Grey Sims

I'm the leader of the Grey Sims Society and even I must say, we suck! We do nothing, sometimes we meet and take advantage of discounts, but the group isn't active enough.

Our members are: myself; Rayne Wilsonoff; Ajani Wilsonoff; Darrel Kent; Elle Kent; Ellsworth Dawson; Jan Dawson. Seven total sims though some are more involved than others.

There are more things we can do, we can meet for meals, nights out enjoying bowling (though some may enjoy playing bridge and poker more, I wonder where we would go play cards)

I vote that we should take a vacation together, that would help in bonding. I will ask the members about it.

Love

I think I love this man! I think I love this Jesse and his son Bill. But, now what do I do? Do I tell him? Keep it inside?

Good news, they are immigrating! I am so excited I can hardly breathe!

Leaving

I found this photo of the last dinner we had as a family before Fredic moved to Palatial Heights to be with his girlfriend. It's hard thinking that my children are adults now. My two oldests, Cole and Patricia are doing well. Patricia started a production studio and her new soap opera, Ceder Pointe, is going very well I must say. Cole is in Simborough still chasing the ladies, he is very much his mother's child. Fredic is now in Palatial Heights and thankfully Fiona stayed here. I wonder if her new male friend will move here?

Trying

I am finishing my senior year and trying to concentrate. I wonder if I should ask Jesse to immigrate? I would love to see him more and maybe even take our relationship to another level.

Hood Council Note: Publishing Hood Council Meetings

The online hood council meetings are not going well-residents are not visiting the online forum and there isn't much incentive to maintain the forum. Instead we're going to publish the notes of the hood council meetings. This will be done on the website-not a blog type posting-but actual minutes of the meetings and concerns raised.

CRUSH

I have a crush on Jesse. He's so sweet and nice and cute, he has a kid, but he's adopted and is so cute. I wonder if he will visit me again? Maybe we could take a vacation together-would that be too forward? I miss him already. I wonder if he likes me this much too.

I'm visiting him and his family for a few days, I hope they will like me.

Moving on

I finished my senior year in university and am currently applying for immigration to another hood. I'm hoping I can make a real difference in the hood there. I am also trying to see where my relationship with Gin will lead. Actually, I am moving to Palatial Heights. I hope she isn't playing with my heart. I do love this woman so much.

Travels

With the new deal, I find myself spending a lot of time discussing travel plans with residents and customers who visit The Centre. We may have to place an ad for a travel director. The sim would be in charge of giving direction for travels, selling packages, leading tours to our three sister destinations and around Apple Valley as well. Must look at our budget.

Visits

Jesse is coming to visit me. I am so excited! I wonder if he will think I'm attractive. O, wow. I can hardly think-I've been rushing trying to finish my projects before the big semester break so I can spend time with him and not worry about school.

New Woman

I started chatting with this model-she's older than me, but very cute. I want to see her, but will she be disgusted with my youth?

Emmigration

Emmigration has become a large cause of our population decreasing. I must send a personal letter to those hoods that accepted our residents with open arms and thank them for thier hospitality. I hope Apple Valley will be able to do the same for them when the time comes. I know that in a few simweeks, we will need to accept immigrants for our residents to successfully marry and to increase the gene pool. Currently there are few families that are not related, in fact, my dear Fiona is in need of a beau!

Dean's List

Made the dean's list my first year at university-it was hard-always studying and running to classes, but in the end it will be worth it-especially when companies see my resume and offer me a lawyer's job and I become hood president.

Generations

So many Kent kin at university-we're all so smart. So smart! So smart are we! Ha Ha Ha! Ok, I've been chatting online with a nice woman, she's older but she doesn't mind that I'm younger ^_^ Maybe I'll see her one day.

Representing

I am taking my new position as congresswoman very seriously. I spend my days giving speeches at local schools and events, gathering research and representing Apple Valley in the greater city.



I feel like I'm experiencing my second life-the twins are off in college and my career is booming, my body is nice and in shape, I'm not as old as the other political players, but age is creeping up on me.

Moving on Up!

I am moving on up in my career!!! I was elected to the congress. I will mostly spend my time covering Apple Valley from the local office. That means I have more time to networking with neighbors gather and keep political support.



We should celebrate! A trip to my ancestoral home of Tiki Island? Better yet, let's buy a vacation home!

We're Off!!!!

Fiona and I are off to university!!! I can't wait! We both got accepted and we have scholarships, mom said that we will do well. Fiona has it already mapped out-she wants to major in political science, me...well, I'm not sure yet...I rather have some pratical skills-maybe cashiering or sales or restocking. I don't want to own a business, but I wouldn't mind working for a local business...I wonder what mom would say.

Hood Council Note: Hood President Report

Update on my progress this term-I must say, things are going rather well.

