1970s: Matters of the heart
There are parts of university life that Michael does not tell Linda about. Such as the wild keg-parties they throw at the weekends. In a way they remind him of the partys in the park back home, in others they are far different. Wilder, more diverse, and a lot more fun when you don't need to be sober enough to sneak back home after.
He also doesn't tell Linda about all the girls he meets. Some of them really cute, others really smart. He likes the cute ones, but have to admit that he's more drawn to the smart ones. A lot of them are both cute and smart. He's not cheating, just chatting. He's sure that when he sees Linda again come summer things will be just as they were. He hopes at least.
But as his first term is starting to come to an end, and term papers and tests are starting to pile up, Michael is wishing he hadn't spent so much time on protests, debates and parties. Now he's worried he'll even pass his courses.
He also doesn't tell Linda about all the girls he meets. Some of them really cute, others really smart. He likes the cute ones, but have to admit that he's more drawn to the smart ones. A lot of them are both cute and smart. He's not cheating, just chatting. He's sure that when he sees Linda again come summer things will be just as they were. He hopes at least.
But as his first term is starting to come to an end, and term papers and tests are starting to pile up, Michael is wishing he hadn't spent so much time on protests, debates and parties. Now he's worried he'll even pass his courses.
Still some of the protests has paid off. The environmental groups have made the universities plant more trees around campus, and the difference in air-quality is noticable. It was quite fun having a debate showdown surrounded the trees.
On the morning of his final exam, Michael is so convinced he'll fail that he feels nauseous. After forcing down half a sandwich he gives up on eating, and instead heads over to the exam building, drawing deep breaths to steady himself.
Once it's over, and with four hours to the next horrible exam, Michael again skips food. Instead he does something which has always calmed him in the past. He goes fishing. The weight of the fishing rod in his hand, the sound of the water, the anticipation of the fish. For a little while at least he can forget the stress.
He hadn't needed to worry. Once the tests are graded and the results are in, Michael has not failed, but aced his courses for the semester.
While Michael is working on his grades at Britechester, life moves on at home as well. With all kids at school during the day, the housewives of Oasis Springs takes turns going over to each other, officially to help with housework but mostly just to hang out and chat when there is no one in the house occupying their time any more.
On the morning of his final exam, Michael is so convinced he'll fail that he feels nauseous. After forcing down half a sandwich he gives up on eating, and instead heads over to the exam building, drawing deep breaths to steady himself.
Once it's over, and with four hours to the next horrible exam, Michael again skips food. Instead he does something which has always calmed him in the past. He goes fishing. The weight of the fishing rod in his hand, the sound of the water, the anticipation of the fish. For a little while at least he can forget the stress.
He hadn't needed to worry. Once the tests are graded and the results are in, Michael has not failed, but aced his courses for the semester.
While Michael is working on his grades at Britechester, life moves on at home as well. With all kids at school during the day, the housewives of Oasis Springs takes turns going over to each other, officially to help with housework but mostly just to hang out and chat when there is no one in the house occupying their time any more.
At Betty's and Thomas, the evenings are split between eating dinner, homework, and mediating between Carl's pro-government, anti-protests views and Susan's increasing environmentalism.
In school, Susan is the studious one, but also the one who is part of organising protests, such as the tree-pose protests to symbolise the importance of saving trees from being cut down and argue that more needs to be planned. Carl, embarrassed, spend that day in the school gym. It's where he prefers to be normally anyway.
It's how he fail to notice Susan falling in love with one of, in his opinion, worst guys at school. Stuck up and mean, in his view. Strong-willed and dreamy, in Susan's. So what if she has to apologise for winning a bowling game at times to keep him happy? Men are like that, aren't they? She should have known better than to win. She could just let him win. And anyway, after she apologizes he rewards her with his attention and that makes it all worth it. Especially when she receives her very first kiss and if things are moving fast it's because Tony is older and more experienced, and she doesn't want to appear to be a baby, does she? Carl thinks his sister is stupid, but as annoying as she is he mostly worries about her. She doesn't. Tony just asked her to go with him to prom, and that means she can go a year earlier than she would normally. How can that not be a good thing?
It's how he fail to notice Susan falling in love with one of, in his opinion, worst guys at school. Stuck up and mean, in his view. Strong-willed and dreamy, in Susan's. So what if she has to apologise for winning a bowling game at times to keep him happy? Men are like that, aren't they? She should have known better than to win. She could just let him win. And anyway, after she apologizes he rewards her with his attention and that makes it all worth it. Especially when she receives her very first kiss and if things are moving fast it's because Tony is older and more experienced, and she doesn't want to appear to be a baby, does she? Carl thinks his sister is stupid, but as annoying as she is he mostly worries about her. She doesn't. Tony just asked her to go with him to prom, and that means she can go a year earlier than she would normally. How can that not be a good thing?
Hehe I like "Tree-pose". I usually do 4 classes for 3 semesters for my sims but it reminds me too much of real college xD.
ReplyDeleteI went with 3 classes for 4 weeks for Michael to be less stressed, it also worked well timewise and let me play the other characters too a bit. And I had to do something with that silly pose, and protests were a thing, so why not?
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