Good golly gosh. It’s nearly 2010!

Now would be a good time to post a reflective blog about 2009, but I already did that a month ago. So… I’ll talk about this coming year instead!

I’m a little bit scared about 2010, and I don’t know why. I think it’s because 2009 was such a good year that I’m not sure I’ll be able to top it with 2010.

I don’t like the thought of having just another mediocre year when this year has been so awesome.

I want to make 2010 a year to remember.

I’m not sure how I’m going to do that though. I want to do something pretty big. Something memorable.

There’s a few ideas bouncing around in my head at the moment, but I don’t really have any concrete ideas of just how I’m actually going to make 2010 memorable.

Maybe I could try to visit 12 different countries in 2010. One new country each month. It wouldn’t even need to be expensive… perhaps a day trip to Paris, a short weekend in Amsterdam, or a £1 flight to Dublin. I always said I wanted to travel and see the world.

I want to stop being one of those people who plans to do things. I want to become a do-er.

I’ve always wanted to learn to speak German. To go skydiving. To play the piano. To eat a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich.

I’ve always put off doing ALL those things. I tell myself “I’ll do them at some point in the future”. But if I don’t actually do these things, sooner or later I’m going to be an old man looking back on a lifetime of regrets and missed opportunities.

My god, I sound like I’m having a midlife crisis xD

Essentially, I just want to make sure 2010 is a good year. Wish me luck? xD

I hope you all had a great Christmas! AND, if you have any goals for 2010 I’d love to hear what they are in the comments :)

Johnny <3

Time for another quick blog post while Jazza is in the shower and Emma is waking up :)

Yesterday we were planning on going to Disneyland HK, but it was pouring down with rain, so we decided to save that for another day. Instead, we thought of indoor type things we could do. The first thing we did was went ICE SKATING! :D

I haven’t been ice skating for years, and I was a little worried I was going to suck at it. I thought I’d end up falling over lots, get soaking wet, and be grumpy afterwards (hah)… BUT! I’m so glad we did go ice skating, because I managed to stay on my feet the entire time and it was so much fun! :D

After that, the rain cleared up a bit so we went to Kowloon Island and met up with Jazza’s friend Coco. She was lovely - she showed us lots of cool places.

Kowloon Island is a lot more what I thought Hong Kong was going to be like. It felt a lot more like it was China compared to Hong Kong Island. It was really cool there; there’s loads of lit up advertising boards everywhere. It’s sort of like Times Square in New York but much more widespread. We wandered the streets for a while, and Jazza sampled some of the chinese “street food” … he ate deep fried squid legs. Obviously, being vegetarian, I stayed away from the street food as it was pretty much all just bits of dead animals. We did get some creamy coconut milk though, which tasted delicious! :D

After that, we went into the market, and I used my haggling skills to get a camera case holder for HK$35 down from about HK$50. It’s such an awesome camera case too… it looks like a shark!

Emma got the best deal out of all of us… she bought a pair of wayfarer glasses for HK$50, down from the starting price of HK$125. Impressive bartering there :)

Finally, before we headed home for the night, we went to a restaurant called Modern Toilet. It was the coolest place EVER! You sat on toilets, and the tables were made out of sinks!

There were toilets, and toilet seats on the walls everywhere!

The best part about the restaurant was the fact all the food came served in mini toilets, mini urinals, and mini baths! xD

I had some spicy potato wedges to start, and then some chocolate brownies with a kiwi flavoured juice drink. It all tasted very yummy :)

It’s raining again today so I’m not sure what we’re going to do yet. I’m sure we’ll find something good to do, so I should probably go and get a shower now.

Johnny <3

I’M IN HONG KONG! :D

I’m currently sitting in Emma’s dad’s apartment which is where we’re staying while we’re over here. The view of Hong Kong from his balcony is AMAZING! I’ll post a picture at some point but unfortunately it’s raining today, and there’s so much cloud over the city that you can barely see it.

