New Beginnings

Before I get on with the real good stuff, I’d like to share a few pictures with you (don’t worry, I’m not bothered about getting older anymore, I realised how stupid I was being). That’s if you don’t mind, of course. I probably told you that Chandler made it to the top of the Natural Science career, but until this morning I never realised that his work uniform looked quite so, erm, sparse.

Goodness knows what the rest of the neighbourhood thinks when it’s time for Chandler to go off to work! I mean, gosh, that’s kind of creepy, isn’t it? Thank goodness Dolly’s school friends never have to see how her father dresses for work!

Over at Alkanet’s, MC reckons she knows everything there is to know about everything, which means she’s incredibly happy, and she’ll also get a few scholarship dollars when she goes to college.

(I used SmartMilk to help the kiddos through potty training, and now they can max out most skills before they’re teenagers. Has anyone else had this? It isn’t a glitch, is it?)

Alkanet and Blake are incredibly proud of her, as you can imagine, and so is everyone else in the family. MC’s been tutoring a few of the elementary school pupils in her spare time, including those ratbag twins of mine, which has been a big help to Adi and I, and it seems to have settled the twins down a little, too.

Speaking of the twins, it was their birthday today, and I must admit that the change seems to have done them good. Hmmm, calm twin boys… Help! I think Pod People have kidnapped my sons!

I like this photo of my boys, and I’m going to get a copy made, so I can put one on my desk at work. Sagaxus is on the left, and Shogg is on the right.

And here’s what my boys look like now! They’re nice-looking boys aren’t they? They don’t even look the slightest bit mischievious. All they talk about now is college, scholarships, best friends, college, girls, college… Well, you get the idea! Sagaxus is the one in the red shirt, and Shogg is in the blue.

Well friends, I must go, the Sunday Horror is about to come on!

(Sagaxus is Pleasure, and Shogg is Popularity, and I’ve gone back to dart board Aspirations because I’ve lost my dice.)

(Sorry there was no update yesterday, but it was my birthday. I was supposed to get Pets, but it was all sold out )

Well, I have a new worry now: Getting old.

What made me start thinking about that? I hear you ask. To tell you the truth, it’s all Alkanet’s fault. Sort of. Alkanet has now joined the ranks of…

… ‘The Old Age Club’! Gosh, doesn’t she look like Ma in that last photo? Anyway, Alkanet retired right after her birthday, so she’ll be able to ebjoy her pension (and, since she was a Visionary, said pension is rather large.). I know she’s looking forward to all the extra time she’ll be able to spend with Blake and her children, because she’s told me so at least fifty times now. It’s funny really, because growing old bothers Amby a great deal (she doesn’t want to give up her job), and it bothers me a little, but it’s never really bothered Alkanet at all. She’s quite happy to be a grey-haired old lady. I do wish she’d stop calling me ‘Youngster’ though, because it reminds me that I ain’t gonna be like that for much longer, especially if my toe-rag children don’t stop getting up to no good. I swear they’re giving me grey hairs!

Let’s see, where to start? Oh, yes.

Katie’s been suspended for two weeks for trying to seduce a teacher into giving her better grades, Sagaxus has about a month of detentions to work off for throwing his chair through a classroom window, and Shogg accidentally belted a baseball through a police car window. Poor Officer Sykes was a bit shocked, actually, and it took him half an hour to stop shaking. He thought he’d hit Shogg, you see. Honestly, no matter how many times I tell that boy to stay in the back yard, he just doesn’t listen!

Hello, there’s the helicopter. Thank Goodness! I have to get away from those little monsters for a while…

(First off, Katie, Christchurch is the name of a city in the South Island here in New Zealand. The highlight for some people is the walk up to the viewing platform at Christchurch Cathedral, but hey, I walked the 1oo-and-something steps once, and that was enough. Sorry, I should have made that a bit clearer )

Friends, I need some advice.

It was my Katie’s birthday today, and her mother and I are slightly anxious about whether or not she’ll make the right choices in life.

For starters, that outfit is, I believe, a little inappropriate, and secondly, she’s just a tad boy-cray… (Dammit! I rolled Romance for Katie, which is infuriating! One’s enough!)
I’m a little concerned about what she’ll get up to when she goes to college, and I’m sure Pops wouldn’t be too pleased to know that his second Granddaughter is man-mad. I feel like I must have failed him, and Katie, in some way.

Not even the fact that my boys finally brought home A+’s could cheer me up today.

It was Bescarum’s (Alkanet’s son) birthday today, and I must say, he’s picked a better path than my daughter!

