Sunday 20 November 2011

Summer day

Round 32: January 2036 (Summer)
last update/next update

Eliot Lane is 50, Cordy is 43, Tim is 16, Simon and Matthew are both 11 and Charlotte is 7.
(Noah is 18, Mitchell is 17 and Jessica is 16)LinkLink
LinkNarrated by Eliot Lane

School is still out for the kids at the moment, so I decided to use some of my vacation days to spend some time with them at home.

Cordy took some time off at Christmas but now that New Year's has come and gone, she's back to the office.

Cordy adores her job. She's always talking about lucky she's been to have had two rewarding careers - swimming and now law.

It's really hard to convince her to take any time off at all. She finds weekends perfectly sufficient for recharging purposes.

That didn't stop me trying to get her to take an extra week off but she was keen to get back into the swing of things at work.

Or maybe she just knew how insane the kids would be with so much time off school. I was hoping for a little relaxation time but those moments have been few and far between.

The kids aren't exactly behaving themselves lately.

Charlotte doesn't find Simon's static shots nearly as amusing as he does.

The worst day was when the day of the 12 hour power outage. They couldn't watch the TV, play video games or use the computer, so of course, those were the only activities they were interested in.

Tim was perfectly happy to entertain himself without electricity but I couldn't say the same for the other kids. They didn't know what to do with themselves.

Suggestions to go and play outside, which they normally love, were immediately rejected.

So of course, they got restless and started annoying each other instead. But I guess that's not so different to a regular day.

The power was still out once dinner time came around, so it was sandwiches by candlelight that night.

Thankfully, that was enough of a novelty that the kids found it fun.

I usually have to play mediator between the kids at least a few times a day. The younger three aren't the types you can turn your back on for long.

Simon and Matthew have taken to tormenting Charlotte whenever they can. The boys think it's their duty as big brothers or something.

Thank goodness for our pool! When they're swimming, it's usually peaceful around here. Through no small influence of Cordy's, we're all enthusiastic swimmers in this family.

The kids never had a hope; Cordy has had them all in the water with her since they were tiny.

I've always wondered if one of the kids might follow in her footsteps but it doesn't look that way. They only swim for fun.

I think Charlotte might want to be an athlete of sorts one day though. She wants to be a figure skater when she's older.

She's only 7, so she could change her mind but right now, she's obsessed. She's constantly begging me to take her ice skating. Unfortunately, we only have an outdoor rink here, which is closed in summer.

The best we can do right now for her is the roller rink.

Charlotte is getting better on the skates but she's still learning. She's on her butt as much as she's on her feet.

Hopefully what she's learning now will transfer over when she finally gets on the ice.

She is very anxious to do that as well! She spends the whole drive home talking about it.

Now that Tim is older, I can get Charlotte out of the house away from Simon and Matthew when I need to and know the boys will be fine with him.

Tim is pretty good with all of his younger siblings and he often keeps them occupied when Cordy and I are busy.

He's 16 now though and is working extra hours at Pluckin' Bell over the summer, just so he has some money to spend to do all the things he wants to do during his break.

I considered not letting Tim see his friend Mitchell after the Halloween party last year (which was Mitchell's idea) but relented in the end.

He and Mitchell have been spending their summer hanging out with Noah and Jessica. It means Tim isn't as around as much at home as usual.

When he is home, he's either reading or he's in the office, studying. He must be the only kid I know who studies during his vacation time.

He wasn't always as diligent; Tim was a good but not outstanding student before. When we grounded him though, he wasn't left with much else to do but study. Once we relaxed the restrictions, he kept up with his school work and has been doing so for over a year now.

He's so focused these days. The other weekend, he sat us down and told us he was strongly considered going to medical school after his senior year. We were surprised but impressed at the same time. Tim seemed so excited about it.

We didn't want to discourage him but we did want to make sure he was aware of how much time and work he was in for.

Tim is pretty sure of himself though. He's been reading into it a lot, he talked to his cousin Malcolm who just finished med school himself and he feels certain he can handle it and that it's the right decision for him.

