I've got multi-function community lots and called them community service centers because it made sense to put all of the basic essential services onto one community lot as my towns aren;t always on the largest terrain and it might be a shopping district started to allow farm lots to be placed out there like a rural township attatched to the community.The service center in a shopping district would be a neighborhood service center for that neighborhood.The same applies to one placed in a downtown.It's meant to provide places for sims not working to earn money on a vocational job or for young couples raising a toddler to be able to work outside the home as long as they took their child along with them to work.I use a Mod that allows toddlers,puppies or kittens to travel along to community lots and use lot visitor contollers to stop noc visitors from causing trouble like starting brawls or overcrowding the lot and causing routing fails.

Vidcund Curious just had quads

@TadOlsen That sounds like a great idea! I might try something like this in my hood.

@joandsarah77 Uh-oh, that spells trouble...is he still living in the Curious house with those small rooms?

I gave the house a minor makeover as soon as I opened it. Pascal has a 2 year old daughter as well.

Looks like BabiesR_Us. I don't need a lot of room, I often play in very tiny lots and have a lot of 1 tile CC, this place has plenty enough for me.

Also this lot is dark and I don't know why. I even used the clear lot lighting cheat which did nothing.

This doesn't look like the Maxis "spooky lighting" that was introduced with NL. Do you use a lighting mod? Some of those seem to have dark shadows, apparently for realism. I don't use a lighting mod myself. I'm just going from screenshots that I've seen and comments from other players about how some of the lighting mods made their games look too dark.

So playing a zombie apocalypse is definitely a good way to see exponential spread of a virus at work. Yes, I knew that already, but it seems quite personal in these times. In other news, Loki got abducted by aliens! In all my years of playing, this is the first time it has happened to him, and I wasn't even trying. And I heard the chimes! So excited!

I finally got back round to my Pleasantview rotation.

So, the Burbs started off normal, but then became tragic by the end.

Jennifer gave birth to a baby boy, Lewis Burb, and got a couple of promotions during the round. John continued to work and Lucy was going to school, making new friends, continuing her relationship with Beau, and deciding whether or not she wanted to attend college.

Lewis was taught a toddler skill by each of his family members and was a happy boy, before tradegy struck.

It was a normal morning, Sunday, last full day of the rotation. Jennifer had just left for work and John was cooking breakfast before his carpool showed. Lucy was in her room, thinking about college as it was her last day as a teen, and Lewis was playing on the living room floor.

That was when John set the kitchen on fire...

John kept screaming, refusing to do anything, he wouldn't even put the fire out. Unsurprisingly, he perished quickly. Lucy wouldn't do anything either, she'd either scream, or try to get Lewis out of the house. She died, too.

Jennifer arrived home to see the kitchen furniture gone, her husband and only daughter gone, and poor Lewis lying on the floor asleep, in a soiled nappy and in aspiration failure. She cried. A lot.

I wanted the Burbs to become interesting, but not like this...

I didn't play any of the Dreamer lot, as their turn had been, but I checked Beau and he was in aspiration failure, bless him.

I know maybe I shouldn't have saved, but the potential story... I want to give the Burbs and Beau a hug...

Just finished hanging out with the Sagers. Peridot knew the noble life would have ups and downs. She wouldn't be able to use that college degree (obtained before the Kingdom took over the country), but on the other hand, she would have plenty of time to pursue her chief interests in life, magic and men. She was assigned a Gentleman to live with her. She kind of liked him, but it's really considered beneath her to marry a servant, so she slummed and married another serf, Rick Newson. Poor guy. He just can't win. She made him go to work at a job he didn't want. She really needed to get him out of the house so she could sweet talk Warrant, the gentleman. She got pregnant and Rick couldn't say anything about it even though he knew the baby wasn't his. Pregnancy is such a rarity in the noble neighborhoods and a successful outcome is even more rare. Warrant married Brittany Wendland. And, finally, Peridot, who lost the baby, used her magic to conjure up her perfect mate, Wes Mahler. She can't marry him because she's already married to Rick. But, he's usurped Rick's place. And, as she explained to her husband, he can put up with it or he can crawl back to the slums.

