A Distraction (Big Brother)

[hazelnut]

Well, with the relational roller coaster that is India, I can't say I'm surprised she is leaving.  In fact, I'm mildly surprised she made it this far...

So am I.  The house is going to be a less interesting place without her, though.

Sorry I have not commented recently but I have been reading.

You really don't need to aplogise.  Thank you for being such a devoted reader .

Week 10: Brilliant shot of Grim's bleak world. How did you get the shot of the housemates projected on to his TV screen?

Thanks .  I built Grim's world for my 4x4 dynasty and enjoyed revisiting it.

Spoiler: Don't read if you'd rather keep Grimworld a mystery (click to show/hide)

It's actually inside a huge building in Barnacle Bay.  I cheated for the TV screen picture - it's Photoshopped.

I took a look at your entries in the recent MTS competition and they are fantastic - what a brilliant builder you are.  I especially loved the Slip Inn.  So so real.  I love building too and it is one the reasons I have stayed playing Sims 3 and not moving on to Sims 4.

Wow, I'm blushing    .  Thanks again.  The Anchor Inn (The Slip reworked for a flat lot) is available for download at MTS and on the Exchange, if you're interested.

Quite a lot of people seem to think that Sims 4 is better than 3 for building.  It certainly has some features, like being able to pick up a building and move it around the lot or even transfer it to a smaller one, that I'd really like to have in Sims 3.  On the other hand, I prefer the look of 3 and there are still loads of things I want to try, like object creation and maybe even creating a world (I have plenty of ideas but a shortage of time ).

[chetanhaobijam]

Sad to see India leave the house. Hoping she have a great life outside the house. Any good luck to the remaining members/contestants in the house.

[hazelnut]

Sad to see India leave the house. Hoping she have a great life outside the house. Any good luck to the remaining members/contestants in the house.

Thanks   I think everyone's favourite Sim has been voted off now


Week 13
 
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Week 13 starts with the arrival of four new, if temporary, housemates: Aladdin the Arabian (who is fast and clever but nervous), Eleri the Welsh cob (who is playful and friendly but hates jumping), Rose the Anglo-Arab (obedient, quiet and agile) and Jean-Pierre the Selle Français (neat, brave and ornery).

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As soon as they’re awake – but still in their nightclothes – Flu and Terry go outside to meet the horses.  Terry seems unexcited and soon wanders off in search of breakfast.  Kind-hearted Flu unsaddles all four horses before he, too, goes back indoors.

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Di the night owl was up late last night, making the most of the pool before it was fenced off again.  So it’s several hours later when she makes her way out into the garden…

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…and she and Aladdin form the first human-equine relationship.

With the delights of the HoH’s suite to distract her (including the TV!) Lea is the last to meet the horses.

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She stays out there for the rest of the day (well, it is a technology-free zone), feeding treats and grooming, and is friends with both mares by the evening.

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(No, Eleri, the ghostly one left weeks ago.)

But after Monday’s promising start, the human housemates go back to their usual chatting, reading and trying to get into the HoH suite, while the horses are largely left to their own devices.  They’re showing a distinct tendency to become nocturnal, which at least gives me something to watch while the humans are sleeping, particularly as they all seem keen to learn new skills.

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By the end of Wednesday, all of the horses have at least one skill point, while none of the humans has even tried sitting on a horse.  But on Thursday, I notice something interesting – each of the humans has the strongest relationship with a different horse (even though most are pretty weak acquaintanceships.  The horses are all friends with each other).  So, once everyone’s awake and fed, I give each of the humans a single command – to mount their favourite horse.  Let’s see what happens.

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Flu seems to settle straight into it and sets off on a tour of the grounds.  There’s no blue bar over his head, though.

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The women seem less happy…

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…and it’s not long before Di dismounts…

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…and heads for the hot tub.

