Joe Smith? Thats not his real name, Kate. So maybe its really Kermit Von Frog and he hates it. Who cares? I put him to work selling until you could meet with him and evaluate his mechanical skill. He did great. The shop was sold out by lunchtime. I had to close. Hell be back Monday morning. So most of Sunday I built robots to restock. And I started drawing up plans for something even bigger than the Hydro and Sentry robots. I didnt say anything to anyone about it. It was probably just a screwball notion, anyway.
Sunday evening Kate found me where she always finds me these days, in front of the workbench. Ive invited the private school headmaster over for supper tomorrow night. Ania is bored at the public school. She needs to be challenged and the Maximus Prep School will be good for her. Sounds like a great idea, Sweetheart. Dont open the store tomorrow. It wears you out and I need for you to be ready at 5:00 pm. Ill be home from work at 5. Viola is cooking dinner. Ill close early. Lunchtime. I promise. I smiled at her. Kate chewed on her lip but didnt say anything else. She went back to the house.
Monday morning I met Joe Smith. He wore his hair long. He also wore sunglasses all the time. I didnt question either. I grilled him on the mechanics of robots and he knew it all and then some. This guy, I thought, knows more than I do. So I set him to work building the toy robots which were selling fast. That was the good part of the day. The disastrous part started when Abhijeet Cho decided to start yelling at me in the middle of the shop in front of the customers. I yelled back. He quit. I took over the cash register and fumed all afternoon. Id given him a fair wage. He got breaks every day. And hed never gotten any faster on the register. In the end I concluded he was no loss. Even Kate would have to agree. About 5:30 I closed up, sent Joe home and headed for bed. I was so tired I was on automatic pilot. I locked all the doors, house and shop, went upstairs and crawled into bed. Id done it many times before, although usually at about 1 am. What I didnt know was that Id locked the Maximus Prep School headmaster outside of the house. When Kate and Ania finally found him he was so annoyed that no amount of schmoozing and spaghetti could stop him from shaking his head about our family. Ania was not welcome at his school. But what was he doing outside the house? I asked Kate. He told Ania he wanted to look at your shop, maybe buy one of the toy robots. We thought you were showing him around. I didnt know you were upstairs in bed. Besides, you told me you were going to be closed by lunchtime! If youd done that She stopped talking and hiccupped. Kate hiccupping means she is very upset. Im sorry, Kate. There are other schools. Go apologize to Ania, she hiccupped. Shes in her room crying. When Ania opened her door to my knock I found she was not crying after all. In fact, she was smiling. Im sorry, Honey, I said. I screwed up. Come in here quick, Daddy, and Ill tell you a secret. Dont tell Mom. We sat on her bed. I didnt want to go to that school, Daddy. I want to go to Eligious. Thats where my friend Ira goes now. She started giggling. I wish you had seen the headmasters face when he found the door locked. I saw through the window. Ania! Why didnt you open the door? I wanted to see what hed do. He didnt even ring the doorbell again. Thats not very smart I think. He just stood around on the sidewalk. I grinned at her. I couldnt stop myself. Then Eligious it is. And so it was. The headmaster from Eligious gave our family 127 points, well over the 90 we needed for admission.
Oh, Errol. Just listen to your wife for a change. I promise you won't regret it ... Men. Hey, we posted at the same time again. Scary. Is it just me, or does "Joe Smith" look an awful lot like Harcourt ... hmmmm ....
Oh my, what sharp eyes we have. OK, I confess. Joe is there for a reason. I've got more than one plot in mind for Errol's household. It's just taking a while to get to them. But I shouldn't rush it. I'm sometimes too impatient with the details that might actually be fun all by themselves. The disastrous visit of the headmaster is a case in point. I had never failed the headmaster test before. I was SO mad. (I probably looked alot like my avatar that night)
Sorry if I spoiled something. I have the exact same problem. I get impatient. I feel like I don't let my characters suffer enough before I get them back together, or that I rush through someone's story. Hope everyone found the Max and Avery story satisfying. I could have stretched it out further, but I've got plans for those two. College is a big huge blur! In some ways it goes by much too quickly. Of course, I've got to get Sylvie through college, and that's a bit of a drag because it's just her and one other woman I haven't introduced yet, living in a house together. Yawn. They never fight, just go to classes and mostly ignore each other. They've just started junior year and they're tedious to play. They'll both be more fun once they graduate. I can't even be bothered to send her roomie on a date. Have you noticed how many ugly guys there are at university? That's why I end up making my own half the time. Not to be shallow, but some of those guys ... oy. If they had nice personalities it would be OK, but half of them are also big huge jerks. I'm starting to think there's some merit to that diploma hack someone made.
