***The Chikamori Selfacy*** - Sims 3 "Because Life Stinks Without Alien Abductions". «12...Next Go

Nikkei_Simmer

Family Travel - Shang Sim La

There's enough grand pianos in the house for the three sims who have maxed their piano-playing up to level 10. Yasunobu and Haruo played piano which was a balm in itself. Haruo poured out his emotion into his piano playing when he wasn't busy causing havoc causing TNT blasts at Grady's.
It had gotten too much to live in the house that Fiona died in (too many memories)...so they built another one on the same lot in Riverview. This time, Haruo went all out on the home and they had a beautiful pool, a hot-tub and a wonderful mini-lake stocked with fish that they could use. The hot-tub immediately got some use.
...as did the pool.
Satoshi made his interest known to Constance who of course...accepted. After all...what girl doesn't love a long-haired party animal? Oh, Satoshi had his quiet moments too. He was also a bookworm and their equivalent taste in classical music clinched the deal.
...and Constance made herself comfortable...as Mrs. Satoshi Chikamori...no fancy wedding, just two people in love.
Several Sims had the desire to go to Shang Sim La so off the family went (The game started crashing on the WA travel load screen...so I nearly went crazy trying to figure out what could be causing the corrupted file. Sure enough, it was a .bad file and deleteing that (having saved multiple separately named files as backup) plus clearing the cache files...caused the travel to work again...so luckily the Chikamoris were able to make it to Shang Sim La finally. Let's just say that they took the wrong turn at Albuquerque.

https://youtu.be/vzwe1aRN1eA

What Shang Sim La vacation could not start with a trip to the marketplace. Yasunobu and the whole family headed off to Shang Sim La's market to partake in some victuals.
It was after they had fed themselves that they decided to make the trek up the mountain to see the Chinese graveyard. It was a beautiful, serene place during the daytime, but there was no way that Haruo and the rest were going to stick around to see what the place looked like at night.
Next on the list was to be able to visit the Martial Arts Academy. Getting back to the main-road took them past some beautiful scenery of some abandoned chuán and a fishing dock.
It was late afternoon as they came up on the familiar Academy grounds. There Haruo asked a brown belt to spar and quickly showed him that despite having come from Canada, his black belt still took the same effort as having practiced in Shang Sim La. 2-0 Haruo...won.
The next two days were filled with visiting sites in Shang Sim La that were of interest to all of them, especially to Constance since she was one of the ones that had a wish to go to Shang Sim La after marrying Satoshi.
And the hostel was just as wonderful with all the family together. Haruo cooked and provided Chinese style cooking having learned his cooking skill to level 10 many years ago. He cooked stir fry and egg-rolls. But all too soon their vacation was over and they wouldn't be able to travel as much together as a group when Yasunobu became an elder...which was one of the reasons why they were travelling again, to allow Yasunobu to see the world again before aging up.
Upon the Chikamori's return to Riverview, Yasunobu feeling spry despite his closeness to elder age, decided to jog home. Haruo and River had an intimate moment in the kitchen latched to each other's faces and Satoshi decided to turn the stereo on waking Constance out of a deep sleep which she much "appreciated".

Ah...the bonds of family.

Nikkei_Simmer

Intermezzo and Al Simhara

In between trips, River and Haruo did get a few things done. Haruo is steadily working on the amount of fishing that he needs to do in order to reach level 10 in his angler career. And River having managed to get her lifetime wish fulfilled, is now working on sculpting as well as painting.
The new house was quite the home; much more massive than before, just one floor was easily half the square footage of the entire lot and considering that there were three complete floors above and 2 partial floors below ground, it was well over 1.2x the lot square footage (guaranteed to make any RL city planner go pale white and start screaming about zoning violations). There was a rather expansive dome fountain out front, with two large geyser fountains: one to each side. and four spray-jets...two: on each side of the large geyser fountains, pointing at each other.
The garage was also quite large with a sculpting room up stairs and a visual mausoleum of photographs was on the third floor.
Asian families love water, it is a symbol of purification and of peace, the stillness of a pool of water at rest; the constant flow of motion of the fountain.
Haruo and River went out for dinner...which after having kids had been a long time before they had had time to themselves. After all...being able to spend quality time with each other enabled marriages to be stronger.
Satoshi had to go to the bookstore as he'd read through all his charisma books and had to get Volume 3. He ended up buying out the entire bookstore of skill books: one copy apiece. Perhaps he'll get the hankering to learn mixology which might come in handy when the Chikamoris get a home bar.
And lo and behold who should appear, but three ghosts... The ghost of Simis Bachelor showed up and Haruo greeted him. "It's good to see you, Dad..." Haruo said to River's step-father. And peering out the kitchen window, River saw her mother and ran to greet her. "Yes...dear River...there is another world beyond this one..." "I miss you so much, Mom...so much..." And of course...having died of of a heart-attack while hungry...Mayumi came over to raid the fridge...but disappeared before she could eat it. Guess her time haunting in this world was up...for the night. The Creator had to "hocus pocus" the dish back into the fridge again before it spoiled.
It wasn't long before Haruo got the itch to go world travelling again and booked tickets for Al Simhara, but until the departure date, Haruo, Hiroko, Yasunobu and Satoshi went fishing in their backyard pond.
Their trip to Al Simhara went off without a hitch.
Their first stop was at Al Simhara Market where they stocked up as it was uncertain as to when they would ever be back.
Unfortunately it was very tiring for most of the group and it appeared as though the Market was the highlight of the trip. Haruo let his inner photographer roam free and spent a lot of time photographing the sights out in the desert and dodging cerastes cerastes to boot. Let's just say that you had to watch where you step and getting bitten would have not been fun at all. Of course there was also the Saharan Horned Viper to contend with too.
Photographing the Pyramids and the Sphinx at night was the real highlight of the trip. And they all came home happy, but only two days till Yasunobu ages up to elder...