Alkanet is pleased that he grew up so well, and she and Blake are both pleased that Bescarum wants nothing more complicated than having his own family.

It’s funny, isn’t it? The paths they’ve chosen, I mean. MC wants all there is to know, Katie wants boys, boys, and more boys, and Bescarum wants a family…

(Yee-ha! Cars, poker tables, and other Nightlife stuff may be making an appearence! For some really odd reason, when I have the Base, Uni, Nightlife, and OFB loaded, the computer whines at me, but when I have Doom 3 on the darn thing, plus all the old Sims 1 games, it runs faster…. Bizarre. And, I finally braved SimPE, so I could try Jade’s cool tutorial. Ah, projects!)

Well, we had a bit of a family emergency over the weekend.

MC has been, as you probably know, studying everything she can in order to get as many scholarships as she can for when she goes off to college, and, to that end, Alkanet and Blake brought her an expensive telescope on the salesman’s recommendation that it was the best that money can buy. I dunno much about that, but I do know that the thing has been nothing but trouble! First of all, some thoroughly horrible old woman came over to Alkanet’s and tried to accuse Bescarum of peeking in at her (he wasn’t even home at the time, he was over here having a water fight with the twins), and then, on Saturday night…

I got a frantic call at 10:30pm, with Alkanet telling me that something had come down out of the sky and stolen MC away. Naturally, I did what most people would do: I asked my sister what the heck she’d been drinking! Well, wouldn’t you? I mean, Little Men from Mars (or wherever, it’s a big solar system) had been nothing more than a myth. Then again, Pops did pass on the story about Eric Carlson, a relative (although I’m not sure how he was related) who supposedly had green skin…

Anyway, while Adi woke the children and hustled them down to the basement (you can never be too careful), I called Amby, then raced over to Alkanet’s. She was right, of course. There was no sign of MC anywhere, although I still wasn’t ready to believe that she’d been abducted by aliens. Not just because I’m not, or wasn’t, sure I believed in them, but because we’ve got elections coming up, and the people don’t need that kind of scare right now.

There wasn’t a lot I could do at mys sister’s, except try and calm her and Bescarum. Blake wasn’t any trouble at all, he looked like he’d been sucker-punched. Anyway, I sat with them for a couple of hours, and then we all heard this funny, buzzing noise, so we rushed out to investigate…

We were all pleased to see MC back safe and sound, and after she told us all she could remember, I came home.

Adi and the sproglets have gone back to bed, and I’m sitting here at my kitchen table thinking I don’t know what.

(Yay! My second ever alien abduction in just over two years of playing Sims 2!)

It’s official!

Amby’s not the same as she used to be, she’s gone soft! Amazing really, that the mean little girl that once belted me with a textbook is dead and gone, hopefully for good. We have young Dolly to thank for that, too. Amby, who was never that keen on children, believing that all they did was cost money, has actually started taking an interest in her daughter! Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming, or hallucinating, or something!

Now, you could argue that Amby was only helping Dollar with her homework so that Dollar could get good grades, therefore giving the old, shallow Amby bragging rights, but it would be a waste of breath. Dollar asked her mother to help, and Amby said this:
“Come on, then, honeybunch.”
I honestly had to shake my head a few times, just to make sure I heard right! Which I had, of course. I was sitting at Amby’s kitchen table at the time, having a cup of coffee while I was waiting for Chandler to get home (we had some business to discuss).

Anyway, Chandler, who has decided he wants to go higher than a Dino Cloner, was going to be a little bit late home, so I got invited for dinner (that’s never happened before, either). Dollar was a little quiet during the meal, and Amby explained that Chandler usually read to her every night after dinner, but he obviously wouldn’t be able to do it that night. Still, Dollar got the next best thing:

So, either my twin brought herself a heart, or she’s been taken over by aliens or pod-people, or maybe all three at once! Alkanet didn’t believe me when I told her, but then I showed her the photos. Her mouth kind of dropped open like she was some kind of demented goldfish, and then she walked away, muttering ‘Good Lord’, over and over again.

Good Lord indeed!

Abe Out!

Adi and I decided the other night that our house doesn’t look as a Mayoral Residence should, so we moved into Ma’s old house (which still hasn’t been sold on the account that people have seen two transparent elderly people wandering around inside) while the builders did their work. They were amazingly quick, and now our house looks like it should.

