Tuesday 17 January 2017

Standing on my own again

Round 36: March 2044 (Autumn)


Caitlin Romilly is 21, Georgina and Annabel Nott are 20 and Sylvia Draper and Alice Jacobson are 18. 
(Eddie is 24, Brendan is 21, Simon and Matthew are 19, Aurora and Bianca are 18)

Narrated by Caitlin Romilly



It’s my final year here and I’m starting to think about where I’m actually going to live once I graduate. 

I definitely won’t be able to live on my own on a new graduate’s salary (not that I’d want to anyway), so I’m looking at doing the share house thing for a while. Brendan is in, and so are Georgina and Annabel. 

I thought maybe Georgina would want to get a place with Adrian after graduation but apparently not.

As well as everything is going with them at the moment though, Georgina doesn’t want to do the cohabitation thing right out of college. 

She’s really looking forward to having the whole roomie experience with all of us.

If anything further is going to happen with her and Adrian, she wants to date him for a while as a proper, out-of-university adult first. 

I think that sounds like a pretty sensible plan. Georgina and Adrian are a great couple but being out in the real world, who knows what might happen?

And selfishly, I just really want Georgina living with us too. It wouldn’t be the same without her.

But Georgina and Annabel are a year behind me and Brendan, so it won’t happen right away anyway. 

Brendan and I will probably back home for a year, rather than finding a small place and then finding a larger one once Georgina and Annabel are ready. We couldn’t manage the rent on a huge place with just the two of us anyway.

But thinking about all that is just a fun little distraction from my workload, which seems to be ten times what it was last year!

I don’t know how Declan ended up with a 3.9 GPA. Well, I do know but it’s not a sacrifice I’m willing to make. Declan spent way more time studying than I ever planned to.

I always wanted to have fun here on campus too though, so I’ve tried to balance things out a little more and study while still giving myself plenty of leisure time.

A fair bit of that time has been spent with Eddie. I even went home to stay with my parents for the whole summer, so it’d be easier to see each other.

He’d been seeming a little bit distant lately and I thought being only a few streets away might bring us closer together again.

We spent a lot of time together and we did have fun but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

Eddie kept insisting everything was fine, so there wasn’t even anything I felt like I could do to fix it.

I wasn’t prepared to just keep waiting for things to go back to the way they used to be though, so I broke up with him.

Eddie is a great guy and I still care about him but whoever I’m dating, I want to feel like they’re as into me as I am into them. I just didn’t feel like Eddie felt the same way any more. 

I’m sad about it but I’m doing okay. I’ll have more time to study now, which I’m sure would thrill Dad!

Georgina has been very supportive but Annabel doesn’t really get why I’d break up with someone I still like. 

I guess Annabel and I aren’t really looking for the same things in a relationship at the moment though.

Annabel has had this on-again, off-again thing going with Simon for several months now and I don’t know what’s going on. 

She slept with him once last year and they both decided it was a mistake…and then they ended up getting back together anyway.

Georgina is totally scandalised. She doesn’t think too much of Simon and thinks part of the appeal for Annabel is that their mum hates him so much. 

Annabel and Simon are not serious but I don’t understand why they’re together at all, intermittently or not.

They seem so incompatible to me. They’ll be hanging out, then they’ll have a huge argument and stop talking to each other. 

Then they start the cycle all over again a few weeks later.

I think they’ll get bored of this dance soon enough, probably as soon as one of them meets someone they like better, which shouldn’t be too difficult.

There are two freshmen in our dorm this year - Sylvia and Alice. I was planning on showing them the ropes around here but they’ve been a little bit standoffish.

Neither are the overly friendly type but I’ve managed to worm my way in with them a little bit anyway.

Sylvia is a Literature major, with the ultimate plan of earning a living as a playwright, or maybe a screenwriter. She’s open to both. 

She’s pretty serious but she’s admitted to taking her own personal writing a bit more seriously than anything for class. She has the big room on the top floor, which she likes because there’s no reason for anyone else to ever go up there, so it’s always very quiet. 

