It's coming...

 

Well, I'm not in the best of shape with a very bad back brought on by standing for too long for a much delayed bus so am on painkillers and bed rest while I recover but we are getting closer to that day having written a few cards and organized presents bar one which I'll do shortly.

Tree and Nativity seen is out.

This time of year tends to see carol singing and and many Mr Claus's about in the bigger stores - how come he manages all that I have no idea - and in many areas a float comes around your estate which might be by your local Round Table raising funds for charity or your Scout or Girl Guiding unit.

This should be happening on Sunday here.

Computerized life

Messy, rather wet afternoon of a day that started with drip, drip drip by the front door as I woke up today so trying to get a few things done between nipping out to get the papers and the tinned fruit I forgot yesterday when shopping.

These days I try to avoid working with anything computer related in the bedroom as I found it changed my conception of it as a place to rest, chiil and go sleep altered to a spot of activity that sometimes went way beyond twelve midnight which really messed up the following day.

I never owned a Tablet not least cos I struggle scrolling for things and using virtual keyboards but Chromebooks currently a 14 inch screen Asus which works well for anything not needing a local program installing like copying music for the music player's sd card as I redo portions of the library.

I can easily understand how as a modern young teen I'd struggle with all the distractions of social media, gaming sites and that as it can pull me in despite having more experience and really would need some strict rules in place to prevent me really messing up.

No wonder Australia is set to effectively ban teens under 16 from it - I need something like that to be honest - and it has caused a whole shedful of problems in and out of school, some deadly.

It was never intended for teens more young adults needing to network but they chased the easy money and the moderation systems leave too much up that doesn't remotely belong.

I don't mind being honest about some of my issues and battles to get control over my life.

Making plans for Crimbo

 Although Tuesday night saw temperatures drop to the point we did have ice but often melting and frost we did get out although some of the estate roads were a bit tricky as building plot design tends to result in limited sunlight so it takes noticably longer to clear as I was out in Gss and thick long argyle socks talking to the odd parent as they were making their way to school.

I think, done right, just everyday conversations help to brake down some misconceptions around people like us and any "chinese whispers" as they see you as just another regular human being albeit on who presents a bit differently than the majority of legal adults and we do respect boundaries when it comes to children.

We are moving towards Crimbo, you may of noticed may stores stocking gift items specifically for it, cards, Advent calendars and while you walk around you may notice Christmas Post Box covers, temporary fairs and at least a decorated Christmas Tree in the town square or central spot on your estate.

I will be making some plans shortly when it comes to blogging as it does take time to think out, sometimes research and then type the entry three times a week and then there is things like contributions to forums which for our own does mean time moderating.

Obviously things get busier as you need to get things in before the day plus things like seeing relatives and writing cards that make Christmas -and here the focus is very much Family and Friends - because we make it for all of us so I will drop off contributions although if you think you can break our rules with no action over the period, think again!

One plus One equals more capacity...

Officially it was minus Three degrees c when I woke up on the day this was written, only venturing as far as the bins as it was too icy for me to get about.

Given some of the things I had in mind were off I had been working on redoing some albums on the earliest micro SD cards which go back to around Twenty Ten when using lossy digital file formats was a must as good as the programs I used to do that with (and in isolation you'd be happy enough with it).

Ultimately they may be retransferred to a new higher capacity card as much to minimize the risk of card failure as much as that redoing a significant number will need more space the the old cards could allow for.

With two others that were done in the much better sounding Lossless form you could either attempt to merge them to one card but all but one player may struggle handling a card with a capacity over 128gb reliably or getting a player a bit newer than the oldest but came with two card slots and the ability to accept 256gb cards that is exactly two times 128gb.

That means you can just take the existing cards and slot them in and they'll be properly indexed working as if you'd of put the contents one a single new card.

That was the plan with getting the FiiO X5 mk 2 from 2016 that has the same old hat but easy to use jog wheel with press keys rather than modern touch screens that I find hard going and it was their top model back then with excellent audio.

Putting a few things right

 

Life is just different for some of us and sometimes that does pose questions for folks who aren't aware or totally misunderstand with conviction what it really is to be age dysphoric.

First off, as this is a matter of being more involuntarily child-like, it's not say kink connected even if  you may keep things out of parts of it it isn't "age play" or cg/l and being age dysphoric  you wouldn't be going to any kink clubs. I certainly wouldn't wish to.

There is no sexualization involved at all.

You just do those child-like things you enjoy and feel more confortable in yourself doing in an environment that would be safe for a child, where you could just play and maybe enjoy the company of like minded people but everybody there is in law an adult.

While we share those same interests and do feel much younger than are years we do understand and respect why spaces based on chronological age are appropriate as none of us would want what at least in law are adults to have unsupervised access to children because we understand child protection matters.

Some of us may argue that because of things connected with us individually we too need some protection due to our vulnerbility but that doesn't alter the chronlogical childs needs. 

There are issues sometimes around things like special events where the child version is more suited for us by way of interest to that of adults but how that is handled depends very much on how the event is organized and whither activities are individually centred or grouped.

It may be possible to keep one side of  an exhibit just for people like us so chronological children don't mix with us or to put a special version specifically for us but the welfare of children and parents concerns need to be respected.

Job done

 

Portable sound of sorts has been about since people started going out and wanting favourite sounds from pocket instruments, attaché case portable radios, record players tape and cds machines and so on.

We just seem to want that sound - our favourites - with us and at consumer shows like CES some of these things have been seen making a bit of a comeback with Toshiba's Sound Burger a open wide and play portable player selling well.

We have actually made our Pop and Rock lossless micro sd card from copies of my own cds and bought downloading 80's favs like Martha & The Muffins, 24 bit remasters by Rush and Taylor Swift's albums that only were on Mp3's on another card although the nature of it is other recordings will be added and I have added a few things to other cards too.

And we have a New unused player with case too to enjoy them on when I want to be free from staring at screens that really doesn't do me any good at all. 

Unfortunately unlike older cassette players there's no belt clip to put around my grey short trousers so you have to hold it in your hand but hey we've done it!

Spooky months end

The first thing to say this week is there will be no scheduled Monday  Blog tm this week as I'll be away across the weekend so unable to put anything together before then and in light of things across the last few months I certainly could use it.

Things this time of year do get a bit spooky, so spooky they mave give the would be photographer the shakes with all those ghosts and spirits from the past and present being around before you bring in the crowd from Hogwarts...

All Hallows was our thing back in the day but from the 80's onwards that shifted to the American preoccupation with and customs centred around Halloween such as Trick of Treat.

Progress is being made with that missing files restoration we referred to a couple of weeks back, recopying some from compact disc where I have it, getting those I haven't from download stores in either regular cd quality or better than HD quality.

While legacy cards may reflect the realities of those times when sd cards of even modest sizes such as 32gb were expensive and players were more limited in terms of the sorts of files they would play so they tend to be Mp3's (or lossy 256kbps M4a) there's no reason in 2025 for a new card to start with anything other than lossless as the default and in time a new card will be established.