postcards from grad school

September, October 2088. Justin Nova is 28, Calvin Banks is 21, Amy Jones is 22, Natalia Deppiesse is 23, Andre Sylvester is 23. Cynthia Kim is 52. Selena Sosa is 25. April Hutchins is 25, Beau Jackson is 24.

#1: welcome to grad school

Grad school is happening at Magnolia Graduate College. 

Leading our group is Dr. Heather Thompson, Dean of Students. She specializes in biology. (Hi, Ingrid’s mom!)

Our students this year: 

Andre, Calvin, and Steven are all working on their medical degrees. 

The others are non-medical graduate programs. Justin (architecture), Amy (nursing), and Natty, (teaching).

some gameplay notes on grad school, before we dig into the story:

The way I’m doing university in my game is that nobody is allowed to do a distinguished degree until they’ve completed a regular degree first. Regular degrees are undergraduate programs where my sims will usually reach level 3-6 in their core skills, while distinguished degrees are considered graduate programs and they are expected to reach levels 6-10. 

I play all three of my own colleges and all of my students are living “at home” in residential lots, so it doesn’t matter which in-game college they attend. So, for undergraduate students, it sometimes requires picking the “wrong” college so that it won’t be a distinguished degree. 

MGC is my third university campus, located at my medical center in Magnolia Park, South Carolina. Because I only have one grad school for everyone to attend, I’m not too picky about travel distances being realistic. Many of them are commuters. The med school students need to be residents, but Justin lives in Michigan, and Natty is in Nevada, and Amy is in Washington DC. Considering most of these grad students are in their mid-late twenties, some will be even older, they would have families, jobs, or serious relationships at home. Since this grad school is their only option, I won’t make them spend long times away from their life to go here. They will do most of the semester from home, then commute to campus for a couple of days to take their exams. 

Justin may be a workaholic, but he’s still a geek. He’s studying on nights and weekends while maintaining his home renovation business and blogs, and being a newlywed husband and father of three. Overachieving much? That’s nothing new for Justin, the workaholic that he is. Workaholic except for when the video games are calling him. 

Cynthia is still staying with Justin and Steph and the kids, otherwise none of this would be possible. Stephanie is also pulling big hours at a place where the staff has just been decimated, and they need the help at home.





Cynthia is holding down the fort... Or, well, barely holding down the fort. But she appreciates the distraction of caring for her grandchildren. Everyone is fed and gets to school on time. The chaos of her grandbabies is helping her drown out her grief.  And maybe that means she’s not actively dealing with her grief, but that can come later.

They’re thinking about putting her home on the rental market because she’s not interested in moving back into it. (Maybe after EA fixes the buggy For Rent pack.) This little cottage on the hill is bursting at the seams. It’s definitely not big enough for six, but moving would be such a chore right now with everything else going on.

Also, part of the reason Justin is going back to school for architecture is that he has dreams of designing and building their forever home by himself. Big plans with this man!



Natty and Amy share a room when they’re here on campus. Both of their programs are short certifications, so they’ll only be here for one year. Then Amy will be a nurse, and Natty will have her teaching certification in middle-grade biology.





Charlie makes a long trek to meet Natty on campus when she goes in for her exams. Of all the partnered students here, Natty’s man was the only one who called for a date and came out to visit her. We won’t hold it against the other spouses though. Charlie had some vacation time, and they don’t have any kids or pets at home to mind. These two have done their separation time already, and they have no interest in repeating that story again. They’re getting married in the spring and all the details are coming together. Invitations will be sent out soon.



Andre and Calvin have embarked on the epic quest to become doctors. They became close while doing their undergrad degrees at Sierra Nova, and they’re glad they’ll get to continue this path together. The work is taxing, and there will be a lot of it. There’s hardly any room in their brains for anything else except medicine. 



But Andre does call home often. He calls his mom every day. So, we suppose, Andre has room in his brain for medicine and his mom. This boy wants to be a doctor and he knows it’s a long road ahead of him. He really has a laser focus about that right now, girlfriends be damned.

Sorry, Selena.




