Mac's 'Hood

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For the most part, though, with 120 households and counting, I stick to a rigorous 5-day season.

I can see exactly why you need to keep to a more-or-less strict routine! That's a lot of sims to keep a track of, otherwise.

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I do indeed have a real preference for the dance career, even if it lacks a lot of realism: Maikki would be all over the aspiring dancer doing barre exercises

Don't most of the careers lack a certain amount of realism?
How about the Military career track with the "astronaut" level?!

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To get to the top, it's all ballet, from age 4 until the hips and knees give out.

Ballet is a tough calling, that's for sure. So beautiful to watch, though.
There's an amphitheater here high on a hill, at the site of an old quarry mine that is an amazing venue for ballet performances. The night sky, gum-trees behind and these steep rock walls that give the music booming acoustics. There's no actual seats, just these massive wide sandstone "steps" covered in grass. Everyone brings a picnic basket and, of course, there's always some hugely-excited kids that dance, full of inspiration, around you during the intervals!

Once again, I am faaaaar behind in some of the WGoiYGTD threads (much to my dismay).

Let's see if I can at least catch up in Mac's 'Hood for starters, before I must prepare Snacky's birthday lunch...

The Toni & Kostos pic with him climbing a palm tree (did you tell me how that's done?) and her standing there with hands on hips is a hoot, Mac! Love it!

Mac wrote:

I gotta get into my wedding dress tomorrow!!!
Yesss! Eat your heart out, Emma Peel!

...You can order room service, but you have to bus your own dishes - what kind of high-class hotel is that?

..Now this is a relationship that needs a can opener!

Jayce wrote:

Well, we know how Toni can get a teensy weensy little bit distracted by a good-looking sim...

You mean... Kostos could get shot down in flames again?! You wouldn't, would you, Mac? Would you?

I had a rather disastrous wedding years ago in my old hood when I first installed BV. The shuttle arrived to collect the newlyweds... and took the bride, without her new husband!! Some honeymoon that was!

I think that "Jamba Squeak" probably had a good amount of "squeak"... unless these knights have pages attending them with oil-cans every now and then!

Toni wrote:

Shes like RL Toni she's a sucker for pretty boys. *sigh* When will we learn!
Anyway, I need to take a page out of her fitness book! She is lookin' gooooood.

They make a lovely couple. Congrats on your marriage, Toni & Kostos.
May you both live happily ever after in your lovely home by the sea.

I'm not able to download any of Toni's fabulous beach abodes yet either incidently.
I tried and had them placed in the hood but forgot, they were made with AL installed.
When trying to move Baylee's new fam into Brittania Bay, it crashed my game.
Can't believe I forgot that! What a bonehead I am!
I've only got NL, FT and BV in this laptop (I doubt it could hold much more).
Sooo...
I'll have to get this shoulder of mine better so I can play her gorgeous beach lots on my desktop game.

Jean wrote:

Oh heavens Jayce, you are a hoot and a hollar!

It was so much fun catching up in your thread, Mac.
As always, I enjoy the motley assortment of regular folks and celebs hobnobbing together, for better or worse. I'm inspired to put a few celebrities in my beach hood upon learning how much fun you've been having with doing so. Stay tuned for WHICH I shall choose to take up residence in my Aurora Cay...

Thank you for sharing!

Sugah wrote:

The Toni & Kostos pic with him climbing a palm tree (did you tell me how that's done?)

You'll have to ask Toni about the palm tree - it came with the lot. There are other actions with the tree as well, and you can pick bananas from another plant that she included.

Hope your shoulder continues to improve. When I sim too much it gets my lower back - go figure!

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You'll have to ask Toni about the palm tree - it came with the lot. There are other actions with the tree as well, and you can pick bananas from another plant that she included.

I think it's a custom interaction that comes with the tree, Ulli and/or Ari shared the link to it with me before. I've seen it in others' games.

