Christmas Aspiration Attempt - Blog Post 2

All the days seem to be rolling into one.  I have actually started marking them down, as I see the sun rise I mark another day, just to remind me that time is passing.  That I am growing older.  That the time for me to complete this challenge is growing ever shorter.

Sometimes I question why I am doing this.  What could I possibly achieve in this challenge?  This will take me most of my lifetime, if not all of it. And for what?  I will never have time to have children of my own, the time for children will be well passed by the time I step out from behind this picket fence: a mansion baron.

The hardest part is the bit I thought would be easy.  It's the loneliness.  I cannot believe how lonely I get.  Or how quickly it comes upon me.  I have tried to find friends and solace on the Internet but it just isn't enough and there are so many weirdos out their.  As soon as I strike up conversation it's all "send us a photo" or "can we meet?"  Then there are the ones that I do talk to for a while, they seem normal, but when I bring up what it is I am trying to do they back off pretty fast.  I become the weirdo.

I have taken up gardening, just so I can have something else living in this house. 

Something to talk to.  

Something to touch.

I got the seeds in the mail.  It was easy enough to order them online. I didn't even see the postman.  He doesn't come up to the house, just throws the mail into the box from the street.  I guess word has got out about the crazy woman in the fenced in house.

THEY GET WORSE RATHER THAN BETTER

I continue to work on my painting skill.  I think it is my only chance of getting enough money to complete my goal.  It takes up a lot of my time and right now that is what I need.  Distractions.  Distractions from the ticking of the clock.  Distractions from the trill of crickets from the field I cannot go to.  Distractions from my own mind.

I know I can leave at any time, this imprisonment is only being enforced by my own will but I can't.  I won't give up.  This is what I have chosen to do.  This is my life path.  I will follow it to whatever end appears on my horizon.

KNOCK KNOCK......BOO......WHY ARE YOU SAD, I'M THE ONE TALKING TO A PLANT!

Chapter 49 - Oh No! Girls!

Kyle has decided that he wants to be a ladies man.  I don't entirely know what that means, I mean his aspiration is Mansion Baron, I guess this is just a side line thing.

But anyway, he has been off out through the neighbourhood looking for likely ladies to meet 'n' greet.  For some reason he always gets them talking about TV because his favourite chat up line is 'You should see mine, it's a big one."  I don't get it, and it seems that neither do the girls but Kyle is quite a charmer and when he starts talking about the mission to get the million they are usually suitably intrigued and want to find out more.

"And I would want to come to your place because...?"

He met Candy in the park and they chatted for ages.  She is always popping round now and they spend most of their time in the basement with the giant TV.  I guess his chat up line finally worked.  Or perhaps she is short sighted.  I guess that might be it.  There is defiantly something wrong with her eyesight because she seems to have missed some of her hair when she was getting it coloured.  Unless the whole pink thing is the mistake!  Now I don't know what to do, should I bring it up?

"Told you it was big!"

They seem to be great friends but there is another lady who visits Kyle on a regular basis.  Katrina.  Tobias' daughter.  She is very pretty.  She has been visiting since she was small, they are old, old friends and they spend most of their time playing chess or doing homework together.  I think Kyle may be a nerd.

"Move.  I DARE you!"

Chapter 48 - My Boys

Meet Carson's Boys.  See if you can tell them apart!!

"oooo yeah!  Cooking!"

"Not... how it looked... on the show..."

"Perhaps if we look for a better recipe?"

"When I grow up I want to be..."

They spend a crazy amount of time together.  But they are most definately two very different people.  As you shall soon see!

Christmas Aspiration Attempt - Blog Post One

NO - ONE EVER GOES IN.  NO - ONE EVER COMES OUT - LIKE WILLY WONKA'S CHOCOLATE FACTORY

My name is Christmas Holiday and this is my story.  

I guess I should start by letting you know a little bit about myself.  I know a lot of you are well acquainted with the Bustamantes.  You're not?  And you are?  And you?...

Well, for those who need a recap and those who don't know, let me give you the nine one one.  For those of you in the know, please bear with me, I really want everyone to be on the same page before I begin.  I hope that in doing so you will see why I chose to do what I am choosing to do.

FARRAH BUSTAMANTE

The Bustamantes started with their founder Farrah Bustamante, she came from a line of legacy sims but was left to her own devices after not being born to the right uncle, or something.  She made it her mission to go from nothing, literally nothing, to a million simoleons.  An incredible task to undertake and a huge feat should she manage it.  Along the way other sims, rallied behind her cause and chose to join her, my mother included.

