Mum & Ian (1) – with Flash!	Mum & Ian (2) – without Flash.
Me being sophisticated drinking coffee. Later I spend some time peeing while the warm up artists were on. Luckily they were terrible and worth missing.	Me.
While Jodie’s off powdering her nose, me & Ian fight over her bag. We stop to pose for a quick photo.	Jodie’s back and posing for a photo with mum.
Mum, Jodie & Ian.	Mum, Me & Ian.
I decide to be cheeky and mess up mum’s & Ian’s hair (forgetting that Ian doesn’t have any). Mum retaliates as a photos taken.

We got to the Arena and took our seats. There were two warm up acts, both of which were shockingly bad.

Ian, Mum & Jodie.	The audience go wild as the Steps logo appears on the screens at either side of the stage.
Five tubes that Steps were rise up and into on their first appearance on stage.	A vault with countdown clock on. The graphic was completely on a back screen.
The vault opens.	Steps appear on stage.
The graphics screen at the back of the stage. The screen lit up, in combination with the lights made getting photos really difficult.	Steps appear on stage. We were treated to a few Steps classics with dance moves using the back screen as a Just Dance type game.
Steps – Dancing & Singing in boxes.	Backing Dancers – Playing with Fire, while Steps sing.

To give you a feel of the hyper-active, excited atmosphere of the audience, I took a short video:

Then each member of Steps did a solo song. First Lee, singing a mix of a few songs. His performance was excellent, and there were even screams when he ripped open his shirt:

(Lee performing with his shirt open.)

Next was Faye:

(Faye performing.)

‘H’ sang Don’t Stop Believing and did some clever stuff by making it look like he was interacting with the big graphic screen at the back of the stage:

(H performing. With his use of the graphic screen, I struggled to get a good photo.)

Lisa sang next, singing a mix of different songs including her track ‘Lately‘:

(Lisa performing.)

Claire sang her solo last. Claire had put on weight, but looked better for it. Unsuprisingly she sang an opera type song (having been on Popstar to Operastar):

Then it was time for my favorite Steps song: It’s The Way You Make Me Feel. I couldn’t help feel disappointed, rather than just having H singing the male lines of the song both H and Lee sang them. There voices didn’t feel like they became one. I would have preferred just H to sing to be honest. Still the costumes lived up to expectations, see below:

Lee in his mask and suit.	H in is costume. Claire, Faye and Lisa wore corset type costumes. All keeping in the theme of the orignal music video.
H closer, a photo of the side screen.	Steps then went on to sing Love’s Got A Hold On My Heart

Steps stopped to say Thank you’s – mostly to the audience for supporting them. They even posed for a photo:

Then they slowed things down with a few of their ballot type tracks. What amazed me was that the audience sang along, louder than Steps at some points. The audience singing in mass made me aware of how many people related to the words in Step’s songs.

(Steps sitting on the stage singing some of their slower tracks.)

Steps brought back the hyper-active, excited atmosphere of the audience with Stomp and some other songs. Here’s some photos:

Stage for Stomp.	Stage for another song.
Stage for another song.	Steps on Stage performing Dancing Queen.

Then it was time for Steps to take a bow and leave the stage:

For their encore they performed the only track they hadn’t performed so far: Tragedy :

(Leaving the audience on a high.)

For me it was a bit of nostalgia, re-living my teen years. But Steps stated that they were back – so they may well release some new music. I hope they do, I really enjoyed myself and had forgotten how much I enjoy a bit of cheesy pop.

I would like to apologise for quality and size and of the photos. I should have taken my camera rather than used my iPhone, this would have improved the quality of the photos. I’ve also had to significantly reduce the size of the photos to save on disk space (see More Disk Space). But if you’ve not got tickets to see Steps, don’t worry as the tour DVD is available to pre-order here: Steps – The Ultimate Tour Live [DVD]. Also you can order the live concerts on CD here: Steps Live! 2012 [CD].

