Oh hai there!
I actually can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since I last updated my blog. *slaps wrist*
I’ve been really busy out there in the “real world” I guess, and just kept forgetting to blog. Well, it’s not that I forgot… I kept thinking of things I wanted to write about, but then I never got time to write them.
So, what have I been up to?
Towards the end of last week I went back home to Durham/Newcastle. I saw lots of my friends and family. It was fun.
A couple of my friends were celebrating their birthdays, so we had a night out in Newcastle together :)
My friend Tom has just moved into a flat on the Quayside in Newcastle, and it’s soooo nice! It’s in an amazing location, just 10 minutes from the centre, and the flat itself is absolutely lush. Hopefully I can find a place like that for myself in the next few months :D

It was such a good night out. I haven’t been out with everyone since 2008, so I was well overdue a big night out with them :D
We all got stupendously drunk. We had everything from beer to WKDs, from white russian cocktails to malibu&milks. It was fun ^_^
NB: Drinking isn’t cool, kids.
Then, this week has been really busy too. On Wednesday I flew out to Helsinki (Finland) for a symposium on Emerging Media Practices and Environments. I’d been invited to attend and give a speech by one of the session hosts, Tommi Laitio. Amongst other things, Tommi organises the StrangerFestival (which you might already be familiar with if you follow mr nerimon on youtube). I was very flattered to be invited to speak at the event, and it was such a great experience.
On the Wednesday night, the program was kicked off with a video exhibition event called Clip Kino, which you can find out more about here. Basically, the concept behind Clip Kino is to showcase videos/short films which have been found online, and to discuss them. Sure, everyone could sit at home and watch these videos by themselves, but I think it’s a really cool concept to get together with other people who are interested in audiovisual media to kind of… explore these videos together :)
On the Thursday there were several seminar type sessions on various topics surrounding the emerging practices in the media environment. I was speaking in the second session. In my talk I discussed how I came across youtube, why I decided to start making videos, why I choose to make the videos I do, how I interact with other video makers, and what opportunities have come my way through video blogging. I think a video of my speech might be uploaded to the event’s website at some point, so I’ll maybe post a link to that if/when it happens. I was really nervous before giving the speech, as I generally suck at any kind of public speaking, but I think it went fairly well once I settled into it :)
On the Thursday evening a handful of us from the conference went out for a meal. (Helsinki isn’t the best place for ordering vegetarian dishes - there was pretty much only one thing I could eat on most menus… but ahh well). After the meal a few of us went on to some bars to sample Helsinki’s nightlife. It was cool, even if we did end up finishing the night off in some gross german bar where people were throwing up on each other and the beers were £8 xD.
On Friday, I was free to do my own thing, so I just spent most of my time walking round the city and seeing the sights. It was an absolutely perfect day to do this. The weather was fantastic. Here’s a few pictures I took.





I also shot a few little video clips, so I might splice those up and put them in a video. I realise I’ve not made a video in ages either. I fail at internet type things at the moment =/
After touring round the city for a while, admiring the bay, the cathedral and various other asthetically pleasing things, I went for some food where I was served by the most beautiful human being in the world. She was so pretty, and had the cutest smile ever. I fell in love with her. Then I ate the mozzarella sandwich I had ordered and went on my merry way.
Next up, I went to the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum. It wasn’t amazing but I liked looking around it, and I don’t generally visit art galleries all that often, so it was nice :)
After the Kiasma, I embarked on my journey back home.
- Bus from Helsinki city centre to the airport.
- Flight back to Heathrow.
- Underground to Leicester Square.
- Food.
- Underground to Kings Cross.
- Train to Doncaster.
- Bus to Rotherham.
- Taxi back to Sheffield.
- Total journey time = 11 hours.
11 freakin hours! I was so tired by the time I got home. The last part of the journey was so hectic as well.
I was at Kings Cross at about 9pm and the only direct train back to Sheffield was at 10.30pm. The trainline information guy told me it would be quicker to get the 9.30pm train as far as Doncaster, and then change trains to get to Sheffield. So that’s what I did. It was only when I was on this 9.30pm train that I found out it would arrive into Doncaster 10 minutes after the last train to Sheffield, meaning I’d be stranded in Doncaster station over night. I didn’t fancy paying for a hotel, so tweeted saying I was going to sleep on a bench somewhere. I was so overwhelmed by the response from people on twitter. Special shout outs go to Conor, Jazza, Phil, and my sister for phoning/texting to help me try to organise alternative travel/sleeping arrangements. You guys are all amazing. I love you.
In the end though, I managed to work out a fairly cheap way to get from Doncaster train station back to Sheffield, so all was okay.
Crikey, I don’t update this thing for a couple of weeks, and then I come back and write a marathon of a blog post. If you’ve actually read through this whole thing then I commend you. Have an imaginary cookie for your troubles <3
*passes you imaginary cookie* :P
I’m going to try and go back to posting on here every couple of days again I think, but for now, I think this post has gotten long enough :)
Much love,
Johnny <3