Round 2: Candy & Yuki, Part 1

Start from the beginning here, or check out the links at the bottom for posts you might have missed.

We are now back with Yuki and Candy, and things have taken an interesting turn. Yuki is going through a bit of a phase. She isn't interested in hanging out with Candy anymore. Candy is acting like too much of a mom, and Yuki just wants to be left along to do her own thing.

To help relieve some of these feelings, we got Yuki a journal which she's now writing in on a regular basis. Journals are great for emotional control.

Candy knows that Yuki is a responsible and dependable kid, so she isn't too worried about this new phase. After they have a bit of an argument, Candy just heads up to her room to relax and completely immerse herself in some music.

Jesminder invited Candy and Summer to the flea market. Candy had Yuki tag along. Candy thought getting in some sunshine and some social activity would be good for Yuki, who would have preferred to stay home on her computer. Yuki was so grumpy the whole time at the market!

Well, look who it is? Good old Jonas! He loves just showing up and crashing the gatherings. He's nice, though, so we let him.

In the back, you can see that Summer ate some spicy food, and Yuki is so not impressed with this.

Despite everyone's attempts to engage her, Yuki was very tense. It was hot out, she was with her sister and her friends. It was too crowded. Groups of people stress her out. She decided to take a jog around the outside of the flea market to clear her mind.

That's when she ran into Caleb. Caleb had just ended his shift working in the area. He asked if she was okay, and then listened patiently while she vented.

Yuki just needed someone to listen and understand, which Caleb did, so she was immediately smitten with him.

They chatted on that street corner for hours, well into the evening. They exchanged contact information and promised to keep in touch.

Candy purchased a lamp for Yuki's room while she was at the market. The lamp matched perfectly with Yuki's nightstand. Yuki loved it.

The next night, Yuki had already gone to bed when she got a phone call from Caleb asking her to meet him in the park. She broke curfew and met him. Cassandra was also there and they chatted for awhile.

Caleb and Yuki stayed in the park until early the next morning.

Round 2: Summer, Liberty & Travis, Part 3

Start from the beginning here, or check out the links at the bottom for posts you might have missed.

Liberty's collection of...nature...makes for interesting viewing while chatting on the phone with one's best friend.

Speaking of the bestie...Summer & Candy decided to continue their conversation at the park while looking for cute guys, as both of them are currently single.

The park has a bar, so Summer poured them some drinks.

They chatted for a bit about music, dance, the club, how Yuki was doing...the usual stuff. [Cameo of Hugo in the background!]

Candy didn't feel like Franks n' Beans so she volunteered to cook dinner. Candy doesn't really know how to cook anything more than a grilled cheese sandwich....but she managed some hot dogs.

After awhile, a guy named Justin stopped by their table. He wasn't Candy's type, but that's okay because Summer was digging the professional look.

Summer and Justin hit it off really well. She was flirting, he was flirting back and things were good. So, feeling a bit more confident, she decided to take a more direct approach in their conversation and it did not go well. She headed home from the park feeling quite rejected and embarassed.

Liberty has been showing quite the talent for being handy. Travis' stereo broke and he couldn't listen to his talk radio while working on the computer. Fortunately, Liberty was able to fix it quickly.

Summer met this friendly stranger at the park one day. He offered to play chess with her, but they mostly just chatted. He was a bit odd, but nice.

...

Apparently, Travis needs to be social even when doing things that should be kept more private. I wonder if the person on the other end knew?

Round 1 Notes!

What are "Notes"?

The Notes posts will come at the end of each of the rounds. They will contain gameplay information that I wanted to share that is not part of the story itself. They are also a place for me to share answer's to questions I receive from readers during the round. So please, ask me questions!

What are "Rounds"?

So glad you asked! This story is a rotational game, which means I am going to be rotating between different households within the same save. Because they are within the same save, the households I am playing can interact with one another.

Each Round will be complete when I have played one week of each of the households that are currently in play. In Round 1 we had two households. In Round 2, we will have three households. I'm going to continue adding households until I feel I have just enough. I'm thinking we'll end up around five.

How I Select Families- The Twist!

This is the interesting part of the challenge! The households that get played each round will be DIFFERENT. We will probably end up with mostly the same ones each time. However, as the story progresses things might shift.

The first household was different. I wanted to select one premade household from Willow Creek (the first neighborhood of the game). I wanted a household that would give me the greatest chance of multiple storylines, so I went with a household that was three single young adults. After selecting them, I played them for a week.

Once the first week was done, I took a look at the external relationships of the household. What were the most significant relationships (either positive or negative)? In this case, the one that stood out the most was Summer's friend, Candy. Candy's household became our second one.

After I played Candy's house for a week, Round 1 was complete.

