Currently remodeling this house I found on the Gallery. It'll be on Judith Ward's lot. It was a gorgeous house on it's own and I love it! But, it had a TON of rocks and was raised using terrain tools. The original creator also used the T.O.O.L. Mod in it's creation. I left a couple things he/she created, but had to get rid of most. Some things looked cool too, but were unusable. Plus, it had two bedrooms for kids, washer/dryer and objects for a pet, none of which Essa and Josh will need yet. I still need to figure out what to do about all the things in their current basement as well. I'll most likely either copy their current one and put it on the lot, or perhaps make a greenhouse in the back yard, we'll see.
Here's what I've done so far to the outside. I'll show screenshots of the inside and the completed remodel once it's finished. VERY much a WIP! I'll comment and reply next! Hope y'all had a great day/night!
I could do all that, but I'd want to put it in story form. Like I have been with beachcombing. I thought it would be fun to have him start a collection of stuff from it and then selling the duplicates. I'll have a bit of simoleons from that.
Again, I am double-posting to compensate for missing yesterday. Phew. I'll get this baby born and aged up, and then, I might actively eg take one free day per week or something... This schedule is just a bit too tight right now...
I apologize for the lighting in this post!
The spoiler contains some reassuring thoughts regarding the content of this update, so perhaps read the update first
It won't be too bad for them. I've hinted at it a bit. It's just Greg slowly realizing he has spent all of his youth in this house, tending to babies and stuff, not being able to go out or spontaneously having friends over for a party and basically living his bachelor life. He strikes me as the kind of guy who really needed a few years of living alone, doing stuff how he wants without any boundaries or serious relationships, and he didn't get to do that, and now it's coming up from behind, and he is thinking like "is this all my life will have for the last 15 years and for the next 15 years? Am I never gonna get to do just what I want?" And additionally, the twins are almost out of the house, but then there are Miles and Connor who won't move out for a while, so that won't really be a thing anytime soon. And Sarah getting pregnant again was just the last drop on it.
He grew to actually be glad about the twins' father, the two middle ones were mainly there and loved as well, although he didn't do as much with them, and now comes the challenge Sim, and that was just one too many. This felt just like a logical step in keeping with his character. I would have done this a lot earlier, but I couldn't "burn that bridge" while I needed them to still make babies
The morning started just as any other.
A broken fridge, and Kids everywhere.
Thank you *so* much for watching TV instead of helping me and fixing the fridge...! Really, I appreciate it!
And after the kids went to school, we sat down and had our talk.
Ahem. Let's try that again: We sat down and had a serious talk.
Better.
Sarah: "Greg, What did you mean, when you said that you perhaps didn't want this life?"
Greg: "Well... Not that I didn't like you... But you know, I have spent all of my youth in this house, tending to babies and stuff, not being able to go out or spontaneously having friends over for a party and basically live my own life.
And I didn't even fully realize how much that bothered me until we had our birthdays. You know, a birthday is a big thing usually. But for us? We blew our candles after all the kids went to bed, and the rest of the day was dedicated to them and their enjoyment. No party, no friends over, no going out..."
Greg: "I could do so much more with my life! Go travelling, meet new people, spontaneously move, just be myself without all that luggage! ...Sarah?"
Sarah: "Greg, I know what you mean, but what am I supposed to do? What does this mean for us? I'm pregnant with your baby, almost in the third trimester already, there's four more kids who need Daddy and Mommy..."
Greg: "Well it would have been a start if you started thinking about me and whether I'm happy as much as about your kids! Sophia has a boyfriend, he better treat her right, Mark has done dumb stuff in Science class, Miles is crying all the time and perhaps getting bullied, Connor needs new shoes, what are we gonna do? Ever wondered how I feel?"
Sarah: "Hey, that's unfair! They're our kids!"
Greg: "Well I'm your husband!"
Sarah: "So that's it now? You're telling me you can't do this anymore, and I end up alone with five kids?"
Greg: "No! I love you! But... We really need to solve this."
Sarah: "Promise we'll stick together?"
Greg: "Yeah. Promise. Just... I don't know how I'm feeling. I'll go to Gary's for the afternoon, I haven't properly seen him in so long."
Sarah: "That sounds great. Don't worry, I'll manage with the kids... Else, I'll call you, ok?"
Greg: "Yeah... Great... "
Hey Mate, thanks so much for letting me come over!
This feels better already. I just don't know what to do!
I mean, I really love Sarah, but... all the kids... I want to be free! Do my own thing!
Let's get you a drink. Then you'll feel better.
[Center... Making drinks is important...]
As the day went on, Greg and Gary got increasingly drunk. None of them noticed the critical look Gary's wife Meaghan had as she watched them get completely wasted.
Hey man, come on, let's hit the club! Get out of the house! This can only end well... right?
Yeah. End well. Sure. We can do that!
Characters, Lot, Gallery
Gallery (Sims and houses): Hashtag #onemonthoneworldoneyear, Name "One Sim - Fam. Britton". My gallery name is Noctuara.
Parents: Sarah and Greg Britton. They live on the 20x15 "Comfy Cubby" in Bridgeview, Newcrest.
Kids: Sophia & Mark (Twins)
Greg Britton - Greg is an adult who has a strong interest in Gaming and Computers and is quite a Geek. Unfortunately, he also is a bit slobby and mean. Due to his history, he is a bit troubled, has Bad Manners, is Irresponsible, Argumentative and Insensitive. But he can be nice as well... if he tries his best... (and I help him by x-ing out all his autonomous mean&mischievous interactions from the Parenthood traits) He was working in business, but hated it. So he enrolled for a Programming course and is now a freelance programmer listed with an agency. On the side, he participates in Novice Tournaments.
Sarah Britton - Sarah on the other hand wants to be the best parent possible. She is very neat, good and loves being with her family. She found a job as Freelancer Artist to try and keep the two of them afloat.
Sophia Britton - The firstborn, and the twin of Mark. She is a teenager already. She continues to prefer doing things alone, mostly being outside gardening.
Mark Britton - The secondborn and the twin of Sophia. He is a teenager as well. He likes being outdoors at the river catching some fish, or taking a nap to recover after all the work fishing is.
Miles Britton - The thirdborn. He is a child already. His fun-loving personality is overshadowed by some gloom, and he aims to uncover the secrets of simkind at his science table.
Connor Britton - The fourthborn. He is a toddler at the moment, and is a very wild child full of energy.
others:
Gary Whelan, a friend of Greg from high school. Lives on "Oak Alcove", 20x15, Bridgeview. He is a Bro, Geek and Active. He works as a Game developer.
Fam. Aldrich, the neighbours and friends of Sarah. They live on the 30x20 "Fernpark" in Bridgeview. Elderly Pamela lives here with her Grandchildren after both parents died in a plague at young years. Pamela loves to Garden, cook at spend time with her Grandchildren. And if she had the time (and I the money), she'd love to learn to knit. Readhed Alexia, already a Young Adult, is the image of her mother. She loves to paint, channeling all her emotions on the canvas. She feels heavily responsible for her younger siblings, Tessa and Joey (twins). Tessa loves to make crafts like her big Sister and is very creative, while Joey has a lot of Energy and is very much into sports.
Schedule (subject to change)
I am planning to play for 14 months, starting on the 1st of June with the Main Sim's toddler birthday. In May I will set up the rest of the family and play the Main Sim's baby stage. After that: 2 weeks as a toddler, 1 1/2 months as a child, 3 months as a teen, 3 months as a Young Adult, 3 months as an Adult and 3 months as an Elder for the Main Sim.
For all others, I will use these MCC settings, starting on 1st of June, so it roughly works. (Combined, the Teen, YA, Adult and Elder stages are exactly 365 days right now).
Pregnany: 5 days
Baby: 7 days
Toddler: 14 days
Child: 45 days
Teen: 90 days
Young Adult: 93 days
Adult: 92 days
Elder: 90 days
This might change when I get a feeling for the challenge. I will possibly extend this for a next Gen, or extend the YA and Adult stages, if I get Brindleton Bay and subsequent other worlds. And if I manage to stick around that long.
I will start playing in Bridgeview (Newcrest) with a big family and the Baby No. 5 as main sim. I will move neighborhood each month, alternating the worlds. This starts as soon as the Main Sim turns teen.
I want to work on roughly two aspirations per month with my Main Sim, or, better said, on about 3 goal sets of the "Master Simmer" challenge to try and get all achievements - mainly because with my current packs there are 38 goal sets - 3,1666 per month. (See Rules).
I think with normal play, I'll never get there! But with so much time to stretch out the skilling, it might work. And it will definitely keep me from getting bored.
And now, the drama, the poor choices and the equally poor lighting continue. Whoops. I promise, I'll put more lights in that nightclub! Really!
Again, I hope this is believable. I have never been drunk myself, or had that kind of fight with somebody, or even witnessed that. So... Bear with me? last update | Overview post&rules Update 27- Bridgeview
Sarahs Gregs Diary
I don't exactly remember what happened - truth to be told, I was completely wasted. But I think I managed to piece everything together thanks to Gary and Sarah.
Gary and I were having a good time, loads of fun. We streaked, we danced.
After a while, I was really, really drunk, and one of the other girls was shooting me looks. (No, not this girl, and not that kind of look.)
Her name was... I don't even remember. Cassie? So I danced a bit, and when I got dizzy, she helped me set down.
I don't remember exactly what I said, I have to believe Sarah on that one.
Sarah, you might wonder? Well, she got dangerously near her due date, wasn't able to lift Connor anymore, I hadn't been picking up my phone, but Gary's wife told her where she had gone, so she came to pick me up... Yeah. About as you might expect.
Sarah: "Hey Dear, I'm so happy to see you! I was just thinking about the day we got married, and how our first child was born... And now it's already time for the fifth!"
Sarah: "Now let's get serious. How dare you?! I'm highly pregnant, you tell me you love me, and then you go knock somebody up? Is her baby yours too?!"
Wait. Cassie was pregnant?
Cassie: "No, this baby was concieved through Artificial insemination between me and my wife. And my name is Cameron."
Greg: "Aaah, I see double!"
Sarah: "Well perhaps now you know why getting drunk is really dumb. Come on, let's get home."
"Any explanation?"
Sarah: "You tell me you love me, and then you go get wasted, leave me alone with four kids, and flirt with someone else? Are you out of your mind?!"
Greg: "I'm so sorry Sarah, it wasn't intentional! Just... I was so drunk... I still am..."
Sarah: "Sure, not intentional. By the way - getting drunk was just as dumb as flirting. I'm highly pregnant, I'll probably give birth tonight, we'll have a newborn tomorrow, and you won't be any help whatsoever. Not for the birth, and not tomorrow."
Greg: "I'm so sorry, I just didn't think. I... Let's go outside, the air will help me sober up."
Greg: "Sarah... I promise... I won't disappear on yo. I might have made a mistake, but I didn't mean it, and I won't do it again. We'll figure something out.
I should have thought it through before trying to re-live my twenties on a whim.
Sarah: "Well... We'll see. I'm sorry, I'm just not sure if I can believe all that right now. We'll try to keep all of us happy - and that includes alone-time for you, but also for me. And activities with the kids. You can't just ignore them! Miles would probably be a lot happier if he had a better father figure... And, most definitely, we'll stay together. You have to promise you won't walk out on us. Okay?"
Greg: "Promise."
Sarah: "Uh-oh, no time for that now! Come on, help me inside!"
Greg: "What? Me? Why now? I'm still half wasted, and my head hurts... Oh. Is she having the baby? I should've really picked another day to get drunk..."
Characters, Lot, Gallery
Gallery (Sims and houses): Hashtag #onemonthoneworldoneyear, Name "One Sim - Fam. Britton". My gallery name is Noctuara.
Parents: Sarah and Greg Britton. They live on the 20x15 "Comfy Cubby" in Bridgeview, Newcrest.
Kids: Sophia & Mark (Twins)
Greg Britton - Greg is an adult who has a strong interest in Gaming and Computers and is quite a Geek. Unfortunately, he also is a bit slobby and mean. Due to his history, he is a bit troubled, has Bad Manners, is Irresponsible, Argumentative and Insensitive. But he can be nice as well... if he tries his best... (and I help him by x-ing out all his autonomous mean&mischievous interactions from the Parenthood traits) He was working in business, but hated it. So he enrolled for a Programming course and is now a freelance programmer listed with an agency. On the side, he participates in Novice Tournaments.
Sarah Britton - Sarah on the other hand wants to be the best parent possible. She is very neat, good and loves being with her family. She found a job as Freelancer Artist to try and keep the two of them afloat.
Sophia Britton - The firstborn, and the twin of Mark. She is a teenager already. She continues to prefer doing things alone, mostly being outside gardening.
Mark Britton - The secondborn and the twin of Sophia. He is a teenager as well. He likes being outdoors at the river catching some fish, or taking a nap to recover after all the work fishing is.
Miles Britton - The thirdborn. He is a child already. His fun-loving personality is overshadowed by some gloom, and he aims to uncover the secrets of simkind at his science table.
Connor Britton - The fourthborn. He is a toddler at the moment, and is a very wild child full of energy.
others:
Gary Whelan, a friend of Greg from high school. Lives on "Oak Alcove", 20x15, Bridgeview. He is a Bro, Geek and Active. He works as a Game developer.
Fam. Aldrich, the neighbours and friends of Sarah. They live on the 30x20 "Fernpark" in Bridgeview. Elderly Pamela lives here with her Grandchildren after both parents died in a plague at young years. Pamela loves to Garden, cook at spend time with her Grandchildren. And if she had the time (and I the money), she'd love to learn to knit. Readhed Alexia, already a Young Adult, is the image of her mother. She loves to paint, channeling all her emotions on the canvas. She feels heavily responsible for her younger siblings, Tessa and Joey (twins). Tessa loves to make crafts like her big Sister and is very creative, while Joey has a lot of Energy and is very much into sports.
Schedule (subject to change)
I am planning to play for 14 months, starting on the 1st of June with the Main Sim's toddler birthday. In May I will set up the rest of the family and play the Main Sim's baby stage. After that: 2 weeks as a toddler, 1 1/2 months as a child, 3 months as a teen, 3 months as a Young Adult, 3 months as an Adult and 3 months as an Elder for the Main Sim.
For all others, I will use these MCC settings, starting on 1st of June, so it roughly works. (Combined, the Teen, YA, Adult and Elder stages are exactly 365 days right now).
Pregnany: 5 days
Baby: 7 days
Toddler: 14 days
Child: 45 days
Teen: 90 days
Young Adult: 93 days
Adult: 92 days
Elder: 90 days
This might change when I get a feeling for the challenge. I will possibly extend this for a next Gen, or extend the YA and Adult stages, if I get Brindleton Bay and subsequent other worlds. And if I manage to stick around that long.
I will start playing in Bridgeview (Newcrest) with a big family and the Baby No. 5 as main sim. I will move neighborhood each month, alternating the worlds. This starts as soon as the Main Sim turns teen.
I want to work on roughly two aspirations per month with my Main Sim, or, better said, on about 3 goal sets of the "Master Simmer" challenge to try and get all achievements - mainly because with my current packs there are 38 goal sets - 3,1666 per month. (See Rules).
I think with normal play, I'll never get there! But with so much time to stretch out the skilling, it might work. And it will definitely keep me from getting bored.
So Jules sold a couple of masterpieces and picked up a few freelance writing gigs, and things are looking good for them financially for next month, even with the purchase of a new house to do first. So since there's nothing left in Strangerville for them to do, I decided just to make sure everything would be ready for the new month tomorrow.
First I moved Ruby in with Mario, since she will not be joining them on their vacation, a fact that she was a bit disappointed about since going to the jungle sounded very cool. Maybe later this month, Ruby, but for now, this is Jules and Emmett's special trip I aged up Gemma and Josie, Ruby's half sisters, as well, and they are pretty much just little Becca clones as I suspected. I honestly couldn't tell you who is who haha.
I moved Pickle in with Dell and Sofia for the duration of the vacation too, since I've had some issues with needing a vet in Selvadorada when on vacation in the past and it's just something I'd rather not deal with this go around. No pictures for that since I could move Pickle in with them without needing to load up their house.
Then I downloaded a vacation home for Jules and Emmett. Another lovely gallery find made by PaniScarlett, and I didn't really change much here either just since it was so lovely as is. If anyone was curious as well, their Oasis Springs house was made by ShibaSimSim and Kristine's house by Machine170 - just so I can give credit where credit is due
More house photos here
Annndddd I just decided to go for it and give Jules long hair since I was going through my CC styles and realized I didn't hate this one. Both Emmett and Jules got JA makeovers as well. I moved them into their Oasis Springs home and sent them on vacation, so they are ready to go for tomorrow
May 26 - University - WK 2 - Sunday - Olympic Snowboard Competition - Part 2
Kiyoshi and the rest of the Olympic Ski and Snowboard Team had gathered in front of the Onsen for the final pep talk by Coach Janks. Kiyoshi should have been listening, but his mind was on his visit with Sakura last night. So, Sakura had invited Wolfgang for the weekend. He saw how Wolfgang had looked at Sakura, and it had upset Kiyoshi. Sakura, however, seemed oblivious to the way Wolfgang felt about her, but Kiyoshi knew. He saw it in Wolfgang's eyes. Kiyoshi didn't know if it was lust or love, but he did know that Wolfgang desired Sakura.
