Friday 30 July 2010

Blowout

Round 28: Autumn 2027
last update/next update

Julian Sitko is 77, David is 45, Kirstin is 43, Camilla and Lila are both 14 and Adelaide is 9.
(Caterina Nihill is 72)

Narrated by Kirstin Sitko

Before Dad proposed to Caterina, he wanted to get my okay. I have to admit that I was a little surprised, both that he was that serious about her and that he seemed to know I was never fond of Caterina.

I'd only complained to David about Caterina but I guess I was more transparent than I thought. And I think I've been better about it lately. Little by little, I've got used to Dad being with someone other than Mum. I wouldn't say I love the idea but I've reluctantly had to admit that it doesn't have anything to do with me, or with Mum.

So I told him that I was fine with it. I even told him I wanted them both to live here with us after they got married, mainly because I didn't want Dad to leave. I just had to hope I wouldn't regret extending that invitation.


The wedding was very simple; just a fairly quick ceremony at Town Hall. It's the second marriage for both and neither of them wanted to make a big to-do.

Our family were the only guests, along with Caterina's kids and grandkids. I was expecting Adelaide to make fast friends with Jessica but they didn't seem too interested in each other.

Camilla and Lila were more excited about buying dresses than going to the actual wedding.

I didn't realise Dad had grown so close to Max. I'd been assuming that Caterina's kids weren't keen on Dad either.

I'm still not thrilled about Caterina but seeing Max and Dad did make me feel a little petty.

Caterina has actually been pretty great though. She has definitely made Dad happy again.

Caterina is retired, so she's usually home all day. It's been especially nice for Adelaide to not come home to an empty house after school. She really likes Caterina.

Caterina was also a huge help while David was home recovering from his accident.

The hospital called my office and didn't give me many details, just that my husband had been in an accident. So naturally, I was scared.

When I arrived, Cara told me it was a car accident but that David was okay and was already resting in his room. She seemed calm enough but I was still worried.

It was only once I saw David laughing it up watching TV in bed that I started to think he might be okay.

He said he felt fine, other than being a little sore. He looked like he'd really been thrown around. He had bruises and cuts on his face.

Thank goodness Cara told us that none of his wounds looked too serious. Still, they wanted to hold David overnight for observation, just to be on the safe side.

I picked him up from the hospital the next morning and took him home. It didn't occur to either of us until later that it was the first night we'd ever been apart since before college.

David was ordered to rest, which he was not at all keen on. When the girls were little, David would have loved to be a house husband and stay at home all day but now that they're at school, he gets bored alone at home.

Having Caterina around at least meant he had some company during the day.

David is as useless in the kitchen as I am too, so at least I could go to work and know he was eating properly.

Doctors are the worst patients though and David was no exception. He's chief of staff at the hospital so he doesn't really answer to anyone and could have taken a couple of extra days off. He insisted on going back in as soon as he got the all clear though.

David's now more worried about Camilla and Lila and their burgeoning interest in the opposite sex than he is about his accident.

David was so worried when the girls started high school, thinking they'd be bringing boys home every afternoon but they really didn't show much interest at all. Until now.

I took all three girls on a shopping trip one night after work but I might as well have left Camilla and Lila at home, because they ignored Adelaide and me the whole time.

Adelaide loved the extra attention but I think she's feeling a bit left behind by her sisters.

Who spent most of their time gossiping about boys at school.

David would have freaked out if he saw the boy Camilla took a liking to! He was at least 17. Fortunately, he also didn't seem too interested in Camilla.

As for Lila, I spotted her talking to Connor, who is at least her age. They seemed like they were getting along just fine for a while.

The next time I looked over though, Lila was furious and looked ready to bite the kid's head off!

All Connor could do was laugh nervously. It's times like these when I see so much of myself in Lila. I've probably made several people laugh nervously in my time.

I think it's kind of fun to watch the girls growing up and changing. They're good girls though and they're smart, so I trust that they're going to make the right decisions. David's still a nervous wreck about it.

I keep telling him he shouldn't worry so much but he can't help himself. He trusts the girls - he doesn't trust any of the boys, including the ones he hasn't met yet!

The girls have been pretty tolerant of David's paranoia so far. Neither of them have even been on a date yet but I don't know many times they've sat through David's interminable dating lecture.

"Make sure you're always in a public place". "I want to meet any boy either of you date before you leave the house with him". "Don't let a boy talk you into doing anything you don't want to do". I mean, it's all good advice but he must go through it at least weekly with them now! And still, they pretend to listen.

I think Camilla and Lila just find it kind of funny at this point.

Adelaide is not doing very well at school lately. Her grades have been dropping and she's finding her homework more and more difficult.

I didn't realise just how bad it had gotten until I heard her crying in her room.

I went in to see what was wrong and I could barely understand her through her tears.

She calmed down, eventually, and told me her teacher gave out their report cards and Adelaide got a D.

