Sometimes I do talk a little about other issues here and to me relationships and the things that go with them is worthy of consideration.
With many challenges in the world today, values it seems are a thing that do matter but we seem really reluctant to talk about.
For instance to get through the restrictions we are all facing present with Covid-19 we need to understand why they exist and to feel we can trust each other to keep to them, having a sense of responsibility toward one another.
For me and I suspect a good number of others these are things we started to learn about as boys in out homes, in school, in church or through things such as scouting.
We rely on each other and so we slowly but surely start to understand that we need to follow rules and when we agree to do something, that we must keep our Word and if we didn't we'd be at least spoken to quite firmly about it because it matters and as get older and so are expected to do more, more so.
One thing I do feel we need to talk about to is the love of each other - I don't mean romantic love - but the love between us that you may of had for a brother or your friends at school or in cubs.
It's not just that we say we care about them it is out actions in looking out for them, helping them as best we can according to our abilities, even just providing an understanding ear when they need it.
As Boys and Men, sometimes we fall short in showing that and sadly even in being able to accept the love others have for us.
Let's try to do our best.
There would to me of been no point starting this blog at all if it had just been a place to put other peoples pictures and maybe the odd thought cos part of the reason this blog existed was a photography blog that got incorporated into this during the long gap between Friends Reunited being messed up and finding ASB.org that has a new replacement spot now and Tumblr.
Equally there would be no life if it were just about buying and one hopes wearing uniform because I live this life and everything that is in it such as age regression aspects like plushies and play, uniform and play clothes together with hobbies and interests all wrap around each other.
I wear my uniform outside my house and do things in it such as explore, practising skills aligned to Scouting enjoying myself but more importantly developing as a person in that life through learning to handle experiences.
I from time to time take pictures that ties directly to the interest in photography I allude to earlier when talking about what had lead to this blog being formed although their are other blogs that specialize in certain areas.
Part of that stems from events at Tumblr and Wordpress both owned by the same company and so the family of blogs makes up for their loss and the continuing issues on Tumblr around what you can post.
Being out isn't just about being out of doors although to be truthful, it's been a godsend during this Covid-19 emergency it's also that Covid meant I had to be prepared to be seen out as many people from furloughed workers to boys whose schools were shut were now likely to encounter me.
I have become 'out', not a shut in behind the keyboard LB/ASB but one who is seen, who speaks to and is spoke to in his toned down uniform from talking with workers in the field, navigating social distancing on the curb, sometimes having to let other pass me to encountering boys (and girls) at play.
All of that makes this blog like the others so different from what you might see at other places.
In someways this almost a continuing on from last weeks post at least thematically because one source of annoyance to me is how the kind of shorts you might wear in playing sports or P.E. have changed beyond recognition.
While it is possible through certain stores to get the older cotton short square legged shorts I had in Infants and Juniors as someone who did wear nylon shorts in the very late 70's and early 80's you won't get them with a typical one a half inch inside leg.
You can just about go whistle for traditional football jerseys which had cuffs and we never wore with any sort of under garment.
The one thing I miss from that era was the "Dolfin" cut shorts which were very popular for being streamlined and the used classic options apart from wear tend to get into collectors who aren't really into wearing.
Most modern shorts tend to be rather long rather like short trousers and I prefer to wear those I'd see as more shorts than half length sports trousers.
For some reason I can't fathom out ,a large consignment of blue and black French Army running shorts has come on to the market unused.
These date to 1995 when things were still pretty much as they were in the 80's where if you asked for running or games shorts, this was what you'd expect.
They are not surprisingly given they were made to a specification very well made from 100% nylon with a small rear pocket.
Having bought a pair, these are much more like what I had back then and having worn them at the weekend it's a relief to feel the wind down the side split and the sun on my thighs again just like I did in my mid to late teens.
They just feel right on me.
There has always been a bit of debate around how you "present" your little side when it comes to authenticity and things around uniforms.
You can't deny we are living in 2020 when actual boys have a different range of things they can chose to wear and unlike my generation at the very least you are asked today where with us we got what our Mum's considered "right" on their son.
On the other hand we are boys of and very much informed by that era having this past into present life within but nonetheless running alongside it.
Thus some may adopt styles of today such as polo shirts or sweat shirts which were seen as American casual wear in the 1970's but a bigger bone of contention is around shorts because most boys today who wear them have the on the knee Bermuda length or the combat style.
Like a good number of us I've worn them being the easiest often the cheapest available current shorts you can get and that they are seen more can ease acceptance in more conservatively dressed settings such as the funeral send off with family and friends I was at recently.
The thing is such shorts don't feel actually short as while I dislike dogmatic opinions, for most of us shorts are something we visualize as something those length does stop a bit above the knee.
In some ways they are a half way house out of long trousers and yet as one person said they feel very similar and there's a bigger difference in shorts that are typically an inch over the knee at least.
Then a number of us are a few inches or more shorter than today's older boys and men which was normal in our era meaning the area covered in the legs will differ which is why long trousers have different inside leg options and I'm a short one.
Thus while keeping the odd pair for winter or wider family gatherings I'm moving my standard maximum length down to a six inch length which on me gives a classic 30's to early 60's an inch and a bit above the knee look.
It also happens to be the case those pairs are much better made too including being fully lined.
However I am wearing more as a everyday thing shorter pairs that are just a bit longer by a half inch than what I last wore as a junior school boy because they are in so many respects more authentic of a boy - an adult little boy - of my era and so are what I knew wearing shorts full time to be.
Thus I'll have two pairs in a 4 inch inside leg length that still looks pretty respectable on me and to where people here haven't had a problem with since I did going in public settings such as the Barber's.
Wearing them even compared to the 6 inch ones feels a bit different and I echo the feeling that both are much more akin to what it was like than the current popular longer Bermuda or Cargo styles.
While I am happy to compromise in certain contexts to enable me to wear shorts near enough full time no matter what in 2020, I am much more at one with wearing the shorts I wore as that bio-boy then as a LB now and that is what I will be doing.
I am a boy who looks and feels best in shorter shorts: It is my real authentic standard.
As we are in another month there was one topic I did feel like talking about this week on here as given it is 2020 you can forget about using Tumblr to even try it.
Some of us are LB but don't just wear short tails or "activewear" even if we may from time to time but instead return more to our schooldays often in eras where you didn't have home clothes only the previous and worn version of your school ones.
The relationship between LB and ASB is one of the least talked about things in this life and I can remember one person at a certain place more or less imply ASB was just role playing being a schoolboy for the whole scene between ASB and disappointed teacher who is about to leave their mark of disapproval upon them.
It would be wrong to say a person could not and does not feel that is what they actually want and see being ASB as being.
Thing is, for some of us it does start with being LB, that's to say we are looking at things from a adult-but more child-like way being, letting out more of that child through play, reading, arts and crafts and so on.
Rather like the bio-boy, "school" starts from that point because we love to learn, to socialize, we like the structures to point that yes we may be prepared to accept the sanctions on our behaviour from our youth and we do love to wear uniform that takes us well out of our adult settings and roles.
Although people get rather hung up on words mentally at least we're in the mindset of that boy, the one you might of thought you left behind and so our actions flow from that in real time.
They and I are not looking for a Scripted reenactment of a scene because we want what will come from it but accept in our era when we cross lines perhaps like then without realizing until too late, the sanctions that are there to help us learn from it and to generally keep good order.
For us ASB is like going back in time to being that boy all over again and we like it that way.
