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Mesa Vista - My BaCC for fun: Week 5-18 Zarusoba
Finally back with an update!
Welcome back to Mesa Vista (finally) and the main hood, where we get to meet the Zarusoba household!
A long time ago (too long), in a BaCC far far away, Lydia Zarusoba (simlili's simself) moved to Mesa Vista shortly after the four-episode Mesa Vista Marathon back in March of last year...
(Re-tooled Palm Cottage by Pippenhouse at MTS: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=506423)
"Really? March?"
Yes, I'm afraid I try even her patience. But as the saying goes, the BaCC must go on!
Lydia is Knowledge and her LTW is to be a World Class Ballet Dancer. That worked out rather well, as it took the pressure off me finding a challenge for her, because opening the Dance career was its own little challenge with the dance studio requirement. Plus, it would give me time to further ponder an ISBI if I wanted to go that route with her. Or maybe some other challenge. If any.
"Oh good, I love the smell of an uncertain future first thing in the morning..."
But for now, Lydia was rolling with the flow with
"Baron? Does Tucker have a brother?"
"Excuse me, Baron, but...
FIIIRRRRRE!!!!"
Oh, that little Baron is a cutie though!
"One little advice, my dear, avoid putting this routine on your resume..."
"Very funny, doc. Next pic, please!"
Nothing like some good ol' studyin' to perk a Knowledge girl back up.
"I don't get this place. It's got a cute European cottage vibe going on the outside, but inside..."
"Simple, Linda. We're taking a page from simlili's book and building as we go along. It's fun, you should try it."
Lydia was right, it is fun!
It was still raining the following morning, but Lydia was determined to get the ball rolling, rain or shine.
It wasn't a treasure chest or anything, but it was a start.
By the morning of Day 3,
"I don't think I can stand the excitement of this place."
the rain had finally cleared out.
"In the desert. Go figure."
"Where were we before that fire so rudely interrupted us?"
I like seeing pets in other players' stories, and I like the idea of my single Sims having pets for companionship, so Lydia took Baron in.
Lydia couldn't get a job in Dance yet, but with Mesa Vista's population exceeding 500,
Cute :)
I added an extra requirement for opening the Dance career: the owner of the Dance Studio had to be able to instruct (reach enthusiasm level 9) as well, so off to the ballet barre went Lydia.
A byproduct of all the dance practice was Lydia became a whistler, which I think is one of the cuter FT hobby quirks.
This is Sarabande Dance Studio that Lydia just bought.
"Where? All I see is a cardinal."
Turn around!
"It's empty."
It's the only way she could afford it.
Nah, not quite that bad. Lydia actually had a little extra left over to add a pretty window and a basic barre in addition to the one she brought from home.
The first customer honor went to Herbert Goodie!
Nemo wasn't far behind, and soon the dancing commenced.
"It's a dance studio, focusing on the classics: piano, ballet..."
Brittany Wendland, Ringo's wife: "Ew, you expect me to like that?"
"Okay, maybe I do like it."
Hunter Green: "I don't know if this is my style. You got a vending machine here?"
"No. I'm just starting out."
"Do the Smustle!"
"How could you ask such a thing?"
"You're in my dance studio?"
"Now smustling... that's more like it. Come on, Ethan!"
"No, I'll look stupid."
"That's the fun of it! Come on, fellas, gimme some stars!"
"But Neuna, you Servos love the art gallery."
"Mee-beep, entirely different."
"I am not enthused, but will try it anyway."
"Aw, Neuna! You're a natural :)"
Faith Goodie, Knowledge Sim, preacher's wife, soon-to-be orphanage director: "If you read my week, you would know I am nothing if non-contradictory. It's what I do."
"Therefore, I will dance!"
Lydia: "I've got nothing. I don't understand these people. What am I even doing here?"
"Yeah, somehow I offended your sensibilities. Now get inside and dance."
"I need a break, these contrary Mesa Vistans are exhausting."
"I don't get them, Baron, I don't get them at all."
Lydia's week was already half-finished, and I wanted the Dance career opened before it ended.
Time for a new plan of action.
"Off to My Muse!"
These hobby lots are notoriously underwhelming, I hope I can learn a thing or two...
