This is a bit more of a “update” post than Pacific content, since I’ve been absolutely swamped with work and life events.
As you know, Pacific’s been a hobby and a labor of love for a long while. Over the years, due to health reasons, actual update’s slowed down a fair bit. As the primary driver of Pacific in its current form, I admit it’s been hard, but health isn’t the main reason for that slow down. What’s been harder is for me to reconcile the events and that alternative world that I wanted to describe (out of my dreams, you could say) with the world – and more importantly, the America – that we live in today.
To dream about America here, and then looking outside to see America as she is today. It hurts.
Now, I don’t want to dampen your day with my griping, so instead, I’ll share something positive. The circle’s doing well – fast friendships are still forming, and as the specter of the pandemic lifts, we’re hoping to resume some of the things that we used to do (even if of course, technology and how we deliver stuff has changed quite a bit!) prior.
This thing that Zero’s put up is one of them.
Things are difficult in China right now, with travel restrictions and lockdowns still partially in place and only recently relaxing, but Zero’s experimenting with a new form of event planning. The idea is to take the convention that he’s fond of, and break that into smaller pieces targeting more specific, smaller groups. A lot of us with weeb interests are getting a little older and have more responsibilities on our plates, and it’ll be easier to get away for say, an afternoon or evening, instead of a full blown weekend.
Not only does this dodge the potential issues with crowding (a practical concern given China’s population density), but Zero thinks it’s also more likely to result in a better time for everyone. By organizing events around specific themes or topics, it’s assumed that because the events are smaller, you wouldn’t be attending it to have fun and meet people randomly – but rather, you’re here to have fun and meet people who you know for sure are interested in the same things as you.
This, for instance, is one of Zero’s ideas. A pilot event involving a camp-out in the middle of a nice park, themed around one of the circle’s favorite shows. Fried chicken and video games and a “drive in” movie. Doesn’t sound too bad, yeah?
Hopefully, if it turns out well, we’ll have some pictures and tales to tell!