Nikkei_Simmer

A Rash Of Aging Up

After coming home from Al Simhara, River preoccupied her time with sculpting stone...without much success as all she seems to find are gemstones. Of course the other alternatives are clay, wood, and ice (the latter of which melts after a time - so other Simmers, be mindful that if you're doing a legacy where carving sculptures of your generations is something you plan to do to preserve your Sims for posterity...well...ice may not be the best way to go, unless you've got a walk-in freezer box for a display - do they even have that in Sims 3?)
Two days after returning flies by very quickly and everyone got together to celebrate Yasunobu's aging up to elder. Blowing out the cake was a celebratory event.
...and Yasunobu aged up nicely to an elder status - stooped shoulders and shuffling walk...along with a cane which he never used.
Everyone sat down and enjoyed cake which never seems to get old for the Sims regardless of how many times they eat the same flavor of cake over and over and over and over...~smack~...and over... Sorry, I'll stop repeating myself. Maybe someone could provide some variety in the types of birthday cakes in a mod? Chocolate maybe...or maybe a lemon cake or...or...maybe even a cheese cake - heck...you know Yasunobu has over a one hundred and thirty five pieces of CHEESE!!! And there has to be a use for them other than to make grilled cheese sandwiches or fishing for alley catfish so that you can fish for angelfish which begets deathfish...and while I'm on that subject...there has to be a use for deathfish other than just fertilizer if you want to kill a neighbour's plant or ambrosia...right (which we're not supposed to make in a legacy anyways...but I'm not playing a "legacy challenge" - this is just a "legacy story")
No balloons, no big party, no hoopla, just Yasunobu and his arthritic bones...and his family partaking of the cake which celebrated his aging. Such is life for Yasunobu.
The next person to age up not more than four days later was Constance, Satoshi's wife, who entered her adult phase of life. Again it was just the family and that was the way Constance liked it. Just her and the people she cared about the most after having married Satoshi.
After that things settled down (at least as quiet as it ever got in the Chikamori household) and Yasunobu tried his hand at inventing...but eventually found out that he would need more scrap...and obviously he had to go over to Grady's. I'm sure you all know where I'm going with this one...
"Hey, Pops, I hear you needed some more scrap for the inventing table..." "Yes, son..." "I've got a solution..." "Oh...no..." KABOOM!!!! "Darned kid!!!"
Not several days after that...Hiroko finally reached her elder status, but hasn't yet achieved her top level in the science field of Mad Scientist yet. Will she before she kicks off to the great beyond...well, I don't know, but we only have 50 days to find out.
And of course Haruo and River spent more time in the hottub together.

Nikkei_Simmer

Betrayal and Heartbreak

With age brought restlessness and Hiroko wasn't immune to the "seven year itch". Satoshi was a long-haired big party animal and Hiroko was interested. Haruo and River had noticed Hiroko's eyes wandering to her brother-in-law in Shang Sim La, but she had said that it was only a misunderstanding and that it wouldn't happen again. Haruo hoped so, but Haruo and River's trust level of Hiroko dropped considerably and River kept a watchful eye on her former friend and her husband's step-mother. Yasunobu spent a lot of time playing the piano because he wasn't sure if he wanted to reconcile the fact that his wife had wandering eyes.
To try to forget about Hiroko's indiscretions, they flew to France and spent time there but it was a tense and trying trip and neither Hiroko nor Yasunobu's hearts were in it. But River and Haruo tried to make the most of this trip because until the kids were grown and had jobs of their own, they wouldn't be able to make it back here again, At least not for a few years yet.
Everything came to a head when Hiroko and Yasunobu came home. She turned around and asked Satoshi if he wanted to go out and "watch the stars" and Yasunobu was betrayed yet again. Yasunobu turned around and decked Satoshi which made them enemies. That was it for Yasunobu. He turned around and told Hiroko that he wasn't going to take this sitting down. She turned around and insulted him back again saying that she felt like nothing more than an occasional roll in the hay for Yasunobu and that if he was a virile man, that she wouldn't feel the need to wander. Frankly that did it and they slept in separate rooms from that night forward.
Hiroko hadn't been feeling very well for the past few days and she felt a little off so she went to the ER to find out what was the problem.
The doctor mentioned that her blood pressure was high and recommended a CAT scan to be done the following day at around four in the afternoon - scheduling the appointment. Hiroko went home and went to sleep, but decided in the morning that she was going to go down to city hall to get her name changed in preparation for moving out. She also used §57500 of the Chikamoris' money to buy herself a new house to live in because she felt that she couldn't stay under the roof with Yasunobu in the home. But after she went to get the title for the new home, she felt a sharp pain in her head. At first she thought that she was hungry because she had gone to Hogan's and wasn't able to eat but then that pain in the head became a blinding one...causing her vision to go red and she collapsed to the ground.
...and Grim took her. Satoshi came down to get her at the city hall and found the marker that Grim had left.
Feeling betrayed herself by Satoshi, Constance grew angrier and angrier as the days went by. She finally turned around and went down to the city hall to get her last name changed back to Shelley and then called Satoshi down to the Gazebo Park in the center of town, after buying her home back again in preparation to move out. When he came down she told him that it was over; that she'd had enough of the way she was being treated with Satoshi's penchant for wandering and that he was a no-good louse for breaking up Yasunobu's marriage and that she'd seen him working at River...but River was too smart for his machinations; that Haruo would have kicked his tail-end if he'd seen it and that his pining for his dead romantic interest was the final straw. It was OVER...if he hadn't gotten the message loud and clearly.
When it rained; it poured and it deluged on Satoshi's head when he got home from work that night. Yasunobu was up and he was not happy at all. He started in on Satoshi, telling him that he was a no-good piece of dirt that wasn't fit to be trod on by Yasunobu's boot nor any of Yasunobu's offspring. He accused Satoshi of making passes at River when Haruo was not around and that it was only the deep faith that River had in her marriage that prevented her from even giving Satoshi even a bit of consideration. Satoshi tried to deny it, but he was found out and Yasunobu told him he could find another home...but he would not suffer Satoshi living under his roof and to be gone by sunrise.
With all the heartbreak going on, Yasunobu told his son. "I do not have long for this world. I want to see my grandchildren. Bring them home..." Haruo nodded...and told his father that he could bring them home. And Yasunobu did so. Greeting his granddaughter with a big hug, it was all that he could do to keep from breaking down in front of his daughter-in-law...who leaned in to hug her daughter welcoming Alanna home..
"Where's Grandma..." Alanna asked wondering where Grandma Fiona was. It was all that River could do to keep her composure. There was limited communication between Camp Starch and home basically due to the strict military protocol instituted in that boarding school. "I'll take you to see her." Alanna was puzzled, but acquiesced. Aidann and Brayden as well as Bella McIrish-Bachelor followed along. Alanna's heart dropped into her feet as her mother walked into the graveyard and past the pond to a gravestone upon which was engraved her grandmother's name. With blurring vision Alanna broke down as did her brothers. And Bella buried her face in her hands as she wept for Simis, her father.
It was a sad homecoming for the oldest teens who still had six months left of school. To find their beloved Grandma Fiona interred in the ground and their Grandfather feeling so lost after his betrayal by his wife. They resolved to stick together; the seven of them and do what was necessary to make Grandpa Yasunobu's last days as pleasant as possible, surrounded by love and the only family that mattered, his son, his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren.

