The Autonomous Life Of River

So, welcome to my first ever story. I’ve played the Sims 2 for years, read countless other people’s stories, but never made one of my own. So I decided to give it a go in the Sims 3. I worked really hard to try to upload all my photos to my Sims 3 account so I could post my story on the Sims 3 official site, but they just wouldn’t all upload. I’ve read that many people are having this same issue, so I decided to try the trend that numerous Sims writers are having success with - SlideShare and a personal blog. So if anyone reading this has any tips or tricks for me to improve my methods, I’m all ears. And I apologize ahead of time - I’m not the best photographer, and I realize that River actually spent the majority of her life awake at night, so alot of the pictures are dark. Sorry about that, but hey, it was River’s decision. Anyway, on to my story.

This is River Sim. She’s an...interesting sim. I wanted to try my hand playing with minimal interference, which is extremely NOT my playing style, and document what happens. So to try to make things interesting, I gave her what I hope to be an entertaining personality. River here is insane, absent-minded, clumsy, childish and a kleptomaniac. Her favorite music is electronica, her favorite food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and her favorite color is red. And...since this is starting to sound like a singles ad, we’ll be moving on.

So the very first thing she does is goes and kicks over one of her flamingos, but I seem to have lost that photo, so, yeah. Oh well.

This is not a very nice face. You’d think I gave her a trait of mean, but I didn’t!

Then she relaxes on the bed.

So I’ve never had a sim do anything autonomous to clean themselves, with the rare exception of showering. This is history in the making, folks.

Wow. I could never do this. Just sit. Do nothing.

Okay, so I’m not so sure about my experiment so far. Hopefully she’ll do something entertaining soon.

So...she’s running to vomit now....Interesting, with a dash of entertaining thrown in. There’s only one thing I’ve ever known a sim to vomit for...and trust me, it’s NOT that. Well, I guess there is the flu, but she doesn’t have that either. However, the welcome wagon did just ring her doorbell...is it possible that she’s just avoiding answering the door? Maybe she’s sociophobic or something.

So after 4 HOURS of reading, she takes a shower, dresses in her swimsuit and fixes a bowl of cereal for an early dinner. If I had known she was going to autonomously choose to wear her swimsuit, I would have put some actual thought and care into designing it instead of just hurriedly picking a default one!

Ugh, ok, more relaxing. Hmm. So far the traits I picked for her are not equaling excitement.

Apparently River got bored as well, so she went to the mirror and amused herself in this fashion for quite some time.

Still waiting for her to discover the big wide world outside that door. If she doesn’t do something by morning, I may have to nudge her a little.

...And she decided to sleep fully clothed. I guess her clothing choice would be the insane trait?

It’s a new day, and I can only hope that River looking out the window means that she has now realized that there is an outdoors. Perhaps she will visit it today.

You know, maybe insanity isn’t all bad. Ice cream for breakfast? Yum! Or would that be the childishness in her? What kid wouldn’t want ice cream for breakfast?

More playing with the mirror...

Haha...it IS pretty funny. She’s talking to herself now. Apparently she’s pretty upset with herself.

Man, she’s pretty hard on herself. Yelling at yourself for not being more interesting, River? I hope so. Amazingly enough, this yelling did fulfill a want of hers to Talk to Self.

*GASP* – She’s heading outside!

Okay, I bought her a bike. It’s supposed to be red, since that’s her favorite color, but for some reason it isn’t showing up in the game. Hopefully that will encourage her to go somewhere. Besides, I like this new feature of biking around town instead of always calling a taxi.

Ah, looks like she chose her formal wear after her shower today. Again, if only I had put more thought into it!

And...she likes the bike STAND...

But seems to be less than thrilled with the bike. What?! It was either that or kid version! Sheesh!

Okay, so really the very first wish that she had was to join the criminal career. Maybe I should boost her in that direction.

So I do tell her to go join the criminal career, since she does have a wish to. It seems the building is right next door – how convenient! So she just jogs there. Cool!

She accepts a job as a decoy, and meets her boss, Claire Ursine.

So rather than use the toilet like she so desperately needs to do once she goes home, she decides to get something from the fridge and has an accident. Weren’t sims supposed to be more intelligent about their basic needs in the Sims 3?

The next morning, after again sleeping in her regular clothes, she grabs a quick breakfast of jam on bread, which is a little more normal than ice cream, while she waits for her carpool to work. Dude, she could just walk there, but whatever...