When the door had opened and he saw Sakura again, he was overcome by her beauty. And even though Sakura was warm and welcoming to him, she had seemed a bit distant. He knew he had made a mistake with Kaori at the camp, but he had kept his word to Sakura and had had no further contact with Kaori. In fact, there were so many times that Kaori had wanted to talk to him, but he had brushed Kaori aside.
It had been hard to do, because after he had "been with" Kaori at the camp, his feelings for her had surfaced. Such strong feelings...like he didn't want to be with anyone but Kaori. And having Kaori there at the camp so close to him had almost been unbearable. Kaori was constantly on his mind. He wanted to kiss her and take her in his arms, and feel her body close to his. He had felt so loved when he had been with her, and had even told Kaori that he loved her, too. He was so confused about these feelings he felt for Kaori.
He wanted to talk about his feelings for Kaori with Sakura, but didn't want to hurt Sakura again. He remembered the night he had told Sakura about what had happened between him and Kaori, and he saw how upset Sakura had been. He couldn't do that to her again. He couldn't see her like that again. He just had to stifle these feelings he had for Kaori, and start over with Sakura. That was what he would do, because Sakura had no-one else in her life but him.
Kiyoshi cared for Sakura...she was beautiful and talented and they had compatible lifestyles. They were good together. And up on the summit, he had indeed loved her...hadn't he?...although he had never told her. Kiyoshi didn't quite understand why he couldn't tell Sakura he loved her when he so easily had said it to Kaori. Once he had felt something so unique with Sakura that he had never felt with another sim. And he wanted to feel that way again. But now his feelings for Sakura just felt...different. Perhaps when he and Sakura went on the climb together. it would rekindle what they had felt before. Kiyoshi hoped so, because he wanted to make things right between them again. Kiyoshi was sure that Sakura was the one for him. Wasn't she? And on the summit, he wanted to ask Sakura to marry him, and then, they would become one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Coach Janks interrupted Kiyoshi's thoughts and said they were heading to the gondola. Kiyoshi had to focus. Coach Janks had a lot of faith in him and thought he could win the gold. Kiyoshi put everything out of his mind and headed to the gondola with the team. He saw Sakura standing there with Wolfgang as he ran by and waved at her. "Everything will be fine", Kiyoshi thought, "When Sakura and I are alone and go on the climb together..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They gathered at the top of the gondola and the team was encouraged to drink their energy juice before they began. They were hyped! Coach Janks called the Ski Team over to the slalom course, and was at the starting line with each of them.
First one to ski was Ava Von Badd, who was a resident of Newcrest. Ava had been in and out of foster homes for as long as she could remember. A ski instructor saw her potential, and started training her, and with his help, Ava discovered her talent for skiing. Ava headed to the starting gate and was off.
And Ava does the first jump with good lift and a nice landing.
Ava finishes the course with a time of 2:10.19. Congratulations Ava!
Although Ava did a good run, she feels she could have done better.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Second to do the slalom course was Jade Matsumoto, a resident of Mt. Komorebi. Jade has been a snowbaby since she was a toddler. Being from Mt. Komorebi, Jade is favored to win.
Jade is at the starting gate, and it's a go!
Oh oh! It looks like Jade hit a patch of ice and is a bit wobbly on the top of the slope. Will she be able to recover in time for the first jump?
Oh no! Jade wipes out at the end of the course. Her time is 3:23.20. That is unfortunate.
Jade is devastated and felt she was just not as ready as she had thought she was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next competitor was Devontae Rodgers. A relative unknown, Devontae started skiing when he was just 6, and has been involved in the sport ever since. Devontae is the last member of the Mt. Komorebi Ski Team to compete. Can he beat Ava's score to secure the gold?
And Devontae proceeds to the starting line. The signal is given and he is off!
Look at the lift. That definitely has gained him some points in this competition.
Oh, but he looks like he may be in trouble on the landing and catches a snag on his ski tip. Will he be able to recover?
Oh, no, Devontae! And unfortunately, Devontae wipes out at the finish line with a score of 3:24.20.36
The gold medal for the Downhill Slalom goes to Ava Von Badd. Congratulations, Ava!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Coach Janks was thrilled that a member of the Mt. Komorebi Ski Team had won gold. And now onto the Snowboard course. Coach Janks had several really good snowboarders on his team who were also fiercely competitive.
Blaze Snowden. son of developer Knox Snowden, has the edge and mindset to win a medal in this sport. Good luck, Blaze. Coach Janks accompanied Blaze to the starting line, and he was off!
And Blaze comes to the first jump and does a "McTwist". Outstanding!
And look at that "Ollie" that Blaze just did. Amazing! Blaze will be hard to beat in this competition! He is on fire!
And Blaze shassays down the hill leading the Mt. Komorebi Snowboard Team with a score of 82. Impressive!
Even though the judges were pleased with Blaze's performance, Blaze himself is not.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There are only two competitors left on the Snowboard Team. Kaori Nishidake and Kiyoshi Ito. Kaori comes over to Kiyoshi.
Kaori: "Kiyoshi, I just wanted to wish you good luck."
Kiyoshi looked at her, "You, too Kaori. And...watch your entry on that second jump..."
Kaori: "Thanks, I will...." she said and looked longingly at Kiyoshi, "Oh Kiyoshi...why does it have to be like this between us? Why won't you talk to me...I need to talk to you. Why have you been ignoring me?"
Kiyoshi: "Kaori...please...not now...I can't...I'm sorry...what happened at the camp...it shouldn't have...I am going to be with Sakura after today...she's my girlfriend...she needs me...I am going on the summit climb with her and I am going to ask her to marry me...I'm sorry Kaori...I can't...I just can't be with you..."
Coach Janks called Kiyoshi to the starting line.
Kiyoshi: "I've got to go..."
Coach Janks told Kiyoshi he could win the gold. "Show us what you've got, Kiyoshi! You're the best I've ever seen!" said Coach Janks. Kiyoshi closed his eyes and let his mind concentrate on what he had to accomplish and pushed off from the starting line.
Kaori looked after him and felt like she was dying inside, "I love you Kiyoshi," she called after him, but he had already started down the slope.
Kiyoshi Ito, from Mt. Komorebi, is the son of Olympic skier gold medalists Megumi and Naoki Ito. Kiyoshi is the favored one to win this competition. Let's see if he can do it. Go Kiyoshi!
Kiyoshi flew down the slope like he was on fire and readied himself for the first jump. Kiyoshi did a "suitcase" grab and got more air under his board. And a perfect landing, too.
Kiyoshi wastes no time, and if he's going for the gold, he's giving it all he's got, and does a superb "Rewind", the hardest snowboard trick.
And he aced it! Kiyoshi comes down and comes close to the gate in a precarious turn.
The second marker, and he notices it is a bit icy on that turn, but flashes by the marker without incident.
Kiyoshi has a perfect run and feels good about it.
Kiyoshi rushed over to where Sakura was standing.
Sakura: "Kiyoshi, oh my gosh! That was the best run I've ever seen you do! I am certain that you beat Blaze..."
Kiyoshi: "Sakura, that was such a rush. I just have to wait for the others to finish. Oh man, I could climb several mountains with the way I feel now. We'll just wait for the scores, and then we can go on the climb. I am so excited to go with you..."
Wolfgang looked at the two of them and realized he couldn't stay there any longer. He didn't want to see Kiyoshi kiss Sakura when he won. And although Wolfgang was no expert in snowboarding or Olympic scores, he knew Kiyoshi would win the gold. And Kiyoshi would win Sakura, too.
Wolfgang: "Congratulations Kiyoshi on that rad run. And be careful on the climb...I have to go Sakura...be safe, okay..." he said avoiding her eyes.
Sakura looked at Wolfgang, "You're leaving, now? The competition isn't over yet. Kaori still has to compete. Won't you stay to the end? There's the medal presentation, and..."
Wolfgang looked at Kiyoshi: "I think it is better if I leave now. I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura. Take care of yourself..." he said as he walked away.
Sakura looked after Wolfgang and didn't understand why he would leave now. Sakura watched him walk away and it felt like a piece of her heart was going with him.
Kiyoshi: "Kaori is the last one to compete. I'll stay here with you. The judges haven't announced my score yet. They are still tabulating it. I can't wait for us to go on the climb together, Sakura. I have something very special planned for us..."
Sakura wasn't really listening to Kiyoshi and just nodded. All she could think about was Wolfgang.
There was an announcement and Kiyoshi received a 98.00 score on his run.
Sakura heard the score and felt happy for Kiyoshi, "Kiyoshi! That's the highest score I've ever heard of! Oh my gosh! You are going to win this!"
Kiyoshi: "Unless Kaori can get a perfect score. She's a pretty awesome snowboarder," he said looking up at the slope.
At the top of the slope, Coach Janks was giving Kaori some last minute instructions. Just then, she heard Kiyoshi's score and smiled. He aced it, she thought. Kaori knew that she had never beaten Kiyoshi, but she could sure beat Blaze. She would win a medal and stand beside Kiyoshi on that podium. With a determined look in her eye, she was off.
Kaori Nishidake is the granddaughter of the esteemed Shigeru Nishidake, who, we all know is a staunch conservationist and preservationist of Mt. Komorebi. Kaori came to live with her grandparents after the tragic death of her parents. Kaori has been snowboarding since she came to Mt. Komorebi and the question on everyone's mind is - will she beat her ex-boyfriend, Kiyoshi Ito's, score?
And Kaori demonstrates a superb "melon" grab. What showmanship!
Kaori comes to the first jump and does a daring double "supercat twist".
Kaori is past the jumps, and now has to make it down the slalom course. Oh yeah, close to the marker...
She's coming to the second marker. This one was always a problem for her with the sharp turn right after it. She was going to make it today, though...
Kaori was almost at the finish line when she glanced up and saw Kiyoshi and Sakura standing together. Her heart sank, and she lost her concentration for just a second, but that is all it took, and her board caught the ice.
She tried to compensate, but fell hard...rolling down the slope, her snowboard hitting her as she went.
Kaori keeps falling down the slope and then lays still past the finish line and blacks out.
No movement...nothing...
There was a shocked silence from the crowd and an overhead announcement was heard to clear the course. It all seemed surreal, as Sakura saw the first aid attendants rushing forward. And then beside her, Sakura heard Kiyoshi's anguished cry "Nooooooo! KAORI!" and saw Kiyoshi running towards Kaori's prone figure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Notes:
Coach Janks (also known as Mike Jankowski), is actually the name of an Olympic Ski and Snowboard Coach with the most wins in the Olympics.
The snowboard terms used are just ones I pulled from the web that sounded cool. And a bit of trivia...the highest snowboard score ever achieved was 98.00. "Mark McMorris earns highest score in Snowboard Slopestyle history. Back-to-back gold medalist Mark McMorris scores a 98.00 in Men's Snowboard Slopestyle final at X Games Aspen 2013." As well, the "rewind" is the hardest snowboard trick to perform.
Sometimes the game gives you gifts...and Kaori falling changed my storyline...
@SoulGal7 Whoa, that post! I was curious to know about everybody's feelings, I hope they will be able to solve things. And I hope Kaori and her baby will be ok! *bites thumb*
Reach the top of Drama Club (level 3/4) ((-must be teen to earn the last promotion))
Improve Character Values (5/5 positive values in range)
Responsible ✔
Empathy ✔
Manners ✔
Conflict Resolution ✔
Emotional Control ✔
Completed
Top-Notch Toddler
Completed Artistic Prodigy
Completed Rambunctious Scamp
Completed Social Butterfly
Completed Whiz Kid
Reached the top of the Scouts
Earned A in elementary school
Collected Voidcritter cards (20/20)
Collect Holiday Plushies (8/8)
Collect Decorative Eggs (12/12)
Today is the last day of the month and the last day Mia will be a child. She will age up as soon as possible tomorrow, but I am hoping Skye will have the new baby before Mia moves out. As for Mia, she has completed everything she can do as a child. So she is going to school today to get her out of the house. And I am going to be torturing Zoe to get her to Happy Toddler. I am not even going to think about Top-Notch for her.
I cannot even remember what this was. It is morning, everyone is eating cake for breakfast despite the leftover turkey and fresh cooked egg scramble.
The toddlers are filling up their bellies although Rex and Rey will be on their own today.
Zoe has to get to level 3 in all her skills. Today. She woke up with level 3 movement, so that just leaves four more skills.
Zoe masters the potty and then heads out to watch Skye. Skye took an audition that requires level 5 guitar. She has never played guitar before so will be spending the day practicing. Zoe needs a bath really bad but she just doesn’t have time today.
Rex wanders out and watches for a minute and then decides he should be elsewhere. Zoe doesn’t have a choice yet.
The kids get back from school, Eli with a B and Mia happy that this is her last day of elementary school.
At some point, I went to check on the twins and found them in bed.
Skye is almost there. No, she actually did it. Level 0 to Level 5 in one focused day.
Zoe is on her last skills and just needs to get to level 3.
{sigh}
Zoe is done with her skills – level 3 across the board. She is starving, stinky, exhausted, and has really not had any fun today. She is also lonely. But she is a Happy Toddler and that is good enough.
I already finished my daily task, but now I just wanted to complete what I started, and then I was ready to go.
(It's a game, and I called it Bryon's Zoomies, lol)
Maybe if I work hard enough today, I’ll get a promotion (and in that case, I would be at the top of this career).
...
And that's exactly what happened. They say that the sky is the limit, and you know? It’s true what they say!
I continued knitting with a smile on my face.
(and soon enough, I also finished the knitting aspiration!! Finally!!)
While Naoki prepared dinner for us, I looked down at the ugly crafted guitar from Johnny.
(Bryon) “Ahh... Why did he even bother to give me this back?”
(Naoki) “Because you’re his big brother and that was his first gift to you. Did you ever try it out?”
(Bryon) “It probably sounds horrible.”
(Naoki) “Only one way to find out.”
It indeed sounded horrible, but that was possibly my own fault. It’s not that I’m a musician or have some hidden talents in music... But I was enjoying what I was doing, actually.
(Bryon) “I feel a little sad that we’ll move out tomorrow. I enjoyed being Johnny’s neighbour.”
(Naoki) “I’ll miss it too... But no worries, we’ll visit him often, okay?”
(Bryon) “Yeah. We’ll say goodbye to him tomorrow before we leave, right?”
(Naoki) “Of course.”
As we were eating dinner, the doorbell rang.
(Naoki) “Ah, that’ll be Rene.”
(Rene) “Good evening. I hope you enjoyed your meal. Did you have enough time to settle everything, sir Saito? Do you need me to pack something for you?”
(Naoki) “Everything is packed already, Rene. But thank you.”
(Rene) “Our flight to Del Sol Valley tomorrow is pretty early. Be sure to be awake on time.”
(Naoki) “We will.”
(Rene) “Okay then. I’ll be back tomorrow to pick you up.”
(Naoki) “Have a nice rest of your evening, Rene.”
(Rene) “Thank you, sir Saito.”
(Naoki) “You should really stop calling me that.”
(Rene) “I’m sorry. I’m just so used to it. I’ll practice.”
Rene left the house, and after getting the kids in bed, we went to bed ourselves.
(Naoki) “Say... Why didn’t you want to tell Rene that you’re a spellcaster? We don’t have to take the flight.”
(Bryon) “Well, I’ve never been in a plane before and I actually want to see his face when our house is standing there in De Sol Valley tomorrow.”
(Naoki) “Oh, you...”
(Bryon) “What? Be happy that I’m actually starting to like this all.”
(Naoki) “Oh, I am very happy.”
(Bryon) “Is that so?”
(Naoki) “Yes...”
I thought long and hard about this. I've fallen so far behind in what I wanted to do with Jackson that it's becoming a chore to try and keep up now. I'm going to keep Jackson on the Gallery and may come back to him another time, but for now I think I am going to focus on my other gameplay non-story Plain ol' Legacy. I'm really having a blast playing that and just blogging what is going on.
@permanentrose
I want to thank you for all your comments the most. I don't think I'll have this as a give up and never return to story. It's just on the backburner for now.
@Karababy52
This is a fun idea and hope others try your challenge as time goes on. It's another great way to explore all the Worlds and different Aspirations that come with them. Thanks for putting it together.
I'll still lurk in here just to look at all the fun daily screenshots. I've been enjoying those using custom Poses and those just using the generic poses that the game does. It's fun seeing the setups you all come up with. I'll eventually come back to this perhaps and instead of doing a redo, I'll just keep going where I left off, but change the dates.
The next morning was hectic. In and amongst the moving truck arriving, and everyone finishing last minute packing, Marnie was trying to make sure that at least everything would be “fixed” for whoever the new tenants were.
.. And I got this popup. Of course, I clicked yes. Because I really can’t see her liking what she had to do. Way to gut it out, Marnie.
Bennie, on the other hand, was wheeling and dealing on the phone, getting the final money details settled. While all this was going on, the power went out. Which was hilarious (Bennie hadn’t paid the bills) .. and sad at the same time. Finally, all the furnishings that belonged to them were packed up, everyone had their suitcases, and they were all standing around looking anxious in the snow.
All done. Goodbye store. The keys were turned over, the moving truck started up, and the family was piling onto the bus to meet the truck at their new home.
