Sunday 29 November 2009

Happiness is a warm gun

Round 23: Autumn 2017
last update/next update

Vivienne Carmody is 77, Betsy and Kimberly are both 46, Sarah is 12 and Susannah is 7.
(Linnea is 57)

Narrated by Sarah Carmody

Note: for clarity's sake, I've decided that the girls call Kimberly "Mama" and Betsy "Mum".
It's usually just me, Susannah and Mama for dinner these days. Grandma is the one who cooks, so she's there too, of course. Mum isn't even home by dinner time most nights.



Not that I don't love spending time with Mama but it would be really nice if Mum showed her face around here a little more often.

I asked Grandma if there was something wrong between my parents the other day and she told me I was imagining things. I know I'm not imagining things. I'm not stupid.

I'm worried about them, to be honest. It's been difficult to concentrate on my homework and I end up piling it all on my desk until the weekend comes and I have to do it.

I wonder if Susannah notices anything weird or if she's too young. She still comes bouncing off the school bus every day, waving all her worksheets for the day in front of Grandma's face.

I guess I'm trying to protect her from all the weirdness at home because I usually take her to the playground on the weekend.

I've outgrown a lot of the games Susannah likes to play but she seems content to amuse herself, as long as I sit there with her.

I wanted to take her skating too but by the time we got there, it was already 7pm and we were due home by 7:30. We were just about to leave when I thought I heard Mum's voice outside.

I stood up to check and I saw Mum hugging another woman. I couldn't really see her face that well. It was already getting dark and her head was behind Mum's.

They moved away from the window so I followed them to the door and hoped they didn't see me. Mum seemed too focused on this woman to notice me and having got a look at her face, I don't think the woman would have known who I was. I had no idea who she was.

Whatever was going on, it didn't look right to me. I had to wonder if this was who Mum was spending her nights with lately.

I waited until they'd walked towards the cafe and then went in and got Susannah. Now I have to decide whether I'm going to tell Mama what I saw or not.

Mama wants to adopt again. She won't let Mum sell Susannah's old high chair, even though Susannah outgrew it years ago. If I told her and they got divorced, she probably wouldn't get another kid and we wouldn't get a little brother or sister.

And she and Mum have been getting along really well recently. They used to try to keep it a secret when they fought but I always heard them. I haven't heard any fighting lately. I don't know if I should tell and possibly ruin that.

I think Susannah might take it worse than I would if they got divorced. I don't even know if she knows anyone whose parents are divorced but she's been asking questions about it all the time lately.

Even though the bad points seemed to outweigh the good, I decided I would tell Mama. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I tried not to say anything other than exactly what I saw. Maybe it was nothing and Mama knew about it?

I don't think she did knew anything. She kept asking me if I saw the woman and if I knew who she was.

I asked her what she was going to do and she told me she was going to have a talk with Mum and go from there. I hoped that didn't mean "a huge fight with Mum".

But no, they didn't fight. I was kind of listening in from the living room. They were both pretty calm but I heard Mama say she was leaving.

She didn't leave right away - that didn't happen until a couple of days later.

Before she left, I asked her if she was going forever - I think Susannah asked that too - and Mama said she hoped not, but she wasn't going to promise me anything.

Mama moved to an apartment in Sullivan. It's not very far away, so we can walk there. We're allowed to go over whenever we like and stay the night if we want. It won't be the same though and I already want Mama to come back.

Random pics:
Aww. Susannah was the only one who ran out to the cab, even though she was actually the only one in the house who was already in bed at the time.

On a more shallow note, can we talk about Sarah's nose? Yes, of course we can, because it's my blog! Sarah's nose looks just barely okay from the front but I think it looks really strange from the side, especially when you're looking at her profile straight on (if that makes sense).

It's even worse here. A possible plastic surgery candidate, I think. Unfortunately for Sarah, I've decided my Sims have to wait until they're 16 for plastic surgery and they'll have to pay for it now too. I might look up how much rhinoplasty is here and adjust accordingly.

Notes:

  • Title is from Happiness is a Warm Gun by the Beatles.
  • So this is tagged as an ROS, because it continues Betsy's ROS from Round 22. Whether Kimberly and Betsy get back together or not, I'll be glad to tie up this little storyline. It's also tagged as a break-up although that's not quite what it is, at least yet.
  • Kimberly and Betsy are not divorced - just separated. I have Kimberly living in an apartment and I'll leave her there for a year. I'll duck in on both of them over the year and see if they're rolling any wants for each other (as well as making them selectable when I see them on community lots and visiting other Sims) and I'll use that to make my decision on whether they'll get back together or not.
  • Maybe I should turn Sarah into some kind of emo/goth teen stereotype. I've never had one of them in Sullivan. She's such a dour little thing. Very serious and quite withdrawn for 7 outgoing points.
  • Susannah had the fear of a relative breaking up before Kimberly moved out, so this is on her mind, even though she doesn't actually know much about what's going on (story-wise or game-wise).

11 comments:

  1. Wow, I can't believe that Betsy cheated on Kim! I wonder if they'll work things out, or if Susannah is on the right track?

    And good luck to Sarah with the rhinoplasty! That's one of the aspects that I hated about alien genes: the noses. Way too narrow, lol. And I could see Sarah going emo for a bit, for storyline's sake as well as to give the neighborhood some diversity. Who knows? Maybe she'll even find herself hanging with the wrong crowd...

