Lydia Livingston is regretting ever running for mayor.
She made... some decisions back in campaign days. She is not proud about that, but there was no other way, and she truly wants to make this town a better place. She just uses some, uh, flexible methods.
Anyway, press (and maybe that Michi Deer girl but who knows) dug it out and she had to blame and fire her campaign manager.
Kevin Cudler has spent his whole life working in politics, he is about to grow old, and he does not know what else to do with his life. At least Lydia has promised some "unofficial compensation" for his trouble and lost reputation.
But without Kevin Lydia feels lost and is thinking about retirement. She just got married again and adopted a teen girl with her new husband. She could garden, do crafts and learn parenting... Grechen is her first and only child. She is an elder. She has to be there for her kid while she can.
And press keeps bringing up her first marriage like it means something anymore. Sure, Nolan Okuma cheated on her with her friend. Sure, said friend is young. But it is done. Nolan left her because she was too old to have biological kids, and married someone who could. And he got what he wanted, good luck to him. It is humiliating and painful for Lydia, and why is everybody still talking about it?

Nolan and his new wife Sandy, on the other hand, enjoy the attention. People call them names, but scandal makes them money, so. Whatever.
Sandy just gave birth to a daughter named Birdie. Nolan is cheating left and right, and got a neighbor pregnant, but Sandy is happily unaware. She is thinking about starting a mommy SimTube channel.

In Strangetown, I hope that I have rescued Magnus and Clara Grunt's marriage. They both rolled a lot of wants for each other, which they kept fulfilling until at least Magnus didn't feel like he had to sleep on the couch anymore and they were able to have a little make-up woohoo. Clara called Lazlo and they talked it out. Both agreed that while the attraction is undeniable, the relationship is weird and inappropriate, considering that Lazlo is halfway through his elder stage and was an important person during Clara's childhood, and Clara is the young mother of two. Lazlo went back to his Downtownie girlfriend, and now all I have to do is keep him and Clara away from each other until he passes. Meanwhile, one of Lazlo's twins skipped college, moved in with his teen girlfriend (who grew up), and immediately got her pregnant. The other one--the one Lazlo mistakenly resurrected as a zombie--went to college on a scholarship but her roommates find her a bit disturbing and, frankly, gross to be around.

Turner Grunt bit the bullet and asked his live-in girlfriend, Jeannie Smith, to marry him, and she turned him down flat. She said she never planned to get married or even commit to one man, and if he wanted to be with her, he had to accept that. I think Turner has been acting out in reaction because he has turned up at several married ladies' houses around town and put the moves on them. He's been fairly successful, too, and has broken up one marriage as a result. Meanwhile, Jeannie is quite obsessed with Turner's uncle Ripp, and vice versa, which is also fairly icky (considering Ripp is the oldest friend of Jeannie's father, Johnny, not to mention the uncle of her boyfriend), but I can't stop two Romance Sims with high chemistry and a lot of determination.

I can see the wheel of fate operating in how Turner Grunt's life is unfolding. He is Tank and Almeric's middle child--a Knowledge Sim in a house of Popularity/Fortune who always felt misunderstood, out of place, and in his older brother's shadow. His younger sister was the beloved baby of the family, but no one quite "got" Turner. Even if he doesn't have the same aspiration as his uncle Ripp, he sure seems to emulate him in behavior--except Ripp doesn't go around wrecking marriages. I think the best thing Turner could do is break up with Jeannie, move out on his own, give up on women for a while, and try to figure out what he really wants in life, but I don't see that happening, unfortunately.

After being a widower for 16 years Conall has decided to re-enter the dating world. He had a lovely date with a townie named Leah, but unfortunately his teenage son Patrik was less than impressed. He got home from school right as Conall and Leah had their first kiss and immediately started freaking out in the background. He was previously 100/100 relationship with his dad and neutral with Leah, but after witnessing a few more of their interactions (holding hands and hugging) his relationship with Conall tanked into the negatives. I'm very surprised since Patrik had just aged to a toddler when his Mom died so I didn't think he would remember her. Perhaps the game considers this cheating? Hopefully they'll all be able to work through this, poor Conall deserves some happiness in his life now that he's an Elder!

I had to post this because it has never happened to me before: Ajay Loner fulfilled two Lifetime Wants at one time! He wanted to earn $100,000, which he did with a chance card and promotion, and apparently, he then immediately rolled and fulfilled a want to be a Business Tycoon. Now I know I can never play Ajay again, because he will never be able to top this.

AND he did this on the last day of his life. His beloved wife Lola had died the day before, also in platinum, but not having fulfilled a LTW. Ajay spent his last few hours playing chess with his good friend Bella Goth, whom he brought home from work. He died in his sleep. His and Lola's platinum graves are now out on their front lawn, waiting for the next Sims who move in to transport them to the cemetery. Way to go, Ajay!

