Fall 2010 - Cormier (part 1)

Rich (27), Tosha (27), Violet (16)

"Did you enjoy going to college, Richie?" Violet asked her brother over lunch one day.  "Was it a lot of fun?"

"Yes, definitely," Rich replied.  "I have a lot of good memories from my college days."

When he chuckled to himself, Violet asked, "What?"

"Don't tell Tosha this, but before she and I started dating, I had the biggest crush on the school mascot."

"Are you serious?"

"It didn't last long, once I realized how much it must stink inside of that llama suit."

Violet nearly choked on her hamburger.  "Oh, gross!"

"Seriously though, college was a good time.  I got to meet a lot of sims and I learned a lot too."

"Do you think it's too late for me to go to college?  I know I haven't been good at school, but what if I worked really hard from now on and studied a bunch, do you think I'd still have a chance to get into a college?  I really do want to go."

"I don't know, Vi.  It's still possible, I think, but you will have to work really hard to get your grades up if any college is going to consider you at all.  You've been doing better, but you still have a long way to go."

Violet did work hard, but no matter how much homework she did or how much she studied, she just couldn't get her grades up.  They were improving, yes, but her overall GPA was still terrible.  There was no way she was going to get in to college, she knew it was too late and nothing she did made things better.

Meanwile, Rich and Tosha were dealing with struggles of their own.  Since they got married they were ready to start a family and even though it seemed like they tried and tried, they just weren't getting pregnant.  Rich was sure it was just a matter of time, but Tosha was beginning to worry.  She made a call to her doctor and scheduled a check up.  The doctor agreed to make an appointment to run a few tests to make sure there were no physical problems, but advised her in the meantime to try to relax and to give it some time.  He assured her that even though it may seem like some sims can get pregnant at the drop of a hat, sometimes it takes more than a few tries to make a baby.

On doctor's orders, Tosha and Rich enjoyed a moonlight dip in the hottub and kept on trying.

"Gah!" Tosha shouted in disgust as black smoke wafted up from the frying pan.  "How did I manage to burn breakfast when I was standing here the entire time?"

"I don't know.  How did you?" Violet replied as she helped with the dishes.

"I must have been daydreaming.  What's wrong with me?"

That evening Tosha got a call from the doctor.  Her heart was in her throat when he announced that the test results were in. As he gave her the results, she was struck momentarily speechless.  Then she turned to Violet, who happened to me nearby at the time and said.  "I'm pregnant."

She couldn't wait for Rich to come home from his meeting to share and celebrate the good news together.

She was delighted to hear from the doctor that she was pregnant, but she was still skeptical.  Not until the beginning of her second trimester, when she started to show, did the pregnancy seem real to Tosha.  Then she was truly overjoyed.

Summer 2010 - Ebadi / Elementary School

Jessica (30), Bridget (5), Bryce (5)

Jessica's days were occupied with children.  When she wasn't at school teaching the children of New Eden, she was at home playing with her own little ones.

She was content with her life overall.  Even though it was difficult being a single mother to twin toddlers, she was doing well, but she wouldn't deny that she was looking forward to the twins being old enough to go to school.

When it was time for their first birthday, Jessica had a small celebration at home with just her, Bridget and Bryce.

Bridget seemed to get prettier and prettier the more she grew.

And Bryce continued to look more and more like his father.

He definitely inherited the Lillard nose.

This year brought even more exciting changes for Jessica.  Construction on the new elementary school was going well.  Even though the building still needed some finishing touches, most of the building was complete and ready for the first day of school.

The children were disappointed that it was too rainy to play outside when they arrived in the morning, but the excitement of meeting new friends and seeing their new school soon distracted them and they followed Jessica inside.

James had stopped by the first day to see how things were going with the finishing touches on the building and to see what the teacher thought of the new building.

Jessica had nothing but praise for James' work.  "I love it.  If there were enough room I think this would be a great place for the Jr. / Sr. High as well."

"We might be able to manage that, if we added another story to the building.  I'll look into the possibility."

The first days at the new school went remarkably smooth.  The classroom design worked well.  The students were well behaved.  With only five children in the class, and two of them being her own, the class size was easily manageable.

At the end of the day, the kids seemed happy with their new school too.

One evening after school, Jessica invited her colleagues, Hope and Rich, over for an informal teacher's meeting.  Since they were now working in separate buildings with different groups of students, they thought it would be a good idea to meet to touch base on issues, such as school menus.

Jessica also wanted to host the little party to welcome Hope to the neighborhood and to try to get to know her a little better.  She was sorry to say she found Hope a little bit boring. 

