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Yuletide Preparations

By Education, Friends & Family, Home2 Comments

With Yuletide (or Christmas) on it’s way, I had a week off this week to prepare. Monday I bought a real Christmas tree, named Trevor:


(Click on image for full size image, Trevor was decorated by me at some point in the week!)

I manged to spend time with my Grandma on Wednesday, leaving time for mum on Thursday evening and Saturday. I caught up with my good friend Simon on Thursday as well. In between times, I crammed in my assignment for my Leadership module (see A general update). Finally finishing it yesterday (Friday). So now I can relax, well apart from the last minute Christmas shopping.

My poor laptop is starting to die though, so I had to buy a new one online. Hopefully once it arrives and is up and running I will get back to normal blogging and facebook habits.

Take care all,

Antony



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The Annual Christmas Card Letter

By Friends & FamilyNo Comments

Every year I write a letter to go inside of the Christmas cards of those friends I don’t have the opportunity to see often. This year, I’ve tweaked it slightly for my readers, so here it is:


Get in touch, contact me

Wednesday 24th November 2010

Dear Reader,
I hope this Christmas card finds you well. In my life this year, the themes seem to have been adventure and learning. My adventure started in February, a cold snap drove me in search of a beach holiday. I decided to head off to sunny Benidorm. I had a great week and while I was there I met a guy named Boyfriend-W. We got together, and traveled backwards and forwards to visit each other. Boyfriend-W asked me to move to Benidorm and live with him. I was lucky enough to get six months unpaid leave at work to try living out there.

The good days were some of the best of my life. However equally the bad days were some of the worst of my life. I learnt so much from my time in Benidorm with Boyfriend-W, but unfortunately things didn’t work out. I returned home and returned to work early. When most people have an emotional crises they turn to alcohol or drugs, but me I turned to shopping! I bought a new car and an entire new wardrobe. I got an enormous amount of support from my family and friends, for which I am eternally grateful.

At Manchester Pride in the end of August, I managed to hold up the whole parade. I rather dramatically started having a diabetic hypo fit just as the parade started. Like everything, I try and see the positive which in this case was the rather dishy paramedics. (I didn’t manage to get their numbers in case you’re wondering.) I also have a butch scare.

In September I moved back in to my apartment, which I had rented out after about a month of bed hopping (Not like that! How rude!). I got myself a housemate as well. He lives in the master bedroom and is wonderful, I’ve adopted him and he already feels like part of the family.

This September I’ve continued on my elearning to upgrade my Nursing Diploma to Degree. I have completed a module entitled ‘Promoting and Influencing Health’ and I managed to get a 1st grade, so that’s my target now to get all my other modules at a 1st grade. I’m currently undertaking a ‘Leadership’ module and my ‘Dissertation’ module. I will have one more to complete January – March, and then I’ll have my degree!

Currently I just got an Iphone4 (my baby) and am dating a guy. He makes me very happy and I hope to be writing about our time together in next years letter.

Well that’s pretty much all the significant events of my year. I hope you get time to write back. My love,

Antony

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New books, but is it a good sign?

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ThinkingNo Comments

The publishing industry have released a few books by some of my faviourate authors. I knew about The Dead by Charlie Higson, which I bought this month. I’m about half way through it, so expect a review soon! I’ve reviewed The Enemy which you can read here. I also bought The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank and Everyday Moon Magic by Dorothy Morrison.

Two books I didn’t know about till yesterday were Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella and The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern. I’m trying to live frugally (see Living Frugally) so I’ll have to buy these next month. I think I missed the release of these books because publishers usually release them closer to Christmas.

This got me thinking, does the early release of these books signal that publishers are worried that Christmas won’t be a good time for selling? Are they in a way predicting that they think we’ll take our second dip into recession? Maybe I’m reading too much in to this? But I think if I was a publisher, I’d try and release as many publications as I could before we entered recession. What are your thoughts?

Antony

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Book Review: The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

By Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
The Gift by Cecelia Ahern Book Cover I love Cecelia Ahern’s books. PS, I Love You I found to be emotional and moving, Where Rainbows End was like reading intimate and private letters, A Place Called Here was like stepping in to a world of make-believe, Thanks for the Memories made me question our connection to our bodies and If You Could See Me Now made me belief again in invisible friends.

So I had high hopes for The Gift. The Gift tells the story of high flying building developer Lou. Lou is too busy for his family and always needs to be in two places at once. Lou’s a workaholic which is made worse by a potential promotion. The book is set towards Christmas which is obvious from the book cover and the chapter titles. Then one day Lou meets Gabe a homeless guy on the street and buys him coffee. For some reason Lou offers Gabe a job and what follows is an adventure as Gabe helps Lou reevaluate his life and priorities prior to an unexpected ending.

The telling of the story through the writing felt a little laboured at times. It felt as though it was rushed to publish in time for Christmas and because of this the story didn’t flow as previous books by Cecelia. In addition Cecelia explained the meaning of the story at the end – that time is precious. Cecelia didn’t need to do this and it felt slightly condescending.

Overall The Gift is a comforting Christmas read, with a good “moral” to the story.

Blog soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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