After dropping off all the new furniture, Benji was in charge of watching all the kids while Marnie and Bennie went on a major shopping spree to get the stuff they felt they couldn’t live without. Marnie insisted on completing the kitchenette for downstairs, and both main bathrooms (upstairs Master and the Downstairs one) had to have some plumbing ordered. They needed living room furniture, kitchen appliances, and Bennie stuck a Barbeque on the list, while Marnie splurged on some playground equipment. Since there had been nothing in the closets but cobwebs and trash, closet shelving had to be purchased, as well. Luckily, they managed to find most things cheap at local thrift stores. With far lighter wallets, and deliveries scheduled for the rest of the day, Bennie and Marnie once again headed home. To the NEW home.
(Upstairs half bath)
(Laundry Room)
The day was full of rearranging what little furnishings they had and the new things arriving, and before long, the place was truly looking like a real home. Everyone had claimed their living space.
Bennie and Marnie were upstairs in the green Master Bedroom.
(Master Bath)
Benji had their old Murphy bed in the main area of the basement.
(Kid's Downstairs Bathroom)
(Utility Room)
Phoenix and Myles were sharing the brown room.
The twins were in the blue room.
… and Jazmyn was given the pink room.
By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted.. but not a single mouse had been seen all day, and Marnie had been able to do a grocery run to fill up the “new” fridge. The first dinner had been cooked, everything had been delivered, and everyone was too tired to talk at the dinner table. Finishing their meals, everyone trudged happily off to their rooms.
Marnie was still rearranging things in the kitchen, but Bennie was out on the deck, admiring his shiny new barbeque with barely a glance at the new playground equipment for the kids. This was going to take some getting used to, but as far as Bennie was concerned, life was pretty much perfect. He didn’t figure it was going to take more than a week to get that old yellow truck running, and before you know it, he was sure he would be a successful comedian.
Right before bed, Bennie paid the new bills, and went to herd the last of the kids inside. It had been a long day.
@LegacySims2017 I'm sad to see you go, but I totally get it, you have to focus on what you're enjoying and what you have time for!
@IllusoryThrall Wow what a change in that house, amazing job going from trashed to livable! I appreciate all the work you put into getting the screenshots all through this journey too.
@Karababy52 I love the house. Gorgeous! And I'm excited to see what you do with the interior. You always do such fantastic builds.
@Skeilah Yay for completing the knitting aspiration! That one truly is a relief to finish since it's so tedious.
@sassytxbrat I'm excited to see teenage Mia's new look tomorrow!
May 27 - University - WK 2 - Sunday - Make You Feel My Love - Part 1
Kaori's body lay prone on the ground as Kiyoshi approached. Was she breathing? Was she unconscious?
Kiyoshi thought: ["Why had he treated her the way he did when she just wanted to talk to him? Why did he have to ignore her when it was Kiyoshi who had been weak and been "with her" at the camp? Now he would never be able to tell her how he felt..."]
Kiyoshi suddenly saw movement...Kaori was getting up.
He rushed over to help her up.
Kiyoshi wrapped his arms around her, "Oh my gosh! Are you all right? Kaori, I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to you. I'm so sorry I shut you out. Please forgive me."
Kaori: "Oh Kiyoshi...I'm...I'm alright...You were...you were worried about me?"
Kiyoshi: "Yes...and I can't imagine my life without you. I have been a fool, I am so sorry...You're the one I want in my life...only you...I love you Kaori..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sakura saw Kiyoshi and Kaori together and had an overwhelming sadness descend on her. She should be happy for them, she knew, but it had caused her so much heartache, and now, she knew it was all over between Kiyoshi and her. Yes, she was going to tell him she didn't love him, but still, seeing Kiyoshi with someone else hurt. All these months of thinking he loved her and even at the hospital...had he loved her briefly then or not? Oh gosh! So many secrets...so many tears...
Sakura went over to them and smiled at Kaori and dug in her bag, and handed Kaori the ultrasound photo.
Sakura: "I haven't told him," she said, "I won't spoil it for you..."
Kiyoshi looked between Sakura and Kaori not understanding what was going on.
Kaori: "Kiyoshi, I have something to tell you...something that Sakura already knows...I am...I am expecting a child...our child..."
Kiyoshi looked at Kaori unable to speak.
Kaori: "I sent Sakura this ultrasound photo because I was hoping that she would tell you because you were avoiding me. I was hoping, then, that you would come to talk to me. I know you wanted to be with Sakura, and...I...I...was hoping that you would want the child to still be a part of your life..."
Kiyoshi: "A baby? You're pregnant? And you've been trying to tell me? Oh Kaori...I am so sorry. .."
Kaori showed Kiyoshi the photo, "This is a photo of the baby...our baby..."
Kiyoshi: "Oh Kaori...you could have been hurt...and the baby...something could have happened...I can't believe it...I'm going to be a father...I'm so happy Kaori..."
Kiyoshi looked at Sakura and asked Kaori if he could have some time alone with Sakura. One of the first aiders came over and said they needed to check Kaori. Kaori looked at Kiyoshi and nodded her head.
Sakura saw how Kiyoshi looked at Kaori and she knew. Kiyoshi used to look at Sakura that way, and in that instant, Sakura knew that Kiyoshi was in love with Kaori.
Sakura: "Kiyoshi, I can't go on that mountain climb with you. I know I made a promise, but so much has changed since then, and...I'm so sorry...I still care so much for you, but I'm...I'm not in love with you anymore. I was for a very long time, but I'm not the same person who climbed that mountain with you the first time. And I don't blame you for what happened at the camp. I've forgiven you for that, but I think sometimes things happen for a reason, and maybe we were just not meant to be. You need to stay here and be with Kaori. She loves you and..." Sakura's voice cracked a bit when she said it, "...you love her, too. She is the one who you need to be with, not me..."
Kiyoshi: "Oh, Sakura, I never meant for this to happen. I never meant for what happened at the camp to happen. But you're right, we have both changed. We're different people now. And when I met you, I had never felt like I did with anyone else but you. I thought we were destined to be together...forever. And I wanted to feel like that again...with you...and I wanted to go to the summit with you and rekindle that feeling. I was going to ask you to marry me, Sakura...to put all these feelings I had for Kaori aside and be with you. But now, I know, it just wouldn't have worked. I care about you Sakura, and always will, but you're right, I am in love with Kaori. When I saw her on that slope not moving after her fall, my life flashed before my eyes, a life without her, and I couldn't bear it. And now that I know she is pregnant with our child, yes, I want to be with her. I am so sorry, Sakura. I never wanted to hurt you."
Sakura covered her eyes for a moment and cried.
Sakura looked at Kiyoshi: ["Kiyoshi would have married me even though he was in love with someone else because he didn't want to hurt me..." she thought.]
Sakura knew what she had to do, "Kiyoshi, I release you. I want you to be happy, and I know that you will be so much happier with Kaori. You need to be with the one you love. I feel...I feel it's best if we are just friends..."
Kiyoshi shook his head and agreed, "Sakura, I will always care about you...I hope you know that...and I will always treasure the time we spent together...and the time we had together at the summit..."
Sakura gave Kiyoshi a final kiss on the cheek, "Goodbye, Kiyoshi. I wish you and Kaori nothing but happiness..."
And with that, Sakura walked sadly away feeling the tears run down her cheeks......
Sakura had no-one now...Kiyoshi was in love with Kaori...Kaori was in love with Kiyoshi and they were going to have a baby together...
...and Sakura was in love with Wolfgang...and Wolfgang...just loved her as a friend...Sakura thought that sometimes there were no happy endings. "Oh Sofu (grandfather), I feel so alone", she whispered.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The medal presentation confirmed that Kiyoshi Ito won the gold medal in the Olympic Snowboard competition, and even with her almost fatal accident, Kaori Nishidake won the silver medal with a score of 87 in the Snowboard Competition. Ava Von Badd won the gold medal for Downhill skiing. Coach Janks was proud of his medal winners and proud of all his team members.
When everyone had left, Kaori and Kiyoshi stood alone at the foot of the Yamachan statue.
Kaori: "Congratulations, Kiyoshi! Your parents will be so proud of you..."
Kiyoshi: "It does not matter what they think of me any longer, only what you think of me. I am not perfect, and I probably never will be. Someone once told me that 'We are all imperfect, but that this imperfection is a beautiful part of each one of us. It's what makes us the person we are.'"**
Kiyoshi: "I hope that you will accept me for who I am, Kaori...I will try to be the best sim I can for you and our baby...I love you, Kaori."
Kaori: "Kiyoshi, there was never any doubt in my mind, that you were the most perfect sim...for me... I love you, Kiyoshi."
River had just finished watching the medal presentation and was checking the info board, when he saw some movement near the Yamachan statue. He turned around and saw...horror of horrors...Kiyoshi and Kaori kissing! Like really kissing!
River thought, "Oh my plumbobs! Kiyoshi was cheating on Sakura! That snake! River knew that Kiyoshi had been hiding something. Dang! Poor Sakura! He knew then that he had to tell Wolfgang." River took a quick photo of Kiyoshi and Kaori in case Wolfgang didn't believe what River had seen.
River quickly texted Wolfgang: "URGENT! Where the heck are you bro?"
Wolfgang texted back: "At Izakaya Ippai bar having a few waiting for you..."
River texted back: "Stay there, don't move!".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Notes:
**In chapter - January (Friday) - DAY 28 - A Gift From The Heart - Sakura actually gives Kiyoshi a bowl with the cracks filled in with gold, or the art of 'kintsugi' and says the "imperfect" line to Kiyoshi.
Sakura had a sad moodlet because...and this is so sad...Kiyoshi did an autonomous "hold hands" with Kaori. Sakura saw him do it and got jealous and had the sad "drifting love" moodlet, which lasts for 12 hours. I couldn't believe that Kiyoshi did this, when he was maxed in romance with Sakura and only had a little pink with Kaori. I really felt bad for Sakura when this happened. When she told Kiyoshi she just wanted to be friends, he just took it like it was no big deal, and their entire pink romance bar vanished. Nothing left. I was just expecting that maybe Kiyoshi would be upset or something that Sakura would break up with him, but, no, nothing.
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
Still working on their new house! Gah! Outside almost finished, first floor too. Second floor needs work. I apologize for not commenting yet, I've been working on this lot every spare minute I have. Just a few minutes to go and I can move Essa, Josh and Frank with all their stuff there and that'll make things easier. I'll be back later to hopefully update with screenshots of the final renovation complete and give comments. Might not happen until tomorrow though after I get the GP and Courtyard kit. Sorry there's only one screenshot, the daily pic. Hope y'all had a great day/night!
HI All - Since I am still working on my story for May, I am going to run into a few days of June finishing up. Sakura can't really jet off to Del Sol Valley in the middle of uni now, can she? lol Have a great day/night!
I am sorry to see Jackson go. I rather enjoyed his struggles of living on the beach. But I understand. Doing one story takes time, and doing two or more...well, I don't know how other simmers do it. I think I, personally, take too much time in the writing area so that it comes out just the way I want it to. And I understand about the "falling behind and trying to catch up". I am always behind - lol and in fact was a month behind because of computer issues. But, I just keep plugging away, and don't worry too much if I "run over" into another month if I haven't completed my story for the month. And as for the question on the robotics degree, there really isn't one per se, but if Jackson would enroll in Computer Science or Physics, there is a robotics component in those degrees. I will, of course, continue to read Plain Ol' Legacy (especially since my sim "teen" Rick Goengether is prominent in your story right now!) If Jackson ever decides to appear, I will tag you to let you know
And Jackson gets the diving knife and goes treasure hunting! Great! Monsoons! I forgot about those in Sulani. I think in my Bachelor Challenge, that is what might have hit when Rick first got to the island. Does it actually tell you that it is a monsoon, or does it just show heavy rain? I know it's Sulani, but they do garden there, and Jackson could certainly start a little garden on his plot of sand...like coconuts, and all the other Sulani harvestables. That would certainly help him get simoleons faster. Nooooo! I don't want Jackson to leave
Considering how that house looked at the start...bravo to Marnie and everyone for cleaning the place up. It looks so good now...well...still needs work...but so much better. And Jaz gets her own room! Yes! I like the mish-mash of furniture, which looks like what this family could afford. And a washer and dryer...oh gosh! I can see problems happening there. lol
Thanks for reading my story. May is the "reveal" month and so it is taking a long time to write these chapters, especially when the game decides to throw in something extra - like the fall that Kaori had. Also trying to tie-up all the loose ends of the past, so I don't have to keep repeating myself with what "had" happened.
Love those royalty reports. I haven't been showing Sakura's because for some reason they haven't popped up in awhile. Maybe they don't when they are at uni. Congrats on reaching the top of the Start-up Entrepreneur Career and completing the Lord or the Knits aspiration! Okay, did you place Alex and Audrey on the exact opposite chairs of Bryon and Naoki to match the hair colors? This reminds me of Diner Dash! lol Sir Saito...lol...Naoki...all this time you were hiding your true roots from Bryon (I know it was revealed in an earlier chapter, but this title still cracks me up!) and woot....have to love these two...happy...happy...heart-time...
Cake for breakfast...hey kids know what to eat! Like in my story for Harvestfest when Lucas autonomously took a piece of cheesecake and everyone else was having turkey or soup. lol Kids! It looks like you are trying to get all the kids' skills up as much as possible. When Mia becomes a teen, will she then move out and be on her own, or will she be still living at home? Anyway, exciting times are ahead!
I love, love, love Jules new hair style. Wow! She looks pretty sexy in that pic. No wonder Emmett is holding on to her so tightly. I love the villa reno...with the hot tub! lol Sounds like you have everything planned out and ready for June 1st, unlike me. teehee Wonderful!
Oh oh! Greg is going through some mid-life crisis and wants to run away from home! Poor Sarah. Here she is pregnant and has four kids, and Greg is worried about how HE feels, and that he isn't having any fun anymore. And that Sarah is more concerned about the kids than him. Oh Greg! Wake up and smell the diapers! Sarah can't do everything. Maybe...you can help her out, and maybe...you can make her life more enjoyable. Not sure that going over to his friend's house is such a good idea...and then they want to go clubbing...um...really not a good idea.
Greg! How could you? Streaking and getting drunk...and then flirting, all while your wife is pregnant and home alone with 4 kids. Greg! How could you do this to Sarah? Too bad they don't have a dog house, because I think that Greg would be sleeping in there tonight... Oh Geez! And then Sarah goes into labor. Greg! Get your act together or you are going to lose your family. I really hope that these two can work this out.
Is this the challenge baby? Fifth child, right? Oooh...I think it is! Yes!
I was intending to do a time-span post today, from the birth to aging Baby 5 up. Sorry, that isn't possible... My RL got increasingly busy in the last week and will continue like that for a while. I really want to try to not quit doing this challenge, as I am having loads of fun here, and I think this "project" really helps me.
But I won't be doing "full updates" at times, and instead perhaps once a week. And I won't post every day. It just got too stressful trying to keep up with the schedule. I'm sorry, I know posting every day is the entire point of the challenge... But right now it just doesn't work, and even in july this won't get better with the "big" exams and then a nursing internship with irregular schedule.
Like, even playing one SimDay is too much right now. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to play the 10 minutes it takes for a birth today... Then I might be able to upload the pics and write a post tomorrow, or even only thursday...
Lately I've been pushing myself to stick to my schedule, and it just wasn't fun, or distracted me from Uni, or I ended up playing at 3am because I hadn't yet posted that day.
So I think it'll really help to have loosened that schedule, to be able to have fun playing and be able to do my RL Uni assignments
I already had my next post planned and will post it in little snippets, depending on the time I have for playing and writing. For example, I'll try to get the birth & name reveal done today, and the rest will come perhaps on friday or something
In terms of schedule, I might try to get the Challenge Sim aged up until the 7th of June, then use the rest of June for the toddler stage and see how it goes. The MCC settings will be adjusted as I feel neccesary.
Jules and Emmett arrived in Selvadorada on Love Day, and romance was certainly in the air.
After getting settled into the house, they decided to go check out the local bar and explore a bit. (They actually went on a date there, since it fulfilled the holiday tradition and I could knock one more date out for the Serial Romantic aspiration as well).
"This is already the perfect vacation," Jules gushed as they sat on a bench just outside the cantina, the sun dipping lower into the sky. "I can't wait to explore this place more. It's so gorgeous."
"No as gorgeous as you," Emmett murmured against her lips.
"Let's grab something to eat," Emmett suggested as the evening settled in around them. "I hear the local cuisine here is supposed to be fantastic."
There was a vendor selling items on a table not far from the food stall. "Get your adventure items here!" she called out. "Best deals around!"
Since Jules and Emmett planned to do a trek into the jungle, they decided to check out the inventory and both ended up buying several survival items that seemed like they would come in handy as they braved the dangers of the jungle.
