There are two accepted definitions, depending on the source and context, of a Grognard.
I guess the official definition would be …
An old veteran soldier; a grumbler. This definition is a nod toward the old soldiers of Napoleon’s Old Guard. These individuals, because of their experience and the respect of Napoleon himself, were granted the freedom to express their discontent freely: the Old Guard Grenadiers were known as “the Grumblers” (French: les Grognards) because they openly complained about the petty troubles of military life. Legend has it that some of the officers even did so in the presence of the Emperor, knowing that the Old Guard’s reputation commanded enough respect with Napoleon to allow such openness.
The second version is someone who enjoys playing older war-games or roleplaying games, or older versions of such games, when newer ones are available. Maybe a little geekier than the notion of being one of Napoleon’s elite but it is still a valid definition today.
Both definitions fit me just nicely. I am an old retired soldier with 32 years of service and I still enjoy playing with the original rules of Dungeons & Dragons. I am talking the original set of 1974 rules – back when it was more about your imagination, good story telling and the social gathering of friends.
This site is really an experiment that resulted from an interesting quote I came upon (hat tip to Gretchen Rubin for the statement) a little bit ago …
Nothing Doesn’t Happen at Once
“It took me a few years to realize that nothing was happening for me. Nothing doesn’t happen all at once. It starts slow, so slow that you don’t even notice it. And then, when you do, you banish it to the back of your mind in a hail of rationalizations and resolutions. You get busy, you bury yourself in your meaningless work, and for a while you keep the consciousness of Nothing at bay. But then something happens and you’re forced to face the fact that Nothing is happening to you right now, and has been for some time.” Jonathan Tropper
If you stop and think about the quote, all of us tend to get caught up in the mundane everyday happenings in life and never really seem to be moving forward except in time. It appears that we really spend a great deal of time doing nothing.
This got me to think about all the things I have thought about doing but never really got around to actually doing, attempting or completing. I actually spent about 30 minutes creating a list of these things – you can call it a bucket list if you want but I prefer something along the lines of something to conquer or complete.
Some of the items, write a novel or build a model railroad have been on this list for 30 years, others like hike the Camino are recent adds in the last couple of years but all items share one thing in common – I actually spent time, in some cases a significant amount of time, contemplating completing the item. However, for whatever reason I never really did it.
This site is an experiment in attempting to focus on each day of the year and a look at how time passes and if you attempt to focus can you put aside enough of the day to day activities to accomplish the items on your list.