Taylor's College Years

At the end of Gina's college years, we left SSU with the little off-campus house in the hands of Gina's very good friend Taylor Almassizadeh.


Lounging around upstairs.
Note the classy decor.

As described at much greater length on my site, Taylor had a very successful college career after Gina left, with a new love


A good memory.
He knew better than to leave his heart with Gina.

and the occasional youthful misadventure.


"I don't know! It was like some invisible force made me put it on!!"
Heh heh heh.

After a memorable graduation party


An ancient XXth century tradition.

he aged up and moved out, leaving the house to Candice.


"Write me every day!"

As described in various chapters of Rooms to Let, Taylor has been living at Brandi LeTourneau's boarding house since graduation, and Candice has been working her way through SSU. The story of her college years, and what's happened since she graduated, will probably be told in way too much detail some day soon. *8)

DC

Candice's College Years

Candice slipped into life in the little house easily (as narrated, again, in great detail on my site). She made some improvements.


The new wallpaper.
Taylor had known the place looked boring, but he never really thought about why.

There were the usual little incidents.


Candice burns the pancakes.
So she got to meet a nice fireman.

She made good friends with Joan Danvers, who she first met when Joan was a rebellious teenager at Rooms To Let.


Mmmm...

And with enough people of A Certain Kind to get into the Landgrabb Society.


"But what if we were to control the government?"
I like how whatsisname there is lying with his head in the street. Very realistic actually, given the kids I knew in college.

And finally, after a triumphant graduation and a roof-raising grad party, she headed back to the neighborhood, leaving Joan in residence.


Ch-ch-ch-changes
Probably not the last time I'll use that picture caption.

But before we get millions of pictures of Joan's occupancy of the house, my crystal ball predicts millions of pictures of Candice's arrival back in the neighborhood; tune in next time! *8)

DC

Candice and Taylor
Back in the neighborhood

Candice got off the inbound SSU bus, and immediately called Taylor.


"Honey, I'm home!"
See, the taxi just takes recent college graduates to the bus station, and they take the bus back to the neighborhood. For narrative purposes, anyway.

He came right away.


Together at last ("Oh hi, mail person.")
This is the usual Move In hug; Taylor's just left Rooms To Let, bringing around 9K simoleons with him. He and Candice are now a household, temporarily resident at the Bus Stop. But not for long!

They went across town, to see the lot that they'd picked out online.


"It looks just like the picture on the Website!"
Well, they have around 29K to spend, so let's start with a four-by-four lot.

Neighborhood One's Magical Building Faeries (LLC) got busily to work.


Thank heaven for Magical Building Faeries
Let's have a nice spacious house; they're used to Rooms To Let and to dorms with big common areas, after all.

In an eyeblink, the house was done.


"Don't we need some steps in front there?"
Good point, just a sec. (I tried to use a bit of imagination on this house, but it came out very similar in general layout, if not in decor, to Gina's. I also overspent a bit on the building, but I think we can afford front steps.)


"It's perfect!"
That's just because you haven't seen the inside yet. But Taylor's got a good job, and you'll be able to afford nontrivial furniture and less ugly walls Real Soon Now.


The Next Day (I think)
See! Not only a bed and a stove and a chair, but even some panelling and decent bedroom walls. What'd I tell you? Maybe tomorrow you'll be able to afford some art for the walls, and some side and back windows. And a few more interior lights. And...

So there's Taylor and Candice headed into the future. He's PermaPlatinum from 'way back (there are some pictures from Rooms To Let days that I should post sometime; that Ecological Guru thing is really funny!), and he has the skillz to get lucrative jobs (he's currently working on Mad Scientist I think it is, just because that's his second Lifetime Want). She has the Golden Anniversary LTW I think, which means that I'll probably get them legally married, have him drink enough elixir to roughly sync their ages, see if she wants to have a kid, and then let them age and have the anniversary party so she'll be platinum also.

Unless something entirely different happens! You never know...

DC

So Taylor and Candice have been having good ordinary lives. Taylor quickly made Mad Scientist, and they've been able to afford a few furnishings (but since he goes to work so seldom they do have cash-flow problems).

They got married in a little private exchange of rings in the bedroom (I'd intended to have a ceremony, but I sort of forgot how it all works and pushed the wrong button), and Candice shortly spun up a Have a Baby want, and they now have a baby (little Aaron Almassizadeh).

