I am bad at building houses and Beckett may be gay

Okay! When we last saw the McKenzies, they were in France. Beckett was sad that his only friends in the world were doomed to stay children forever, and his parents were trying to build up their visa levels so they could get out of that damned base camp where people photograph you sleeping. It didn't take long for Alice to get up to Level 3. I just kept repeating those quests where you give people fancy nectar and collect rocks. Luckily they had saved up some money before travelling, so they were able to buy a holiday home straight away.

Well, a holiday field.

They even had enough money to build a house on the field.

I know, I blinked and it just appeared!

I'm not the best at building houses, they tend to turn out like the houses I drew when I was five, but here are some shots of the inside. Don't have enough cash to furnish it yet, so there's not much in there.

There are no hallways. I cannot figure out hallways.

Since Alice is Level 3 now she can do the last quest, the one where you have to go to Egypt and give them bugs. I'm super bored with most of the quests now, but not this one because I barely ever get to do it. Mike also needs to go to Egypt to get some pomegranates for his (boring) quest, so that's the next destination on the list. We'll have to go soon though, because Mike and Alice are getting pretty old now. Alice has hit 90 and Mike is in his late eighties. Once they hit 90 they can pretty much die at any time, so I'm trying to make their last days as relaxed as possible. Mike has been spending a lot of time in his garden. Beckett's been helping too.

So has that weird pink guy

Mike's plan was to start up a nectar business, but he hasn't gotten too far with since it takes a damn long time to grow plants, and taking care of a garden like that is practically a full time job of its own. Recently he's started wishing to go back to being a magician. Perhaps it was easier when flowers just appeared from his wand.

Alice finally mastered the Athletic skill, an achievement that was only slightly soured by the repoman turning up at the same time.

Yeah well done on finally achieving athletic greatness, I'm gonna take your couch. Also I hate your music.

It was bad timing, because Alice would have reached the top of her career that night but the repoman ruined her mood. They should really start using BPAY.

While Alice was sulking off to work, Beckett was getting ready for the biggest night of his rather boring life so far. Woooo PROM.

He didn't have a date, as he has no friends in Moonlight Falls. Not one.

He's in that limo alone. Try not to think about it too much.

Despite literally not having a SINGLE friend at school, Beckett was voted prom king. He also got into three fights, and fell in love with a guy named Hank. Hank is the only other person at school that Beckett has met, so I guess he didn't have much of a choice. Still, I had suspected that Beckett might like guys. The whole hot pink disco thing tipped me off. That and his love for musicals.

That's quite gay.

The only problem with Beckett being gay is that he is my only heir, and I'm not sure that guys can have kids together. (I mean in Sims. I know how reproduction works.) I have Woohooer, and I know that girls can have kids together with that, because I had a few lesbian couples in my last legacy. But I've never tried to have two guys make babies. How would it work? Would one of them be pregnant?

Oh wait.

Okay, maybe guys can get pregnant. We'll see how it goes. Since Beckett hasn't actually MET a girl yet, he might not know if he likes them. Either way, as long as he can still pass on his genes it won't make any difference.

I also suspect Beckett and Hank may have ingested some spiked punch at prom, because as soon as Beckett got home he passed out on a bench. He wasn't even that tired.

Must have been some strong punch.

I haven't been playing

I haven't been able to play Sims for a bit because I've had like, life stuff on. Like work (BUSY) and family friendsy stuff. I could blog about that, but I prefer to write about things that aren't me. That's why I write books and not diaries.

That being said, check out what my work was like on Tuesday afternoon. It was our boss's birthday, so a cocktail party was thrown.

This is our reception area. U jelly?

Turns out our finance guy used to be a bartender. Best cocktails I've ever had. FREE.

One of my co workers pointed out that this table sort of looked like a coffin, but I feel that added to the mystique of a Tuesday afternoon work party

Yeah. My job is the BEST.

Speaking of parties, the last time I played Sims it was Beckett's birthday, so I'd better recap that. Mike's made A LOT of money from being a mad good magician so I renovated the house, you can probably see that from the screenshots.

Very much bigger. Also, a bar

Beckett's birthday went fine, but a full moon came up right before he blew out the candles and some of the guests turned into zombies. Including his mother. It must have caused him angst because he rolled an emo fringe.

NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME

I edited the fringe out quick smart, and he hasn't turned out too bad. His weird nose isn't quite as obvious as it was when he was a child.

Like me, he has grown into his unfortunate nose.

Alice stayed a zombie for most of the night. She tried to eat all the plants but I made her go to bed and sleep it off.

Bitch you cray.

After that I sent them to France again, because I'd like Mike to get to Visa Level 3 so they can use some of their money on a holiday home. Unfortunately Beckett's French friends are still children, and after checking with Master Controller it seems to be impossible for them to age up, even with cheats. So Beckett will never get to see if his friendship with Eveline could blossom into something more. Very sad.