You didn't spoil anything. I knew it was possible someone would recognize him even if I changed his hair and put sunglasses on him. After all, I was throwing in closeup pictures of him and Errol for weeks in I,Sim. Actually, I'm kinda flattered that he can be recognized. Sims often look so much alike. Errol, on the other hand, is too absorbed in his robots at this point to pay any attention to anything going on around his house. Yeah, I think they should all suffer more. For pete's sake, Errol and Kate's life has gotten too easy, too routine and boring! *wrings hand* What can I do to stir up trouble? I'm going to be thinking about that all day. Patience, Lynet. Remember patience. *sigh* And yes, I've noticed how ugly those Uni guys are. I only found a couple who passed my chin test.
For me, it's the nose. Half of those guys look like gorillas, with abnormally wide noses. I like that nose on Dante, I think it makes him look interesting, but most of the uni guys look like thugs. I'd hire them to break someone's kneecaps, but I wouldn't date them. The cute ones either wear weird llama or cow costumes or are really shy family sims. Don't know what his name is in your game, or if he's got a different personality, but I've got this hottie named Blake Cho with the blonde flippy haircut who's so shy he's a real drag on a date. I've got another dormie named River Goldstein who wears the red headscarf who's a cutie pie but so far has hated all of my sims, which leads me to believe he may not be that nice. Argh. D'ya think Maxis has an evil sense of humor? Most of those sims do not have genes I want mixing in my pool ... the girls are mostly cuter, though there are some doozies there too.
Does each Uni (Sim State vs Le Tour, for instance) have a different crowd of townies? Two of my Emmeline family members found a couple of decent guys. One was Phinneas Furley. Another was Marcel Mace. Maybe we have to hunt down pictures since the names seem to change. Marcel and one of Emmeline's sisters (gracious, I can't remember her name. It wasn't Delila) had a cute son. Emmeline's aunt married Furley and they had six kids -- all with big honkers. Oh well. Talk to ya'll later.
I wish they'd named the downtownies and dormies all the same names no matter what machine they were on, but I think I know why they didn't. It's probably easier to program them with a random name generator. At least that's what I'm guessing. Yes, we should post pictures ... we could call the thread NPC Gene Pool Alert or something like that. We could give them all code names, like Blonde Guy with Kerchief.
LMAO. That's perfect: Gene Pool Alert. And of course I'd take lots of pictures. Since OFB has probably added another whole crowd, too...
I don't think I've ever had any of my Sims date the college dormies. Usually I have a bunch rent a house or the bunch in the dorms ignore the dormies. Dizzy Smith is using them for friendship fodder though. She's enjoying them at least. All my created Sims have a modest noses and mouths(including Franz, oddly enough ) instead of the broad noses and big, poofy lips. Ugh, I couldn't stand to think what would happen if those kinds of people started reproducing. I probably need an African American element in my neighborhood, but that's not what I had in mind for that population. Amin Sims, Joe Carr, and some of the other downtownies look alright though, but the basic African American (heck, even some from the other skin tones) townies have these awful noses and lips. *cringe* :(
Kate got a bonus and two promotions within a week. She was now the head inventor for the Smudge Paper Company of Strangetown. By Friday, with my sales and her bonus, we had 10,000 in the bank. I decided it was time to move the store downstairs into the garage. Not easy to do since the garage was never intended to be a store. The property was too small. But we finally got it done. Now there was plenty of room for the customers. My workbenches stayed in the room above the garage where I could work without interruption. I need the customers but I dont like them. Id found that talking to them got me riled up. They asked stupid questions like How do I turn it on? And Id say, Are you kidding me? Do you see that big red button there? The one that says ON/OFF? Do you want it in neon? I wasnt good for sales. Joe was real good for sales. In particular, sales to the women. Couldnt have been the long ragged hair and the sunglasses which he never took off. Hes just a real smooth talker, I guess. Con man or Casanova, I couldnt tell which but I gave him another raise. I usually manned the cash register and thats when Id get irritated at the truck out front because it blocked some of the store windows. So one afternoon I told Kate she should use it to get to work instead of the carpool. I prefer the carpool, she said. If you dont want the truck in the way, then sell it. I need it to haul scrap metal for the robots. And Id rather use the truck when we go out. I dont like the taxis. Out? Out where? We never go out, Errol. I hardly see you anymore. She wasnt smiling. She wasnt kidding. Id noticed that Kate never laughed any more and I thought it was because of her job. But maybe it was because of me. I watched her pick up my empty dinner plate and take it back to the house. I didnt follow her. Instead, I stayed up late in the shop, working on my dream, the ultimate robot. If I got it right, this robot would run the shop for me. It would support us, me and Kate. Then Id take her to dinner every night. I was afraid she wouldnt believe me if I tried to explain it to her.
