tigeranne | The Athertons' Bugaloo!

I know, it's been fivever once more! What can I say? Other games, and real-world activities managed to pull me out of the Sims 2 tractor-beam for a while. But a person of good judgement (who shall go unnamed) has convinced me that it's been too much Zoo and too not-much Simming in recent months. Right now TA has a sick, and wants to stay in bed to get rid of it. I can't play any of my games on my ChromeBook, which is the one I can take to bed with me (uh), but I can write updates!

Oh, and let me tell you all about my Sick-Dream from last night. :D I dreamt that I was playing Planet Zoo, and I was building an enclosure for Arctic wolves. This consisted entirely of placing buildings that almost immediately got deleted by the game, but I had to keep placing them to make it recognise the enclosure as a habitat. I did that ALL NIGHT LONG. Then I woke up at around.... what was it, 4am? It's not quite 10am yet, daylight happened not long ago, and it's already been like a week.

This is the Atherton family, who are experiencing some vague feeling of déja-vu right now. (TigerAnne has a sinus cold, a sore throat, and doesn't care enough about punctuation to check which way that accent goes on.)

You may or may not remember the Athertons from their first time around the bend, nine whole years ago. I've recently installed the Sims 2 UC, with gracious help from Sammy Frog. Now I'm playing a test hood while I gradually put all my CC back in, and the Athertons once more got to be the lucky test subjects. :D

This family was ridiculously fun to play, back when they were an "ISBI." So, in addition to testing if the UC behaves well on my computer, I want to see if they turn out similarly to how they did the first time.

Vanessa and Morris are the parents of the two teenagers - Wiliana and Wilandra. It's good to see that they're good at finding the romantic moments in a dull, dreary everyday life, because for the first weeks they won't have much in the way of money or stuff to buy with it. At the very least they have defaults, so they don't have to get the Scheiler Dream Curse

(Hmm, I've got arcade games now. Is there a Polybius mod? No, no, I wouldn't test it on the Athertons! Evil knows some standards.)

It's possible that their house started out even more miserable this time. In the original "ISBI" playthrough I had cheap CC they could decorate with, and their starting funds went a little further. But when you have to choose between furniture and windows or siding, furniture is just a little higher priority.

Such was the initial layout: Two bedrooms without the ability to lock the doors, a fairly decent kitchen, bare-bones living room, one small ~~social hub~~ batroom, and a hallway with space for temporary storage of small children and stuff.

Then there was a Rod Humble sighting. There's an urban legend about him in this neighbourhood. It's said that he's a restless spirit who walks the earth, handing out outdated computers with a mysterious program on it. This program gives you a view into a different dimention, one that once existed but was abandoned because the people in it were too ugly to find love. :(

On to their temporary first careers! Henry got Gamer, which actually seems to fit him rather well. He's got the Knowledge Aspiration, and last time around Professor Ball was his constant companion, even more than Herr Doktor Kopfkrank and Social Bunny.

Morris went into the Smurfs.

Vanessa took a job in Politics, which she can actually just keep until she gets booted or tops it.

I wanted Law or Business for Milena, but she got Education.

We all have an uncle who watches TV like this. :I

Maybe this is a good place to post a little reminder of who is who, or an actual introduction if you've never seen the Athertons at all. Standing up and blocking the view we have Henry. He's married to Milena - Alexandra and Evie are their kids. Morris is the guy with glasses. He didn't originally have those, but I felt like he needed something to complete his look. Morris and Henry are brothers. The teenager is Wilandra, who - let's be fair - is probably the star of the show. On the right is Alexandra.

Here's Milena and Evie, trying to get some walking training done while their moods are still good.

I won't be quite as cruel to them as last time, when I only controlled Wiliana. This time I'll be taking minimal but existent care of the three adults who aren't Henry, to make sure they don't starve to death, and I'll control the two youngest children a bit. Henry and Wilandra are still independently thinking dumbasses, because that's literally their identities. All the others learned to look after themselves. x)

Oh, and aging is off.

Wilandra has always been pretty good at voluntarily taking care of Evie. My Romance Sims always are, I've noticed, as long as they're not the kids' actual parents. When they don't have to care for them it's probably fun, rather than the horror that is adulting.

I made Wiliana walk to school, so she could bring home homework and learn to study. This is the face of a girl who's been to classes.

Now that I finally have Uni, my Sims are doing the Hang Out thing.

There. One kid done, two to go.

Morris is the guy who once became a celebrity chef by constantly winning at word bingo.

Morris: It's chocolate Mac'N Cheese. :)

(Which is a thing, and I find the idea kind of disgusting. Not as gross as strawberry Mac'N Cheese, but in the realm of "I'm never trying it.")

Wiliana: I think I studied too hard today, because I see books floating in the air.

Vanessa: Maybe you should go unwind for a while.

And then Wilandra started malfunctioning.

It was only the first night and all. :O At least she provided a lovely teaser for this chapter?

