MAY RECAP. aka the start of monthly recaps, or... I should have been doing these since the very beginning

31 may 2026, sunday

I approached writing this blog with the belief that motivation and inspiration to write would randomly strike me and I should embrace it, when in reality, time fucks me over with no sense of stopping at random intervals so.... yeah! This is the start of me summarizing my experiences in virtual reality on a monthly basis. That's not to say that I won't feel inspired to write a piece for a world, an event, or a community - I am already writing up a piece on a world creator named Apathy. However, I want to encourage myself to write as the month goes, so this is the way I'll do it! Thanks for reading along, and I hope this change is alright.

This month we started off strong at the recently updated ENGINE ROOM by PSHQ, on the 1st of May with the homie xChillphil VJing.

ENGINE ROOM, along with many other venues, really has nailed down the vibe of an underground venue. When you enter the world, you must walk through the dimly lit halls to get to the main area. Two pillars, covered in screens on each side, and overhead lights are all that emit the space within. With the music thrumming loudly in my ears, this is one of the best places to focus on dancing and seeing the lights move around the room.

The homie Lance stopped in, and we vibed out here for about an hour. I really love the pillars in this world. I really think it's so fun to have them also be the screens the VJs use to project their art into the venue. I really love when periods of harsh darkness are met with stripes, dots, swirls, and even more things but with light. I am constantly amazed by how individuals in this scene are able to manipulate light of worlds in this manner. Thru my time in this world I would just stare off into corners of the world, appreciating the contrast of shadows and light.

After attending ENGINE ROOM, I went over to ANIMA to see some friends. I am very much attached to the noise grain texture present in the fog of this world. It makes me feel like the air is sticking to me, that I must lean forward when talking to my friends. When we go smoke outside, it's like the smoke disappears into the denseness that is the air. Two chairs are propped up on the balcony facing out towards the foggy urban area, the lights from other buildings somehow cutting thru the fog. Some of us are seated on the cement, laying back as we listen to the music and converse quietly.

I lost track of time hanging out here. It was really fun to kick back and hangout with the folks present on the balcony that evening. Soon enough, the event was over and the instance had to be closed.

Venues that are able to immerse people like me who have trouble staying in VR for longer than an hour have a special place in my heart. Here, I felt so comfortable. The space felt engaging, as there was good distance between the key areas of the world. The balcony provided a space for people to have conversations outside of the main space. There are two more seated areas inside the world: a sofa close to the DJ decks and a cushioned area closer to the entrance. This world gives options to attendees for where they wish to exist during their stay, which I find really sweet.

I've been partying in VRChat for several years now, and I do have to admit that some spaces do feel hostile for holding conversations. Which! Isn't always a bad thing. Some places make it very clear even without the hosts saying a single word that the spaces they wish to curate and cultivate are not for people to socialize verbally as a main focus. The main focus, instead, is the music and presentation of art and expression entirely. I appreciate having places like that, while also having spaces like this where socializing AND listening to the music are encouraged in tandem.

On the 8th of May, Friday, it was time for CONCRETE, featuring a set for the whole night done entirely by Tacical. This venue never fails to stun, as upon entering my friends and I noted the pools of water taking up the gaps between the dunes. It was nice to come up to the edge of the concrete of the dunes and overlooking the once dry, deep crevices of the sand covered in reflective, shimmering water.

At one point, my friend Lush took a photo of me with my arms spread out underwater, which is shown in the picture above. Light underneath the waters refracted beautifully, with the music booming overhead. It was quite fun to explore the waters while dancing.

We managed to snag a place for us to sit and view the visuals from a good vantage point as our friend Fray showed us how to get to the tops of the pillars.

Being up on this high in the world really makes me feel small - I love it.

Roaming the dunes and then diving down into the waters was so exhilarating. I felt so free letting myself zip on the sands under the waters, zooming from one corner to the next while The Creature roamed over me, shifting and evolving and seemingly dancing as well to the music.

When underwater, visibility is distorted, making the view in VR quite blurry. I loved feeling as if I was underwater, squinting up at the surface to see the various shapes of light move in the sky. Light blooms down under the waters, and for brief moments the sand at the bottom is illuminated enough for me to see where I should go. During my journey, I opted to move randomly and with The Creature.