He's expecting us to pay for it all, which is a frightening prospect. It's just so much money.

When the time comes, I think we might work out some kind of payment plan where Cordy and I agree to help out with the costs but we have plenty of time to talk about that. I won't rain on his parade just yet.

Extras:
Not only did Eliot spend most of the time at the rink practising his spins (I have never seen a Sim spin autonomously as much as he did - show off!), he also skated past his daughter, who had just fallen down, without so much as a glance behind him!

Notes:
  • Title is from Summer Day by Coconut Records.
  • As you may have gathered, Tim rolled the Power Failure ROS this round.
  • I'm started to try to figure out jobs for my non-career LTW Sims a little earlier these days, so I went through all the criteria with Tim this round and came up with Medicine. It's actually the only career he scored 5/5 for (most of my Sims end up with 4 or 5 careers at 5/5), which was interesting. I probably wouldn't have thought of it myself but I think it suits him really well.
  • Charlotte rolled a few wants to go ice skating (in the summer, WTF?!), so I figure that's where her mind is right now. I do have a figure skater career but I'm not going to set it in stone for her at the moment, seeing she's still so young. Very much a wait-and-see thing.
  • Tim doesn't seem very interested in romance, so I'm not pushing it. He'll be another late bloomer, I guess. I can't think who I'd hook him up with anyway. We'll see what he gets up to in college.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, Dr.Tim, I like that. I think he would be a great doctor, he always thinks of others and is very caring. Maybe even a pediatrican.

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  2. I'm new around your blog, and from what i saw, you're great with storytelling, you stories are so realistic.

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  3. Aww, a figure skater career would be fun! How funny that Eliot left poor Charlotte on the floor! It's too bad that none of the kids want to pursue swimming like Cordy, but it's realistic that they'd have different interests.

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  4. Apple Valley, Tim is quite a nice kid, despite his mere 2 nice points, lol! My doctors don't tend to specialise ((because I'm realistic like that, lol!) but I probably have enough doctors now that I can start trying to nail things down a bit.

    Thanks for reading!

    Sonikku3, always nice to hear from a new reader! Glad you're enjoying the blog. :)

    Thanks for reading!

    Rachel, I've never used the Figure Skater career but I'm kind of keen to get one of my Sims into it. We'll see if Charlotte maintains her interest. Even if she rolls a career LTW, I might do like I did with Cordy and get her to the top of the Figure Skater career before I let her attempt her LTW.

    Cordy and Eliot have raised some pretty independent kids and I think they'll be unlikely to follow in either of their parents' footsteps. They're the types to carve out their own paths, I think.

    Thanks for reading!

    Thanks for reading!

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  5. I love, love, love all the family pics around their house! And I could actually see Tim being a doctor, I hope he gets to realize that dream! And poor Charlotte, she was looking like "seriously, Dad? You just gonna leave me on the floor?" Priceless :)

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  6. Mizzgin03, oh, thanks! I spent several hours over the course of a couple of weeks doing those for every family and now it's just a matter of hanging them all up each time I enter a new house. Tedious but worth it!

    I hope Tim gets through med school as well. He did get into uni, so that's one hurdle down!

    Heh, I know, right? Charlotte looks exactly as you should after being left in the dust by your dad! Poor kid.

    Thanks for reading!

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  7. With 4 kids in the house I can only imagine how bussy it must be during the holidays! It's a good thing Tim is old enough to be left in charge.

    I've been wanting to test out the figure skating career as well. I have some one in mind for it, but we'll just have to wait and see if she wants it as well :)
    Charlotted seemed to be having fun rollerskating, I wonder if she's going to love it as much when she's older.

    I can see Tim as a doctor as well, and maybe just like Apple Valley already said like a perdiatrician.

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  8. Screaming kids fighting almost all the time. I can relate. LOL Charlotte wants to figure skate and Tim wants to be a doctor. We'll see who actually follows through! Can't wait!

