Culture? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Culture! Day 6

Despite their rather short night, the HRS sims seemed to be in relatively good moods on their sixth morning.  They trickled in to the kitchen as usual, their minds mostly on their stomachs.

Morning meeting convened promptly at 9:00 AM, with poor Hunter in the Loser chair and Reece wearing the Super Sim hat—for the third day in a row!  There was a little muttering about this, especially from sims who’d spent most of their time at the opposite end of the table.

“Do you think he’s paid one of the directors off, or something?”

“I don’t know, but something smells, that’s for sure.  He’s been up there for three days! “

This morning the sims noticed several thick volumes of Art History and Appreciation on the table, and Reece told them that their outing that afternoon would be to the Museum.  Sims who wished to get more from the outing might choose to look at the texts during their free time.  The group would leave for the Museum at 3:00 PM, with the rest of the day devoted to Jobs, skill-building, and free choice as usual.

Not all sims were excited about the idea of a Museum field  trip, and several asked Reece to pass on their suggestions for more interesting destinations—Alysha suggested doing some treasure hunting in Oasis Springs, Deb really wanted to visit a bakery, and Keira made a suggestion which can’t be repeated in a family publication!

When Reece protested that he had no way to communicate with the Directors—he only heard from them through emails on his phone, from a “do-not-reply” address—Deb repeated her belief that there was something corrupt going on.

“I can’t believe you’d accuse me of something like that!  It breaks my heart that you haven’t learned to know me better over this last week!  I would never…” spluttered Reece.

The rest of the sims seemed ambivalent.  Who knew what might be going on?    Perhaps Reece had wined-and-dined the Directors?  Perhaps he had something over one of them?  Perhaps, Keira suggested, he had even slept his way to the Super Sim position?  Nothing could be known for certain, but it did seem that doubt and rebellion were brewing in the House of the Rising Sim….

When the time came for the outing that afternoon, few sims were showing excitement. 

Some even hesitated to enter the building, stating that they could have more fun outside!   

Alysha, however, figured that at walking through all the galleries (and trudging up the stairs) would be a good workout.  Brayden hurried upstairs as well, and quickly busied himself at the easel.
 

Aileen and Efrain, while not interested in looking at artworks, found the patio a nice place for relaxing.

A number of other sims chose to relax indoors—

Unlike some of their other outings, this one ended promptly at 7 pm.  Many sims were able to spend the evening relaxing, but poor Hunter had a tense evening working on the household computer, which had broken.  Up 'til now, repairs had gone well—some toilets, sinks and tubs had needed work, and he’d even fixed the jukebox, the stereo speakers, and the refrigerator--but the computer was more worrisome.  He was concerned that his clumsiness would ruin it permanently, or even—given that the electrical system was clearly compromised—prove dangerous to him.  

 

Fortunately, his forebodings proved unwarranted, and he fixed the machine without issues.

While some sims had given in to fatigue and spent the evening napping,  Brayden kept Deb company as she fixed dinner in the kitchen.  He’d found the trip to the Museum really inspiring and had hurried straight to his easel upon returning home. Now he kept her laughing as she put the salad together.

After a light dinner, most sims retired to their rooms.  Alysha and Keira decided to watch a movie together—

--but unfortunately had a disagreement and ended the evening on an unpleasant note.

Getting Nowhere, Fast! Days 4 and 5

The day after the disastrous party was not a productive one in HRS.  Almost everyone rolled over and went back to sleep after their wake-up calls, and Morning Meeting started late.  Sims snapped at one another or sat in sullen silence, making no attempt to banter with Reece about his hat, or mock Deb for her spot in the red chair. 

Jobs were skimped and few skills studied that morning. In the light of constant complaints about fatigue, stress, discomfort, poor hygiene and tension, the Directors cancelled a Nightclub outing planned for that evening, and allowed the household to simply stay home and recover.  Even though it meant forfeiting the points which they might have gained, everyone seemed relieved at the change.

Day five seemed to get off to a brighter start—most sims had gone to bed early the previous night, and were feeling more themselves that morning. Reece and Deborah again found themselves Super Sim, and Loser.  After some initial chatter about household management, possible rankings, and the idea of some intra-household video game competitions, Reece called the meeting to order.

“First of all, I’ve been notified that our outing to the Blue Velvet Nightclub is rescheduled for tonight at 6:00 PM—everyone please be in the hall and ready to go right on time.   It will be a great evening—we’ll have the chance to meet lots of locals, enjoy a few drinks, and have some fun. 

The Directors need you to understand that you are expected to take your job and skills training seriously—they are expecting much better performance than they saw from all of us yesterday.  Sims who fail to do their jobs or work on their skills in the mornings risk losing their job points, or even more penalties. 

