After Action Report: Having A Ball... · 3:33am Feb 20th, 2019
I suppose y'all arr interested in what I've been doing as of late... since it sure as heck isn't writing! Anyhow, this last weekend I attended the Ohio Regimental Ball, a Civil War Ball & Convention. I've been doing Civil War stuff on and off over the years, but in the last year have managed to take it up a notch both as a hobby and as part of what I do as Historical Educator. That being said, for various reasons and accidents of fate, I've never actually managed to attend a reenactment. This was my first experience spending time with fellow reenactors, and it was definitely a good starting point being similar to other conventions I've been to.
I attended several excellent panels, the first of which was on how the photography changed the Civil War, and vice versa. Here, I learned that Matthew Brady, although being rich and famous before the war, was basically ruined by the Civil War and died after finally convincing the government to buy his famous negative collection several thousand dollars in debt. Also, apparently, the colloidal admixture used in making tin type photos tacky is basically the same stuff as modern New Skin, and was indeed originally developed as a emergency bandage. I quite enjoyed talking with the presenter, and subsequently had him take two tin types of me. The next panels I attended were those on women in the Civil War, most interesting being the one on women of ill repute, where I was the only man to attend. The stereopticon of a French nature and the print ad for a "Dildoe" were most amusing! I finally rounded my day out with a press conference featuring our President, Mr. Lincoln!
After that, it was time for the ball, where I switched to a more formal outfit from my civilian guise as a Wide Awake to a Union Soldier. The ball of course started withI had the great fortune of being seated next to a lovely woman who had caught my eye earlier in the day. She transpired to be a local college student, a rare Asian-American reenactor who is studying Chinese & Philippine Americans of the 19th century in her spare time and textiles in school. After an excellent conversation at dinner, I had the privilege of sharing two dances with her, and a good time was had by all.
Anyhow, by this point you are probably all wondering when the heck I'm going to mention the ponies? PONIES! PONIES, PONIES, PONIES! I've really started to get a collection of them this last year, as the hunt amid dollar stores to find more ponies of this and earlier generations of our equine best friends has become a ritual for myself and OGM. I've even been able to find some (much loved) originals from G1. So at this point, given that I still haven't finished Season 8 and Season 9 is going to be the last time out for the old crew, I guess in someways I've been reaching out beyond strictly "Brony"circles into the more general MLP Fandom. Certainly the end of a show dosen't spell the end for it's fandom, otherwise, Star Trek would be long dead. I have mixed feelings about the end of the show itself as of course it is now part of my life and it's melancholy... but equally the show ending means for us fandom authors that we will have free reign to write on all the parts of the show which will never be fully addressed! So as Trek says "All Good Things Must Come to An End"... but equally every end is a new beginning. I, for one, resolve to make the best of it. I plan on attending both the final BronyCon this year and TrotCon, and hopefully even writing and publishing some stories.
In other pony news, OleGrayMane has published a new story, "In Dreams", which I edited and which has been featured on Equestria Daily. I've also finally fulfilled my promise to give Rob my revised Challenge Difficulty Table for the Tails of Equestria RPG. If anyone else is an DM in the system and interested in my corrected table, PM me and I'll give it to you. I have no idea if the later printings of the book have revised the table but given that I've got a first printing manual and I *know* I'm not the only one who may be in need. The table in the book is so messed up, I think it took me about three revisions and a trip to the dictionary to finally straighten out the mess! Well that's all for now folks, update you later!
Oh man, Civil War reenactments. I've always wanted to do one, but never did. Also that Asian chick sounds like a fun time, hmmmmmmm?
Pretty sure Old Grey (yes, that's what I call him) would greatly approve.
It's good to hear from you! I'll bet that the reenactment was most interesting and it's always great to meet people who share our interests and that are interesting in their own regard.
I'm glad that you and Gray Mane share your interest in writing and Pony. I hope to see you both at BronyCon this year.
I completely agree with you about the show and the fandom. It's sad to know the show is ending, but it will always be around, as long as we all remember to share the Magic of Friendship. For myself, I will always be grateful for the wonderful friends I've made and for giving me the push to write again. I also firmly believe that it has helped me deal with my depression and kept me from a far worse fate. It brought joy back to my life, along with so many wonderful friends, you and Gray Mane among them.
Hope to see you soon!
5016795
👍🏻 on anything they keeps him moving, ya know.
You can call me darn anything you want: most prefer “idjit” 😉
5016904
I’m set, but I expect BB’s schedule is variable at this time.