Saturday, June 20, 2009

Summer of Apples - Patar 2003

Patar 2003
School Update & Apple Festival


It's the last week of school before the official summer break and the students were understandably excited.



Johan took a few minutes to have some quiet time in his office, well the corner of the room that he calls his office. Thankfully the progress on the new school building is almost complete. He has to do the final tour and then all the equiptment can be moved. The new building comes not a moment too soon. The Sweeny triplets are due to start school this fall. By the time the building opens the enrollment will be up to 16 students. Jesse Kent is doing a wonderful job as the high school teacher and he recently hired Nicole Humphrey as the music teacher. He still needs two more teachers (junior high and elementary), but for now the school is going well.


He decides to check up on the high school students. Verde is busy practicing at the ballet barre. It wasn't the young man's first choice for his physical education credit, but there isn't a soccer field or basketball court on the tiny campus.

The younger students are busy with educational play and completing thier reading assignments.

The students are on the last chapter of The Llama and the Bicycle and it's one of the few books to capture thier attention. Johan makes a mental note to start looking for books for the new year.



He calls them all to sit on the floor and the class has brief debate about the logical reasoning of llamas riding bicycles. Satisfied that the children possess some hints of logical ability, Johan dismisses the class for recess in order to prepare for his special guest.

After much playing in the puddles, games of catch and chats about summer plans, Johan calls the group inside.

Johan watches as the students crowd around Neeve Boudin of Simberry Fields.

They politely greet her and lead her to the front of the cramped room where she delivers a short speech about the importance healthy eating and physical activity during the summer. Afterwards the children give her handmade thank you cards and big hugs as she leaves.
****


Neeve has a lot to do during her brief trip to Apple Valley. After the speech at the school, she meets with the hood council to discuss plans for a community garden. Finally she meets up with her friend, Ginger, at the Apple Festival. Thankfully, they managed to spend some time together beforehand with Ginger's newly adopted son, Breckin, in Apple Plains. Today, they thought bringing all the children to the festival would be a good idea and allow the rest of the residents to see little Breckin.
"You look great." Neeve exclaims. "I still can't get over how much your skin glows. Pregnancy definately suits you."
The friends sit on the ground of the park and play a little bit with Breckin.
"Congratulations, Ginger. He is adorable."
Ginger looks up into the eyes of Tobi. "Thanks! Congratulations to you as well. How is the little one?"
"Doing well. His siblings love him, how are the children responding to the newest Grey?"
Ginger laughed. "The children can't get enough of him, they love him. They're also excited about the baby as well."
"Wow, looks like your family is growing. How is Grex?"
Ginger stalled. How was Grex? He had been moody to say the least, distant and angry from some strange reason.
"He's fine. How's Li?"
Tobi nodded. "She's doing well. Taking everything in stride. I admire her, she's been such a good sport with everything."
"Everything like what?"
"The children, the bills, everything. I know this isn't what she signed up for when we said 'I do' "
"I don't think marriage is ever what we envision." Ginger adds.
Neeve takes it all in, envious that they are able to discuss thier children and growing families while she was trying to convinve her husband to adopt a pet.
Her thoughts are interrupted as Jimmie Page, also of Simberry Fields, takes the stage.


The woman is sporting a new look due to her recent photo shoots and time spent in the studio. Her signature soulful, bluesy sound mixed with a rock n’ roll beat filled the small arena and after her last song, the crowd gave her a standing ovation.


She was followed by her label mates, Glitter. The teen band performed thier first single, My Glitter Jeans.

The catchy pop tune had the crowd snapping thier fingers and the older members of the audience sat polietly.

The highlight of the evening was Aerial Bionic. It was thier second time in Apple Valley, but this time thier performance was part of thier summer tour.

"Thanks for having us again, Apple Valley! Good night!"

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Cleaning Up

Been doing some cleaning up in Apple Valley. Got the downloads folder down to 1.99 GB. I noticed that my Sims 2 folder is 2.90GB, so over half of the space was the download folder.

My downloads are sorted by the following:
Downloads/
-Body Shop
---Accessories -> Type
---Beards
---Clothes -> Male/Female/Mesh -> Age Group (Adult/Child/Etc)
---Eyes / -> Default
---Eyebrows
---Hair/-> Creator
---Make-up/-> Type
---Skintones/ -> Default
-Build Mode ->
-Buy Mode -> Creator
-Hacks and Mods -> Creator
-Temporary (all files being tested)

Once I realized that most of my Sims 2 folder was devoted to downloads, then I got on the clean up vibe pretty quickly-amazingly it also spilled over into real life so I'm multi-tasking by cleaning the house, blogging and loading up the game. :)

So far I culled it from 2.28 GB to 1.99 GB, but you won't believe what actually took up the most space! Those lot packages that you have to click and then they load. Well, you better delete those things afterwards since those lots are now in your game. Those files were HUGE! I'm talking thousands of megabytes! Then the next largest is a MAXIS file from the EA Store. That's right-one file! It's a hefty 10,000 KB !!! Yikes!

