Hello and welcome to day one of the simselves' incarceration into Siminsane Sanitarium! This is my take on the asylum challenge, which has been played by many, including myself. I have played this two times before, and actually completed one in this very institution. The former 'crazies' have now moved on into a new home, leaving room for these unlucky simselves to occupy their old roles. The rules will be followed loosely because I'm playing for fun, not points. Also, there are ten sims in this one instead of the normal eight, so I have added an extra bed, place to nap, and a seating spot. Plus, the last time I played was right after NL or OFB, so some rules may be obsolete. There is also a stereo AND a TV, because I like to listen to my music while playing. I am using FRAPS to take print screen shots in order to get better quality for posting on Slideshare, so you will see que items and dialog boxes now and then when I'm unable or unwilling to edit them out. Now, to introduce the Sycho Family. . . .

From left to right: First, there is Karima. What can I say? She is a wonderful, wacky Aussie who adds fun and dimension to my forum, Desirable Discourses. Jo is the author of many hilarious tales, including The Mobacy, Fair Dinkum Flamingos, in which I had a starring role as the founder's wife, and a simself asylum challenge of her own. Ashley, AKA Puddinroy, is a legacy fanatic and a lover of interestingly different Sims. Jilly is the acclaimed author of The Secrets of Sealgaire, as well as other great stories. Sawyer is a cool kid who makes life at DD more interesting and is the 'founder' of a DD RR legacy that's starting soon. Valpre is the awesome author of Unforgettable and is quickly becoming famous for her new one, Fallen. Crissy is my daughter and an avid simmer. Amylu is the author of one of my all-time favorite legacies, Hypothesis Incorrect. Holley has a few great stories going, not the least of which is Jo's Creation to the Future Challenge, which she has turned into an epic tale! Then, there is Sim Tina, myself, who has a few decent stories under her belt as well. I thank you all for your participation. This adventure would not be possible without you! Now, to get the ball rolling, I will turn you over to a very special 'guest star'.

"Hello to all of you out there in Simmers' land! You would not believe the morning I've had! This morning, I was going about my usual business of getting ready for the day, when suddenly these men in white coats came bursting into my house, going on about my being a lunatic and needing to be 'put away'. Well, let me tell you, they dragged me out of there kicking and screaming! I am Aussie Karima, I told them . . . NOT Asylum Karima!

You may have noticed something different about the first two photos in this story. You see, that little fairy-looking person is my twin sister. Ever since we were very young children, she seemed to think she was Tinkerbelle or something! Well, anyway, I tried to tell those idiots they had the wrong person, but they wouldn't believe me. Man, was I ever relieved when she finally showed up and I got my walking papers!"

"The instant I saw them drag her in, I called a taxi to come get me the hell out of there! I am not crazy and don’t belong in a house full of lunatics. There she is, talking to another lunatic who resides there. I calmly perused the newspaper and tried to ignore everyone. The red-headed loon made her way straight for the easel, while another one plopped down in front of the TV. I sighed in great relief, and quickly stood, as I saw the taxi pull up outside."

"My heart pounded frightfully as they all stood and gathered around to say goodbye, as if they'd known me their whole lives! I tried to be polite, but I rushed out of there as quickly as I could, almost bumping into whom I assumed to be the Activities Director on her way in from outside. I mumbled an apology, but didn't slow down my pace. Unfortunately, that crazy sister of mine followed me out the door."

"'Wait up, Sis!' she called out to me, 'Don't you want stay here and keep me company?' Well, I told her, in no uncertain terms, that it seemed she had plenty of folks to keep her company. People who seemed to be right up her alley! Without looking back, I hopped into the taxi, gave the driver my address, and told him to make haste in getting me away from that loony bin!"

"Oh, I can laugh about it now, since I am safely in my own home, but there was nothing funny about it then! It was a very close call, indeed. My sister, Asylum Karima has always been the nutty one, not me, Aussie Karima. I am as sane as they come.

Well, since I am a free woman, I think I will head out to Downtown Strangetown in search of some fun and action! I hear that there are some very sexy vampires lurking around down there and I intend to search out one of them."

