Party Disco Style

Whew...reading yesterday's post again really made me thankful for the changes that have taken place in the MonkeeSim neighborhood since it was first created. Sure, the game can be fun even without any of the expansions, but I've gotten used to some of the goodies and improvements, and I'm not sure I could ever go back now.

Previously, the Jacksons headed down to one of the beach resorts so they could relax and enjoy the great outdoors. Eventually, though, it came time to get back to "real life", and the family headed back home to resume their everyday pursuits (which have recently consisted of bothering the genie and playing around with the chemistry set). It had been a while since there had a been a bunch of people from around town just hanging out at the Jackson place, but that was remedied shortly after the family returned home.

Hey, where are the Jacksons? Hey, who cares?

It's kind of funny how so many of the guests drop by and never so much as say hello to any of the actual family members, but I guess since the Jackson place is currently the most fun you can have in the MonkeeSim neighborhood without paying anything, they should expect some freeloaders from time to time. This time, however, Leon insisted that if people were going to be hanging out at his place, they'd better be wearing disco costumes so he could pretend he was back in the 70's again.

Bald Guy: "Hey, wait...aren't these Steve's clothes?"

I did find it amusing that many of the outfits from inside the trunk match the clothes that Leon and Steve wear on a daily basis. That certainly says something about their choice of wardrobe. My guess is that "costume" trunk is nothing more than Leon's clothing collection from his glory days in the 70's, full of clothes so bad that even the moths won't mess with them.

Steve: "I guess I'm just going to have to wear Leon's suit until that bald guy gives me back my clothes!"

As for Leon, I'd say his choice of outfit for this party was a far better selection that what he usually wears (currently being used by Steve). For a moment, I actually mistook Leon for a normal, well adjusted individual with some fashion sense. Of special note at this particular party was the fact that not just Kevin, but Kammy Wilson showed up, when they've never visited another house together that I've ever seen. Maybe that means their relationship is growing...we'll see...

Leon: "Hey, guys, don't forget to change back into something disco when you get out of there!"

Of course, showing up together is only half the battle. Kevin hung out in the hot tub most of the time he was visiting, and eventually left on his own before the party was even over. Poor Kammy occupied herself with the other guests for a bit, then just stood around looking bored. If you ask me, she's wasting time worrying about Kevin when she could be taking advantage of the grooviest party shack in all Sim City. Well, that's Kammy for you.

Kammy: "What a fun party! That @#$% Kevin had better propose soon!"

One problem with the big parties at the Jackson house is that despite its relatively moderate size, the only real places where people hang out are the rec room, kitchen, and bathroom, none of which are really that huge. Despite the outhouses Leon installed in the back yard to compensate for only one toilet in the house, the bathroom still gets a lot more traffic than it can handle, and folks seem to go home a lot just to use their own toilets (I can't imagine not wanting to use one of those great outhouses, especially on hot days!).

Uh...Steve...some people don't like that...

Sporting his new duds, Leon took full advantage of the party crowd, and set about trying to hook up with some of the chicks (apparently he got a little tired of getting the brush off from Brooke). Really, for someone who calls himself a ladies man, his efforts thus far have been pretty pitiful, but fun to watch. Maybe it's just the suit that's been driving the ladies away thus far.

Leon: "No, really...I decorated the whole place myself!"

Apparently, the clothes have nothing to do with Leon's success or lack thereof. Things seemed to be going well between him and the lady in the red dress for a few minutes, until I guess she'd suddenly had her fill of him, and just couldn't take any more. It caught Leon by surprise, but she definitely seemed to know what she wanted, and it definitely wasn't him. Oh, well...better luck next time!

Leon: "What? But what about my cool new suit and awesome decorating skills?"

Leon shouldn't feel too bad, though. He apparently wasn't the only one having relationship (or attempted relationship) difficulties. The jock guy from downtown was getting his butt chewed by some woman I'd never seen him with before over another woman I'd never seen him with before. Wow, it's amazing how much goes on behind the scenes that you don't know about (or care about)! It's nice to have people come over to your place so they can air their dirty laundry in public for everyone's amusement.

Jock Guy: "Yeesh...nag, nag, nag...is that all you ever do?"

