A Moment in Time-2005

Lovar, spring, 2005
mini-update
Jorge couldn't call this an interview, nor could he call it a job offer, after all Brandon had already accepted the job. So maybe it was a welcome- to- the -neighborhood-do- you- have -any- last -minute -questions -before -being- thrown- head- first- into- a- major- project lunch.

The two men settled into the newly renovated resturaunt.

"This used to be an italian place," Jorge mentioned as they looked over the menu.

"Really?"

"Yea, too many italian places in the hood, so they made this into some sort of french bistro type place. My wife helped with the menu."

"Then I expect nothing but the best. I've heard of Ms.Dawson, my wife is a huge fan of her cookbooks. Your wife is like an idol to her."

"Really? We'll have to have you two come to the house so they can meet each other."

"Ilila would love that, anything that has to do with food, she's all over it. She can't cook much, but she knows good food."

"Your wife sounds like me, I love to eat."

Brandon laughed. "To Ilila, food is like music, a symphony. She can talk about it all day long, about the melody of flavors clashing together in her mouth, the fireworks exploding in her head."

"So she really loves her food."

"And her wine. Did I mention she loves a good wine as well."

"Your wife sounds like she would be a good hostess. Is she prepared for that?"

Brandon nodded. "Yes, sir. Ilila knows what's expected of a military wife, especially the wife of a high ranking officer. She knows that she is to be present at the wive's club, being alone during deployments and relocations where ever the service takes us."

Jorge nodded. "That's great. I don't foresee you being relocated anytime soon. You're going to need time to build up the base and ranks here in Apple Valley. Besides, the hood needs you as the new military advisor and your wife as the new elementary school teacher. "

"We're both excited about the new opportunities here in Apple Valley, sir." Brandon continued in his military tone.

"I'm sending my nephew, Verde, to the base this afternoon. He thinks he wants a career in the military and has a desire to join the ROTC during university. Don't go easy on him."

Brandon considered Jorge's words as he watched the young man scramble through the obstacle course.

"Hurry up, you're wasting time!" Brandon shouted after the young man.

Verde grunted as he pulled himself up.

Physically, Verde was cut out for the military life. Brandon could tell as much by the way Verde pushed his body and how much he controlled every little movement in his muscles.

Brandon wondered if the young man would follow orders. He knew that he came from money, mostly old money that wasn't really there, but his family still had the reputation of having money and thus the boy was spoiled. He didn't put forth an effort, doing just enough to get by. Brandon could tell this from his files, his grades were lack luster and he participated in very few extracurricular activities.

"Hustle, hustle!"

Brandon knew that he couldn't discount the young man, he would give him a spot in the ROTC program and the full scholarship that came along with it. He would give this boy becoming a man a chance, the same way he was given a chance when he was that age.

"I do have a few concerns," Brandon started. "Do you know what they might be?"

Verde nodded. "My grades. Most sims look at my grades and turn the other way."

"Why is it that your grades are so low?" He asked.

Verde shrugged. "I'm not sure. I try my best, I really do. Most of my teachers thought that I was slacking, but I wasn't, honest."

"I believe you," Brandon replied. He had no choice, the results were in front of him in black in white. According to the testing, Verde wasn't a slacker, he suffered from an undiagnosed case of dyslexia.

"Let me review the terms of the enlistment again," Brandon started. "We will cover your tuition and fees for Pierce University for the entire term of your enrollment, provided that you take no more than 5 simyears to complete your degree."

Verde nodded.

"During your university term, you will be required to report to physical training, or PT, twice a simweek; pass all your military coursework; and attend summer field training. Upon graduation, we expect a service committment of six simyears. Do you think you can handle this?"

Verde nodded, "Yes, sir!"

---

So Verde's in the ROTC now. He has a doofus trait, but instead of all my sims being just a "doofus", I need explanations. Myra has learning disabilities and Verde has dyslexia.

