I attended a press conference this morning about the metaverse/s hosted by one of the big global banks. Simply put, it’s one of the sectors we should be looking at right now. It has gone beyond gaming and NFTs. It’s beyond immersive experience and simple AR/VR. It has crept into commerce, industrials, and fitness. Soon it will be in healthcare and other mainstream industries.

As a journalist, I always try to investigate on my own the things I am writing about. Just like in financial services, fintech, and e-commerce I’ve tried all the services and technology that are available to me so I could nitpick and see how it ticks and tocks. When I started covering the local stock market 15 years ago, I started investing in stocks so I could fully understand the mentality of an investor and see and write about companies how an investor would look at them. I went to visit power plants and control bases of power grids to see how power is dispatched and attended a looooooot of conferences so I know what I was writing about like an old grid choking or a power plant tripping.

So I have a pending story about a private equity firm that banks on heavily on the metaverse, through content and infrastructure. I haven’t written it yet because I needed to totally understand (even though I have already skimmed the surface) what makes it tick and how blockchain figures into the whole metaverse. With this press conference, I can finally complete that story.

Since the future of hyperscalers like Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and to some extent, Sony, are in this metaverse, I might as well get immersed into their world–into the world where it sprouted: gaming.

I have played games in the past but I wasn’t that so much into it that I got immersed. In elementary I played, like everyone else, Nintendo games like Legend of Zelda and Mario. Then in college I played PC games. My college friend (the friend who just reconnected with me a few days ago) gave me a copy of Pokemon when we were in our final year and I played it until the wee hours because I had too much time on my hands. I had only 11 units enrolled at that time because I was just finishing my thesis and I have already frontloaded some of my courses in the prior years. I had a boyfriend who introduced me to Final Fantasy and Worms. I stuck with Worms because I could play it on a PC at home but Final Fantasy has to be played on a PS, which I didn’t have. Besides, Worms is sooooo cute but it’s a strategy game, which I liked. When I was already working, I had a PSP loaded with games that worsened my carpal tunnel syndrome like God of War and Prince of Persia. I sold it to my brother because I couldn’t get things done.

The problem now is I have access to too many games (hello, Steam!) that I may not be able to get things done again. So I think I should just stick first to reading stuff on Reddit and Discord to understand the inner workings of the metaverse. These bankers who were talking about it this morning seemed like they have inhabited this realm.

I just finished a long article (I think at least 1,000 words) this afternoon and it was like pulling out my teeth. I should get back into the habit of writing three stories a day, like when i was with local media. I used to be a fast writer. I really lost my groove last year due to obvious reasons but I should be able to pick up the pace now that I declare this is the last time I will fall down on my knees because of him. He didn’t even care about me even when we were still together, so why should I let myself be still affected by him until now? He doesn’t even give a flying fuck about me.

B messaged me that she’s in Boracay right now. I told her K will be there next week. She said, “Oh dear, K is always here!” I replied, “He’s immensely enjoying himself there with all his sexcapades that’s why he keeps coming back.” B then said, “Why don’t you join him in Boracay next week?” She said she might visit. I said that I will just be a hindrance to his grand plans when all I want to do is to do is kite boarding. B said, “you don’t want to have sex?!”

“Uh no. I should be healing first.”

“Why don’t you heal and have sex?” B asked.

“Because I’m not like that. It has meaning to me,” I said.

I guess they don’t understand.

Even in my younger years I’ve never been like that. It’s the conservative side of me. It’s the sensitive artist/writer in me. I’ve never been reckless. I only slept with four people in my entire life. Four. And that’s the end of it. That’s why it hurts when my partner screws around.

“No, you guys go. I’m happy where I am right now,” I told B.

I’d rather be celibate like my cats.