Funnily enough, after the girl in the red dress rejected Leon, she headed over to the dance floor, where she was waiting in line to dance with Steve (I know this because the little command popped up in his queue). Well, she had to wait her turn, because Steve was busy dancing with Kevin's girl, Kammy, who was thrilled to have a guy actually paying attention to her for once (hint, hint, Kevin). Go, Steve...go Steve...

Steve: "Easy, ladies...there's enough Steve for everyone...!"

As usual, "Moon Dawg" was content to do his own thing, unconcerned with whether or not there were any females around interested in him or vice versa. If only Steve and Leon could be more like that, they wouldn't be such pathetic messes. Being in love does have consequences, after all, like rejection, heartbreak, and all that fun stuff. No, "Moon Dawg" preferred to keep a safe distance from all that love stuff and get his groove on solo out on the dance floor...amid showers of bubbles from the bubble machine.

Kareem: "Hey, mon...I can't see anything with all these bubbles!"

Well, you can't cram too much fun into one post (though I don't think we were really running that risk), so we're just gonna' stop right there. Is this little bash going anywhere? Probably not, but you never know! Enjoy it while you can, for in days to come, the Jacksons run into financial problems, romantic entanglements, and other such disasters! And remember, here at MonkeeSims, survival of any given sim is never guaranteed! Does that scare you? :-)

The Origin of MonkeeSims

Hey there. I realized the other day that we're coming up on the 50th post here since I began this site. I know that's not a huge number compared to some blogs that have been around much longer, but hey...it's something (I guessed I'd give up posting here after two or three days like I did with my last blog).

Anyway, in honor of the glorious landmark we are approaching, I thought I'd go way back to the beginning of the MonkeeSims neighborhood and take a look at how things really got started. Not just to the beginning of the Miller family, where this blog began, but back even before that.

As I mentioned before, the Miller house originally belonged to the McGregor family, Mark and Nikole, and their five (technically six) kids.

Pictured in order, they are: Mark, Nikole, Chloe, Seth, Amber, Katie, and Mark Jr. The family didn't start out as two adults and five kids, though. No, it started with just Mark McGregor, a bachelor, who was my first sim in the MonkeeSim neighborhood.

Unlike most of my more modern sims, Mark actually had a job in the political career track, and he was working hard to try to get to the top of his profession. Things were going okay for a while, but very few people ever came by his house, and even fewer of the ones he actually did meet ever agreed to come over when he called them. Over time, his social meter took a big plunge, and he was always too depressed to perform well enough at work for a promotion.

Well, this was before I had any of the expansions, so it wasn't like there were any townies for Mark to meet...just the Newbie and Goth families. To remedy this situation, my wife added the Friendly family to the neighborhood, which consisted of eight single women living in a house together. Over time, Mark met a couple of them, proposed a few times and got shot down, and eventually got Nikole Friendly to agree to marry him. The ceremony was captured in a small, grainy picture taken by the auto snapshot, since I never thought to take pictures back then myself.

The McGregor wedding...as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope...

Well, getting married and having someone around all the time definitely cheered Mark up, though the couple lead a pretty boring life, even by pre-expansion sim standards. It wasn't long before the first of many children, Chloe, was born, and Nikole began the first of many grueling baby-watching sessions.

Nikole had better hope that little Chloe doesn't get a case of air sickness while hovering over her head...

Mark started climbing up the career ladder again, and started having a limo pick him up instead of that old beater car, and he started wearing cool campaign ribbons on his suit. However, he hit a brick wall again when he suddenly needed like a zillion friends to achieve his next promotion. Even with improved work hours, it became apparent that he had neither the time or energy to waste making pals with a bunch of folks just to get ahead in his career.

Mark: "Yeesh...you'd think she'd at least draw my bubble bath for me!"

Well, Chloe grew up, and Seth was born shortly after, with very small gaps in between the birth of each new child. Usually, Nikole was on the brink of complete and total collapse by the time each baby grew up, since Mark usually came home and went right to bed without helping with the kids. When there were no babies around, she did manage to find time to sit around and do nothing while Mark was at work and the kids were at school.

Nikole sits around...and does nothing...