Back at home, that hot tub got some good use. Did you guys expect anything less? It is Love Day after all, and they're having their first proper alone time in ages
They didn't bother putting their swimsuits back on afterward. In fact, there was not a single item of clothing in sight for the rest of the night. Happy Love Day you two! 😏
The amount of work you put into the set up for your story and then the details of writing your story is truly amazing. I admire how much patience and dedication you have to not only get the photos that match your story, but to also write it with so much care as well. The Olympics were a super cool event, especially since they'd been a part of your game since January with Kiyoshi prepping for them! So cool to see you actually do the event after all this time! And poor Kaori, that's a nasty fall to take while pregnant! I know she's not actually pregnant in your game yet since pregnant sims can't do winter sports as I discovered with Jules haha. I'm sure you'll do some behind the scenes work with that now now though And I'm happy that Kaori and Kiyoshi have finally admitted their feelings for each other! It will be easier for Sakura to move on now that she doesn't have to worry about hurting Kiyoshi. Nice job including her sad mood in your story too though. It makes sense for her to feel sad even though she loves Wolfgang and she'll be happy for Kiyoshi eventually too. It's hard saying goodbye to someone who was such a big part of your life, even when it's time.
And nice work with River spotting Kiyoshi and Kaori kissing. Those were some great screenshots. Now I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting for what is in store for Wolfgang and Sakura next! I hope their journey of getting together isn't too much harder for them, but I wouldn't complain if you tossed some more drama in there for them (I mean, Wolfgang still thinks Sakura is pregnant with Kiyoshi's baby, right???) since you really do weave together a good story
Nice updates, I think that some drama is nice every now and then, and it felt pretty realistic for Greg to get a little carried away with his buddy and then fight with Sarah. I mean, they have a lot going on in life, and they didn't even mean to start a family together initially and now they have...lol I lost count...almost 5 kids? Well, hopefully he will sober up in time for the baby's birth
And no worries about keeping up. I can only keep up since my life has been pretty low key this year. I was nannying full time up until last week, but I would get free time when the kids were sleeping in the morning and afternoon, which gave me the rare advantage of playing sims at work haha. And now this month, I have time off and I'm dog sitting, which is another very easy job where I can play sims while I hang out with dogs, so honestly I'm just in a rare place where I can play the sims all the time if I want to HAHA. But next month I'm starting school again so I'm sure I'll be in more of the same boat as you with struggling to keep up, because real life has to come first, and there's never any shame in that! I know that the goal is to post daily, but a lot of people need to skip a day here and there, and in my opinion, there should be no pressure to catch up. Just post when you can and have fun! And post the kind of updates that are fun for you, whether that's a full story or just one photo.
**as pretty as this hair is, she won't get to keep it long. When the patch came out I removed all CC hair since it didn't include the new hair colors. She goes back to the hair she had after her birthday...
This is a rough morning. I still have not been able to get everyone to bed from Tuesday night. There is also a timing concern as Skye is supposed to leave for her day at the studio about 45 minutes after she is giving birth. I was hoping that Mia would be leaving in a calm, controlled manner with all of her needs in good shape and the household remaining in a good place. That is so not going to happen. Oh and there is no food remaining for the starving toddler (Rey). And the bottom floor of the house is dusty moving quickly to dirty.
Mia has one vacation day remaining so she calls to take the day off because it is going to be busy today. She also would get the day off once she has her birthday but I didn’t want her slipping out of the house before she had a chance to age up.
Who needs sleep. Jake is in the kitchen making a cake for Mia and Skye is trying to clean the house again. Most of the toddlers are up.
Toddlers are waking up so they need something to eat that is not the cake. The fridge is still empty so someone has to actually make some breakfast. Salad, that is what is for breakfast.
It is time for Mia to blow out her candles, She is ready and so am I. Jake is still making salad and I decided to get this part done before someone took a piece of the cake.
Once she moves out she will get a makeover. For now, #wokeuplikethis. Mia adds Adventurous to her Outgoing trait, and takes the StrangerVille Mystery as her first grown up aspiration.
I am waiting on Skye to go into labor so that she can have the baby before she has to head to the studio. And Mia will be moving out the instant the new baby is here. The toddlers all need baths but that is for another time and the game to address after Mia moves out.
Rey wants all the attention … no wait, that is Zoe. She is sitting on Rey’s bed. I am still waiting on Skye but she should be going into labor any minute.
And the new baby joins the family. Ben is a boy and Mia is moving out. Finally. I love this family but it is time to make some changes.
Bye babies! Love you!! Good luck getting your bath!!!
Information
I didn’t prep a lot for this change other than coming up with a reason that Mia moves out of a loving household as a teen. So, she has the opportunity to spend a semester as an exchange student in StrangerVille, living with the Sigworth family. She has two tasks remaining from her childhood – earning the last promotion in the Drama Club and hanging on to her character traits until she becomes a Young Adult. As a teen, she will need to reach an A in school and complete the StrangerVille Mystery aspiration. With Mia moving out, Emily and Skye’s household will both be marked as unplayed so they will age up on the Long lifespan.
Mia moves in with the Sigsworths and apparently there are two new toddlers in the family. Thanks MCCC. By the time I had decided on where Mia was going and how it was going to play out, and remembered to set lifespan on Long, Christie had become a teen and Jess had given birth to two little boys. They are not twins.
I have completed the mystery two or three times previously so I know what is coming. But this is the first time I will be taking one of the premade families along for the ride.
First things first, everyone gets a makeover and then there are introductions to the Sigworth household. Okay, not everyone. Mia and Christie and the toddlers had makeovers. Dylan and Jess got to keep their own style. Thankfully it is already time for Jonah (green) to age up – his bar is bubbling. Hugh (blue) is also going to age up, making them basically twins. After leaving the last house with all the toddlers, I am ready for there to not be toddlers in this household. Children, I can ignore.
The next step is to upgrade the house to hold all the sims. The original house is small and cramped for three sims. Now there are six living here. So, using the money Mia brought with her, they are able to upgrade to a three-bedroom house from the gallery.
The house I downloaded had a lot of walls, so the remodel consisted of removing almost all of them. The two kids bedrooms are updated with bunkbeds so everyone now has a place to sleep. At least they will as soon as the toddler become children.
Jonah and Hugh are heading inside to put away a book sitting out. The need sims feel to put away books causes them to drop or ignore other actions and direction, and is really irritating. I put the book away and told them to sit on the couch until Dylan can get some food made.
Mia still has the clay and I am trying to not sell it but that is another thing that they seem to find distracting. Mia has been collecting things, which she will not sell until she is living alone. In addition to her inventory, she took all the excess funds from Skye, leaving them with §20,000. She will do the same when she leaves this house on July 1. Anything over §20,000 will be hers to take, plus anything in her inventory.
Dylan gets the cake made so he starts with Jonah, who is already bubbling. Jess had to go to work and Christie went to school, so it is just Dylan, Mia, and the twins.
After Jonah blows out his candles, it is time for Hugh to blow out some candles. I was serious about not having toddlers in this household. I am also going to give Dylan a snip-snip so autonomous woohoo does not lead to long-lasting consequences.
Once the boys are aged up, they spend the afternoon working on homework. Mia also completed hers and then went to Drama Club to work on her last promotion. Jonah is a Geek.
Hugh is evil. Of course he is.
Dylan is a Stay-Home Dad, although since the toddlers are children, he might consider finding a part time job. He is a Genius, Perfectionist, Bookworm with the Nerd Brain aspiration. Maybe he will get a fulltime job.
Jess and Christie both come home at the same time. Jess is in the military, obviously. She is Outgoing, Active, and Family-oriented. Her aspiration is to have a Successful Lineage. Christie always grows up into this hair in my games, she was able to keep it during her makeover. She is also a lot older than Mia, but that doesn’t matter as long as they aren’t aging. Christie is Active and a Recycle Disciple. I hate that trait because they tend to get rid of their own furniture without my permission. Christie wants to move to the city when she finishes school with the City Native aspiration.
Everyone needs to go to bed. This has been a long day and the longest update so far this challenge.
In order to get her last promotion, Mia needs to be at level 3 in Acting. She took two back to back classes in the skill which got her to high level 2. She takes a quick moment to learn some lines and there is level 3. That means tomorrow, she should reach the top of Drama Club and then she will be able to quit it.
{sigh} So close. Everyone had just gone to bed and I was about to call it an update, when the 🐸🐸🐸🐸 monsters showed up reminding me that I forgot the night light and showing me that monsters under the bottom bunk wake up both sleepers.
Night light has been installed and both boys are napping away their fear.
@sassytxbrat Mia is cute! Too bad you decided not to keep her CC hair though. I decided to keep all mine, since it would be chore to remove it, and also I love so many of my CC styles. I decided I'll just use the new colors with the maxis styles. Nice little back story for moving her out! Have fun with the SV mystery!
@permanentrose I know, I miss that hair, it was so perfect for her. I will probably look for something for her at some point, just to have something special
May 28 - University - WK 2 - Sunday - Make You Feel My Love - Part 2
Wolfgang had arrived at the Izakaya Ippai bar early. And he was surprised that the climate was different than on the mountain. There was no snow here. But that didn't matter much, because by the time he came out of this bar later tonight, the entire day would be wiped from his memory. Wolfgang wished that it could happen now.
Wolfgang entered the bar and it was empty except for one patron. Probably because most of the residents were at the slopes watching the Olympics. He made his way to the bar and sat down and ordered his favorite drink...a Ridgeport...the same drink that Sakura liked. Oh geez! He should have ordered something else. Didn't they have sake here? Okay, well, maybe his next drink.
Wolfgang sat there and cradled his drink wondering why everything had gone so wrong with this weekend. Yesterday, he had a really good time with Sakura, even though Wolfgang was terrible at snow sports. But Sakura...gosh...when she skied down the slopes...she looked just like an angel floating down that hill...doing all those twists and turns...she made it look so easy. And Wolfgang could barely stand up straight, he was so wobbly on his skis and then wiped out at the bottom. But Sakura had never criticized him or anything...Dang! He missed her. But that is why Wolfgang was here, right...to obliterate Sakura from his memory. To ease the pain he felt in his heart when he thought of Sakura and Kiyoshi together. He ordered another drink from the bartender.
What had he ordered? A salty llama...Wolfgang practically downed it in one gulp and he felt the liquid burn his throat as he swallowed. His liquid courage. He felt better already, and ordered another. He thought of Sakura last night in her kimono with her hair down...gosh...she really was a vision...so beautiful. And he had foolishly thought that last night he would tell her he loved her, and then kiss those sweet lips again. How many months ago had it been since he had stolen that kiss with Sakura? Wolfgang thought for a moment...five months...he couldn't believe it. How could a kiss that happened five months ago have such an impact on him? But it wasn't just the kiss...it was Sakura...she had an impact on him. [flashback]
Wolfgang thought about last night again and how his plans to tell Sakura he loved her had failed again because Mr. wonderful Olympic boyfriend had shown up. Wolfgang was thankful that Kiyoshi hadn't kissed Sakura on the lips, because Wolfgang might have left last night. As it was, it was bad enough with Kiyoshi reminding Wolfgang that Kiyoshi was Sakura's boyfriend and that Sakura and Kiyoshi had shared a perhaps first kiss at the Festival of Snow a long time ago. It was like Kiyoshi knew Wolfgang had feelings for Sakura and just wanted to rub more salt into Wolfgang's open wounds or rather, Wolfgang's breaking heart.
Wolfgang thought back to the time when he had first seen Sakura at Discoteque Pan Europa. He even remembered what she had on, some hot pink top and some black shorts...and...oh...the longest legs he had ever seen. Wolfgang had watched her dancing on the dance floor and wondered who she was. She had been chatting with River, and Wolfgang decided to make his move and went over to introduce himself. It had been very brief, but when she smiled at him...he just felt...he felt so warm inside. [flashback]
He could tell she wasn't like anyone else he had ever met, but he didn't stay and was trying to play it cool. But he was mesmerized by her and watched her all night, dancing and DJ'ing. Wolfgang knew from the moment he met her that Sakura was special, and he just wanted to be around her. And by the time he found out she had a boyfriend, it was too late, he was in too deep, he had already fallen for her, and it hadn't stopped, he was now full blown in love with her.[flashback]
Wolfgang took another swig of his drink and saw a new text from River. It was marked Urgent. Geez...what could be so urgent?
He answered River's text: "At Izakaya Ippai bar having a few waiting for you..."
River told Wolfgang not to go anywhere and to stay where he was. Wolfgang thought it was a strange message, but then, where did Wolfgang have to go? Nowhere but here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
River entered the bar and saw Wolfgang sitting at the bar with a drink in his hand. Oh geez! Wolfgang already looked like he had had a few. What was going on?
River: "Hey Wolfgang...I was at the medal presentation at the Olympics and I couldn't see you or Sakura anywhere. Where were you?"
Wolfgang: "I left early...after Kiyoshi's run...he came over to be with Sakura...and I...well...I just couldn't be there anymore..."
River: "So, did you tell her? Did she say she wanted to stay with Kiyoshi? Because if that's the case, bro...I need to tell you something..."
Wolfgang: "Actually, I haven't told her how I felt yet. You know I was going to when she came to dinner at my house for Harvestfest, but she was so tired that she fell asleep on the couch. And then we had all day Saturday together...it was frickin' awesome...and we were going to have this Japanese hot pot at the rental...and River...she looked so amazing in her kimono...and then Kiyoshi showed up..."
River: "Dude...I knew Sakura before you met her...and, I can tell, she's in love with you, bro. But it's like she's this old-fashioned girl or something...like, she wants the guy to take the lead...I don't know...she's just so different...in a good way..."
Wolfgang: "Yeah, she is different...really special...but she's going to be with Kiyoshi...he'll want to be with her after she tells him..."
River: "Dude, you lost me...when Sakura tells him what?"
Wolfgang: "That she's pregnant...with his baby..."
River: "Whoa! Sakura? Pregnant? No way! I can't see that happening. How the heck do you know this? Did she tell you?"
Wolfgang: "Ah man...I forgot...you didn't know...." Wolfgang then related the whole story of finding out about the ultrasound by accident.
River: "Wow! That is unreal! Oh man...you may not want to hear what I have to tell you dude, but Kiyoshi is cheating on Sakura..."
Wolfgang: "What? That can't be. You should have seen how possessive the guy was of Sakura on Saturday night, even had to rub it in that he had had his first kiss with Sakura at the Festival of Snow a long time ago..."
River: "Well, that might have been Saturday night...but today...I saw him kissing Kaori Nishidake after the medal presentations...and believe me, bro, that was NOT a friendly kiss he was giving Kaori..."
Wolfgang: "Impossible! When I left, Kiyoshi was with Sakura and she was going to stay until the end for the medal presentation, and then they were going on that mountain summit climb together. You must have seen someone else..."
River: "I knew you'd say that, so I took a quick photo to prove it. Okay, well, it's not the best photo because it's blurry and you really can't make our their faces...but, yeah ,,,it's them...I swear I saw them kissing..."
Wolfgang took a swig of his drink, "Did you say it was Kaori...like Kiyoshi's ex-girlfriend...on the Olympic Snowboard Team with him?"
River: "One and the same. You know, during her competition, she had a pretty bad fall, and they closed the slope and the first aiders came over...it was major...she got knocked out for a bit...but she was alright afterwards...and got a silver medal. I actually saw Kiyoshi over there with her. Of course I didn't think anything of it because she was his teammate...but yeah...it was them..."
A woman sitting at the bar heard their conversation and piped up, "Are you talking about Kiyoshi Ito and Kaori Nishidake? Oh honey...they were a real hot item at the Training Camp. My daughter, Jade, was on the Olympic Ski Team...she didn't get any medals today, poor dear...but she told me that one night after a party, she went in to take a shower, and there in the shower stall were Kiyoshi and Kaori...and let's just say they weren't showering, if you know what I mean.
The whole camp knew about it. But then after they had a day off, Kiyoshi came back to the camp and wouldn't speak to Kaori. And come to think of it, he had to take a few extra days off due to some family emergency in another town...where was that now...oh yes, I remember...Windenburg...yeah, a family member was in the hospital in Windenburg, so he had to take an emergency family leave..."
Wolfgang and River looked at each other in shock and Wolfgang could feel the anger building up inside of him. Kiyoshi had cheated on Sakura with Kaori at the camp, and then came to Windenburg and had Wolfgang give his word that he would not try anything with Sakura...all the while...Kiyoshi had been unfaithful to Sakura...and then went back to Sakura's place and got her pregnant, and now Kiyoshi has taken up with Kaori again. Oh my plumbobs!
Wolfgang slammed his glass down on the counter and began his rant, "I am going to "slap that plumbob Kiyoshi silly"! That lying no-good rotten, good-for-nothing, lily-liver, back stabbing, two-timing, heartless, llama-hating, cheating, dirty son of a freezer bunny, villainous void critter, bag of dog poo. Kiyoshi will wish he had never been born when I get through with him!"
River: "Yes! Now, you're talking! What you're talking about, I have no idea, but it sounds great!"
Wolfgang: "....and I'm going to tell Sakura all about her boyfriend..." he said and then he stopped, "...oh gosh...I can't tell her...she will be devastated...oh man...she will be heartbroken...I can't do that to her...but she's got to know..."
River: "Okay, then, I will tell her. I've got the proof right here on my phone...yep...and then you can just come in and sweep her off her feet and be the hero...oh yeah...a happy ending...well, maybe not for Kiyoshi."
Wolfgang: "That sounds great River, but it won't work...she's gone...she would have already left for the summit climb with Kiyoshi...it's too late...I'm sure he is going to ask her to marry him...it's what I would do...and Sakura is in love with him...it's just too late..."
Wolfgang hung his head down and River thought he heard him cry.