She thought David and I would be mad at her, so she didn't want to show us. I'm not thrilled about the D but I'm not mad at her either. I did find myself wishing David was around but he was at work; he's better at the comforting stuff than I am.

But I guess I did okay. Adelaide and I decided that either David or I would help her with her homework every night, until she got back up to speed. It's too early to say whether it's helping her grades or not, but I hope so.

David completely supported my run for governor but a part of me still wondered if he was hoping I wouldn't win. He already thinks I work too hard so I wasn't sure he'd really like me taking on another job but he has remained totally supportive.

I'm so glad, because it's something I'm really enjoying. I'm not looking forward to the inevitable complaints that I'm sure will start pouring in from various citizens but I am looking forward to helping shape the city.

Currently, I'm working with Hanna Novak, the education minister, on the overhaul of Suffolk University. She had been working on it with Athena but the project had been stalled for some time.

We're starting with new student accommodation. The current dorms are adequate but very old. One of the buildings has hardly changed since I lived there myself and that was over 20 years ago! Construction has just started on a completely new dorm and hopefully we can get it finished well before Camilla and Lila are ready for college!

Extras:So my game was not co-operating over the past couple of days trying to get this session finished, so I only ended up doing one wedding portrait for Julian and Caterina. But it was a small wedding, so it seems quite fitting that it was a short photo session too. ;)

Have any of you ever seen this after-woohoo face? LOL! During the act, Caterina was making all these sighing noises, almost like she was in pain!

But I guess she didn't want to give Julian a complex about his bedroom skills, because she was only frowning for a split second!

Elspeth is such a little snot! Every time she gossips, it's about poor Finn!

Olivia dropped over to see her mum this session and Caterina seems very excited about becoming a grandmother again - it's been 7 years since Jessica was born! I'm hoping for a boy, not only because of my gender imbalance but also because I really want to use the boys' name I've picked out!

Notes:

  • Title is from Blowout by Radiohead.
  • I'm about to take the poll down, so I'll note here that Kirstin Sitko is the new governor of Sullivan. She won 56% of the votes (41 votes), while Zaria got 43% (32 votes).
  • David was the lucky Sim who rolled the car accident ROS this round. I can't believe how many variations on wounds you can find on MTS alone! I ended up downloading two packs, one of blushes and one of masks. I'm going to have to go through them later on because some of them are way more gruesome than I'd ever use for Sullivan! It was fun to do something a bit different with the ROS this time, as I've rolled it twice before.
  • Poor Adelaide. I don't know why but she does her homework every afternoon and then comes home with a D! I do like the variation but I'm just very wary about her getting an F - I don't want her taken by the social worker!
  • I am actually in the middle of making over a dorm, which is what Kirstin was referring to. I haven't started decorating it yet but I have the basic structure and I'm really happy with it so far. There are 8 rooms, all big enough for a double bed but I think I'm going to have three of them with two single beds instead, and try out a roommate kind of thing. Dorm rooms work with two claimable doors, as long as you don't let dormies claim the other door.

10 comments:

  1. Ouch, man, that's some realistic makeup! Not used to seeing that kind of stuff around here, lol!

    Camilla and Lila are such pretty little girls. David better keep an eye on them!

    Oh, poor Adelaide, with her D! That was quite a touching scene though. I'm so glad Kirstin won Governor! She's one of my favorites! :)

    On the dorm thing: you know, I've always wanted to do roommates and single beds in my Freshman dorm. Most of my freshman end up having double-size rooms, which is totally unrealistic, but the only reason I don't do singles is because it's such a freaking hassle for them to find somewhere else to realistically get it on, lol! (These are the most important questions in life, yes...) I mean, really, what college freshman can't manage to get busy on a single? College freshman aren't that picky! Is there a hack or something I could download? lol!

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  2. Laura, you should see some of the other ones! One of the masks made poor David look like he'd been shot in the face. People are setting up some pretty gory scenes for their Sims, apparently!

    Yeah, no wonder David's so protective, eh? I honestly didn't imagine Camilla and Lila would turn out so pretty when they were kids.

    I was sort of hoping Kirstin would win too, even though I would've been happy for Zaria to get up there too. She's always been so ambitious. And she's fun too.

    Do you know how many WCIFs I've seen from people wanting single bed woohoo? No one's ever replied with a link to a hack, so I guess it doesn't exist. That's something I'd like too. What kind of horny 18 year-old waits until they have access to a double bed?! LOL. What I might do for the roommate dorms is have the single beds, plus a couch. They can woohoo on the couch and I'll move them over to the bed and pretend if I want pics. I've done that with couch make-outs and it actually looks pretty decent!

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  3. Wow, David's looks really bruised! I gotta check those masks because I'm doing this ROS too this round.

    Congrats to Kristin for winning the election! I'm sure she'll do a great job.

    David and his dating lectures crack me up. I think they might do the opposite that he wishes because he harasses the girls about the subject all the time.

