I feel kind of sorry for a sim whose death was considered things working out. DX

Especially when he's called Andrew!

Hearing of his passing caused me to read back over sturlington's recent posts to trace his life. It seems he only entered into the world on 6th October (the day before my own birthday). He was the first son of Kaylynn Langerak and Daniel Pleasant (both of whom of course I do know), conceived out of wedlock, but precipitating their marriage. And now after a short, quite full, but not very happy life, he's dead. In contrast my Andrew is still a teen, living with his unmarried mother, as I've been playing him for the last 8 years. (That's longer than you can be a teen in real life!) Andrew plans to marry his long term gay boyfriend in church quite soon -- probably before the end of this year. Gloria, after many years as a single mother, has now been engaged for a couple of years. She's likely to marry Garry fairly soon, but more likely next year than this year.

It really is amazing how differently we can play this game, and still enjoy it.

It was said quite wryly. I was not expecting him to die. It happened literally when I opened the house. I have Realistic Sickness in, and that makes disease more unpredictable, I'm afraid. I was actually looking forward to playing out the dynamic between him and his brother after this particular plot twist, but my game has a way of subverting my plans.

@AndrewGloria You have captured Andrew Pleasant's short life very accurately -- well done. He has two younger brothers: Charles, as you know, and William, who is my favorite. Their parents chose their names for their traditional nature and hint of royalty. Andrew did father two children, whose names are Duke and Dean, so he will live on in that way.

I do have a rule about never exiting without saving, btw.

I'm starting a BACC and have decided that it's on another planet and I am going to play with aliens and servos! I haven't played aliens in a while - their eyes drove me crazy! Thank you default replacements
So, of course, I have been playing only a little and spending time downloading so that I have antenna and eyes and skins. As well as plotting out the rule set and determining what makes the Ix, the Lunar and the Naoko different from the Simterran.

I think I am finally ready to focus on playing!

I finally found a way to play in "fullscreen" without screenshots being an issue and without my other issue of not being able to call out my taskbar to look at the clock.I was testing a new free portable version of Boarderless Gaming out.

Citizens of Willowbrooke Hollow are concerned over recent allegations of an alien birth in the neighborhood. Local resident Linda Madison was cited as saying "Aliens are a menace and are a threat to our fair suburbia. Just look at what happened to Strangetown, it was a fair little city until aliens got involved." Willowbrooke Hollow mayor had this to say "I don't know if there are any truths to these allegations, but an alien has no place in our fair city." On Simstagram many users are reported to be mocking the mayor citing that while aliens may be a menace so are polluting factories and climate change. These mocking messages come at a time when oil stock prices are up 11 percent due to the mayor's recently signed Oil for Us initiative.

The Banns of Marriage are announced for Andrew Jones, bachelor, of 19 Chorus Court, in the parish of St. Simeon's, Veronaville, and Julian Moltke, bachelor, of 100 Via Veronaville, also in the parish of St. Simeon's, Veronaville. If anyone know of any just cause, why these two should not be joined together in Lawful and Holy Matrimony, they are enjoined to speak now, or forever hold their peace. This is the third and final time of asking.

The Banns of Marriage are announced for Gloria Jones, spinster, of 19 Chorus Court, in the parish of St. Simeon's, Veronaville, and Garry Mackay, bachelor, of Ranch Retreat, 59 Via Venezia, also in the parish of St. Simeon's, Veronaville. If anyone know of any just cause, why these two should not be joined together in Lawful and Holy Matrimony, they are enjoined to speak now, or forever hold their peace. This is the first time of asking.


(Andrew is amused at his mum being described as a 'spinster'. "My mum needs woohoo every day!")

Pleasant Valley is going under construction for my Pleasantview Epic Challenge and I've begun to set the lots up for the starting of the colony which will get it's first settlers arriving in the spring of 1600.

Are they having a double wedding? I can totally see Andrew and Gloria doing that!

I am very excited!

I noticed one strange thing with sounds. Lately I've been falling asleep (IRL) while listening to some white noise videos from Youtube: I'd look up sounds of fans spinning, ocean waves, crickets, you name it.

I've been very reminiscent of the idyllic scenery in Castaway Stories during night time, because I really enjoyed listening to the night birds, owls, and other tropical beings.

I opened my game, and lowered all sounds but ambience sounds. Much to my surprise, the only thing I heard was the base line. I don't know how to put it into words, but I could only hear the "night" and the crickets, but I couldn't hear the "accents," such as owls, etc.