Nikkei_Simmer

Farewell, My Father.

It was quiet for a couple of days, while Yasunobu completed his task of providing the restaurant with 10 Outstanding Steaks...which as it turned out was the last accomplished task he ever did.
The next day, Simis showed up...to talk to his step-daughter. "What is it, Dad?" River asked her step-dad. "I need you to be strong...River...the Reaper grows restless again..." he intoned, his hollow voice as if emanating from deep within a sepulchre. River felt a growing sense of dread creep up on her. No...it surely couldn't be... Haruo came in to see Simis disappear in a puff of blue smoke. "What is it? Honey?" Haruo asked River seeing as she was a little startled. "Just hold me..." River said and Haruo obliged.
"Mom...I'm going into business...so I found out that I need to go to a boarding school to learn business..." Brayden said to his mother as River looked pained. Her son had just come home, but wanted to go back to boarding school again. But she nodded as that was Brayden's wish to become a CEO of a MegaCorporation and far be it for her to stand in her son's way for selfish reasons. River loved her sons and daughter and would do anything for them up to and including giving up her life for them. "I understand, son...." was all River said before she made the phone call to Smuggsworth Prep School. He would leave at 9AM the next morning.
That night a restless Yasunobu woke up and was greeted by the glowing motes of transfiguration. Realizing what it was the ghostly form of Yasunobu reached into his pocket and pulled out a deathflower. "Ha...got you there...Reaper-san. I have a gift for you." The Reaper looked glum and intoned. "I suggest that you be magnanimous and give your remaining deathflowers to your kin...because I will be back for you tomorrow..." he intoned. Yasunobu stared fearlessly into the black vacant yawning hood of the Reaper and nodded. "As you wish..." "Very well..." intoned the Reaper. I have one thing to ask you..."

"What do you wish of me...Shinigami-san" (Shinigami is the Japanese Grim Reaper). "PILLOW FIGHT!!!" the Reaper said, his voice echoing and smacked Yasunobu in the head with a four pound queen-size pillow and a pillowfight ensued with lots of laughter. Creator face-palm: So much for the solemnity of the occasion.
Grim was kind enough to give him the majority of the day to spend with his family...but when the time was up it was up and no amount of pleading would sway the Reaper in collecting his soul he had come for.
Haruo was heartbroken as was the entire family. They had thought they would have more time with Yasunobu than he had. His heart had given out from so much heartbreak over the last few weeks. And amid much grief, was laid to rest in the graveyard next door.
Hopefully the Reaper would leave them alone after this...for a long while.

Nikkei_Simmer

Mundane Life Tasks

The Chikamori Legacy Aidann Ages Up and Alanna's Day Out. Not much happened after Yasunobu's passing other than the typical mundane day to day things. Haruo went out to tend the garden (a daily chore) and fishing in their backyard lake. The kids however took the death of their grandfather very hard.
When he wasn't consoling the kids, Haruo spent some time on the piano, pouring out his emotion into the music.
Aidann did however have one special day which came pretty quickly after his grandfather's passing. He aged up from teen to adult.
It was suprising just how much Aidann filled out as a young man and Bella definitely appreciated his new look. Aidann immediately went and got himself a job as a "test subject" at the research center in order to fulfill his wish to go into the science career and fulfill his lifetime wish to become a Creature/Robot Cross-Breeder.
He ran into his Uncle Satoshi after getting a job and talked to him for a while...then headed home.
A week went by and things started to settle down at the Chikamori household. The weekend was a quiet time where the individual members of the Chikamori family did their own thing.
Alanna went out to get herself a facial and ended up running into Skip Broke with whom she chatted for a while.
Then she headed to the Diner to grab a bite to eat as it was starting to get late and the next day was school.
Things seem to always be quiet in the cemetery at night...no paranormal activity recently. And...Monday morning started off a new week of study.
And hopefully things should settle down until Brayden comes home from Smuggsworth Prep after graduating.

