More Awesome Than You!

Things are getting even weirder in Pleasantview now and I think maybe the end is near ...

I posted recently about the almost $6m Simoleans that a moving-in Sim brought and mentioned that one of her housemates on campus, Allegra Gorey, couldn't move out after graduating and so I moved her in along with this insanely rich Sim.  I then moved her straight out into her own place.  Once there, for some reason she was unable to wear the new clothes she'd bought.  Turned out they were YA clothes and she had an adult body.  Similarly, when she got a job, her college details were in the panel instead of her job ones (this happened to another Sim who had 'issues' moving out).  I went into SimPE and unticked her "On Campus" token and she was OK ... or so I thought.

She invited Castor Nova over and had her very first woo-hoo.  No precautions were taken and she became pregnant.  Castor was living with Brittany Upsnott (both of them changed to Romance), but left her to move in with Allegra the day the baby was due.  Castor was asleep when Allegra was giving birth.  After the baby was born, she played with him then put him in his cot.  As soon as she'd done this, she clutched at her throat and died.  She had the 'flu, but apart from hygiene her stats were fine.  I reckon she died because the game had no idea how old she was.  I woke Castor up, but he couldn't plead for her as the Reaper had his back to him and there was no way to pass him as he was standing in a doorway with Allegra's body in front of him.  Pity, I liked Allegra, but I'm not cheating to bring her back so she'll just have to stay dead.  Poor baby though, so far his one and only memory is of the death of his mother.

What is even more puzzling (and makes me wonder what is going on) is that Allegra doesn't have a normal death token.  She has one 'owned by' Gunther Goth (in the same way illness tokens are owned).  I don't know what difference this is likely to make if I leave it, or whether I should change it.  Seems like poor Allegra was doomed from the moment she graduated.

By chance did Allegra have same or close spelling of a name in common with any other Sims, especially dead ones?

I've heard of this choking death happening before, it only seems to affect pregnant Sims. There were reports about this happening months ago, when the game was still fairly new-ish, so I don't know that it's anything to do with your neighbourhood turning into a BFBVFS...

I swear Ancient, your Pleasantville is becoming just about as interesting as your articles, only in a different, american soap-operish way.

 However, I read somewhere here in the forum that tokens not belonging to a particular sim are quite normal, and, according to JM, should not be deleted under any circumstances. Brynne was talking about it, she said she deleted tokens because they did not belong to that particular sim. JM, in no uncertain terms, advised her not to do that, as it would mess up her game. I'll dig it up tomorrow, right now I'm too tired (bed time :D)

Klapaucius is right, the choking death is an affliction that  happens to pregnant sims, and its not uncommon.

Yes, I know about pregnant Sims and the choking death, but that's supposed to be if they go to a community lot.  I'd played Allegra straight through from conception to delivery and she hadn't been anywhere.  She'd just got out of bed fully energised as well, so hadn't been wandering around getting tired.  I suppose it was the combination of 'flu and pregnancy that got her, although I've had that with quite a few Sims.  Just seems odd really, with her being a semi-adult and not being able to move off campus and everything.  Somehow I just don't think she was ever meant to be an adult.  Must have been her destiny.  Anyway, Castor soon got over it.  He took his son and went back to Brittany Upsnott and she's just had his kid now.  Should be fun and games with those two.  Allegra's son has 10 in Nice, whereas Brittany's only has 1, plus the nice one is extremely shy & serious and the nasty one is extremely outgoing & playful.  Can't see them getting on very well.

Not sure what you mean by this?  Allegra is a Maxis-made Sim, she was one of the Bright household on campus.  So no, no one else has a similar name.

I read that thread, but normally this doesn't happen with death tokens, only disease & transport ones that I've seen.  Normally a death token isn't owned by anybody, it just has those lines (--- I think).  Maybe Gunther Goth possessed her and caused her death.  You can never tell with those Goths.  Strange lot.