Blog soon,

Antony

They taste delicious, much better than if you mixing your own and slip down rather nicely. At £1.75 and only 1.6 units per can, they are ideal if you’re not a big drinker or want to reduce your alcohol consumption.

Think of it like this: if you pour a vodka and diet coke at home you’re likely to pour more than a pub measure (25mls shot) 1 unit. Your likely to pour at least a double at 2 units – if not more, whereas these cans are only 1.6 units.

Of course it depends on how many of the cans you drink – but in theory, they are a good way to reduce your alcohol consumption.

Blog soon,

Antony

I sat down, shuffled the deck and choose ten cards. Before Jaqui started she said “I get a sense that now is the time you need to be laying down good foundations for your future. I’m not talking about your short term future, but more like 5 to 10 years down the line. It’s like planting a seed.” The first two cards represented me. The first a phallic-like symbol representing my drive and motivation. The second card was the Queen of Cups a symbol of my feminine energy and psychic intuition.

Then four cards symbolise the influences on my life at the moment. The first money, “It feels to me, like your struggling to keep hold of your money. The man on the card is gripping his coin tightly.” Nothings every been truer. I think for the first time in my life, I haven’t got the money to pay the bills going out. I’m trying to be careful with my money, but I know I need to keep a closer eye on where’s it’s going and Jaqui reiterates this.

Another card symbolises isolation – I’ve isolated myself from people and at times felt alone. “You’ve been looking for help in the wrong places and from the wrong people.” Thinking about it I agree with Jaqui, I rarely ask for help and when I do it’s often of people who don’t know what’s going on with me.

The third card has a massive moon and Jaqui tells me that this is about my state of mind. She says “What you’ve been going through will make you feel like a lunatic at times.” Jaqui turns her attention to another card, “But this shows that your coming out of that period now. Although it’s been a long path and sometimes you’ve felt like your close to slipping back, your’re out of the worst of it now.”

Jaqui then turns her attention to the final influence on me. “There’s a very masculine man whose protective, very, very assertive coming into your life. He’s very loyal and will fight tooth and nail for the people he cares about.”
I ask: “Is he in a friend’s role or a love interest?”
Jaqui replies: “That depends on you. Underneath his assertive protective side, he’s also got a very loving side. So it depends on what you make of that relationship.”

Then Jaqui turns her attention towards my future. Each of the four cards represents a quarter of the next twelve months. The first is fate. Jaqui tells me that the wheels of fate are already turning to bring positive things into my life. The second is the chariot which is about moving along at a fast pace. Yet despite going at this pace, I have control of the reins and my will (or thoughts) will influence my direction.

The third and fourth is about learning. The third card shows a youthful student holding a sword but looking the other way. Jaqui asks if I intend to do any studying in September of this year. I confess that I have thought about my Masters in Public Health but can’t really afford to do it. Jaqui looks at the next card which is the same student blind folded with two swords in his hand. Jaqui says it’s about “putting decisions off. Avoiding them. In your case represented by the swords is the learning. I think you should do your Masters, I know it’s expensive and I know the economic climate sin’t good. But people won’t need new cars or technology but they’ll always need health care professionals. Plus I think that putting it off would lead to a period of indecision. So re-look at it. There are grants and ways to do things.”

The reading by Jaqui was brilliant and she was really honest. It feels good to know the wheels of fate are already turning to influence my life for the better, the thought of going to do my Masters is positive (I will have to re-look into this), and the fact I might have someone coming into my love life is exciting.

So if your’re after a tarot reading I would recommend Aurora (also known as Jaqui Leviston) and will be visiting her again in the future.

Write soon,

Antony

On Christmas eve Sye came round so that we could exchange gifts. Sye made me one of the nicest gifts I have ever received:

This drawing of me and the cats, drawn and coloured by Sye is brilliant and shows his true talent. Click on any of the pictures above for full size. I thanked Sye and he told me to check my email Christmas Day. Sye left and I went to bed, early, after all it was Christmas eve.

