Moving on Up

Good morning, gang, and welcome once again to the world's greatest sims related blog (results based on a random sampling of 2 blogs, and I like mine better). It's stopped raining out here finally, which is a very good thing - now I don't randomly pop out of my chair to perform the "it's raining" interaction with my window every five minutes. Okay, you know you've been playing the game too long when you start saying stuff like that, but there's no use denying it. I wouldn't have 20 blogs worth of pictures lined up and 111 prior blogs if I didn't spend a little too much time playing games. And yet, I still can't be bothered to touch my personal blogs. Well, here's something personal…a pic of my wife and I...


I'm suspending any scathing captions for this picture…I have to be nice...
Okay, I feel suddenly better about everything now, and ready to do hundreds more posts about sims and nothing about myself. We're going back to the Andrews house today where the drama is perhaps less intense than what took place at the Wilson house in our post yesterday, but it's present just the same. Clarence was beginning to wonder what was holding up his final promotion he was hoping for on the political track…I was beginning to wonder a little myself. Sure, he's been in a good mood most of the time when going to work, but perhaps not quite good enough. The money was rolling in and everything, but Clarence wanted to be mayor in the worst way, and nothing else would do. While he was obsessing over that, Amy started inviting over the younger Wilson family, since she felt a bond of sorts after her daughter Aimee moved in with them.


Mia Kay: "Why is it that every time we sit down to chat, you have to start talking about prison again?"
The Andrews house has always been a hub of all kinds of activity, as well as the site of hundreds and hundreds of roof raising parties (the Andrews sims can't toot their own horn, so I'm doing it for them). The thing is, most of those parties are a smash because of the socializing, not the gadgets around the house. Without some socializing on Amy's part, the parties just wind up being okay or good. I think the message is that the house itself isn't the most exciting environment, and could use a little bit of an update. That message really came through loud and clear during one visit from Katrina and Mia Kay. They didn't even bother with the TV or the radio or the hot tub this time around…they amused themselves by…well, see for yourself…


Mia Kay: "Of course, I'm only thinking of you, Amy!"
Hahah…before you get too freaked out there, let me clarify something. Katrina and Mia Kay were created in the neighborhood as "sisters", even though they don't technically have the same parents. As a result, what you see above is the non-romantic "family kiss", so while it's somewhat odd they were bored enough to wind up doing it two or three times in a row, there wasn't anything dirty behind it (sorry for all you weirdoes out there who hoped there was). It did cue Amy in to the fact that she had tons of money and hadn't upgraded the fun factor of the house in a long, long time. There's little sense in having money in the sim world if you don't buy a lot of stuff, and while a little creative rearranging of the house could have made room for some new gadgets, Amy was thinking much bigger than that…like "new second floor on the house" bigger...


Welcome to the new upstairs bar and poker room...
Since Clarence is a politician, it seemed only right that he have a cool private bar and poker area where he could talk shop with friend and fellow politician (and rival to some degree) Jack Daniels. The only thing missing is the smoky atmosphere, but since sims don't smoke, even when they're on fire, you can't have it all. I first began to realize about this time that you can make a fairly tidy sum if you get some sims with high skill points set around a poker table with some visitors (aka suckers) and go at it for a while. I haven't quite figured out yet if it actually deducts the money it says it does from the pockets of sims who actually have houses in the neighborhood or not, but Jack could afford it, so I just let them keep doing their thing.


A bar just isn't a bar without Jack Daniels...
The bar itself was cool enough, but there was still money to be burned, even more so after Amy and Clarence ganged up on Jack at cards and cleaned him out. Amy decided if they'd created part of a second story, they might as well do something all across the rest of the rooftop. She started to build an outdoor deck with cool green lights and a stereo system. Then she realized she wanted an electric guitar instead of a stereo, and there was no way to just buy one. Amy decided it was time to hang up her Captain Hero mask and let someone else take on the heroic mantle so she could pursue a career in music. After all, she really wanted that guitar. The cool thing about a sim being at the top of one career is that if they quit and start a new one, they already qualify for the career bonus (not to mention snazzy new clothes).


