1. Hello, and welcome to the third chapter of Cecil’s CCL! It’s a
Crazy Cat Lover Challenge, and the objective is to have as many
cats and as much cat-themed décor as you can manage. You get
points for it and everything…
This is still sort of in play-testing, so I reserve the right to change
rules if it becomes absolutely necessary. If you’re playing one of
these and you come across a question or a problem, please let me
know!

2. This industrious fellow is Cecil Shankel, our Crazy Cat Lover. The
challenge was created for him (quite literally) and he does live up
to the name.

3. Although I daresay he’d object to the term “crazy.” He’d probably
prefer “dedicated.” He’s a dedicated cat lover. After all, who else
would spend two hours outdoors in the rain, teaching their cat to
Shake so that they could be promoted?
Louis did master the skill, netting me one whole point.
+1 Each command learned (except Use Toilet; see below)
+5 Each cat that learns Use Toilet

4. Eventually, the weather cleared up, and Cecil sent the kitties off to
make more kitties. Cecil doesn’t really have enough money to
adopt as many as he’d like, but fortunately, kitties are self-
replicating.

5. Cher still has issues with apparently being unable to find any of the
three full food bowls on the lot. Now that she’s in the family way,
we can’t allow that to happen. Fortunately, she’s pretty vocal about
being hungry.

6. Even more fortunately, she’s always willing to accept a treat.
They’re a bit on the expensive side when you’re low on cash, but
totally worth every penny.
Rule #11: If the cats get taken away by the pet services agency,
the game is over. Otherwise, the game ends when your Sim
dies.
Personally, I suspect Cher of being deliberately stupid because she
likes cat treats.

7. Cher is not, in fact, stupid, and both she and Louis came home with
promotions on the same night. Cecil bought a set of
commemorative plates to celebrate.
Yes, he also redecorated a bit. The wallpaper isn’t particularly
expensive in such a small room, and the coffee maker has been
around for a while. You just haven’t seen it since it’s in the corner.

8. Cecil also made a quick run to a community lot to pick up a new
shirt. (Claws get stuck in a wool sweater so easily, and it can hurt
the cat when you try to pull them free.) He spent less than two
game-hours for travel and shopping both.
Rule #8: Trips to community lots are limited to three hours or
fewer. …

9. Cecil is very pleased with his new shirt, although the cats seem
somewhat apathetic. As long as they get cat treats and are played
with whenever they want, Cecil can go around in a satin nightie for
all they care.
The cooker hood doubles as a smoke alarm; it’s by buggybooz and you can
find it on MTS. The counters and stove are just recolors of the cheapest ones
(not entirely new ones); they’re by Jennerica and you can find them at GoS or
on Jennerica’s blog.

10. Here’s a slightly better shot of Cecil’s shirt. I think it suits him
much better than the sweater he was wearing. Plus, even though it
won’t add to my points, I just think it fits the theme nicely.
The shirt is from GoS as well; it’s from the “I Just Really Love Cats”
collection of shirts by mellyrae, which no CCL should be without. They’re
available for both males and females, too!

11. Now that there’s a little bit of money in the bank and life has
developed a bit of a routine, Cecil actually has time to talk to
friends on the phone, and even to invite them over. Just because
you’re a Crazy Cat Lover doesn’t mean you have to be anti-social.
Rule #8: Trips to community lots are limited to three hours or
fewer. … Phone calls, internet chat, and inviting people over
are all just fine, as long as Rule #3 is followed.
Today’s visitor is Frederic Miller, who is some sort of cousin-at-a-
far-remove. He’s from Already in Progress, just like Cecil used to
be.

12. You may have noticed Cher’s carpool arriving home in the last
picture. Although Cher’s job performance was quite good, she
apparently didn’t get any litter breaks at all, and promptly lost me
points as soon as she got home.
-5 Each time a cat older than kitten uses the floor instead of the
litterbox
I suppose it’s hard being pregnant when you’re a cat, too...

13. I am pleased to report that Frederic and Cher get along quite nicely.

14. Cher was just full of surprises this rotation. First there was the
peeing on the sidewalk, followed by the making-friends-easily.
Then, the next day, I saw this.
My first reaction was panic -- I hadn’t gotten any pop-up warnings,
so I couldn’t understand why the cats were being taken away.
It would have been terribly embarrassing to fail my own challenge
so early.

15. As it turns out, it was just Cher’s carpool.

16. Then she got a good chance card at work and came home in this.
Cher has now topped the Security career, which nets me a few
more points.
+5 Each career topped by a cat

17. And in the evening of the next day, the magic sparkles began!
Pet pregnancies seem kind of long to me, but I admit that I didn’t
keep very careful track. Does anyone else know how long pet
pregnancies usually last?

