Season's greetings

It's fast approaching Christmas here where apart from reading the Nativity story we're going to busy with writing our Christmas Cards, visiting our friends and generally preparing for Christmas Day itself so we'll be taking a break here on the World of Joanne Chan  until the New Year.
Our blog is like us unapologetically Junior minded steeped in life and likes of being a Junior even if by our age we are older than our years and that is and was what we're about our child-like innocence.
So with all that we'd like to wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year.

Time for a story

Not that long the little saint nick comes, eh and I'm thinking  back to the Christmas's of the past and the presents I'd of wanted to have been given.
I loved reading although it's something I'm not even now particularly good at and so I's of gotten a  few books.

 

Now that's more the kind of book, a collection of short stories you can just dip into whenever you have a few minutes spare and as it happens I have a copy of this because although when I was a bit older and we were moving about Mommy tossed aside stuff including books she thought I grew out of, this one came with me in the toybox no doubt wrapped in wallpaper that we were expected to put over to protect our books so no one knew what it was!

The front cover makes me so happy with its carefree images of junior life although I only briefly had a dog and well you don't run around with your cat on a lead now do you?

Also back then we weren't big on 'Brands' with their logo's spluttered on garments like some walking advertising hoarding.

Joggers Jo

In the dim and distant past before this blog was formally started some years ago I often thought about what go in it but really it's anything connected about me, how I live and present.

 You see I do have some Tomboyish traits and for a good period about five years after I left school I did enjoying wearing track suit bottoms a lot with either t shirts, sweatshirts and a baseball jacket which in that period became almost an iconic image of me.
Generally it was Puma's that I wore with matching trainers and the only trend I did resist was the whole 'popper' phase where they'd be all down the legs which didn't appear to make any sense to me.Like why would you need to unpop your legs?

Linzi

It's been a rough ol' two weeks for me emotionally as no doubt several of you will have gathered and I'm slowly trying to get back to normal.
I don't make any apologies for posting something that takes me back to my childhood cos with events my mind has been thinking about the past, the people in them and what they meant to me.
Linzi pictured from a crummy old photo I took has been a part of my life for decades a gift from a dear friend that I treasure. I treasure both Linzi as a doll, one of several I still own, and love as much as the memory of the person who brought her into my life.
Linzi is very girlish in her lace, ribbons and nicely finished hems in a relatively unfussy way that also is a part of my own self image (it may not be the most practicable in sub zero temperatures though!) and helped me though some difficult times with childhood scrapes.
Do any of you have similar objects in your lives that hold a lot of emotions?

Hair today

Things I would of loved Mommy and other female adults in my life to have done for me in childhood include plaiting and putting my hair in bows after washing it from a shoulder length.

Bonfire night edition

Seeing we are approaching Guy Fawkes Night, one tradition in many ways dying out is of boys and girls making a replica of Guy to which we hawk around our local streets shouting "Penny for the Guy" at any adults.
We did for two reason, one we loved making something connected with our history and the other was it helped eek out our pocket money as we approached christmas.
We always had a bonfire with fireworks at school where we were handed out  sparklers to wave making shapes and words.

More kitty madness

Well the inner girl in me cannot get enough of Hello Kitty being so cute in that overtly girlie girl way and anyway it's really in control of me!























The above is my new HK flight bag that happens to be ideal for butting my purse and sandwiches in for work.



And this is the new Tote bag ideal for putting magazines and that in while I'm in town.

Just one more day to both Halloween AND Hello Kitty's birthday so enjoy yourselves and remember as Kitty would say "Make cupcakes not war".
I always loved the opportunities for dress ups Halloween gave and that was no surprise was it.

Are children growing up too soon?

This was an article around childrens development that I feel is important having been concerned in some of my 'adult' roles looking into childrens development and child protection.

 Reproduced from the Ashlands Daily Tidings

By John Darling

For the Tidings

 Posted: 9:20 AM February 16, 2010

With high heels, low-cut tops and mini-skirts — whose glamor is heavily promoted on television — pre-teens are getting pushed into the "sexy little girl syndrome" that ill-prepares them for workable intimate relationships later in life, says Amy Lang, a sex educator and Ashland native.

Lang will give a talk for parents and sign her books, "The Ask ANYTHING Journal" and "Birds + Bees + YOUR Kids — A Guide to Sharing Your Beliefs About Sexuality, Love and Relationships," at 7 p.m. Thursday at Bloomsbury Books, 290 E. Main St.