Nikkei_Simmer

Family Matters

Well, Haruo did spend a lot of time fishing and picking up rocks. He also spoke to his son and had a discussion about the work that he was doing at the lab. It helped cement the friendship with his son a lot more now that Aidann was a young adult and well on his way to making a career and a name for himself in the science field. Aidann was well-liked amongst the other lab workers as a hard worker and always on time. Hopefully that translates into promotions. Haruo did spend a lot of time at the piano too, but concentrated mostly on his fishing. Alanna was getting a lot of calls from Skip Broke and of course, she had to tell him that she was concentrating on her school work and on maintaining her honor roll status through the end of high-school, plus on top of that she had a part-time job at the bookstore so she wouldn't have much time to "hang out". Understandably because of her attention to her schoolwork and the fact that she was dedicated in her studies wanting to achieve her lifetime goal of "master of the arts".
Mayumi popped out for an ectoplasmic excursion and haunted Simis Bachelor's grave marker. Many years a ghost and still causing problems for everybody.
Mornings as usual were hectic and panicked. With Aidann having to head out for work first thing in the morning and both Bella and Alanna having to head off to school, it was always a manic fire drill going out the doors.
Haruo still missed his father deeply and spent a lot of time playing the piano, when he wasn't on the look out for tiberium, of which they were incredibly lucky to have on the property.
If he wasn't playing piano, he was fishing or cooking up something nice to eat on the grill. While the rest of the family was either doing homework or reading skill books or...drafting architectural plans.
But he never failed to show the woman that he loved that she meant the world to him.
And of course, they spent time "watching the stars"....as well as the concrete wall...

Nikkei_Simmer

Bella's Birthday, Graduation...and Missing Simis.

Bella aged up on the weekend to Young Adult. Her birthday was a muted affair, with her father having passed, but her surrogate family tried to make her day as celebratory as possible. And Aidann, her fiance, tried to cheer her up as much as possible (hey, with a ripped body like his, how can any girl not be attracted to him?)
Now that she was a young adult, Bella promptly quit her job...at the spa, massaging hunky men (though not as hunky as her fiance )...and then got herself a job in the Athletic field.
Telling her fiance the good news got Bella a congratulatory kiss...and perhaps a little more... Oooh...naughty.
Graduation for Bella was just around the corner and the whole family headed off to see Bella graduate with honors, considering that she made the honor-roll. It's at this point that I could have potentially sent Bella and Aidann off to university if I had the UL expansion. However, considering that I do have a little special thing from talking with EA support, it looks like UL will be more achievable in the near future. Oh, EA, you have me by the short n' curlies. Thank you very much. I'm now addicted to Sims 3 and won't rest until I have all the EPs.
In the meantime, Don Lothario and Ms. Rhoda Bagley were conducting interpersonal relations.
In other words, she stomped his patootie...
Haruo ran into his Uncle Satoshi, whom he hadn't seen for at least an year and a half after unceremoniously being booted from the house by Yasunobu. Needless to say, their relations were pretty friendly. And it seems as though Satoshi has found himself happiness with some sim named Lorraine. What she looks like, I have NO idea.
But in the midst of all of this, Bella did not forget her father and it was a dark cloud in the midst of her happiness.

Nikkei_Simmer

Happily Ever After Too or Two

Things were extremely quiet at the graveyard - no paranomral activity to speak of. Just some ethereal mist around the headstones.
River and Haruo slept peacefully and comfortably together. So many years together and still as in love with each other as the day they first laid eyes on each other.
The next day, Haruo headed off to the market to drop off a load of fish that he'd caught in their backyard lake. It brought in over §5,000. All his time standing around getting sunburned and sweaty had helped. And the backyard lake was definitely a success.
Brayden had come back from boarding school because for all his father and mother knew, the school wasn't really giving him much of a preparatory start at anything. So it wasn't apparent whether or not the school was just taking the funds and giving him nothing of note in return. So Brayden came home to stay and decided that he would pursue business after graduation so that he could fulfill his LTW of becoming a CEO. The first Friday back at school he ended up talking to Lee Little-Fleming as she had come home with Alanna. And then he promptly went out to smack the Sim Fu dummy around for a while.
His sister on the other hand got grounded after sneaking out at around 3AM to try to toilet-paper the principal's office. Lucky she's on the honor-roll or that could have caused a major problem for future prospects.
One of Aidann's friends called him up and mentioned that he needed to throw a bachelor party. So he did. And it was a rousing success from the number of people who showed up to wish him well in his nuptuals and his married life.
Needless to say, a raucous bachelor party after a full day of work got to poor Aidann who promptly passed out on the floor. Luckily there wasn't any bladder failures from guests.
And poor Bella became the victim of one of Alanna's off-moods when she ran into dye prank that Alanna had left for other members of the family. Needless to say, Bella was not impressed by the prank even though her hair looks really nice in purple.
The next day, Bella and Aidann exchanged vows and Bella McIrish-Bachelor became Bella Chikamori or Mrs. Aidann Chikamori. Ah...weddings.
Hopefully Bella's and Aidann's marriage will be as strong as Aidann's mother's and Father's marriage and their happy beginnings leads to a happy life together.

Nikkei_Simmer

Alanna's Birthday

Bella and Aidann were deeply in love with each other as most newlyweds are. They couldn't keep their hands off each other..
When they weren't doing other stuff, the Chikamoris were busy practicing martial arts. Aidann however was out-classed by his wife who had achieved her brown belt. Needless to say, he had a lot of catching up to do to catch up to Bella's prowess in the athletic field but then again, he was a scientist or working towards becoming one.
Alanna's little crush over Skip Broke proved to be a non-starter as Skip had gravitated towards Betty Simovitch and Alanna pretty much up and snubbed him after that even though her friendly nature prevented her from snubbing him directly to his face. "Sure we'll hang out and go out to places together...NOT!" That's what you get for leading Alanna on, you cad. Luckily for her, she's out of your league, buddy-boy...and she'll be aging up into an adult too. So more opportunities will open up for her to meet Mr. Right. Because you don't want to break her heart and meet Mr. Chikamori, her father, do you? Skippy?
River painted, while Bella worked on the computer increasing her writing skill.
Aidann reported into his "trainer" - a proponent of the martial arts in Riverview and came home a black-belt which Bella promptly congratulated him for in the most enjoyable of ways.
And Grandpa Yasunobu emerged from his crypt...to seek enlightenment. I would of thought that all the answers were on the other side. Ommmmmmm...
But it was fitting and emotional too as Yasunobu hung around for his grand-daughter's aging up party to young-adult.
And Alanna aged up...into a beauty.