You've met Brandon Peterson very briefly and you'll be formally introduced to this family in their future update.

It's been an action packed spring, so tell me what do you think? Too many updates? To many mini-updates? What would you like to see?

Education Note: Post-Secondary Career

Johan Shazad

Met with Rebecca Wilsonoff to go over the hood's education and career needs. We propose the following changes.

Post-Secondary Careers

After reviewing the list of available employment and surveying business owners and CEOs, we've come to the following conclusion. Many of the careers and jobs now require advanced education and we must meet that need.

A detailed survey of jobs and salaries was made. We then evaluated what level of education and skills companies required and created a chart.

Light green indicates high school diploma.
Medium green indicates associate's degree.
Dark green indicates bachelor's degree.
Deep Dark green indicates an advanced (master or PhD) degree.

(click photo to see all the requirements)


Since companies are now requiring advanced educational skills, we must provide residents with these opportunities. Opportunities for a high school diploma and bachelor's degree are available, however we must offer associate's degree as well as advanced degrees. Please note that these skill levels are different from technical training skills.
The goal of the public education is that every student graduate with at least a skill score of 1 in all 7 core skills and a skill score of 3 in at least three core skills. This is the bare minimum standard simnationally. This means that a student will graduate with at least a 13 on the Core Skills Evaluation.
Associate Degree (thanks to Sullivan for piloting this program)
Any resident of Apple Valley without a degree may undertake a correspondence course with Pierce University at any time. Tuition is $5,000 for the entire degree program and students must have at least a score of 15 on their entrance exam (Score on Core Skills Evaluation + #simyears work experience)

Advanced Degree
Any resident of Apple Valley with a bachelor's degree may undertake an advanced degree with Pierce University at any time. Tuition is $20,000 for the entire degree program and students must have at least a score of 35 on their entrance exam (Score on Core Skills Evaluation + #simyears work experience)
Further Restrictions
Some industries reserved the right to limit the type of degrees required before entering the field. They are listed below.
Medicine: Biology, Physics, Psychology
Natural Science/Science/Oceanography: Biology, Physics, Mathematics
Architecture: Art, Physics, Mathematics
----
A more in depth look at this program will be available in the BTS Blog in a few days.

School's Out for Summer! 2005

Lovar, spring, 2005
mini-update
The younger students are anxious about summer vacation. Many of them have big plans of watching cartoons all day or eating popcorn for breakfast. A few of them are signed up for a summer camp at Yellow Lake Isle.

Johan struggles to teach the elementary class. He's not a fan of the younger students, he much perfers teaching older students, but with the new changes that he and Rebecca are discussing, it will be increasingly harder to qualify to teach college level students. He honestly thinks that if he could concentrate on only being principal of the academy and managing the education for the hood, then he would be content. Thankfully, he received a promising application from a young teacher, Illia Peterson.

Two lengthly phone interviews later and he had offered her the job of elementary teacher. She had to think about it and discuss it with her husband, but Johan knew that her answer would be yes. It had to be, her husband, Brandon Peterson, had recently accepted an offer to move to Apple Valley as the new military advisor.

He was right, she did accept the position and she would start that fall. Johan could hardly wait, soon he would never have to have recess duty again.

Not that the screaming voices of hyperactive children were annoying, but Johan preferred the quieter aspects of his educational job. He longed to spend hours in his office tweaking the curriculm and leading the hood to become a premir place to educate young minds.

Thankfully, the county council gave Johan a fair amount of simoleans to manage this simyear. There were some notable changes, such as the small vegetable garden that the students tended. The profits from selling the produce would go to the school and provide a small bit of income.

Some of the produce would be used in the new cafeteria. All students now recieved free lunch at school thanks to the increase of taxes.

Most of the students loved picking out their own lunch, be it mac-n-cheese, or syrup covered pankcakes.

The junior high and high school students were now combined in one secondary class. Jesse didn't mind being in charge of the 12-18 year olds, as long as he could keep them focused.