That, of course, is only the outside, bit it sure looks a lot nicer than it used to, doesn’t it? Adi and I think it does, and so do the sproglets (the kids, in other words). Sagaxus and Shogg are pleased to be out of the nursery (the old house just didn’t have the room for the extra bedroom), and they don’t seem to mind sharing a room. Katie, of course, has her own room. It cost quite a bit of money, as you can probably imagine, bit we think it was worth it.

And now, if you’ll kindly wipe your feet, I’ll give you the grand tour!

Nothing special there, just the Mayoral Kitchen/Dining Room, which were going to be seperate, but then we figured ‘Why bother?’. It isn’t much, but it’s a lot nicer than the old one.

Here we have the Mayoral Lounge, where the Mayor (naturally), his wife, and the sproglets relax after a hard day by tuning into the Cartoon Network for ‘What’s New, Scooby Doo?’, ‘Ed, Edd and Eddy’, and ‘The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy’.

This is the room where the Mayor’s (me) wonderfully mischievious twin boys, Sagaxus and Shogg, retire for the night, where they, no doubt, dream up new ways to cause utter chaos, and new ways to give their teachers a few more grey hairs.

This is Katie’s room, full of everything a little girl could want (well, almost. She wants a pony, but her mother said ‘Absolutely not’). I don’t venture into Katie’s room very often, it’s a little too, um, girly.

Adi insisted upon the awful flowery wallpaper for our room. Me, I’m not into flowers all that much, they’re all icky and romantic, and all that mushy stuff! Nah, I’m kidding. The wallpaper is okay, and I even helped to pick it.

Well, that’s it from me today, Adi wants me to clean the windows!

(I’m really proud of that house, I think it may be the best one I’ve ever built! The cartoon ‘The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy’ is called, I believe, ‘The Adventures of Grim and Evil’ in the USA. Or so I heard. Katie, my heart goes out to you. Falling in love with a Sim is kinda sad (I shouldn’t talk, I had a crush on a shark when I was five). Don’t ya just love moving, Mandie? Better you than me!)

There hasn’t been a whole lot happening around here at the moment so I thought I’d just prattle on a bit about what everyone has been getting up to (you still remember me, right?). Which isn’t very exciting, but what can ya do about it, right? The family has been going through a bit of a boring patch lately. Anyway, I think I’ll start with Amby for once.

So, what has been happening at Amby’s lately? Well, not a lot, to tell you the truth. She’s been promoted to Business Tycoon, which means she gets to ride in a helicopter, too, and Chandler’s been promoted to Dinosaur Cloner, where he reckons he’s staying until he retires. As for young Dollar (or Dolly, as everyone calls her), she’s taken a big liking to mini-golf.

Nothing has been happening over at Alkanet’s either, although Alkanet got promoted to Visionary (but that happened a while ago), and MC and Scarum still get on like a house on fire.

Now, had that been Amby and I when we were kids, we would have been fighting like cats and dogs! And, just for the record, I never started any of those fights! Anyway, while they’re kids were horsing around, Alkanet and Blake took a few moments to relax.

Hah, relax! I’ve forgotten the meaning of that particular word! Still, Alkanet and Blake haven’t got mischievious twins to disturn their peace and quiet.

I swear, those boys of mine are getting worse!

They’re both in trouble for telling the teacher that their Uncle Chandler’s cow plant ate their homework at the moment, but, funnily enough, the teacher didn’t believe a word of it (she did give them points for originality, however. I guess it gets boring after a while, hearing the same old excuses!).

Adi has, thank goodness, gone sour on the idea of ten kids. I get worn out just playing with Katie and her brothers! Ten of them would probably kill me!

Abe out!

(Okay, since there was one vote each for Romance, Family and Fortune, I’ll roll a dice. 1 or 4 will be Romance, 2 and 5 will be Family, and 3 or 6 will be Fortune. Oh, and Katie, that dog is kind of cute!)

Well, before I get on to the birthday news, I just want to act like a proud Papa, and include a photo of my children, which was taken this morning after breakfast, while they were waiting for the school bus. As of yet, my twin boys haven’tfound any opportunities for getting into mischief. I’m sure all that will change though! Anyway, I’ll show you the photo, and then get on with the news.

Don’t they look like little angels?

Anyway, I better get on with it. You are still listening, right?

It was little MC’s (Fairchild, not Hammer, remember?) birthday today, and now she’s not so little anymore! She’s old enough now to be thinking of college applications, and boys! I can almost see my Pops fretting and fussing over that, you know! Blake’s a lot more laid back about this sort of thing. Anyway, on with the photos!