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  9. Tanja, I'm sure Eliot and Cordy are very grateful for Tim very often! Lucky he's so reserved and hasn't started dating yet. ;)

    Yeah, there's some careers that you can just throw a Sim into but figure skating seems like something where they'd have to have a specific interest in it first, or else it's just a bit weird. So we'll see what happens with Charlotte.

    I can definitely see Tim as a doctor - I think he'd be a good one. I hope he manages to get through four years of college and then he should do fine!

    Thanks for reading!

    Riverdale, LOL, probably most parents of more than one kid can and the feeling goes up the more kids you have!

    Figure skater and doctor are certainly very different careers, huh? Who will follow through is the question now!

    Thanks for reading!

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  10. Ah, Charlotte's so cute. I can't wait to see how she develops as she gets older. I feel badly for her. All those brothers and no sisters. Dating might just be a hassle.

    I'm glad Tim has kept up with the studying. I can see him being a doctor if he keeps it up. Maybe he can look into loans if his parents can't help out? They do have 3 others to think about.

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  11. All that could drive someone to drink. Funny that Charlotte wants to skate and Tim wants to operate. We'll see if either of them actually do it. I think Tim would make a great doctor, though.

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  12. Choco, Charlotte is adorable but I think she's the type who knows it! And yes, I can see her brothers, Tim especially, being very protective of her when she starts dating, not to mention Eliot!

    Tim has Knowledge as his secondary now, so it's very likely his studious attitude will continue. Finances are definitely the bigger problem but loans are an option.

    Thanks for reading!

    Fini, LOL, yes! Tim is definitely more serious about medicine than Charlotte is about skating right now but then again, he has 9 years on her. She has plenty of time to figure it out and even Tim has a chance to change his mind. I can picture him as a doctor though, definitely.

    Thanks for reading!

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  13. Charlotte is the onlh girl and youngest, yah I think she knows she's cute. I can just hear her in the pictures, she seems like the type to whisper insults to make her brothers mad then freak out loudly when they go near her. I see why Cordy wanted to go back to work! She would be a great figure skating girl though, and I like the idea of Tim as a doctor. Soon you'll have so many you can open up their own practices.

    I wonder who Tim will date, more options in college. Hrs pretty opposite of his uncle Luc! As much as they look alike, I can't picture Luc being a doctor at all.

    Do you have a post on how you do your medical career? Hadley is nearly done with high school and I intend to pretty much copy your awesomeness for her college education.

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  14. Maisie, yes, I'm quite sure Charlotte is no angel and there'd be a decent amount of provoking going on! But she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, lol!

    I'm going to have to start doing specialisations, I think, now that I have four doctors (eventually 5). Obstetrics, GP, emergency, pediatrics...something else, LOL! I'm liking that idea more and more.

    There's someone at Suffolk who Tim might be interested in but I'll have to get him there and see if any sparks fly! You never know. Heh and yeah, Tim is probably the complete opposite of Luc, despite the fact that they could be father and son! Luc couldn't be a doctor and there's no way he'd want to either. ;)

    I don't have a post about my medical career specifically but there is a little rundown of what's required for med school in my education system post:

    http://sullivansims.blogspot.com/2009/10/sullivan-education-system.html

    I really need to reorganise my info posts a bit, because half the time, I'm looking for something and I can't find it! Anyway, feel free to copy any of it that you want for Hadley. You might do something better than I do and I can adjust my own method. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

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  15. Charlotte is a darling. *swoon* I'm keeping an eye on Simon (hey, he could be the blonde rocker I had dreamt about some day, right? *lol* )
    I miss the skating thingy. I didn't make a big use of it, but it's cute and would enjoy it now.

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  16. Charlotte takes full advantage of being cute as well. She doesn't act like a darling, unfortunately for her family!

    And yes, Simon is a musician and he could be your blonde rocker, lol! He's a teen now, though you're about a year away from that at the moment.

    The skating rink is fun. Maybe they'll add them to TS3 when you guys get weather - that's when they came along with TS2.

    Thanks for reading!

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