Saturday 14 August 2010

Spangle

Round 28: Spring 2027
last update/next update

Adam Gottlieb is 72, Athena is 67, Amelia is 38, Wade is 37, Sophie is 14, Noah is 9 and Emma is 7.
(Julia is 16, Jack is 15, Camilla and Lila are both 14 and Elspeth is 13).

Narrated by Sophie Gottlieb

Grandpa's been wanting Grandma to take it easy for a while now, so he was glad she couldn't run for governor again once her term was up. She's semi-retired and she's around way more often.

She doesn't really use her office any more, so I've kind of taken it over. I usually chat online to Jack. There's another computer in Mum and Dad's bedroom but there's more privacy in the office.

Although it's not like we never see each other. We both work at NKL after school and we always spend our break together.

It's a pretty boring job, really. Jack works there too though, and he loves it. But then again, this is what he wants to do once he gets out of college.

The only part I really like about it is when I get to go on break and when they hand me my paycheck. My boss is so picky about things being just so. But you know, he's the boss. It's not like I can really complain!

It's not all bad. I usually miss dinner at home on the nights I work, so I'm allowed to grab something to eat with Jack in Exeter.

It took long enough for Jack to really notice me but I think he finally might like me as much as I like him.

Or, at least, if he doesn't, he's sure acting like he does.

Jack's not allowed in my room but he's made it pretty clear that he'd love an invitation. He's not being a jerk about it or anything but I'm just not ready for that.

Jack's just going to have to be content with kissing for now. He says he'll wait but I hope he doesn't start getting impatient.

I really wish Julia would leave us alone. I did feel kind of sorry for her for a while but I think it's gone on long enough.

I caught her trying to steal our newspaper the other night but she ran off before I could say much to her.

And she was outside our house the other morning, really early. She lives in Exeter, so she's closer to school than I am and really had no reason to be round our way. I find her a bit scary, to be honest.

I'm so glad Julia isn't in my grade at school. Her crazy is at least not affecting my school work. This term, I got straight As!

Dad was pretty proud of me. Okay, really proud. He actually wouldn't shut up about it!

Mum was too but she was just a bit more subdued than Dad!

I think Grandma thinks good grades in Grade 9 mean I'm going to law school or something. I'm definitely not going to law school! Just because I might be able to do something, it doesn't mean I should.

Grandpa gets it. He didn't even go to college and he's done pretty well for himself. He had a top-rating cooking show on TV for years and he owns his own restaurant.

I go in to help out at the restaurant on weekends and Grandpa is really happy with how I'm doing.

The restaurant is going to be mine one day and I'm so excited about that!

I mostly just wait tables there for now but I really enjoy it.

The Claudette is a pretty upscale place but there's wide range of diners who come in. I love being able to meet so many different people.

Some of them are a bit difficult occasionally but it's all part of the atmosphere.

It pays to keep your cool with the difficult ones too, because sometimes you get very generously rewarded!

I should probably be saving my tips and my pay but I usually spend it when I go out with Jack and my friends. I think Jack feels a little weird around my friends, so he usually just observes.

We girls were all too involved in our pool game to notice Julia's arrival but Jack spotted her right away.

Of course, she makes it hard to ignore her once she gets close so it didn't take us long until we spotted her too.

I tried to pretend I didn't see her.

She was more interested in hassling Jack at this particular time though.

Jack's had it with her and has been trying to get her to lay off the both of us.

She's such a weirdo though! Whenever he tries to lay down the law, she just starts laughing at him.

It's reached the point where we don't really take her seriously any more. I just try to laugh her off with Camilla, even though I'd still rather she left Jack and me alone.

Lila and Elspeth think we should come up with some plan to "get" Julia but I think they just like scheming. They can both be a bit nasty sometimes. Besides, I think I've done enough to Julia anyway. I did already kind of steal her boyfriend.

Outtakes:
Little Brendan Lachance paid a visit to the Claudette. In his tux! So cute! He was not too impressed by the entertainment.

But the musical stylings of this townie were incredibly offensive, so I can't really blame him.