On Christmas Day I checked my email and I had one off Sye. He’d designed me a new logo:

(The New Logo.)

(The Old Logo, for you to compare.)

Not only that, but he intends to help me to redesign the new blog in the Summer of next year. So a project for us to work on together!

Then it was time for the cats Dylan & Russell to receive their gifts:

(Cats getting into their Christmas bag.)

(Cats playing with a spinning penguin toy.)

(Cats chasing the lazer pen beam.)

(The cats got lots of toys for Christmas.)

The day continued with a quick visit to see Kay (my good friend) & her family. After that I went to spend the day at mums. Without any doubt the best aspect about the day was spending Christmas with family and friends. In particular my little nephew Ethan (photos of him coming soon, promise).

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Write soon,

Antony

Health
1. To quit smoking.
2. To test my blood sugars twice a day.

Well I haven’t quit smoking this year. But I know I need too. So it will probably go on new years goal list.

After recently being ill I have started to test my blood sugars more than twice a day, but it still needs to be on next years goals as I’ve only recently started regularly testing my blood sugars.

Education
3. To complete my Dissertation and Change for Children modules, therefore completing my degree.
4. To complete Complementary Therapies (Teach Yourself Your Evening Class) with Ian (my boyfriend).

As I wrote about in the The Annual Christmas Card Letter because of Alex’s death I didn’t manage to complete the Change for Children module meaning it will be a goal for the year ahead.

Ian and I split up, but I was still determined to at least start Complementary Therapies (Teach Yourself Your Evening Class). That was until I realised the cost of essential oils and the other equipment I’d need. So the course has popped in the cupboard of no return.

Creativity
5. To use my creativity more in my everyday life.
6. To write a short story per quarter of the year with themes. The themes and deadlines:

Theme	Deadline
Heroes and Villains	31st March 2010
Love	30th June 2010
Life & Death/Light & Dark/Good & Bad	30th September 2010
In search of an “object”/Holy grail	31st December 2010

7. To read 10 fiction or autobiographical books and review on the blog.
8. To read 5 pagan books and review on the blog.

I feel that I do use creativity more in my everyday life, especially with this new job.

I haven’t done any creative writing this year, despite setting myself deadlines. I do have some good ideas and hope to write in the year ahead. I want to be Writing Something Worthwhile. I’ve read twelve fiction or autobiographical books, but not managed to review them all on the blog. I hope to catch up with the reviews in the new year. I haven’t managed to read 5 pagan books this year.

Paganism & Spirituality
9. To continue to work on invokation of Apollo.
10. To read Astral Projection for Beginners by Edain McCoy and regularly practice my astral projection.
11. To buy a book on runes, learn runes and practice.
12. Host a psychic party.

My pagan and spiritual development has been somewhat arrested this year. I bought Astral Projection for Beginners by Edain McCoy but then borrowed it out so haven’t read it yet. But I have done some Astral Projection. I also bought runes and a book about it, but runes didn’t connect with me as a method of definition.

Financial
13. Pay off credit cards.
14. To not increase my debts.
15. To live more frugally.

My credit card debts have stayed at roughly the same owed. So I’ve managed to not increase my debts which was a goal for this year. But in the year ahead I really need to focus on reducing the debts and the interest that I pay on them. I need to renegotiate my out goings and save regularly for that “rainy day.”

Family and Friends
16. To support them to achieve a state of increased happiness.
17. To see my friend Simon at least once a month.

I hope that I have supported my family and friends to achieve a state of increased happiness. I have given advice, supported them through difficult times and most importantly been their to listen. I’ve definitely achieved the goal to see Simon at least once a month, in fact I’ve exceeded it!

Travel
18. Save up to visit the Egyptian Pyramids.

I haven’t managed to save up to visit the Egyptian Pyramids, but it is a place I’d still like to visit.

Coming soon – My Goals for 2012.

Write soon,

Antony