Nikkei_Simmer

A New Toy and Physical Fitness

It had been a rather hectic couple of weeks and thus we take a look at the cemetery and see if there has been any activity. Oh...Yasunobu popped out of the ground to read some books. How exactly is he able to read a book when he is incorporeal? Holy geez. That means that Haruo can take everything with him when he goes. OK...that might make things a little difficult for Generation Two. Well...no-one ever said life was easy.
And morning found Bella and Aidann out at the training dummies practicing Sim Fu. And River got an opportunity to break a space rock, which she successfully completed and ended up going down to the stadium to give them the good news. Yep, kiddies, when your mom can break the hardest known substance to simkind with her fists, you don't dare talk back to Momma cause she gon' whoop your ~insert expletive (defining posterior end) of choice~.
Haruo, while River was at the stadium, tried to recapture his long-lost youth and decided to use the basketball hoop. (Thanks @Mikezumi for making me want that basketball hoop... Now I got it.
He's just having way too much fun with this thing. And of course River is going to have to apply some A535 on him to get out those muscle aches. He's not a spring chicken anymore no matter how much he thinks he is.
And neither is River, even though Haruo thinks she's as beautiful as ever.
Coming home from the stadium closed an era of the Chikamori family in Riverview. Packing up all thier things, they decided that they had moved to Riverview so Fiona could see her hometown again before she passed away. Now that she was gone, it was time for the First Generation to go back to Sunset Valley so that they could live out the remainder of their life in the town that they had grown up in. Would this be the tale of the Chikamoris: venturing forth to explore new places...but always returning to their nest to live out the rest of their lives and to pass on? Who knows?
Next Stop: Sunset Valley...

Nikkei_Simmer

You Can't Go Home Again

The old saying is true: You can't go home again. There are too many people gone from the town. Nobody that the Chikamori family remembered. But everybody including Satoshi and Michael Bachelor headed back to Sunset Valley. They even brought the remains along so that they could be reburied in a newly built family cemetery in Sunset Valley.
When the house was built, Haruo and Brayden took advantage of the driveway to build in a little place for the basketball hoop.
They also got some good display areas set up for their Al Simhara/Shang Sim La and Champs Les Sims trinkets
And they really got even more use out of the basketball hoop. Of course, Brayden owned his father. Youth and vitality definitely is a strong point in sports. And as said before, Haruo was no spring chicken.
River enjoyed sculpting and mastered it quite readily, her arts background helping her quite considerably. However...using a chainsaw on topiary probably was not the best idea with a headless giraffe as the end result. And being Level 10 in sculpting certainly helps when one deals with applying soldering to metal sculpting. You are less likely to set yourself on fire. This is probably not the best outfit to be using to sculpt metal with.
Haruo did a lot of fishing...with the lake that he dug out of the back yard.
Brayden didn't care much for the prom. After getting rejected by his crush, he came home and did his homework and went to bed.
River played the piano taking the opportunity to enjoy the sunset as it cast down a orange hue upon her keyboard.
And it is also true when they say that love is blind. Because Alanna met someone new and was so smitten head over heels that she was blind to the fact that they were conversing in the middle of the road in mortal danger of getting run over by the next distracted Sim who drove past in a Margarite Vaguester. Well...at least she won't go alone if that happens.
Can anyone tell me why Keri Cantina-Chikamori and Brady McIrish-Bachelor are sitting out in the Bistro's outdoor tables unattended doing homework at 7PM at night? WTH, Satoshi and Michael?! Jeez look after your kid for heaven sakes.
Meanwhile River and Haruo looked deeply into each others eyes. 27+ years of marriage and they were still as in love with each other as the very day they got married.
And Alanna was writing a love-letter to her new romantic interest. Ah...but it's still an year before Love Day. But even with all that, there was an undercurrent of sadness as they recognized no-one. Everyone had moved out of Sunset Valley that they had remembered.

Nikkei_Simmer

A Day At The Park

Well...School was out Friday and Leisure Day would be the following Monday (Man, I'm loving Seasons - can't wait for all the "weather" to start). While the kids were at work and school, River and Haruo took the opportunity to head down to Central Park to visit the wonderful little extravaganza that had popped up in preparation for Leisure Day.
Their first stop was the sno-cone machine. Haruo mentioned to River that they needed to get one for home which would be a quick cool-down on hot days.
There appeared to be a lot of things to do at the Leisure Day Fair.
...including playing soccer (football - for you Europeans)...which Haruo ventilated a Sunset Valley sim with three consecutive goals while River cheered on from the sidelines.
And they had a water-balloon fight where River and Haruo were on opposing sides. Of course, there were no hard feelings about getting pegged by water-balloons and emerging from that contest soaking wet.
River got an opportunity to go teach a class at the spa, so she went off to do her own thing and Haruo spent some time at the food vendors partaking of their wares. Then he went off to do some rollerskating while waiting for River's return to the park.
He did eventually get the hang of it.
River returned around dusk and got entirely too interested in an ice-cream cone...hmmmm...metaphor? It looks like she's enjoying it a little TOO much.
After a round of pairs roller skating and a spill or two, they went home: happy and full of chili cheese fries.