Notes:

  • Title is from Spangle by Jimmy Eat World.
  • Kid poses! I never used poses on kids before, apart from the Maxis ones, because it bothered me that I couldn't use the facial overlays on them. I followed these instructions to enable them for kids though and it worked perfectly! Most of my pose boxes work on children, though how good each pose looks with kids is another story. The sitting ones are better, seeing most of the standing ones make them look like they're levitating.
  • So far, Jack hasn't rolled any more wants for Audrey. I don't know if that means he won't roll any again but he seems quite focused on Sophie right now. He rolled a few woohoo wants for Sophie. She hasn't rolled that yet, not that I'd let her if she did. I turn off the woohoo tokens until the age of 15.
  • When Adam first bought The Claudette, I tried to link you all to the download link and I couldn't find it. I was sure I'd got it at MTS but it turns out, it came from the Exchange. Here it is. It figures that I didn't know where it was from. I never download from the Exchange and don't know what made me check there when I downloaded the restaurant. But there's the link, if anyone's interested. I haven't changed a lot, so what you see in my pics is basically what you'll get with the download.
  • Yeesh, Sophie totally took over this update! I just realised how little of everyone else there was in it! I actually took way more pictures but when I put them in, they just sort of seemed like filler, you know? Hopefully, some of the others will show up as visitors with other families and we'll see more of them then. :D

22 comments:

  1. Would it be awful if I said I feel bad for Julia? She obviously needs to move on, poor thing. Sophie gets points for not scheming to do more to her. Brenden is so cute all dressed up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Julia needs to get it together and let go. I feel bad for her but she can't make other people miserable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. gallowaytownship, LOL, no, that's not awful! Julia never really had Jack's full attention when they were together, so I imagine it would hurt more to see him so focused on Sophie. Sophie's not a schemer - she leaves that to Lila and Elspeth.

    I couldn't resist slotting in a pic of Brendan!

    HeredonCove, Julia will be going off to college with Hope in 2029, so fingers crossed she meets someone there who can take her mind off Jack! She's not making herself very happy with all this anger either.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sophie's such a driven little thing! I think her and Jack are cute together, but then again, I'm sort of on the Jack and Audrey boat as well. I look forward to seeing how things end up for this bunch of teens! It seems as though there's so many little dramas about. I especially love Lila and Elspeth's plotting!

    I love Brendan's and his little tux! Totally adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, she is quite ambitious. She has her entire life mapped out just about. I wonder if Jack is getting over Audrey.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Brendan is adorable there at the end. Julia is a little unstable, I'd gather. I hope she's able to make amends with how it all went down, and move on. Jack's a cutie pie, and I'm glad he's giving Sophie attention.

    The office looks great, I really like when it's in your posts. I'm glad Athena is taking things slower these days, I'm sure Adam is happy to have more time with his wife.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awww, all of the Lachance kids are just too adorable for their own good! I always love when they make a little cameo in someone else's update.

    I'm always taken by Sophie, she's such a pretty sim, especially after generations of genetics and such, and I love how all of her siblings differ in looks from her as well, it's pretty cool. I'm glad to see that she and Jack are getting along well, even if they do have Julia, the crazy hormonal driven stalker after them :P I'm interested to see where their relationship is headed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. As I said before, I like Sophie and I like her with Jack.
    She's young, she's find her passion in life, not everyone is like Jack and knows what they want from life when they are 15!
    I understand Julia a little bit too, her boyfriend was just taken from her, but maybe it's better to stay home and be sad about it, instead of following your ex and his girlfriend around town.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I feel bad for Julia but the stalking has to stop! It's not gonna help her get Jack back (if that's even what she wants) and it'll just make the other kids laugh at her.

    I'm super-excited about Sophie taking over the restaurant one day. I love it when family businesses get passed on to the next generation.

    Thank you so much for the info about children and facial expressions. I've been downloading loads of new poseboxes and some of them might work for kids as well but like you, I don't want to use them without facial expressions. So yay!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Renegade, Adam would be heartbroken if he had to sell the restaurant to someone outside the family, so it's a good thing Sophie is so sure what she wants to do when she grows up. :)

    As for Sophie/Jack and Jack/Audrey, I'm still not sure where all these teens will end up! Sophie has three bolts with Jack but she has three bolts with a lot of boys, because of Massive Attraction. I kind of like it when my Sims take their time finding their one true love, though I'm not always patient enough to let it happen!

    But there's definitely a lot of teen drama around right now. The next house I play has no teens and I'm kind of looking forward to a bit of a break!

    Apple Valley, just about! I'm not sure about Jack. It seems hard to believe but he didn't think about her while I had him with Sophie.

    Maisie, Julia is going through a tough time, let's say! LOL. Jack's paying Sophie a lot more attention than he paid Julia. Good for Sophie, not so good for Julia.

    Adam was never that keen on Athena running for Governor in the first place, so he's content now.

    Tessa, I know, I love the Lachance kids. They're such a good looking family.