"Oh yes, some very hot vamps, indeed! Nope, there is nothing crazy about me at all. It is definitely time to enjoy my freedom. I can appreciate it much more now, seeing as it was almost taken away from me a little while ago. As I am about to head out on an exciting evening adventure, I will turn the storytelling back over to Tina. I certainly wish her the best of luck in taking care of that madhouse that she will be calling home until she achieves her lifetime goal. Nope, there is nothing crazy about me in the least. Look out vamps . . . here comes Aussie Karima!"

As I sat, chatting with one of my new 'roomies', I could hear a commotion going on inside the house. It seems that one of the Australian ladies was making a fuss about there being some sort of mistake being made. Just then, a woman who looked a lot like her was ushered in by two attendants in white coats, so I excused myself to head inside to see what was happening and was almost run over by the frantic blond woman on her way out the door, heading quickly toward a taxi that had just pulled up to the curb.

A blue-haired woman dressed as a fairy, abruptly broke off her conversation with a woman wearing a green sweater. She almost finished the job the other woman had begun by almost knocking me off my feet as she pushed passed me to follow the first woman out the door. "Oh, the madness is starting already" I sighed softly to myself as I began to look around the room. I was relieved to see that the other ladies seemed to be engaged in amicable conversations. Quickly, I introduced myself and learned all their names. I then stood off to the side to quietly observe for a bit.

"You know something?" Holley was saying to Amylu. "I'll bet if we poured oil all over bodies, we could easily slip through those bars on the door!"

Crissy said to Jo, "Hey, if we had beach ball, we could pretend we were at the beach, since there's lots of sand outside!" Jo clapped her hands in delight as if she thought that was the greatest idea ever.

"Just look at her!" Ashley whispered as Valpre giggled, "the red-head is just standing there, still as statue!"

Outside, another newcomer had arrived. "What am I doing here?" he said aloud to himself. "The last thing I remember is selling vacuums door to door. As I recall, I was very nice to that last lady, even though she called me a creep and slammed the door in my face!" If he had been very honest with himself, he would have realized that it was the hissy fit he threw after that which had gotten him into so much trouble. He had ranted and raved outside her house until the lady called the authorities. He had been deemed unfit to stand trial, and had been sent here to serve out his penance. His scowl turned into a smile as he made his way inside to join the others.

"Hello there" he said to Crissy as he took a place beside her on sofa. "What are you watching?"

"The sports channel" Crissy smiled. She told him no when he asked her if she wanted to buy a vacuum cleaner.

"But . . . if we covered ourselves in oil, we'd be all greasy!" Amylu complained to Holley.

"Why aren't we watching the cooking channel?" Jo whined. "I could be learning to make Vegemite toast!"

Sawyer exclaimed loudly, "Oh yeah, Baby, nice view!" as Karima moved to change the TV channel, even though Jo, along with Crissy, had gotten bored and already left the room.

"Oh Honey" Ashley giggled, "You really should get into the habit of wearing panties under that tutu!"

Karima laughed, "Oh, hush up you two!" Then she fluttered off, seemingly without a care, as if she really were a fairy.

More simoleons had come into the household with the late arrivals of Sawyer and Asylum Karima, so after spending as much cash as I could on some decorative items for the house, I had to send the rest off in a money order to someone, thanks to a mod by the great JM Pescado. The only person I knew outside the household was Aussie Karima, so she was the lucky recipient.

"Hey", a breathlessly-excited Valpre asked a stranger who passed by on the street, "will you be my best friend?"

As I stood for a moment, watching the exchange, I could not help but to smile wistfully. The expression on the strange woman's face was priceless as she smiled unsurely while she turned away from Valpre to walk on up the street as if her feet were on fire and her ass was catching!

This is going to be some adventure, I thought to myself. With a sigh, I headed back inside to pick up the newspaper Aussie Karima had dropped on the floor near the sofa in which she had been sitting.

The easel had been moved to make room for some of my new purchases, and Jilly was right back to working on her masterpiece as Jo stared out the window longingly. I quickly navigated to the want-ad section of the paper in search of a job. My lifetime goal was to become The Hand of Poseidon, and I had to reach that goal in order to get us out of the asylum. There were only three jobs in the paper that day, and none was the one I sought.

