I went to restart the sim my husband (eee! Haha, I'm such a dork) and I live on, and needed a place to go for a few minutes.... so I decided to go to Redgrave and check out if they have any new shoes. Little did I know... I wouldn't even make it to the shoes, instead I'd be standing there trying on skin demos.

I've always liked Redgrave skins. I love the cleavage on them, and the shininess of the body... well, shininess on the paler bodies, the orange colored skin tone with the shine always looks a little dirty to me. The faces look sooo cute one most people. But never me. At one point, I tried every single skin in the store, but still couldn't make them work on me.

Well, I had some time to spare, and I picked up a couple demos again, and tried them on. I came to one of the skins and actually did a double take at it. It didn't look that bad :O I did something - I swore to myself I'd never do: I modified my shape to fit this skin. Mainly just my lips, but still.

Then, instead of packing up more boxes to end the night, I decided to pretend I'm a photographer, snap some photos and post process them. xD I'm such a procrastinator, its really sad. I have 2 days until I move, and I'm still sitting here playing with photos and blogging. xD

I think, the photos I did turned out pretty darn good. I found out how to put a pattern in the background the easy way, and found out how to take a green screen out of the SL photo. I love this skin on me, and I actually think I might keep it for a while. Jeffry doesn't seem to mind, he seems to be like the 'whatever makes you happy' kind of mood with skins. xD


I even cropped it a bit, to make this my new profile photo! \o/ Can I just say, how much I love love love the lips on this skin? I'm really not fond of the eyebrows, and I can't seem to get them how I like them, but the lips make the face worth it. :D And yes, I LOVE this Farrah hair... its so perfect for photos. And don't even get me started on the clothes I bought from fri.day during the Labor Day sale.... *fashion squee!*

Now, its time I run off to do some more procrastinating by taking a nap! :D

So, yesterday was the last day of Aion's Open Beta. I spent the last couple days helping Jeffry level up (who eventually got tired of me screaming "Download Aion NOW!" at him, and downloaded it).

I took some photos of the Verteron Observatory when I didn't want to level anymore. It was the first beachy place I came to. I think in this post, I will tell my thoughts on the game.


I think its obvious though - I love it. But why? Every time I heard about this game, it was filled with excitment and all the screenshots was soo pretty. I asked Jeffry if he would play it with me, and when he finally said he would - I scoured the web for more information on classes, and gameplay. It was right past the last closed beta when I preordered.


So, my excitement esclated and went out of control as I got more and more information. I even got Jeffry looking for more information and he got excited too. xD I downloaded the client early, and checked the website several times a day, waiting for details on the next beta.


Open Beta came, I was jumping off the walls. This was my first MMORPG, I had no idea what to expect. I was expecting people to kill me when I first went into the game. I mean, the higher level players - don't they get experience from killing other people? For the first few hours I was looking over my shoulder, expecting to be killed by higher level players. People were too involved in their quests to even talk to me, let alone to worry about killing me. (Apparently you can only PvP in the Abyss - which you have to be like, lvl25 to enter, I think) xD


My goal was to get used to controls, and fighting during the beta. I didn't want to seem too noobish when the game came out. Because believe me, I really had no idea what I was doing at first. It took me a little while, but I eventually found what a NPC looked like (arrows over their heads, who would have thought? *d'oh*)


I love the interface. Its simple, straightforward, and easy to understand. Wonder what something does? Click it. xD Equipping armor and stuff is painless and easy, attacking is simple, and even the minimap is total win. I'm a total MMO idiot. xD


I played nonstop for several days, and then some more helping Jeffry level up to get his wings. I learned a little about grouping, following, trading and dueling with him too. Even got invited to a Legion then too. I don't know about legions though, I'm perfectly happy with fighting by myself or with Jeffry for now.


Its been only 24 hours, and I'm already starting to have Aion withdrawls. The game was soooo much fun, I can play it for days nonstop. While I can't play it during opening weekend this weekend because I'll be moving to the new apartment and setting my life back up, but you can be assured that I'll be on Aion the first second I get free. :D


The most beautiful photos I got of Aion is during flight transportation. OMG. It took me forever to figure this thing out. I love this. You talk to some person - pay them some currency, and they transport you to your destination by this beautiful bird thing.


