Just Another Crazy Day

Aargh…I hate that jerkwad, Phil! Oh, good morning. Sorry, as I type this, I'm stewing about stuff at the same time (multi-tasking). Phil was my boss at my propane tank lid painting job I worked as a temp. I was the only one who worked consistently throughout the day with four other people who were either relatives or good friends of Phil, who all stopped what they were doing constantly to smoke or drink coffee. I'd always stop to finally take a short break right as Phil would drop in to see how things were going, and I got "dismissed" for not being productive. So if you're reading this Phil, damn you! That was about ten years ago, but it still irks me. There was also a Phil who worked at Hardee's with me…he was okay, but he got drunk the night before work and fell asleep in the supply shed and got fired. So sad.

Okay, before I waste too much time pondering where I'd be today if I hadn't gotten fired from that job (which sucked, by the way), it's time to focus on something more jovial. I bet you'd never have guessed that by that I mean the Sims. Not just any sims, but the Andrews family (I don't know why I said it like that, they're not that terribly special). Last time, the family celebrated Clarence's birthday…I won't tell you which one, because it's rude to disclose a sim's age (my sims use methods to resist aging, though, so don't expect to see him become an elder any time soon). Amy's present to Clarence was a new dog, Buddy Love. Of course, since Clarence works a lot of the time and Amy is usually home, she wound up getting to handle all the dog related chores during the day, while Clarence simply played with Buddy when he came home.


Amy: "Nobody told me when I went to get a dog that you had to bathe them…sheesh..."
That reminds me, my dog, Howie (who bears a stunning resemblance to Buddy) is overdue for a scrubbing himself. Can't wait for that to happen. Buddy was getting along well in the Andrews home, unlike some of the pets I've introduced to some of my other sims homes. He learned early on to do his business outside, not destroy the furniture, not sleep on the beds, and all that other basic stuff. Well, it's supposed to be basic, but like I said, most of the pets in my other houses pretty much do as they please, and are a nightmare to control. Best of all, Buddy was great at keeping himself occupied. He could spend all day chewing on his rubber bone or watching the local news.


Buddy: "Snow again? When are we going to get that warm front they've been promising?"
Well, having a well behaved dog who doesn't eat your couch or pee in your kitchen is a good start, but Clarence and Amy had higher hopes for Buddy. They tried teaching him some tricks on their own, but realized it takes forever to do. I'm not saying Clarence and Amy are self-centered, but they are a little, and while they wanted a talented dog, they didn't want to have to be the ones to make him that way. Thus, for a ridiculous fee, they called the pet trainer to come work her "magic". Well, her magic involved walking over to look at Buddy sleeping in his pet bed, then walk away and start rooting through the fridge because Buddy wouldn't wake up for training. Come on, a pet trainer who doesn't know how to wake a dog up when she needs to? I saw her eating some old food with a green cloud and flies around it…


Now we know who teaches dogs those weird eating habits...
A few posts ago, I mentioned that Amy had maxed out most of her skill points, and was getting desperately bored without a goal or reason to build up more. Then she decided that perfecting herself in all areas was enough of a goal in itself. Charisma and Logic were the categories she still needed to build up, but talking to a mirror was just a bit too boring for Amy's tastes (and made for incredibly one-sided conversations). It was then that Amy remembered seeing something in the aspiration reward catalog she could use to bypass the whole "having to work for skill points" humdrum. It was a little portable vacuum thingy for sucking up skill points, and her first target was their maid, Brittany Tan.


I've heard of a maid vacuuming, but a maid getting vacuumed? Absurd...
Well, the vac worked like a charm for getting skills points. Brittany tried getting her cleaning done around the house while Amy followed her around and kept sucking out her skill points till she needed no more. Clarence realized the value of the device, and got a vacuum of his own. Brittany had long ago taken off (I would have too), so Clarence called a repairman to use his vac on first, and later, used it on some randomly passing sim. Thus, the quest for the last of Amy and Clarence's skill points ended. I assumed Clarence was so fond of the telescope the family owns because he was after logic points, but apparently not - because he wound up using it constantly anyway…


Clarence: "The truth is...somewhere…"
Clarence's love of the telescope turned into a sort of insane obsession, where unless I directed him to do otherwise, he was using it constantly at the expense of all other things. I don't know if he was excepting to be abducted by aliens, or if he was really just that fascinated with looking at heavenly bodies (I nearly felt the need for some wise remark about that "heavenly bodies" comment of mine, but it was just too easy). Amy got bored spending her evenings alone, so she called up her werewolf and vampire friends to fill the void Clarence was leaving. After one visit, Lucius Wolfenstein stuck around in the hot tub long after the rest of the spooks had left. Then he stuck around. For days, he stuck around in his shorts, refusing to leave.


