Wednesday 12 October 2011

Mind games

Round 32: July 2035 (Winter)
last update/next update

Evan Moretti is 46, Ione is 39, Justin and Xavier are both 14, Aurora and Bianca are both 9 and Francesca is 1.
(Caleb is 53, Araminta is 72, Lia is 38, Eddie and Louisa are both 15 and Lauren is 14)

Narrated by Xavier Moretti

Last year, we got a new little sister, Francesca. Her arrival meant making a few changes around here.

One of those changes was that I now have to share my room with Justin. We don't really argue much, so it's not working out too badly.

Still, we're both used to having our own space and our new space is really small for two people. It's taken some getting used to.

Aurora and Bianca have always shared a room but I don't know. Their room just seems so much bigger than ours.

Or maybe it's just that they're much smaller than we are.

Whatever the case, they actually like sharing their room anyway. They're always in there giggling together.

Aurora and Bianca love that they're not the babies of the family any more.

They're not supposed to pick Francesca up, because Mum's afraid they'll drop her and hurt her, but they can't help themselves.

She's like their living, breathing baby doll.

Things are different for our family with the addition of Francesca but most of the changes haven't been so bad.

Justin and I have both had to babysit Francesca occasionally.

She's pretty amusing for someone who can hardly talk, so it's okay. She's not much trouble and it's only ever for a couple of hours anyway.

We don't have to watch her very often though. Grandma is retired and more than happy to come over as much as Mum asks her to.

Dad is still in the police force and Mum used to be, until she lost her job before Francesca was born. Mum had to start a job search while she was pregnant.

Her best friend Lia hired her at the library and Mum worked there all through her pregnancy.

She's still there now, though it's not her ideal career. Leaving isn't really an option.

Mum is still making toys, in the hopes she can open a store one day. Our family really doesn't have the money for that though, so she has to work.

We all do now, even Justin and me. Dad got sick of us asking for money all the time and suggested we find ways to make our own.

Justin works at a chemistry lab at the uni after school. He cleans up equipment and occasionally helps out with experiments.

It pays pretty well, considering Justin said it's not a very difficult job.

Dad managed to get Uncle Caleb to hire me at his catering business as a barista.

It took me a while to get the hang of the coffee machine but I've been working there all year and it's like second nature now.

Uncle Caleb says I'm doing well. I even got a small raise. I don't get paid quite as much as Justin does but it's more than Mum and Dad could give me, so I'm happy.

I seem to need more money since I started dating Lauren.

We never do anything too crazy but even movie tickets and fast food adds up, especially when you're not really earning that much.

But we usually have a good time together, so it's worth it.

Lauren has been acting a little strangely lately. She's just giving me funny looks all the time and looking uncomfortable a lot.

It's almost like she's only pretending to have a good time and her mind is elsewhere.

So it wasn't a total surprise when Lauren broke up with me a few weeks ago.

She wasn't nasty about it. She was probably as nice as she possibly could be but getting dumped still sucks.

I could tell she felt bad about it but not as bad as I did.

I really liked Lauren. I still do. The break-up didn't exactly come out of nowhere but all her weirdness beforehand definitely did.

I haven't really gone out much since then, except for school or work. I mostly just haven't felt like it but it's had the unintended result of really improving my grades. They're not fantastic but I've gone from getting Ds to Bs.

School is really challenging for me, so I'm pretty proud of myself right now.

I never thought it would be possible before but I'd really like to go to university and then law school. I know my parents probably won't be able to afford to send me but they're encouraging me anyway.

Dad says if I keep my grades up though, I might be able to get the new governor's scholarship which would take care of my undergrad. Then he and Mum would be able to think about helping me out with law school. I don't know if I could get the straight As but Dad says I shouldn't sell myself short.

Even with all that to think about, it's still not too fun staying at home while Justin goes out with Louisa. They've been dating since Tim Lane's Halloween party last year. I'm grateful they do all their coupley stuff when they're out and not here at the house.

