I spent this session with the Cooke family: Julien, his husband Aiken, their daughters Quiche and Julienne, and of course Stinky the cat. It felt like ages since I spent time with their family, so much has happened since last. I don't know how many days Aiken has left, but he's nearing 70 days old, so I took him on an outing all on his own to make sure he got some skilling wants and some social wants fulfilled. He went to the smartgym run by Phantom leroux and had fun, gained body points, and hung out with friends from his townie days and told lots of people Ramón-Luiz is hot (I'm sure they knew that already, Ramón-Luiz knows everyone and is a local legend).

Julien had a party, at which every guest at one point told someone else Ramón-Luiz is hot and I felt like telling them all what he does in the shower and how he cleans his plates. If they knew, they might stop obsessing about him.

Then the girls surprised me completely by having only one day left to teenhood, so I aged them up and Little Stokkola got its first playable teenagers! Quiche is a pleasure sim and Julienne is popularity like her dads. Last evening was spent with the girls out on their own for the first time, exploring community lots in search of mobile phones and other teens. Phones were found and bought, the other teens proved more elusive and when we found some, Quiche really didn't like them. All she wants now is dates and flirts and fun, but she refuses to get along with the potential flirt objects she meets, and she doesn't want to have fun because she's too bored. She reminds me of some real life teenagers I've met!

You didn't accidentally adopt the skunk, did you? XD

But does she think that Ramón-Luiz is hot?

Lucile Careli started rolling wants to give backrubs to Benjamin Aspir and a townie she's been romantically involved with, which then gave way to a want to flirt with Benjamin. She did, and now they're both in love, after a long time of her having one-sided feelings for him. They went on to have a son, Apollo.

Benjamin fulfilled his ltw of maxing all skills, and Haze Aspir-Bradshaw hers of having ten simultaneous lovers. They're mostly townies, but also all three Broke siblings. Dustin Broke and Kaylynn Langerak also autonomously fell in love on a community lot, which is... interesting, because Kaylynn has a crush on Brandi Broke.

Lou Pleasant has been reading sci-fi books for his daughters Eydís and Zéphyrine, and once they grew up to children he bought some science stuff, started subscribing to the science magazine, and put up sciencey art to watch along with them. He also took them to the science hobby lot one day. He wishes for them to get to meet aliens, their ancestors, one day, but obviously he doesn't want them to be traumatized in the process. So therefore he's doing his best to make them interested in sci-fi and the science hobby, so that they might want to meet aliens themselves when they're older.
Speaking of Eydís and Zéphyrine, I consider them my first ever identical twins in The Sims 2. They have slightly different cheeks and chins, but that's really it. Hell, they look way more alike than the identical twin pair I know in real life. Incidentally, they're also the granddaughters of noted identical twin Angela Pleasant.

I had a story dilemma with Micklethwaite, the butler to one of my families in Sonder. It resulted in Micklethwaite's retirement from service, and his subsequent move to a newly built retirement community (top left building in this image).


Micklethwaite awakens in his new room at the Sunset Breeze Community. He hasn't yet had opportunity to personalise his room, so it is a bit sparse for now.




All of my first generation sims are elders now, so I hope to move in some of them as companions for Micklethwaite. I can hear Mrs. Poindexter rubbing her hands in glee!

Young Herb Oldie in my beginning Pleasantview visited his fiancee, Coral Ruggbyrne, and I discovered that he is a naked hot-tubber!

That hot tub, by the way, was a present from Herb to Coral and her family after their first date, a dream date during which they got engaged. Herb is just about to graduate university, and Coral can't wait to have the wedding.

New sim moved in my Emerald Heights. Michi Deere, a geeky and very curious young woman working in intelligence career moved in and is about to find out everything about everybody. She already annoyed Jake Keller by spying on him but what else could she do? Late Hank Keller was up to something and Geraldine McCallister was not able to figure it out before she got bullied out of journalism career. Geraldine might be happier working as adventurer and writing children's books on side but truth still has to come to light. And Michi can figure out any social puzzle.
She lives alone with three cats, one of whom went missing right after moving in. So now she also has find him on top of digging through Keller secrets.