Construct a Bank

• Add bank office at The Centre.

Re-Establish fines/community service for conflicts

• Construction of jail .


• Find Jailor: Interiem jailor will be Jarvis Forrester-Miller.


• Update Fines


• Create a process for punishing residents and townies.


• Renovate The Centre to add a courthouse.

Increase tourism

• Order additional custom objects: maps, cups, postcards, poster prints, trinkets, etc. Also get map created of the hood to hang in the Welcome Center instead of the TV.


• Keep online Office of Tourism updated with flights and events.


• Hold raffle for a free trip to Apple Valley. Including airfare, accomadations, food, and spending money. ($5000)


• Create a Apple Valley Flag

Change timetable

• Follow Baleen Island's way of keeping time: instead of simdays, use Season # Simday #

Further relationship with affliates

• Email/chat with spokessims from affliate hoods more often


• Travel to affliate hoods

The End?

I am out of a job...well, I declined the job offer to join the chef staff at Tati's and instead joined Happy Burgz as a drive thru manager. The hours are shorter unfortunately the pay is too.

Hood Council Note: New Deal

Apple Valley will sign the new deal allowing access to popular vacation locales. As a result, the hood council has voted not to resume rotation until after the new deal is finalized. We're at a great point-simMonday-to resume a new deal. We're expecting a great deal of residents to take advantage of the new deal and plan vacations for thier family. We don't know as much about the vaction homes option, but we're exploring levying a tax on such luxury items.

Chess Champion

I wanna be a chess champion...maybe a channel surfer champion...mom says that I am aimless, I think that I have goals...I just don't know them yet.

Hood Council Note: Networking

I've been networking with residents of the hood, basically having espresso, chatting with them in the park or in stores. Anything to see how the pulse of the hood is going. Making sure that all concerns are being voiced and met. We have re-established the online forum for hood council meetings. It was a good place to sort out ideas and residents could submit thier concerns without fear. My goals are going along nicely, we have a nice surplus in the budget which means we can afford to be aggressive with our plans.

Hood Council Note: Population

The population is decreasing. It's nothing to be concerned over especially since Apple Valley totes a philosphy of quality over quanity. SimMonday started with 81 sims, we end this term (simSaturday) with 66 sims. The decrease of growth has come mostly from death: many sims were elders on thier last leg (accounting for 33% of the loss), there was a tragic accident (20%), and a suspicious death; then there were several families/sims that emmigrated to other hoods including Simmington Hills, Harper's Cove and Riverdale. Couple that with the low birth rate. Though I do think Apple Valley will approach another plateau soon.

ME!

School is going great, but my life is getting much better! I have been chatting online with a guy from a nearby hood...the formal was nice, there wasn't a lot of guys...though Tobi did talk to me a lot, he's cute but...I don't know if mom would approve. Our goals are a bit different as well and since I want to become the next spokesim, I must devote my time and energy to that.

Wow

Wow! The most amazing thing happened. I met a really hot girl! She's older than me and will be going to university soon, but wow! So hot! Cliantha, nice name for a hot girl! Maybe I will try and ask for her number, she said that she'll be at the formal, maybe we can dance there and fall in love. Hot!

Boys!

There are not many eligible boys in the hood. I wonder where I will find my husband! Apparently not here! We'll see, the High School Formal is this simday and I am excited, I have a cute dress and will get my hair styled and maybe there will be other boys there...it doesn't matter too much right now, I'm focused on work and school and building skills and relationships. Sometimes mom lets me go along with her to The Centre and listen to the meetings and observe her work. It's neccessary since I want to be the hood president like her...one day.

Hood Council Note: Food Expo

The kickoff ceremony for the Food Expo has begun! I gave a speech and introduced some key players. Thankfully, the Food Expo is pretty standard in Apple Valley, we've been participating for so long that things run like clockwork. I've been trying to encourage other hoods to participate in the Food Expo as well, who knows, maybe we'll have the honor of hosting the Expo again someday...we'll see.

Newspaper

Should we publish the paper online? Clark wants more exposure than the local newspaper, hihi, too bad he didn't marry a Kent, then he'd be Clark Kent-hahaha!

He already manages the website now and he's the correspondant for STAR, but I suppose an online version of the paper won't hurt...I guess.



We're waiting on our customized paper dispenser to come from the factory and we're going to order some signs for the buildings as well.

Hood Council Note: Future Plans

With the new term, here are my plans as the President

Construct a Bank
Add bank office at The Centre. Possible on bottom floor of the ballroom and decrease ballroom size to upper floor only. Bank would have ATM capabilities, office space for Financial Director to assist with loans and savings accounts. Financial Director will oversee this renovation and implementation.

