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!