I mentioned in a couple of posts recently, that I was going to begin hosting in a club! I have been very nervous and anxious about it, as I have never hosted in a club before. And to be completely honest, I've never been very social in SL in general. So, I was terrified! However, my host training started last night, and all things considered, I did quite well! The person training me surprisingly felt comfortable enough to log off halfway through my shift, and told me that I didn't even need a second training day. I'm not sure if that's a good thing? Or bad? Whatever it is, I'll take it!

I actually had a good time, and I feel like I did a pretty good job there. It's a nice feeling to get out of my skybox land and have a purpose. It forces me to talk to people, hopefully make new friends. I'll be working there at nights, 5 days a week for now. (Hey, I have horses that need to be fed, and shopping that needs to be fueled!)

Trompe Loeil is having a huge 50% off sale on everything for the next few days, and I went yesterday as soon as I heard about it. When the news came to me, the only words that came out of my mouth was... "Oh, no." Being out of SL for so long, the one thing you notice is that your inventory is extremely outdated, including furniture. Decorating a house is terrible when all you have is sculpted prims. Now there's mesh, and everything is so low prim. I feel like all my furniture now is a waste of prims. This sale was awesome, and well timed for me!

I spent way too much linden. My husband kept telling me to leave that place, but I couldn't help it! It did not help the situation that we had just gotten a new mesh house, and I needed things to fill it.

One of the most awesome things I bought from the sale was this incredible hanging outdoor bed. I love it! However, one of the best buys that I got, was that the Country Pavillion was set to $150L, and with the sale, it was still half off of that! So incredible, I am so happy with what I bought, and I feel like my new prefab is a little more up to date then what it was! Even Jeffry took a break from scripting to try out the new outdoor bed with me.

A blog post on my new home is coming soon!

So, as I mentioned before, I have a little alt that I run a very small mesh clothing store with. Mesh has been a huge learning experience that I still battle with on a daily basis. My items are not perfect, but I'm learning more each day. I feel like creating in SL is some closely guarded secret, and everything I have learned is a little bit picked from here, more bits picked from there, and the majority of it being trial and error on my part. It is a struggle. Releases are few and far between, because I'm always trying to fix an issue or two that has popped up. But when I have some kind of progress, I feel like it's worth celebrating.

Last night, I got closer to releasing my new micro mini skirt. I finally got the Physique mesh to be somewhat how I liked it, and this afternoon, I took it out to take vendor photos! I "hired" my husband to do some scripting for me, so he created a texture change HUD, so customers will have many choices of colors to choose from. It will be a new feature, one that I'll see how it works out.

I am kind of bummed though, I applied to create for the Maitreya Lara body mesh, and did not hear back from them in time. I was hoping to have both the Slink body and Maitreya in this release. I'm going to try to hold off on it a few more days, to see if I hear back from Maitreya, but it's not looking good. If I was declined, they would tell me, right?

Let's talk about mesh bodies! So, hands and feet have been in SL for a couple years. I love mine and wear them all the time. During the time that I was in and out of Secondlife, Slink released a mesh body. I ran out and purchased it as soon as I saw it was available, then went and got appliers to match my current skin. It was okay, however, unless clothing is made specifically for the Physique body, I can't wear most of my inventory. I find that the alpha layers do not hide what I need hidden on my body.

Now that my husband and I are coming back into SL and starting over, for the most part - he started looking at men's mesh bodies. Once we decided on and purchased his mesh body, I started exploring other options for female mesh bodies. Boy, have they changed since I first got mine! There's a whole handful of body creators, which makes it even more difficult to decide (I hear even the Avastar creators are planning on releasing an open source mesh body!). After running through the pros and cons, I decided on the Maitreya Lara. Mainly because I wanted to stay with a brand that I know and am familiar with. Mesh Body Addicts was a HUGE resource in deciding which body I wanted. I'm trying to familiarize myself with all the new tools, like the Omega, which Slink Physique will not seem to support. Bonus that Maitreya will support Omega. I feel like if I'm going to wear a mesh body, I need it to be as versatile as it can possibly be.

That being said, I went and purchased the almost L$2800 (plus an extra L$300 for skin appliers) Lara body, and I think I am quite happy with it! The body is absolutely gorgeous! Hands and feet come with it, and although I prefer my Slink feet for now because all my shoes only work with them, I adore the hands! I do not really care that they only come in one position because that's all I need. I've officially swapped out my Slink hands for the Lara ones.


The one downside that I have noticed, however, is when certain shadows cast on the neck join, you can see a visible seam. It's not a "squint and you might see it" kind of seam, it is a blaring you right in the face kind of seam. However, there's updates often with this body it seems, and I'm confident it will probably be fixed sometime soon, or I'll figure out which graphic setting is causing it. I've also gotten the updated version of my skin and appliers, but I still see the seam. But it's not enough to stop me from wearing the body! I love it!