Oh right, that Allegra, I forgot about her.  The reason I asked is because I have had one or two bizarre things happen at age transition with my CAS characters who had names that were nearly the same as Maxis characters.  I think it confused the computer and that's why I asked.  Maxis does draw from a limited pool of names though, but I don't remember any other Allegras or names close enough to cause confusion with the game.

You are probably right about the age problem and the game getting confused.  Seeing that it was a Maxis character, there is just no telling, the college Sims seem kind of buggy to me, too.

Hope you figure it out.

Thanks, veilchen. You had to bring *that* up.  ;)
The tokens I deleted were cellphone tokens, not tokens belonging to other sims. However, I have no idea why, but I have toddler skill tokens owned by Mortimer Goth on a sim that had no relation to him.
I had a sim die a pregnancy choking death a long time ago, pre-Uni. I still don't understand why. Brandi Broke's roommate, Jennie, was pregnant with Brandi's boyfriend Joe's baby. Joe had just proposed to Jennie on his lot. I saved and went immediately to the Broke house, and Jennie was playing video games, all motives green, Joe was over having dinner at the table, and Jennie suddenly grabbed her throat and the GR came. Obviously Brandi couldn't save her; she was too busy laughing. I exited w/o saving, went back to the lot to try to get to Jennie on time, but she died again. Again exited, re-entered, had Brandi quickly ask Joe to move in with her so I could control him, they hugged yadda yadda and he rushed to Jennie's rescue. Very bizarre. She was fine on Joe's lot. I think Brandi's evil and tried to poison Jennie without my knowing!

You know this is not unlike the time when I sent Angela and Lillith off to Uni, but they were on hold and still in the Student Bin.  Yet, whenever Dustin would come home from school, every darn day that redheaded tart, Angela would get off the bus with him.  Never, ever saw Lillith.  Is it any wonder that our games are so screwed up when characters dwell in dual situations like this?  Also, when Dirk was still at home and lived with Darren and Cassandra in the Goth house, Dustin and Beau would come visit Dirk there and both of them were supposed to be in the Student bin as well.

I know that we have resolved a couple of the mysteries with Brandi, but she is one of the key characters in Pleasantview and seems to be at the center of everyone's universe, too.  I am certain that we have only scratched the surface in trying to figure how deep she goes, which apparently extends to her children, regardless of whom their father was/is.  The Brandi Broke stories you hear are very similar accounts no matter how she is played or by whom.

So Val, you may be more right about Brandi than you think.  I don't feel she is particularly evil, I think the game is hard-coded to assure certain outcomes involving her.

Hmmmm...interesting. And scary, considering the number of offspring she has with my sim! 

Every time I've played Brandi the outcomes have been extremely varied, so I wouldn't agree with the idea that she is hard-coded for certain outcomes.

The choking death happens to pregnant sims, and can happen in their homes too, in one of my games Beau's wife died while pregnant (at home) but Beau pleaded for her and won.  I can't see how a death that happens after the child is born is related to the choking death.  And maybe I'm a wuss, but if I don't like an outcome in my game, I don't save, very often if you replay the outcome is totally different.   If it's the same, again don't save, then alter whatever caused the problem, as for instance the Grim Reaper being stuck in a doorway - remove the door and most of the wall so it can't happen before the kid is born, then if it happens a third time, at least the pleading will possibly work!

That's the one Brynne, thanks now I don't have to go hunting for it. I did remember that Mortimer played a role in your problem, so I was hoping it was related. Why this happens, I don't know, but try and explain the stupid cell-phones anyway.

Besides, deleting the tokens, since they seemingly didn't belong there was a logical thing to do. I always have to remind myself that e/a maxis and logic are not to be thought of in the same sentence since they are not in any way connected :D

By the way, how far are you with your mega fix? You've been seemingly working non-stop, is the reward anywhere near?

Bleah, given up on the recreation of Pleasantville for now. Got all the clones in, but haven't done all the family ties, etc. I went back to a really old back up, which meant some of my uni students are teens again, but oh well. I've been going through memories and "unknown sim"-sifting in the hood I'm playing now. Think I got them all. But those damn bus drivers and carpool drivers all have memories of every sim I've played, and that was an unpleasant surprise. My wrist hurts from clicking on individual memories and sliding over to the delete button. I so wish there was an easier way... Isn't this game fun?