They do hang out here together sometimes, like the other day when Louisa let it slip that Lauren was now going out with her brother, Eddie.

They'd liked each other for a while but Lauren didn't want to tell me that's why she dumped me.

I guess she didn't want to hurt my feelings or something.

Justin knew about it as well and had been debating whether or not to tell me, when Louisa took it out of his hands.

I wish he had. But I guess I know now and I found out before I discovered it for myself.

Our school is holding a winter formal this year and the idea of seeing Eddie and Louisa together there is seriously unappealing. I even thought about skipping it.

Declan managed to convince me to come though. He says only half the kids going will have dates anyway, so it's not like I'll be the odd one out.

I'm still reluctant but I'm going to go anyway. I guess it'll just end up being a guys' night, rather than the date with Lauren I'd envisioned.

Extras:
Just some random, mostly Francesca-related, spam that didn't fit into the update.


Notes:

  • Title is from Mind Games by John Lennon.
  • Definitely not much closer to letting Ione open up her toy shop but I hope I can do it for her eventually.
  • The winter formal is something I'm going to do this round, in lieu of a regular high school update. I'm not going to do them every round. The next one probably won't be until Brendan and Caitlin (the youngest high schoolers) are off at college. That way, everyone gets at least one formal, assuming I want to do it again. ;)
  • Some time near the end of last round, Lauren rolled up the want to fall in love with Eddie, which didn't look good for poor Xavier. I didn't lock it but I kept checking her to see if it fell away. It didn't, so I figured she had made her choice. :(
  • As soon as Lauren dumped Xavier, his grades started going up. I guess she was a bit of a distraction for him. ;) It's rare that my kids are still getting Ds at this point in their schooling, so Xavier really wasn't doing too well. I'm hoping he can keep it up until college, or else I'll have to turn to my Plan B for him. ;)

18 comments:

  1. Five kids. That's bravery or craziness.

    ...How did you get that shot of Aurora holding Francesca? That's so cool!

    I was hoping that Ione would be able to open up shop this round or next round, but then, five kids.

    I have to say I'm not surprised at Lauren and Xavier's breakup. She's Romance, if I remember correctly, and most kids bounce from one significant other to another at this age if they do the dating thing at all. I'm looking forward to the formal. Maybe some hookups will happen.

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  2. Poor Xavier, at least she tried to spare his feelings, but being dumped sucks. The only thing worse is being "non-dumped dumped". I'm excited about the formal as well. I just finished writing my formal, but it won't be published anytime soon. I would encourage you to keep an eye on your teens and ACR, I didn't and some strange things happened.

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  3. I know it's been a while, but the breakup with Xavier and Lauren did surprise me. I guess, looking back, they might not have been all that suited for each other but still. If she was distracting him that much, maybe he's better off without her. Is he selling himself short? He's not in a happy place if he's getting grades like that.

    And knowing what you do with weddings, a winter formal will be spectacular!

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  4. Fini, LOL, or a bit of both!

    The picture of Aurora holding Francesca was done with a pose box. The link is one of the most recent things I've pinned to my Pinterest, though someone yesterday had trouble finding it. :\ Hopefully the link will be fixed at some point. The picture of Bianca and Francesca was done with the same box.

    Ione's shop is pretty much ready to go - she just needs the cash to buy it. The good news is that once she has that, it shouldn't take me too long to get it set up for her.

    Yes, Lauren is Romance and she's also 14. ;)I wasn't really surprised she wasn't rolling many wants for Xavier, as my teens often don't. A specific want to fall in love with Eddie was surprising to me though.

    A hook-up at the formal? Well, I know of one Sim who would like a hook-up to happen but I don't know if their intended is quite so keen. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

    Apple Valley, Lauren is a really sweet girl, so I could see her wanting to end things with Xavier but to try to make it easier on him at the same time. Whether she was successful or not is another matter but she tried.

