Tuesday 6 December 2016

Pieces of what

Round 36: February 2044 (Summer)


last update/next update

Kit Royce is 84, Max Nihill is 57 and Zaria Royce-Nihill is 56.
(Josh and Elspeth are 30, Jessica is 24 and Declan is 23)


Narrated by Zaria Royce-Nihill

Max and I loved our trip to Cape Elizabeth so much a couple of years back that we bought a house there!


We haven’t yet had a chance to stay there since we flew out to decorate but we cannot wait to go back.

Initially, we’d been looking at a bigger place, so that Mum could stay with us when we went up but she told us not to worry.

At 80-something, she doesn’t expect she’ll want to wander too far from home any more. Our last trip a couple of years ago was very draining for her, as much as she enjoyed it.

So our vacation home is just a small one bedroom and we love it. 

Max was a bit dubious about the tiny kitchen but I talked him around. If the kitchen was huge, I’d probably never get him out of there! He cooks enough at home and at work; he doesn’t need to go crazy with it on vacation as well!

We’re too busy to think about vacations right now anyway. For Max, it’s the usual stuff at Front Page.

Summer is always an especially busy time at Front Page, so they’ve all been run off their feet down there of late. 

Max always tries to put a few new additions on the menu each season, so he has been hard at work creating those as well.

I’m busy with a few of my own projects. There’s an election next year and I want to get everything in order before my term is over.

My major goal was the new high school and thank goodness, we achieved that. Finn, the principal, assures me that the school will serve Sullivan well for a long time yet.

I also wanted to invite more businesses to set up shop in Sullivan and I think we did that too. There are a lot more things to do and places to go around here than there were when I took office.

That goal is one that never really ended though and I’m still finishing up deals with a few companies. The biggest one is the game development company, Hubris Games, are moving their main office to Sullivan.

They’ve always had a small office here but having the big one here is a big coup for us. 

Josh’s girlfriend, Elspeth, works for Hubris and she’s pretty excited to move into her new office.

Their current office is tiny and they’re all working on top of each other. 

Josh and Elspeth have been living on their own without roomies since Sophie’s wedding in December and they’re enjoying it.

I thought maybe they would buy a house but they don’t seem to be in a rush to do that. They’re happy in the apartment and have said it’s plenty big enough for them for the foreseeable future. 

Never having lived in an apartment, apart from when I was too young to remember much, it seems like conditions would be very cramped, especially if they plan to add kids to the mix.

But Josh and Elspeth’s place is one of the biggest apartments I’ve seen, so they probably will be fine there for a while yet.

They’ve been together since college and I’ve not heard either of them mentioning marriage but I’m not planning on asking.

Max and I are hardly ones to talk about that topic. We’d been together 20 years by the time we actually got around to getting married. 

We just didn’t feel a strong drive to get married until then. If Josh and Elspeth end up feeling the same way, it’s not going to upset me at all.

I can’t count on Mum feeling the same way though. I know she would love to see at least one of her grandchildren get married before she dies. Seeing our kids are much older than Asha’s, she’s got her sights set on them.

I’m not fussed if she says anything to Josh but I really don’t want her to bug Jessica.

I’m hoping Jessica waits a few more years before she starts thinking about marriage. 

She and Declan aren’t even living together yet though, so I think marriage might still be a way away.

The pair of them are very focused on their careers right now anyway. 

Whenever they come over, she and Max start talking shop. It gets a little boring for the rest of us, as you can imagine. 

Jessica is still pretty low down on the ladder at her catering company and she can’t wait to one day to have the kind of freedom Max does.

She’ll have to wait a while for that though, as Max is nowhere near ready to retire and pass down the cafe. 

Declan is about to begin the second year of his Master’s program and is working from home as a blogger.

I’ve never visited the blog but it’s a sci-fi review and discussion blog. It doesn’t pay very well but it’s something not too taxing that he can do while he’s studying and he can set his own hours. 

It’s a fun thing for him but he’s keen to start working in his chosen field. He just wasn’t as successful as Jessica in getting a job on the lower rungs.

He’s determined to walk right into a job in architecture the second he finishes his Master’s next year. 

Regardless of what happens on the job front, Jessica has the idea of taking him away for a few days to relax once he’s finished with his studies. 

I’m going to talk about it with Max but I would love to have them stay at our new holiday house when they go. I know they’d both appreciate it and it’d be nice to be able to take some expense away from the trip for them. 

Notes: 
  • Title is from Pieces of What by MGMT.
  • I was about to write that Zaria had never lived in an apartment and then I remembered she was born in one. It was teeny, because Kit and Leo were so poor back then. I really struggled getting them to teach her to walk, because there was so little room to do it. Josh and Elspeth's place would have been like a mansion to them. 
  • It's super hard to keep Kit's aspiration up right now. Her two major wants are "Relative Gets Engaged" and "Relative Gets Married". Occasionally, she also rolls the want for a grandchild. Considering her youngest daughter is 47, that's not going to happen. Her other wants are all piddly little things that don't give much of a boost. So Josh is going to have to get moving for his grandma's sake, lol. 😉
  • Jessica has the want to go on an island vacation. I wish I could remember if she had that want before her parents bought a house there! But I will let her and Declan visit sometime. I wish there was an easy way to lend it to them but the only way I can think to do it is to have Zaria/Max go and then teleport Jessica and Declan in (yes, I know about inviting them as guests - that doesn't give you a full range of interactions, even if you make them selectable). It won't fulfill the want but I'll consider it fulfilled anyway.