I tried switching lots and unmuting all other sounds (thinking the birds were hidden in voices, or sound effects), but still. No birdies.

To get a general idea of what I'm talking about, try listening to night sounds of this CS let's play video, starting from 0:59:00 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeR7t-7vnFM&t=3540s

Notice how you can hear some owls, birds, bugs, etc.? I can only hear the crickets when playing my game.

I'm not sure what's causing my game to not randomly include those sound accents to the baseline, but it sure is making me sad.

This is literally three sessions combined into one post. When people say that large households take longer to play, they weren't joking. Fortunately, this was only for this round.

Tiffany focused mainly on her job, gaining an extra cleaning skill point in order to get a  promotion, which she successfully earned. Despite working so hard, she was able to build a good relationship with her daughter, Scout, even successfully potty training her and becoming best friends with her. She needed an extra cleaning skill point and two mechanical skill points for her next promotion, which she had earned successfully.

Beau really didn't take the death of his mother in stride, being in deep red aspiration when the lot loaded. On the bright side, he has finally thought about moving on from his teenage sweetheart, Lucy, as he wants to get married. He loves to play with the cats and play chess, but other than that, he's done nothing productive this round.

Tank was in huge danger of getting fired from the Military, as he missed the carpool two days in a row. To remedy this, he set an alarm. He went to work as normal and it went well until the next day, where he got a chance card and got sacked. He doesn't know what to do with himself, now.

Johnny got promoted in the Music Career to Lvl 2 and then from Lvl 2 to Lvl 3. He also taught Scout to walk and became Best Friends with her. He was doing so well in his music career, until he got a chance card that got him fired. To say he was distraught would be an understatement.

Ophelia wanted to get married to Skipp, so she proposed engagement. He accepted. She looked everyday in the paper for a job in the Education Career, but was having no luck. The paper kept getting nicked most days, so it was not like she could look everyday. Eventually, at the end of the week, she and Skipp officially tied the knot, with Skipp taking her surname to preserve it. She didn't complain.

Ripp had his very first woohoo with Meadow and also came down with food poisoning, because he ate from the bin. He was ill for the entire week.

Zidane taught Scout to talk and rolled a want for a skill point, so he improved upon his charisma. This got him a promotion to Athletic Lvl 4.

Skipp had the want to get into the Politics Career. After a few days, he found the job in the paper. He got promoted to Lvl 3 and then to Lvl 4. As mentioned, he got married to Ophelia this round.

Meadow just chills around for the most part. She had her first date with Ripp, where she rolled the want to marry him. He doesn't seem interested in that, but does care about her. She made him Grandma's Comfort Soup, allowing him to finally recover. He'd suffered long enough.

Scout just wanted to be learning her toddler skills, which she did. She aged to a child and was taught to study. She became best friends with her mother, Johnny, and eventually, her father.

Cream the cat passed away. Cymmi the cat aged to an elder.

At the end of the round, Beau moved into his childhood home, just across from Tiffany and Tank. Skipp and Ophelia also remained in Pleasantview and moved into a condo, which turns out was owned by Nina Caliente once upon a time. Johnny and Zidane actually moved to Strangetown to be closer to Johnny's family. And Ripp and Meadow are also moving to Strangetown to be closer to Buck and further from Tank.

I've been in Pleasant Vappey adding more to the service center and starting to add things to the home lot.

Since, y'know, blizzards outside, it's time for an apocalypse. But I wanted to play the Ottomas, particularly Sharla, so they're my founding family instead of a single founder.