My in world profile has been so outdated! I took some time today to take a good photo to add to my profile. I have also updated the old photos on this blog to reflect the newer photos of me. It had been so long since they were updated, it was long past time!

I mentioned previously that on my return to SecondLife, Sai will not be creating anymore. However, I need something to get me out of my skybox and in the world. I have decided to get a job - a hosting job, specifically. All my talk about SL lately has also gotten my RL/SL husband considering coming back to it as well. When I told him I was considering a hosting job, he started contemplating DJ'ing again. So we'll see how that pans out.

I, however, had applied at a couple of clubs in SL, and arranged an interview today. It went well, and they had decided to hire me, yay! So, I'll be officially hosting in a club from now on. I am actually excited for it, excited to have a reason to come off of my land, and socialize with people. Even before I left SL, I never really talked to people, and was really in my own little world. I'm hoping to change that now. The fact that I'll be making enough money to feed my horses and pay my tier is definitely a bonus!

Be on the lookout for photos from the club I'll be working at soon!

I say often in this blog, I love breedables! My obsessions with them started with the sionChickens, moved on to sionCorn, Ozimals, KittyCatS, and also Meeroos at one time. I tried them all, but I wanted something... I don't know... Bigger, I guess? I toyed with the idea of Biobreeds, but I could not find that they had a golden retriever (BTW, how can you not have a golden retriever, they are one of the top breeds!). I started to explore the option of Amaretto horses. Could not find a single one that looked nice to me. Then! While on a sim where people sell their breedables, I found a different style of a horse for sale. It was not an Amaretto. After inspecting it, I was determined to find where to get it. Turns out, they are created by Awesome Breed Creations... and I needed them in my life.

These horses are gorgeous, and very real looking. Instant love for me! The downside to these, is that the documentation leaves much to be desired. It gives you basics, but other than that, it's pretty much a figure it out as you go type of thing. Also, like some other breedables, they are expensive! Ugh. Perhaps it is because there is not that many people that have them, it's still kind of monopolized? I don't know! I was coming from KittyCatS, where I just liked the basic ones - I don't need any fancy ones anymore, I paid maybe L$150-$300 on one.

Okay. Let's meet my horses!

Meet Amelia and Rory! (Any Doctor Who fans out there?) I searched sim by sim for a "cheaper" set of horses. And sadly, this is what I found, and still liked them. Each was L$699. But, I wanted them, so I clicked Buy. They are beautiful, and my current favorites.

It was not long until that I wanted the actual "Starter Horses". The difference between Amelia and Rory versus the starter horses, is that the babies of the starters can pull ANY traits from the gene pool. It's not just specific to the traits that mom and dad have. However, they were even more expensive, and you can't just buy two. You have to buy four. I had a small war with myself for a little while, and decided to do it. I got the 4-Pack of starter horses.


First, meet Elena and Damon (Vampire Diaries, I know. It was actually my husband's idea). They definitely are not the most attractive horses ever, but I can not wait to see what foals they will produce! The babies should not look like them, they could be vastly different.


The other two horses that came from my starter pack are Stefan and Caroline. These horses are even less attractive, but again, they are only starter horses. The babies should be adorable.

Also, what makes these horses special, is the fact that you can actually train them! Depending on what food you are feeding, you can train them to pull, stamina, speed, and sprinting. You can ride them, and the creators also hold races! They are so much fun, and gorgeous too!

A few months ago, I got a brand new laptop, it is a very powerful thing, much more powerful than my desktop. I adore it. To be honest, the reason why I wanted it, was so it can play SecondLife, and also World of Warcraft. I specifically sought out a laptop that was powerful enough for SL. Words can not express how much I miss it. Owning land, exploring beautiful worlds, people creating things I will never see in my real life. However, this being my first laptop, I could not figure out for the life of me - how to keep the computer from using the onboard graphics card, and switch to the dedicated card. Well, all geekery aside, I have figured it out, my laptop now runs SecondLife smooth as butter, with shadows even enabled. It is an incredible feeling.

After that was situated, I started looking back to the beginnings of this blog. Waaay back when I first started. It was amazing, I was almost in tears, looking at both the evolution of the Sai Pennell avatar, and also my store, ImpEle. It struck something in me, and I could not believe this longing I felt for my blog at it's very beginnings. I missed it. SL was a huge part of my life, it was there for me during a difficult time in my real life, and I also met my RL husband there.

Let me first say... I joined SL for the purpose to explore Buddhism as a philosophy. I wanted to tour the shrines, also other religions, such as Shinto. I wanted to read everything about them! My blogging experience started that way, but then, somehow.... It became revolved around fashion. I started the fashion blog, and began to hate blogging, also began to dislike SL. It was not the same feelings I had early on. Every picture became a battle of "I can't wear this, because I already wore this outfit/hair in the last photo", which eventually turned into... "Why even go at all?" Fashion blogging became a nightmare for me too, always trying to buy the newest things, the best things, just to keep up with the ever-changing style.  In essence, I believe these combined is what drove me out of SecondLife.