I decided to end the zombie apocalypse in Strangetown. All zombies have been summarily executed. Some playable zombies have been returned to their natural state. There are still some concerning things happening, though. Pascal Curious was seen coming out of the photobooth with Olive Spector. It's true that Nervous refused to move in with him, but still, this seems a bit of an overreaction. Also, Circe is having fun toying with Vidcund's heart while Loki takes care of his alien spawn (who, by the way, is definitely sleeping in the basement once he's old enough, according to Circe), and in the meantime, Vidcund is canoodling with his brother Lazlo's maybe-girlfriend, Crystal Vu. Ah, ACR.

And in Pleasantview: Cool. Detached. Unknowable. Castor Nova presented the ultimate challenge to every girl on campus. But the only girl to win his heart was sweet, motherly Jane Stacks, and she did it without even trying. Theirs was a whirlwind engagement and wedding, and then Jane found herself in a big house up to their eyeballs in debt with a baby on the way. Castor was still the same, though, doing his own thing with little regard for anyone else. Jane wondered if he had married her because he really did want someone to mother him and take care of all the day-to-day things he had no time for. She wondered if she had made a made a big mistake, saying yes to him just because he was the first to ask.

Malcolm IV and Asia Landgraab were delighted when their firstborn 'child' turned out to be twin boys. Malcolm thinks they should be joint heirs, so having just one of them be the next Malcolm didn't seem right. Naming them Malcolm V and Malcolm VI would have been even worse, so he's taken a break from family tradition and named them Jakob and John (Jakob with a 'k' because Asia's maiden name was Jakobsons).

I do; I use SpokkyMuffins tweaked By Dicreasy, but I have not had houses being dark near the floor like this. Perhaps its something with that lighting mod + those Maxis tiles, can't say I normally use them. Might try switching to CC tiles and windows.

So, this session was interesting, this could be a long post...

Firstly, I was thinking about what I wanted to do with Alexander once he entered college at the end of the rotation. With me having made him a knowledge sim, I thought it would be a good idea to have him meet Stella Terrano in college. There was one problem, she's in the La Fiesta Tech bin and the attached uni for Pleasantview is Sim State University.

I couldn't think of a logical reason to add a La Fiesta Tech, until I remembered that I downloaded Strangetown as a subhood (meetmetotheriver). Curious about what that would bring to the table, I created a backup (just in case I didn't like it) and added Strangetown and La Fiesta Tech to Pleasantview. It's become a crossover 'hood in the middle of its lifespan.

That session, I was with the Oldies, their two adopted teenage children that they left behind to be specific. I introduced them during my post about the Dreamer Family, so I don't think I have to do that again.

The school bus came and they went to school. Upon getting home, Zidane brings Johnny Smith home as a friend. Tiffany brings nobody. I had recently downloaded Cyjon's Debugger (the pizza box), so out of curiosity, went to check the chemistry of the two teens to Johnny (as I was looking for romantic prospects for them anyway.) Tiffany had a -5 , or somewhere close to that, Zidane had a 56, or something like that. Remember this for later.

The rest of the day goes by without a hitch, Johnny ate a moldy grilled cheese despite the freshly burned mac and cheese on the counter, Tiffany wanted to make money, but still not didn't want to get a job, and Zidane worked on mastering the logic skill, something he was quite passionate about doing.

The next day, they go to school. Tiffany brought Tank home, Zidane brought Ophelia. Like the previous day, I checked the chemistry with the pizza box and saw that Tiffany had a 50-something with Tank and Zidane was also in the positive, but I don't think it was as high as Johnny, might be wrong. Zidane had negative chemistry with Ophelia, Tiffany had positive, I think. As Zidane had the want to befriend Johnny anyway, I had him chat on the phone and then invite him over. Naturally, they became friends and Tank fought with Johnny a lot... while Zidane befriended Ophelia.

