The document provides an update on stories and characters from the writer's various Sims stories. It introduces challenges involving characters maintaining a platinum moodlet. A toddler named Bryan is able to stay in platinum for over 12 in-game hours due to rolling wants that keep his parents interacting with him, but he dips into gold just before aging up. The document also provides updates on other characters and families.

1. Hello! Welcome back to Already in Progress, the only story that
starts in the middle! You may notice that updates are not quite as
frequent now. That’s because I have several spinoffs going. I can
highly recommend them: they’re written by me, after all!
Also, since it worked last time, I will be using scenes from Sally’s
TV show Goldberg & Silent Lady as spacers between households.
You probably won’t be able to follow the entire plot, but that’s
okay: the scenes are only there to let you know when one bit is
over, rather like commercial breaks.
And speaking of commercial breaks, we will return to Already in
Progress after this brief message.

2. Today’s episode of Goldberg & Silent Lady is brought to you by
“Really Effin Beat” makeup by manikpanik7 and by “Special
Effects Makeup” by SussisSoGoodSims. Sometimes stars around
the head just aren’t enough.
(in one of those rapid undertones used for the “small print” in all
the best commercials) “Really Effin Beat” contains seven
multiwearable blushes. “Special Effects Makeup” contains nine eye
shadows, nine lipsticks, and four full-face options. Available from
Mod The Sims. Basegame compatible. manikpanik7 and
SussisSoGoodSims are in no way aware of this endorsement.
And now, let’s rejoin our story: Already in Progress…

3. Chant spent the first day of the rotation being an adorabubble little
Plantsim Toddler and making best friends with everyone.
OAKAPPLE: So tell me… kiddo: What’s the… best food in… the
whole world?
CHANT (indulgently): Grilled pasteurized processed cheese food,
Granddaddy Oakapple.
OAKAPPLE (to Chant’s mother): Green, you have… the
smartest… child ever!

4. Then he aged up, and suddenly “adorabubble” was no longer an
appropriate term.
“Hot,” maybe, but not “adorabubble.”
Oliver aged to Elder the same night, but somehow I don’t have any
decent pictures. (If you read my (u)OWBC, you may remember a
very bad picture, but it’s nowhere good enough to include when
this is what it would be paired with.) I promise to include a nice
picture of Oliver next time.

5. That was also when I realized that I needed to keep Chant very far
away from his “auntie.”
The game doesn’t recognize any relationship between Fantine and
Saigon, no matter what I say. Since Fantine and Saigon are clones
of their fathers (who have three bolts), they might be expected to
have three bolts as well. I solved the problem of that ickiness by
using the SimBlender to make them both 100% straight… but
Chant is male.
Ooops. (queues up lots and lots of activities for both parties to do
instead of flirt)

6. I did try to at least get Chant’s mother a love interest, mostly since
she won’t shut up about it.
I swear I did not notice that the mailman had the same Goopy-face
as half the Sims I end up marrying in until after she’d already
greeted him.

7. Fortunately, they did not get along at all, and I don’t have to worry
about Excessive Neighborhood Goopyface Syndrome.

8. Romantic complications aside, the family is doing well. The farm
stand is constantly busy, and now that Chant is an adult, it’s
properly staffed.
It’s really hard to divide three tasks by two people and get it to
come out evenly, you know.
There’s even enough money to add price lists and more awnings!
And this makes me very happy indeed. (does happy dance)

9. ÆLFRIC
My, what a charmingly squalid office! And such
interesting interior design!
GOLDBERG
We’re renovating. Coffee?
ÆLFRIC
You don’t have someone to get it?
GOLDBERG
She’s out sick today.

10. Preparations for Jo’s wedding are moving along apace. Jo wants an
outdoor wedding, and since she tends to get what she wants, Albert
and Cecil spent hours and hours raking the leaves from the birch
trees that are well-represented on the lot.
Is it just me, or do birch trees drop more leaves than the other
varieties?

