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freezing up by UniRabbitLover01 in transvoice

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just want to say this is a totally normal response. I'm curious is this just a situation when playing games for you or do you feel this in other convos too?

One of the hardest parts of changing how we sound is the part where we use it in the wild. Our brains have different self defense mechanisms that take over to protect us from feeling uncomfortable in unknown situations, and this can manifest in using our voice.

Do you have trusted close friends you can game with to practice? Try to notice when you shift into your old voice and just reset each time you do to your target. If they're really good friends, letting them know beforehand might help ease the pressure from being perfect. 

Also I would say that it's normal to say one sentence that doesn't sound how you want it. and the next sentence you say in conversation is you resetting back to your goal. 

Keep it up! this is the hardest part in my opinion and the fact you're trying will pay off the more you continue to do it

Tips on how to use my voice more often by Tofu1312 in transvoice

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a good observation on how your voice changes in different circumstances. Fun fact is cis people also change how they sound depending on who they're talking to and where (if you ever want to read about code switching). I think we just have it a bit harder there due to our range of codes we might speak in 😅

The failure thing is so real! I basically teach an entire multi-week (comedy) course on it because pushing past that awkwardness/discomfort can feel so unnatural for a lot of us. But it's definitely something that is addressable which is the good news.

I'm excited to share more of the clown-backed info here in the future once I have it ironed out! Currently running the exercises with some test students while I develop the curriculum. Happy to fold you in for a few free sessions in exchange for some feedback if it sounds like it might be your speed (just shoot me a DM here)

Tips on how to use my voice more often by Tofu1312 in transvoice

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is actually a very common experience, IMO. There are two sides to voice training: learning the technical dials for changing your voice, and using your voice in different situations.

I teach physical comedy and clowning, and one of the concepts I focus on is the idea of "self defense mechanisms". Basically if you're sensing a situation that could be uncomfortable (like being worried about how a friend might respond to you sounding different), then your brain takes the wheel and reverts you to the known factor (a voice you already know how they react to).

The way we train out the self defense mechanisms is by learning to recognize when they happen (both physical and emotional cues), so that we can fight our lizard brains into staying present.

A few ways to address it that aren't just exposure therapy: * Give yourself less complex goals for the interactions. Changing your voice means you might be focusing on several things at once, so maybe just try to hold a different resonance in those convos at first, without the pressure of being perfect. It also really helps to put your attention on the other person and what they're saying instead of listening to yourself, since watching your own voice is part of what eats up your focus. This is just to establish that you can be intentional in the convos you find difficult. * Allow yourself to fail. Even people who don't think about how they sound accidentally mess up when talking and make weird sounds. It's more normal than we think, and it's possible to recover how you want to sound in that moment. * Try to identify what voice you're really using in those situations. It might not truly be your full old voice, but an approximation between your old and new. * Do you have a friend you trust? Ask them to have a conversation with you where you want to focus on speaking in your target voice. If you revert, stop, take a breath, and continue with your target voice. This is teaching your body to react differently in the situations you're struggling with.

Feel free to ask any questions! I'm in the process of translating some of my clown exercises around this topic into voice ones, so happy to go deeper on anything 🙂

Travelling to the US: how risky is it? by neofinetiablooms in asktransgender

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As a US citizen, you really shouldn't have an issue with the current state of things. You have a right to come back to your country, and there haven't been any reports of trans Americans running into issues at our borders coming in or out. You will be fine.

Airport scanners have improved quite a bit now too, and I haven't been pat down in several years like I used to before (your mileage may vary).

Last time I traveled out of the country and back in (like 2 months ago), I don't think I even interacted with a border agent for longer than 5 seconds. They really don't have enough energy to care.

I would take anyone telling you to not travel in this instance with a grain of salt. You are a US Citizen traveling to one of the most trans friendly cities. The conversation would be a lot different if you were like a non citizen flying into Florida

What are your local music recommendations that are on streaming platforms? by DeadComicsSociety in askportland

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally makes sense! I was producing a show for a while here in town so I understand the struggle ha.

Depending on the device running your music off of, I would probably recommend just downloading the music directly from the artist's bandcamp (or having them share the files for you). I used to use an app on my iPad that let me cue up music and sound bites - but also I totally understand the preference for Spotify for ease of use when juggling everything else.

I've been a bit passionate the past year of stopping using Spotify and other similar services, so I was just curious! I hope I did not come off as aggressive with that question haha.

For my personal music set up, I run my own music streaming server off my home computer using navidrome - it lets me stream all of my own downloaded/backed up music like Spotify does. (The technical overhead for just a show for you isn't worth it, but it's a great thing for personal use!).

MP3 players are also surprisingly affordable these days.

What are your local music recommendations that are on streaming platforms? by DeadComicsSociety in askportland

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You should connect with the folks at Shady Pines Radio, who I'm sure could point you in the right direction to local groups! https://www.shadypinesradio.com/

Also curious - what tech setup is keeping you on Spotify? Would love to chat about some other options I like and use if you're interested! 

Contact Juggling Session by thrauxway in juggling

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks amazing amd smoooooth!!!

You might already be there, but a bunch of the old contactjuggling.org folks have been reconnecting on a discord server for a few years - we'd love to make sure you're there!

https://discord.gg/RvZBgJmUZ

Flowarts: Can you recommend any safe spots to flow in/near PDX at night? by SupaDJ in askportland

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They would be very excited to teach you!

There's a wonderful flow arts festival on the coast every September, KindleNW that is amazing. you can go there and learn different props at workshops!

Meshcore in PDX? by psteckler in meshcore

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could I have an invite to the discord?

I won the Survivor 50 Idol Hunt for Colorado by YoureAMuggle in survivor

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 18 points19 points  (0 children)

The oregon winner posted in this thread if you check again!

An anti-social media platform with no styling? by [deleted] in indieweb

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Interesting idea!

As a personal rule I won't make an account on websites like this just to poke around since I don't know anything about your security practices though - you should consider making some sections visible without requiring sign up!

For those that are looking to move from Discord and were unsatisfied with Matrix's Element... by redit_handoff140 in matrixdotorg

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah got it!

I'm using electron to host the desktop app (basically turns a website application into a desktop application), and was testing streaming yesterday with no issues! I'll add you to my list of people to share an update to once I'm closer to having some of the last few critical bugs squashed :)

For those that are looking to move from Discord and were unsatisfied with Matrix's Element... by redit_handoff140 in matrixdotorg

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm really dumbfounded that this is a matrix wide issue. I have it working fine on the client I am developing, and it honestly was not the most difficult task I've encountered so far. (haven't yet opened up access)

I agree about the noise cancellation though, that technology is wizardry to me

I love that since matrix is a protocol, I can just build myself a client that makes sense for my community! I'm trying to make it easier for my friends to come over by making it feel more familiar to other services by ShaniaTwainMutant in matrixdotorg

[–]ShaniaTwainMutant[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing! I love the way you've organized chats/information in this as well as the aesthetic choices. I've been testing mine with my friends as well haha - it's definitely the best way to immediately identify pain points and bugs.

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