Thursday 3 August 2017

You say it's your birthday, December 2044

Round 36: December 2044 (Summer)

Shortly before her 24th birthday, Louisa Gentry gets a very exciting phone call. 


It’s Finn Romilly, principal of the high school, asking if she’s still interested in the position of school counsellor, which she interviewed for a few months back.

It turns out that the counsellor they hired over Louisa didn’t work out and they’re looking for someone new to start at the beginning of the next school year.

Louisa knows she didn't perform that well in her interview, so she's surprised but relieved. It doesn’t take her very long at all to accept the job offer!

Her news certainly makes her birthday celebrations a couple of days later much sweeter!

Boyfriend Justin Moretti is thrilled for her. Louisa will start work at the school in mid-January, before the students come back, so she has only about three weeks left at her current job.

Louisa can hardly wait. She and Justin are already making plans for what to do with the extra cash they’ll have coming in. First on the list is paying off the remainder of their mortgage!

**********

Oliver and Sophie Gentry had hoped to do something special for their first wedding anniversary but finances have made that quite difficult.

They can’t afford a holiday, or even the adoption fee for the dog they’ve been talking about getting.

Neither one of them are too down about it. Being short on cash is not a new thing for them and they’ve learnt to make their own fun. 

Maybe for their second anniversary, they’ll be able to actually leave the house but this year, they make the best of their quiet evening at home. 

**********

Christmas is fast approaching and Emil Collins has decided to invite the kids and grandkids over for the big day.

Wife Anna isn’t thrilled about the idea and would rather go see them elsewhere - their house is really rather small and the work of entertaining is not a job she relishes.

Emil has promised that he’ll take care of the food and Anna won’t have to lift a finger, which is the only reason she finally relented. 

Anna does find herself looking forward to it though and even picks up three stockings for the mantelpiece, one for each of their grandsons.

Of course, Byron and Noel have very little clue of what’s going on anyway!

Mason isn’t much more aware but he did love seeing his grandparents again. Anna has become a little bit warmer in her old(er) age.

Much of the talk centred around Rebecca’s imminent return to work after a year’s maternity leave, which she is both looking forward to and dreading. 

But of course, the main topic of conversation is Hope’s pregnancy. She and Malcolm have about 10 weeks ago until they meet the new baby.

Emil, as the only non-working grandparent, is ready and waiting to watch Mason as soon as he gets that phone call!

Other birthdays this month:
Will and Levi Draper turn 12
Justin and Xavier Moretti - 23
Eddie Gentry turns 24
Rob Ashton turns 43
Jacob Kirby turns 43
Zaria Royce-Nihill - 56
Megan Kirby turns 72
Magdalena Novak turns 80

December wedding anniversaries:
Lucy and Edward Lachance - 3 years
Luc and Asha Lane - 16 years
Owen and Naomi Novak - 34 years

Notes:

  • Louisa finally has her dream job! In game, she actually got it at the very end of the last play session - literally seconds before I quit out. I considered having her work at the primary school instead but a) I don't currently have a primary school building and b) I think she'll have more to do at the high school. It made sense to me that Finn might go over previous interviewees before advertising again so quickly after the last time. 
  • Sophie and Oliver have less than $1000 to their name and both a holiday and a dog cost (way) more than that. Seriously, shelter dogs are expensive in TS2! 
  • Byron and Noel are way too small for 11-month-olds! But I'll be aging them up in January birthdays, so we'll see them soon anyway. And this was the first time I've ever done Christmas with this family, so that was fun!

6 comments:

  1. It was really fun to see Byron and Noel one more time before they age up, even if they do look more like young infants. The Christmas with the Collins was great to see, especially with Hope being pregnant and Mason being there.

    What happened to the first school counselor? I'm glad that Louisa is getting her dream job, that's exciting.

    And I hope Sophie and Oliver can get a dog soon, if they still want one. Looking at their profiles, they are quite opposite in temperament, with Sophie being so playful and Oliver being so serious.

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    1. I have since aged up Byron and Noel and I'm excited for you guys to see them (there's actually a sneak preview at N99). If you remember or can imagine Rebecca as a toddler though, you already have a fairly good idea of what Byron looks like. Noel was a bit more of a surprise.

      There wasn't really a first school counsellor! The job just didn't come up for Louisa in time for me to write it into her and Justin's update, so that was how I dealt with it story-wise. If Louisa was taking over the job from an actual sim, I would have come up with a more airtight explanation!

      Sophie and Oliver do still want a dog - though Oliver would prefer a baby! ;) But if I choose the cash rewards for Sophie's restaurant, tat will go a huge way to paying off the debt. Looking at their personalities though, their playful stats are not that different - Oliver is 7 and Sophie is 10. Their biggest difference is on the active/lazy spectrum - Sophie is ultra lazy and Oliver is very active! It's weird that you mention that though, because I was also somehow under the impression that Oliver was quite serious and I don't know where I got that from now!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. Good that Sophie and Oliver don't get down about their lack of money; it sounds like there may be some on the horizon for them. I can totally see Sophie loving on a dog! That'll be fun when they are able to adopt one.

    Emil is such a good Grandpa, and I really enjoyed seeing them at Christmas time too. Look at Anna, buying stockings for her grandsons. I didn't realize until that moment that she only has grandsons! I'm curious if Hope will have a girl.

    I'm excited for Louisa! That is a great birthday gift.

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    1. Sophie and Oliver are both pretty positive people, so I figure they just have hope their situation will work out eventually. Oliver is still fairly low down in his career, so he has plenty of room for advancement. In the next few years, hopefully they can have a dog and then a baby!

      Emil loves his role as grandpa! It didn't occur to me that he and Anna only had grandsons until I wrote this, actually. I'm already hoping Hope has a girl this time, because I like the name I chose more than the boy name but giving Anna and Emil a granddaughter is an extra reason to cross my fingers for a girl.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. Yay, she got the job! What a great surprise. I was so disappointed for her after that failed interview.

    Happy anniversary to Oliver and Sophie! Looks like they had a sweet time at home together. How about adopting a stray for them? (That's free, isn't it?) Do you have any strays in your hood?

    Christmas looked great! That golden tree is very glamourous! Yeah, two versions on and TS4 babies still look strange any time between newborn and their first birthday. Especially since ours can't even leave their bassinets, lol! Hopefully TS5 will come with gradual aging.

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    1. I'm happy it didn't take Louisa too long to get into her chosen field. A year or two seems pretty reasonable.

      I do have strays in Sullivan! It's definitely an option for Sophie and Oliver but I haven't played them for a proper session yet. When I do, I'll keep my eyes out for any strays wandering by.

      I found that tree at MTS a little while ago. I've never had Celebrations, so I was so glad to have some options apart from the original EA one and the one I have where you have to individually place the decorations on the tree (which I will probably never use again, quite frankly). And yeah, in real life, babies don't like TS2 babies for very long...but aging them to toddler at 6 months is unrealistic too, because TS2 toddlers look more like 2-year-olds to me. I would be stunned if TS5 had gradual aging but it would certainly be interesting to see!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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