We’ve invited Sylvia to come to the uni bar with us but so far, she hasn’t been interested. She spends most of her evenings writing. 

Alice is a regular there but she usually goes with her boyfriend, Matthew.

She’s been even less interested in socialising with us than Sylvia has been. 

Really, she and Sylvia both just prefer to keep to themselves. I love making new friends, so it’s not an attitude I understand but there’s not a lot I can do about it.

So instead, Aurora and Bianca have been enjoying the company of their older and wiser cousin! I haven’t seen them that much since I was in high school, so it’s been fun.

Aunt Ione asked if I would watch out for them when they moved to campus. Not that I wasn’t always going to.

I mean, I’m at their dorm all the time anyway. I like to visit Brendan but I’m also just nosy and like checking out what’s going on. 

Bianca is totally fine. She’s set to ace all her classes and she’s adjusting to dorm life. 

She’s missing her boyfriend Gabriel but she’s coping with lots of phone calls and visits when they can swing them.

She’s staying very positive about the whole thing but still counting down the days until Gabriel moves to Suffolk. 

Aurora is enjoying everything here on campus too, though she’s currently hung up on Brendan.

They started hanging out, Aurora developed a little crush, made her move and then got shot down.

He was nice about it but apparently neglected to mention his girlfriend for the entire time they’d been hanging out. Then he told her things were “weird” between him and his girlfriend and failed to elaborate. So now she’s all confused. 

I said I’d go talk to him on Aurora’s behalf but she made me swear I wouldn’t mention her name. 

I thought it would be pretty obvious anyway but it’s Brendan, so who knows? He can be a bit oblivious a lot of the time.

I was super casual and just asked him how things were going with Amanda.

Brendan sort of groaned and told me they weren’t going particularly well. 

He hasn’t had the same feelings for her for the past few months and has been putting off breaking up with her.

That made me feel terrible for Amanda, because I think I would have been in exactly that situation with Eddie, had I not taken things into my own hands.

I resisted the urge to really ream him out about it and instead gently suggested that he’s only prolonging the misery for himself and for Amanda.

He reluctantly agreed and promised me he’d talk to Amanda soon. 

I reported back to Aurora and she’s feeling a little better about things. She’s not going to make another move; Brendan knows she’s interested now, so she’s planning on leaving it up to him this time. 

Notes:
  • Title is from Standing On My Own Again by Graham Coxon.
  • I'm actually still deciding on living arrangements for next year. I was thinking of leaving Georgina and Annabel on campus and moving them into their own place to make room in this dorm for the younger students coming in...but with a base hood uni like I have, I could also just move them back to Sullivan with Caitlin and Brendan and have them commute to their classes. That's looking more and more appealing to me as I puzzle it out in my head. 
  • So Caitlin and Eddie broke up for the same reason most of my sims break up - lack of interest. He wasn't rolling any wants at all for her and I think she was losing interest too, as she wasn't rolling too many herself. Post break-up, she hasn't rolled any wants for him but she did roll this towards the end of the play session.
          
         So it looks like she's quite keen to get back out there! And it's nice that she doesn't want Eddie            to die at least. It's an amicable break-up! They only ever had one bolt, so I wasn't expecting                them to go the distance.
  • Aurora was never going to bring up Brendan's girlfriend again, so Caitlin had to take matters into her own hands! As for Brendan and Amanda - you can assume they broke up, off-camera. I would have done a whole scene if she wasn't a dormie but she is. Now we can sit back and wait to see what happens between him and Aurora.
  • Grades: Alice and Georgina both have 4.0s. I was expecting Sylvia to get a 4.0, seeing she's secondary Knowledge but the girl has no desire at all to write term papers, so just like Caitlin and Annabel, she's got a 3.3.

