Those Crazy Jacksons

Hey, all. Welcome! You know, it's funny how you can go from one extreme to another. Here, I went for over a week without an update here, and now I'm back to posting (or at least working on posts) every day again. It's all about time management, and if you didn't know already, I'm horrible at it. Oh, well. It's a good thing I don't get paid to do this I guess.

I haven't played the Sims very much lately, simply because I've been stretched too thin (I haven't played much Jedi Academy either, so it's not because of that). I've got a job I work on weekends now separate from my day job, where I've been doing a lot of overtime. What that means is that after this post and the next, I haven't got any more Sims material to post at the moment, so we may be encountering a bit of a break. I know, it kind of sucks, but I'm by no means calling it quits (I may have something a little different in mind for one more post after these next two).

Anyway, last time, we witnessed the complete and utter failure of Leon Jackson and his romantic pursuits. Doris finally fell out of love with him, then Brooke confronted him about their relationship and he failed to deliver the goods, so she pretty much dumped him. All that after his home was magically infested with roaches by the genie. Yes, after so much hardship, Leon found it difficult to get up in the morning, and it's not just because his bedroom looks like something from "Pee-Wee's Playhouse"...

Leon: "...and on top of it all, I'm sinking into the bear skin rug again...!"

After all that had happened, Leon began to realize that the people he needed the most in his life were the ones that had been there all along - especially "Moon Dawg." Argh...that sounds like the "moral of the story" of some after school special or something. Anyway, despite being ignored in favor of chicks and other pursuits for a long time, "Moon Dawg" was all too glad to be friends with Leon again...and not entirely just because he was living under Leon's roof with nowhere else to go.

Leon: "So, I hear there's a 'Flipper' marathon on this afternoon..."

Actually, Leon may own the house, but he's contributed none of the money to the family since they first went broke, so even if he and "Moon Dawg" weren't getting along, I doubt he'd have kicked him out. Yes, those two indeed have something special going on. Anyway, it's been a while since I had something completely random and unrelated to anything in any of those posts, so I thought this would be a good time for it. Here's a picture of a strange sight Doris witnessed during one of her modeling jobs - the floating head and hands of Bartender Waylon.

If you were nothing but a floating head and hands, you'd probably be a big star too...

Well, that was fun, and definitely unrelated. Back home, Doris was adapting well to her newly realized dislike for Leon, and things were pretty much back to where they'd been when she'd first married Steve (she didn't care about him much then either). More than ever, Steve had become the household stud, since he was the only one who officially had a woman. Wow...I never saw that one coming when I first created the family, but life is kooky that way. Below, we see the family entertaining Claire Cartwright, who seems more amused by the discussion taking place than Leon does...

Leon: "What do you mean, 'Leon's a lousy kisser?' Do guests really have to hear about stuff like that?

Yes, all things considered, things were basically back to where they'd been originally, with the addition of Doris to the family. Leon was back to having horrible decorating taste and no lasting romantic relationships, "Moon Dawg" made gnomes and unclogged the toilet when needed, and Steve fooled around with the chemistry set, but seemed to be stuck making only blue potions. Eventually, people started calling the house offering children for adoption. Only in the sim world would an agency call up random houses without screening the people or paying a visit first, and the Jackson family is a perfect example of why they do do that in real life.

Kareem: "A baby? Uh, I think you've got a wrong number, mon..."

Doris was still contributing to the family just as she had done when she first joined, only a little bit more vigorously. Once you have to stay at the Jackson house all the time, you begin to realize that it's a nice place to visit, but not such an exciting place to live. Doris began to extend her visits to Studio Town beyond however long it took her to make money, and she eventually started to get burned out. She began coming home and passing out on the floor before she could make it to bed. Now, I'm no famous model, but I'm pretty sure that sleeping on an uncomfortable floor for four hours a night before waking up from the dog drooling on you doesn't count as beauty sleep.

So close, and yet so far away...

Steve was actually dealing pretty well with having a workaholic wife. It's not surprising, since her working extra hard didn't mean that he had to. Leon was still doing most of the cooking, "Moon Dawg" was still paying the bills with his gnome craft, and Steve had all the time in the world to sit in the hot tub by himself and watch the world go by. Poor Steve...having to lounge around all by his lonesome. He wasn't alone forever, though, because Claire Cartwright started visiting from time to time, and was all too happy to use a hot tub that didn't look like a giant barrel full of water.

Claire: "How do you like my itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny white polka-dot bikini?"

Steve's only other interest, as usual, was his stupid chemistry set. He never was too big on using the genie lamp, but with it having been disposed of, it wasn't an option anyway. Steve set about tinkering with his test tubes again, even though he'd seen every possible kind of disaster the chemistry set was capable of causing. Well, he'd forgotten about one kind, the set itself exploding. Last time, the family was quick to have it repaired, but this time, even "Moon Dawg" with his maxed out mechanical skills refused to fix it. No genie plus no chemistry set equals no disasters besides the ones the family members cause themselves. Oh, the horrors!

Steve: "No chemistry set again?! Oh, man...my life really sucks now!"

Have we seen the end of the run of bad luck brought on by the Jacksons and their use of the genie and magic potions? Well, it sure looks like it, but you can never be sure. For their sake, it's probably a good thing. We may have to investigate further down the road how a life without either item goes for the family, but that's it for now. Next up, though, we revisit the Millers once again. Our first MonkeeSims posts covered one of Stu's grand schemes, and next up, it's his biggest one yet! Well, big for the Miller family, anyway. You'll just have to judge yourself where it fits on the size scale. Drop by next time for a bang-up extra long post here at MonkeeSims!