As she washes her breakfast dish, I suddenly notice that the puddle of pee has magically disappeared during the night. How wonderful! I don’t have to live with it there for eternity because I was pretty sure SHE wasn’t going to clean it autonomously.

And off she goes to her first day of work. I did go ahead and choose the option for her to meet her accomplices at work. Some social interaction with someone other than herself would probably do her some good.

Wow. What a lousy first day. She is immediately apprehended by the cops during her workday. This is new!

So while in jail, she has the option to pass time, work out, make friends or play dominos. I’m going to have her work out, since she needs that skill to get further in her career, and again, she’s not likely to do it autonomously.

She was in the slammer for 6 hours. Guess that was a long time to be working out. The first thing she does when she exits the building is call her boss and complain about how hungry she is and her lousy first day on the job.

She gets home and heads directly for the fridge, but even though she’s starving, she decides to get some juice. Oddly enough, this fills her up almost as much as a full meal.

And then calls her boss again. Jeez. Stalker much? She really is in the right field.

Though she’s bone tired, River decides to recycle her newspaper. How responsible of our little convicted criminal. Wonder if the neighbors have any clue who they have living next the them. She IS a kleptomaniac with a criminal career after all. I’m just saying.

So after throwing her paper away, she did decide to stand out by the sidewalk and talk to herself for a while. At 1:30 in the morning. Hehe

After a good night’s sleep in her swimsuit, she’s ready to face the day. She’s very sore today after all her working out while in jail. *snicker* A massage would help, but that would require her actually willingly going to a community lot. Not sure that’s going to happen. So far her boss is the only person she’s interacted with at all.

She can autonomously mop! Her shower broke down, which she was very upset over. And I figured out her bladder problem. Apparently she didn’t have a toilet. I recall her first night she suddenly had a moodlet for something being stolen, but I never saw it happen. It must have been the toilet that was taken. Oops.

This woman spends more time in her bathroom than anything. Sheesh.

Her day off has been an exhausting day of reading, eating, playing in the mirror and mopping the bathroom floor. She sleeps in her swimsuit again. I’m wondering if I really should try to make her do something. ‘Course, if this was the Sims 2 she would probably be dead by now due to my lact of interference, so I guess that’s something.

It would seem that working out is doing her some good. I wish my muscles were that nice looking. :P

Okay, taking matters into my own hands. She has a wish to get out of the house, and she’s not doing it autonomously, so I’m going to have her visit central park.

I love this about the Sims 3. Following them through town. Gotta love it.

Hmm. Other people. How will River react? She seems to be sizing this woman up like competition or something.

So what does she decide to do first? Well, she walks past a slew of people to go to this picnic table and CLEAN UP someone else’s picnic. Umm...really, River?

This is a nice tranquil scene. She gets her book out and decides to read by the pond. Guess I can’t blame her for that one. It actually sounds really nice to me, too.

River tries reading in different locations in the park. She did try to play in the mirror in the public bathroom, but I heard someone shouting at her, so that obviously didn’t work. She’s having a blast, though.

Just after nightfall, she finally decides to be social, but only because she’s very hungry, and these people have food. She meets several new people. However, she doesn’t join in their picnic.

No, instead, she leaves that group and just plops herself down with these ladies and never saying a word to them, helps herself to some of their food. They don’t seem to care, of even notice really.

Even though it’s after midnight, she goes on the swings. I really want to send her home, because she has to work in the morning, but I am showing great restraint here. Really. If you all knew my playing style you would be very proud of me. Really. She swings for almost two hours before she decides to head home to bed.

The next morning, she is obviously not happy with her stench, but instead of taking a shower, she decided to clean the kitchen sink until the carpool came. Today she decided to show up to work in her formalwear.

While at work, an opportunity came up to help with a crime job at the science facilities, so I decided to accept for her. Instead of going home after her shift, she takes a taxi to the facility. Really? A taxi to your clandestine crime job? No wonder she got caught on her first day, with tactics like that.

The next day, River decides to go to work in her swimsuit, still stinky. I wonder if she won’t take a shower because the shower is leaking? I may be forced to have her call a technician. On the bright side, her little side job did land her an extra 1,000 simoleans.

And....she gets arrested again. Well, maybe if she gets arrested enough she’ll actually get some athletic skills. Hehe

I guess this building is going to be a familiar site for River if she’s going to get caught every other day.