Only for masochists!

Your patience is in inspiration :D. I hope that you computer is small enough that you can get comfortable while using it. I like mine (thank you son) but I think I'm going to get a mouse for it. That touch-pad is driving me batty, it's super sensitive.

I have to start playing the pre-made hoods for a change. The only one I've ever played was Strangetown, usually I stick with my custom ones -no maxis townies/dormies and no maxis names, a super-plus-. Even my University is all home-made. Reading about Ancient and her problems, as well as other peoples maxis neighborhood experiences, have made me intensly curious about those neighborhoods. I've owned TS2 ever since it came out, the maxis neighborhoods just never appealed to me for some reason.

If it doesn't work out, I might do your thing Val and stick them out to be adrift at sea - but I'll leave them there for eternity - :D

ZZ, now that's an interesting thought.

"She had the 'flu, but apart from hygiene her stats were fine.  I reckon she died because the game had no idea how old she was.  I woke Castor up, but he couldn't plead for her as the Reaper had his back to him and there was no way to pass him as he was standing in a doorway with Allegra's body in front of him.  Pity, I liked Allegra, but I'm not cheating to bring her back so she'll just have to stay dead.  Poor baby though, so far his one and only memory is of the death of his mother." (ancient)

So far nobody mentioned it, and it's weird that a sim will die from a flu - I had pregnant sim with flu too, but she didn't die.

It can be a hack uncompatible with uni, which causes all this mess. I read at MTS2 about it. These hacks can cause sudden and mysterious death.

It's worth checking this.

Yes, I just got a new laptop and the first thing I did was attach an external mouse. Those touchpads cramp my hands! I also have a lap desk, and a laptop riser for ventilation, a fan that clips to the side of the lapdesk, not to mention a 100 ft. cable (must get wireless!) and the power cord, so it kinda defeats the purpose of having a laptop if you buy it for its easy portability! I wind up dragging a lot of stuff from room to room, but at least I can sit on my couch and "play". Heh. Make that "work".

Yes Brynne, you must. I love my labtop, its small, very portable and wireless. I do have to get the riser (or labtop coaster as my daughter laughingly refers to), I don't want it to get damaged.

It's so valuable in my University too (the real life one). I can use it in my office, in the lounge, and in the class room. So far I'm loving it.

The day you can really start playing again, and are finished with your major work-over, I'll be breaking out the champagne. Just reading about it exhausts me :D

Well, I've been playing a little more, lately. I was getting frustrated with all the work involved in straightening out this game!
I love my lappy, too. My first one was a fancy doorstop and had to be sent in for repair 4 times. Note that I just bought it in February (Valentine's Day present from hubby). The store finally gave me store credit and I bought a much lighter one (pentium m), so that's easier to deal with. My "old" one was, like, 10 pounds. But it's funny, I'm sure, to others when they see me trying to set up on the couch or bed or wherever with all these cords and cables. It's like tangled Christmas lights from hell. The convenience of a laptop!
Still trying to adjust to this new keyboard...
 

My laptop just hasn't got the same video capabilities, so I rather gave up with it.  also, once the neighbourhood got fairly busy, and the houses larger, it crawled.  (I only bought it last September, state of the art Sony Vaio, but how quickly things get updated!)  I found the touchpad very awkward compared to using a mouse, there were defintely things in Build Mode that I just couldn't do!

I've seen quite a few posts on the BBS about the strange "choking" death for pregnant sims. The common denominator was that either the pregnant sim or someone else residing on the lot went to a community lot during the first trimester of pregnancy (before the pregnant sim starts "showing"). So unfortunately it's apparently not safe for anyone on the lot to visit the community lot during the first trimester. But usually the pregnant sim dies during the pregnancy, maybe something with Castor moving in had something to do with it (if I'm reading your post correctly he moved in mid-pregnancy, right?). It's one of the strangest death glitches I've ever heard of, akin to the "mystery pet illness" from TS1 Unleashed that Maxis refused to acknowledge (even though many a TS1 player lost a pet to it).