Summer & Liberty

I'm not preplanning these storylines. I'm letting them play out and seeing where they go. I will help them along, but I take my cues from the Sims themselves. Liberty's crush on Summer developed because on Day One, Liberty got the whim to "Flirt with Summer". I decided since that was the only desire for flirting that happened within the first few days (at least) and that it was Liberty's first whim for either of her roommates, that Liberty must have a crush on Summer. I then helped that crush along a bit throughout the story.

Setting the Stage for Round 2- Another Twist!

The Round 2 households were selected in the manner in which I intend to use in the future. I took a look at all the significant relationships from all of Round 1 and selected the households with the highest number of significant relationships to all the Round 1 households. So, anyone who had a relationship with: Summer, Liberty, Travis, Candy or Yuki.

Round 2 Households:

1. Summer, Liberty and Travis (thanks mainly to Summer's relationship with Candy)
2. Candy & Yuki (thanks mainly to Candy's relationship to Summer)
3. Jacques, Luna, Hugo and Max (thanks to Yuki who has a relationship with Hugo, and with Jacques)

In addition, I have a table of (currently) 70 different events that could happen each round. I will randomly select one each round (online die roll). Events vary drastically in severity. Here are some examples: Someone gets a divorce, someone adopts a dog, everyone goes out to eat, everyone's yards get an upgrade, a bakery opens in town, someone quits their job, etc... This serves to a) keep things interesting!, b) encourages me to explore DLC...many of the events are based on DLC packs, and c) keeps things more real by adding unexpected life events like divorce, babies, money problems and deaths.

Round 2 Event: Someone dies by a fire

(DUN DUN DAA)

And I will leave that as our conclusion to the Round 1 Notes!

Round 1: Candy & Yuki, Part 3

Start from the beginning here, or check out the links at the bottom for posts you might have missed.

Candy continued to make progress on teaching herself to play the guitar. She hopes to one day be able to play in front of an audience.

But for now, Yuki enjoys listening to her practice (while checking text messages on her phone, of course).

Sometimes, Candy fills in as a DJ at the club. She's pretty talented in all areas of music, and she's been practicing her DJing skills for quite some time. It's a fun way to earn an extra bit of cash.

Joaquin is a fine substitute for Candy on the dance floor. He gets the crowds moving when Candy is running the booth.

Yuki doesn't enjoy real world sports, but virtual ones are a great way to let off some steam after an evening dealing with customers!

Of course, gaming on the PC works just as well. Recently, Yuki has begun to test her gaming skills in online competitios.

Franks n' beans, Candy? Hmm...sounds like someone has been spending a lot of time with Summer Holiday!

And here we are...Candy and Summer chilling at a restaurant before Candy has to head to work.

Candy and Summer are the best of friends. They talk about anything and everything. Their cheerful personalities keep each other in a good mood.

Who would have guessed Summer would get Franks n' Beans? I think Candy got her drink because of the color, honestly.

While Candy is making new friendships and strengthening existing ones, Yuki continues to have no friends that are not her lovely sibling. She's content to spend her days as alone as possible.

Round #1: Liberty, Summer and Travis, Part 4

Part 1 can be found here.

The roommates head back to Willow Creek to resume their work lives. Liberty was going back to being a Module Cleaner at SpaceY, Travis was doing Quality Assurance at Rainy Day Entertainment, and Summer was the Head Dishwasher at Make A Dish.

While camping, Liberty decided she wanted to become more self-sufficient. When she returned, she was inspired to read some books on DIY projects and how to fix things around the home.

This random guy showed up at the house looking for Travis. He said that he met Travis during their trip to Granite Falls. Liberty had no memory of this and was engaged in an awkward conversation with the guy when Travis started yelling from the bathroom.

How convenient! Saved by...the toilet? Indeed. Liberty was able to trade the uncomfortable conversation with the random guy for a leaky toilet- that she coincidentally just read about how to fix!

Travis was very confused about Liberty's reaction to the leaky toilet. He was annoyed by the toilet and concerned about it being fixed. Liberty, however, seemed excited?

Still Travis happily traded with her. And enjoyed a wonderful conversation with is new friend that he met camping. Liberty had met him camping as well. Thankfully, she didn't recognize her arch nemesis without his bear costume on.

---

That will conclude Round 1 of the Summer, Liberty and Travis household! Up next, you will meet Candy & Yuki for their Round 1. After that, you'll get a post with "Round 1 Notes", which will hopefully clear up any questions you might have. 

As always, I love feedback!

Round #1: Liberty, Summer and Travis, Part 3

Go back to part 1 here.

We left off with Liberty telling off a creepy dude in a bear costume that was wandering around the park.