    Oh yeah, single bed woohoo hack is very much needed in this game. That's a good idea to put a couch in the room.

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  4. Julian and Caterina are so adorable together! Too bad they can't have children... They are both beautiful!

    I think Lila would end up with Jack Benton instead of Julia at some point. Unless he ends up with Audrey, and then Camilla would be with Charlie. I have a feeling of Audrey ending up with Malcolm though. God, I have all your teen sims (Including Tessa and Rebecca) set up with other sims in my mind.

    Adelaide is so cute! Too bad she's going through a bad year in school... I had one like that in primary school as well but I got over it eventually. Hoping she will too.

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  5. I bet the dorm will be amazing. I have two single beds only in my dorm, no double beds. If they want room enough for a double bed, or want a single, then they can rent an apartment-university isn't for comfort kiddos :p

    Hopefully Adelaide will get the help she needs, she reminds me of my Myra who I placed in special education classes thanks to one of her traits.

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  6. Camilla and Lila are pretty girls, and they are so typical when their dad is giving them 'advice', just pretending to listen.
    It's a good thing Julian and Max get along, I hope Kistin will find a way to get along with Caterina too.

    I'm glad David got out of the car accident with just some bruises!

    Poor Adelaid, she looks so sad about her grades! I hope she catches up soon, it realy breaks my heart to see a sim so sad!

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  7. Awwwww poor Adelaide! Hopefully she does better now that her parents are helping her :/......Doesn't David know that teens usually do the OPPOSITE of what you ask them to do? lol.....Lila and Camilla are both cute so I see some trouble ahead for him :)

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  8. I forgot to say that I have the same problem about the homework and grades with Zach Whitfield. It's like some homework of his is stuck somewhere because his grades just go lower and lower even though he always does his homework. I just modify his grades with insim now.

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  9. I'm glad Kirsten won, she's one busy woman though! Camila and Lila are way prettier then I thought they'd be when they were younger too.

    The wedding was super sweet, and intimate. I'm glad that Kirsten is going to give Caterina more of a chance, she is right that Julian's choice isn't about her. Kids can't live for their parents, parents and adult kids can't expect that of their parents ether.

    Olivia is adorable with a little baby bump, and I hope it's a boy too. I just picture her doing so well with a son.

    David definitely took a beating. Aren't those masks rather graphic? I downloaded some a while back, and then again for Bekah's accident, and I immediately delete the really gory ones.

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  10. Sari, I used two blushes and one mask on David. I can't remember who made the mask but it's the bruise over his left eye. The blood on his chin and the bruise over his right eye are blushes by Bruno.

    David probably needs to worry more about Lila than Camilla. Camilla isn't really the rebellious type but Lila might do the opposite of what David says just to give him a heart attack!

    Interesting that Zach has the same problems. Are his skills relatively low? Adelaide's are, and I'm betting that's what it is. I used InSim as well. I bumped her grade up to a C- and it dropped back to a D- when she got home. That's fine - I just don't want that F!

    Flit Loue, hmmm, I wonder what a kid of Julian and Caterina might have looked like. I feel like playing around in CAS!

    Interesting to hear all your predictions! I can rule one of them out right now though. Audrey and Malcolm are first cousins - Malcolm's dad Owen is Tatiana's half-brother. It's probably not obvious in game play because neither of them ever lived with Galen, though they were both friendly with him later in life.

    I guess we'll have to see about Adelaide. She just might not be the academic type, or she might be going through a rough patch. I definitely don't think she's destined to be a Knowledge Sim though!.

    Apple Valley, well, I hope so! I do really like it so far. LOL, half of me wants to take a lot of the comforts away from my uni kids but it would be more annoying for me than for them!

    I'd forgotten about your Myra. I was planning on Finn giving her some special help in the primary school update, seeing he's her teacher.

    Tanja, I'm sure we all did that at times with our own dads, pretending to listen to a lecture, while in our heads we were just thinking about how ridiculous it sounded! I know I did.

    Adelaide really did look so sad crying. Poor little thing.

    Mizzgin03, I think Adelaide's homework thing might be skill related, seeing I use Harder Grades. Adelaide doesn't get the want to skill very often!

    I guess David just feels like he has to try but I think Kirstin probably has the more effective approach here with the girls! LOL.

    Maisie, Kirstin is very busy but that's the way she likes it! She's not a fan of having a lot of down time.

    Julian and Caterina are very sweet together, so naturally their wedding was too. Kirstin is borderline friends with Caterina (they autonomously played chess together, so it was without my intervention), so things should be a little smoother between them from now on.

    I'm picturing both Asha and Olivia with sons but I don't know if it's wishful thinking or an accurate prediction! I hope it's the latter but I'll find out today after I finish playing the Carmody family

    Those masks are definitely graphic! I have no need for a mask with blood dripping from every crevice of my Sim's face! When I can be bothered, I'll be deleting the really gory ones too.

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