ISBI Challenge - The Howdyschells

Generation 3 - Hermione - The Finish

2006-04-09T21:02:00.000-05:00

Title: Generation 3 - Hermione - The Finish

Ah. Here we are again. It looks like Hermione Howdyschell has arrived in one piece at Acadamie La Tour. Oh, who is that arriving with her? Why, it's none other than Ruby Widow, sister to Jake, Alexander and Cassandra Widow. Why, pray tell, does the player decide to pull Ruby from the Sim Bin and waste time playing her? Well, because Ruby Widow is maxed out on skills. Harry Howdyschell was unable to stuff many skills into poor Hermione's head because he was spending so much time trying to get Autumn promoted to Celebrity Chef. Yep, you got it. Hermione will follow in the footsteps of her grandma Heidi and her daddy Harry and use the SimVac to gain most of her skills. But, she will develop other skills whilst at University.

Hermione didn't go husband hunting until around the beginning of her Junior year. She spent most of her freshman and sophomore years making friends via the telephone. Being that Harry was unable to make many because of getting booted out of University during his freshman year, there wasn't much in the way of friendships for Hermione to use to gain her job promotions. Her LTW is to make $100,000, so she will definetly need the friendships to keep switching jobs to get the bonuses needed to reach $100,000.

On her first trip out of the dorm to find a man, she found Vasyl Barrett at the sculpture park. OH look! Her mother Autumn is there as well sitting at the table behind Vasyl. It is karma.

It didn't take long for Hermione and Vasyl to fall in love. He is a fortune Sim too. True to a fortune Sim, Vasyl takes a good long look at that rock before accepting Hermione's proposal. Is it a real diamond? OK great. Hermione is maxed out on skills, has her man...all she has to do is hang a while and wait for graduation.

Oh wait! Who is that kissing Hermione's skills benefactor Ruby? Why, it is none other then her Uncle Harvey. Remember Harvey, Harry's baby brother? Yeah. When Hermione moved into the dorm, there was Harvey, also a freshman. Woah. Hadn't aged a day. The Player figures to play him too! Hey, he would make a great mate for Ruby. Yeah!

Harvey grew up to be an odd sort of looking fellow. He has his mother Heidi's eyes, and his dad Remington's droopy mouth. Oh well, anyway, let us move on. Hermione's college days were pretty boring. But there was one thing that she managed to do whilst she was here, besides graduating Summa Cum Laude, making 20 best friends, and getting a brilliant fiancee.

She smartly wrote a best selling novel. And........

She learned how to build robots! Ah well, good for her. Well, graduation day came for the kids. Hermione spent all the dorm money in sculptures and other high dollar items and stuffed them into her backpack. Didn't want Ruby and Harvey getting any of the booty and taking it back to the hood. Yeah.

Both of the Howdyschell kids grew up, and went back to town. So did Ruby. As far as Harvey and Ruby go...they moved in to a tidy little house, got married, and now Ruby is knocked up. Left 'em there. They are happy, and oblivious to the goings on at the main Howdyschell house. Wait 'till you see. Fast forward to the Hood.

As is customary and required in the ISBI program, all participants must get married as soon as graduating from college. Hermione didn't waste any time and invited Vasyl over, he moved right in bringing $4,000 with him. As you can see, he had a want to marry a rich Sim. And rich, Hermione is. Vasyl might not have brought much cash with him, but he brought a big job. Vasyl is a Hall of Famer! Of course, the player doesn't know what his LTW is. And the player thought the smart thing to do would be to have Vasyl get a different job, so Hermione could help him work his way up to the top....and get that all important ISBI point. POOR DECISION. Turns out, the Player realizes Vasyl has little or no skills. It was like starting at the beginning. Oh well. Vasyl gets a job in the military.

Now, Hermione immediately starts trying for jobs on the computer, and trys for the jobs that pay high, for college grads. Have to get those big bonuses. Right off the bat, she gets a job in the Art world. Good for her. Her first night home, her mother Autumn finally gets promoted to Celebrity Chef. Good deal!

When Autumn went to work that day, she had low needs, so this promotion was a complete mystery to the Player. How did this happen? Oh well who knows? She took it, and the ISBI point! That meant the Player could officially forget about Harry and Autumn, period. Concentrate on keeping Hermione and Vasyl happy and healthy to carry on the next generation of Howdyschells. Great. So, Hermione is settled into a high paying college job, Vasyl is slaving in the military. Time to start havin' babies.

Meet Harley. And soon after Harley....

Meet Heloise. Being that the torchbearer is a female this round, the Player felt comfortable havin' more than one kid. You know, one heir, and one to spare. Just in case. You never know what will happen.....

Hermione gets her gold badge in robot making. That means she could make Jeeves, the servo. The Player thought that Jeeves would come in handy to keep things straightened up and in order when she was at work. WRONG. Since Jeeves could not be controlled, Hermione ended up turning him off and parking him outside. He complained too much about not havin' any fun and was more work and time than he was worth. So. What about all these other bots around the house? Hermione had two hydro bots outside to keep the flowers watered, and two cleaning bots, one outside and one inside. They came in pretty handy. Of course, they had a penchant for breaking down. Alot. And it seemed like they always did it when she wasn't home.

Yeah. Hermione comes home to a land mine field of trash piles. Good old cleaning bot had gone crazy. Of course, he went crazy while trying to clean up after hydro bot......

