It began when Professor Stratton came over during my workout one day and said he had to talk to me. Kaela left the room to do homework, so it was just Stratton and me (everyone else was at class).
He sighed and looked at me for a long while before speaking. “We have to stop seeing each other,” he said. I couldn’t believe my ears as he continued. “I’m so sorry…but the rest of the faculty is getting suspicious, and I don’t want to lose my job. Besides, you’re just too young for me, hon. Maybe in a few years when you graduate…” He halted there, because I was sobbing.
“I’m sorry, Misty,” he said again. He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, then left. He didn’t look very upset, but maybe he was trying to stay strong so he’d be able to dump me. I don’t know. I was totally bummed.
For weeks after that, I was a complete mess. My grades suffered, my music suffered, I suffered. I felt like I had done something wrong, like I wasn’t good enough, and that’s why he broke up with me. In the back of my head I knew it was because of the job thing, but I couldn’t help taking it personally. He was my first love.
Around that time, we were running out of money (boxes of tissue really add up) and decided to invite our cousins to live with us. They were just starting out their freshman year at ALT. Here’s Ana with our cousin Viola.
And here’s Viola again. She’s the daughter of my uncle Ethan and his wife Andrea. They have a really swanky house in Hazelton, but their kids turned out to be really cool, not at all spoiled like I thought they might be. Then again, we were pretty spoiled growing up in Villa Ravelo, so I shouldn’t talk.
Here’s her brother Grigori. We just call him Grig. Isn’t he a cutie? He reminds me so much of his dad.
And here’s the other set of cousins that came to live with us, this time from our Aunt Marlee’s family. Here’s Brody, who is going to take the business world by storm someday:
Here’s his twin sister Winnie. She is seriously the nicest, sweetest person I have ever met.
After our cousins moved in, we expanded the house and redecorated a bit, and that, along with our studies, kept us pretty busy throughout most of our second semester.
Even though my cousins were really cool to me, I was still feeling sorry for myself over the whole Professor Stratton thing, so I kept everyone at arm’s length. I barely even played with the band anymore, or hung out with my sisters. I was shutting everyone out. Unfortunately, it took a near-disaster to shake me out of my mopeyness.
Yep, I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing while I was cooking a hamburger one day, and the stove caught on fire. Smoke, flames, everywhere. I freaked out, tears in my eyes, and didn’t know what to do. I had been so lost in my own world that I couldn’t think straight. Luckily Viola rushed in and called 911, and the fire department saved the day.
Well, that woke me up. What if no one else had been home? Would I have stood there and watched the house burn down? Yikes. I had to get my act together, and fast. I owed it to my housemates, at least. Not only had I completely destroyed the stove, I had put them all in danger. Nice one, Misty!
I decided the first order of business was to forget about Professor Stratton. Easier said than done, but I gave it my all. Second, we needed to buy a new stove. We wouldn’t get any money until the semester was over, so I decided to throw a little fundraiser. I got the Band With No Name together, practiced like mad for about 24 hours straight, and gave a concert in the backyard. We invited all our friends (Stratton even showed up, and I surprised myself by not breaking down).
Oh, and the Band With No Name became the Pyromaniacs. I think the fire theme suits us. Especially Alvin with his fiery mohawk. Although I did worry throughout the whole concert that our bonfire was going to get out of control and start raging across campus.
Everyone seemed to have a good time, even though we still sound pretty crappy. I can play about three songs really well. The rest of our repertoire…not so much. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, though.
And we earned enough money from everyone’s contributions that we were able to buy a new stove. Yeah!
After the concert, it was back to business as usual. Finals were coming up, so we all studied like crazy. Kaela worked harder than anyone — she even got a professor to tutor her.
Kaela was so upset that she wasn’t allowed to try out for the play this year, which turned out to be one of her favorites, Hamlet. It’s too bad — I think Kaela would have made a great Ophelia.
The great news is…she WILL get to try out next year, because she got an A on her finals! So unless she really bombs first semester of her junior year (which will technically be the second semester of her sophomore year, because of the academic probation), she’ll be good to go for the next play’s tryouts. YAY, KAELA!
(continued on Page 3)
Yay, first to comment, Misty is so cool as a rock star, haha…but I didn’t get to finish reading it yet though. And I voted for the Ravelos, yes!!! (although, an Annabel Island update would be great too!) :)
So cool… I wish my university years were that much fun…
But then, I’m graduating this summer after 6 years of hard work and law school and I haven’t been in a band (does a drama-company count?) or been to a toga party (I don’t think they even ever have them in Belgium…)
Oooh, dramatic update! :D The fellow with the mask sure is a purty one. I’m currently struggling to set up a Victorian-Legacy-Open For Business family. It’s, uh. Not easy. @.o I’m going to dump my one neighbourhood already, gah!