Not only could Lydia build her Body skill and enough enthusiasm to be able to teach dance at her studio, it also occurred to her that she could earn some extra money too.
Do the Smustle! Part II
"Move over, young whippersnapper, there ain't room for the both of us!"
"Er... don't you mean isn't, professor?"
Still, the competitions were all in good fun.
"Watch a professional in action, ladies!"
Goody. Her again.
The Prof won that one, but the look on Nicole Dennis's face was so worth it.
Lydia then returned to Sarabande, and with bouncing between the two lots, time essentially came to a standstill.
Lydia continued to put off more Mesa Vistans by bringing up that most controversial of topics, first with Allyn.
Then with the town grump/bully Jenna Ebadi. Okay, maybe that one was understandable.
But Katherine Wing from MV's rural farming district? Surely she could appreciate some good fiddling?
Obviously not.
And Kerie Ng? Really, Kerie?
Despite all the naysaying, most were willing to give the place a shot, and Sarabande started making real money (those mirrors aren't cheap!).
Nora Gainsborough, owner of the Local Yokels music venue, and aspiring Rock God: "Good god, what gave you that idea?"
*throws in the towel*
The tents on the other community lots around Lydia's had not gone unnoticed, and she pitched one right in her studio.
Feeling refreshed again, Lydia headed back to My Muse.
Where she discovered it even had fine dining. The only thing missing was dinner music, which Lydia thoughtfully provided. I'm gonna start calling her Dixie.
Who doesn't end their upscale dinner with a game of catch (in this case with Stephan Shin)?
The dance contests were starting to attract a sizeable crowd.
One of said crowd was none too pleased to see Andi Jayapalan (Nicole Outside's college sweetheart) with someone *gasp!* her own age. The nerve!
"Cool it, Prof. You and I, we're nothing but a vague entry in my memory panel."
"That's right, you crazy old stalker, leave the young lady alone!" Armando Cox pitched in helpfully.
"Stick to operating the booth, all you dancing deejays look like idiots out there!"
With all the commotion on the dance floor, Lydia managed to sneak in a victory and pocketed a cool §500.
She could even sleep at My Muse, though napping wasn't a very efficient way to get rest. Not that it really mattered, since she had been off the clock for days by now...
While a (temporarily) subdued Nicole Dennis quietly went back to the basics, Lydia was feeling her oats.
"Behave, you errant strand of hair."
So, lots of practicing and dance contests later...
Lydia could officially "teach" dancing at her studio now!
"Now to test my new teaching skills."
(The time Lydia spent at My Muse during her week was the most fun I've had there, or at any other hobby lot for that matter.)
Thanks to her dance contest winnings, Sarabande was looking like a nice little dance studio!
Old biddies from the Garden Club couldn't possibly, nosiree.
Yeah, Rodney, we get it.
*Angel choir* *Hallelujah Chorus*
Congrats to Jihoon Vijayakar on being the first non-heathen Mesa Vistan that Lydia encountered!
"Go ahead, dash my expectations. Just as I had some hope for this town."
"Nice place. Did ya know yer walls're down?"
"'Course I like music, ya think I'm some sorta heathen'r somethin'?"
Lydia could have kissed Yvette Tan, but instead did what most Sims like even better.
"Come on, not even an electric violin?"
"I'm glad someone's enjoying this disaster of a conversation."
"Hey! I remember you at My Muse. I'm the other Nicole."
"I plan to open my own studio. Of course, it will be more avant garde, you know, with breakdancing instead of your more classical approach."
"I see!"
"Do you ever just break out whistling sometimes?"
Lydia: :)
Sure, Mesa Vistans might have to be dragged kicking and screaming, but they were actually quite taken with Lydia's dance studio.
To the point where a second level was added to accommodate Sarabande's now considerable clientele.
I was pleased that Mesa Vista's founder had some sense of culture, if not a lot of class.
So, after all that extra work getting Lydia to the point that she could "teach" dance, this *YAWN* was the result. Oh well, Sim and learn.
This was the uniform Lydia would have worn if teaching had been more hands-on. Though while writing this, I think next time she can Classic Dance with her clients for some cute teaching shots.