No doubt she’ll have all the boys after her before you can say “Hey, there’s the first teen of the new generation!” She and Scarum still get on incredibly well, despite the age difference, and it’s the same with Katie and the twins, which is really great.

MC has even started talking about getting a job, so she’ll have some money saved up for when she goes to college, but Alkanet has told her not to worry too much about that. Fair enough, too. Alkanet and Blake aren’t filthy, stinking rich, but they’re not verging on bankruptcy either, if you catch my drift.

It was also Dollar’s birthday today, too. You know, it wasn’t that long ago that this whole family seemed to be filled with nothing more than babies and toddlers, but now there aren’t any! What we have now is five children (three of them are mine), and one teen! Boy, where did the time go?

Anyway, time for Dollar’s photos!

It’s really quite hard to tell just who this one looks like, she doesn’t seem to resemble either Amby or Chandler, but that ain’t no big thing, is it?

(MC is a Knowledge Sim, in case anyone wants to know. Also, a little heads-up: I’m waiting for my paperback copy of ‘Lonesome Dove’ to arrive, and once it does, updates may be a bit spotty! Also, I’m late with this update because I’ve been trying to learn the ‘Titanic’ theme on guitar!!)

I’m beginning to wonder if Amby is simply full of hot air, and nothing more. ‘Why’s that?’ I can hear you ask. Well, simply because of this little scene I happened to witness yesterday:

I had to rub my eyes and pinch myself a couple of times, just to make sure my peepers were working and I wasn’t dreaming. I wasn’t, of course, because you can’t capture dreams on film! So, Amby’s either going soft, or she’s just been a big faker all these years! I’m not sure which it is, and I don’t think anyone else knows, either, but I hope she stays like that.

I managed to get another great moment on film today, too.

My Katie’s first A+! Truly a great moment, that, and one I was proud to put in the photo album, along with all the other memories. Actually, that was the first of four photos I added to the album today, so I better get on with it, or I’ll be here until next week!

In case you didn’t know, it was birthday time for Twin Trouble today. Adi and I were incredibly surprised that they sat still for long enough so we could get this picture of them, they aren’t usually so…well-behaved!

This is Master Sagaxus, or Trouble One, the elder of the two by about five minutes (at least, I think its five minutes). He doesn’t, as you can see, really resemble either his mother or me, except he has his mother’s hair, and my eyes.

This is Master Shogg, or Trouble Two, depending on what he happens to be doing at the time. They haven’t, thank goodness, reinitiated their little gang with Katie yet, which has been a blessing. I don’t think I’d be able to handle that on top of all the stress I’ve been under at work lately. I have been seriously considering a career change, but I think its a bit late now.

Still, my twin toerags are happy children, and I can’t ask for more than that!

Abe out!

(I’m back! And I’ve learnt my lesson: no coffee cups on the desk!)

Well, guess what? Your humble and obediant servant, Abram Michael Mellon, is now Mayor of Victoria Hill! Oh, boy, would Ma and Pops be proud of my right now! I get to ride to work in a helicopter!

I’m still a dope, though. Guess who forgot his daughter’s first day at school? I had the camera all ready, and then those rascally twins found some mega-mischief to get into! Little horrors! But, they’re my little horrors, and I love em to bits!

Still, Adi managed to get a shot of Katie getting off the school bus, so I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with that.

She sure looks happy, doesn’t she? A lot happier than I was on my first day at school, but, then again, Katie didn’t have a bossy twin to push her over all the time like I did. If I remember right, Amby shoved me down the stairs when we were getting off the bus, too. Hah, I’d forgotten how mean my sister could be. My face still remembers the ‘Textbook Incident’ though. I bet I’m the only mayor around here that has a crooked nose!

Adi had no trouble getting our only daughter to do her homework, which was probably a good thing. Even better, Adi was able to help her because the twins were taking their naps. Actually, I love those boys best when they’re taking naps! They’re perfect little angels until they wake up!

Anyway, getting back to my first day as Mayor. I was a bit shocked actually. I had no idea there was so much corruption! Council members helping themselves to funds, Congressmen with so many children that they’re almost bankrupt from paying child support, and my Aide’s been locked up for tax evasion! You know, I think I’d rather father another set of terrible twins than sort this mess out. In fact, the only good thing that happened was the welcome I got when I arrived home!

Well, I’m absolutely exhausted, and my bed is calling!

(Abe’s Lifetime Want is actually ‘Own 5 Top-Level Businesses’, but business causes the game to crash, and we all know how much I hate that!)