Why am I tempted to create a Belladonna Cove soap opera focused around Tara deBateau and Justin Cleveland...

Previously on Taradonna Cove... Justin Cleveland has been in love with his best friend Tara deBateau for most of his teens. He finally made his move just before going to university, but Tara didn't feel the same and rejected his advances, leaving Justin heartbroken.

This time...

School may be over for Justin Cleveland and Tara deBateau, but Sim State University follows. Under normal circumstances, going to the same university as your best friend should be an amazing experience! Someone you can share a house with instead of strangers who may or may not regularly flood the hallways and whose last shower was taken in 2017 (early 2017, at that). However, the "Kiss Debacle" put a major dent on their friendship and both agreed it would be best to have some space, at least while they get settled. Justin takes his room at Landgraab House Dorms while Tara is living at Pinenut Plaza Dorms. Justin is studying Political Science, not that he had much choice, and Tara, seemingly unsure of what she wants to do with her life, is studying Maths... with the Quigley Visual Arts Grant.

Tara, focused as always, never struggled with classes - she found the exams to be too easy, much to the dismay of her classmates, and so it came as no surprise that she finished the year with a 20 out of 20. Living at the dorm though, that was much harder than excelling at their classes. She struggled to connect with her fellow dormies, seemingly more interested in quietly studying in front of the TV instead of actually talking with her. The one exception was Filipa Vasconcellos. The two became fast friends and decided to find their own place at the end of the year. Filipa was taking a sort of gap year, realising she had chosen the wrong field of study upon being accepted - starting from next year, she would study Maths, just like Tara.

Justin, on the other hand, barely set foot in class for the entirety of the second semester. Term paper? I hardly know her! Either he is a prodigy or the Political Science degree is a sham, because Justin also finished with a 20 out of 20 despite putting in, at best, 10% of Tara's effort. His efforts were spent elsewhere. And by elsewhere I mean Aurora Santos, Landgraab House Dorms' finest. They flirted through the year almost non-stop (I say almost because they did unfortunately have to stop flirting temporarily because someone set the kitchen on fire. TWICE.) and shared their first kiss at the Sim State Tower. And their second kiss, their third kiss, their fifty-fourth kiss, they were full-on making out at the Tower when Aurora just... left? And never again flirted with Justin? And the cherry on top: Justin now wants to fall in love with Tara - again.

It's now the start of the second year. Tara and Filipa are living at 25 Peanut Street, Justin is still at the dorm. Justin has also started to "casually" drop by at the girls' house. Tara, oblivious, is trying to set him up with Filipa, but the two have negative chemistry. They might now be friends but they are never, ever, ever getting together. How long will Justin be hung up on Tara? Will Tara realise Justin still likes her? Will Tara ever reciprocate? What is the deal with Aurora?

Coming up on Taradonna Cove... Rumours are starting to swirl around town that both Jason and Marissa Cleveland are actually gay and the marriage is nothing but a beard...

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I'm having a blast playing University. The last time I even opened a university subhood was, at the very least, 6 years ago. I haven't played university ever since I, well, became a university student myself, and I also wasn't playing it before because I hadn't unlocked the university on my BACC hood either, so 6 years might even be an optimistic estimate. It's been fun trying to set up situations organically, like Tara struggling to make friends. I could simply direct her to force talk her way through friendships, but that's not how my university experience went and I tried to replicate that. Luckily I can say I had more success in the friends department than Tara who only managed to naturally form a friendship with one of her dormies. Speaking of, it pisses me off that when you make a dormie move in they'll be undecided and in their first year, so my headcanon is that Filipa chose a major she didn't like (say History) and treated that year as a gap year for her actual major, Maths. This ties up nicely with the way university works where I come from, you get accepted for a specific degree, you choose your "major", if you will, when applying, not after being accepted. If you want to change degrees (unless the classes are similar enough that you have some equivalences) you're back to the first year. Also, while on the one hand I want Justin to move on, on the other hand I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him - we've all had our own Tara deBateau. Romantic Standards is really pulling its weight here.

