Monday 7 June 2010

Changes

Round 27: Winter 2025
last update/next update

Adam Gottlieb is 70, Athena is 65, Amelia is 36, Wade is 35, Sophie is 12, Noah is 7 and Emma is 5.

Narrated by Sophie Gottlieb

Ever since Grandpa Filippo died, Emma has been driving everybody up the wall.

I don't know if it's because of Grandpa or if she just feels like being a total brat right now, but I don't know how much longer I can take her.

Even Noah is getting tired of her and that's saying something. Since she started school, he's been her partner in crime.

Like, I was playing a game with Dad outside the other day and Emma just had to come and interrupt, because the attention was no longer on her.

I'm spending more time with Dad lately. I finally got curious about why he was always so smelly when he came in from bug hunting, so I've been watching him work. He really gets in there down in the dirt, so the smell is no longer much of a mystery.

Plus, he's out there for so long. He goes out before breakfast every morning and he's still out there when I head off on the school bus. There's only two more specimens that he needs to complete his collection.

For my twelfth birthday, Mum and Dad let me redecorate my room however I liked. I'm so happy with it now.

My old room was a little bit too pink and little girlish. This one is a bit more me!

If I go into cooking when I'm older, I'll be the fourth generation of my family to do so. Mum is an executive chef, Grandpa owns a restaurant and used to have a TV show and my great-grandpa was a chef as well.

I really would love to take over the restaurant one day. Mum thinks I'd be good at it but she doesn't think she could do it herself. She loses her temper too easily.

Grandpa says I'm not quite ready to take over in the kitchen just yet, so he only lets me cook some days.

Most of the time, I'm a server. When I do own the restaurant though, I'm going to be in the kitchen all the time, not just waiting tables.

I don't really mind, because I just like getting to help out in the restaurant a bit more than I did last year.

Besides, I get to do lots of cooking at home.

I probably do need more practice before I'm ready to take on cooking for paying customers but Grandpa says I'm getting better every day.

No one ever complains, so I guess he's right!

I guess being so obsessed with cooking is keeping me from being very interested in boys right now. My parents have said they don't mind if I want to date - they're still pretty young, so I guess they're not real strict with that kind of thing. But I usually just hang out with Camilla and Lila instead.

Connor comes home with me after school sometimes and I do like him.

Not as much as he likes me though, I think. I sometimes wonder if he's got a crush on me or something.

I don't know if I'd want to go out with Connor. He's fun sometimes but he also takes everything so seriously. He can't take a joke sometimes, which gets old.

Lila saw Connor rejecting some girl who was trying to flirt with him and she thought it was the funniest thing ever.

It was sort of funny, I have to admit! Now Lila likes to tease me that Connor is saving himself for me. That's not as funny but Lila thinks it's hilarious.

If I had to choose a boy to go out with, I'd probably go with Jack Benton. He's cute and fun and we get along really well.

It's a good thing I don't really want to start dating anyone right now though, because Jack doesn't seem to have eyes for anyone but Audrey. She's going out with his brother, so he says he doesn't but it's so obvious!

Extras:
I never bothered making custom pictures for my neighbourhood menu, because I knew the plumbbobs would annoy me and I was too lazy to back up, move everyone out, take a picture and then replace the back up.

With this amazing hack though, I now have no ugly plumbbobs bobbing around on the hood screen so I was able to take some nice pictures. I replaced the boring, blank terrain shots with pictures that more accurately represent each subhood as it is now. You can click both pictures to enlarge them.


Here's the one for my main hood. I haven't done a downtown one yet.

And I did one for each university too.

If you'd like to do this yourself, all you need to do is download that hack (which also reduces all Sim plumbbobs, including the ones they get on dates and outings and as employees, to vague glows above their heads), take some pictures and then convert them to .png and rename them. If you look in your Nxxx folder, you'll see .pngs of all your subhoods and it should be pretty easy to figure out which picture is for which hood. You can even replace them while the game is running, though you won't see any changes until you reload.

Notes:
  • Title is from Changes by David Bowie.
  • Emma's aspiration had bottomed out due to Filippo dying, so she really was being quite the brat at the beginning.
  • Based on her autonomous flirting with Jack at school this round and the fact that she's Pleasure/Romance, I thought Sophie would be a bit boy crazy. But nope. She rolled a solitary want for a date and that was it. So Sophie has noticed boys and is interested but she's content to take her time, thankfully!
  • Meanwhile, Jack has decided he wants to make things more complicated for himself because as well as rolling romantic wants for Audrey, he's rolled the want to go steady with Julia and Sophie! That'll be interesting for me to figure out when I play the Bentons. Hopefully, he doesn't develop an interest in a fourth girl before I get to him!
  • Have you guys ever listened closely to the servers when they're bringing the meals to the tables? Some drop them off with a flourish and are really excited about it and some mumble like they're thinking, "There's your food, eat it and get out". Sophie does the former, Aislin (the other waitress) does the latter. They're both equal in nice points, so I guess it must be a shy/outgoing thing?
  • Ever since I switched to Gadwin, I've had problems taking pictures in the snow. I always take my pics in buy mode so there are no queue icons because I'm too lazy to crop them out later. But if you do that in the snow, the snow disappears from the lot. Just by accident this session, I discovered that if you switch to Options (F5), the queue icons disappear, the snow stays AND there's no grid. Perhaps everyone else already knew this but I was very excited!