And, of course, trying to find 19th century bathroom stuff (not to mention toilets) is.. q.q
I LOVE Misty’s hair! It’s gorgeous! Anastacia is gorgeous too. So are all the cousins. Just a whole bunch of gorgeous Sims. Aw, poor Misty with the whole Prof. Stratton thing. But she’ll find someone better! Wonderful update, Jen. :)
Lovely update. I’m so happy the girls are getting along nicely.
I’m glad Misty was able to pull herself together after getting dumped by the prof. He was probably off romancing another student. Humph. It’s cool that you are brining the cousins in to the story. I hope Kaela gets to try out Junior year, more drama goodness! Can’t wait to hear from the third sister, now. :D Are you doing the greek house thing, or rather is the house the sisters moved to the Ravelo Greek house, or just a place to stay? Just curious.
Might I reccommend Misty try this LOOOOVELY wrist brace? It’s tan, and comfortable as silk! (I am a master business… for-open-type. Also, I like my wrist brace. She can’t have it, no matter how appealing that pitch was. Sorry.)
Man. I only vaguely remember Anastacia. Too bad about the sharp-clawed businesswoman, though. I wonder. Was she maybe part lizard? That’d be cool!
…what? :D It’s not like it was a horrible thing! She has Ravi now, okay?
Hee. Kaela and Misty look kind of silly, with the squats. Mostly because they’re in unison. Go, girls, go!
Powerpuff girls flashback… urk!
Llama Mama… wasn’t that in the Heiress? I don’t know, I have to reread it. I think it was. Cool! :D
Hee. Too bad about the finger callouses. Do Sims have hand lotion? That tends to help with things like that.
The people in the Drama Club look so foody! And fun! I meant to type goofy. I guess food is goofy? They look like… a kah raaazy food.
Ooh. I really like the hair and dress of the actress playing Christine. (I know next to nothing about the Phantom of the Opera, so, if I got that wrong, please pelt me with masks!) Reminds me of the Romeo and Juliet thing. Man. So cool. The Sim Theatre in that college must always be packed, with such cool plays going on there all of the time.
Eep for Kaela. :T Man. She really needs to get to influencing those freshman– Stat! Or was she still a freshman?
Poor Misty! Well. Part of me thinks “hey, maybe he’ll make good on the ‘after she graduates'” thing, and another part thinks “nah! She should move on,” and yet another part thinks “hey! This is a story! Quit being all like that!”
Needless to say, I ignore that last part. >_>
Misty was part of the second generation!… right? I need to brush up on my Ravelo History. Even if she was one of the last ones born, it’s not until late third generation legacy’ers that the kids start getting spoiled and uppity.
If she was late third generation, change my vote to “early fourth”. Those babies think their diapers are so great, they don’t need changing! Fie on them!
Grig looks so much like his dad, which must be great for him! I mean, dude. I remember everyone being like “Eee, Ethan! *fangirling*” For a while, I considered making a poster recolor, so my Sim teens could go “*swoon*”. That’d be fun. Really. Still kinda want to do that. XD
Also, his name reminds me of a Sim of mine, Gregory. Except I call him… Greggo. That’s really why I named him that. To call him Greggo. I guess I’m kinda cruel to my Sims, sometimes…
Eep. Maybe another thing they need to get is a fire alarm? I mean… hey! Sims can space! One day, it could be YOUR TV dinner, cousin Brody!
Also, investing in a good cooking skill point or two is a goooood idea.
Firestarters! Good name. Now all Misty needs is to get the red version of that suit she’s wearing. After the gosh-durned stores lower the price a little. ($200 for a top, then $200 for a whole suit. Man.)
Forget the campus worries about the bonfire! Though, going from stove fire to bonfire must be a liiittle unsettling.
That professor looks like she’s having quite the hard time tutoring Kaela. All like “*shakes head* Why couldn’t I have tutored my second cousin Pegasus? He wants to be my friend, not like this Kaela girl!”
…she just looks kinda like him from the side, is all.
Saying togapajamarade five times fast wasn’t bad at all. Sounds more like a marching band should be there more than the phantom, though. Someone get the tuba!
Opera ghosts definitely need vitamin C! Try being on stage and lurking around like that– you get sick without the right vitamins!
Ooh, everyone looks really spiffy in their masks. It looks like Kaela’s kind of teasing Ravi for his mask kind of looking like armor or something, and he’s like “whaaa? Meee? Hoho, she’s crazy.”