Yes, he moved in a few hours before she was due to drop.  Then again, he moved back in with Brittany Upsnott when she was already pregnant and her delivery was fine.  I know Allegra had 'flu, but I've had quite a few pregnant Sims with 'flu before.  I still think it was some sort of combination glitch - pregnancy, the 'flu and the fact that she hadn't moved off campus properly. And, of course, Ms. Upsnott is made of much stronger stuff than poor Allegra.

With a name like that she'd have to be!

Sometimes the reason why pregnant sims collapse and die is more obvious.  In my original Veronaville, I had a spate of 'collapse and die' pregnant sims; I linked it to them eating toxic food on other lots that they were visiting - they didn't need to jump in a taxi, they just had to out stay their welcome at another sims house, get hungry and eat mouldy food.  Lo and behold, when I went to their lot to play them, they would grab their throat, collapse and die. 
 
My solution once I realised how I was killing off my pregnant sims  - and poor Mercutio - was to interrupt them before they could eat and then chuck the offending food away.  If you don't believe me - experiment with a dispensable sim.  Have him/her  munch a foul meal elsewhere then visit their lot.  Works every time.  Note, if you are using 'moreawesomethanyou', your sims won't actually be able to munch foul plated food, but they can feast their lives away on toxic takeaways (pizza, chinese).  That's what poor Ivy Copur's son died of in my game.  Tut, tut, tut.

Strangely enough, I had this happen without the pregnant sim eating anything at all. I was playing another house and took the inhabitant to a community lot. Playing on, I noticed the pregnant sim walk by, but I payed little attention to it, but stayed focused on the sim I was currently actively playing.

When I played the pregnant sim's lot again, she up and died on me. Not being quite as fatalistic as Ancient, I left without saving and thereby avoided the dead sim. :D

That community lot walk-by was the only out-of-the-ordinary thing that the pregnant sim did; I wonder now if that's related.

Generally pregnancy + community lot visit = almost certain death.  Of course, there are always exceptions!  Pregnant sims are not allowed to visit community lots anyway.  If they make a random autonomous appearance as a non-controllable sim, there's not much you or anyone else can do - except leave the lot and not save.

I like the randomness of these deaths - adds a bit of drama.   

When the pregnant sim is uncontrolled, you can see her a lot of times at the community lots - it has no consequences when you enter her house.

Sometimes the simulator wants to remind you, that you have to go to a certain house (comming babies have priority), and then you can see pregnant sims pass your house, or at the community.

In Strangetown I had to perform a large circle - 8 families. So, when I heared the "lullaby melody", I left the family almost immediately, not to be stucked 3 days, and kept it to the next visit.

I went to the community with my teens, for cell phones, etc, and suddenly I saw the pregnant sim I just left (which was still  invisible pregnant) with a big belly, enterring the community.
When I went to her house (on her right turn) - she indeed was invisible pregnant yet, and bumped only at that night for the first time.

So far, from the beginning of TS2, no pregnant sim has died on me a mysterious death - that's why I stick to the theory that it is connected to an uncompatible Uni hack, as written in MTS2.

My preggers sims were dropping like flies pre-uni - more to do with my poor management of them than anything else, probably.  I've downloaded something that includes a miscarriage if the pregnancy is poorly managed.  The first happened today.  I have alot to learn.

I just had yet another death from choking on entering a lot, this time Grayson Bruenig, former mascot.  I am beginning to think something or someone is trying to reduce my Sims, because something always seems to stop them being pleaded for.  Ricky Cormier couldn't be because his girlfriend was at work and his daughter was too young; Allegra couldn't be because the Reaper was facing the wrong way; Grayson could be, but the Reaper won.  Maybe that's the last of them - three in a row and all that.  The odd thing was that Grayson had just been to a graduation party on the same Uni lot as Allegra lived in.  Coincidence?  Maybe, maybe not.  I think perhaps that lot is haunted.