I'll be coming back, and reblogging here. However, I am giving myself limitations, to keep blogging, and SL in general, a fun experience for me:

• I will not blog about fashion. For my sanity, I can not get back into the fashion scene.
• It appears the majority of my friends in SL has left, or moved on to other things. I need to keep getting out of my skybox and try to make new friends. Somehow. (This is a huge one for me, because believe it or not - I'm an introvert!)
• I am going to look for some form of a job in SL, that does not require creation. I'm currently dabbling in mesh clothing on an alt, but Sai won't be creating anymore! Anyone have an need for a customer service person for their store? Hah.
• Explore! One of the amazing feelings that I got when going through my early posts was the wonder of how beautiful SL is. Even pre-windlight. I will need to find that wonder again.
• I will not fear the fact that I CAN go two days without changing clothing items. I will not worry about which hair, or clothes I previously wore. Because in SL, I can get away with that.
• Lastly, I will not fear the silly-ness of SL. I will wear onigokko occasionally, and wear my crazy dancing cow attachment often.

So, all that being said, I hope you all are not too angry at me for re-opening Sai's Random Bloggage. And I hope you all will join me on this new quest of re-discovery! I hope to explore new, beautiful and fun sims, while also blogging about little bits of my life (and my obsession still with breedables) in SecondLife!

Hi, which few readers probably still visit me here!

It's time to say an official goodbye to saipennell.blogspot.com. I've attempted several times throughout the years to come back to SL, to re-claim my love for it. But in reality, the majority of the friends I've met along the way have moved on, and my once top of the line computer, is now struggling to keep up with the changing requirements of this virtual world. I pop in to SL every now and then, because I still adore the breedables, but it's just not worth trudging through client side lag on a daily basis for me.

However, I have not completely stopped blogging! I have a RL blog, for those of you who follow them in addition to the SL ones.

This is where you can read up on the real world adventures of the person behind Sai Pennell. I blog about DIY projects, my lovely new apartment, my marriage to the RL human behind Jeffry Heartsdale, and most recently - the addition to our golden retriever into our lives

How long has it been since I updated this blog?? Way too long! I have been inactive from SecondLife for a long time, busy with work, maintaining a home, and dealing with two cats now. I miss SecondLife, the whimsy, the exploring, the shopping.

Since my last post, which was AGES ago, I moved in with the RL Jeffry, we now have our own apartment, and I've been living here for almost 2 years now. We are looking towards the future by planning a RL family at this point, but I've been really craving SL for the past few months.

So, I've decided to make a little comeback. I've come back to SL to do what I love, shop, raise breedable kitties, and explore beautiful locations. So much has changed since I left in 2011. Mesh, mainly. Who knew that I could have almost an entire bedroom set for less than 10 land impact?! What is this sorcery?!

I've worked on updating my avatar to mesh lately. Shoes, clothing, hair, updated eyes, skin, mesh hands and feet. It's been an adventure, having to learn what appliers are, and trying to pick out a skin that works well with them. Whew! Once that was all updated, I'm free to run around on the grid freely!

First place I went to explore, was this place called Moonlight Teahouse, Tuli (141, 246, 32). Japanese sims and locations have a soft spot in my heart, considering that I joined SL originally to learn about the culture and religions.


It's basically and small tradional teahouse, with a really great garden. Garden is filled with flowers and trees, fantastic for photo taking.


It's not all that huge of a parcel, either. Pretty neat place though. Good place to bring me back and remind me of why I came to SL in the first place.

SLURL: Moonlight Teahouse, Tuli (141, 246, 32)

How long has it been since my last profile photo? Too long? I thought so. I decided to play around and take some photos today, this one turned out fantastic, I think. Therefore, new profile photo! I love this hair, by the way.

In some real life news, it appears that it's becoming official: I'll be moving across the country to move in with the RL Jeffry in early January. 5 months. The long-distance thing can really difficult at times, and really taxing on the relationship. We both decided that it is time to get a place in RL together, so it is really exciting that we are actually going ahead now. :)

I find myself in the real life, knitting a lot more than I used to be. I've taken a liking to knitting socks lately, once I start one, I get on a mission to finish it and I don't think about much else. But, once in a while, I log in to SL and do something.

Usually, I do a little hunt - most recently, the Seasons Hunt, and I intend to do the Poupee Hunt (I always want to seem to want to pronounce it Poopie Hunt, I have no idea how to say Poupee). My husband and I do a date night in SL every Sunday, which is great because it feels good to go back to the time we were in SL all the time together.

I've been working on texturing a couple pieces of furniture from sculpt maps I purchased. It's fun, though I wish I had more of a sense of home style to work with. But oh well. I enjoy it.