By now Harley and Heloise are kids. Of course....they didn't do anything about it when they got home from school. Hey, watchin' TV and dancing to the boombox was the order of the day for them. Grandpappy Harry was sleepin', Daddy Vasyl was sleepin', and Granny Autumn was at work. Well, when Granny Autumn got home, she lowered the boom on EVERYBODY.

Once she joined Hermione in cleaning, Harley joined them. But, Heloise and the rest of them stayed in the house watching TV. So be it. Well, that was the excitement for Hermione's reign. Out of control bots. By now, Harley and Heloise are growing up without much fanfare, and Granny and Grandaddy die off.

Death Stats:

Autumn
Her death benefitted 6 people.
Heloise - $708
Harry - $10,000
Hermione - $4,800
Vasyl - $500
Harley - $552

Harry
His death benefitted 11 people
Hermione - $9,100
Heloise - $2,125
Harley - $425
His friend Wendie - $290
and his friend Vince - $310.

Looks like Harry and Autumn got along much better being 'out of control' then Heidi and Remington did. If you will recall, there was very little money for Heidi when Ol' Rem passed away. Yeah....Harry and Autumn continued to spread the love.

Hey, looks like Hermione is off to work as an Ecological Guru. Yep, she finished the the Art World job, and got this one in the Natural Sciences field. All together, Hermione got to work in five fields. She was Visionary, a Guru, a Cult Leader, a Mayor, and a Celebrity Chef during her reign. As you can see, she is worrying about the robots here. She wonders if they will go wacko again while she is at work.

Well, Harley and Heloise grow up to teens. Harley rolls Fortune like his mom and dad, and the Player breathes a sigh of relief. So easy to keep happy! On the other hand, Heloise rolls Romance. Nope, definetly not gonna be the heir.

Ah. Looks like Heloise inherited her Great-Grandma's hair. That is the same hair Heidi had. When Heloise ages to YA, she will have two ponytails in the back, instead of one. Are you kind of noticing, everybody is fat except Hermione? That is because the MunchieBot keeps bringing Chinese food. Rarely does he bring a pizza. Heloise and Harley were fat as kids. Anyway.

So okay. Hermione is three days from elder now, and the Player is expecting to see the birthday notice for Harley at any time. To pass the torch, you know. Then it happens. Vasyl goes off to work, Harley and Heloise go to school. Hermione decides to use this time to call all her friends for a final good-bye...the torch will be passing soon...to jack up those frindship points. Well, the Player zooms in on her, helps her dail the phone. One by one. Doesn't pay attention to what is going on outside......

Yep. Cleaningbot goes crazy, cleaning up after the broken Hydrobot. The kids come home from school and Harley crashes in bed. Had a hard day. The Player sees the mess, and sends Hermione outside to influence passer-by Sophie Miguel to clean up, and queues Hermione to get Heloise to help as well. The Player zooms in on Heloise, to make sure Hermione makes it and tells her to clean up. Whoops! What happened???? Hermione disappears from the playable character list, and Heloise is now selected....Heloise runs outside.......

GAD!!!! Death By Flies. Heloise puts on a big show of crying. Well, the ISBI challenge is officially over, as the torchbearer had died. But, the Player keeps on just to see how mean the flies are.

Vasyl comes home, and being the dutifull husband he is, begins to clean up the ashes of his dead wife. Vasyl turns.....to walk around the back of the house with his dustpan full of ashes..... taking the long way, by the way, to the trash can.

The Mean Flies get him too. At this point, the Player doesn't have the heart....she wakes up Harley and tells him to power up the long dormant Jeeves to help clean up the mess. Also queues up Heloise to power up Jeeves. Maybe one of them will make it.

And this is where we leave the Howdyschells. Crying, stinking, and cleaning. And parentless. Oh what a putrid attempt this was at a challenge! OH my! Okey dokey. Let's score this thang.

Torch Holders = 3

Perm Plats = 3

Shrink Visits = 1

Accidental Deaths = 2

Top Of Career = 16

$100,000 = 5

That is ummm....... 30.

Didn't really understand the Tombstones vs. Total Death count points, so that isn't inlcuded. Being that the Player didn't get to finish the challenge, well, I guess that makes her less than the lowest rank of Amateur. GAD!!!! CLUELESS!!!!! Here is a hint. Don't use the robots in the challenge if you have Open For Business.

The Howdyschells

Generation 2 - Harry's Reign

2006-03-04T16:08:00.000-05:00

Title: Generation 2- Harry's Reign

Ahhh....here we are again, visiting with the Howdyschells. In the last entry the Player managed to keep everyone alive. Sometimes not an easy task. "NOOOOoooo! Don't eat that food with flies all over it! Hey, get away from that broken computer!" But, all the Howdyschells survived, and Harry left for college leaving behind his parents Heidi and Remington, and his brother Harvey. So, lets pick up the story with Harry's college life.

Harry automatically entered the ISBI program, 'cause after all, his mom had done it. He settled into the little five room dorm at LaFiesta Tech with his dorm mate, Jake Widow. Jake was going to be instrumental in throwing dorm cash over Harry's way, not that he really needed it. Heidi made plenty of money during her reign as Torchbearer. The money making scheme was just for fun. But, onward. You notice I say "Jake was GOING to be instrumental..." Well. Yes, past tense. Jake really didn't get to spend very much time at LaFiesta Tech. You will find out why in a moment.

