Bats told me he was leaving Second Life a few days ago. I was okay while he told me, but it really hit me hard when I was taking my stuff back into inventory - because he wants to sell the little beach paradise we shared. I had tried to write this blog post a few days ago, but it was surprisingly difficult to do. Now that I am over the initial shock of it - it seems to be a bit better.

The thought of leaving Second Life was on my mind, I can't deny that at all. Without Bats there, I can't bring myself to even look cute anymore. The motivation is gone. However, the realization hit me shortly after, that I have way too much real money in this virtual world, and leaving really isn't much of an option anymore. I think as much as it hurts, I will remain in Second Life and continue to do what I do... write fashion reviews, shop and run Imperial Elegance.

*sigh*

We will miss our rezzdays, which were coming up next month (BTW, Sorry I missed your party, Cecille! Happy late rezzday to you! :D ). We had planned to spend them together, and actually get married on July 7th, one year after we became partners. But no.... not anymore. I will, however, keep him in my profile labeled as my partner, for as long as he will allow me to. Because, even if he is gone from SL, I still consider Bats to be Sai's virtual partner.

I don't think I have the courage to say much of anything else, because as much as I tried not to get attached to someone through a virtual world, it was my mistake that I actually did.

I will switch gears now and talk about something non-SL related. The Sims 2. I have taken a liking to playing this, and seems to be my refuge away from Second Life. It really blows me away how great the sims look, and how hawt the pixel men are :D I figured out you can pose the sims, and I snapped this picture of my favorite sims family in their underwear while they were in their vacation home XD :

My RL family always comes up behind me while I am playing and asks: "What is wrong with that guy's skin?! He's grey!" -.- And every single time, I'm like: "but he's hot, so shhhh." XD This is actually quite an older picture of the two sims, Sai and Chad. Since this was taken, they have had a child together that has recently turned into a toddler. o.O

And omg - when that child was born, it was the funniest looking thing ever. I had to hack the game to change the appearance of him, so he wouldn't get teased in school later. XD Yay for virtual plastic surgery! :D

I will try not to be such a downer anymore, after this post. I felt I needed to get this out of my system, and I feel better now that I wrote it all down :D

Whoa, I haven't been in world all afternoon or night today! O_O I have been completely obsessed with The Sims 2, and was playing and downloading custom content for the majority of today XD

I tell you, The Sims have come a long way since I played it waaayyy back when it was just The Sims. I am totally in love with The Sims 2 now, even if I can't get the hang of the camera controls. I keep wanting to Alt-Zoom into myself to get pictures but... well... that doesn't seem to work -.-

Anyway. I got a sim and a pet for her! :D Omg, this picture took me 45 full minutes to do because I still can't get the hang of the camera. *sigh* I created a family of a dog and a woman... with hopes of finding that perfect pixel man-sim. I have always wanted a golden retriever IRL, but my allergies kill me, so they have never been an option. But when I saw this dog in The Sims - I did a "OMG! I WANT!" .... and that was that. ^.^

And of course, I needed me a man sim filled with pixel hawtness to drool over... so,you know what I had to do. I got a guy sim! And you guessed it - he's totally hot.


I made him (named Chad) just for fun, but.... he's just too adorable. I might try to get him and the female sim together - so I put pictures of them side by side. Pretty cute, no? ^.^

I am still trying to figure the game out - so much has changed since the first version TT_TT

So, Bats hasn't been in-world for about a week and a half, and I have had no contact at all with him since last Sunday. I am starting to wonder if he is still alive or not.

And, of course, him being gone is starting to take it's toll on me. I am suddenly bored with Second Life, and have tried to keep my interests in making poses and going to fashion shows. However, I haven't really done much of anything else. Yes, I am still around, but without Bats - I don't seem to have motivation to change my avatar's clothing for the next day, or shop for new things.

So, I have been looking into other virtual worlds. Such as The Sims 2. I played the original The Sims several years ago, and was totally obsessed with building houses and killing the neighbors off. I personally liked locking one of the people in a box with only a grille until it eventually caught on fire). I had all the expansion packs - Makin' Magic, Vacation, Unleashed... the list goes on, but when The Sims 2 came out, I attempted to build my house and got totally pissed that I couldn't build from a birds eye view, so it went in the closet to never return... or so I thought.

My point? Well, I was looking at a website, and was shocked at the houses and the sim you can create in The Sims 2. It reminds me quite a bit of Second Life, but without the real people and you have no tier. It seems The Sims 2 have improved so much from the original sims that I was so used to. I think as a way to defer my attention from Bats' absence I will start playing The Sims 2 until he returns.... whenever that may be.