It really looks like tackling time, but I don’t think they do football. You know, though, the phantom guy looks vaguely like the professor. Vaguely. I know it’s not, because they have slightly different skintones (the professor’s looks like #3, while the phantom guy’s is #2) and they look a little different, but close enough with the mask that someone might go “OH. HEY. PROFESSOR. I have my term paper and– oh. You’re just a singer. Bah. Nevermind.”
I saw that play a few weeks ago – of course, nosebleed seats don’t give the best experience, but good nonetheless.
I really liked this Ravelo update. (By the way, here’s hoping Professor Stratton marries Misty. He was a family Sim in my game).
Wow, I LOVE the Phantom of the Opera, that would be so romantic if someone read the lines to me! But I love the update, there’s always something interesting happening to your sims! And I absolutly Love Kaela’s hair. Oh yea this is Jeanette from Simtopia but i’ve created a new blog if you want to check it out!
*sigh* wow Jen, depp, phantom of the opera, guitar playing, and awesome sims all around…what more could you put in one post? hehe. I was in bliss when reading this, because I was also eating cherry pie. Now I want cherry pie again. Or chocolate. mmm, chocolate…
Anyway, good job as usual! I just got my computer fixed AGAIN and all my families were deleted AGAIN so I have to start AGAIN and I don’t know how long it will be before I summon the energy to do that. humph. dumb laptop *mutter mumble mutter*
I can’t wait till the next update, which if I’m lucky will be a brayton one! or, er, wait, degroff? Eeek! What are we calling them now?! Oh boy, enough sugar for me…
WOW! At the risk of repeating myself…. “I loved it! It was better than CATS!” LOL. It took my breath away, all of it. The Phantom, The Band with No Name (hey, even Llama Mama was once ‘Izzy and the Twins’) Llama Mama is thrilled to have influenced a band with such promise. I’m going to go back and read it all again, in hopes of reliving the moment where I shrieked in utter delight at seeing The Phantom set. Jen! You’re incredible! And the Togapajamarade! Could it be any more fun? And the cousins. LOVE cousins! Wow. I’m truly inspired. Thanks for reminding me why I write Sim Stories. What a true delight. You’re a master simmer.
Amy
I had to skip Blu’s entry today due to lack of time… so sad. I’m sure it was awesome, Blu.
Great update! Love it! I love Blondie, too, by the way; Kaela’s skirt is fantastic in the drama club shot; and Misty’s hair/mask in the masquerade shot is smexy.
Here’s hoping Misty ends up with either Phantom guy or Professor guy!
Oh, wow Jen! You take such amazing pictures. How do you get them like that! I, for one, really don’t have the patience to set them up like that. You put such details into your stories! I get too caught up with playing, feel the need to catch up, then breeze over everything so that I can be…well…caught up. I love how you create story lines out of little things that happen in the Sims. Congrats on another great one!
Katie.
WICKED!!!!!! I love the music from that musical :D
Anna: which musical, ‘Phantom’ or ‘Wicked’? xD
Wonderful update! Have you decided who is going to carry on the legacy yet?
I want Blu’s wrist brace. :( *flails achy wrists around*
hehe niceone! love the idea of a togapajamarade! woot! hehe how did you do the stage for the drama performance and all? that bit really cool!
I loved this story, and the pictures were nice too!! I have the sims2 at home but i dont really play it that much because is a little slow. I dont know how to make it run properly. I jus got the computer last november (my borthday) and i added the sims 2 to it, but now its running a little slow, and looking a little fuzzey. Do u have any tips on how to make the graphics better and to make it work better. Also i downloaded some things for the game, like clothes and jewerly and objects, but it doesnt come out looking right. How do u get your dowmloads to be so perfect. I would really like to know where u got ur hairstlyes from and ur clothes…they r the best. I would really appreciate all the help. Just email me with the answer (if u want). U are the best sims 2 story teller…keep up the good work!! and thank you
That was great
love that phantom dude’s outfit really kewl. :)
Thanks for reading my blog jen! You would have laughed, I opened up my blog and it said one comment so I was excited anyway (being the newbie that I am) and when I opened it and it said jen I literally said, “Jen?!” out loud. It’s like having your stuff read by a celebrity! lol. I do overreact sometimes…well anyway the point is thanks for reading it when you have so many others to read and so much stuff to do on your blog.
I loved the variety in this update! Thank you so much for the time you put into making this blog such a joy to read. And now, for a shameless plug for my own Sims blog… http://dreamersims.eponym.com/blog I’m just getting started, but there is a whole plot, and pictures to go along with it ready to go. I just need to get cracking on that.
