Monday 2 August 2010

Ribcage

Round 28: Autumn 2027
Narrated by Sarah Carmody

I was looking forward to getting my own place after graduating but due to a severe lack of funds, it was pretty clear that wasn't going to happen. So I'm living at home again.

It's been really great hanging out with Susannah every day. She was only 12 when I left for college and we're actually closer now than we were before I left.

Susannah was going back and forth about university for a long time but she's finally decided to go. She starts next year.

She wants to be a chef and has completely overtaken the kitchen in my absence. She's pretty damn good at any dish she decides to try as well.

The arrangement suits our parents just fine, because neither of them know how to cook and don't want to start now. I don't know what they'll do when I move out and Susannah goes to college.

Maybe they'll just go out to eat even more than they do now! They hardly ever went out when we were kids but it's a much more frequent occurrence these days.

They're really taking advantage of us girls being old enough to take care of ourselves!

Not that I'm complaining. Mum and Mama being out on the town means Susannah and I have the house to ourselves.

It's not especially exciting but Susannah has so much homework in this final year of high school and I'm studying too. Sometimes our brains are too spent to do anything more taxing than watch TV.

I'm working too but I'm also trying to complete my Master's. A bachelor's degree is almost useless if you want to go very far with architecture, so I'm trying to power through and finish. I really want to be out there and using what I've learnt.

Working from home though, with no one to really answer to, it can be hard to stay motivated. I often lose my train of thought and my mind just wanders.

I've been practising some of the tai chi Adrienne taught me while I was living in the dorms. It gives me back some focus when I start to drift off.

20 minutes of tai chi and my mind is clear enough to get back to work.

I feel so spoiled to even admit it, but my Master's is being fully funded by my parents. Education is of the utmost importance to them, especially Mum. She didn't want me delaying my career because I couldn't afford tuition.

I feel a little guilty about it and I've offered to pay the money back once I finish. It's not an enormous amount of money and I could probably get rid of the debt within five years or so. Mum and Mama are comfortable but not rich.

Mum won't hear of it though. She doesn't really understand why I'd want to pay for something myself when I have someone offering to pay it for me.

My friend Troy can't believe I'm voluntarily putting myself through two more years of school.

But we've always had very different views on education. I can't believe he even graduated. I don't know if I ever saw Troy studying.

Different though we may be, we always got along well when we were living at the dorms. We were both history majors and at first, I thought he might have been able to help me out, seeing he was two years ahead.

It didn't take long for it to become apparent that Troy was never going to be much of a tutor but at least we became good friends. I love that I'm back home and we can hang out again.

I admit that lately, when I visit Troy, I've been spending more time with his roommate, Nick.

I've always had such a huge crush on Nick but I've never really acted on it, apart from one ill-advised attempt at flirting in my freshman year. But we're both single now, so I decided to make it very clear that I was interested, if he was.

Nick's so shy and I wasn't sure if he'd actually ask me out, but I guess I was explicit enough that he felt confident that I'd say yes!

I think we were both nervous on our first date. We've known each other for a long time but not really that well, and we'd never been alone together much. We both kept looking over at the other, hoping they'd break the ice.

Once our food arrived, it all just seemed a little easier.

Nick started talking about his dad and his tentative plans to open a restaurant...

...and that reminded me of Susannah, and her plans to become a chef.

From there, we didn't have much trouble finding topics to talk about.

We spoke a lot about our families, something that's important to both of us. I didn't realise Nick's family was so big - 5 half-siblings and 16 cousins! My family is so tiny in comparison.

I think it went about as well as a first date possibly can. It was awesome, actually.


We ended up talking until well after everyone else in the restaurant had left, before deciding that we'd better get out of there, before the staff got too annoyed with us!

Susannah says she's living vicariously through me, seeing she hasn't dated anybody since Malcolm. When I got home, she was perched on my bed, waiting for details.

I was kind of happy she waited up for me because I was bursting to tell somebody how well the date had gone!

I must have made Nick sound so amazing that Susannah just had to meet him. When he came to pick me up for our next date, she rushed out of the house to see for herself.

Apparently, Susannah approves!

Nick and I didn't wait long to go out again and the second time around was just as awesome as the first.

Maybe more so, because there wasn't so much of the initial awkwardness this time.

We're just having so much fun together.

I don't want to rush into anything because I've done that in the past and it didn't work out so well. But I do have a good feeling about Nick.

We've been hanging out a lot at Nick's place, usually when Troy's not home. My parents are much more respectful of my privacy now that I'm an adult but the only place we could really go would be my bedroom. And Nick and I aren't quite at that point yet.
 
I feel like I could fall in love with this guy so easily. He's so sweet.

For one thing, he didn't freak out when I asked if he'd meet my parents, only a few weeks after we started dating. I wouldn't normally ask but once Mama found out Susannah had met Nick, she kept asking and asking when she was going to get to meet him.

