Tickets, Money, Passport?

So when I was on my shopping trip recently and partly because of taking job seriously for once type behaviour I decided to buy a PC game. The logic behind this was to be a bit up to speed on technology as we are starting to do more of the stuff that teens are into. You can obviously stop laughing now, I do realise computer games are not exactly cutting edge but I am not a gamer and never have been really and this seemed the easiest, cheapest and most convenient way to start. That old tennis Atari holds a small place in my heart however but the handheld Pacman does not (another story). Anyway I decided, having done a small amount of research, that the game I would like was The Sims.

Last night I finally get around to loading it up and have a half hearted read of the instructions. Naturally I'm itching to get going on my PC version of The Game of Life (not unsurprisingly one of my favourite games as a child) and I start to create my first family. At this juncture I'm stumped. What do I want to call them, how much of a nuclear family do I want etc etc? I decide it's easier to base it on something real. But you know, not actually someone real, so I decide to do The Sims version of Kay Scarpetta. This is very easy, she's got a look, a very defined personality and it's easy to decorate her house. So Kay and I are pottering about, and when I say Kay and I, I mean I'm behind the controls of the mousepad not actually putting myself in the game. Kay decorates, meets one of the neighbours and turns down alot of crap jobs. I mean FFS she's a forensic scientist not a telesales worker. She takes a bath, has a nap, waters the garden and listens to the radio. All her needs are being met. Although I'm not sure how to find 'does autopsy' but figure once she gets her dream job she'll be happier. I've even got her a house by the river.

This goes on for all of about 45 mins. She speaks gibberish and looks bored so I send her off to make dinner. Out comes the food from the fridge, on goes the hob and suddenly there are flames everywhere and before I can extinguish it (something Kay would have had tested and installed in every part of her home; I such am a bad creator) she is herself aflame and the Grim Reaper is a knocking. I mean literally, there just on the corner of the screen he is coming up the path. Kay is screaming and burning and I can do nothing about it. Of course I start to laugh. I hope Patricia Cornwall never reads this. I mean a virtual Kay Scarpetta should have and could have been even better than the original. Absolutely no flaws. And all I have is a charred mess in the kitchen *sends ghost Scarpetta in to do forensics* time whizzing by and flies buzzing in the dining room. It's all rather black and bleak and there ends my first foray into The Sims world.

Next week I'm going to create Inspector Morse.

Wish me (a lot of) luck.