"Simon Couderc, you come back here RIGHT NOW!"

1. Hi there! Welcome back to Already in Progress! Usually, I try and think up something
amusing to say here, but I really can’t think of anything. I’ve been trying ever since I
started writing this chapter coughmumblemmhmyes ago.
You don’t need to know how slow I am at this. Really.
Anyway, let’s get on with the story, shall we? It’s Already in Progress…

2. To start off with, I had a bit of a scare. This is how I lost one of my favorite couples in
2009. They just wouldn’t listen when I told them to go somewhere that was not actually
on fire.

3. Fortunately, Perry and Amy have more sense.
PERRY: What’s the matter? You usually play a more cutthroat game than this.
AMETHYST: Yeah, well, I’m having concentrating.
PERRY: What – the dancing?

4. AMETHYST: That and the yelling, yeah.
SAMANTHA: Da! Ba! Stop that and pay attention to me! I got an A+! An A+! Ha ha ha
ha! Woo!
HARKON: An A+! How wonderful! Let me see!
NIREL: My little girl is so smart!
PERRY: Oh, don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud, Amy. She got an A+. That’s something to
be proud of.
AMETHYST: Well, can’t she be proud quietly?
PERRY: You’re not fooling anyone, Amy. We all know you have seven Nice points.
AMETHYST: Hmmph.

5. Samantha is fitting in quite well. She’s doing well in school (obviously), making Best
Friends with her new family, and even taking piano lessons.

6. Ba is doing quite well too, climbing the Military ladder. Nobody else has a job, because
they’re already richer than God, but he likes the work.
Huh? The Army doesn’t take blind people – they’re automatically 4-F?
Don’t be so unenlightened. I mean, obviously they’re not going to give him a gun. But
he’s a code-breaker extraordinaire, and what he doesn’t know about tracking people
down isn’t worth knowing.
I probably shouldn’t have told you that. It’s kinda classified. Whoops.

7. As you can see, Tim is working very hard at fulfilling his LTW of Max Out 7 Skills.
To be fair, he does work hard at skilling. And he grew the Mouthwatering eggplants
himself. I just tend to have him use eggplant juice when he gets hungry instead of regular
food. Do you have any idea how long it takes a not-particularly-nice-or-outgoing Sim to
build Charisma?

8. The family spends a lot of time doing things together. The mahjongg table is a popular
spot in the winter.
DESCARTES: Hah! I’ve been looking for that one!
Descartes has learned how to play now, and is actually quite good at it. In one way, this is
not at all surprising, because he is Descartes and therefore awesome, but you have to
admit that not too many guys sporting the greaser look are into a game usually played by
elderly ladies.

9. Descartes had not expressed a gender preference – I guess that’s very unusual for a Sim
to do if you don’t have ACR? – so I decided that Descartes would prefer the gender of the
next friend he brought home from school.
That very afternoon, he brought home Elizabeth Ng.
He seems quite pleased with himself, doesn’t he?

10. That’s his father’s grin, for sure.
TIMOTHY: So, Sarah Jane, what say you and I find something to do with the rest of the
afternoon?
SARAH JANE: I dunno. Can it be something that will mortally embarrass our teenaged
son over there?
TIMOTHY: It’s more fun that way, isn’t it?
DESCARTES: (raising his voice) I can hear you, you know. (to Elizabeth Ng) Ignore
them. They’ll grow out of it eventually.
ELIZABETH NG: Are they always like this?
DESCARTES: Nah. Usually they’re worse. Your turn.

11. Over at the Tang house, Myrna is making friends. I’m sure you recognize Edgar Miller.
MYRNA: (chortles) Oh, Edgar, you’re so funny!

12. And as an attentive reader, I’m sure you’ll remember that this fellow comes from my
OWBC. Which you should totally read, by the way. [/shameless self-promotion]

13. But unfortunately, Myrna’s social life is hurting her schoolwork.
Eileen did help her Learn To Study – she helped Louise as well – but even though
Myrna’s only got one homework assignment outstanding now, her grade is a D+. (She
was pretty far behind.) Since the last day I played was Friday, I can look forward to the
popup about homework and the social worker all weekend. I’m thrilled.