Jazza is sitting next to me on the couch… he came down from Nanjing yesterday to see us for a few days. Emma is having a shower at the moment, so I thought I’d write a quick blog post to fill in some time before we head out to a chinese market.

I’ve only taken 3 pictures since I got here, and none of them any good, but here is one of them anyway!

I’ve only been here a day so I’ll not bother talking about how awesome it is just yet… I’ll save that for another post. Today, I shall tell you about the Apple/RNLI event I went to in London before we left for Hong Kong.

It went really well, and it was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. We stood outside Apple’s HQ and handed out flyers about what we were doing to try to raise the money. We wore sandwich boards, held up signs, the whole shabbang. Here are some photos!

Okay, everyone else is ready now! Got to go explore HK! Speak again soon blog buddies!

Much love,

Johnny <3

I knew it was too early to post that reflective blog about 2009 the other day! I just found out since posting that blog that I’m going to Hong Kong! AND, I leave in just 3 days time!

Look how pretty it is…

I’m so incredibly excited! :D

I’m going to there with the lovely Emma Duke, and hopefully we might be meeting up with Jazza for a couple of days :)

The next few days leading up to the trip will be pretty busy too. I have to go get some Hong Kong dollars, buy a plug adaptor, and do other equally mundane things to prepare which I’m sure none of you readers are bothered about reading :P

On Thursday I’m meeting up with the chartjackers guys for a wrap party of sorts, which should be fun! Then on Friday I’m going to a mini gathering for the RNLI. We’re going to deliver some “mystery packages” to the big bosses at Apple’s HQ in the hopes they will sponsor us and donate some money for a new lifeboat. (More details about the RNLI project here). If anyone is in London on Friday and wants to help out, we’re meeting outside the Apple store on Regent Street at 12.45. I think the plan is for us all to wear hoodies so we look really menacing, and then we’ll sing a nice happy song and they’ll be all like “WOAHHHH!! That wasn’t what we were expecting from these yobs” - then hopefully word will spread through the Apple offices and we’ll catch the attention of Steve Jobs et al xD

After that I’ll be heading straight to Heathrow airport with Emma so we can catch our flights to Hong Kong! :D

Oh also, I’m flying via Amsterdam and coming back via Paris, which means I’ll have been in 3 separate countries within the space of 10 days, which will double my tally up to visiting a total of 6 different countries in 2009 :)

I’m so unbelievably lucky.

I don’t think I mentioned this in my last blog post, but all the amazing things that have happened this year have been because of YouTube. I’m sure it sounds really cheesy and cliche to say this, but I really am so thankful for everyone who has supported me and helped make these experiences happen. It’s been an amazing journey, and I’m sure there are even more exciting things coming along in the future. Thank you <3

I’m taking 3 cameras with me to Hong Kong (2 picture, 1 video) so I’d better make sure to capture some of the trip! I’m sure I’ll be posting a few pictures/videos when I get back :D

Much love,

Johnny <3

Wow, thank you so much to everyone who read and/or commented on my blog post yesterday. It was lovely reading your comments :) I didn’t really expect anyone to have stuck around… but YOU DID, which I love! Thank you :D

I’m like a stray dog though - now you’ve shown me a bit of affection, you’ll never get rid of me! haha

It’s just a quick post today though really.

I wanted to let you know that I’ve set up a separate blog to talk about Clothing related stuff. I thought it would be better to keep business things separate to my personal blog here, because I’m sure there are some people who just aren’t interested in hearing about my latest plans for the clothing line. Having said that, I’d really love it if any of you wanted to follow both blogs. That would make me happy :)

Here’s the link to it: johnnydurhamclothing.tumblr.com

Hopefully see a few of you over there.

Much love!

Johnny <3

Hah, so my last blog (which I posted over 2 months ago) ended with this statement…

“So much has happened in the past couple of weeks; I wish I’d been blogging about it all. I’m going to try to get back into updating here a bit more often again I think :)”

Well, I failed miserably with that, didn’t I?! xD

It’s been so long since I’ve updated this thing that I doubt anyone will even still be here to read this post. That doesn’t really matter though. I want to write it just to put some thoughts out there in to the world, even if no one is reading them.