I think the main star of my current Pleasantview-Strangetown playthrough is Alexander Goth, but coming up behind him is a perennial favorite, perpetual sad boy Dustin Broke.

Ah, Dustin. You fell hard for Angela Pleasant as a teen, even though she and everyone else thought she was too good for you. You put in the hard work and pulled your grades up just enough to squeak into college with her. But university was tough and you fell behind. You switched your aspiration to Family and grew a beard in hopes of impressing your one true love. Finally, when you became a senior, you got down on one knee and proposed--only to be rejected outright. Dejected, you dropped out of college, moved back into the trailer park, and took a job as a firefighter. Angela kept inviting you to parties and eventually started hooking up with you again, which, alas, got your hopes up. Then came that one party--the one where you walked in on Angela in bed with your best friend, Jimmy Phoenix. Needless to say, you were devastated--even more so when Jimmy proposed to your girl that same night and was accepted.

But you're a good guy. You forgave Jimmy and Angela, and you wished them the best, even if you couldn't put Angela out of your mind. Then, Lucy Burb moved into the trailer park. You know her from when she was a kid--Angela's kid cousin. You started hanging out with her. She was cute and sweet, and even though she wasn't Angela, she was almost Angela. A more brunette, plainer Angela. You started going out with her. So what if you kept getting distracted by other women? You kept your eyes on the prize. A stable family is all you've ever wanted. Finally, you decided to pop the question, and she accepted, although there may have been some doubt in her eyes. Still, she wanted to make it work, and so did you. So you moved her into your mom's old trailer with the intention of starting a family together and forgetting all about your one real love--as if you could do that. As if anyone could ever measure up to who Angela was for you, in your imagined perfect world.

I really hope that Dustin and Lucy make it work, but I kind of have my doubts.

Since I'm already at Sim State, I might as well give the premades some playing time as well. I've never actually played with the Sim State (or any university subhood, for that matter) sims, so this is a whole new world for me.

Starting off with the Bright household. As we know, Allegra Gorey is smitten with Castor Nova. Unfortunately for Allegra, he doesn't even look twice at her, instead being much more interested in her housemate Jane Stacks. He has been spending a lot of time at the Bright household, to the delight of Allegra, but let's just say the deck is stacked against her... Jane and Castor eventually become a thing and Allegra is furious with both of them - wow, entitled much? For someone who hates the sorority sisters you sure are acting like one of them! Speaking of sorority sisters, Martin Ruben has been spending a lot of time with Heather Huffington, who would have thought she was a geek like him?

This leads us nicely to the Tri-Var sorority. Martin is just too oblivious to make a move, so Heather had to take matters into her own hands. It may have started as some stupid bet but Martin is kinda cute in his own way. Tiffany Sampson, friendly as always, is a close friend of Joshua Ruben, but even closer with Kevin Beare... and it all came crashing down at one of the sorority's toga parties: Tiffany and Kevin became a pairing and Joshua pulled an Allegra on the two of them (these sims need to learn how to handle rejection!). That party may have been a disaster but the next one was a roof raiser - Joshua was NOT invited... As for Brittany Upsnott, the less said the better. No one wants to hang out with her (even Tiffany only tolerates her presence), especially not Castor, so she just jumps on the sofa to forget her miserable experience (oh, and she finally started attending classes).

