Supernova

Round 21: Spring 2014

Nicholas's last update/last update/Nicholas's next update/next update

Pascal Lachance is 72, Mina is 64, Abigail is 31 and Nicholas Moretti is 11.
(Jonas is 36, Tatiana is 31, Dominic is 4, Audrey is 2, Caleb is 32, Cara is 25 and Jesse is 29)

Narrated by Abigail Lachance

Things have - finally - been going well for me lately! Jesse proposed to me, after being together for 4 years and I've been walking around on Cloud 9!

Nicholas has been proving just how smart he is. He's almost finished primary school and he's doing so well. I can't wait to see what he decides to do with his life. And after flirting with a few different careers - the military, personal trainer, hairstylist - I've finally decided what I want to do with the rest of my life.

Nothing was showing up in the paper, so I took myself down to Town Hall to see what was on offer there.

I ended up getting a job with the Sullivan Times as an obituary writer. It sounded a bit depressing when I went for an interview and they offered me the position but it's not really. I try to focus on all the things the deceased achieved in their life, so it's a celebration of what they accomplished. I'm really enjoying it.

Mum and Dad are proud that I'm finally making some decent money and am actually using my degree for something!

My new job also meant Mum finally felt secure enough to retire.

Mum and Dad are loving their retirement. Nicky's at school all day, so they are free to spend their time doing whatever they like.

I think though, after Jesse and I get married, there might be another baby in the house. Seeing Tatiana pregnant with her third got me thinking about a second.

For one thing, Tatiana actually loves being pregnant. I wonder if I would enjoy being pregnant more now, at 31. It was no fun last time, waddling onto the school bus or having my enormous belly stared at in the school corridors.

I'm glad that if Jesse and I do have a baby, Nicholas will be a teen by the time it's born. I already know he'd be great with a little brother or sister because he's so lovely to his cousins.

And any new baby would be doted on by my parents for sure!

I ran into Caleb at the supermarket the other day. He'd heard about my engagement from his brother and he was very gracious and congratulated me.

He was there with his new girlfriend, Cara. A couple of years ago, that would have been more than I could handle but I was okay. She seems really nice. With time, we might even be able to be friends.

She seems to get along with Nicholas and she complements Caleb well. I really do hope they'll be happy together.

Jesse and I are already building our own little family so why wouldn't I want that for Caleb? It's good for Nicholas too, to see his dad happy.

Jesse and I have started a tradition of a big breakfast on Saturday mornings. Lately, the main topic of conversation has been the wedding. We've set a date in winter and I'm just hoping and praying the weather is decent. Maybe we can see about getting some temporary structure put up in the backyard, just in case Mother Nature doesn't co-operate!

I think Nicholas is getting a little sick of hearing about wedding stuff and Jesse is always quick to notice and distract him with stories about more kid-friendly things, like sports and toys. Soon enough, we'll be married and we can finally shut up about planning! Nicholas will be relieved, I'm sure!

Random pic:

I was checking Mina and Pascal's turn-ons and turn-offs and I discovered they didn't match up at all. They were already three bolts so I decided to see how high their score could go by changing their turn-ons. And the answer is - raw score of 206 and a total of 311. That surpasses Emil and Anna Collins' previous record of 301 total. That's the attraction bonus at work but there's obviously a lot more than that between these two.

Notes:

• Nicholas might be another super-kid like Joanna. I use all different methods to decide aspirations and I usually don't choose one until seconds after the Sim age to teen. But Nicky's a definite Knowledge Sim in the making. He could get 4 scholarships already, if only Suffolk University awarded scholarships to 11 year-olds. I can't believe he's 12 next year, by the way.
• I'm having trouble with handling death in the game recently - elder death, more specifically. Over the past 21 rounds, I've got rid of pretty much all supernatural and fantastical elements in Sullivan but the Grim Reaper is a bit tricky. It's kind of hard to get pictures to tell the story of someone's death with stupid hula dancers in the way. I guess I wish the elder would collapse or something, rather than stand there grinning with a tropical drink in one hand and a suitcase in the other. I'm contemplating switching to ignoring elder death in game play and doing a short standalone obituary instead. I'm still mulling over exactly how it would work but I'd have one of the Sims in the Journalism career be the "writer". Currently, that's only Abigail.
• Abigail is still very stable with her wants - all her romantic ones are Jesse-related (except for the generic 5 woohoos want she gets every now and then, like all Romance Sims) and she's not attracted to Caleb at all any more (negative chemistry now, probably thanks, at least in part, to Caleb's aspiration change). She even rolled the want to be friends with Cara. It sounds silly but I'm so proud of this girl for pulling herself together!