400th post

 Yes that number does just happen to be quite true on this blog as we have indeed reached the 400th post.

The blog apparently started in 2008 which seems a good many years ago being based around photography into which we moved into other areas over the years just a couple of years after being on Friends Reunited when I was looking for a digital replacement for a note pad that in an increasingly internet based world I could post a link to.

Friends Reunited after being messed about came to an end and with it my involvement with any kind of social media as a site that dealt with connections from school and college worked better for me for having spaces to talk about those times.

That was it until I came to Tumblr in April of 2018 where I found people who were into past boyhoods and even as I did as reticent as I was about posting all over the place about it, actually feeling and acting more as that very much schoolboy like figure.

There were a couple of other places like asb.net and the short trousers for schoolboys Misterpoll poll where I talked a fair bit about it before venturing forth with a one of kind forum I set up just for good natured past and present schoolboy chat and reminiences with nothing that is seen as adult content on them.

As issues upon issues abounded on Tumblr, the Misterpoll poll with topics had its own one off problems and people got despersed, we took off, even meeting up.

I found over covid I could just be little boy me and even be accepted for it in the community, others found their ways of doing this which in turn inspired others to give it a go.

From that small acorn in 2008 a grew little tree grew where people could just be their little selves.

Remastering a blog

This week I am struggling a bit with very painful, swollen fingers so I have not been as able to be about online as much as I might like needing to take much rest between tasks.

Something I have been working on in dribs and drabs is dealing with a legacy issue on Scouting & Me, a blog of mine as a few might recall that started its life way back in December 2018 on Tumblr and the blogger version was just a more extended version.

Posts,typical pictures that came from others followed the Tumblr convention of reblogs with extra content but in time a good number of accounts that I reblogged from went and Tumblr started either removing or putting up banners covering pictures.

This had caused a few problems before needing me to research and replace those images, the last time being around Christmas time but while checking through the blog at the beginning of the week I noticed a further group had gone.

This meant that firstly those need replacing straight away with the picture research that goes with such a task and secondly that it was increasingly obvious I needed to set up a program of capturing and reloading all that posted that way to ensure they were not lost.

Generally if I originated the whole post or needed to correct an image because of issues with exposure or colour fades then I posted that as saved file to Blogger rather than linking to the original with a back link.

Thus I'm slowly getting through them, which probably aggrovated my hand and wrist condition and while at it correcting a few altering text layouts and adding the odd bit of additional information.

You might say I'm polishing or 'remastering' the blog seeing the tumblr form went in 2020 completely so there's less of a need to keep to that format as much as those early posts do matter to me not least when some observations are painfully personal.

The resumption of the Adventure of Life that started with that blog in its original form, through the many challenges we have all faced  going forward did me more good than anything.

Three hundredth post

 Surprisingly this marks the three hundredth post on this blog that had some older posts around photography restored to it after being started just before I joined Tumblr originally because they kind of connected to what the remainder of it was all about.

Photography as a medium lends itself well to the capturing of moments and memories and some of these may be of those points in our pasts we recall well, of people and places that may no longer be the same or even around.

To even look at pictures of others pasts in the same era often is to unleash vivid and most powerful memories  and a homage to past days and memories is in part really what this blog is all about.

The past for some of us is in the present as we follow similar interests and where we can relive our best moments caught in the moment playing and exploring in a carefree way as we we leave the parts of the world of the adult to one side having discharged any responsibilities and obligations to it.

It doesn't matter exactly where it comes from or what name you give to it in the end, it's that a new-old more child-like headspace helps to restore what you loved about your life back then and that in truth no one needs to jettison for the advancement of your birthdate.

You may of felt lost trying to find your way along the track but you can find your way back and in these days when covid has left many of us feeling weary, it's what we need. 

Being out for the Summer

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.

Paused online boy

There's a couple of things I'd like to talk about during this week where actually I'm not right by this computer today thanks to the miracle of scheduling.

 

The first being during my childhood it wasn't until my mid teens that any kind of personal computer as compared to the big ones used in corporations and government really came into being.

The computers I had then included a Commodore 64 which I used for by modern standards basic word processing and games plus I did learn a bit about coding using basic.

A few years later they did come into schools as apart of a Education Department and BBC initiative where software and hardware was made specifically for schools where until the need for internet connectivity and the use of newer programs by the likes of Microsoft  in the 2000's they remained.

Fur most of that period I was in extended Boy Mode typically wearing shorts and grey boys socks too so this image wouldn't be too far off the mark for how I was presenting.

The other thing was it was that connectivity that lead me looking into the whole areas of age regression, people who do have a keen interest in their pasts such as school lives and uniforms that lead up to this blog.