But, his first night there, he went to the 50's diner downtown looking for Mrs. Right. He found her, all right, as you can see by the pic above. During 'scope room' Harry found Wendie from The Opposites Challenge but on the other hand he thought Autumn was absolutely hot! That is good, because Wendie is happily married to Joe Boxer. Let's take note of something else here. Didn't Harry's mom Heidi have an affinity for bowling shirts? Apparently Harry is having a mommy complex because Autumn is wearing a bowling shirt too.

It wasn't long before Autumn was visiting Harry at his dorm to keep him in platinum, if you know what I mean. With Heidi it was constantly making new friends, with Harry it was woo-hoo....being a fortune Sim, the wants didn't roll up with things that could be immediately filled, or had a big aspiration pay off. They had plenty of dream dates during Harry's 3 day career in Uni. Yep, that is all he lasted. The day came to go to finals. Jake went, and came back. Harry left around midnight to to take the test....was gone until the wee hours. So ok. About 2 hours into the final, Tech decides Harry is a deadbeat. "It is high time Harry return to the real world." That is the message waiting for him when he got back from finals. When Harry hit dorm property, he grew up to adult, and the cab came and collected him to take him back to Challengeville. Buh-bye!

As far as the ISBI program was concerned, not having a college degree was no biggie. However, Harry didn't get those college years under his belt to get the time to make friends for future job promotions. So, that meant that Harry was gonna have to ride on Heidi' coatails with friendship points as long as he could, until he had a chance to make his own friends back home, plus look after everybody. After all, Harry was now the Only Sim Who Knew Anything At All. The first day home, Harry asked Autumn if she wanted to shack up with him and his mom and dad, and she thought that was the best offer she had gotten in a long time. She moved her junk right in bringing $4,000 simoleons with her, and Harry in turn put a wedding ring on her finger. Turns out, Autumn had a pretty good job, in the culinary field.

See that? That is the uniform for the Sous Chef. However, the Player doesn't have a clue about Autumn's skills. So it will be trial and error for Harry to find out what she needs to get her promotions to celebrity chef...plus makin' sure Harvey gets his studying in for school. The Player didn't keep track, but figures it won't be long before Harvey the 'spare hier' grows up. Therefore, Harry and Autumn decide to put off having children for a while, wants to wait for Harvey to move out so they can have his bedroom for the baby. Plus, Harry has his own wants. He wants to be the Chief of Staff at Challengeville Medical Center. Hrumph. They would be crazy to hire a doctor with no college degree! Harry, old man, looks like you have your hands full!

It wasn't long before stress set in and Autumn was lettin' everyone in the household know who the Queen Bee now was. "Looky here! I am in charge now! You hear me? You do what I say, when I say it. Is that understood?" Poor Heidi! Not only did she suddenly lose all her where-with-all, but now she had a bossy daughter-in-law in the house. Other things started happening too! The stress was horrible on Remington.

Remington felt as though he was walkin' around in a daze. Heidi suddenly didn't want to woo-hoo anymore and barely gave him the time of day. After a few days his boy Harvey left for University, giving him one less person to talk to. Heidi's main problem seemed to be keeping clean. She constantly had green mist around her armpits, and an occasional housefly would accompany her around the house. Remember, Heidi had zero neat points. Well, at least she had company! Maybe Remington could take lessons from that!

Well, Remington didn't have to suffer long. A few days after Autumn moved in, Ol' Rem moved out, permanently. The Player guesses Remington was around 64 or 65. Here are his death insurance stats:

Heidi - $5,000
Harry - $1625
Harvey - $2300
Hermione - $306

As you can see, Heidi and Remington's relationship so severly declined after Harry became Torchbearer, that Heidi only recieved $5,000 in insurance money rather than the usual $20,000. Oh, who is Hermione? She is Harry and Autumn's daughter. See Autumn's preggo pic? Yep, she is sleepin'. That is another thing...Harry had one tough time bossin' the bossy Autumn around to keep her health up for the sake of the baby. Sometimes she just thought she knew better. But, it was so touch and go, Harry and Autumn decided on just one child. At last, the little tyke was born, and looked rather odd.

Hmmm black hair and blonde eyebrows. The Player assumes this child is supposed to be a blonde because her grandma Heidi had 'custom hair'. The Player further assumes the creator of the custom hair must have forgotten to deal with the eyebrows. Either that, or Heidi also had custom eyebrows, so the game had to put something on the kids' face. Thus, blonde eyebrows. The Player further decides that as soon as Hermione grows up to child, a visit to the mirror will be in order.

Now then, since Harry and Autumn decided on only one child, Harry had to have a back up plan in case something happened to Hermione, and Autumn was unable to have anymore kids. So, Harry went to town and found himself another squeeze. Sorry, no pics, Harry didn't want any incriminating evidence laying around for Autumn to find. But for those of you who shop Downtown, it is the chick with the blonde braids and the white cowboy hat. Harry has two bolts with her.

Harry eventually gets his promotion to Chief of Staff. He was so happy, he went straight to perm plat. No more of this constantly having to take care of his needs and makin' sure everybody in the house has eaten. He began to train Hermione on the chocolate machine so she would be able to cook for herself when she grew up to teen. He also trained Autumn up to max skills on the chocolate machine and the lie detector for promotion to Celebrity Chef. But alas, the promotion didn't come.