Btw, where did you get the gramophone and the records collection here from? And the tray of drinks.

I'm working on recreating Selvadorada from Sims 4 Jungle Adventure in Sims 2. I used the Briney Fjord terrain template and think it worked out pretty well so far. I've remade all the lots and did my best attempt at the hidden adventuring lots (the plane crash site, royal baths, temple, gardens, etc). So while it's technically "done", it feels way too empty (7 lots is not enough for an entire world!!!) and I'm going to add more custom lots.

Hood view:


Comparison to TS4 world map:

Tray of drinks on the bar are Maxis but recoloured by me (the bottle is too). They are here: https://simfileshare.net/download/5718790/
But you might mean the whiskey on the table, which is Meshkiste and is in this archive:
https://simfileshare.net/download/2679503/ (Thank you @vegan_kaktus ) It's in the deco folder- 'phelwhiskysammlungo112o5'
If you mean the cocktail glasses then they are Solander: https://simfileshare.net/download/5718810/

The records are 'music arsenal' from Wildchild111's 'A Mix of Things' here:
https://wildchild111.livejournal.com/8394.html
http://www.mediafire.com/?bct9917cb46yn7i

Gramophone is Ghoularcade's 'Gloomy spring' here:
https://ghoularcade.tumblr.com/post...llection-of-4t2

This is really amazing because ordinarily I can't remember where I got stuff from, but for some reason I'd written down the URLs for each of these downloads (I probably remember to do this for less than 1% of what I download, so huge improbability). I'm going to buy myself something nice for being so organised. Food, most likely. Or records.

I'm currently thinking about potentially making some sort of story thing in the Sims 2. I can't decide if I wanna go for "fighting off aliens on ship" or "explore a new world and end up in the middle of a conflict". Either way I'm going to get a lot of extra CC. Now, I've played around a little with some of what I got so far. I made a house on Mars. Found a nice space terrain to play with.




I did start a story once before. But I've changed computer since so all I had is lost. But I still wanna do something like it. I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in reading my silly little story tho. I'm considering posting it to either Tumblr, WordPress or Dreamwidth.

Oh and also... Stargate.

In my Story Progression Pleasantview, widower Mary-Sue Pleasant was recently forced to retire from City Council. The Pleasant's are currently the hot topic of the town, after Dianna Pleasant and Don Lothario openly had an affair at the Pleasant's home. To quiet down the embarrassment and gossip, the Council asked Mary-Sue to resign. The Pleasant's reputation in politics is now tarnish, which leaves the Mayor position open. Mary-Sue has disowned Dianna, her youngest daughter and assigned Lilith Broke to be her beneficiary.

If you want Sci Fi CC then you can't go past this. https://blueheavensims.wordpress.co...of-midnight-at/

Oh yeah, I got all the stuff from there. Except for the older stuff. I currently got all the remastered CC. I'm not sure if I can combine the two as some of the older stuff probably needs older meshes. I'm torn if I want to go the "Stargate" way or the "Star Trek" way. The "Stargate way" would use the Modern Combat stuff (and Jaffa CC if I could find it) and perhaps some of the medieval stuff. Just having some Sims on an alien planet looking for alien artifacts and dealing with conflicts. While the "Star Trek way" is more limited to a ship and would do just fine with only Midnight stuff.

I'm somewhat tempted to incorporate some of the Barbarians at the Gate/The Watch stuff. Like... Space orks, or "barbarians" laying siege on those that exiled them.

Can't help you there. I went the Star Wars way for my Sci Fi stuff. XD

I mean it doesn't have to specifically fit into one of the series. It's more the overall story. In option 1, the Sims would end up on a planet, establish contact with the locals and end up in the middle of a war. While in option 2 it would be about defending one's ship.

Portland got it's first hair salon this round. So far the results... haven't been great.