    Oh, I'll keep that in mind about the formal! If I hold it at the venue I'm leaning towards right now, there is nowhere they can woohoo, so at the very worst, there'd be some making out. You've got me so curious about the AV formal now!

    Thanks for reading!

    S.B., well, I can see how someone would be surprised about Lauren and Xavier too, because they weren't really such an awful match. Lauren just found someone who she thinks might make a better one. I haven't really got to know Eddie too well yet, so I don't know if she's right.

    The grades turnaround was quite amazing. I don't know if Lauren was the distraction or if it was just dating in general. Xavier hasn't really found his groove schooling-wise and he probably needs a little more focus than Justin does (who has always got straight As without trying).

    I hope the winter formal will be as spectacular as you think it will be! I would hate to disappoint. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

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  5. Poor Xavier, being dumped for some one else... Seeing she distracted him from his schoolwork, he might be better off without her. And who knows what will happen at the winter formal ;)
    It might have been better if Justin had told Xavier that Lauren was seeing some else, it's always better to heat this things from family than from a "stranger". Anyway I'm sure he'll find some one great one day!
    I love the shot of Aurora and Bianca with little Francesca. But Francesca is cute as every toddler is :)

    I hope Ione's dream of opening a toy shop will come true one day!

    I'm really looking forward to your winter formal!

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  6. Great update. I felt so weird seeing Declan as a teen! Wow these kids are growing up fast.

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  7. Tanja, yes, that's an unintended bright side of Xavier now being single. Still not fun to be dumped but we'll see if anyone else comes along for him. ;) It might be a while because I think there's kind of a girl shortage in his age group but I may be forgetting someone.

    I think Justin was in an awkward situation and handled it the best way he could. So many people "shoot the messenger" when this kind of thing happens, so I can't blame Justin for being reluctant.

    I'm hoping the same thing for Ione and her shop! One day. :) And the winter formal will probably be up sometime next week.

    Thanks for reading!

    Bernz, heh, I felt like that about Declan at first but I've had three game years to get used to it now. ;) They do grow up fast though!

    Thanks for reading!

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  8. Aww poor Xavier, to have his girlfriend dump him and like someone else, and then to find out from his brother's girlfriend too. Better than at the winter formal... which I can not wait to see! I always want to do a formal dance ever since Shana did one ages ago for prom, it looks SO fun! I can not wait to see yours, and irl winter formal was way better than prom ever was. (Do they do prom in australia?)

    What house is across the street in this photo it looks familiar. And I hope that someday she can have her toy store, at least she will have inventory when she gets there.

    All the girls are beyond cute! Love that posebox, it's super adorable.

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  9. Maisie, this is definitely Xavier's first heartbreak, the poor guy. :( But yeah, better Lauren dump him now rather than just running off with Eddie at the formal.

    I guess we kind of do prom in Australia but it's always called "the formal". It's usually in late spring/early summer and the big one is in Year 12 (the final year). Some schools do a smaller one in Year 10 as well but that was more when it was very common for kids to finish high school in Year 10. We don't do all those awards/titles like American schools do though...if my extensive viewing of movies has not misinformed me, lol.

    That house is Claudio and Virginia's house - Matilda's dad and stepmum. You would have seen it at N99. It was my Broke house makeover. :)

    The posebox is so cute but I hope the creator fixes the link soon, so others can grab it. There's not much out there for toddlers and children together and there's not much in the game either.

    Thanks for reading!

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  10. Ah that's who it was! I knew it looked familiar, I really loved that makeover you did on that one too. I'm displeased about that link too with the toddler pose. *grumble* They actually have quite a few nice poseboxes at the forum, but *none* of the links to download actually work. What is up with that?

    You know, I did prom, and there was a prom king/queen, but it was so not a big deal. They were announced at school that Friday (before the dance on Saturday), and no one in my crowd even cared. The big voting thing was for homecoming, which was my all time favorite dance. I love me some football, big lights, winning that game, then dancing to the YMCA, heck ya! I'd love to do a homecoming for Millwood, but there's no football... But the votes for those were the bigger deal in my high school then the prom. Probably because it was for the entire school, not just upperclassmen.