The bear is just like "Alright, alright. Lady, I'm leaving. It just takes a minute to get up from the seat in this costume."

As it turns out, camping was a wonderfully bonding experience for our house of roommates. They spent a lot of time around the campfire chatting about all sorts of things.

Travis told everyone a fantastical story while Liberty toaster marshmallows.

Summer and Liberty had some time along after Travis turned in for the night. Liberty was starting to feel a bit playful and flirtatious, and it looked like some cautious and friendly flirting might be on the horizon....

But they were interrupted by another camper...he recognized Summer from the club she went to a few nights ago. He is the bartender there. Being perpetually cheerful, Summer engaged him and conversation and Liberty decided to turn in for the evening.

The following day, Summer and Travis stayed around the campsite while Liberty went for a long hike in the forest. Liberty is very interested in the natural world and she was going out hunting for new insect and plant specimens to add to her collections. Liberty asked if they wanted to come along and help, but Summer and Travis wanted nothing to do with it.

During her travels, Liberty met a woman named Julie Adams who was fishing in lake along Liberty's path.

Another campfire, and more conversations. Travis and Liberty discussed a new geeky show they were both into, while Summer listened in.

On their final day of camping, Travis never wanted to see franks and beans again, so he made veggie burgers.  Summer's burger appears to be untouched. Leftover franks and beans?

During one of their last hangout sessions before they left, Summer sat very close to Liberty and did the classic "stretch and place your arm around someone" move. It wasn't very subtle, but Liberty was uncertain. After all, Summer was a kind, cheerful and affectionate friend. It was probably nothing...right?

Dear Therapist (Letter #2)

I suggest you start this series at the beginning here.

Dear Therapist,

I have started implementing your suggestion to track my emotions. While I was looking up ways to track emotions, I uncovered this thing called a Bullet Journal. Have you heard of it? Anyway, it's like a to-do list, a planner and a regular journal. I'm using it to keep track of what I need to do, and my emotions. Like this:

Sunday Bullet Journal entry.

A lot of the Bullet Journals are very beautiful, decorated with stickers and drawings. I'd love to be able to do that, but I don't have the time or the talent.

You asked me about my dream job. Well, I really don't know. I would have loved to have done something creative...writing, painting, sculpting, music, but I have absolutely zero talent for those types of things. When I was a child, I really wanted to be a veterinarian. I'm definitely not smart enough for that, though!

View from my hallway.

Here are the other pages of my journal with my other emotion trackers:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Yeah, Wednesday was a little bit stressful. The utility box has been acting up in my apartment. I keep losing power, and it keeps sparking. I think I also have a rat problem. I called the landlord, which was also pretty stressful.

Fried utility box and dripping pipes. UGH!!!

I got a promotion. I'm now an office assistant. I'm in charge of supplies, so I get to make important decisions like how many boxes of paperclips we might need in the near future.

Since things were pretty stressful, and I got a promotion, I rewarded myself with some pizza.

Pizza!

I'm an awful cook, so this was a pleasant change of pace!

Anyway, that's all for now, I'll write again soon.

I'm overwhelmed by all the people who want to help Kaye! This is going to be a wonderful experience, and I'm so excited! Thank you for participating. Every response means so much! <3

Dear Therapist (Sims Bujo & Self-care Challenge)

I suggest you start this series at the beginning here.

Dear Therapist, 

First off, I'd like to apologize. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be writing really. They just told me at the clinic that I should submit at least one entry to this address per week. I'm not even sure if I started the entry correctly.

The clinic assigned me this task because I've been feeling sick a lot recently, but they can't find any disease or anything. I was told it is because of my anxiety and depression. I have to admit, I'm a bit skeptical. I think I'm doing okay. Sure, life has been hard lately, but I'm managing. It's not like I've attempted suicide, or had some sort of mental crisis. I'm fine. But, I'm willing to try anything to make myself feel better. And, it can't hurt I guess.

I live in a small apartment in San Myshuno. I moved here recently when I got a job in the mailroom of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe. It's not great, but it pays the bills. I pretty much spend most of my time by myself sorting mail. I like not having to interact with strangers. I live by myself- no roommate, no pets, no boyfriend. It can get a bit lonely, but it suits me fine.

I don't have time for much of a social life. I don't know where all the time goes, but I always have things to do. On the rare occasion that I have some time, I like to read. 

So, I guess that's it for now. Oh, they told me I could send photos. I'm not sure what photos you'd want, so any suggestions for the future would be welcome.

This is me in front of the elevator at my apartment building.

And this is my hallway.

This is my living room.

And that's my kitchen down there.

Alright...that's all I have. Let me know what I should do next.