Finally, there’s a Sim in Spot opportunity this afternoon—the task is to visit one of our neighbors and make friends with them.  Anyone want to give it a try? “

There was some silence as the sims thought about it.  Finally, Deb rather hesitantly raised her hand.  She’d had a rough couple of days, and couldn’t help feeling that she had really shown herself in a bad light, failing to serve any party food and lighting the kitchen on fire.  She thought that getting out of the house and seeing some new faces would be welcome, and perhaps she’d even find someone compatible and win a couple of points back for herself to balance out the recent losses from being Loser two days in a row.

The group separated in a very brisk and businesslike way at the close of the meeting, each sim feeling determined to improve his or her performance and make a better impression.

Upon arrival at the Blue Velvet that evening, everyone was pretty favorably impressed.  While a little dark, the club was quite stylish and the household quickly got into the spirit of things.  Deb, who had spent the afternoon with a very pleasant neighbor named Gabriel, had hoped to invite him to join them, but it turned out that wasn’t allowed.  This bummed her out a little, but she did her best to move past it and enjoy the evening. 

Sims danced, had a few drinks, chatted with the locals, and enjoyed listening to music.  

Braylen, who had perhaps had more than a few drinks, did a little flirting and seriously considered taking things further—it was probably a good thing that he decided not to, however.

Reece had had the best luck charming a local and building a relationship--but shy, reclusive Hunter astonished everyone by making the most contacts!  On the other hand, no one was surprised that Aileen had been the first to jump in and dance—as Social Director, it seemed almost mandatory. 

It was another late night, and as before, the household pretty much had a single thought once they arrived home—getting to bed as soon as possible. 

It's Party Time--Or Not! Day 3

So, Aileen, can you tell us about what happened on Day 3?  You had a party, right?  How did that go?

Day 3!  Oh, my sim Goddess, that was a complete nightmare!  I just couldn’t believe it.  I was really regretting my decision to become Social Director—it was like trying to throw a party in the zoo.

The day didn’t start off too badly, I guess—some of us got together in the TV room and did a little dancing before breakfast.

Then we went to Morning Meeting—I remember that Braylen got a little torqued when some of the group were giving him a hard time about that idiotic Super Sim hat.  He started defending himself and saying—in that ridiculous fake accent he uses, you know—that he would never have bought such a ridiculous hat.  I think some of the group really enjoyed getting a rise out of him.

He told us that the schedule for the day allowed one sim to choose to leave the house and go to the library to work on skill points.  Well, you know, I really didn’t care about skilling, but I wanted to meet some more people, and I couldn’t do that staying at home and reading the Bartender’s Manual anymore, so I said I’d give it a try.  I went to the library all right, and I did read a chapter or so, but then I did a little networking, met a few sims who were hanging around, told them about the contest we were in.  We seemed to be hitting it off okay, and I thought, well, what the plum—I’d invite them home to the house for a little get together.  That was my big mistake.  I should have remembered what my housemates were like, that’s all I can say.

When I got back to the house, I told everyone that we’d have a few guests coming over for dinner and drinks, and maybe a little dancing.  No one seemed very excited, but Deb did agree to throw together some Fish Tacos, and Efrain said he’d play the guitar for us later.  The sims arrived, and I went in to make some drinks—but no one came in to get any!  I felt pretty weird just standing there behind the bar by myself, you know? I was just thinking that maybe I’d go round and say hi to everyone, when I heard the fire alarms going off!

I ran into the kitchen, and it was awful!  Deb had somehow caught her clothes on fire while broiling the fish, and she was screaming!  There was smoke everyone, people were panicking and milling around, it was just chaos!  

Some of us ran out of the house—I mean, it’s a firefighter’s job to put out fires, right?  Who in their right mind does it themselves?  I was waiting for the firefighters to arrive, but no—no sign of them at all.  What kind of town is this, anyway?  I don’t know what they do with the tax money...well, anyway, back to the story.

We were all amazed that it was Braylen the Braggart and Reece—REECE! who grabbed the extinguishers off the wall and put out the flames.  They were pretty confident and proud of themselves after that—after all, they did save Deb’s life.  Even Keira admitted that she was impressed, and said she was kind of sorry that when she wrote Reece’s book that afternoon, she had called it Reece Is A Whiny Baby.

Well, after that, there just wasn’t much hope for the party.  I mean, really.  We never did have anything to eat, and although I tried to get everyone dancing, the mood just wasn’t that great—especially seeing Deb dancing there, still all black and sooty and not in a very good mood. 

We were all pretty glad to get to bed when the guests finally left—I heard that a couple people didn’t even quite make it to bed before passing out, and Efrain said he saw Hunter get out of bed and then fall on the floor! 

Anyway, I was pretty disappointed by the whole chain of events, and very worried about taking the responsibility of throwing more parties with that crew.