Semester End




Juliana Cooke is 22: Jason Larson is 22; Jamie Centowski and Meadow Thayer are 20; James and Marla Centowski are 62

December 2026 - RCT Semester 1.2

RCT last update here



The apartment was small, and dark, and very red. It was also cheap, which was what Juliana and Jason needed right now.


They were fresh out of college, Jason had been accepted as a cadet in the police force but so far Juliana hadn't been able to find work in the architecture field that she'd trained for.

It looked a bit better once they'd gotten rid of the untidy furniture the previous tenant had left behind and put some of their own things in...



... and after a while they got used to the trains that sounded like they were coming through the bedroom window.



They'd visited Juliana's parents out in Bluewater Village shortly after they moved in.



A little part of Juliana wished they could have moved out here near the beach. It was so beautiful, especially compared to the place they were living in now.


But she knew that would never work if they wanted to get a start in the careers they'd trained for. They needed to be in the city for that.

They went back home with a new addition to their household. Shadow was only just old enough to leave his mother, Pepper, Juliana's parents' dog.



The puppies weren't an accident - one of Juliana's mothers' relatives had asked her - and Pepper - for assistance in producing descendants of their own little dog.



Pepper had obliged with five little descendent, more then they had expected, but most of them had homes planned for them before they were even born. It made sense that one should go to Juliana now that she was out of the dorm and could have a pet - it had been her idea to keep Pepper in the first place.

Along with job-hunting and decorating the apartment as best they could, Jason and Juliana were also planning their wedding for next spring.



They planned to have a small ceremony at the little chapel in Bluewater village. Even a simple ceremony costs money, though, and Juliana hoped that by then she'd have a job to help pay for it!

---

On the other side of the city, Meadow and Jamie were also glad the semester was over. Thanks to Jamie's parents they didn't have to worry quite so much about money, but it had been a hectic time, even so.

They'd struggled to balance keeping their grades up...




... with caring for their infant son.


Jamie's parents helped out, but the majority of Harrison's care went to the couple - which was how they wanted it, regardless of the difficulties.

James and Marla were having some difficulties of their own, as the year neared its end.  Jamie's sister Cherry was coming home from Twiki Island for Christmas, and bringing her boyfriend with her. This was a problem, apparently, especially for James as this was the boyfriend that Cherry left her husband and kids to be with.

"It's been years," Marla had pointed out. "You're still talking about them like it was some wild vacation affair she had or something. You need to stop thinking about them that way."


"She was married at the time. She left because of him. Years or not, that still happened."
"Yes, it happened," said Marla. "It happened a long time ago, and they're still together. Its about time you realised that they're going to stay together and just accepted it."

"If that's the case then how come it's taken this long for us to meet him?"

Marla sighed. "You really have to ask that? Every time Cherry's here... it's abundantly clear what you think of Talin. Are you really surprised that its taken this long for her to bring him here?"



"I don't know what you want me to do. I can't help the way I feel about him."

"I want you to give him a fair chance. I want you to... well... if you can't make him feel welcome, at least try to not make him feel too unwelcome. Can you at least do that? I'd rather have Christmas without any drama."

"Well, tell that to Cherry," said James. "There wouldn't be any need for drama if she hadn't run off like that!"

Meadow and Jamie had quietly left at this point. It was probably better not to hear what had happened next. In any case, with the semester over and the baby sleeping happily, there were better things to do than listen to his parents argue...



---

Semester Two Grades:
(for all my playable students since this is a catch-up of sorts...)

Juliana Cooke - B+ (graduated GPA 3.2)
Jason Larson - C+ (graduated GPA 2.2)

Alan Gold - A+
Ivy Pitts - B+
Julie Beckett - B+
Matthew Langerak - B
Sam Green - B
Jamie Centowski - C+
Meadow Thayer - C+
Richard Gold - C+ 
Angel Go - C
Lewis Gold - C
Amaya London - C
Marie Centowski - C
Christine Green - C
Nicky Phoenix - C
Joshua Pitts  - C

... that's a lot of students, and that's not all of them! Some of my Freshman have bought their previously-townie partners with them to college, but I haven't included them here as they've not really been 'introduced' on the blog yet.

Graduation Pictures:




A couple of other things of interest happened while I was playing the students. I was finally able to change Angel Go's aspiration to Family, which is what it always should have been... she was never suited to be Popularity, although in keeping with my usual method when I change aspirations, it has stayed as her secondary.

Ivy Pitts has moved out of the student house and into the SSU dorm. I'm going to say this was part of her bid to make a new start after laying her relationship with Danny to rest... but actually it was because she kept hitting on Alan Gold! He's a close cousin, and he's happily engaged. We were on to about the seventh rejection, she just wasn't getting it, but I was finding it annoying as hell. I'm sure Alan was, too. 

Only after I moved her, I remembered that there's a setting in ACR where you can make someone a friend only.Oh, well... she's moved now anyway, and with all the extra non-playable room-mates in the dorm, maybe she'll find someone a little more suitable than her engaged cousin!

Setting up a bit of my Christmas update here, which is coming next... warning, this may take a while - as with previous Christmas updates, it involves multiple households and a large family photo. Hopefully I'll have it done for next weekend.

Comments

  1. I'm happy to see Jamie and Meadow doing well with the baby...and trying to keep out of his parents' drama!

    Whoa, that is a LOT of students! More than I've ever had, in the whole history of me playing this game!

    That Friend Zone option in ACR has saved many a relationship in my game. ;)

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    Replies
    1. These are my'baby boom' kids - the numbers drop sharply in the next couple of sim-years, as we hit the point when I realised that large families just wouldn't work as a long-term thing in this game :)

      That's what its called - Friend Zone. You're right, its very useful for keeping the peace!

      Delete
  2. Juliana shouldn't be so hard on herself about the apartment. You can't exactly compare your parents beach view to a first post-grad apartment. She'll have her chance to upgrade, I'm sure. And there's something very special about your very first place when you're just starting out.

    I can't remember if we ever got to meet Cherry's infamous lover in the story before? I'm certainly looking forward to this Christmas update, even if James isn't! And I'm betting there's probably going to be drama. :D

    Man, TS4 could sure use a "friend zone" option! TS4 sims are ridiculous about the inappropriate flirting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We met Cherry's lover Talin here. We'll be seeing quite a bit more of him in future.

      Your first place is kind of special like you say - but I don't blame her for loving that beach view! :)

      Delete

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