Ninety nine point nine seven five. It is totally unfair. Now, because of a stupid computer glitch, she is less than one tenth of a point away from being top of the class. There was no way she is finishing second to Becky Barnes, the perfect little passive-aggressive drama queen. Jimmy doesn’t see what the big fuss is about. But he knows better than to suggest that she let it go. WITH RECURSIVE supplytree AS (SELECT si_id, si_item, si_parentid, CAST(si_item As varchar(1000)) As si_item_fullname FROM supplyitem WHERE si_parentid IS NULL UNION ALL SELECT si.si_id,si.si_item, si.si_parentid, CAST(sp.si_item_fullname || ‘->’ || si.si_item … Continue reading Chapter 5.5 – Glitch

Normally, celebrating a teen birthday is cause for major excitement.   But in Faith’s mind, it is just another rotation of the planet on its axis, and she makes light of all the fuss. Her big day gets started by finishing up her honors science fair project about fractals found in nature. Hope had suggested she turn in a butterfly collection. Honestly, she loves her mother to death. But sometimes they have difficulty communicating at the same level. She did find a fractal pattern on one species of butterfly and incorporated it into her project. It turned out to be a good compromise, … Continue reading Chapter 5.4 – Adventure

  Working in the church soup kitchen has presented Faith with unique opportunities, and introduced her to sims she would never have otherwise met.   One evening in particular stands out, after an otherwise uninteresting supper. It is fairly late when a last-minute straggler finds his way into the hall. Mark has put up most of the tables and chairs already, and volunteers have packed the food away. But there is something in the guy’s eyes that motivates Faith to prepare a plate from leftovers and warm it up in the microwave.   He is very grateful to Faith and carefully eats his meal, seeming almost … Continue reading Chapter 5.3 – Doc

Faith’s fellow classmates learn an important lesson about her personality one Friday afternoon during debate team practice. —   If there is anything that Faith does well, it is arm herself with information. When she was chosen to defend the argument that Sunset Valley was prepared for a major earthquake, she decided to take a less direct path to her position. According to her research, there are no faults, ridges, or hotspots within a hundred miles of Sunset Valley.   Of course, her opponents argue that the last two tremors were warnings of some impending doom. But after Faith methodically shoots holes … Continue reading Chapter 5.2 – Competition

Faith continues to cruise through her childhood, enjoying the prolonged calm gracing the Barimen household.   While it may seem that nothing much of interest is happening during these years, they may actually be the most important for Faith. The family’s wealth has mounted as investments seem to flourish whenever the Barimen name is attached. Hope has turned the Bistro into a major success, with sims traveling from all over the world just for the dining experience, alone. Rubbing elbows with some of the most rich and famous sims on the planet seems a very natural thing for her. Before long, she … Continue reading Chapter 5.1 – Charity

Faith Barimen is not a typical ten year-old girl.   There is nothing outlandishly strange or unusual about her, really. She does very well in school and is the kind of kid that most teachers want to clone. She’s polite, happy, and an all-around good kid. But it is the particular group of friends she best identifies with, that really sets her apart. Most kids would rather die a slow, agonizing death than be associated with this misunderstood bunch. These are the kids who plays chess at lunch, and do math problems for fun. They are a very diverse group of sims, who all … Continue reading Chapter 5 – Faith