February 09, 2010 - A Week In Pobreza (Days 1-3)

*So today I created some families (some might show up in the official neighborhood, most are just fillers created by EA) and I decided to have the Langston family be my testers. I'm really excited to show you this part of New Haiven because for the most part, everything turned out like I hoped it would. A lot of places in Pobreza can be accessed by merely walking, cars aren't really necessary (which is why it annoys me when the carpool to take Selma to her job when it was only a few steps away). And unfortunately, the daycare doesn't work as I thought it would; it would still prove to be handy if you had a child that needed entertaining or if you had a child who could watch over the toddler/baby in the household. It appears you can't just drop off infants and toddlers without being left with a child or older.*

Welcome to Pobreza, New Haiven!

A city that was once full of life is now a community stricken of poverty and neglect. Formerly named Spruceville, it has been renamed by City Hall to match its current financial state. Full of crime and petty theft, Pobreza is far from the ideal place to live. It also has some shady characters. Mix that all up with a suspicious warehouse and an understaffed police department, and you have a rather unsafe town.

*some background*

Selma (Marx) Langston wasn't always poor and didn't always live in slums. In fact, how she got to Pobreza is actually a very long story. Selma was in love with a man named Lucas Langston, and they met each other in Sunset Valley. Amazingly enough, the were both very Flirty and Commitment-phobes. Selma and Lucas tried having an open relationship, but they got jealous very easily. They made a promise to battle their commitment phobias together for the sake of love. They got married and moved into a nice family home. They were considered upper-middle class by the residents of Sunset Valley.
Then, disaster struck. Lucas was staying "at work" late for many nights; sometimes he wouldn't make it back in until 4AM. Selma tried to let him "sew his wild oats" for as long as she could until she found out she was pregnant with his child; then she confronted him about his assumed infidelity. He denied it, and Selma moved into her mother's home. While Selma was staying at her mother's abode, Lucas set the house on fire by accident, leaving nothing but ashes and dust behind. Of course, Lucas perished in the fire. Selma found out when the Sunset Valley fire department contacted her. As soon as she got the news, she went into a deep bout of depression, even threatening to run away to Riverview to start anew. She gave birth to Lily a day before expected, making her premature. (think: day= month) Thanks to Selma's healthy Vegetarian diet however, Lily was born healthy, even though she was slightly underweight. For such a Lucky girl, Selma sure didn't feel lucky at all. A few days after Lily was born, she found out that her husband made investments in a local criminal scam, and the Police took all of Selma and Lucas' illegally-acquired savings leaving her only $17,000. On the bright side...Lucas wasn't lying when he said he wasn't having an affair. With what little money she had, she picked up her things and headed to Pobreza, New Haiven in hopes that maybe things will turn out right the second time around.

This is the place that Selma and Lily Langston dwell in. It has roaches in the front yard, and very little space, but it was pretty cheap!
Selma still has some job-hunting to do, so I sent her out to the Day Spa to apply as a receptionist. But it looks like Selma forgot something. Or more accurately, someone.

"...Mama?"

"Lily!" Selma ran back to her trailer after forgetting about poor Lily.

"But where can I put you? I can't take you with me..." Selma thought for a second. What was that one place she once read about in the newspaper ads?
"Oh yeah, the Plumb Daycare Center! How 'bout it Lily Pad?" She said, smiling at Lily. Her only reply was a giggle.

"This is...interesting." She said aloud. This is by far the cheeriest place she has come across in Pobreza, but that's not saying much. It's also the cleanest (but again, not saying much). The siding was stark white and the steps looked like they were cleaned regularly, but the weeds and the dead plants concerned her slightly. Would this be a good place to leave her child?

"Wow, this is nice!" She exclaimed. Everything looked so neat and orderly, which pleased her Perfectionist side. Too bad that the daycare is closed.
"I guess I'll just have to take you back home for a bit, Lily Pad." she sighed. Baby sitters were so expensive nowadays, and it's bad enough that she has to use them while she's at work. Thankfully, Lily won't be a toddler for much longer.