Now I had a sim who was pregnant (very) and she kept turning up with whatever sim was at work as a visitor after work!  I got fed up with it in the end and went back to her lot and she had the baby withno problems at all.  I've never lost a pregnant sim, the only time one died it was pre-Uni, and was Beau's wife, but he was there and pleaded for her and everything was fine.
Oh, and I didn't have any hacks or fixes apart from the Maxis patch back then, didn't even get Inge's hacked telexcope until quite a bit later!
My guess, for what it's worth, is that maybe you have a hack or hacked object in your game which is for some unknown reason affecting your sims, and whether or not they are pregnant has actually no bearing on the problem.  I don't think it can be one of JM's as I have most of them and nothing like your problem has ever happened in my game, but maybe something you don't even know is there? 

FWIW, I've had the choking death on numerous occasions, both with and without hacks. I've never noticed any particular thing that may cause it, as some Sims have never been to a community lot (they generally tend to go maybe once in their lifetimes ... to meet new people). It got to one point with one game where I would load up the lot, and within 5 minutes of real time, she would die. After a couple of attempts, I managed to beat Grim, and she continued with her pregnancy. I think its probably a bug, but Maxi's probably define it as a feature...

I don't know whether or not I might have sent Beau to the shops, I doubt it, but occasionally when I didn't have the quieter doorbell fix I would send a sim to get food rather than wake everyone up.  Usually, though, that was in houses that already had kids, as they'd wake up with their energy almost on high, then I couldn't get them back to bed and they'd come home from school exhausted!  Since this was Beau and Devine's first baby, I don't think I would have done that, and he'd already got 50,000 simoleons a couple of times and was earning big bucks, so I could have just replaced the fridge if necessary!

I think it happened because she started to eat rotten food......she was always extremely greedy!

When the sim I was talking about had the choking death thing happen, she had just gotten back from a community lot. But she wasn't pregnant yet. I had this interesting little storyline: Jennie asked Joe to meet him downtown, and she put the moves on him (this is way before I ever installed mods of any kind, back last fall after I first got the game) until he finally kissed her. He was already seeing Brandi Broke and had a couple children with her. Brandi was Jennie's room-mate and was in love with her, as well. (That part was not planned. It was the only way I could get Jennie to accept the move-in invite. I had one leap into the other's arms, hearts swirled, and Jennie moved in. But they never actually kissed or anything! Ever.) Anyway, Jennie returns home from her date with Joe. I had Brandi then invite Joe over. While Jennie was asleep (community lots can be soooo exhausting), Joe got Brandi pregnant. Then when Brandi fell asleep, he got Jennie pregnant. I exit that lot, go to Joe's lot, he invites Jennie over, proposes, and she accepts. I go back to Brandi and Jennie's lot, Joe's still there, of course, eating dinner, Jennie's now newly pregnant and engaged to Joe, and she's happily playing a video game. She stands up, grabs her throat and the GR comes. Brandi points and laughs because she caught Jennie flirting with Joe before their date. And I told the rest of the story in my above post. So, is the community lot still to blame, here, too, even though it was right before Jennie got pregnant? I can't for the life of me figure out why that happened and how to prevent it again.   
 

Haven't a clue - but seems like Brandi put the evil eye on her!  What complicated little lives your Pixel People live!

Yeah, I don't let things get boring!

Don't know about Brandi inadvertently causing early demises, but I do wonder whether something (or someone) in my game is trying to kill people off.  I've had 3 choking deaths in quick succession now and in each case it wasn't possible to save the Sims, because of circumstances.  Oddly enough, they've all been former YA's, too.  I had another one recover from the 'flu at a grad party last night, so I am about to go into the game and find out whether he is going to suffer the same fate when I load his lot.  If so, I will start to be convinced that someone who never went to Uni is out to get all the graduates.  Personally, I suspect Cassandra.  She's been vegetating in her house only a couple of hours from death for eons now and I've told her repeatedly NO MORE ELIXIR, but she keeps wittering on about the almost full bottle hidden in her pagoda at the far end of the garden.  Now, why should she get anymore?  She never let Darren have any.  She's almost younger than Alexander now, for crying out loud.  I think she's jealous because she still hasn't made it to the top of the Science career and she's been trying all her working life.  It's her own fault anyway, she shouldn't have took so much time off to have all those kids.