Natty and Justin went back home to their families, and the local bunch had a little post-exams night out. Everyone got perfect grades here, these bunch of smarty pants.


grades: 

Justin (architecture): GPA, A+
- robotics, A+
- logic, A+

Calvin (med school): GPA, A+
- charisma, A+
- wellness, A

Amy (nursing clinical): GPA, A+
- charisma, A+
- veterinary, A+

Natty (teacher certification): GPA, A+
- research & debate, A+
- parenting, A+

Andre (med school): GPA, A+
- handiness, A+
- fitness, A+

Steven (med school): GPA, A
- charisma, A
- wellness, A

—

#2: no postcard from grad school

Meanwhile, Selena was just glad that she had her darling Fabio. The dog has grown so much bigger in a few months, and now wears a long, flowing mane like his namesake. But that was the dog’s great glory, and Selena had nothing going on in her own life at all. Sadly, Andre wasn’t calling as much as she hoped. He wasn’t calling ever. She had initiated every conversation they’d had since August, and she was beginning to feel clingy and desperate. She didn’t like that. She needed to go out and get some fresh air, and her friends were happy to oblige.

The group of them dressed to impress, and they went out dancing. But they all teased her, “If you come out to the club dressed like Pollyanna, you’re bound to catch yourself a dork.”

They weren’t wrong, actually. Was it the plaid, the elbow patches, the cable-knit turtleneck? Selena’s look did indeed attract a dork, but he was a very distinguished and professorial type of dork. To be honest, that didn’t turn Selena off, and she had no intention of telling him to get lost.



“Does that seat belong to your boyfriend?” he asked. 

“I’m here with my friends,” she said. “Nope, no boyfriend. Not here, anyway. We’re long distance. I’m not sure it’s working out.”

“That’s a shame,” he said, looking like he didn’t believe it was a shame at all. “Might I borrow you for a chat then?”



They left the cacophony of the dance floor for a quieter place to talk. His name was Martin Harwood and he was the new visiting law professor at Sierra Nova University.

“I graduated from there two years ago,” she said. 

“I just missed you. What did you study?”

“Culinary arts.”

“I admire that so much. I’m a terrible cook. But I suppose it’s for the best that I missed you. If you were still a student, it wouldn’t be right for me to ask for your number.”

His interest in her was nice, after months of neglect from Andre. He was serious, maybe a little smug, or maybe a little smarmy. She had no idea if he was nice or cruel, generous or greedy, honest or conniving. She knew nothing about him at all except that he was thirty-three years old and different from every other man she’d dated before. (Okay, fair enough, she’d only dated two men before.) But maybe she was in the mood to try something different. 



Selena was unsure whether months of apathy on Andre’s part signaled the end of this tragic romance they were dragging through the dirt. Maybe she should just put them out of their misery. Except she was pretty sure he wasn’t miserable over it, only she was. She had really wanted Andre to be the one. She wanted him to call her in the middle of the night and plead for her and say that he couldn’t live without her another moment longer. But that just wasn’t happening.

She read too many romance novels, maybe. She’d filled her head with fantasies.

“Yes, Professor Harwood, you can have my number.” 

And if he called her before Andre did, that would be Andre’s fault.  

—

a little gameplay note on long-distance relationships: 

I really love how different all the long-distance relationships feel in my game lately. Now, especially, since whichever update brought us sentiments, I think, that allowed for sims to feel wants for other sims who aren’t loaded on the lot. That makes such a difference in the gameplay for me. 

So it was very interesting to play Andre through his studies, especially after spending so much time with Jordan, knowing how he feels being apart from Maria. Jordan rolls wants for Maria several times a day, immediately and consistently and has never stopped, while Andre hasn’t rolled anything at all for Selena in several months. Oh, but Andre does roll wants for people—his mom, lol!

Charlie called to ask Natty on a date. Amy’s husband is local and invited himself over a time or two. Their professor, Dr. Thompson, rolled wants for her husband every minute of the day and it was super adorable! Stephanie did not call for Justin, but we won’t hold that against her, she has a lot going on, lol! 

But I won’t bother taking a picture of Andre’s wants, because Selena wouldn’t be in them. Yikes. Poor girl. So what’s up with him? He’s busy and focused, I guess. And Selena is left carrying their torch all by her lonely self.