I just reactivated my favorite family, the Broadswood-Smythes - Nerissa with her husband Nathaniel, and their two daughters Simone and Toni.
You met the teenaged Simone on page 21 of this thread and Toni on page 25.
Just a family birthday celebration for Toni becoming a child. Here they are having breakfast the next day. That's Nerissa and Nathaniel, the child Toni, and the redheaded Simone.


There have been some mentions of people reading while walking. Nathaniel has a Film/Lit hobby and he's no exception - even walking out through snowdrifts. You gotta admire his concentration.


Meanwhile, the stresses and distractions of motherhood caused Nerissa to lose her girlish shape. Be assured, she immediately jogged and worked out to get it back!


And Simone is off to college as a YA. She's a special favorite of mine and my first born-in-game sim. I don't do university much, I use a hack to play just the last semester.


Simone graduated with a 4.0 GPA and Summa. And she started her medical career as a specialist! Oh the powers of a university education in this game - who needs med school? who needs internship? who needs residency? Just out of university and a specialist. In all fairness, she's been a swot and a goody-goody two shoes so maybe she deserves it! Simone is a Knowledge/Leo Medicine7/Science. She's also single without any current boyfriends. The line forms to the right! Yup, that's 7 dove Rd in the background.


Alas, I won't be activating this family again until Spring , and I've just started Winter in my 'hood.

Heeeellllloooo everybody! Remember me?

A quick catch up. First of all, I just love your 'Armor-ous' couple!

Another Toni! Yaaaay!

Good to see the Broadswood-Smythes. It's lovely to see Simone all grown up. I remember your no-child hood before you took the plunge and got hooked on the family thing.

I must say, I question Nerissa's workout clothing choices given the weather.

Go figure!

Sugah...yes, the tree comes with a couple of animation files that allow you to gather and eat the fruit. There's a coconut tree, a papaya and the banana. The coconut is particularly fun, because they can also just climb the tree for fun, and they scan the horizon and 'monkey around.' If you don't use the animation files, they're just decorative. They were ripped from Castaways. Yes, I've seen one of the others share the link around here somewhere. I downloaded them a long time ago from a rather long thread at MATY. It's probably quicker to search here.

Much love all around!


EDIT: Here're the harvestable fruit trees

More and more, I'm just selecting the Proposal:Marriage interaction. Quickly done, without any party, etc. I've more or less stopped doing honeymoons. But for Delphy, who is one of the true Sims 2 pioneers, I just couldn't do that. But since it was winter, I thought I'd try something different...

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown
He'll say: Are you married?
We'll say: No man,
But you can do the job
When you're in town.........................."Winter Wonderland" (1934), lyrics by Richard B. Smith

Delphy and Adrianna's Tovia found a willing snowman. Guests are Alan Alda and Ari's Kristi (miss March 2010). Also invited, but got waylaid by the chess table, was BeckyLynn's Vanessa. You'll see her in a later shot.


Here you can see Delphy toasting his bride - note that Vanessa and Kristi had the same outfit but it didn't seem to bother them that much


Tovia had to call in sick to her Pet Care job (Kristi also has that job)


Delphy and Tovia had a romantic first dance together as a married couple. BTW, he was Delphy Simm, but he took her name so now he's Delphy Driann.


They didn't go on a honeymoon but instead had a romantic dinner together...


Followed by a jog??????


And tumbled into bed exhausted.

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There have been some mentions of people reading while walking. Nathaniel has a Film/Lit hobby and he's no exception - even walking out through snowdrifts. You gotta admire his concentration.

That's a first for me, Mac! Maybe I just have too many creative/money-minded types?

Simone is gorgeous!

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Delphy and Adrianna's Tovia found a willing snowman.

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More and more, I'm just selecting the Proposal:Marriage interaction. Quickly done, without any party, etc. I've more or less stopped doing honeymoons.

I can see why you've reached that point. Phew!

Well congrats to Delphy and Tovia! Love her dress!

Vanessa and Kristi in the same outfit?! Horror!

Doesn't every couple go for a jog after their wedding meal?