But, its not just some transport. This bird takes you through the landscape. Over the tips of trees, through canyons, and even skimming over water, its so beautiful. I swear when I found out I can do this - I went back and forth from place to place for like a half hour. xD


And, with that, that concludes my posts on Aion's Open Beta. Interested in prepurchasing the game? You can check it all out on the Aion website. :D

Tomorrow is the last day of the Aion Open Beta, and it will also be my last post about it for the rest of the week. Until the launch date at least, I'm so excited about it. But, after I hit level 14, I got bored of doing quests, and I decided I wouldn't spend so much time leveling up, or crafting, when my character was going to be wiped on Sunday. So, I decided to just teleport to random places and look around.

I forgot the name of this place, and the average level around me was lvl 20 and above, so it would take me a long time to get here if I was playing normally. xD But, it didn't stop me from exploring everywhere I could. :D


As I said in the post about Verteron, flying is very limited in this game from everywhere I've seen, but flying is allowed here as well. (Yay, second place I found where I could fly!) I flew around here several times, and dying countless times as I run out of flight time and plummet to the ground. :/


I love the bright colors of these rock-buildings. They are soooo bright and pretty. And then the bridges that link them all together omg. Cute! I wonder if I could talk my husband, Jeffry (oooo! The first time calling him my husband in the blog! *dances around) into making our homestead look like this? *Contemplates*


I did find it amusing how - these buildings appear to be carved out of rock, but inside of them were just as beautifully crafted as normal buildings in Sanctum. Strange. :O


I also ran around to the forest area below the rock city and snapped some pictures. These photos don't really look as cool as previous ones, but hey, I think they still turned out pretty cool looking :D


There really are a lot of forest areas in Aion. It seems there are more forest areas than anything else in the Elyos side of Aion. Most of them seem different though, I mean, one is more lush, another is rocky, another is more like, a plain. But yet, they are all interesting. :D


This game has been a really great and welcomed obsession this week, it kept my mind of moving, which I still need to pack for next week. And other various stressful RL things that would have destroyed me otherwise.

I have one more Aion post left, then my life will return to its regularly programmed schedule on Monday. XD

Yay, more Aion photos! I think its awesome so many people are interested in seeing this game - If you haven't preordered it yet - you neeeeeed to! It's so beautiful, and fun :D

Last time, I blogged about Sanctum - today I'll blog about the next city you go to after you get your wings there.... Verteron, and the surrounding Verteron Swamps. I love Vereron almost as much as I love Sanctum, for different reasons. :D


This city was also the first place I found the "Broker". I guess players sell their items all in one place here, which was cool, because I wanted the "Hunter" armor, which seems you can only find it through creatures dropping it. Which, I only found the shoes ... but I wanted the full set. So, I found pieces from the Broker for cheap and got the armor I wanted, the lazy way. xD


I keep saying over and over, its soooooo pretty. One of the reasons I love SL so much is looking at beautiful sims, and admiring people's creativity. Aion makes me feel this way, and I don't even have to go searching through people's Flickr accounts for SLURLs of pretty locations. I get awesome cities and landscapes where ever I turn in Aion.


And besides, how can you not love a game where your character does silly animations like this? I think in this photo she was dusting sand off herself, and later in the desert mines, she whips out a hand fan and fans herself (and even fans under her armpits. o.O) I might have to take a machinima of this, its soooo funny.


As for the Verteron Swamps, I don't know what these were, but they were freaking awesome. :O I couldn't find a way to interact with them, and if I tried to get close, I either hit a barrier thing, or drowned. Looks like I can only admire them from afar. :(


However, I couldn't stop snapping photos of them. Despite their massive size, they look like really kind, gentle creatures who would be hunted just because of their size. (And just one of their skins would probably make some really good leather armor for the rest of my Aion gameplay) :O


And, a more swampy-ish photo, with the awesome, giant creatures in the background. I seriously love those things.


