The First Wedding

Erin has wanted to get married for a long time. For a while, she didn't have anyone particular in mind; she just had a wish to marry somebody. But a few Sim days ago, she decided that she wanted to marry Joe, not just any guy off the street. Joe had no disinclination, so he decided to surprise her. He took her to dinner at the Bistro, and after a proper amount of PDA, he popped the question.

She said yes, and they celebrated. Erin's ring looked giant at first, but after a little while it stopped flashing so much. Joe immediately wanted to throw a wedding party, but it was too late at night.

The next afternoon, Joe called up several of the Sullivan Sims' friends and invited them to a wedding party - formal dress code. All the invited guests showed up, and some guests - like Candy - invited themselves. That's what you get for befriending a Party Animal, Joe.

After everyone had arrived, Joe and Erin decided it was time to start the ceremony.

They stood on the deck and waited for everyone to gather around to watch them tie the knot.

It took a while to get everyone out there. Erin's mind started to wander, but Joe didn't seem to mind.

"Whooooooooooo! Yeah, weddings! Whooooooooo!"

Party Animals really, really love any kind of party.

Zelda, Tara, Tori (a friend of Joe's) and Youngbum waiting for the ceremony to begin. I guess Zelda didn't get the memo about the formal dress code.

Finally, they were ready to begin.

"With this ring..."

"I do."

Joe and Erin Kelly's first kiss.

"Congratulations!"

With the ceremony over, the Sims were permitted to take care of their personal needs, like eating and going to the bathroom. Unfortunately there were a lot of Sims at the house, and there are only three toilets on the lot. Some people just didn't make it in time.

Meanwhile, the spirit of the day gave Noah an idea. Right there on the deck, he walked up to Zelda and asked her a rather surprising question.*

"Oh, my god!"

(So, do Sims just walk around with diamond rings in their pockets all the time?)

*Note: I sometimes try to tell this more as a story and less as a "and then I chose this action and that action and blahblahblah", so some of the things that happen in the game are spontaneous, and some are chosen by me. If you really want to know which is which, you can ask, but I usually try not to make that distinction.

Patching Things Up and Another Wish Fulfilled

After the Noah/Zelda/Tara fiasco, Tara at first really wanted to make up with Peter. At the first opportunity, she cornered him and apologized. I'm not sure what she needed to apologize for, but Peter graciously accepted her apology.

But while he had forgiven her, they still didn't like each other. Their relationship bars are almost totally red, and anytime they try to have a conversation, one speaks while the other yawns. I'm not sure the relationship can be repaired, so I've kind of stopped trying to make it happen.

Meanwhile, Joe came home from work one day in this:

Yes, Joe has fulfilled his lifetime wish to be Leader of the Free World.

Hail to the Chief! Have you ever seen a gayer-looking uniform?

DRAMA!!!

First, some updates: Tara and Erin have both fulfilled their lifetime wishes. Tara is a world-renowned surgen pulling down over 5oo simoleons per hour. Erin is a popular author making over 4,000 simoleons a week in royalties. Peter is a pop icon, and Joe is Vice President.

Today was the first actual drama-filled day since the Sullivan Sims moved in together. Tara decided, during a conversation one day, that she wanted to kiss Noah. Why she decided this I have no idea, but maybe she was getting desperate.

So today she decided to make it happen. As soon as they were both awake, she wandered into his bedroom - she clearly had a plan, because she was still in her sleepwear.

She started with the flirting, but Noah's reaction was half-hearted at best. He shrugged a lot and made awkward faces. But after a little while he started to respond to the atmosphere. I guess he figured it was not awkward when he flirted with her.

After a few minutes they found each other alluring, and that's when he kissed her, fulfilling one of her wishes and changing them from friends to romantic interests.

Unfortunately Peter, who knows and works with Noah's girlfriend Zelda, found out what was going on. He did not react well, and now he and Tara dislike each other.

I'm not sure what he said to her, but they were very unhappy with each other. Peter then went downstairs, waited patiently until Noah had finished his breakfast, and then read him the riot act. Afterwards, Peter, as a Good and Friendly Sim, felt bad for speaking so harshly to his friend, so he cornered Noah in the kitchen to talk more calmly.

He expressed his sympathy for Zelda. He clearly felt passionately about his subject, and Noah started to look a little chagrined.

Tara left a few minutes later. She was gone a long time. She taught a logic class at the school, had lunch at the bistro, and then had to run into the hospital when an emergency called her back.

Noah decided to call his girlfriend and invite her over while Tara was out. Joe was having a pool party for some of his colleagues when she showed up. Noah and Zelda were behaving as lovers do when Tara came home from work.

The thought cloud over Tara's head, in case you can't see it, is Noah with a big read circle and line over it. She isn't happy. The other thought cloud doesn't belong to the shrub, but to Tegan, who spent the majority of the next scene hiding in the bushes. I don't know what the deal is with that.

Tara wanted to say something very rude to Zelda; she felt Zelda was behaving inappropriately, all making out with Tara's romantic interest. Tegan was still hiding in the bushes.

