Christmas 2014

It is a few days past it as unlike last year the publishing schedule didn't align with Christmas day so I'm doing the entry today in my red sweatshirt, grey pleated skirt with matching grey socks with a pussy bow on them.

The first thing to say is Christmas for me is first and foremost a littles affair, practically a children's one starting with the great anticipation, the week before and building up on Christmas Eve where I sat with Mommy watching the Carols from King's concert on tv in one of my Pinafore Dresses before eating.

I was wake around Half past  Six Christmas Day with anticipation about which list of Santa's  I was one, hoping it wasn't the naughty one, getting washed and dressed  to comedown stairs (in our family you absolutely never come down stairs without being properly dressed, ever) before getting my breakfast.

It wasn't long before the sacks were found so with breakfast things away and washed up, I started on opening my present sacks neatly.

There were a number of Annuals, those perennials from my childhood where you got a softback book featuring cartoon strips from your favourite comics, extra features, quizzes  and games.

As the initiated know, I do read this comic a lot loving the adventures of Minnie The Minx, Dennis The Menace and the Bash Street Kids so here's this years annual.

A comic I used to love as a boy but has folded from weekly publishing was the Dandy with Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan of Cow Pie fame but they do specials such as this years annual so I was mighty glad to get that one.

 An author of books I love to read is Jacqueline Wilson and every year there's an annual out about her, the many stories she's written featuring Tracy Beaker (a heroine of mine) with tips on writing and drawing. I also got the Hello Kitty annual with stories and pictures you can colour.

Talking Kitty, I got a note pad and pencil from my Brother and partner who understand my feminine boy side which was pleasant surprise.
But the biggest surprise was yet to come.

Yes, my parents actually surpassed themselves and bought me this Grafix Build your own Teddy Bear kit that you stuff, sow the back and badge onto and fill out the Birth Certificate for!

I mean, you couldn't get so little with me me if you tried as this suitable for anyone over the age of five  bear you can carry around with you hugging after completion.

After going out for lunch, I got changed into a Tartan skirt coming down the stairs in the late afternoon watching tv for a bit before we had a light evening meal as I was feeling a bit full.

A Christmas where I could be open about my feminine side was just great.

Christmas pause

Just a few more posts to go before the end of year and as I'm slowly getting there, here's something for all of you.

Christmas here is a bit busy with visiting Aunts with cards and presents, running errands for Mummy, putting the finishing touches to my presents for others and so on so I take a pause this time of year from long form blogging.

This year seeing how Christmas slots in with the schedule, the Christmas edition will be after boxing day so until then bye for now.

Regards Tammy, the little sissy gurl

The Brownie Annual

It's rare for me to post much about "the other half" of the Scouting Movement for a host of reasons such as having very little to do with in any capacity but as you would expect their are parallels.

Rather like Wolf Cubs/Cubs, until more recent times there were annuals published that any Brownie would expect to get with the bindings being made easier to printed over time.

The start point of any annual is having an eye catching illustration for the front as this isn't an instruction manual and typically a Brownie annual would show brownies in uniform undertaking some task.

The back of this one features the faces of some, a number of which contributed to the contents.

This one is the 1962 edition and as was usual at the time has a formal introduction from the World Chief Guide addressed to the individual Brownie welcoming them to the publication which is official.

Here we have a contents page which is well indexed by makes, things of interest, about Brownie life such as pack holidays and the like.

Because rather like Cubs, you might of joined but not done everything yet, you'd have things about what you may get to do such as a pack holiday complete with pictures which are printed on glossy paper.

Very much with the whole Pixies and Elfs and so on, concept running in Brownies, there's a section with rhymes about them a brownie would no doubt love.

Something I don't think the Girl Guides Association then would of been unaware of is a copy about perhaps belonging to a friend or sister of another girl would act as a shop window to them to join up too, sharing the fun.

Annuals in general seem an endangered species, always out of date at the time of printing, lacking the interactivity some crave today and yet I know the Comic annual is still a popular thing as are tv and movie tie ins.

As children still love physical gifts they can treasure perhaps annuals connected with scouting can comeback.

Spanking the Sissy Gurl

This need for spanking is almost as old as the whole issue of what my sex and gender identity is as while the confusion crept in in my teens traditional approaches stopped to discipling me just stopped without really being replaced.

My ability to read clues concerning how I am being seen is bad and just talking stuff out or ages utterly muddles me up.

It isn't so surprising that when I mentioned about this a friend who sees both presentations when I stay with them that corporal punishment was put in for my feminine side too.

The last mention of anything at all to do with my attitudes and behaviour was in a brief note from 1980 where it was agreed I could be spanked which didn't go into much detail from when I was officially in my mid teens simply because that brief conversation stood out as nothing much was ever discussed or really acted on around that time.

As time passed in the great not really planned way it does, much of stuff around personal conduct and rules short of say burning the house down was not really discussed so much as just drifted apart.

This would of been okay if for the fact that I was and do live at home and connected very much with what has in many ways left me very much developmentally an adult-child who while not being totally destructive or in any way abusive, not only lacks some 'life skills' but am disrespectful at times, lacking in self discipline so not doing important stuff sorting out bills and isn't expected because of previous habits and parental attitudes to help in the home that also may help if I was to live more independently. I struggle very much without rules and guidelines being in place.