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Amazingly, Flu and Jean-Pierre are jumping, although Flu still has no learning bar.  Is this a new level of resistance to skilling or just a glitch?  Even though Jean-Pierre seems to be taking the lead, shouldn't they both be improving their performance?

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Eleri decides she’s had enough and bucks poor Lea off.

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That’s better!

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Flu and Terry sit on their respective mounts for several hours longer, doing nothing in particular, then they too give up.  No-one’s learned to ride.  Sims 1, Hazel 0.

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[hazelnut]

But then, as night falls, Lea goes back outside and saddles Jean-Pierre…

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…and shortly afterwards…

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So the lack of a skilling bar was just a glitch.  Lea is HoH again – but I wonder how close Flu was to his first point?

The following morning, a familiar figure arrives to take the horses back to their stables.

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They’ve certainly made the most of their time in the house.

Horse skills
Aladdin: racing 4, jumping 3
Jean-Pierre: racing 3, jumping 3
Rose: racing 3
Eleri: racing 2


Flu and Terry are up for eviction this week.  Neither of them makes any particular effort to get round the voters.

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As the sun sets on Saturday evening, they both seem keen to make the most of what may be their last night in the BB house.

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Flu, uncharacteristically, stays up even later than Di, diving, swimming and finally just staring moodily down at the city.

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Is he thinking about what he'll miss if he's voted off or is he keen to leave the house?  Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

Sunday teatime arrives and, with it, the last voting session.  I decide they deserve to sit at the table.

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Again, it’s a tie – so Lea uses her casing vote and Flu is out  .

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Is that because he has to venture out into the world again after a summer spent safely within the house’s walls – or is it simply a reaction to the mess?  The others are concerned…

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…and as Flu walks into the kitchen area to make his phone call, they start tidying up.

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For the second time this week, an evicted housemate returns.

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Of course, you couldn’t expect these two to have a normal reunion.

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Flu looks briefly startled, then sees the joke.

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And now it’s an all-female household.

[PeregrineTook]

Girl power, as the Spice Girls would say.
No real favorites at this point, just interested to see how it all plays out.  Hopefully, they won't have to compete with those horses, because the equine gift for skilling was rather impressive  ;=)

[hazelnut]

Yep, the horses seemed really keen to learn.  Come to think of it, Zorro in The Island should also have been Head of House .


Week 14(ish) and a catch-up

The week starts with another unexpected visitor.

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I’m sure athletic Di could make mincemeat of any burglar but all she does is stand there moaning about the noise.   One of Bridgeport’s finest puts in an appearance soon afterwards but fails to catch the burglar despite walking right past her.  While the other two go back to bed, Lea works on her charisma.

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In the morning, they find that the living room has acquired street art kits, which get ignored.  Of course.

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After a few hours of this, I order them to start a floor mural each and they all manage to pick up a single street art point before finishing.

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And that’s it.  Skilling over for the week.

The back-up plan is laser rhythm-a-con.

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Again, nothing happens.  Well, nothing skill-related.  There’s plenty of chatting, skinny-dipping and trying to get into the HoH suite.

So I go back to the beginning of week 14, leave out street art bags and laser rhythm-a-cons and decide that the first one to get a point will be Head of House.  Or even the first one to show any interest in a skilling object.  In fact, I restart several times.  Nothing.  So eventually, it’s back to the original file.  I settle down with a book and leave them to it, apart from when I have to intervene to get rid of pop-ups or deal with Sims who are frozen or have reset to outside the gate (this is becoming increasingly frequent).  At the end of another five weeks,  they are all three-star celebrities and Di is good friends with the other two.  Terry and Lea are mostly friends but their relationship is bumpier, because of Lea’s tendency to moan about technology and Terry’s complaints about supernaturals.  They’ve all picked up points in charisma and social networking but none in the skills they’re supposed to be learning.  No surprises there.

At this point, I give up and give them all a free pass into the final round.


