St. Murphy: "Groupie blogger whore!"

StylingYou and her groupie!

Yes, this is how I was described after Blogopolis, the blogging conference I was at on the weekend. While it may sound harsh, it is 100% correct and I’m actually incredibly flattered.

The deliverer of this pithy line is an old friend of mine, SawHole, who was also at the conference. Sawhole has a blog Madam Bipolar; a very personal, moving and insightful look at mental health issues. SawHole and I are old Uni friends, and friends of Mrs Woog, which is how we both got into blogging. It’s all Mrs Woog’s fault!

Now the reason why SawHole called me a "groupie blogger whore" was because I was pimping myself out like a dirty old hooker at Blogopolis! I guess the professional term would be networking, SawHole accurately saw it more as prostitution. The other reason is that we both realised we’d ridden on the coattails of Mrs Woog and her friends and now found ourselves friends with the blogging elite.

Blogopolis

The first people I’d met in the blogosphere were Mrs Woog’s friends StylingYou and Edenland. Both absolute top chicks, funny, smart and hot – everything I like in a friend! Turns out they are iconic in the blogging world. Both were speakers at the conference, are considered leaders in the field and much-loved. StylingYou was recently named Blogger of the Year and Edenland is this week presenting at an international blogging conference in the US, it’s the blogging equivalent of representing your country at the Olympics.

StylingYou presenting. Sorry such a bod shot...

So riding on their coat-tails I went. Truth is I feel like an absolute fraud! I am such an amateur at this stuff compared to my friends and then to be in a room filled with amazing people who eat, live and breathe this new-world was humbling. I feel like I’m just playing here, having some fun, making fun of myself and my world. For a lot of people they have turned blogging into their career, their life’s work, and that is just phenomenal. So much respect.

But back to the networking…

As you know I live my life online. So Blogoplis was this brilliant chance to meet so many blogging and Twitter friends that I’d never met before. I dressed to impress, even brushed my teeth. Thank god I was having a good hair day! Now I don’t even know where to start with my new peeps???

Pre-conference drinks on Friday I met two absolute hotties… KatePiasecka and VeggieMama. So so funny, I talked them through how Grindr worked and they told me breast-pump stories. Kate particularly disturbed me with her tale, there is a reason I’m gay after-all. She then redeemed herself by trying to set me up with her friend. Loves it.

KatePiasecka and St. Murphy

My little conference buddy was Sociallysorted, we’d shared a cab from the airport and then was very pleased to discover we were at the same table for Blogopolis. Sociallysorted was also friends with StylingYou which is how we met. We had a very romantic Italian lunch together with just a dash of alcohol mid-conference. And again a tipple at Qantas Club on the way home.

So socially sorted...

Funniest woman (besides Edenland, which is a given) has to be Glowless! I have such a crush on her. Now Glowless is one of those people that it wouldn’t matter where, how or why we met I’d be instantly drawn to her. And not just because of her fabulous boobs. My male-crush was the heavenly ReservoirDad who was so hot that I actually couldn’t bring myself to speak with him. Such manly shoulders, mmmmmmm….

I got a bit tired in the middle of the day so tucked myself up in the corner to play on Twitter. Parked myself next to PurpleCath, also playing on the floor. Now PurpleCath’s blog was one of the very first I ever went to and we’d been Twitter mates since my early days. We have a mutual love of crime shows so in the middle of a very serious presentation we were moaning about how beautiful Shemar Moore is in Criminal Minds. Loves you PC.

Now I have to make a very public apology to the very fabulous TwitchyCorner. After an intense love affair online I failed to recall that we’d met before. I’m not a very smart man and there were Sambucca shots involved at the time. Can you forgive me Twitchy? I will never ever forget your glamorous self again! And THANK YOU SO MUCH for sending me some photos.

I adore you Twitchy! (photo courtesy of Twitchy)

So many cool people! EasyPeasyKids, ToushkaLee, TinaGray, PlanningQueen and MagnetoBoldToo are heaven! So good to finally meet you all. And Magneto, thank you so much for the tramp stamp you branded me with at the party. Mummycino thank god you didn’t drop your load at the conference, if you had of gone into labour I would have run like the wind. But best of luck now I am a safe distance away.

xoxoxoxo (pic courtesy of the gorgeous TwitchyCorner)

Bern. Morley. Is. A. Goddess! No further words required.

And just finally, StylingYou and Edenland, I am in awe of you! Not only because of your amazing blogging work but also because I now have two new friends that I am so incredibly proud of. Thanks for looking after me.

So all up it was a pretty darn cool event and I’m so happy that I went. Learnt a shitload, and now understand so much better what this blogging shit is about. One of the pieces of advice I am choosing to ignore though is not to swear on your blog…

I fucking love bloggers!

St. Murphy's Blogopolis Honour Roll