Sunday 12 February 2012

Protection

Round 33: March 2037 (Autumn)

Malcolm's last update/Hope's last update/next update

Malcolm Novak is 27 and Hope Collins is 26.
(Augustin and Hanna are both 82, Naomi is 62, Owen is 60, Adrienne is 30 and Julia Gray is 26)

Narrated by Malcolm Novak

After 10 years together (or 8 years, really, with a two year break in the middle), Hope and I are now living together.

The ultimate plan is to buy a house together but we’ve been here six months now and haven’t really done anything to try to reach that goal.

We still talk about it but it’s probably not going to happen for another year or so.

When we do buy a house, I’d love to stay in this area. It’s not quite as isolated as Hope’s dad makes it out to be. Sure, our closest neighbours are farms but it’s not like we have no neighbours at all.

Where we live, we’re so close to the hospital and with a stressful job like mine, the last thing you want is a long commute on top of it.

I work in the emergency room, which means there’s always something different happening. We get a lot of elderly patients coming in after falls at home. Sometimes we admit them and keep them for observation or further treatment, sometimes we treat them and send them home.

Worried parents with little kids are a common sight too, especially on the night shifts. It’s often something that can be treated at home, like mild croup, but new parents don’t tend to know that.

It all keeps me pretty busy and I really hang out for my dinner break on those nights.

Hope is always talking about the day when I won’t have to do night shifts any more but I don’t really think that’s in the cards.

I keep explaining to her that it’s just part of the job. We both need to get used to it.

Hope’s never complained about the late nights, at least. If I’m at work on weekend nights, which is the case more often than not, she’ll usually have Julia over for a girls’ night.

They’ve been best friends since kindergarten and they’re never short of things to talk about.

Julia has just moved in with her boyfriend, Sam, so I guess they spend a lot of time talking about that. To be honest though, I don't really have a clue what they talk about.

I’m not so keen on Julia, so I’m happy for them to do most of their socialising when I’m not around. Now that Hope and I are living together though, it’s hard for me to avoid Julia completely.

Hope would love it if Julia and I became friends but I think the most she can hope for is civility. Julia's been quite calm of late, but I still don't trust her to not go nuts again.

Living with Hope has been an adjustment for me. She has quite a few annoying habits that I had no idea about previously, like try to listen in on any phone call I make or receive.

And the cleaning! I knew she was a neat freak but I didn’t realise she’d make me clean and then do it all over again herself when it wasn’t done “right”.

Hope tells me I have plenty of irritating habits as well and that they’re much more disgusting than hers. But I doubt that’s true.

I guess whatever my disgusting habits are, she’s willing to put up with them because it doesn’t look like she’s going anywhere.

We feel pretty permanent already, at least to me, but I know Hope is waiting on that proposal. She spends most of her time online looking at wedding websites.

I think she thinks she’s being subtle because she’s not flat-out nagging me about it any more but the meaningful looks every time I pass by the computer make it pretty obvious.

I want to get married too but I thought getting ourselves settled in our own house first would be the best plan. But lately, I’ve been thinking a compromise might be even better. Get engaged now, have a long engagement while looking for a house and then get married.

I ran the idea by Hope while we were out at lunch one day, just to see what she’d think.

I wasn’t sure what how she’d feel about the “long engagement” part but she actually didn’t mind the sound of that at all. Just knowing we were definitely on the path to getting married is good enough for her.

She did make sure to mention that she still wants a ring and a proper proposal.

I never even considered that I’d have a chance of getting out of that anyway. Not with Hope!

I chose a pretty nice spot, if I do say so myself. Hope was impressed, at least. She's been asking me to take her to Greenpoint Gardens for a while now.

All of Hope’s nagging and hinting about marriage over the last few years meant I wasn’t too nervous; I knew she would say yes.

I knew it was coming but it took a while for Hope to say anything. She was too busy admiring the ring on her finger.

Finally though, the words came and we were engaged!

Hope is really excited. I keep having to remind her about how we agreed on a long engagement.

She’s been planning our imaginary wedding for a couple of years now, so she’s raring to get started with the real one.

We’re still going to hold off on starting the planning for a year or so but we decided we’d tell the parents about it anyway.

There didn’t seem much point in keeping it quiet. We knew everyone would be happy for us, so why not just share?

My grandparents are pretty thrilled as well. I’ll be the third of their grandchildren to get married and they’re so pleased at the prospect of being around to see that.

Grandpa made sure to tell Hope that he’d also like another great-grandchild before he dies. He’s got two already and is expecting another two.

If there’s anything Hope wants more than to get married, it’s having a baby, so she had zero problem making that promise.

Adrienne and Amar were at my parents’ place too and Grandma didn’t waste any time asking Adrienne if she was ever going to follow in her little brother’s footsteps.

I hate being referred to as her “little” brother but I do so enjoy seeing her squirm a little!

Hope and I have a busy couple of years ahead, with house hunting and then wedding planning and I’m not exactly sure how I’ll handle it on top of such a demanding job. But I’m just going to go with and hope we figure it out.

Notes:
  • Title is from Protection by Ben Folds.
  • I’ve decided I have enough doctors now that I can have them specialise, so I’ve assigned Malcolm to the emergency room. I’ll decide for the other doctors later but the OB-GYN is likely to be Cara.
  • Malcolm is friends with Julia's ex, Jack Benton, so he would have heard all about Julia, if he didn't witness it himself.
  • I was going to hold off on these two getting engaged but I don’t know how long Hope would really be willing to wait! And Malcolm rolled a want to marry Hope, so I think they’re finally on the same page. I do want them in their own house first though, so it won’t happen until probably next round.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, so they're finally engaged-congrats! I loved all the little scenes at the hospital as well, you do an amazing job at setting those up and posing them.

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    1. I'm sure that's how Hope is feeling too - "finally engaged". For Malcolm, it was probably just the right time!

      Glad you liked the hospital pics! I was really happy with how they turned out this time.

      Thanks for reading!

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  2. I'm happy for another wedding in Sullivan, even if it will be after a "long engagement". Poor Adrienne. She's got to hear that from her grandparents. I can only imagine the inward groaning.

    I can't wait to have more doctors to have them specialize in something. For now, I just have to be a bit vague.

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    1. I'm looking forward to doing Hope and Malcolm's wedding but am sort of relieved I don't have to worry about the details of it for a while yet. I have another wedding to do before then. ;)

      Poor Adrienne indeed. Her parents aren't the nagging types but her grandparents definitely are!

      Yeah, previously, all my doctors just did everything. But four seems like enough to specialise. David is about 10 years away from retirement but Tim Lane is planning on med school, so he should serve as a decent replacement, when the time comes.

      Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  3. Yay, another wedding! I'm really looking forward to it. I'm wondering how long Malcolm sees as a long engagement, because I really want to see some kids from them :)

    Loved the secenery from the proposal, it looks so beautiful! I have to lot in my bin as well, but haven't found a place for it just yet, now I really want to find a place :)

    I always love how you do those family gatherings, it's so real every time.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Not a super-long engagement - just enough time for them to buy a house (they have about $21,000 right now) and to plan a wedding. So probably a couple of years or so. Hope will want a baby immediately. Actually, she already wants a baby!

      I can't even remember downloading Greenpoint Gardens but I'm glad I did. It really did make a very nice backdrop. :)

      This branch of the Novak family is probably one of my smaller families, seeing there are no grandkids yet. Hope will probably fix that up soon enough!

      Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  4. Such a beautiful spot for an engagement! I'll be glad when I have more doctors in LQB as well. Your hospital shots always make me want to use mine more! Can't wait to see their wedding!

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    1. Malcolm knows he has to make sure things are "right" for Hope, because that's what she expects. She's high maintenance but he's better equipped to handle her now than he was as a teenager. So no proposal in the kitchen for these two!

      Glad you liked the hospital shots! I probably could have started specialising once Josie finished but I was a bit sad at the thought of always having the same doctor at the births! But I'm excited about it now. :)

      Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  5. Yay for Hope and Malcolm! Hope has always struck me as demanding, but I do think she's mellowed a little in recent years. I love love love the shot in the waiting room at the hospital! It looks so real!