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  2. Awww, so it finally came out then, huh? Poor Sarah having to see it though :(

    Sarah was adopted, wasn't she? So the game generated a nose like that for her? I like the idea of making them pay for their surgery. Anyone in my game who's had surgery in the storyline has had to pay for it. Otherwise, I do it very subtly at toddlerhood and you guys never know ;)

    If I had Sarah in my game, I would have done hers at toddlerhood, lol! Not because I want them all to look pretty or anything (I think I have a few in my hood I wouldn't consider typically pretty), but the game is just not very capable of creating a human-looking face sometimes. I try not to change the shape of a feature, and most of the time, all I need to do is slide a nose up or down or whatever.

    I always make sure to check their adult face and do any needed surgery there first though, before aging them back down. Otherwise I would have probably done something about my Lind girls' cheeks, but I checked first and found that they'll grow into them quite well when they're older, so I'm glad I didn't.

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  3. Oh, and I love the new look of your site, btw! What a neat banner! :)

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  4. The ugly truth finally came out. Too bad it was Sarah who saw it and had to tell her mama about it. That's pretty horrible for a 12-year-old.

    Wow, Sarah's non-existing nose is quite scary. Maybe it'll grow when she ages up. She probably won't end up looking like Cyrano de Bergerac but maybe she'll have a nicer nose when she ages.

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  5. It' sad that a 12-year old is the one finding out about the cheating, but it's a good thing the truth finally came out, Kimberly deserved that.

    I absolutely love the banner! It's looking amazing with the new look of your blog!

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  6. Hi, I've been reading your blog for the past few months, and I'm finally caught up, just wanted to say that you're doing a great job with Sullivan, and that I really like your style of doing things. I think it would be interesting to have Sarah as an emo/goth teenager, and her parents' separation would be a great excuse. Also, the banner is really nice looking, just to let you know.

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  7. Cheezy, I haven't ducked in to check on Kimberly or Betsy yet, so I'm not sure if Susannah's fears have any basis. I would never have initiated an affair on my own for Betsy but I rolled the ROS and what with all the fighting they were doing in the previous round, it ended up making sense for them.

    Heh, Jacob Weaver is about the closest I have to a "wrong crowd" in Sullivan and even he's pretty nice. He was just sexually precocious! LOL.

    Laura, I know, no wonder Sarah is so glum!

    Sarah was adopted but the game didn't generate that nose. With Sarah, I did something I'll never do again. I let two TSR challenge Sims breed and then put their baby up for adoption. Neither of those Sims have a nose like Sarah although I should have guessed they wouldn't breed well!

    I did Ione as a toddler and I sometimes wonder what she would have looked like without it. I somehow managed to make her look a lot like Araminta without intending too, so I guess that turned out okay anyway! I should age them up to teen or adult to check what they look like - that's a good idea. I did that with Claudia and Victoria, which is how I knew they were going to need some surgery!

    I go back and forth on whether I want to do surgery on my Sims and I think I should just go ahead and do it whenever I want to, really. Because you're right, the game definitely has the occasional issue with blending facial features and it sometimes just doesn't work. I don't need them to all look beautiful either - just vaguely human.

    I've had Sims with cheeks like the Lind girls in my game too and that's one thing I've found always smoothes out as the Sim gets older. Augustin had them and Naomi and Eliot did too.

    And thanks for the compliment on the banner!

    Cissie, yes, it had to come out eventually, didn't it? It's been going on for two years. I'll have to add Linnea to Betsy's friend zone so they "break it off".

    Sarah and Susannah would be messed up in real life, I think. Betsy and Kimberly have always been a bit distant, at least since they had kids and I think they've been fighting for as long as Susannah would be able to remember.

    I'm going to check Sarah's adult nose but I don't hold out much hope! I'll probably do some surgery. Even if it turns out okay when she's an adult, she'll still pass it onto her kids and then I could have another slightly freaky looking Sim wandering around until they're 18! LOL.

    Tanja, thank you for the compliment!

    I think Kimberly deserved to know the truth as well, as painful as it was for everyone. She suspected something last round.

    Christina, you weren't the same Christina who commented months and months ago, were you? I've had reason to go through some old posts recently and noticed a Christina commenting!

    I'm glad you're enjoying Sullivan and I'm happy to hear you like the banner. I'll be sure to tell my sister, seeing she made it for me.

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  8. Wow, that sucks seeing her mother with another woman. Ouch.

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  9. Oh, man, not cool! The kids should not be the ones to inform you that your spouse and their other parent is cheating. :x

    It is fun to see the ripples spreading, though!

    LOL OMG Sarah's NOSE! Or lack, there of... why did that happen? She's not an alien or of alien descent. That is crazy.

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  10. That's sad that Sarah was the one to find out about the cheating and had to tell her other mom about it. :( I hope things work out well. I can see Sarah turning into an emo teen after dealing with this though! ;)

    Sarah definitely has a very unique nose!

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  11. Apple, indeed! It's a lot for a 12-year-old to wrestle with.

    Mao, I know, it's pretty sad. :( I considered some other scenarios but none really made as much sense. I almost had Betsy bring Linnea over to the house but that just didn't work at all. I can't imagine someone doing that, with their kids and mother in the house. Linnea did that, way back when, but she's Linnea.

    Sarah's nose is...a problem. Yeah, no alien heritage. I'm going to have to take a closer look at her parents because I would have remembered a nose like that!

    Shana, it doesn't seem to take much to turn a kid into an emo these days. They all seem to be emo here right now! But I would have considered that style for Sarah even without the whole separation thing. She's so serious! Finn has one less playful point than she does but he smiles and laughs way more often!

    Unique is a good word for it. It better be unique - I don't want to see it again!

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