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  11. Maisie, I was just glad I got to use that house! I still haven't found a use for the Victoria I did for the Decorator's Corner. This round though, maybe. ;)

    Man, none of the links work? Urgh, that sucks. I left a comment on the post with that particular box, letting her know. I didn't know none of the links worked though. No reply so far but I guess we'll see.

    Homecoming is something else we don't have here. There'd be not much to celebrate, I guess, as no one really cares about school sports except the people on the actual teams! Which is a bit weird, considering how sports-mad this country thinks it is. No one cares about university sport either and I know that's a pretty big thing in the US.

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  12. Francesca is so cute! This is a really cute family, although it must be hard to play with five kids. Poor Xavier, getting dumped for the first time sucks.

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  13. Sarah, Francesca is adorable. I think she's going to look a lot like Aurora when she's older.

    Five kids is a challenge but not as bad as I thought it would be. It's only Francesca who can't take care of her own needs and there are four other Sims in the house to help her with that. So it was all right.

    Thanks for reading!

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  14. I just adore this family! (and Ione!!!)
    I love the new bedrooms settings, and the girls are so phenomenally adorable!!!! This picture with their little sister is just too cute. *swoon*
    That's nice that the kids have to work on their own. They could even eventually help their mom to have her shop! :) (but I guess they need money to date or do teens stuff...)

    Poor sweet Xavier!!! I really like this little guy, and I feel all sorry for him, but well... it's good that he's not doing so bad, and that he even improved at school.

    Those pictures with angry cats & toddlers always crack me up!

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  15. Sandy, I was so excited to find that pose box and finally get a chance to use it for the girls. I wonder if Aurora and Bianca will find Francesca so adorable when they're teenagers!

    Evan and Ione are letting the boys keep the money they're earning from their jobs, seeing it saves them from having to dole out pocket money all the time. ;) I'm hoping I can open Ione's shop eventually but it's going to take quite some time.

    Being dumped is no fun but Xavier is seeing some positives to it, at least. He's never felt really proud of himself with his school work before but he's getting a taste of that now. I hope he can keep it up, even if he does get another girlfriend.

    Thanks for reading!

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  16. Aww, poor Xavier! I feel so bad for him, especially since he was working to make sure he had cash on hand to take her out on dates. :(

    This family is really struggling--here's hoping one of them rolls a big lottery win or some sort of windfall in the next round!

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  17. Aww, I really liked that pic of Aurora and Bianca playing pat-a-cake in their bedroom. I love that they're so close and don't mind sharing a room together. That might change when they get to Justin & Xavier's age.

    Too bad for Xavier. But like you said, at least his grades went up. I can imagine that Lauren was a distraction. She's gorgeous! I liked seeing the boys at their after school jobs, too. I forgot all about the catering business for a second. Justin and Louisa are cute together.

    Francesca is too precious! I'll have to grab that posebox whenever it becomes available. I hope they fix the link.

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  18. Rachel, I know, poor kid. He was so excited to be able to pay as well. :( But this has been a long time coming, as I noticed those wants from Lauren a while ago.

    Oh, if any family could use a lottery win, it's this one! I have not a clue how they're going to put five kids through college!

    Thanks for reading!

    Danielle, I can imagine Aurora and Bianca as the kind of twins who are almost surgically attached and are each other's best friend. We'll see if it lasts.

    Man, I took those pictures of Xavier at the catering business during Caleb's update. I think that was in February this Sullivan year. I've been waiting this long to use them. Xavier is now single when he doesn't really want to be but as you say, his grades have gone up and he also probably has a bit more money to save, which might help him with his ultimate dream of law school as well.

    The pose box is really too cute. I commented and asked her to fix the link but last time I checked, it was still dead. :\

    Thanks for reading!

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