Apparently they don’t feed the inmates in jail.

And here she is lecturing herself about getting caught again. Or not having taken a shower for two days. It’s a toss-up.

After she finally goes home, I have her call the repairman. Guess this game has programmed 24 hour technician service. It’s 2:00 in the morning, and instead of just waiting til the next day, he comes right away. What service!

As she gets to work the next morning – yes! She finally took a shower! - I can actually see her other accomplices arriving at the same time. That’s cool. Of course, just as she gets there, because she’s also absent-minded, she forgets what she’s doing and the ‘go to work’ disappears from her queue. Dude! You’re AT WORK! How could you forget to go to work if you’re standing outside the building?!

She stands outside her work building for almost two hours talking herself before she heads home. It was everything I had to keep me from just clicking for her go to work. Her work performance meter is REALLY in the red right now, but hey, it’s her life! Does absent-minded equate to unintelligent in this game? It would seem so to me.

She gets the dreaded phone call from work as she’s playing in the mirror. I shudder to think what ‘disciplinary action’ is in the criminal career track.

If only she approached her job with the same dedication that she displays in cleaning her front lawn of old newspapers...

While she’s waiting for her carpool the next day, she calls one of the guys she met at the park the other day, Stiles McGraw. While at work, I have her grovel to her boss all day, since she played hookie yesterday, and it paid off! The Boss was pleased, and she got a small bonus. And hey, as another side bonus, she didn’t even get arrested. Good job, River!

So far I think the only thing she hasn’t gone to bed in is her formalwear. Today she chose to sleep in her athletic wear, the first time she’s done that. Actually, she has yet to actually sleep in her jammies, now that I think about it.

So I got bored watching her play in the mirror and talk to herself, so when a wish came for her to visit the library, I went ahead and directed her to visit it.

Well, she does this at home too, so I suppose this was not the most successful visits in terms of entertainment. However, she seems highly entertained by it. She reads the entire book before going home. She immediately goes to bed, and dresses in her formalwear! That just leaves her actual pajamas, and then she would have slept in every outfit she owns.

Today we’re going to try something more useful. She going to the gym and maybe finally fulfilling that wish to learn the athletic skill. Despite the hours in jail spent working out, she still has no athletic skill to speak of, which she needs for her job. Appropriately, she decides to jog to the gym. Inappropriately, she decides to jog to the gym in her formalwear.

So the first thing she decides to do here is brush her teeth. Gotta have minty fresh breath while getting all hot and sweaty, I guess. She brushes her teeth for TWENTY MINUTES. Sheesh.

I am amazed by the fact that she does actually autonomously decide to work out on her own.

After showering, eating, brushing her teeth, and reading a book, someone actually strikes up a conversation with her! But they don’t get along very well, so the conversation doesn’t last long.

This isn’t a very good picture of it, but River decides to swipe one of the mirrors from the gym! It figures she would swipe a mirror. She spends most of her time in front of her mirror at home playing and talking to herself. But I’m thrilled, as this also fulfills a wish, and autonomously to boot!

After she got home and went to bed, I was going to go ahead and hang the mirror up in her bathroom, since it was a nicer mirror, but it’s not in her inventory. Seems to me that if a sim swipes an object, it should show up in their inventory. Hmpf. Oh well.

She gets a phone call the next evening from a sports recruiter who saw her at the gym the other day, asking her if she wants to try out for the team. What the heck? I accepted the opportunity. On the other hand, she really IS well-suited to a life of crime. Hmm. I’ll have to think about it. I don’t have to accept it right away.

At this point it suddenly occurred to me. This isn’t the Sims 2. Even though I chose her outfits originally, I can actually change them anytime I want in the Sims 3. I know that this most likely already occurred to all of you, but I’m a little slow on the draw sometimes. So I went ahead and changed her formalwear (to something red, since that’s her favorite color) and swimsuit to something I can actually enjoy looking at, since she insists on wearing them so much.

And showing off her new swimsuit for the first time, River decides to rummage through her own trash. Guess she forgot what she threw away and wanted to remember.

River actually rummaged for about an hour, coming up only a couple of times to make sure she wasn’t being watched. The carpool coming was the only thing that stopped her. Never was sure if she found what she was looking for, or if she was just taking inventory.

