Gardenia: Days 27 - 29

Gardenia spent the rest of Thursday tending her garden, and finally reached Level 10!

She celebrated by taking a short nap, then got up to go fishing. Her aim was to catch more Angelfish, and she tried a new spot, Summer Hill Springs.

Not only did she catch some Angelfish, she finally figured out its preferred bait--Alley Catfish.

(Using the cheese that had come with her refrigerator, Gardenia had figured out early on that the Alley Catfish's preferred bait was cheese. But, since she used up that cheese fairly quickly, and hadn't had any more until just recently, when her first Cheeseplant started producing, Gardenia had not fished with cheese--and had not caught any Alley Catfish--in a very long time.) "No wonder it took me so long to figure out the bait for Angelfish!"

Since it was now too late to catch Deathfish at the graveyard, Gardenia returned home Friday morning to sleep.

When she arose, she tended her garden, a got a surprise.

Her present to herself was to harvest her Money Tree, and sell its produce for $733.

She took a short nap so that she would be fresh for a fishing trip to the graveyard.

Upon arising, she had a short conversation with her Money Tree to raise her Social need,

before heading to the graveyard, where she had a very successful time.

Once the Deathfish disappeared at 5:00 a.m. Saturday, Gardenia went to the grocery to sell her catch and her extra produce.

(It took her a few tries to get the hang of the selling system, since she often forgot to put, for example, all of her tomatoes in the basket, instead of just one.)

By the time she was done, her family funds equaled $7,248.

She would have liked to invest in another business, but after checking the GAC Challenge Rules, she realized that the only investment she could afford--a partnership in the Diner for $6,000--wasn't available to her, because she had never completed an Opportunity for the diner, and she had never "done business" with the diner (because the Rules prevented her from eating there). She had completed Opportunities for both City Hall and the Police Station, but it was illegal to invest in those, and the only other businesses with which she'd "done business" (besides the grocery and the bookstore, in both of which she was already a partner) were the Bistro--which required an investment of $12,500, the Theater--which required an investment of $18,000, and the Science Facility--which required an investment of $40,000.

"They're all out of my price range," Gardenia realized. "At least for the time being."

Later that morning while she was gardening, Gardenia harvested her 75th Perfect item of produce, and so completed the Botanical Boss Challenge.

She also received a certificate from the local gardeners' group.

Ever mindful of increasing her Lifetime Happiness points, she made her favorite meal, Autumn Salad, for brunch,

and went off to look for meteorites

in the hills below her lot.

She found a Tiny Space Rock almost immediately,

and some insects, which she took to the Science Facility to sell.

Still she did not yet have the 40,000 Lifetime Happiness points she needed for the Collection Helper.

She returned to her lot and slept for a while, then got up and analyzed her space rocks and sold them.

She spun a wish to go fishing,

and, since it was prime fishing time for Deathfish, she headed to the graveyard.

After catching a few Deathfish, and running out of Angelfish bait,

and catching a few Vampire Fish, and running out of garlic bait,

Gardenia decided to explore the catacombs. This, unfortunately, did not go well.

Undaunted, and still determined to increase her Lifetime Happiness points, Gardenia decided to focus on catching 100 Red Herring.

She briefly considered fishing at the graveyard,

but decided instead to go to the gym and clean herself up, and then to fish in Central Park, which was a better location.

By the time the sun went down she had 39,000 points,

though a glance at her fishing skills journal showed that she had caught only 81 Red Herring,

meaning that she had a long way to go to get the 1,500 points (the reward for satisfying the wish).

She went to the market to sell some of her produce and fish,

was happy to see that her household funds had risen to $8,750,

and then went home to sleep.