River: "Wolfgang, bro...it's okay...there's gotta be a way..."
Wolfgang: "I'm in love with her River...and I haven't told her...and dang it...Sakura's in love with that two-timing Kiyoshi..."
Suddenly, the door to the bar opened, and Knox Snowden came into the bar shouting and yelling about an avalanche and that some climbers were trapped on the mountain summit climb. When the bartender heard the news, he had a shocked look on his face. Voices were raised and a bunch of sims ran out.
"We need volunteers!" Knox shouted, "Anyone with any climbing experience...we need help...!" he said as he exited the bar.
Wolfgang sat there stunned, "River! Sakura and Kiyoshi were going on that mountain summit climb. It's them! They're the ones who are trapped. Sakura is trapped up there! What the heck am I sitting here for...I've got to go and save her! I've got to go and get the girl I'm in love with! And you, River are coming with me!"
River: "What? I have never rock climbed in my life and neither have you..."
Wolfgang: "Actually, I have, Sakura and I went the other day..."
River: "Yeah, sure, on a small rock ledge. This is a mountain we're talking about here! A really big mountain! Are you crazy?"
Wolfgang: "Yes, I am! I am crazy in love with Sakura and I don't care if she's pregnant with another guy's child. She won't be happy. He can't make her happy like I can. And that baby is part of her, too, so what's not to love? Right?" I have to do this, River. It's my last chance...I can't live without her..."
River: "Okay, bro, be the hero, get the girl, but if I die up on that mountain I am going to haunt you for the rest of your life..."
Wolfgang smiling, "You won't die, bro..."
River: "No? Didn't you say that the last time I died?
Wolfgang: "Well, that's before I became a hero, and heroes don't die..."
River: "Yeah, but what about the sidekick? They could die...like, am I the sidekick now? I get it, it's like those Star Trek episodes, where the new guy gets beamed down with the landing party, and we already know that the new guy is gonna get done in...Am I the new guy now? I'm gonna get done in, aren't I?"
Wolfgang: "You're not gonna get done in...now come on...we're wasting time... we'll stop by the rental house and pick up some supplies...and then we'll go..."
River: "How the heck do you even know where they were going, bro?
Wolfgang: "Because Sakura showed me the trail marker the other day...we just have to climb a medium rock wall to get to it..."
River: "Oh gee...I feel so lucky to have been volunteered for this adventure..."
Wolfgang: "We'll just pack lots of rope...and those rock climbing books...we'll just read them on the way...it'll be fine..."
River:"Oh geez! You know, it would have been easier if you had just told Sakura how you felt straight away..."
Wolfgang: "Well, when we rescue her, that's what I am going to do, tell her I love her...and then I'm going to punch Kiyoshi...or maybe vice versa, I haven't decided yet."
River: "I think I am going to "shout forbidden words" at Kiyoshi. Then you can tell Sakura you love her AND kiss her. Of course, that is, if we get that far. I can see us now...hanging upside down on the rock wall, dangling from a piece of rope, reading a rock climbing book. Of course, I could post that on SimTube and I bet it would get lots of hits...so yeah...great plan...sign me up!"
After feeding the twins (and everyone else) in the morning, Marnie sent everyone off to school, made sure Bennie could watch the twins for a while, and headed outside to pull out all the dying or dead ferns and rose bushes.
Ferns were water plants, for goodness sake.. who had thought Oasis Springs would be a good place for them? In their stead, she had ordered some box hedges for the front, a couple palm trees for shade, and some low-lying plants to replace the dead ferns.
She was sure it would take ages to get out all those nasty brambles and rose bushes, but, surprisingly, it was just fine, and she still had time to do another major project she had her eye on.
To eliminate the possibility of fire, Marnie upgraded the dryer. (Also, side note for anyone who’s curious: when living on a retail lot, laundry doesn’t work. It might as well not exist. I had these on that lot, but they never generated laundry.)
By the time everyone got home from school, the twins were hungry again, so Marnie made some more food, then went to take a nap.
At some point in the evening, Bennie found himself sitting silently, awkwardly, next to his oldest son. After a moment of thought, he decided he’d try talking to him.
“So, Son, what are your plans now that you’ve graduated. I know your grades weren’t the best, but you could probably find a job around town..?” Bennie started.
“A JOB?? You’ve GOT to be kidding me. I’m moving out, old man. Soon as I legally can, I’m out of here. Friday’s my birthday, and my girl Shaylee and I already have plans to move to an apartment in the city with a couple of room-mates.” (Benji wisely left out where he was going to get the money, and the fact that it was more than a couple room-mates, and quickly stood up and went to find something else to do.
Poor Bennie was left sitting there, wondering how he was going to tell Marnie that Benji was leaving town on Friday. Also, he wondered idly, what exactly were Benji’s plans if a “JOB” wasn’t on the list??
At bedtime, Marnie stopped by Jaz’s room to tell her that, once again, she was going to be missing part of school tomorrow. This had been the earliest appointment available at the Mental Health Center in Newcrest, the only one that would take Jaz for free. Well, for a few appointments, at least.
Jaz seemed shocked about having to miss school to go, but Marnie assured her the next appointment would be after school.
“Next appointment??” Jaz squeaked, even more surprised.
“Well, yeah. Of course there’s a next one. This is just for you and I to get to know your therapist. After that, you’ll be going in alone. The school is requiring this, so you can avoid suspension. Hopefully they can get the answers they seem to want and we can put this whole thing behind us soon.” Marnie said, scoffing at Jaz’s ignorance.
“Oh.. Okay. So I’ll finally get to see Newcrest, huh? How far away is it? Will we take a bus?” Jaz had so many questions, but Marnie merely shook her head, chuckled, and left the room.
Sighing and slightly confused as to why she had to see the therapist anyway, Jaz climbed into her new bed and attempted to get to sleep.
In the middle of the night, Myles and Phoenix were awakened by noises under Myles’ bed. Squealing, Myles got up and ran to get Benji, who was the closest.
Annoyed, Benji sprayed the monster away, and made a note for Marnie to go shopping for an anti-monster light or two first thing tomorrow.
Myles, who was still un-nerved, decided to work on his Mental skill some more, and barely ticked over to level 7, allowing him to make his three emotion potions and go back to bed.
Comments
Notes
Here's what I've done so far to the outside. I'll show screenshots of the inside and the completed remodel once it's finished. VERY much a WIP! I'll comment and reply next!
Here's the original build by schnuck01:
I apologize for the lighting in this post!
The spoiler contains some reassuring thoughts regarding the content of this update, so perhaps read the update first
He grew to actually be glad about the twins' father, the two middle ones were mainly there and loved as well, although he didn't do as much with them, and now comes the challenge Sim, and that was just one too many. This felt just like a logical step in keeping with his character. I would have done this a lot earlier, but I couldn't "burn that bridge" while I needed them to still make babies
last update | Overview post&rules
Update 26- Bridgeview
Sarahs Diary
The morning started just as any other.
A broken fridge, and Kids everywhere.
Thank you *so* much for watching TV instead of helping me and fixing the fridge...! Really, I appreciate it!
And after the kids went to school, we sat down and had our talk.
Ahem. Let's try that again: We sat down and had a serious talk.
Better.
Sarah: "Greg, What did you mean, when you said that you perhaps didn't want this life?"
Greg: "Well... Not that I didn't like you... But you know, I have spent all of my youth in this house, tending to babies and stuff, not being able to go out or spontaneously having friends over for a party and basically live my own life.
And I didn't even fully realize how much that bothered me until we had our birthdays. You know, a birthday is a big thing usually. But for us? We blew our candles after all the kids went to bed, and the rest of the day was dedicated to them and their enjoyment. No party, no friends over, no going out..."
Greg: "I could do so much more with my life! Go travelling, meet new people, spontaneously move, just be myself without all that luggage! ...Sarah?"
Sarah: "Greg, I know what you mean, but what am I supposed to do? What does this mean for us? I'm pregnant with your baby, almost in the third trimester already, there's four more kids who need Daddy and Mommy..."
Greg: "Well it would have been a start if you started thinking about me and whether I'm happy as much as about your kids! Sophia has a boyfriend, he better treat her right, Mark has done dumb stuff in Science class, Miles is crying all the time and perhaps getting bullied, Connor needs new shoes, what are we gonna do? Ever wondered how I feel?"
Sarah: "Hey, that's unfair! They're our kids!"
Greg: "Well I'm your husband!"
Sarah: "So that's it now? You're telling me you can't do this anymore, and I end up alone with five kids?"
Greg: "No! I love you! But... We really need to solve this."
Sarah: "Promise we'll stick together?"
Greg: "Yeah. Promise. Just... I don't know how I'm feeling. I'll go to Gary's for the afternoon, I haven't properly seen him in so long."
Sarah: "That sounds great. Don't worry, I'll manage with the kids... Else, I'll call you, ok?"
Greg: "Yeah... Great... "
Hey Mate, thanks so much for letting me come over!
This feels better already. I just don't know what to do!
I mean, I really love Sarah, but... all the kids... I want to be free! Do my own thing!
Let's get you a drink. Then you'll feel better.
[Center... Making drinks is important...]
As the day went on, Greg and Gary got increasingly drunk. None of them noticed the critical look Gary's wife Meaghan had as she watched them get completely wasted.
Hey man, come on, let's hit the club! Get out of the house!
This can only end well... right?
Yeah. End well. Sure. We can do that!
Characters, Lot, Gallery
Gallery (Sims and houses): Hashtag #onemonthoneworldoneyear, Name "One Sim - Fam. Britton". My gallery name is Noctuara.
Kids: Sophia & Mark (Twins)
- Greg Britton - Greg is an adult who has a strong interest in Gaming and Computers and is quite a Geek. Unfortunately, he also is a bit slobby and mean. Due to his history, he is a bit troubled, has Bad Manners, is Irresponsible, Argumentative and Insensitive. But he can be nice as well... if he tries his best... (and I help him by x-ing out all his autonomous mean&mischievous interactions from the Parenthood traits) He was working in business, but hated it. So he enrolled for a Programming course and is now a freelance programmer listed with an agency. On the side, he participates in Novice Tournaments.
- Sarah Britton - Sarah on the other hand wants to be the best parent possible. She is very neat, good and loves being with her family. She found a job as Freelancer Artist to try and keep the two of them afloat.
- Sophia Britton - The firstborn, and the twin of Mark. She is a teenager already. She continues to prefer doing things alone, mostly being outside gardening.
- Mark Britton - The secondborn and the twin of Sophia. He is a teenager as well. He likes being outdoors at the river catching some fish, or taking a nap to recover after all the work fishing is.
- Miles Britton - The thirdborn. He is a child already. His fun-loving personality is overshadowed by some gloom, and he aims to uncover the secrets of simkind at his science table.
- Connor Britton - The fourthborn. He is a toddler at the moment, and is a very wild child full of energy.
others:Schedule (subject to change)
For all others, I will use these MCC settings, starting on 1st of June, so it roughly works. (Combined, the Teen, YA, Adult and Elder stages are exactly 365 days right now).
- Pregnany: 5 days
- Baby: 7 days
- Toddler: 14 days
- Child: 45 days
- Teen: 90 days
- Young Adult: 93 days
- Adult: 92 days
- Elder: 90 days
This might change when I get a feeling for the challenge. I will possibly extend this for a next Gen, or extend the YA and Adult stages, if I get Brindleton Bay and subsequent other worlds. And if I manage to stick around that long.I will start playing in Bridgeview (Newcrest) with a big family and the Baby No. 5 as main sim. I will move neighborhood each month, alternating the worlds. This starts as soon as the Main Sim turns teen.
I want to work on roughly two aspirations per month with my Main Sim, or, better said, on about 3 goal sets of the "Master Simmer" challenge to try and get all achievements - mainly because with my current packs there are 38 goal sets - 3,1666 per month. (See Rules).
I think with normal play, I'll never get there! But with so much time to stretch out the skilling, it might work. And it will definitely keep me from getting bored.
time zone: Berlin, Germany - EA Gallery ID: Noctuara
Again, I hope this is believable. I have never been drunk myself, or had that kind of fight with somebody, or even witnessed that. So... Bear with me?
last update | Overview post&rules
Update 27- Bridgeview
Sarahs Gregs Diary
Gary and I were having a good time, loads of fun. We streaked, we danced.
After a while, I was really, really drunk, and one of the other girls was shooting me looks. (No, not this girl, and not that kind of look.)
Her name was... I don't even remember. Cassie? So I danced a bit, and when I got dizzy, she helped me set down.
I don't remember exactly what I said, I have to believe Sarah on that one.
Sarah, you might wonder? Well, she got dangerously near her due date, wasn't able to lift Connor anymore, I hadn't been picking up my phone, but Gary's wife told her where she had gone, so she came to pick me up... Yeah. About as you might expect.
Sarah: "Hey Dear, I'm so happy to see you! I was just thinking about the day we got married, and how our first child was born... And now it's already time for the fifth!"
Sarah: "Now let's get serious. How dare you?! I'm highly pregnant, you tell me you love me, and then you go knock somebody up? Is her baby yours too?!"
Wait. Cassie was pregnant?
Cassie: "No, this baby was concieved through Artificial insemination between me and my wife. And my name is Cameron."
Greg: "Aaah, I see double!"
Sarah: "Well perhaps now you know why getting drunk is really dumb. Come on, let's get home."
"Any explanation?"
Sarah: "You tell me you love me, and then you go get wasted, leave me alone with four kids, and flirt with someone else? Are you out of your mind?!"
Greg: "I'm so sorry Sarah, it wasn't intentional! Just... I was so drunk... I still am..."
Sarah: "Sure, not intentional. By the way - getting drunk was just as dumb as flirting. I'm highly pregnant, I'll probably give birth tonight, we'll have a newborn tomorrow, and you won't be any help whatsoever. Not for the birth, and not tomorrow."
Greg: "I'm so sorry, I just didn't think. I... Let's go outside, the air will help me sober up."
Greg: "Sarah... I promise... I won't disappear on yo. I might have made a mistake, but I didn't mean it, and I won't do it again. We'll figure something out.
I should have thought it through before trying to re-live my twenties on a whim.
Sarah: "Well... We'll see. I'm sorry, I'm just not sure if I can believe all that right now. We'll try to keep all of us happy - and that includes alone-time for you, but also for me. And activities with the kids. You can't just ignore them! Miles would probably be a lot happier if he had a better father figure... And, most definitely, we'll stay together. You have to promise you won't walk out on us. Okay?"
Greg: "Promise."
Sarah: "Uh-oh, no time for that now! Come on, help me inside!"
Greg: "What? Me? Why now? I'm still half wasted, and my head hurts... Oh. Is she having the baby? I should've really picked another day to get drunk..."
Characters, Lot, Gallery
Gallery (Sims and houses): Hashtag #onemonthoneworldoneyear, Name "One Sim - Fam. Britton". My gallery name is Noctuara.
Kids: Sophia & Mark (Twins)
- Greg Britton - Greg is an adult who has a strong interest in Gaming and Computers and is quite a Geek. Unfortunately, he also is a bit slobby and mean. Due to his history, he is a bit troubled, has Bad Manners, is Irresponsible, Argumentative and Insensitive. But he can be nice as well... if he tries his best... (and I help him by x-ing out all his autonomous mean&mischievous interactions from the Parenthood traits) He was working in business, but hated it. So he enrolled for a Programming course and is now a freelance programmer listed with an agency. On the side, he participates in Novice Tournaments.
- Sarah Britton - Sarah on the other hand wants to be the best parent possible. She is very neat, good and loves being with her family. She found a job as Freelancer Artist to try and keep the two of them afloat.
- Sophia Britton - The firstborn, and the twin of Mark. She is a teenager already. She continues to prefer doing things alone, mostly being outside gardening.
- Mark Britton - The secondborn and the twin of Sophia. He is a teenager as well. He likes being outdoors at the river catching some fish, or taking a nap to recover after all the work fishing is.
- Miles Britton - The thirdborn. He is a child already. His fun-loving personality is overshadowed by some gloom, and he aims to uncover the secrets of simkind at his science table.
- Connor Britton - The fourthborn. He is a toddler at the moment, and is a very wild child full of energy.
others:Schedule (subject to change)
For all others, I will use these MCC settings, starting on 1st of June, so it roughly works. (Combined, the Teen, YA, Adult and Elder stages are exactly 365 days right now).
- Pregnany: 5 days
- Baby: 7 days
- Toddler: 14 days
- Child: 45 days
- Teen: 90 days
- Young Adult: 93 days
- Adult: 92 days
- Elder: 90 days
This might change when I get a feeling for the challenge. I will possibly extend this for a next Gen, or extend the YA and Adult stages, if I get Brindleton Bay and subsequent other worlds. And if I manage to stick around that long.I will start playing in Bridgeview (Newcrest) with a big family and the Baby No. 5 as main sim. I will move neighborhood each month, alternating the worlds. This starts as soon as the Main Sim turns teen.
I want to work on roughly two aspirations per month with my Main Sim, or, better said, on about 3 goal sets of the "Master Simmer" challenge to try and get all achievements - mainly because with my current packs there are 38 goal sets - 3,1666 per month. (See Rules).