Eventually, I got the brilliant idea that maybe it was time to create more neighbors (besides the Friendly family and Matt and Branson), and so, the Wilson family was created. Their house was an ideal place to socialize, since there were so many jobless adults there, and quite a bit of fun stuff to do, even before the second story was built. Nikole took advantage of this, and started visiting frequently while her family was away, working hard to make family friends to help push Mark up the career ladder.

Nikole chats with Kevin and another neighbor. Déjà vu?

For a long time, Nikole was either over at the Wilson house, or had one of the Wilsons over at her own place to try to make friends of them. The plan to get Mark promoted worked, and he repaid Nikole for her "efforts" by actually helping to take care of some of the later babies a bit more. I guess you can call having to socialize all day long making an "effort", though I'd take that over going off to work all day at Mark's boring job.

Once the baby is fed, maybe Mark can figure out why none of the lights in the house seem to be working...

As much fun as I'd been having shoving Mark up the career ladder, the game was starting to become more work than it was fun, trying to keep two adults and five kids happy, clean, and responsible all the time. It was hard to find stuff for all of them to do at the same time, since there were limited fun objects, and several people usually looking for a good time all at once. My solution to the fun shortage was a Gameboy, which was a quick and easy fun fix for the kids and adults alike. Of course, there was only one in the house, so it was still only useful to a limited number of people.

Chloe: "At last...the Gameboy is mine...all mine!"

Things eventually got to the point where I was wondering how on earth I'd gone from controlling a single sim to a huge family that required constant attention. Like I said before, I was managing to keep them all content and happy with one another, but I was having no fun myself. I think things pretty much start to hit rock bottom when you have to have your adult sim cook two meals just to feed one family. Talk about a monumental pain.

Mark: "Hmmm...are you sure we have enough kids?"

Well, it was clear that I was out of control, refusing to ever say no to the "should we have a baby?" box, but there was no going back. When Nikole suggested having a sixth child, of course, I said "yes", and that was the breaking point. Two adults, five kids, and one baby...it was all too much. By this point, I'd decided I was having a lot more fun during the times when I was playing as the Wilson family trying to make friends for Nikole, and I started having thoughts about giving up on the McGregors altogether.

Nikole: "Babies, babies, babies...I need a new hobby!"

After baby Christian was born, and the process of making sure he was cared for had begun, I decided I'd had enough. I basically abandoned the McGregor family and ran off to spend all my time with the Wilsons instead. Eventually, the house was vacated, though all the furniture and stuff still remained. The Millers were the next to move in, and the cradle that had been baby Christian (who never actually became a child) was still in the house! That was the baby who wound up getting taken away because the family was too lame to care for it. Anyway, you know the rest of the story (or if you don't, go back and read the very first few posts, if you dare).

Whew! What a boring post! In retrospect, I suppose part of the charm of the Sims is being able to lead normal simulated lives sometimes, but if it winds up being even more boring than real life, where's the fun in that? Now you know why my current families are the way they are. Anyway, thanks for enduring this post, and I promise more interesting stuff is on it's way. Stay tuned!

Life's a Beach

Last time here at MonkeeSims, we watched as the Jacksons messed around with the genie lamp and the chemistry set a bit. Cheap thrills, I know, but the family has a limited money supply, and if they run out, I'm not helping them (tough love). All those constant parties before have started to take their toll financially, causing things to slow down a bit around the house.

As we drop in on the house, we see Leon is up bright and early, getting ready to make breakfast. Good thing, too, because after all this time, he's still the only one in the house who knows how to cook, and can use the stove top without burning down the joint. This is rather convenient...for everyone but Leon.

Leon: "Why? Why must I slave in the kitchen just because everyone else is too stupid to use a stove?"
Steve just couldn't pull himself away from his newly found chemistry hobby...that is, until the chemistry set blew up in his face. That ended things real quickly. Steve made a big deal over it, apparently oblivious to the fact that a simple call to a repairman would remedy the situation. What a loser.