Nikkei_Simmer

A Lot of Love and an Abduction

The fact that it wasn't Love Day didn't seem to bother the Chikamoris a bit. After all, Alanna had grown up into young adulthood and was ready to strike out and start her own family. Although Haruo and River would have liked her to take her time and meet someone nice. She had met someone whom she was extremely interested in and like her dad, he was 100% Asian of Japanese descent. She invited him down to the Festival, which he readily accepted. But the first chance he got, he went off to start a riot at City Hall. That didn't bode well for him.
But Alanna, gentle and good as her trait was calmed the situation down and extracted her friend from the riot he caused without him getting arrested for causing a disturbance. If Haruo heard about this, he'd have whooped his behind so he couldn't walk for a week and considering that Haruo is a Sim Fu Master, it won't be any skin off his back either to do it too.
By the time she got him extracted (and distracted) from in front of the City Hall, they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Man she works fast. And hopefully he becomes more responsible before they get hitched.
HOLD ON...WAIT A MINUTE!!! ALANNA!!!! (creator mutters: Oh, great now, I get to see them "stride of pride"ing all around town for the next two hours...couldn't you...have...no...evidently you can't..." *grumble*)
And...then they went for dinner...(shaking my head) Haruo is going to go nuclear.
OMG...she went and did it...Well...she's now an engaged woman. Hopefully her father is too engrossed in his own wife to notice the new bauble on his daughter's ring finger...oh...you got lucky this time, Alanna Grace Chikamori. (Ever notice how parents always use ALL your given names when they're giving you what-for...)
Yes, Alanna, your dad was entirely too engrossed with Mom. But then again, River had to give him a massage after that spill he took on the rollerskating rink. "Geez, act your age, Dad." "Watch your mouth, squirt, you're not old enough to not spank anymore." And just before bed, there were a bunch of twinkly lights over head. River was wondering "hmmm, what are those lights outside, maybe I should go investigate..." Wait...WAIT...DON'T... Why do I bother, they don't even listen to me anyways.
Yep...

Nikkei_Simmer

A Rash of Abductions (and an Abduction of the Heart)

Well, the aliens returned River after a couple of hours. Needless to say she was quite puzzled as to what happened up there. "Why did they try to do a brainscan by stuffing something up the direct polar opposite opening?" And her beloved husband slept through it all. It was hard not to be resentful of that.
So in return, she played the guitar in the room as soon as she woke up...which woke Haruo out of a sound sleep. Needless to say he was not impressed...but neither was River with her somnolent husband while she was being abducted by aliens and taken off somewhere to do goodness knows what. At least she was unconscious through most of it.
In the other room, Alanna was blissfully unaware of her mother's extraterrestrial excursion out of the solar system and subsequent return as she placed brush to canvas. It was hot during the day so Haruo tried to harvest the plants as soon as he got up and before the temperature rose above 25 degrees celsius.
River felt a little "probed" so she tried to distract her mind and memories by attack a topiary carving with the chainsaw.
And Brayden decided to see exactly what the Summer Festival in Central Park was like. He didn't find it all that interesting - probably due to teenage angst and came home after only a couple of hours there. He said he had more interesting things to do at home.
Haruo did do some cooking and River exulted over the new kitchen appliances. Supposedly meant to make life easier in the kitchen, but that remains to be seen. While Haruo fished, the rest of the family played in the pool to escape the heat. And Haruo had made good on his promise to get a sno-cone machine and they were able to use it to cool down quickly. It was so easy to get overheated if one wasn't careful.
Yasahiro, Alanna's fiance had to improve his gardening skill for work (he works at the same place as Aidann and ended up doing the gardening that morning until it got too hot to be outside, after which he took a shower. Yes, Yasahiro got moved in as soon as they found out that he was engaged to Alanna.
Haruo is taking a wait and see approach to this new interloper and as Alanna's father, he looks particularly grim and forbidding right now. The good old stone-face father who looks at a potential suitor of his daughter and says. "You make her cry...I make you cry..." The only thing that seemed to cheer him up after the revelation that Alanna had gotten herself engaged to be married was a sno-cone; lots of sno-cones. Maybe he might be able to freeze his brain and hope that things turned out OK. Because if he'd heard correctly, Yasahiro was not the most responsible representative of Simkind and that revelation did nothing but irk him.
In order to soothe injured feelings Haruo suggested an excursion out to the Summer Festival and they all went, including River who was still a bit cheesed off at hubby. And they had some fun at the roller skating rink.
Alanna had a book for work that she had to read so she read at the dinner table and Haruo ate sno-cones.
As William Congreve once said so eloquently, "Musick hath charms to soothe a savage breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak, I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd, And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd..." Ah...such was true as River attacked the piano with a fury not seen by many. Eventually her anger was thus soothed and she allowed Haruo to be near her...and jamming with her. It wasn't certain if he was forgiven because that abduction was truly a traumatic experience.
THEN it happened again for a second time. This was beyond annoying. River was truly getting sick and tired of the view of the galaxy from a front-row seat in an unidentified flying object. And she wasn't at all happy with Bix Vad Boort either no matter how friendly he was or how gentle he said he was going to make his probing. And she told him that he could just take someone else the next time because the next time he came calling, SHE wasn't going.
So a week later they took Yasahiro instead. River: "Hold me please, honey...I think they took a different route up the wazoo this time around."
Yes, it was traumatic for River, even the second time around...and again she resorted to music to soothe her and calm her fears.
We're still waiting to see if Yasahiro is pregnant as a result.
Fall came and with it were the resplendant colours of the changing trees. And as the season progressed, the trees got even more colourful.
Haruo gardened...
And fished so that he could bring his wares into the grocery store and sent three dragonfish from the lake to Fort Gnome to be a part of the Scaly Research Program of which he had absolutely no idea what it was about. The whole thing was classified tighter than Scrooge's wallet.
As Fall progressed, the torrential rains came. Every day was thunder and lightning and rain...bucketfuls of it. Just like home to the Creator. Haruo's hand sprouted an umbrella, the fashionable and smart things to do. River and Haruo went and got themselves a flu shot. And on top of that and the unpleasantness of the abductions, came the icing on the cake. Brayden, the baby of the family, brought home a girl...an ambitious little hoyden who made River wonder where there was a blasted volume switch. She was likeable enough but sometimes she didn't have a filter. River didn't know what to think...as she sized the girl up with a stare. "Just what makes you think you're good enough for my son?" was the first thing that ran through her mind before she viciously bit that down. She wasn't going to behave like Haruo's mother. She would be welcoming and as friendly as she could possibly manage...but darn it...this girl was trying to take her little baby away and River's heart was breaking in two.
Will River warm to this girl? Is all this girl interested in is Brayden's inheritance? So does Brayden believe that he met the girl of his dreams or did he make the biggest mistake and it will turn into a living nightmare?

