Justin is exiled this semester, in what was supposed to be an exciting year of study abroad, instead he'll spend the year at Takemizu Academy without Keri. And it looks like he's going to spend the whole year beating off girls with a stick. He's never considered himself a dream-boat or anything. Not that he thinks he's ugly, and sure, he supposes he's kind of funny, but this desperate girl is just insatiable! She won't take no for an answer. But NO is the answer, since this man is very happily engaged - even if Keri is a world away. He's even thinking about hiring a hit-man.
But no, he decides that isn't very likely, or legal, so instead he puts on a ratty old t-shirt, and refuses to shave or cut his hair, and if that doesn't work, then he'll refuse to shower...
And did that work? Or has she only ceased hitting on him because he's got a book in his hands? We're guessing it's the book, because she looks like she might try to eat him alive!
It was the book. Is it possible that he looks even cuter shaggy??? Maybe he should try to gain some weight? Or stop brushing his teeth?
He paid a LOT of money to study here this year, so he'd better try to make it worth his while. He'll stick with this dude for protection. Study hard, Justin, stay away from that girl!
***
Keri is living with her sister in Academy Hall this year, after reluctantly sending Justin off across the world. This is supposed to be "
a growing experience" but Keri just feels bitter. And she isn't too keen on their two male dorm-mates either. She says, "If you're not Justin, you can just go crawl in a hole and die!"
Keri misses Justin terribly. She's trying to balance all this "re-finding herself" time with the fact that she really just wishes Justin was back home. Really she should be digging out of her academic probation, but instead, she takes a moment to teach Mariah how to slap dance. And then she remembers, she learned slap dancing on that spring break trip
when Justin proposed to her, and however she tries to wrap her head around it, it always seems to come back to him.
So she might as well work on her term paper, even if there are people dancing in the living room. She's too love-sick to dance, and besides, she learned her lesson well enough last semester.
For Keri's complete disinterest in money and academics, we figure she's banking on Justin to do well in life (let's hope he learns a little more logic while he's away!). So we declare her secondary aspiration in pleasure, because she's very obviously the spoiled-little-rich-girl kind of fortune Sim. Oh, being a wealthy trust-fund baby is so exhausting, how does she manage?...
Mariah, on the other hand is excelling quite well this semester, working as a nursing home caseworker during the daytime, and studying hard at night. She changed her major to psychology last semester, and finds that her internship in social work actually suits her quite well. That could be because of all the time she's spent listening to
Bella's problems - and hey, if she can solve Bella Bradshaw's problems, she can help anybody!
Mariah invites the guys over for dinner parties quite often. She feels something of an obligation to feed them, since they can't even manage mac and cheese on their own most of the time - and since they can't even
afford mac and cheese most of the time.
Mariah says to Micah, "You know, when I said come over for a study date, I didn't mean you should actually study..." She meant it to be funny, but it kind of touched a nerve with him for some reason.
Mariah finally gets him upstairs for their "study date," except all he wants to do is talk, about their friendship, about how much she means to him...
"What's wrong?" Mariah says. He's trying not to sulk, and he knows it's an incredibly girly thing to think, but he just doesn't want this to feel so cheap. He adores Mariah, and has from
the day he met her. He's done the casual thing for the whole of his young adult life and now he wants a girl -
this girl - all to himself, and he's thinking forever.
Mariah says, "Micah, you're my soul buddy. You're my favorite person in the whole world."
"But not your boyfriend?"
"Oh God, please don't get all intense on me. I don't need intense right now. I need friends and I need fun. I don't need another serious relationship."
"Yeah, sure," he says.
But it's too late for "not intense." He's already there.
And he doesn't have to say that out loud, she knows it. And she tells him, "I think maybe you should go home, for a while." Obviously sleeping on Luke and Jim's couch is no perfect arrangement, but she said NOT intense! And 24/7 is pretty intense. Bringing a toothbrush and a pair of pajamas over IS pretty intense! Mariah doesn't want to break anybody's heart, but she wants to know, what is it about her that makes every man she meets want to marry her right up, whisk her off to the suburbs and impregnate her with a million of his babies? Does she have child-birthing hips? Is she giving off pheromones?
And what's worse is that Mariah has been thinking about
James again. It's stupid, she knows. But she also knows it's too soon for another relationship - she told Micah this. She told him she wasn't ready. But he's not listening very well.