The Flores family is still being boring and perfect. I love them.
Nick and Sylvia both still work, neither of them showing any desire to retire. Nick is a high school director, and Sylvia MIGHT achieve her goal to be a mayor if Lydia Livingston's career falls apart. They have enough savings to travel to Twikkii islands regularly, which is nice as their oldest daughter now lives there. This rotation they adopted a cat from Jake Keller's shelter, and that is the most dramatic change in their lives in a long time. Nick has fully recovered from his near death/personality crises/grilled cheese addiction, so their marriage is strong and happy. They did loose an attraction point during the whole addiction era, but it doesn't bother them.
Their oldest daughter Becky is building a life and career in newly populated Tarriki island (borders with Twikkii island). Her wife Lainey is already at midpoint of athletic career. They are broke and living in a very small apartment with Becky's childhood dogs, but there is a lot of potential, and they will likely be as successful and stable as generation 1.
Caroline, Nick and Sylvia's youngest daughter, became an overachiever, which is not a surprise. She is following her big sister's footsteps but in dance and art, not biology. In few rotations she is moving to Academy of Arts and has already secured a nice scholarship. Unlike her sister, she enjoys some teenage stuff, like sneaking out with her cousin Liv Keller-Flores or her best friend Julie Warren. But so far it hasn't effected her school or work performance.

Across street, their honorary family Kevin Cudler and Gerry Romm are trying to figure out what to do now. Kevin's job loss means no stable income, as Gerry himself just quit a job to open a bistro. Bistro is a success, but it brings in little money and needs improvements. Their daughter Lydia (not named after Lydia Livingston!) is about to grow into a teen, and that means more expanses - clothes, gadgets, room makeovers... They have no choice, they WILL have to accept that "compensation hush money" Lydia Livingston offered. (= they still have a genie lamp and one unused wish).

It's like he thought: Well, I'm not getting any younger. I'd better haul ass before the reaper shows up. XD

Do you have a DR for the hula zombies? They look nice.

The only thing I can think of is possibly my skin default replacements.

So I have this Popularity Sim that rolled a want to get engaged with his boyfriend... however his boyfriend is a Romance sim so he fears getting engaged with said sim. Quite the pickle!

I'm quite upset because after all the work I put into Clara and Magnus Grunt fixing their marriage, he had to go and flirt with his ex at his sister's wedding and ruin everything. I actually think Magnus sabotaged his marriage on purpose. Maybe he was tired of putting so much work into it--after all, Magnus is used to getting what he wants without a lot of hard work--but he was fine with the breakup and has now moved back into the Grunt family home. To add insult to injury, the woman he cheated with was his ex, Jeannie Nigmos, who certainly does love the Grunt family.

The wedding, by the way, was of Faith Grunt (daughter of Tank Grunt and Almeric Davis) and Neal Walker (son of Nervous Subject and Leo Walker). Neal wanted to marry a rich Sim, Faith just wanted to get married, and they both fulfilled their wants. Although I think Neal may have had some misgivings given his facial expression during the cake-cutting ceremony--the Grunts do not play nice. Regardless, I do think these two love each other, and they were sent to a new home with quite a nice nest egg to start things off by Faith's dads.

You must have a DR for their hair too?

Oh, yes, I probably do. I replaced all that stuff so long ago that it's hard to remember. But it looks like they have the Bella Goth hair, and I definitely replaced that. A lot of my hairs came from Spooky Muffin.

The pics are very nice, @sturlington - and quite dramatic

Nothing is happening in my game right now - I have reinstalled, got everything working and played around in Desiderata Valley (not sure I can face Natasha's grilled cheese obsession much longer). Everything seems to work fine.

Now I have to decide on:

1. Putting my old hood back. It may seem obvious, but, honestly, I have no cc in the game right now, and my hood will look like rubbish - and I don't want to add all the cc back at once (because there still may be a piece of corrupted cc in there).
2. Play another Maxis hood, but I have tried all of them before, and I don't really want to
3. Download a custom hood to play
4. Start a brand new hood from scratch (I kind of have more than enough maps to do that ). Perhaps adding the cc back bit by bit, or perhaps not.

Decisions, decisions!

I vote for 3 or 4- download a hood or make a new one!

Given that choice @Justpetro, I think I'd go for starting a new 'hood. When I do start a new 'hood, I generally start with only 3 or 4 playable Sims and a small number of CAS-made townies. Then I add more Sims as I play. But I very seldom do start a new 'hood. I think that is mainly because of my now firmly held belief that "A Sim is for life, not just for Christmas". (The original of that slogan was about dogs.) One I bring a Sim into the world, I feel I have a duty of care towards them. So I usually just new Sims to an existing 'hood -- probably Veronaville. I just have so many good friends living there now. Ialways feelgood when I meet up with one that I haven't seen for a while.

When I read about Ajay and Lola in sturlington's game, I burst into tears. I suppose that's why play with aging off. Yesterday would have been my mother's birthday -- I suppose that could be another reason why I'm feeling a little melancholy just now.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not criticising sturlington. Ajay's was a good life, well-lived. But his passing was still sad. When I saw him crying for Lola, I wept with him. I'm glad they weren't parted for long. But, if I didn't cry, I wouldn't be me.

