political career that her family, if they weren't so focused themselves would have wondered about her. Since she was only a teenager, she couldn't very well tell Aunt Fiona about that. It would not go over well. So off to the school bus she went...no matter how much she hated school.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Masatoshi's Engagement
With two teenagers in the house, things were ripe for disagreements. And especially since teenagers tend to be rather volatile, it was definitely overdue for a blowup between Alan and Sandi.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Braden Ages Up
It was a Sunday when Braden aged up to teen. Sunday morning started out as usual with everyone doing their own thing. Haruo went downstairs and cooked breakfast and everyone ate.
PS: Even with all the frustrations and the grey hair-inducing moments, they're still worth it...
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~