My goal now is 1GB for downloads. That would mean I will have to be pretty harsh when it comes to downloads and subsequent storytelling. Those themed lots-like Fish & Chips resturaunt, might have to be conveyed via Maxis objects. I'll also have to stay away from all those beautiful websites with WCIF info on yummy objects!

Speaking of yummy objects, what CC is a MUST keep for you? I vote for my blakeboy modular seating and a very beautiful modern chair from Bella Forum-I think.

Does anyone know how big the Sims 2 is without any CC, saved sims or uploaded lots? Basically the memory stats for the game only. I guess that's not quite true since I also deleted the shipped neighborhoods (Pleasentview, Strangetown, etc).

How does that reflect on game time. I have a very basic desktop-Compaq Presario with 1GB of memory, 250GB Hard Drive and AMD Athlon processor.

13 mins for game to load to start-up screen

1 min to load neighborhood of choice

slight lag of 4 min when click apartment lot and for family choice to load (not sure if this is because I'm on the net at the same time)

3 min to load family

So about 20 minutes to load and start playing. Not bad since it used to take a good 35 minutes to load. I want to get my load time back down to 10 minutes, I downloaded something recently that really lags the system. I have some clues as to what it might be, so I'm off to cull some more.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Time to Move On, Patar 2003

Patar, summer, 2003
Jorge and Jolie are 36, Grace Elise is 8, Ashley is 5, Esther is 1

Jolie swallowed again. The evidence was in her hands.



I know what you two did. Have you no respect for family values? Get out of town like your lover did or this will be delivered to the newspaper and your spouses.

To be honest she was waiting for the envelope for weeks now. Grex told her that his envelope finally convinced him to pack up and move to Apple Plains.

It was only once, the attraction was too strong, no one was around and she allowed her passion to cloud her judgement in that hot tub.

She didn't need much prodding. Her family was the most important thing to her. She couldn't bear to lose her little girls or her husband for that matter. To be honest, she wondered if Jorge would even care if he found out. His attitude lately was, if it feels good then do it. That didn't matter, she told herself as she pulled up a chair to the computer and starting searching for available homes-outside of Apple Valley.

That's where Jorge and Esther found her hours later.

"What are you looking for?"

"Houses."

"What?"

"This house is too cramped. We only have two bedrooms and with three girls and a dog, we're running out of space." She lied. That was part of the reason, the house was too cramped.

"Can we even afford anything else in Apple Valley?"

"No, I'm looking in-"

"Ba-ba!!!" wailed Esther, cutting off thier conversation.

---

The next day, Grex came knocking.

"What is it?" She hissed, ushering him to the sidewalk to appearences showed two friendly neighbors, not two cheating spouses, not a woman who slept with her friend's husband, not two sims being blackmailed for one mistake.

"I saw you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw you in the metro with him."

"He's my husband for simlius sakes!"

"Did you have to flaunt it?"

"You were with your wife!" Jolie yelled.

"What about us?" Grex asked, his face long.

"We have our families to think about. Ginger is pregnant...do you want to leave her?"

"No...do you want to leave him?"

"Never." Jolie said firmly.

"So...friends?"

Jolie nodded. "Of course."

Then spotting her daughters walking home, she quickly said goodbye and ushered her children inside.

After giving them a snack, getting them started on thier homework and making sure Esther was happily playing, Jolie checked her voicemail. Her results were in and now it all made sense.

Moving was now no longer an option, it was a neccessity, Jorge told her when he arrived home and she shared the news.

"Thank goodness I got that position disarming those warheads off the coast of Evage Bay. Otherwise I don't know what we would do."

"But twins?" Jolie whispered. "We tried for years and now we're pregnant."

"Maybe we should have visited the photobooth in the metro more often when we were trying."

The couple laughed. That's all they really could do at this point. They had three daughters and two children on the way. Their house was far too tiny for seven sims and a dog. Before they could discuss things further, thier doorbell rang.

"Rebecca, how are you?" Jolie said.

"Great, do you have a minute?"

Jolie nodded and stepped into the warm night air.

"I have a proposition."

"Uh...ok."

"Open a bakery."

"What? With what simoleans?"

"I can arrange a very favorable business loan and large discounts on the purchase of land or a builder."

"Why?"

"Politics."

"Honestly, what's the catch?"