(I'm so sorry, Andrew.) @AndrewGloria

During the last two days of winter in Arundel, it has SNOWED!
Most of the families have had enough snow to build at least one snowman, but some went overboard and built 2 or 3!

Oh Dear!!

As Andrew has no doubt been telling you, we have a bye-law in Veronaville which says rookie hairstylists can't charge customers until they have at least a Bronze Badge in cosmetology. gummilutt has a mod that helps them to gain this badge a little faster. In a vanilla game it's one of the slower badges to gain. I believe such failures can be corrected by taking the Sim concerned to the mirror (Change Appearance). In my game it was mainly done by the trainee hairstylist offering the affected customer another free makeover, but, understandably some Sims were unwilling to trust themselves to their unskilled hands a second time!


Now for Väinö's news. He's been having a somewhat better time! As I recall he arrived in Veronaville with very poor school grades. Now it's actually the school holidays/vacation in Veronaville just now, but Micah Vincent, the adult half of the gay couple Väinö was staying with in downtown Veronaville, suggested that, while he was staying in Veronaville, he might voluntarily go into school for extra lessons. When he moved out of Micah and Noah's house, into the holiday/vacation cottage he and Iain had bought near Bluewater, he had only got his grade up to D+, and he really wanted to do better than that. So Micah came out to Bluewater to help him with his homework:

So the next morning Väinö was feeling quite hopeful when he got on the school 'bus outside their cottage.

The picture shows just how high above Bluewater Village their cottage is. It's a long walk and a steep climb if you're doing it on foot. Micah's visit was certainly helpful. When Väinö got back in the afternoon, his school report said he now had a C+ grade. The game said that was still a horrible grade, but I don't agree; I think most Sim universities will accept a C+ for admission, if Väinö is thinking that way.

So I think Väinö and Iain are almost ready to go (back) to Portland. They both want to invite the other on a date, so I think I'll let them have at least one date together before they leave. Iain also has an unusual but traditional after-school job in a cotton mill, working as a lapper. The mill owners say it's an unskilled job, and a boy can do it, but I don't think Iain agrees. His job description reads:
"A Lapper is responsible for ensuring the raw cotton fibres are clean and free from any debris, before being fed into the Carding Machines. Attention to detail and absolute cleanliness are vitally important."
Iain knows his job is important and does it conscientiously. He reckons that not doing it properly could cost the mill a day's production. But he would really like to get a promotion before he leaves. He hopes he might get it very soon.
The background is that historically Veronaville has long been a centre of textiles manufacture and trade, starting in the late middle ages as a wool town. Veronaville Market was built in the early modern period (in the 1590s) with the now-vanished upper storeys used to store wool as well as other agricultural produce. In the 18th and 19th centuries industrial textile manufacture became important, and trade with the New World introduced cotton spinning and weaving. This industry has declined over the last century or so, and the emphasis in modern Veronaville is really on avant garde fashion, but some of the old mills are still working, and Iain works in one of them. Maybe its a pity that the designs of today's Veronaville fashion designers don't actually require much in the way of textiles! Väinö has certainly noticed how skimpy the clothes they wear here are!

I don't know if there are any working cotton mills in Portland, but, if you'd like to keep Iain in his current job, it's the teen version of Kittylynn74's textiles career, available here on MTS.

This is supposed to be a thread for what's happening "right now", and here I am going on about what they were doing in Veronaville in the middle ages! But Veronaville is an old town, and our Veronavillians, though they are generally a modern and liberated lot, are also proud of the town's history.

Misha is thrilled to hear that Väinö is doing better in school! He and I feel that the death of Väinö's mother Elisa (may she rest in peace, the poor darling) followed almost immediately by his sister's teenage pregnancy were contributing factors to his poor grades. (He was an "A" student up until then.) Unfortunately Portland doesn't have a University yet, (seriously, are BaCCs always this slow moving??) so Väinö will be entering the workforce. How do you think he'd feel about becoming a hair stylist?

Good news from Arundel!

After being divorced for 7 years, Bobby and Suzanne Carroll are getting married again-he courted her with total abandon to the point where they ended up in bed (as those pixels do), fell in love again, and he proposed to her after.
"I can't live without you! Please, please, I beg of you, marry me again!"

