my birthday weekend in virtual reality

28 september 2025 - sunday

everything started off with an intimiate, lowkey party on friday. me and my friends met up in an invite+ instance of the 'googie forest' world by wake and the team over at googie at around 8pm pacific. while we all got settled i put on one of my friend's sets on - about an hour of super solid hardwave - while we all sat down together. when you spawn into an instance of googie forest, you are at the edges of a clearing. there are a few areas throughout the edges of the clearing that are perfect for smaller groups to congregrate away from the clearning which is the main area. there is a gazebo further into the world with a plant prefab that you can mess with, a campfire a little off to the side from the decks for people to gather around, and a tent directly behind the dj decks with even a little arcade game for you to play. in the clearing of this forest are big speakers set up around a table carrying decks and a whole setup for lights and special effects within the world. i was able to turn a couple of them on, resulting in the world either changing shaders globally for everyone or even spawning super neat particles.

a photo taken in googie forest with shader effects coming from both the ground and from the sky, cascading the instance and its members with purple and white light, strongly contrasting with the darkness of the night sky.

as time has gone on, it feels like myself and my friends have a lot less time to organize gatherings in vr as much as we used to. some of us are furthering our careers, staring families, trying to finish some higher education or actively looking for employment or to pick up skills wherever. none of us are really idle - there's a lot of things that are in motion both in and out of each other's lives. it can be a blessing and curse. some of the people who stopped by that night i hadn't seen in months, some even close to a year! it makes me a little sad that we only have so much time that we can give each other, but it is realistic to understand that it is that way and it can be hard to make time for everything and everyone that we deem important. time is very precious, so when i could have so many of my closest loved ones, friends, and community members around me that night i was very happy. the atmosphere of googie forest is very soft as well, the light falling softly on everyone's avatars creating this gentle and cozy setting. since there was a campfire for us to gather at, we eventually congregated there to catch up on the week and roast our virtual marshmallows to perfection.

a picture of my friends visceral, lusheria, xchillphil, fray, and nigel from left to right by the campfire

ray on the decks with the black and white shader turned on in the world

once bbg's hardwave set finished, my friend ray stepped up to play some music. he announced he was trying his hand at baile funk, and oh boy did he deliver some vibes. i don't often hear baile funk in vrchat myself, but i don't really think that there is an absence of it. honestly my friends being djs helps me since they all expose me to the music that they like. i would never have listened to a whole set of baile funk if it weren't for ray, i wouldn't have really listened to hardwave if it weren't for bbg, and it goes on. i am incredibly lucky that the people i am surrounded with are talented and driven individuals!!! they inspire me so much... i am in awe often at the things they all create and host and express. i never really felt comfortable hyping myself up and being confident wasn't really my strongest suit. attending rave events in vrchat with some of these people throughout the years has helped me branch out to talking to people more - even in real life! and attending events in real life!! woah! - and to just feel more optimistic and hopeful about things in general. that night, i felt very emotional because i knew i had good people around me who only really want the best for me, and i want the best for them, and it's crazy to feel this strongly in regards to platonic feelings for multiple people. it's very scary being this vulnerable, and it all fucking happened through listening to music with these fuckers!!! it makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it makes me feel really glad i stuck around... music really saved us all i think haha. as ray's set ended and we all gathered close, i felt like i didn't really want the night to end.

it was weaver's brilliant idea for us to go to moonlight drive, a world by wispy woo in vrchat. in this world, you can sit in a vehicle and see the scenery change by as time passes with your friends (this is what we opted to do) or you can stop at any time throughout the world to enjoy the scenery you are in! there are a lot of lovely options, and each time we were somewhere new i and some other homies kept ooing and aaing at the pretty virtual sites. we all gathered on top of the bus, settling onto cushions and illuminated by bright, saturated lights. the night sky shone blue above us as we conversed joyously.

a photo i took of myself, fray, visceral, jade, kadachii, and weaver on top of the bus as we drove on the bridge, a mountain scenery slightly in view behind us. the air is chilly, yet myself and fray are both wearing tank tops ^^;; oops!

a core trait of wispy woo's worlds that i love is the usage of saturated colors. lights and shadows and all shades of color are very much highlighted in wispy woo's worlds, and this one is no exception. blue is very much the main color of this world, but the other bright colors that appear here - orange, purple, magenta - in the world contrast in a very appealing way with the world's night sky. the bus itself is very cozy, with ample cushioning all over and inside and out! to us, the best view was definitely from the top of the bus, but if you opt to stay inside the vehicle during the drive you'll still have good spots to view the scenery outside. i also really love how wispy woo has this characteristic style to their worlds, it's in the details with how the edges are soft in most of the meshes and that most things follow a particular or similar palette, or just the usage of similar meshes from previous worlds that they have published. i quite like it when a world creator has a particular "theme" or "style" that they're known for. i can think of several world creators - HANI, Fins, Dr Morro - that have a certain feel to their worlds that they're all each individually known for (at least to me as a person that worldhops frequently). this world very much feels like an extension of the universe of worlds that wispy woo has created, and if we were to portal to a different world after this one i would feel like we just drove home! heh, it's a fun way to immerse.