I think with normal play, I'll never get there! But with so much time to stretch out the skilling, it might work. And it will definitely keep me from getting bored.
time zone: Berlin, Germany - EA Gallery ID: Noctuara
First I moved Ruby in with Mario, since she will not be joining them on their vacation, a fact that she was a bit disappointed about since going to the jungle sounded very cool. Maybe later this month, Ruby, but for now, this is Jules and Emmett's special trip
I moved Pickle in with Dell and Sofia for the duration of the vacation too, since I've had some issues with needing a vet in Selvadorada when on vacation in the past and it's just something I'd rather not deal with this go around. No pictures for that since I could move Pickle in with them without needing to load up their house.
Then I downloaded a vacation home for Jules and Emmett. Another lovely gallery find made by PaniScarlett, and I didn't really change much here either just since it was so lovely as is. If anyone was curious as well, their Oasis Springs house was made by ShibaSimSim and Kristine's house by Machine170 - just so I can give credit where credit is due
More house photos here
Annndddd I just decided to go for it and give Jules long hair since I was going through my CC styles and realized I didn't hate this one. Both Emmett and Jules got JA makeovers as well. I moved them into their Oasis Springs home and sent them on vacation, so they are ready to go for tomorrow
When the door had opened and he saw Sakura again, he was overcome by her beauty. And even though Sakura was warm and welcoming to him, she had seemed a bit distant. He knew he had made a mistake with Kaori at the camp, but he had kept his word to Sakura and had had no further contact with Kaori. In fact, there were so many times that Kaori had wanted to talk to him, but he had brushed Kaori aside.
It had been hard to do, because after he had "been with" Kaori at the camp, his feelings for her had surfaced. Such strong feelings...like he didn't want to be with anyone but Kaori. And having Kaori there at the camp so close to him had almost been unbearable. Kaori was constantly on his mind. He wanted to kiss her and take her in his arms, and feel her body close to his. He had felt so loved when he had been with her, and had even told Kaori that he loved her, too. He was so confused about these feelings he felt for Kaori.
He wanted to talk about his feelings for Kaori with Sakura, but didn't want to hurt Sakura again. He remembered the night he had told Sakura about what had happened between him and Kaori, and he saw how upset Sakura had been. He couldn't do that to her again. He couldn't see her like that again. He just had to stifle these feelings he had for Kaori, and start over with Sakura. That was what he would do, because Sakura had no-one else in her life but him.
Kiyoshi cared for Sakura...she was beautiful and talented and they had compatible lifestyles. They were good together. And up on the summit, he had indeed loved her...hadn't he?...although he had never told her. Kiyoshi didn't quite understand why he couldn't tell Sakura he loved her when he so easily had said it to Kaori. Once he had felt something so unique with Sakura that he had never felt with another sim. And he wanted to feel that way again. But now his feelings for Sakura just felt...different. Perhaps when he and Sakura went on the climb together. it would rekindle what they had felt before. Kiyoshi hoped so, because he wanted to make things right between them again. Kiyoshi was sure that Sakura was the one for him. Wasn't she? And on the summit, he wanted to ask Sakura to marry him, and then, they would become one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Coach Janks interrupted Kiyoshi's thoughts and said they were heading to the gondola. Kiyoshi had to focus. Coach Janks had a lot of faith in him and thought he could win the gold. Kiyoshi put everything out of his mind and headed to the gondola with the team. He saw Sakura standing there with Wolfgang as he ran by and waved at her. "Everything will be fine", Kiyoshi thought, "When Sakura and I are alone and go on the climb together..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They gathered at the top of the gondola and the team was encouraged to drink their energy juice before they began. They were hyped! Coach Janks called the Ski Team over to the slalom course, and was at the starting line with each of them.
First one to ski was Ava Von Badd, who was a resident of Newcrest. Ava had been in and out of foster homes for as long as she could remember. A ski instructor saw her potential, and started training her, and with his help, Ava discovered her talent for skiing. Ava headed to the starting gate and was off.
And Ava does the first jump with good lift and a nice landing.
Ava finishes the course with a time of 2:10.19. Congratulations Ava!
Although Ava did a good run, she feels she could have done better.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Second to do the slalom course was Jade Matsumoto, a resident of Mt. Komorebi. Jade has been a snowbaby since she was a toddler. Being from Mt. Komorebi, Jade is favored to win.
Jade is at the starting gate, and it's a go!
Oh oh! It looks like Jade hit a patch of ice and is a bit wobbly on the top of the slope. Will she be able to recover in time for the first jump?
Oh no! Jade wipes out at the end of the course. Her time is 3:23.20. That is unfortunate.
Jade is devastated and felt she was just not as ready as she had thought she was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next competitor was Devontae Rodgers. A relative unknown, Devontae started skiing when he was just 6, and has been involved in the sport ever since. Devontae is the last member of the Mt. Komorebi Ski Team to compete. Can he beat Ava's score to secure the gold?
And Devontae proceeds to the starting line. The signal is given and he is off!
Look at the lift. That definitely has gained him some points in this competition.
Oh, but he looks like he may be in trouble on the landing and catches a snag on his ski tip. Will he be able to recover?
Oh, no, Devontae! And unfortunately, Devontae wipes out at the finish line with a score of 3:24.20.36
The gold medal for the Downhill Slalom goes to Ava Von Badd. Congratulations, Ava!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Coach Janks was thrilled that a member of the Mt. Komorebi Ski Team had won gold. And now onto the Snowboard course. Coach Janks had several really good snowboarders on his team who were also fiercely competitive.
Blaze Snowden. son of developer Knox Snowden, has the edge and mindset to win a medal in this sport. Good luck, Blaze. Coach Janks accompanied Blaze to the starting line, and he was off!
And Blaze comes to the first jump and does a "McTwist". Outstanding!
And look at that "Ollie" that Blaze just did. Amazing! Blaze will be hard to beat in this competition! He is on fire!
And Blaze shassays down the hill leading the Mt. Komorebi Snowboard Team with a score of 82. Impressive!
Even though the judges were pleased with Blaze's performance, Blaze himself is not.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There are only two competitors left on the Snowboard Team. Kaori Nishidake and Kiyoshi Ito. Kaori comes over to Kiyoshi.
Kaori: "Kiyoshi, I just wanted to wish you good luck."
Kiyoshi looked at her, "You, too Kaori. And...watch your entry on that second jump..."
Kaori: "Thanks, I will...." she said and looked longingly at Kiyoshi, "Oh Kiyoshi...why does it have to be like this between us? Why won't you talk to me...I need to talk to you. Why have you been ignoring me?"
Kiyoshi: "Kaori...please...not now...I can't...I'm sorry...what happened at the camp...it shouldn't have...I am going to be with Sakura after today...she's my girlfriend...she needs me...I am going on the summit climb with her and I am going to ask her to marry me...I'm sorry Kaori...I can't...I just can't be with you..."
Coach Janks called Kiyoshi to the starting line.
Kiyoshi: "I've got to go..."
Coach Janks told Kiyoshi he could win the gold. "Show us what you've got, Kiyoshi! You're the best I've ever seen!" said Coach Janks. Kiyoshi closed his eyes and let his mind concentrate on what he had to accomplish and pushed off from the starting line.
Kaori looked after him and felt like she was dying inside, "I love you Kiyoshi," she called after him, but he had already started down the slope.
Kiyoshi Ito, from Mt. Komorebi, is the son of Olympic skier gold medalists Megumi and Naoki Ito. Kiyoshi is the favored one to win this competition. Let's see if he can do it. Go Kiyoshi!
Kiyoshi flew down the slope like he was on fire and readied himself for the first jump. Kiyoshi did a "suitcase" grab and got more air under his board. And a perfect landing, too.
Kiyoshi wastes no time, and if he's going for the gold, he's giving it all he's got, and does a superb "Rewind", the hardest snowboard trick.
And he aced it! Kiyoshi comes down and comes close to the gate in a precarious turn.
The second marker, and he notices it is a bit icy on that turn, but flashes by the marker without incident.
Kiyoshi has a perfect run and feels good about it.
Kiyoshi rushed over to where Sakura was standing.
Sakura: "Kiyoshi, oh my gosh! That was the best run I've ever seen you do! I am certain that you beat Blaze..."
Kiyoshi: "Sakura, that was such a rush. I just have to wait for the others to finish. Oh man, I could climb several mountains with the way I feel now. We'll just wait for the scores, and then we can go on the climb. I am so excited to go with you..."
Wolfgang looked at the two of them and realized he couldn't stay there any longer. He didn't want to see Kiyoshi kiss Sakura when he won. And although Wolfgang was no expert in snowboarding or Olympic scores, he knew Kiyoshi would win the gold. And Kiyoshi would win Sakura, too.
Wolfgang: "Congratulations Kiyoshi on that rad run. And be careful on the climb...I have to go Sakura...be safe, okay..." he said avoiding her eyes.
Sakura looked at Wolfgang, "You're leaving, now? The competition isn't over yet. Kaori still has to compete. Won't you stay to the end? There's the medal presentation, and..."
Wolfgang looked at Kiyoshi: "I think it is better if I leave now. I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura. Take care of yourself..." he said as he walked away.
Sakura looked after Wolfgang and didn't understand why he would leave now. Sakura watched him walk away and it felt like a piece of her heart was going with him.
Kiyoshi: "Kaori is the last one to compete. I'll stay here with you. The judges haven't announced my score yet. They are still tabulating it. I can't wait for us to go on the climb together, Sakura. I have something very special planned for us..."
Sakura wasn't really listening to Kiyoshi and just nodded. All she could think about was Wolfgang.
There was an announcement and Kiyoshi received a 98.00 score on his run.
Sakura heard the score and felt happy for Kiyoshi, "Kiyoshi! That's the highest score I've ever heard of! Oh my gosh! You are going to win this!"
Kiyoshi: "Unless Kaori can get a perfect score. She's a pretty awesome snowboarder," he said looking up at the slope.
At the top of the slope, Coach Janks was giving Kaori some last minute instructions. Just then, she heard Kiyoshi's score and smiled. He aced it, she thought. Kaori knew that she had never beaten Kiyoshi, but she could sure beat Blaze. She would win a medal and stand beside Kiyoshi on that podium. With a determined look in her eye, she was off.
Kaori Nishidake is the granddaughter of the esteemed Shigeru Nishidake, who, we all know is a staunch conservationist and preservationist of Mt. Komorebi. Kaori came to live with her grandparents after the tragic death of her parents. Kaori has been snowboarding since she came to Mt. Komorebi and the question on everyone's mind is - will she beat her ex-boyfriend, Kiyoshi Ito's, score?
And Kaori demonstrates a superb "melon" grab. What showmanship!
Kaori comes to the first jump and does a daring double "supercat twist".
Kaori is past the jumps, and now has to make it down the slalom course. Oh yeah, close to the marker...
She's coming to the second marker. This one was always a problem for her with the sharp turn right after it. She was going to make it today, though...
Kaori was almost at the finish line when she glanced up and saw Kiyoshi and Sakura standing together. Her heart sank, and she lost her concentration for just a second, but that is all it took, and her board caught the ice.
She tried to compensate, but fell hard...rolling down the slope, her snowboard hitting her as she went.
Kaori keeps falling down the slope and then lays still past the finish line and blacks out.
No movement...nothing...
There was a shocked silence from the crowd and an overhead announcement was heard to clear the course. It all seemed surreal, as Sakura saw the first aid attendants rushing forward. And then beside her, Sakura heard Kiyoshi's anguished cry "Nooooooo! KAORI!" and saw Kiyoshi running towards Kaori's prone figure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Notes:
Coach Janks (also known as Mike Jankowski), is actually the name of an Olympic Ski and Snowboard Coach with the most wins in the Olympics.
The snowboard terms used are just ones I pulled from the web that sounded cool. And a bit of trivia...the highest snowboard score ever achieved was 98.00. "Mark McMorris earns highest score in Snowboard Slopestyle history. Back-to-back gold medalist Mark McMorris scores a 98.00 in Men's Snowboard Slopestyle final at X Games Aspen 2013." As well, the "rewind" is the hardest snowboard trick to perform.
Sometimes the game gives you gifts...and Kaori falling changed my storyline...
time zone: Berlin, Germany - EA Gallery ID: Noctuara
May 31
Week 5 Tuesday
- Reach the top of Drama Club (level 3/4) ((-must be teen to earn the last promotion))
- Improve Character Values (5/5 positive values in range)
- Responsible ✔
- Empathy ✔
- Manners ✔
- Conflict Resolution ✔
- Emotional Control ✔
Completed- Top-Notch Toddler
- Completed Artistic Prodigy
- Completed Rambunctious Scamp
- Completed Social Butterfly
- Completed Whiz Kid
- Reached the top of the Scouts
- Earned A in elementary school
- Collected Voidcritter cards (20/20)
- Collect Holiday Plushies (8/8)
- Collect Decorative Eggs (12/12)
Today is the last day of the month and the last day Mia will be a child. She will age up as soon as possible tomorrow, but I am hoping Skye will have the new baby before Mia moves out. As for Mia, she has completed everything she can do as a child. So she is going to school today to get her out of the house. And I am going to be torturing Zoe to get her to Happy Toddler. I am not even going to think about Top-Notch for her.I cannot even remember what this was. It is morning, everyone is eating cake for breakfast despite the leftover turkey and fresh cooked egg scramble.
The toddlers are filling up their bellies although Rex and Rey will be on their own today.
Zoe has to get to level 3 in all her skills. Today. She woke up with level 3 movement, so that just leaves four more skills.
Zoe masters the potty and then heads out to watch Skye. Skye took an audition that requires level 5 guitar. She has never played guitar before so will be spending the day practicing. Zoe needs a bath really bad but she just doesn’t have time today.
Rex wanders out and watches for a minute and then decides he should be elsewhere. Zoe doesn’t have a choice yet.
The kids get back from school, Eli with a B and Mia happy that this is her last day of elementary school.
At some point, I went to check on the twins and found them in bed.
Skye is almost there. No, she actually did it. Level 0 to Level 5 in one focused day.
Zoe is on her last skills and just needs to get to level 3.
{sigh}
Zoe is done with her skills – level 3 across the board. She is starving, stinky, exhausted, and has really not had any fun today. She is also lonely. But she is a Happy Toddler and that is good enough.
Bryons Diary
Time for me to start working again.
I already finished my daily task, but now I just wanted to complete what I started, and then I was ready to go.
(It's a game, and I called it Bryon's Zoomies, lol)
Maybe if I work hard enough today, I’ll get a promotion (and in that case, I would be at the top of this career).
...
And that's exactly what happened. They say that the sky is the limit, and you know? It’s true what they say!
I continued knitting with a smile on my face.
(and soon enough, I also finished the knitting aspiration!! Finally!!)
While Naoki prepared dinner for us, I looked down at the ugly crafted guitar from Johnny.
(Bryon) “Ahh... Why did he even bother to give me this back?”
(Naoki) “Because you’re his big brother and that was his first gift to you. Did you ever try it out?”
(Bryon) “It probably sounds horrible.”
(Naoki) “Only one way to find out.”
It indeed sounded horrible, but that was possibly my own fault. It’s not that I’m a musician or have some hidden talents in music... But I was enjoying what I was doing, actually.
(Bryon) “I feel a little sad that we’ll move out tomorrow. I enjoyed being Johnny’s neighbour.”
(Naoki) “I’ll miss it too... But no worries, we’ll visit him often, okay?”
(Bryon) “Yeah. We’ll say goodbye to him tomorrow before we leave, right?”
(Naoki) “Of course.”
As we were eating dinner, the doorbell rang.
(Naoki) “Ah, that’ll be Rene.”
(Rene) “Good evening. I hope you enjoyed your meal. Did you have enough time to settle everything, sir Saito? Do you need me to pack something for you?”
(Naoki) “Everything is packed already, Rene. But thank you.”
(Rene) “Our flight to Del Sol Valley tomorrow is pretty early. Be sure to be awake on time.”
(Naoki) “We will.”
(Rene) “Okay then. I’ll be back tomorrow to pick you up.”
(Naoki) “Have a nice rest of your evening, Rene.”
(Rene) “Thank you, sir Saito.”
(Naoki) “You should really stop calling me that.”
(Rene) “I’m sorry. I’m just so used to it. I’ll practice.”
Rene left the house, and after getting the kids in bed, we went to bed ourselves.
(Naoki) “Say... Why didn’t you want to tell Rene that you’re a spellcaster? We don’t have to take the flight.”
(Bryon) “Well, I’ve never been in a plane before and I actually want to see his face when our house is standing there in De Sol Valley tomorrow.”
(Naoki) “Oh, you...”
(Bryon) “What? Be happy that I’m actually starting to like this all.”
(Naoki) “Oh, I am very happy.”
(Bryon) “Is that so?”
(Naoki) “Yes...”
What a nice way to end the month
@permanentrose
I want to thank you for all your comments the most. I don't think I'll have this as a give up and never return to story. It's just on the backburner for now.
@Karababy52
This is a fun idea and hope others try your challenge as time goes on. It's another great way to explore all the Worlds and different Aspirations that come with them. Thanks for putting it together.
I'll still lurk in here just to look at all the fun daily screenshots. I've been enjoying those using custom Poses and those just using the generic poses that the game does. It's fun seeing the setups you all come up with. I'll eventually come back to this perhaps and instead of doing a redo, I'll just keep going where I left off, but change the dates.