But, I will continue to come in-world to answer customer service notecards, attend the occasional fashion show, and update Imperial Elegance. I actually have a "Winged" pose set that I finished for Thursday's release - I just need to get in the photosphere and take pictures so I can make ads.

I think I may be the only one who absolutely loves the Dazzle interface. I had really loved it before Windlight® became the main viewer, but I hated the old Second Life skies that it had - so I never used it. I've been hearing about this new ARC feature that Dazzle has, and considering I have plans to go to the Bellagio for a wedding fashion show today, I was curious about how much lag the outfit that took me 5 hours to decide on would cause.

So, I downloaded the Dazzle viewer, expecting to see the old, crappy Second Life skies. However, I was totally shocked to see the newer skies on there. O_O So, I think the Dazzle viewer will become my new favorite one. ^.^ I was also happy to see my outfit was 844 ARC - still in the yellow, but better than in the red.

And while I am on the subject of the new skies, I have to say: I think Atmospheric Rendering with avatars look like crap. I think the rendering looks amazing with scenery photos, and pictures of things - but when it comes to avatars, I haven't seen a single preset that looks somewhat decent. The avatars look white, washed out, and blah. There are a few fashion blogs on the feed that use settings that make the clothing look terrible. Especially skins. Seriously, taking pictures with washed out presets is soooo bad. What were my favorite blogs - after the switch to the new viewer - became my least favorites now.

Personally, I never have the atmospheric rendering on. One: because most of the time, my PC can not handle it. Second: I can not get anything to look right. I had tried several presets - including the praised Caliah Lyon's settings, but still doesn't look right. I am at the point where I don't really care what I look like in other people's viewers. I will keep my 7 face lights and no pretty skies... as long as I look good to myself. ^.^

Hey all, this blog will probably be having a spaz attack today, because I will be changing the layout, colors and images around. I will try to get it looking somewhat normal by the end of today.

So just in case some things look a bit weird today - I am in the process of fixing them. ^.^

[EDIT 3:40PM] Yay! I've finished updating the layout. The main colors and images are replaced, though I am positive I've missed a few. I will fix them when I come across them. ^.^

The main reason for the layout change is because of the annoying Second Life trademark policy. I have added the little 'R' symbol in the header, so I won't have to add it to every post. so, I will have that taken care of. I figured while I was in there editing the header, I may as well update it. Then after I decided that, I was suddenly hit with a "I hate everything in this layout" phase.... therefore, it all changed.

If you've seen me in-world, you've probably noticed I wear a lot of black. So, for my personal blog, I wanted something to reflect that. I've also been wanting to use some Second Life scenery in my headers, but really wasn't sure how to incorporate that and a picture of me together. I was determined this time though. When I decided I wanted a black theme, and a scenery picture - there was obviously only one place to go. TheAbyss! Its stunning, and totally reminds me of Kingdom Hearts 2 (which is sooo me!). The previous one (with me doing random poses I made) was a bit unpersonal, forced together and boring. I think this one looks tons better.

And, it's probably also important to note the change of the blog name. I wasn't really sure if "Sai's Virtual Life" was against the blogging rules, so I thought I'd better be safe than sorry. II mulled over it for a few hours last night, and thought "Sai's Random Bloggage" would probably fit the best. I mean, this was meant to be more like a sight-seeing blog when I started, but just became a place for me to post randomness. So, with a name like this - I am free to post all kinds of stuffs. ^.^ And, it doesn't have any of the illegal words, so I think I am good.

Wow, it seems many people have been interested in this Sculptie Maker, and it was brought to my attention that I never included a SLURL where you can get this awesome contraption in world! You can find it at this location, if you would like to check it out.

And a quick follow-up with my shoe - I figured that there was a few design flaws with it. As soon as I put it on and stuck the invisi-prim on it, it made the foot look freakishly tiny. Like, only half of the foot was there. A silly design flaw - all I had to do was make the toe area and sides taller, and I had a decent looking sole. I also made the toe area a little longer for personal preference. Want a picture? Here you go:

One has a sculpted heel (which took me about 10 minutes to make with the Sculptie Generator), and the other doesn't. Yes, the heel needs work, I know, but I'm still deciding what I want to do with it.