Johan had enough funding to hire Susie MacAstral, an university student majoring in dance, to teach a few classes each week. The plan was that after the initial introduction to dance, parents would then have the option to pay for their child to attend dance class during their elective period. Right now, Susie was coming in once a week as she was still recovering from an illness.

Johan could tell that music class had started, the sound of a student's screaches,

accompanied with the scratches on the brand new violin

and the slow plucks from the piano.

"Very good," Nicole encouraged the young group as they struggled through "Over the Double Moons"

Johan could tell that she was still under the weather, her voice was a bit hoarse and her energy level seemed low. Thankfully, this week was the last week for elective classes as the next few weeks would be skill exams for all grades.

*****

A few days later, Johan stood in front of the small crowd. It was graduation time again.

Today, young Verde Herendez, would be leaving the academy and joining the ranks at Pierce University.

As a surprise, S'Ahmisa flew in from Kimikura to attend the ceremony, her own graduation ceremony wasn't until early summer.

Verde was excited, now school was an option, no longer a requirement. His parents were just thankful that he passed the skill exams and that his entrance scores were enough to gain his admission into Pierce University.

"Congratulations, Verde." Johan said as the young man stepped to the podium to receive his coveted diploma.

"Congratulations," S'Ahmisa said giving him a quick kiss before his family swept him away for photo ops.

She was proud of him, even though he barely made it through, he did make it. He was so different from her. She was prepared for years for this day. She had studied intently for her entrance exams and passed them with a score that few sims would laugh at. Her acceptance letter from Pierce University had arrived simweeks ago and with it several scholarship offers. S'Ahmisa had even scored an interhood internship in Simmington Hills, working underneath Mayor Cunningham.

Meanwhile, Verde had a meeting with Johan the following week to discuss his future plans. Yes, he had his acceptance letter to Pierce University, but he lacked the scholarship offers that S'Ahmisa had. At the moment, he also lacked an internship, though he perferred to spend his last summer before university enjoying the sun and working out.

His family, on the other hand, had plans for him to work in the art gallery if he didn't get an internship.

Congratulations, Verde Herendez. Verde graduated with a C (barely) and will be attending Pierce University. At the moment, he has no idea what he will major in.

---

Here's a shot of S'Ahmisa at the graduation. You'll see a brief update of her kimikurian graduation ceremony soon.

Strange Things, 2005

Lovar, spring, 2005
mini-update Julio allowed his mind to focus on the task at hand. During the first few days, it was hard to come back to work. Knowing that his daughter was down the hall, fighting for her life, while he was helping other sims take care of theirs. He felt so helpless, he wanted to make her suffering end, to cure everything wrong with his tiny baby girl, but he couldn't. He didn't have the skills. Instead he focused on what he could do, help and heal other sims, and stay out of Suzanna's way as she tended to his daughter.

He didn't like the way the first sample looked, so he called Susie back for a follow-up appointment. By the time she returned, her foster mother, Nicole, was also sick with similar symptoms. He made the decision to submit them both to a battery of tests.

What he saw was strange and new. It was a virus, this much he knew, but he had never seen this type of virus before and not with these types of symptoms.

The symptoms were similar to the flu, but they stayed around much longer. Susie had been sick for almost 2 weeks now without any relief.

"Do you know when I'll start to feel better?" She asked from her spot on the exam table.

"Not yet, Susie. Not yet."

Nicole wasn't as optimistic when she entered the exam room. She had seen such symptoms before, in her native land of Sokitumi. Once, when she was a girl, almost a third of the population died thanks to the strange sickness, including her best friend. She remembered the fear on the villagers faces at every sneeze and the isolation of the sick.

"I'm just going to run a few tests on your blood and monitor your vitals at the same time," Julio reassured her.

