These sims are killing me

Lots of micromanaging today, and lots of glitches to deal with. It made for a very long day of playing but a very short update.

A lot of relationships have disappeared again, but there's not much I can do about that because I've lost track of who knows who. They'll just have to pick up where they left off and meet each other again. I also had to keep quitting and restarting because of glitches like the speed settings suddenly not working, the game freezing, and sims getting stuck with tasks queuing up and instantly deleting themselves.

The Townsend family had moved out of town, as well as the Grants, so I moved both missing families back into the neighborhood and gave them a second chance. By the time I'd finished the rest of my housekeeping, the Sharmas had moved out. I got them back, too. Within four sim days, they'd moved out again. As much as I want to see everybody's kids grow up, and see new babies, if any more families move out, I'll have to let them alone and just see what happens. It is supposed to be free will, after all, and I'm not spending all my time moving families back in. It's too ridiculous.

Before I turned my people's lives back over to them though, I got them all jobs because they've refused to do it on their own for long enough. They don't need the cash, but they do need something to do besides raise babies and read books. Some of them were getting restless. I got each sim the first job he wished for, whether or not it had anything to do with his Lifetime Wish. Oddly, Tyler and Talia are the only two sims who had gotten jobs on their own, and they did it while they were out of town. They're both in the culinary career, although Tyler has advanced much farther. Even odder, in the time it took me to get jobs for everybody else, Ronnie ran out and got his own. He's in the military. I can't picture it, but we'll see.

I relocated Plumpuddle Park closer to where most of our families are clustered. Predictably, the Townsends were the first to visit the "new" park. Just as predictably, they left as soon as they'd arrived. They're a funny couple. They're always doing that.

So let's get started with the spying.

The Muleskinner house

Menuchah
Career: Culinary

She did a little gardening - she's at level 5 now - and made ratatouille for dinner. The sink sprung a leak while she was washing up, and she shouted out, "Ah, noob!" That always cracks me up. It sounds like they're calling the broken appliance a noob. I stayed with her an extra day because it was already evening when I started with her.

She had a cheese plate for breakfast the next day. I haven't seen that meal before. I bet it's something new from WA. Sounds like something you'd be served in France. Afterwards, in my ongoing quest to make her get out of the house and make friends, I sent her to the park. None of our sims were out and about, so I let her play foosball with a new townie. As soon as one of our sims showed up anywhere, I pounced. It was William at (of course) the pub. They talked for a while and he taught her the recipe for eggrolls.

 

That William, I swear he's going to steal Freddie away from Wyatt and Lexie. Even in the household thumbnail, he's the one holding the baby.

I notice I let some plants stick through the walls of the pub. Oops.

Menuchah impressed her boss and got a promotion on her very first day of work. She changed clothes and went right back in for drinks before heading home. Then she went back in for seconds. I made her go home after thirds. She must've really needed to unwind.

The Staples

Max

Career: Athletic

Rachel

Career: Science

They had the usual race to pick up the baby. This time Rachel won. I think Max let her. Max wanted to quit his job before his first day of work! Since the job is his lifetime wish, I didn't let him. They didn't do much else noteworthy except chat and meet coworkers.

The Sharmas

Becky

Career: Science

Larry

Career: Politics

Sharla

While out of town, Becky changed jobs and they both got themselves promoted. She's now a lab tech and Larry's a city council member, which is level 5 in politics. He's at level 4 in charisma and guitar. Becky's at level 4 charisma.

Larry spent some time playing with Sharla and, he hopes, getting her interested in music.

Who says being an adult and a parent means you have to be serious all the time?

"If you really loved me, you'd give me a spoon."

The Walker/Manchester house

Wyatt

Career: Culinary

Lexie

Career: Science

Freddy

William

Career: Music

I'm positive I put Wyatt in the criminal career because I remember thinking that finally one of them wanted a career that matched their LTW. By the time I got around to visiting his family, though, he was level 5 in culinary. But he still wants the criminal career. Silly man. Lexie got a promotion, too.

William's at level 4 guitar and sounding very good. He has also been getting to know Menuchah better behind my back (which was the idea), and they are now in a romantic relationship. Took them long enough. He'd be a great father. Just as I expected, when nighttime rolled around, he was the one who put Freddie to bed.

That's all our sims hooked up now but Ronnie. He doesn't show a bit of interest in romance. Maybe he'll meet a nice girl at work.

I found William visiting Ronnie again. They're still only listed as aquaintances, but the game must be resetting their relationship, because they spend an awful lot of time together not to be friends. Doesn't Ronnie look adorable in his camos?

"I'm hungry too! Who's going to feed me?!"

He foolishly let William cook. He manned up and ate it anyway. What are friends for?

The Rausage house

Ronnie

Career: Military

Uh oh. Ronnie's not starting out too well. He already hates his boss. Unfortunately, his boss is AJ. That may be why I got the message that he and Sam are no longer friends. I knew a military career was a mistake for a guy who has no qualifying skills and whose lifelong desire is to write and paint.

With nothing else to do while Ronnie was at work, I looked around town and found Tyler's boss dancing with a ghost in the park. I think that's Rachel's house ghost.

I made him invite Sam over and try to patch things up, and I saw an interaction I hadn't seen before. I got a popup message that "Sam is having a bad day..." and Ronnie had a "console" action available to him that I'd never seen before. This is what consoling looks like. Anyway, they're friends again.

The Townsends

Tyler

Career: Culinary

Talia

Career: Culinary

Stephenie

Carter

Tyler's boss, Kermit Werner, had been visiting when I got there. Interestingly, he's not Talia's boss. Talia reports to Wyatt, who reports to Tyler, who reports to Kermit. Need a flowchart?

I'm worried about Stephenie (and by the way, the game spells her name oddly and I've been misspelling it this whole time). She's flunking out of school and she has no friends. It's possible that there aren't any other children her age in town. I'll have to keep an eye on her.

I encouraged some father-daughter bonding time, and had Tyler give her a pep talk and help her with her homework. I'll have to wait until next time to see if it helped enough.

The Grants

Sam

Career: Politics

AJ

Career: Military

Andrea

AJ is already at level 5, flight officer. I'm seeing a pattern. Maybe moving out of town is good for sims.

They spent a quiet family day in the new house. Sam started meeting his coworkers. He's been working on his charisma so should get that promotion he's anxious for soon enough.