University - Round 9 - Part 1: The Girlfriends House

Starring:

Silvio Vinci, Young Adult Sim, LTW Become Prestidigitator

Neal Cleary, Young Adult Knowledge Sim, LTW Become Media Magnate

Tessa Ramirez, Young Adult Knowledge Sim, LTW Become Prestidigitator

Beth Thayer, Young Adult Popularity Sim, LTW Become Hall of Famer


~*~*~*~*~

Last round at the Girlfriends house, the four young adults moved in together and began to adjust to college life. Silvio and Neal fought almost constantly for no apparent reason other than Silvio is a grumpy guy. The couples remained close, and the girls even became good friends. They all maintained 4.0 GPAs, despite the fact that they threw their fair share of house parties. At the end of the round, Tessa found out she must have missed a few of her birth control pills. How will the house manage their second half of university with a baby on the way? We'll see.

It wasn't but a few days into the YAs' junior year that Tessa woke up in the night with intense cramps. Neal lay sleeping a few feet away. "Neal! The baby is coming!" she gasped, as he blearily rubbed the sleep from his eyes.




Sure enough, a few hours later, Tessa brought a brand new baby girl into the world, who the delighted parents immediately dubbed Tallulah. The only major concern they had was that they would never be able to take care of a child and complete their educations.




After an intense amount of soul-searching and phone calls home, they came to a mutual decision to send Tallulah to Neal's parents in Rosebud to live until they completed their educations. It was agonizing to part with their baby daughter so soon after she was born, but they weren't far from Rosebud and could visit every weekend. Plus, she would get all the love and affection she could handle from Colm and Michelle, so they knew she was in good hands.





Still, both Neal and Tessa thought of their baby often while they were at school. They tried not to let the distraction disrupt their studies too much, though.





And the YAs succeeded - they maintained their Dean's List averages and finished their first semester without incident.




And, of course, they had a party to celebrate. It was tradition in this household to celebrate their accomplishments by inviting over everyone to have a few drinks, some barbecue and food.



Sometimes Neal even broke out his violin and played a little bit of his beginner's fiddlework on it, much to the distaste of the party guests, who mostly plugged their ears.




Almost before they knew it, two more semesters passed, and they were entering their final semester of college. It was a little heartbreaking knowing that their idyllic existence on the college campus was about to come to an end, but Tessa and Neal had reasons for wanting to go home too. They missed their baby girl and were anxious to start their family.




Before they left, they all joined the greek house, which was a fairly simple feat since they parties with the Urele Cham kids from their home town all the time. Beth, little Ms. Popularity, joined first, but the rest of the house shortly followed after, even grumpy Silvio.




They had a last party before the beginning of their final semester and went into their last classes in great spirits.





The semester passed quickly, and the four Young Adults found themselves on the brink of entering the adult world. Life in their little house on Sim State Campus had gone smoothly, but they were all worried about how things would go in their new lives. They could only hope they would do just as well as they packed up their things and headed back to Rosebud.



[[Author's Notes: This house is so lovely and simple, and the kids are so much fun once they get their grades up for the semester and earn their autonomy. The semester obviously went pretty smoothly as I see that I barely took any pictures in between parties and the completion of semesters. The decision to send Tallulah home was a rough one for me, but Tessa and Neal are moving back in after graduation to the original Cleary house, and it just seemed like the right thing to do. Family will be happily reunited next round. I can't think of anything else relevant, so I leave you with a few bloopers.


Bloopers:
Beth apparently suffers from the rare and untreatable "Greek Amnesia." // Come on, EAxis. This poor townie could be pretty if not for the hellacious cheekbones you gave her. ]]

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The Vincis (E) - Round 9

Starring:

Imelda Vinci, Adult Knowledge Sim, LTW Become Space Pirate

~*~*~*~*~

Last time we saw Imelda, she was graduating from university after having proposed to her long-time boyfriend, Marquez Villalobos. How will she fare while waiting for him to graduate and come marry her? We'll see.

The first thing Imelda did upon returning to Rosebud was to secure herself a very tiny house in the downtown area of Rosebud. There was barely enough room for her, but it would have been worse moving back into her parents' house: after all, they had two new twin girls that would have driven Imelda batty. No, she'd rather be cramped than harassed, so she settled into her new home and tried to make the best of the small space. At least it was all her own.