Anyway, Sarabande Dance Studio reached level 5, meaning Lydia had opened the Dance career!
"Yippee, I feel like I can fly!"
Back home for some R and R.
And what was more relaxing than enjoying your pet?
Yikes, I wouldn't want to mess with Baron looking like that.
Snarling and stinky - what wasn't to like?
Lydia used the big cash perk from Sarabande to fix up her house.
"I feel a tune coming on."
While I worked on fixing up the house to finish out the week, Jade Green from the hookah/inspiration household stopped by.
"Way to go, nice digs!"
"Thanks, you're a lifesaver. I have such a case of the munchies."
"So, have you found anyone worth woohooing yet?"
"I've been a little too busy to even think about a love life, let alone woohoo."
"Sure, I get it. When Hunter and I finally got around to it in our week, it was almost as if it were an afterthought..."
"Can we change the subject?"
"Sure. You choose."
"How do you feel about..?"
Can you guess what she asked? :p
Lydia still had some time to kill, and after her conversation with Jade, she decided to test the romantic waters with Jason Menon.
They liked each other well enough, though no bolts flew between them.
At this point, Lydia had bigger fish to fry anyway, and as luck would have it, she found her opening in Dance, but would have to wait until the following week before she could go to work.
In the meantime, that little rascal Baron topped the Pet Service career!
And since Lydia was too new to Mesa Vista to have done any shopping, let's see who she has chemistry with instead.
*Drumroll*
Gee, it's with every attached male in Mesa Vista, with the exception of Phil Jitmakusol.
We have:
Stephan Shin (Diane), Brandon London (Rebecka Rossi), Ryan Mazza (Madeleine), Gordon Wolosenko (Yvette Tan)
Ringo Wendland (Brittany), Zach Adams (Nikki?), Nemo Outside (Ciel)
Good going, Lydia!
"Shut up."
Btw, here is the fixed-up Palm Cottage. Not bad for a week's work without a job.
"Ruff!"
Whoops, except for Baron. Good doggie!
And this is where we'll leave Lydia aka simlili's simself, getting some well-deserved shut-eye.
*Whine*
Right, Baron too :)
Until next time, thanks for reading and Happy Simming!
BaCC quick stats:
Playable Sims: 90 (89 + 1 grave) - added Lydia Zarusoba (CAS)
Sim Multiplier: 34
Population: 3060
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I hope they're visible now?
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I may be lurking in all the wrong places, but it seems like almost all the challenges/stories I was following that don't fit into the shorter tumblr format have gone the way of the dodo (my own BaCC hasn't had a proper update since May of 2015 either!), so from where I'm sitting: you're updating, you're ahead of the game!
I'm a sucker for smustle shots; the ones with the professor, especially. Don't tell her she "ain't" still got it! And Nicole Dennis consistently losing, making those faces when she lost, then winding up back at the barre to brush up on the basics was very funny.
I scaled back to 3 day rotations and the community lot time mod has been too integral to my play for too long to ever do without, so I'll never get so much done in one round. But I do enjoy seeing your progress, with always a goal getting met.
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Over the years I've played challenges almost exclusively in my Sims game, and I definitely started the BaCC with the intention of reaching the goal, which IMO, would be almost impossible to do without exploiting game "features" such as time essentially standing still on community lots. Sometimes I think I would like to play a BaCC on a smaller scale that would allow more realism and still have an attainable goal. And I know many BaCC players like the framework of the challenge without worrying about reaching the goal at all. Another thing I like about the challenge is that it has forced me to expand my Sims' world beyond their house. Initially I chose week-long rotations because I didn't want to worry about keeping the seasons in sync, and looking back it was a godsend, because I also don't have to update as often, which has really become my sticking point, even though I love it. It's kind of a love/dread situation for me right now.
Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting! That Nicole Dennis has always struck me as such a show-off at My Muse, so I like to rub it in when she loses the dance contests.
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I can't remember where I am overall, but this is a first rotation so it doesn't matter that much anyway. :)
I have to say I have never had this much luck (or patience) with a venue lot. Especially not a hobby-oriented one. I may have to hunt back through the BACC for pointers, because I'm going to be running Riverblossom Hills as a small town from now on, with hopefully full rotations. (I rebuilt. There are no more extras.)
