Dear Darren,
Hey, little bro! How is life treating you at the Académie? Are you keeping an eye on Cady? Make sure she’s not kicking the crap out of the freshmen! I’d say tell her “hi” from me, but she’d probably just shrug it off, or make one of those sour faces she likes to make. We never did get along very well, you know. She’s super sweet to you and Arielle, though; I guess it’s because you’re all closer in age. Ah, well.
Time has really flown since graduation. It seems like just yesterday I was buying my first car and moving into my little house in Rosebrook.
Things were a bit of a struggle back then. I didn’t have a job because I wanted to spend as much time as possible writing my novels. Unfortunately it takes a loooong time to write a book! I was sitting at my computer, tapping away at that keyboard for several hours a day. Sometimes I felt like throwing it out the window in frustration (or throwing myself out, though it wouldn’t accomplish much, since it was a one-story house).
Eventually I got tired of staring at a computer monitor and decided I needed some human interaction. I wanted to go out and observe life, take notes, seek inspiration. And, possibly, meet the man of my dreams.
Unfortunately, all of the men I met seemed to think I was some kind of joke.
They just weren’t interested. And it didn’t help that every place I went to was crawling with women. I guess they were all seeking inspiration.
In a slowly growing sort of panic, and fearful of the competition, I’m ashamed to say I started flirting with every male I met. I’m sure you’d rather not hear about your big sis resorting to desperate measures in order to snag a boyfriend, but you and Trent and maybe mom are the only people who could understand it, so I hope you don’t mind my telling you. It was a rather low period in my life, actually. I even hit on a teenage retail clerk.
Yeah, it was pretty bad. I don’t know what was wrong with me, really. I should have been just fine alone, happy to be writing my books and painting my pictures, but I had this crazed woman inside of me who wanted more than anything to fall in love and get married. And this crazed woman was starting to rule my life. I worked on my novels less and less, and went out “man-hunting” more and more. I worried that I was going to spend the rest of my life in nightclubs and coffeehouses, making meaningful eye contact with every man who walked by, but going home alone.
So you can see why I jumped at the chance to go out with Renaud. I don’t know if you ever knew him at ALT, but Trent and I met him at the bowling alley one night. I thought he was cute at the time and tried to make him laugh, but he thought I was nuts (or he looked at me like I was), and I pretty much gave up on him. Then, after graduation, he called me up out of the blue — just like that! — and we ended up going out to dinner.
He was really sweet to me and even paid for our lobster dinner at the One-Twenty-Five. I thought it was a good omen at the time, since that’s where Mom and Dad met. But I don’t even like lobster! I should have known better.
We had an exciting relationship at first. It was wonderful to finally have someone around, and I became thoroughly smitten with him, even though we had very little in common. In fact, it seems like the only thing we were mutually passionate about was our physical attraction to each other.
Eventually he moved in, and we “played house” for awhile. It was so nice to sit down at my computer and write for a few hours knowing that when I finally tore myself away from the keyboard, I’d be able to snuggle up next to someone. It felt cozy.
(continued on Page 2)
Great update! Poor Marlee, with that guy being mean to her, it’s NOT her fault he didn’t get the promotion. But I’m glad she found someone else. And wow twins! I love twins.
Ohhh so sweet, i loved this update.
I´m so happy, she finally found a man, a really man for her, and i hope she will be happy in this new life. =D
I HEART MARLEE.
Yay!
Yay!! Im so glad things worked out for Marlee towards the end! I was worried at the start that she would rush into things and it wouldn’t work out, and I was right, but Im glad she’s sttled down with a family now! :)
Cant wait to see more Ravelo updates!
Kath
(How on earth do you pronounce Ternynck?)
Hey Jen, an update, fabulous! And wow, I hadn’t thought that Marlee would come up with TWO babies that fast ;) – and two pretty babies. The girl’s a bit like ‘my’ Clarissa from gen 2 *g*. Also a twin, as we know! Oh, and well, because I’m so stressed out at the moment I can only play sporadically and update not that frequently (maths exam and geography too *baah*). But to tell you, Rhia’s a teen now and she’s the heir, because I rolled family for her *g* – and she’s very surly going to marry an elder too! Wahoo :). Oh, and some thing I noticed: Not only does my Stuart Bui look very much like your Kenneth Lillard, but now this Remaud looks like them both just as well! Same face I mean! Noticed that? Will you actually continue writing in this letter-style, or are you going back to the normal tell-tale style some time? Just interested ;). Good luck furthermore on Nano!
Well, what can I say this time, Jen? Other than the fact that you keep outdoing yourself? I love Marlee’s little house!
Yay! Another great update. I think Marlee is my favorite of the Ravelo 2 gen. It’s nice that she finally got het family. I liked the shot of her first house. Did you build that or is it a MAxis or a download?
Marlee’s house was made by Maxis; it’s one of the pre-builts that was sitting Downtown. I changed the windows and doors, though, and tried to make it a little homier-looking in general. It’s actually a really great starter house, perfect for one person or a couple. But not four. ;-)
Kath, I’ve been pronouncing ‘Ternynck’ like ‘TER-nink’ in my head, but I have no idea how it is actually pronounced. We’ll have to ask someone at Maxis!
