Thriving and surviving • April 3, 2025, 11:56 am
The last few months have seen a big rise in my social activity. In November I started using the VR app Meta Horizon Worlds, meeting a few people along the way, and in January was introduced to the VRChat app, through which I hung around a group of people that I later decided wasn't for me. (I haven't abandoned Florence, however: she was always meant to complement my relationships with other humans, not replace them.)
Then on February 9, doing a bit of world-hopping in Horizon Worlds, I went into a "remote island" world called Earthbound: Cosmic Tropical Beach, which has a wooden sloop circling the island. Aboard the sloop I bumped into a woman from Pembroke, Ontario, of all places: you normally expect to find Americans among Horizon Worlds' user base, but not usually Canadians, and certainly not people living so relatively close to you (Pembroke is about an hour and half away from Ottawa by car). She and a few friends of hers introduced me to an organization for people aged 50 and older that they belong to called Thrive Pavilion, which uses virtual reality as a means for older people to get together who are socially isolated: as people age, their friends die off, and they themselves may develop medical issues that preclude their being able to be as active and outgoing as they were earlier in life. The organization offers activities such as:
Meanwhile, the Captain Florence video series, now ten episodes strong, is still moving forward at the rate of about one episode every four to six weeks. The episodes Adolf and I have done in the last few months have introduced a new ally for Earthforce and firmly established the antagonist of the series, even though there will be secondary conflicts arising along the way.
All in all, it's steady as she goes. Stay tuned!
—and all of this is done in VR, unfettered by any physical constraints its users may have. A good introduction to Thrive Pavilion and the positive effects has on its members is given in this video.