Virtual Reality is Virtually All We Were Promised

There is an alternate universe now and I don’t mean on another planet. I have discovered virtual reality and I can’t even say enough good things about this world.

Baby Boomers at various times were promised certain amazing inventions awaiting us in the future.

Hover boards, Jet Packs, Beep Beep Rosie, and virtual reality were all wonders we could look forward to experiencing in our futures.

Somehow Beep Beep Rosie fell short when a little round thing that kept bumping into walls and held a teaspoon full of dirt appeared. Sorry, Rosie, but I’m still waiting.

Hover boards, well if they exist, I haven’t seen one and neither have most. And, of course at this age I’d probably fall off and break my hip anyway. So I guess the hover board thing is a non-starter now.

Jet packs, boy that’s a disappointment. That was the one I was super excited about. Can you imagine not having to fight traffic and just be able to hop into the sky like a bird and fly to the mall. Sign me up!

I suppose I have been rather let down by the technology that I expected and never showed up as promised.

Now artificial intelligence seems to be more of a threat than a promise, I feel like I’d like to register a complaint with my local high-tech geniuses. Excuse me, can you swear this thing won’t take over my life and do evil?

Somehow I’m thinking that would be a big no.

Don’t even get me started with the whole killer robot thing.

So what can please you, you ask as I complain?

I’m here to tell you I am a huge fan of virtual reality.

It’s even spread to gaming of which I am also a devotee and greatly enjoy.

I’ll begin with Roblox an online Atari or Nintendo that has more games than anyone can play. Within those games are many that allow you to create your own world. Homes and cities and anything within your own imagination. What a trip? Such fun to enter your own world after you’ve created it to your own specifications.

Still, I must admit above all I am a huge fan of virtual reality.

If you’ve never tried it, it’s a trip into any world you seek to visit.

You can travel to distant lands without leaving your home. See the wonders of the world close up and personal without hiking up mountains. Even climb Mt. Everest without breaking a sweat. The vistas and beauty is all there and you can enjoy each moment at your leisure.

Once you put the mask on your eyes you enter worlds beyond your expectations and see things you cannot ever see on this earth.

One game I play is a mini golf game with different courses including Atlantis, The Gardens of Babylon and even a trip to Venice, Italy.

The ability of the designers of these worlds to leave you breathless is incredible. You’re certain you’ve entered the past, a planet, a new galaxy or universes never imagined in a lifetime.

You find yourself lost in places so beautiful and serene you don’t want to leave. You can be underwater one moment and in outer space the next. This technology truly lives up to the hype. However, not everyone is so keen to travel through these methods. It is a bit freaky leaving the earth and I’m sure many resist the whole experience.

I however choose to embrace every moment and feel quite content sitting underwater in Atlantis and watching giant sea turtles swim by. Or gazing at the hanging gardens of Babylon with all its magnificent color and spectacle.

Then begs the questions is this virtual world a place to merely escape to or can it be just as real as the one in which we are living.

How easy is it to trade the insanity of our present times for the serenity and beauty of worlds we merely have to don a mask to enter.

No news filled with horrible stories. No awareness of all the hatred and evil around us. Just pure beauty and contentment as we sightsee in a virtual universe designed to take us on a great adventure.

Now of course I’m not inferring it is merely all perfect in this virtual reality. There are games so real you actually gasp when Darth Vader appears and draws his light saber to attack. Outer space is so dark and foreboding you are constantly afraid you’ll fall off the edge of the galaxy.

Yet the ability to fly and move about freely without even a jetpack is quite enticing.

Albeit it can throw you off balance at times if you soar too high.

All I know is I can golf like Arnold Palmer, fly like a bird and climb Machu Pichu without aching feet reveling in all these experiences.

So many of the great innovations in these times seem to be enjoyed and embraced by younger generations. Yet we dreamed of these inventions and because we created them in our minds, they actually came into existence.

Why should we not be able to avail ourselves of their wonders?

So you can’t golf one day because your arthritis is acting up. Don a VR mask and compete with the pros.

Had to postpone that trip to Italy? Ride the canals of Venice in a gondola and just soak in the scenery. Couldn’t afford the passage on that Virgin Galactic flight to the edge of the universe? No problem you can explore outer space in your pajamas.

Oh sure it isn’t the real thing of course, but when it’s a substitute you can enjoy, hey why not?

We’ve always escaped to the movies, into books and many other ways for years to create our own reality, this is merely another way to achieve that peaceful state.

Have fun touring Europe today, I’ll be playing golf on a galaxy far far away. Happy virtual reality, everyone. You dreamed it and you deserve to enjoy its wonders.

Published by normazagercom

Award-winning journalist and star Judge of Baking It on NBC with Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Andy Sandburg Norma Zager combines her years of stand-up comedy with her writing skills, to create an offbeat, hilarious take on Baby Boomer life and growing older in today’s world that touches the chocolate-coated soul of everyone.
One of the stars of the Food Network’s Clash of the Grandmas, Zager had returned to journalism after a 14-year stint as a stand up comic, playing Vegas regularly and opening for the biggest names in laughter. She created Norma’s 14 Karat Cookies after moving to Los Angeles and was the first comedian to have her own comedy/cooking show in Las Vegas. Her numerous television and radio appearances including Home and Family and appearances on the Food Network made her a favorite with audiences.
Her cooking show on Beverly Hills Cable Network can also be seen on Youtube.
In 1999, Zager returned to her journalistic roots when she accepted a reporter position at the Beverly Hills Courier newspaper and became editor after nationally scooping all other media and breaking the story about Laura Schlessinger’s mother’s death.
When Erin Brockovich sued the city of Beverly Hills alleging an oil well on
on high school grounds was the cause of numerous cancers in former students, Zager’s coverage garnered national attention. In 2003 she was named Los
Angeles Journalist of the Year and Best Investigative Reporter by the Los Angeles Press Club. The Wall Street Journal and The Columbia Journalism Review both featured articles about her work on the Brockovich story.
Zager’s book about the Brockovich/Beverly Hills lawsuit entitled Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam, is currently available on Amazon and bookstores everywhere.
Lila Luminosity and the Lipstick Murders and Lila Luminosity and the Planet Christmas Murders combine her love of comedy, cooking and reporting to create a crazy, zany, fun-filled ride through the universe armed with chocolate, shoes and every woman’s perfect boyfriend. They are also available on Amazon.
Zager and her family reside in Los Angeles, where she is a journalist, radio show host, author, speaker and part-time journalism professor at California State University.
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Published
June 21, 2024