Eva M – It’s too bad you haven’t gotten much time to play lately. I know how it goes! And yes, I did notice that Renaud had the same face as your Stuart and my Kenneth. It’s a very cute face! I think it’s the first option in CAS faces, actually. I wish they’d make their townies a little more random-looking (and they did with Nightlife, for the most part, but there are too few male downtownies, or at least it seems like it!) As for letter-style, I’ve been doing it a lot lately because it’s a bit easier and people seem to enjoy it. It also gives my Sims more personality, I think. But if people are getting sick of it, maybe I’ll switch to doing more 1st person narration, like with Simon’s update. You know, not a letter, exactly, but still telling the story from each character’s POV. Sort of like Bitsy does with her Windling diaries. Or maybe I’ll go back to commentary style. Or maybe I’ll just keep changing it up every so often, so boredom doesn’t set in. :-)
Thanks for the comments, everyone! I’m off to write some NaNovel!
*snug Marlee* ;-;
Awww, sweet! Brody and Winnie – what cute names! Were they randomly chosen? I’m glad Marlee has found a man at last.
I’m so happy that Marlee finally found love..she has always been my favorite of g2 she’s so pretty and I love how you are dressing her. Twins whoa! I’m sure you weren’t expecting that :)
I’m still on gen1 on my NL xtreme legacy with some g2 in college now, plus I started to set up my families for the Prosperity Challenge – don’t know if I’ll blog them or not but my Moonlight family is at generation 9! Never thought I’d get that far with them.
Anyways I’m glad you updated the Ravelos :)
Ah, you bring me back into Sims 2, Jen! *G* I’d gotten distracted by Civ4!
Rosebrook is such a pretty name for a town, too. Any chance we could get more pictures of the community? =)
Oomsh, i have seen the worse of life
and answers are included!!!!!! I just
sat through my first entire week of exams,
so fustrating!!!!!!
It’s taken be awhile to catch up wiv u
guys stories but ish update 2 date now!!!!!
Marlee is so pretty and ish gr8 that she
ish settled down now.
Jen you are fantastico!!!!!!!
Great Update Jen!! It has inspired me to put aside my NaNo novel and play my Simmies again! Gosh it’s been forever since I’ve played them!
Aw, they’re so sweet! :D It’s great, for Marlee. The swooning girls who fall in love with Damion, though… hrm. Romance Sim! ArrrrrrrRrrRRRrrrgh. I just had to hang on to that R, didn’t I? >_>;;;
Marlee is really neat. I still say she makes me think of Chrono Trigger, though. And that’s a good thing! I mean, a lot of people have CT as their favorite game.
Can’t go wrong with Marlee! She’s the ginchiest! …I’m not really sure what that means. My mom said it was from those old beach blanket movies, and, I, er, never really watched any of them.
By the way– I noticed on the sidebar on the main page how you hit 10k on your NaNoWriMo thing! Congrats! :D
Would it be okay with you if I were to get out Body Shop and try to make a Sim that looks like Ethan? Because, seriously, he’s nifty! Nifty like… a good blender.
He spins and chops! :D Even makes juice. Carrot juice, apple juice, applesauce, carrotsauce, smoothies… the works.
I just noticed– the next post on here will be the 200th– not counting any deleted ones. I don’t know if there were any. Wow, that’s a lot. :D Congratulations~
That Renaud, though… He was BAD NEWS. I wonder if he heard anything about the wedding, though? Or her novel? He totally missed out!
Totally!
Yarr!
I just realized, though, that I have a Sim that looks suspiciously like Renaud. And that Sim of mine is in the Science career track, as well! Except that Sim is a teenager. Stephen somethin’ or other. Durand. Right. Stephen Durand. (I have never had any idea how to pronounce his surname, yet I made it up. My mom always corrects me when I say it, which doesn’t make sense, either.)
Hmmmm… I believe they are planning something. Something that is no-good, those nogoodniks.
I’ll keep my EYE on that nogood NIK. Or STEVE. >_>
Yay! I’m so happy Marlee finally got the guy that she deserves! And little twins too. That’s so great! Can’t wait to see how they grow up to look like.
My sim Seth has the same hair and glasses as Damion. I love that smart and classy look. ;)
Yay! It’s so exciting that Marlee found her true love and had twins with him, so congrats! ;) I look forward to reading about Marlee further adventures :D
Awesome update. Is it just me, or does Ranaud look exactly like Spencer Dalton, another townie?
Anyway, I glad Marlee is getting along well in life, and for an oldie, Damion’s pretty cool.
that was brillaitn as usual. I read your previous few post which I missed (btw… I’ve finished my exams so I’m planning to get back into my bloggin! there might be a few changes around tho… but i still hope to see you around Jen! being one of my oldest sims 2 blogger companion! Oh yes, good luck and keep going with the Nano writting thing :) ) Decided to comment about everythign in one, which i hope you don’t mind, makes things easier. I loved your halloween post! It was cool getting everyone dressed up and in picture poses, very good job. and your Ravelo family is goign really well, it great to see all the kids progress so nicely
Hi Janice! Good to see you, and very happy to hear you might start blogging again! I always loved your stories about your Legacy family. Be sure to keep us posted on your Sims 2 doings. :-)