Finally, the Urele-Oresha-Cham fraternity. Oh boy(s). We already know Castor Nova is dating Jane Stacks, quite serious too. We also already know Joshua Ruben is a loser, he is too distracted by girls and pizza but only gets one of those two. Kevin Beare isn't used to having luck with the ladies but him and Tiffany form quite the cute couple, even if it means he randomly gets slapped and shoved by Joshua in the middle of their living room. Who cares about that loser anyway? As for Ashley Pitts, it's a mystery how all the girls are unbelievably attracted to him. He is genuinely never happy yet they just fall at his feet. He has hooked up with half of the redhead population of Sim State and is currently hooking up with Heather Huffington after Kevin introduced them. Seriously, what is so special about Ashley that he has 3 bolts with Heather? The day they met he literally woohoo'd with Rishell Whatshername (IN THE HOT TUB WITH KEVIN EATING PIZZA IN FRONT OF THEM) and immediately smooth talked Heather. The next day the other three had their exams and he invited Heather over to seal the deal. You may have noticed there's a lot of woohoo and not a single class in sight. Yeah, he failed this semester, not that it has made him take his studies more seriously. He fails his exam and all he wants to do is make out or woohoo. Either he gets his act together or there might not be any more parties to go to next semester...

I played some Strangetown yesterday. It's funny how Pleasantview seems so chill while Strangetown seems so madcap. In Pleasantview, it's all just affairs and leaving people at the altar, while in Strangetown, it's chaos all the time.

At the Beakers' house, their dog ran away and got taken in by wolves. I posted a pic in the Funny Pictures and Bloopers thread. Loki is a werewolf now, and he randomly decided to beat up Nervous. So Nervous took his alien daughter, Calamity, and ran away. They got the dog back when they got into their new house, so that's okay. Loki also attacked a coworker he brought home. He's kind of out of control. Then he got abducted by aliens himself but hasn't had the baby yet. Circe and Erin just ignore Loki's antics--I think they're used to his ways by now.

The Curious sisters moved into a bigger house and both had babies. Chloe's baby daddy is Goopy GilsCarbo. She's cool with being a single mom and seems to have moved on to other men. Lola's baby daddy is Alexander Goth, who has moved back to Pleasantview and maybe doesn't know about his other kid. Lola fell in love with her coworker, Cyd Roseland. I think she gave Cyd the idea that he was the father because he agreed when she asked him to marry her, even though he wasn't actually in love with her. Cyd is still mourning the death of his first wife, Ivy Copur. Perhaps he just needed a change. He and Porthos moved to Strangetown -- Porthos better watch out for wolves! Now I have to find a new house for them again if I want them all to continue living together comfortably because I was originally expecting Lola to do the single mom thing too.

In the other Curious household, Pascal's alien daughter became a teen and Vidcund's alien son became a child. They both have max neat points and are always furious at Lazlo. To be fair, Lazlo has made it a habit to pee in the bushes right outside the front door. I guess that's a solution to the one-bathroom problem. Everyone was just skilling and getting promotions when Pascal got abducted again. And he had twins! So I had to rearrange the house and turn their plant room into a nursery to accommodate everyone. I also finally built them a second bathroom. They all keep wanting to use the telescope but maybe we have enough Curious children for now.

Last night I was playing and marvelling at how good my nanny was - the kid she was minding is around ~10yo, so she was happy playing outside with her neighbour friend while the nanny cleaned the house and then made lunch. I overestimated her, however. She was trying to bake a pie and also make soup at the same time, so as she prepared the soup, the oven caught fire. I have never had a nanny be the only adult on the lot with a fire before, so I wondered if she would call the fire brigade, or try to extinguish the fire (or worse, with firemod in - run away??) Well, she did not. And I realised too late that I had no smoke alarm. She just stood there panicking, so I had to get the child to ring the emergency (luckily the phone is in the hall, so she returned to playing outside like it was NBD). My more dangerous fires mod seems to hate me at the moment, or maybe the fire department is underfunded, because it took them ages to arrive so half the room was on fire by the time they got there, and I actually worried she might burn to death. Mum arrived just after the fire department, and rushed in to see what was happening. Somehow she passed through a tile of fire that was in front of the doorway unscathed, and instantly gained the burnt (electrocution) overlay, which was unexpected. Anyway the good old fire brigade did their job. The nanny did briefly catch fire but was extinguished. She then asked "Now that I'm done with work, would you like to hang out?" WHILE ON FIRE. Um. I clicked no The mum was going to instantly fire her for endangering the child but she left before she could do that. So I just used the sim blender to set them as enemies instead XD