Lang, the daughter of Southern Oregon University emeritus biology professor Frank Lang, gives presentations called "Too Sexy, Too Soon" that help parents clarify their values around love and sexuality. That clarity can help them guide daughters as young as 8, 9 and 10 who are picking up values from TV and movies that are way beyond their maturity level, she says.

For more information: see www.birdsandbeesandkids.com

"Girls are exposed to so much more information now," Lang says in a phone interview from Seattle, where she lives. "They're dressing like teens "¦ in low-rider jeans and in much more grown-up clothes than at any time in the past. It's sending messages that are way beyond their years."

Lang, a graduate of University of Washington with a master's degree from Bastyr University in Seattle, helps parents find the courage and the words to set limits for young girls through constant repetition of practical cues.

"It's understandable why parents don't want to talk to their kids about sex," she says. "They don't know what to say. They're afraid to bring it up. They feel school will handle it or they'll learn it from friends and books — but they're giving them permission to have sex."

As a result, kids are missing out on being children and don't get to be themselves, she says. "They're concerned that they look 'hot' but they're only 8 or 10 and they don't know what it means."

Another reason parents hold back on candor about sexual norms, Lang says, is they're concerned their kids won't fit in socially.

One strategy to overcome this is working with girls to find and wear clothes that are hip, stylish, attractive, but not inappropriate.

"You might have to dig deeper to find them and there might be some battles," says Lang, "but it helps overcome the message from TV that being sexy is not a big deal and if you hook up with someone and have a wild makeout session or have sex, it's superficial, without intimacy."

While acknowledging that shouting and laying down laws may not do the job, Lang says parents can achieve results with steady messages from the family about what healthy relationships look like.

"Parenting is hard no matter what, but you can make healthier choices," she says. "We can't expect the culture to handle the education of our children about relationships. The media culture is intent on getting us to buy stuff — and it does it with sex. Sex sells."

The parents' job, she says, is to keep participating with teachable moments, to comment about what's on TV, to say "that dress is too adult on that girl" and to lay down understandable rules, such as "no cleavage in middle school."

While girls may seem to insist on watching shows with explicit content on high school kids, it's producing anxiety in the young ones who don't grasp the social skills needed to manage late teen relationships, she says.

Sex education starts in the fifth grade in most states, but it's not allowed to teach values; that must come from the parents and must be reinforced "until they beg you to please stop. We need to ignore their discomfort," Lang says.

"The best antidote is to keep making little comments, like 'what would you do if you got pregnant or got HIV and how would that impact your college plans?'"

Wrapping up time!

It's started to get colder now and as I like to go out a good deal walking, a form of exercise that not only keeps my weight under control but also keeps me mentally alert thoughts drifted toward new extremity covering garments for the season. The colours are so girlish they're irresistible.
This caught my fancy at Monsoon. Made by Accessorize, it's a thick woollen hat and glove set entitled "Bright Heart & Check chunky Chullo" with the hat being £18 and the matching gloves for £12.

Hinaichigo and Catgirls

I love kawaii and noticed this really cool Hinaichigo Rozen Maiden doll one piece knee length cosplay outfit while surfing the net. 

A new dawn

 At high school we did Scottish Country dancing but never highland dancing as pictured  above  where the dancer is in Aboyne dress.
The more I have thought about it, the more I have come to the conclusion that I wish to come to a better understanding of how my 'Little Girl' side works, how I can engage with it constructively while handling my adult responsibilities that arise from the chronological side of my so-called age.I believe the only way I may achieve this is through dialog with like minded people not that will say 'you do this, this and this' but more I'lll be able to take in synthesize and construct a way that will work for me.

The Mole Years

One thing that I'm finding myself coming back to is as awkward as it has been for me to deal with is my interests are that of child because I'm an adult little girl and they remain as they were from childhood.
One area where this is particularly apparent is in my tastes in literature that remain around 10 though 14. One series of books I enjoyed during my chronological childhood was Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole series which by pure fluke in diary form connect very much with my recollections of that era.

It's a funny and at time sad story of unrequited love for his girlfriend Pandora, an account of his burgeoning intellectual development including his observations on life, attempts at deep meaningful poetry as well as running social commentary on England in the early 1980's .
It was produced  for tv in 1985 been shown on the ITV network of commercial tv stations.
The Growing Pains covers the period  from 1982 to the UK General Election in 1983, documenting the launch of Breakfast TV and the increasing distance between him and Pandora.

By this point our hero also discovers the need to shave!

On family life

Apart from so wanting the girls school tunics I just wanted to be feel a part of proper loving family who cared for each other as a unit rather than the mess and disturbances I had with mine as a child.
Something really met my needs.