My Cassandra, who married a very ambitious fortune sim called Max, was foolish enough to bring home a Romance sim from work, and then made a dead set for him!  Max went bananas and threw her out!  He ended up with all the Goth simoleons - since Mortimer and Alexander had already moved out - and she is now living in the little cabin in the trees!  She still turns up from time to time dressed as Captain Hero, even though she's only managed to get as far as Lieutenant!  She neglected her daughter shamefully, yet when she went to college, guess which parent got to see her off?

Cassandra is just one nasty little Goth!

Cassandra always was one for the Romance Sims - then again, most Family Sims are.  Incidentally, are you saying that she flirted (or whatever she did) autonomously with this guy?

Nah!  not this time, but whe did in a previous version when whe was married to beau.  She brought Daniel Pleasant home from work and started kissing him in front of Beau - he went absolutely berserk!  Poor Cassandra got the boot yet again!  But this time I had just got sick of her trying to break up this other sim's relationship and thought she needed a lesson!

Cassandra has gone funny in my game.  She used to wear this great gothic outfit and her hair was waist-length and still black even though she was an elder - she actually looked rather glam.  Then Darren died and Cassandra needed urgent psychiatric treatment.  Afterwards, she changed her clothes to this absolutely awful pink tweedy suit, cut her hair short and started wearing a ridiculous pink hat.  Some of my houses have walls round and when Cassandra walks by (she walks by a lot of houses because she KNOWS she only has two hours left to live) all you see is her hat bobbing up and down.  She is nasty to everyone, too.  She threw so many water balloons at people I had to put a mod in to stop her; now she just gives them that funny handshake instead (forget the name of it, the one that makes your screen go all wobbly).  One Sim got so annoyed with her yesterday they ended-up having a slapping fight in front of the mailbox.  It was hilarious as my Sim was nude at the time.  I am waiting for the day she takes her silly pink hat off and whacks someone with it.  If any Sim can magically create a new animation, it has to be Cassandra Goth.

(Apologies for my typos in the last post!)

Cassandra is definitely a law unto herself!  (How exactly did she get the hat, I wonder..........)

This is absolutely hilarious, Ancient, ZZ. I just have to take time out from my village and explore Pleasantville (it is Pleasantville right?). Although I highly doubt that I can get such results as you seem to get. How do you do that? Just turn on free will and let them run with it?

Pleasantview!  (Pleasantville is an old sci-fi movie!)

*picking herself off the floor* I just managed to unite Pleasantview and Veronaville, didn't I? I have had TS2 since it came out, but I never 'set foot' into the Maxis neighborhoods except Strangetown (go figure).

Curious!

I always play with freewill on.  Can't see the point otherwise, there'd be no surprises!

Stay tuned.  I just have a picture to take, then I will treat you to a special thread that I am sure you will enjoy.  Is there a section here for general stuff, because it isn't a problem.  I will have to look.  Maybe it's time I started that site of mine.  Any ideas for a name? 

Ancient Sim's Site?

I quite agree about freewill, turn it off and they're hanging around like a lot of morons waiting to be told what to do!  And I love watching them when they do something truly surprising!  Like big brothers autonomously going to tuck the kid brother or sister up in bed!  That's so cute!

Why do you need to turn the free will off? I never turn it off, and my sims always wait a second or two for my orders, then do as they wish. Besides, you always can cancel their activity, and give them another order.

Well, some people do play with it turned off.

Yeah and you don't even have to turn it off. Autonomic actions that is. They just cancel out on their own and do the thing you want them to do. I just couldn't play with free will off. Only time I turn it off is when I need to do a portrait shot of a family or couple and need them to sit and or stand in specific places without popping to the potty or something.

Kestran.