***
No need to be thinking about marriage and babies, these guys are only twenty-two! They need to graduate, and stay up late, and go into their entry-level jobs smelling of beer and no sleep, and spend their money on nightclubs and big-screen TVs, and maybe even actual beds to sleep on. So Micah tries not to take Mariah's distance personally, and instead he'll try to focus on finding his senior-year internship.
The other three have already secured theirs. Jim's grades are excellent, so he is eligible to use the graduate placement program, and they place him as a teacher's aide. Luke is working as a music camp teacher, and Chandler is working at Deppiesse's Lakefront Bistro, with restaurant management in mind - let's hope he's not allowed to cook!
Keri calls for Chandler one night, and he's excited. He knows he was just a high-school boy-toy to her, but to him, she was more than that, and he still thinks about her all the time. He can't help that he's not as cute or charming as Justin.
But don't get the wrong idea, Chandler, she's probably just bored. And no, she's not
that kind of bored either, get your head out of the gutter! And when she says she wants to hang out, she doesn't mean that kind of
hang out. Keri says to meet her over at Crypt 'O Night, and to make the state of things good and clear, she said to bring the
all guys.
Nothing too crazy, just a night out and a little dance contest...
Mariah wins, and Keri's pissed! Chandler doesn't really care because he thinks Keri is just so cute with her fists all balled up like that!
And as if she wasn't clear enough, even talking all night about how much she misses Justin, he goes and tries to hit on her anyway. She says, "Oh, Chandler, don't be desperate and pathetic!" Well, she told him not to get the wrong idea. Keri says, "I just don't think this friendship is working out." But maybe they were never exactly friends anyway, in that complicated way that friends-with-benefits never are. There's always one who feels more. And to Chandler's credit, we suppose it's hard to get over your first... just ask Mariah.
***
Over breakfast one morning, the girls invite their mom over for pancakes, and Madison pops over from the Mayoral estate, which happens to be just a minute from campus. Mariah mentions, "So I have this friend studying politics..."
Keri giggles at the word "friend," and adds, "A
very dear friend."
Mariah rolls her eyes at her sister. "Anyway, so I was wondering if you had any internships open."
Her mother says, "I'm sure we've got something, why don't you send him over this afternoon."
Of course, Micah says, "I don't need my girlfriend to get me a job."
"Well it's a good thing I'm not your girlfriend then," she says. "Come on, you want to go into politics and my mom's the Mayor - how much pride to you need to have?"
So he agrees to the interview, and hey, he even cleans up pretty well. Mariah just got him the interview, and he'll need to get the job on his own. But he has to know, "What exactly did you tell her about us?" He's
not trying to be intense, but he's just curious, you know, he doesn't want to say the wrong thing.
Mariah says, "I told her you were a very dear friend." What does that mean, he wonders?
No, Micah, maybe that's not such a good idea... not right before your interview. Maybe after though.
Micah meets Madison in her office. Madison is thinking,
Good Lord, how is my daughter not all over this one???Micah is thinking,
Hmmm, I wonder if there will be snacks?They talk about sports mostly, and Micah makes sure to mention his commitment to world peace, but none of that really matters since Madison thinks he's just about cute as a button! All he has to do is smile and he's got the job!
Madison says, "Congratulations, you've got great dimples- um, I mean, you've got the job." She places him as an intern and he starts immediately!
Well, it's obvious why her daughter is screwing this one - you know, mothers know their daughters' sisterly code-talk, and that
a very dear friend just means "the guy I'm sleeping with but am too scared and complicated to call my boyfriend." But Madison thinks Mariah is crazy! And if she were thirty years younger herself - hell, twenty even! - and not married, of course, she'd marry him up in an instant!
Goodness, maybe she'd better sit down!
Micah makes a point to mention to Mariah later that her mom's a little weird.
And later that night, Mariah wants to say congratulations, and what better way into a man's heart than with a pinball machine? She leaves flowers too, because she does care about him very much, but just not in that simple, so-sure, and uncomplicated way that he does. But she hopes that she will some day.
So Luke and Jim did manage to find two suitable couches for Chandler and Micah to sleep on. Though, the guys aren't having a very nice time slumming it on them. Chandler has nightmares where Keri is beating the crap out of him, and they're especially terrifying because he thinks she actually could!