Verteron was also the first place you can fly at. Which to me, was a HUGE let down. Beacuse, in all the places I've been so far, its actually the ONLY place you can fly. In the Dukaki mines... No Fly zone. When I went back to Poeta - nope, can't fly there. The forests outside of Verteron - nope, no flying there either. Why give us wings, if we can't even use them? I was very annoyed with this, but I hope I will be able to fly more later on in the game. :D


But I did decide to take advantage of the only place I could fly, and flew around all of Verteron. Note to self: Do not press Page Down to fly lower, you stop flying mid-flight and will die. I can't even count the amount of times I died doing that. xD


And because I like taking pictures of my character - here's another one. :D I did manage to learn how to whisper to someone - I was so proud of myself. *Beams*

Now, off I go to pack a few more boxes, and get ready to go out to dinner. \o/

As per request - more Aion screenshots! I've been having soooo much fun running around and snapping screenshots. The Aion world is just too beautiful not to.

The most beautiful place I've been to by far, is Sanctum. It's some castle-like town floating in the air, and its absolutely stunning. You first get teleported here when you hit level 10... and this is where I got my wings. (Which, is hilarious to me, because you can't even fly here) xD


I think I spent about 4 hours just looking around exploring this place and taking screenshots before I settled down to do any Quests. Yes, I am easily amused. It seems I spend the majority of my time just exploring. I started playing Aion right when Open Beta started, and am only level 13, while other people are 20 and above. I don't know, either I suck at leveling, or people aren't taking in the beauty of Aion. o.O


This is also the place where you chose your crafting skills. I decided I'd go with Tailoring and Weaponsmithing, and created a pair of leather shoes. But, its extremely time consuming with battling creatures and waiting for them to drop something... and Open Beta is only a week, so I made my shoes and decided I wouldn't bother with it anymore until the game comes out.



Sanctum is my favorite place. It's beautiful you can buy all sorts of interesting things from accessories, to armor and weapons. And, you don't have to worry about violent worgs, or dukaki brawlers coming after you while your back is turned. xD


This is my favorite photo from Sanctum, I think. I turned a corner and seen this, and I was like :O Its beautiful... and Sanctum seems to be a major part in Aion, because all the crafting stations and stuff are located here.


I just *had* to explore every piece of it. There is the Library of the Sages, which is a massive library filled with information I can't even access :P


Also, lots of things to buy - I think this particular area dealt with manastones... or Godstones - I don't know the differences. I've come across several Manastones, but I don't think I've seen a Godstone yet. xD


The interface wasn't too hard to learn, either. It was really just a matter of going like: "I wonder what this button does" *clicks it* "Oh, I see." XD I love that you can have a list of Quests on the side of the screen. It makes things so easy especially when you have to kill like 15 creatures, and you lose count of how many you've already killed.


And, a picture of my character (I've heard people call them toons?). She's so cute, and I absolutely LOVE her armor. And hey, as I was snapping this picture, I realized you could sit on these benches. Clumsily random clicking I guess pays off! XD

OMG, I've been missing from SL fora few days now, and don't really plan on logging in much for the next week. Jeffry is extremely pissed off at me about it too. But anyway - the reason being.... Aion Open Beta has begun! OMG I've been waiting for this game ever since I heard about it, and I preordered it a few weeks ago. Because I preordered, I got access to the open beta! I was sooooooo excited when the beta opened. I've been taking snapshots allllll over the place, its such a beautiful game.

I've never played World of Warcraft. I was never, ever interested in any MMORPG or anything of the sort. Well, aside from FreeRealms, but thats a game geared towards teens, so I don't think that counts. Why this game appealed to me... I have no idea.


I've barely seen daylight since the beta started on Sunday. I've been locked up in my bedroom with the computer, only coming out to grab something to drink, or something to eat... and go to sleep. I've been so obsessed with this game, its almost sad. Packing needs to be done in my house, boxes needs to be moved from upstairs to the garage... but I can't tear myself away long enough to do anything. Some please cut my internet cord? Please? XD


Being a first time MMO player, I'm unsure what is expected of me. Like, I've noticed as I'm standing around with half of my health, another player will come and randomly heal me back to normal. And I can't even find out how to work the confusing chat window to even tell them thanks. And sometimes, they are gone and ran away before I even realize what they did. Am I supposed to say thank you, or help them when they go into battle? I guess I just think too much into things. o.O


The servers had some problems early Sunday morning, Sunday night and again on Monday morning. I had some serious lag issues which made Aion almost unplayable. But today and most of yesterday has been extremely smooth gameplay for me. I really can't get enough of this game. Aion Anonymous, anyone?