    I adore Sophie. She's got Wade's nose and mouth and Amelia's eyes and I think it makes her look quite striking. Noah and Emma are Wade all over. ;)

    Sophie is Romance secondary, so I'm guessing she might want to spread her wings eventually but so far, she hasn't wanted to fall in love with two people at once or anything like that. So we'll see.

    Tanja, Sophie and Jack are both pretty certain of what their career path will be, so they have that in common.

    Ice cream and sad movies might be a better choice for Julia than stalking Sophie and Jack, I agree!

    Sari, you know, she doesn't even roll wants for Jack (she didn't really roll many when they were together either) so I have to think that this stalking thing is more of an effort to make things difficult for him than to actually try to get him back.

    Sophie will probably take over the restaurant quite soon after college. Adam's got a good few years left in him yet but by the time college finishes for Sophie, he'll definitely be ready to pass it on.

    And you're welcome! Oh, another tip for kids with poseboxes! If you use the below ground OMSPs, you can use the standing poses on the kids too. I did it on Jessica for today's update. Completely pointless, I might add, seeing you can't see her feet anyway, but it worked!

    I should add all this stuff to the posing post.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh yes, I've sometimes tried a standing pose for a kid with the below ground OMSP but then decided not to use it for a photo because the kid's face was so blank.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I was so excited to find those instructions! I can't believe how long they've been around without me coming across them before.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Brendan pic made me laugh. Seriously. That's way too cute. No he doesn't look impressed, lol.

    Wow Sophie has certainly gotten Jack's attention, hasn't hse? It seems fitting considering how she got it though. Jack really just needed a strong girl like her to draw his attention. Interesting that he's no longer rolling wants for Audrey.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lunar, Brendan is such a sweet kid, so you know anything making him make that face would have to be pretty bad! And yeah...violin guy was pretty bad!

    Sophie's a very bold girl. She gets it from her mother, although she's much more even-tempered than Amelia is. As for Jack and Audrey, I won't be convinced he's truly over her until I've played the Benton household but I think he's happy for now at least.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I really like your family portrait there. The kids poses did turn out great.

    ReplyDelete
  16. snarkysims, thanks! It's been nice to get the kids in some poses apart from the standard Maxis ones!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Does Athena have nine lives? I feel like she has been in your game since you started Sullivan! Hehe :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Darz, not quite, only since Round 8! Athena's been around a long time but I have Sims who've been around even longer.

    Plus, I play slower now than I did back then, just by virtue of having more families, so the Sims tend to hang around a lot longer.

    ReplyDelete
  19. LOL @ crazy Julia! I remember seeing this pic at N99! Too funny! Have to say though, I'm not getting the best feeling for Sophie and Jack. Maybe because I'm holding out for Jack and Audrey... (can't wait to hear more from those three again!)

    Oooh, now I need community-accessible face overlays for kids! lol! That'll be my next project!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Laura, LOL, did I post pictures from this as well? I know I posted some from the high school update, as well as a couple from when I played the Gray family this round. Julia has been making rage face all over the place! Poor kid. She's not happy!

    I don't know about Sophie and Jack either. She has Romance secondary, which is usually trouble. She hasn't rolled any multiple wants yet but I'm under no illusions that she won't. We'll see. And then there's Jack and Audrey. I haven't played either of them yet this round, so their wants might be telling a whole other story! I'm trying hard not to push things into going the way I want them to and just let these kids do whatever they want. So far, that's what I've done. :)

    LOL, making the overlays available for kids is super-easy as well! And it makes posing children so much more interesting. I'll save you some time though, in case you were going to try it, and tell you that I enabled the overlays for toddlers too and none of them worked. I can't think of why I'd need to pose a toddler anyway though!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sophie is so adorable. I really like her. And that's crazy about Julia turning into a crazy stalker girl. It hurts Julia but you can't be doing that. You're only making yourself look like a fool.

    LOL Isn't that Josie giving Sophie a hard time at the restaurant? Wow, that's so unlike Josie to be so unhappy with things ;). But at least she tipped her. Maybe it was a test LOL.

    And awww! Brendan is so cute in his little tux. That pic made up for the lack of Emma and Noah in this update. :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Danielle, I really love Sophie too but she's having a tough time with crazy Julia right now! Maybe she'll calm down once I send her to college. She's not making herself look too good!

    And yes, that's Josie! A difficult customer but not cheap, apparently. ;)

    I forgot I'd posted that picture of Brendan. Based on my primary school update that I put up today, I think Brendan is just one of many uppity kids in Sullivan. So the sneering seems apt.

    ReplyDelete