Micah has nightmares where he's starving to death... oh wait, that's no nightmare, he really is starving! Good thing Jim knows how to make pop-tarts. Sometimes he dreams that he's over at Mariah's place - her bed is comfy and warm, and she's in it of course, with her warm soft skin and pancakes for breakfast - can you blame him for wanting to be there?
Chandler and Micah agree that nobody has to know about this, that when Luke and Jim are both at class, they sneak upstairs into their bedroom and crawl into bed. There's no shame in it! People get tired, people have to sleep! And those couches feel like sleeping on bricks!
***
Awww... :(
Luckily for Justin, crazy psycho chick managed to sink her claws into the other dude and left Justin alone long enough for him to pull perfect grades for the semester.
And on the other side of the world, Keri is dreaming too, and she would freak out if she knew what her big sister was about to get up to. Keri told Mariah just to leave him alone ("him" being James), keep herself occupied, she'll get over him, it
will fade... but Mariah's been thinking about James
ever since they broke up and she just has to hear his voice. She knows it's not right, or she wouldn't have waited until Keri was sleeping. But she just doesn't know how else to shake him. She says, "Can you come over?"
It's not what you might think - she just wants to talk, and she means that. She doesn't even know what it is she's hoping to accomplish. It's been four months since she saw him, and he looks different. He always used to glow around her and now he just looks dark. He says, "You're the one who dumped me, what do you even want me to say?"
She hoped she wouldn't cry, but her voice cracks as she tells him, "I want you to say you don't want me back. Not ever."
He doesn't understand it, but this much he can give her. "Fine," he says. "I
don't want you back. Not
ever. Does that make you feel better?"
She doesn't know. All she knows is that it cuts, and maybe that's what she needs.
Report Cards for 2080, Fall
Mariah, senior, psychology: A-
Micah, senior, political science: C+
Luke, senior, drama: A+
Jim, senior, physics: C+
Chandler, senior, economics: B+
Justin, junior, economics: A+
Keri, 2nd yr. freshman, economics: A+
***
notes: ugh, what a mess! Micah's got it BAD! Mariah says NOT intense, and Micah's thinking about babies and rolling engagement wants - he will not roll off that engagement want! I don't even have it locked. It must be because of his family secondary, I think. They have 129 ACR and are both each other's most attractive Sim, so there is no reason for this nonsense:
Mariah on a date with Micah, thinking very much about James, and assorted other men (including her sister's fiance!), none of them Micah...
So NOW, after all this time, and now that they're broken up, Mariah finally rolls wants for James. But James rerolled his turn-ons and offs after the break-up, and he rolled to dislike dark-haired women, lol! So I'm taking that as a sign that he's done with her, and wouldn't take her back even if she wanted it.
Oh, what a mess! And she thinks she wants to go into social work? This girl is a head-case! All of these Bradshaw cousins are head-cases, every single one of them! I don't even know what to do with them! Just wait until you see what Amelia's up to!...
And Chandler, lol! Chandler is ridiculous! I have him set to "spouse only" on ACR, and his chosen ACR Sim is some mousy-looking girl he likes, but he still tries to flirt with both Keri and Mariah anyway, and they hate it! He's like that inappropriate friend who just won't stop, lol.
*** Gameplay notes on YA jobs/base-hood unis, in the comments :) ***
Okay, this update absolutely had me rolling around in laughter. I think Micah's interview was my favorite part. He's trying to sell himself as a professional and capable businessman, and she's trying to focus on his cute cheeks (both facial and rump-cheeks, I'm sure)! This was all just too funny.
ReplyDeleteSo talk about these internships...How do you determine if sims want or qualify for one? Do they hold the actual Maxis job while still in college? If you made a post about this, just point me in the right direction. I don't remember hearing about this before, but I love the idea. I really think EA should hire you to help flesh out the sims games. You've got some very awesome ideas!
Thanks Mandie! :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have talked about the YA jobs very extensively. My YAs have always been allowed to have jobs if they want them (even before I was doing the base-hood university set-up) - Chandler and Luke have been working for about a year now. It takes a bit of work-around if your YAs are on the real uni campus, but they can apply from any base-hood residential lot (like from their parents' house when they're visiting), but my YAs are downtown, so they just apply from their computers.
They are actual Maxis jobs, the social work one is a custom career I got at MTS2, and Chandler is working at Ashlee Deppiesse's restaurant.