Eventually it was discovered that the game was trying to get her to sleep next to Milena in one of the double beds, and she was not having it.

Instead she cleaned the kitchen like an MVP.

And eventually bunked on the sofa.

Alexandra hasn't met Mrs. Swiller yet in this timeline, so she's still happy to get up and be about to go to school.

Oh deer. I hope Vanessa's office has a toilet. :C

Morris actually had an accident, on the second day, while being controllable. I saw him doing the crosslegged dance outside the bathroom, but there was someone already on the can, and someone pouring a bath. Then he shot out of the house, and I was sure he'd run off to his carpool. No, he came back in, dejected and stinky.

They had to hire a nanny. :( I was hoping they'd get Kendall, but it was Calista - sometimes known as Phil's Grandmother. It's not Karen, though. Gotta appreciate the small mercies.

Milena: No oranges for punks! Into Mrs. Swiller's taxidermy closet y'all go!

Maybe her threats were a little badly worded?

Anyway! I don't like the Education career that much. Milena's free to pursue something else.

Wiliana taught Alex study skillz, so she won't be spending as much time in that closet with the dead squirrels this time. Hopefully.

Aw no, untrained toddler meltdown time engage!

It's starting to look a bit like an ISBI again, isn't it?

Wilandra turned into an underwear-Sim on the first occasion, but look! She did her homework.

Aww. Henry tries.

Cooking isn't going to be Wiliana's responsibility to the same degree, but it doesn't hurt that she learns some recipes.

They got The Talk. It was interesting.

Confession: I didn't have these guys' stats available when I remade them for this hood, so for the first few days they had random personalities. Super-clean Wilandra was pretty nifty, I will admit.

When I adjusted them all in SimPE, I discovered something weird that I had no memory of from when I originally created this family. The two married couples have the same personality as their spouses. One of the girls (I think it's Wiliana) also has the same personality as her parents. They're all just default for their Zodiac signs. It seems like I put very little thought into their character creation. But yeah, I wanted to see how things would turn out compared to last time, and they needed to be the people they'd been then for it to be accurate.

Knowing that Henry was going to be in his underwear most of the time, I gave him a bathrobe to bum around in.

Alexandra: Paper boy, my Dad is really cool!

Milena: How are we gonna get lucky when we're sharing our bedrooms with the kids?

Morris: We're going to build a second floor once we have money. Although thinking about it, maybe we should just have this shack pulled down and rebuilt from a proper floorplan.

Milena: My mind has been desperately in the gutter lately!

(It has. She's constantly rolling the woohoo want.)

Wilandra learned how to properly study. Time will tell how much it helps her stay out of despair, though.

Henry already got a promotion. :)

But now Evie's life was starting to get frustrating. Her needs weren't being met at all. She hadn't learned any skills, didn't have any toys or a proper bed, and was constantly dirty.

Alex: I wish we had windows. :(

Wiliana may be doing great in school, but she's a Popularity Sim and mostly rolls wants about making best friends and BFFs, and getting all the personal electronics that are a thing with Uni.

Hey, even babies count towards friend-collection!

Vanessa got promoted, and brought home Brandi LeTourneau who used to be her mortal enemy. This could get interesting!

They're all becoming best friends, all over the place. If nothing else, this family is tightly knit.

I think this was Vanessa and Wiliana.

Evie was too tired to even crawl up on the pet bed her parents had gotten especially for her.

Wilandra: She's going to have repressed early childhood trauma.

Ohai, Sophie Miguel!

They're off to a great start of a wonderful friendship. <3

Calista felt the violent energies in the air.

Well, that didn't take long, did it? Morris has the Pleasure aspiration, which is pretty much a recipe for misery in a starter scenario with no money. x)

Yep.

Yeh!

Some things are just meant to be!

Wiliana made the wise decision to just zone out.

CRASH! BOOM! BANG! BIFF! POW!

Calista: This reminds me of my great-grandchildren.

Sophie-1, Wilandra-0.

Awwww, the first pair of enemies.

Morris: I consider this to be healthy behaviour.

Morris had a want to help Wilandra with homework, and it had a high enough reward it would take him out of Aspiration failure for a while. Sadly it didn't count. :C It didn't say "teach" homework, only "help with," and the interaction is always available, so I don't really get that one.

Wilandra: Yeah, no. I'm not sleeping in the same room as that!

They definitely need more toilets.

Sophie's going to help them get rid of mouldering newspapers for a while, so that's a win.

At this point TA went into hibernation for several days, and the rest of this update was written about a week later.

Oh yes, water ballon fight in your nightgowns, in the early hours of an autumn morning. Definitely an activity I recommend right now. *cough* *sneeze*

It's not a Sim family of mine if they're not gardening. :D Well, I think there are exemptions, but this one isn't one of them.

Right now, only the default Maxis plants from Seasons are available to them. I hope they like tomatos, because that's all she can plant yet.

