Wednesday 15 September 2010

Slaveship

Round 28: Winter 2028
last update/next update

Augustin and Hanna Novak are both 73, Naomi is 53 and Owen is 51.
(Adrienne is 21 and Malcolm is 18)

Narrated by Naomi Novak

It's so quiet without Adrienne and Malcolm around. No stomping through the house every afternoon after school, no constant stream of teenage visitors coming in and out the door, no whining about homework, or dinner, or anything else.

It's a little strange, after being a parent 24/7 for 21 years to have so much time to ourselves. To have just about all our time to ourselves!

We've been pretty lucky having my parents live with us, as they've always been willing to watch the kids whenever we wanted to go away. We love travelling though, so we took another trip recently.

We recently had a zen garden put in the front of our holiday home, and it's such a relaxing place to be. I can't wait until we get to go back again.

I haven't been so inspired to paint in a long time.

Our house is so isolated - there's no one else around for miles and it was wonderful to just be so completely alone.

We didn't stay at a hotel, obviously, but the restaurants at the hotels are open to anyone, so we didn't cook dinner once! It was fantastic.

Well, except when the waiter tipped a salad over Owen's head. That wasn't so fantastic.

But the waiter was very apologetic about it and we got a free meal, so it wasn't all bad.

We didn't let it ruin our trip, anyway.

Owen was like a machine while we were away. He got up every morning before the sun (and before me).

Then he'd eat, then go for a jog.

By the time I was up and ready for breakfast, he'd be doing tai chi in the kitchen.

Once we got home, Owen was very focused on improving his public speaking skills. He was in the bathroom for at least an hour sometimes.

It turns out he was working on a promotion - finally! And this time he was successful!

I'm so proud of him and I think he's pretty proud of himself too.

Mum and Dad say they're too old to go out all the time now, so they have their little date nights at home.

I used to be a little embarrassed by them when I was younger but I've grown used to it as I've got older.

Mum is still working and Dad still spends his days looking after Matthew and Simon.


Dad seems to think they're both destined to be musical geniuses, so he's working with them on their nursery rhymes.

I think the boys are a little young to be able to see that right now, but I won't ruin Dad's fun.

My boutique, Vestiti, is really turning a great profit now.

I recently expanded my line to include shoes. The customers really love them and my earnings are up $32,000, compared to this time last year.


Malcolm hardly ever comes to see us at home, but he comes into the store all the time. Mainly to be a pain in the ass, it seems.

I try to get him to buy something a little more stylish - with a huge discount, of course - but no luck so far. He says he likes his slobby stuff.

Adrienne's a lot better at visiting us than Malcolm. Mum and Dad love it - they really miss having us all at home.

She comes over once or twice a fortnight and is usually there by the time I get home from work.

I keep waiting for Adrienne to bring a guy with her on one of her visits but she never has. There was Nick but they broke up before we got a chance to meet him.

I'm sure she's probably getting sick of my constant warnings to be careful but I worry about her.

I never did while she was in high school but your daughter coming home from college pregnant in her freshman year tends to do that to you.

I think Adrienne is definitely on a better track now than we could have predicted a few years ago.

It looks like she's going to graduate at the end of this year, and with honours, at that! Adrienne was never very studious at school, so it's such an achievement for her.


We're all thrilled about that but I don't think anyone is more thrilled than me about Adrienne's plans after uni. Right now, she's looking at going into fashion design!

She wanted some of my advice and the main thing I told her was to learn to sew! I don't sew all the clothes I design, of course, but it's such a useful skill in this industry.

She promised me she'd get started on that as soon as she gets settled back in Sullivan. I'm going to put in a good word for Adrienne at the fashion house and see if I can get her an internship. I'm really excited about working alongside my daughter and I hope it all works out for us.

Extras:

Adrienne is the only Sim I've used the pierced tongue on so far and I think it's pretty cool!

Notes:
  • Title is from Slaveship by Josh Rouse.
  • Malcolm followed Naomi around the store trying to tell her dirty jokes. Naomi's shy, so she doesn't like them. He tried one on Matilda too. She didn't like it either but that's mainly because she doesn't like Malcolm. ;)
  • I honestly don't think I would have been able to choose a career for Adrienne without the criteria I came up with for custom careers. I added them to Apple Valley's criteria for Maxis careers and it makes choosing jobs so much easier now! I already have some careers planned out for kids who aren't even in college yet!
  • Owen didn't roll the want to study charisma but I was so sick of him being a paralegal! I'll leave him as a personal injury attorney now, unless he happens to roll some skilling wants. He's practising law, that's good enough for me!
  • Naomi's $32,000 was the result of a chance card - she didn't make that much just with her store!