Thought I'd just let you know, Ancient Sim, that my allegra is alive and well and the mother of twins!!!  Only wierd happening is that for some unknown reason both she and Martin Ruben were unable to graduate Summa etc. and had to start way down near the bottom of their career ladder!

My Allegra was already living with Castor at Uni, and behaving much more like a Family sim than Jane!  Anyway, everyone of them moved out with no trouble (and I'd removed all the Move Out fixes because they caused problems in Pleasantview), Allegra moved in with Castor and got pregnant - they only tried once, but she did eat a lot of Macaroni and Cheese and Gelatin!  Next thing I knew she was having twins (Tristram and Isolde - well, they had to have wierd names!!!) and she's doing a great job of looking after them!  I've got a few pics if you'd like to see them, just don't know if there is an easy way to get them to you.

Well, yet another choking death - this time the YA hadn't even had chance to become an adult.  He recovered from the 'flu at a graduation party in another dorm and I thought "Aye-aye ...".  Went to his lot and he was asleep.  A message came-up instantly saying he had got better (the second message) and then I KNEW.  He woke-up very soon and choked to death.  As usual, the game conspired to stop anyone being able to get to the Reaper because (a) they were all asleep and (b) his door was locked.  Not to be deterred, I woke his girlfriend up (who happens to be the Sim version of moi) and teleported her in.  She managed to save him.  Pity really, because although he looks really nice from the front, in profile he is hideous.  He's Amin Sims' son and has a chin and nose that stick out so far it's a wonder he doesn't do serious damage with them.  His twin sister is very attractive, though.  I am also a teeny bit concerned that when I teleported in the Sim version of me, instead of being upset that her/my boyfriend was dead on the floor, she immediately tried to leave the room to go play on the stupid swing.  Maybe I should have made me a bit nicer ...

Now, to Tristram & Isolde (are they in Veronaville?!).  By all means send pics if you want - can you not put them up at http://www.photobucket.com and add a link?  In my game, it's Cassandra who goes for the rather affected names.  She has Anastasia & Aristotle to Don, Desdemona & D'Arcy to Darren, plus Dante who's adopted (he was originally called DON of all things - as if Darren was going to put-up with that).   Allegra's son to Castor was originally called something I can't remember, but when she died he changed it to Allegro.  His son to the Upsnott woman is called Torny (CasTOR/BrioNY ... I do a lot of names like that).  She's Briony in my game because the Tombstone of L&D had already made me a Brittany and she's an elder now married to Robert Broke (3rd son of Brandi).  I won't have repeat names because it's confusing, especially when you don't know who it is they've been woo-hooing with.

Oh, while we're on the subject of deaths, my second nanny has gorn.  She'd been hanging about in the Sorority lot for at least a week after someone brought her with them when they were invited over (I have no idea why, I don't think he even knew her).  After constantly falling asleep standing-up (usually blocking toilet doorways), stinking the place out, etc., etc., the Reaper eventually got her.  So now I am just down to one original nanny, Karen Gast.  She's the only one that's even reasonably OK, but even she's been acting a bit stupidly lately so I may have to give her a bit of a kick up the proverbials if she doesn't pull her socks up.  I am down to two nannies now, Karen and Kendal Lawson's replacement; so far the game hasn't spawned a new one, but no doubt it will once I go into a lot that would normally be serviced by the latest dead one.  I downloaded this amazingly ugly old baglady today from MTS2 and am thinking of making her a nanny. 

I may lose another set of lips for this totally pointless, space-wasting ramble ...

I'll get the photos uploaded and let you have a link when I've done it.  Actually, this is a Pleasantview game, I never play Veronaville.  I just gave them wierd names because their parents have wierd names.  All my CAS families in this game have names of British towns and cities.  I do have duplicate names sometimes, mainly because I forget I've already used a name once - more often with male sims as there are so many less male names floating around in my mind than female ones, so it gets harder to think up a new one!

Touch wood, but I've had no choking deaths, in fact death is quite rare in my game.  I think it's due to Gnomon's flamingoes!