She said yes. While she's been having a passionate affair with Sir Jordan Moseley, it was going nowhere, as Jordan did not seem to take the relationship seriously. Suzanne missed having Bobby around, because he was the only man who could make her laugh.

Bobby is turning to elder very shortly and he can't see growing old alone. Despite all the women he's chased after, she's the only one he's truly loved after all this time. He swears it will be the last time he makes the mistake of taking her for granted.

Eilonwy Pangzar was born on an apartment lot that got corrupted shortly after her birth, and her father, one of the neighbours on the lot, has been stuck in a sort of weird limbo between neighbour and part of the family until I finally got it all fixed today. Meanwhile, Eilonwy grew up to a schoolchild, only seeing her dad once on a community lot (they couldn't call him and he could be summoned, but not interacted with) - after which she immediately got a want to be swung around by Taran. Today Taran could finally be cleared of all wrong flags, and moved into his own house. He and Eilonwy's mum Anilda will have shared custody over Eilonwy, and of course I had to take a picture of when Eilonwy finally got to be swung around by her father!

Next household was the Taz family, Nyman and his alien daughter Andromeda. In their last round, Nyman fell in love with policewoman Laufvor De la Gardie when she came to fight a burglar in his house, and this round they rolled wants to get married. It was a warm spring morning when the guests were called, but temperatures dropped, and Julien and Aiken Cooke who were among the guests were not happy about it. They sat in a corner of the table moping and not talking to anyone else.

After the wedding, the whole family went on a community lot tour to bond. Andromeda learned to fish and played with her alien half-sister Niobe Leroux. Nyman and Laufvor romanced eachother and made some new friends. Then they skilled up together at the library, while Andromeda played at the playground and Quiche Cooke hogged the roundabout scaring the younger children away.

That picture has so much plumber's crack it almost needs a censor bar lol.

How did you decide that Veronaville used to have a textile industry? It's been ages since I played it, so I can't remember if it was hinted at or did you make it up yourself as backstory?

Sorry about that @Charity. I didn't notice how far Väinö's shorts had slipped down when he sat on the floor. He didn't notice either -- he was concentrating on his homework.

Veronaville and textiles? I'm really not sure. Maxis didn't give me any clues, except perhaps the design of Veronaville Market. It clearly was once a warehouse, but it's a fancier building than it needs to be. Whoever built it clearly had some money -- it's built to impress. Having done economic history at university I know something of the importance of the medieval wool trade in the development of the English and later the British economy. Medieval English wool towns did have money, and it shows in their churches and public buildings. Andrew, who lives across the road from the Market, chose it for a school history project. He discovered that the current building was built in the 1590s, but there had been a market on the site for many years before that. It seems from Andrew's research that the upper floors of the Market partially collapsed and then had to be demolished as a result a deathwatch beetle infestation. (Fire would have destroyed the exterior of the building too.) (There has been some restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries.)

The second pointer for me was when I downloaded Kittylynn74's textiles career quite early in my Simming life. Kittylynn74's great great grandmother worked in the textile industry from the 1890s onward, first in Scotland and then in the U.S.A. What Kitty told me (in her post for that download) reinforced what I already knew about life and work in the Scottish mills. I think it has to be said that, with some exceptions, like Robert Owen in New Lanark, the mill owners were not good employers. They had a mainly female workforce, simply because, before modern equality laws were passed, women were cheaper than men. This led to female-led working class families, especially in Dundee with its jute mills. There was no work for their menfolk, so they stayed at home. The mills did employ teenage boys (from the age of about 11-12 upwards) but when the boys became old enough to get a man's wage, the mills would just sack them and take on younger boys. Now I had forgotten that I had installed the teen version of the textiles career in my game, until Väinö Mikhailov and Iain Wells fell for each other. Then I discovered that Iain, up till then an unobtrusive townie, had been working quietly in the mills for the last three years. That he had been working in what I suppose must be the extreme tail end of this way of life, and doing his job conscientiously, makes me regard him with greater respect. I'll help him get the promotion he seeks, and then wish him all the best in his new life with Väinö in Portland!

