Gainer Camp

What will it be like?

I'm not entirely sure what it will be like. Gaining takes time, so even with two weeks to focus on it, you can only do so much. But I don't imagine that people would want to do nothing but eat for two weeks. So obviously there has to be some kind of variety. I guess I'm hoping there could be a combination of sightseeing, socializing, and eating. Here are some of the things I've thought would be fun to do:

• I make fantastic chocolate chip cookies and I am used to creating very large batches. This quarter I'll be making probably 750 because I have 680 students to feed. So I was thinking it might be fun early in the camp to share that with the participants. I don't know how many cookies we'll make, but we can make a lot. They last for days, so it's not like people would have to eat them up right away.
• I would try to have a local grommoff that happened towards the beginning of the camp so that the local gainers and encouragers could meet the camp participants. I'm open to having the local guys stop by a lot during those two weeks, but I want to do it in a way that allows us to have the campers separate from the locals (still thinking that one through).
• There are certain obligatory tourist destinations like the Pike Place Market, the Underground Tour, and the Space Needle. We would have lunch or dinner at the revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle (paid for by me).
• I love Costco and it's a great place for gainers. I shop at Costco #1 (the original) and there are several fat gay men who work there. We would make probably several Costco runs and I'd tell the participants to buy anything you want as long as you plan to eat it. "You want a 2.5-pound can of peanuts? I already have one at home, but sure, let's buy another. Make it two just to be sure. You want a 1-pound jug of chocolate macademia clusters? Of course!"
• I live a few blocks from the two sports stadiums and when there is a game, my neighborhood fills up with fat sports fans. We can go to a game (I'll buy the tickets and the food). The Mariners play all summer long and the Seahawks start preason games in August. The Sounders FC (soccer team) is pretty good and they play all summer.
• I live near an Asian supermarket called Uwajimaya. I find it entertaining to buy Korean candy or Japanese snacks, but it's also just fun to see everything. And they have a great food court with Asian food and an Asian deli and a local burger place that is quite good. So we can wander over there for lunch at least once if not multiple times.
• Do any of the campers cook? If so, they could plan a meal for all of us. Or maybe some of the local gainers or encouragers will want to come over and manage the preparation of a feast for us. It can be fun to prepare meals together for a large group.
• I'm not a big bar person, but I'm open to having an official night at the local bear bar and if the campers want to go more often, that's okay. But I'm not going to buy your drinks at the bar.
• It would be fun to drive up to Vancouver, which is 3 hours away. We could drive up one day, stay at a hotel overnight, and drive back the next day (I'd pay for the hotel). The main reason I'd do this is if we could arrange to meet with the Vancouver gainers and encouragers. But there could be general sightseeing there as well. This would require passports for the participants, so maybe we wouldn't do this.
• There are some interesting local attractions like the Experience Music Project, the Science Fiction Museum, the Cinerama movie theater. All of those were supported by Paul Allen (cofounder of Microsoft). It would be fun to visit some or all of those.
• We would want to eat out at least once if not two or three times at local restaurants that are fat friendly. For example, there is a restaurant called Claim Jumper that serves huge portions and is a great place for fatties.
• There are also particular Seattle eating places that we could incorporate. There are some interesting local burger places. We could go to some of the seafood places or some of the Asian restaurants. There is also an unusual pizza place that might be worth checking out.
• Obviously we can do things like watching movies and playing video games. I assume we'll work that out based on the interests of the campers.
• Maybe a picnic to one of the many beautiful mountain areas like Snoqualmie Falls.
• Seattle has many speciality dessert places including the Dilettante Mocha Cafe, Top Pot Donuts, Cupcake Royale (one of whose mottos is "Legalize Frostitution"), The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company, and Theo Chocolates (which lets you tour their factory).
• We had a grommoff at a local casino recently and we ate at their buffet. That was fun. Maybe a repeat of that. I'll pay for food, but you have to pay for the gambling.
• Seattle has lots of summer events, so depending upon the particular dates, there is likely to be something going on (gay pride, bumbershoot, hempfest, torchlight festival with speed boat racing and the Blue Angels, etc.).
• Probably we should go out on a boat. There are places to rent kayaks, which can be fun. Or we could take a more traditional boat tour. We could also take a ferry to one of the local islands.

That's a good sampling of some of my initial thoughts. I'm sure there are a lot of other possibilities. I thought about telling the local gainers and encouragers that they could propose an activity if they planned it and led the group. And I'm sure the campers will have ideas. And sometimes it's just nice to lie around the apartment and digest for a while with someone rubbing your belly.