11. Sleeping arrangements the night before the big day were somewhat
chaotic. Albert caught a cold, and Buttercup decided to sleep in her
father-in-law’s former bedroom.* Skye was in her crib, and
Phoenix and Cecil had the twin beds in the spare room. That left Jo
to share with her mother, which she probably would have ended up
doing anyway.
JOSEPHINE: Mom?
BUTTERCUP: Unnnnh…?
JOSEPHINE: I’m really weirded out right now. What if it all goes
wrong? Wake up and make me feel better!
*You may recall that Albert’s father Bertie moved in with this family and stayed with them
until his death in Chapter 44.

12. An outdoor wedding Jo wanted, and an outdoor wedding Jo got,
unexpected snowstorm or no unexpected snowstorm. The guests
were remarkably good natured about it, and not a one insisted on
wearing their Outerwear.
Although Jo’s cousin Lisa did wear her wedding dress. Lisa comes
from my story Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge,
which you should totally read if you don’t already do so.
[/shameless self-promotion]

13. The decision to move the reception indoors was probably a good
one, though.
Josephine Shankel is now Josephine Wren, by the way.

14. The party was Roof-Raiser, despite a guest list that maybe wasn’t
as well thought out as it could have been.
CECIL (to another guest): I’m very surprised that certain people
were invited to the party. It’s really quite awkward.
ANASTASIA (to Cecil): I’m friends with both the bride and the
groom, bub, and you can just deal with it.
CECIL (to the other guest): I just think it was very tactless of my
sister, that’s all.
For those of you who don’t remember, or who didn’t read the
special crossover feature The Order of the Llama, Cecil broke up
with Anastasia in Uni after finding out about her other boyfriends.

15. But after the party was over, and everyone had gone home, Cecil
had a talk with his father.
CECIL: I can’t explain it, Dad. I just need to move out.
ALBERT: Is it about the guest list? Because I told your sister that
inviting that girl was a bad idea --
CECIL: No, it’s not. Or at least, mostly it’s not. But Jo and
Phoenix have their own life now, and Skye is going to be going off
to school, and you have Mom… I just… I just want my own place,
maybe with some cats. Somewhere that I’m not just the brother or
the son or the uncle, you know?

16. And the very next day, Cecil made good on his need and found his
own place, where he can have as many cats as he wants.
Cecil will be leaving this story, but you can read more about him in
Cecil’s CCL, available now in an Other Challenges forum near
you. [/shameless self-promotion]

17. On the last day of the rotation, Skye Grew Up Well. She’s a very
Outgoing little girl, always asking someone or other for attention,
and she usually gets it.
For whatever reason, she gets along very well with Phoenix. He
just seems to be good with kids.

18. And next rotation, we’ll get to see how good he is with one of his
own.

19. ÆLFRIC
Mr. Goldberg, this property is no use to anyone but
myself. You don’t need to know what it is.
GOLDBERG
How else can I look? Syst -- Cisco, how will I even
know if I’ve found it?
ÆLFRIC places a vial on the desk.
ÆLFRIC
This will glow more strongly the closer you get to my
property. Smash the vial when you’ve found my
property, and I will come to retrieve it.

20. Hi Sally! How’s it going?
SALLY (V.O.): Oh, pretty well. We did have to call the bug
funeral people, though.
“The bug funeral people”?
SALLY (V.O.): You know, the ones with the bug holding a lily on
the top of the van? I don’t know who keeps knocking over our
trash can, but over it goes. And then we get bugs.
That’s not good.
SALLY (V.O.): I know. Do you know if sentrybots work against
strays?
Sorry, no.

21. SALLY (V.O.): Oh well. We’ll figure something out. Hey, did I
tell you? I got a new haircut! And some new clothes, too!
Sweet! So it was just time for a change?
SALLY (V.O.): Well, sort of. They’re very image-conscious in
Hollywood.
But you’re a writer. You’re not on TV.
SALLY (V.O.): Doesn’t matter. I was pretty nervous about letting
the stylist near me after what she did to the guy ahead of me, but
she actually did a nice job. Stayed within my comfort zone and
everything.

22. I like it!
SALLY (V.O.): So do I! It’s more grown-up, but it’s still me, you
know? And it’s very easy to care for, which is important to me. I
have better things to do than fuss with my hair in the morning.
Like what?
SALLY (V.O.): Sleep, for starters. Spend time with my daughter
and my husband. Play with the bird and the cat. Write. Work out,
even. Hair should look tidy and reasonably attractive, but when
you get right down to it, it’s just hair.
I couldn’t agree more. How’s the family?

