Thursday 16 May 2013

We'll inherit the earth



Round 34: April 2040 (Autumn)
last update/next update


Abigail Carmody is 57, Jesse is 55 and Austin is 19. 
(Jonas is 62, Nick is 37, Sarah is 35, Mitchell is 21, Declan, Justin, Xavier and Lauren are 19,  Thomas is 9, Ryan is 8 and Catherine is 6)

Narrated by Austin Carmody

Once Lauren went off to college, Mum and Dad started to look around for a new house. Seeing I’m still living at home for the time being, I moved with them. Most people downsize when their kids leave home but this place is actually bigger.



Mum and Dad have four grandkids now and we never had much backyard space for them to run around in when they come over.

Nick and Sarah used to bring their kids over all the time anyway, but it always made for a really crowded house. It’s nice and spacious now.

It’s getting a little cold for swimming but so far, it hasn’t bothered Thomas, Ryan or Catherine.

Then again, it hasn’t bothered me much yet either.

I’ve never lived anywhere with a pool before and the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. Who knows, maybe I’ll never move out!

On second thought, I definitely want some independence from my parents at some point but at the moment, I just don’t have the cash for it.

I’m working any job I can while I try (and fail, so far) to break into photography. I practise on my own but what I really need are some contacts.

The closest I have right now is Lauren, who’s trying to rope me into taking pictures for her new project, the campus newspaper she’s starting up.

She can’t pay me but it wouldn’t be a bad way to build up my portfolio.

The thing is, I work full time here in Exeter. I can't be hauling ass to campus all the time, as much as I'd prefer it to driving taxis. Lauren is so excited about this paper though, so I’d still like to help her out at some point.

Mum wants progress reports every time Lauren comes over.

It’s something Mum would have liked to do back when she was a student but she was too busy with Nick to even think about it. She’s living vicariously through Lauren.

I thought Mum would be on my back about finding a “real” job but so far, she’s been happy that I have any job at all.

Actually, Dad’s been taking more flak than me lately. He’s been off work, because Uncle Jonas has closed the arcade to refurbish it. Mum hasn’t been too thrilled with how he’s been spending his time instead.

She likes Dad to do a couple of chores during the day and maybe get something ready for dinner. He’s done that maybe twice.

He usually ends up falling asleep in the hammock outside.

Mum has taken to calling him from work a couple of times a day, just to make sure he’s awake.

Dad probably just needs to go back to work but that’s all up to Uncle Jonas.

He’s promised Mum it will only be a little while longer before he has plenty for Dad to do down at the arcade again.

Next year, it will probably be Mitchell and me both living here at home, at least for a little while. He asked if it would be okay last time he visited and Mum and Dad were fine with it.

I’m fine with it too, mostly. I just hope he doesn’t show me up by becoming an executive chef within six weeks of moving home or something.

It'll be nice to have someone else around to hang out with though. All my friends are students and it can be hard to find time to see them when I’m working full time and living in a different town.

I try to do it anyway, because it’s always good to see Declan, Justin and Xavier again. We manage it maybe every couple of weeks or so, lately.

They’ve all got girlfriends now, so it’s easy to start feeling a little left out as the lone single guy.

That might change soon. I’ve met this girl, Nora, who I really like.

We met at the shelter where I adopted our dog, Cleo. Nora volunteers there and had become a little attached to Cleo.

I wanted an excuse to see her again, so I said she could come and visit Cleo at home.

I wasn’t sure if she’d take me up on it but thankfully, she did.

We hung out a few times at home and then I asked her on a proper date.

Nora and I have been spending a lot of time together since then and have been getting along really well.

I wouldn’t say we’re serious yet; I haven’t even introduced her to anyone. But I like her more than any other girl I’ve met since high school. Maybe I can think about bringing her home if everything continues to go smoothly.

Notes:

  • Title is from We'll Inherit The Earth by the Replacements.
  • You may have noticed that I've been adding character mosaics to my sim profiles. So far, I've done one for Jack, Patience, Tim and Jessica. I'm trying to do one per household, as I play, so I'm hoping to have Austin's up soon. 
  • I was going to redecorate this house more than I did but I ended up leaving most of it as is. Jesse's favourite colour is black, Abigail's is white and the blue accents around seemed to fit Austin's favourite colour of aqua closely enough. Once I get more custom objects in, I might make some changes. 
  • You may or may not see Mitchell living back at home. It might be a temporary thing just until Tim and Eddie graduate.
  • Nora was the animal control officer who dropped off Cleo. I'm pretty sure she'll still show up in her uniform next time but if not, meh. Her original name was Emma and oddly, her chemistry with Austin went from one to two bolts once I changed it!
  • I have no plans at all for Austin's future, so I have no clue whether Nora is his "One" or not. That said, he and Nora fell in love pretty damn fast!
  • Austin finally got into the Photography career, right before I finished up this play session (as so often seems to happen). So we'll see a bit of that in the next update, probably.
  • Jesse is incredibly lazy and Abigail is very active. They're both slobs but because Abigail is on the serious side, I still see her as someone who would just want get the stuff that needs to be done over with. She's not too tolerant of Jesse's philosophy on housework but I'm planning on plopping an arcade somewhere in town soon, so he can start making himself useful again. ;)


16 comments:

  1. This is interesting - how do you determine your Sims' favourite colours?
    I like the new house, would love a tour!
    The bit about Abigail calling Jesse to make sure he's awake made me laugh - his facial expression fits so well!
    Funny about the chemistry changing after you renamed the animal control officer.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Generally, I roll for a random colour at birth. If that colour turns out not to suit the sim, I change it. I've had a few different favourite colours over my life, so that seems okay.