I've recently been requiring all of my college seniors to have some kind of internship, and if their GPA is between 3.8-4.0, they can be placed in the career of their choice. My Sims party so much though that very few of them actually qualify for that ;)
Of course, it's all on me to make sure their job hours don't conflict with their class hours - and they don't get a job panel, so I have to write down what time they're supposed to go to work so I don't forget. Uni lots don't get a carpool, so they have to go to work in their own car.
I really like the realism in it, because I certainly worked while I was going to school. And it gives them a little headstart on the job market before they graduate. I've got so many custom careers in my game that it takes a really long time for them to find the job they want, hence my graduate placement program ;)
Let me know if you have any more questions :)
How did I miss that your YAs were downtown and not at a Uni subhood? Do you have a hack that makes them age to young adult without college or do you pretend? You've probably answered this somewhere else (possibly to me!) so sorry if I'm being annoying!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this was such a fun update. Poor Micah. He's such a sweetheart and here's Mariah wanting to fall in love with James again!
My sister is a social worker, actually, and she says a lot of them are head-cases. Listening to stories about her co-workers makes me think she's right! So perhaps Mariah would fit right in.
Cute! Especially when her mother nailed it on the head:
ReplyDeletemothers know their daughters' sisterly code-talk, and that a very dear friend just means "the guy I'm sleeping with but am too scared and complicated to call my boyfriend."
Beautiful!
A really, really great updtae, right from the beginning!
ReplyDeleteJustin does look cuter shaggy, lol. The pic with him, the stalker and the butterflies - so pretty:)
The sleeping on couches thing - I find it very realistic and in some way even cute. The same for the internship thing. Actually the hole way you play your YA is very interesting and inspiring!
Could you please tell how can you hire YA into owned businesses?
And thumbs up for Maria getting into social work field. I've also noticed, as Sullivan Sims said, that people getting into social work are pretty messed up themselves. Mayebe it's because they can better relate to the problems they're helping to resolve this way.
Loved the update! So much going on and so little time, lol. I hope it works out in the end for Micah and Mariah. I think they are meant for each other. She just has to get over James, and hopefully he will make it easy for her.
ReplyDeleteNow, about this uni. in the downtown area. I would like to do this, but how would I move my current uni. sims out of the uni. hood and downtown? I'm so confussed. And what about the sims that I have waiting in the uni. family bin for the next rotation? COuld I tp everyone in to the new lots downtown? And of course I would have to use the YA hank for them all, but would that mess up my sims that already put the first two years of college behind them?
Sorry for all the questions. It's just, this is something I'd really like to do, and what to make sure I do it right.
Ack, you've got a uni stalker too! LOL. I hope Justin's stalker leaves him alone so he can finish out the rest of the year in peace!
ReplyDeleteMicah's interview had me laughing. Try to control yourself, Madison! ;)
Argh, no, Mariah! She needs to move on and open her eyes to the great guy who's right there in front of her.
LOL, I love the picture of Chandler and Micah sleeping together. I can just see them standing on each side of the bed and saying, "Now, we're just SLEEPING. You stay on your side, I'll stay on mine, and we'll never mention this to ANYONE." LOL ;)
Awwwwwwwww, Micah! He's so cute, poor guy... He really had bad timing with Mariah...
ReplyDeleteAnd basehood unis are so nice when you get into it, took me awhile to figure out how to move teens out, but that's because I'm a ditz. Though, on my uni lot I get carpools o.O But then, I only have one right now...
xP Guys sharing a bed *snicker* I remember a vacation trip with some friends and two guy friends had to share and they were so awkward!
Thanks everyone! *sigh* Mariah and Micah... I'm hoping it works out for them too. They're soul buddies, they have to be together, lol! :)
ReplyDeleteSullivan, yup, they're in downtown Lake City :) I just updated my neighborhood pictures, and you can see the campus in the city - it's hard for me to get pictures of Lake City because it's so huge and the neighborhood view crashes my graphics, lol!
Apple, thank you! :)
oookonxooo, thanks! LOL, I'm writing from experience - I remember loaning out my couches on many occasions back in college, so it's definitely realistic. Thankfully, I was never the one slumming it on the couch though ;)
For hiring YAs, I think you want "nolamehires" from MATY.