And Nick was fine with it. He's already met Mum - she was his principal for six years, after all - and he's met Susannah, so he figured he might as well meet Mama as well.

The meeting was successful, I think. Mama really loved Nick. I have a feeling Nick probably goes over pretty well with most mothers.

I think Mum made Nick a little nervous but I don't know if it was because she was his old high school principal or just because she's Mum. She actually does like him a lot.

I still think it was a little early for Nick to meet my family but I'm kind of glad we got it over with too! I couldn't get serious with any guy who my parents didn't like and even though this is all new, I think (or hope) Nick and I might eventually move in that direction.

Extra:

I think when/if Nick gets married, I'm going to have to do like Sari and have him wear his uniform. I love the military uniforms in this game and I've never used them in a wedding before. I'm getting ahead of myself though!

Notes:
  • Title is from Ribcage by Elbow.
  • Susannah earned 5 scholarships, so she'll be heading off to Suffolk with her ex, Malcolm, this summer. I'm hoping Nathan will get in too but I haven't checked him yet.
  • So Nick's "mystery girl" is finally revealed! I know at least one of you guessed correctly and I think a couple more of you may have had an inkling. ;) It's been pretty hard to keep these two apart, I have to say! Numerous attempts at booty calls were made, which I cancelled out! They are each other's "One" and have very good chemistry. Sarah and Nick are 3 bolters, with an attraction score of 115, which is pretty good considering neither of them have Massive Attraction.
  • Nick's had the generic want to Fall in Love for a while now (since he broke up with Adrienne) and Sarah had the want to Flirt. So I had her visit Troy, she flirted with Nick and they fell in love instantly (they were already best friends from college). Immediately, their panels filled up with wants for each other. They both have 10 nice points, so they do those cheesy grins all the time, which I always find hilarious! It's very cute and I played them for way too long and took far too many pictures of them!
  • I wouldn't normally do the meet the parents thing so early but Kimberly and Susannah both rushed outside the house to greet Nick, on two separate occasions, so I figured the family was keen to meet him and judge him. ;) Kimberly and Nick made good first impressions on each other because they rolled the want to become friends as soon as they met. I love when my Sims want to be friends with their in-laws.

17 comments:

  1. Yesss!!!!!! I knew it, haha! I feel really good again, :P She and Nick are super adorable together, and those nice sim cheesy grins are definitely cute!
    Nice to see that Susannah is going to college, she's sure to have a good time and rustle up some trouble :P
    Also, I was just wondering, did you lengthen Sarah's nose out some more? Because in those side pictures, it looked longer to me. Either that, or I'm just seeing things wrong, I don't have my glasses on right now, lol, that's probably it!

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  2. <========Team Susannah! LOL. I'm glad she finally made the decision to go to college. Even though she wants to be a chef, I don't see her running a restaurant. I see her being a celebrity chef with her own cooking show on the Yummy Channel. Hint, hint...

    Yay for Nick! Finally! A nice guy finally gets a break. They really are cute together.

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  3. Aha! Finally revealed! I think they're great together and like the others I'm glad Nick found a sweet girl finally. Susannah should be a lot of fun in college, I don't see her staying in the dorms very long due to the food, but it should still be fun.

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  4. Ooo I love that Nick is dating her! They are uber cute and I love the military uniforms in this game too. I'd love a military man to get married in his uniform maybe one day. And ha on if nick gets married. I can tell he is marriage material. ;)

    I'm glad Susannah is heading to college. She's so cute. I can't remember how did you do her parentage? Any secret prospects for Susannah?

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  5. Thanks for commenting, everyone!

    Tessa, LOL, I thought you might have! I left (what I thought was) a pretty big hint in Sarah's last update, though it was towards the end of the comments, so some people probably missed it!

    I'm glad Susannah's going to college too. I've already got Dominic not going, out of this bunch.

    No, I didn't lengthen Sarah's nose again. But you're not imagining things either. When she aged from teen to young adult, her nose lengthened quite a lot. Next time I do plastic surgery, I'll age the Sim to adult and then age them down once I'm done. Sarah's nose is a little longer than what I would have done myself but it's human looking at least, which is more than I can say for her old nose!

    LaurelCrossing, LOL, you know I always meant to build some kind of TV studio for Adam when he became a celebrity chef! Maybe I should put that back on my to-do list and keep it in mind for Susannah.

    Nick deserves a nice girl, after Josie and Adrienne!

    Apple Valley, took me long enough, didn't it? LOL! Sarah and Nick must have been quite irritated with me, because they made their desires clear quite a while ago!

    Good point about Susannah and dorm food! I can't see her being too satisfied with mac and cheese after the garlic shrimp she makes at home. I'm contemplating smaller households for future college rounds but I'm still not sure what I want to do. If I do them smaller, I might put Susannah in private housing.