Which is interesting, because of course Dora had no body points and had to quit and starting out with that large a group and no lifts and sims stuck in the house . . . Samantha lost her Education job right away because she couldn't go to work. After the twins were born (more on them later) she got a new job in science. David, because of Inteen, was done with high school almost immediately, and kept his job in music. I decided since I was already screwing around with the rules for the fun of it, that I'd let graduated teens work, but I would only let them skill as teens. So he stalled out on promotions pretty quickly.
Sharla grew up to teen and rolled knowledge. She graduated with a C (?? snuck on the bus once when I wasn't watching her and had enough snow days and weekends, officially luckiest knowledge sim ever) and got a job in Education immediately, and again stalled out, because there was no way for her to skill Charisma.
Tommy grew up popularity and ended up getting a career in Dance.
The twins, Samuel and Theodore, grew up Romance and Fortune respectively, and got jobs in medical. Samuel with ten neat points was ahead on promotions, so I set Theodore to change jobs, and he found Journalism. Since Peter's stuck at level nine unless he gets promoted by some chance card miracle, Journalism will do to clear the house out. These two are hands down the handsomest Ottomas twins I've ever had. Seriously. (Yes, the parents are linked correctly.)
Samantha, in spite of trying, never managed to get pregnant again (phew!) and Dora got an ordinary gray gravestone. She visits her knowledge granddaughter fairly often, to their mutual pleasure.
David lifted Music, and invited his girlfriend Jamie to marry him. Jamie moved in at level ten Medical. Whoops! Samuel, change jobs, quick! He's now in Architecture. Both Samantha and Peter maxed body in their last days before turning elder, so they'll keep going to work until they get fired or die. Samantha has managed one promotion, which puts her at, I think, level seven in Science, and Peter's stuck at nine in Journalism. She got a couple cooking points from a chance card. If Samuel would stop cleaning all the dirty things and let his mom get some, she could earn the cleaning point she needs. But ten neat points, so he cleans all the things the instant I take my eyes off him.
None of the three grown siblings had an aspiration failure at adulthood. I've never seen a knowledge sim rolling the fear of missing college manage to stay green, just barely, before, when growing up without college. Sharla: luckiest knowledge sim ever.

Blond child is Samuel, Brunette child is Theodore.

Well, Gloria was planning on marrying Garry a few weeks after Andrew marries Julian. But you've put the idea into her head. The Capps had a sort of double wedding at Capp Manor a few days ago -- Tybalt and Lexie in the afternoon and then Consort and April at midnight. Maybe it's time for the Joneses to keep up with the Capps! The only one who's not so keen is Julian. "Does this mean I have to wait even longer?" he says. (Andrew says they shouldn't woohoo till they're married, and Julian is beginning to grow impatient.) I've spent most of today working on Julian's wedding outfit. My fingers are getting sore with the needle and thread. Anyway, if they want a double wedding, I'd better get on with the second and third publishing of the Banns for Gloria and Garry.


The Banns of Marriage are announced for Gloria Jones, spinster, of 19 Chorus Court, in the parish of St. Simeon's, Veronaville, and Garry Mackay, bachelor, of Ranch Retreat, 59 Via Venezia, also in the parish of St. Simeon's, Veronaville. If anyone know of any just cause, why these two should not be joined together in Lawful and Holy Matrimony, they are enjoined to speak now, or forever hold their peace. This is the second time of asking.


Gloria sends her commiserations. She writes:

"Hi Tank!

"You have my sympathy. You're not the first soldier it's happened to. It's not something I usually shout about, but a few years ago the army gave me a dishonorable discharge. I was absolutely shattered at the time. I seemed to be doing so well in the army. I had got a commission and was planning on being a career soldier. And then this! It's that word "dishonorable" that does it. It makes you feel that small. With hindsight I don't think I acted dishonourably at all; I used my initiative, when the army wanted me to slavishly go by the book. The army forgets that modern soldiers have brains, and gets upset when they use them.

"I couldn't see it at the time, but, as things have turned out that discharge was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It got me out of a hidebound Military, and into my dream job. Today I'm the Veronaville All-Stars top player. I don't think I'd have got there without my military experience. It may be a truism, but the modern army really does teach you skills you can use in civvy street. My time in the army toughened me up mentally and physically. It gave me the fitness that lets me turn out for the All-Stars and give of my best two and three times a week. It's given me the toughness to take hard knocks in my stride and keep going. It's taught me the value of comradeship.

"Mention of comradeship reminds me of the debt that I owe to my teenage son Andrew. He helped me to keep going when I was ready to give up. He said, 'The biggest loss is the army's. They've lost one hell-of-a-good soldier. They don't appreciate how good you are, mum.' He persuaded me to look in the jobs section of the newspaper, where I saw that the All-Stars were looking for a mascot. I took the job (which was a ridiculous one) and I haven't looked back since. The fitness which the army had given me took me quickly through the junior grades of my new career, and into the first team.

"You're future career might be very different, but don't give up, Tank! Remember, you were a good soldier, but the army didn't have the wit to appreciate you. With your background, you might think differently but I've never had much time for generals myself. They sit in their bomb-proof bunkers giving orders, and then, when things go wrong, they blame the P.B.I. ('Poor Bloody Infantry'). It's the top brass, not the ordinary soldiers or the junior officers who are holding the army back. Don't let them get you down, Tank!

