school extras, picspam

This post was scheduled ahead for Sunday, so I guess if you're reading it, that means it worked. I should be back online some time Monday to respond to comments... you know, if everything goes according to plans, which is always questionable in moving...

Scheduling entries ahead always makes me nervous, since you'll be reading it before I get a chance to see it published myself, and it could be loaded up with glaring horrible typos 'n stuff, lol! So good thing it's just a fluff post ;)

The extras are coming before the actual school update this time, but these aren't really the spoilery kind of outtakes. I just wanted to separate all this picspam and administrative stuff, so I could keep the story stuff all flowy and nice.

The Lakeside Heights Public Schools building underwent a $100,000 renovation over the summer, to make it into the super-posh suburban school it should be.

The bulk of the changes took place in the back half of the complex, where two more secondary classrooms were added, and the gym was extended significantly.

Lucy will help us tour the gym first. It's a two-level building, with the pool and showers on the ground floor, and the gym and ballet room on the balcony second floor.

Wow, that's high!

She can use the high diving board, and I might use it for story purposes, but it works a little funky. She'll land in the pool and swim afterward, but as soon as she tries to get out she's stuck swimming below the floors (you've probably seen this glitch before). Not a big deal, but I had to force error on her to get her back up. So I'll try to have them normally use the low board.

That wasn't so scary after all.

Whee!!!

Okay, carrying on...

The second floor balcony holds the gym equipment and the dance room.

And here's an inside shot of the ballet room.

Lucy is one of those sims for me whose LTW and OTH never really fit her character. I just can't see her doing rugged contact sports. I mean, they almost fit - she is active, and nearly sporty, but I see her more poised and creative than a Hall of Famer/sports Sim. Summer actually fit that combination better, but she ended up rolling Rock God/fitness, go figure.

But even then, as you'll see in the coming LCU updates, I managed to work something out for Summer and her oddly fitting traits ;)

I'm usually pretty good at sticking to what they've rolled at 12, or at least working it into their character and story. But poor Lucy, I just can't make Hall of Famer work for her, not even in the pipe-dream kind of way. It just doesn't suit her at all.

But dancing I can see her doing, or diving and swimming. Too bad none of that counts as sports in the game, but fitness instead. Ah well, poor Lucy. I've rarely ever used it, but I do have a sort of unwritten rule that my teens have until the end of their teen years to decide their LTW and secondary aspirations. Because really, who really knows what their life's purpose is at twelve?

She at some point accidentally rerolled her LTW to max 7 skills, so I think I'll let her keep that. She is a knowledge secondary, after all, and that's more open to interpretation. And maybe she'll pursue dancing instead of sports. Maybe I'll even change her sports hobby over to fitness, because this is my story and I can ;) I usually only treat their LTW and OTH as an undertone of their character anyway. I actually hate it when they achieve LTWs because perma-plat Sims are boring as hell to play.

(Which leads me to note the SemiPermaPlat hack by Hook, also linked on the sidebar. Check it out!)

(And further leads me to note, what the crap is up with my blog, only showing three posts on the front page??? Is this happening to anyone else? Anyway...)

Here's one of the new secondary classrooms, which have all been equipped with laptops for each student.

And the art room, which I find just delightful :)

It all looks amazing, doesn't it? Doesn't it look so perfectly put together?...

Yeah, well it's gone, lol! It's destroyed. All of it. I'm an idiot... you can read more in my babble thread, and you'll get the full story in the schools update.

***

LCU administrative stuff:

We've got some retirees from the LCU staff this fall, so Meadow would like to introduce the new professors.

She appoints Corbin Gray as professor of Athletics. She kept showing up at his yoga classes, so I figured she probably had a little crush and wanted to give him a job. And as an added bonus, maybe keeping him really, really busy will also keep him out of trouble ;)

Or not? She was just going over the employee handbook, and she must have emphasized the section about appropriate conduct with the students.

"Of course," he says. "I'd have no intentions of messing around with any of the students while I'm working."

Oh, come on, Corbin, admit it, they're all of age, and young and supple, it must have crossed your mind!

Next, Meadow appoints... her daughter, Aurora Harris, as professor of language and literature. Conflict of interests, maybe. But Aurora is an award-winning writer, and Meadow is only the sitting president for four more months, so if it is a conflict of interests, it won't be a long one.

She's currently recovering from the birth of her second child, but while she's there to fill out her paperwork anyway, she offers some help on a student's essay.

"I've been doing this a little while," she says. "So I just thought I'd mention, you might be able to see your computer screen a little better if you turn it on first..."

LCU's new professor of music and art is Kirsten Ruben, who lives with her family in Lakeside Heights. She graduated from Sim State University in 2073, with a degree in music performance. It's only when Meadow mentions whose spot she's filling, Jeremy Nova, that they find quite a bit more in common. The two ladies spend maybe half an hour going off about those Nova men, Jeremy... Patrick... dirty, rotten heartbreakers that they are.

And then Kirsten also plays a little after her paperwork is signed. She is quite the accomplished violinist.

And finally, after all the paperwork is signed, and all the new staff members appointed, Meadow holds a small retirement party for the leaving LCU professors: Talin Collins and Jeremy Nova. She commends them on their many years of hard work, and she's been working so hard she nearly forgets that she's retiring this year as well.

So they all toast to her too, and to what a fine job she did in her four years as School Board President.

And funny enough, after all these years, all these marriages, she and Jeremy end up finding themselves drawn to each other all over again, strongest of all. But she doesn't despise him for it. She's quite happy with how her life has turned out. And though she wouldn't dare say it out loud, you can bet in her head she's saying, Take that, Jeremy Nova! Take that, indeed!

And Jeremy just always has this perpetual look on his face of having failed at life. He didn't do so bad... But you know, if we were going to grade a life, we'd probably have to give him a C or something ;)

(attraction scores, if you're interested: Jeremy is 123 with Meadow, and 99 with Alice - Meadow is only 70-something with Brady now.)