—

#3: happy sweet sixteen to Lauren

Lauren Sanders. Drama Llama. Music lover, self-absorbed, high maintenance. 

The only pictures on her wall are of herself. 

10th grader at Fort Palms High School. She aspires to be an influencer and have a gorgeous boyfriend. Too cool for cheer team (obviously everyone should be cheering for her!) And way cooler than that loser, Susie Collins. Beauty, fashion, lifestyle. Like and subscribe!

—

#4: a birthday surprise for April

Sometime in September...




If there was ever a look that said, “Let’s get this kid to bed and make her a little sibling,” then Beau was giving it.

And why not? Fast forward five years past all the drama they went through in college, copious amounts of therapy, and healing love from her squishy man, April is really holding it together pretty well. The ice cream café is a dream job for her, and she’s sweet with their daughter, Dani. She was never going to make the most organized or overbearing mother, but she is attentive, playful, and fun. And Beau picks up where she lacks. They make a good team. They always did. 

And Dani is halfway through her toddler years now. A three-year age gap sounds just about perfect for their family! Why not get started? Who knows, they might need to try for a while...




Three weeks later...




Or maybe they wouldn’t need to try long at all. It’s April’s 25th birthday and she gets a very special gift to share with her man. It’s very early still, so they’re only telling close friends and family. 

Baby Jackson #2 is expected next summer!

—

Meet our fresh-faced new tweens:

Don’t worry, I’m sure nobody but me knows who these kids are!



Dustin Fontenot, son of Louise and Lex Fontenot, little brother to Maggie (Susie’s best friend). He is lazy, creative, and sociable. He wants to have a billion best friends and be a teen idol. 



Amaya Hadley, daughter of Darwin Hadley. She is cheerful, creative, and loves crafting the most artistic things. She wants to be a master maker (although, when I finally get the jewelry pack, she may focus on crafting jewelry instead). She is friends with Zach Harris, who will join her soon in the moody tween club in a few months. We are trying our best not to start planning their wedding. 

 

September birthdays: 

1: Wylie Pickett is 12

3: Dominique Beech is 29

3: Gabriel Bradshaw is 6

4: Alice Nova is 67

5: Dustin Fontenot is 11 (age up)

8: Jessica Pendleton is 26

11: Catherine Church is 27

13: Fiona McCullough is 21

14: Orion Deppiesse is 55

14: Heather Thompson is 55

16: Luca Phoenix is 4 (age up)

22: Helen Bunch is 58

24: Louise Fontenot is 49

26: Ingrid Thompson is 25

26: Ian Thompson is 25

29: Rebecca Harris is 5

29: Sebastian Sanchez is 1 (age up)

30: Lauren Sanders is 16

September anniversaries: 

9/6/2081: Carlos & Lisa Sanchez, 7 years

9/12/2076: Nathan & Ally Lind, 12 years

September health strike: 

Micah Phoenix (#5) — due to his 5th and final health strike, Micah passed away on September 29th

September lot deterioration: 

Heather Huffington (The Sand Bar), spiders move in

October birthdays: 

2: Luis Talbot is 25

3: Leilani Kapule is 20

4: Gregory Bunch is 58

5: Marlie Levin is 32

6: Heather Huffington is 46

7: Aliyah Sylvester is 28

8: Bentley Booth is 26

9: Julia Lind is 9

10: Lindsay Slough is 20

11: Raquel Herrera is 23

14: Marcus Sylvester is 20

15: April Hutchins is 25

16: Amaya Hadley is 11 (age up)

17: Payton Quick is 14 

18: Levi Bachman is 54

25: Leigh Turner is 44

25: Charlie Roseland is 24

26: Vicky Garth is 24

28: Alexander Trudgen is 14 

29: Shaina Halston is 30

October anniversaries: 

10/2/2063: Cabe & Ashley Deppiesse, 25 years

10/11/2068: Chad & Riley Hathe, 20 years

10/15/2072: Blake & Clarice Miller, 16 years

October health strike: 

Alice Nova, #3

October lot deterioration: 

Heather Huffington, again, kill three plants. The poor lady, her lot is going to ruins!

——