Steve: "No...NO! Now I have no reason to go on living!"
"Moon Dawg" had yet to get in on the whole genie/chemistry set thing, and decided to correct that oversight. He summoned the genie of the lamp, who offered him a choice between fire and water (too bad I didn't pay enough attention to what he said to fully understand what those choices meant). Anyway, the spell didn't backfire, but it also didn't do much of anything noticeable. The genie said something about warm desert winds or something, and "Moon Dawg" had his social and comfort meters filled, which was pretty much worthless since they were almost full to begin with.

Jamal: "Hey, easy with the lightning there, mon!"
All the genie's talk about warm desert winds got the gang thinking about how nice it would be to hang out in the sand and sun of the local beach resort. Sure, $500 is a vulgar extravagance, considering I just said not long ago that the gang was running short of funds, but I figured if they were going to go broke, they might as well go out with a bang. Besides, if you mooch just right, from what I've seen, you can live at the resorts indefinitely (with the Peter Miller method of food swiping).

The resort was hopping, and there were many amusing attractions. The one that really caught my eye was the mascot, Marky the Sharky, swimming around in the pool. I'm sure that's no easy task when you're wearing a great big cloth mascot outfit that probably gets water logged easily. Too bad there's no lifeguard to be seen anywhere in the area...

What kid doesn't love to swim with a big scary shark man paddling around in the pool?
As if that wasn't odd enough, I witnessed the vacation director climbing down the ladder to get into the pool so she could talk to some visitors who were swimming. Wow, talk about dedication to her job! She'll go to any lengths to annoy the guests! Maybe she wanted to get in there so she could warn the guests about the shark man recently sighted in the pool.

Maybe the vacation director has just been standing out in the sun too long...
Like so many of the families I've sent off on vacation before, the Jacksons seemed inclined to do stuff that they could be doing for free at home, in this case, sitting in the hot tub. I guess since this tub is made of rugged looking wooden planks, this counts as roughing it. Sort of...

Kareem: "Dude, you said there would be chicks here..."
Steve, however, actually took advantage of being at the resort, and rented a metal detector. He spent quite a bit of time with it, but he couldn't even locate a lousy old boot. He did come across money quite a few times, though, which is much better than nothing. I've never done the math to see how many times you'd have to dig up cash to make the metal detector pay for itself, but I'm pretty sure Steve had found enough by the time he was done with it.

Steve: "Yes! Eight bucks! The house is saved!"
Being on vacation does have it's advantages in a lot of ways. Leon, for example, was thrilled by the fact that he didn't have to cook for once. Given that the house is occupied by three bachelors, you'd think from time to time they'd do the bachelor thing and at least order a pizza, but no. Poor Leon.

Leon: "See? I told you guys there would be chicks here!"
Eventually, the gang decided to opt for some more active amusement than just sitting in the hot tub or eating, and headed for the volleyball court. In order to save on the cost of renting a volleyball (cheapskates), they waited until some kids rented one, and then got in on the game. On a side note, those two kids you see playing there are the children of the mohawk guy and "sherbet head" who were at the snow resort during the Wilsons' last vacation.

Leon: "Yeah! We're gonna' murder you bums...!"
The game got underway, and the competition was fierce. Apparently, the girls weren't feeling quite as competitive as the Jacksons were, and took a dim view of the "in your face" playing style the guys were displaying. Leon's partner was quick to leave the game, turning it into a two-on-one match.

Girl: "...and what is up with that afro, anyway?"
Well, that was all right with Leon, since he's the "great one" (at least in his head he is). The game escalated into a brutal spike-fest, as the ball flew fast and furious back and forth over the net. I think in the end, Leon lost, but he got his share of digs in during the game, so that was alright with him. It's not liked they paid to play the game or anything anyway.

Leon: "Prepare to eat ball, you pansies!"
Wow, after all this excitement, how will the family ever adapt to normal life again? By throwing a disco party, of course! (duh!) As usual, there's more to it than that, but for the moment, no more shall be revealed. See ya'!

Weird, Whacky Stuff

Had a great couple days this past weekend, and have returned to work refreshed and invigorated...but don't worry...that usually goes away by about 10am Monday morning (which is getting pretty close). I've gotten better at not worrying about updating this blog so often, and have gotten my priorities back in order. Yay, me! Anyway...