"The bakery has to be in Apple Plains."

"Apple Plains? Why?"

"Politics."

Jolie wasn't stupid and caught on quickly.

"Who sent it?" She hissed.

Rebecca remained mum.

"Are you serious? I'm pregnant and being forced out of the hood? Where's the family values in that!"

She still remained mum.

"Rebecca, you're my sister-in-law, my friend. You can't say anything?" She pleaded.

"Listen, if I were you, I'd take the favorable business loan, find a nice home in the Plains. Land is cheaper there and you can get more than you have now. Think about your family. They deserve better, they deserve not to be whispered about as they walk the hallways of school and work. Right now very few sims know about your affair, don't you want to keep it that way?"

Rebecca had a point.

"Yes..." Jolie sighed before allowing the tears to fall. Her friend opened her arms and allowed the woman to cry on her shoulder.

"How could I have been so stupid! That one stupid mistake is destroying my family!"

"No it's not. It's getting you a favorable business loan. Think about it. You would have had to move anyway with the twins coming. Housing prices are too high here and you wouldn't have moved to another hood since it's too far from your family and friends. Now you're moving to Apple Plains like you would have, but you have money to start your own bakery like you always dreamed. Think of it as a do-over." She explained.

Rebecca had pity for the woman, if that photo wasn't taken, then probably none of this would have happened. Take that back, if they had used thier heads instead of following thier passion then this wouldn't have happened.

"So what do you think I should do?"

"Take the offer and move."

"Does Julio know?"

"No. Hell, I don't want to know! I plan on forgetting about it as soon as I return home."

"Should I tell Jorge?"

"That's your call, honey. Right now he doesn't suspect anything. We're all allowed a laspe in judgement."

"Thanks." Jolie smiled and wiped her tears before turning towards the house.

"Wait."

"What?"

"One question...are the babies...?"

"Jorge." she answered with confidence.

---

Jorge and Jolie decided to annouce to the girls that they would be big sisters and that they would be moving.

"Will Esther and I have to go back?"Ashley asked.

Jolie smiled. "No, we're your forever family."

"Where will the babies sleep?" Grace Elise wondered.

"Well, we'll have to get a bigger house." Jorge said.

"So we're moving?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, we're moving."

"That's exciting! Wait until I tell the kids at school. A bigger house! We'll have new friends and our old friends and we can have a slumber party!"

"When do we move? When can we have the slumber party?" Ashley asked.

"When mommy has the babies, we'll move."

"Is that long?"

"A few simlonic months but time will fly by."

"Cool!" the girls shouted before stuffing the rest of thier cereal down thier throats. It was almost time for school.

---

Whoa, whoa, and whoa. This is a family of surprises. I was first enlightened to the attraction bewteen Grex and Jolie during a play session of the Farmer's Market several weeks ago. All of a sudden, Grex popped up the action to kiss Jolie. I canceled it right away. Grex was a family man after all!

Well, sims despise being controlled. While playing another sim Grex and Jolie-along with several others-were invited to a party. When Grex and Jolie disappeared, I thought nothing of it until I looked at the roof and noticed the cute embrace of a couple in the hot tub. Except said couple was married to other people. I took a photo mostly because of the angle, but Grex and Jolie took the kissing further on thier own. All I could do was watch since they were outside of my control.

Grex really did see Jolie downtown with her husband and was furious with her. He even slapped her! The funny part of everything is that, he had just emerged from a nearby hotel room with his wife and Jolie and Jorge were emerging from a photo booth. The really funny part of everything is that pregnancy scanner revealed that Jolie and Ginger both ended up pregnant at the same time from that prior moment-thankfully Jolie was carrying Jorge's child-otherwise this would have been a bit more scandalous.

When I went to play Jolie for her pregnancy, the scanner said 1 child expected. Not too bad, it would be cramped in the two bedroom home, but with two sets of bunkbeds, it would have been doable...for a while. When her belly popped and I did another scanner, it said TWO babies expected-due Givar 2003. That confirmed the fact that the Dawson family would be moving out the hood and going to the plains were home prices were cheap and houses larger.

Can you guess who sent the letter and photo?

Friday, June 12, 2009

Bringing Home Baby Lovar 2003

Lovar 2003
Welcome Matt Sweeny

The spring air still had a slight chill and Li was cranky. Tobi tried rubbing her belly, but the cramps didn't stop.

Soon the tiny tremors developed into full labor. Not the silent, bit your lip kind, Li wasn't that kind of woman. She let all the neighbors know how much she was in pain.

Tobi couldn't do anything more than stand by and wait for Julio to arrive. Yes, his training prepared him for delivering babies, but it was different when it was your wife in pain and screaming threats in three different languages.

