postcards from the winning team

November 2086.

#1: strong enough to put hair on your chest


Nathan Lind was in Catalina this month for business, so he popped in to visit his sister and the kids. After much begging and pleading, and pleading and begging, Aurora finally agreed to let him take Zach to the Humor & Hijinks convention. She had worried it was too late on a school night and too adult for a little boy.

"Can I have some?" Zach pointed toward a glowing purple fountain.

"I think this is juice," Nate said. "Pretty sure, but you never know. Hey, how old are you now? Ten?"

"Almost nine," Zach said.

"Close enough!"

Drown #13: the story we tell, part 2

July 2086. Jeremiah Day is 29. Isabelle Gibson is 30. 

soundtrack: "Smile Like You Mean It," by The Killers

* sensitive content advisory for Drown #13, parts 1-7


If this was the game they wanted to play, then Jeremiah would play it. He would jump through their hoops. Tell him which hoops to jump through and how, and he would do it. He would answer all of their ridiculous questions. Jeremiah had never felt any less than physically strong and healthy. "But go on," he said. "Give it your best shot."

then comes divorce... gameplay notes on marriage and divorce in TS4

We will call this a part two to my previous "first comes love... gameplay notes on love and marriage in TS4." Next comes divorce for an average 28% of my couples, who still happily reap a better chance of marital success than most real life couples do. Even so, I think I still let my couples throw in the towel much more frequently than most simmers do. What can I say? Relationship strife interests me? lol!

In TS4 in just a year of gameplay so far, I have had four married couples come to the brink of disaster, three of which are almost certainly going to make it through to their divorces. Bruce and Pamela, Keri and Justin, Stephanie and Jeremiah—I'm calling Bella and Cameron my fourth couple, even though they've decided to give counseling a try and not call it quits just yet, because they've given me enough chaos and fodder to be part of this study.

a bit of backstory for Bell and Cam

The backstory for Ophelia's birth is a little all over the place between a few different blogs. She was born in the messy haze of my transition between playing TS2 and TS3, so I wanted to gather some of it together so people didn't have to do too much digging for this branch of the story.

Ophelia was conceived in TS2, on her parents' honeymoon, actually. Bell was worried then about losing her job. Her producers were annoyed at the first two surprise pregnancies, and when the third came along, she knew she was going to be in trouble. And she did lose that part in the end, especially as her pregnancy became complicated and she would not have been able to work at all for a very long time.

Bell

age 30

Isabelle Ruth (Bradshaw) Gibson, "Bell/Bella"

age: 31
born: June 4, 2056 — Gemini
parents: Kendal & Cody Bradshaw
siblings: Samantha Bradshaw (half-sister)
children: Delilah Gibson, Naomi Gibson, Ophelia Gibson

education: Lake County High School, class of 2075
university: Lake City University, class of 2079, B.A. Drama
career: travel agent/owner, Bright Horizons Travel Agency
career history:
- lingerie model (age 22-24)
- actress (age 23-27)
-- The Rainbow Squad, full-length animated/lead voice role, 2082
-- Turning Tides, soap opera, 2082-2084

child aspiration: social, not achieved
aspiration 1: fortune, wealth
aspiration 2: popularity, leader of the pack
traits: business savvy, materialistic, romantic, glutton, mean, beguiling
loves: massages, saunas, white sand beaches, swimwear, seduction
hates: sentimentality, messing up

orientation: straight
romance: Cameron Gibson, married since August 2083, together since August 2079
romantic history: various casual; George McCarthy (fling, age 24), Jeremiah Day (on/off, age 17-21), Jason Larson (casual, age 20)

friendships: Keri Riley (cousin)
enemies: none that she knows of

DNA: hair, brown; eyes, brown; adult height, 5'8"
weight:
fitness:
health history:
- tubal ligation, November 2086