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Long Slow Summer

 Hello. C J here. It’s been a nice Canada Day. My family and I went and watched the parade and were stopped on the way there by a flock of geese crossing the road while listening to Nickleback on the radio. I was reminded of something along the way. It isn’t really Canada Day related but it’s a nice story so I thought I’d share it.

I used to do summer camps when I was younger. I did some science or computer themed ones and they were reliably something to do that wasn’t school. Two though stand out as exceptional. I might not give their names here because I don’t know if they’re still in operation. Actually, I don’t think they are.

One was a two week camp where teams of us lived in university dormitory houses that were not being used in the summer. There was really good food at one of the smaller dining halls, courses about interesting world culture and religion during the day hours and movies practically all night.

The other one was the opening to a semester at one of the schools I’ve been to. The school wasn’t something I continued with but the opening few days of social events and food were in a strange way worth it. Both of these share a lot in common. Good, simple high calorie food with no concern about weight loss. Things to do that involved learning. Teams of people who were encouraged to meet each other and become friends.

My thought was this. My setting approaches school a bit differently than Earth here in real life does. Ascala in particular has a different model for it almost entirely. Earth does have something Ascala does not though.

Conventions, including the furry ones.

So? Furry conventions have some similarities to the point that I wonder if the two sets of ideas are compatible. AirBnB exists and really that’s I’m sure similar if I need to figure out accommodations for an event. Both involve food, often educational content and the expectation of networking. It’s the last of the three I’ve always found furry conventions didn’t do as well as the camps I’ve been to. I’ve been to several but never made a lasting contact.

I don’t know where I am going with this by the way, but I will know I have reached that point when I can write it up as cards in Quantum. I now have a goal for the Quantum cards and their related video game content. I’ll know it works when both of them are compatible.

C J Mcpherson


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