Tales of Happy Valley
Another Word from the Time Lords

I just noticed that according the Time Lords, I finally have Tales of Happy Valley caught up to The Aardvarkians!

Yippee!

Exhibita's story happened on GD 111, which is the same day (in Happy Valley, at Greg and Sheba's house) that the Gilbert Committee showed up in the helicopter.

Greg, have you been watching the German version of Monty Python, by any chance? I only just realised the connection, but the titles of the sketches in episode two are (supposedly):

1. William Tell
3. The Sycophancy Show
4. Mouse Reserve/Fish Park
5. Chicken Mining
6. The Philosophers' Football Match – Greeks vs Germans
7. Wrestling Match - Colin "Bomber" Harris vs Colin "Bomber" Harris
9. I Want A Hearing Aid
and 10. The Tale of Happy Valley

Maybe it's just coincidence.

Nihale199 wrote:

Greg, have you been watching the German version of Monty Python, by any chance? I only just realised the connection, but the titles of the sketches in episode two are (supposedly): 1. William Tell 3. The Sycophancy Show 4. Mouse Reserve/Fish Park 5. Chicken Mining 6. The Philosophers' Football Match – Greeks vs Germans 7. Wrestling Match - Colin "Bomber" Harris vs Colin "Bomber" Harris 9. I Want A Hearing Aid and 10. The Tale of Happy Valley Maybe it's just coincidence.

Nope! I think I pilfered the name of Happy Valley from Robert A. Heinlein's story, The Tale of the Adopted Daughter.

"When I got to the point that I had too many characters to keep track of in my head, I started an Excel spreadsheet that lists just about everything there is to know about a given character. I've even been toying with the idea of writing a plugin for SimPE that will display the characters' stories in a better integrated fashion; or maybe even a stand-alone application.

I've found that it's important to me that my game have a consistent overall story, even from one neighborhood to the next. It's a lot like writing slice-of-life fiction, albeit for an audience of one."

I totally agree! I did actually make a couple of spreadsheets about my Sims 1 Sims. Sims 2 Sims have been rather disorganised so far with only a few text files of notes. I've had too many reinstalls to be consistent. The Hood I played most time with was PleasantView and of course that's gone now (not a memory bomb in the usual sense, just my own memory - I copied the New version of Pleasantview instead of the Old (playing) version after I put NightLife in .
I have made several attempts at neighbourhoods with similar results. I think I need to concentrate on one.
I just restarted New PleasantView with a couple of old favourite characters and I think that might run far enough to make a decent story.

I do like my little world of Sims to have some consistency. And the idea of them living in towns in the same world works quite well. hmmm... there could even be distant relatives they could go visit!

....runs away to build a spreadsheet... well it beats working!

...is there a way to attach a picture yet?

hmmmm neat idea

Sita wrote:

I've even been toying with the idea of writing a plugin for SimPE that will display the characters' stories in a better integrated fashion; or maybe even a stand-alone application.

I want it! I want it! I want it! If it were just a little app that extracted the character data into a .csv file, that would be fantastic! Then we could import the data into Excel or even a database.

Oh. Um. Were you quoting me there?

Well, I STILL want it!

Yup! And I want it too!

Tales of Happy Valley
Chapter 139: Maids on Campus

While the Bennetts are getting to know their new twins, Flavia and Farrah, Gilbert is reacquainting himself with this half-sisters on campus.

Just a few houses down from the Bennett kids' Manse Orleans, Collegiate Edition is the college home of the Franks boys, cousins Tommy Franks Jr and Carl Franks Jr. They live on campus with Carl Jr's girlfriend, Jill Smith.*

One day early in the Franks boys' freshman year, maids Lucy Hanby and Kaylynn Langerak stopped by to visit. Lucy and Kaylynn have known the Franks family since they first moved to Happy Valley and actually helped raise the two boys. Now, rejuvenated and eager to learn, both of them are going to school at Happy Valley University while helping to keep up the houses there.



Lucy is halfway through her sophomore year.

Lucy had to cut her visit short because it was time for her to take her final exam. The kids made her promise to come back after her final, and here she is! Despite the incredible workload of cleaning half the houses in Happy Valley and all those houses and dorms on campus, Lucy is maintaining an A+ average.



Kaylynn writes her term papers when and where she can.

Kaylynn wasn't wasting any time. During Lucy's final, she and Jill Smith borrowed the boys' computers to write their term papers. Her strategy of studying when-and-where has paid off! Kaylynn is in the first semester of her senior year, majoring in history.

All these kids are serious college students. While Kaylynn and Jill were working on their term papers, Tommy Jr (dark hair), Carl Jr (orange sweater), and Lucy shared a research session.

Frank Jr, Carl Jr, and Jill haven't yet declared a formal major, so they're still studying Conservative Arts and Sciences.**



*You might have met Jill Smith in Strangetown. She is the daughter of Pollination Technician #9 Smith. Even though they were both born in Strangetown, Carl Jr didn't meet Jill until both of their families moved to Happy Valley.

**Their parents wouldn't have it any other way. Greg had a bit of a disagreement with Tommy Franks about that, arguing that the name of the curriculum sounded just plain silly. Tommy had more money to put into the college, so the opinion of his wife Ophelia won out even over anything even She might have to say about it.

Greg wrote:

Kaylynn wasn't wasting any time. During Lucy's final, she and Jill Smith borrowed the boys' computers to write their term papers. Her strategy of studying when-and-where has paid off! Kaylynn is in the first semester of her senior year, majoring in history.

Ooh, elegant digs! Nice to see an alternate Kaylynn also having a good life. Do I see a little makeup there? *8)

Greg wrote:

Conservative Arts and Sciences.**

roflmao. I'm glad Gregsim has a deeper historical perspective (and/or just better linguistic taste).