18. The magic sparkles produced not one, not two, but THREE kittens!
I named them Atropos (male), Clotho (female), and Lachesis
(female). I can’t tell them apart right now, but that doesn’t matter
until they become adults.
-5 If you the player can't tell the adult cats apart (All kittens look
alike, so they don't count)
But even if it counted at this point, it would be offset:
+5 Each kitten born on the lot

19. You remember Frederic from a few slides back, right? Well, later
in the rotation he got married, and Cecil was invited as a guest.
Cecil asked if he could bring a friend, and Frederic said sure.
(What can I say? I was curious to see his plus one.)
It turned out to be his father.
Cecil spent a good chunk of the wedding heartfarting and then
flamey thought ballooning his exes, who were also invited. One of
them is married and has a child by now, and one has two children
without being married at all. Cecil needs to get out more, methinks.

20. Here you see further proof that Cecil is really starting to lose it.
Not only is he walking away from a cat that wants a hug, but he’s
rolled the Want to Adopt A Freaking Puppy!

21. The lack of human contact is just deadly! …Or he could be
teaching Cher to Play Dead.
On a side note, Cecil seems to have inherited his grandfather’s
knack for making awesome faces.*
*See Everybody Loves Bertie for more about Cecil’s grandfather.

22. Since Cecil seems to roll up Wants for his exes most frequently,
when I saw that he wanted to spend some time with Blake Louie, I
jumped at it.
Blake Louie is the llama mascot Cecil had a disastrous date with in
college. They reconnected on LlamaBook recently, and are pretty
good friends now that it’s understood that Cecil is Not Interested.
Which is just as well. Blake seems like a nice enough guy, but he
paid hardly any attention to the cats.

23. I don’t know if you noticed in the last couple of pictures, but I’m
really gunning for the decorating points:
+9 Individual portrait of each cat somewhere on the lot (painting,
snapshot, artist's camera, architect's table, etc.)
That’s Cher on the left and Louis on the right. I can provide close-
ups of the photos upon request, since they are a bit small here.
+20 Having as much cat-themed decor as you can fit in the
house/stand to look at without throwing up
Fortunately, “tasteful” is not a requirement.

24. Space in the house is limited, and so I didn’t know how I was
going to fit in a scratching post for each of the kittens. (When they
need them, of course -- they don’t just at the moment.) Then I
found an invisible recolor of a scratching post on MTS.* Do you
see the scratching post just barely sticking out of the tree?
*It’s by ailias, if you want to search, or it’s linked on my WCIF page on LJ.

25. Not anymore, you don’t!*
*It is actually quite difficult to get this particular setup to work,
since the cats see the tree as being in the way.

26. Frammit!
-1 Each fight between your Sim's cats (Fights between your Sim's
cats and any walkbys/strays don't count.)

27. I’m not really sure what Louis’s problem is, but he’s been
challenging Cher right and left recently. Often I don’t notice until
it’s actually happening, and I didn’t think to have Cecil scold Louis
about it.
I decided to rectify that this time around, and to scold him for
fighting.

28. Except that here Louis is clearly saying “Yeah, I can take you, too.
You want a piece of me?” The scolding was unsuccessful, and both
Cecil and Louis got little person-person minus-minus symbols for
the interaction.

29. I’m thinking that maybe praising Louis for being sweet and
affectionate is a better way to go.
Also, it might be time to get him fixed. That makes male cats much
less aggressive.

30. I’m not sure which kitten that was in the last picture, but that
doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Atropos and Lachesis look
exactly alike in all aspects, from the coloring to the markings to the
personality points… everything except their sex. And
unfortunately, you can’t peek under their tails.

31. That is why Cecil made a special trip to the humane society to buy
new collars for the no-longer-kittens: orange, red, and green.
Color-coding is easy, quick, and legal.

32. The problem with buying new everything is that the household
funds are once again dangerously low. Cecil has been reduced to
digging for rocks and bones again.

33. The money trees provide a little bit of income -- although not as
much as you might expect, thanks to Cecil’s distressing tendency
to roll Wants for one or the other of his exes -- but they take up so
much room that they’re not really a viable option for this
household.

34. And then, while Cecil was on the phone with his sister, something
wonderful happened!

35. Andy the cat stopped by!
Cecil promptly hung up on his sister and went out to greet the stray
kitty.

36. And after three game hours, Andy agreed to move in! The ratio of
cats to Sims is now six to one.
Although now Andy needs a collar and other cat stuff, with a bank
balance of $150…
But that’s a problem for another day. Until next time, Happy
Simming!

37. Now I’m actually earning (or losing) points, I should start counting them, hey?
Plus points
Kittens born on the lot: 3 (Clotho, Atropos, Lachesis) x 5 = 15
Strays adopted: 1 (Andy) x 10 = 10
Career topped by a cat: 1 (Cher; Security) x 5 = 5
Minus points
Fight between cats: 1 (Louis vs. Cher) x -1 = -1
Cat used floor, not litterbox: 1 (Cher) x -5 = -5
TOTAL: 24