Remember, all Remington needed as a dream date to get into plat before going to work for promotions. Well, with Autumn the Fortune Sim it hasn't been easy. Dating didn't work. So, the Player decided that buying stuff would probably do it. Yup, the day the Player bought Autumn a bowling alley, she went straight to plat. Now one might think...gee...it won't be long before you have everything! Well, the Player knew Autumn could keep any toys for 24 sim hours, then the Player would take it away without sacrificing any aspriation points for Autumn. After another 24 sim hours, Autumn would roll the want again. So, the Player began rotating the bowling alley and the DJ booth to keep Autumn in plat. However she was only able to get one promotion, to Executive Chef. So, now the Player assumes Autumn needs logic points. So she and Harry go to the chess board. She gains two points. Hopefully this will be enough to push Autumn to Celebrity Chef. The Player has also assumed getting Autumn to permanent plat is near impossible, so just getting her to Celebrity Chef will be enough.

See! Look at me! This is my penguin imitation!

In the mean time, Hermione had grown to be a very becoming child. She was pretty much left on her own in the evenings after Harry helped her with her homework. She and her grandma Heidi became very close since Heidi and Autumn didn't get along. Looks like Hermione was the only one left for Heidi to talk to. On any given evening, Heidi and Hermione would get into intense games of red hands. Harry had his hands full training Autumn and keeping food out on the counters. By now, so much time had passed Harry had to begin gettin' on the horn every night to make friends. Heidi's friends had all turned their backs on her since she never called them anymore, and barely said two words to them when they called her. After making Chief of Staff, Harry decided it wasn't what it cracked up to be, and got a job in business. Now he wanted to be a buisness tycoon.

Finally Heidi's time to party with Grim came. Hermione had grown to teen, and became a Fortune Sim like her mom and dad. Heidi accepted her place at Grim's side with grace. She knew it was time. Hermione took it very hard. Autumn barely noticed she was gone. In order to cheer everyone up Harry had the kitchen remodeled. After all, both of his parents died in that room. Heidi's insurance death stats:

Her death benefited 6 people. Here is five of them. We can only guess who the 6th person was.

Hermione - $2450
Nathen - $270
Autumn - $325
Harry - $10,000
Harvey - $8400

It seems like Heidi was more generous with her life insurance than Remington was.

What? *narrator listens to a whisper in her hear* You want to say something? Oh! *ahem* The Player wishes me to convey her delight in the new mission style furniture and wall coverings that came with Open For Business. The kitchen in the Howdyschell house now looks great!

Now it was only a matter of time. Harry knew he would be giving up the Torch to Hermione. He and Autumn have aged to elderhood. He had become a business tycoon, and wrapped up a tidy bundle. He wants to make $100,000 simoleons but the Player will not know if he ever reaches that goal. Now he is working in the science field and has become a mad scientist. Autum still has not reached Celebrity Chef, but perhaps Hermione will be able to help her with that.

The Torch Has Passed

The Player finally gets the first birthday notification for Hermione. Off to Uni she goes! Let's hope she can stay longer than one semester. The date for the next update is unannounced right now. When it is posted it will be announced in the TS2Challenges Yahoo Group. The Player wants to buy some time to play with the new expansion pack, Open For Business.

Point Totals: 19 total. Added one Torcholder, Harry had three jobs, so that added 3 to top of career, and added 3 to $100,000. The house has cash on hand $345,000. Doesn't look like a whole lot of cash was added during Harry's reign. Well, Autumn lost $30,000 in a bad business decision, Harry remodeled the kitchen, and he wasn't able to access the high paying Uni jobs. Didn't get Hermione's stats...will post next time. She did get three scholarships.... 1) Tsang Footwork Award 2) SimCity Scholar's Grant and 3) Hogan Award for Athletics. She lacked one cooking skill point to get the Culinary Arts Scholarship.

Generation 1 - Heidi's Family Life

2006-02-16T20:14:00.000-05:00

Title: Generation 1 - Heidi's Family Life
Hello again! Well well well, it looks like Heidi has has aged to elder. But wait a minute...in the last entry, she had just had Harry, who had just aged to child. So, okay. The Player admits, alot has happened since then. Yup, alot of stuff. At least Heidi didn't age into elderhood with a dumb outfit. She did pretty well for herself, a long demin skirt with a beautiful belt, and a powder blue sweater set. Yay! Heidi, I am glad to see you have wizened up and gotten rid of the bowling shirt. But, let us rewind a bit. Back to where we left off. We left Heidi blissfully eating gelatin with Remington and Harry at the kitchen table.

Well looky here. Heidi is congratulating Remington on his first woo-hoo. Let's pick it up here, and get you up to date on Remington. Now, the player finds this odd. Remington had his first woo-hoo with Heidi, so this means that Heidi is congratulating Remington on woo-hooing with her. Heh. Well anyway if you will recall, Heidi and Remington constantly Dream Date to keep Remington's aspiration high so he can get job promotions. This feature in the game is coming in very handy.

