Eternal Sunshine of the Sim-less Mind: Part 2

     While the spares had their own adventures, that didn't mean the Holland clan proper didn't have some sort of progression within their own save files lives. During these past few months, while the other kids had quite a bit of time spent on their own files (thanks, game lagging) the main 100BC game file had an amazing amount of . . . three whole Sims days put into it. Regardless, progress is progress, and I need all the filportant stuff I can get my hands on!

     My first day back into the main file was pretty productive. Within 1 Sim hour, she had managed to finally, finally complete her Lifetime Wish of becoming a Professional Author. 

   While there was no doubt that the book in question, Fertile Bodies , was going to be a Best-Seller, I still preferred the trashy goodness that is Harry Hunger and the Twilight Games.

Don't think I didn't notice that awkward space at the end of Fertile Bodies'  title.
I'm keeping it that way.

  With the extra 32,500 Lifetime Reward points under her belt (what a random number), I bought that one thing from Showtime:

  Ian got a part-time job since he got a request from school to do so. Anything for better grades and some Simoleons is good enough for the Hollands.

  Meanwhile, the family's favorite generically named hairball machine, Fluffy, managed to age up from a cute kitten into a beautiful young adult. Seriously, her coat is freaking gorgeous. 

     Today was great as well, since Angeline managed to snag her second reward for maxing out her Writing skill. It looks good next to her handiness one!

     Also, Gwen met a kid at school with an awesome randomly generated name.

His parents are the laziest geniuses ever.

  
        Today was extremely bittersweet for all parties involved. . . 

     Angeline had generated a wish for a cane (since I had just bought Generations, finally), so I gladly obliged her request. She also spend an awful lot of time around Fluffy that day. Not an hour passed by without at least one hug and pet.

      As soon as Gwen, Heather and Ian left their school for the day, I was notified that Gwen had finally reached honor roll status. Her younger sister and brother would just have to work hard for just one more day! As soon as the girl had reached home, Angie had walked over to her daughter, brightened her day even more with a few words and a hug. She extended this well being to Heather and Ia.

      The family was about to begin having dinner, before Angeline ended up passing away from old age in the family living room.

      Yes, our Generation 1 baby mama is no longer with us . . . at least, not in Sim form. Seeing as she had just finished her sudden goodbyes to her youngest teen-aged children, the Grim Reaper himself appeared so he can send Angeline off into the Netherworld. Angeline's spirit went quickly and quietly, as she had a life that was well fulfilled, what with nine loving children at her side and a collection of books that showed all of Midnight Hollow just what was going inside this mother's mind.

      What was going through Grim's head, however, was a quick game of basketball. No joke, this guy hauled his bony ass to the backyard's hoops and attempted to go against Heather in a game of King/Queen of the Hoops. In the pouring rain in the dead of autumn.

This feels like sort of symbolism I should be getting. 

     Heather was having none of that, so she remained inside, cursing Grim's good name, whilst her sister wept over their mother's spirit.

     It's interesting to note that Gwen was the only one who openly sobbed about her mother's passing. Heather, being a Hot-Headed type of girl, preferred to scream to the sky randomly whenever Angeline crossed her mind, while Ian - while he always looked a little upset - seemed to quietly carry on whatever activity he was doing, albeit with a small pout and furrowed brows. Everyone mourns differently, and evidently, that's true of Sims as well. (These reactions also happened when their older brother, Daniel, and his fiancee, Jeanette, passed suddenly in that house fire.) Still, in a family emergency like this, funeral preparations must begin immediately. 

    Bradley and Ye, the trio's older brother and sister-in-law, decided to briefly stay in the house in order to help the teens deal with this sudden event; the couple's first action was to console and help the teens in anyway they can.

  That's not to say that all of these interactions went over positively:

On a serious note, the animation in the Console social interaction is wonderful.
.Kudos to whoever at Maxis worked on it.

