Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Had a long conversation last night with a friend, and touched on this a little this afternoon with another, about how Virtual Worlds and Virtual Reality have really helped make my life a lot more...livable. I've been in Second Life for seventeen years, and Resonite for about four months.

I've often said my goal in my transition is "to be ignored." No double takes, no making fun, just...going through life. But VR has made me realize something else I've wanted. Enjoying the body I'm in.

The big difference between the Second Life and Resonite is in how you experience it. In Second Life, you move an action figure of yourself around. In Resonite, you ARE the Action Figure.

There are things I'd do in Second Life because it was expected of me. Like going to parties - I like to sit and enjoy the company, but I also dance there. Not because I want to dance, but because it's expected. I click the poseball, tell it I want to dance, and Carrie dances. I sit and watch her do it.

But the other day, I was exploring around Resonite and found myself in a coffee shop there that had a puzzle for you to solve for a prize. As I was searching around, there was some nice music playing, and I noticed I was bopping to it. And unlike Second Life, when you're bopping in Resonite, you're also bopping with your body.

Also last night, I noticed I emote and gesticulate a lot in VR. More so than in real life. I make little gestures, and nod or tilt my head and what not...

And I think it's because...I'm happy with my body there. I don't like to dance, cause I don't like how my body moves, I don't emote/gesticulate a lot cause it's been kind of shamed out of me. But there, I'm happy with me, even if I'm just a dollar store Zelda clone.

These virtual worlds allow me to be me, if only for a few hours a day. And they're even healing me up a little, because Virtual Worlds/Realities have done so much more mental healing than real life.

Better than therapy? Maybe. Back when I first got involved in Second Life a friend was worried I'd go in, and never come out. And I can see that danger. But seventeen years later, I feel better for being there and being me. And Resonite is doing even more. <3

I get to have something most of the rest of the world is allowed by default. I get to be me. Well, in Second Life. In Resonite, I'm Zelda. But that's still far closer to me than real life me. :)

Spent the afternoon at Carnation's Pride Picnic at Tolt Commons helping run the A Supportive Community For All's booth (and protecting the papers from the wind).

Great turnout and a lovely venue. Festival seating for good music, free food, and a lot of good times had. I'm loving these little celebations all around the Snoqualmie Valley. Hope there's more. 🙂

Best part ws a furry walking around and taking pics...bending down to pet a dog, who was just confused as heck, and then decided "must be another dog BARK BARK BARK!"

This Week's Bread: Threadgill's Homestyle White Bread

Finally! A bread loaf that looks like a bread loaf! It better look like one given that over two rises, it rose for three hours. The bread LOOKS amazing, but is still a touch dryer than I'd like. And, as usual, could use a pinch or two more of salt.

While the recipe says to just dump in the dry yeast, I did bloom the yeast in the warm water for 15 minutes, since I use active dry yeast. Also, I needed about 1/4 cup more water than it called for to dough-up.

Like all recipes in the Threadgill's book, this makes a LOT of bread. Scale down as needed.

# Homestyle White Bread

Threadgill's: The Cook Book

10.0 cups unbleached bread flour
0.5 cup sugar
0.3333333333333333 cup nonfat dry milk powder
3.0 tbsp dry yeast
1.0 tbsp salt
3.0 cups warm water (110 degrees)
3.0 tbsp vegetable oil
1.0 whole egg (beaten)
1.0 tbsp water

1 - Combine dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook and mix well.
2 - Add the warm water and oil and mix on low speed to moisten dry ingredients.
3 - Increase the mixer speed to medium and knead for about 4 minutes. Extra flour may be needed at this point to keep dough from sticking to the sides of the bowl.
4 - When dough is smooth and elastic, remove to a well-oiled bowl, cover loosely with a clean cloth, and allow to double in bulk in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 1/2 hours.
5 - Punch the dough down and divide in quarters.
6 - Place dough into 2 greased 4x8x3-inch loaf pans, cover loosely, and allow to double in bulk again.
7 - Toward the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 350°.
8 - Bake loaves about 25 minutes, then brush tops with egg wash and return to oven for 20 minutes or until loaves are brown on top and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.
9 - Turn loaves out of pans and cool before slicing.

Yields 2 1.5 pound loaves.

#baking #thisweeksmeals

::Whew:: Busy BUSY day today, House cleaned, dishes done, and all my meals for the next week cooked. Gonna be eating good this week. I think....

Got some work to do in the morning. One of the two jobs I have right now. Not really jobs. More like "tasks."

Life is getting busy these days. Hopes that means things are picking up job-wise....

Finally happy with my room in EmuVR. It's wierd how nostalgic you can get when you play games in a virtual version of your childhood. :)

Aparrently this was a very limited time offer in VRChat. I would absolutely love a Bridget avatar for Resonite....

Sorry about the X link, it's the only place that has video of her.

https://x.com/Averiff1/status/1558237892685705217

Look what came in the mail today!

In typical Jenn fashion, I've had this all of ten minutes and dropped something on it.

I find it funny that twenty years ago, one side of the population was all "Harry Potter is Satanic" and the other side was "It's a charming kids story" and twenty years later the sides switched pretty hard.

Hadn't thought about this Sesame Street short in decades. "I'm crowded, roll over" just popped up in my head last night, and I needed to find the rest of the song....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3NznAAiOng

This is the "I Helped With This" portion of my memory shelf. There's going to be something new here soon.

Can't talk about it yet, but it's my second paid writing job. ❤

When making ramen, do not get these pouches confused.

LB: I blame two things for this.

One is the huge conservative backlash to corporations putting a pride spin on anything.

Secondly, I think they saw a lot of the "this is just performative" complaints (which it totally is), and decided "well, you don't want this, and it's a problem from the conservatives, why bother?"

I'm actually someone who wants to encourage the Pride stuff, even if it's performative. To me, it means that we're accepted enough to be pandered to like they pander to pretty much anyone else. We're now safe enough to sell to.