New Beginnings

Oh dear, oh dear!

Alkanet has a roommate! A boy roommate

What am I going to do if they f-fall…aargh!
(Well, someone needs to chill out!)

Okay, I’m calm now. I think.

Our Precious little Alkanet has invited a boy to live with her!

The ‘boy’ is a fellow member of the Society, a Mr Fairchild, who used to be in one of Alkanet’s classes back in her Sophomore year (she’s a Junior now, you know). He’s a little bit younger than her in years, but he’s a second semester Freshman. Apparently, he had to take some time off, which is why he’s so far behind. Or so my daughter tells me, anyway. Marissa and the twins think its wonderful news, but me, I’m worried. (So what else is new?)

Abe’s actually met Mr Fairchild (I can’t quite bring myself to use his first name at this point) when he went up to the college this weekend, and, according to Abe, he’s a nice guy, absolutely perfect for Alkanet (all this followed by a nudge and a wink at his mother), and I have no idea what my son means by that!

Oh, my God! (Imaginary lightbulbs click on over Ryan’s empty brain cage.)

I need to go talk to my wife! Abe can finish this! Oh, good God!

*

Abe speaking:

Ha! You should see my Pops right now! He’s running around like someone set his butt on fire!

He’s actually worrying about nothing, as usual. Honestly, the silliest little things get him all worked up, and it’s kinda pathetic, really. The Alkanet-Blake situation is almost nothing. They’re roomies and friends, nothing more than that. At least that’s all it is at the moment. Blake’s actually head-over-heels for my sister, but he wants to find out how she feels for him before he takes it any further. It’s as simple as that!

Right, I got to go calm my Pops down before he has a heart attack!
Mom’s not home at the moment, so he’s running through the house, calling out to her. I guess he forgot she was going shopping!

(Good old Ryan! He never fails at being completely clueless when it comes to his kids! Like a lot of dads!)

(I know, I’m late again! Sorry, but I’ve been trying to finish ‘Catch-22′ by Joseph Heller!)

Alkanet sounded incredibly excited when she called tonight. It seems the college has a ‘Secret Society’ thingy, and our Precious was asked to join. (Wish he’d stop calling her ‘Precious’. Who does he think he is, Gollum?)

She said it was the weirdest thing she’d ever experienced. One minute she was having a conversation with one Blake Fairchild (a boy, obviously, which caused a few alarm bells to go off. I know, I know, I’m paranoid.), when some girl in a funny suit burst in through her front door, and began doing a weird ‘chicken dance’. When Alkanet told the girl she thought she was, to put it kindly, completely bonkers, the girl handcuffed her.

Now, our little Alkanet was, of course, wondering just what on Earth was going on, especially when she was marched out to a long, black limo that was parked outside. (Well, obviously, it was outside, Ryan! You don’t think the limo was parked in Alkanet’s house, do you? Duh.)

It must have been quite frightening for her, especially after the ‘Stalker Incident’! Anyway, the limo pulled up outside an old, gothic-looking building, and Alkanet was quite literally shooed out of the car. Next thing she knows, some boy is reading from a positively ancient-looking scroll, and a whole group of people are applauding and yahooing.

An that, my friends, is how she was inducted into the Sim State Secret Society! She couldn’t tell us much more about it (because of the Oath of Secrecy she had to take), but that’s no big deal. The only thing I’m concerned about is the Blake situation. Now, I’m sure there’s nothing there for me to worry about, but judging from Alkanet’s words, they do spend an awful lot of time together, and I’m not completely sure what’s going on there. When I explained my fears to Marissa, she just laughed, and told me:
“Honey, if you ever decide to have an affair, you’d better let me arrange it!”
Now what do you suppose that meant? Maybe I’m a little slow on the uptake, but I didn’t understand that comment at all! Do you think I should be worried?

Nothing much else has been happening around here, although Abe, tired of people calling him ‘baby-faced’, has grown some chin-fuzz (as he calls it)!

I don’t think he looks any different myself, but I’d never tell him that! Amby, however, reckons that it looks like a fluffy monster nestling beneath his nose! Nobody minds though, since her temper-related incidents have decreased. Thank God!

(My first ever Sim in a Secret Society! I know, I know, whoop-de-doo!)

Katie, this isn’t actually a challenge of any kind. I’m waaayy to hack-and-cheat-dependent to actually do one of those things, although I admire the people who do. I probably should’ve stated that earlier, sorry!

