So hey, I'm Chaz. I've been watching MLP:FiM since the first episode when the fad caused a small-scale flame war on a site I moderate. If I was going to figure out who was trolling who, I needed to understand what the heck they were talking about. It's a tough job but I was up to the task, haha. I immediately enjoyed the show and I catch a youtube link from a member of my site whenever a new episode comes out. I wasn't obsessed or anything. I just enjoyed the show. It was surprising to me how so many people referred to themselves as "bronies." Like in order to validate their liking of the show, they had to belong to a community that somehow made it acceptable. I'm also a bit older than what I understand to be "brony" age (I'm 27). Now I find it hilarious that I would consider somebody "too old" to be a brony, a community founded by people considered too old to enjoy the show. Really, of all communities, I really doubt the one preaching love and tolerance would have a problem with somebody getting close to 30. I suppose some of the reason I avoided integrating into the community is because I was around for the toy craze when I was very young. To me, My Little Pony was a series of dumb toys for girls. This show changed that perception. Through links on my website, I eventually found the nearly endless supply of mashups, fandubs, musical remixes, and tributes to the show on youtube. The creativity of the brony community really astounds me with the sheer magnitude of amazing material. It dawned on me today. I'm watching brony-created videos everyday. I'm listening to brony-created music every day. I read My Little Dashie recently (honestly I thought it was very poorly written, but I may have squirted out a tear >.>). I just watched an hour-long documentary on brony culture: Ballad of the Brony. I figured I should probably just give in and admit to myself that I am a brony. The first thing I wanted to do was join a pony forum. I like forums. Honestly I never visited Equestria Daily and I figured it was a forum. It was the only pony-dedicated website that I knew of. I found out that it's more of a blog. I'm sure that works fine as a community for plenty of people and I love and tolerate all of them. But I like having a forum where I can ramble on and on about whatever. You may have noticed that I can be a bit verbose with this introduction. Thank you for reading it! As far as details about myself, I am a Math Teacher in New Jersey. I'm not working yet (I just finished student teaching about a month ago), but I'm applying all over the state and hope to at least be substitute teaching soon. The forum name is what I use for any website. The explanation isn't very exciting. Chaz was a poker nickname in college and for whatever reason, the song "All That Jazz" was stuck in my head. A decade ago, I was a stage performer and I starred in Bugsy Malone. That was one of the songs from the show. The two fit together. It was unique. I liked the way it sounded. So I started using it with a livejournal and later with forums when I began using those. My favorite pony is Pinkie. Something just grabbed me about her personality. Perhaps it's because we share the belief that humor can solve most problems. Maybe it's because Giggle at the Ghostie was stuck in my head for weeks. Maybe it's because I find boundless optimism charming and funny. Later on I grew to love her even more because she showed that she wasn't invincible. She was capable of doubt in herself and in her friends. It sent her to a very dark place which told me a lot about her character and made me laugh at the same time. So yeah, Pinkie. On hobbies, I guess I spend too much time on the internet. I do a fair amount of gaming - mostly oldschool pokemon, Rock Band, and D&D. I play some LoL too but I tend to hate everything about the game. I find that's a common story among players. Anyway, if you're still reading, thanks a bunch. I'm glad a community that values love and tolerance exists on a place as devoid of virtue as the internet. I'm proud to consider myself among you. I'm always open to meeting new people. By all means send me a message sometime. Take care .