Jessica was in for a huge surprise when she saw Bruce walking on the sidewalk in front of her house.  She hadn't seen him since she left Eden, before she found out she was pregnant, when she saw him kissing an old flame when she thought he loved her.

Her hurt and anger at being cheated on had long since faded and she was no longer furious with him, so she went over to say hello and they talked.  He was in town visiting his nieces at the university.  He had heard rumors about her having twins and he wanted to know if they were true and if they were, if he was the father.

He was not happy to learn that the rumors were true, that Jessica's children were his and she had never told him.  When she invited him inside to meet Bryce and Bridget he was reluctant, but agreed.

When he met Bridget, he didn't tell her that he was her father.  He introduced himself as a new friend and told her that he was the chief of staff at the hospital where he worked.

He and Bridget seemed to hit it off immediately and she even surprised him with a hug before he left.  However, the next day when Jessica invited him over to spend more time with the children, he declined, but told her to expect a check in the mail and more in the future whenever she needed it.

It was not the reply she had wanted to hear.  She just hoped the children wouldn't be disappointed.

Summer 2010 - D'Sim

Shawn (45), Jane (30), Imogene (2), Shane (2)

Life in the D'Sim household had changed dramatically since the birth of the twins, but Shawn and Jane were beginning to get used to the new routine. At times it seemed like there was a lot to juggle at once.  Things didn't get done as quickly or easily as they used to, but somehow they managed to take one task at a time.

With two babies demanding their attention, Shawn and Jane had to take turns, taking care of their own needs and the babies needs.  It was a challenge to even sit down to a meal together.

At other times it took both of them working together to make sure both babies needs were taken care of.

At the end of the day they were left exhausted.  Too exhausted for intimacies or enjoying each other's company.  Usually one, or both, of them would immediately pass out as soon as their head hit the pillow.  Of course there were also many nights when they slept in shifts, taking turns being up with the babies. Sleeping together in the same bed was sometimes the best alone time they could manage.

Of course, there were good times too.  Even when stinky and exhausted, Jane's heart would melt when she would look into the faces of her precious babies.

And Shawn enjoyed the fun times, doting on his children, playing with them, making them giggle.

As the days progressed, things did get better and they were able to coordinate their schedules and the babies' schedules, so that they could sit down to breakfast together and actually enjoy an adult conversation.

And even a little bit of romance, just a little bit, before the cries of a screaming baby forced them to drag themselves away from each other.

Somehow Shawn even managed to make time for other passion, stargazing.  On the nights when he wasn't utterly exhausted and the babies weren't demanding his attention, he would take a few moments to look through the telescope and continue his research on the stars and planets.  He was always working on theories, and his biggest dream was to discover life on another planet some day.  He knew it was unlikely, but he still dreamed.

Before long, the blur of infant days were over and the twins were celebrating their first birthday.

As Jane helped Shane blow out the candles on his birthday cake, Shawn picked up his baby girl for her turn to make the transition into toddlerhood.

He gazed at her lovingly as the realization suddenly hit him that he would be looking at his daughter as a baby for the last time.  For a moment his heart longed for more time at the baby stage.  How did time go by so fast?

But he took her to blow out the candles and was proud to see his little girl become a bright and beautiful toddler before his eyes.  He couldn't be more proud.

The infant days behind them and toddlerhood ahead, the D'Sims realized they were again entering a new phase with new routines and new challenges, but they couldn't wait for the new experiences to come.

Summer 2010 - Crabtree

Winston Crabtree (33)

One evening, after falling asleep on his office sofa, Winston heard a noise.  Someone had broken into his house. He hurried to the phone and quietly dialed 911.

Luckily the police arrived right away and caught the burglar before they could get away.

Even though the culprit was caught, Winston was shook up by the ordeal.  At first he was upset.  He felt like he had been violated, like his own home was no longer a safe place.  Then he started to get angry.  How dare that sim break into house and make him feel this way.  If he ever saw them again, they'd better watch out.

Meanwhile, other things weren't going well in his life either.  Work was still stressful and his love life had also taken a turn for the worse too.  Fawn was angry and not speaking to him for reasons he didn't quite understand and she wouldn't explain.  The fact that he didn't already know, just made her more upset with him.  He just couldn't win.

He decided he needed to stop moping around the house, drinking away his sorrows and get away for awhile.  He made a few calls, put his work on hold, booked a suite at a little resort and headed for the beach.  Before he left he called Fawn one more time and left his room number on her answering machine, hoping she would change her mind and decide to join him after all.