    Yikes--emergency medicine definitely means he'll never be completely free of the night shift. Their wedding should be interesting because of Hope's demanding nature. :)

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    1. Hope is definitely a girl who knows what she wants (like her mother!) but she has softened a bit since she got back together with Malcolm. She still wants things her way but she's a little more willing to compromise and/or wait on them. It's probably a good thing Malcolm's not really the type to be too bothered about the details of wedding planning though, as I think Hope might be intending to take over completely. ;)

      True, emergency medicine is a demanding career path, with not much freedom to pick and choose your hours. :\

      Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  6. Oh Yay! Malcolm is growing up! How funny, I was just posting that I was waiting for him next, and here it is in the update. I'm glad they are engaged, and that Hope is okay with his shifts, because that kind of stuff doesn't always get better in time, some people just work awful shifts forever. And if he's staying in the ER, then that is just those kind of hours unfortunately. Are you going to tweak hours? Keep him on that job level?

    I can see why he wouldn't be thrilled at becoming friends with Julia, especially with being Jack's friend, that could be awkward. Hopefully though Julia has calmed now that she is with Sam, and will be a good step-mommy when she eventually marries Sam, because c'mon how could they not? ;)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I saw your comment about Malcolm at N99 and figured you'd get to this update sometime soon and see that your wish had come true! I think Malcolm's been growing up a lot since he left college but cohabiting and getting engaged are two major steps towards that.

      I think they'll definitely be stuck with his weird shifts for a good while. I'm not planning on tweaking the hours (because that would affect all my other doctors too) or keeping him at the same level (because I want him to keep earning more money, because that seems realistic). So a lot of Malcolm's trouble with his hours, once he gets promoted, will probably be mostly "story".

      But I imagine that when David retires, Cara will become Chief of Staff, being that she's the next most senior doctor. I'll probably move Josie into the OB-GYN role at that point, leaving a GP position open for Malcolm, if he wants it. Otherwise, Tim should be qualified by then and I'll slot him in. LOL, I've thought about this way too much!

      Malcolm is probably a little too stubborn to ever admit to noticing any change in Julia but he might just object less and less to Hope having her over all the time. :)

      Thanks for reading!

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  7. I’m glad they’re officially engaged! Loved where he proposed and I’m sure Hope was pleased, too. I also really liked the look of the hospital scenes and remember you talking about how that townie showed up in scrubs. Love it when the townies do the work for you! Lol

    I hope Hope can hold off for a while to get married. They have enough to keep themselves busy with in the meantime at least with house hunting. I know their wedding is going to be beautiful. Can’t wait!

    I really like the specializing, too. I have 1 doctor right now and she’s the jill-of-all-trades LOL. The next probable doctor is only a senior in high school so, she’s going to be pretty busy for a while.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hope was extremely satisfied with Malcolm's choice of venue for the proposal. She was so excited to get engaged that anywhere probably would have been fine but it was definitely the icing on the cake for her.

      Hope and Malcolm are next in line for me to find a house for! I'm loading up right now to check. I have quite a few Sims in need of homes and then I have to do the decorating on top of that.

      There are advantages to the jill-of-all-trades doctor as well! When I only had a couple of doctors, it was fun to always have them involved in any hospital drama. But now, it's nice to have someone different depending on the circumstances and it's a bit more realistic too. :)

      Thanks for reading!

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  8. OOoooh, they're getting married!!!! Hope must be thrilled, after all that time! But I like that it takes time and will take even more time before the effective wedding, it's realistic and so fits Malcom. (I laughed at the habits they disliked in each other! *lol*)
    The scenary for the official proposal is breathtaking!!! *happy sigh*

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    1. Waiting a while is realistic, especially for someone like Malcolm. Those Fortune Sims are always concerned about money! I think the wedding will take place some time next round though, so not too far away.

      The funny thing for me about Hope's annoying habits (in Malcolm's view, anyway) is that she did them all autonomously!

      I love, love, love that lot where Malcolm proposed and it seemed like the kind of place Hope would like a lot too. I downloaded it from somewhere. Probably from MTS but you've reminded me to go find it so I can pin it to my Pinterest!

      Thanks for reading!

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