It was a tough decision, but I decided to hold off until receiving tomorrow's paper, in the hope that my job would be there. If not, I would have to pick one anyway. I knew bills would be arriving soon and someone had to pay them. That someone was me and the one hundred simoleons in the family funds kitty would not last very long.

After the stranger had moved on, Crissy decided to step outside to have a chat with Valpre, but it was not going very well. "Look, I don't know what you're on about, but I never did like Pirates of the Caribbean, so you may as well not even try that 'Aye Matey' stuff on me!"

"Well, you don't have to be so unfriendly about it!" Crissy scoffed angrily as she left Valpre to her own devices.

Inside the house, things seemed to be going a bit better as several others settled in to watch TV. "I don't know, Holley" Jo said excitedly. "I think if we had lots of money, buying our way out of here would easier than greasing ourselves up and trying to slip through the bars!"

In the meantime, my stomach grumbled and I realized it was past lunchtime.

Since I had no skills whatsoever, I decided forego using the stove and started making some nice lunchmeat sandwiches. As I spread on the mustard and plopped the first slice of bologna onto the bread, the doorbell began to ring. After a moment, I realized no one else was going to answer the door, so I left my task to go find out who had come calling upon us so soon after our arrival.

It was not one, but several people outside our door. As it turns out, three of them were previous residents of Siminsane Sanitarium. Ironically, their surname was Sanity. The man wearing the long coat is Paxton. The girl wearing the short pink skirt is Brittany, and the pink-haired girl who looks as if she were on way to a disco is Maria.

"Hey, if could we could find a baseball, we could play catch" Karima said to Val as she ignored our guests.

Apparently Val was uninterested in Karima's crazy notion because she walked away mumbling to herself as I stepped out to greet our guests. I had barely finished greeting Maria when she began blathering on about ghosts and the asylum being haunted. The thought entered my mind that if she had made it out of here, then it should be no problem for us! She said she had died in a horrific fire, but she had been resurrected by Chanel Sanity, the former asylum director once they had been released from the asylum. She described her ordeal so vividly, I could almost see it.

"It all began with a small fire on the stove" Maria told me, her eyes glassy from the memory. "I ran into the kitchen to see what was happening. No one else was in sight, so I began screaming for help, but no one came! Somehow, I got too close and the fire leapt out at me. I screamed and danced around in agony, but still, no one came to help me!" Maria told me that the last thing she remembered before crossing over to the other side was The Grim Reaper hovering over dying body. "I was not the first, but the second to die in a fire here!" she finished with a deep sigh.

Luckily, while I was listening to Maria's dramatic, unbelievable story, Jo decided to go finish making the lunch I had started, before everyone died of starvation. Maria seemed as if she could go on for hours with her reflections upon her time spent here, but just as she was about to tell me how she became a ghost and began haunting the asylum, I made an excuse to get away from her. I was not much into the supernatural and didn't really believe in all that nonsense, but I didn't want to be rude and tell her so. I'd rather make friends than enemies any day, so I kept my thoughts on the subject to myself.

Meanwhile, Paxton and Brittany had made their way inside and began a chat session of their own. "Remember how it was when we lived here, Paxton?" Brittany whispered as Jilly continued to work quietly on her painting, seemingly oblivious to the arrival of newcomers to our 'humble home'.

Paxton shuddered at the memory and, as I went back inside, I noticed how attractive he was, so I approached him. I smiled at him in a way that did nothing to hide my attraction toward him.

As Brittany and Amylu looked on with amused expressions on their faces, I decided to use what I thought was one of my best pickup lines on him, but it seemed to come out weak and cheesy. My face flushed hotly as I heard the ladies giggling behind me. My heart sank when I noticed the disgusted expression which marred his handsome features.

"Oh come on!" Paxton retorted hotly as he threw up his hands and backed slightly away from me. "I'll have none of that right now. I mean, I barely know you! The fact that I am very much into romance doesn't necessarily mean I'm a sleazy slime ball who'll immediately go after anyone!"

I was instantly humiliated and wished I could take it back. Suddenly, I was thanking God for Jilly!

"Hey check it out, everyone," Jilly suddenly exclaimed shrilly, "this self-portrait I'm painting is going to be the greatest thing ever in the history of art!" The laughter filling the room at Jilly's unexpected outburst immediately broke the tension in the room, and my silly attempt at flirting with Paxton seemed to be already forgotten.