Amy: "Who's up for a little 'Freebird'?"
One minor problem with the hip upstairs setup was that everyone had to go downstairs still to use the bathroom…a problem easily remedied by constructing two bathrooms on the upper floor. Then everyone decided they wanted to spend all their time upstairs drinking and playing cards and abandoned the lower floor entirely, which was also kind of a problem. Amy had to lock the upper floor to everyone, even herself, unless it had been officially declared "party time". When you have an upstairs that just reeks of "hip" like that, you have to take extra special precautions (not that I have any sort of experience with that at all). Not everyone was content to wait to be allowed entry, though. Word got around about the fabulous upstairs, pulling in some of the "less savory" characters from around town…


A burglar approaches, as the painting of Clarence tries to call the cops...
I think that burglar would probably think twice about robbing the joint if he knew what happened to Jenna Boyle, the first burglar ever to rob my sims. It was none other than Clarence and Jack Daniels who were enlisted to "take care of" Jenna, and while Clarence has a reputation to protect as a politician, I can't say for sure he'd be above enlisting the help of the new C.U.S.S. agents to exact a little revenge. Unfortunately, that involves actually seeing the robber to be able to interact with them later, and Clarence couldn't be bothered to drag his butt out of bed in time to confront the perp. The alarm did go off, though, and the most useless cop in the world showed up to get in a brawl with the robber. It was all for naught, though, because the cop lost and just stood around and looked pathetic afterward…nothing was stolen, fortunately…


Sure…she can break up parties every time the family has one, but can't stop a lousy burglar...
Amy stuck with the music career for a little bit, but didn't find the life of a musician quite to her liking. The pay wasn't so great, and she already had plenty of money. Let's face it, she just did the music thing for the guitar, and she got that the moment she took the musician job. She did find the clothes to her liking, though, and wound up wearing them pretty much everywhere. After finding herself once again unemployed, Amy took great pains to make sure that Clarence was in a good mood the night before he had to go to work again (we'll just leave it at that, no need for the dirty details). After all, at the moment, everything financially was riding on his success or failure. Well, that's only partly true. Amy still did her part taking every guest who came to the house to the cleaners at the poker table. Including her son, Aiden. Shame, Amy!


Amy: "I'm sorry Jack couldn't make it, Regina…you brought his money with you, right?"
The next day, tension was high, as the election for Mayor of Sim City finally took place. Both Clarence and Jack had campaigned hard for the position, and both of them were eligible for it. Amy didn't seem too concerned, since she just played poker all day and didn't so much as glance at the news on TV (which, oddly enough, kept showing some politician at a podium speaking gibberish). Despite a tough race and almost weeks with no promotion, in the end, Clarence won by a nose (hard to believe, considering the sheer size of Jack's nose). To everyone's chagrin, pay for being Mayor was around $1,500, when Clarence had quit his job as a Hall of Famer, which easily paid twice that. He got a much cooler suit for being Mayor, though, and to Clarence, looks are everything.


Clarence: "Hi there. Clarence Andrews, Mayor of Sim City. Can I get you a margarita?"
Clarence decided that, in keeping with his important role as Mayor, he needed to wear the Mayor suit as his everyday wear so everyone everywhere would know who he was. Clarence is a lot of things, but humble is definitely not one of them. Luckily, the expected scandal over all the dead bodies in the back yard of his previous home, his history as a werewolf, and nervous breakdown after using the light bulb helmet never arose. I guess the selection process for Sim City Mayor isn't all that rigorous, then again, when Jack and Clarence are the two most qualified candidates, there's not a lot of room for either of them to sling mud. Well, Clarence may be ruler of Sim City now, but Amy is still the ruler around the home…even without a cool suit.


Amy: "I know you're Mayor now, but you still have to feed the skunks!"
I know it may not seem it, but I waited forever for Clarence to get that promotion. All I can say now is it was so not worth it. I like having him in the role of Mayor, though, so he'll just have to make due with the crappy pay and make sure Amy doesn't build a third story on the house or something crazy. If she builds anything, we won't know for a while, because it's time to move on. You've had a break from the Jacksons for a while, and I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted, because we're about to follow them on a very eventful and very strange next several posts. When the dust clears, their lives will definitely never be the same. Don't miss it! :-)