Re-Establish fines/community service for conflicts

• Construction on jail due to be complete on simMonday. Will have three cells, recreation room and cafeteria, outdoor exercise space and jailor's apartment with two bedrooms.
• Jailor will be Jarvis Forrester-Miller, due to possession of aging wavier and position on the force. No salary will be given except a small stipend when inmates are housed.
• Fine list needs updating as well as a process for punishing residents and townies.
• Renovation of The Centre to include a courthouse for conflicts and office space to process data. Can reduce size of library so that it resides in the upstairs office space, renovate lower space to have the courtroom for trials and administrative offices.
• Judge will be Hood Council President or the sim that holds that position downtown. If jurors are needed, a random selection of adults from the hood will be chosen to serve for the trial.

Increase tourism

• Order additional custom objects: maps, poster prints, trinkets, etc. Also get map created of the hood to hang in the Welcome Center instead of the TV.
• Keep online Office of Tourism updated with flights and events.
• Hold raffle for a free trip to Apple Valley. Including airfare, accomadations, food, and spending money. ($5000)
• Create a Apple Valley Flag

Change timetable

• Follow Baleen Island's way of keeping time: instead of simdays, use Season # Simday #

Further relationship with affliates

• Email/chat with spokessims from affliate hoods more often
• Travel to affliate hoods

What, like a garden, never stays the same?

Life. Yes, life always changes. The twins are doing well and will be off to university before we know it. They both have jobs, Fiona is a secretary at a law firm, Fredic is a drive thru clerk (heaven only knows why, that boy cna't cook!). My eldest daughter has left the hood, now both of my older children are elsewhere, Ayanna was elected for another hood council term and she's vying for SUN Core president and to top it off there are rumors that Tatiana may sell Euphoria...I'll be out of a job if that happens.

Affordable Housing

I wish mama was still around, she would know what to do.


Apple Valley needs to address the affordable housing situation. Instead of allowing sims to own multi-family housing units, we are now leasing them by the week. This only affects the housing on Fuji (The Fuji Flats I like to call them) and the townhomes on McIntosh. This doesn't affect the Fresh Flora property since it's owned by the owner and they sublet space to thier current trainee...for now. I hear that they will stop subletting the space.

After reclaiming some of the units, we now have four units available for rent. Two flats on Fuji and two duplex units on McIntosh. The Apple Valley Boarding Home has three rooms available now. The Forrester-Millers are moving to the new jail and that will free up a home for sale on Granny Smith. I'm curious to see how that will pass. There are two families living in flats that are eligible for the home, but I'm not sure if one of them would buy it since...well, they seem a bit more on the modern side and the homes on Granny Smith (and elsewhere in the hood except on Fuji) are a bit more traditional.

We might start having a limit on how long sims can stay in the rental units-perhaps two simweeks (14 simdays) would be enough. That would give graduates enough time to save money and then buy a home or move into the family home again.

New Term

The votes are in and the new hood council will be effective this simSunday, which leaves simSaturday for the old council members to finish unresolved business. The only new sim on the team is the Community Director, Rayne Wilsonoff replacing Leroy Mendenhall. Ka'obi Sweeny returned as a permenant member due to the anti-aging wavier she has and I am back as well. The hoood council is entirely females-girl power!

I have a lot of ideas for the new term, I think we need to establish a scholarship for out-of-hood students to come to the university. It would help bring in new blood and DNA, which is essential to a small hood. The census says that we're shrinking, too much death and emmigration and not enough births. I don't think it's a problem...yet.

The Office of Tourism is open and Clark Grey manages that site and arranging the travel into and out of the hood. We're trying to make the visa system more automated and hopefully we'll have more visitors come to the hood. We could use the simoleans.

The construction has started on a jail, we need something besides fines to enforce the laws. With the new jail, we'll need at the very minimum a judge, two lawyers, and jailer. Thankfully we have our jailer-Jarvis Forrester-Miller, he will be the permenant jailer since he and his wife have an anti-aging wavier due to her international assignments. We'll need to post openings for the lawyers and judge. Thankfully, Fiona wants to go into law. So we'll have a lawyer pretty soon. I hope she follows in my footsteps and become a spokesim. She seems to want to, but will she?

Other jobs needed in the hood: we have a Manager for the Medical Centre, but Jan needs help, thankfully she has talked to a university student who is interested in working there after school. We need more military, we only had two military sims and one is dead and the other an elder. I suppose we need to build a military training base sometime soon, but it's hard to see the need for them when we are not in the middle of a conflict and haven't had one.

Changes

Mother is dead. We're going to have a small family memorial service and then send her to the memorial gardens parque. My nephew has moved to Simmington Hills to start a bakery. I'm proud of him for going forth with his dreams. I'm a SUN Core member-I took mother's spot. I suggested the idea that hoods create thier own office of tourism, I suppose Apple Valley must lead the way.