She found this as a very exciting new activity, I suppose, because she rummaged again when she got home from work. Not sure how long she would have gone this time, because her boss called to chat. Thank goodness. Hehe

This is the second time in my game that River has thrown up. I wonder if it’s supposed to be a bad meal or something. Not sure.

Hallelujah, she finally did it! River got her first promotion! She’s now a Cutpurse instead of a Decoy. She also earned a small bonus today, and she hasn’t been arrested all week. Amazing!

However, right after her promotion, she got a wish to quit her job. I still have that athletic opportunity, so I might still do it. Have to think about that one.

The next night I have her jog to the bookstore for two reasons. One, to get more athletic skill. Second, I just want her to do something besides talk to the mirror and read a book!

She doesn’t seem too impressed with the bookstore, but then again, she’s not really impressed by much. Mainly just herself in the mirror.

Not finding the bookstore appealing in the least once she’s been inside, she decides to try out various benches around the area. She sits in several of them.

The next day I take River to the gym. So this is twice now that she’s visited the gym and swiped something. And everytime she’s in a very tight spot that is hard to get a picture of. So please excuse the walls being down in this shot, but here she is about to swipe. I love the rubbing hands together. And she swipes a lamp. Ahha! It says it’s in her FAMILY inventory. I just caught that. I bet the mirror is there too.

Haha! She’s actually got 4 things in her family inventory that she’s swiped, not two! Apparently, she has stolen a phone and a water trough from her work. That’s hilarious.

She’s actually tried a couple of times to autonomously work out, but the machines were all full. Of course now that the machines are obviously empty, this is what she decides to do with her time here.

Here we go. In...formalwear. Well, at least she’s doing it on her own.

So it’s her birthday today, she’s very hungry and about to pass out from tiredness after spending the entire night at the gym. But instead of eating or sleeping, she decides to rummage through her trash again. Wonder if she’s looking for a gift for herself. Hehe.

I’m trying to decide if I should have her invite her boss over to celebrate. Her boss is her only friend, after all.

As the morning progresses, traffic drives by, people walk by, she continues to do this. FIVE HOURS later I decide to cancel the action, because I don’t want her to starve to death. Anyone see the lovely bright red plumbob down there? I don’t know if maybe the game got stuck on this action or something. I’m actually amazed she didn’t pass out on the lawn. Her energy bar is at absolute zero. She actually managed to eat soup and clean up all the dirty dishes in the house before she finally decided to go to bed.

So without any fanfare but her own, she wakes up at 10 at night and has her birthday. She made my decision for me about inviting her boss over. It was just too miserable a day for her.

Through the next little while I observe that being a ‘mature’ adult is really no different for River than a young adult was. She still loves to either play in the mirror or sit staring into space, having no real drive to anything useful with her life.

She did actually get another promotion to Thug, which must have come with a uniform of sorts. I know I didn’t pick this outfit out. Check out those abs though.

An opportunity came where she was asked to take some bribe money to city hall. Yes, I did direct her, but she got the thanks of her boss, which by the way, she has a new boss – the old one retired, and she got a pay increase!

River calls her new boss to tell her the deed is done. Not sure how wise it is to stand outside of an official city building where you just dropped off bribe money, but River has never been called wise. After her phone call, she stands outside the doors and rereads a book. We’ll pretend it’s reconesence for her job. Not being very discrete though. She does make friends with her new boss, however. She’s really good at making friends with whoever her boss is. Too bad that doesn’t carry over into other areas of her life.

Unbelievable. With minimal interference, River has actually managed four promotions. She is now a Getaway Driver. Not bad. But I guess she has had to work hard. Work is pretty much all she has in life, though she still has a wish to quit her job. Work, and her stolen mirror at home, that is.

Pretty much any wish that she has had throughout her life so far has either been something to do with her job, improving her athletic skill, or talking to herself. Guess she really hasn’t met anyone in her life that is more interesting or entertaining than she is.

River has the next two days off, but I really didn’t feel like watching her play in the mirror for another 48 hours, so I tell her to go to the gym. I’ll leave her alone while she’s there, and she’ll probably end up playing in the mirror anyway, but she does always try to slip in some fitness. Swimming in your everyday wear. That is so River.

While at the gym, River sitts in the bathroom, staring into what I thought was space, but turns out to be a mirror. The same type of mirror she swiped the last time she was here. That is also so River.