After so much excitement at music venues, the following week on the 14th of May, Thursday, my friends and I were finally able to do some world hopping! It's been quite some time since our last hopping session, and it felt good to get back to it. It also was a great way to spend time with the homie Zeke, as it was his birthday that week as well! At the end of the hops, we all sang him happy birthday completely out of sync as per homie hopping tradition.

This photo above was taken in the world Liminal World by Darksoma, and it is one that I asked the homies to pile onto the couches and face the television. The bright window provides great contrast to the darker bits in this shot.

Now, for the photo below, it was taken in Veggie's Coffee by Electro. This world was updated recently by Elector, and has some really awesome memories attached to it for me, as numerous music and social events that I've been to throughout the years have used this world. When we got in, someone brought up how the last time they were in the world was for a Club Ancients event, which must have been at least 2 years ago by this point! It's crazy how much time passes by without us noticing until a world like this one gets updated.

After a long work shift on the 23rd of May, Saturday evening, I stopped in for a brief moment in DEV_HELL. I've made it clear both in this blog and in other spaces on the internet that I absolutely love this place. Everything from the music, the whole vibe that the environment delivers when you enter, the play between light and shadow in the enclosed dancing space - it's all things I enjoy immensely. I'm pretty sure I stomped my heart out the entire 45 minutes I was present for the lovely Catdog's set.

The dilapidated urban area that the world sits in makes me feel very at home. I've spent a majority of my life in and out of cities and their respective underbellies that now that I live in a suburban area I feel like I've been really missing out on the energy places like DEV_HELL give me. The world is unapologetically dense, making attendees shift through tight hallways and further down stairs to get to the dancefloor and main area.

Before I even left the world to go and rest, I sat outside alone for a little bit.

There are countless streets and alleyways that I've taken smoke breaks in that it would be dumb to try and memorialize them here, but the outside area of DEV_HELL feels like a primetime smoke spot. Here I want to chat with friends, undwind after the day, maybe find some more energy to get back onto the dancefloor.

It's worlds like these that make me wish there was a way for us in VRChat to go from one world to the next /without/ portals. That somehow, we could have a whole street or even a city or neighborhood full of venues and social spaces that the "portal" would simply just be the door. DEV_HELL's outdoor area makes me yearn for a middle-ground space for people to move and socialize between events. I just imagine that it would be so fun to be dancing in one venue, hear that a friend is at another venue, then go out the door, walk down a street, open another door and there you are in that other venue! I know I am probably making something incredibly complex sound really simple, and I am aware executing this would be no small feat.

DEV_HELL also is a world that doesn't actively discourage people from conversing with its design. There are several places that people can gather and talk away from the dancefloor and main area that don't feel too boxed away from the rest of the world. There's a bathroom area not too far from the main area, along with a well-lit space at the end of the alleyway outside. This venue is not simply for the music, but it does make it known that the focus is the event space.

This month ended with a lot of homies doing cool shit, like xChillphil and Mayo doing a live B2B twice. The second time was at the Rave Factory, the world venue being a room with glossy tiles for the walls and floor and the ceiling being the video player screen. Outlines of the crowd and the venue would overtake the lighting of the instance, the room going dark to bright every now and then. People crowded around the decks and threw their bodies as music blasted.

Unfortunately, I crashed within the first half hour of their planned 90 minute set..... but that's ok! Chilly was able to provide a preview stream for me to listen to out of VRChat ^^;;

May has been both a rewarding and stressful month for me. I've performed several times in this month - Beltane at the Cathedral of Witches, Denki, Refuge - with sets that I feel incredibly proud of. I've been able to see my loved ones, friends, and mutuals progress further in their crafts and passions in work they've shown publicly and/or privately. Being able to work with so many talented people has also been a treat for this month as well. I did have to deal with several roadblocks, such as harsh time constraints, exhaustion from various stressors, and lack of self care, but despite it all I'm quite pleased with everything I've got to experience this month, especially in VR.

I cannot help but admire the strong motivation and drive many in this space embody as it results in great experiences and projects. I feel quite blessed that I as a regular person get to enjoy a lot of really cool experiences in VR not just easily but also for free. The quality, the bar that is set within this space... it really is so wonderful to see others push the limits of expression in the medium that is VR within the platform that is VRChat. I keep hoping I get to experience more of these as times go on.