a photo of my friends kadachii, jade, weaver, and visceral from left to right lounging on top of the bus as we drive through a tunnel into a new part of the world

oh yeah and trop gave me a gift-

yes.

on saturday, the most notable things that i did were going to see my bbg at rebirth and then later in the evening attending the danse macabre at mansion. i unfortunately was so faded that i did NOT take any photos at either of those places lol. will say that the rebirth folks really know what they're doing, they know how to throw a party and that world was incredibly sick. the surroundings of the "cage" of the main area would change with the audiolink somewhat and the visuals going on the walls and throughout the world were really nice. at the danse macabre for mansion, i was so thoroughly impressed with the ballroom and dancehall set up. treesleeper and the mansion team have clearly outdone themselves with that world as well. the ballroom has the perfect shadows, along with this sepia tone for all the textures for the buildings... i'm not really sure i know how to describe it. treesleeper told me herself that she wanted it to "feel like a dream", and i think that is very fitting! i also felt very comfortable there and the outfits everyone was sporting were hot and on to the theme. i heard sir rose play for a good bit, and then grim after them. i love me some good weird noises and music that makes me want to get violent but in a positive way. mansion tends to deliver that very well each time that i've gone.

myself, dangleberry, weaver, and visceral in front of hails during her set at trans academy's 2.0 world release!

the release of the 2.0 world for trans academy was both surprisingly and unsurprisingly popping all thru the night. surprising because i thought people would start piling in later on in the night, but we hit 100 people in the instance within the first 15 minutes of the event. it was kind of crazy, but it's also a testament to how much trans academy has grown since it started. tizzy spoke a few words at the start, shouting out the trans academy team, a lovely contributor to the world's optimization named rio, mention of sponsors, and thanking everyone for their continued participation and involvement to the community. the energy in the room was very very lovely, and it made me feel really lucky to see moments like these. it's very hard for trans individuals to have third spaces in real life, so being able to create community spaces like this with reoccuring events and involved staff and returning members is really special. so yes, i was also not surprised that it filled up very fast. as we got ready to dance for hails' set, the queue for the instance was well past 50 people with another instance being made for others to go into if they choose. at some point in the middle of hails' set, we had to move to another instance so that the stream could be viewed by everyone. there must have been so many people watching, it's genuinely so crazy cool!!! hails delivered an amazing progressive house set, making us feel motivated and emotional and whimsical all at the same time.

a photo of the fingerbus - 'experience the finger!' and 'fingertours' written on its side
several of the homies are seated on the bus or following it on foot

of course the fingerbus was kadachii's idea. i didn't get the chance to ask him how it worked, but there were a limited number of seats on the bus and the driver was one of them. some people had chairs on their avatars that we could sit on to experience it, which was also kind of janked yet funny. we did this all while worldhopping, with a pretty stop at SUKU - genuinely one of the prettiest worlds in vrchat featuring a soft summery environment with outworldly elements. it was fun following this crazy looking bus with our friends all while being surrounded by pretty sights.

eventually my birthday twin and i unfortunately collided, resulting in the two of us (mostly me) dying of laughter within ten minutes. today was also kyyo's birthday and it was fun to see him again our day!!! the two of operate our lives at different wavelengths that running into each other feels like a slim chance. like i mentioned earlier: it's hard for a lot of us to find time for each other now, and we just gotta learn how to be okay with that. that being said, when the stars randomly align and i can see my friends like this out of nowhere, i very much appreciate it!

a photo of kyyo and rexrover (who is currently in a gman avatar)
happy birthday kyyo!

zekk blows up the fireworks on the table in one explosive burst

the weekend ended with a quiet goodnight, despite the explosions :p

a very, very, VERY big thank you and shoutout to my family, friends, and loved ones both irl and in vr. i'm here because of you all.
i'd say the birthday weekend ended splendidly. i got to see a bunch of my friends mix music, i got to relax in worlds with pretty lighting, and i laughed so goddamn much all throughout this weekend. this is definitely one of my favorite birthdays that i've had, because it felt like everything happened organically and not like a forced celebration. i got to see my people and i got to listen to good music. what more could a man ask for?