23. SALLY (V.O.): Oh, doing well, as always. Troy just got promoted
to All Star. I’m very proud of him, but given his preferred method
of celebrating promotions, all I can say is that I’m very glad I’ve
been working out lately.
Dare I ask why?
SALLY (V.O.): He likes to leap into my arms. That can cause back
problems if you’re not in shape and prepared. …Why? What were
you thinking?
Oh, nothing. How’s Tamara?

24. SALLY (V.O.): Doing great! She gets good grades at school, she’s
making friends, and I’m teaching her to slap dance.
That always looks so complicated to me.
SALLY (V.O.): I didn’t think it was that hard, but Troy really can’t
manage it at all. Tamara’s catching on fast, though. She still has a
little trouble with the opposite-hand-opposite-ankle thing, though.
(fondly) She’ll get the hang of it.
With you for a teacher, I’m sure she will.
SALLY (V.O.): Aw, thank you! Oooop, there’s the school bus.
Time to go see how her day was. I’ll talk to you later, okay?
Sure thing.

25. MURAKAME
Nah, it’s a legit finder’s flask. Those things cost a
bomb, though. I think it takes like a week to make
one, and you have to have the whatever-it-is in the
middle of the magic circle for the whole working. He
must want it back bad. Any leads?
GOLDBERG
Well, it’s larger than a breadbox, but smaller than
my office. And it needs ventilation.

26. Leonid has taken up gardening, and he has enough fun at it that
Abhijeet rolled up the Want to Plant A Seed himself.
Of course, the minute he planted it, he rolled up the Want to have
somebody else do the gardening. I suppose he doesn’t like having
dirt under his fingernails or something.

27. Or perhaps he simply knew something I didn’t.
ABHIJEET: Aw, man! Is this life over already? I was enjoying it!

28. Abhijeet Phillips, 72 years/days/units of time old. Abhijeet appears
in many other games, under many other names; these are of course
manifestations of his past lives. He was something of an enthusiast
on the subject, actually, although only Tirtha ever took him
seriously. Abhijeet probably kept the closest tabs on whose child
was whose in the extended family, although he was certainly fond
of both kids.
Rest in peace, Abhijeet.

29. Tirtha was pretty broken up -- as the elder of the two, she always
assumed she’d go first. Trixie was there for her, just as she’s been
since they were Teens.
It can be very comforting to have someone who cares about you
nearby, especially when you’re feeling lonely and vulnerable.

30. Tirtha spent some time evaluating her priorities, and decided to pass
along the deed to the flower shop in the morning,
DMITRI: Really? You’re giving me the flower shop? But don’t you
want to run it anymore? And what about Ariadene?
TIRTHA: No, I really don’t. I’m terrible at running a shop -- it was
Abhijeet’s idea, and I’ve had enough. And you’d enjoy running the
shop, wouldn’t you?
DMITRI: Well, yeah, but…
TIRTHA: And Ariadene wouldn’t. So that’s settled.

31. Dmitri may enjoy running the shop eventually, but right now it’s
something of a challenge.
DMITRI: Er, Titi? What does the L-shaped key do?
TIRTHA: I have no idea.
DMITRI: But then how to I get the drawer open to give the lady
her change?
TIRTHA: Just push the keys at random until it pops open. That’s
what I do.

32. Hopefully, Uni will help increase Dmitri’s skills in all areas. I
wonder if they offer a class in cash register management?
Dmitri won a SimCity Scholar’s Grant. And --
ARIADENE: Wait for me!
DMITRI: Huh?
ARIADENE: I’m coming to college too. Don’t leave without me!
DMITRI: But you hate school. Why do you want to go to college?
ARIADENE: I can go if I want. Shove over.

33. Ariadene is no great shakes academically, but she managed a
Tsang Footwork Award and will be joining Frederic in college.
I wasn’t actually planning to send her, but she rolled up the Want,
and she was pretty upset after the death of her father, so I took pity
on her. If she rolls the Want to drop out, I will oblige her, but in the
meantime, Uni has many attractions for a Romance Sim.