I have started new hoods before; some were never intended to play for long, but somehow I did play them for long (mostly because I kind of liked my testing sims)

The others were killed when computers died (except the first one, which story you know)

I will probably start with 5 families (that is what I do most of the time) - will sleep on that.

As for ageing off - far too limiting for me, I love to raise a sim from birth to death, to see what their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren get up too (some of them honestly remind me of their ancestors, others are full of brand new surprises)

Regarding your mom's birthday, empathy from me, I do understand that.

I have lost both my parents and my husband. Every year, those 3 birthdays are hard. My kids and I normally do something on my hubby's birthday, and my son lifts his eyebrows like his dad used to do while speaking in the same voice as his dad did too, my daughter looks at me with her father's eyes and my grandson, who has never known his granddad, gives me my husband's smile. And life goes on.

I also have lost a parent, @AndrewGloria, and I think of him often, on important days and on other days.

I don't think there's any wrong way to play this game. I very much enjoy the storytelling aspect and the multigenerational family stories that can emerge from long-term play. It is interesting to me how different families and different Sims can have very different stories, all in the same game. Ajay and Lola were sometimes boring to play because they were really just ordinary folks who didn't get into any drama, but in the end, their lives were very satisfying to me as a complete story. They had a strong marriage that lasted. They had a son who they loved to pieces and they were so happy and supportive when he finally settled down with a good man and they got a grandson. They also made a pile of money, which was important to them, being Fortune Sims. They had lots of friends and successful careers. They didn't live dramatic lives, but they were good lives, and satisfying to me to play.

Lola's sister Chloe lived a very different life, but it was also very satisfying to me. She was in a polyamorous relationship with three others, and they lived together in one chaotic household: Chloe, Aldric Davis, Ripp Grunt, and Fatima Brownstone (a former dormie). They were all so much in love with each other--even Aldric and Ripp, who were only buddies--and they loved spending time around each other. They threw parties, played music (they were all very artistic), and were just loving, strong supports for one another. I was a bit jealous of that household and the bonds they had forged over time. When Ripp wanted a child, Chloe took it upon herself to "pollinate" him, and they had a lovely daughter, Lyla, who is also Romance aspiration. That was one of my favorite households, and it was hard to see both Chloe and Aldric pass, but they too were very happy, and the story of their lives together was very satisfying to me as well.

What's also interesting to me is how the stories of some neighborhoods take hold of me while other neighborhoods just fizzle out. This Strangetown--which I have been playing off and on for years now, I think--and my beginning of Pleasantview hood both fired my imagination and won my heart in ways that other neighborhoods I have experimented with have not done. I don't know what has been different about these two, except that the stories we told together just seemed more compelling. Because of that, I think it's always good to try something new in the game from time to time, because you just never know what's going to grab you.

I've read some people pair Darren Dreamer with Brandi Broke, so re-downloaded a new clean Pleasantville neighborhood to restart. She had another blonde boy named Bennett. Darren was invited over and the chemistry was there immediately, they hooked up after a nice day chatting where she discussed her dilemma with raising the boys after their father's death and her frustration with wanting to work but being pregnant again made that impossible. Darren suggests she hire a Butler to help offset the responsibility from Dustin who was seemingly stressed from school and not having time to complete his homework. Smitten by his advice, Brandi suggests Darren stay over and their chemistry behavior has them flirting before moving to her bedroom.

Eventually, she learns that she is carrying twins! Named Darius and Della. Darren suggested she move in with the kids, but Brandi said she needed to work a little before accepting his offer. Unfortunately, she collapsed from starvation after trying to juggle the twins on her own. With Dustin and Beau devastated, they moved out and into the Dreamer household where Darren is grief stricken but puts on a brave front, treating Dustin, Beau, and Bennett like his own kids. Dustin brought his grades up and even reached the top of his career, but turned down the offer of heading to University. He didn't want to impose Darren an added responsibility, keeping in the Criminal career, he took Beau and Bennett and moved into their own space. Darren was disappointed by this decision, but Dustin was his own young man and soon enough Cassandra was visiting after hearing all the trouble. Darren still maintained a crush, but kept his feelings at bay.

Overtime, with Della and Darius now children at school, and Dirk in University, Darren had the house to himself, prompting more visits from Cassandra. Eventually, she said yes (long after she was left at the altar by Don) and they had a son together, Ocean. The Broke boys still stop by whenever possible. So far, I think Dustin may be grown beyond Angela Pleasant who I see Angela mainly liking Dustin on his reputation but not lasting beyond high school, so now he's exploring dating options in between raising his younger bio brothers.

A new hood it will be then

New Hood in the making

Looking good so far @Justpetro !

I can just imagine what I'd do with that terrain! Some farms here and there, a bus depot, a small airfield... the possibilities!