After taking Lily back home and leaving her with a sitter, Selma made her way to the Pobreza Day Spa. She got the job almost immediately after walking in; who says that job shortages are a bad thing after all?

Selma went back home and got Lily so they could go to the Bookstore together. She wanted to get Lily some developmental books, but she wound up chatting with a few of Pobreza's "odd" residents.

She got along rather well with Stephen Braxx, the resident bad-boy (who still lives with his sister) but his hot-headedness annoyed her. One minute, they were flirting, and the next, he was yelling profanities at her right in front of her daughter! No thank you!

Then there was Donovan Delano, who was also employed in the Criminal career track. Boy oh boy, did he make her heart flutter! But when she found out he was a married man, she ruled him out. Maybe the old Selma would have went for the challenge, but now that Selma has a daughter, she's matured a lot since then. And evil or not, Donovan seemed to love his wife quite a bit.

Finally, Lily broke free of Selma's grasp with her mastered squirming technique. It's a good thing too, because Lily was getting rather bored watching her mother talk to random men.

She then started talking to Clive Harper which was going pretty well until he had the nerve to complain about and criticize her daughter who was innocently playing with her toy! Selma fought back by calling him a baby, and then quickly walked away before she had the urge to declare him a nemesis.

Selma took Lily back home because it was getting late and she had a date with Stephen. Even though he was rather hot-headed, she decided to try and keep her mind off of that. Stephen wasn't her type and his life of crime and foul mouth wouldn't be a good influence on Lily, but she was getting lonely. A bit of socialization would do her well.

Selma and Stephen made their way to Mike's Bar for their "date". She heard the profanities in the music blasting from the stereo, and was very glad that she decided to leave Lily at home.

For the most part, their date was fun. They played some foosball and drank a few glasses of juice. But for Selma who was a recovering juice-a-holic (she became addicted shortly after Lily was born), "a few glasses quickly became a few bottles.

And "a few bottles" quickly became "a few too many" bottles.

---Next Day---

"Where am I?" Selma mumbled to herself.
She passed out at Mike's Bar, still feeling slightly intoxicated with juice. Stephen was nowhere to be found; in fact, no one was there. She looked at the clock: 7AM.
"7AM...oh no...LILY!!!"

With as much energy as she could muster, she ran back home to Lily and hoped that the babysitter didn't have a hefty fee for her to pay.

And just in time too, because as usual, the sitter is crappy.
After changing Lily's diaper and putting her to bed, Selma went into the kitchen to have a snack before work.

Unfortunately, she passed out in the kitchen in between taking care of Lily and trying to eat.

After Lily settled down, it was already 11AM and she barely had time to eat, let alone nap.
She later passed out again outside of the day spa; her co-workers found her and woke her up. She was late and hungover for her first day of work!

When she got home from work, she dismissed the babysitter and promptly passed out. The babysitter didn't even bother to wake her; she just left without a sound. Thankfully, Lily's screams woke her up.

After taking care of Lily again, Selma finally got to sleep on her bed for the first time since she's moved to Pobreza. This would prove to be an interesting week.

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This was an interesting update! So before I tell you what wasn't staged, I think it'd be easier if I tell you what was staged:

1. The meet-up at Mike's bar
2. The history of Selma and Lily

That about narrows it down! Lol! She actually did pass out in front of the Day Spa, and at the bar, and twice at home; she actually had me worrying for a bit. That is the last time she's going out partying! The background is something I actually wanted to play out in-game for this testing, but I decided that would be too much work just for a neighborhood test. So that would have been their background/history if it weren't for the fact that they're CAS sims. ;)
And for some reason, none of the sims were drawn to the bar (or anywhere else for that matter), but they all frolicked to the bookstore. Hmm....are these criminals in disguise, or nerds in disguise?

This isn't exactly what I planned for a tour, but I think it would work out. Instead of showing buildings and the description of those buildings, it would show how sims in Pobreza live. That being said, do you think your guys' sims would last a week in Pobreza? I actually doubt that Selma and Lily will, lol! And man, I wish that roaches carried diseases like they do in real life...