Well, that was a singularly boring few weeks in the BB house.  Has anything more exciting been happening in the outside world?  I decide it’s time to take a tour of Bridgeport and catch up with the evicted housemates.  I didn’t recognise Flu.

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Apparently, he’s now working as a pianist.  Equally improbably, shy Sara is now a mixologist.

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His Lordship has a new hobby…

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…and Burl has a baby daughter.

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Alys’ ex, Jack, came to visit.

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(OK, I set that one up – I moved him in with her when she left the house).  Their relationship seems to have moved on quite nicely since then.

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But the biggest surprise is Georgie and Vish.  I track them down outside the diner, apparently on a date.

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And yes, their relationship status is boyfriend/girlfriend.  They look good together .

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[Malley]

I am so glad you decided to have another go at the big brother/island challenge! Bookmarked! And I was heartbroken when sage was kicked out. I still love him from the Who's Your Daddy challenge 😊

[PeregrineTook]

Good heavens!  You have the most skill resistant Sims in history!
Hindsight being 20/20, perhaps it would have been a good choice to purchase the neighboring lot and setting up the HoH suite there to avoid all the clamoring outside the suite to get in and enjoy all the goodies?  Of course, that would make social interactions amongst the household challenging.
Still, enjoying that you are keeping this going and I hope that someone actually manages to win  ;=)

[hazelnut]

I am so glad you decided to have another go at the big brother/island challenge! Bookmarked! And I was heartbroken when sage was kicked out. I still love him from the Who's Your Daddy challenge 😊

Sage was one of my favourites, too.

Good heavens!  You have the most skill resistant Sims in history!

I know!   It was funny to start with but it's gone past a joke recently.  The main reason why this update's taken such a long time is that I had to go off and do something else for a couple of weeks.  I couldn't face watching them not-skilling any more.

I hope that someone actually manages to win  ;=)

Me too .

[hazelnut]

Week 15
Week 20-something

The Final Week

The reward for getting to the final is a holiday – a week away from the BB house.  Di is the first to investigate the weird metal thing that’s appeared on the front lawn.  She gets there just as an oddly-dressed, blue-haired man steps out of it.

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Emit seems at least as interested in early 21st century flora as Di is in the glowing whatever-it-is…

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…and as Di steps into the portal, he starts analysing the weeds in the lawn.

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Despite walking out of the front door about half an hour after Di, Terry manages to arrive in the future at the same time.

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They appear to be trying out some new futuristic dance moves.  Somehow, I don’t think they’ll catch on  .

Lea arrives a little later, looking worried.  Come to think of it, the future probably isn’t the ideal holiday destination for a technophobe.

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But it seems that everything’s OK after all.

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By the time Emit arrives, the other two are bored of the roof garden and wander off to see what else Oasis Landing has to offer.

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Lea takes the chance to acquire another friend – and another charisma point.

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Terry is pleased to find that pool tables haven’t changed much over the centuries…

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…and, to Di's delight, hot tubs have hardly changed at all.

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She’s still relaxing when Lea and Terry get together to discuss their impressions of their first day in the future.

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She emerges just in time for a late dinner – as do the local paparazzi.

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It seems that re-runs of old reality TV shows are a growing trend in Oasis Landing and they’ve been looking forward to meeting some real olde worlde contestantes.

Oddly, Di the night owl is quite worn out by the attention and decides to get an early night…

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…little knowing that Mr E Revelart has followed her into her bedroom.  Being charitable, maybe that’s supposed to be his bed.  Or maybe he’s just a stalker.

Terry finds an uninhabited room and settles down.  She seems to be keeping a keen lookout for intruders, though (and who can blame her?)

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Lea is the last of the time travellers to retire for the night.  She wanders around the house for quite a while trying to find a free bed, before reluctantly concluding that there isn’t one.  So she climbs in with Di.

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No wonder Di’s sleeping with her eyes open.

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[chetanhaobijam]

Great update. A holiday vacation to the future. I wonder how Di is sleeping with eyes open. Might be day dreaming about riches. Looking forward for next update.