When I was born the house was full of people, all fighting to make that million and the place was always a hive of activity.  There was Farrah, her husband Pawl, and Carson.  A guy called Tobias, My mother Summer Holiday, my half sister Easter and me. I never knew my father, I have never met him, I was told by Carson (the current Bustamnate Head of Household) that he was a maid who came occasionally to pick up after us.

Well, as I said the house was always busy and to be honest I kind of slipped through the cracks most of the time.  And then people started...leaving.  Pawl died.  Tobias moved out and so did Easter.  Farrah died.  That left just me, mum and Carson.  In that brief period I actually felt at ease.  At home in the silence.  But then Carson got married and she moved in and I knew before long there would be kids running around.  Suddenly the place would be noisy and bustly again and the home would become a Bustamante residence.  I felt out of place.

Then mum died.

Suddenly it was just me and the Bustamantes.  They were very kind.  Don't get me wrong, it just felt strange.  I knew I had to get out on my own but didn't know where or how.  

The answer came to me on holiday.  The Bustamantes were so kind, I was so low after mum that they thought a trip away from the house might help.  We took a holiday chalet in the woods.  I'll admit I was a grump most of the time and didn't want to join in.

I ATE ALONE

IT WAS SO PEACEFUL

But then, one afternoon whilst I just lay, watching the clouds I realised I was more at peace than I had ever been.  It was so quiet.  In that moment I knew what I had to do.

While I was on holiday I got a phone call.  It seemed that my lawyer had found an inheritance in her will.  It was actually left to her but she had never done anything with it and my sister Easter had no interest in it, so it was being transferred to me.  It was a small patch of land, with a run down old shack on it.

It had belonged to an uncle of mine and was now just sitting there.  Unused.

I actually had a house of my own.

So I moved out.

It has literally one room.  But I decided I would try something similar to Farrah, I would build a beautiful mansion on this spot and I would do it all myself.

I knew I had to isolate myself from the world,focus entirely on the job at hand.  So I fenced myself in, I even forced the mailman to throw the mail over it.  I ensured I had everything I would need, right there in that one room.

I began my journey.

I NEED TO GET MY SKILLS HIGHER

I knew that I had to make money and fast and my current skills, piano and charisma would serve no purpose what-so-ever.  So I bought myself an easel and set to work.  My first few attempts were pretty poor, although I did manage to get a few simoleons for them.  But I knew I needed to work hard to get my skill level up if I wanted to make the mega bucks.

The sims in the neighbourhood came around and stared in the beginning, but I didn't speak to them.  Soon the rumours began flying I guess but I didn't care.  I had my aim and I would fulfil it.

I was going to do this.

I HEAR SHE'S A CONVICT, THIS IS LIKE 'THERAPY IN THE COMMUNITY' OR SOMETHING

Chapter 47 - Who Will They Be?

"He eats soup...with a fork."

Kyle and Jordon are growing up fast.  It seems like just yesterday that they were babies.  In fact, I checked the calendar, it wasn't yesterday at all but it wasn't very long ago.  Not long ago at all.  No wonder they tell you to cherish your children, they aren't around very long at all.

They are both very keen on school although I have to admit that apart from doing their homework they don't put much more effort in.  And we are having problems with Jordon.  I think it must be somekind of defience thing but we are at a loss as to what to do.  When we tell him to do his homework, he does it, but he does it across the street in the pavement.  Now I am at a loss, I mean he is doing as we ask but in a really odd place.  At least we can see him from the house, so we know he is safe.  Hopefully he will grow out of it!

I think Jordon is different somehow, but I am not entirely sure how.

"Ooooo yeah!  Shake it!  Come on Mr. Coffee... Shake yer thang!"

Kyle on the other hand is a total firecracker.  He is very into talking to people and loves dancing.  Although he does seem to have imaginary friends in the form of the kitchen appliances.  Again, not sure if we should be worried or not.

It is going to be the boys birthday soon and we had a family meeting about what they would like to do to celebrate. We were most surprised by thier answers. They told us that as the family was trying to support granny's legacy of making a million then we shouldn't be wasting money on a huge get together and they would be perfectly happy with just a quiet affair at home.

"Of course, I'll be able to start on my rocket ship as soon as I'm older!"

They even said they were happy to age up right now, that way they could start working and do thier bit towards raising that million. 

Alex got started on a birthday cake and the boys told me all about what they wanted to do when they aged up.