But rather than post millions of pictures of all that *8) I'll just post one funny one from Candice's pregnancy:


"My God, my pregnant wife is taking a bath in our bathtub, and she's naked!
If Sims weren't so silly, would we enjoy them so much?

Later, perhaps, pictures of the baby, the new furnishings, etc, etc, etc.

DC

That escarpment in the background of the empty-lot picture is interesting! What neighborhood template is that?

Greg wrote:

That escarpment in the background of the empty-lot picture is interesting! What neighborhood template is that?

Hm, I don't actually remember! When I first made the neighborhood I had no idea what I was doing, so presumably it's some default template or other. The escarpment is closer than it probably looks; it's just the mini-cliff left over from bulldozing most, but not all, of a slightly hilly lot smooth and flat in build mode before moving the residents in. So nothing particularly novel, I'm afraid! *8) (Similar things more clearly visible in the background here (at Rooms to Let) and for instance here (at Gina's).)

DC

As the simoleans coming rolling in, might want to do something about the foundation clashing with the exterior. It shows how desperate they were to move in fast. Thanks for catching us up to speed on this story. Has Greg turned you onto his commercial sponser yet?

-SCG

SimCityGallery wrote:

As the simoleans coming rolling in, might want to do something about the foundation clashing with the exterior.

Yeah, the Neighborhood One Magical Building Faeries have no design sense whatever (the houses they build also run to simple rectangular rooms rather than the randomly-shaped complexities of the real world).

So would you suggest that the foundation be made of (or at least be faced with) the same stone as the walls? Or just something in more the same color?

DC

Nope, no commercial sponsors yet! We've had large donations from the Raptor Foundation for the Defense of Romance. *8)

You could do it all the same but it might look even better if you used a similar colored foundation with it. The colors might be a bit off for me so say the stone you used is in shades of grey, then try a lighter grey or darker grey or even white color of foundation.

-SCG

Save The Baby!

These here Sims have surprised me again. There was a little cooking mishap over at Taylor and Candice's, and while Taylor and Aaron were panicing in the usual way, Candice autonomously headed for baby Brett's crib.



She picked the baby up and dashed out the door!



Of course since she had to stand there politely waiting for Brett to notice her for about five minutes before she could pick him up, she didn't actually get him outside until after the fire department had arrived and extinguished the stove; but it was an admirable impulse nonetheless. I didn't know they did that!

Oh, and in this shot of pretty firefighter Maura (I think her name is) congratulating Candice in passing on her quick thinking, you can see the new and hopefully less clashing foundation stone on the house:


"Good someone wasn't in a panic."
Taylor and Aaron had returned non-autonomously to Aaron's homework by the time Candice got back. She ran all the way to the front sidewalk, which on this lot is quite aways away.

And that evening Candice spun up yet another "Have a Baby" want, and kid number three is now a bun in the oven. Just a coincidence, I'm sure... *8)

I've seen them do this before, with babies AND toddlers. i thought it was kind of amusing, seeing as babies and toddlers can't die. lol

Liss wrote:

I've seen them do this before, with babies AND toddlers. i thought it was kind of amusing, seeing as babies and toddlers can't die. lol

I guess they don't know that. *8)

(Or maybe they're afraid if the baby gets all charred, the Social Worker will come...)

The crib and the highchair are all supposed to be flame-resistant anyways.

As for invincible toddlers, well, let's just say... "Muahahahahaha!"

Quote:

(Or maybe they're afraid if the baby gets all charred, the Social Worker will come...)

I wonder? Maybe that's what would happen?!?!?

More Taylor and Candice
1/3: Hitched

As mentioned in passing a few entries ago, Taylor and Candice enjoyed your basic suburban family life after graduation.


They made lots of friends.
Candice is Family, and always has Wants to invite people over and entertain them and all. It seems to be rubbing off on Taylor, too; even though he's Knowledge he gets them too. Although their house isn't as constantly full of visitors as the Danverses, it's close.


Taylor reached the top of the Science track.
His second Lifetime Want (he made his first back at Rooms to Let, before Candice graduated).


And they officially tied the knot.
I was going to have the whole ceremony and stuff, but I pushed the wrong button. Ooops!

Although Candice's lifetime want is to have a Golden Anniversary with Taylor, she also has other interests.


Candice's other interests.
She's no Sheba, but -- well, we'll see.