Finally, Julio arrived with a bit of pain relief and Li delivered quickly afterwards.

"It's a healthy baby boy!"

Tobi grinned with pride before collasping to the couch in shock. Another mouth to feed.

The shock didn't last too long and Tobi was able to properly greet his son, Matt.

Welcome Matt Sweeny!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Spring Break 2003

Spring Semester 2003
Faith and Bill are freshman

To say that the love is gone would be an understatement. Faith and Bill were going through the motions. Since they purchased thier spring break package the first week of school, they didn't foresee that they wouldn't be in love with each other any more. It didn't matter, a week in Pirate Cove had the tendency to make all things better. The first day, Faith and Bill did what they do best before exploring the cove.

Bill decided to relax by the large ship. His thoughts turned to Alison and Faith. He knew that his relationship with Faith was over...he was waiting for it to end. They seem to have an unspoken agreement that after Pirate Cove, it would officially be over.

Tired of tossing the thought around his head, Bill jumped in the ocean for a swim.

When Faith saw him coming, she swam out. Obviously she wasn't avoiding him, she couldn't do that since they were sharing a room, but she wanted some time alone.

Returning to the boardwalk, Faith ran into a familar sim. "Professor Scampal! What are you doing here? Why are you wearing that suit, aren't you hot?"

"Even professors need vacations too."

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

"I am, thank you for asking. What about you? Are you having fun?"

"Yea..."

"You don't sound as though you're enjoying yourself."

"Things are weird bewteen my boyfriend and I."

"Ah, I understand. My wife and I are having some problems as well."

"But you're still with her."

"Yes, but remember, sometimes staying with a sim out of comfort isn't the wisest decision one can make."

While Faith was having deep discussions about love and relationships with her music therory professor, Bill had made a new friend in Lotus. She was a native and a very beautiful one at that. Bill didn't mind that she was bossy or brash. As soon as he stared into those deep brown eyes of hers he was hooked.

Dusk came quickly and Bill escorted Lotus to his hotel room. Faith wasn't around and he knew he only had moments with Lotus before she returned. Thankfully, she didn't take much convincing.

Meanwhile, Faith was enjoying dinner alone when the server placed a large fruity drink and note on her table.

Beautiful One, would you like to meet tomorrow for breakfast? If so, show up here tomorrow morning.
The next morning, Faith showed up and met A'kahil.
"I hope I wasn't too bold," he explained. "I saw your beauty and was amazed."
Faith couldn't help buy grin at the cheesy line. Hey, she liked cheese.
Breakfast was spent discussing his job as a fire dancer and her dreams of being a famous violinist. It wasn't love at first sight, it really wasn't even love, but it was enough of a fling for Faith.

All too soon, it was time for the couple to leave. As they waited for the airport shuttle to arrive, they turned to each other. Both knew what the other would say and instead of wasting words, a very simple smile and promise to be friends was exchanged with a hug.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Rough calendar 2003

Rough calendar 2003:


Spring
Hapar-Grey
Lovar-Dawson
Lovar-PCU-Spring Break
Lovar-Sweeny Baby Due

Summer
Patar-School Update & Apple Festival
Patar-Sweeny
Patar-Dawson Emergency Update
Remar-Kent

Fall
Havar-Warwick
Havar-PCU Fall Semester
Resar-Herendez
Resar-Humphrey

Winter
Givar-Shazad
Givar-Dawson/Grey Babies Due
Givar-McMillian
Peacar-Wilsonoff

ROS:
Make Like Rabbits-Woohoo 15 times in the next 24 hours. This will probably result in a pregnancy.

Vacation-ok, this was due for this family anyway.

Crafting Obession-Toy Bench: Craft until gold badge recieved. Will be funny :)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Community Director Note: SUN Exchange & Gardens

Carmela Herendez

Community Garden



The proposal for the community garden was approved and Neeve Boudin of Simberry Fields will be making a trip to help the residents establish the garden. Li Sweeny will work closely with Ms. Boudin to develop a plan for the community garden.

The garden will feature several vegetable plantings as well as decorative shurbs and flowers with room to sit and relax. Perhaps an area for small weddings as well.

SUN Exchange
Looking to revive the tradition of SUN Exchanges. Families would be asked to stay for one simyear to gain the most out of the experience. Families visiting Apple Valley will be able to stay in one of the many apartment choices here. We're looking for interested families from the hood and other hoods to exchange with. Interested families from other hoods please apply by sending an email noting your family size, interests and small paragraph detailing what you hope to gain from the exchange.

NewRIP
Sims interested in welcoming new residents to Apple Valley as well as helping plan community events to maintain these new relationships in the hood, please call me at x2345.
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