Round 1: Langerak 1–Something to Prove

Me: Whoa, Illiana! Where’s the fire?

Illiana: I’m late for work. Nancy is on the war path, so I don’t want to give her any more ammunition against me.

Me: I’m sorry about your demotion. For what it’s worth, I think she was a little hard on you.

Illiana: Thanks, but I understand that she did what she had to do. The Amin account was a big one and I screwed up. I need to redeem myself.

Me: Well done. Illiana. It looks like your on the way to earning Nancy’s respect again.

Illiana: Yes, she was very pleased with the proposal but I’ve got a ways to go before I can be Vice President again.  I just hope Illiana doesn’t fire me when she hears my news.

Me: What news?

Illiana: I’m expecting again.

Me: Wow! Congrats. Nancy can’t fire you for that. It’s against the law.

Illiana: I know that, but that won’t stop her from making my life miserable. I’ve got more news to deliver.

Illiana: It’s time for my sister to get her own place!

SP UPDATES:

The Sims in the Culinary Track are also jostling for position. I don’t think Emma really cares because she seems more interested in her love life.

I swear, Hank and Pauline aren’t going to have a single working appliance in their house!

Hank has a new girlfriend. I have completely lost count, so I don’t know how many more he needs to complete his LTW.

Hank’s baby mama moved in with her new beau.

And a new townie moved in to her old home.

Meanwhile, two teen couples are getting closer.

Um, Twallan, isn’t exchanging pins a little outdated?

Galen Hickey has joined the Gigolo Posse. The funny thing about this picture, though, is that the woman is Katrina Martinez, Pablo’s new wife.

This is funny too. Zachariah wants to be part of the Gigolo Posse, and he’s Fiona’s husband. Fiona was briefly married to Pablo. It’s so funny that the same women are attracted to the Gigolos.

If Jennifer is interested in Brice, look for him to be joining the Gigolo Posse soon! This last set of updates is the reason I almost titled this chapter “Birds of a Feather.”

Round 1: Landgraab 1–Tough Love

Nancy: Illiana, I just got off the phone with Mr. Amin, and he is very unhappy with our promotion campaign for his new resort. Tell me something, did you proofread the brochures before you mailed them?…You did? Then explain to me why we had a huge typographical error on the cover of the brochures. Do you know what the difference is between the Simharian word for Indulge and word for Woohoo?… It’s one letter, Illiana! Guess which letter we left off the brochure? Our brochures certainly don’t say “Go Indulge Yourself!”

Round 1: Koffi 1–More Birthdays

Me: Whoa, Gobias, I still have to get used to seeing you with a baby…and with a wife for that matter.

Gobias: I know everyone in town thought I would remain a lone wolf on the prowl.

Me: Um…

Gobias: But Sylvia captured my heart and tamed me.

Gobias: It’s cliché, I know, but I met her at a club, The Grind. She was the mixologist.

Me: That’s right, she was the mixologist. I had forgotten about that. Say, Gobias, why don’t we throw a birthday party for Ryan and put Silvia’s mixology skills to use?

Since the Koffis have three swimming pools, they decided to throw a pool party. Pablo showed up ready to mingle. Pablo, are you really checking out a woman who married Gobias Koffi?

Pablo came to his senses and focused his attention on Talia, Noemi, and Madison.

It’s time to blow out the candles, but Beau is hogging the baby. I wish visitors would leave the babies alone. In TS2, I always locked the door to the nursery to keep them out.

Wow, some of the guests actually paid attention to the birthday boy. Even Pablo glanced over for a second.

And here is Ryan Koffi. It’s hard to see in this picture but he has really deep blue eyes. He must get those from Gobias because Silvia’s eyes are a light aquamarine, nearly the same shade as her shirt.

SP UPDATES:

Ok, stupid me didn’t have FRAPS running while playing the game, so I didn’t get any SP screen caps.

These are the notices I remembered:

Madison VanWatson married Maximus Howe and they moved to 2350 Pinochle Point. Since Maximus is a townie, they took Madison’s last name. I will add a VanWatson 1 household to the play list.

Townie Anne Song married townie Galen Hickey. I’m sad that Galen didn’t marry a playable because he’s really cute.

Kristine Sanford gave birth to Hank Goddard’s son, Patrick Goddard. I was hoping that Hank would have a daughter because I thought it would be cute if she ended up getting together with Pauline’s son.

Ayesha and Jared Frio are expecting a baby.  I guess Jared really is going to have to work on his parenting skills now.

Nancy and Geoffrey Landgraab are the proud parents of twin girls: Sophie and Chloe!  These are the first twins to be born in the Mega Maxis Sims 3 blog. The Landgraabs are up next so we will meet the twins soon!

Round 1: Keaton 1–It’s All About the Mojo

Me: Good morning, Marty!