DC

Yup, Kaylynn is wearing full war paint and even had a bit of a session with the plastic surgeon.

As for that other thing, it's really Ophelia. Her husband, Tommy, and his brothers are old-money spoiled rich brats but Ophelia is a self-made woman, coming from dirt-poor entrepreneurs who scratched out a living in an undertaking business, in a town where almost nobody dies. The Franks family started out rich, but they became the wealthiest family in town under her guidance. Ophelia knows how to hold on to her money by helping folks around her be successful. She's the founder of the Rising Tide party.

Meanwhile, Greg is a third-generation preacher's kid from a socially conservative, economically liberal family; and She came from a socially liberal, economically conservative family (her dad is a cop); so their philosophies tend toward the Chronically Confused end of the political spectrum. Very pragmatic, y'know: No need for campaigning; they just buy the politicians they need to do what they want to do.

Tales of Happy Valley
Chapter 140: Sunrise, Sunset...

It has been quite a while since we have looked in on the continuing adventures of the denizens of Happy Valley, so let's catch up to the present.

As Farrah and Flavia were growing up, along came baby Graham. By the time he was a boy, his elder siblings had completed their college careers and paired off with their life's mates.


Dora achieves her life-time goal while Graham studies up on mechanical engineering

His big sister Dora maxed out her skills, quickly followed by Ezekiel.



Zeke maxes all the skills.

Farrah and Flavia grew up to be teenagers.


Farrah and Flavia on their teen birthday
Cally (blonde) and Dora in green.

Like most of the Bennetts' kids, the twins became over-achievers before they were ready to go to college.


Over-achievement seems to run in the family

By this time, Graham found that he was the only grade-schooler stuck in a household full of teens. This didn't even slow him down because he was quickly becoming friends with all the other kids at school, especially his mother's younger sister, Karen.

Tales of Happy Valley
Chapter 141: The New Collegians

Cally went on ahead to college, where she is living at Manse Collegium with her rejuvenated great-grandparents, Oatha and Hazel.

With space available at the family's on-campus headquarters and a set of teens eager for college life and learning, the family saw a mass exodus as four of the kids left for college on the same day.


Dora, Ezekiel, Farrah, and Flavia bound for Manse Collegium


Their arrival at Manse Collegium turned out to be quite a social event! Cally and their great-grandparents were there to greet them, along with several of the college professors! Even their half-sister, Brenda, walked down the block to welcome them to the ivory tower!


A new crop of kids arrives to enjoy Manse Collegium
Great-granda Hazel in the pink sweater. Great-grandpa Oatha in the plaid shirt.

Cally was overwhelmed by the sudden influx of siblings. It was almost like being back home again!

And so, with the population of Manse Collegium again swollen to seven, the new collegians settled into the normal life of assignments, term papers, and group research. All was quiet on the college front.

Well, except for one thing. And for that, we need to do a bit of a flashback.

Tales of Happy Valley
Chapter 142: For the Love of Zeke

During his teen years, Ezekiel developed a liking for old-fahioned girls, and there was no one in the school more old-fashioned that Miss Evangeline Harriman.


Ezekiel found Evangeline's old-world style to be most charming


Evangeline comes from a very traditional family. Folks in town often remarked that her parents seem to be stuck in the Seventies--the Eighteen Seventies! This did not prevent her from getting closer to Ezekiel, but there were rules. The two of them were not allowed to go anywhere without a chaperone.

But, perhaps, Evangeline's parents were not quite aware of exactly what kind of chaperonage Ezekiel's parents might provide. Or, just perhaps, Zeke's parents would have been clueless if they had realized what her parents had wanted. In any case, the young couple did most of their courting in the living room at the Bennetts' house.



Ezekiel and Evangeline share their first kiss


Mom and dad Bennett were quite used to teenage behavior, and as long as their own teenagers showed better behavior than they had demonstrated when they were teens, they didn't worry much.



Ezekiel Bennett and Evangeline Harriman


In fact, nobody much noticed, seeking to give the young lovers their privacy in a public setting. Life proceeded quite smoothly until the time was approaching when Ezekiel would be going to college. Then it happened.

Tales of Happy Valley
Chapter 143: The Menace Arrives


Cherry Reinhold

One day, Farrah brought home a new friend from school, one Miss Cherry Reinhold. Cherry hit it off rather well with Ezekiel. They discussed life, the universe, and everything while Farrah provided musical accompaniment. While this was going on, Cally had Evangeline tied up in a game of chess around the corner.

Now Cherry, being a normal teenage girl, seemed to be inordinately interested in Zeke. And, being a modern teenage girl, she wasted no time in letting him know that she was interested.


Cherry puts the moves on Ezekiel

"Um, Cherry," Ezekiel said, "have I mentioned that I'm going steady with Evangeline?"

"Oh. Oops. I'm sorry! Um... darn."

"That's OK. I should have mentioned that earlier, but it just didn't fit into the conversation."

Right about then, Evangeline noticed what was going on. Farrah saw her coming and raised the musical accompaniment to a crescendo as Evangeline moved in to reclaim her territory.


Evangeline marks her territory

Old-fashioned or not, Evangeline knew how to exercise her property rights in a manner that would brook no ambiguity.

Cherry was gracious enough, and smart enough, to know that it was time to back off, but the incident left some concerns in Evangeline's mind. Zeke was headed for college, but her parents could not afford to send her and would not approve of her going off to college by herself in any case.

The campus at Happy Valley University was filled with young girls, and every one of them posed a threat to her hold on Ezekiel. What was she to do?