20 comments:

  1. Lol about Emma being such a brat, I would probably be a brat if my grandpa died when I was that young too though. That would be really neat if Sophie was another chef... it'd be like a family trait sort of thing, I love it!
    Ha! Jack Benton... oh, that boy has got himself some girl problems! I really can't wait for the Benton update now!

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  2. Thanks for your comments!

    Tessa, perhaps but Emma would probably be acting like a brat anyway! She's just kind of bratty, lol.

    It only just occurred to me this round that Adam's dad was a chef too but it made me even more happy that Sophie is into cooking as well. I hope one of her kids ends up being the same way. That would be nifty!

    Apple Valley, I feel bad for Jack too. I'm still not sure what's going to happen with these three. :(

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  3. This whole love triangle with Audrey and the Benton boys is getting more and more exciting!

    I think it's great that Sophie is following her mother and grandfather into the culinary business. It's a great tradition for the hood too.

    Thank you so much for the link to that amazing hack! I've been using the plumbbobtoggle cheat for years but it's so annoying to type it in and the blue plumbbobs on dates are still visible. I'm going to take proper pics of Wellington now :)

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  4. I hope Sophie will become another chef. It would be great if she could keep the family-tradition a life!

    Poor Jack, getting himself in such a complicated situation, just by liking some girls :)

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  5. Sari, I think it's more like a love hexagon now! Jack, Charlie and Audrey are the main players but then we've got Connor, Julia and Sophie making their appearances as well!

    I'm not wedded to the idea of all my businesses staying in the family but I would love it if Adam's restaurant did.

    I only just discovered the plumbbobtoggle cheat a few months ago but I was so excited to find this hack instead. BTW, if the glow ends up annoying you as well, the cheat will get rid of that completely. There doesn't seem to be a glow for the date/employee plumbbobs, so no issue there.

    Tanja, I think Sophie will almost definitely become a chef. I can't imagine her doing anything else and her LTW isn't a career one, so there's nothing else she's telling me she wants to do.

    The Jack and Audrey situation is a bit of a mess, isn't it?

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  6. I love Sophie's room makeover! I remember how excited I was at 13 when my parents agreed to let me completely redecorate and paint the walls shades of lavender and gray. It's so much fun when you finally get to do your room your own way for the first time. :)

    Jack is getting himself into a huge mess, lol! Maybe he's trying to make Audrey jealous by showing her how many other girls he can like instead?

    And thanks for the link to that hack! I usually try to crop out the plumbobs or angle the camera so that they're hidden because I get tired of typing in the cheat to hide them, but the hack will make it so much easier. And I'm happy to be able to take neighborhood pictures without the plumbobs everywhere!

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  7. Oh, where did you get Wade and Sophie's pose from?
    I have been seeing some of your poses, and wanted to know where you got them from, but I don't seem to find them.

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  8. Aww poor Emma. She doesn't know how to deal. She's still too cute even though she's a brat. It's always the cute ones lol. And look at Wade with his facial hair. That does help with the baby face syndrome.

    I love how this family has a long line of chefs. Like everyone said, hopefully Sophie can keep the tradition going. The outfit she was wearing while she was waiting tables is cute.

    I remember seeing that hack over at N99 in Hot Downloads and that's a great idea to use it to take pics of your hoods. When I first saw it, the first thing I thought was "I'll never remember where my sims live if there were no plumbbobs" LOL! Actually I would because I only have a few households and they all live in very different houses. But I can't imagine finding a house with all your families. I have been wanting to make the plumbbobs smaller though and sometimes will use the plumbbobtoggle cheat if I can't hide them in my shots. Maybe I'll test it out. I can always remove it if I get lost LOL.

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  9. Shana, decorating freedom is definitely an awesome thing at that age. Especially when your parents have plenty of cash to spare, like Sophie's do!

    I've been thinking about this whole Jack situation. He's hurting a lot, which might make him consider doing something to make Audrey jealous or to make her notice him. Because he's also pretty nice though, I'm mulling over some other options as to why he might act the way he is.

    It's amazing how much I don't even miss the plumbbobs now. I go into the hood screen and everything just looks as it should. Having them over the Sims was always dumb too - thanks EA, but I already know which Sim I'm controlling. There are already a couple of other indicators to tell me that!

    Tanja, do you mean Wade and Amelia's? Sophie is using a pose from Decorgal's Custom Modeling Overlay, from MTS.

