Sandi's Graduation

Between what seemed to be endless rounds of diaper-changes and toilet-training, the toddlers grew up into school-age children (I'm not messing about with baby/toddler stages - I've had my fill with three kids...in real life).

And Sandi had her graduation ceremony that day...so everyone headed out...to see her graduate. And as usual, it was a typical graduation ceremony, long...hot and laborious, sitting through endless names being called up to the podium to receive their high-school diploma...and well, frankly, if you were a part of the band, endless repeats of Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 or otherwise known as Land of Hope and Glory...which has now been played in every American and Canadian high-school since God Knows When! (...and yes, I've been in a concert band that has played at our high-school graduation ceremony (way back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth - for you young sarcastic types - my graduation ceremony memories have faded into the nebulous recesses of time)...after 60 repeats of Pomp and Circumstance, your lips start feeling like mush...(especially if you play the trumpet)).

After listening to endless speeches and exhortations about bearing a torch for the future and all sorts of other enlightening stuff like that, the graduate emerged...exhilerated with diploma in hand and a deepening fire in her belly to do something meaningful with her life. (Getting a 9-5 in a soul-siphoning cubicle...at Doo Peas was in her future...WELCOME TO ADULTHOOD. Don't let the high-school door hit you in the patootie on the way out...(cheerfully pedantic) Buh-bye...now...)

...and just for good measure, the Watcher dropped a lightning bolt on...another sim for not paying his child-support. "...and this is what you have to look forward to, Sandi...47 years of soul-crushing servitude...43, if you go to university...oh...by the way, Happy Graduation."

See kids, there's a grim lesson in all of this. Pay your taxes, obey the laws, work hard for 45 plus years and you too will be able to shake the Grim Reaper's hand after living a life "well lived" Cheery, ain't it?

Well, surprisingly they were all hungry even after seeing a fellow sim get fried, so they all went to The Bistro. Hey, everyone's gotta eat.

However it wasn't long before a paparazzi decided to show up (that's what happens when you have celebrities in the household). The Watcher hates paparazzi. Celebrities (in real life) don't really interest him very often...either.

See ya, Dana Wheat...maybe you might be able to get an autograph or a celebrity column in the Daily Down Under if Grim allows you access to a computer that isn't being utilized by his minions.