Friday 7 October 2011

Viva la vida

Round 32: June 2035 (Winter)
last update/Noah's next update/next update

Adam Gottlieb is 80, Athena is 75, Amelia is 46, Wade is 45, Noah is 17, Emma is 15 and Michael is 4.
(Sophie is 22, Jessica and Louisa are both 15 and Lauren is 14)

Narrated by Emma Gottlieb

Noah just found out he got into Suffolk University, so that's the main topic of conversation around here right now. He'll be a freshman there next year.

Noah is going to major in chemistry and he's already decided to study more after the four years and do a Master's, or maybe even a PhD.

I hope Mum and Dad don't get any ideas in their head about me doing the same thing.

I like school and everything but I'm planning on leaving at some point. I can't imagine signing up for an extra 6 or even 8 years.

I guess that makes Noah a good match for Jessica though. They're both kind of nerdy that way.

We're only 15 but Jessica is already thinking of going on to further study after she graduates from uni. She's going into catering and will be inheriting her dad's restaurant eventually, so I don't understand why.

But Jessica says studying economics will be very helpful in running a business and blah blah blah. I get bored just hearing about it. Economics sounds like a total snoozefest.

It's rare that I actually ask Jessica about Noah but I'll take extreme measures to avoid talking about business.

I always just assumed that she and Noah would break up when he went off to college. Jessica is worried that his feelings will change next year, because she really wants to stay with him.

It could happen. Jack went off to college a year before Sophie and they ended up staying together until his senior year.

That story was supposed to be comforting but Jessica didn't think it was, seeing Jack and Sophie did break up in the end.

Their break-up didn't have anything to do with Jack being older but there was another girl involved, which is part of what Jessica is worried about with Noah. So I thought it was better just to drop it.

I don't seem to be very good at helping Jessica with her problems. I feel kind of bad about that, because Jessica was so amazing when I came out to her.

She was right next to me when I told Lauren and Louisa, which did make things a little easier.

They were fine with it, though they were also a bit surprised. I was really nervous about telling Lauren especially, seeing I had such a raging crush on her up until recently.

I've accepted that she's not going to switch teams for me and it's a lot less weird for me being around her now.

Jessica offered multiple times to be there when I told my family but I didn't take her up on that. By the time I got around to it, I'd told my friends and had been talking to my Aunt Joanna about it a lot, so I was quite confident.

My family reacted in much the same way Aunt Joanna had been assuring me they would all along. They weren't bothered at all and they were all very supportive.

No one really blinks an eye at the thought of gay people in this house. Aunt Joanna has been out since she was about my age and she'd really have something to say if anyone had a problem with it.

Grandma's sister is also a lesbian. I hardly ever think about that; she was divorced long before I was born and her ex-wife died when I was very young.

I don't think Michael was even aware that being gay is something that even requires an announcement.

I just feel so much better now that it's all out in the open. I've just met a girl I'm interested in and I didn't really want to come out by bringing a girlfriend home.

I met Laurel when I bought a bottle of perfume from her at this little occult store at the mall. I thought she was cute but I didn't think much else of it.

Jessica, though, kept insisting that that Laurel was trying to flirt with me.

She just looked like she was doing her job to me and I told Jessica she was imagining things.

We saw Laurel again at Lost Generation and there, we were both thinking that maybe there was something there. It seemed like she was looking at me and wanting me to come over.

So I went over and Laurel seemed kind of relieved. I could tell right away that she was quite shy.

That made me think that I was going to have to make the first move, if I wanted anything to happen. Laurel must have got a surge of confidence though, because she was the one who started to flirt first.

We got along so well. I always seem to end up in arguments with new people, so that's kind of a rarity to me.

Laurel goes to a private school, which explains why we'd never met before. She works part-time at the mall.

She was weirdly jealous of my job at the hospital, because she's into sciencey type things.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that all I do is make beds and collect meal trays.

Jessica and I were due back at my place pretty soon, so I had to wrap it up with Laurel. Before we left, I asked her if she'd want to meet up again the next day.

Fortunately, she said she'd love to.

Jessica didn't let me start driving until she got all the "details". Hardly anything happened at all but I'm feeling pretty optimistic about Laurel. I don't know if it's going to go anywhere but I hope so.

Notes:
  • Title is from Viva La Vida by Coldplay.
  • Noah earned six scholarships, so that will be half-price tuition for him. I'm planning on adjusting the requirements for Science and Business so that getting to the top will now require further study. Noah wants to be a Nobel Scientist, so he's going to be my guinea pig for that. And Amelia earned a $55,000 bonus this round, so this family can well afford to pay for his post-grad. ;)
  • Laurel is a cashier NPC. When I said that Emma hated the one townie teen who's into girls, I didn't realise that I'd forgotten to check the service NPCs.
  • Laurel and Emma have two bolts but Laurel is Romance, with an LTW of woohooing 20 different Sims, so I'm not positive of how compatible they'll be in the long run. But they're 15 right now and they've got a little crush on each other, so I'm just letting them be. Emma is Popularity/Knowledge and was happy enough to put off dating until college but I couldn't resist when I saw Laurel heart-farting over her. ;)
  • For the high school update this round, I'm planning on having a winter formal kind of thing. I'm going to let Emma bring Laurel as her date, so we can see more of them then. ;)

13 comments:

  1. That's great that Noah got into Suffolk and that he already knows what he wants to do with his career.

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  2. Yay Emma! Nice to see that she's going to be ok in terms of friends and family. I love that Micheal didn't think being gay needed an announcement. Perhaps it will be that way in the future. Do you think that, some time in future, Emma might tell Lauren about her "raging" crush?