    Wade and Amelia are using poses from two different boxes. Amelia's is also from Decorgal's box and Wade's is from Posebox01 by Minanna. If you look at my family portraits tutorial, I've linked to a huge list of pose boxes at GOS. It's a bit of a chore to go through if you're just browsing, but it's very useful if you're looking for a specific box.

    Danielle, yeah, that's how the cute ones get away with it! Non-cute brats are not nearly as coddled! And I like Wade with his facial hair...I didn't think I would because I tried Adam with facial hair at one point and HATED it. But I think Wade might have Athena's facial shape, so his face is a little more baby than Adam's.

    Yeah, you can always just take some pictures and then remove the hack, if you find it confusing. I have to say though, I was expecting to find it a little confusing but I haven't. I just know which houses are occupied and which aren't. I sometimes have to check who lives there but the plumbbob never helps with that anyway. ;)

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  10. I switch to F5 when I take pictures too. I can't say I've known forever, I just figured it out when taking pictures of an unoccupied lot.

    Oh man Jack... just stay clear of your brother's girl, that's a pretty big no-no.

    Your neighborhood pictures look great. I've been meaning to take some of mine, but never got around to it.

    OT - do you recall where you got Adrienne's shirt that she's wearing while pregnant? I was going to ask in my last comment, but forgot.

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  11. Maisie, I don't think Jack would so much as touch Audrey while Charlie is with her. As hurt as he is by this whole thing, he still loves his brother. And Audrey, of course. Doesn't mean there won't be tension but I don't think it will be of that sort.

    Adrienne's maternity outfit comes from Under Your Skin. There should be a link in my adult clothing post. :)

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  12. I wasn't think Jack character would, I was thinking ACR lol.

    Thanks for the outfit info. I've got loads of stuff from there (Emma's wardrobe is one) but I must've missed Adrienne's. I really liked it, so ... normal looking.

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  13. That's an awesome hack! I always thought something like that was needed.

    It's always nice to see this family, but then I get to thinking that Adam is going to pass away one of these days and that makes me sad. :(

    But it's nice to see Sophie taking after Adam and her mother. Awww... so one day she might have the family restaurant.

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  14. Maisie, ah, well, because it would be out of character for Jack to try to kiss Audrey, at least at this point, they're in the friend zone right now. If/when I want something to happen, I'll take them out.

    Hmmm...I don't know why I didn't think of that for the girl I've got planned for Nick! They've tried to booty call each other a few times and I'm not ready for them to start up a relationship yet. LOL.

    I like Adrienne's outfit too but I wish it had different shoes. The lace-up boots aren't really Adrienne's style. She'd probably wear ballet flats. LOL, I'm so picky. How did my downloads folder get so big?

    Lunar, I don't like to give too much away but when my Sims are going to die but I'll tell you that when I aged Adam up to elder and checked his life span, I was pleased. ;)

    Sophie will almost definitely get the restaurant. Joanna is a Cuisine Sim too but I can't see her wanting to take over. Amelia isn't a Cuisine Sim, so I imagine being is more of a job to her, not necessarily her true passion (though I think of her as enjoying it). So The Claudette will be Sophie's one day.

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  15. I'm actually splicing the shirt off and putting it with different pants/shoes. Cause I don't like the boots ether, probably why I didn't download it before.

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  16. If you get them done and would like to share, I'd love to have them for my own game! ;)

    The only Sim I have right now who'd really wear those boots is probably Sarah. She's years away from being pregnant but I actually downloaded those outfits thinking of her, originally. When she was, like, 12. I'm terrible!

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  17. Awww, I think Wade looks supercute all shaggy in his almost-middle-age, lol! I can't wait to see Emma grown up, with her daddy's eyes.

    I love Sophie's new room! Isn't it refreshing when you finally get a teen who *isn't* boycrazy from the start? lol!

    And that hack! Yes, yes, YES! I've been wanting something like that FOREVER!!! :) I hate toggling the plumbbobs every time a lot loads, and then the date ones you just can't even turn off.

    I always take my pictures from the save screen (and tab), which works well too ;)

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  18. Laura, oh, I bet Emma is going to turn out so pretty! Those eyes tend to work better on girls. I think she's the first girl who actually inherited them! Joanna didn't get them and neither did Sophie.

    And yes! None of my young teens right now are particularly interested in dating. It makes a nice change from Audrey and her love octagon or whatever the hell that mess has morphed into by now!

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  19. I just had to LOL at your middle school love OCTAGON!!! You know though, that's just how it is in middle school. "Love" is so confusing and fleeting at that age.

    I had something like that going in my hood for a bit, among my grown-ups, lol! They've mostly split themselves off into simple love triangles at this point though ;)

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  20. Laura, so true! Most of my Sims never get themselves into anything more complicated than a love triangle, so this is rather new for Sullivan! I just hope no one else throws their hat in the ring.

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