He is gutted

I will play a bit tonight and maybe tomorrow so hopefully I'll have more soon.

First overseas trip, and Beckett's first friend

France! Land of frogs and wine! Unfortunately when the McKenzie's landed I forgot that I was documenting their lives, so the first screenshot I have is of Mike talking to this guy.

I don't know why I took this. I don't even know who that guy is.

I didn't get any shots of Mike and Alice's first adventures, probably because I've played those damn quests about a hundred times each so I don't find them interesting anymore. Mike did the one where you find the lost baseball, and the first one where you go into the Landgraab house. Alice and Beckett did the one where you investigate the noises in the museum. Well, Alice did it, Beckett just tagged along and took photos. Children can't do ANYTHING in tombs except pick stuff up. They can't even open treasure chests.

Despite not having a single friend back in Moonlight Falls, Beckett dived straight into the social scene of Champs Les Sims and introduced himself to the first child he saw.

She immediately wondered if he'd buy her jewels. Gold digging whore.

 Her name is Eveline, and they really hit it off.

What's going on with her dress there?

 She even invited him back to her place...

...to meet her brother...

...and play with dolls.

It was pretty cute.

Meanwhile, Mike got started on his nectar dreams. The nectary had no problem with him taking all of their hard earned produce...

Or stinking up the joint

...and soon he was figuring out how to use the nectar machine.

It seems like there would be a more hygienic way to do this

 Back at base camp, Alice was making food.

Not French food, but food. In France. She's halfway there.

 She took Beckett fishing and they caught many frogs.

We will eat them for supper.

They also went to the market and bought all the French recipes (all four of them) and Beckett ticked off most of the French items in the Travel photo collection. His photography skill is Level 4 now, which is not bad considering he isn't even able to join the photographer career yet. I don't think that's what his life ambition will be though. I'm waiting to see what traits he rolls as a teen and adult. So far he has Good, Loves The Heat and Frugal, which doesn't provide much direction.

Mike harvested the entire Nectary three times over, but decided he needed better quality grapes, so he went to the special merchant to spend some Ancient Coins. Check out how gangster this guy is.

Those shades. You wish you were this cool.

By the end of the trip, Mike was on Visa Level 2, and Alice on Level 1. Beckett is now best friends with both Eveline and Henri Fouchier, and is even on good terms with their parents.

Pretty much one of the family

On the last night of the trip, Alice decided to explore the nectary after Beckett informed her that there were secret doors everywhere (that he can't open, because he's a child. Sigh.) Alice opened a few of these secret doors and was in a very exciting looking room when the clock struck midnight and they were all immediately teleported back to Moonlight Falls. Damn.

She didn't even get to open the treasure chest!! That lady on the toilet is not supposed to be in the shot btw

Back home, it's still winter. No grape growing for quite a while yet.

Pretty, but boring.

Christmas!

Merry Sim Christmas!

I mean, Snowflake Day.

Beckett was lucky enough to have Snowflake Day fall in his childhood, instead of Leisure Day or Love Day, and he was so excited he was up at 6am to look at the presents.

Just like real life

Mum and Dad weren't up yet, so he had cake for breakfast.

Just like real life! Except cake instead of a Cadbury stocking 

Unfortunately the lead up to Christmas must have left Mike and Alice so distracted that they forgot to pay their bills AGAIN, because the repoman showed up. On Christmas morning! I felt sad for his family. In a show of holiday spirit, he only took the rainbow hanging on Beckett's wall and left everything else. Mike still cried over it, because he is unhealthily attached to material objects.

Remember the door?

But they all got over it pretty quickly, and decided to throw a gift giving party for all the friends they had left after word of the repossession got out. (They must have posted it on Facebook or something, because surely the repoman couldn't spread the word that quick). Normally my legacies end up with a glitch where the game can't place the gift pile so it ends up a boring regular party, but because this game is new it worked, and everybody showed up to put a present in the pile.

Then sat around staring at them longingly while they waited for everyone else to show up. Just like real life!

Beckett went first, because he was the only kid. He got given a Wugglesworth Teddy Bear and was pleased.

Even though he already has one, it's right there next to the radio

Mike was next, and he got given a guitar! He was very excited.

Pretty generous gift if you ask me

The fairy sitting behind Mike got something that made him throw a little tantrum, and then for the rest of the gift giving he just sat there staring at the presents like this.

Someone was on Santa's naughty list.

Oh yeah, and did you notice who's sitting beside him? Yeah. Halfway through the party, the door opened and the Grim Reaper just strolled in and sat down. I quickly clicked on Alice to see if she was dying of old age, but no. No one was dying. He just wanted to join in on the Snowflake Day festivities.

Even Death gets Christmas Day off.  Unless he works at McDonalds

There was a weird moment where someone SHOULD have died, because he got split in half by a door

This....this is not survivable

But Grim wasn't looking. 

