2.4 Bittersweet Symphonies

Heeellllooooooooooo everybody! Wow, another game that I've failed to update for nearly half a year. *hangs head in shame*

Unlike the Pollinations, this game actually had a reason why I put it down for a while . . . but more on that later. First, let's get right back into things shall we? We're currently in the midst of our 2nd Generation, The Journalist (color Yellow), led by our current Heiress, Bumble Bee Spectrum.

We open in the Spectrum household on another birthday. It's time for the triplets to leave toddlerhood behind and become childrenz. Grandpa Alabaster does the honors for the eldest, Pumpkin.

Mama Bumble Bee takes middle child Apricot to the cake.

And finally, Gramma Oriole is happy to escort the baby of the bunch, Monarch, to his candles.

Apricot is the first to get an after-picture taken. As a refresher, her first two traits were Absent-Minded and Friendly, and per the next Generation's requirements, all of the triplets are getting Adventurous for their next trait.

Pumpkin's first two traits were Eccentric and Excitable to go along with her new Adventurous trait.

And finally, little Monarch, admiring Gramma's Fox statue. He's Evil and Clumsy, as well as being Adventurous now.

Their orange bedroom loses the cribs and gains some beds as well as a few fun objects to enjoy.

MONARCH - Lolz I play blockz wit uuuu.

PUMPKIN - Go home Monarch, you're drunk.

While endlessly humorous, this glitch does get old after a while. -_-

Random shot of Oriole defying the stereotypes of her age by bouncing like a bawse on the trampoline.

And here, Apricot is proving that she is indeed Oriole's granddaughter. The Absent-Minded trait strikes again.

Look! Pumpkin doesn't even HAVE the trait, but she still shows tendencies!! I love it.

Apricot apparently remembered what it was she was gonna do eventually, which was chat up her brother. Dad Dakota works out on the treadmill in the background.

And then a group session of homework, though Apricot is the only one who can find the dining room chairs . . . .

MONARCH - I think daddy loves the treadmill more than he does us . . .

APRICOT - Pfft, nonsense. You maybe, but not me and Pumpkin.

Ouch, harsh . . .

Suddenly, birthday! It's time for the current family pet, kitty Garfield to reach adulthood!

Oriole was on hand to help him celebrate.

GARFIELD - What? What is this? SPARKLE!? DO. NOT. WANT.

Garfield is ridiculously adorable as an adult, now complete with bell-collar.

Lawl, everyone in the house is constantly booing poor Dakota. I'm pretty sure it's because he seems incapable of winning any of his games. In my other DITFT, my athletic spouse never lost a game so I know it's possible . . . poor guy.

It's at this point that I changed my skin and eye defaults (yeah, it's been that long for the Spectrums, lolol). Here's Oriole's new face. Her eyes are a little . . . intense, but otherwise not bad.

Same for Papa Alabaster. Those eyes peer into my soul . . . .

Heiress Bumble Bee

Gen 2 Spouse Dakota

Monarch

Apricot

And finally, Pumpkin

PUMPKIN - Why am I last? :<

Purely coincidence, sugar. I promise.

We're still getting ghostly visitations by Atticus! HAI ATTIE! He doesn't do much though, just floats around the lot and takes naps.

Our current pet Garfield continues to be adorable, as well.

Thankfully just playing with Oriole's feet instead of mauling them.

BEE - Sooo . . . dinner was good, right?

DAKOTA - *blank stare*

They get along, I swear. XD

MONARCH - Yes! Finally! A chance to show off my wonderfully EVIL ways! Bwuahahahahahah!

MONARCH - Heehee, j/k. I'm showin' grandpa my salutin' skillz.

So cute. Monarch got enrolled in scouts while his sisters are in ballet.

Pumpkin showed off her plie skills.

Afterward it was time for Dakota's birthday to full adulthood. And, of COURSE he decides to do it in the bathroom. We have traditions to uphold, after all.

He looks pretty much the same, just with a wrinkle or two and a mid-life crisis. *siiigh*

Gen White is still Tru Love 4Evr, in case you were wondering.

See? True love! TRUE!

Dakota managed to do me proud and max his athletic skill. Unfortunately he still can't manage to win a game at work. -_-

Dakota got a MLC wish to change his outfit. Since that wasn't in the realm of DIVORCE or FLIRTING WITH OTHER WOMEN, I let him have it.

His attempts at recapturing his youth went well, I think.

DAKOTA - Hey, coach? Yeah . . . I can't seem to win any games, which means I can't get promoted. And I just got a call from the Military and they seemed interested in me enlisting sooooo . . . I quit! TTYL!

True Story

MONARCH - HAHA! Eat it! I am the BEST at this game!

APRICOT - It doesn't count if all you ever do is play the computer. On EASY mode.

PUMPKIN - Owned.

Gramma had to come over and show Monarch how it's done. She schooled him good and proper.