Well, we’ve been able to prove that going to college can be hazardous to your health! Marissa and I are just pleased, however, that Alkanet is all right. But maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself here.

Our Little Alkanet is really loving it at college, and she seemed to be getting on smashingly with the other people in her class, including her professors. Which is where the problem was: one of her professors was quite taken with her. Now, normally, that wouldn’t be too much to worry about, until he was caught creeping around Alkanet’s house night and day, after several weeks of frightening phone calls. Yeah, our baby had a stalker. Of course, nobody suspected that it would be that professor, and everyone was quite shocked when Mr Stalker was unmasked. Alkanet came home for a few days, but she’s back up at the college now, while Marissa is threatening to sue, and Abe wanted to go and beat the living daylights out of the guy. He’s calmed down a bit now, although I have a new thing to worry about: Abe said that when the professor is released from prison, he’d better watch his back. Abe’s threatened to kill him, you see.
“Nobody hurts, or scares, my sisters,” was what he told Alkanet and Amby.

Now, I’d like to think that none of my children would be able to take the life of another human being, but I fear I may be wrong, and I hope I never have to find out. I hope that with all my heart. Although I was in the police force for quite a few years, and although I was forced to draw my service revolver more times than I care to recall, I never had to shoot anyone with it.

Anyway, time to move away from that subject, otherwise I won’t sleep for a week!

Stalkers aside, the family is fine, unless you count Amby’s suspension from school. Maybe now she’ll realise that you can’t call your Social Studies teacher a ‘fat, old, brainless wonder’ to her face and get away with it, although it probably wouldn’t have been so bad if she hadn’t really lost it, and told the Principal to ’shove a socket wrench up his…’ well, you know. Honestly, I don’t think she knows what trouble she’s heading for!

As for Abe, well, he’s just the same as he always was (murder threats aside, of course), although his nose is a little, um, crooked (a by-product of the ‘Textbook Incident’), and he stays right out of Amby’s way when she’s throwing a hissy fit (which is most of the time).

Right, that’s all from me, I’m off to take a nap!

(From the ‘Who Cares, But Someone Might’ Department: Once Ryan kicks the proverbial bucket, Abe will take over the Recorder’s duties. Oh, and Katie, Alkanet will indeed be getting a roommate. Ryan is not going to like that!)

Our little ‘College Girl’ sounded a little bit blue when she called this morning, and I think she may be just a little bit homesick. She didn’t tell me that, of course, but I could hear it in her voice while she was telling me all about her Major (Psychology), her professors, and a couple of people she’d met. Still, she cheered up a bit when I told her about ‘Abe vs The Textbook’, and it did sound good to hear her laugh, even if it did seem a little cruel to laugh at Abe’s expense. The twins themselves didn’t get a chance to talk to her, they were, of course, at school, but Alkanet will call again tonight.

Alkanet’s new house, as can be seen, isn’t much, but at least it’s not the hovel I thought it would be, and she seems to like it a lot. Its got the basics, and that’s about it.

She couldn’t talk on the phone for as long as I would have liked, but she reckoned she had assignments coming out of her ears. Now, I never went to college, so I’m not an expert on the subject, but it does sound as if they get a lot of work! According to Alkanet, anyway. I think she was a little bit shocked about how hard college is, but I know she’ll handle it.

The rest of us havn’t really been doing much of anything. Marissa’s been fretting about Amby’s temper, which has been exploding all over the place lately, and Abe’s taken to sitting in his room for hours, sketching, or writing his thoughts in a notebook. I’d love to know exactly what’s in that notebook, but I’d never look. That would be lower than reading someone else’s mail. Amby’s pretty much the same, except when she’s throwing infantile temper tantrums, and as for me, well, for the most part, I’ve just been me. Although, I did get called in to Brockhall police station to consult on a case, which made me feel quite good. It’s always nice to know that you’ve not been forgotten, isn’t it? I even got to see my protege sitting in the Chief’s chair! I felt especially proud when he introduced me as his mentor, in fact, the only thing that would have made me prouder whould have been if it was one of my own children. I wonder if any of them will go into Law Enforcement?

(Phew, thanks for clearing that little matter up for me, Claire! Katie, I hope your vacation’s going smoothly, and Mandie, I’m loving your blog, especially the Saffords!)

Sorry, guys, I’ve been busy all day, and I’ve a birthday party to go to in ten minutes, so I’ve no time to update. I’ll do it tomorrow instead (depending on the hangover!). By the way, Claire, please tell me you never belted your bro with a textbook! I don’t think that’s what you meant, but I gotta know

As you can see from the photo, dinner last night was a very special affair.