"So, keep going, Tank! Hang in there, and keep your head up. (Something you couldn't always do in the army when the bullets were flying! )

"Yours, Gloria"

Aww, thank you! Tank appreciates the kind words from Gloria

I got a bit done this session. I got Garnet Lothario and Victoria Goth in sync with the hood again and played the Brokes (Angela and Dustin) through to Thursday.

Goth:
Garnet and Victoria shared a condo for two days, just so that they could sync up with the hood. They are two days younger than Skipp who is...22 days away from elder...

Okay, I screwed up here. I played them until they were 27 days away from elder, when I should have played them until they were 24 days away from elder. Might just edit their ages in SimPE...

Anyway, Garnet and Orlando got engaged, then woohooed resulting in pregnancy. She later applied for a job in the Law Enforcement career. She is on her second trimester and has moved back in with her parents (with Orlando joining her), as they don't have long. The combining of the households is why I'll edit the ages in SimPE; everyone, with the exception of Garnet and Orlando, have aged the amount for that round.

Victoria asked Marcel to move in with her and he accepted. She is constantly looking in the paper for a job in the entertainment career. Marcel is Lvl 6 in the Military career, so he's doing quite well for himself at a young age (24 days from elder after I've altered the ages to sync).

Broke:
Danielle was in deep red aspiration when the lot loaded due to Brandi's death. This was quickly fixed by teaching her the toddler skills; she was taught to talk and walk by Angela and potty trained by Dustin. Her transition from toddler to child was a good one.

Dustin is nearing getting his lifetime wish of getting to the top of the intelligence career, since he's now Lvl 9. Nothing else really happened with him.

Angela has been fired from her job due to terrible chance card luck and has settled for being a stay-at-home mum until she decides what she wants to do next. She just likes to swim around in the pool.

The house was burgled twice; fortunately, nothing was taken or set aflame.

Jennifer Burb

The house was too crowded. She had studied up on all her skills, but she was usually not in a good mood when going into work, and her boss held off on her promotion. A couple of days before Julie had her birthday, she and John had had a couple of minutes to themselves, and of course they hadn't thought about contraception. At least, she thought while looking at her growing belly, this time she didn't feel so wretched. And it gave her some time at home, bonding with Lucy and teaching Harry and Julie some skills. Financially, things weren't looking good. They had taken a loan to replace the burgled items, but they were down to the last penny again.
She went into labour early Sunday morning. To her surprise, she had twins. They didn't have money to buy another crib, let alone two. Now the house really was too small. After having a family birthday with Julie, she decided to go talk to her brother. He had just moved into their parents home, after all, which had been allright with her. She hadn't needed it then, as she was still in college. But now, he wouldn't need so much space once his twins went to college. And she heard Mary-Sue wasn't too happy with him either, so she might decide to leave when her daughters left the house.


John with Annie, Jennifer with Amy
Julie, Harry and Lucy

Mary-Sue Pleasant

Mary-Sue got a promotion. She was happy things are finally going well in her job. Her relationship to her daughters was also getting better. Daniel used the time at home to go after other women.
He wasn't very good at looking after Gabriella, either. She had lost all illusions about her husband. The other day, he had brought home his date (did he think she wouldn't notice?) and she had walked in on them, but she hadn't cared at all. Maybe it was his way to get a reaction out of her, but she wouldn't fight for him. Not that she said no to his advanced, he was, she considered, still as attractive as when they first met. But she had no emotional involvement in her marriage anymore.
When Jennifer had come to demand her part of the inherited house, Mary-Sue had agreed with her. The twins where moving to college, and she was going to leave Daniel. Jennifer would switch her house with him, and Mary-Sue would move into her parents house.

Angela and Lilith had seemed to get along better. One of them had brought home a friend from school, who had roped them both in a conversation, and their hostilities had ceased for a while. But then, Angela, who had been left by Dustin, had called Dirk over when Lilith was out of the house. Dirk had discoved she wasn't actually his girlfriend when she had kissed him, and now Lilith and Dirk were understandably furios with Angela.
Mary-Sue was glad Lilith and Dirk would be going to college together. He seemed to stabilize Lilith somewhat. And Angela would go to a different college, so they could finally be separate people. Always being one of a set had not been going well. Her girls both liked attention way to much.

What's happening in my game right now? I finally got Chris Hatch's walk to/visit other sims mod to work!! I am so excited, There was something I missed where I had to put the files in it's own seprate folder and that did the trick. Thing is, only adults can only visit other adult sims but can't visit young adults. and vice versa with the YAs. But hey. After racking my brains trying to get the darn thing to work for so long I can live with that. Shoutout to Chris Hatch for this wonderful mod.