    I hope things work out with Laurel. It'd be nice for Emma to have a girlfriend.

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  3. Apple Valley, Noah is a pretty determined kid. He hasn't had much play because of his spotlight hogging sisters but I'm looking forward to doing a bit more with him when he gets to Suffolk. :)

    Thanks for reading!

    Choco, it would all be pretty run-of-the-mill to Michael, that some people like the opposite sex and some people like the same. I think this family might be the gayest family in Sullivan, so he has plenty of examples!

    I do think Emma might tell Lauren about her crush one day, probably when she's sure she's over it. It's still quite a recent thing with her at the moment.

    I'm hoping it will work out with Laurel as well. They're young but so far, so good.

    Thanks for reading!

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  4. Funny to read that this is one of your gayest families, I don't think that's something I've hear before. I'm glad everyone took the news well and that she found a like minded girl to spend some time with. I'm looking forward to Noah graduating high school and maybe getting some more of that limelight! Jessica is adorable, I wonder how their relationship will hold once he's off to college.

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  5. Maisie, LOL, it was just something that occurred to me while I was replying to Choco. I have a high proportion of gay Sims in this family, more than any other family.

    I have my fingers crossed for Emma and Laurel. Even if they just last a couple of years, I'm just glad she's got someone for now.

    We'll have to see about Jessica and Noah. I think they're really cute together but I guess that doesn't necessarily make a strong relationship! You'll definitely hear more from Noah in his college update next year.

    Thanks for reading!

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  6. I'm glad Emma told her family she's gay, seeing her family there wasn't anything to think they wouldn't accept, but I can assume it's nerver wrecking.
    Good to see every one took it this well.
    It's good to see she finally found some one she's interested in, I hope Emma and Laurel can make it work.

    Noah really knows what he wants from life, doesn't he? Ah well, they don't have to be all undetermind untill the end :)
    I'm wondering if he and Jessica can make it work when he's at Suffolk.

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  7. Tanja, by the time she got around to telling her family, Emma was feeling a lot more comfortable with it than she had been when she first started figuring it out. Deep down, she knew Joanna was right but it was just a matter of spitting it out!

    We'll see what happens with Laurel and Emma. They're still very young, so it's hard to say.

    Ditto for Noah and Jessica. I think his career and education is looking a lot clearer than his relationship with Jessica at the moment.

    Thanks for reading!

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  8. Congrats to Noah getting into Suffolk! He still seems so young with his baby face. I remember saying the same thing about Wade all those years ago ;). Can’t wait for his adventures as a college student.

    So glad that Emma’s finally out to everyone important to her. So that’s a huge weight lifted. Glad she found a girl she’s interested in and who’s interested in her! A winter formal sounds like a great idea! Can’t wait to see how you pull it together. I know it’ll be great.

    Wow, Linnea. I forgot all about her. How is she these days? :)

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  9. Danielle, heh, Noah and Wade are like clones! I'm thinking Noah will definitely want to grow some facial hair at some point as well.

    This was a huge relief for Emma. I don't think she ever really thought anyone would react negatively. It was just a matter of getting the words out. We'll see how she goes with Laurel. In game, they actually haven't even kissed, so this is really new!

    Oh, Linnea. Yeah, I actually don't play her very often. Single elders are super boring. She'll probably show up in Luc's update this round though.

    Thanks for reading!

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  10. Yay for Emma! I'm so glad that her family and friends were receptive to her news. Laurel seems nice, too! :)

    I'm excited to see this winter formal!

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  11. Rachel, the Gottliebs are a pretty laid-back family and well-used to the idea of gay people by now. It was no big deal for anybody.

    The winter formal was a lot of fun for me to do and you will definitely see a bit more of Emma and Laurel there. But I'll let you find out for yourself when you get to that post. :)

    Thanks for reading!

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  12. Ooooh, yes, an update about Emma!!!! *heart*
    I'm so glad that she could have talken to her friends and family that way. :)
    And Laurel, huh...? That's a cute young Sim (and if Emma still thinks to Lauren time to time and misname Laurel, it won't be such a big deal... *giggle*
    I loved the discussion between Emma & Jessica about their future. :)

    And yeah for Noah!!! Good boy!

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  13. Sandy, I thought you might be coming up to this one soon!

    Everybody knows now, so Emma is happy and relieved. She seems to like Laurel a lot (and I'm already regretting not changing her name to something more distinct from Lauren - I go to type Lauren for Laurel every single time!).

    I remember having discussions like that with my friends when I was that age. We were deciding what subjects to study and I was taking history and a friend was doing business studies. She was baffled as to why I wouldn't think business studies was so important, lol!

    Thanks for reading!

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