Looks and plays

 Well I'm a little pressured for time this week as I should be away for a few days holding sparklers and doing spooky things  so I need to sort stuff out for that - more smart casual little boy of the late 70's - rather than full school uniform or anything super modern while dealing a few things arriving.

Really that's the kind of look I go for, a modern version of what I wore back then interecting with members of the public like picking up me parcels at the door.

I was looking for a better copy of this classic 1985 Xmas compilation that misses all those so-so 90's and 2000's xmas songs as my copy was a bit the worse for wear and it arrived just needing a good clean  and the record itself going in a new inner sleeve to keep it clean.

Just the Xmas hits I grew up with, actually two more than the next years cd version!, ready for the Christmas season to toss on to the turntable for a retro crimbo.

Calming your mind

Let's face it, it can be a very noisy, distracting old world out there not least for those of us who are autistic to the point it drives us cranky but while are some things others can do to reduce these things that leace us unsettled (and it may even help them) what about those situations we aren't in control of what is winding us up?

This is a useful little chart of steps we can take in that situation to get back some control of our emotions so while we may not be able to prevent the situations existing, we do have choices about responding from cutting ourselves of from them to doing something we can be more involved in so our responses are better and we have a better day.
 

Ten-Four You Copy?

It's amazing just what a good number of decades can do when we moved from the era of the red or grey phonebox on every other street corner or set by prominent buildings such as post offices or community halls to having everything at the end of a wafer thin device at the end of your hand.

Amazingly it is 43 years in the uk that Citizen's Band radio was legalized after a few years of wide spread illegal use, protests and marches whose banners made little sense to those who weren't into radio.

I had one and did operate illegally in my mid teens which bearing in mind dad's work was a bit akward to say the least as he knew people who looked into complaints about illegal usage but in a way it was the internet of it's day where you' put a out a call "For a copy" and you'd move to another channel for a conversation generally with other boys and girls about various interests and places you might meet up at.

While it was never really a part of what the hobby was supposed to be about I did work a couple of stations in Italy who were using really high power although I almost got outed when my transmission interferred with my older brother's tape recorder playback putting a loud hum and click on it.

In time I got one of the new "approved" hand held transmitter recievers and used that during the winter months after school  for several years.

Today with your smartphone, the world is your oyster pretty much.

Reading while recovering

Well we're still working through this period so mind does need to be kept a bit occupied of sorts which does take us into this weeks entry.

For some strange reason around the summer, I noticed my subscription to AdventureBoxMax seemed to got a bit messed up as one issued didn't arrive but then sometimes the odd issue is  bi monthly.

That run on for a bit that having triple checked all my emails I found no "Your subscription is ending" one I hunted online to the France based publishers website and redid it.

What I loved about was it had a short story, cartoons and various facts and games in a single package.

Fortunately it arrived in time to be read during this recovering period.

Also this months Monster Fun, now monthly arrived themed around Halloween which was a lot of fun

I also tidied up my comic rack  after the excesses of the Summer Hols.

Recovering boy

Well this week isn't a great one with contracting flu like symptoms so I've a rather sore throat, blocked up tubes and sneezing a fair bit, feeling generally rather groggy which is rather annoying to say the least,

That means more sedentary indoor activities like reading this months Monster Fun which came through the letter box yesterday with its new ghoulish Punk Rock band cartoon strip series which is quite a hoot apart from the Phoenix and Beano, sole survivor of the comics we read as boys.

It kind of remainded me a bit of my junior school days where I tended to pick any and all infections going aided in the last year by a new building with aior conditioning which acted like a great bug speader picking up, warming and transmitting it across every classroom.

That tended to result in me having a few days off every school term beyond the usual chicken pox and that where I'd be parked in bed with the radio on, usally BBC Radio 1 or 3 for the Lunchtime Concert unless I was allowed to come downstairs for Newsround and Childrens tv for a bit before tea time.

There are times when you'd sooner have those routines not least being cared for when unwell 

Online becomes off

Here we go after a rough few days, catching up and all of that.

Last week saw an announcement I was rather pleased to read about that covers part of this district which I feel matters and that is concerning the use, some might say misuse, of the Smartphone  by boys and girls at school and beyond.

The first thing was once social media site decided to have special rules and settings for those sixteen and under that include settings only a parent can adjust by default to limit what can be seen  and ensure parents who often are the ones buying the phone and it's mobile connection are aware of what they're up to.

As we weren't allowed in Adult Magazine and Sex shops at fourteen and often our folks were told if we'd been seen up to no good I agree totally even if more could be done.

It's a start.

The other is some local Academy Schools are are on the list to ban phone from being used in school grounds beyond a very narrow exemption list such was where such a phone is used to monitor Blood Sugar levels for a diabetic.

They will be handed in on arrival given some children may need them in the Phonebox free era we are in if they become unwell or need to contact home or school urgently and handed back at the end of school.

That should stop the continous low level distruption in the classroom from phones "going off", sharing content, attempting to film teachers, fellow pupils and the 50+ alerts the modern childs during school time.

Just imagine it a recess where you have to talk or play rather than doing the socially isolated zombie thing staring into the phone not actually getting a break from work!

Where schools have tried this it has transformed things for the good although like any addiction (and sadly it IS) the "cold turkey" period can be bit rough .

As much as I'd of loved to had had the internet at high school for keeping in touch and researching things I'm glad I didn't feel obliged to spend every other minute at home and at school focussed on social media  just having a kick about or playing Chess at the club Andy and I run instead.

Picture taking

Things that started in boyhood included photography mainly driven from seeing how pictures reminded me of times in the past and the need, the desire even to freeze that moment although it took a while to get a camera of my own.

I do have on another blog a bit more around photography mainly around the gear I bought around the early 1990's so tends to take more of technical take rather than practical or uses of approach as gear is a means very much to an end.

While I didn't have a camera like these boys are getting to grips with using - and don't get me started about burying "stuff" in menus you really need - I did borrow Dad's then Olympus Om2sp and a few lenses which usually result a few crash courses on getting the "right" settings - and the importance of focusing as many of the cameras I had as a youngster were either prefixed designed to be sharp enough with a fairly wide set of distances or automatic focus in which instance it set itself (in theory at least).

In the main I was more centred on getting good pictures of places I was at rather than things around composing a picture and achieving certain effects so the ability to quickly set it and take the picture counted for more.

Essentially I wanted higher quality pictures of the sort I'd normally take although later on I did follow a training course in taking more control and learning how to use the camera to take pictures as I wished them to be, learning about getting softer backgrounds, taking better pictures of waterfalls, making better use of flash to deal with wide contrasts and so on.

Photography is a school subject with examinations - I remember seeing 'O' level photography as a subject you could take in your options - although as with mosts arts subjects getting a name, exhibiting and being seen counts for almost as much as your qualifications.

There are badges in Scouts and Guides too you can earn for it.