Thank you,

Kaye

A/N: The Bullet Journal will show up in the next post.

Maggie Moyer #23

Marcus, Maggie's friend, invited Maggie to the gym to work out. While she was there, Maggie introduced herself to several people she hadn't met yet. She met a lovely couple, Brant and Brent, who work out together. Maggie got along well with them both. She hopes it's the start of a new friendship!

Maggie talking to Brent and Brant.

New Bullet Journal Challenge with a Self-Care Twist!

Because of my ongoing love for Bullet Journals, I've decided to do another attempt at a Bullet Journal challenge. Thanks to a lot of encouragement from the Sims 4 forum community and some readers, I've come up with a story idea that I'm super enthused about.

I'm going to take my original "If My Sim had a Bullet Journal" challenge idea and add to it a separate but related Self-Care challenge. As someone who has made a lot of progress in dealing with anxiety and depression over the last year, it is something that I am very passionate about.

Here is what I'm doing for this challenge:

1) I've created a Sim that has three traits that might cause her to become tense. For example, if my Sim had the "ambitious" trait she might become tense if she hadn't been promoted for a while. I'm specifically not going to tell you which traits she has. 

2) Next, I created a list of 10 rules that represent her anxiety and depression. These are self-imposed rules that she has established for herself that set unreasonable expectations. In my personal experience, a lot of anxiety stemmed from the demands I was putting on myself. Once again, I won't be sharing what exactly these are, you'll see why in a minute. 

3) In order to eliminate these rules, she has to earn satisfaction points (a mechanic already in the game). When she hits a certain level of satisfaction, she can spend the points to earn a reward trait (in game) and eliminate one of the rules that I set. 

4) With all the rules she has, earning any satisfaction will be very challenging, and that's where her online therapist will come in. YOU, my dear readers, will play the therapist. Each week, you will be encouraged to comment with suggestions on self-care activities my Sim can do. We will have a poll that will determine which self-care activity she explores that week.

5) Since you don't know the rules or traits, there is a bit of a mystery here in terms of what she needs to do. You can use the clues from her letters to you and her bullet journal to help you decide how to best help her.

There are SO many suggestions you can make for self-care! OH so many that are entirely doable in the game. Keeping track of emotions? Sure! Gratitude log? Sure! Day off? Sure! Adopt a cat? Sure! Writing out her goals? Yep! Travel? Of course. Spa day? Sure thing! 

You can also ask her questions to find out more information, and she'll address them in subsequent letters.

So, what do you guys think? I'm excited!

Maggie Moyer #22

Maggie was even further shocked by this kitty's stunning attire! She really wanted to befriend him (her?) but sadly, he ran off before she was able to properly introduce herself. Maggie hopes he stops by again, as she is very intrigued by this cat.

Fancy cat.

Maggie Moyer #21

Where did all of these cats come from? How did they get in? Where do they belong? Maggie had so many questions flying through her head. What should she do with them all?

Cats everywhere! 

Maggie Moyer #20

Maggie came home energized from her brisk jog around the neighborhood. She returned in a great mood ready to tackle some work on her home comput...

WHAT ON EARTH?!

Maggie was completely stunned.

(Maggie doesn't have any pets yet this was her kitchen when she arrived home).

.................................................

Maggie Moyer #19

Recently, Maggie has shown a new mild interest in physical fitness. Going out for a jog is a good way to get exercise in Willow Creek because every day is a beautiful one. She is considering checking out her local gym too. Maybe do some strength training? Maybe meet a new guy?

Jogging with Maggie.

Gordon & Salvador #14

Gordon had better luck with Supriya. Supriya is very smart and loves dogs. Unfortunately, she is married but perhaps he made a new potential friend. 

Chatting with Supriya.

Gordon & Salvador #13

Gordon isn't quite as articulate or charming as Salvador. He attempted to start a conversation with a woman he met in the park, Vera, but it didn't really go all that well. Gordon is on the lookout for any potentially datable Sims. He's a bit of a romantic, and is actively seeking a relationship.

Gordon attempts to chat up Vera.

Gordon & Salvador #12

Gordon aspires to be a great musician, but he is still at the beginner level. He currently owns a violin and is teaching himself how to play. He recently went to the park hoping the change of scenery would inspire him. 

Violin at the park.

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Gordon & Salvador #11

Salvador was invited by one of his new friends to an impromptu dance party in the ruins. Not one to turn down dancing, Salvador attended and had a blast! He danced with several different people, and made some new friends!

Break it down!

Gordon & Salvador #10

Salv's first party was mostly successful. He chatted with everyone, people danced to music, he made some drinks, and some food. Sims aren't going to be talking about it for years to come, or next week even, but it was still a fun time.

Go Cassandra!