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My Yearly Review

By Friends & Family, Gigs & Shows, Happiness & Joy, Life, Thinking, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments

Welcome to my yearly review. 2013 has been a great year; both for me and my creative writing. There’s so much to tell you about my writing that I’ve given My Awesome Year in Words it’s own post on my Writer Website. Here I shall focus on my personal life.

Alex Memorial 1 - Chinese Lanterns In January I did Something Uncomfortable, which was attending Alex’s Chinese lantern memorial. It was something I had always avoided, and became part of my New Experiences for 2013.

In February I went to a friend’s 50th birthday party and one of my nephew’s 18th birthday party. I undertook my February Photo Challenge.

free-speech-06.03.13-E March came along and I was on TV – Live To The Nation! Although an exciting, uncomfortable and anxiety ridden experience, it was also one of great learning. Educating me in the world of the media. And unbeknown to me at the time, it wasn’t going to be my last excursion into the media world this year. Oh and I got an iPhone 5.
My Birthday Presents - Happy Birthday Cake

My Birthday Presents – Happy Birthday Cake

 I did so much in May. I had a great Bank Holiday Weekend. I celebrated my twenty seventh birthday by seeing friends and family; they got me some fab Birthday Presents. I got an extra special birthday present off the wonderful Writer Mel Bossa. I had a Cumbria Adventure. I enjoyed this Get Lucky Cover, as well as the original song by Daft Punk.
Rocky Horror Show 2013 In June, Steve came to live with me. We went watching The Rocky Horror Show. It’s a night out that I’ll remember for a very long time. I remembered Something I Forgot Along The Way.
Outside Rivington Castle - Covered In Greenery

Outside Rivington Castle – Covered In Greenery

 July was filled with good times. I bought A Flashy New Car – Olly, The Citroen DS3. I attended Pagan Con for the first time and discovered Posh Coffee: The Flavour Collection from Douwe Egberts. I had some time off work and had an adventure in Rivington (see Rivington Adventure: Lever Castle and Rivington Adventure: Ruins & The Picni). I even witnessed A Sensational Sunset.
up4ameet3 In August my iMac Hard drive failed and I took it to the Apple Store for repair. Steve and I went watching Up4aMeet? – An Evening of Naked, Gay, Laugh-Out-Loud Comedy. I started reading the Gone Series.
More Minions!

More Minions!

 In September I watched Despicable Me 2 and Percy Jackson – Sea of Monsters at the cinemas. I started Reading for Pleasure.
Me Wicked Outside Manchester In October Steve and I went watching Wicked at Manchester Palace Theatre. I had a bug, got offered a job which I initially accepted and then later declined. My contract at work got made permanent. I got interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live.

I started regular Reiki treatments at Halsa Healing. Jayne and I went to Castlerigg Stone Circle for Samhain.
Stephen Lynch LIVE My cousin and I saw Stephen Lynch in Manchester in November. I donated to two Homelessness charities.
My Christmas Presents

Presents People Bought Me

 In December I bought an iPad, went to Manchester Christmas Market and spent Christmas with family and friends.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Saturday 28 December 2013

Christmas – Over Too Quickly

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, HomeNo Comments
Christmas Presents Wrapped

The Presents for Others Wrapped

 Christmas snuck up on me this year. Like a cat stalking it’s prey it pounced on me, causing a mad panic to get everything ready in time.

For starters Christmas cards didn’t get written or sent due to a bout of illness. The fibre optic tree was a last minute purchase and while most of the presents were ordered online, I had to dash out to the shops for a few people I’d forgotten about.

I was still wrapping the presents on the week of Christmas. Food wise, I had to go shopping with Steve for our Christmas dinner and arrange what time I had to be at mums for their christmas dinner. The prep. felt completely chaotic and stressful this year.

But Christmas Day came and it was all worth it. It was a wonderful day, starting in the late morning at mum’s watching my two year old nephew open his presents with his dad (Neil – my brother). Seeing and spending precious time with my family is always my favourite part of the day.

Then it was home for my first Christmas dinner with Steve and an exchange of presents. A quick nap followed before heading back to my mums.

Back at my mums, I had my second Christmas dinner with mum and her partner (Ian). Mum and Ian had opened their presents off me earlier and seemed pleased. I opened my presents from them, before heading back home to spend the night reading. Time seemed to speed up and the day flew by; it was over far too quickly for me.

I got lots of great presents this year:

My Christmas Presents

Presents People Bought Me

The theme of my presents seemed to be: minions (yay!), chocolate (double-yay!), smellies (tripple-yay!) and stories in the form of books & DVD’s (quadruple-yay!).

Hope you had a great Christmas!

Antony

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Thursday 26 December 2013

Wicked: Thrilling, Entertaining and A Must-See

By Gigs & Shows, Happiness & Joy, Music & RadioNo Comments
Wicked Ticket Steve & I were off to see the Witches, the Wonderful Witches of Oz!

On Monday night we went to watch Wicked on Tour; but beforehand we ate delicious food (as always) at Velvet Central. We both had tomato soup to start and then gammon steak as the main.

Having booked tickets in January, I was ready to explode with excitement and it didn’t disappoint. We headed to Manchester’s Palace Theatre:

Wicked Outside Manchester Palace Theatre Wicked Outside Manchester
The Manchester Palace Wicked:
Theatre Sign (from a distance)		 The Manchester Palace Wicked:
Outside Video Display
Me Wicked Outside Manchester Steve Wicked Outside Manchester
The Manchester Palace Wicked:
Me		 The Manchester Palace Wicked:
Steve
Wicked Posters Manchester Palace Theatre Wicked Que
The Manchester Palace Wicked:
Signage		 The Manchester Palace Wicked:
The Queue

We were sat one row from the front, an incredible view of the stage. I hadn’t realised when I’d booked the tickets, I though ‘BB’ row would be further back. I didn’t take photos during the show for fear of being kicked out.

The costumes and makeup were fabulous. The props were good and the set was truly transformative.

(Left: The Oz Map Stage Screen.)

 Wicked Map Curtain
Wicked - Dragon The quick costume changes were impressive as were the choreography, the story, the good doses of humour throughout and of course the music. The only criticism was that occasionally the words of the songs weren’t clear. This was with both individuals of the leading cast and with the group singing.

(Right: Clock Dragon.)

Here’s a YouTube playlist, with all the songs from the show in full:

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Wicked was thrilling, entertaining, dramatic and an absolute must-see. If you’re thinking of going to the theatre, you’ve got to see Wicked. Here’s the official trailer:

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I would definitely watch it again. Steve & I left wanting to book tickets to go again.

Write soon,

Antony



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Wednesday 23 October 2013

Film Mini-Review: Despicable Me 2

By Reviews, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments

dispicable-me-2-poster-1

Steve and I went to see Despicable Me 2 at the cinemas last weekend. Gru is back with Margo, Edith and Agnes. Gru’s life seems perfect – apart from being chaotic; but he’s missing a wife and the kids are missing a mother. Here’s the trailer:


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Gru is recruited by Lucy to join the Anti-Villain League. Gru must help Lucy to identify which of the Mall Store Owners has stolen a serum. The serum is capable of turning the cute yellow minions into purple I-will-eat-anything-and-everything monsters.

The minions stole every scene with their beyond hilarious antics. It was great to sit in a crowded cinemas and hear the audience actually bellow with laughter for most of the film.


More Minions!

More Minions!


Despicable Me 2 [DVD] was a fantastic film, one that I’d happily watch time and time again. I intend on buying the DVD as soon as it’s released on Amazon.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Monday 16 September 2013
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