Back on my "not a blind optimist, but..." train to say I've been so frustrated by my friends who counter each other's positivity with only negativity in return. Almost like "they showed positive emotion, we can't let 'em forget that there is absolutely nothing worth being happy or optimistic about."

Just a heads up that Shelter will be enforcing poor-or-better avatars at the event next Saturday. You've got the next week to get your avatar situation sorted -- pop into the Discord if you need help!

Shielding myself from excessive bad takes on here by requiring they be sent to me via Microsoft Teams. Anyone wanting to submit their bad take will be discouraged by (1) having to log off this site and (2) having to voluntarily use Microsoft Teams.

I swear one of these days I'll start posting about happy things again lmao

It makes me so sad seeing people undermined and dunked on for doing the things that they love. It's okay to let people enjoy things.

How do you all balance calling out things that might be (unintentionally) hurtful, and not being "that guy" that seemingly can't let anything go? I wish the answer was "always call it out," but realistically I feel enough side-eyes on me and I don't want to feel even more ostracized for it.

Yesterday USPS delivered my Shelter jacket to somebody else, and after I filled out a claim form for the lost package they showed up today to yell at my video doorbell as if they had delivered it to me by mistake and it was meant for someone else. can't make this shit up lmao I just want my jacket

Happy 2026!

No symbolism or fancy photography for my #VRC12Photos, just a small reflection of the past year and the friends I got to share it with. (you can definitely tell which months I wasn't around much or just forgot to take photos; bless everyone who takes the time to capture and share the moments)

pop up in the eyewitness virtual museum???

Wrapped up my gift for the company holiday party!

hey look it me

Pictured: the cat who is currently baked like a cake and has half as many teeth as when his day started. Not pictured: the catgirl who is currently very aware that they have twice as much on their credit card as when their day started.

The next time you're about to make another edgy sarcastic joke about your friends that might be a little bit too real, just tell them something that you like about them instead. I promise they'll appreciate that so much more. Jokes are fun, but everyone just wants to feel valued once in awhile.

A five day weekend did in fact fix me.

SHELTERCON7_. SHOT. BY. @langafeom.bsky.social. MUSIC. BY. @2td.io. FEATURING. YOU. THE. COMMUNITY. youtu.be/LRahHbU2QZI

If you were considering getting a backup pair of Index controllers, you might want to snag them soon just in case they get de-listed from the Steam store when the Frame releases. The bundles have been sold out for a while but the (separate) left and right controllers are still in stock... for now.

Also, sorry to anyone that didn't get a Sheltercon 7 Wiggler sticker from @lightbulb.systems or I! It was a very limited run but they turned out so much better than we expected. Fun fact: the only way we were able to get these at any reasonable cost was to import them from some guy in Ukraine.

My biggest contribution to Sheltercon 7 was hitting the fog machine so much that people had to use a flashlight to see the decks.

All other opinions aside, I think my biggest takeaway here is that it's very reassuring to me that mainstream companies are still investing in VR and not just dismissing it as a failed thing of the past.

We did it

To everyone I'm about to see at Sheltercon, _please_ be just a little extra patient with me. Right now I'm immensely burned out from every angle irl and online, and throughout my whole vacation I'll be balancing hanging out with being a buzzkill 'bad guy' trying to keep the spaces safe for everyone.

i've been sitting on this for a long time -- i keep coming back to it whenever anything "happens" around vrchat's club scene it's not particularly about this moment, or any other these are the 1000 feet up thoughts from someone that professionally thinks about community strasz.tv/conflict-and...

Sorry to blunt post, but lately I've been finding the vibe at a few of the places I frequent to just feel 'off.' I know we're all going through it rn and it's totally okay to vent or shitpost or poke fun at friends sometimes, but lately it feels like that's been dominating most of the conversations.

grade A sass. 📸 @wolfly.bsky.social

People who make negativity a part of their core personality are not people I want to surround myself with. Nobody in particular, I'm just getting exhausted by those who never seem have something positive to say. Being the one to try to find the flaws in everyone/everything is not a badge of honor.

I know it's obvious but it's still crazy to me how much better I feel after being able to catch up on sleep. Even just one or two 3-day weekends a month would fix me...

SHELTERCON. 7. 11.8.25.
SAN DIEGO. CALIFORNIA. LIMITED. EDITION. TICKETS.
ON. SALE. NOW. sheltercon.sheltervr.club

can you imagine how great the human equivalent of an ant finding like a dropped cheeto or something on the floor would be? just stumbling on 100 times your body weight in free food and nobody to stop you from taking it all. you wouldn't have to think about grocery shopping for weeks. hell yeah.

Hot take: I'm really over the "for free?!" meme. If it's CLEARLY a joke pic then maybe, but often it's "enhance!" on someone's unrelated photo just to make a comment that basically says "well if you didn't want to be sexualized, why didn't you cover yourself up" which makes me feel so uncomfortable.

It is so nice to have small recurring events with VRC friends where everyone just... shows up. No having to constantly remind people each week, nobody going "oh I forgot" a few hours later... just 'we meet on Wednesdays at 6' and everyone's there on Wednesday at 6. Why can't real life be this easy.

A story in four messages.

Feeling a little down this evening remembering that one year ago we were all under one roof enjoying good music together, but I feel better knowing that one day we'll be together again. But until then we're still together under one virtual roof, and that means more to me right now than ever before.

One year ago today I was getting off a plane in San Diego to spend a week with my friends, and at that moment nothing in the world mattered but all of us being together in one place. I want to go back to that timeline 😭

Changing colors/contrast can affect people with differing visual acuity (remember when Discord 'deleted light mode?'). Changing text to silly ASCII chars affects those using screen readers. Please think about how your jokes might impact others' ability to do things that you might take for granted.

And so continues my tradition of reminding people that misusing accessibility features as an April Fool's 'prank' isn't a funny joke, it's hindering the people who rely on those features from being able to interact in ways that many others just take for granted.

Take pictures. Share your experiences. Cherish your friends. Be careful about falling into the "I'll just catch the next one" trap. Find meaning in even the smallest moments you share with others. When one day all that's left are the memories, you'll be glad you have them to look back so fondly on.

did you notice? fill up the spaces.

Almost as though it heard me say "I'm good with my 4090" about the new 5000-series cards, my GPU self-destructed this evening and is no longer recognized by my PC at all. Crossing everything I have that the warranty process pulls through. I guess I'll see you all when I see you 😔

Sorry to all the friends I haven't spent much time with and whose events I've missed, things have been a little rough lately. Hoping to see you all again soon :)

thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Anyone who swears they'll never touch public instances will never know what it's like to play volleyball against a team of 6 apes who stay in character and communicate with each other only via ape noises for an entire 25-point match.

Who wants to play volleyball with me 🥺👉👈

Amazing background of the very first photo I took in 2025 at exactly 12:00am.

be happy. 📸 @jettybandit.bsky.social

simply vibing (📸 @jettybandit.bsky.social)

Here's my cat in goblin mode, he was playing basketball.

Love the moments where you suddenly snap out of it, look around at where you are and who you're with, and rediscover just how fucking cool this game is.

My favorite dumb use of stickers has been adding a drain to any and every body of water that I come across. You never know when you might want to drain that pool or ocean or fish tank!