Dakota is maxed on athletic, but he has no points in the Handiness skill, which is the other skill needed for the Military branch. So he got out a book and got to reading.

GARFIELD - What was that? You were in need of a Cute Kitteh interlude? I am to please.

:D

Dakota's next fulfillable MLC wish was to buy a new car worth X-amount of simoleons. I decided to indulge and bought him this Fresh Prince Ford Camero. Because . . . Transformers . . . Bumblebee . . . <--Goober.

Also at about this time the real!sim Bumble Bee had earned enough LTHP to buy her own Motive Mobile! So now we have one for both generations!

Alabaster took a late night trip to the grocery store to sell his produce, still trying to work on that Gardening career and the last fishing skill point.

And then . . . THIS happened. He had JUST turned 90 days old. I was NOT HAPPY. This was the reason I stopped playing this family for a while, it upset me so bad. -_-

Not my AL!!!! *cries*

And out in public no less! With no family there to mourn his passing!! *stomps foot* At least he's getting the big/awesome grave marker.

And then he made it 2000 times worse by begging Grim for his life. To no avail.

Random Kilt Townie - That's just sadness right there. :(

I'm right there with ya, buddy.

So unfortunately it was time to bid a premature farewell to our awesome White Gen Farmer Founder. You were a sweet softie, Alabaster Spectrum, and I'll miss you accordingly. Until I decide to build anything better, this is the start of their remembrance wall.

Alabaster had driven the yellow MM to the store for some reason, and I guess because he died off the home lot my game glitched and deleted his inventory instead of giving it to another family member. So I lost my brand new MM, that I had JUST BOUGHT the day before.

This was me. Being not-happy.

  

Still, life in the sims must roll on, despite such heartaches. Dakota is off to his first day as a Latrine Cleaner.

DAKOTA - I hope all those Handiness books I read prepared me . . .

Me too, sweetie. Good luck!

It was at this time that I discovered I didn't have to bother with befriending people to write articles about them. I could just dig in their garbage instead. >:D

BEE - This is so GROSS!

But way easier than wasting hours chatting up strangers. So get to digging! We need good dirt for those tell-all's!

These two boys came home with the triplets one day after school. I can't even begin to remember what their names are, now.

Stripey-Shirt-Kid sat down outside with Monarch to do homework. Don't ask me why . . . .

Meanwhile Spaceship-Shorts-Kid won major points with me when he pulled this in the mirror. Even if he DOES have the oogly green-brown default hair. I might change that later if he pops up again.

In Bee's Prison Box the study, it was time for our heiress to celebrate her adult birthday.

Spaceship-Shorts-Kid came in to help celebrate . . .

BEE - He's . . . standing a little close. And staring at my butt. I'm a little uncomfortable.

Yeah . . . but on the bright side, still got it baby! :D

GARFIELD - Kuut Kitteh nowf?

SO. PRECIOUS! I believe he was practicing his hunting skills in this shot, but I can't be sure. It's been too long. D:

AL!!!!!!1!!!11!!!1!

He immediately went and laid down next to a sleeping Oriole. OMG! RIGHT IN THE FEELS!!!

I  . . . can't really remember what Monarch was doing here. Perhaps donating to undermine a charity, to gladden his little eevol heart?

Apricot was spending the afternoon holding court at the dining room table.

While Pumpkin took a joyride on the living room couch.

One of them brought this little guy home from a field trip. I belieeeeve I called him Doritos, but don't quote me.

And lastly . . . I really have no idea what this is or why I took a picture of it. Maybe something Dakota won? Even though he . . . never won a game? Or perhaps something else one of the kids brought home from their trip. WHO KNOWS!!! Mystery statue is a MYSTERY!

And that concludes our super-late next installment of The Spectrum of Life! So sorry for the humongous delay, hopefully we can all move forward from this and not abandon poor Sims families for months at a time . . . . *whistles*

Join us next time as the Orange generation continues to grow, and we'll see if I can't knock out a few more of these objectives for Yellow. Thanks for reading!

___________________

Generation Completion List - ( [X] indicates completed, strike-through indicates failure).

GENERATION 1 - The Farmer

• Master the Gardening Skill [X]
• Master the Fishing Skill
• Max the Gardening Profession
• No woohoo before marriage [X]
• Grow one of every type of plant (Including meat, cheese and Omni) [X]
• Complete LTW (Perfect Garden) [X]
• Have at least one child of each gender [X]
• Marry someone with the Loves the Outdoors and/or Green Thumb traits 

FINAL TALLY - 5/8

GENERATION 2 - The Journalist

• Get married, woohoo, have kid(s) [X]
• Max the Writing Skill
• Reach level 10 in the Journalism Career 
• Partner into a business [X]
• Write over 10 stories/reviews
• Complete LTW (Illustrative Author)
• Marry someone work related 
• Buy an Ant Farm [X]

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