I know it's been a minute yet again, but I just haven't had much motivation to play or write lately. However, I have been putting some time into the Sims again, so let's have a look at what happened.
To kick things off, Beatrice followed her normal schedule of working in the garden first thing in the morning, and finally mastered the skill.
To my pleasant surprise, maxing out her gardening skill fulfilled Beatrice's lifetime wish. That was surprisingly easy, although she'd pretty much been working on it since childhood. I'll have to think of something else for her to pursue.
Although Tamara had been the one to master gardening first, and had unlocked cheese plants and steak plants, Beatrice had been the one to finish the opportunity. Finally, omni-plants were within reach. I'd like to grow perfect plants of every kind, but that's just a little side project that I won't be too upset about if I don't finish it.
Owen finally pulled through and mastered a skill of his own. Maybe I'll use that lobster to make some lobster thermidor. I still haven't learned all the preferred baits for every fish, but he can probably start focusing on other stuff now aside from occasionally catching deathfish for ambrosia. Well, once he's old enough to stay out after midnight.
Beatrice had received an opportunity to deliver, I think, fifteen paintings to the city hall building, so she'd been hard at work on them. I don't remember how much money she made, but I remember being pleased with the results.
While Beatrice hung out with old family friend Connor, William finished up his twenty-sixth book, another work of science fiction. I decided to go through the alphabet again for the second half of of the challenge, but this time, using alliterative titles instead of the Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet.
As a backdrop for the twenty-seventh book, a mystery novel, Beatrice tried cracking "The Case of Why She and Laura Weren't Friends." (I got the title from a Linda Ronstadt song mentioned in
Man on Fire.)
I realized that William had never written a basic fiction novel, so he banged one out really quickly after the comparatively long trial of finishing a mystery novel. That title's not fiction; it's the name of a real place in Louisiana. (There's a bit of an inside joke around Creole and another town off I-10 West called Butte La Rose.)
After an evening at work, William decided to unwind with a book at the playground outside of the library. I don't remember seeing someone in chef's whites just hanging out in a park like that before, not even in Memphis.
I seem to remember that Owen or Tamara was in the mood for an outing, so they headed to the warm pool resort, went swimming, and warmed up and hung out by the fire. They look uncomfortable, but that was more due to my difficulty with getting a photo than anything else.
It took a lot of sweat, but Tamara finished up another skill, finally catching up with William.
"I feel great! Now we're going to be the best-looking couple in town."
Soon enough, Owen's birthday came up, although someone apparently didn't get the memo that this wasn't an underwear party. (Not really. Beatrice had invited him over the night before; he slept in the upstairs bedroom and didn't bother to get changed before coming downstairs.)
Okay, that's a good trait; I can't complain. The only real problem is that William's already upgraded pretty much everything in the house, so Owen won't have much opportunity to practice.
The game seems insistent on giving Owen very little hair already, but I think this looks worse than the crewcut he had before. I don't remember where I read this on Boolprop, but poor guy looks like a Muppet, probably Bert. I think I'll give him a makeover later on.
A little while after this, William turned in his twenty-ninth book, a fantasy novel about the nail-bitingly challenging job of designing garb for enormous creatures with a set of broad appendages, who will literally bite your head off if you displease them. Is that why you look so shocked, William, or is it about the size of the royalty paycheck?
"No, it's just that this is a lot harder than coming up with a story. I feel like a kid with finger paints."
William got back to work later on book thirty, a science fiction book about time travelers with a bad sense of direction. (I was probably thinking of
Chrono Trigger.)
Owen had gotten a job in the music career, to give him some incentive to finish the music training he'd only partially finished as a teen (fishing took quite a while to complete). I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but his lifetime wish that he picked as a teen was Master of the Arts, so he still needed to paint some more and practice guitar a good deal more. He was at least good enough to play for tips, although I forget why I decided the gym was a good place to try it! You probably noticed that he did get a makeover; instead of leaving him with that embarrassing hairstyle, I decided he'd look better with, to quote the Dresden Files, a "full-on Charles Xavier."
I didn't realize he'd cooked so many meals, but this plate of French toast marked meal number fifty for William. I guess I can believe it; five people eat a lot.
If I'm remembering correctly, Tamara and Beatrice went into town for an outing, and Laura joined them later on at the diner. Meanwhile, William finished his thirty-first book, a romance novel that I think was inspired by the lovely Fiona Belli from
Haunting Ground.William had been working on a want to read fifty books for a while, so he stopped by the library to enjoy a little quiet time. His coworker Bob Pancakes apparently had the same idea, although he looks nervous for some reason. Maybe he's scared of having an awkward conversation with someone who's probably his boss by now.
On a separate trip to the library, William banged out a quick thirty-second science fiction novel named after a character from
The Flintstones.Tamara had a stubborn wish of her own locked; namely, to paint a picture worth $2500. Although she hadn't been having much success on that front, she did come up with a very nice pastiche of Sandro Botticelli in the process.
With the kids in bed downstairs, William and Tamara decided it was time for an impromptu getaway. They headed to the little shelter up in the hills halfway to the waterfalls, where they spent some time staring at the fire under the starry skies...
...and had an intimate moment in the sleeping quarters in the basement.
William had been off for several days (one of the perks of being the boss), but it was time for him and Owen to go back. They spent a little time relaxing before it was time to head in.
It didn't take too long before William maxed his second career. He doesn't look too happy, but I think he'll appreciate getting to come home an hour earlier each shift.
It was at this point that, after a hiatus, I started the game back up and found that it was giving me notices about memories, which I'd disabled. I checked the options and found that all of my settings had been returned to default, including the custom lifespans I'd set (somewhere between Normal and Long). I was pretty mad, since I no longer knew how long Laura and Olivia had until graduating high school, and didn't know how long William and Tamara had before elderhood.
(December 26, 2025 update): Because it's been almost a year since I last played, and the game settings got messed up to the point where I don't remember what they were before, I've decided to discontinue the challenge. This will only count for the bronze rating of 25 novels, I'm afraid.
Total points for this chapter:
There are 15 points for every $15,000 in family funds at the end of the challenge. I don't know exactly how much money they had at the end of Chapter Five, but I do have a screenshot of Olivia's birthday that shows how much they had a short time beforehand:
Going with this amount, that makes:
210 points (15 x 14 for $210,000)
20 for completing the challenge in one generation
Total points: 210 + 20 = 230
Previous points: 240
Final points: 470
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