Against her better judgment about lack of space, Imelda did agree to do one thing: adopt Pumpkin and Cinnamon from her mother. She'd grown up with these kitties, and her mother's house was getting so full of younger cats that Imelda felt it was her duty and pleasure to give them a calm, lazy retirement.

Admittedly, Imelda's parents had helped her with a bit of cash when she got out of university, so she could afford more than the average new graduate. It didn't hurt that her mother agreed to pay for all the boarding cost for the two kitties at first, until Imelda got a job and got on her feet. Pumpkin and Cinnamon were truly living in style now, even if there wasn't room for beds indoors.

Of course, Murphy's Law dictates that anything that CAN go wrong WILL, and so shortly after Imelda moved in, she was unpleasantly woken in the middle of the night by a burglar.

Thankfully, she had a burglar alarm, and the police were quick to respond.

It didn't do her nerves much good though, especially when the burglar beat up the cop and ran off into the night. Imelda felt terrified. She'd never lived alone before, and she shuddered at thinking what the man could have done to her. She couldn't WAIT until Marquez graduated and finally joined her.

The only lucky thing that happened to Imelda that season was that she almost immediately found a job in her chosen field. It wasn't at a bad level either... not the top, but not an entry-level position. And besides, the outfit for International Sims of Mystery was HOT.

Her passion for her job and her commitment to reaching the top of her career skyrocketed her very quickly through the ranks, and before the fall season was over, she'd achieved her lifetime goal of becoming a space pirate.

That goal achieved, she thought that maybe, someday, she might like to write about her adventures...or maybe talk to other sims about their experiences in similar fields. She'd revel in her space piratey goodness for a while, but there were definitely other things she could see herself getting into later on in her life. If only the rest of her life, especially Marquez, would come already!



[[Author's Notes: I kinda love Imelda. I don't know why, but I'm very fond of her. She's turned out so pretty as an adult, and I suspect that both Grace and Leah will look very much similar to her when they age up too. Not too much to report here...everything was pretty much as described in the entry. Imelda wouldn't adopt the kitties until she had enough money to do so, so Fiona had to give her a bunch of crap from her backpack to sell for cash before the adoption would go through...that's why I mentioned her parents helping her out. I'm not sure how this house is going to tolerate two humans and two cats next round...they may end up moving since this was only intended to be a temporary residence. I can tell you that next round, when Marquez joins her, this house will become the Villalobos E household, though, so don't be confuzzled when you see it! Only one blooper for you...

Blooper:
Synchronized swooning. ]]

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The Chans - Round 9

[[No family portrait, sorry.]]

Starring:

Guillermo Chan, Adult Family Sim, LTW Marry Off 6 Children

~*~*~*~*~

Last time we saw Guillermo, he was proposing to Aurélie Beaumont at his graduation party from university. Since Aurélie isn't done her schooling, Guillermo is determined to buy a home for them and whip it into shape by the time she is ready to graduate and join him. How will he do, being a poor, just-out-of-college student? We'll see.

Upon returning to Rosebud, the first thing Guillermo did was purchase a very cheap, very unfurnished starter home in the more downtown area of Rosebud. It had no furniture, but he spent the tiny amount of money left after the purchase of the property on kitchen appliances and a tiny bit of paint and flooring for the first floor.




The top floor, however, remained desperately underfurnished. With what money was left, he barely had enough to buy a toilet, a cheap locker-room shower, a bed, and a table for the computer Mr. Humble had left him mysteriously on the doorstep. The computer was essential, so he was glad for the gift, because he truly needed some good employment. He took the highest paying job available to him: a job in the dance field. He was glad his college friends couldn't see him now.





Fortunately, thanks to his sharp wit, he managed to make a very wise choice almost his very first day on the job.



He was promptly promoted to Flamenco master, bringing home a lovely paycheck and bonus to help him continue to improve the house.



With a little over six thousand simoleons now in his bank account, he was able to really improve the house, though still not as fast as he would have liked. Time was pressing on his mind.. it had to be a suitable place to live before Aurélie joined him!