The Centre

The hood council offically manages "The Centre". We decided to transfer the deed to each hood president following each election. At the moment, since I'm the president I manage the lot. I'll visit the lot every simTuesday, simThursday and simSaturday, but residents are welcome to visit the lot any time. The facilities are the same, but a bit different. The biggest difference is the gift shop. We are selling coffee mugs, customized "I *heart* AV" tees, blankets, cupcakes and donuts. In the back of the shop, there's a small office for the newspaper. We're going to renovate the office and make it a bit bigger and also place some newspaper stands in the shop. We hired Clark Grey as the hood's journalist for the newspaper. He will also be in charge of the website, the library and the local paper. The next biggest change is that we added a children's section to the library. Whew! Now we need to hire a cashier for the gift shop, I need to focus on doing work in my office while I'm here.

Hood Council Note: Hood Council Report

Things have been flying in my mind regarding the hood council and the administration of the hood. Should we elect the council members for life terms? or remain with the two simweek term? Should we try to have more residents manage hood businesses like the medical center and The Centre which is home to the hood council offices and gift shop. We're looking into creating customized Apple Valley paraphernalia like cups and t-shirts and maybe some photo prints. I need to sit down and focus on the hood a bit more, it's hard to focus on it when I have another job as well. Perhaps we can look into making the hood council members full time employees and increasing thier salaries as such...or at least the hood president should become a full time employee. Hmmm, so much to think about.



With the new term approaching I need to complie a report of the hood council's tasks and achievements.



The status of my goals this term:

• Host a family for the SUN Exchange for one simweek: looking for a family to host, sent one family to Palatial Heights, budgeted for a family to come to Apple Valley and have a family signed up for the SUN Exchange.


• Participate in all SUN Activities: done-Food Expo starts this June, budget for the event is set and business owners have applied for grants, signed up a family for the SUN Exchange


• Re-Establish fines/community service for conflicts: not done, looking at the need to establish a jail or simply impose fines. Might need to start charging fines for damage to trash cans, stealing of newspapers and other minor events. At the moment, no distrubrances noted.


• Increase local military by building military base and offering military scholarships to university students in exchange for service: not done, military career is full, no need for additional sims, however with the two military sims approaching elderhood, this scholarship may need to be offered during the next term. Must need to stay prepared.

Recommendations for next hood council term:

• Finding a Security Officer to train local troup for secret commands, maintain international security including the transport of deadly viruses via object deliveries. Prevent criminality, solve local conflicts, manage domestic security. Also, would oversee the jail if one is ever built.


• The Hood President would focus on the following tasks: Coordinating the Hood Council's work, being the voice and face of Apple Valley, coordinate hood council meetings, official spokesim for the hood. Manage foreign alliances, enforce laws and immi-/emigration, serve as SUN Core member.


• Increasing the salary of the council members


• Making the hood president a full-time position with an increased salary to manage thier livihood


• Taking over The Centre as a OFB lot and hiring local residents to manage the gift shop, and the newspaper office.


• Creating Apple Valley paraphernalia like cups, t-shirts, photo prints, etc.

Power

Granny let me ride in her limo from work! It was amazing! All the sims at the law office were jealous when the limo pulled up and then I got in and left with granny. Mom said that granny is getting old and might not be here much longer, especially since her friend Starr Grey died. We're going to the funeral since granny was good friends with her.

New Job

I quitted my job as the drive through manager at Burger Barn. I am now the executive chef at Euphoria. I have been spending a lot of times learning the news receipes from Tatiana and they are tasty! I like my new job!

Words Are Fun!

I was named the captain of the debate team at school. It was only a matter of time before the team saw my capabilities and now I will lead the team to success. We will capture the victory at the finals!

O, I have a job after school. I do not have to work, we have plenty of money since we're one of the oldest families in the hood, but I wanted the experience. I am a receptionist at the law firm downtown. Not much to do, I answer the phone and file cases. Occasionally I peek at the files and try to learn the lingo. I've determined that I want to be a lawyer. What a great way to make a living-talking all day long and arguing. Perfect!

Hello

Alia-elder
Ayanna-adult
Fidel-elder
Fiona-teen
Fedric-teen

I think we should enroll the twins in music lessons. Fiona is show strength in debate, she is trying out for the debate team while Fedric is looking into the chess club. I want them to be well-rounded individuals so that they will make it into university, especially since we passed the proposal for higher standards of education and students, thus increasing the criteria to enter university as well as increasing the fees. The university will now be run by the Apple Valley Hood Council and will bring in much needed revenue. It is a small university, but well worth it.

I think we should increase the salary of the council members, right now it's $1000 a simweek for each member, meaning we must have outside jobs as well. Thank goodness I have goals of being a mayor...soon, soon.