5
 
 
  
4:58 PM, Monday, March 3, 2025:
 
So I have an hour to kill on the plane and I need to announce the VirtualPresenceStudios social media accounts so here we go…
 
This is a very strange thing for me to attempt because this won’t be part of The Journey… and the idea of having any part of my life documented with video NOT be part of The Journey feels like a wildly inefficient use of my time. To keep this ball rolling for 26 years I’ve always made sure to roll all video into the 100 entries per year so I can maintain the schedule and so it’s all self contained….
 
…but it’s simply not how media is consumed these days and in order to properly push and document Virtual Presence, I have to have a social media video presence. Of course the next problem is how on earth do you document VR on a phone. Oh and when on earth do I have the time to produce this?
 
Enter the Meta Ray-Bans. I just hit a button and I make a clip. I shoot everything surrounding Virtual Presence (that I’m allowed) and can instantly upload it and have no need for editing. People can follow the shoots as little or as much as they like. The Journey of course will house the VR180 pieces (and when necessary I can go through the Social media footage and put it together to tell a longer story.
 
For example, I received the NDA for the Dodgers in the airport and figured I’d see if I could sign a PDF on my phone without buying more freaking apps. You can! Docusign FTW. So I hit my glasses while walking onto the plane - dude asks me questions about my shoes and now we’ve got a cool slice of life. I dig the shit out of that. Took a couple minutes during a time where I’m certainly not editing (walking onto a plane) and it tells the story. I can upload multiple videos if I want or not or whatever. If people think I’m posting too much, ok. I do not have the headspace to try and grow the channel “correctly” and do all the things that influencers do - I don’t want it nor could I even attempt it and also run the company (and The Journey).
 
I'll post the first 2 here for The Journey entry... 
 
 
So this is my compromise. This is Virtual Presence Studios. Find it on TikTok and Instagram.
 
Damn. I only wasted 12 minutes. Uhm shit shouldn’t the Delorean entry go here and this entry be tomorrow? Fuck. May just delay the Delorean one cause holy fuckballs life decided to get crazy for 72 hours and then it will vanish for weeks. Like I haven’t had to move my Delorean since JULY 7TH of last year and I get a corporate towing gig for March 2nd and when we leave: Vienna gets sick, there’s an earthquake, my tenant is in a motorcycle accident and is still in the hospital getting surgery on his hands, and I have to rush back to LA to return the car hauler and get on this flight to Phoenix to be ready tomorrow morning to shoot Dodgers media day and spring training. Previous 3 weeks and the next 3 weeks have FUCK ALL HAPPENING.
 
Feast or famine man. Oh I know what I need to write about… my brain literally being incapable of processing joy because everything seems like it’s a phone call away from disappearing.
 
Now this is nothing new for me, the past 25 (hell 30) years of my life has been defined by massive moments immediately ripped away out of the blue. Jesus even in 1999 getting the afternoon show on CD101 with Joe on a Friday, fired on Monday. But what has always been true - is I then commit myself to make the bad part the catalyst for the next good part. Without getting fired from CD101 - I wasn’t coming to LA and starting The Journey. I took that embarrassment and ran with it and that’s continued through every, single, moment of my life. Every win has been met with a defeat and nearly all of those lead to the next thing.
 
This time however it’s unfortunately a little different - I cannot celebrate the maybes. Like I can write an entry. I can document it. But I’m a zombie. My friends and family are zombies. That or they just ghosted me after a failure. Losing the Super Bowl is hard… losing a family friend because of that is excruciating and just doesn’t leave you…
 
… but when that happened a year ago? I was OK. I did my normal routine. I kept pushing. I made everything happen and ended up having fantastic meetings and incredible adventures - and then Hanson.
 
Oh fuck me did that rewire my brain. A straight existential “oh COME ON, they don’t want to SEEEEEE the footage I flew to NY to produce for them?!???!!?” That hit me in a way that has sucked the joy out of everything that came next. Shooting Pete Carroll? Comatose. Presumed I would put the whole thing together and he wouldn’t even want to see it. This thing with the Dodgers? I’ll shoot it all on my own dime, labor over the edit won’t even be able to show anyone AND they could easily just say “nevermind” before they EVEN SEE IT.
 
But why Adam, why would anyone agree to the logistics of the shoot but not want to see the footage? BECAUSE HANSON. It’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever been through in my life. It’s why I’m sitting on the plane to go shoot the most famous baseball player in the world - and I feel nothing. I’m not excited. I’m not happy. My brain knows it’s good. Ya know? My analytical brain is still rolling. Still scheming, doing what needs to be done - but that happy guy who believes in VR180 and has committed to almost singlehandedly making it mainstream?
 
That motherfucker is GONE.
 
I’m sure he can return, but as I said a few entries back: I need a real win. Now I think it’s going to be with the Raiders next month… I mean after my meeting with Yoda it’s just understood that it’s a done deal. Oh wait - I didn’t write about that.
 
GODDDDDAMNIT SO MUCH IS HAPPENING.
 
So I meet Yoda in Manhattan Beach on Saturday and show his some stuff I put together and long story short: I am indeed shooting the OTAs for a couple weeks in April. I did mention that in the ohmyfuggingod entry but now I understand that HE is the one putting it together, he understands the budget and we spent most of the time talking about strategies for AFTER those shoots and what he believes will happen next. His nonchalance about this being a done deal doesn’t fill me with a sense of relief… no no, it’s just one more thing I can’t process.
 
I should be happy. My friends and family should be happy. Literally no one knows what to say. Talya just kinda tears up and smiles while her brain is melting down because we just, can’t, be, excited anymore. It’s been two years of this and EVERYTHING finds a way to fall through. She gets a stomach ache when she sees me on the phone because she’s sure it’s the next shoe falling. Fuck the only reason I’m on this flight is because I TYPED MY CREDIT CARD IN AND PAID FOR IT. Fully prepared to show up at the stadium tomorrow and not be able to shoot. That’s how this all feels.
 
And that is what him trying so desperately to snap out of. Because truth be told? Yes, this Dodger shoot may be the beginning and end of it all. The Raiders, if/when it happens could absolutely be the end. You cannot keep looking ahead and sleepwalk through all of these adventures…
 
…but I’m literally unable to feel. The only thing I can compare it to is what I’ve heard men say impotence is like? Not humble-bragging, just hasn’t happened for me, but that feeling of: I WANT TO BE HARD. I WANT TO SMILE. I WANT TO FEEL JOY. Nope. Not there. Wish in one hand shit in the other… it’s absolutely wild to experience this level of apathy while literally ON A PLANE TO SHOOT THE DODGERS.
 
Anyway I’ll certainly let you know when it returns. I pray it’s tomorrow. Actually I know what will bring the joy - when I get back and see the footage. It’s that magical moment when the renders are done and I get to review the footage for the rough cut. It’s the most magical feeling ever. Crushing when you fuck up a shot, but still… to be the first to witness the magic ones? I still remember seeing LeBron walk up to the camera and saying “Jesus fucking Christ” and holding my breath. Actually it may have been the 2nd time I watched it because the first time you’re just praying it stays in focus and doesn’t move too much and whew, it worked.
 
There’s still joy there and THANK GOODNESS because that’s the last damn thing I have control over. If I didn’t enjoy that? Well, there’d be no Virtual Presence. You had better LOVE the editing bay, man.
 
Alright - now we’ve spent a good hour writing. Good entry. Felt good to get all that out.
 
Let’s do this.
 
Adam