Hee hee, The Pyromaniacs. I love that!
I have Nightlife! *spin* *happy* *glee* I love it so much. I have a one-Sim family in it, and she’s pretty decent. I like her okay. Dating a lot. Pleasure aspiration. You know.
But, *squeak*! It has Lifetime Wants and Influencing! Those were some of the things from University that I wanted the most, and they’re right there! Without University! :D *swoon*
Eep! Kay, aching wrists are the worst things. But… computers! Typing! So much love for them… @_@
Verneen, I know your question wasn’t addressed to me or anything, but I recommend changing the Sim/Object detail to high, the texture to high, the framerate to 60, and reflections off. *nod* That’s what I did for my old, barely-working-for-TS2-and-discontinued-after-NL card.
The texture’s detail never really affected game speed much for me– though, that’s just me. And turning on the Sim/Object detail just makes everything look so much better, that it seems kind of worth the lag. To me, anyway. ^^;
And, as for downloads: Definitely Mod The Sims 2. You can find everything there. Seriously, EVERYTHING. Other nice sites are All About Style and 2 For U for clothing, Lyran 2.0 and Helaene for makeup, Around the Sims 2 for furniture, and SimCribbling for men’s hair. Another few good ones are Peggy Sims 2, Parsimonious, and Insimenator. Yarr.
Lyran’s also has some excellent eyes. :D
And, Keely. Dude. I didn’t even realize how long my comment was. I’m with you. I’m skipping over me! (Longbie! Try and cut down on words a bit, huh?! Huh, self?! HUH?!)
I’m loving the punk Alvin — just loving him! It fits so well.
I’m going to bring the townie kids to college one generation at a time, I think; this gen’s is Tosha Go, and wow, she is a *stunner* as a young adult…
Heyya, the phantom’s mask is so awesome… and for the record I actually had to go out and rent Phantom of the Opera and watch it… it was fantastic :) ! I love Misty’s hair in the one picture when she is wearing her mask, it’s so pretty, what site did you get it from?
p.s.- Does anyone know if I can place OFB objects on my Nightlife Legacy Challenge family? (sorry about how off topic that became, :( )
Hey guys, thanks for all of the comments! It was fun to write about the Ravelos again. Although I don’t know when I’ll be playing them or any of my other regular families again – I’m having a problems with a couple of my neighborhoods not showing up in the game (even after reinstalling them), so I’ve been playing my “clean†account until I figured out how to get them back. Mt. Geneva is one of the neighborhoods that is no longer showing up, so I’m pretty bummed about that. I’m doing research on it, though, and I posted on a thread at MTS2, so hopefully I can get it back. The Ravelos aren’t in Mt. G, but I’m afraid to play any other neighborhoods for fear they’ll disappear. So until I get the problem fixed, I’m just sticking to my other Windows account. I don’t have anything over there that is major, so it’s not as scary if I lose it. So I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but make sure you back up your neighborhoods before you install/play OFB (or any expansion for that matter), because you never know what crazy things can happen!
To answer a few questions:
Bitsy – I’m not doing the Greek House thing for my Nightlife Legacy, so they’re just living in a regular ol’ house (and not the one that their aunts and uncles lived in). Not sure why I decided to skip the Greek House thing – it can be really fun. Ah well!
Blu – Misty and her sisters are third generation, so I think they’d qualify as being fairly spoiled. ;-) And holy cow, looooong comment! I loved it!
Jeannette – I left a comment on your new blog, but it’s not showing up. But anyway, I’m looking forward to your updates and hope you’re having fun playing. :-)
Vivi – I’m sorry your families got deleted AGAIN. :-) I hope you’ll start playing again and tell us some more stories.
Janice – For the Phantom scene, I just made a stage using the foundation tool, then placed seats on different levels and shot from the audience so you couldn’t see their chairs are on grass. I had to use boolprop cheats and stuff to get everyone there who had to be there. It was fun. :-)
Verneen – Blu gave a good answer to your question in her post. I’m not really sure what else you could do, unfortunately. Blurry textures can be really frustrating. This thread at MTS2 might help: http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=97876. I had to upgrade my graphics card to get rid of my blurries, and now I’m on a new computer as well as yet another graphics card. I spend too much money on this darned game.
Christina – Great new blog, I left a comment! I love Pleasantview!
amethyst218feb – I downloaded Misty’s masquerade hair from XM Sims. And you watched Phantom? That’s too cool! I’m glad you liked it. As for using OFB objects in your NL Legacy, I have to say, I’m not sure…I haven’t checked the rules in a long time. There’s probably something on the BBS in the Challenges thread. I’ll let you know if I see anything!