They actually called a mechanic to deal with the toilet. Waylon Fairchild arrived, stated that everything looked in good order, and left. So yeah, Morris and his zero mechanical skill points had to take care of it. Thank goodness he actually managed to unclog it, because I've had Sims before who weren't capable of that, who spent all day trying in vain.

Yes, Morris. What do you do about it?

Vanessa got another promotion. At this time it was incredibly needed, because they had something like 11 Simoleons in the bank.

Whatever else Wilandra may up to, at least she seems better at staying alive. Henry will probably be thankful to find randomly served food at night.

Wilandra even showed moral support to her poor, disillusioned dad, who had a midlife crisis and started free-styling in the kitchen for Aspiration points.

Wilandra: Please give him some spare change. I don't want him going outside like this.

Alexandra: I'm so proud that I have a cool teenager as my role model!

Wilandra: I'll beat up Mrs. Swiller for you any day!

*PLRFPRLFPLPLPLRFPRLFPLFLFFFFF*

Alex & Wilandra: *hyena noises*

Shady connections were made. :O

Milena's Boss: Don't worry, you won't have to wear the clown suit. We've modernised!

The first possibly-problematic CC I tested was custom foods, so the poor Guinea pigs could at least have some variety in their diet. At the same time I slapped the hair folder back in, because it was make-over time.

Wilandra decided not to say anything about the fact that Calista had a hole in her head.

(It wasn't actually a graphic glitch, just an inappropriate setting in the editing program. Let's knock on wood that my graphics will behave.)

Evie's first Quality of Life object was the good old logic toy, which is very problematic because it teaches children that things fit in boxes. Oh well.

It got Evie happy enough that she sat quietly on the potty for a few hours. Vanessa had to step in, because Milena was exhausted after a day as a children's entertainer. There was a chance card that went wrong, but I lost the screenshot of the result, so all I remember is that a balloon animal exploded and children cried. I think Milena also lost a Charisma point.

~~Phil's Grandma~~ Calista: Twisted and kinky.

Wilandra: Wicked!

Calista: Don't talk to me like you know anything about LOVE. You're only 14!

Wilandra: I'm 15!

After having established a pecking order, they went outside and tossed the pigskin. This is just so right, you know what I'm saying?

Uh, do I sense issues?

Wilandra: Twisted old witch!

Calista: Judgemental Brat!

Morris came home with the flu, and crept into bed next to his sister-in-law.

Then he was exiled to a spare bed in the living room. It's the only place in the house it fits, unless they want to sleep outside like they're a Legacy or something. Maybe that would be the better option anyway, because someone always turns on the TV or computer, and makes it impossible to sleep.

Weeds! The bane of low-level gardeners. And of their poor plants. :C

But look who's got an A+!

Wilandra: Hai Dad, I'm a genius!

Wilandra: And that means I know true suffering!

I'm making them invite in lots of random people, because the Athertons are a bit like The Community and make loads of random friends. They actually have a large extended family too, in their origin story, which I'll hopefully get around to making Sims of.

Alex and Evie aren't geniuses. :(

Which may be because they don't take after the parent who is a tormented genius. And we've never really seen any evidence of the "genius" part.

Unfortunately, it was too late in the autumn to plant a new crop. They can't really afford a greenhouse yet.

Wilandra served breakfast and brightened her family's morning considerably.

Maybe not Milena's, but that's not Wilandra's fault.

At work Vanessa got this borked chance card. I remembered that if you lobby in favour of the reserve the game still treats it as if you've lobbied against. What I don't remember is what happens if you legit vote against it, if that's also reversed. Then I thought maybe it was fixed in the UC, and decided to see what happened if Vanessa lobbied in favour. Yeh, it's still broken, and Vanessa got rewarded generously for her support of llama extinction. D: But hey, her family needed a habitat too?

Look, they have windows! As in more than one. Sorry, llamas! She tried to save you.

The kids even got some anti-homework-depression enrichments.

Alexandra: Mom says that next time someone makes a lot of money at once, we're going to get another bathroom. It's just that I kind of need to shower before I go to school tomorrow. I hope they all can find their way out of our old bathroom before then.

Apparently they did, because at some point she got cleaned up.

Since they could afford a tent, they got one to replace the mostly useless living room bed. Guess who spent the night.

Milena and Evie were both in high greens, and it was time to finish Evie's walk training.

Morris: I HAVE NO FUN AND HAPPINESS IN MY LIIIIIIIIIIIFE!

Wilandra: Shut up, Dad. Mrs Faulkner's history lesson today was on Victorian miners.

(If you want to feel better about your job or pile of housework, there are many excellent shows on Youtube about terrible work people used to have!)

Guess who became best friends!

They know.

Wow, she's working out! She must be feeling pretty good.

Alex threw darts, while imagening Mrs. Swiller's face on the board.

And that concludes this first chapter of the Atherton's second. Stay tuned, because there will be more, probably. I've been playing Planet Zoo a lot as well, so I may present to you the story of Freezerburgh Funland - the worst zoo.

Take care, and get lots of vitamin C!