August 15th always pops up in Italy with a holiday vibe. I mean, it’s already kind of a big deal on its own, but for me, it’s got this whole double whammy thing going on. Yep, it’s blog birthday time! Flashback to August 15, 2016—me sitting there, probably with a questionable cup of coffee, and deciding to dive into this blog thing after getting nudged by Tommaso Di Bartolo, the serial entrepreneur himself. My first post? Honestly, a cringe-fest. But hey, fast forward 9 years, and here we are rolling along, somehow!
Every year when this day rolls around, it hits me, you know? I gotta say thanks. All of you who’ve been backing me up through this swirling dance of words and pixels, especially when you’re writing about something like VR. It’s not exactly bringing in the big bucks, trust me. Honestly, the thought of packing it up has crossed my mind more times than I’d like to admit. But then, there are these cool moments, reading about folks who’ve found investors through my posts or newbies getting their sea legs in XR tech, thanks to a random tutorial I cobbled together. These stories? They aren’t just stories; they’re these little bursts of meaning that make this tiring typing adventure worth it.
Oh, and a big shout-out to everyone for making this journey a bit less lonely and a lot more interesting. Seriously, the best part about sticking my neck out with blogging are the people I randomly bump into along the way. The last couple of years? They’ve been road trips and plane rides, meeting all these amazing souls from the XR community. Those human connections? That’s the real magic, the stuff you can’t download or patch—like, ever.
So, in the kooky spirit of this blogiversary, I’ve wrangled up something special. A chat with “The Reverend” Kyle Riesenbeck, the main dude at Upload VR, a mag I’ve basically idolized since getting my feet wet in XR. Catching up with him was like having a mind-meld on VR, journalism, and some wobbly nostalgia about VR’s early days. Sadly, you’ll have to wait on the edge of your seat for the full scoop; after all, August is pretty much a ghost town with everyone on vacay. But here’s a teaser—an old-school VR tidbit Kyle shared about the days of yore (or at least the ‘older days’—can’t quite place them on a timeline). Hit play on the video below for that nugget!
Wild, right? This whole interview thing has got me bouncing off the walls. Hard to believe it’s been nine crazy years since the hand-wringing over post number one. Big thanks again for sticking with me. Now, who’s sorting out the birthday cake situation here? Just please, for the love of VR, no durian!
Oh, before I sign off (because I almost did forget), a quick note: this blog’s got some affiliate links sprinkled around, so click them if you want to toss a coin to your writer. There’s some official stuff on that tucked away somewhere warmer than this ramble. Cheers!