Here you see Remington leaving for work as a SWAT Team Leader. At this point that means Remington has advanced all the way to level 8, in the Law Enforcement career field. Heidi has pushed Remington up to full cleaning skills. Still don't know if he needs more logic. Anyway, it seemed he was getting a promotion almost every day, so if too many days go by without a promotion, then Heidi will double up on the chess games with ol' Rem. As you can see, Remington is thinking about sex. That is usually what he is thinking about when he steps his foot out the door to go to work. Heidi is still working hard in that area to keep Remington rolling bucks into the Howdyschell bank account, and hopefully permanent plat when he ages to elderhood.

AWWW~ Apparently Remington mailed Heidi a love letter. She looks so happy! Oh and looky at that! Heidi is wearing a general's uniform from the military career field. Congrats, YOU GO GIRL! Another career down, and another point for the ol' scoresheet. That meant it was time for Heidi to get another job, and another career reward for training. She next went into the medical field, and got the TraumaTime "Incision Precision" Surgical Training Station, or, aka the operating dummy. The intent here is to work Heidi through as many jobs as possible before handing the torch over to Harry, not only for the points but for the aspiration reward as well.

Remington will only go through one job, as Heidi not only has HIM to train but she also has Harry. Yes, she is the homework boss.

OOops! Looks like Harry has aged to teen, and Heidi is wearing her "medical specialist" uniform from work. Right about now, Heidi is thinking that Harry is her only heir...but what if something happens to him? Shouldn't there be a 'spare heir?' OH yeah!

Well, Remington was very good to oblige Heidi's wants for a spare heir. Meet Harvey. Doesn't Harvey and Harry look good together? Looks like Harvey inherited his mom's slanted eyes. Dont' get what is going on with the turned down mouth. The Player guesses that comes from Remington....

Hehehe like father, like son. Ok. The Player wants to point out here, that there is a different sofa here than two photos above. Yes, well, there is an extremely good reason for that. See, Harry wanted to crash anywhere but his own bed, and always wanted to crash especially on this green sofa. Even though he had the most expensive single bed for comfort. So, the Player realized the only way to get Harry to keep his big lazy butt off of it was to get an uncomfortable sofa. And it worked! Harry no longer had a desire to sleep there. However, even the cheap sofa was good for.....

Ummmmm yeah. Apparently Harry was so unhappy with his misrable life he could only be amused by wrecking paintings and bouncing on the sofa. At least he never took a swing on the fridge door. Now here the Player really needed to get a clue. Harry grew up in an ok status. He grew to be a Fortune Sim. Liking things like drum sets and such. However, no matter how much of this stuff the Player bought, Harry never seemed to be happy. In fact, the closer to adult status Harry got, the angrier he got. Then, three days before he had his birthday, Headmaster Korey made a visit. Yay! That helped Harry's 'tude a lot. He quit wrecking paintings and bouncing on the sofa when he and Harvey were admitted into Private School.

OK....by this time Remington has made it to Captain Hero. YAY! But apparently...*sigh*...becoming Captian Hero was not his lifetime want. Remington did not go into permanent plat status upon the advent of this promotion. Hmmm. So the only chance the Player has of attaining perm plat for Remington is that his LTW is to reach his golden anniversary upon his birthday to elder.

Hey! Remington has bought home a friend from work. Why, it is Wen from the Opposites Challenge. This Wen is the first version of the Player. See, the Player has used Body Shop to make images of herself two times now. The Wen in the pic above is the first version. You can see her in action in the Opposites Challenge. The second Wen is downloadable here, if you are so inclined to take a look, and maybe even download her into your game. Or not. *shameless plug*

Oh remember Jake Widow from Heidi's college days? Here is part of his family. That is Cassandra on the left, and her twin Alexander on the right. They are one creepy looking family, no? Huh? Ok...ok. Enough of meeting the neighborhood. On with the Howdyschell saga.

The Player acknowledges that much hasn't been said about the 'spare heir' Harvey. Well, fret no more. Here you see Heidi industriously working to teach Harvey some cooking skill. Yeah yeah, the Player just sort of skipped over all of Harvey's baby and toddler years and got right to the skill building. Teaching all the members of the Howdyschell household to cook has been a boon for Heidi. She doesn't have to worry about anyone sitting around getting hungry. The adults just go right into the kitching and whip up a quick salmon to eat. Of course Harvey cannot do that. The best he can do is a bag of cookies. He can't even make a bowl of cereal. (come on, Maxis). So, Heidi teaches him cooking so the very day he grows up, he is on his own in the kitchen. Good plan.

This is important. Doesn't Heidi look a bit wistful? Yes. Poor dear. This is her last sit down at the computer to go job hunting. Turns out...the last job she got was in the art world. Yep, the Howdyschells got a cool looking camera as a present. Why was it Heidi's last job? Why, she had her birthday to elder shortly after this. The Player wanted to leave her with a high paying job in her elder years.

Ahh...Heidi going to work as a Visionary. She looks a bit teary-eyed as she goes along. Thinking about friends made and lost....so far, Heidi has lost 6 friends since leaving University. No time to yak on the phone now, is there Heidi? Having to woo-hoo the unmotivated bum of a husband to the top of his career, holding the hands of two kids everynight to make sure homework was done. Being the Only One Who Knew Anything At all. What a responsibility! Soon, the torch would pass....lucky you are in perm plat! Oh wait a minute...there is still the issue of Remington! Did he turn perm plat upon his birthday to elderhood?