34. GOLDBERG
This is ridiculous! What, we’re supposed to drive
around at random and hope that thing lights up?
SILENT LADY
(gasps)
SILENT LADY holds up the vial, which has started to
glow.

35. At the House of the Double As (And a B), I have decided to try a
Permaplat Challenge with Bryan.
I made up the Permaplat Challenge, and the objectives are 1) to get
a Sim into platinum within 24 hours of their turning Toddler and 2)
to keep them there for the rest of their life. If the Sim dips into gold
for even one minute, I lose.
I generally lose this challenge well before the kid turns Child, but
until I lose this time around, you can expect there to be deliberate
plumbbobs in any pictures of Bryan.

36. At least, unless they’re cute closeups showing that Bryan has
learned to do something that will definitely push him into
platinum.
Unless your Toddler is well into the red, learning to Walk, Talk, or
Go Potty will kick them into platinum and keep them there for a
while.

37. I have to admit, I didn’t expect to have this challenge last more
than maybe twelve game-hours, but it turns out that Bryan is very
obliging in the Wants he rolls: Tickles From Mommy and Talk To
Mommy before she goes to work…

38. …And Talk To Daddy and Tickles From Daddy after the carpool
arrives.
Since Daddy is a Family Sim and tends to roll up reciprocal Wants,
this works out very nicely.

39. No worries, though: Mommy and Daddy are still having
meaningful interactions with each other too.
Maybe a little messy, with those feathers flying everywhere, but
they’re having fun.

40. Even eating cat food didn’t seem to diminish his platinum status.
But then again, it might not do anyway. Kids love cat food.

41. I was actually feeling pretty smug when Bryan aged up. He picked
a nice outfit, the hourglass above his head had a blue halo, he
turned out cute…

42. Then I saw his plumbbob.
Apparently, Bryan dipped just barely into gold right before he
Grew Up, which means that I have lost the Permaplat Challenge
yet again.
Oh well. I made it three whole days, which is both a new personal
best and, as far as I know, a world record.

44. You may remember Dante’s post-transition look. It was a nice one,
wasn’t it?
However, before I got to this household in the rotation, I pulled my
clothing equality mod. It made going shopping a pain in the tuchus,
and I have since discovered several wonderful creators of clothing
for Elders.

45. At the moment, Dante is actually just wearing standard-issue
Maxis. I did buy him several nice outfits, but only realized after he
came home with them that they were the exact same outfits worn
by his brother and his cousin. I suppose my imagination is not at its
best just now, and my fashion sense has never been anything to
write home about.

46. Sam has been spending plenty of time on the toy bench, and has
worked her way up to Fire Trucks and Clowns-In-A-Box.

47. Cathrynne is still working on Sir Bricks-A-Lot, but she’s having
fun -- despite her face.
This family continues to be so functional and happy that I really
don’t pay much attention when it’s their turn in the rotation. In
fact, this rotation, I was busy balancing my checkbook for a good
chunk of the time.

48. Which would be why this came as a complete surprise.
Figaro apparently reached the end of his life bar at some point on
Day 2 of the rotation. I only found out when I noticed that his
portrait was missing from the side of the screen.

49. Since Figaro and Jack Rackham were the same age, I was kind of
expecting this, and at least I noticed this time around.
Both cats were in platinum most of the time, and they were friends
with all three of their kittens. Mr. Fuzzypants is now the only one
left in the household. (You may or may not recall that Latifah now
lives with Amy and Adam and that Tom now lives with Sally and
Troy.)

50. The final event of note in this household was Cathrynne’s
departure for Uni. Unlike some other people this rotation,
Cathrynne was the correct age: seven days from adult. (Well, it’s
the correct age for my game, anyhow.)
Cathrynne got the SimCity Scholar’s Grant, the Will Wright
Genius Grant, and the Quigley Visual Arts Stipend. Not a bad
haul!
I may well be doing a college chapter, or possibly a crossover
college chapter, and I’m sure you’ll see more of Cathrynne then.

51. GOLDBERG
I couldn’t find your... property. Maybe you should
try another agency in the future.
ÆLFRIC
I see.
ÆLFRIC glances at SILENT LADY. SILENT LADY glares
back and lifts her chin.
ÆLFRIC
Very good, Mr. Goldberg. Thank you for the refund.
Good day to you... both.