18 comments:

  1. Good to see that your empty-nester's are finding something to do at home! Their trip looked relaxing, and I'm glad they enjoyed it. Poor Owen, how long has he been a paralegal? Maybe this promotion will convince him to skill more ;)

    I love Naomi's store, and if it doesn't bother you, could I ask where did you get those clothes racks from? With the pieces arranged separately? They're really neat :)

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  2. I love seeing Adrienne growing as a person and a character; after all she's been through she's turning into a very strong young lady, and I look forward to seeing where she goes from here. I think she's going to be a great designer, though I'm sure Owen isn't fond of her new tongue ring :P

    Oh, and I second the WCIF on the clothing racks.

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  3. Thanks for your comments, guys!

    Tessa, yes, I'm doing all right with the empty-nesters so far! They're all keeping themselves busy. I'm actually finding that some of them have been kind of a break!

    Gosh, I don't know how long Owen has been a paralegal. Like 30 years? A really long time! I wouldn't mind it if he skilled a little more and got a promotion but I'm happy for him to stagnate again as well. 30 years as a paralegal when you have a law degree doesn't seem quite right but 30 years as a personal injury attorney with a law degree is realistic enough.

    Some of the racks in Naomi's store are from H&M but the others are from Sims Connection, which seems to have been down for a long time now. So I'd check the Graveyard maybe, or one of those kinds of sites. It was a donation set.

    Beware though - the Sims browse from the wrong side of the rack. So those ones I have up against the wall? Completely unusable, so I don't have those set for sale. That's why I put the H&M ones in along with the SC ones, just so the Sims would have more racks to browse from and I could still keep the look of the store.

    Renegade, Adrienne probably wouldn't have had that kind of growth without Sylvia either, so she was somewhat of a blessing for Adrienne, as well as a curse. I have only vague plans for Adrienne, so I'm not sure what she'll be up to next time we see her. ;)

    Owen can't say too much about the tongue ring. He's tattooed all up both arms, across his chest and the back of his neck. Adrienne can take her tongue ring out, at least!

    Check my reply to Tessa for info on the clothing racks.

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  4. Wow, that's a lucky chance card! I haven't had much luck with them lately except when Nyah Marlowe got that 2 million bonus, lol.

    The store looks really great and I'm glad it's doing so well.

    Good for Adrienne for having clear plans for the future. I've copied those career criterias for myself too. I've found that nowadays I mostly ignore my sims LTWs because they don't often make sense to me.

    I'm glad you enjoyed playing these empty nesters. I don't have any in my hood at the moment but in a few years I'll have plenty!

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  5. It looks like Owen and Naomi are adjust quite well to their empty nest! The waiter part was funny, poor Owen. And yay for his promotion!

    I have a question... is grandpa watching the toddlers, just a matter of teleporting them in, or is there a babysitting hack that I'm missing? I so wish I could send my toddlers to other people's houses instead of using a stupid nanny.

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  6. I'm not looking forward to having any more empty nesters! Right now I only have one set and I'm always picking my brain for things to do with them! I love that Adrienne is back on track now, I'm really happy for her! And I agree, I'm sure Owen isn't too fond of the tongue ring :)

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  7. I'm sure it takes a lot of getting used to having so much free time to yourself after raising kids for so long. But now they can travel as much as they want without worrying about things at home. :)

    It's good to see everyone is doing well and I'm glad Adrienne has figured out what she wants to do with her life. Obviously, Naomi's fashion sense didn't carry on to her son. ;) He does look very sloppy and a bit out of place in his mom's nice store. lol at him showing up just to annoy his mom with his crude jokes!

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  8. Thanks for reading, everyone. :)

    Sari, I seem to get lucky with the chance cards more often than not! Not always money but sometimes a skill point or two or a promotion. I'm not so lucky with the hobby chance cards but I don't care so much about those.

    I so rarely have an idea of what my Sims will do with their lives! I usually try to make the career LTW suit them and if it doesn't or if it's a non-career LTW, then I'll turn to the criteria.

    Goodness, you will, won't you? They can be a nice little break in your playing - no teen romance drama or training toddlers to do. But I do try to think a few sessions ahead about what they're going to do, because otherwise, I do find myself scrambling a bit!

    gallowaytownship, yeah, Owen and Naomi have the good life now! Plenty of time to themselves and plenty of money to do what they want with that time!

    I am sadly just pretending with the toddlers though. I just teleported them in and had Augustin "watch" them for a while. There is a "Ask to Watch Kids" hack. I think it was by Squinge and it enables the AL interaction for all lots. But the AL interaction often didn't work for me and when I tried the hack, that didn't work either. So I pretend.

    Mizzgin03, oh, I think you'll be able to handle it! You seem to be able to hold off on your Sims getting married and pumping out the babies right away without getting bored. Empty nesters are probably easier than that, in my opinion, because they have kids who can visit and sometimes grandkids as well.

    Owen and Naomi are pretty happy about Adrienne as well. I hope she stays on track but that remains to be seen.

    Shana, I figure it's kind of like when you get a break from work or school and suddenly have all this time. Except it's forever, lol.

    No, Naomi's style definitely didn't rub off on Malcolm. He gets that from Owen. Actually, I think Owen wore that exact outfit once! I laughed when I realised what Malcolm was doing in the store - it just seems like something Malcolm would do!

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  9. Owen is very handsome and yay on getting a promotion. Sometimes Sims can hold back their own promotion just like real people.

    I can only imagine how it is for parents to adjust back to being a couple and not a family when all the kids leave.

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  10. HeredonCove, true! This game is a little too realistic at times!

    It would be a very strange feeling to go from being four to two (or six to four, as it is in this case).

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  11. Ooh, oooh, oooh! Those pillows on the couch!!! Do you remember where you found those?

    Don't know if I've mentioned this already, but I just love Malcolm's look - so disheveled! I certainly wouldn't date him, but he makes a great character, lol! Glad to see Adrienne is headed in the right direction.

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  12. Their vacationhome looks like really relaxing place, I like the zen garden.
    It can be hard to adjust when your children move out, but Owen and Naomi seem to be able to handle it pretty well.
    I'm so excited about Adrienne getting into fashion desing as well!
    Will she be moving in again, or will she find a place of her own?
    That pierced tongue looks good, it really suits Adrienne.

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  13. Seems like they enjoyed their much needed vacation. Too funny that Malcolm was following his mom around telling her dirty jokes. He seems just the type to keep grossing his mom out just because he knows how she'll react. Glad that Adrienne seems to be doing so well. Hope she keeps it up! Not too much longer before she's out of college.

    Glad you gave Owen that push to finally get him promoted. Sims (and some people) just get so comfortable where they are that they'd rather not move up. But come on, 30 years? Time to move on buddy so a nice young graduate can have that position.

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  14. Laura, the pillows are actually a part of the couch. But the couch is from Sims in Paris - I think that's one of the original colours from the set.

    Ha, I wouldn't date Malcolm either but I think he suits the scruffy look. But Hope is quite welcome to him.

    Tanja, yeah, Owen and Naomi aren't particularly family-oriented, so they haven't taken their kids leaving home as badly as say, Tatiana! They're just enjoying their time now.

    When Adrienne graduates, she'll move in with Matilda and Ethan. I haven't found them a place yet. I'll wait until I get their household together and see what they can afford.

    Danielle, yeah, Malcolm likes to get a rise out of people. Especially his mum, apparently.

    About 4 more updates until I graduate Adrienne, actually! Her college years seem to go by really fast, especially seeing they were so eventful.

    It's funny that you mentioned a nice young graduate - Patience's boyfriend Rob is actually working as a paralegal right now.

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  15. The vacation had a nice relaxed feel - apart from the spilled salad! :)

    I'm getting a few youngish empty nesters now, as I used to let all my sims have babies the minute they became adults... lol... it's kind of fun trying to find interesting stories and interesting things for the empty nesters to do.

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  16. Blackcat, spilled salad seems to be one of those things that hardly ever happens in real life but is an everyday occurrence for Sims!

    Ah, I used to do the same thing with my Sims - they'd get married straight out of college and pump out the babies. I'm glad I generally make them wait a little longer now. I still find empty nesters a little difficult to write for, even though I'm finding them a bit more fun nowadays.

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  17. Adrienne with the pierced tongue is very fitting for her. She would have a tongue piercing!

    I couldn't help oogling the background of your pictures. Such wonderfully decorated houses and I especially love the shop! It looks high fashion, but not like snooty high fashion.

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  18. Lunar, Adrienne has somewhat of a rebellious streak which suggested to me that she might have a tongue ring. ;)

    And thank you! I do really like decorating and I have more fun playing when my Sims are in environments that are attractive to me. So I started making more of an effort.

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