Anyway, it was a perfectly lovely party. No one died, everyone was happy with their presents (except Sulky Fairy and Alice. Alice got given a gnome) and Beckett got massively spoilt but again avoided the spoilt buff because he only unwrapped two of the presents.

That horse would have been a bitch to wrap

The day after Christmas was Beckett's first day of school. He didn't meet a single person. Which was my fault, because I forgot to switch it off 'Normal Effort' and onto 'Meet New Friends' like I usually do. I don't remember what I was doing instead, probably working on Alice's athletic skill. She's almost mastered it.

Look, just like last time, except now Beckett can walk

Being responsible parents, Mike and Alice decided the best thing to do for Beckett now that he's started school would be to take him on holiday as soon as possible. I always have the first gen of my legacy travel, even though it bloats the save file, because it's the only way to get all the foreign relics and recipes without using cheats. And I don't like using cheats. 

Alice was awarded a pretty big holiday bonus, so she and Mike spent some Lifetime Happiness reward points on becoming Prepared Travellers and booked the family nine days in France. They chose France mainly because Mike's getting pretty into gardening in his old age, and he's interested in starting up a nectar business after he retires from magic. Alice fancied learning how to cook French food, and Beckett wanted to work on his photo collection. Since Mike gave him a camera for his birthday he's gotten his photography skill up to Level 3. 

I was going to put the French trip in this entry as well, but it's turned out to be much longer than I thought, so I'll cover it in the next post. Au revoir!

In which Mike becomes old and Beckett becomes special

I haven't posted for a bit, partly because I had to fix my damn game, and partly because nothing that interesting has been happening. Alice and Mike have been living a fairly quiet life, focusing on their respective careers and raising Beckett. Alice is trying to master the Athletic skill, and Mike is trying to master being a magician.

Beckett is just trying to master walking.

They were so busy being boring that they forgot to pay their bills, and a dude came and took their telly.

OPERATION REPO. You know they made a movie of that show.

They just bought a new one, but their social status took a bit of a knock. It's so hard to keep friends when everyone's so JUDGEY in this goddamn town. Not that they've been seeing their friends that much anyway, they've been so busy playing happy families. I think Mike quite likes being a dad.

This one's called Go the Fuck to Sleep

But they did manage to scrounge up enough people to come to Mike's birthday party, maybe because everyone wanted to watch him get old.

He's hot now, but just wait five minutes

His ex Emilie came, and we learned that she is now a Food Merchant. Really? Did she fall upon hard times? Because her house is still fucking massive. You'd think if she needed money she'd just sell a wing of it. But oh well.

Here are the shots I got of Mike's transition into the last stage of his life:

So young and wrinkle free

Uh oh

I AM AN OLD MAAAAAANN

Fuck it, there's cake

The party was moderately okay, though there was this weird moment where Alice's friend Haley's arm and a bit of her foot went through the door. No one said anything about it.

Are you in, or out?

So yeah, pretty average party. The next day was more exciting, because Alice and her crap cooking set fire to the oven.

That omelette is going to be so overcooked 

They don't have a smoke alarm, and I decided not to step in for a bit to see if they could handle it themselves. They could not. They just yelled a lot and performed a distressed dance. I don't know what they thought that would achieve. Eventually I directed them both to extinguish the flames (HELLO, YOU HAVE FIRE EXTINGUISHERS IN YOUR POCKETS FUCKING USE THEM) but only Mike followed my instructions. Alice just cancelled the action and resumed yelling. I have no idea what would have happened if Mike wasn't there.

FOR CHRIST'S SAKE ALICE STOP EXPECTING MEN TO SAVE YOU WE HAVE FEMINISM GODDAMMIT

Eventually the flames died down, and their insurance company gave them $350 for the $1000 worth of damage caused. Luckily they had some savings, and Mike was soon back to thinking about how much he hates that fucking TV.

Alice wisely decided to eat something she hadn't tried to cook

Despite the whole fire thing, they still threw a party that night. Beckett's birthday! He's becoming a child! My first heir! Yay!

No pressure, but the entire legacy's on your shoulders, kid

Mike showed him how to blow out the candles, which was pretty damn adorable

That guy just stood behind them being suave as fuck

 But then Beckett was on his own.

It started okay, but...

That's right.

Luckily Beckett's bosseyedness disappeared when I edited him in CAS, and soon he was the most popular person in the bathroom.

WHY DID THEY ALL FOLLOW HIM IN TO THE BATHROOM THIS IS WEIRD

For his birthday, Beckett received a camera, a book about science, a toy oven and a costume chest. He was only able to unwrap two of them though, so he didn't get the 'Spoiled' moodlet (spoiled after two presents? Come on, Sims). He quite likes being a pink dinosaur. His favourite colour is hot pink.

Remember, kid, you can't be gay. ENTIRE LEGACY RESTS ON YOUR HETEROSEXUAL SHOULDERS