52. We return to Eddie and his Heavenly Bride to find them as
affectionate as ever. Their Want panels are full of things like Hug
Eddie, Kiss Celeste, or Talk To Each Other, and they generally
take care of most of those things on free will.

53. Eddie has taken up stargazing, but with the cheap telescope. I need
an abduction at my Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge
household, and I don’t want to take the chance of wasting a
perfectly good abduction on a Sim who wouldn’t even get an alien
baby out of it.
The rebuild means that the game doesn’t recognize Eddie as
Pollination Technician’s son, but he’s past childbearing years.

54. Celeste is now permaplat due to achieving her LTW of Becoming a
Business Tycoon. She gets to go to work in a helicopter, which I
for one do not envy as I don’t like heights one little bit. But she’s
happy, which is all that matters.
Technically, I could ignore Celeste until she dies now, but of
course I won’t. She’s too cute when she’s happy, and for a Fortune
Sim, she rolls up an awful lot of Wants for her husband.

55. Frederic is doing pretty well too. He managed his First Kiss off this
vacation townie whose name I have promptly forgotten. (I do have
a more traditional First Kiss picture, but you’ve all seen a hundred
of those, and this came out better.)
Frederic didn’t like her well enough to roll Wants for her the entire
date, switching to Watch TV and the like about halfway through,
so she won’t be following him to college.

56. That’s right, college. Frederic is off to Uni -- a little bit late,
according to my personal rules, but I delayed him so he could go at
the same time as Dmitri.
Frederic won the SimCity Scholar’s Grant. Really, so many of my
Sims win that thing that it’s more noteworthy when they don’t.
Whatever hijinks Dmitri gets up to in college, you can bet that
Frederic will be right there with him.

57. MURAKAME
So, did you find it?
GOLDBERG
Nope. Found her, though.
MURAKAME
Ah. And?
GOLDBERG
I hear Strangetown is nice this time of year.

58. You may remember last time that Louise fired the stylist, and that
she was subsequently hired back due to crying when she left.
Well, when another family visited the lot for transition clothes, I
saw that the tears were a lie.

59. Louise sent her packing a second time, and it’s only a pity that the
asylum is already full.
You may have noticed in the last picture that Louise was dressed
differently. (Or you may not have -- that was a pretty impressive
dust cloud.) This is another one of those I-pulled-the-hack changes.
If you look at the pictures in this chapter closely, perhaps you can
figure out exactly when I pulled it and also what order I played the
households in.

60. One weird thing about Open For Business is that Sims who own a
store can’t shop there. This lot is called Makeshift Clothing, and it
exists for times like these.
One of these days I should get around to putting a roof on it. And
walls. And maybe a floor.

61. Here is a closer look at the ladies’ new looks. I’ve always
wondered why EAxis bothered to make the outfit Charlie is
wearing. Now I know: so Charlie could wear it!

62. And that will do it for this chapter!
Now, I have a bit of a problem: my work hours have changed,
leaving a little less time for simming, and I have a round of Uni
coming up. That means that I will almost certainly need a bonus
feature for next time. I thought that perhaps it would be fun for my
loyal readers to send in questions -- about the story, the Sims, the
cc I use, or anything else you might want to know -- and I’ll
answer them. Feel free to leave your questions in a comment or
send me a PM.
Until next time, Happy Simming!

63. The Goldberg and Silent Lady sections used a lot of custom content and
poseboxes. All custom content is from Mod The Sims unless otherwise
indicated. In addition to the makeup advertised at the beginning, I used:
“Timeless Office” set by jgwoods
“Condemned” décor set by mustluvcatz
Long drapes and recolors by KiaraRawks
“Hacked Coat Hook” by Mary-Lou and Numenor
Fox ears and tail by Atreya
“Custom Modeling Poses Hack V2 w/Facial Overlays” by decorgal21572
Multiple game animation boxes by Jaydee from www.jd-movies.com
Crates from the thread “Salvaged Stories Crap” at More Awesome Than You;
this thread contains items from Castaway Stories, Life Stories, and Pet Stories
converted for The Sims 2.
“Documents of Importance” by jon119