Nikkei_Simmer

A Little Tidbit of Romance

Well, it seems as though Brayden wasn't the exception to the rule in terms of falling fast into love. Just like Mom and Pop and just like Aidann and Bella and even more so like his sister and Yasahiro: Brayden and Sheryl Taymur hit it off really well...so well, that she stayed over-night for a "taym" sleep-over (pun intended). At least it was a Friday night going into a weekend. And that night they got robbed, but the robber didn't get away with anything due to the fact that the Chikamoris have alarm systems on every single door to the outside. No chance for any burglar to get away with anything. I'm sure those artifacts were too appealing to resist. Well, anyways, Sheryl and Brayden talked about the robbery in the morning.
Brayden and Sheryl decided to head for the art gallery on their first date. It wasn't too interesting even though Sheryl does like art, but they were more interested in each other. And getting to KNOW each other. I'm sure that's going to go over really well with Mama River and Papa Haruo.
Since it was a little too late to go see a movie after spending five hours in the art gallery ignoring the paintings and sculptures of Simonet, Simrevard and others; oh, can't forget Simcasso, they headed off to the theatre to go tour the theatre just to get out of the torrential downpour. There they could happily ignore the practice session of the Sims Drama Club of the entire works of William Simspeare.
When they came out of the theatre they were still entirely too engrossed in each other.
And of course Brayden; went on one knee (OK...I'm done... well... y'know... this was great and all...) Brayden is a teen who has 11 days of school left while I don't know how long Sheryl has....is he going to be waiting for half his young adult life waiting for her to catch up or is she going to age up around when he is? Who knows? I'll have to NRAAS Master Controller her absolute age to find out. But he decides to get engaged the first woman that he sees and likes and dates. Well, y'know what they say, when the Chikamoris fall in love, they move fast.
=That's going to go over REAL well with Mom. The Creator's staying out of this one. You got yourself into this one, Brayden, you get yourself out.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Consequences of Alien Probes on Sim Males


Unfortunately the other story update had to be a small section, because it just didn't fit into the flow of what was going down in my storyline. Sorry, this one's going to be short too.

----

While Brayden and Sheryl were getting familiarized with each other's faces and roaming hands, poor Yasahiro got the abduction of his life...Yes, these are events happening concurrently. When he came home he had the thousand yard stare...
He was so traumatized he was staring blankly at the wall. "No...ONE...can comprehend...the horrors I've seen...it was...absolutely...HORRIFYING...THEY...I can't speak of it..."
All he could do to keep the terrifying visions away were read, eat and sleep and that became his routine until he went to the doctor for some unsubstantiated weight gain reason. He was gaining weight rapidly. This wasn't a good sign. Could they have injected him with some potent toxin that caused him to bloat and possibly explode into meaty chunky bits of flesh like a human gas bomb?
Creator: Nope, Dude, you're pregnant. Hope you enjoyed the alien woohoo...oh sorry... probe.

Nikkei_Simmer

What To Expect When You're Expecting...An Alien Baby.

Spooky Day spawned with the Chikamoris heading to Central Park to see the Spooky Day festivities. Yeah...poor River's stomach didn't do to well in the Haunted House. And considering that Yasahiro was in the family way...he was also queasy too.