14. Louise hasn’t made as many friends, but she doesn’t have as many problems either. Her
biggest problems are ghost-related. Elle keep waking Louise up to scare her every night.
I eventually moved the tombstone, but…

15. I acquired another one. It seems Yvette ran out of time while at work, but didn’t die until
she got home at the end of her shift.

16. Yvette (Hunike) Sanders, 79 years old. Yvette was a matchmaker drop for Robin
Sanders. Although he was looking for three bolts, he eventually decided to take the two-
bolt woman who was obviously made for him: they liked all the same topics and had
matching outfits. Yvette was a successful chef, if not a celebrity. She would have had ten
children if I’d let her. Since I didn’t, she settled for keeping close to her three children
and two grandchildren.
Goodbye, Yvette.

17. If I may be allowed to brag a little bit, I’d just like to point out the Reporter there in the
blue shirt with the notebook. He gave the Brotherhood toy store a good review and
bought a ton of merchandise. He even threw us three stars.
So much for the business at the Brotherhood. You don’t care about it that much. I don’t
care about it that much. Heck, even the Brothers don’t care about it that much. It’s just
something to do while you’re waiting to be abducted.
And speaking of abductees…

18. Edgar gets along great with his siblings. He’s such a sweetie. He loves spending time
with everyone in the family, and they usually are more than willing to oblige him.

19. Even Charlie can be persuaded to read him a story.
To be honest, it doesn’t take much persuading.

20. Probably the biggest testament to his sheer likeability is that Matt will come over and
tuck him in spontaneously – and the game doesn’t recognize them as related.

21. Also worth noting is that Dante brought home another friend from school. Yet again, it
was a red-haired female friend. I didn’t know there were so many redheaded girls in the
whole game! I guess Dante wants to make very sure that I know his preferences.

22. Very sure indeed.

23. Trixie and Tirtha are settling into their new home quite nicely.
Well, except for that unfortunate kitchen incident on the second night. But the burns were
mostly superficial and healed up nicely: minimal scarring and both hands are fully
functional.

24. Trixie is happy as a clam earning skill points. You get Cleaning skill points for raking
leaves, which are not required for Trixie’s job, but she doesn’t much care.

25. Trixie is currently a Multiregional Sim of Some Question, but she’s climbing the ladder
fast. And no matter how late she gets home, or how tired she is when she does, she
always takes the time to call someone.
You’d think that eleven o’clock would be too late to call, but apparently this person
doesn’t mind…

26. At the Jas. Littledragon residence, things are going swimmingly.

27. Lucy found her dream job – international Corporate Lawyer – first thing out of the gate.
Her first day on the job, she got a good chance card and was promoted to Entertainment
Attorney.
What Lucy wants, Lucy gets. Her name might as well be Lola.
Okay, I’ll stop with the 50’s musicals references.

28. Oliver Grew Up Well. The clothes suited him somehow, so he kept them. Like his father,
Oliver likes earning one skill point before breakfast every day.
Sometimes even by making breakfast.

29. Simon made a new friend.
LUCY: Simon, what are you doing? Get away from that thing – it’s probably rabid.
SIMON: No it isn’t.
LUCY: It has glowing eyes.
SIMON: Glowing eyes aren’t a sign of rabies.
LUCY: Well, what are they a sign of, then?
SIMON: Um…
LUCY: I rest my case. Come back to bed.
There were a few snags, though, and I’m not sure how serious they are.

30. First, Family Sim Cillian is in the high red for his aspiration most of the time. I thought
adopting a kitten (+10,000) would help, so he called. And then the car with the kitten
didn’t show up. I never got a thumbnail for the kitten, but the options were there: Rename
Pet, Register Breed, Give Up Pet…
I ended up using Give Up Pet, and the car came to pick up the nonexistent kitten, but the
options still seem to be there. I hope this won’t make my ‘hood go boom.

31. Second…
LUCY: Simon Couderc, you come back here right now! I specifically told you no green
babies!
SIMON: Sorrrrrryyyyy Luuuuuuucyyyyyyy…
100% natural, folks. Would have been nice to have it happen at my OWBC household,
though.

32. And I will leave you with this final question: Pregnancy? Or food poisoning?
(Answer: Yes.)
Until next time, Happy Simming!