Answering some questions:
@Metropolis Man , in a test save, I did try giving my sim the fear of fire trait (the sim went to the temple in selvadora and tried to walk through a trap, which induced the fear), but I still couldn't get a fire to start! Side note: are we allowed to have fears / wants turned on for these challenges? I wasn't sure about that per the general ruleset which said something about putting game options on default settings, and my default settings had that switched off.
I don't think the initial traits made too much of a difference, but Gordanna started off with a creative aspiration (for the muser trait), and also had cheerful, music lover, and foodie. The latter two probably gave her some bonus happiness due to her lifestyle of non-stop cooking and listening to music.
Re lot traits: The only lots in my game with Homey & Chef's Kitchen were either unaffordable or also came with the lot challenges Simple Living / Off-the-Grid. Otherwise, I would have tried to find a lot with one of those traits. However, I was very short on money, so maybe not. The lot trait that I actually wanted was Cursed
but apparently it's not in any of the worlds I own (or any world?)
@Elinoee , I got 3000 aspiration points by 11:54 PM on Sunday and finished signing up for L4 of the culinary career by 12:02 AM on Monday (I recall this vividly because I was very worried that I had been a few sim minutes too slow). However, my sim's next shift was in 18 hours (Monday at 6PM), so she went to work that day, got promoted to L5, then went to work Friday and Saturday, where she got promoted to L6 and L7. I haven't tested this, but maybe as long as it's at least 12 hours before, it's fine?
Some less frequently cited aspiration points that are easy to get ("Search for information on Vampire," worth 300 points & nearly instantaneous & the first two milestones for eco-innovator, also worth more than the usual.) I also bought some rain collectors so I could sell excess water back to the grid.