I am totally excited about it, really. This has opened so many new doors for me as a jewelry maker and a creator. I always thought sculpted shoes were for those spiffy CG artists or something, who do 3D modeling as a RL job... but this little contraption really made me rethink that. Sure, my puny sculpted shoe isn't ANYWHERE near Storm Schmooz, Shiny Things or Armidi.... but - omg. I made it! *bounces off walls*

Zomg! I finally finished the main part of my shoe sculpty! As I wrote in my previous post, I have been experimenting with Mango's Sculptie Generator - and I am proud to say that I have made a successful sculpted prim with it! :D This is HUGE for me, because I have been wanting so badly to make shoes - and couldn't understand how to do it with outside programs. ^.^

Mango's Sculptie Generator is amazing. Like omg. I was shocked at how easy it actually was to make what I wanted to. It was incredibly time consuming though (took me 4 days - working on it non-stop), with learning experimenting on the way, but it was easy. This didn't have instructions - as I previously mentioned before - but I really only had a problem with taking the snapshot of the sculpt map. I sent a notecard to Mango, and he explained how to do it - and it worked great ^.^

I smoothed the sculpt in SculptyPaint when I finished it in-world, to get most of the jagged edges off, but I think it looks amazing for my first sculptie with this program. I am so proud of it. :D

.... Now I don't really know what I am supposed to do with it. O.o

I've played with various sculptie tools: Blender, Maya, SculptyPaint, and most recently, zBrush. I've also tried in-world sculptie tools, starting with SLoft, now I am attempting a little contraption called Mango's Sculptie Generator. I've been trying every single sculpt program I can find to create three seemingly simple things: a "U" shape, an "S" shape, and a pair of sculpted shoes. But omg - it seems every program I have tried, I get incredibly ticked off, and uninstall/delete it out of utter frustration.

However, I seem to be getting relatively good results with this funky semi-cheap program - Mango's Sculptie Generator. It takes a bit of patience (which believe me - I have barely any of), and a lot of experimenting. This has a tutorial video which seems totally out of date, and no instructions. So, when I started playing with this, I had no idea what I was doing. I only knew that I am supposed to move the little balls, and what the 4 buttons did.

I have gotten farther with this than I have ever gotten with any other sculptie maker. I am currently attempting a shoe, which I have the basic skeleton down, I think. I think its at least starting to resemble a shoe ^.^ So, I am totally happy. :D It will definitely take me a few months to complete the main heel sculptie, but I am up for the challenge - now that I have a basic idea what I am doing.


One thing: I have no idea what to do when I finish the sculpted prim. The video shows you sit on something that rezzes, so you can get a snapshot of the prim sculpt map. However - I can not seem to get the thing to rez. (Like I said - the video is totally outdated). I really, really, wish the creator would spend some time working on an instruction manual to make it easier. I'd really hate IM him asking him a question like this - but I don't think I will have much of a choice.

I have been working on this non-stop since Saturday night, and I tell you - I am almost at the point where I never want to look at a sculpted prim again. But I think the most difficult part of this Mango's Sculptie Generator is trying to figure out where to begin. When you start it up, all you have is a bunch of spheres and lines - its quite important to have a good image in your head what you want the finished outcome to look like. Me - I am just experimenting and trying to figure things out the hard way XD

WTF is with Second Life lately? The amount of problems are becoming insane, and I can't even seem to do anything anymore. I am almost to the point where I don't log in anymore. Almost. But, since I can't log in - I figure its a great time to post about something I've been meaning to.

So, there has been a smaller, empty lot behind Bats' and my SL home that I have been considering buying. Its 4096sq meters, and I have been really wanting to make some kind of relaxing, park area thing to do inventory organizing. Apparently, Bats' wanted one too, because he proceeded to purchase it despite my screaming not to. -.-

While I was initially mad at him... ok, so I TRIED to be mad, but it didn't work very well. We went shopping for a tiki hut thing, and I started my decorating. :D Ready for some pictures?!

My most favorite thing about this land, and what initially drew me to it - was this little bay area thingie. I love it. I wanted waves, but because the land was so close to the sim border (probably like, 5 meters at most), most waves wouldn't work. But after we seen these amazing waves (surfable with particle spray!), yus, I *HAD* to have them. I was worried they wouldn't fit, but luckily they did! ^.^ They look so perfect on the beach.


And what would waves be without surf boards? I love the designs of these boards. I'll bet you can't tell which of the two is mine :P


I made that furniture and the sculpted fire! Yus, I even made the sculpties! :D I am so proud. I also added a light and a nice fire sound to the fire. I also picked up some ambient nature sounds from Straylight to add to the land. It sounds very relaxing. Oh! There is a cute 1 prim sculpted owl that hoots at night ^.^


Though, I didn't make the poses. One chair has a single feminine pose, and the other has a cute couple's pose. ^.^


And, this post wouldn't be complete without an almost full land picture. I love this land - its so relaxing. :D