When he sat down, the exact same image flashed up on the screen. He noted that Nicole had fewer of the virus per mL of blood, but it was the same virus as Susie. By now, he knew the virus's name, but knowing the name only caused his heart to stop. It was the dreaded Plumbob Virus and it always seemed that survival was based on luck as there were no known vaccines.

---

Susie was the first rolled for the ROS: Flu while her foster mother, Nicole was the second. There are still 8 more sims to be infected and one to die. At this point, the only sims that are safe are infants and toddlers.

My ROS (and more) Files

Other simmers have been uploading their ROS files, so I decided to follow suit, but my ROS file is contained within a larger database and I'm including that as well.

My ROS (and more) File
You will have to download/view the excel file since formatting is screwed up via google documents. Sorry.

Don't care about replicating the formulas and just want to see the data in a funky formatting?
My ROS (and more) file-GoogleDocs Style

Guide to the DatabaseI only listed things that other simmers might be interested in. Some of the pages are works in progress or saved copies of other documents. They are hidden in my copy, but I'm not sure if they are hidden in your copy.

Yes, I am a proud excel whore, I love excel :)

• AV Resident Data: My files on all my simmies including marriage, traits, networth, etc.
• AV Trait System: My random generator for traits for Apple Valley Residents
• Resident Random Generator: My older random generator modified from Life of a Sim
• ROS: My ROS file that pulls three sims (from the Resident Data section) and the ROS
• Hood Details and Census: My reports on the hood status including population stats, taxes, etc. Also included are calculators for child support and spousal payments.

Heartbroken-Part 2, 2005

Lovar, spring, 2005

Susie was beyond pissed. How could she have lost her virginity to such an idiot as Bill. She tried to avoid the voice in her head annoyingly singing "I told you so". Yea, so maybe she shouldn't have allowed things to go as far as they did, especially considering that Bill impregnated her foster sister. Ugh. Thankfully, spring break had arrived and she took some of the money from her trust fund to finance the trip. It would be three simdays of bliss and beach.

It didn't take long, once she was settled in her hotel room, to find her way to the bar. She wasn't drinking her sorrows away, but what use is a tropical vacation without one of those fruity drinks with an umbrella.

She noticed him, of course. How could she not? His bright red hair was shining in the tropical sun and she was curious why he kept his jacket on in such heat. She tried to ignore him, after all, the last red headed man she got involved with was a jerk.


He was doing the same, trying not to be hypnotised by her smile as her eyes wandered around the island. Finally when he couldn't contain himself, he turned to her.

"My name is Walli, what brings you out here?"

Susie sighed, irritated that he broke into her bubble, yet ecstatic. "I'm on spring break."

"Oh, a college student. I remember coming here as a student. There are a few spots you don't want to miss."

"Like what?"

"The ocean, first and foremost. Have you taken a dip yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Good gracious, woman! What are you waiting for!"
Susie didn't know why she waited so long to jump into the salty seawater. Maybe the allure of the fruity drink with the umbrella distracted her. She tried to ignore the little voice in her head insisting that she leave the water. She was used to that voice. Silly scientists, she thought, water wasn't so bad for blue aliens.

"I hope you don't think this is silly," Walli began. "I find that sometimes when I build sandcastles everything else just fades into the background, allowing me to truly enjoy the moment."

Susie had to agree. She hadn't thought about Bill or Krissy. She should have known better. Why did she think it would be different. After all, she was the other woman, not the rightful girlfriend, but the home wrecker.

"I think a few more buckets of sand and we'll have ourselves a sandcastle." Walli said bringing another bucketful from the shore.

Susie nodded, but her thoughts went back to Bill. How dare he lead her along? Did he really just use her and spit her out? Ugh, she didn't want to think about it. How did men like him exist and be comfortable with themselves. That's at least three women he slept with, she thought counting herself, Krissy and Faith. How could he be so callous?

The sandcastle was finished before she knew it. "It looks beautiful, just like you."

Susie smiled at the compliment. Perhaps she could even the score, three for three.