I know there’s still one month left of 2009 so it’s a little early to start getting all reflective about the year, but this has probably been the best year of my life so far.

- I’ve travelled to 3 different countries; Dublin (Ireland) in January to film some stuff with Apartment Red, Helsinki (Finland) in May to speak at a New Media conference, and New York (USA) in July with Jazza just for funsies. All three trips were so much fun!

- I moved in to a new apartment in October this year. I’ve lived away from home for a few years, but it’s always just been for University term times, and I knew I’d always be going back to my mum’s house during the holidays. This is the first time I’ve ever had my own place which is actually like a home, not just a room to stay in while I study. I mean, I’m only renting this apartment, but it’s still a huge step for me to have my own place. Also, I love this apartment so much :D

- ChartJackers has been a huge part of my life for the past 10 weeks. It’s impossible to explain just how many awesome experiences I’ve had working on that project. We had such a blast, and we managed to raise a whole lot of money for Children In Need. I’m really proud of what we achieved, and I’ve got some freaking great memories out of the experience too! Standing on stage at the Apollo in front of 4,500 screaming teenagers; crowdsurfing at a gig in Bricklane; walking down the red carpet at a film premiere; the list goes on and on…

- After years of wanting to start up my own business, I’ve finally done it with Johnny Durham Clothing. Of course, it’s in the early stages and it’s still a very modest business, but so far it’s been going really well, and over the next few months I really want to focus more on it and try to grow and make it more successful.

It can be pretty vulgar when people brag about their achievements, so I hope this blog isn’t coming off as being terribly self indulgent. It’s just, life has been pretty tough in the past and it’s nice to be able to recognise that things are finally going well for me. I’m genuinely shocked how full circle my life has gone in the past 12 months. This time last year I was suffering from a really bad social phobia. I was seeing a psychiatrist, taking medication to help with my anxiety. About 18-24 months ago things were so bad that I’d barely leave my own bedroom because I was so scared to be around other people.

That’s why I’m so proud of everything that’s happened this year. I’m still far from being the most confident person when I’m in social situations, but I can handle them quite comfortably now. The fact that I managed to walk out on stage in front of 4,500 people and frisbee glow sticks out into the crowd without having some sort of major panic attack amazes me. If you’d told me 18 months ago that I’d be doing that earlier this month, I would never have believed you.

All that being said, I still feel like I’ve got a long way to go before I’m happy with who I am. I want to care less about what other people think of me. I want to have more confidence in my own opinions. I want to be more decisive. Mostly though, I want to be more comfortable around other people. My insecurities are the biggest reason why I suck with relationships; both friendships and romantic ones. I want to be better at being a friend, and I’ve been single for waaay too long, so hopefully that will change sometime soon as well :)

Gosh, this blog post got a lot more personal than I thought it would, but hey, like I said at the beginning, I doubt anyone will actually still be reading this thing, haha!

If anyone has been reading this though, then HELLO! I hope you’re keeping well! :) x x x

Have you ever wondered what I might have looked like if I’d been alive in the 1960s?

Have you ever wondered what I might have looked like if I’d been alive in the 1960s AND if I’d been a woman?

Well, wonder NO MORE!

I also thought it’d be fun to see what I’d look like in other decades, so here is a progression from the 70s through to the 00s. I blatantly need to start experimenting with my hair style a bit more. Look how awesome I could look!

Go here if you want to upload your own picture and experiment ^_^

So much has happened in the past couple of weeks; I wish I’d been blogging about it all. I’m going to try to get back into updating here a bit more often again I think :)

Johnny <3

It’s only been a few days since I last posted a blog, but so much seems to have happened since then!

MOVING OUT

I’ve been busy moving out of my student accommodation here in Sheffield this week. All my stuff is packed up, and I’ve taken most of it back home now. I’ll be taking the rest of it back tomorrow.