I’m thinking that instead of her life goal being a Jack-of-All-Trades, she’s really going for Sitting In Every Chair in Sunset Valley. Too bad achieving that remarkable milestone will get her NOTHING.

And she finally decides to workout, while the badly dressed lady behind her just stands there and watches television. I could make some snide remark about her actually using the equipment since she looks like she needs to, but I can’t really say anything. I’m sitting here on my butt playing a computer game. Hehe

The lady’s name is Emma, and she interupts River’s workout to be sociable. They have a surprisingly pleasant conversation until River needs an emergency trip to the toilet. She has a wish to workout until fatigued that didn’t get fulfilled, but oh well.

While River is dancing at the gym, looks like the repoman, or repowoman as the case may be, is paying her a visit. Usually there’s a reminder about the bills, but I wonder if it didn’t pop up because she wasn’t home or something.

She tried to take something in the kitchen, but I guess her gun wasn’t working, so she grumbled a bit and then moved to the bathroom. Took River’s little itty bitty bathroom trashcan and called it good. Now that’s hilarious.

On her second day off, River decides to spend the majority of the day cleaning up her place. Dishes, clean shower, recycle newspapers, mixed in with reading and talking to herself. All in all, a fairly productive day in River’s terms. Her mood is very happy as she goes to bed.

After a hard day at work, I’m a little disappointed that River didn’t get a promotion today. Her job status bar just has a sliver left to reach the top, and will be reaching criminal level 5. She has a wish for that, and for a promotion, as well as a wish to quit her job. Interesting dynamics there. Being a Jack-of-All-Trades requires her to reach level 5 in 4 different careers. River is just not that driven. She has 10 days til she’s an elder, and I’ll be mighty proud of her for reaching level 5 in one career.

Ah, uh, this is her reaction to getting that promotion the next day. She immediately had a wish to change jobs, so maybe I should finally fulfill that athletic opportunity for her. She’s already pretty set for it, since she’s at skill level 6 in athletic. So she got the promotion to bag woman, but she’ll never go to work as one. Somehow I don’t think she’ll mind. Though that $58 an hour paycheck will be missed. Actually, maybe not. The only thing she’s spent her money on is paying bills.

The next day, River decides that to make a good first impression for her new job, she should bike to the stadium in her formalwear. Mmhmm.

It must have paid off, ‘cause now she’s a rabid fan. She didn’t get the wish fulfilled to quit her job, though, because if I had actually read it, I would have known that she had to actually quit her job first before getting a new one. Oh well.

She calls an acquaintance of hers, Lane, to tell him. She’s actually been chatting with him a couple of times now. I don’t even recall River meeting him. I’ll be surprised if anything happens with him, though. Outside of work, she has yet to actually talk to anyone face-to-face unless they talk to her first.

To celebrate her new job, I fulfill a wish of River’s to own a piece of exercise equipment. As a side note: to my great surprise, it seems that her old boss and best friend, Claire, is also now in the athletic career. She and River are now team members.

Despite being tired, she shows up for work on her first day in a fantastic mood. Her job permformance bar is going up faster than I’ve ever seen it.

While at the stadium during her work hours, this is the drama that is happening outside.

I actually was never really able to see Grimmy much in the Sims 2, as I think I only had one or two of my sims actually die. To be able to see this happening on the street in the Sims 3 is pretty amazing to me. I almost missed it, too, since I have the game speed at it’s highest while River is working. Her name was Judy Bunch, by the way. May she rest in peace.

Okay, wow, a lot of this going around apparently. Guess I’ve been playing this neighborhood long enough that people are dying off now. I didn’t pay attention to what this guy’s name was. Sorry, dude. May you rest in peace, too.

Some time later, I have River visit the shops. Hehe. After having a fairly pleasant conversation with this woman, and actually learning one of her traits, she sneaks around her and scares her. Fun!

So here River is at City Hall again. Last time she was here she was delivering a bribe. Now she’s delivering a team roster. Much less stressful job.

Maybe I should seriously consider slipping some benches onto the property of City Hall. Apparently they spent all their budget on gigantic columns. Everyone just stands out here and either reads the paper or a book standing up. River here did this for hours last time, and I expect she’ll do the same this time.

I didn’t think it would actually happen, but River did decide to finally workout on her equipment. She hasn’t even looked at the thing before now. Pretty cool.