Sadly, no. So he must have an 'x-number of kids' want. He grew up probably in red as a "Brood Bungler". Hopefully he won't be around that long to take up space in the Howdyschell house. After all, once he made Captain Hero, and got Heidi pregnant with Harvey, there was no need for any more woo-hoo. Heidi all of a sudden wasn't so amorous any more. So, this means only one thing...

The torch has passed. Harry has left for University! Look for the next update of Harry's college years on March 5th. Ta-Tah!

Point totals: Let's see. Heidi worked her way through 6 careers during her life. Culinary, (point posted last time) Military, Medical, Show Biz, Criminal, and Art World. Remington had one career, Captain Hero. The torch passed this round. And one shrink visit for Bart Widow when Heidi sim-vaced three skill points from him when she lost some due to a bad decision on the job. Bart is Jake, Cassandra, and Alexanders' brother. You will meet him with Harry at Uni. So that makes a whopping total of 11 points, up 7 from last round.

Other Stats: Once Harry became the Torcholder the Player was finally able to see the stuff he was made of. Harry grew up as a "Wonder Boy". He had 8 cooking skills, 6 Charisma, 8 Body, 9 Logic, 6 Creativity, and 1 Cleaning point. Not bad for not controlling him directly. He only had 2,000 influence points, and very little aspiration goin'. He wants to become Chief of Staff. Somehow, the Player thinks this will not be difficult.

Simoleons: The Heidi Howdyschell ended her duty as the Torcholder with $228,763 simoleons in the bank.

A Quickie Wedding

2006-02-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

A Quickie Wedding
Ah. Doesn't the photo entice us to think; Wow, Heidi is doing very well for herself! She is already a Celebrity Chef and Platinum aspiration to boot! Let's see...*whipping out scoring sheet* my gosh..that is two additional points on the ISBI challenge. What? Oh, that is something the Player keeps track of. You see, the Player gets a point Just Because when a new torchbearer takes control. There is one point for each permanent aspirataion, and one point for each top of career. Heidi had contributed 3 points. Yay! So okay....well, let's start at the beginning on Heidi's sorjourn to the town of Other Challenges. We will be able to discern if there are any other opportunities for points on this generation.

So we find Heidi has moved away from LFT and found a home. Well, her meager amount of funds allowed her to buy a small lot and build a small three room home, not counting the microscopic sized bathroom. And the kitchen and living room are actually one room together, so I suppose it is only a two room house. Hey..but she has carpet and wall paper, and a computer too! Way to go! See, there is Heidi's beloved, Remington Traver. Here Heidi has just asked him to move in/get engaged/get married. Hey he was a pushover, took the bait. The Player is resigned to a small house anyway. Why? Well, with Heidi being the Torchbearer, and the only one who knows anything at all (the only controllable Sim) the Player assumes game play is easier with less distance to travel to boss Remington around. The Player however, wishes to make an official complaint here. Remington came with only $1,000 simoleons, and NO JOB. That myth about the downtownies having money and jobs is well....a myth! Heidi realizes she has her work cut out for her.

The lovbirds began setting up their nest. The first thing Heidi did was sign on to the Internet and peruse the listings lookin' for a job as a Celeb Chef. Ok.. what restaurant is sucker enough to bring on a beginning cook with a degree in Political Science? Well apparently somebody was, she got a job the first day. Heidi's LTW was to become a Chef, so the Player decided to indulge her (and the Player also wanted the point for scoring value). However, Heidi did note there was not offerings for Law Enforcement. Why would she want that? You ask?

Remington is a Family Sim. We knew this because of the little Family Sim icon that shows up on the date panel when Heidi and Remington have a date. So, the Player knows that Family Sims roll "Captain Hero" for a career LTW. Of course, we don't know what Remington's LTW is. It could be 'reach golen anniversary' which will happen by itself, or it could be 'have 6 granchildren' or 'graduate 3 kids from college'. So the Player thinks two of these LTW are doable without having a gazillion kids, and without having to actually control Remington, which is really what this ISBI is all about.

We are assuming Remington wants to be a Captain Hero. According to ISBI rules, there is a particular way to get a job. Since Remington married Heidi without a college degree, Heidi helped out Remington and looked in the newspaper every day until Law Enforcement came up. Yay! On the third day, there it was. However, the Player still had to roll the dice. The Player rolled a 4, which meant Remington had to choose the second listing that came up in the paper. Yay! It was the Law Enforcement job! Things are lookin' swell! Remington leaves for work that night as a security gaurd, totally pumped up on aspiration and we are assuming his needs are well met. After all, he takes care of that himself. As you can see in the picture, Remington is thinkin' about woo-hoo. That is how his girl Heidi keeps him motivated to go to work. Family Sims are just as bad about wanting woo-hoo as Romance Sims are. I guess to make sure their DNA gets carried on. So great for Remington!

In the meantime, all that woo-hooing left Heidi with a little present. So now this begs the question to the Player, who really hates to use Nannies. Yep, our girl Heidi will have to hire a nanny since Remington is untouchable. So ok. The Player, who normally crosses fingers to GET twins, now crosses them that there will only be one child. Heidi's middle begins to expand with child, and in the meantime, she and Remington are at it every day keepin' him happy enough to go to work.