Guillermo decided to continue his work on the first floor, adding a kitchen table and at least a couch so they had someplace to sit. The lack of furniture was rather depressing, he thought.




As for the upstairs, he was finally able to buy a proper bed, armoire, and bathroom equipment that didn't look like it belonged in the YMCA locker room. The office and upstairs foyer still had to wait, though.





It wouldn't have to wait for long, however. Guillermo spent most of his days working intently to make sure he was in a position to reach the top of his career, and within a few short weeks, he'd achieved that goal. An almost eight thousand dollar paycheck + bonus allowed him to continue with his home renovations.




The upstairs den and foyer finally got the makeover they desperately needed, and Guillermo finally felt like the place was shaping up enough that at least Aurélie wouldn't feel like she was living in a dump.




There was even enough money to finally start furnishing more thoroughly the ground floor, including getting the second bathroom installed and functioning and getting a few rugs to dress up the place.



He even managed to plant a few small trees and get some lights for the outside of the house so it didn't look like a dark shack. Maybe it wasn't the most beautiful place in the world... and the landscaping could certainly use some work, but he knew now that he could be proud of what he'd accomplished and welcome Aurélie into their new home.



[[Author's Notes: I had SO much fun playing Guillermo by himself! Next round, Aurélie will move in, and this will become a Beaumont residence after they marry (because I don't care so much about the wife always taking the husband's name, and I'm trying to keep the household names identical to the original five surnames). It's been so long since I had a sim who was really poor and had to slowly decorate the house from the bottom up that I forgot how entertaining and rewarding it could be. I can't wait to play them in round 10! Only one blooper:

Blooper:
Guillermo: Ew, old pregnant lady likes me!]]

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The Tanakas (D) - Round 9

Author's Notes: You may have noticed that I skipped the Tanaka D house in the round 8 blogging. This was because I lost these photos in the computer crash, along with the photos for the Vinci D house (Inari and Sal). I have no excuse for lacking photos for the round 9 blogging except for the truth: when I looked at my previous listing for round 8, these two families weren't on it, so I skipped playing them by accident.

I apologize for completely forgetting these two households for a round, but I will offer some pictures for the Tanaka D household (Tara and Aki) to prepare you for their round 10 blog entry.

As you may recall, romance is practically non-existent between the two college sweethearts Tara and Aki. Despite Aki working hard to resurrect Tara after her unfortunate leaf burning accident, things were no better between them, and they pretty much just co-existed in the house together, building a business without any passion at all. So, I made an executive decision this round to split them up and set them up in new digs. Following are photos of their new single-person residences. From here on out, Tara will become the Cleary B residence, and Aki will remain the Tanaka D residence.

On with the pics! (I'm pretty proud of these houses as I didn't use a pattern and built them myself. I was going for definite themes this time.)

Tara Cleary - Her Mediterranean Loft

The kitchen, done in mediterranean coral colors. Very open, airy, and warm.



Her new bedroom, in mediterranean blue, the color of the sea.




The bathroom, in shades of grapes and wine.




The living room in sky blue and olive green, with open half-walls to promote a sense of larger space.




The ground floor grotto, with a large pool (with slide and diving board), a stereo and grill, and privacy hedges in front.




An aerial view of the apartment, showing the peep-window in the floor that goes down to the pool below.




Finally, a front view of the mini-villa.

Aki Tanaka - His Urban Bachelor Pad

The kitchen, in clean, crisp, modern black and white. All tile.

The front side of the split-level, showing stereo, art area, and bookshelves.

The right side of the split-level, showing Aki's computer desk and sewing machine.

The living room: very spartan, retaining the black and white theme of the kitchen. Glass front door.

Again, a very clean, simple bedroom with white floors and blood red paint.





Matching bathroom off the master bedroom. Very manly. Yes.




Aerial view of the top floor: long hall plus bedroom/bathroom.



Aerial view of ground level, including raised "activity" area, sunken kitchen and living room.



And an outdoor view of Aki standing in front of his new pad.




Sorry again for my complete lack of taking care of blogging these two. I just noticed that I didn't really blog them in round 6 either. Maybe my computer has an aversion to them the same way I've had an aversion to playing them because they're so bland and loveless and uninteresting. Hopefully this new setup will mean we see more of these two in their new cool places!

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