T w e n t y S i d e d

It’s now 2006, Lorretta is 61, Logan is five. Kelly and Michael are married, and Lorretta has cancer.

The few weeks after the concerning diagnosis are a blur. The doctors at the ER are worried it’s progressed due to her symptoms, but the specialist she’s sent to is really optimistic it’s not. The nurse doing her blood draw helpfully mentions she has an uncle who recently died of cancer, but one of Lorretta’s colleagues at the library has herself been cancer-free for twenty years. Everyone has something different to say, and none of it is collaborated in any way because none of these people know each other. If Lorretta wasn’t under an over-abundance of stress and worry, she’d be understanding about that, but as it is she wishes these idiots could have a group call and get their stories straight.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: Ice Cream and Noodles”

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them

Michael and Kelly are engaged, and then quickly married. Michael’s mom can be a nosy piece of work, and so although the couple planned to hold a ceremony proper, that quickly proved too dramatic for either of them. They eloped shortly after Logan’s first birthday. She takes his last name, less for tradition and more for the fact that she never liked ‘Whitman’. This makes them Michael and Kelly Zhu, and provides an interesting hurtle of changing their baby’s last name to match.

I was going to insert a family photo here, but two hours of effort and sims infuriatingly ignoring me, I give up. It’s not a Sims play-through if you don’t at least once want to scream into the void. Turns out, the photography stuff doesn’t work with babies yet, since they’re too new a feature, in 2023. I hate this game.

But yes, back to the elephant in the room, the elephant that is now likely bored after watching me shake my fist at a broken video game for two hours.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: Too Many Surprises”

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them

Lorretta and Kelly’s relationship had been somewhat strained before baby Logan was born. Kelly had always been more close to her dad, and her mom had seemed bossy and controlling when she was growing up. Lots of things changed in the last year, though. From Lorretta’s divorce, to starting college, and then the birth of her first grandchild, she’s a very different person from then to now.

She’d been outside-appearance motivated, practical, and sometimes overbearing as a parent. She’d been desperate to make her time sitting at home alone with babies worth it. If she was to have given up collage for something, she wanted to have something to show for it. That mindset had put undue pressure on her girls to be something worth showing off.

She’s started therapy now, and after some thought, brings that realization to Kelly in the form of an apology.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: Not a Duplex”

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them