After a dip in the pool and lounging by the ocean, Winston was beginning to feel restless.  The stage was set up for an evening concert, so he decided to jump on stage and try out the bass while no one was looking.

On his way down from the stage he ran into a woman.

"This D.J. is terrible.  Do you think someone could get him to play some better music?"

"Let me see what I can do," Winston said.  Helping the woman up the steps, he whispered a few words to the D.J.  When a new song came on he, asked the woman, "What do you think?"

"Way better!  Now this is something I can dance to.  Care to join me?"

Winston and the woman had to shout in order to hear each other over the music, but somehow he managed to find out that her name was Lara and she was a teacher's assistant at the elementary school.

Winston felt a little guilty for what he was about to do next.  He had hoped to be spending this time with Fawn, but she wasn't speaking to him and refused to come on the trip with him.  Not wanting to spend his vacation all alone, he asked Lara to have lunch with him and she readily agreed.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" Lara asked with a grin as they were seated at their table.

"No, should I?" Winston asked, genuinely surprised.

"We've talked on the phone a few times."

"We did?"

"Yes," Lara laughed.  "About Sierra Hayes.  I'm afraid I probably came off like one of those pushy stage mothers."

"Oh . . . I remember you now.  You're Sierra's mother?"

"Oh no.  I'm kind of her 'big sister.'  I'm the one who volunteered to travel to New Eden with her, since minors aren't technically allowed to fly out of CAS alone.  I just called a few times, because I was curious about how her career is going."

"I see," Winston smiled.  "I had no idea that was you.  I thought you looked too young to be her mother."

Lara found herself grinning like a school girl at the compliment.

After lunch, Winston was feeling extremely tired.  It had seemed like a really long day, a long summer really.  "I wish I could spend some more time with you, Lara, but I feel like I can barely stay on my feet.  Will you be around tomorrow?"

"No," she said, regretfully.  "I wish I could stay longer, but I'm going home tonight."

"Maybe we could get together sometime after I get back home."

"Sure, that would be great.  I'll give you a call.  Remember, I've got your number."

After a nap, Winston headed back to the beach for dinner.

"What happened to that pretty lady you were here with earlier today?" a friendly waiter asked.

"She had to go home earlier.  I'm all on my own tonight." 

After dinner, the air was beginning to grow chilly, so Winston went back to his room to get dressed before going back to the beach to enjoy the sounds of the ocean.  It wasn't much fun being on vacation alone.  He was starting to get homesick.  The next day he decided to cut his vacation short and head home.

Back home things were the same.  No messages from Fawn and she still wasn't taking his calls.  Winston picked up his work again from his home office, but found himself getting lazy, not bothering to get dressed for the majority of the day, drinking from the bar more often than he should, rather than bothering to prepare meals.  He was in a definite funk.

He was surprised one afternoon when he recieved a call from Keith, the waiter who had struck up a conversation with at the resort restaurant. 

Only after Winston had left the resort did Keith realize who he was.  When he realized that his customer had been Winston Crabtree, the famed talent agent, he knew he had to look him up.  Keith had been wanting to move on from waiting tables and begin a career in show business, but he didn't know how to go about it.  This chance connection seemed the perfect opportunity to get his foot in the door.  He couldn't believe his luck.

They started talking business, but before long their conversation turned personal. Keith asked about Lara and if Winston had heard from her again.  He hadn't.  And Winston found himself spilling the whole story about how he and Lara had met and how his romance with Fawn had suddenly and inexplicably gone sour.  When their conversation went on for over an hour, Winston realized he was more starved for company than he realized.  He was glad to have a sympathetic ear to listen to his sorrrows, even if it was unprofessional for him to do so.  After their conversation, Winston invited Keith over that evening to talk about his future in the entertainment industry.

"So, Keith, what field are you interested in, acting, music, modeling?"  Winston asked.  He definitely had the looks and the posture of a potential star.  Looking him over he could see a potential model standing before him, but as an old pro he knew looks weren't everything.  "What are you good at?  What are your talents?"

"I'm open to anything, really.  Anything to get me out of waiting tables.  I'm pretty good at playing the drums."

"I don't have a drum set here, but let's set up a date to meet and I'll have you play for me and we'll see if you've got what it takes."  He smiled and shook Keith's hand as the waiter left, feeling better about life than he had in awhile.  Maybe a new professional challenge, some new changes in his life was just what he needed.  He decided to get out the phone book and look up Lara's number.

*ROS - Winston takes a vacation.  He definitely needed it after the break-in at the end of the last rotation and after Fawn's relationship suddenly dropped for him, for reasons I still don't completely understand.  I must have missed something.