"Do you want to watch the sun set?" Walli asked.

"Of course," she replied. This would be too easy, men were always after woohoo. Now it was her turn to have a little fun in spite of Bill's actions.

"Beautiful..."

"Yea..."

Susie chewed her lip a little, how would she broach the subject. "My room has a hot tub if you want to relax a bit."

Walli grinned, "sure."

Susie was nervous as he slipped into the hot tub. It was too late to back out now.

"This isn't your first time, is it?" Walli asked.

Susie shook her head. It wasn't, unfortunately that honor had gone to a jerk.

*****

The next day, Susie spent her time on the beach, enjoying the warm sun and the sound of the waves. Walli had left quickly afterwards, thankfully he didn't go through the pretense of saying that he would call. He left it as it was, a spring break fling.

She turned over to get more comfortable when she saw him. He was staring as if in a daze.

"Excuse me," she coughed.

"I'm sorry...I...wow...so beautiful..."

Susie cocked her head and smirked, maybe he would be number three in her quest.

His name was Sam and like Walli, he was visiting the island. Susie didn't find out too much about him besides his name. Instead spilling the whole sad story about Bill in front of the resort.

"He's a jerk," Sam agreed, at the same time wondering how did one guy get so lucky to be involved with so many women.

Susie was glad he passed the first test and invited him to her room to chat in a more comfortable atmosphere.

Sam wasn't stupid, he knew what it meant and was fully on board.

"You are legal, right?" He asked. "I don't want to go to jail."

Susie assured him that she was legal.

Later that afternoon, Sam was long gone. Some excuse about other obligations, Susie didn't really care, as long as she was gone. She felt dirty...as if she had done something wrong.

"There's nothing wrong with woohoo," she reassured herself as she scrubbed her body clean in the shower. Even so, she couldn't help but be disappointed in herself. Two different men, two meaningless acts, less than 24 simhours.

To erase her disappointment, Susie made an appointment for a beach side massage.

"A full hour please, none of that counting my time in the dressing room as part of my time."

The man nodded and quickly directed Susie to the table.

As he placed hot stones on her back, Susie breathed in deeply. Her body began to relax as the sound of the pounding waves, the smell of the salty air and the cooling breeze combined. She didn't remember much more except her attendant gently tapping her.

"Did you enjoy it?"

Susie nodded, wiping away the drool.

"While you're here, you should visit some of the sights. I know a lot of tourists don't leave the resort, but there's an whole island for you to explore."

Susie nodded, "I'll remember that."


Susie took him up on his advice and spent her last day exploring the island. She walked to the Abandoned City and felt a jolt of familiarity. This was the same set of ruins she visited as a teen with her family. It felt good to see something familiar, especially when the thought of Bill and Krissy popped in her head.

"Jerk," she mumbled making her way into the cheesy tourist shop.

"Welcome! Don't forget to try our native jewelry!"

Susie smiled politely, "thank you."

She had hoped that this vacation would clear her head of Bill and his betrayal, yet it only proved to be more upsetting. Her tally was now at three, just like she assumed Bill's was, but she wasn't any happier, or felt any better.

She knew that she would still have to face him when she returned. To make matters worse, from all her sneezing, she was sick. What a way to end a vacation, sick and the fingerprints of two unknown men still clinging to her skin.

---
Susie is the first in the ROS: Hood infected. I figured that she would bring some sort of tropical disease to the hood.

Ugh, I would kill for a massage like that. Surrounded by the tropics, sigh. Reminds me of the hubby's homeland.

Susie is a mess. She wanted to woohoo with 3 sims, which is the number of sims that she knows Bill woohoo'd with (he's been with more). Susie's romance/family, so she's rolling all these crazy conflicting wants. Romance sims are the hardest for me to play since I try to find out the reason for them to woohoo the entire hood. Ugh, they drive me insane.

What sims drive you insane in your hood? Why?