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When I played a bubbles & poker lot, the stars were near-impossible. Of course, the owner not having any friends yet because they were supposed to be a BACC founder had something to do with that. Especially because there were no skills involved and I was busy having the founder trying to dig up some funding. :)
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Fun to see that Mesa Vista is still alive. Great week for Lydia, I loved her!
I never noticed that the whistling is connected to the music&dance hobby, but probably that is because it's such a common hobby in all my hoods that EVERYBODY is whistling :)
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Glad you love Lydia too, I really enjoyed playing her!
My first clue with the whistling was the Outside girls at Uni did a lot of dancing and they were whistlers. I don't think Mesa Vista has more than a couple of other households that whistle, there are way many more tummy rubbers :)
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Oh the difficulty of figuring out possible side-challenges! I'll be in that boat with pretty much all of the spares from current Lakewood families. Curious to see what your decision might be.
It's pretty fun that we ended up doing Dance updates so close to each other, and independently. :)
I like the extra requirement of being able to instruct, it makes sense. Too bad the other Mesa Vistans aren't too much into this dancing thing! :D It's funny, for me the "talk about hobby" interaction has almost always been positive, regardless of the hobby. Then again, not sure if I've tried it with strangers.
But it seems that the dance studio is a success anyway. :) With a little persuasion, it's possible! Congrats on opening a position for Lydia!
Baron is a cutie. Though if I was that wolf, I'd be a bit afraid.
Romance isn't looking too good for Lydia, is it? Well, maybe next week she'll meet someone not so attached!
Well done once again, looking forward to more!
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I usually have pretty good luck with "talk about hobby" and thought it would be a fun way for newcomer Lydia to break the ice with potential clients, and I was really pretty shocked, then annoyed, then amused at the sheer number that had an aversion to music and dance! I don't know anyone who doesn't like music. Of course, I usually have my Sims ask about games, which goes over much better since they all have that interest due to playing so much chess or autonomously on their free computers :D
I find that even the basic barre is a strong Sim magnet, and as venues go, it worked really well.
Haha, her bolts panel also amused me! I see next week's biggest challenge for her will be finding someone eligible and decent to hook up with.
I was pretty tickled to see your last update had a dance studio too :)
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I can't say I've ever tried to run a dance studio, so it was interesting to see your attempt at it :)
I didn't know Hobby Lots were that well-equipped - enough stuff to keep a sim alive for days! I honestly had no idea :)
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It was my first dance studio and one of the easier venues I've tried, thanks to the ballet barre being a good Sims magnet :)
I've been to My Muse a few times, but didn't know until I played Lydia that you can stay there forever, although I don't think you can on most of the other ones. Something new to find out :D
Thanks for the nice comment, and Happy New Year!
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Sarabande is such a pretty name for the Dance Studio.
I'm sorry I'm reading her entry so late, this last simming hiatus lasted longer that any previous one!
What a start, the psychiatrist already, really, Lydia?? And she's doing the mirror thing, what an embarrassment she is!
I'm proud of her making the best of the music hobby lot, though. My Muse is actually quite good, unlike other hobby lots. I laughed at that professor winning the contest, they never win in my game. Good for you, professor!
Well, congratulations on unlocking that career, Lydia! Dance studios are not so easy, at least it wasn't easy to reach that level 5 for me, it felt like it lasted forever.
Glad to see you're updating these days and I have two more entries to read!
And I'll be ending this comment with the most important thing I wanted to say: Lydia if you want Phil Jitmakusol, go for it, girl! I like him too, I know he's not the prettiest sim, and he's vain enough to die his hair blond^^, but he's a great husband and father in one of my neighbourhoods.
(And at least with him she wouldn't be breaking a family :D)
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I'm so glad you like her, I think she's cute too! I had a really good time playing her, she definitely inspired her own first week :)
The dance studio was fun and pretty easy as far a venues go - Sims do love that barre'! Going to My Muse was a spur of the moment idea that really paid off.
Okay, I'll keep Phil in mind. I haven't played him before, but the shyness he exhibits around MV makes him pretty cute to me :)