I haven’t managed to find a new apartment to move into straight away, so I’ll be temporarily moving back in with my parents… but! Yesterday I went to view a few apartments, and I think I’ve found one I really like. I’ve put my name down for it, and if the landlord accepts then I’ll be able to move in by the end of September :)

The apartment is really nice (it’s in the building on the left above). It’s on the Quayside in Newcastle near the Millenium bridge and the Baltic museum. It’s got views of the Sage music venue and the Tyne Bridge, and it’s a really fancy, modern place. I like it ^_^ … so fingers crossed the landlord accepts the contract.

ART

Look at this pretty picture I made! :D

I like the fact it looks all artsy, when essentially all I’ve done is wiggle my mouse around for a minute or two using this website: http://lab.andre-michelle.com/color-traces haha xD

BORING WEBSITE STUFF

A while ago I mentioned that I’d run up a lot of excess bandwidth costs for my blog. Thank you to everyone who suggested ways to avoid this! And an extra special big thank you to Frank (I’m still blown away by your generosity Frank, thank you).

I switched to a new hosting package where I get a lot more bandwidth per month, so I should avoid getting any suprise bills in the future! I somewhat foolishly thought that when I transfered johnnydurham.com over to the new package, the whole website would just go with it. It didn’t, and my whole website disappeared =O

Alan helped me get it back up and running again though (a huge thank you to Alan for that!). Unfortunately all the pictures I uploaded in previous blog posts have been lost. I started to go back and reupload all the pictures, but it was taking forever, so I gave up for all posts older than July 09. I doubt many people (if any) will ever want to go back through the old posts though… but if they do, all the pictures won’t be there. It’s a shame, because a lot of my posts often revolve around a picture. But ahhh well.

SUMMER IN THE CITY

I’m really excited for the youtube gathering this weekend. It’ll be a lot of fun :D

The slapper wristbands I ordered just arrived today, so I’ll be able to give them away at the gathering. If there are any left after the gathering I’ll put them up on the webstore, so if you can’t make it to the gathering then hopefully you’ll still be able to get one :)

If you ARE coming to the gathering though, then come and say hi to me! And if you want a wristband, just ask for one :)

I think that’s all I wanted to write about today ^_^

Much love,

Johnny <3

I really fancy putting together a mosaic like the one below, but with pictures from you guys instead of me! :D

So, if you have any pictures of yourself wearing a Johnny Durham t-shirt or wearing some of the badges etc, then could you possibly send me a link to where it’s uploaded? Dailybooth / twitpic / flickr / tumblr / wherever you’ve uploaded it - or if you have a picture which isn’t uploaded somewhere already you could just attach it in an email to me at johnnydurham@gmail.com :)

I thought it would be cool to have some pictures from you guys which I could use to make a little “family” page in the webstore.

Just leave a comment with the link, or send it in an email to the above email address, or even just @reply me on twitter, and I shall LOVE YOU FOREVER <333

Johnny x

The future seems to be approaching a lot faster than usual.

I have to move out of my apartment here in Sheffield in a week, and I’ve still not found a new place to move into yet. I’ve been looking for the past month but every time a place comes up that I like the look of, it gets signed up by someone else before I can get there. I could always just move back in with my parents for a while until I find a place, but I don’t really want to have to do that.

I wish I was rich. I’d get a fancy place somewhere with a cool bedroom like this! xD

Out of interest, I thought I’d see what kind of places were available in London if I had a rediculously high budget, and I found this amazing penthouse apartment which has a huge balcony, views of the river thames, swanky decoration, etc. I WANT TO LIVE THERE SO MUCH! Shame it’s waaaay out of my budget xD

Hopefully it’ll all work out soon and I’ll find the perfect, affordable place to live, whether it’s in London, Newcastle, or somewhere else.

On the positive side, the Summer In The City gathering is just over a week away now. EXCITING! :D

Johnny <3