Amy: "If he doesn't leave soon, I'm moving out..."
Amy did in fact leave the house, and she was able to pry Clarence away from the telescope long enough to get him to go with her. There was the usual tough choice to make as far as where to go for the outing, with all the many Downtown areas yet to be explored. Of course, they chose none of them. I think in some respects my sims reflect a little bit too much of myself. I don't care much for driving to "the city" near where I live and would rather hang out locally, and so, my sims seem to always head to the familiar local hangouts in Riverblossom Hills. Of course, there's no cool tiki coffee bar anywhere near where I live…dang the luck!


Amy: "I just can't remember there ever being life before 'Da Tiki Hut' came along..."
Normally, most of the "hut" patrons head straight for the hot tubs and sit there for hours on end. Clarence and Amy own a hot tub of their own at home, so were perhaps less impressed with the idea. I usually find it more amusing when it comes to community lots to just let my sims do whatever they please and sit back and watch (unless I'm trying to score high on an outing), and what Clarence and Amy chose to do was dance…and dance…and dance. For hours on end. Now, I personally don't know what it feels like to have maxed out body points (I can tell you for certain I don't have the RL equivalent), but apparently it means you can dance for hours without getting the slightest bit tired…


Clarence: "Uh…whatcha' doin' down there, Amy?"
It seemed like not only were the hot tubs not very popular, but people were walking around inside in their outerwear as if it were freezing cold or something. I don't know if the sand floor had anything to do with that, but it shouldn't. Sand or not, it's still an indoor establishment. That wasn't the strangest thing I witnessed though. Actually, the strangest was Amy actually having a nice conversation with Andrew Pearson. Andrew is a bad, irritating sim who gets along with nobody, but apparently I can't say that anymore, since he and Amy seem to get along. That could just be because she hasn't been on a date with him before, but I kind of don't see that happening now.


Andrew: "Why, yes…I'd love to hear your views on the state of the modern legal system..."
One way that you can always tell what time it is in my sim neighborhood, besides the obvious sunrise at 7am and sunset at 7pm, is when the world freezes momentarily at 6am and 8pm for the werewolves to transform. Even if there isn't one around, it still does it so it can update all the portraits of werewolf sims. I like having werewolves in the neighborhood because it spices things up, but that part gets annoying. There was one werewolf actually at "Da Tiki Hut", Armando Cox, who also happens to be one of the Garden Club reps. Clarence savaged him after getting a bad review on his garden. Now, Armando likes to get his revenge on everyone by getting in the hot tub naked in werewolf form.


Insert your own joke about Armando's last name and his naked hot tub tendencies here…I just can't do it...
Despite the naked werewolf, Amy and Clarence could no longer resist the lure of the hot tubs (I really like to believe that Armando was not the lure that drew people in). Clarence likes to scare people by taking it all off before he gets in the tub as well, which always scares everyone, including Amy (sims are weird about that - married sims even freak out when they walk into the bathroom if their spouse is in the tub. You'd think they would get used to that eventually). I was careful to monitor things and make sure that they didn't tub too long. Amy died once not too long ago after bursting into flames in the bathroom at home as a result of hot tub overheating (and I say that so casually). Amy first met Katrina Wilson of the younger Wilson family, and they chatted for a bit while waiting for the risk of spontaneous combustion to subside.


Amy: "Don't just stand there staring…say something!"
The interaction between the two was actually a very good thing for Katrina and her family, because besides their less than spectacular first outing and Katrina's horrific date with Andrew, the younger Wilsons haven't gotten out to meet very many people, which meant no party invites. Amy would also never have guessed that she'd find herself remotely related to Katrina and her family in a very short time, so it was good that the two actually had a chance to meet one another first (chew on the meaning of that one for a while…lol). Eventually, Amy decided it was time to pile in the car. If you think that means it was time to go home or to another lot, you're wrong. Amy had another aspiration she was looking to fulfill, and it was worth big points, too (oh, Amy…for shame)…


Maybe they're just performing a test on the shocks...
Come to think of it, Amy's had permanent platinum aspiration for some time now, having fulfilled her lifetime goal a while back. I always forget that and still find myself trying to fulfill aspirations for "perma-plat" sims. I guess some of those fill the influence meter I love to use to influence evil deeds still. I personally don't care for the whole aspiration thing myself, especially since I have "romance" aspiration sims who are married who want 20 simultaneous lovers and to woo-woo with ten different sims, or else they wind up depressed and in the red. Talk about your cyber sluts. Katrina came by for her first visit to the Andrews house, and Clarence helped her fulfill her burning aspiration to play video games…


Katrina: "Didn't you say there was a hot tub around here somewhere?"
Coming up next, well, we're still hanging with the Andrews, but in a slightly stranger, more random way. What happens when the stress of reaching for the top of one's profession becomes just a little too much? You'll have a front row seat to find out, I'll tell you that much. And just when you think things can't get any weirder, well, stay tuned for the post after that. Just don't get sick of the Andrews family just yet or you're in trouble. See you later!