So River has earned her second promotion in the athletic track. She is now a Toddler Sports Coach. I’m sorry, but who in the world would hire River of all people to teach their little kiddies?! Well, she is childish, I suppose, but really? Criminal record? Likes to swipe things? Not exactly a good role model here, folks.

I have to confess, at this point I’m looking for just a little variety, and River’s had a wish to visit the graveyard for a while now, actually ever since Judy died outside the stadium, so what can I do? She’s going. At night. Hehe.

Wait for it....

Well, that wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I thought it would be, but Lewis here seems happy. River looks...well, like River. Don’t let her face fool you, though. She’s actually amused by this.

So she goes home and does River-type activities until bed, then she wakes up the next morning and does River-type activities until the carpool comes. Her new uniform for work is pretty cute – much more innocent-looking that the bra with see-through top that she wore as a thug. We wouldn’t want to scare the little children, after all.

And she comes home to a broken sink and soaking floor, but River just walks by it all in favor of shutting herself in her bedroom to workout. Guess her first day working with the kiddies left her with some steam to work off?

This is the repair technician that comes to fix her sink while River is sleeping. Didn’t even know something was wrong with the toilet, too. Oops. Too bad you’re not in a legacy, River. I’d have snorkeled this guy up for you. He’s a looker! Kelsey here probably wasn’t even born yet or was just a kid when I started this whole thing though. Well, thanks anyway, Kelsey, for coming to River’s rescue at 5 in the morning. She may not appreciate you, but I do.

Boy, working with those toddlers is exhausting! Good thing she only had to do it for a day. She’s already been promoted again to a Minor Leaguer.

Today is River’s birthday. She is becoming an elder today. Her best friend Claire is still alive, and I wanted to invite her over for River’s last birthday to celebrate, but River had decided she wanted to celebrate the entire day rummaging through her trash, if you remember. I hope she decides to spend this birthday a little more happily.

But I forgot she has to work, so I think that decision has been made. At least she’ll spend the day with Claire anyway.

While she didn’t spend her day rummaging through the trash, for old times sake River decided to celebrate the transition out by the trashcan.

Happy Birthday, River!

Um...wow....she didn’t age very well, did she? I swear that nose didn’t look so hooked in CAS.

Ahahahahahah!!!!! I just noticed her entire outfit. You know what? It might just be quirky enough for her to keep.

So River has a wish to retire now, but also a wish to change jobs. Can you retire from one job and then get another? I’m not sure. Have to think about that one.

Oops. She managed to somehow avoid this situation, even though she’s been tired enough for it several times, but I guess being super tired and an elder are not a good combination. She succumbs to the street outside the stadium after work, with a concerned bystander watching over her. Well, okay, turns out the bystander was just waiting for her ride. Pft.

Just in case anyone is wondering, River is no different as an elder sim. Her favorite past times are still playing in the mirror, talking to herself, staring into space while sitting (even using the toilet as a seat!) and she’s actually read the same 3 books a gazillion times. She had started to display a new passion for working out, but that passion has not shown itself since she aged. We’ll see if it comes back.

I went ahead and had River retire. She immediately had the wish to join the criminal career again. Guess she wants to relive old times, even if she doesn’t remember that the old times weren’t necessarily pleasant. Yeah, stress, danger, getting arrested. Good times.

Oh why not? Here we are, back at this very familiar building. It’s not going to help her become a Jack-of-All-Trades, but I never really expected that she would fulfill her life-time wish autonomously anyway. Truthfully, I’m proud that she’s gotten as far as she has on her own. Well, ALMOST on her own.

The good news is that she is hired back as a thug, and she has her old boss back, which she’s already good friends with. She’ll only need one promotion to get her where she was when she left. Hehe. I kind of have to giggle at the thought of an elderly lady being a thug. She just canNOT be that intimidating to see coming down a dark alley.

Then again....

Actually, it’s a relief that she wanted to get another job. I think I’d go crazy with her doing nothing in her house for the rest of her life. And quite honestly, River doesn’t have anything besides work. It’s her identity, really. It’s who she is, so she really NEEDS to work.

….Anndd we’re two for two. If River wants to bring back memories, this should do it. Arrested on her first day of work, just like last time. Good times. Actually, she got arrested two workdays in a row. She had two days off of work after her first day, then part way through her second day, she got arrested again. She’s not going to get that promotion very fast at this rate. Guess she’s really not as good as she used to be. Not that she was great to begin with. Haha

Oh, this is rich. Her job performance is actually going down because it says she’s missing work. River, I told you you were miserable in this job! She really was much happier in the athletic track.

