Greg wrote:

I've noticed that no matter what their primary aspirations might be, sims will want to have that Very First Kiss when they become teenagers and then they get really desparate by the time they're young adults. In that, they are probably much like people.

Two words: Peer Pressure.

It seems that everyone these days has to know about the exact details of everyone else's private lives. (This must be a new definition of the word 'private' that I'm not aware of.) Some sort of vicious circle that makes those who haven't been in a relationship very jealous and... I haven't thought this through.

Bright House Update
Love and graduation

As described in much more detail elsewhere, time has continued to pass at the Bright house.


Hermes and Camryn have fallen all the way into love.


Allegra and Martin have graduated.
I can't decide if she would approve of these clothes.


And headed back to the neighborhood.
Allegra to Rooms to Let, Martin to Jane's house.

Bright House Update
Camryn moves in

Martin and Allegra's moving out of course freed up some space in the house.


Camryn moves in.
Just after the graduation party ended in fact. She's Family; I forget her LTW at the moment.


Hermes got into that fraternity.
Although I have no idea what to do with the fact.


And in general life is good.
Must have been a Very Special Night; the fireworks went on for hours after they were asleep.

And then Hermes mentioned to Zachary Langerak that there was still a spare bedroom in the place. But that's a story for another day...

Greg wrote:

I've noticed that no matter what their primary aspirations might be, sims will want to have that Very First Kiss when they become teenagers and then they get really desparate by the time they're young adults. In that, they are probably much like people.

My teen had that aspiration, but it went away...

Zachary, Sophie, and George

As described in really many many more pictures than necessary here, Zachary Langerak has arrived at college (as his sister did in this entry) and moved into the Bright place with Hermes and Camryn (in the bedroom across the hall).


Starting adulthood.
Why do new people always arrive at night? Oh yeah: because I always save at night.

Two former Townie teens have also entered SSU.


George McCarthy and Sophie Miguel.
George is a former cashier with lots of skills; Sophie is a former prankster with basically no skills, but lots of attitude. I sent Sophie to college because she was Zachary's teenage girlfriend and he had a Want for her to come to college; I sent George just because what the heck.

After a few rather rough days at the dorm, Sophie fell in love all over again with Zachary


The First Kiss.
At another of the endless Bright house parties.

and he asked her to move in with him (she accepted).


Separate beds
We'll see how long that lasts!

(The full story contains completely unnecessary pictures of George and Sophie's earlier lives in the neighborhood, Zachary's new (old) clothes, people discussing soup, Sophie's bottom, the formerly-mysterious Dawson Day, and so on. George is doing fine in the dorm; maybe we'll check in with him sometime later too (he's got a girlfriend on campus, and a little affair with an older woman from back in the neighborhood on the side).)

It took me a while to figure out the signifance of George McCarthy in this story. Now I get it! He's the voice of sanity!

Greg wrote:

It took me a while to figure out the signifance of George McCarthy in this story. Now I get it! He's the voice of sanity!

It's true, so far his role in the world has mostly been to stand there impassive as odd things happened around him. Now that he's the only controllable in the big dorm he's been cutting loose a little; we'll see just how much he loosens up! *8)

dmchess wrote:

Greg wrote: It took me a while to figure out the signifance of George McCarthy in this story. Now I get it! He's the voice of sanity! It's true, so far his role in the world has mostly been to stand there impassive as odd things happened around him. Now that he's the only controllable in the big dorm he's been cutting loose a little; we'll see just how much he loosens up! *8)

That would be the same George McCarthy who was shocked out of his little teenage mind when Christy Stratton told him he was working in a convenience store beneath a brothel in Downtown Lake Dorothy?



Nah. He'll never get that broomstick out.

But the boy does get around!

Karaoke!
The Bright House officially endorses the Nightlife EP


Sophie and Zachary tried it first
Sophie was so eager, she didn't even change out of her undies.


Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Camryn McGaw!
Then the old-timers. They loved it too.

Lots of fun for both the Sims and us out here watching the funny animations! *8)

(In related news, there are now two double beds in the house again. Photo coverage may follow at a later date...)

A Bright House Update
1/2

So I seem to be sort of Between Plots in most of Neighborhood One, but just for the sake of completeness here's a brief Bright House update.


Hermes has proposed to Camryn.
And of course she accepted.


Zachary and Sophie got themselves a double bed.
Young people these days; you know.


Hermes graduated with honors, and had your typical party.
Including entertainment by the Karaoke Cow, seen in the background here.


After which he headed back to the neighborhood in the twilight.
His businesslike adult suit is right in character, too.

A Bright House Update
2/2


Hermes returned to his childhood home back in the Neighborhood.
That's his Dad, Ransom Zoom, my first-ever Sims 2 Sim, that he's hugging. That's also Ransom, in his youth, in the picture on the wall.

He turned out to be the Young Entrepreneur type.


President of his own company already.

And back in the Bright House, life goes on as usual.


And on and on and on...
Camryn's somewhere else in the house, probably also studying. She visits Hermes back in the neighborhood quite often, and I expect she'll move into the Zoom place with him and get married there and stuff once she finally graduates. I'm coming to reluctantly admit that the EA BBS consensus may have some truth to it: college does take a bit too long. Maybe I'll finally break down and use the College Clock sometime.

So there we are! Once Camryn graduates there'll be an empty bedroom in the house for some of these Neighborhood teens that are rapidly approaching college...

My thinking about college is not so much that it takes too long but rather that there's not enough character development, not enough options for things to do while they are in college, and not enough effect on game play after they graduate.

To fix it, Maxis would have to completely reprogram the characters' personality module. That really would require a whole new game that had the ability to import neighborhoods and characters from The Sims 2, so I doubt that there is a solution better than the College Clock and its wonderful "Take Final Now" option.

Um, well... my controllable Sims usually have a full range of the required skills, so they just have to cram their little bars full and take the final.

However, if they decide to take their townie friends with them... watch out! They'll be skilling away madly trying to keep up!

Yup. I've found that college is more fun to play when sims have to catch up on their skills.

Yeah, but you gotta love that nice money they get for the skill scholarships... My last 3 playable Sims took 6-7K to college with them.

Even the townies that I temporarily moved in via ToLaD still took 1500-2K with them. Much better than the 500 booby prize from the "Send Teens to College" dialog...