Spiral Bound Journal

Meet and Greet

"It's been my experience that jargon has a unique way of making people check out of a conversation. Have you seen that when discussing crypto with those that are new or neutral to the subject?"

Quinn sat back and watched everyone's mouths fall slack in response to Dana's question. Over the last half hour, he had listened more than contributed to the larger crypto conversation happening at the table. After all, as far as he could gather, investigating crypto chicanery is how the majority of the group met and knew each other. Some of them expressed surprise that Dana had more awareness of crypto than he did. Morgan in particular wore an awestruck expression when Dana discussed the rising skepticism of blockchain as a concept. he only one that took a more even keeled approach to this whole dynamic was HarHar.

Then again, Quinn had struggled to get a good read on HarHar. To him, HarHar took the most pains to project a serious image, at least in person. Quinn had not seen HarHar's videos and thus had no idea what behaviors were an act and in what context. Dana seemed familiar with HarHar's work, but they didn't really have a chance to discuss any of it prior to agreeing to join the group for a post-eclipse chit chat. At least with Morgan there had been time to talk about his work while waiting for the moon's alignment to shift to the desired spot.

Truth be told, everything that had happened since leaving the Fort Worth Water Gardens had been a whirlwind. Quinn and Dana got introductions to the rest of the group. Perhaps the biggest talker of the group was Callum. Such big talking seemed to fit his physical countenance, complete with wild, multidirectional curls. Bruce tried to hide in his dark grey beanie, but his mile wide sarcastic streak kept giving him away. The last member of the party —Adam— seemed a bit less familiar with the others but never hesitated to chime in whenever he found an opportunity. All of them first hung out in the Square before Adam tracked down a café in the northern part of downtown. While Quinn was okay with standing around, he found both the walk and getting to sit at the cafe's largest table to be much appreciated relief.

Blinking, Quinn got back online with the conversation just as Bruce cleared his throat.

"I admit I tend not to talk much about crypto when I"m offline," he remarked. "However, I sometimes hear my students talk about coins hawked by various influencers. It takes a lot of effort to not throw out my lesson plans and spend the whole period warning these kids not to get involved with crypto."

"Do you talk to them about it at all," Adam asked.

"Sometimes, usually before the bell rings or if I spot them before or after school. I admit I don't do it a whole lot so that I can keep my teaching and crypto endeavors separate."

"I suppose that makes sense."

"How much do you simplify crypto terms and actions when you have these conversations?" Dana chimed in.

"A little bit. It's kind of a tricky balance to strike."

"I admit I could go for a list of simplified crypto concepts," Callum told the group. "Sure, I've helped out with some crypto projects as something of a honeypot, but my understanding of what a blockchain actually is not so great. I keep hearing things like cryptographic hashtags and digital ledger, and it all just kinda goes over my head."

Morgan blinked and looked at Callum. "Really?"

Callum nods. "Yes, really. I know you say that you can't take the blockchain out of your coverage. Have you and your team looked into how to simplify and create more visuals of blockchains in general?"

"Hmmm...let me think about it. I am in the middle of an investigation right now, but I'll see what I can do."

Quinn sipped his lime soda and let the discussion resume washing over him. As the rest of the group continued stumbling down the blockchain rabbit hole, he thanked providence he wasn't involved in this part of the tech world. On the other hand, he appreciated that any of them knew enough about it to make attempts to simplify the concept. A part of him wondered what this would mean for Dana, but at this rate, it made him happy to see her having a good time and even showing signs of making some new friends. It had been a while since that had happened, and from his point of view, this moment had not come soon enough.