It was Alkanet’s last family dinner for a while, so we all got dressed up proper for the occasion, and Marissa cooked a wonderful meal for all of us. I feel incredibly happy that she’s going to further her education, but I’m sad, too: my first baby is out on her own now. It’s all happened so fast that I feel quite overwhelmed by it all. Marissa had a hard time getting to sleep last night, I know because I heard her wandering around, but I know how she feels. One of our babies has left home, after all! The twins were rather quiet during the meal, but cheered up during dessert, when Alkanet catapulted a big blob of ice cream off her spoon. You should have seen it! Abe looked a bit like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (because that’s where the ice cream landed, on Abe’s nose)!

Anyway, our Precious Alkanet left this morning, and I’m grateful for the fact that her cab arrived before the school bus! Pretty stupud, I know, but I was relieved all the same, and I have no idea why. Abe and Amby are already missing their sister like crazy, and they had a bit of a tiff when they got home from school over who would be the first to talk to Alkanet on the phone. It wasn’t quite World War III, but close enough. NowAmby’s sulking in her room because Marissa grounded her for hitting her brother in the face with her Chemistry textbook. As for Abe, well, I’m sure he’ll have a spectacular black eye in the morning! Where did that girl get her temper? (Yeah, I wonder…)

Alkanet called us as soon as she’d settled into her new home for the next couple of years. It’s rented, of course, but Alkanet told us that it isn’t too shabby. It’s even got two bedrooms, in case she decides later on to find a roomate, and, as you can imagine, all sorts of alarm bells went off in my head about that. I’m probably being overly paranoid about this whole thing, but what if she gets a boy roomate? I mean, I would rather face the Firing Squad than deal with my little girl’s boyfriend! Not that she’s got one at the moment, but still…

(Oh, my internet promblem got fixed all right, and us poor saps that were without our internet for, in some cases, 48 hours got a big deal $3.00 off our next bill. Never mind, I’m putting my temper back in its box!)

Sorry, I got rid of the migraine, and the crabby mood, now my ISP’s throwing tantrums! It won’t stay connected for more than 5 minutes, the crazy bloody thing! Hopefully, it’ll be all sorted by tomorrow, either that, or I need a new modem

No update today, I’m in a real rotten mood (goddamn migraine). Have no fear (I always wanted to say that), I’ll be back as soon as it goes away.

(I’m late, I know, but we’ve had thunder storms and power cuts the last couple of days. Not my fault, I don’t control the weather!)

Finally! A cake that managed not to get burned to a cinder! All thanks to Alkanet, who is a better cook than Marissa and I will ever be. Abe and Amby aren’t bad, either, and the meal they made for dinner was absolutely spectacular! I almost wish it was my birthday all over again.
(Huh. Next birthday of his will be when he meets Grim!)

Anyway, the company threw Marissa’s retirement party last night, and everyone had a blast, Marissa included. It wasn’t anywhere near as stressful as I thought it would be, and Marissa has accepted old age with a grace that I could never have managed. I can even confirm an old age theory: when women get to a certain age, their lives revolve around grandchildren! It’s a bit premature, if you ask me. I mean, our children still have a few years to go before they consider that sort of thing!

And there it is, folks: Marissa’s amazing birthday cake, made by Alkanet! Marissa and I, well, we never mastered the art of baking birthday cakes, but Alkanet seems to have it all figured out, and under control!

Abe and Amby almost got themselves grounded by making certain comments.
Amby: “Hey, Ma, you want my hair dryer to help blow out the candles?”
Abe: “It’s a wonder the cake doesn’t collapse with the weight of them all! How many are on there, anyway, 100?”
I was about ready to bring hellfire and damnation down on the both of them, but Marissa thought they were hilarious! My God, I would have gotten a clout upside my head, and my father’s belt if I’d said something like that to my mother!

Actually, the twins have been mouthing off quite a lot, lately, which is rather puzzling, but Marissa thinks they’re just outgrowing all the old routines, and they’re ready to move on. Unfortunately, they still have a while to go before college, so I predict quite a few groundings for them in future!

As for these two old ducks, well, its past our bedtime, so we’ll leave those crazy children to their discussions, and head for the Land of Nod!

(Land of Nod is how my ma would refer to bedtime when I was little. She still does sometimes, but since I’m 23, it no longer has the same effect!)