Ladybird

Ladybirds are a part of my childhood seeing and letting them crawl on me so when I saw this it was like ...aww.
I really like this Death Kitty Ladybird dress which is very floaty.






















Cameo at Debenhams.
More on Autumn fashion here: Autumn fashion

Soul Eaters

Maka Alburn Meister from Soul Eaters.

Eventually I got around to finishing off the Soul Eater series.
A recent arrival here, I have just finished watching all 13 episodes on this two dvd anime set.
Produced by studio Bones who've given us Fullmetal Alchemist and Cowboy Be-Bop this is an innovative series that keeps you glued to the seat of your pants.
 Adapted from Atsushi Okubo's Soul Eater manga, the series is set in Death City where the Death Weapons Meisters Academy (DWMA) an institution where spiritually charged students change into weapons or have the ability to wield them.
The lessons are a bit unusual in that students have to hunt down Kishin (demons that consume the souls of innocent living in order to increase their own powers) however if a student wear to defeat 99 kishin and eat their souls AND then eat the soul of an evil Witch for their 100th meal, they evolve into a Death Scythe an extremely powerful form used by Lord Death himself.
The main characters Maka and Soul are an odd couple but they kind of get along which just as well for a Meister and her weapon!
I enjoyed watching the this part of the series as we were slowly introduced to all the characters and their personalities.
Manga issued it over here as a two dvd set in a single regular case which apart from taking up less space than stand alone discs is actually cheaper (Amazon, HMV and Play were doing it for 14.99 shipped) and should encourage folk to keep with properly licensed discs.
I'd give this set 8/10.

Background: Set in the Shinigami technical school for weapon meisters, the series revolves around 3 groups of each a weapon meister and a human weapon. Trying to make the latter a "Death Scythe" and thus fit for use by the Shinigami, they must collect the souls of 99 evil humans and 1 witch. Soul Eater is an anime that centres around meisters and their weapons and their mission to collect 99 evil souls and 1 witch soul. Upon doing that the meister's weapons will become a Deathscythe, which is the highest title for a weapon. Maka, Soul Eater, Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kid, and Patty and Liz Thompson are the characters Soul Eater revolves around. Besides taking the time to gather souls these students of Shibusen defend Death City from some of the most powerful of creatures while still attending school and trying to become stronger. 
*Originally written July 1st 2010
I bought volumes 2 and three upon day of issue.

 Volume four sees the DWMA forced into making a deal via Medusa offering Lord Death vital information about the Kishin in exchange for her safety. After she leaves, the increasingly crazed Stein wanders out after her with the manipulative witch Medusa (who is Crona's evil mother) for the location of the Kishin an Arachne's base of operations, Baba Yaga Castle. Meanwhile Doctor Stein loses himself to madness and Crona decides to take on some responsibility.

Soon everyone is preparing for their own missions: Black Star, Tsubaki, Soul Eater and Maka are going to join Death's armies, and attack Arachne and the Kishin; Death the Kid heads for a devastated city to retrieve the last magical item; and Crona and Marie set out to rescue Stein from Medusa. Both Kid and Maka are having doubts about whether they're doing the right thing, especially since Maka is worried about what will happen when Crona encounters his evil mother.

As we watch we see the main main characters maturing in their own ways. Maka and Death the Kid begin to doubt everything they've ever been taught, including their trust in Lord Death. Soul has to deal with his inner imp once and for all, and Crona desperately tries to atone for his sins against his friends as well as growing more confident in his body. Even Black Star is confronted by a rather sinister anecdote about his late father (who had a very similar personality), but refuses to give up.
It's been a inviting series that nevers lets up to the final end.

EGL Edition

A couple of Elegant Gothic Lolita items I quite like:
From Candy Fruit, this traditional Maids Outfit.

























Metamorphose: This is available in a number of different colours, this one being the Rose Pink Gardening Teddy Dress.

Rewind to the past!

Going back in time I recently re-watched this "Arrival From Cybertron" VHS tape of the 80's series Transformers which as was the norm then was edited from the original episodes to make up a 1hour 4 minute full length tape version.One of key features of the show was each character could transform at the critical moment adding unpredictability to the scene.
Although the tape showed obvious signs of wear it played well enough and sure was fun.

Whee!

This was my life, a life I loved as much as disliked the difficulties and prejudice of I endured in my youth.
 To me the park was this magical place, a place that had things but you added to that from what was within you, your imagination, and boy did I have an imagination!
 We created and played games there carefully observing the rules and for the most part at least always looked out in case someone felt uncomfortable in the game we were playing.
If I was feeling a bit low, then another would swing me having talked me on to getting on that swing and it wasn't too long before my face was dressed with a smile as I just loved that rocking back and forth motion. To be honest I'd just love to be swung right now if the truth be known.
There was a slide probably made from aluminum or steel that you had to climb several steps to place yourself with your bottom on the edge and start that gushing great sliding motion down to the very end. Whee! I just loved it!!!

Keep fit - Past and present

As a child like most we had PE (Physical Exercise) which was never the most popular thing on the subject list. Most of time it would involve things such as doing press ups and generally strengthening our muscles and improving the range of movements we could do using our joints

Sometimes I just miss that PE master or Miss pushing me on!

This said I do exercise a bit even now having back problems and issues with posture generally to help my condition

Getting back into the swing of outdoor exercise such as walking and bit of basic mat PE style exercise indoors like press ups to keep my muscles working something like that with my disabilities it's very good idea to do - and we have rain for much of the week!

So guess what it does? yes, buckets down. Grrr!

Never mind I have a new pair of exercise shorts to wear ready for when the downpours and strong winds stop.

Lucky Star & Air

I've been watching between work, reading blogs, websites and listening to more music the following two animes:-

I'll be finished watching this one by Saturday.

Issued by Bandai in the States in their budget Anime Legends series, it hasn't seen a R2 issue although Beez have expressed a bit of interest in putting it out.

It's in part a examination of high school recollections that must of us can easily identify with coupled with a great parody of the whole otaku take on life, that never ending dash to be be first with the new manga, collecting points at the store, cosplay, obsessing over RPG's that you play overnight when you're meant to be sleeping.

Much of that is shown through Konata the anime and video game obsessed character who is older than the other three schoolgirls who can put so much into that devising grand plans to get around the comiccons and yet completely mess up with exam revision and homework. On the other hand Kagami is the shy, more seriously mined who has a younger sister Tsukasa who is very much the sweet but ultimately air headed one. For moe appeal it's Miyuki, the cute bespectacled friend with an almost encyclopedic memory for the key facts of all subjects

Heck every episode ends with the Lucky Channel segments of hyper presenters and the shows characters doing karaoke style singing to songs from tv shows and animes, all of which served with loads of side-splitting humour and uber-cuteness.

I mean they even reference Haruhi for crying out loud!!!

Here's Lucky Star's very own otaku herself, Konata.

Now this is the opposite and strongly recommended for Kanon and Clannad fans and is issued in Funimations S.A.V.E budget series.The story arcs revolve around Yukito Kunisaki and three girls all of whom are connected.

Air is the sad tale of Misuzu a child who is ill, desperately lonely and abandoned by her real Mom, She takes a shine to Yukito,a travelling children's entertainer with only the clothes on his back as possessions who lifts her spirits and we witness her aunt Haruko who in the end quite movingly makes that step from being an Aunt to being her Mom just as sadly she has only a couple of days left to live.
The day after being taken in by Misuzu and Haruko, Yukito meets a girl named Kano Kirishima and a stray dog named Potato; Kano and Misuzu go to the same high school. Later that day, Yukito meets a third girl named Minagi Tohno, Misuzu's classmate, and her friend Michiru.
Kano and Minagi like Misuzu, both have strange personalities connected with mysterious pasts. Before long, a legend of "one thousand summers" begins to unfold where the mysteries of the past are framed primarily by the relationship between Yukito and Misuzu.

Misuzu's offer of food and shelter to the destitute and close to starving Yukito causes the lifes of both to change as they grow ever closer sharing dreams of a life lived beyond the clouds. It is obviously that what drives Yukito chasing the story of "The Girl in the Sky". Not knowing when or if he will find her he clings on for hope. His need to find her is so strong and the answers floating in the breeze unfold as the story progresses.
The story arc comes in three parts; Dream (episodes one through seven), Summer (episodes eight and nine), and Air (episodes ten through twelve), with the recap episode (episode thirteen) following. As ADV didn't licence the recap episode for North America originally this dvd misses it off but it's no great loss.

We see hope in the face of adversity, trust even when badly let down and preparedness to do your very best even if it may not be enough.
The dvd adds the Air in summer OVA's issued separately in Japan on disc three.

The Adventurous Four

I don't know about you but adventure stories have always had an appeal and two wonderful books in the series The Adventurous Four set off the Scottish West coast where four children with the oldest Andy aged 14 who's acquired already a good knowledge of the sea, islands and sealife is  helping his Dad,  encounter Nazi's thieves and gunrunners.
The series is very much set in Wartime arguably more so than any other of Enid Blyton's work and sees them taken prisoner by the Nazi's resolving to show them what Scots are made of.

These are my copies in the Deans Rewards series from 1973 where as with a few other series such as the Famous Five, the skirts and shorts worn by the children in the original  covers are replaced with Jeans although we all know children during the War never had Jeans!

Soccer's World Cup 2010

Well the World Cup is over for England as this girl clearly shows blowing the final note!

Naruto

He's back and reloaded in Naruto Shippenden.

Pictured with the rest of the main characters from Naruto.

Black Explosion!

This was an album I grew up with as an import 8 track tape that was played travelling around in our in car tape player.
I got around to remaking this mainly soul based Ronco compilation from my youth using digital sources because it was my first exposure to soul music and nicely condensed much of that eras top soul acts such as Barry White, Dramatics, Gladys Knight and the Whispers. It originally run for 62 minutes which with 24 tracks on it meant apart from sounding somewhat thin each track had to be edited down quite drastically to get it all to fit!
My new version isn't as I just matched the average levels between each song up nicely and comes to about 79 minutes in total transferring it to MiniDisc for personal playing.

Tsubasa Chronicles Series 2

One result of UK distributor Revelation losing the Funimation licences has been this, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles series 2 missing a UK release.

I imported the US R1 Funimation release and have almost finished watching all 26 episodes (by tonight I'd of seen the lot!).

I won't spoilt the story for those who haven't seen it but it continues the struggle from series 1 to get all of Sakura's memory feathers back and tests the loyalty of all four travellers and young Syaoran's love for Princess Sakura to the limit.

Art
Here's a nice picture with Fai, Kurogane, Syaroan and Sakura from this CLAMP series.

Every Night That's Clear

I've always enjoyed wishing from a star and here's a short entry about it.

" Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, Have this wish I wish tonight! "

~ Always, I wish for the same thing. Always on the same star I see. Every night that is clear I sit at my window & wish my little heart out. The wish hasn't come true yet............But I always have hope that one day... perhaps soon, it will come to pass."

Gaining confidence

As a child I lack confidence in part through my disabilities but very much to do the miss-mash between my inner girl side and the rest of me, feeling very much like an alien trapped in a world that neither understood me or would allow me to be myself as much as I tried to adapt.

One thing that did  work for me oddly enough was being taught to swing from a rope  that was on a climbing frame which I had never climbed. In fact my parents I feel were too timid and just projected fear as the response to the very idea. However at school they got me on that frame starting from the bottom and even crawling along the top and then introduced the rope to me!

It was scary but having found a way to grip it well, I leaned to climb it and swing rope between my legs going form side to side and then to swing and get on the other side of the frame to climb.

It did me the world of good  and is one of my fondest memories of childhood PE.

Lessons outdoors

If I could of gone back in time I'd of loved to had a school building where we had a big playground to do music and movement in rather than us all being crammed into the community hall and some proper play equipment where we had non apart from the boys goal posts.
Our uniforms were similar to this actually except the boys shirts were gray and wore shorts.
I always looked good in red and gray so if was to have a new uniform as a adult child to wear at something like a Prep School for adults, I'd like one like this.

Evangelion1.11 (you are NOT alone)

This release from the tail end of April on Manga recently arrived here.
It's a re-envisioning of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime from the mid 1990's by its creator Hideaki Anno but done in a cinematic form which was highly regarding for stretching the possibilities of anime as an art form.
This new version comes in four parts of which this is the first having the eight episodes of the original and then some more.
I don't generally care much for mecha as a genre but this held may attention last night as I watched it all the way through.
Shinji, a boy entrusted to fly an EVA to save the rebuilt city of Tokyo-3 from the rampaging angels is an interesting character, being a worrier and having a severe lack of confidence which is not helped by his fathers lack of affection for him.
His job is to defend Tokyo-3 or die trying
I don't own the original in the Platinum Edition that many rave over but it seemed to me they resigned in the CGI preserving the feel of the series while allowing advances in anime production since them to be used in telling the story.
I really enjoyed this.

Prep school for Jo?

It's seldom off my mind however bizarre it may seem to some but to be absolutely honest I just feel like doing a year or so in a Prep School but for over 18's who feel or developmentally are very much 8 to 14 year olds.
Something like actual lessons with day trips out and assignments to hand in completed and shared meal and recess times.
I really feel I need that structure and to be treated more like the child I am on the inside.

Now That's What I Call Music!

Yes back in late 1983 this classic series of compilations started as I remember well seeing the ads on TV and in the record stores -remember them? with the bold idea of making good on the promise of earlier chart based compilations by labels such as Ronco and KTel by having less tracks, the full versions of songs (no more crude edits) and a nice short blurb about each track.

The blurbs are that good I keep going back to from for a background reminder!

As intimated I actually bought a good many of these during the 1980's for the simple reason they had all the chart songs I liked and what was more the sound quality was extremely good for the most part. If an album had more than four songs I liked it was often cheaper to by these albums for anything other than the artists I personally collected such Duran Duran where you'd want the picture sleeves and non album b sides.

You see in the 1980's a lot happened not least in how we listened to music starting with the lp record going through a period where the cassette was the hip thing and finally to where we're at today, the compact disc and in all this change sometimes it was hard to know what version to buy.

In the main I bought the lp versions having a decent phonograph based system by 1983 but by 1986 was spending quite a bit of time using cassette Walkman players and 'Brixton briefcases' aka portable stereo radio cassette recorders, so I did get Now 8 originally on pre-recorded cassette and had Now 3 on tape too as it was a freebie with a Walkman I bought.

Equally the arrival of Now '86 a special cd only compilation did result in me putting off getting Now7 on lp or tape and I bought Now 9 which was a single cd because it was felt a double like the lp version was too expensive for the usual buyers meaning I missed several tracks and Now 10 which was a double cd (the first).

Unfortunately the 'perfect sound forever' cd wasn't as my copies of Now '86 and Now 9 are very hard to play and with having a few of the original lps a bit the worse for wear, I'm replacing these cds and a couple of albums that are noisy
.
The Collection thus far:
Now 1
Issued 28 November 1983
The one that started it all off, it contained no less than 11 no 1 singles and almost all are memorable and issued on cassette and lp which I bought and countless thousands all did. This was released on cd eventually to mark 25 years of NOW being established.
Now2
Issued April 7 1984
Titled in roman numerals (II) the cover was plainer but it contains many of the best songs from the end of 1983 and early 1984 by the likes of Slade, Duran Duran, Rolling stones, Fiction Factory, Frankie goes to Hollywood and Queen.
My copy was very noisy with a slight skip on Radio Gaga and a scratch that runs thru the first four tracks on side two with a big skip on Undercover of the Night.I scored a mint copy for only £2 plus mailing!
Now3
Issued August 11 1984
This album launched the era of the Pig thanks to Danish Bacon which dominated the next few issues being on the front cover. I originally bought this on tape it had yet another mix of Two Tribes not otherwise on the 45 and have just gotten a acceptable play copy of it on album.
Now4
Issued December 8 1984 and the very first NOW to have CD issue - a single one - that outside the London area you just didn't see so I got the lp. This album has a special mix of Paul McCartney's No More Lonely Nights that didn't appear on vinyl!
Now5. I had this on vinyl but lost it! Too bad as it had the last classic Duran Duran single and Marillion's Kayleigh amongst others.I just got a good play copy of this very cheaply which was a relief as I was badly let down by one seller who sent me a Excellent copy that looked as if it had been used as a scratching post by a cat. There is a tiny scratch just at the start of side two but otherwise it is as new playing wise.
Now6
Issued December 7th 1985 and I brought this new that Christmas. Can anyone forget Baltimora's Tarzan Boy with that jungle call?
Now7
Issued August 23 1986 .
This one I missed out on as only just over an handful of the songs featured in cd only NOW '86 album that's a whole lot of missing hits such as Owen Paul's Your My Favourite Waste Of Time and Pete Wylie's Sinful.
hidden unlisted on side three at the end is 'hidden track' Queens A Kind Of Magic.
NOW '86. This was a cd only compilation a cross between Now7 with 5 songs from Now8 being the first NOW to have West End Girls on it but the cd ceased being playable several years back and I'm only left with a copy on MiniDisc although I still have the case and inserts.
I recently got a mint replacement copy.
Now8
Issued December 6 1986
That was the second Now album I had on cassette but when the tape got damaged I picked up okay copy of the record version that I've been able to replace for a mint one.. There was a 18 track single cd version of it issued at the time with the reason for being a single cd because cds were very expensive compared to records back then and it was felt the average NOW buyer wouldn't stump up over £20 for 2 cd set. I acquired the cd version, pressed in Germany recently.
Now9
Issued April 4 1987
From the year of the Yuppie with padded shoulders, braces, mobile phone like a brick with a big antenna sticking out and loadsa money, this one sold more on cd than the others did.Perhaps with the chart being a bit lame at the time the short playing time of the cd was more acceptable and with cds going more mainstream people wanted the singles on cd and this was good way of doing it.
I have the cd bought new but am looking for a replacement as the disc is deteriorating due a pressing problem although I have made a back up copy.I managed to get a copy in really good condition apart from a tiny indent on the out edge of one of the two discs on Monday (5/16/2011) for a very cheap price from the person I got the better Now 2 copy from. Just needed a clean to remove fingerprints. What surprised me is the LP seems to have been mastered separately and sounds fuller than the cd version and has 15 tracks missed of the cd although that only managed 61 minutes out of possible 74 back then. As we're talking about missing songs by acts like Erasure, Bon Jovi A-ha etc it's crazy!
Now10
issued December 5 1987 - The first NOW to go to 2 cds and at a discounted price too I got this on cd.Stylistically House Music was coming on and featured on the second disc.I recently got a copy of the lp version for comparison.
Now11
issued April 2 1988
Somewhat typically I drifted back to vinyl as most of the artists I like who issued singles during this period I already had the cds of and I was dropping off buying 45's so this was the cheaper option for pop and house music.
Now12
Issued July 23 1988 The Summer of 'Acid House' captured.
Now13
issued December 3 1988
Now14
Issued April 1 1989
The last new Now album I bought on lp as i was moving toward cd centred listening at the time making an edited version for replay on my Aiwa cassette walkman I used back then.
Now15
Issued August 26 1989 I remember making the cassette edit on a TDK AR 100 minute tape for my walkman
Now16
issued December 2 1989
Now17
Issued May 5 1990
By this point I was losing interest in chart music as had drifted mainly toward 'club' sounds such as House, Madchester and HipHop so this was the last album I bought new.
Smash Hits -Now that's what I call 80's
Issued August 1987
I originally had the cassette but that got mangled and was left with a copy on cassette a friend had copied from the lp before I got mine which I transferred to MiniDisc. Unfortunately the only machine that could play this tape right lacks the type of noise reduction he used back then so on the quiet parts the high notes are raised together with any crackles. I recently go the cd version but this misses off the Summer '81 #1 smash hits One Day In Your Life by the late Michael Jackson for some strange reason.
Now -The Christmas Album: a compilation of 18 songs with a Christmas theme such as I wish It would be Christmas everyday, Thank God it's Christmas, Last Christmas and Do they know it's Christmas time that came out on lp, cassette and cd in November 1985 as a single album.I have the lp version and have the 1989 near equivalent It's Christmas on cd.
Now 1983 (Millennium series) Bought to fill a few gaps apart from being a kind of cd equivalent to the original Now lp and part of Now 2.
Now 1984 (Millennium series) Ditto having material scattered across Now 2,3, and 4 with only a tiny selection from the third  making a period cd.
Now 1985 (Millennium series) - bought the 1999 2 cd set as it had most of hits from 1985 and being missing NOW5 it was a reasonable stop gap.

* Updated April 2011 by Jo

Comics

When I was younger I grew up reading comics which are usually combinations of short stories written for children in a series of frames with the drawing, speech bubbles for the characters and a little bit of plain text to set the scene of the frame.
The stories are usually centred on universal aspects of childhood, such as parents, authority figures, school, war or adventure stories with heroes and having fun with other kids.
Some comics are written to appeal mostly to one gender but most I read were for both such as the Dandy and the Beano pictured.
In many ways the Beano had it all as far as I was concerned with the adventures of Dennis the Menace,  the lovable roguish boy fighting dad, every authority figure there was, Walter (the goody-goody boy) with every trick in the book. That said in earlier editions he'd get his comeuppance once in a while when Granny would arrive on the scene and spank him with the 'Demon whacker', a notoriously hard leather slipper!
My favourite though was Minnie The Minx. She was a bit like Dennis but with a Tan and obviously a skirt on compared to Dennis flannel shorts but more cunning with a tomboy aspect to her personality always scheming to get her own way . She'd have me in stitches every week!!!
My other favourite as The Bash Street Kids set in a old run down inner city primary school with loads of wacky characters engaged in a constant battle with 'Teach' who carried a cane with him who himself was under pressure from the Headmaster. In older episodes he's cane the kids from time to time for their misdemeanours in class or on trips.
I still love reading them and buy the annuals.

How girly are you?

How Girly are you? Your Result: Little Girl Girly   This species like to stay young girls forever. They tend to ware bows, ribbons, in their hair until they are 70, and talk like little girls through out their lives.
Semi-Ultra Girly	 
Just Girly	 
Ultra Girly	 
Not So Girly	 
Tom Boy Girly	 
Valley Girl Girly	 
Girly...F***K That!	 
How Girly are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I love to be dressed up like this.
In soft   flowing  skirts with frilly slips and pretty socks.

Disability Ettiquette and me.

I've never made a post quite on this topic before in my life but as I'm pawley (tm) at the minute typing this with one paw before more rest I thought I would.
The way you treat a person with disabilities can leave those who are not themselves disabled  unsure, some in the disabled community disagree strongly and yes for LG people like me there are other usually unseen factors. Hardly surprising then some take the line of least resistance and say nothing and yet others are at the "Does he take sugar "stage talking straight to the nearest adult near the disabled person completely ignoring them.
A few general pointers:
Talk straight to the person not being afraid to ask how they are. The time to be talking to another is when it is clear the other person isn't understanding you.Offer to write a note of the any main points if it's something the person may need to do.
A person in a wheelchair is a wheelchair user. It's how they get about like you may use your legs and so aren't 'confined'  or 'bound' to it. The limitations in getting about happen generally through the actions of non-disabled people through the barriers they without thinking put up such as making it difficult to enter a building by putting in stairs or using very narrow aisle, not fitting loop hearing systems for the deaf or making prevision for a person to help those with limited sight and so on or even attitudinal ones like thinking nobody disabled comes so why bother considering their needs (maybe that's why they don't!)?
Of course disabled people aren't angels but as you're not, you already know that as they're just like you really!

How much to do for someone or what can I assume?
So-called health professionals, carers and disabled people argue all day about this but I'd sidestep the coffee at the conference chat and just ask if there's anything they'd like some help with (Don't say "Are you alright" cos most feel so uncomfortable about not been seen to cope that they'll say yes even when they do need help).
Assumptions? dangerous game between "Don't patronize me, I'm an adult" from a wheelchair user with an IQ around 100+ and those who for developmental reasons may look all of 50 but are very much like much younger children and as such are extremely vulnerable.
Personally I'd ask for things like ability carrying hot liquids, meals etc accepting a decline unless I know the person well enough not to leaving most other things to them but say for "this activity everybody will be reading or writing-is there anything with this you'd like some help with" because somethings like difficulty in reading aren't obvious and may be unrelated to a physical disability.

LG's and disability ettiquette.
This isn't something you'll find discussed at some 'respectable' conference as most of us who are involved around 'age play' communities have a better take on the link between chronological age and differing mind ages -that we have often two one 'adult' and one younger and oscillate between the two than most including the learned professionals.

My own take on it is it's reasonable to say when it comes to how to deal with illness or injury, the person is feeling it at their child like age and for a few possibly that developmental level too. The absolutes are you cannot breach legal rights over-riding them as developmental issues such as ability to understand a situation are covered thru exemptions under Mental Heath, so you can't take them against their will to a hospital cos' 'they're only a child really' unless it fits under the exemptions. This is because the groan ups use chronological age as the basis for your legal rights.
For 'unwell' childlike works - They're poorly, it's a good idea to remind about what they can do to help manage it, do offer sympathy (back to grazed knees) and so on.


What works for me (the 101 of managing me in RL or online)
Background: My hands got injured at work 16 years ago and they become inflamed at the tendons very easily that results in an inability to use them.  I seldom write with a pen.
I'm unsteady on my feet, have cerebal palsy and dyslexia effecting math, reading,spelling and short-term memory.
This side of me is 'at 12'.
What keeps me going when I'm poorly is my spirit - my LG spirit to be exact - so it's one of the most important things you need to keep up.
It's appropriate to suggest I rest even on occasions insisting I do because it's the child like sense of missing out that can keep me from resting. Something like "Please be a good girl, switch off your computer and rest if you're poorly" is fine.  I won't snap at you. Honest!
Nobody should feel bad for adding the suggestion I change if not already into my LG attire when resting because it will 'turn on' the LG spirit more in me, it helps a lot and I NEED to get better.
There's a difference between what is known at the intellectual level and what is felt building up in to your heart and spirit - the engine that keeps you going emotionally.
In real life hugs work wonders as do laps. Online it's harder but you can express 'hugs' and affirm the power of my LG Spirit to keep me going which oddly enough helps if I'm feeling down. The trouble with down is it has a downward spiral and it helps to talk me back up the top.
You may need to talk me round to see a doctor cos I get scared of different places and can't remember names well and that can put a block on me thinking about it.