Aw....poor Kate. I love the down-to-Earth kind of voice Errol has...the way he described Kate's feelings. And their house is getting big! Bigger than my Legacy family's...
When Ania turned fourteen my little ugly duckling became a swan. Of course, I knew better than to say anything like that out loud. Kate is a strong woman and would have laid me out on the floor with one punch. We closed the store early, ate pork chops and brought out two cakes, one for each of the girls. Ania had only a bite or two before running upstairs to examine herself in the mirror. She was gone a long time. Kate finally went up to check on her and came back to report that Ania was experimenting with hairdos. But I like the braids, I said. Mom and Kate ignored me and ate the cake. Edith had finished hers so I grabbed her hands and we danced around the room. When Edith and Mom went off to bed I reached for Kate and kissed her hard. Lets go out for a drink, I said. Whats tomorrow? Thursday? Youre off from work, right? I saw the hint of smile on her face. Once we got in the truck I pulled a box out of the glove compartment and handed it to her. It was all done up in white paper and gold ribbon. Whats this? Open it. She seemed hesitant but she did. Perfume? And my favorite, Dea Roma. I saw even more of a smile, but then she frowned and looked worried. My goodness, Lover, you must be up to something. Whoa! That hurt. Im sorry, she said. I guess Ive missed you. Youve been 150% absorbed by your shop and your robots. There was a time, as I recall, when we were separated and you could think of nothing and no one else except me She looked out the window at the house, then back at me and said, Thank you, Honey. Lets go get that drink.
Over drinks at Rodneys I told Kate a little bit about my project. It sounds impossible, she said carefully. If it works, you, me and the girls will never have any financial worries. We can get a bigger house. I like our house, Errol. Sometimes I even talk to it. Dont laugh, Im only laughing because I used to talk to it, too. That was before you came along. OK. We keep the house. But well save up to move my business out of it. Thatll take awhile, though. Maybe after the girls are finished college. Edith talks about college but Ania doesnt want to go. Shell change her mind once all her friends go. Hmmm, no. Im afraid Anias already got her eye on helping you with the store. More particularly, on helping Joe with the store. My blood froze up in my veins. What? Joe? And Ania? Ill kill him! Kate pulled me back onto my stool, Cool it, Dad. Joe doesnt even notice her. Shes a little girl. Ania may have a crush on him but he has no idea, barely talks to her. I dont care what she things about college. Shes going. Ive decided, and thats final. Kate looked thoughtful, took a sip of her drink and suddenly started talking about Mom. She needs a man in her life. Shes had four. Dont you think thats enough? I said. She needs another one. Shes bored now without any little babies to take care of. I came downstairs in the middle of the night and noticed the truck was not in the driveway. I thought it was stolen and was about to call the police when your Mom drove up in it. She came into the house with a friend, as she called him. Who was he? His name is Komei BartumBarthelet, I think, and he is as creepy as they get. Im glad to say she did not take him down to her bedroom. They just sat in the kitchen talking. Sounds innocent. Besides, you just said she needs someone in her life again. She got four husbands all by herself and ought to know men well enough to find a fifth one if thats what she wants. Maybe so. I just hope its not Count Komei.
Heh...the Count is eating a hamburger...when he doesn't need to eat...*shrug* I don't know, that just gave me the giggles.
Yeah, and it was a leftover, too. It started giving off green smoke shortly after I took the picture but I didn't stop him eating it. He's already dead, right?
Why should a perfectly good name be buried at sea? Or locked up in a museum? Actually, the name Pharaoh Farrow belonged to someone about 100 years ago. I hated to waste it. Uh-oh the potatoes are boiling over!