And I have just one thing to add...

Gone away is the bluebird,
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song,
As we go along,
"Jogging" in a winter wonderland - "Winter Wonderland" (1934), lyrics by Richard B. Smith, edited by Toni F (2012)

ilikefishfood wrote:

Jogging" in a winter wonderland

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I must say, I question Nerissa's workout clothing choices given the weather. affraid

Maybe that was to motivate her to keep running so she wouldn't freeze to death.

The Winter Wonderland wedding was too cute. With snowman officiating and all!

Just a quick update...

Bad boy Patrick Driann is now engaged to Jennifer Garner...


I've added two real dancing girls to my 'hood. From left to right, they're housemates Gillian Murphy and Alessandra Ferri. Both of them danced with the American Ballet Theatre. Alessandra is 15-16 years older than Gillian and is, I think, retired from dancing. Their careers at ABT did overlap, however. Alessandra was recruited to ABT by Mikhail Baryshnikov.

As far as I know Gillian is still dancing with ABT In 2011 the ABT dancer Ethan Stiefel proposed to her (I think she accepted, but no further news). As far as I know, there is no sim of Ethan.

Alessandra is Popularity/Scorpio and Gillian is Popularity/Pisces. They are both Dance/Dance (doh) and both at level 3 in the dance career.

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They are both Dance/Dance (doh)

As well as having each other as house-mates, Gillian and Alessandra will no doubt meet plenty of other dancers to hang out with the hood!

Another engagement...

Hmmm, how much of a bad boy is Patrick? He will do the right thing by Jennifer, won't he?

Jayce wrote:

Hmmm, how much of a bad boy is Patrick? He will do the right thing by Jennifer, won't he?

Not so much as a "bad boy" as a reminder of the injustice of life. Here's my take on him from my previous (overloaded and now unused) 'hood. He's Fortune/Cancer (not Romance or Pleasure) so should stay on the straight and narrow.

BTW, Emmy and Maggie aren't in my new hood (I try to keep the number of femmes down - they still outnumber the guys. Tom Hanks is in my 'hood.)

Don Aster (coming up) - is a Pleasure/Slacker bad sheep and his sister and cousins really don't like him - see here in my old 'hood. All three of these ladies are in my current 'hood.

You have to hand it to Don (in your old hood) for being so persistent!

It's great you reincarnated so many of your favorites into your current hood.

An update on Don Aster. Even his sister doesn't like him. He's a Popularity/Libra Slacker. He even has had trouble getting enough friends to advance in his career - lots of negative bolts. "Do you like what you see?" "No way!"


But then he met an NPC, Brittany Hart. She's a slacker, too. He doesn't know her well enough to ask her to move in, so I'm a bit unsure about her stats, but they do have two positive bolts! Both of them also share an unofficial hobby of (ahem) breaking wind and amusement at the same. I predict that they'll have a very harmonious relationship.


Once she moves in, I'll tart her up with a new hairdo and a better makeup job.

I couldn't wait -so I played Don long enough so that she was willing to move in. She's Pleasure/Libra Slacker(2)/Cuisine. Her attributes are: 06045 !

I also gave her a new hairdo and makeup and here is the result:

mac wrote:

An update on Don Aster. Even his sister doesn't like him. He's a Popularity/Libra Slacker. He even has had trouble getting enough friends to advance in his career - lots of negative bolts. "Do you like what you see?" "No way!"


But then he met an NPC, Brittany Hart. She's a slacker, too. He doesn't know her well enough to ask her to move in, so I'm a bit unsure about her stats, but they do have two positive bolts! Both of them also share an unofficial hobby of (ahem) breaking wind and amusement at the same. I predict that they'll have a very harmonious relationship.


Once she moves in, I'll tart her up with a new hairdo and a better makeup job.

I couldn't wait -so I played Don long enough so that she was willing to move in. She's Pleasure/Libra Slacker(2)/Cuisine. Her attributes are: 06045 !