OK here is how it is done. Heidi and Remington "Dream Date" every day. They do this about 12 hours before it is time for Remington to go to work. That is the only way Heidi can pump some aspiration into her husband. Really..the Player knows the layout of the Family Sim wants in dating...hehehe...so Remington gets plenty of wants filled. Here it is:

1. Talk (gossip)
2. Clean joke
3. Pillow Fight
4. Dance
5. Flirt
6. Kiss
7. Makeout
8. Woo-hoo.

Now then, at this point Heidi and Remington are ready to sleep. After waking up, there is another kiss, another makeout, then the date ends. Heidi gets up approximately 3 hours before Remington's ride for work comes. Gets him up by turning on the radio. She does the huggy body kissy face to him, ends the date. Wa-Lah! Remington is in platinum and is ready to take care of any lingering needs before the ride to work comes. Yay! So. That is how to keep a Family Sim happy without seeing what his wants are.

Wow go YOU, REMINGTON! Here he is announcing to the 'hood that he has just been promoted to Detective. Wow! That is level 6 in the Law Enforcement field! And all this being done without seeing what his wants/needs are, and without the incredible Noodlesoother!

OK. You might be asking yourself, how does the Player know Remington has all his skills to advance in his job? Welp, the Player don't. The Player does know that Remington is maxed out on his body skills because after Heidi became a Celeb Chef, she went into the Military to get the obstacle course. When she tried to give Remington some training on it, the option wasn't there. Yay! The Player does know that Remington needs some cleaning skill. So okay...here is where the Player did bend the rules ever so slightly. The Player knew that Remington had advanced enough to give him the career reward of the scanner gun. The Player carefully covered the screen where she would be able to see anything at all about Remington, and clicked through to the rewards panel and snatched it out. Yep..oh well..if that is the worse thing the Player does in this challenge then, that ain't bad, really.

Heidi so far as helped train Remington several points in cleaning. But he still needs more. As for the logic skills Remington needs, Heidi plays chess with him. Let's make a note here. The Player remembers how Jeff at Idiots Among Me had an addiction to the game. Well, Heidi helped the Player out has figured out that she can get Remington to stop painting or playing chess by offering a flirt.

That wraps up Remington for this entry. Let's take a look at little Harry. Yes, the bundle of joy has arrived and Heidi and Remington have a delightful son. Harry looks real excited, doesn't he? He has his mom's custom eyes, but that is about it. I guess Harry got a bang on the head whilst being taken care of by the nanny, by the dazed look he has on his face. Incredibly, Harry was all potty trained, walked trained and talk trained! Yes! Heidi found out that if she made the smart milk and left it on the floor little Harry would eventually get hungry and drink it. Then she would dive in and do any type of training the little tyke needed. If the kid followed her around whining for attention, she could just tickle and talk to him once, then he was happy to play with toys until Heidi figured he might be sleepy. But being a Family Sim, Remington was usually quick on the draw to get Harry to bed. That worked out real fine. And, there was only two potty accidents once Harry became trained. Not bad. All toddlers have accidents, don't they? Heidi had to take away the Rabbit Head from Harry, because that is all he wanted to do. Once she did that, he would choose the logic or music toy. It will be interesting once Harry becomes the Torchbearer to see how much Charisma he has.

Doesn't Heidi look blissfully happy? Remington is a nice clean Sim, always wiping down the counters and scrubbing the toilet after a long hard day at the precinct. Apparently, Harry is the same way. He makes his mom and dad's bed every morning before going to school. Heidi has already had little Harry out to the obstical course and the chocoloate making machine and gotten him some skills to start with in life. The Player notes that Heidi trained Remington in cooking skills before his job in Law Enforcement came up so he could cook for himself. She doesn't know how many skills he has, but that last one was a long time in coming. It must be level 7 or 8 at least . That was enough, being that he doesn't need it for his job. Here is where we are going to stop for this week.

STATS: Top of Career: Heidi met Celeb Chef, and is currently and Astronaut in the Military. Remington is a Detective in Law Enfocement. The Player is going to work Heidi thru as many jobs as possible before the torch is passed to Harry.

Total points thus far: A whopping 3. :) See you on February 19th, when the next installment will be posted!

Gettin' To Know You!

2006-02-05T00:25:00.000-05:00

Gettin' To Know You!

Meet Heidi Howdyschell. See how she is waving so gaily? She is a nice girl, on her way to La Fiesta Tech. She came from the Far East on a student exchange program, looking for a little exposure in the United States. Well, her real name would be too difficult for us to pronounce; so we will call her Heidi. She is a bachlorette, her likes are formal wear and brown hair, her dislikes are vampires, and she is Popularity Sim. She wants to graduate Sim State with a degree in poltical science, and wants to become a Celebrity Chef. I don't know how she can get a job as a chef with a degree in political science. Oh well, I am sure she will manage. At any rate, whilst at LFT, Heidi will be partaking in the ISBI program. She got her tuition paid by LFT for taking part. In fact, she is the only student at LFT in the program.

Oh...you are asking...who am I? I am just the narrator. I will keep you abreast of all the intersting little tidbits about the Howdyschells. Howdyschell(s)? You say? Absolutely. I know already, dear readers, that Heidi will never leave the Unites States for her homeland. She will fall hopelessly in love with a man. Yes. So. Let us start at the beginning. That is, Heidi's years at La Fiesta Tech.

Heidi is a very smart girl. She managed during the first semester as a freshman to influence others to do her term paper. How did she get those influence points? Why, by making friends of course. It pays to have friends in high places. Now mind you, Heidi came to the United States knowing nothing. Could not cook American food, could not fix the bathroom sink. Not a single skill point to her name. But that didn't stand in Heidi's way! No sirree! With every friend Heidi made, she gained lots of aspriation points, and was able to find ways to get her skills.