I haven't been playing the Sims as much lately as I once did, but I did get an opportunity to spend some time with the game for a few hours the past couple of days, and had a pretty good time watching some weird stuff happen for the first time. It may not be new to a lot of you folks, but it is to me, so back off (just kidding!). Let's get started with some of the random nuttiness, shall we?

Not all of the decorative items in Leon's house were purchased by him when he moved in. No, sir, he also inherited a dirty old brass lamp thingy from his Granny that he left sitting on one of the tiki counters in the rec room (under the erroneous assumption that it somehow made him look sophisticated). Well, he noticed the thing was filthy, and being the neat freak he is, he decided to give it a little spit and polish...

Leon: "So, are you supposed to fill this thing with oil or gravy?"

Obviously, we all know where this is going. Yep...the genie of the lamp popped out, much to Leon's surprise. The genie noticed that Leon was doing a little poorly in the social department, which is surprising since he's such a huge self-proclaimed ladies man. I guess we know the truth now. Anyway, he offered Leon the choice between love or money. Do I even need to tell you which he decided on?

Genie: "Sorry...but no, I can't 'make all the babes totally dig you'..."

Yes, Leon chose love, and the genie's first demonstration of his power was less than impressive. The spell backfired, and Branson appeared in the room, apparently angry at Leon, though she vanished again seconds later. Checking Leon's relationship stats, I noticed there was no change in his relationship with Branson whatsoever. Strange. Anyway, Leon was less than impressed...

Even though night had fallen (luckily, nobody was hurt), Leon decided to head out back so he could indulge in his secret love of gardening. Well, he wasn't the only one spending time with the pansies..."Moon Dawg" was out back with his own watering can, watering every patch of flowers that Leon tried to water. I sat back and laughed as they tried to beat one another to each new flower patch.

Kareem: "Dude...get your fat can out of my way!"

Steve had apparently noticed Leon's little incident with the genie earlier on, and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, he gave the lamp a quick rub (with predictable results). The genie gave Steve pretty much the same choice as he'd given Leon, and Steve made pretty much the same selection, as you might have guessed. Man, these guys have issues...

Genie: "No, I can't 'turn you into the sexiest dude alive'...sorry!"

As with Leon's wish, Steve's backfired as well. Go figure. Maybe this genie is the one with serious issues. Anyway, this time, Matt appeared instead of Branson, but instead of vanishing quickly, he stuck around. leaving Steve to face the music. I guess I could have cancelled any of Matt's negative actions, but I was just there to observe, not to interfere...heheh...

Uh, oh...Matt's back...and this time, it's personal!

Matt marched right over to Steve, and gave him the "what for" (whatever that means). Basically, he poked him a lot and babbled a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand, much like with regular sim conversations. Steve just cowered in fear, probably not quite sure what to say. You never really know how to respond when a genie's magical spell backfires and warps an angry neighbor over to your house. I know I sure don't.

Matt: "How dare you magically summon me over to your house in the middle of the night!"

That is kind of rude, now that I think about it a little more. What if he'd been in bed or in the shower or on the toilet when he got zapped over? Thank goodness the game suspends reality a little bit there (you sort of have to where magical genie spells are concerned). Anyway, the important thing is that Steve was quick to make amends with Matt, showering him with phony compliments and talk about how he was his biggest fan. Steve, I challenge you to name one movie or song you know of that Matt had anything to do with creating...

Matt: "My biggest fan? Really? Wow, I've never heard thatbefore!"

Anyhow, that was enough for Steve...he'd had it with that crazy genie. He decided maybe it was time to turn to the unused chemistry set that had always been in the rec room. After all, you know the old saying "if magic lets you down, turn to science". Okay, so nobody was really ever quoted as saying that, but I just did, so if you hear it again, you know who to give credit to.

Apparently, you don't have to be smart to practice chemistry...Steve is living proof...

Well, after hours of toiling (probably because he had absolutely no clue what he was doing) and lots of bubbling and boiling, Steve came up with a strange blue brew of some sort. Next, he did the totally logical thing, and drank the mystery brew, which he, with absolutely no knowledge of chemistry whatsoever, had concocted. I sat back and waited to watch him writhe on the floor in agony from poisoning himself, but that never happened.