Haruo met his cousin, Elias Cantina-Chikamori (Satoshi's son) who was doing a great imitation of a ghost, up to and including floating. Wish ghost costumes in RL were that cool. In RL you drape a bedsheet over your head, make a few OOOOOOO sounds and you're supposed to be a ghost. In Sims 3 you ARE a ghost until you go poof at the end of the trick or treat session. Must be fun to be incorporeal as a costume. But it must be really confusing for the real ghosts around this time of year. "You a ghost?" "Nope" "...but you look like one? How the heck do you float?" "Antigrav shoes..." "You mean they got those now...COOOOOOL"
Satoshi, having to feed a ravenous alien baby, went and got himself some food...then Satoshi, Haruo, Yasahiro and River had a wonderful apple-bobbing contest. Bobbing for apples was fun and Yasahiro won the thing
Being filthy stinkin' rich has to mean for something. So Haruo went and got himself a large skating rink for the backyard.
And unlike in real life, roller skating skills helps increase actual ice-skating skills so both River and Haruo got on the ice and skated. Yep typical Canadins. We live on the ice, eh.
And if you have your own skating rink in your own back yard, well, no one can tell you what to wear or no or where to go...or...say you're only dreaming (oh sorry, got side-tracked there).
After freezing her cute buns on the ice, River came in to check out the new Sizzle Baby Pro Deep Fryer that the Creator had so graciously placed in their home so that they could attack their virtual arteries with FAT and CHOLESTEROL!!! Of which there won't be any consequenced for because there's no such things as myocardial infarctions in the Sims 3. YAY!!! But they still don't have poutine...and that makes this Canadian really annoyed...EH?
Well, Yasahiro had to head in to work on Tuesday and found out that lo and behold, labour happened while at work. And thus he ended up coming home...with a little green alien infant. When given the choice between sending his cute little behind back to his homeworld or keeping him to raise at home. it was a no-contest. Evidently pregnancy had stirred some maternal nurturing instincts in Yasahiro and he opted to raise the child to adulthood. Evidently Alien lifeforms especially change-aliens such as Zlarb (yes, he named the child Zlarb, poor kid) would age much faster than humans would (plus the Creator's antipathy at taking care of infants after his own experiences in RL (being woken up at 1AM in the morning on a regular basis to feed clothe, water and divest the child of poop laden diapers) had soured him on the whole deal and thus has caused him to rapidly age up any Sim infants via birthday cake to toddler. There ya go kid. Welcome to toilet training. Have at it..
And the cute little stinker aged up into an equally cute little alien child form.
And happily ate birthday cake with the rest of his human family. Being a change-alien he opted to change his skin-color to match his human parent (he can go back to green whenever he wants, just that he doesn't want to draw attention to his family. The only things that set him apart are his pupil-less black eyes and his green hair. But he may opt to go back to his green shade of skin when he reaches adult hood. And besides having someone in the family who can call down meteors to drop on Sims that annoy his family is a great thing to have. Yay.

Nikkei_Simmer

Winter Wonderland

Things started to freeze up almost immediately as Fall transitioned into Winter and it wasn't very long before the frost gave way to snow.
And as it got closer to Snowflake Day, of course, the mistletoe went up. Hey, with such a beautiful wife like River, of course, Haruo couldn't resist a smooch under the mistletoe.
The park across the street turned into a veritable Winter Wonderland and all the inland lakes had frozen over.
Snowflake Day was one of Haruo's most favorite holidays and he loved decorating the house and spending time with his wife at the kitchen table.
The town was something out of a Snowflake Day carol and the scenic views would be great for a Snowflake Day Card.
Their fishing pond had frozen over so Haruo and River took the opportunity to go skating on it without the fear of falling through the ice.
Of course, the heir nearly had a close-call when he had the "brilliant" idea that he was going to go out and sleep in a sleeping bag outside in the falling snow. Luckily something kept his father up, whether it was some sort of foreboding feeling, that prevented him from sleeping, but it was enough to keep Brayden from falling into a sleep from where he would never wake up. After which Haruo scolded him and told him to get his hind-end into a hot shower and stay the heck inside.
Hopefully, he won't get the bright idea to try that again.

Nikkei_Simmer

Snowy Vows

The snowfall brought a plethora of things to do and Central Park was one of the more interesting places with a blanket of white fluffy cold stuff. The snowboard half-pipe was a popular place.
As was the skating rink...
Brayden did his homework at the park and enjoyed what little free time he had. He was determined to graduate at the top of his class.
There were very few days in which it didn't snow...and that night after Brayden got home, it really started to come down.
The mistletoe wasn't just for Haruo and River. Evidently Alanna and Yasahiro took advantage of it too. The house just seemed much more empty now that Bella and Aidann had moved into Villa Alto.
Alanna and Yasahiro decided that winter would be the perfect time for a wedding. And considering that both of them had non-biological children (Alanna evidently adopted a young boy...who didn't have a family while they were trying to figure out how to make Alanna an adoptive mother of Zlarb)
Because of the exhorbitant costs of a wedding on the wife's end, the two decided just to get married without the lavish ceremony. And since it was freezing cold, they opted to do the ceremony without the dress...of course though, she had one for the wedding portrait.
As it was, it was a great decisions as the snow started falling during the ceremony...and didn't stop.
Yasahiro ran into Aidann a few days later who apologized for not being able to be there as Bella and he were still having to deal with their two offspring and that Bella wasn't getting much sleep, so he had to be there to take care of the two of them.
And Central Park was gearing up for the biggest Snowflake Day party that they could ever have.

Nikkei_Simmer

Memories

"To love and let go, love and let go, love and let go...it's the single most important thing we can learn in this lifetime.”
― Rachel Brathen

Looking out at the snow, Haruo realized just how fleeting life was, the face that gazed back at him out of the mirror in the morning was weathered and lined with the experiences that he had gone through over the years. As he gazed at the picture of his daughter and her husband, he thought about the many times that he had held her as a child; it seemed like yesterday.
He looked over at the marriage portraits of River and his own wedding, his oldest son and Bella and now Alanna and Yasahiro. And he thought to himself that life went by so fast.
River noting the brooding expression on her husband's face enticed him to go visit his father's grave and River's mother's and then there in that little memorial alcove they built a snowman.
By morning, the snow that had fallen at night had stopped and the morning dawned crisp, cold and clear.
The day was mostly relaxing with River starting a new painting and that evening, they played a game of hoops in the snow, of course, not for very long as it was too easy to get cold.
[img]https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E3UjBN-🐸🐸🐸🐸-g/Wb3SLYqxbeI/AAAAAAAACvY/wrPf7GfZfqwUWJfvvMud6vvqY0jWxQlUgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot-81.jpg[/img]
The next morning, it started to snow heavily again.
And the clouds that covered the sky that afternoon made for a beautiful sunset.

Nikkei_Simmer

With the addition of CMAR_NYC's Asian Face mod and skin morphs, I've decided that since my Sims were originally meant to be Asian...that Haruo and the rest of his family should be redone and given the Asian skins... Thus considering that there is too much difference between Haruo in this current Selfacy and the Haruo that is now newly created... This Selfacy is going to get given a REBOOT.



So...here we go again... Follow me to the new thread.