.. And I got this popup. Of course, I clicked yes. Because I really can’t see her liking what she had to do. Way to gut it out, Marnie.
Bennie, on the other hand, was wheeling and dealing on the phone, getting the final money details settled. While all this was going on, the power went out. Which was hilarious (Bennie hadn’t paid the bills) .. and sad at the same time. Finally, all the furnishings that belonged to them were packed up, everyone had their suitcases, and they were all standing around looking anxious in the snow.
All done. Goodbye store. The keys were turned over, the moving truck started up, and the family was piling onto the bus to meet the truck at their new home.
After dropping off all the new furniture, Benji was in charge of watching all the kids while Marnie and Bennie went on a major shopping spree to get the stuff they felt they couldn’t live without. Marnie insisted on completing the kitchenette for downstairs, and both main bathrooms (upstairs Master and the Downstairs one) had to have some plumbing ordered. They needed living room furniture, kitchen appliances, and Bennie stuck a Barbeque on the list, while Marnie splurged on some playground equipment. Since there had been nothing in the closets but cobwebs and trash, closet shelving had to be purchased, as well. Luckily, they managed to find most things cheap at local thrift stores. With far lighter wallets, and deliveries scheduled for the rest of the day, Bennie and Marnie once again headed home. To the NEW home.
(Upstairs half bath)
(Laundry Room)
The day was full of rearranging what little furnishings they had and the new things arriving, and before long, the place was truly looking like a real home. Everyone had claimed their living space.
Bennie and Marnie were upstairs in the green Master Bedroom.
(Master Bath)
Benji had their old Murphy bed in the main area of the basement.
(Kid's Downstairs Bathroom)
(Utility Room)
Phoenix and Myles were sharing the brown room.
The twins were in the blue room.
… and Jazmyn was given the pink room.
By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted.. but not a single mouse had been seen all day, and Marnie had been able to do a grocery run to fill up the “new” fridge. The first dinner had been cooked, everything had been delivered, and everyone was too tired to talk at the dinner table. Finishing their meals, everyone trudged happily off to their rooms.
Marnie was still rearranging things in the kitchen, but Bennie was out on the deck, admiring his shiny new barbeque with barely a glance at the new playground equipment for the kids. This was going to take some getting used to, but as far as Bennie was concerned, life was pretty much perfect. He didn’t figure it was going to take more than a week to get that old yellow truck running, and before you know it, he was sure he would be a successful comedian.
Right before bed, Bennie paid the new bills, and went to herd the last of the kids inside. It had been a long day.
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
@IllusoryThrall Wow what a change in that house, amazing job going from trashed to livable! I appreciate all the work you put into getting the screenshots all through this journey too.
@Karababy52 I love the house. Gorgeous! And I'm excited to see what you do with the interior. You always do such fantastic builds.
@Skeilah Yay for completing the knitting aspiration! That one truly is a relief to finish since it's so tedious.
@sassytxbrat I'm excited to see teenage Mia's new look tomorrow!
Kiyoshi thought: ["Why had he treated her the way he did when she just wanted to talk to him? Why did he have to ignore her when it was Kiyoshi who had been weak and been "with her" at the camp? Now he would never be able to tell her how he felt..."]
Kiyoshi suddenly saw movement...Kaori was getting up.
He rushed over to help her up.
Kiyoshi wrapped his arms around her, "Oh my gosh! Are you all right? Kaori, I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to you. I'm so sorry I shut you out. Please forgive me."
Kaori: "Oh Kiyoshi...I'm...I'm alright...You were...you were worried about me?"
Kiyoshi: "Yes...and I can't imagine my life without you. I have been a fool, I am so sorry...You're the one I want in my life...only you...I love you Kaori..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sakura saw Kiyoshi and Kaori together and had an overwhelming sadness descend on her. She should be happy for them, she knew, but it had caused her so much heartache, and now, she knew it was all over between Kiyoshi and her. Yes, she was going to tell him she didn't love him, but still, seeing Kiyoshi with someone else hurt. All these months of thinking he loved her and even at the hospital...had he loved her briefly then or not? Oh gosh! So many secrets...so many tears...
Sakura went over to them and smiled at Kaori and dug in her bag, and handed Kaori the ultrasound photo.
Sakura: "I haven't told him," she said, "I won't spoil it for you..."
Kiyoshi looked between Sakura and Kaori not understanding what was going on.
Kaori: "Kiyoshi, I have something to tell you...something that Sakura already knows...I am...I am expecting a child...our child..."
Kiyoshi looked at Kaori unable to speak.
Kaori: "I sent Sakura this ultrasound photo because I was hoping that she would tell you because you were avoiding me. I was hoping, then, that you would come to talk to me. I know you wanted to be with Sakura, and...I...I...was hoping that you would want the child to still be a part of your life..."
Kiyoshi: "A baby? You're pregnant? And you've been trying to tell me? Oh Kaori...I am so sorry. .."
Kaori showed Kiyoshi the photo, "This is a photo of the baby...our baby..."
Kiyoshi: "Oh Kaori...you could have been hurt...and the baby...something could have happened...I can't believe it...I'm going to be a father...I'm so happy Kaori..."
Kiyoshi looked at Sakura and asked Kaori if he could have some time alone with Sakura. One of the first aiders came over and said they needed to check Kaori. Kaori looked at Kiyoshi and nodded her head.
Sakura saw how Kiyoshi looked at Kaori and she knew. Kiyoshi used to look at Sakura that way, and in that instant, Sakura knew that Kiyoshi was in love with Kaori.
Sakura: "Kiyoshi, I can't go on that mountain climb with you. I know I made a promise, but so much has changed since then, and...I'm so sorry...I still care so much for you, but I'm...I'm not in love with you anymore. I was for a very long time, but I'm not the same person who climbed that mountain with you the first time. And I don't blame you for what happened at the camp. I've forgiven you for that, but I think sometimes things happen for a reason, and maybe we were just not meant to be. You need to stay here and be with Kaori. She loves you and..." Sakura's voice cracked a bit when she said it, "...you love her, too. She is the one who you need to be with, not me..."
Kiyoshi: "Oh, Sakura, I never meant for this to happen. I never meant for what happened at the camp to happen. But you're right, we have both changed. We're different people now. And when I met you, I had never felt like I did with anyone else but you. I thought we were destined to be together...forever. And I wanted to feel like that again...with you...and I wanted to go to the summit with you and rekindle that feeling. I was going to ask you to marry me, Sakura...to put all these feelings I had for Kaori aside and be with you. But now, I know, it just wouldn't have worked. I care about you Sakura, and always will, but you're right, I am in love with Kaori. When I saw her on that slope not moving after her fall, my life flashed before my eyes, a life without her, and I couldn't bear it. And now that I know she is pregnant with our child, yes, I want to be with her. I am so sorry, Sakura. I never wanted to hurt you."
Sakura covered her eyes for a moment and cried.
Sakura looked at Kiyoshi: ["Kiyoshi would have married me even though he was in love with someone else because he didn't want to hurt me..." she thought.]
Sakura knew what she had to do, "Kiyoshi, I release you. I want you to be happy, and I know that you will be so much happier with Kaori. You need to be with the one you love. I feel...I feel it's best if we are just friends..."
Kiyoshi shook his head and agreed, "Sakura, I will always care about you...I hope you know that...and I will always treasure the time we spent together...and the time we had together at the summit..."
Sakura gave Kiyoshi a final kiss on the cheek, "Goodbye, Kiyoshi. I wish you and Kaori nothing but happiness..."
And with that, Sakura walked sadly away feeling the tears run down her cheeks......
Sakura had no-one now...Kiyoshi was in love with Kaori...Kaori was in love with Kiyoshi and they were going to have a baby together...
...and Sakura was in love with Wolfgang...and Wolfgang...just loved her as a friend...Sakura thought that sometimes there were no happy endings. "Oh Sofu (grandfather), I feel so alone", she whispered.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The medal presentation confirmed that Kiyoshi Ito won the gold medal in the Olympic Snowboard competition, and even with her almost fatal accident, Kaori Nishidake won the silver medal with a score of 87 in the Snowboard Competition. Ava Von Badd won the gold medal for Downhill skiing. Coach Janks was proud of his medal winners and proud of all his team members.
When everyone had left, Kaori and Kiyoshi stood alone at the foot of the Yamachan statue.
Kaori: "Congratulations, Kiyoshi! Your parents will be so proud of you..."
Kiyoshi: "It does not matter what they think of me any longer, only what you think of me. I am not perfect, and I probably never will be. Someone once told me that 'We are all imperfect, but that this imperfection is a beautiful part of each one of us. It's what makes us the person we are.'"**
Kiyoshi: "I hope that you will accept me for who I am, Kaori...I will try to be the best sim I can for you and our baby...I love you, Kaori."
Kaori: "Kiyoshi, there was never any doubt in my mind, that you were the most perfect sim...for me... I love you, Kiyoshi."
River had just finished watching the medal presentation and was checking the info board, when he saw some movement near the Yamachan statue. He turned around and saw...horror of horrors...Kiyoshi and Kaori kissing! Like really kissing!
River thought, "Oh my plumbobs! Kiyoshi was cheating on Sakura! That snake! River knew that Kiyoshi had been hiding something. Dang! Poor Sakura! He knew then that he had to tell Wolfgang." River took a quick photo of Kiyoshi and Kaori in case Wolfgang didn't believe what River had seen.
River quickly texted Wolfgang: "URGENT! Where the heck are you bro?"
Wolfgang texted back: "At Izakaya Ippai bar having a few waiting for you..."
River texted back: "Stay there, don't move!".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Notes:
**In chapter - January (Friday) - DAY 28 - A Gift From The Heart - Sakura actually gives Kiyoshi a bowl with the cracks filled in with gold, or the art of 'kintsugi' and says the "imperfect" line to Kiyoshi.
Sakura had a sad moodlet because...and this is so sad...Kiyoshi did an autonomous "hold hands" with Kaori. Sakura saw him do it and got jealous and had the sad "drifting love" moodlet, which lasts for 12 hours. I couldn't believe that Kiyoshi did this, when he was maxed in romance with Sakura and only had a little pink with Kaori. I really felt bad for Sakura when this happened. When she told Kiyoshi she just wanted to be friends, he just took it like it was no big deal, and their entire pink romance bar vanished. Nothing left. I was just expecting that maybe Kiyoshi would be upset or something that Sakura would break up with him, but, no, nothing.
Edit: or maybe tomorrow, I'm getting sleepy, and I need to properly read through both of your updates
and @miss_eulenauge I'll reply to you tomorrow too haha. I need to go to bed. My brain is too scattered for this right now apparently haha
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
Notes
@LegacySims2017 -
And Jackson gets the diving knife and goes treasure hunting! Great! Monsoons! I forgot about those in Sulani. I think in my Bachelor Challenge, that is what might have hit when Rick first got to the island. Does it actually tell you that it is a monsoon, or does it just show heavy rain? I know it's Sulani, but they do garden there, and Jackson could certainly start a little garden on his plot of sand...like coconuts, and all the other Sulani harvestables. That would certainly help him get simoleons faster. Nooooo! I don't want Jackson to leave
@Karababy52 -
@IllusoryThrall -
@Ellupelluellu -
@Skeilah -
@sassytxbrat -
@permanentrose - Vacation Preparations
@miss_eulenauge -
Greg! How could you? Streaking and getting drunk...and then flirting, all while your wife is pregnant and home alone with 4 kids. Greg! How could you do this to Sarah? Too bad they don't have a dog house, because I think that Greg would be sleeping in there tonight... Oh Geez! And then Sarah goes into labor. Greg! Get your act together or you are going to lose your family. I really hope that these two can work this out.
Is this the challenge baby? Fifth child, right? Oooh...I think it is! Yes!
But I won't be doing "full updates" at times, and instead perhaps once a week. And I won't post every day. It just got too stressful trying to keep up with the schedule. I'm sorry, I know posting every day is the entire point of the challenge... But right now it just doesn't work, and even in july this won't get better with the "big" exams and then a nursing internship with irregular schedule.
Like, even playing one SimDay is too much right now. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to play the 10 minutes it takes for a birth today... Then I might be able to upload the pics and write a post tomorrow, or even only thursday...
Lately I've been pushing myself to stick to my schedule, and it just wasn't fun, or distracted me from Uni, or I ended up playing at 3am because I hadn't yet posted that day.
So I think it'll really help to have loosened that schedule, to be able to have fun playing and be able to do my RL Uni assignments
I already had my next post planned and will post it in little snippets, depending on the time I have for playing and writing. For example, I'll try to get the birth & name reveal done today, and the rest will come perhaps on friday or something
In terms of schedule, I might try to get the Challenge Sim aged up until the 7th of June, then use the rest of June for the toddler stage and see how it goes. The MCC settings will be adjusted as I feel neccesary.
time zone: Berlin, Germany - EA Gallery ID: Noctuara
After getting settled into the house, they decided to go check out the local bar and explore a bit. (They actually went on a date there, since it fulfilled the holiday tradition and I could knock one more date out for the Serial Romantic aspiration as well).
"This is already the perfect vacation," Jules gushed as they sat on a bench just outside the cantina, the sun dipping lower into the sky. "I can't wait to explore this place more. It's so gorgeous."
"No as gorgeous as you," Emmett murmured against her lips.
"Let's grab something to eat," Emmett suggested as the evening settled in around them. "I hear the local cuisine here is supposed to be fantastic."
There was a vendor selling items on a table not far from the food stall. "Get your adventure items here!" she called out. "Best deals around!"
Since Jules and Emmett planned to do a trek into the jungle, they decided to check out the inventory and both ended up buying several survival items that seemed like they would come in handy as they braved the dangers of the jungle.
Back at home, that hot tub got some good use. Did you guys expect anything less? It is Love Day after all, and they're having their first proper alone time in ages
They didn't bother putting their swimsuits back on afterward. In fact, there was not a single item of clothing in sight for the rest of the night. Happy Love Day you two! 😏
And nice work with River spotting Kiyoshi and Kaori kissing. Those were some great screenshots. Now I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting for what is in store for Wolfgang and Sakura next! I hope their journey of getting together isn't too much harder for them, but I wouldn't complain if you tossed some more drama in there for them (I mean, Wolfgang still thinks Sakura is pregnant with Kiyoshi's baby, right???) since you really do weave together a good story
@miss_eulenauge
And no worries about keeping up. I can only keep up since my life has been pretty low key this year. I was nannying full time up until last week, but I would get free time when the kids were sleeping in the morning and afternoon, which gave me the rare advantage of playing sims at work haha. And now this month, I have time off and I'm dog sitting, which is another very easy job where I can play sims while I hang out with dogs, so honestly I'm just in a rare place where I can play the sims all the time if I want to HAHA. But next month I'm starting school again so I'm sure I'll be in more of the same boat as you with struggling to keep up, because real life has to come first, and there's never any shame in that! I know that the goal is to post daily, but a lot of people need to skip a day here and there, and in my opinion, there should be no pressure to catch up. Just post when you can and have fun! And post the kind of updates that are fun for you, whether that's a full story or just one photo.
June 1
Week 5 Wednesday
**as pretty as this hair is, she won't get to keep it long. When the patch came out I removed all CC hair since it didn't include the new hair colors. She goes back to the hair she had after her birthday...
Mia has one vacation day remaining so she calls to take the day off because it is going to be busy today. She also would get the day off once she has her birthday but I didn’t want her slipping out of the house before she had a chance to age up.
Who needs sleep. Jake is in the kitchen making a cake for Mia and Skye is trying to clean the house again. Most of the toddlers are up.
Toddlers are waking up so they need something to eat that is not the cake. The fridge is still empty so someone has to actually make some breakfast. Salad, that is what is for breakfast.
It is time for Mia to blow out her candles, She is ready and so am I. Jake is still making salad and I decided to get this part done before someone took a piece of the cake.
Once she moves out she will get a makeover. For now, #wokeuplikethis. Mia adds Adventurous to her Outgoing trait, and takes the StrangerVille Mystery as her first grown up aspiration.
I am waiting on Skye to go into labor so that she can have the baby before she has to head to the studio. And Mia will be moving out the instant the new baby is here. The toddlers all need baths but that is for another time and the game to address after Mia moves out.
Rey wants all the attention … no wait, that is Zoe. She is sitting on Rey’s bed. I am still waiting on Skye but she should be going into labor any minute.
And the new baby joins the family. Ben is a boy and Mia is moving out. Finally. I love this family but it is time to make some changes.
Bye babies! Love you!! Good luck getting your bath!!!
Information
Mia moves in with the Sigsworths and apparently there are two new toddlers in the family. Thanks MCCC. By the time I had decided on where Mia was going and how it was going to play out, and remembered to set lifespan on Long, Christie had become a teen and Jess had given birth to two little boys. They are not twins.
I have completed the mystery two or three times previously so I know what is coming. But this is the first time I will be taking one of the premade families along for the ride.
First things first, everyone gets a makeover and then there are introductions to the Sigworth household. Okay, not everyone. Mia and Christie and the toddlers had makeovers. Dylan and Jess got to keep their own style. Thankfully it is already time for Jonah (green) to age up – his bar is bubbling. Hugh (blue) is also going to age up, making them basically twins. After leaving the last house with all the toddlers, I am ready for there to not be toddlers in this household. Children, I can ignore.