In many respects I have more in common with the very mid teen of that entry who can get a handful and the odd time in the recent past the only way Mom could stop me tailspinning if we were out was a discrete firm smack on my bottom.

If one was to have imagined a 12 to 14 year old me from back then, then the boy dressed as a girl in this picture would of been it with longish smooth face and slim frame.

Also like the child in the picture and a good number of teens I will be held to account much more for when I let myself and my folks down and this will include having my bottom spanked for infractions from now on.

Looking very much how with that drifting apart of old agreement of sorts and the problems the absence of any replacements and the difficulties I have in dealing with verbal chastisement, losing track of what’s said and being more and more stressed so in many ways it fails to curb my behaviour, I have agreed to be spanked because I can cope with that much better and it is works better in changing my attitudes and behaviour although it hurts.

I just feel better for say being caned when I mess up compared to any amount of scolding and that so sticking that in with (having to) wear a uniform is great for me.

When I'm in that mode, I wear girls knickers often gym knickers as they feel better.

I am not treated any less strictly as a sissy gurl in a dress.

The Beatles: the RED and BLUE new vinyl edition with Extras

Where do I begin with this entry? What I'm reviewing has a very long past, which is why it's  here as a music featurette as these two records were originally issued on lp record, cassette and  super clunky 8 Track cartridge way way back in May of 1973 when I was officially young.

While two compilations had been issued by the Beatles in the UK ("A Collection of Oldies but Goldies") and North America ("Hey Jude") there had not  been a career covering set issued officially so on the backs of a unofficial multi disc set issued a year before, two two record sets were issued that took in all the UK singles A sides plus highlights from their studio lps.

This was timely as by 1973 each former Beatle had their own solo following and indeed in Paul McCartney's instance a new and highly popular band called Wings so there was a lot of interest by fans of the same for something that clued them into the past as well as those fans from the 60's who wanted a nice tidy set to remember The Beatles by.

The front cover was an alternate take to that used on their UK Please Please Me lp cover and the front for the 1967-1970 one a remake from 1969 intend for the scrapped Get Back lp.

Below are the original UK cassette inlay cards showing the covers in colour

In the UK the cassette and eight track tape issues were "Double Play" meaning both lps were on the same tape.

These albums remained on catalogue in their original forms until September 1993 where the first cd versions were issued and then re-issued using the 2009 remasters in 2010 but for reason best known to Apple, a number of different versions were substituted for the cd and lp/cassette reissues in 1993.

Here's a short summary:
Stereo replaced by Mono-
Please Please Me
From Me To You

Fake stereo to Mono-
Love Me Do (album version)
She Loves You

Original 1965 stereo mixes to 1986 digitally remixed with echo(!) -
Yesterday
Ticket To Ride
Help
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Drive My Car
Norwegian Wood
Nowhere Man
In My Life
Michelle
Girl

US stereo mix for UK stereo -
Day Tripper
Faded in lp to cold start -
A Day In The Life

So you can see what we've had for twenty years wasn't what we originally had!

Fast forward to November 24th 2014 in the UK and Europe and these lps have been newly re-issued but from the actual analogue master tapes used for the originals except for the two fake stereo tracks that were rightly put into mono.

What that means is on vinyl we can have the mixes we used to have all over again and taking advantage of modern thinking about lp cutting more effort has been put in to keeping the low notes in for deep bass and more extended treble  as as a bit more of a gap between the loudest and softest sounds in each song and a good example of this is on From Me To You which in stereo has never sounded better.

As the 2012 stereo re-issue lps were digitally sourced for now at least it's the only new spot for much of the stereo material mastered they way it used to be.

I bought both and have to say these reissues are superior to my UK originals in so many ways it's amazing and works well with the mono albums issued a few months back much the same way.

Issued in North America December 9th by Capitol.

Kickstarting the Extras on this post is a 2012 stereo re-issue of the groups first album, Please Please Me from March 1963 bought mainly because in those early days Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You recorded for single record release was only mixed to mono and for the stereo lp that came out a month after initial mono copies they reprocessed it into fake stereo that sounded pretty bad.

This newer copy restores those two tracks to mono apart from bringing a bit more low notes out than original cutting allowed for back then.

It also features like the mono reissue from earlier in the year that gold on black early label.

Their second album, With The Beatles came out in November of 1963 but the stereo was a bit extreme and most copies lacked real bass.

This new copy from 2012 puts those matters aright.

This appears on a Yellow on Black label which all pre-1970 copies used which is a cool retro touch.

This is the most recent addition from 2017, the Abbey Road cut by Sean McGee of Beatles For Sale, the December 1964 album that generally sounds better in stereo here with better low notes and a less recessed midband designed to go in a magazine with lp "Partwork" on the Beatles but spares were sold separately.

This too has that original style Yellow and Black label although the fonts and typesetting isn't like originals.

The lp jacket of the original always was a bit of a pain for holding the record in pocket you could only access with the gatefold cover spread out from the inside just opposite the left side of the gatefold that housed notes and a photograph.

This edition uses a more conventional side pocket which is much easier to open without causing wear or fingerprints on the black background gatefold.

While sourced and cut from high resolution digital files transferred from the master tapes, they so sound really good.

*Updated by Tammy 2017