Riverdale, thanks! There are two different approaches to the base-hood uni. A lot of people use the Squinge mods, but I use the uni record by Lion/Argon at MATY (link in the sidebar), because I think it's slightly simpler - I might consider switching over to the Squinge mods now that they're being updated again though... I'll have to check those out.
You can move your current uni students from the uni hood by teleportation (links also in the sidebar). Once your YAs are downtown, they can move around freely in the regular Sim-bin, but you have to teleport them once to get them out of the default uni.
But keep in mind, as far as I've experienced, you can't play both the default uni and a base-hood uni at the same time, because with the mods in place your YAs at default uni will age to adult. So you'll have to choose.
Shana, thanks! LOL, that's exactly what I had in mind when they crawled into that bed together! :)
Valneanne, are you using the Squinge set-up, or the uni record from MATY? I get the carpool when I take the record off, but then I don't have the college options. I hear the Squinge mods are being updated again now though, so I might take a look at those.
Thanks Laura! I actually have both mods in game, but I have used Squinge's to age a teen to YA who didn't go to Uni. I wanted to keep all my teens in the same age while I played the main hood and the uni. hood. But I just don't send him to class, I just have him do "normal" non-uni stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited now, lol. I might have to demolish my "slum" area to build the University but I don't mind. I think I'll get cracking as soon as I can.
I'm using the uni record from MATY, don't know what's up with the carpool since I haven't removed the record once since I first put it up... o.O
ReplyDeleteHowever, it works nicely so I'm not going to complain :P Now if my poor grocery store would keep from going bankrupt, I'd be very happy XD
Thanks for the tip Laura!
ReplyDeleteWow, poor Mariah! She's so confused, but then again, most Young Adults in real life seem to follow that trend. ;) Hopefully she figures it out soon. Poor Micah!
ReplyDeleteKeri is cracking me up. I still love her, even if she's a spoiled rich kid. Many LOL's to Justin's change of looks and his stalker. Poor guy!
Very interesting about the jobs! Thanks for explaining your system to me. I've always thought sims should be able to have jobs while in college...I mean if highschool kids can hold jobs, college kids should definitely be able to. I didn't know there was a cheat to make it happen, though. So thanks for pointing that out!
ReplyDeleteHere's another question for ya. I've been playing through my first round of college with these new kids, and I feel that each semester is too long in terms of simdays. I was thinking about cutting semesters down to only 2 days, just like the rest of the hood has for each round. Do you have a time limit on semesters, or do you use the game's college bar to determine when a semester is over? I've found that if I use the Maxis bar, everyone gets 4.0's anyway b/c they eventually roll the want to write their paper...or their bar gets filled up just b/c they go to class so much during one semester.
Riverdale, good luck building your uni!
ReplyDeleteValneanne, I must have a mod conflict or something. It doesn't surprise me, as many mods as I have. But aww, I want a carpool! LOL! :)
ooohonxooo, you're welcome :)
Mao, she sure is confused, isn't she? I hope Micah can hang around for her a little while longer. And I love Keri too! She's definitely become one of my favorites :)
Mandie, yes, I do shorten my semesters. I do 2-day/48 hours, and at 4 semesters per 2 years, that still ends up being 4 times more playtime than anyone in the rest of the hood gets. The semester tester (Simbology) has an option to set semester length to 48 hours - though, I start the semester at 72 hours and send them to their exam at 24 hours, because I suspect that maybe they roll less academic wants at the start of the semester, and that makes uni more challenging.
Which leads us to those 4.0's - *very* few of mine end up keeping a straight 4.0 through the whole four years. I think a big part of that is the shortened semester. And that I don't allow them to skill unless they want it, not even if it means they'll fail the semester (same with term papers and assignments). Also, if they're working, sometimes they'll have to choose between going to work or class. And I let them party if they want to, or go on dates, or go out on the town, and I have community time project (MATY) so they actually spend that time while they're away.
Maybe the reason uni is still so interesting for me after all this time is the fact that they actually might not pass, if they're not careful.
(I'll link to the community time project in the sidebar. It's awesome!)
With all the constant drama at LCU, how do the students ever find time to study? :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, no wonder Justin's makeover didn't work - he's much cuter scruffy!
Luminessence, some of them don't study, as Keri has proven, lol!
ReplyDeleteI thought he was cuter scruffy too ;)