Pajama redux

Bit of overcast threatening to rain kind of a weekend when I started work on this blog having sorted out a Tumblr and dealing with bits and bobs from Ebay today.

We've mentioned pajamas on here would of been June of last year and I think around August 2018 on the other blog when I was starting to move out of circle that ultimately didn't work out well for me and more towards ALB/ASB looking back what I had and how that might work as a smol adult boy.

Time flies as I've grown downwards getting more confident in myself to the point one pair while being okay in an emergency have started to develop issues with the elastic and so it mad sense to get another pair.

A bit of this probably belongs in another conversation but just as I was getting out of boys Pj's and more towards "mens" things were starting to change.

One area was the trend towards short or long armed tops and short pajamas brought on by more people having central heating so warmer at night and with kids the move towards characters on pajamas that I missed out upon.

Can something that wasn't in your original childhood be included now?

Well one thing is I'm using a computer and the internet both of which weren't in homes back then and so as a third trend of loungewear stuff you can wear as pajamas but lounge around in during the day has led to more separate tops and bottoms rather than whole sets being offered.

I bought this Next pajama top with an bear print on which is boyishly cute and fleecy, not 100 miles removed from the sort of thing I'd of worn then.

It's really supposed to be christmasy but that side is fairly low key so it's fine for all year.

I get from the M&S own range these navy and green check bottoms which again are fleecy with a traditional pull and tie cord for getting a perfect fit as I don't like super close fitting clothes

These are fine for cooler late autumn and winter nights or as we were never allowed to just sitting around first thing watching tv or typing before venturing beyond the front door.

A totality of identity

This week I've been a bit busy working on a tumblr part of the restoring operation which I knew was going to take time apart from posting at a few sites which really got me thinking about really more around self image and knowing yourself.

I mean there's plenty of people who will sell you how they want you feel and so let's just nail it.

I love flowers, something I learned as a young boy from my Grandad who for a modest suburban terrace made his garden into relaxing world of roses and other flowers and plants that I played in when not helping him out.

I also love plushies, teddy bears and the like and they even have a bench to sit on, enjoying the view when I'm not playing with them.

I may have physical limitations apart from developmental issues but I spend time out of doors being physical, I challenge myself to work past limitations to get the most out of the opportunities available, helping out to the best of my abilities.

My physicality is a core part of my masculinity.

Reading is difficult for me, so much of what I read is for those around nine to thirteen plus but I do enjoy reading, making the effort to find books I can enjoy reading and read comics too for their humour.

For me to read isn't to be 'soft'. Anyone lacking gumption wouldn't attempt to read with my difficulties for pleasure but I do.

Any attempt at looking at my early life shows clearly I love the rough and tough of being with boys, playing war games, Cowboys and Indians with cap guns, playing footie even with wobbly feet with the others.

I had cap guns, tons of Action Man stuff which I played battles with sometimes on my own on other occasions with friends, capturing and "shooting" the enemy that I'd play with the minute I was home or day schooling finished. I was as stereo-typically boyish as any.

It wasn't always easy, sometimes people try pushing ideas on you and there was a period where really what I was going through was age dysphoria having strong negative issues between how I felt I was still that boy and how people were trying to push into an older form that just was not me.

All of these things were always a part of the boy I was in much the same way that others may of had the odd less common interest all ultimately wrapped in masculine coating which is an intrinsic part of me.

The work around understanding why I remain young and in revisiting my early years over the years coincided with looking at the outward expression from battles to escape longs to the acceptance of being still that young boy as a permanent thing.

For me the acceptance of being forever a child ties into being forever a school boy, looking every inch as he was, at one with being masculine and today that is all that I am, confident in my whole sense of identity.

Simon and Garfunkel on Monday

This week as I continue to recover from this thing that has left me feeling quite ill this last week, we're looking back at some recordings, some I've had for a bit and some more recent.

The music of Simon and Garfunkel really should need no introduction, for being both the leading exponents of Folk Rock, exquisite  vocal harmonies and been seen at the time as the minstrels of the "Counter Culture".

My collection currently is all on compact disc although I grew up with the "TC8 Stereo" eight track cartridge of 1972's Greatest Hits.

All acts start somewhere and they were no different in being more straight ahead folk with more of a Everly's feel but in tracks like He Was My Brother referencing the "Freedom Drives" to register black voters in the Southern United States and the original recording of The Sounds of Silence they were clearly not into being non challenging, being more with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan in addressing concerns lyrically.

In many other respects it's 1964 folk, more an eye into what was to come next as Dylan Electrified his sound and splitting folk into the traditionalists and the other other camp who were pitching at buyers of pop and rock discs.

I did pick up a box set that comprises of the Legacy reissues of Parsley, Sage & Rosemary, The Sounds Of Silence together with Bookends that do sound really good although they all are the remixes, good remixes I'd add unlike some that do take in the electric folk rock Sounds of Silence which defined an era and Bookends, a mix of singles and tracks that look at what it means human in an era when the "Generation Gap" got bigger and society got more confrontational in that era of Vietnam, the civil rights issues and equality for females.

Way way back in 2010 Audio Fidelity put out a "24 Kt gold" edition of "Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Thyme" that was canned for claiming to be "from the original mastertapes" but showing clear signs of being from the same analogue tape to digital  transfer as the regular edition.

Thankfully Mofi issued on October 22nd 2018 the real deal, a super audio cd with a layer that plays on all cd players too from a "safety copy" that has the original stereo mix rather than the remixes done in the 1990's by Bob Irwin.

This edition has an unbelievable presence in the vocals, so much so you do get the feel you are in the studio with them as they perform Scarborough Fair, Homeward Bound (not on original UK copies as we had an earlier version on the Sounds of Silence lp), Patterns and For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her

I own the 1994 Sony 'Mastersound' issue of Bridge Over Troubled Water, an epic swan-song of an album with the likes of The Boxer, Cecilia, The Only Living Boy in New York and that epic title track which is wonderful sounding  taken from the real analogue masters.

The insert folds out into a giant poster of the album cover and on the reverse explains the history of the tapes, much used so the odd bit of wear can be heard but for all that the sound is astonishing.

Restoration post

Hello there!

Things a getting a bit more back to normal around here with the One thousand and Five Hundredth post being made on the restored Tumblr which is getting some traction too carefully resourcing some of the reblogged posts to keep things as child friendly as we can with my aim that nothing will be over PG 13 and ideally below that  better reflecting what is actually appropriate for me, never mind any others.

It hasn't been easy with some posts that had to go when I looked more into what those people were about so like this weekend I have been adding new posts in between the post count milestones, just adding the odd explanatory note if say a original post was very much topical.

I hope to have it all redone by October time so I can delete the original version but given my own health issues I'm taking this very much as it comes.

The one outstanding issue with the Canon camera I mentioned on the other blog on Friday has been sorted and isn't an uncommon thing on used digital cameras and that is they use a separate often button cell to retain the day, date and time.

In this camera's instance it was a CR 1220 3 volt lithium cell that had lost capacity and needed to be replaced as all else on the camera checked out fine, focussing well and writing to the Sandisk 32Gb SD card properly.

It's now working well so we're ready to have a good alterative to the Nikon D3500 capable of handling anything I need it to where changing lenses would be a issue.

Given the noises coming from Microsoft regarding Windows 11 at some future point I'll need to consider a replacement for copying music digitally and advanced photo processing as they need machine based operating systems to run and at least one isn't available in Linux so it will be a between say a Apple Mini Mac 13inch or a Windows 11 laptop.