Days went by and during that time, Tiffany and Tank had started to go steady, Zidane had become BFFs with both Johnny and Ophelia, and the two siblings formed a group where the five of them can hang out. During one of the outings, Johnny and Tank got into yet another fight, where a grumpy passerby started booing them. It was quite funny.

Before I finished with the Oldies proper, I had Zidane throw a New Years Bash in the Summer, because he had the want and why not. Ophelia had stayed after the outing, so it was only Johnny and Tank that had to show up. It was a good time, even though a certain pair kept fighting. The drama is fun, what can I say. The guests were even acting very at home, I saw Tank having a bath, Ophelia in Zidane's bed, and Johnny helping himself to instant meals and crisps. Might be the party environment.

With the Oldies done, I was curious about Zidane and Johnny's chemistry. They both have one bolt with Ophelia, but what about each other? So, I left the game, made another backup, and went into SimPE to edit the Gender Preference for the pair and to remove Johnny's love flags to Ophelia. I made them BFFs, though. I went into the game, turned aging off as I didn't want this messing with the rotational ages, and had Zidane invite Johnny over after school. I had him check Johnny out and...two bolts of chemistry. I knew it. From that point on, they were heart farting over each other when they were in the same room; neither did this for Ophelia. Johnny even tried to smooch him autonomously, but he was cleaning the cat dish.

I was gonna call it there, quit and load from the backup, but then the lot got burgled. This was the first time it had happened to me in years. I had Tiffany wake up, call the police, and they were reimbursed for the stolen car, as the cop had won. I bought them a new one.

With the burglary now having taken place, I think I'll keep this version! Zidane and Johnny's new feelings for each other might be an interesting story to tell and the siblings now have a grudge and a scar for them; Amin Bear, I think was the burglar's name.

The only person missing is Ripp, but I think he'll show eventually... hopefully. I think I'll pair him with Ophelia with her now being single...

Long post, but stuff happened. Next time is Angela, the fresh graduate. I'm getting a lot of drama this round. Let's see if it stays.

There's been more progress on the room addition at the service center in Dodge and a small townie home got a dresser added as well as a mirror in the washroom.

Meet the Wistinghaus family, or otherwise known as my house of chaos. Parents; Wilhelm and Ingrid and children in descending order Albert, Gretchen, Angela, Klaus, and Marlena. Wilhelm is a lawyer and for the longest time was stuck as a family attorney but he recently was able to move up to entertainment law and Ingrid is a stay at home mom. They live a bit beyond their means with only one working parent and so many children so things are always quite tight budget-wise. Image is important to them though so they keep the maid and pay for the pricey private school for their kids. Wilhelm got a nice bonus with his last promotion though so they were able to finally buy a tv for the living room and new bunk beds for the kids.

Poor Albert has had to carry a lot of responsibility being the oldest. He has practically raised some of his younger siblings and doesn't have a lot of time to follow his interests or to work on scholarships for Uni. He is going to have to bear down in his final teen years as he needs at least 3 to go as his parents will not be able to pay to send him. He has had the worst crush on a cute townie named Victoria (hey, I didn't even plan that it just happened ) but he's never had enough free time to ask her out. That will change though as today is the day Gretchen becomes a teen and Klaus becomes a child plus his mom is no longer pregnant and will be able to do more herself.

It is Friday and Albert gets up around 5 am so he can get in and out of the bathroom before Gretchen and Angela ( a notorious toilet clogger) need to get in there. He also gets his little brother Klaus out of his crib. Ingrid gets up at 5:30 because the baby is going to need to be changed and fed and so she can make breakfast for everyone else. Everyone else gets up at 6 am the full-on assault on the bathrooms begins in earnest. With everyone fed and finally off to school and work Ingrid heads back upstairs to unclog not one but two toilets and repair the sink in the kid's bathroom. It is finally quiet in the house and with Klaus down for his mid-morning nap and Malena asleep she decides to try to work off some of the baby weight she's accumulated. She works out for an hour and then finally takes her much-needed shower before giving Klaus some attention when he wakes up from his nap.