Ah yes. The SimVac. This little gadget has a legendary reputation in the Simming world. With this handy-dandy contraption that looks like a Transformer of a dinosaur, a Sim can gain massive skill points and aspiration. And our girl Heidi put it to good use. Notice her technique here; excellent! Heidi managed to corner the campus streaker and strip him of some of his skills. I hope she didn't receive his skill for fast running. I prefer to see that gentleman moving right along. Notice the lad in the white pants watching the spectacle. That is Jake Widow, one of Heidi's roommates. Being that the ISBI program is not about gaining skill points, Heidi felt free to use it. By all means.

Now, Jake and Heidi really got along nicely. They would sit together and study; eat breakfast together. We can assume that Heidi and Jake would spend the rest of their lives together. Aha....but wait a minute. ISBI rules state that Torchbearer Heidi can't fall in love with some one that has been controlled as a playble Sim in the past. *Sigh*. Oh so sad for Heidi! This is one romance that will have to be put asunder! Jake came from the town of Other Challenges. His mother is Monyette Widow, focus Sim of the Black Widow Challenge. (not blogged). Jake was her fourth or fifth born and played through as a teen by the Player until he left for LFT. What to do..what to do...

Oh yes...the "I saw you kissing another girl!" trick. BAM! Jake, yer out! That leaves our girl Heidi in a dilemma. Time to go lookin' for a guy. By now, Heidi is in her Junior year at LFT. ISBI states she needs to find a mate. That means only one thing! Nightlife! Heidi is on her way Downtown!

Heidi makes several trips Downtown, and can't seem to find even one guy who will give her one lightening bolt. How frustrating! On this particular trip, Heidi is surrounded by female vampires. Hmmm...didn't I say that vampires were a turn off for Heidi? Everytime she went downtown, Contessa Kay and company would show up, no matter where she went. Heidi was lookin' for Mr. Big, but never saw him in repeated trips to town. She would get vampires instead. Well, it was time to Scope.

The Crypto-Night-Club seemed to be a good a place as any to find a man. Let's see. The first one she spots is Goopy Gilsboro. Ehhh...I don't think so Heidi. Try again. It's not that Mr. Gilsboro is errr...creepy...in anyway, it is just that the Player knows Mr. Gilsboro doesn't have a job and is a very sloppy Sim. Heidi has zero neat points herself, so she is going to kind of need sombody who will clean the toilet and pick up after her sloppy self. Okkaaay....nope...not Amin Sims either Heidi. He has beady eyes. Try again.

Ah! This looks promising! This man's name is Remington Traver. Well, it is only a one bolt deal, but we will take what we can get. Time is gettin' short. Oh, see the blonde beside Mr. Traver? That is Rebecca Tsang. She is living in the Edgar Alen Poe house in Other Challenges. Read the "I Love You To Death" story. It makes for a good and haunting read. Okay. So Heidi sets her eye for Remington the Maid...errr no....Remington the Downtownie. Heidi heard that Downtownies have good jobs and lots of simoleons. It didn't matter what they looked like. Right, Heidi?

Well, graduation day came. Heidi was sittin' pretty. She had over $51,000 simoleons in the bank. WOW! You say! Well, she had two college mates that threw $1,200 in there every semester, plus she sold a novel for $3,100 simoleons. And dear Remington left her many expensive date gifts. Yes. *ahem*. She had full skills after Sim-Vaccing many Sims on campus, she had money, she had a man who loved her. Heidi had visions of a grand palace with gold guilding on the walls and golden faucets in the bathroom waiting for her back in Other Challenges. Yep, she was gonna live good. Not have to struggle at all. You've come a long way, Baby! Oh yes...she graduated Summa Cum Laude in Political Science; made Secret Society and Big Sim on Campus. Way to go! Nothing will stand in your way now honey!

Well, almost nothing will stand in your way. Yeah. Except for the Player clicking on 'throw graduation party' before you have had a chance to go furniture shopping. That's right. Heidi was so caught up in the moment of finally getting through University and partying, she plain old forgot to buy her furniture. Heidi moved to Other Challenges with a grand total of $5,400 before the $20,000 move in bonus. Yeah. And not a stick of furniture to her name. But she sure looks darn good in that bowling shirt! Looks like Heidi's child will get the money when he/she comes to Uni, thanks to placeholders!

Well, time to move on to Other Challenges, where Heidi will marry Remington and have a child! See you there!

Readin' The Rules

2006-02-04T22:08:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are. I am just readin' the rules right now for the I'm Surrounded By Idiots Challenge. hmmm...sound ominous doesn't it?

OK...I play TS2, aka TheSims2. I do lots of challenges. I am only getting into blogging them, to show fellow Simmers my progress, maybe to brag a little. :) I am currently working on Prosperity Falls. However, I have been doing that challenge for almost a year, and it is time for a break. Need to do something that doesn't hinge on having babies and carrying on the generations. ISBI sounds like a lot of fun. I found it right here at Blogger. If you wanna read the rules, you can right here.

Hey, if you are doing the challenge as well....leave me a note. We'll compare. :) Well..here goes. I'm gonna start. Really. - ASimWen