this is a screenshot from a collaborative session in a VR 3D-modeling app, and the smiling avatar is @manu.vision and the reason i’m interrupting the flawless dreamlike aesthetic of my feed with the most insanely silly and out-of-place looking screenshot i will ever post, is all to do with the smile you see on the avatars face. let me explain. . you see, about a half a year or so ago, i put out a somewhat selfish wish into the world. i wished for a connection to arise out of nowhere. a connection to a friend who would be able to express enthusiasm the way i like to. it’s hard, it’s called cheerleading and it’s REALLY hard. but by the good grace of something, within a couple months it happened! i met manu. i met him through another brilliant and generous mutual collaborator named @karenxcheng and i have never felt more heard by the universe. . manu is the best cheerleader i have ever met. he is the definition of follow-through and the essence of patience. manu shows up for people. chronically. manu will stop to see the good in absolutely any project made from love. he exclusively works and creates from a place of love. he has lost jobs for it, and gladly. he brags about the opportunities taken from him because he was too forward-thinking or too considerate. he talks of these things as victories. . that’s part of what makes him such a freaking winner. he affirms and creates victories where others wouldn’t realize one could even exist. and his most notable victory to date will debut tomorrow. it’s a full-scale caribbean-folklore inspired afrofuturist MUSEUM EXPOSITION. you should be there. i’m gonna be there. this guy has some amazing and breathtaking art in store. it’s all gonna be live-streamed interactively with super good cinematography. it’s a big deal. so why not post a picture of that ? . right ? . well, the thing that makes that smile in the first picture so special is that the headset manu is wearing irl is equipped with facial-expression tracking. that’s a real smile. that’s manu’s real smile. thats the whole event. it’s an extension of that. that’s him. his real warmth. let’s show up tomorrow for the person behind such a smile. . love you to bits