It's not long before Albert is home from school and he's brought his friend Sirius with him and they head for the chess table. Ingrid meantime decides that its time to bake a pie for everyone. With two birthdays looming it might be a good idea to have something on hand to serve quickly. Plus since they had the sprinkler system installed she has stopped setting fire to everything she cooks (seriously not one fire since the sprinkler went in) so she has started baking again. In the meantime, the girls get home from school and both have homework. They get changed out of their uniforms and Angela once again clogs up the toilet but this time in the downstairs half bath. They then proceed to a rousing game of cops and robbers in the living room, while Ingrid lets her pie cool on the counter and heads off to take care of the toilet.

At 4:30 the preparations for the birthday are underway as Wilhelm will be home at 5. Albert will play chess until he starves to death and pees himself it seems, so he is rousted up and sent to the restroom but his friend Sirius beats him there so Albert has to go upstairs. Ingrid goes up to get Klaus and bring him down and now Marlena needs a diaper change. Ingrid gets Klaus and leaves Albert to handle Marlena. Wilhelm pulls in the drive as Ingrid lights the candles on Klaus's cake, everyone gathers around and Klaus ages up very well. He grabs a slice of cake but before anyone else can Ingrid whips it off the table to the trash, she made pie after all. Before that, there is Gretchen's cake to deal with and they manage that with seconds to spare. This time though everyone grabs a slice just as a neighbor arrives and rings the doorbell. Wilhelm goes out to chat a bit with Peter before sending him off. Back inside everyone has moved on to pie as the cake wasn't very fulfilling. Gretchen is flirting with Sirius (really, that quick?) and Angela and Klaus are trying to pick up all the dirty plates.

Ingrid is desperate for an expresso at this point and Albert joins her and Gretchen finally sends Sirius on his way home. Angela and Klaus go up to get ready for bed taking turns bathing before turning in. Wilhelm spends some time encouraging Gretchen to be cleaner, not that she needs it but he feels it's his duty. She takes him to heart and picks up the rest of the dessert plates and takes out the trash, at which point both the dishwasher and the trash compactor decide they have had enough and breakdown. This is beyond anyone in the family's abilities so Wilhelm makes a service call then heads to the computer to get an express grocery delivery only to have that break immediately afterward as well. Looks like that is going to be an expensive service call.

Ingrid remembers to feed the baby now that things are a bit calmer and everyone heads to bed. Just as Gretchen, the last one in bed, drifts off to sleep the burglar alarm sounds and the cops show up. Everyone is now awake and while the kids all watch the fight Wilhelm and Ingrid decide to have a bit of alone time on their own (no wonder they have 5 kids ). Marlena needs another diaper change and since her crib is in their room Gretchen walks in on them when she goes to change the baby. No one is happy about that one.

Everyone finally gets back to bed just before dawn and all I can think is "good thing its Saturday".

Now that the zombie apocalypse is over (for the time being--Olive still has the bone phone, and no one knows what she may do), General Buzz has decided it's time to build Strangetown up into a real little city. He started by advocating for a modern town offices building, and he got it, complete with sheriff's offices, jail, courtroom, town services, and helipad (he does commute to work in a helicopter, after all). He's hoping that will attract new business to Strangetown.

I'm beginning to regret bringing Ajay back from the dead as he's turned into something of a jerk. He got acquainted with Chloe and Lola at a party. Chloe asked him on a date, and he accepted. All very nice. While she was in the bathroom, Lola happened by, and she and Ajay immediately headed to the photobooth to woohoo. Chloe returned in the middle of it and while she wasn't too upset, she decided to end the date, and who can blame her? Then Ajay declared it a bad date and proceeded to give her a long lecture on the courtesy that is owed to someone you ask out. When she got home, there was a nasty note to her in the mail as well. He even told Jenny Smith all about it when he ran into her one day.