Marty: Oh, my Will! JUSTINE! YOU BROKE THE SINK! How could she break the sink?

Me: I’m sure she didn’t do it on purpose, Marty.

Marty: Why did she have to break it on today of all days? I’ve got to spend the morning fixing this when I need to be working out. I’ve got the practice of my life today, and I have to fix this sink. This is bad mojo, I tell you.

Me: Bad mojo?

Marty: It’s a curse I tell you.

Me: It’s just a broken sink, man. You know, you could call a repair man.

Marty: No, this is negative energy. I’ve got to get this negative energy out of my house.

Me: Gee, Justine, I didn’t know your husband was so superstitious.

Justine: Of course, he’s superstitious. He’s an athlete. He doesn’t credit his success to his abilities. He thinks it’s all good luck.

Me: Well, that works in the reverse too.

Justine: How do you mean?

Me: Well, if you lose the game you can blame it on bad luck and not your own mistakes.

Me: I hope you’re pacing yourself there, Marty. You don’t want to overdo it before practice.

Marty: There’s no such thing as overdoing it. Besides, I’ve still got to counteract that broken sink.

Me: Knock yourself out, then.

Marty: I’m serious here. I need to get some positive energy around me.

Me: Why is today’s practice so important?

Marty: The coach is going to pick the Team Captain sometime before tomorrow’s game. Being Team Captain means more money and more exposure.

Marty: I know what will get the good mojo flowing. I’ll throw a birthday party for Jack. Good friends, good food, good times. Lots of positive energy.

Me: If you say so. Who’s on the guest list?

Marty: I’ll invite the other athletes in town and their spouses, and I’m sure Justine will want to invite a couple of her friends from the squad.

Me: Hey, Pablo Martinez is an athlete, isn’t he?

Marty: Yeah.

Me: Please, please, please, Marty! You have to invite Jennifer.

Marty: His ex-wife? Didn’t I say I wanted positive energy?

Me: I think I hear your carpool.

While Marty was at work, Justine set up for the party.

The Keatons were the first house I played after installing Outdoor Living Stuff, so they get to show off some of the new objects. I like that OLS has a wrought iron theme. That is a motif I use in my own home.

All of the items here (except the cake) come with OLS. Check out the cute lemonade clutter. It’s just decoration; your Sims can’t drink it. Though I like the items, I don’t feel there are enough items to justify the $20 price. Honestly, I think this could have easily been a set from the Sims 3 store instead.

Me: Congrats on the promotion, Marty!

Marty: Thanks! See I told you. it’s all about the mojo, baby.

Me: Did you just call me baby?  I have Twallan’s Master Controller mod. You do realize I could Totally Annihilate you?

Marty: But you won’t. It’s the mojo.

Me: Speaking of mojo, is Pablo here yet?

Pablo was there all right, and he was putting the moves on Blair Wainwright. To my great disappointment, Jennifer never showed up.

Holden Wonzy did crash the party and spent a good deal of time in the Keatons’ new hot tub.

Justine brought Jack to the cake for his big moment.

But Marty was the only one interested in the celebration. Gotta give EAxis credit where credit is due. They got that one right; a one-year-old’s birthday party is for the parents, not the kid. (Doesn’t mean I still won’t throw one when I have a one-year old!)

And here is Master Jack Keaton. I think he’s a cutie.

Can’t give EAxis too much credit. Jack didn’t eat any cake.This does raise a question. I hardly ever use the high chair because it’s easier to feed the kids on the floor. I remember in TS2 that if you put the toddler in the high chair, they could be fed a serving from the family meal. Does it work like that in TS3, too? Can a toddler really eat cake?

Anyway, I noticed something at the party.

Marty and Monika seem to be really good friends, such good friends that Gwen is even commenting on it to Cycl0n3 in the background there.

Um, Marty, she’s already at your house.

Didn’t I tell you Gwen was on to them? Justine might start piecing things together too.

Leighton should get wise to the fact that his wife wasn’t ready to go home when he was.

In fact, Monika was the very last guest to leave. Uh-huh. Mojo, my butt. I’m going to be watching you two! Story Progression doesn’t lie!

A little note on the mojo thing: Marty is a neurotic Sim, so I thought a good way to show his neuroticism would be to make him very superstitious.

SP UPDATES:

It looks like Kristofer has finally moved on from Pauline.

Pauline is not going to have a working appliance in the house.

Fiona, please, why don’t you get back to polishing that glass house of yours?

Nothing gets Pauline down. She’s got a new man.

Hank is moving on too.

Ok, first Becky Baker was with Eugene Hunter and Talia was with Clark Sauer. Now Becky is with Clark and Taliia is with Eugene. You crazy Sims!

Um, I think this message has a bug. Shouldn’t it be “noted Shelby?” Shelby is the Casanova, not Tamara. The triangle between these three still confuses me.