Well, the historical process has been Wool to Wool+Cotton to Textile Manufacture, which moved from from small-scale to industrial. (Veronaville shares this history with much of the British Isles.) Textile manufacture includes garment manufacture, and garment manufacture has always included an element of fashion. As the mills are no longer offering large scale employment, increasing numbers of Veronavillians are finding employment in fashion design and sales, and in modelling. I think the presence of a large scale avant garde fashion industry/trade in Veronaville helps to explain why you can see things being worn in the streets of Veronaville, that elsewhere you would only find on the runways of the most extreme fashion shows. I suppose too, it says something of the sheer "bottle" of Veronavillians, that they will go around in outfits that most us would never dare to wear!

In my beginning of Pleasantview neighborhood, a lot has been happening, so I'll share one highlight. Mortimer Goth and Bella Bachelor have both become teens, and they have one bolt of chemistry, which is something to work with. There has been a lot of trouble in the Goth home lately. It seems that Gunther (Mortimer's father) has been keeping a big secret from his family and has for years been lovers with Amin Sims. (Amin is not the townie but rather was born into the Sims family, one of the couples that comes with the hood. His parents died young, and he lives with his brother and works in a restaurant--definitely not a guy who runs in the same social circles as the Goths, but he has known Gunther since they were kids.) Gunther's wife Cornelia found out at the worst time--during one of Gunther's fund-raising parties. (Gunther is high up in Pleasantview politics and frequently throws fund-raising parties for the town notables.) After all the guests left, she and Gunther had a huge fight, and neither one likes the other much right now. She is not willing to divorce him, though, because of the scandal, but she has moved back to her parents' home (the Crumplebottom estate) to think through what she should do next. Mortimer has been talking things over on the phone with Bella a lot, and they have bonded as friends over the situation.

I think he might be quite happy with that. I believe he's also thinking of growing his own hair a little longer, but he'll wait till he's back in Portland. Almost all the gay boys in Veronaville have longish hair. Väinö and Iain have been spending the last couple of days buying sexy clothes, that they know they won't be able to buy in Portland. Väinö has grown to really like those gold shorts that Micah bought him when he arrived, and he rather likes the idea running his own hair salon while wearing shorts like that. For that reason he went yesterday to Papaya Regime in Bluewater and bought a pair in an adult size. He also bought an adult sized black crop top to wear with the shorts. Of course he can't wear them till he grows up, so I can't send you a picture of him wearing them. So I asked Gregg Jarvie, an adult male model, who lives in Greaves Avenue quite close to Micah and Noah, to model them for me. I gave Gregg four hundred Simoleons to buy the same clothes as Väinö had bought. Unfortunately it turned out that Gregg is grossly overweight at the moment, and the crop top that Väinö chose doesn't have a fat morph. Gregg is now frantically working out on a little trampoline, but it will be a day or two before he's fit enough to pose with the top. Sorry about that! I really think that professional models ought to make an effort to look after their figures. Unless of course they want to exclusively model clothes for fat fashionistas!

Do you think the denizens of Portland would patronise a hair salon run by a young male hairstylist dressed in little gold shorts and a crop top? I get the impression that they're less adventurous than Veronavillians when it comes to fashion. Having lived here, Väinö thinks he would stick to the Veronaville convention of offering only free makeovers until he's qualified. He and Iain have a couple of thousand Simoleons here in Veronaville. I'll try to see if it's possible to arrange a bank transfer to send you some of this money, so he has some resources to live on till he gets his badge. Or perhaps they could live on Iain's earnings until Väinö can start charging. Iain is wondering if his experience in textiles will help him find work in Portland. Also, as a native Veronavillian, the idea of living in a place without a clothes shop seems strange to him. He is asking if it might be possible to buy clothes from Veronaville by mail order -- especially when he can no longer squeeze into his teenage clothes.