The Rich and Shameless

Well, I got up bright and early this morning, and it was a nice rainy morning with some distant thunder to help set the mood...the last thing I wanted to do was get ready for work. Well, I didn't really have any choice in the matter, so I did, and had time to spare Usually, that spare time is when I used to find myself playing the sims in the morning, and I hoped to do the same this morning, though it was tough to find the motivation. Weird, huh? I still love the game, but having stuff happen that's worth posting happens less and less frequently when I play. It's time to face the reality that sooner or later, I won't have very many, if any, in-game updates to post here.

Well, on that happy note, it ain't over yet. Our last several posts have followed the Smith family and their beginnings, and it's time to give them a break for a bit. I promised we'd take a look at how the Wilsons are doing with two of their family members gone now, and so we shall. As we drop in on the family, we find everyone is going about business as usual, and the loss of Kevin and Kammy doesn't seem to have had any serious impact. They're busy pretending to be a normal family themselves. When I first checked in Mia Kay was playing the piano in the upstairs rec room, with her J.D. applauding wildly.

Mia Kay practices on the piano in the bar for her future career...as a bar room pianist?

I won't say that nobody missed Kevin and Kammy at all. Marty and Kevin were always pretty tight when Kevin was still around, and although Marty has a pretty good relationship with most of the family members, he seemed at sort of a loss when it came to socializing. J.D. and Julie seemed to have different interests than Marty, and while Marty and Kitty spent plenty of time together, it just wasn't the same as the "guy time" Kevin and Marty used to share. Um...Marty...if you miss having Kevin around, that's what the phone is there for, dude.

Marty: "Food just doesn't taste the same without Kevin around, ya' know?"

As much as they didn't spend time together, Kitty and Kammy were still pretty good friends, and Kitty did kind of miss having her around when she was gone (once again, that's what that phone thing is for). However, Kitty didn't have too much time to worry about friendships and stuff like that. Her fame career had started to stagnate, and lately, the most she'd done was go to Cameron's lounge, sing a couple tunes, pocket her tips, and go home. Sure, it was enough to keep her famous, but it wasn't enough to keep her happy. She'd done much greater things at one time, and she wanted that back again. And so, she headed off to Studio Town with big plans to revive her career.

Kitty: "Oh, great...the gang's all here..."

When Kitty showed up at Studio Town, she saw the same old famous faces as always, minus any regular sims, since only the snooty famous types are apparently allowed to visit Studio Town. Her friend, Matt, was hanging around, and he greeted her upon arrival with a big smooch, which resulted in Kitty falling in love with him. Great...it's Doris and Leon all over again. Well, I happen to have higher standards for Matt and Kitty than to let them fool around with each other when they both have significant others, so I cancelled Matt's second attempt at a smooch and sent Kitty on her way. That's the last thing she needs right now.

Oh, look...Kitty is in love with Matt. That should be all over the tabloids in about five minutes...

It had been a while since Kitty had actually pursued anything more abmitous in her music career than brief lounge acts, and she decided it was time to get back into the music video scene. She tried her hand (and voice) at the rock genre again, though it had never been her strong point where videos were concerned. Maybe it's because her heart just isn't in the whole rock thing...or maybe it's because the director guy looks like he's trying to look up her skirt while she's jumping and flipping around. It's hard to say.

Kitty: "Where do they get these Rod Stewart look-alikes, anyway...?"

Kitty eventually gave up the whole rock thing, probably for the best, and decided to do what she did best - dance videos. As usual, it was hard for her to go wrong with the pair of foil wrapped weirdoes dancing backup for her, and the director seemed impressed. Kitty was thrilled, though as usual, she remained third on the tabloid "who's who" charts. It didn't matter, though. With Kitty, no amount of success is too small for her to let it go to her head...

Kitty: "Woo hoo! I'm the next Britney Spears!"

Well, things may have been going well for Kitty, but it was a lot of work, and the pressure of the life of fame was starting to get to her again (probably why she gave up doing the big stuff to begin with). She went to try to grab a bite to eat after doing quite a few videos, and some dude wanted to get a photo op with her. Well, Kitty had only food on her mind, so she shoved the jerk away, and he shoved back, and before you know it, things were a great big mess.

Kitty: "I'll give you a photo op, jerk! How about my fist down your throat?"

The brawl ended, and Matt was quick to console Kitty, while the photo op pest moved on to signing autographs for folks who claimed to be fans of his. Kitty decided she'd had enough of Studio Town for the time being. After all, she'd made fistfuls of cash, impressed the video director and paparazzi, and gotten into a fight...what more was there to do?

Matt: "Hey, buddy...make sure you sign that autograph 'Big Jerkwad'...!"

Back home, Marty, ever the loving husband, had big plans for helping Kitty unwind from her hard day at work (or so he thought). While Kitty had been away, Corey the courier had stopped by and left a huge mess of mysterious packages for Marty (though I didn't remember him ordering them until they arrived). That Corey must have some big pockets to have carried all those packages all the way across Sim City without even using a truck.

Marty: "Kitty's just gonna' flip when she sees all these mysterious packages!"

Well, if you guessed that the packages contained nutcrackers or stuffed elephants or diamond rings or gift related stuff, you'd be wrong. No, they were full of seeds and tonic and other gardening supplies Marty had ordered for his obsessive gardening hobby. Yes, Marty had lived at the Wilson house for a long time, and he was determined to finally contribute something to the family, even if it was just vegetables. Of course, we won't ask where he gets the money to purchase all those supplies for the "good of the family."

Kitty: "This is your cure for my lousy day? Watering your garden?"

Yes, Kitty wasn't so sure that spending more time with her career was the answer to getting greater fulfillment out of life. Actually, with all of Marty's garden patches to water, she didn't have too much time to think, and wasn't so sure of anything. One thing was certain, though...some sort of change needed to be made, because life was starting to get a little mundane, and gardening just wasn't cutting it for her. Well, whether or not such change comes about will only be answered in future posts...as for this one, well, that's the end! See ya'!