Spring 2001- Birthdays

I didn't want to age Merida up without playing briefly. I wanted to see how Georgina coped. Okay, and to test out some baby stuff I downloaded...

Georgina actually coped pretty well. Had to hire a nanny whilst she was at school and Elsa was at work. The nanny was useless to the point of her ignoring Merida's needs just so she could take a shower.

And then it was birthday cake time!

I love Merida already! She has Gary's hair and eye colour but seems to have Georgina's face (sadly no pointed ears though!). I was hoping she'd have red hair but hey, she's still pretty cute!

Winter 2001- Mason 2

Allie Mason is 26.

As much as I love having my own space, it does get lonely sometimes. Ramona is right next door but we usually work different hours. It is nice to be able to invite friends round without having to ask dad's permission though!

I was a little down after I lost my job. I did find another temporary job just so i'd have money to pay the bills but it certainly wasn't what I wanted to spend my life doing.

Lucky for me, I managed to get my old job back!

Ramona and I found 10 minutes to go and check out the new restaurant that's just opened in the city. Service is slow...

The food is great when it finally arrives!

I'm still learning all this magic and witchcraft stuff. I don't want to do anything bad with it. I just think its something that nobody else is doing so it makes it twice as interesting.

I completely forgot that the rent was due so ended up having to quickly sell off some of my stuff.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to do after that other than read...

Notes: Allie forgot about her rent because I forgot until the notification popped up. She'd just bought a load of luxuries, including a guitar so she didn't have the money...

Autumn 2001- Uni

Gary Mason is 19.

I thought since i'm not a freshman anymore, i'd better start studying.

I always get distracted though. I'm loving college life, I just don't think I was made for studying. Last year I had Declan and Joanne to keep me motivated. They've moved to student housing instead of staying at the dorms.

I'm trying to butter my tutor up to hopefully pull a few strings so I can get through uni without failing.

See what I mean about being distracted easily...

Declan Saenz and Joanne Walker are both 19.

Narrated by Joanne.

Now that we're in student housing, we have to go to the library to study and write term papers. The campus provides the basics in the houses, sadly, computers don't come under that category.

I'm missing the greenhouse back home so i'm trying to find other nature activities to replace gardening.

It doesn't always go according to plan though...

We're struggling for money so whilst Declan got a job serving coffee in the campus lounge, I tried my hand at DJing. I don't think a job in the music industry is my calling...

I was really surprised to see Gary in the library recently. He was never bothered with studying last year and it took Declan and I constantly reminding him that he'll be kicked out of uni if he doesn't get his finger out. He just scraped through freshman year. Maybe he's serious about graduating with good grades now.

Notes: Behind on blog posts again, i'm ready to play their junior year now (so autumn 2002!). I have the winter and spring 2001 updates to post and a birthday update for Merida Saenz which i'm hoping to have posted tomorrow and Sunday.

Looking back on this update, I probably should have mentioned Georgina and Merida. It seems strange that Gary is too busy faffing about in college to even think about is daughter. Will definitely have to change that!

Birthdays- Summer 2001

Just one birthday for now, Lauren Henshaw is now 4!

Summer 2001- Walker

Max is 43 and Tina is 16.

Narrated by Tina.

After Declan broke up with me I decided the best thing to do was just keep myself busy. My grandad died and dad inherited some money and payed off the loan that he first took out when we moved here but we're still struggling for money. Dad told me about a medical trial that he took part in several years ago but it seems to have come back to bite us. I haven't had a chance to meet my half-siblings yet. I guess it's a bit harsh to wish they had never been born, they never wished for it and dad just thought he was doing a helpful thing for someone but things sure would be easier financially if dad didn't have to fork out child support to them. Maybe my feelings will change when I finally get to meet them.

We switched to a new crating system at the store and it's a success! We're earning a lot more money now than we ever have been.

I still help out whenever I can. With Joanne now at university, dad was struggling to run the store by himself and we couldn't afford to hire anybody outside of the family. Even when we can afford it, dad says he's not sure if he wants to. He says he likes the idea of it being a purely family run business.

Whenever i'm not at the store or school, I try to keep busy by catching up with friends. Strictly no boys though. I think after Declan, i'm happy just chatting to Louisa.

We got lucky when Joanne went to college. There weren't any fees or requirements for her to get in. Unfortunatly now though, there's a strict system, several requirements to meet and also a fee to pay (unless you're super smart and gain several scholarships!). I want to go but I know that at the moment, dad can't afford it. He even got a second job working in a convenience store but we're still struggling to make ends meet. I might try my luck to gain as many scholarships as I can in the next two years so hopefully dad won't have to worry about paying.

Notes: I've decided not to continue with my megahood and concentrate purely on Autumn Shore. With a baby on the way, I honestly have no idea where I thought the time to play 4 different neighbourhoods and regularly update blogs would come from. I suppose the Pleasant family where the deciding factor in that- constant bickering and fighting even when on vacation, damn them! I'm starting to feel less sick and tired so i'm trying to get back into the habit of playing atleast for a little while each day.

The Walker family really are the poorest in Autumn Shore. It doesn't help that I have the child support hack installed so it takes money from them each day (or adds it to the bills if they don't have enough!). I could see they were going to be in debt for all eternity so I cheated a little with that- that would be when Max's 'dad' (non-existent in the game but we can pretend) died and Max got some money. Hopefully with Max's second job things will get better for them, especially with Tina wanting to go to university and taxes due in Summer 2002!

I have the uni update to hopefully post tomorrow. And with that, i'm off to play the Winter 2001 update!

Spring 2000- Brockman

Donna is 42 and Sean is 15.

Narrated by Donna.

Despite Ramona taking Saoirse as a kitten, I still feel as if every spare moment of my time is taken up looking after the cats.

I suppose I should be glad. Sean is heading off to university in a few years so i'll be here alone. Time really does fly when you're a parent.

Sean isn't doing too bad in school. I think if he spent less time playing video games and more time studying, he'd get that A in no time.

He seems to spend a lot of time with Louisa Mason too. I'm sure he told me that she was planning to go to college too. I hope she doesn't distract him from his studies...

I got a new job as an events planner. I've never really been bothered as to what I did as a career, as long as it paid the bills but I have to admit, I think I love this job more than my old one and i'm looking forward to working my way to the top.

Notes: I played this update about 2 weeks ago. Since finding out I was pregnant a month ago I find myself going to work, coming home and going straight to bed so sadly I haven't had much energy for sims! I have read that you're less tired during the second trimester and I have my 12 week scan on 12th December so roll on next month!

Not much to say about the Brockman's. They're the calm after storm (a.k.a. the Henshaw's....). I think Sean has 1 more, maybe 2, updates before uni.

Spring 2000- Birth Announcement

Introducing Merida Saenz, daughter of Gary Mason and Georgina Saenz!

Notes: Um, yeah, that's basically all I have to say here. I think some bloggers play the family for a short while if there's a baby due, I decided I won't do that and i'll just use insim to skip ahead trimesters/labour when required. Birthday updates will always be in summer unless a baby is turning 1 (which will then be exactly a year after the baby is born- in Merida's case there will be a birthday update for her in spring 2001). There will only be a birthday update if a sim is aging up to the next life stage. I think birthday updates will be short, sweet and straight to the point too unless I feel I have more to say.