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit Old Town recently destroying several of the historic buildings and leaving many residents without homes. SimCity real estate mogul and current Leader of the Free World, Malcolm Landgraab, has recently taken interest in rebuilding the town anew citing that while the damage was devastating, Landgraab Industries will do its part in making sure the legacy of Old Town continues. Old Town fore-father Mortimer Goth had this to say "Old Town was where I married my wife, Bella, and it was where I spent my teenage and adult years. It was the birthplace of my daughter Cassandra. I am very pleased to be working with Mr. Landgraab on restoring the historic buildings, though Mr. Landgraab seems to have other plans for the residential lots." John Burb, a previous resident of Old Town, has said in reply to Mortimer "I'll believe it when I see it. We all know Malcolm Landgraab just wants to build apartments and condominiums as far as the eye can see."

In Pleasantview, it is my sad duty to report that Jonah and Lilith Pleasant died of old age within two days of each other. They both lived full lives and, after spending their younger years having many romantic adventures, settled down to a happy marriage together in their elder years; Jonah was content as a house husband, and Lilith had a fulfilling career as a wedding photographer, and they often enjoyed giving house parties for their family and young friends. They are survived by Lilith’s daughter by her first marriage, Aisha; their granddaughter, Mara Goth; and Lilith’s twin sister, Angela, who Lilith had no relationship with but Jonah still loved and remembered fondly even after all these years. Lilith divided her considerable assets between her daughter and granddaughter.

Breaking! An investigation has been opened into Andrew Pleasant’s untimely death. Foul play is suspected, and evidence is currently being gathered by law enforcement.

I finally got a sim to be related by blood or marriage to every family in Pleasantview. Joy Pleasant is the daughter of Angela Pleasant and Alexander Goth, related to the Dreamers through Lilith, Burbs through Alexander and Lucy's children, Lotharios through Cassandra, Brokes through Daniel, and Calientes through Beau. She can't marry anyone in the town, but it was so worth it. I've been wanting to do this forever.

There's always Goopy...

Week four starts in Riverblossom Hills and President Martin has been engaging in political machinations to bring new blood into the Green leadership ranks.

Never a true politician, the amiable Rose Greenman was happy to step down from her role as Chancellor for an appointment to the Supreme Court, to fill the seat of Betty Goldstein, who died last week. Martin was then quick to appoint his son Jacob to the role - even party loyalists thought the act reeked of nepotism - Jacob's only qualification was being the President's son (he was valedictorian of the Class of Week Four, but still...)

Convincing Mortimer Roth to take up as the Dean of Riverblossom University was also an easy sell for the persuasive Martin. He felt under-valued in the National Assembly and much preferred a return to academia in his old age. Although the Greens weren't totally assured of victory in the special election to come, Martin had convinced Roxana Sharpe-Powers, freshly retired from her career in Roller Derby, to run. The Progress had yet to announce a candidate

I played the Brokes (Angela & Dustin) from Thursday through to Monday and the Dreamers (Lilith & Dirk).

Broke:
Angela taught Danielle to study and continued to swim in the pool. She'd clean if something got dirty, but for the most part, she was just trying to enjoy her last days as an adult.

The family went on a little day trip to Woodland Park, where they played chess and/or on the playground equipment. They were there until 7:30pm. Upon getting home, they were hungry, exhausted, and stinky. They took care of their needs and went to bed.

Dustin got demoted due to a bad chance card choice on my part. Regardless, he still worked towards his eventual Lvl 10 position.

Danielle is doing very well at school. She has got a B+ and is nearing an A+.

Dreamer:
Lilith and Dirk tried for a baby and got pregnant. What an opener!

Dirk got a promotion to Medical Lvl 8 and is working on a promotion for Lvl 9.

Chris aged up to a teenager with the Knowledge Aspiration. I think it's also worth mentioning that Chris inherited Lilith's nose, and here I was thinking that he was a straight Template 1 like his father.

On the same day as Chris' birthday, Lilith gave birth to a little boy called Derek Dreamer. Derek aged to a toddler that round and has so far has been potty trained and taught to talk by Lilith.

Lilith didn't do much, she just took care of her basic needs and did as mentioned above.

I got Simblender added to a smaller home in Dodge and tested to see that the skill limiter plu-in was showing up in the game.