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  6. Maisie, we were commenting at the same time! LOL, yeah, Nick is definitely the marrying kind, isn't he? He hasn't rolled a marriage want yet though - only Fall in Love (check!) and Have a Baby (not yet).

    Susannah was a Sim I downloaded from somewhere and aged down to toddler. She doesn't have any biological parents. Sarah does though - she and Sylvia are the only adopted Sims in Sullivan who were actually born in game.

    As for secret prospects for Susannah, I only have very vague ideas for her future. I'll have to wait until she gets to college and see what she gets up to.

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  7. Yay for Sarah! Its always fun to start a new relationship and have your family approve. I wonder how far they're going to get but they are still so young.

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  8. I knew it! The hint in Sarah's last update was pretty obvious and I've just been waiting for you to reveal it!

    That's great for Sarah that she got to start her masters right away. Very generous of her parents to pay the whole thing.

    Susannah is such a great girl, I can't wait to see what she gets up to in college.

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  9. I don't think I saw the hint you left in Sarah's last update, so I had no idea who Nick's mystery girl was. But I love that it's Sarah! I think they're so cute together and they're both so sweet, they deserve a good romance. I'm glad Nick is happy. And yes, when he gets married he needs to wear that uniform so we can all admire how dashing he looks in it. ;)

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  10. Nick and Sara are adorable together! And I agree with her, Nick is the kind of guy all parents just love. I mean really, how can you not find him adorable?

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  11. You got the military uniform picture! Nick looks so dashing :D

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  12. Finally we meet Nick's mystery-girl! Well, obviously we've met her before, but that was different!
    From the moment I realized Sarah was Nick's girl I couln't stop smilling! Thankfully I live alone, I think it would have been strange otherwise.

    I'm sooooo happy for these two! They look so sweet together!!
    (I still can't stop smilling!)

    Thanks for the update on your educationpage, I've printed it out, so if work isn't too busy, I'm going to know what to do :)

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  13. HeredonCove, especially for a Family Sim like Sarah! I'm looking forward to playing Nick this round to play them a little more and see what they get up too. :)

    Sari, LOL, yeah, I figured most people who read that hint would get it! I was so excited to let them get together finally.

    Sarah's Masters tuition is $8000 in total, so it's no small chunk of change for Kimberly and Betsy, who usually have under $20,000 in their funds.

    I love Susannah. She always looks so friendly and cheerful. She's one of my favourites, definitely.

    Shana, LOL, at least it was a surprise to someone! Nick and Sarah are really very adorable together. A long long time ago (when Sarah was like 12!), I did a chemistry study to see who had the highest chemistry with who with turn ons matched and I noticed Nick and Sarah were each other's highest. Then I stuck him with Maia and fell in love with them together and was going to leave them that way. But I'm glad I broke them up and stuck Nick with Sarah - they complement each other well.

    Nick will definitely be in his uniform when he gets married. I just won't have it any other way now!

    Mizzgin03, I don't know! Nick's been such a cutie since he was a toddler. Maybe we should ask Jace though, because he didn't love Nick at first! He was very suspicious, though Nick won him over in the end.

    rome_raven, LOL, I told you I would, didn't I?

    Tanja, I thought if you guys hadn't seen the comment on Sarah's last update, you would have guessed by seeing Nick's name at the top of this update. I almost considered leaving it out, just to throw off all the people who thought they knew!

    I'm glad you're happy about Nick and Sarah though, because I am too.

    And you're welcome. I didn't do it until last night (the update went up yesterday morning) but I'm glad you found it. I mentioned it in today's birthdays as well, in case you didn't see it. It was good for me to get it all mapped out as well. :)

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  14. Awww, Sarah and Nick! (I didn't catch the hint either - I was probably reading tired, lol!) But oh, they're cute! I think they'll be good for each other. You're already planning their wedding, you don't have to pretend you're not ;)

    It's neat to see Susannah excited about college and her career goals.

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  15. Laura, Sarah and Nick have been screwed over with love a couple of times, so it's nice for them to find each other and hopefully live happily ever after. I was playing Nick's household last night and he and Sarah are just so adorable together.

    But planning weddings before the Sims are even engaged? That's not like me at all! I don't know what you're talking about. ;)

    LOL, you know I totally am! I was actually planning Maia and Nick's wedding in my head, back when I was going to let them stay together. I'm terrible.

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  16. Whoa! Now this is something I did not see coming. I love that you're already planning to plan, lol.

    Nick does look cute in the uniform though. I like the idea of his wearing it for his wedding.

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  17. Lunar, Sarah and Nick getting married isn't set in stone (I thought Nick and Maia would get married at some point and that changed) but it seems very likely. They're so adorable together.

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