I've posted this link, but I don't know if you'll be able to access it. 

http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/zephyrszone/lst?.dir=/&.src=gr&.view=t

Just a footnote - I moved Lilith into the Nova household when she finally decided to graduate, as I didn't think the Novas could manage the toddler stage and go to work and I didn't want the nanny!  Lilith was amazing, never once complained about anything except emptying potties and cleaning high-chairs!  Helped with skill-building, never moaned about not having a job, and only got the Get Job want once the kids were at school!

Now, Lilith in game regards these kids as family, snuggle, family kiss etc., but when I checked in SimPE, there's no relationship - which of course there isn't - so since she isn't a step-parent, but just an "auntie", I thought this was cute!

ZZ, your link is wrong. I am member of Yahoo, and couldn't enter your link. The first one was OK - did you updated it? Try it again.

Gali, I didn't have any problems, just tried it again and the folder is there.  If you can't access it, I'll put the Briefcase link in again as well.

http://uk.briefcase.yahoo.com/zuleikazodiac

Sorry, can't enter - get error message.

Is there some www.  that you forgot to put?

Weird, because I have an account at Yahoo. I am asked to login, and then get error message.

I think you may have to join the group - they stopped all public viewing a while back.

OK, I did, and this is what I get now:

 "Your membership is awaiting approval by the group owner"

Approve, please, I want to see the pictures...:).

You're approved now, Gali.  Sorry it's taken a while, I've been off-line for a couple of hours.

Thanks, I've already visited there...:). I think I saw the last story in your sim page.

It was a nostalgy to see Bella and Mortimer (young and pretty) visit the Singleton's house...:). And I remember well the floods - each time I had a visitor, I had a flood too.

In my first game of TS1, I played without hacks at all (that was the one and only time I played without hacks, I didn't know even about "clapaucious", or "rosebud".

I built a couple, made a baby, and then moved in ALL the neighbourhood residents (8 sims in one house). I was loaded with money - 7 worked, and Betty was the housekeeper, trained to 10 cookings and 10 mechanicals. I had a lot of fun there, when Michael Bachleor, who slept with the kid, always got up at night and sat on her bed, waking her up. And at 4 AM Betty cooked a meal for Bob, and suddenly all the sims "invaded"  the kitchen.

As I didn't know much about relationships, I married all of them with everyone, lol. So, when I decided to make another baby with Bob and Betty, and was busy to keep an eye on the baby - suddenly ALL the sims that returned from work began to kiss and hug each other, and got slapped from the other sims - it was a hilarious scenario...:).

Sounds fun, but how on earth did you get Michael up at 3.00 am?  I had trouble getting him up at 7.00, and when in one installation he had a job in the army!!!!!!

Lol, he was hungry - they all were hungry almost all the time, that's why they got up at 4 AM smelling the food...:). For me it was very comfortable, because Michael and the blond one of the two sisters were lazy...:).

I always liked Michael, quite often married him to one or the other of the Singles!

ZZ, I like your Stargazers house very much! Is it for TS1 only? And can you change it to a package for TS2?
You put there a lot of work...:). I am sure I will change some decors, but the building is Awesome...:).

Gali, it's TS2 but not Uni.  Thanks for the compliment to my house, it's one of my favourites.  It was hard work, especially putting the floor above the exposed platform, but I must admit I was pleased with the result.  The decor was basic as the owner didn't have a lot of cash to spare, and if I play the house again (haven't been in the neighbourhood for a while) I'll no doubt change the decor myself.  I'll also (since the hood is now upgraded to uni) be able to use the boolprop diagonal cheat to make better use of the angles!

Well, there is not a zipped file - only photos and .doc file. Where can I get the zipped file?

http://uk.f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/zuleikazodiac/lst?.dir=/House+No.+2&.view=l&.src=bc

Sorry, it's in My Briefcase - I don't know why exactly, but Yahoo confuses me and eventhough I originally uploaded it to the Zone, it's somehow ended up there - no doubt through something I did!

If you still can't get it, let me know with a PM and I can always email it to you.