Meanwhile, Crissy decided to spend some alone time relaxing on one of the beds, daydreaming about being anywhere but here. It seemed that, so far, she had found no one with whom to share her interests in this horrible place, so she made up an imaginary friend in her head with whom she would be able to hang out and have some fun for a change.

Sawyer went outside to chat with Maria, who had yet to make her way into the house. He did his best to divert her attention from telling her ghost stories by discussing the weather. "Does it look like rain to you?" he asked, even though there was not a cloud in the sky.

"If I had a crystal ball, I could tell you whether or not it is going to rain!" Valpre offered with a laugh.

"How are those sandwiches, Ladies?" Jo asked proudly as she moved to take a seat at the table. "I had no Vegemite to spread on them, so I hope mustard will do!"

Holley groaned, "Thank God for the absence of Vegemite! At least something is good around this dreadful place!"

"It isn't The Ritz" Ashley offered as she took a bite, "But they will fill our bellies and make a turd, I suppose!"

Crissy decided to join the others for lunch and grabbed a sandwich for herself, while I spoke casually with Paxton, hoping to make up for my earlier blunder. Brittany made use of the stereo to show off her dancing skills, and Jill seemed determined to work on her self portrait until it was finished.

Having grown tired of sitting on the ground with Valpre outside, Karima found a nice quiet bed to lie down upon, hoping a good read would cheer her up. She wished her sister had decided to stay with her, but she knew she would soon make some new friends with whom to hang. So far, everyone seemed very nice to her.

Most of the others decided to gather around in the living room to watch The Yummy Channel. Several of them had heard about Maria's ordeal in the asylum and wanted to make sure no such thing happened to them by doing their best to learn some cooking skills. Amylu wondered why Valpre didn't join them, but Valpre seemed to be disturbed by my visit to the bathroom which I had snuck in before it became occupied by anyone else.

Jilly finished her painting and I discreetly sold it for five simoleons. I think Jilly would have been hurt if she had known it was worth so little, so I didn't tell her, and hoped she wouldn't notice. I had no skills and was in need of some fun, so I decided to try my hand at painting a portrait.

Soon, I realized I had never had the chance to have lunch, so I headed to the kitchen to grab a sandwich.

As I sat at the table, I was not surprised to see that Maria had cornered Valpre in the kitchen, and was babbling on with her incessant ghost stories. Unlike me, Val seemed to be 'eating it up'. Apparently she was more into supernatural things than I am. Valpre listened with interest as she repeated the story of her death that she had previously told me. I sighed softly and began to munch on my sandwich, only half listening.

I wondered just how much of Maria's crazy story Valpre would believe as she continued her ramblings. Soon, she had moved past the part of her story she had shared with me and moved on to tell of her 'afterlife' at the asylum. Val continued to listen, her eyes wide with wonder while I scoffed inwardly at her insane nonsense. Again, I wondered how the hell the crazy chick had actually made it out of the asylum. It was a wonder they didn't lock her up and throw away the key! Although I was I incredulous, I couldn't help but to listen in on her outrageous tale.

"It was totally wild the first time I rose from the grave" Maria explained softly. "In life, I had always been a happy, fun-loving person, but dying in such a painful, horrific way seemed to really piss me off! When I was gone, they had to sell my bed and I was surprised at how angry that made me. I mean, I no longer needed it, but I missed it just the same. The only enjoyment I received anymore was scaring the daylights out of the living residents. As often as I could, I would float around, disturbing their peaceful sleep, popping up from anywhere just to frighten them. I found it especially enjoyable whenever they were so frightened, it caused them to piss themselves!"

As Maria continued to spin her crazy tale, Jo found a nice quiet bed to relax upon, while Karima continued her quiet reading. I, having heard enough of Maria's story, rose from the table and proceeded to clean up my dishes. It had become my turn to find a quiet place to rest. I headed for the bedroom as well.

Although I still had plenty of energy, I decided to grab a bed and get some sleep while I could. Seeing as how there ten of us in the house, but only six beds, I knew that finding a decent place to sleep would become impossible at times. So, while the rest of the tenants did their own thing, I allowed myself to slip away into the land of dreams.