      There won't be a tour for this house, seeing I didn't really do much to it. :) You can see it here, at MTS: http://www.modthesims.info/d/480309

      Heh, the phone call animations are great. There's a lot of variety to them, so you can usually find a good snap to use for whatever purpose. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. Their new house looks really nice, and spacious. It seems like there's enough space to invitethe entire family over.

    Nora seems like a nice girl, and I'm glad Austin finally found someone he's interested in.
    Chemistry can be a strange thing, I remember my Ada and Jason Draper not having any chemistry at all, untill I broke them up, and suddenly they had 3 bolts! I never had it change because of a name though :)

    I love that Abigail is checking on Jesse so he wouldn't sleep during the day! I can imagine it being frustrating that there's nothing done around the house when there's some one home all the time!

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    1. There is plenty of space in the new house, which is a nice change!

      You have me curious to have a look at Nora's personality now, actually. She seems sweet but all I really know about her, game stats wise, is that she's a Knowledge sim. That may not bode well for them but I've had successful Knowledge/Popularity relationships before, so who knows? I actually think the chemistry thing might have been related to clothes, now that I think of it. Maybe Nora has a turn off related to swimwear and Austin had his trunks on when they first met?

      Yes, especially when Abigail doesn't like doing housework herself! It's definitely the last thing she feels like doing when she gets home from work, so Jesse might need to start lifting a finger every now and then. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. I like the new house and I hope Nora hangs around a bit, I think they'd make some cute kiddos, lol.

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    1. Ha, well, we'll see about Nora! I doubt Austin is thinking as far ahead as kids yet!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Their new house is great, that pool itself is a winning point! I do think that they needed more space in this house, because of all those grandkids, heck the rest of their kids haven't even started having babies yet.

    It's funny seeing Jesse lounging in a hammock, I can see Abigail getting upset over that, I would too! I'm glad Austin broke into his career field hopefully he can help Lauren out now too.

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    1. I know, right? Gotta love the pool! Austin certainly does. They really had hardly any backyard to speak of in their old place. No place to put anything. And yeah, Jesse and Abigail are only going to get more grandkids, though possibly not for a good while yet. ;)

      I actually don't know if I'd had a sim sleeping in the hammock before. It seems odd that I'd never tried it but I don't think I'd had one on a residential lot before! It seems like such a Jesse thing to have set up in the backyard though, so I was pretty amused to see one in this house.

      I thought it would take Austin way longer to find a Photography job! Even without most of my custom careers back in, there are still a ton of jobs the computer could have offered first!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. Nora is so cute! They make a good pair so far... ;)

    OMG, that house is amazing! I love it. I really have a thing for modern-styled houses. Which is strange. I'd never live in one, but they are so lovely to look at!

    Having a house with a pool is aces. Seriously. I miss my pool so much. The novelty never wears off!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I like Nora and Austin together a lot so far. It remains to be seen how they'll go long term though!

      I totally fell in love with this house before I even got it in my game! Perfect for the more contemporary type of houses I like in my downtown and really playable too, despite the false storey in between the first and second floors, which normally really annoys me. Austin definitely agrees with you about the pool, lol!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. I am so in love with Nora's dress, so I hope it doesn't reset! It's the kind of thing I would love to wear in real life but that hubby would say looks like curtains, lol!

    How funny about their chemistry changing when her name changed. I've always believed a person's name means a lot for their personality, and it seems like Austin agrees with me! :)

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    1. Curtains, lol! I love Nora's dress too. I'm not sure what you mean about it resetting - I don't think there's a way for that to happen!

      Yeah, that name thing was really weird! I'm convinced there are a few secret things affecting chemistry, because it's not the first strange bump in attraction that I've seen. Perhaps Austin is a numerologist or something. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  7. I'm excited to see where this thing with Nora will lead. She's pretty and seems nice. I'm glad Austin got into photography like he wanted. I hate waiting for the field to pop up.
    LOL on Abigail and Jesse. That's like me and my fiance, except he'd be Abigail and I'd be Jesse! What can I say, I love napping. :D

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    1. LOL, I'm single but in any relationship, I would be much more likely to be Jesse than Abigail! There are few people more fond of napping than I am!

      Glad you commented on this one, because it reminded me to update Austin's profile! I like Nora for Austin a lot and I think he likes her too. He dated a girl for a while when he was a teenager but he never seemed as into her as he is with Nora. So we'll see where it goes.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. Aww, that's so nice and realistic that Austin comes back living with his parents! Warning, Abigail and Jesse, he will never leave now that you live in that somptuous new house with swimming-pool! ;D
    I love that he's working for Lauren (even if unpaid!). I'm always in awe how everything is intricated in your game! *admirative sigh*
    AAAAAAWWW! Nora!!! I love the idea of someone working at the animal shelter! (she was the animal control officer! How smart from you to have "converted" her!) I so feel I need one now! :D

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    1. LOL, yeah, they might have trouble getting rid of Austin now! Good thing I'm in charge of that. ;) I'll probably leave him there one more round and then he can bunk in with Declan and Xavier.

      Austin will gripe a little about not being paid but he'll lend his sister a hand, in the end. Abigail and Jesse's kids are all pretty high in nice, so it's just the way they are. :)

      I'll have to find some kind of animal career for Nora, if she ever becomes playable. I'd like to continue that line of work for her if possible. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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