Travelling back through sound II

The series that never seems to stop continues on from where we left back in February  with a new volume issued on Friday that sees us going further back in time and no doubt the extra edition shortly afterwards.

Anyone who was around in 1981 knows this was one of the finest ever years for popular music and specifically the top twenty singles chart with many new and exciting sounds from new artists on a weekly basis even if in truth some of their influences had been about a year or so before.

The year was also different from the point of view that music videos to hit recordings while existing for a couple of years before really took off with long form arty productions from both newer acts such as Duran Duran and Adam and The Ants to evergreen chart fixtures such as Cliff Richard with his very topical Wired For Sound .

We were wired for sound as the Walkman, the portable headphone based tape player introduced in late 1979 really took off with cheaper versions so many of us walked and roller skated to portable stereo sound of our own choosing.

That's why this set is so much a must having either in the deluxe with booklet form or the slightly cheaper all card four cd set.

Back then we bought our copies of Chart Hits '81 and other albums on Ronco and K Tel that came out around every three months or so filled with hits but with compromised sonics and edits get it all in and increasingly they were on tape too.

This is five lp records worth of hits that cover everything from songs from stage shows such as Cats with Memory, Ska from The Specials with Ghost Town, the electronic New Wave sounds of the Human League with Don't You Want Me, Rockabilly revival with Shakin' Stevens with Green Door and Rock This Town by the Stray Cats and Soul from the Four Tops and Smokey Robinson.

The world of hard rock was represented by Rainbow, the band lead by Richie Blackmore with I Surrender and the combination of Motorhead with Girls School with a remake of the Johnny Kid and the Pirates number Please Don't Touch while such staples of previous years such as the Electric Light Orchestra  with Hold On Tight, The Pretenders with the Ray Davies song I Go To Sleep and The Jam with That's Entertainment also feature.

Today this is the most complete anthology of the whole of that years amazing mixture of sounds we heard on Radio One and on Top Of The Pops

July 1st saw the release of Extra, the now familiar package of an extra three discs worth of hits that is part of this series bonus touches expanding the scope of the initial selection with some less obvious choices.

This adds tracks like the original single of My Own way by Duran Duran rather than the remake for the Rio album this group have effectively disowned, Me And Mr Sanchez by the much talked about but ultimately not the the next big thing Blue Rondo A La Turk, the forgotten The Elephant's Graveyard by the Boomtown Rats, Ant Rap, the last hurrah of Adam And The Ants before they split and a good selection of classy soul from Diana Ross and Randy Crawford amongst others.

Not so classy but unavoidable stuff included the Birdie Song by the appropriately named The Tweets popular with the under tens and  number of not so popular at the time tracks that remind me of the KTel and Ronco albums which had a few like Tears For Fears's Suffer The Children and Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield, a massive US hit that did nothing here as much as I loved it and the brilliant Joan Of Arc by OMD that did well and Barry Manilow's Bermuda Triangle that was a "guilty secret" by a guy who is a brilliant performer.

So we round of 1981, a magnificent year in pop but, pop pickers, what will be the next year to get the Now Yearbook treatment?

Reflections

The new reality isn't really all that new but just the outward manifestation of the reality within, that did not and could not move on which is really what being age dysphoric means in practical terms when you are (being) allowed to be just you.

It was never really about changing sex but more about just letting my more feminine side out, being that little child all over again but this time allowed to wear dresses, soft frilly knickers and girls socks with pretty bows without a care in the world.

Learning to feel alive as you just run with how you felt on the day so if did want to wear a t shirt and shorts that was okay too as it for many children today in a way it was never like for us ridiculed or even beaten up for daring to be just ourselves.

I learned to let it all out.

Miss Shao and our panties

A Favourite of MacGyver's from the anime Mamotte Shugogetten that's always a thing I'm aware of when the wind gets up!

"Sissification" isn't and never was what this blog about but sometimes the art produced under that influence does reflect some important parts of presentation as it applies to feminine boys.

The direction is more "being a girl" but it's really to do with with fully expressing your feminine side within what kind of an outfit you are going to be presenting in and a party dress with puffed shoulders with lace trimmings as the girl is saying demands the softest frilliest of pretty knickers underneath it.

Feminine boys (not just "sissies" like me) need to embrace being "PANTY BOYS", choosing the right pair the outfit rather just grabbing any old pair of pants.

Some may think there are disadvantages to being one but consider the following:

Boys will miss out on having a thick elastic band from boxer shorts around their waist all day.

They’ll have to look in their panty drawers to select a pair that’s suitable for the rest of the outfit they’re wearing, rather than blindly grabbing another pair of tighty whities every day.

Some of the girls at school might think it’s odd, but who cares what they think?

Boys can easily get an erection by having all of that soft and silky fabric down there.

Some girls might get confused about your sexual orientation, but that would be their mistake and not yours.

You would have to keep them hidden while you’re changing into your workout clothes in the school gymnasium.

Wearing panties can become addictive, so you would need some extra cash to keep your collection growing.

If you’re still living at home, you may need a safe hiding place for them.

If you end up loving panties like many boys and men do, you might eventually decide to wear more than panties (and maybe much more) which would cost some extra money for an entirely new wardrobe.

In truth, none of these are really disadvantages that would stand in the way of your enjoying panties if you really love wearing them.

You're a panty boy so just do it!

Taking it back

 Here we are this May bank holiday with a bit of clear up and removal of things that just aren't needed any longer not least stuff from the muddled era and duplicate books and the like.