Jordon is really into space, apparantly, and he has asked that for his birthday he gets a rocket ship and an observatory - so much for saving the money for our million!  I am not sure where you buy a rocket ship, I will have to check 'online', you can get everything 'online'.  I don't know how they fit it all 'online' but you find it, click it and then 'poof' there it is.

Kyle just said girls.

"Seeing as it's your birthdays we'll let you stand on the countertops."

Chapter 46 - Holiday for a Holiday

"ROCK ON!"

The passing of Summer had hit the Bustamante household hard, in particular, obviously, Christmas.  She was now the only non-Bustamante in the place and the feeling of being the 'odd one out' was beginning to weigh on her mind.  She had always been happy to just fade into the background, knowing that her mother, at least, could still see her, but now, she was all alone.

Not that she minded being alone, per se, she had always enjoyed her own company but now the whole situation was just to peculiar.

"sigh"

The Bustamante family came up with a great idea to help take everyone's mind of the tragedies of the past few days.

One morning at breakfast Alex decided that what the whole family, and she was careful to use this word for Christmas' sake, needed a holiday.  She used to go camping in the woods when she was little, with her family.  Although Carson wondered how she knew they were with her.  And she knew just the cabin.  She had wanted to stay in every time she saw it and now they had the means to do so.

Carson called up the booking agent who told them that if they were to arrive that day then he could offer them three days there.  Carson agreed and off they went.

************ 

"I hope they have a bathroom"

I loved Alex's idea of going on holiday and was so surprised that they had a vacancy just when we needed it.  Although we did have to leave right away, we didn't even bother to pack.  Just jumped in the taxi.

So here we are.  The journey might be all but instantaneous but I still really needed to pee when we got here.  I raced inside to find the loo.  There were four!  My bottom was being spoiled on this trip!

"You throw horseshoes at that stick!"

Outside Alex and the boys had found the horseshoes game.  Alex was trying to explain to them how the game is played. Jordon was a little sceptical as to how this could be considered fun,

"But how do you WIN?"

Alex had to admit that she didn't know, she had never met a Sim who could actually play the game to ask.

That was all Kyle needed to hear.  He decided to become the greatest Horseshoe Player in the world.  Although, without anyone in the group knowing exactly how to play I am unsure as to how he will know when he becomes the greatest player, but he's happy, so....

"Aww jings!"

"Stoopid game"

His attempt to become the greatest player ever went on for the rest of the afternoon.  Eventually Alex had to take a nap.  He tried and tried but, like every other Sim in the world, he just couldn't get it.  Jordon just kept watching his brother, It was like Car Crash TV, he said.  He'd never seen anything so awful, or boring, but he just couldn't look away!

"Our house has a sensationally ugly roof"

I knew what I wanted to get up to and I decided to head out the next morning.  I grab my fishing rod from... and set off down to the beach near the house.  After a couple of hours of peaceful fishing I realised I should be teaching Jordon and Kyle to fish.  That is what Fathers do, teach their boys to fish, shave and balance spoons on their noses.

I tried calling them over but they were to far away to hear me.  If only there was some way we could Get Together.  Then I remembered that there was a way that I could get everyone doing the same thing at the same time.  I wasn't sure exactly how to do it.  But I knew where I could find out.

I hit the forums.

"Who is this Carl and how did he get so knowledgeable?"

Apparently I had to take action and form a group.  Seems reasonable; I figured I would have to be involved in some kind of action and forming a group seemed logical.  Once I had my group then we could do all sorts of things together....ummm.....Dance..no....Tend Garden...hmm that could be hand...Wait!.. "Fish Together"!  That's exactly what I needed.

"Who keeps bringing that plate?"

Our groups' fishing was a big success.  The boys and I stayed there all afternoon.

"Ok what wise guy tucked in the covers all around?  I can't get out!  Hello!   Hello?"

Christmas didn't even come out of her room for the first 72 hours.  She is still really sad about her mum.  I know how she feels, I still miss my mum.  I try to comfort her and tell her that she will still see her, from time to time, just like I see my mum, but she said it wasn't the same.

On evening of the second day we decided to make use of the communal BBQ's.  I set out before the others, to bag a table and get something cooking on the grill.  I was still carrying the fish around that I caught yesterday and between you and me it was getting a bit funky.  In fact it wasn't just between you and me I don't think.  People have been giving me funny looks all day, now I know why!

We managed to convince Christmas to come out of her room for the outing but she chose not to sit with us.  Which was handy because these seats only seat four and she was the last one here.

"In the jungle the mighty jungle...."

"Dad, please no more stories!"

