2083, we don't need no education

September 2083 - schools update, fall.

* note: trying something a little different this time. Since I know you guys usually enjoy the school posts, I'm expanding the usual age-up back-to-school update into a mash-up of age transitions and a regular school update, like I usually do in the spring. This fall one will focus more on the kids in these transitional ages, where the spring update will still focus on everyone or whatever stories are prominent at the time ;) *
Bluewater Township: where they shall practice telepathy....

starting high school, 9th grade (15 years): Liza Hathe

"You're supposed to do the reading before class," Liza says, seeing Robbie flip through his school book in her peripheral vision.

"It was just so hard," he says. "I wish I could come with you." What he means is, he wishes she could still help him with his classwork.

happy birthday to you...

September 2083 - Welcome to Lakeside Heights: Ian, Ingrid, Jacob, Catherine, and Rebecca.

It was a rainy day, early this September, two weeks shy of her due date and not even the slightest warning when the Thompson twins decided to make their sudden appearance. Adam was just about to help Heather down the stairs when her water broke there at the landing. Adam is a mathematician, and he didn't really take many health classes in college, and it's been four years since Laney was born, so he's not really sure if he remembers this all very well.

Regardless though, these babies are coming!

so lucky

February 2083 - Paul Gallagher is 32, Charlotte is 28. (Leila Watts is 27. Roland Ellis is 32, Marisa (Wilson) Ellis is 28.) Last update, September 2080.

They've been married two and a half years now, but they're still newlyweds in any way that counts. They can still spend long mornings, cozy and cuddly in bed. Their life is full of sleep because it can be, burrowed warm under the covers on these chilly February mornings, his face buried in her hair, still smelling of the pastries she made at work the night before.

They're enjoying this while they can because she's pregnant. Her parents will be elated when they find out, but they still haven't told anyone yet. It's only just starting to feel real now at eight weeks, and little baby Gallagher is due in September.

prequel stories #4: the cutest couples never meant to be

Okay, so some of these ended up being much sadder than I'd anticipated. I should have anticipated it. It's about heartbreak, duh! ;) But some of them are happy as well, since you're not only seeing the endings, but in some cases, the beginnings of the relationships that were meant to work out.

These stories are a little more current, a lot of them taking place just before I started blogging about the neighborhood, and even overlapping with some of the early stories.

The cutest couples never meant to be, countdown style...

traditional kind of people

December 2080 - Adam and Heather Thompson are 27, Laney is 13 months.

Heather says to her 13-month-old daughter, "The thing is, Laney-cakes, I never really liked it anyway. It's so traditional-looking, so conventional, and what I want to try for is avant-garde. Your daddy liked that one. Your daddy's more traditional than you and I - though we are pretty traditional kind of people - well, except for the graveyard thing. But anyway, the painting..."

happy birthday to you...

October 2079, welcome to Lakeside Heights: Julia and Elaina!

Jodie Larson arrives at the Lind household, and there's some time to spare since Allegra's labor is taking longer than expected. So Allegra makes some small talk to pass the time.

"Nice weather for having a baby," Allegra says. "You know, cloudy, you don't want to hurt the baby's eyes..."

snow romance

January 2079 - Adrian Jackson and Aurora Miguel are 46, Beau and Tyler Jackson are 15.

The twins are fifteen this year, freshmen in high school, and both very proud to have finally grown hair on their faces. Of course, they're still up to their usual rowdy shenanigans.

happy new year, 2079!

Happy New Year, 2079!

Adam and Heather Thompson host this year's New Year's Eve party. It's aiming to be a bit of a stuffy party, since Adam and Heather are kind of stuffy people. Or well, it was going to be stuffy, until Aurora Miguel brought the keg.

baby dust, part 2

December 2078 - Adam and Heather Thompson are 25.

There must have been some baby dust dropped on Brant Street this month, because Heather and Adam Thompson just found out they are expecting too. Adam is more excited about the idea than Heather is. She absolutely wants children. Really, she does. But she's only 25 and rising very quickly in the research science world. Adam hopes she'll warm up to the idea eventually.

something like closure

November 2076, Adam Thompson and Heather (Hurt) Thompson are 24.

Adam and Heather move into a home on Brant Street, just a couple houses down from Nathan and Allegra. Though they graduated in the same class as Allegra, they never managed to become friends with her. They were shy, and didn't have many friends. She was shy and didn't have many friends. Who knows... maybe they'll bump into her one of these days.

LCU, we all get lucky sometimes

LCU, spring semester, 2076

The beginning of the semester was a bust with just about everyone being sick after spring break. Charlotte called up her mommy to come over and make them all some soup.

LCU, never quite what we expect

LCU, fall semester, 2075(a really long LCU semester this time. I really tried to keep it short, but there was just too much going on. I don't know how some people get bored playing Uni, because all these college kids sure do keep me on my toes, lol!)

Alon and Charlotte have moved into student housing block B, sharing their house with two other roommates. Amelia mentioned something to Charlotte about keeping tabs on Alon for her, not that they're exactly an item again just yet, but she still wants to know what he's up to.

LCU, with boyfriends, without, and some in-between

LCU, spring semester, 2075

note: eek! these semesters get kind of long with nine students to follow, lol :) their backstories, if you need a refresher.

(the first picture is the LCU Main Residence Hall, where Marisa, Charlotte, Alon, and Piper live.)

Marisa is thinking about dropping out of school. She loves her job teaching a SimJazzer class, and enjoys DJing on the weekends, so she doesn't really see the point of taking formal music classes right now, even though they come naturally and she gets straight A's. Charlotte convinces her to at least see the semester through.

the college crowd

gameplay note: I'm going to briefly introduce you to my college characters here. Since the college kids get played 4 semesters for each two-year round, they end up getting much more play time, so you'll be seeing plenty of them.

My downtown college, Lake City University, is an absolute work in progress. It is inspired by other base hood universities like Jade's The Academy on The Isle of Thyme. There was once a discussion about this at MATY, but I cannot find that now for the life of me. I'm really still working out the kinks as I go. For now it seems to be working. I'll show pictures of the different buildings at some point, but for now, let's meet the students :)