When I looked over a while back some of my older attire I ditched a chunk because it did nnot fit quite right on me and as the whole point of this is to feel good as  me anything that doesn't for whatever reason needed to go.

That included one grey tunic that was the right sort of length for me so it looked more junior bit didn't hang so well otherwise.

I recently had a new grey box cut tunic altered to a 32 inch length like that from a quality UK supplier that just fits and looks right on me.

Ditto jettisoning the whole adult thing that never really was me, taking out the adult side for that of the schoolboy back in his grey uniform responsible as that boy like a prefect or sixer but still just that makes more sense.

I also now wear more traditional knickers with such outfits with plain looks and modest cuts

Just getting back to the core things, removing the adult inspired excess when it comes to collectors approach and just majoring on what you love to use and play with makes more sense.

More to the point I feel better about being me this way and that's what matters. 

Moving through Brownies

Tammy today takes a brief look at Brown badges and the like before the major program reorganization of the 2000's.

Like Scouts, Girl Guiding had a good number of publications such as annuals but this 1983 example isn't actually an annual, it calls itself a gift book and in some respects is more of a cross between those Ladybird guides to Scouts and Guides with some of the more "stories of what we do with photos" that tend to be in the annuals.

The original text in this edition is copyrighted 1981 although this is a re-print from two years later.

As with Scouts, these publications are no longer with us.

The original badge scheme in Girl Guides was similar to Scouts with awards for meeting certain challenges and here's a selection that based on my abilities I could of gained and thus in the old-new Brownies world are mine

Legacy Badge Categories consist of Artist, Athlete, Citizen, Cook, First Aid, Girl Scout Way, and Naturalist. With each category you have an individual badge book consisting of 4-12 pages, and contains all the information needed to earn the badge.

The Imp was one pretty much every brownie had like the Trifoil membership badge and reflects the whole faeries story that's woven into it rather like in Cubs they had the Jungle Book.

This last one was the Highways Badge,

Highway Badge

This is the last Brownie Guide Journey and as on the other two journeys,  Brownies completed at least one challenge under each of the Eight Points for the highway journey.  (They could complete more than one if they wanted to).

The Eight Points included:

Brownie Guides are Wide Awake

Brownie Guides Keep Fit

Brownie Guides Do Their Best

Brownie Guides Make and Create

Brownie Guides are Friendly

Brownie Guides Lend a Hand

Brownie Guides Help at Home

Brownie Guides have Fun Out-of-Doors

Before a Brownie received her badge she also had to:

Know how to get adult help quickly in an emergency

Know how and why the Union flag is made up

Know about  guides and rangers

Discuss with her leader how she is keeping the Promise and Law both at home and at school

Congratulations, You are Good Gurl keeping your Brownie Promise.

Easter 2022

It is the Easter edition just a little bit later than you might think thanks to the publishing schedule here  as we don't deviate from it much apart from things like Christmas where you can't post before it and afterwards misses the joy of an "on the day" post.

It's very vintage but actually all those frills and satins do tie in more with this blog when boys could be more dainty which is no bad thing.

This is very much a little sissy gurl blog albeit coming from a feminine but biologically boy and there's no reason why I ought not to have a girls Easter card and still let my feminine side out because I am a Gurl like but never the same as a girl.

Didn't we all enjoy the thrills of chasing around hunting the easter eggs and just think if I could of done that in a pretty dress? That would of been just super.

Well little sissies like me have cutesy girlish eggs with bunnies on them cos that's so so us all over and that was mine this year before it ended up in my tummy!

Minidisc a go-go 2022

Today it must be said hasn't been a great one with much rain and wind and indeed yesterday It even hailed stinging my legs which meant a quick return from the paper shop and brewing a hot cup of tea.

I haven't written much in recent years around MiniDiscs for a number of reasons, one being the demise of my home recorder and issues trying to get a solid reliable working replacement given home decks have been out of production even in Japan since around 2006/7 and lasers don't last long.

Another is because of, the majority of use had been mainly for purely personal headphone based use such as lp records copied to disc which is a faff on computer based systems as the interfaces aren't easy or selections from cd because for whole albums it's easier and quicker to just "rip" to Mp3 or Flac and play from a personal audio player especially as mine have line outputs too.

My circa 2004 Sharp MT MD 270H developed issues with the catch holding the disc getting out of alignment so the slightest nudge caused errors so I was able to get a similar era Sharp MT MD 170 that had had next to no use in its original box just needing a new "Gumstick" battery which while not very easy to find can be still bought as new manufactured stock so still capable of holding a full charge.

This works very well with the controls operating the same way with both digital and analogue record levels being able to be set and a button to start charging when the power unit is inserted for mains operation.

Axia made a bunch of Hello Kitty and other Sanriotown banded blank uber kawaii MiniDiscs which are now highly collectable and those go for around £30 per disc unopened

They did so at the time Hello Kitty branded players including a MD Boombox!

Here's some discs together with a Sony portable recorder with inline remote that become common in the very late 90's that you'd clip on your attire for ease of operation.

I will have to say however in my experience Sony's personal recorders outside of the early MZ-R 30/35/50's from the mid 90's had by far the worst ergonomics for the controls of any, indeed those on my HiMD NH600 are an absolute beeping pain to use especially with sub menus that the rotary encoder is erratic at moving through. 

Their home decks were in the main, much much better.