She did come over and join us after dinner when we fired up the campfire.  She seemed to enjoy my singing and stories.  Jordon, less so.  Kyle and Alex soon fell asleep.  It had been a long day, so we decided to head home.

"Have I been involved in an accident that wasn't my fault?"

The next morning Easter seemed a lot better.  She came out of her room and joined us downstairs for breakfast.

She got a phone call later that morning that seemed to cheer her up a lot.  Although you couldn't tell from her face.

Over some grilled fruit she told me how excited she had been about getting the phone call this morning.

I asked her about it.

"No, I was NOT excited BECAUSE I got a phone call.  I get them all the time!"

She seemed very excited about it, although I assumed phone calls were common place, but I suppose some people perhaps get less of them than others.

I found it very difficult to understand her, she seemed to be talking crazily.  She seemed to have got a phone call from a plot of her Uncle Lawrence and his shack had died and left herself to it.  She was getting very frustrated with me.

Sometimes I think I am the only sane person in my world.

"It's what I got TOLD that was exciting NOT literally the phone call!!"

After our very confusing conversation I took the boys fishing again and Alex decided that Christmas needed to get out and about so she suggested a walk in the woods.

"You want to go where!?"

Which, around here, can basically be fulfilled by walking around the house.  Alex meant the deep woods and that involves leaving the campsite.

"Seeeee...I'm just not really in to dating outside the species."

"ewww ewwww ewww EWWWWW!"

They had a great time I was quite surprised when Alex returned with a few creepy crawlies that she had caught herself.  With her hates icky things trait this must have been quite a feat for her.

Christmas too said it had given her time to think and she had made up her mind about what she was going to do with her life.

"I like this being alone."

Chapter 45 - Strange Goings On

One night, right outside the window there was a strange sound.  The Bustamante household slept peacefully.  All, that is except Carson.  As the buzzing continued his sleepy body sat up in bed, and in an almost, un-sim fashion, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and placed his feet on the floor.

He rose, like a zomb-sim and walked animalistically across the bedroom and opened the door.  He moved through the kitchen with an eerie silence and headed out into the garden...

"Duuuhhhh zzzzzzz  Guhhhhhhh"

There were some other sims on the pavement but they either didn't see him or they didn't care.  Alternatively perhaps this kind of thing happened to them on a regular basis.  So much so that it had lost all intrigue.

Carson wandered down the path before turning back into his garden.

"Arrgggg... Brains...."

He stood motionless in the back garden before suddenly appearing to become aware of his surroundings.  He looked around himself, dazed and confused by his, apparent, sudden appearance in the garden.  While he tried to grasp the meaning of his predicament he heard the strange noise that had lured his sleeping form out here.

He looked up.

A light appeared to emanate from the very airspace above him.  He squinted into the glare and attempted to shield his eyes.

It was only then that he realised he was now suspended above the ground and was rapidly ascending into the source of the light.

He was alarmed but powerless.

"What the....?"

"Wheeeeeeeeee!!"

Elsewhere in the house another terrifying event was taking place.  

Christmas opened her eyes, awoken by a strange icy draft that washed over her.  Assuming an open window she pulled the covers closer around her, in an attempt to block out the chill. AS she drifted again towards sleep a memory flashed into her mind.  A recollection.  A ghost of a feeling that she had felt before.  Her blood ran cold.

She sprung from the bed and saw that her fears were true.

Death had returned to the Bustamante house and he had come for her mother.

I Death have returned once again to this house for to carry out my immortal duty.  

This Eve I have come for one Summer.... Summer...   

     Hang on till I find the thing, on this thing.  Tap that thing.  Scroll....scroll....tap the...No! I 

     tapped there not that...stupid...thing. Ahhh... there it is...

This Eve I have come for one Summer Holiday.   

      Seriously? Geez.

There is no pleading this time.  Your house has been given too many chances to meddle with the dealings of Death and he has foreseen that he cannot be bothered with the paperwork this time.

Be gone, lest ye be reaped.

"Usually their own kids look somewhat more...peturbed!"

As Summer's body drifted into the Immortal realms of urnhood, a new gravestone appeared mysteriously in the garden beside a conveniently placed sunflower.  Who planted it?  Did they know of this upcoming calamity?  And if so how?  And why didn't they spill the beans?

But now the household was down to five.  And with so many young I fear their progress towards their million will be slowed.  I hope they are not disheartened and give it all up to become Llama Farmers.

Only time will tell.

"And then there were three"

Out back Carson fell out the sky.

"Brakes! No Brakes!  Prepare for impact!!"