16 comments:

  1. Interesting options for Caitlin and Brendan, Georgina and Annabel. It's nice you have the options with base hood uni. Caitlin definitely seems like the kind of young woman who knows her own mind and wouldn't cling to someone just because that's who she's with. It will be great for her to find someone who makes her feel really special.

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    1. The base hood uni is great. I could never go back to regular EA uni now. I will probably have Annabel and Georgina commute next year. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I've done it before, with other students. I think it was Susannah, most recently (so not very recent at all, since she's in her mid 30s now!)

      Caitlin is very keen to fall in love again, as you can see but I thought it was telling that she didn't want it to happen with Eddie. I don't see her as the kind of girl who'd wait around hoping. She's got a lot of confidence in herself and she knows she deserves a relationship where the feelings are mutual. On that note, I have a romantic prospect in mind for her already.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. I would love to see them all live together and the students commute for class. And why does Aurora remind me of Lila Novak? Are they distant cousins? I was hoping for some more insight into Alice and her cheating boyfriend, but there was so much going on, it seems like it would have been hard to get to.

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    1. Very likely, you will see that next round! I haven't done the living off campus thing for a while but it should be fun. :)

      Aurora and Lila are not distant cousins - they're actually first cousins! Aurora's dad and Lila's dad are brothers. Both of them favour their mothers over their fathers though, so I think it's pretty cool that you can see a resemblance between them anyway.

      I was hoping to get more in about Alice and Matthew too but as you said, there was a lot going on already. And also, I wanted to see if anything would happen naturally. If Caitlin had have come across Matthew and Lexie in the dorm, for instance, I would have written that in. She would 100% tell on him. Didn't happen though! We'll see what happens next time.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. I like the idea of commuting for them next year. How far out do you imagine Suffolk to be from Sullivan? I was curious why Eddie wasn't as interested in Caitlin and was expecting a bit of an explanation at the end. I'm glad that it wasn't cheating though, and just growing apart. Nice that it was amicable, and she doesn't want to do something insane like drink him. :)

    Poor Amanda, but I'm all for Aurora landing Brendan! He's adorable, and I think they would be super cute together. I'm beginning to think that Alice is kind of a brat... I was mildly surprised that Sylvia rejected the offers of friendship, but I can see her being an introvert and focusing on her own goals, though I think her parents may want her a bit more focused on her academics. Reminds me of Meg at uni, she kept rolling wants to write a novel, and spent the majority of her time doing that. It'll be strange having Caitlin graduate! What will campus-life be like without her popping in!

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    1. I think of Suffolk as being roughly an hour away from Sullivan by car, maybe 45 minutes from Exeter. I'll have to fit a driveway into whatever house they end up in, so I can get Annabel and Georgina a little junker car to take to campus!

      Eddie's interest in Caitlin has been waning for a little while now, so it was time to pull the plug. I can see him having a problem actually doing the dumping though, so I had Caitlin do it instead. It made sense for the kind of girl she is anyway.

      Yeah, don't worry about Amanda. She'll get a makeover (needs one anyway, because she looks way too much like Adelaide!) and either live a responsibility-free life in the dorm forever or marry into my hood to someone else. Win-win, really. ;) I like the idea of Aurora and Brendan together too and I don't think I'll have to do any pushing at all to make it happen. There's a lot of attraction there.

      Ha, yeah, Alice is probably sort of a brat and she and Sylvia are both sort of insular, so that all contributed to them distancing themselves from Caitlin. They did both warm up to her a little towards the end...but she's moving out now, so that's probably not going to develop into anything! I would not be at all surprised if Caitlin decides to keep randomly visiting the dorm though, so who knows?

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Drama Llama, lol! Always so much going on in your Uni updates. :)

    Well done to Caitlin for making that decision to break up with her boyfriend. I mean I know it wasn't easy but if she is unhappy then best to change things. It takes courage to do that.
    She seems like a very social sim, always catching up with someone and prefers to have other sims around than be on her own. And maybe a little nosy too? lol!

    And lol at Annabel and Simon!