14 comments:

  1. I remember when Zariah and Max got married. Those relative marriage & grandbaby wants are really frustrating. Does Kit have a secondary aspiration?

    Also, I think I'd do the same thing with the vacation want- consider it fulfilled even if it wasn't technically. It is really aggravating managing and playing guests on vacation.

    I wonder if Declan will get lucky and get an architecture job right off the bat?

    And Zariah's goal of bringing in more business is both a great real-life politician's effort as well as a good one for 'hood building.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, Family actually is Kit's secondary aspiration! Her primary is Knowledge but she has maxed out all her skills, so she hasn't got much to wish for in that department these days. She's very family-focused now.

      I did guests on vacation in Sullivan once and I'll never do it again. I couldn't believe how much trouble it was! There must have been a better way to code that, EA!

      I use GPAs to decide whether sims will get a job in their chosen field right away or if they'll have to wait until it pops up on the computer. Declan's GPA was 3.9, so he's pretty set in that arena. :)

      Bringing in businesses was really a good goal to have in the middle of my rebuild! I'm looking forward to doing another election though. I like coming up with new goals for each candidate and seeing what you all vote for. :) Haven't even decided on candidates yet though!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  2. hahaha, yes, Josh better get to moving :) I like the vacation home, it seems roomier than a 1 bedroom house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, Josh already has a marriage want, so it's actually Elspeth who needs to get on board! They both had one before my rebuild though, so I'm not too concerned whether she rolls it or not.

      Yeah, that's what I thought about this house! It seems like it has a lot more space than it actually does though. It's kind of the opposite of your small houses, where you always manage to fit more stuff in than one might assume!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  3. A holiday house, how exciting! I guess that will be a nice place to retire too when the time comes and also a place for their kids to vacation to.

    Love the name of Max's cafe. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alas, TS2 sims can't actually live in their holiday houses. They have to remain holiday houses. I could use a whole lot of smoke and mirrors to pretend they were living there but ultimately, it's not something I'd bother with. Max and Zaria will certainly be able to visit a lot more frequently when they're retired though!

      I can't take credit for the name of Max's cafe. I downloaded the lot ages ago and it came with that name. I'm awful at coming up with names!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  4. Come on Josh, you don't want to disappoint! :D Lovely vacation home, seems like a good thing for them to have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, as I said to Starr, the want is there with Josh! He's just got to put it into action!

      My sims are always wanting to buy vacation homes but they either don't have the money or they don't really seem like the types to own one. But it seemed perfect for Max and Zaria. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  5. Ah, one of my wishes for TS4 right now is a tropical vacation with homes my sims can buy and not just rent. I miss this so much! I remember in TS2 my sims had tropical vacation homes more than any of the other places.

    Elder family sims, lol! I remember that. I actually don't even think TS4 elders can roll a wish for relatives to get married or to get a grandchild, and that's kind of sad. There is an aspiration task for it, but not a wish. I know they're annoying in TS2, but you'd miss them if you never got them anymore! ;)

    Josh and Elspeth are taking their sweet sweet time, aren't they? But I like that. It's fun to have some variety in the hood with different kinds and paces of relationships.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The tropical destination is the best. Mountains can be fun too but the Far East kind of sucks. One day, I want to make that over and make it more interesting but I have so many "one day" projects!

      I'm not actually annoyed by the family wants. Even when they're crazy, like they want 20 grandkids or whatever, I just think it's kind of sweet. I can't say all of my sims think they're sweet but I do! I would not be pleased at all to get less family wants than we do now. I would love to have even more, actually!

      In my hood, I feel like most of my couples take their sweet, sweet time! I actually want to speed things up a bit for some of them to mix it up that way. I have a few sims in mind who I think would get married relatively quickly, compared to Josh and Elspeth. Josh and Elspeth are actually about average for my hood.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  6. Their vacation home is very nice, and I believe that you might be able to give the deed to Jessica, then she can visit, and get the want fulfilled. Then just give it back to the parents. I'd save a copy first, but I believe that's how I did it for Cole way back when Milo was a toddler. His parents owned it, but I wanted just Cole's family to visit. Otherwise the pet/dog cheat for controls work if you have them as a tagalong, but that's pretty cramped, and probably not what Jessica has in mind!

    Josh and Elspeth are so cute together, and it makes sense that she hasn't rolled the marriage want, but I'm still surprised that he has! I half-expected him to take after his parents with the delayed wedding. How did you decide with them to have their children? Or were they accidental? Did you put unmarried TFB on?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm, that's an intriguing possibility! If it works, it would definitely be the easiest way to do this. I'll have to try this out in game later on. I'm not ready to send Jessica and Declan yet but I should be able to check if the option to visit the vacation home shows up, at least. And yeah, I don't think having Jessica's parents around would be quite the trip they're looking for!

      Honestly, I never expect sims to take as long to roll marriage wants as Max and Zaria did! That's very unusual, no matter the aspiration. I'm never too surprised when a sim Josh's age rolls the want though - standard operating procedure for my sims! As for Max and Zaria though, I don't think I had unmarried TFB on, though I may have. In any event, Josh and Jessica were both happy little accidents. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  7. Seeing all the cute couples makes me smile. Josh, time to get married! Do it for Grandma!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, I will have to check in with Josh and Elspeth sometime soon. Maybe during one of their birthdays - I don't think they're due for a full update yet. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete