Chilling little style V - A change of colour and intergration

Sometimes it can seem with this life you can easily end up a load of clothes that don't slot into the non-littles world but with a bit of care you can find ways around of this.
First off and subject to some delays with the Royal Mail is a maroon sweatshirt with a rounded top which was available from a well know ebay school wear supplier even in 'adult' sizes although it is school wear and is clearly  branded on the tab inside as such.
It can easily be worn with black or beige pants or a slightly more adult skirt outside of being a part of uniform with no one being the wiser.

One reason for buying was I have a few sweatshirts in need of replacement and I do wish to merge my wardrobe.

This wine coloured pleated skirt has a similar story being also from a school wear supplier but isn't so far removed from what you may wear in some working environments being supplied by work wear companies for offices except where girls may of worn knee length socks, adults generally would wear hose (Brit speak: Tights) usually with plain blouse.
Putting the two together and adding the long socks either white or grey makes for a school/college uniform for when I'm at home or away with friends.

Sanriotown.com R.I.P?

It was with some shock to find on Friday last an activity that had been a part of my internet life for a long time just wasn't available outside of the other business talked about elsewhere and still isn't available as I type this.

For almost as long as this blog has been going, Sanriotown.com was the first port of call not just for The Game but also things such as the busy forum where by design discussions were never 18+ which suited me as most adult conversations go over my head and don't really fit in my life, offered wallpaper and screen-savers.
They also has something I just adored, a oh so kawaii email with customization of the domains for whatever sanriotown character you liked  which for me meant I had a me @hellokitty.com email address that linked directly to things such as ecards you could people at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas plus  cute stamps that you could apply to your emails too just as if they were actually letters sent between friends.
 On Friday I couldn't access the email account and found it was due to the Security Certificate being out of date but a week on it hasn't been changed. Many people had written on the forum about this, had even tried to email from other accounts the sites Service people only to get a auto responder and even the official twitter wasn't being replied to.
This morning in a email I accessed minutes ago they're saying it's due to a combination of system and server upgrades plus other other technical issues adding they don't have a estimated time for the work to be complete.
Looking around the signing up button was missing and people had been complaining you couldn't download the Game  from the site even but only from a independent download site that to me suggested this obviously was the last version developed in 2012.
I also noticed the number of the other features had been really trimmed back or missing.
All this was on top of last Decembers much publicized hacking of the sites database which impacted all of us.
The overall impression is that sanriotown.com and Hello Kitty Online is for all intents and purposes dead joining other sites we used such as experience project, friends reunited, beststuff and the GeoCities blogging platform in the internet graveyard.
  

Rolling Stones on CD

This really is a kind of a follow on from the Rolling Stones in Mono cd entry from October where I talk a little about some of the other recordings on cd by them I have.
I'll ignore anything that is duplicated with that box set as they are off the shelf and in a storage box and start by saying the first main set of  "Decca era"cds by them I bought were the 2002 sacd playable on regular players to ones which came in a digi-pak packaging.

12x5 -six of the 12 songs here are in stereo as they were only mixed to stereo.
Rolling Stones, Now - Heart of Stone  and two others in stereo
December's Children - Look What You've Done in stereo

Between The Buttons (UK) - whole UK version of the album in stereo. The original cd version was US version missing two tracks.
Flowers - whole album in stereo
Beggars Banquet - whole album in stereo
Hot Rocks - has a number of singles in stereo including Paint It, Black
More Hot Rocks - I Just Can't Be Satisfied and Child Of The Moon in stereo
The London Years - complete UK/US mainly mono  singles set with extensive notes.
The original European cd series from the 1980's wasn't one I collected in full but a good number remain preferable or tie in different areas compared to the 2002's.

Aftermath - The whole album in wide stereo with no overuse of noise suppression issued in 1985
Flowers - Has the 'correct' full stereo Ruby Tuesday mix and sounds more open.
Their Satanic Majesties Request - Whole album in stereo
Let It Bleed - Whole album in stereo.Trades extreme low notes of the 2002 for openness
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out - a overdubbed by enjoyable set of concerts from New York's Madison Square Gardens in late November 1969.

Rolled Gold Plus:

This was a short-lived November 2007 expanded  two cd reissue of the groundbreaking 1975 double lp presenting in near complete chronological order hit sides of their 45's plus notable album tracks that is more satisfying as a listen than the Hot Rocks sets. The album art is a mess, the sleeve notes are very centred on the 90's but this is a extremely intelligently compiled compilation.

The Rolling Stones Records era (1971 - to date)
Unlike the Decca era these recordings are owned by the Rolling Stones themselves who lease it to labels over fixed terms and on cd this has covered Columbia/CBS (1986-1992), Virgin (1994-2007) and currently Polydor/UMG (2009 onward).
In general I find the more open sound and better contrast between sound on the Columbia discs preferable to either the Virgins and many feel the 2009/10 issue are too constantly loud.
Sticky Fingers
Exile On Main Street
Hot Stuff
Love You Live -  double album of Concerts recorded in Paris 1976/7 and Toronto 1976.

The cd used a double cd try of twice the thickness of a single which was normal until the mid 1990's.
Some Girls - with altered single tone album cover showing models compared to first issue colour cuts withdrawn after complaints from depicted persons.

Emotional Rescue
Tattoo You
Rewind - 1984 compilation reissued in 1987 covering hits from 1971-1984 issued to coincide with video anthology of the same title. This has a slightly different track list compared to the 1984 UK lp/tape.
Steel Wheels
While not perfect I feel these two of the 1994 Virgin remastered series have greater clarity and more 'snap'.
Goats Head Soup
It's Only Rock and Roll
Jump Start - 1993 Virgin compilation covering 1971 thru 1989.
Made In The Shade - 1975 ten track compilation from the first four 70's albums.
Sucking In The 70's -1981 compilation with remixes and unissued versions
Way back in the earliest days of cd, EMI had the European license and issued two titles before that changed in the mid 80's.
Undercover - 1985 made in Japan issue of the 1983 studio album.

Post 700

This blog seems very much to have been going for an eternity from the earliest days of literally grabbing all the material on a really old computer, typing at home and while for once we had some spare time at work over a few weeks, the works one too(!!!) which was a bit quicker.
Rather like me, it's been evolving over all that time as I began to try to understand what  made me, well me, how the more child-like side slotted in with the bits that deal with the adult world because with me this is less playing a role I can just click my fingers and be out of so much that it comes out of me from The Child Within.
It's seen me interact initially with people online in various forums and sometimes going through forums as I realized they were not really for me to getting to know people face to face, spending time with them for several days at a time.
In that time with support I have been working on some of my difficulties such as Math and English finding time to study, reading either by myself or  sometimes a shared book learning to discuss it with others.
As well, this time has seen me become more confident as this adult little/middle girl as I started to get that whole life working better with additional support and structures routed very much in meeting the child-like needs I have properly so I'm well grounded, learning to do more and be more responsible.
I have been tidying up this blog a little, correcting odd mistakes, changing the odd image while preparing a couple of new entries ready for the next hundred  editions.
At the more techy side only 49% of you use Windows with Chrome followed by Firefox being your preferred browsers showing just how far we've moved from the early days of blogging.
Here's to the enduring success of The World of Joanne_chan.

Fall 2016

Slowly waking up here after the overnight rain.
This time of the year give or take a few weeks is one of my personal favourites not least for the rich colours that vary by the hours, something living here I really appreciate being able to literally just stroll on over to the woods and fields.

Around of this time of year  I often see the local grey squirrels leaping across the trees branch by branch carefully balancing , going across the road and into our gardens burying their Winter store.
I find it really keeps my spirits up.

Malory Towers revisited

After all the excitement of last week and writing up all the adventures on Monday I'm writing what in some ways is a continuation piece from a 2011 entry of mine that kind of gives you an idea of just how long I've been blogging.
When I wrote way back in more or less exactly five years ago about Malory Towers, the  six part series of novels by Enid Blyton, I remarked about a couple of things I had noticed since originally encountering them in childhood.
One was about the illustrations which I feel is relevant not least in the Country I presently reside in because for a school based series, you see, you may well have personally even worn, the uniforms many schools have so have a mental image of what a school boy or in this case a school girl generally looks like. The tendency for cartoonish illustrations in particular used on the  first decade of this centuries editions of this series  particularly made them look cheap and detached them from their era.
I'd never of bought them as a child cos I wanted something that looked presentable and clearly hooked me into the story.
I saw the paperbacks with those images and bought at the time a nicer looking set of softbacks from 2004 that served me well until something else came very much to light.
Like with a good number of her books, the text had been altered with no clear indication and so I did pick up a 1987 omnibus edition of the first four novels published by W H Smith but printed by Methuen Children's books under license.

I didn't actually realize Dean's who were an imprint of Methuen's  did a complete  set in the form of two hard back books until very recently and given these were from the early 1990's was a bit concerned about those troublesome alterations and updates.
The first volume not so imaginatively titled Malory Towers came out in 1991, a year later than the separate six volumes issued in their Rewards series with more modernish but generally tasteful front covers.
I did check the text over as in the first novel, First Term at Malory Towers, there are clear references both to Darrel's behaviour that are toned down in modern editions and the threat to spank with a hairbrush common enough when first published but removed completely in newer editions. That was big shock I found moving to the 2004 set to that incomplete omnibus late 80's edition because it does alter the feel of those schoolgirls in a boarding school, like I was, and makes the adults responses more understandable.
This 1991 set surprisingly uses the same text as if they had used the same typesetting as that and had carried it over to the 1990 Rewards too and keeps a good number of the original black and white illustrated plates by Jenny Chapple.

While the cover looks slightly too contemporary to my eyes, the advantage of having the second volume over the 1987 is in part less weight for having just three novel per volume compared to four and again it uses a less modern so-called politically correct text.
My suspicion are that actually these three in one omnibus editions and the 1990 separate ones are just repackaged editions of the versions Methuen  had out during the 1980's with newer covers for sale by certain book sellers who specialized in discounted hardback books aimed at adults buying for children.

 Now that is the original hardback dust jacket from Third Year at Malory Towers which I feel sums up the feel of playing sports together at an all girls school wearing era specific uniform.
While to be honest I'd sooner they had used front covers more in that style for these two three in one omnibus editions, they do make for a good way to get relatively recent pre-political correct text versions often been found for just a few pounds each in good condition.
They do match my St Clares and The Naughtiest Girl Dean's omnibus editions being from the same era with their vanilla coloured spines.
I was very glad to spot these just before I went away.
Original entry: Malory Towers

GHS Halloween and Bonfire Party 2016

Introduction
If anyone wondered where I might of been  over the last few days it was because I was away with friends over a three day period and it is usual for me to be off line during the period so  get the break away from the cyber world and deal exclusively with the real one.
After arriving and changing into my tunic, as it was the start of the weekend I had a math lesson covering measurement using imperial measurement which wasn't something I had when I went to school and in a country that commonly uses them being brought up on Metric, I am confused by them so we covered inches and and yards, pounds, ounces, stones and hundred weights. I also did some multiplication and division.I wasn't as attentive as might of been which was picked up upon!

I also did some cake making  too, which is a bit of first for me even if  it was a ready bought cake mix, cracking open and stirring  the egg in,ladling the egged mixture in the cases before putting in the oven for fifteen minutes. Miracle of miracles they actually rose!!!
 I made the icing although some landed where it shouldn't like on  the grown up in charge of me and then  spooned it onto the risen cakes before applying  the decorative stickers made from icing.
We were going to have cottage pie for tea and as it's 2016 I was to help out so I helped chop onions (that made me cry), potatoes for mashing ,dice carrots and cabbage while the grown up sealed the mince beef adding the onions before taking that adding to the carrots and cabbage with gravy  to cook putting the now mashed potatoes on top. The grown up put it in the oven so it all cooked.
It tasted really well and was the first time I had something I made a substantial contribution toward making.
On the Saturday morning, I got up, wished up any outstanding dishes and fixed some breakfast before setting down at the desk to do some more Frozen colouring while we waited for the others to arrive. I also showed them my English study guide I work with.
Upon their arrival we had home beefburgers made from local ingredients and served in tasty white bread buns.
Thankfully the weather held up well so were able to hold our Willy Wonka themed treasure hunt with clues from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book and movies outside in a big garden looking for clues and finding lots and lots of Wonka Bars! I won three of them!
By that point we went inside so while the bonfire people were talking, four of us including my best friend on an other site made Pumpkin Lanterns from the pumpkins she and an other had provided together with some child-safe tools.
Making one is a bit messy, which may be a part of why we like it  and this is the one I made.

Having finished them off, the Tea Lights were put in them and taken outside.
As well, connected with the Willly Wonka theme we had kits to make our own chocolate although you did need grown up help with melting the chocolate and putting it into the mould so I made this bunny rabbit shaped one from milk chocolate. Sammy made a chocolate Shark.

We also played with play-doh making things and cutting out shapes which was fun.
After this we went outdoors having put coats and warmer attire on to observe at a safe distance our bonfire that had been made in the late afternoon laughing as it roared like a lion with an orangey glow.
After that we moved a bit further back as our fireworks we safely lit by Andi which included Catherine Wheels and rockets oohing and awwing as they lit up the night sky in brilliant colours and shapes.
After all that excitement we had a freestyle buffet to which everybody had contributed something including my cakes with some of us in our jim-jams as it was a little late eating in the front room with the coal fire going. Paul had found some  Ham in beer which was intriguing as although I had heard of it -it's Belgium- I've never tasted before and Andi's blancmange based trifle which was really lovely
We were all a bit late getting up with all the excitement of the previous day, stretching our backs and flexing the paws as we got a light breakfast. I had on my green pleated school skirt which Jennifer approved of.
We went for a bit of a walk the local canal observing the wildlife and the spectacular colours of the Fall and even a narrow boat in a flight of locks until we came to a public house that most over here does do food which was where we going to have lunch together before we left.
The one thing that struck me upon be escorted to the tables we'd booked was the relatively high number of reservations which suggested an air of confidence among locals and that passing trade while important wasn't their main thing.
After getting a class of orange, I ordered a turkey roast with trimmings with the vegetables coming separately to be shared between us  that was well cooked but not dry which matters not least with the turkey itself and the stuffing. For a desert I opted for the fudge cake which was a really large portion served with a drizzled sauce and ice cream which was very yummy.

We made our way back and it wasn't long before a group of us needed to get to the local rail station to take the train home so Andi kindly drove us there before she made her way back being more local.
I only had a short wait for the London Midland service to Liverpool that calls at Cheshire's biggest rail station to come on just slightly late on the platform (2b  not 2 3/4qtrs!) making my way into the disabled carriage area. I arrived at Crewe and with some assistance from Virgin station staff dealing with the ticket barrier went out of the concourse to the taxi rank where I got a cab back home.

To conclude this bit of a report it was interesting weekend  learning new things even if I do need supervision with them and an enjoyable one for being with friends that all contributed *something* to having fun together well away from the groan up world. I'd like to thank Andi for safely lightening the fireworks that were so much fun to watch which is important in addition taking three of us back home.