This would be the second time this morning she’s passed out in front of the police station. Apparently common sense is no where to be found in the insane. Instead of going home and going to sleep like a normal sim, after she passed out the first time, she stands there yelling at herself until she passed out a second time.

River has been an elder for all of either 4 or 5 days, and she’s already about half way through her life bar. She’s just miserable in this career, but she has that wish to reach career track 5. Maybe if she would quit getting arrested she could see that wish fulfilled before she dies.

What is with the repoman’s fascination with River’s bathroom? They took her bathroom light! Hey! She stole that fair and square! Does that seem right to you?

River! Go to bed! Your shift starts in 9 hours and your energy’s almost in the red!

Um, wow. She actually listened to me. She never listens to me. And no, I did not direct her, in case you’re wondering.

Tonight’s the night, I can feel it. She’s going to get her promotion. Please? I’m actually curious what she will wish for after her level 5 wish is accomplished.

Yeah! She did it! She’s back to being a Getaway Driver. Oh, wait....That’s level 4, not level 5. GGRRRRR! Well, that’s frustrating.

So here’s River, once again making the trip to City Hall, this time once more with a bribe instead of an innocent roster.

Incidently, I finally did something I should have done a LONG time ago – I sold her bookcase. She’s read the same stupid books a gazillion times, and it’s just painful watching her sim hour after sim hour doing nothing but reading. ‘Course, this will most likely drive her to more sim hours in front of her mirror, which is really just as painful, but at least it’s slightly more amusing. However, I can only take so many pictures of her sticking her tongue out at herself.

Once again, I’m not really sure that hanging out in front of City Hall after you’ve just dropped off bribe money is really the wisest course of action, but River seems not to care. Wonder how long it will take this lady to figure out just how interesting River is.

Judging by her face, I think she’s maybe starting to get an inkling.

Yeah, if she was starting to like River at all, she’s going to change her mind real fast. This is actually the second time in a row River has scared her. I missed a picture of the first time.

Don’t think I have a picture of elder River doing this yet, so here it is. Just under 5 hours, folks. That’s how long she did this. Just can’t understand River’s need to rummage until she’s absolutely miserable. And she never finds anything she wants, ‘cause IT’S HER OWN TRASH!

Her phone is really what saved her. Even though she’s in the red on energy, she only allows herself 4 hours of sleep before she has to go to work again.

AARRRGGG! She just canNOT get a break! And she’s missing work! AGAIN! Grrr. *mumble, mumble*

Autonomously, ladies and gentlemen! For HOURS! She has now reached athletic skill 9! Good for you, River!

She’ll be going to work with 0 energy, however. The carpool is about to come, and she’s dead on her feet. Hopefully River thinks it’s worth it.

At least she didn’t get arrested today. That’s something.

So I got the notice that her old boss and best friend, Claire, is about to pass on, and that River should visit her. At this point, if I was controlling her, I would send her right over. But, trying to be as true to my “experiment” as possible, and true to River’s character, honestly, I let her continue to the mirror to talk to herself. Even though River and Claire are best friends, River has actually never spent any time with Claire outside of work, or talking on the phone. Just a small testament to exactly how UNsocial River’s entire life has been.

If I could find Claire, I’d go over to her and document her death, but I’m really not sure how I could find her without spending hours scouring the neighborhood. I’m just too lazy to do that, quite honestly.

And this is the phone call letting River know that Claire has passed on. River herself is actually very close to death, and I’m actually wondering if she has enough time to go to work one more day and get that last promotion. Of course, if she gets arrested, then the answer will be an unequivocal NO. Guess I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Very cold, River. Her reaction to the news was to get a quick bowl of soup. No moment of reflection, no tears, not even a thought bubble for Claire. Sheesh.

Yay! She got her last promotion. Level 5 criminal, AGAIN. She has a wish to change jobs again, but considering her life bar is at the end now, I’m not really sure about that one. I was thinking about just having her quit and she can spend the rest of her time doing what she wants, but she doesn’t actually have a wish to quit like last time.

Well, River does still surprise me. With so little time left, she actually reaches out to someone. Just one of her few acquaintances, but still, it’s actually very un-River-like. Maybe Claire’s death did do something to her.