I also gave her a new hairdo and makeup and here is the result:

Aww poor Don :( sometimes when sims can't find a good outlet in one situation, they can in others so hopefully they'll be happy! And I have that hair. It's very pretty!

The Perils and Pleasures of Self-Sims

Yes, I made a self-sim of myself - then met a sim in my 'hood and became engaged... Then the RL woman of my life found out! "Who is she?" "Nobody" "Nobody??? Where did she come from???" "I created the sim" "Created her??? Is that your idea of the ideal woman??? Huh??? HUH???"
I won't go on...

Meanwhile, I was playing Emma Peel (in the science career) - and look who she brought home with her - another scientist to be sure, but who??? Same self-sim (although I don't own a brown tweed jacket or a cute little red bow tie). Ahhh, but the pleasures of a self-sim - to have Emma Peel rub the knots out of my back while crooning "Jamba Squee" into my ear in her dulcet voice. Worth it! (Almost)


My self-sim did have 3 bolts with Emma Peel, but she's very happily married (also 3 bolts) to Hugh Laurie (aka House). I might just to have the mystery femme ditch my self-sim. Maybe there's a monastery community lot somewhere.

Now you're flirting with Emma?!
You're tempting fate from all sides, Mac!

Jayce wrote:

Now you're flirting with Emma?!

Nooooo.... Emma was flirting with me!

Aww poor Mac. He's such a pimp and doesn't know what to do with himself j/k dear XD

Just to let you know, your self sim - along with about 5 other male self-sims I have, are in my WYD challenge, so who knows - you may end up being a baby daddy ^_~*

SimEm wrote:

Maybe that was to motivate her to keep running so she wouldn't freeze to death.

Congrats to Patrick and Jennifer.

Welcome to the hood Gillian and Alessandra...nice to meet ya!

Would you like me to try my hand at making an Ethan Stiefel sim? I don't know if I can get his exact likeness, but it'd be fun to try.

Well done Don Aster! And Brittany sure looks great after her Mac-over!

Mac! You naughty boy!

mac wrote:

Nooooo.... Emma was flirting with me!

And you were lovin' it!

butterflyunion wrote:

Aww poor Mac. He's such a pimp and doesn't know what to do with himself

ilikefishfood wrote:

Would you like me to try my hand at making an Ethan Stiefel sim? I don't know if I can get his exact likeness, but it'd be fun to try.

Yes, please! You can find some pics of him on IMDB, here. He does have sort of a unique and interesting look. There is a beer commercial (a viral video) showing a guy, mocked by his friends for being a ballet dancer, being discovered by them in a studio dancing with DDG women. I think Ethan has this in real life. I can, of course, manipulate his sim's stats so that he's a perfect match for Gillian.

I already have male dancers (Gene Kelly - what a genius, Derek Hough, and Patrick Swayze) but they're all taken (Anneke Nuviel - from SimTR ,Adrianna's Melanie, and Ariana Woodfae)

mac wrote:

Yes, please! You can find some pics of him on IMDB, here. He does have sort of a unique and interesting look. There is a beer commercial (a viral video) showing a guy, mocked by his friends for being a ballet dancer, being discovered by them in a studio dancing with DDG women. I think Ethan has this in real life. I can, of course, manipulate his sim's stats so that he's a perfect match for Gillian.

I'm on it! I'll do my best. He is quite snacky!

Will post a pic as I go along and get your feedback. Do you prefer if I do it in my C Habour game thread, or may I post here?

EDIT: I've found some photos of him with longer hair. Do you prefer his shorter, more polished coif?

ilikefishfood wrote:

Do you prefer if I do it in my C Habour game thread, or may I post here?

EDIT: I've found some photos of him with longer hair. Do you prefer his shorter, more polished coif?

Of course you may post here - or anywhere else!

I'm familiar with the hair style he had in the movie (Centre Stage), already quite moppy, but I'm more than happy to leave that at the discretion of the designer. (No crew-cuts, please! )

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