The next step is to upgrade the house to hold all the sims. The original house is small and cramped for three sims. Now there are six living here. So, using the money Mia brought with her, they are able to upgrade to a three-bedroom house from the gallery.
The house I downloaded had a lot of walls, so the remodel consisted of removing almost all of them. The two kids bedrooms are updated with bunkbeds so everyone now has a place to sleep. At least they will as soon as the toddler become children.
Jonah and Hugh are heading inside to put away a book sitting out. The need sims feel to put away books causes them to drop or ignore other actions and direction, and is really irritating. I put the book away and told them to sit on the couch until Dylan can get some food made.
Mia still has the clay and I am trying to not sell it but that is another thing that they seem to find distracting. Mia has been collecting things, which she will not sell until she is living alone. In addition to her inventory, she took all the excess funds from Skye, leaving them with §20,000. She will do the same when she leaves this house on July 1. Anything over §20,000 will be hers to take, plus anything in her inventory.
Dylan gets the cake made so he starts with Jonah, who is already bubbling. Jess had to go to work and Christie went to school, so it is just Dylan, Mia, and the twins.
After Jonah blows out his candles, it is time for Hugh to blow out some candles. I was serious about not having toddlers in this household. I am also going to give Dylan a snip-snip so autonomous woohoo does not lead to long-lasting consequences.
Once the boys are aged up, they spend the afternoon working on homework. Mia also completed hers and then went to Drama Club to work on her last promotion. Jonah is a Geek.
Hugh is evil. Of course he is.
Dylan is a Stay-Home Dad, although since the toddlers are children, he might consider finding a part time job. He is a Genius, Perfectionist, Bookworm with the Nerd Brain aspiration. Maybe he will get a fulltime job.
Jess and Christie both come home at the same time. Jess is in the military, obviously. She is Outgoing, Active, and Family-oriented. Her aspiration is to have a Successful Lineage. Christie always grows up into this hair in my games, she was able to keep it during her makeover. She is also a lot older than Mia, but that doesn’t matter as long as they aren’t aging. Christie is Active and a Recycle Disciple. I hate that trait because they tend to get rid of their own furniture without my permission. Christie wants to move to the city when she finishes school with the City Native aspiration.
Everyone needs to go to bed. This has been a long day and the longest update so far this challenge.
In order to get her last promotion, Mia needs to be at level 3 in Acting. She took two back to back classes in the skill which got her to high level 2. She takes a quick moment to learn some lines and there is level 3. That means tomorrow, she should reach the top of Drama Club and then she will be able to quit it.
{sigh} So close. Everyone had just gone to bed and I was about to call it an update, when the 🐸🐸🐸🐸 monsters showed up reminding me that I forgot the night light and showing me that monsters under the bottom bunk wake up both sleepers.
Night light has been installed and both boys are napping away their fear.
Wolfgang entered the bar and it was empty except for one patron. Probably because most of the residents were at the slopes watching the Olympics. He made his way to the bar and sat down and ordered his favorite drink...a Ridgeport...the same drink that Sakura liked. Oh geez! He should have ordered something else. Didn't they have sake here? Okay, well, maybe his next drink.
Wolfgang sat there and cradled his drink wondering why everything had gone so wrong with this weekend. Yesterday, he had a really good time with Sakura, even though Wolfgang was terrible at snow sports. But Sakura...gosh...when she skied down the slopes...she looked just like an angel floating down that hill...doing all those twists and turns...she made it look so easy. And Wolfgang could barely stand up straight, he was so wobbly on his skis and then wiped out at the bottom. But Sakura had never criticized him or anything...Dang! He missed her. But that is why Wolfgang was here, right...to obliterate Sakura from his memory. To ease the pain he felt in his heart when he thought of Sakura and Kiyoshi together. He ordered another drink from the bartender.
What had he ordered? A salty llama...Wolfgang practically downed it in one gulp and he felt the liquid burn his throat as he swallowed. His liquid courage. He felt better already, and ordered another. He thought of Sakura last night in her kimono with her hair down...gosh...she really was a vision...so beautiful. And he had foolishly thought that last night he would tell her he loved her, and then kiss those sweet lips again. How many months ago had it been since he had stolen that kiss with Sakura? Wolfgang thought for a moment...five months...he couldn't believe it. How could a kiss that happened five months ago have such an impact on him? But it wasn't just the kiss...it was Sakura...she had an impact on him. [flashback]
Wolfgang thought about last night again and how his plans to tell Sakura he loved her had failed again because Mr. wonderful Olympic boyfriend had shown up. Wolfgang was thankful that Kiyoshi hadn't kissed Sakura on the lips, because Wolfgang might have left last night. As it was, it was bad enough with Kiyoshi reminding Wolfgang that Kiyoshi was Sakura's boyfriend and that Sakura and Kiyoshi had shared a perhaps first kiss at the Festival of Snow a long time ago. It was like Kiyoshi knew Wolfgang had feelings for Sakura and just wanted to rub more salt into Wolfgang's open wounds or rather, Wolfgang's breaking heart.
Wolfgang thought back to the time when he had first seen Sakura at Discoteque Pan Europa. He even remembered what she had on, some hot pink top and some black shorts...and...oh...the longest legs he had ever seen. Wolfgang had watched her dancing on the dance floor and wondered who she was. She had been chatting with River, and Wolfgang decided to make his move and went over to introduce himself. It had been very brief, but when she smiled at him...he just felt...he felt so warm inside. [flashback]
He could tell she wasn't like anyone else he had ever met, but he didn't stay and was trying to play it cool. But he was mesmerized by her and watched her all night, dancing and DJ'ing. Wolfgang knew from the moment he met her that Sakura was special, and he just wanted to be around her. And by the time he found out she had a boyfriend, it was too late, he was in too deep, he had already fallen for her, and it hadn't stopped, he was now full blown in love with her.[flashback]
Wolfgang took another swig of his drink and saw a new text from River. It was marked Urgent. Geez...what could be so urgent?
He answered River's text: "At Izakaya Ippai bar having a few waiting for you..."
River told Wolfgang not to go anywhere and to stay where he was. Wolfgang thought it was a strange message, but then, where did Wolfgang have to go? Nowhere but here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
River entered the bar and saw Wolfgang sitting at the bar with a drink in his hand. Oh geez! Wolfgang already looked like he had had a few. What was going on?
River: "Hey Wolfgang...I was at the medal presentation at the Olympics and I couldn't see you or Sakura anywhere. Where were you?"
Wolfgang: "I left early...after Kiyoshi's run...he came over to be with Sakura...and I...well...I just couldn't be there anymore..."
River: "So, did you tell her? Did she say she wanted to stay with Kiyoshi? Because if that's the case, bro...I need to tell you something..."
Wolfgang: "Actually, I haven't told her how I felt yet. You know I was going to when she came to dinner at my house for Harvestfest, but she was so tired that she fell asleep on the couch. And then we had all day Saturday together...it was frickin' awesome...and we were going to have this Japanese hot pot at the rental...and River...she looked so amazing in her kimono...and then Kiyoshi showed up..."
River: "Dude...I knew Sakura before you met her...and, I can tell, she's in love with you, bro. But it's like she's this old-fashioned girl or something...like, she wants the guy to take the lead...I don't know...she's just so different...in a good way..."
Wolfgang: "Yeah, she is different...really special...but she's going to be with Kiyoshi...he'll want to be with her after she tells him..."
River: "Dude, you lost me...when Sakura tells him what?"
Wolfgang: "That she's pregnant...with his baby..."
River: "Whoa! Sakura? Pregnant? No way! I can't see that happening. How the heck do you know this? Did she tell you?"
Wolfgang: "Ah man...I forgot...you didn't know...." Wolfgang then related the whole story of finding out about the ultrasound by accident.
River: "Wow! That is unreal! Oh man...you may not want to hear what I have to tell you dude, but Kiyoshi is cheating on Sakura..."
Wolfgang: "What? That can't be. You should have seen how possessive the guy was of Sakura on Saturday night, even had to rub it in that he had had his first kiss with Sakura at the Festival of Snow a long time ago..."
River: "Well, that might have been Saturday night...but today...I saw him kissing Kaori Nishidake after the medal presentations...and believe me, bro, that was NOT a friendly kiss he was giving Kaori..."
Wolfgang: "Impossible! When I left, Kiyoshi was with Sakura and she was going to stay until the end for the medal presentation, and then they were going on that mountain summit climb together. You must have seen someone else..."
River: "I knew you'd say that, so I took a quick photo to prove it. Okay, well, it's not the best photo because it's blurry and you really can't make our their faces...but, yeah ,,,it's them...I swear I saw them kissing..."
Wolfgang took a swig of his drink, "Did you say it was Kaori...like Kiyoshi's ex-girlfriend...on the Olympic Snowboard Team with him?"
River: "One and the same. You know, during her competition, she had a pretty bad fall, and they closed the slope and the first aiders came over...it was major...she got knocked out for a bit...but she was alright afterwards...and got a silver medal. I actually saw Kiyoshi over there with her. Of course I didn't think anything of it because she was his teammate...but yeah...it was them..."
A woman sitting at the bar heard their conversation and piped up, "Are you talking about Kiyoshi Ito and Kaori Nishidake? Oh honey...they were a real hot item at the Training Camp. My daughter, Jade, was on the Olympic Ski Team...she didn't get any medals today, poor dear...but she told me that one night after a party, she went in to take a shower, and there in the shower stall were Kiyoshi and Kaori...and let's just say they weren't showering, if you know what I mean.
The whole camp knew about it. But then after they had a day off, Kiyoshi came back to the camp and wouldn't speak to Kaori. And come to think of it, he had to take a few extra days off due to some family emergency in another town...where was that now...oh yes, I remember...Windenburg...yeah, a family member was in the hospital in Windenburg, so he had to take an emergency family leave..."
Wolfgang and River looked at each other in shock and Wolfgang could feel the anger building up inside of him. Kiyoshi had cheated on Sakura with Kaori at the camp, and then came to Windenburg and had Wolfgang give his word that he would not try anything with Sakura...all the while...Kiyoshi had been unfaithful to Sakura...and then went back to Sakura's place and got her pregnant, and now Kiyoshi has taken up with Kaori again. Oh my plumbobs!
Wolfgang slammed his glass down on the counter and began his rant, "I am going to "slap that plumbob Kiyoshi silly"! That lying no-good rotten, good-for-nothing, lily-liver, back stabbing, two-timing, heartless, llama-hating, cheating, dirty son of a freezer bunny, villainous void critter, bag of dog poo. Kiyoshi will wish he had never been born when I get through with him!"
River: "Yes! Now, you're talking! What you're talking about, I have no idea, but it sounds great!"
Wolfgang: "....and I'm going to tell Sakura all about her boyfriend..." he said and then he stopped, "...oh gosh...I can't tell her...she will be devastated...oh man...she will be heartbroken...I can't do that to her...but she's got to know..."
River: "Okay, then, I will tell her. I've got the proof right here on my phone...yep...and then you can just come in and sweep her off her feet and be the hero...oh yeah...a happy ending...well, maybe not for Kiyoshi."
Wolfgang: "That sounds great River, but it won't work...she's gone...she would have already left for the summit climb with Kiyoshi...it's too late...I'm sure he is going to ask her to marry him...it's what I would do...and Sakura is in love with him...it's just too late..."
Wolfgang hung his head down and River thought he heard him cry.
River: "Wolfgang, bro...it's okay...there's gotta be a way..."
Wolfgang: "I'm in love with her River...and I haven't told her...and dang it...Sakura's in love with that two-timing Kiyoshi..."
Suddenly, the door to the bar opened, and Knox Snowden came into the bar shouting and yelling about an avalanche and that some climbers were trapped on the mountain summit climb. When the bartender heard the news, he had a shocked look on his face. Voices were raised and a bunch of sims ran out.
"We need volunteers!" Knox shouted, "Anyone with any climbing experience...we need help...!" he said as he exited the bar.
Wolfgang sat there stunned, "River! Sakura and Kiyoshi were going on that mountain summit climb. It's them! They're the ones who are trapped. Sakura is trapped up there! What the heck am I sitting here for...I've got to go and save her! I've got to go and get the girl I'm in love with! And you, River are coming with me!"
River: "What? I have never rock climbed in my life and neither have you..."
Wolfgang: "Actually, I have, Sakura and I went the other day..."
River: "Yeah, sure, on a small rock ledge. This is a mountain we're talking about here! A really big mountain! Are you crazy?"
Wolfgang: "Yes, I am! I am crazy in love with Sakura and I don't care if she's pregnant with another guy's child. She won't be happy. He can't make her happy like I can. And that baby is part of her, too, so what's not to love? Right?" I have to do this, River. It's my last chance...I can't live without her..."
River: "Okay, bro, be the hero, get the girl, but if I die up on that mountain I am going to haunt you for the rest of your life..."
Wolfgang smiling, "You won't die, bro..."
River: "No? Didn't you say that the last time I died?
Wolfgang: "Well, that's before I became a hero, and heroes don't die..."
River: "Yeah, but what about the sidekick? They could die...like, am I the sidekick now? I get it, it's like those Star Trek episodes, where the new guy gets beamed down with the landing party, and we already know that the new guy is gonna get done in...Am I the new guy now? I'm gonna get done in, aren't I?"
Wolfgang: "You're not gonna get done in...now come on...we're wasting time... we'll stop by the rental house and pick up some supplies...and then we'll go..."
River: "How the heck do you even know where they were going, bro?
Wolfgang: "Because Sakura showed me the trail marker the other day...we just have to climb a medium rock wall to get to it..."
River: "Oh gee...I feel so lucky to have been volunteered for this adventure..."
Wolfgang: "We'll just pack lots of rope...and those rock climbing books...we'll just read them on the way...it'll be fine..."
River:"Oh geez! You know, it would have been easier if you had just told Sakura how you felt straight away..."
Wolfgang: "Well, when we rescue her, that's what I am going to do, tell her I love her...and then I'm going to punch Kiyoshi...or maybe vice versa, I haven't decided yet."
River: "I think I am going to "shout forbidden words" at Kiyoshi. Then you can tell Sakura you love her AND kiss her. Of course, that is, if we get that far. I can see us now...hanging upside down on the rock wall, dangling from a piece of rope, reading a rock climbing book. Of course, I could post that on SimTube and I bet it would get lots of hits...so yeah...great plan...sign me up!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ferns were water plants, for goodness sake.. who had thought Oasis Springs would be a good place for them? In their stead, she had ordered some box hedges for the front, a couple palm trees for shade, and some low-lying plants to replace the dead ferns.
She was sure it would take ages to get out all those nasty brambles and rose bushes, but, surprisingly, it was just fine, and she still had time to do another major project she had her eye on.
To eliminate the possibility of fire, Marnie upgraded the dryer. (Also, side note for anyone who’s curious: when living on a retail lot, laundry doesn’t work. It might as well not exist. I had these on that lot, but they never generated laundry.)
By the time everyone got home from school, the twins were hungry again, so Marnie made some more food, then went to take a nap.
At some point in the evening, Bennie found himself sitting silently, awkwardly, next to his oldest son. After a moment of thought, he decided he’d try talking to him.
“So, Son, what are your plans now that you’ve graduated. I know your grades weren’t the best, but you could probably find a job around town..?” Bennie started.
“A JOB?? You’ve GOT to be kidding me. I’m moving out, old man. Soon as I legally can, I’m out of here. Friday’s my birthday, and my girl Shaylee and I already have plans to move to an apartment in the city with a couple of room-mates.” (Benji wisely left out where he was going to get the money, and the fact that it was more than a couple room-mates, and quickly stood up and went to find something else to do.
Poor Bennie was left sitting there, wondering how he was going to tell Marnie that Benji was leaving town on Friday. Also, he wondered idly, what exactly were Benji’s plans if a “JOB” wasn’t on the list??
At bedtime, Marnie stopped by Jaz’s room to tell her that, once again, she was going to be missing part of school tomorrow. This had been the earliest appointment available at the Mental Health Center in Newcrest, the only one that would take Jaz for free. Well, for a few appointments, at least.
Jaz seemed shocked about having to miss school to go, but Marnie assured her the next appointment would be after school.
“Next appointment??” Jaz squeaked, even more surprised.
“Well, yeah. Of course there’s a next one. This is just for you and I to get to know your therapist. After that, you’ll be going in alone. The school is requiring this, so you can avoid suspension. Hopefully they can get the answers they seem to want and we can put this whole thing behind us soon.” Marnie said, scoffing at Jaz’s ignorance.
“Oh.. Okay. So I’ll finally get to see Newcrest, huh? How far away is it? Will we take a bus?” Jaz had so many questions, but Marnie merely shook her head, chuckled, and left the room.
Sighing and slightly confused as to why she had to see the therapist anyway, Jaz climbed into her new bed and attempted to get to sleep.
In the middle of the night, Myles and Phoenix were awakened by noises under Myles’ bed. Squealing, Myles got up and ran to get Benji, who was the closest.
Annoyed, Benji sprayed the monster away, and made a note for Marnie to go shopping for an anti-monster light or two first thing tomorrow.
Myles, who was still un-nerved, decided to work on his Mental skill some more, and barely ticked over to level 7, allowing him to make his three emotion potions and go back to bed.
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