Johnny, Ophelia, Tank, and Stella at university: Johnny and Ophelia got engaged, as is to be expected. Tank and Stella were an item by junior year and also got engaged. Johnny got expelled, as is to be expected; he's always more interested in schmoozing with people than studying. Tank and Stella graduated. Stella got a nice little house for them. Tank went home for a few days to break the news to dear old dad. However, General Buzz really took a shine to Stella and wanted to be best friends with her, so all was well there, on track for a nice wedding.

Then, Johnny took a walk down to the shopping center to apply for a job in Politics and ran into Stella. Next thing, they're heading into the photobooth. Johnny never let go of his enmity for Tank, and this seemed like a nasty bit of revenge. Except he went and fell in love with her! He wanted to marry her! He called Ophelia over and broke off their engagement. She was really upset, even though she's been woohooing Ripp at college since Johnny's been gone. Then he invited Stella over and asked her to leave Tank, and she agreed! She wanted to marry Johnny! So she broke up with Tank, and now he's really really angry at the both of them. Johnny and Stella have a nice new house and are planning a big wedding party. I'm kind of unhappy about this turn of events. I had Stella and Tank together last time I played through Strangetown, and I liked them as a couple, but they were pretty clear about what they wanted.

Nothing much else happening. Jenny became an elder and they bulldozed their annoying house and moved into a smaller place more appropriate for empty nesters. Circe is starting to warm up to Loki's alien son, Liam. I decided to give Cyd Roseland a chance for a happy life since he was my patient-zero zombie and I've never really played him much, so he opened up a little boardinghouse for singles in the empty barracks across from the Grunts'.

I actually managed to get two households and two full years of college played. I just need to finish the last two years of uni and that's the third round finally finished.

Because of how many lots I played, I'll just list the highlights.

Broke (Angela & Dustin):

Angela was on her own for the first two days, so I could keep her original two day difference from Dustin. It was hard as she barely had any money after decorating her house.

The welcome wagon consisted of only sims from Strangetown; Jenny Smith, Vidcund Curious, and Nervous Subject. Angela and Nervous hit it off and became fast friends, while Jenny and Vidcund kept to themselves. Jenny still calls Angela, however.

She got a phone call from Daniel, inviting her Downtown. She accepted, where they went to the Londoste to meet with Mary-Sue, Kaylynn Langerak, and Nina Caliente; every one of them having slept with Daniel at some point. Fortunately for him, nothing happened to trigger jealousy. The group had a meal, but Angela couldn't afford it. So she skipped out on the bill, having to flee from the host until she gave up.

Once safely home, she applied for a job in the Paranormal career track, despite wanting to be an Adventurer. It should give her some money until her dream job comes around.

Dustin moved in after that, where he got a job in a place he didn't want until his dream job came up in the papers. Daniel and Mary-Sue visited everyday of their own accord, and Dustin would invite his mother over to catch up. They're best friends.

This lot also got burgled by Jessica Ebadi. Angela called the police who failed in apprehending the burglary. So, she got away with the TV, the car, the couch, and the computer chair. I've been able to replace most things, except for the TV. They are tight on money.

Angela and Dustin had a private wedding, due to lack of funds.

Dreamer (Lilith & Dirk):

Like Angela, Lilith was on her own for the first three days, as opposed to Angela's two, so I could keep her original three day difference from Dirk.

The welcome wagon consisted of Vidcund, Dina, and Nervous. Again, Nervous got on decently with Lilith, while Lilith and Vidcund took a disliking to each other. It turned into everyone, and I mean everyone, bullying Dina. That's grumpy sims for ya.

During the welcome wagon, she got a call from Angela inviting her out. They went to The Hub with Nervous (who was on the outing, so he actually hopped in the cab with Lilith), Daniel, Mary-Sue, and Dustin. They just had a nice, normal meal and went back to Lilith's place for a bit.

She got a job in the Law career. Dirk moved in, and they are still in love.

They moved to a new house.

University (Alexander & Stella):

Time for the reason I added the desert 'hoods (I don't regret it, as it's fun), Alexander and his possible romantic prospect, Stella Terrano

Alexander majored in Biology and focused on his studies, as did Stella. They would talk and play chess, sometimes. This resulted in a natural feeling, slow burn friendship which was cute to watch. They have two bolts for each other.

Shortly into Sophomore Year, after their first lesson, Stella kissed Alexander on her own, which didn't allow me to see the first kiss cutscene; thanks, Stella. They even roll fears of getting rejected for engagement, but no engagement wants. They roll pretty similar wants; they're cute together, I think.

They've just entered Junior Year, both still sporting a 4.0 GPA, let's see if they can keep it up when I play next time.

There was a teleporter shrub added to my corner store in Dodge and the Jankowskys are lined up to be played next time I load Dodge..

Even though I’ve had TS2 since day 1, I’ve never played premades before. I had a silly fear that I’d mess everything up. I know that’s stupid, because it’s my game, but I didn’t like the idea that I could “wreck” the storyline and I couldn’t easily restart if I didn’t like it. (So I thought) I just recently started playing TS2 again and read about how easy it was to restart the EA neighborhoods. Also, my daughter is obsessed with sims lore and I listen to it with her.

I decided to finally play Pleasantview. I’m only on the second house in my first rotation and... things are screwed up....haha haha! And I don’t care. In fact, now I’m tempted to see how screwed up I can get it.

Everything got a different tone because I random rolled secondary aspirations. That set a different tone than the original game intended.

Broke household:

Brandi: She had the lifetime want: Have 3 children graduate from college, which is a pretty lazy lifetime want. All she has to do is wait for her 3 boys to grow up and go to college. So she’s set. She also rolled the popularity secondary aspiration. So she rolls lots of wants about throwing parties. So she just parties nearly every single day — to the point that she went into labor during a party (disaster) So the Brokes are that trashy trailer park family that blasts loud music all night. She has tons of friends and gets along with everyone except Dustin.

Dustin: He rolled knowledge as his secondary want and I sort of felt sorry for him. He rolled all these wants to go to university and get better grades. Now that Brandi is a party animal, it seems a different story for Dustin. He’s trying to make a better life for himself, but nobody believes he can be better. He works at the criminal career still, but works on his grades like crazy too. I also imagine that he’s really in love with Angela Pleasant, but she’s just “slumming” with the bad boy in town. Dustin accidentally asks her out for dates and stands her up, because I forget he has to go to work. So it’s not going well between them. He invited over the entire Pleasant family for a party, but only the twins showed up.

Beau: Poor Beau is in a similar state as his brother. Everyone in the family is a slob except for him. And with the constant parties, the house is constantly filthy. So he cleans up after them ALL the time. Brandi blatantly favors him over Dustin and helps him with homework and swings him around in the yard. Beau has tons of friends because I have him invite all of the Newsons over during Brandis parties. He’s still a kid this rotation

Flatt (unborn baby) - Flat learned all the toddler skills quickly. Brandi seems to be one of those moms obsessed with babies but gets a little bored with them once they grow up. He’s still currently a toddler.
—-

Calliente — the story line gets really messed up here.

Nina- Nina rolled the pleasure aspiration, which is no major change to romance. It’s kind of annoying though she wants a bunch of random things and can’t get platinum on a date because she’s distracted and wants to juggle coffee cups instead of woohoo sometimes. (I hate pleasure aspiration). She has the lifetime aspiration to woohoo 20 sims. So I’m just going down her friends list and having her seduce the town. Don Lothorio comes in for a booty call almost every night, but she’s also bedded down Brandi Broke and Mortimer Goth. (That was hard. He was NOT into her.)

Dina rolled Romance as a secondary aspiration and now has almost no interest in Mortimer. She rolls more romance wants than Nina. She dates Mortimer only so she can sell his dream date gifts to fund her lifetime wish to own 5 businesses. (I still have no idea what to do for businesses. I’ll figure it out soon)

Nina and Dina are now both Romance Sims, and they toss their dates back and forth to each other. Dina goes out on the town on a date, and because I have the community time mod, Nina has time alone in the house to have a date.

Once Nina woohooed Brandi Broke and then she went to sleep. Dina seduced Brandi Broke and they woohooed in the the hot tub. That’s just a daily routine thing at the Caliente house.

—
Wanted to mention— on the lots, Mortimer Goth and Brandi Broke are constantly heart-farting and hot for each other. Ummm... I don’t know what will happen with that... but I don’t think Brandi is supposed to be so wild...

"Simoleon for your thoughts, Cyd," said Malcolm Landgraab. "Cyd? Cyd!"

"What? Oh! Sorry!" Cyd looked around, startled, and everyone laughed at him.

"You were miles away, man. What's bothering you?"

"Well, it's just . . . I had this phone call, from the son of somebody I used to know back in Bluewater."

"And?"

"Peter was a journalist. He was expected to stay and cover the news of the evacuation. He thought the paper would get him out when the time came, but they just suddenly stopped answering his calls. So there he was with his aging mother, three kids, and his wife pregnant again, trying to make their way along the Highway, with winter coming on. They haven't a hope, Boss. The eldest boy came on ahead, got to Lost Springs and called me from there to see if I could get them out."

Malcolm shook his head. "I'm sorry, Cyd. We can't spend all our resources rescuing people who didn't make proper arrangements for themselves. This rising sea level thing has been going on for a long time."

"I know, but . . . It was his job to stay. And that poor kid, setting out on his own across the desert, walking all that way, alone and scared, to find help for his family, and then I have to say 'no' to him. It just doesn't sit right."

"The kid came ahead on his own?" Malcolm stroked his chin, thinking. "He does sound like he'd be an asset to the business. And I don't like that Crumplebottom Inc. abandoned their own. All right, Cyd. Take the flyer and see if you can find them. Bring the family to Sedona and the boy - what's his name?"

"David Ottomas."

"Bring David to Respite. I have a job for him."

- - -
Cyd flew on past Lost Springs, noting camp after camp that appeared to be deserted. There may or may not have been families there; most people avoided the Landgraab Flyer, with its predatory black and yellow stripes. He was beginning to think his search was fruitless - surely they would have got further than this, even with the old lady and the little ones - when he saw motion: three people frantically waving makeshift flags at him. He flew lower, and sure enough it was Peter Ottomas and his family. He set the flyer down as close to the camp as was safe.

- - -
Peter and Samantha were just able to afford a pre-made two-bedroom bungalow in Sedona, though they had to buy bunk beds to get the four children into one room, and Peter is working as a cement mixer. David was given a similar-sized cottage in Respite - he couldn't afford it, of course, but Malcolm set him up on a rent-to-buy scheme. He's now employed as an adventurer, which Malcolm felt suited his willingness to trek through the desert the way he had. He'll never be a rock star, but as a Landgraab Gentleman he's set for life, and the prospect of becoming a space pirate is . . . intriguing.