Sent from my Micromax A94 using Tapatalk

[PeregrineTook]

I disagree.  I think those futuristic dance moves are going to be all the rage!
A nice update.  Having the crew go for a vacation gives us a nice chance to see them in a whole new way.

[hazelnut]

Thanks

Great update. A holiday vacation to the future. I wonder how Di is sleeping with eyes open. Might be day dreaming about riches. Looking forward for next update.

I've seen Sims sleep with their eyes half-open before but that is just spooky .

I disagree.  I think those futuristic dance moves are going to be all the rage!
A nice update.  Having the crew go for a vacation gives us a nice chance to see them in a whole new way.

I'd always planned for the last round to be set in the future.  Now, knowing this lot, it seems an even better idea - at last, a skill they can learn without really trying! 

[hazelnut]

Lea, slightly surprisingly, isn’t bothered by most of the futuristic technology and is happy to have found a new supply of books.

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She gets upset by Plumbots, though – which is a pity, since at least two of the paparazzi are Plumbots and several others seem to turn up regularly to chat or provide the in-house entertainment.

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On Tuesday, she has her clothes stolen while skinnydipping in the hot tub and adds another negative moodlet to her almost-constant technophobia – although the embarrassment doesn’t seem to be enough to spur her into changing her clothes  .

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Di has a different problem: she never gets an undisturbed night.  The other two are taking it in turns to share her dream pod.

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There are no signs that anyone’s learning advanced technology, although I don’t see how they can avoid picking it up.  Maybe it’s going to be like riding was the other week and they are skilling even though there are no blue bars over their heads.

And sure enough, on Wednesday evening, there’s a pop-up.  Di has reached level 1.

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Lea isn’t far behind.  Her pop-up appears early the following morning, while she’s making breakfast.

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She’s still in her towel.  Using the dream pods and bathrooms doesn’t seem to be triggering a clothes change.

Terry finally reaches level 1 in the early hours of Friday morning, in her sleep.

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She’s developed a passion for the food synthesiser, although it seems like a one-sided relationship .

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She makes far more meals than the household can eat.  At this rate, she ought to be overtaking the other two very soon.  Is she telling them so over breakfast?

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Di looks as though she has a Cunning Plan to foil her, although it’s not clear what.  As usual, she spends most of the day working out…

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…while Lea finds a Plumbot-free zone and settles down with another book.

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All three are up very early on their final morning in Oasis Landing.  Are they trying to pick up some last-minute Advanced Technology skill?

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Of course not  .

As eight o’clock approaches, I send them all up to the roof.

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It’s time to return to the present.  In nightclothes or a towel  .

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Terry and Lea take one last look at Oasis Landing and then follow Di into the portal.

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Lea seems to have had another bad trip.

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Could have been worse, I suppose.  At least she’s not showing any symptoms of time paradox sickness.  And they’re all back in their everyday clothes.

[hazelnut]

A few hours later, the evictees return to the Big Brother house.

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Friendly Di autonomously goes out to greet them.

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At 5pm, everyone gathers in the sitting area for the very last time.

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Not for a vote – the winner will be decided purely on advanced technology skill (and I’ve been very carefully avoiding looking at their skill journals.  I have my suspicions about the winner but don’t actually know.)

Who will it be?

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Terry’s burst of food programming over the last two days was too little, too late.  She’s still on a low level 1.

Lea’s done better.  Despite her hatred of all things technological, she’s halfway to level 2.

But the clear winner, just short of her second skill point, is Di.

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(I was right.)

Time to party!

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India congratulates the winner...

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…Simon demonstrates his, erm, unique dancing style again…

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…while Ro, as usual, dances to her own tune.

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Vish and Georgie slow-dance a little awkwardly…

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…and even The One Who Must Not Be Named gets into the party spirit.

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It seems like as good a place as any to leave the housemates, so this is…

         THE END