     After having a brief, solemn dinner over roasted turkey and cinnamon rolls, the teens went to their bedrooms, while Brad and Ye began to use the tea table for their own amusement. 

It's like they're posing for a Sims 3 Store banner or a Tim Burton movie poster.

    Mandatory Brad photo shoot:

  His charm seems to have rubbed off on Ye, too:

     After that bout of dramatic tea slurping, the two were about to go to bed when Emma dropped by all the way from Moonlight Falls, and upon being invited in for the night, decided to go straight to sleep in her deceased mother's bed. She hadn't even been gone for 24 Sim hours.

"I like ciphering spirits in my sleep."

   The morning of the funeral arrives with no fanfare. Emma decides to be more of a creep by shifting through Angeline's clothes in order to find something to wear.

"I'm just getting a feel for what it's like in her skin!"

     The twins express their grief some more by giving me some magazine worthy shoots. Ian was too busy shoveling down blueberry pancakes to partake in this family activity, that lazy little Brad clone.

     The funeral itself wasn't much of an event. The other family members arrived, immediately flooded into Ian's small, cramped excuse of a bedroom . . . 

     They only left once I called them to a meal of organic French toast. Leftover organic French toast that Angeline had made the morning of her passing. Also with a side of blueberry pancakes and autumn salad.

     

   Seriously, only our teen trio were the only ones to actually go over to their mother's grave and observe this solemn moment. Their older siblings and in-laws would occasionally express condolences, but that was about it.

  Emma, for instance, gravitated toward the phonograph playing classical music and decided to share a dance with her sister-in-law, Kara. In return, half of the party considered it as witnessing a romantic betrayal, and Em ended up stepping on Kara's foot. (Fiona was in the crapper when this happened.)

   Regardless of any misunderstandings, the Hollands seemed to enjoy this family gathering.

   Gwen went to the mailbox that's out front and got some stuff as well. The reward-handing-out people gave more of a crap about Angie than half of her kids.

    On the bright side, I didn't end up having to plan another funeral. Ye decided to be a heroine and try to fix a broken dishwasher, with no handiness skill and while standing in a puddle.

     Gwen took her sister-in-law's actions as a hint that she should brush up on her own handiness skill. Hey, it helps save lives Simoleons.

    Also, we finally had that one awkward moment where one kid walks in on another one in the bathroom. I'm shocked it too so long.
  

    At least Gwen seems to have some idea on where she should go after all of this madness. . . 

Eternal Sunshine of the Sim-less Mind: Part 1

       Yes, I know I got some 'splainin' to do, and I'll keep it short and succinct: a major family health emergency occurred a month after my last post, and the endless parades of doctor's appointments that have occurred within these past couple of months. This is the most I've touched my Mac in a few months, but I swear to all things holy I am NOT giving up on this challenge.


    Thank you all so much for your patience!

Christopher's Aftermath

      “Variety is the spice of life” is a phrase that's been attributed to English poet William Cowper and made famous by that faux wooden wall panel your mom bought at Pier 1 Imports. As noted in this blog's introductory post, the citizens of Midnight Hollow pride themselves on rejecting what is considered the “norm” by embracing the odd with open arms and minds. However, it's to be expected that one Sim's norm (well, what's ostensibly normal for the average Sim, anyway) is another Sim's weird.

     Let's be honest with ourselves. Chris' story is something right out of one of those corny 1960s sitcoms; His sweet-but-quirky mother, Angeline, grew up as an only child in a small, emotionally distant family. Angie desired children of her own so much she seduced six random men and ended up with nine little ones to call her own. Chris' four brothers and four sisters each have dreams that are traditionally “larger than life”, but his stood out the most: he wanted a decent job, a wonderful wife, two point five adorable kids and a nice eggshell white picket fence.

     Keep in mind, the town's residents include an artist that hates her job with a passion, a rich man that breaks for dumpster diving and thrift shops, and Wannabe Norman Bates. 