I love how this game takes you to various places. Beautiful lakes, lush forests, humble farms, grungy mines, elegant buildings in the sky, cute little villages... I never know what to expect next, and where my next Quest will take me to. I spend most of my time in the game just looking around, admiring all the scenery.


I really can't express how much I love this game. It's beautiful, fun, addicting... and I would really suggest it to anyone. Even if you aren't a gamer. I've taken soooo many more photos, of which I plan on posting here too over the course of the open beta week!

My RL 24th birthday was on Wednesday, and Jeffry gave me the best birthday gift ever. We eloped! We agreed that the wedding we were planning for October was way to far away, so he asked me: "Why can't I just call you my wife now?"

Which set tons of wheels going in my head. So, we came up with the idea to get married on my birthday, then have a real 'vow renewal' wedding later. We planned it all overnight, writing vows, and I set up the area... I expected it to be just a little thing, where we danced together, said vows to each other, exchanged rings. But nope - not with Jeffry. He wanted an actual realistic wedding together.


I waited until he logged off to set up the area - it was my little surprise for him. I set up my super awesome BareRose skypad which I adore so much, scattered giant rose petals around, and set up our Intan dance ball thing. He's really into romantic things, so I tried to make it as romantic as possible. But now that I think about it - I probably should have added some candles to the sky wedding too. :(


It was just us, and it was perfect, the way I always wanted my wedding to be. There was no drama of unwanted people showing up, no lag, no worries at all. Just me and Jeffry. I've only been to one wedding in SL (of which I was bored at and didn't really pay any attention), and none in RL, so I had no idea what to expect, or what to do. Luckily, Jeffry has been to some, so he kept things going, and let me know what we were supposed to be doing.


I loved every second of it. We danced a lot, whispering to each other how much we mean to each other, and I constantly told him how much of an awesome birthday I was having. But really, I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday, than getting married to the man I love so much. :D


OMG the vows. I'm not exactly the best at expressing my feelings, and I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to write for them. I spent so long writing my vows the night before the wedding, to come up with 3 short paragraphs. When we said our vows to each other, Jeffry's was so touching and beautiful, I cried my eyeballs out in RL. He's been begging me to blog his vows, but I'm stingy, and I want to keep his beautiful words all to my self for right now. My vows were so lame compared to his, but he said he loved them. I don't know about that :P

We exchanged our rings after our vows, and saying our I do's. He put my ring on my finger, and I put his on his finger. It went better than I thought. Then we kissed, and officially became husband and wife.


This cake. xD I think it was actually a birthday cake, it had like 4 candles on the top of it. Wedding cakes don't have candles, right? And, it was bigger than Jeffry and I combined. It was insanely huge, but it looked relatively nice. I can't complain about it too much. :D But yeah, we cut the cake and fed each other a slice, as traditional weddings, in my perfect setting by ourselves.


Our first dance as husband and wife was extremely special. He played love songs for us while we danced, and called me Mrs. Heartsdale (which, for some reason, I couldn't get enough of o.O). We changed our tags to say "Sai's Husband" and "Jeffry's Wife" and changed our profiles to list the date we got married and all that. Shh, be nice, we are newlyweds. :P And, by this point I was very excited and bouncing off the walls with happiness. I'm really unsure when the last time I was this happy in SL. A really, really long time.

I've also been moving in RL, so my moods have been really swinging and he's been the only one to stop me from bursting into a flaming human and burning my house down in RL. I'm unsure he realizes, but he's the only one that can pull me onto the hammock and soothe my nerves and calm me down after a particularly stressful packing day.


But anyway, after our perfect wedding with just the two of us, we both TP'ed back down to the house, to start our wedding night. Which was just as full of win as our marriage itself. :D And, yes, I asked him if I could mention our wedding night, and he said I could. :P


Then, as if that wasn't enough awesome for one night, we went to go play in the hot tub he bought for us. He grabbed it from my most favorite place for cuddles - LostDog Designs, and the animations in this are just as sweet and nice as the hammock I love so much. I had him put clothes on while I snap pictures for the blog. :P


So yes, I had the best birthday ever this year. I am still just a big puddle of excitement and happiness, 2 days after becoming Jeffry's wife. Who knew that a simple message on AvMatch.com could lead to me becoming this happy, and marrying such an awesome man?

(BTW - if anyone is interested, I've created a new set for all my wedding photos on my Flickr.)