Steve: "Mmmm...tastes like Kool-Aid!"

The blue stuff refilled some of Steve's needs, giving him the energy to go on producing more potions (it's a vicious cycle). He produced another blue one, but this time, he didn't drink it, deciding to save it for later when he could really use it. Well, all his playing around with the chemistry set drew some attention, and "Moon Dawg" got out of bed to see what all the commotion was about. When he came out to the chemistry table, there was a blue potion sitting there, unguarded.

Kareem: "Hey, mon, is this Kool-Aid?"

Well, it's hard to tell who's dumber - Steve, who was quick to drink a weird potion he mixed up with no chemistry experience, or "Moon Dawg", who went ahead and drank some weird vial of stuff he didn't even see get mixed, that for all he knew was toilet bowl cleaner. Luckily for him, it wasn't, but you really have to wonder about these sims sometimes...

Of all the things to drink in the rec room, 'Moon Dawg' goes straight for the weird blue stuff on the chemistry set...

Steve came back later and mixed up more of the blue stuff...apparently, at the moment, it's all he knows how to make. Hey...at least he's producing positive results with his chemistry, unlike that bumbling idiot of a genie and his backfiring magic. Let's just hope the family doesn't become chemical dependent thanks to Steve's cool blue "quick fix" brew...

Well, that's all you get today. Will Steve eventually kill himself with a rotten potion? Will the genie cause more mayhem in the house with his pathetic attempts at magic? Will any of these guys ever win the heart of a lovely (or otherwise) lady? The answers may not be so obvious now, but all shall be revealed in posts to come! See you then!

Grand Central Station

Howdy again. It occurred to me the other day that I've still been updating this blog every time I have an available minute. Sure, I love The Sims, and it's a lot of fun to update this blog, but I do have other equally important interests I've been neglecting in the name of putting stuff up here, and I probably ought to change that. Like I said before, I'd never planned on doing daily updates here to begin with, it just sort of became a habit. Probably once or twice a week will become the new norm.

Anyway, enough yapping. I'd mentioned in some of the earlier posts about the Jacksons that they sort of had an "open door" policy, and liked to have people over all the time. I'm not one to judge what this says about their relationships with one another. Perhaps they (or I) simply enjoy the unpredictability of tossing a bunch of sims with different interests and personalities into the same place and watching the sparks fly. Hey, who doesn't? That's what makes it fun!

Last post, we got to see the Jacksons do their thing downtown for the first time. Leon found a girl named Brooke who looked like "J-Lo", and spent the evening hanging out with her. Steve showed up and danced for a bit, then watched the electric train with Gunther Goth Sr. "Moon Dawg" showed up to mooch a meal off of Kitty, and that was pretty much the evening in a nutshell. After the gang got home, "Moon Dawg" was quick to tease Leon about his romantic exploits.

Kareem: "Leon, you old dog, you...!"

You'd think that the gang would have been exhausted and headed right off to bed after the nights adventures. Well, you'd be part right. Since Leon was the sim I was actually "controlling", he was exhausted when he got back and went straight to bed. Steve and Kareem, however, were totally refreshed, as they'd been when Leon left. They acted like they'd never left the house, which was a pretty weak argument, since Leon had seen them when he was downtown. "Moon Dawg" headed off to Leon's bed and danced with his parrot, while Leon attempted to sleep only a few feet away (to no avail, obviously).

Kareem: "Everybody do the 'Macaw-rena'!"

Not everyone had such exciting activities planned. Steve was quick to head out back and start watering the flowers that I never even notice or pay attention to. I'd just as soon have gotten rid of them when I moved the family into the house, but they seem to like them quite a bit, so I've left them alone. That's just fine, but if the flowers wind up dying, they better not come crying to me about it...

Steve: "I've got quite the green thumb, even if I do say so myself!"

Well, the peace and quiet lasted only briefly. First thing the following morning, half the neighborhood was standing on the front doorstep, clamoring to get in. Now, I don't know most of these sims, but I have visited a few of their houses, and they're much nicer than the Jacksons' place. I'm not quite sure what the appeal is. Maybe only time will tell...

Chester cowers in fear of the swarm of weirdoes invading the Jacksons' front yard...