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  5. Replies
    1. Uni updates are my favourites. :) This one took ages to get to, because it was a bit hard to frame, POV-wise, and then Christmas and New Year happened!

      As hard as breaking up with Eddie might have been, I think staying in the relationship waiting for it to get better would have been even harder for Caitlin. She's not into that. And yes, she's definitely a little bit nosy! She's going to make one hell of a mother-in-law one day!

      Thanks for the compliments on the banner - it was a bit of a rush job!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. Couldn't resist to a Caitlin update!!! I'm going to catch up slowly starting with her! <3
    So you made big changes in your way of playing university, I see! It's still so fun to read! Ahha, yeah, I perfectly picture Caitlin not being focused on studies only! :D
    It's interesting to see how she broke up because their relationship was fading out and now wants to fall in love again!! I'd say it's typical from that age! <3
    So excited to read about your Simmies again!!!<3
    Daaaw, Sims 2 wishes seem to often make more sense than Sims 3 ones (no mention to Sims 4). I like that there's the "falling in love" wish, without any specific Sim!
    It's great to see Gerogina and Annabelle!
    Oh, I wanted to check on aunt Ione, as she was another favorite of mine, but the link you put on that page leads to a non-existing page.

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  7. (forgot to AWWWW on Simon!!! Awwww, he's so how I pictured he could be by growing up, it's fun!!! :D)

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    1. Caitlin likes some balance and variety in her life, lol! She's a bit of a romantic too, so this thing with Eddie was not working out the way she wanted it to. She's keen to jump back in again already though, as you can see! I do like the Sims 2 wants versus the Sims 3 wishes. :)

      I'm going to fix Ione's link when I finish this comment, so it should be okay when you get back to this. :) Thanks for letting me know!

      I had forgotten about you and Simon, lol! He's definitely turning out just as you imagined!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. Looking back on Brendan's life, he seems kind of flighty with women, isn't he? It's amazing that he's dated and broken up with both Caitlin and Georgina and managed to retain their friendship. He doesn't know how lucky he is!

    Anyway, after Amanda now too, three sort of ambivalent wishy-washy breakups, now I'm cautious about Aurora getting involved. Will she just be his new catch and release? Although, I also like them together. So I'm torn! I get the feeling Brendan doesn't think or worry about any of this at all, lol!

    I am glad Georgina wants to take some time to live on her own before moving in with Adrian. No harm in that! Even though I still think Adrian is adorable. She'll treasure the experience before making things really serious.

    Annabel and Simon are funny. They are totally hot and cold. I can't wait to see whether they keep this going or let it fizzle out.

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    1. I think the pattern I've noticed with Brendan is that he's really bad at breaking up! He was with all three of his girlfriends for decent amounts of time, considering how old he was at the time - Caitlin for a year, Georgina for 3 and Amanda for 2. So I don't think he's flighty or fickle, exactly, but he is crap at ending things when they start to go south.

      What I'm hoping for with him and Aurora if they get together (and I don't think I could stop them at this point!) is that a) he maintains his interest in her and b) she manages to gather all her courage and speak up if he starts to get weird. She did it with Matthew, so I think she has a little of Caitlin's spirit in her, where she won't accept subpar treatment from her boyfriends!

      I have to get Adrian into this hood somehow! If things don't work out with Georgina and I can't pair him up with anyone else, he's becoming a playable NPC. So cute. But yes...Georgina is smart to wait on making any actual commitments.

      I am just as curious as you are about Annabel and Simon! I'm just seeing what happens, lol!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  9. And I was just saying I'd be following Brendan's relationship, lol. I love how Caitlin worms her way into everyone's business but in a nice way. Yay! New roomies!

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    1. I will probably use my new birthdays posts to pop in on Brendan again at some point before the end of the round, to see what he's up to. ;) I just love Caitlin in general but she's not the type to sit back and watch when she thinks she might be able to help. It may get her in trouble one of these days...but her heart is always in the right place. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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