     As soon as Chris hit adulthood and left The Holland Home of Mayhem, he went straight to the police station, as they had careers that appealed the most to his brave nature. Sadly, unlike his elder brother, Bradley, getting any formal training from Sims University was out of the question, as he had spent all of his funds just buying himself a new home. Determined to achieve his dream job, he took the entry-level job as a desk jockey. 

    He wasn't the only new person around the station, though; he worked alongside -- and invited her to be his new roomie to help pay for the house -- a certain miss Francisca Shea. Remember that one girl that clung herself to Chris like glue as when they were kids?

They fight do something vaguely related to crime.

    Of course, they're weren't meant to be work buddies for too long; They honed their skills as much as possible when they were teens, hence these two flying through their lower career rungs. Francisca had honed her mental and physical skills so sharply since she wanted to be a part of the Midnight Hollow chapter of the International Super Spies, whereas Chris wanted to be known as a Dynamic DNA Profiler. The call of justice and honor and whatever else had been too strong for these two to resist.

     As well as the sounds of wedding bells. (Ah, childhood sweetheart success stories.) But they were too drunk, eager and cheap to hold a traditional wedding; In fact, this wedding was held only a month after Brad and Ye's own backyard affair. It had started one night when Chris was finally ready to pop the question; he and Fran were off to a date at some random bar in town, and after the typical super-romantic meal and candles and conversation, Chris felt the box that held the engagement ring in his pocket feeling awfully heavy. So he needed some liquid courage, and probably ended up using a few too many.

  The "large consumption of NON-ALCOHOLIC THIS IS A TEEN RATED GAME juice" plan did go well. Francisca accepted the proposal with a "YES!", a cheer, and a truck driver belch.

  But the liquid courage proved to be much stronger than that. Why settle for "just engaged" when you can go from fiance(é) to newlywed in a matter of moments?

   

   Fran was so very drunk and happy, and I thank her for the laughs.

  Thankfully for their household funds' sake, they weren't as eager to get a huge headstart on the parenting thing. But they got too it soon-ish, I assure you. . . once they bought a whole bunch of workout equipment for work . . . 

 . . . and went through that whole, "We're not ready for a baby, can we get a dog?" stage of love and marriage. Meet Ginger!

     It seemed as soon as she set a paw into her new home, she can whiff out the scent of "Baby or No?" her owners were permeated with. So, she mangled some furniture as a warning not to ignore her.

That green Supernatural full moon really ties it all together.

     Still, our heroes went off to work, putting criminals behind bars, desperately trying to ignore the resemblance a locked jail cell has to a baby's crib. For a whole entire week. Then, the morning after a passionate night, the puking commenced. 

      And three grueling days later, two new Hollands were added to the immense family tree.

     Did I mention earlier that Chris' life is one big corny sitcom? Seriously, all that's missing is the "awwww" and laugh tracks. Also, Elliot wants world peace, loves the outdoors, veggie dogs, the color pink and is light sleeper? I sense a future bohemian right here!

     These two had a real routine going on: They would eat, they would sleep, they would crap, they would get changed, they would cry for attention, repeat ad nauseam. All that was missing was the hair pulling and projectile vomiting. 

     For an added bonus, the envious sad dog!

     Thankfully, the two hellions aged up in style before their parents could blink (and fall on the floor thanks to exhaustion). Uncle Aaron, Aunt Ariella and a slightly older cousin Ainsley even dropped by for a visit!

     "So," Ariella said, "I can see why people would want to live here. It must be nice living in a black and white film."

Smiling sweetly and eyeballing the cake? Nope, nothing suspicious going on here?

     "Uncle Chris," Ainsley began, "I'm, like, so happy that I'm not the baby of the family anymore! Unlike babies, I can actually eat a chocolate cake and not smash it with my tiny baby fists."
      "That's great, honey, and you're smart enough to know that you can't eat someone else's birthday cake before they blow out the candles," her uncle stated with a wink.

    "Well, crap."