This, however, is so appropriately River, that I just think it would be fitting and hilarious if this is how Grimmy finds her. Smelly, tired, and paranoid.

I have a theory that her current boss is really the only one who truly understands River, and she always knows just when to call and check up on her. This is the second phone call to pretty much save River’s life during her rummaging activities, and it’s been her boss both times.

Her boss has actually called her several times now over the past few days. It makes me wonder if she’s been notified of River’s short time left. Hehe.

So I got tired of waiting for River to die. Wow, that sounds harsh. But her life bar has been maxed now for two entire days, she actually got yet another promotion, making her higher in the criminal field than she has even been.

She got a wish to get out of the house, so I happily obliged her by taking her to a place she’s never been – the beach. Doesn’t she look just thrilled to be here?

River is 92 sim days old, and this is the first time she has ever touched a computer. Not bad for an old lady. Though she did make some frustrated grunts while on the computer, she did very well, being interrupted only by her cell phone ringing. She’s getting to be quite a techno lady!

I never really gave it much thought, but maybe it’s a good thing that River never procreated. She’s looking rather hostile toward this little cutie.

Um, ok, maybe he’s not so much a cutie, but still!

Maybe “bewildered” would be a better way to describe River’s perusal of the toddler. It’s like she’s never seen one of them before. In truth, it’s quite possible that she actually hasn’t. LOL

By accident, and a little too late, I found the Ursine household where her best friend Claire lived. Nice house, too. Right by the beach. Claire wasn’t doing too badly, apparently.

I missed the wish-granted burst of light thingy, but this is where River has reached Level 10 Athletic Skill! Yay River! She has not one iota of any other skill, but she did this on her own. The only direction I gave was at work or in jail, so that’s absolutely fantastic!

She actually continued to work out for another 3 hours after that. Now that’s dedication!

So even though the carpool is right in front of her, honking the horn, because River is absent-minded, she has forgotten that she’s supposed to go to work. I would blame it on the fact that she’s 94 now, and her memory is not what it used to be, but sadly, her memory has always been lousy.

I could also blame it on the fact that her best friend and current boss has just died of old age, and she doesn’t feel up to going in tonight. Yeah, we’ll go with that. Now she has no one to check up on her everyday. Who’s going to save her now when she rummages through the trash for so long she almost kills herself?

And a couple days later, it begins. It looks like she was rummaging, but actually, she wasn’t. She was cleaning up her newspapers.

River Sim lived to be 97 days old, which is excellent, since I have the game set to a normal life span of 90 days. I could never figure out whether she was truly happy or not, but she must have been, because she lived a long life.

She was good at many things. She was actually pretty good at her job, even though she got arrested many times. She climbed up the ranks well, I thought, which is good, since her career is really all she had.

She was a good housekeeper, even though she might let things go for a while before doing anything about them. She loved a clean shower and kitchen, and got very frustrated at her toilet several times. I probably should have upgraded her things, but I never did, even though she had the money. She never had a wish for better things. She was very content in that way. She didn’t die wealthy, but she had about 17,000 in her account.

She also interestingly enough, didn’t cook a day in her life. Her favorite food was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but she never actually tasted one to verify that fact. She lived off of canned soup, ice cream, cereal, juice, and jam on bread.

She obsessed about working out toward the end of her life. She would lift weights for no less than 3 hours, sometimes going on 5 hours. Guess she was trying to live longer, who knows.

She was quirky, weird, a little bit boring at times, but I did enjoy playing her. Oh, and she never did actually sleep in her pajamas. I can’t even remember what they looked like.

In a way, I feel bad because I know I could have given her so much more than she had. A family, a nice house, more friends, etc. But this was interesting to just let her call the shots (97% of the time, anyway). To let her decide how she wanted to live her life.

I was impressed with how well River was able to take care of her own needs. She would have surely died after about 2 or 3 days in the Sims 2, but she lived a decent life in the Sims 3. But I will say, while this was a very fun and interesting way to play the game, I think my next family will definitely have my more hands-on approach to playing. I always want my sims to have such wonderful lives, and I feel River’s was a bit lonely for my tastes.

I will miss you, River. But who knows. She’s still in my sim library, so I just might play her again, the next time seeing what her life might be with a little “divine intervention.”

Thank you all for taking this journey with me. I hope you all enjoyed it, because I sure did enjoy making this little story.

Now go have a blast playing your own sims!