Eventually, the Jacksons did roll out of bed and let the crowd in (an open door policy isn't worth very much if you don't open the door). Of course, with that many people, things get pretty cramped outside, and some folks were just as happy to hang out on the front lawn. I noticed something odd I'd never seen before taking place between two computer controlled sims - dueling puppets! Now, that's entertainment!

Woman: "I am the green monkey...don't ever touch the green monkey!"

The floodgates of the townie world must have burst open, because as I mentioned, I recognized very few of the visitors on this particular day. I did recognize Gunther Goth Sr., of course, which is a bad thing for him - a college dean probably would prefer not to be associated with a party place like the Jackson house, but if he continues to show up here, that's a risk he's going to have to take! I highly doubt any of these people go to or have ever been to a college, though.

Leon: "No, no, no...it was the theme song from 'Shaft'...!"

One item I noticed was quite popular with the visitors was the bubble machine. While I have looked at a lot of the houses of these other sims, that's one thing I've never seen at any of them. No wonder it's such a novelty. Maybe even too much of a novelty. Hey, what have they got in that thing, anyway?

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere, and not a drop to drink...

One down side to having a popular house (and using the "throw party" command to quickly summon lots of folks) is the constant appearance of Drew Carrey at the joint. The first couple of times, it was fun, but once he started showing up every other time and causing everyone to drop what they were doing to run out and see him, it started to get a bit old. You would think the Jacksons at very least would have gotten used to it by now. If he shows up too much more, they should start charging him rent!

Kareem: "False alarm, guys! It's just Drew Carrey again!"

At one point, I noticed a bunch of folks doing what looked like some kind of cool new synchronized dance. I went over to investigate and cheer them on, but discovered they were just freaking out about some roaches. Come on, guys...if you're going to be jumping up and down like that because of some stupid little bugs, you might as well jump up and down on top of them and squish the little buggers in the process.

Gunther: "It's just some bugs, you pansies! And you...put a shirt and some shoes on, you bum!"

I'm still not entirely sure how House Party works, but at one point, I not only had Drew Carrey show up, but the mime and party crasher as well. I thought that Drew Carrey meant the place was hopping, and the mime meant your party sucked, so how can you have both? Such are the mysteries of the sim world I shall never understand. The caterer at least looked happy to see someone else who would understand French, though the mime made no effort to speak it back to him.

Caterer: "Parole quelque chose, vous clown stupide!"

One person was still fascinated by the presence of Drew Carrey, even after everyone else got used to ignoring him. It was Kitty Wilson, who was probably boring him to death with her tales of her own fame career. Come on, Kitty. Here the poor guy is trying to get away from it all, hiding out at some little party shack in the middle of town, trying to have fun, and you have to keep on bringing up work related stuff to ruin his mojo!

Kitty: "Are you sure you can't tell me how much money you make acting?"

Did I mention the bubble machine was a big hit? Why, yes...I think I did! Well, I'll say it again, because it was drawing quite the crowd. Folks were literally standing in "line" to be the next to use it, totally unconcerned with who's mouth had been on the little mask thingy moments before. I'd say someone should fire up the chemistry set there in the corner, and start making some white potions for when the diseases start spreading because of unsanitary bubble machine habits!

Gunther: "No, really...what is in this thing, anyway?"

I was happy to see so many of the sims from the other houses we've visited in past posts showing up to have a good time. I was pretty surprised that Bobby Miller was making the scene, since he's usually pretty dull and boring back home. Maybe he has a wild side he just can't bear to reveal when Deana's around. Whatever the case, he and Steve seemed to be hitting it off pretty well.

Steve: "Do I Cha-Cha? But of course!"

Whew! The fun never ends, does it? Well, we're all entitled to our own opinions. I can think of a thing or two that Leon's daily parties are still lacking, but we'll give him time and see if he can spice things up. Sadly, even with all this partying going on, Leon's been unable to get Brooke to accept an invitation over to his place. She's always "at work". Yeah, right. Oh, well...we can't win em' all, can we?

Coming up next...a psycho clown burns down the Jackson place! Okay, not really...but the weirdness will definitely continue the next time we meet. See you then!