Zelda went home, and Tara, who cries over burnt waffles, didn't shed a tear as she confronted Noah. She suggested that they return to just being friends, and he agreed.

I'm not sure what Tegan thought she had to do with this little scene, but she came out from behind the bushes to watch. Noah and Tara are back to being acquaintances instead of friends, and both of them will have some work to do to gain back Peter's good opinion.

But on the upside, Tegan decided to commiserate with Tara, which turned them into friends before the night was out.

Friendships and Careers are Hard to Juggle

When I switched back to Sullivan Manor as my active household, Peter was the only one home, playing his guitar, as usual. Everyone else was out at really weird places.

Erin was at a local park with Noah, still dressed in his Orchestra Leader outfit, and Peter's girlfriend Pauline. Townie Beau Andrews was there too. What were they doing? No idea.

Tegan, still in her Chairman of the Board power suit, had wandered out into the middle of freaking nowhere. Those little splashes are fish jumping. Maybe she was planning on doing a little fishing.

Youngbum was hanging out around the supermarket talking to someone named Abraham with waist-long hair.

Tara and her coworker - and local millionaire - Geoffrey Landgraab were talking outside the diner, but Tara was getting hungry so I sent them inside to eat.

Anyway, Tara, Tegan and Youngbum have both had promotions: Tara's a neurosurgeon, Tegan's a power broker (top of the business career path) and Youngbum is a band manager. Peter's been a lead guitarist for a while, but this is the first time I've gotten a picture of him in his work outfit.

Now that so many of them are so high up in their careers, they don't have to work as often. Several of them - Tegan and Peter included - only work three days a week, and Tegan only works three hours during those days! Still, she brings in a cool 317 Simoleons per hour. Yikes!

It's hard to remember to juggle the careers and the friendships. Sim friendships are like real friendships: if you don't contact or hang out with the person, your relationship deteriorates until you lose the friendship.

I've started working on their relationships with each other; they deteriorated more than I thought as they worked on their careers. Tegan's only friend in the house, besides Youngbum, is Joe. Youngbum is friends with Joe and Peter. Tara has a friend in Erin, but she and Joe are only distant friends. Noah is good friends with Erin but distant friends with Peter. Joe has the most friends of all of them. He and Peter are best friends.

They all seem to love the new house, and there's plenty of room for everyone. Yay!

Marion and Candy Get Their Own Post!

Marion and Candy have been living in their own house for a few Sim weeks now. The town has the storytelling option on, which means all the other Sims in the town are free to live their lives while I control one household. So Marion and Candy were on their own.

Marion is a Natural Cook, a Loner, a Vegetarian, a Bookworm, and a Light Sleeper. Her Lifetime Wish is to be a Celebrated 5-Star Chef. She works at the Little Corsican Bistro.

Candy has a Good Sense of Humor, is Flirty, a Party Animal, a Perfectionist, and Charismatic. Her Lifetime Wish is to be a Rock Star. She works at the Wilsonoff Community Theater.

When I switched over to play with their household, Candy and Marion weren't actually in their house. They were both wearing their workout gear, and they were off doing things that don't surprise me at all.

Marion was at the library, devouring books.

And Candy was at a neighbor's house, chatting away and asking their teenage son about his career prospects.

I decided to see what they'd been up to. I was both disappointed and surprised. For one thing, neither of them had actually managed to get a job or build any skills yet. What were they waiting for? Apparently they had other matters on their minds.

Sims don't have any inherent sexual orientation. They fall for Sims who are compatible, period, although same-sex couples, as far as I know, can only adopt children. Well, Candy and Marion had decided that they were romantically interested in each other. To make things more complicated, Marion already had a girlfriend named Yumi Sekemoto who is...and this was almost too weird for me...an elder. Apparently Sim Marion likes mature ladies.

This is why I like putting the game on auto-pilot for a little while. There is so much potential for interesting situations.

Here are Candy and Marion finally preparing for their lives as a rock star and a chef:

After some friendly table talk, they both headed out to take classes in music and cooking, and to get jobs.

When Marion came out of the bistro, she saw Yumi just sort of standing around. She decided to say hello.

And Candy, while playing guitar for a little while, saw Joe sitting nearby and listening, so she struck up a conversation.

Why on Earth would she be talking to him about clowns?

At this point I decided to switch back to the Sullivan Sims household. But I will pop in now and then to check on Candy and Marion and see how things are going.

The Sims Move

It is really, really easy to move in the Sims 3. I wish moving were always this easy.

Step 1: Make a phone call. Peter selected "Move" on his cell phone.

Step 2: Choose the Sims that are moving (all of them, in this case, but sometimes just one person or two will move out) and then choose a house or lot.

Step 3: Choose to either keep or sell your furniture. The Sullivan Sims opted to sell since they make more than enough money to buy some new guitars.

Step 4: Walk outside and get in your car.

Step 5: Drive to your new house.

Step 6: Walk into your new house. BAM! You are now the owner of a new house. Congratulations!

They all love the new house, by the way. They were walking around thinking about the beautiful vista and decorations when I quit. Hurrah!