I think Angela's feelings are a lot deeper than that. I think her initial attraction is that sympathy for the underdog that motivates many of us. She sees in Dustin (as indeed I do myself) a basically good boy who has been dealt a rotten hand in life. She hopes to stand by him and help him turn his life around. Quite rightly she sees that he has a lot of potential for good. What she abjectly fails to see, because it is right under her nose, is that her own sister is also an underdog, who is getting a very raw deal in life. However Dustin, and perhaps Dirk, can help her to see what is being done to Lilith, and then for first time in her life, she'll reach out a hand of friendship to help her sister. Angela has to make the first move -- Lilith is too damaged to take the risk. Once Angela and Lilith get together, they'll be unstoppable. Actually I have a lot of time for all four of them: Angela, Lilith, Dustin and Dirk. As the rising generation, they can take old Pleasantview by the scruff of its neck, and turn it into a place really worth living in. That's how i see the future of Pleasantview -- in my game at least.

I suppose that's more or less what my Sims and I have been doing in Veronaville over the past . . . it's nearly eight years now!

I agree about Dustin. I think he is constantly underestimated or looked down upon by those around him, and so he struggles against his own undeserved reputation to live up to his potential. Angela, I feel, has had her life too easy and takes Dustin for granted. He can give her a really good life and a strong family, which I think she wants deep down. She doesn't know what she's got... until he's gone?

I'm glad people who play Dustin look past the superficial "bad boy" image. He's one of my favorite premades.

I do like Dustin, but he is/was a complete disaster in my game (right now, at 55, he's finally happily married and settled).

I don't really recall why Angela was with Dustin when they were teenagers - maybe it was the bad boy; I think it was more that he bent over backwards trying to impress her. She was the most important thing in his universe. She's the most important thing in her own universe.

It meant she didn't even think about him twice the minute she met Jimmy Phoenix (university premade).

Angela and Jimmy's relationship has all the appearance of the perfect couple, but Angela's expectations from Jimmy living up to the appearance of a perfect family are about as rough as Mary-Sue's were for Daniel. And unlike Daniel, who got caught cheating and then got the boot, Jimmy just wants to make Angela happy. Now he's got to figure out how to do that, and how to find his own happiness, after he got fired from being a lawyer when his own dream was to become The Law.

With my Pleasantview's version of Angela, Dustin lucked out getting dumped. Except that he did not luck out with disastrous choice after disastrous choice otherwise - until now!

I am staying with my mother this week, and she has no sims.

Lazlo started dating Erin Beaker. It only took him a little while to get over Crystal; he wasn't really that attracted to her anyway. He was making out with Erin in the hot tub at the public pool when I noticed someone standing there staring at them. I thought that was a little creepy, then I realized it was Loki. I think he was wondering who this idiot was who was kissing all over his little sister. Luckily, Lazlo is oblivious to everyone around him and didn't notice. Then he was making out with Erin on his couch when he suddenly yelled out, "We should get married!" Erin yelled, "Yes, we should!" So it's official, and she moved in. Lazlo, who is such a family guy despite being a knowledge Sim, also found time to visit his brothers over the weekend and get to know his little niece and nephew better. Now that she's no longer living in that drafty castle, Erin wants to get a puppy or a kitten or maybe both.

Ajay and Lola's photobooth woohoo led to real love. They were inseparable for a while, then got engaged and threw a wedding party during which Ajay officially became a Curious. The whole family turned out. It was a good thing Chloe had a dream date with General Buzz the night before--I think she saw it as a personal challenge--because he dropped off a DJ booth in the middle of the night, and Chloe's talent with it helped turned the wedding into a roof raiser. The three have used Ajay's savings to move into a bigger house. Lola and Ajay are shaping up to be a real power couple, and Ajay is already on the City Council.

More graduations/expulsions from university. Ripp stopped woohooing with Ophelia once he changed his aspiration to Popularity and got serious with Blossom Moonbeam. They are engaged and living together. Ophelia moved into Cyd's boardinghouse where Kristen Loste and William Williamson are also living; William got his heart broken by Blossom. Klara Vonderstein has her own little house. She and new freshman Buck got close before she graduated, but that may not go anywhere, since she has big plans.

I am thinking about restarting the beginning of Pleasantview Neighbourhood, only severely limiting the number of children Sims will have this time, so that I don't end up with 250 Sims again...