November 2077, Phoenix McCullough is 38, Brooke is 36, Fiona is 9, Robert is 6, and Connor is four months old.
The month started out rough, and it's looking to stay that way.
Baby Connor is four months old now, and still in that stage where he's keeping everyone in the house up at night.
They all sneak in naps during the day to keep up with him.
(family close-by: Cabe and Ashlee Deppiesse, to the left,
and Orion and Violet Deppiesse to the back.)Fiona is good friends with her cousin
Natalia who lives conveniently just next door. Their other cousins,
Dallas, Delphie, and Dakota, live very nearby too.
Robert likes to talk about how he's going to be best friends forever with
Liza Hathe. Fiona says, "Whatever, you can't be best friends with someone who doesn't even go to the same school!"
Brooke is on maternity leave from teaching right now, and meets
Allegra Lind one morning while she's getting the newspaper. Wow, Allegra just had a baby in July too, and she looks so put together already. And here Brooke is, at noon, and still in pajamas! How embarrassing!
Allegra is staying home with baby Bianca for the time being, and Brooke was thinking,
oooh, playdates! But except for having babies in the same month, these two don't seem to have much at all in common. And man, did she really have a baby only four months ago??? Brooke is trying not to look bitter...
Allegra mentions her mother-in-law helping out. It must be nice. Brooke's parents died before she and Cabe even went off to college, and Phoenix doesn't have any family in town.
Phoenix lands himself a nice promotion, and is now an art forger. (I always find it funny when an honest, nice, upstanding family-man is in a normal career track, and then ends up doing something dubious like being an art forger, lol!) He is also looking to do some freelance photography in his spare time, and he practices on the kids with a new camera he got from work.
Fiona is going to be starting junior high in a couple years. She's such a strange little girl, and we're not really sure what to make of her personality. She likes to read, but isn't especially smart. She's terribly snobby and shy, but makes friends easily and loves her little brothers.
She's also a prissy little princess, but totally into sci-fi and ghosts and aliens. Who knows what she'll aspire to when she grows up...?
The month ends up just as rough as it started, and Connor is keeping everyone on their toes. Phoenix is falling asleep in his pork chops, and Brooke thinks she may have turned into a zombie. Ugh... so tired... so very tired...
***
gameplay notes on aspirations:
I don't roll random aspirations, but instead, I choose according to their personalities. These are just some nit-picky criteria that make sense in my head:
fortune: serious less than 6, outgoing more than 4, active more than 4 ... no lazy or shy Sims because fortune Sims need to be go-getters, and I figure they need to be at least a little bit serious.
knowledge: serious less than 6, shy less than 7, neat more than 5 ... not too outgoing, because they'll need to have their nose in books often, and again, at least a little bit serious.
family: nice more than 4 ... only one specification for family, at least a little bit nice.
popularity: outgoing more than 6, playful more than 4 ... outgoing, obviously, and the playful is because I can't fathom someone very serious wanting to make a life's purpose of making friends, lol.
pleasure: playful more than 5 ... only one specification for pleasure, that they're at least a little playful, because again, I can't see someone making a life's purpose of pleasure if they're serious.
romance: outgoing more than 5, playful more than 5, nice more than 3 ... outgoing, obviously, playful for the same reason as pleasure, and the niceness is because I figure they have to be nice enough to want to be lovey.
These are not at all definite though, but just guidelines I like to follow. I also take into account what aspirations their parents have and what kinds of wants they roll as children. And since my neighborhood is growing so large, I think I might also end up playing cupid a little, and strategically choose aspirations to persuade some of these kids to end up marrying each other rather than townies ;)
That's a neat little way to decide aspirations! I can't give up my randomness, though. Sometimes I do groooan when a sim I have plans for has a contradictory aspiration, but it keeps me from being a control freak.
ReplyDeletePoor family! And I love that comment about Family sims having dubious jobs. That is pretty funny. I really need to get a sim one of those cameras. No one seems to want to be an artist, though. Boo!
Lol, I just had to chuckle when she was commenting "And she just had a baby four months ago?!". Hahaha, I feel just like Brooke right now. 2 weeks away from my due date and I am hardly ever out of my pj's! They're just so comfy when you're so large! And I'm sure once my baby gets here, I won't be getting up every morning to do my hair and makeup either! Ha!
ReplyDeletemao, randomness is fun! I do end up with quite a bit of variety even withing those criteria, with Sims like Fiona that just don't fit the typical mold. They're the most fun kind :)
ReplyDeletemandie, wow, your due date is really getting close! How exciting! Don't worry about the pj's - I'm still in mine most of the day and my son is two now, lol :)
I like the way you choose your aspiration - makes a lot of sense. I'm still rolling for mine now but I think I'll use yours when choosing the secondary aspiration :-)
ReplyDeleteBrooke's reaction when she meets Allegra is so realistic. Yes, those tiny babies rule the house!
ReplyDeleteI never rolled for aspirations either and linked aspirations to zodiac signs. Your system makes far more sense! :)