idle chatter: a hole in the head

Guess who? Couples edition!

Wouldn't that be a fun game? I'd show you couples, in different clothes and with their faces obscured and you'd have to guess who they were, just from their surroundings and mannerisms.

You all shout, "Yes!"

Well, maybe I'll put one together some day ;) LOL!

No, I'm not that mean. But I do need to finish out this chapter of stories first, so maybe we'll do that in the next chapter break.

You can try to guess who this couple is though. They've both had recent makeovers, so it might be a little tricky. I'll reveal them at the end of this post.

I'm kind of itching to finish this round by the end of September (I know, longest round ever, right?), which I'm aiming to coincide with the completion of my novel, because I'm itching to play FFXIII in my intermission. And you all should know that when I play FF games, I disappear from the conscious world for a solid two months! FFXIII is going to be my prize to myself for finishing the first solid draft of my novel - what more incentive does a girl need than that?

Of course, when I actually sell the damn thing, my prize will be a supercool new gaming computer! :)

prequel stories #8: reconstructing the founders, part 1

In April of 2006, a group of young college graduates decided to start their brand new lives by settling in a once-quiet little town called Lakeside Heights. Until now, there has been little record of who these people were, apart from a few aged photos and the basic public record of their family tree. This effort is to reconstruct their lives as best we can, through their family who might remember them.

guess who???

This game was inspired by Carla's "guess who" game over at Sullivan. I personally found hers much more surprising than mine, though maybe I would be biased. The only changes to these Sims are the removal of custom eyes, skintone, makeup, and clothing, and I've left them in whatever outfit and hairstyle the game defaulted them to. For those who were already wearing Maxis clothing, I photoshopped their clothing so it wouldn't be a give-away ;)

I'm very eager to see how many of these you guys are able to guess! Feel free to use the resident database if you think it might help.

As Carla mentioned in her game, any Sim wearing an in-between skintone would default to a lighter or darker tone. Same with custom eye color. There are 18 to try, and you can guess as many or as few as you like.

who are you people anyway???

*** note: I originally did this survey as part of this blog's two-year anniversary festivities, but newcomers to this blog are welcome to join "the peanut gallery" at any time ;) ***

Now I get to ask you some questions! We've known each other a couple of years now, and I'm curious about all these people behind these screen names.

You can answer as many or as few of these as you like.

welcome to LH blogiversary week!

Lakeside Heights turns two years old this week! (Or precisely, it did last Wednesday, on the 24th, but whatever, lol!) It's been a fun ride, and I have some special things planned for you all!

silly red sheet, part 3

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau and Tyler Jackson and Evie Bachman are 20, Summer Phoenix is 19.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

There have been plenty of girls in and out of this house, and in any family, it's an easy enough mistake to make, the question of what to call your boyfriend's mother?

She prefers Aurora, for the record, as Summer always called her. Or even "mom," as April has boldly called her for the past seven years, is just fine. But anything else gets tricky, as Evie quickly discovers.

"Thanks for having me over for dinner, Mrs. Jackson," Evie says.

It's certainly not the first time she's been mistaken for the actual wife of her longtime live-in lover. But tonight, maybe the word hits Aurora harder than it should.

"Oh, no, it's just Ms. Miguel," Aurora says. "And you can thank Adrian for dinner, he does all the cooking around here."

silly red sheet, part 2

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau Jackson and April Hutchins are 20, Summer Phoenix is 19.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

Summer is visiting over at Beau and April's apartment, one afternoon in September. She sits in the corner armchair, slumped deep and sulking. Like the rest of them, she also just heard that Tyler is shipping out. Unlike the rest of them, she learned this information second-hand through Beau.

"You could have been there," Beau says.

"No, I don't think your mom wanted me there," Summer says.

"She's not really mad at you."

Summer shrugs her shoulders. "How long did he say he was going for?"

"About four months."

"That's a long time."

"He'll probably call you," Beau says. "He said he'd try."

"He'd better," she says.

LH stuff: Jolie, Jolie

After almost twenty years of service, Aurora Miguel, of Lakeside Heights, will put her boutique, Jolie, Jolie, up for auction. She cites personal reasons for her decision, though it is known she'll be running for office this fall.

silly red sheet, part 1

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau and Tyler Jackson are 20, Carly Cook is 28.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

After a lovely weekend with Adrian, Aurora was quickly dropped hard back into her real life. She's afraid of this man, the same man who called her employees customer service lazy and entitled just a couple years ago. So when she sees him in her boutique again, she feels herself inclined to run and hide. But this time he says, "No, don't worry! Everything looks great!"

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.

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.

one day, thirty-two years later...

September 2083 - Adrian Jackson and Aurora Miguel are 51.

One day, Aurora decides to buy a little beachside bungalow on Twikki Island. She and Adrian have finally come to a point in their lives where they have plenty of money to spend on such luxuries, and she could use a little relaxation. She's earned this relaxation. The elections are coming up fast, and this fall, she's running for CFO of the Lake County Treasury. And that's on top of managing her award-winning boutique. On top of teaching business classes at the university. But mostly, that's all on top of the fact that her baby is two-hundred-thousand miles outside the Earth's atmosphere, and training to go to war.

Her head is just about spinning, and she doesn't even know which direction to stop it in.

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!

the great 2083 playdate

September 2083 - toddler playdate picspam!

This update is inspired by Emily Miller and Aaron Phoenix. You barely ever get to see them because of their parents' absolute lack of drama, so I figured they deserved a little picspam because they're just so CUTE!

If I were the kind of player that set up kids from the moment they're born, these two would SO be married already, lol!

prequel stories #7: love at first sight

Half of this is a prequel story, and the more recent half you'll probably remember. This is not including the couples from the other young loves prequels, just to save space - I have a lot of couples ;) But some of those other stories would definitely qualify as love at first sight. You can find those here: who just kisses a little in college, young loves, and couples never meant to be. So, for Valentine's Day, I'll give you something good and heart-farty. Prequel story #7: love at first sight :)