The Kickathon is tomorrow, and I thought that today I'd do a wrap-up of the blogging experiment, because statistics are fun! Courtesy of Google Analytics, bit.ly, and Facebook.
- 28 posts
- 1,402 total pageviews
- 384 unique visitors
- 39 Facebook comments
- 31 "likes"
- 10 blog comments
- One link from a well-known women's athletics blog
- Six donors
- $125 dollars raised
Saturdays and Sundays are definitely slow times - y'all are clearly only reading these at work. The fiction got the most feedback on Facebook for sure, but didn't get anywhere near the most traffic. (That's not definitive, of course, because I can't sort out people who just read posts from the front page rather than the permalinks, but there's a large difference between the top posts and the lesser ones.)
Thanks to everyone who donated, and if you haven't, there's still time. This was a great experiment, and an excellent writing challenge for me. I still got my butt soundly kicked, fundraising-wise, by people who went with more traditional methods, but hey - we reached our overall goal, and I ain't complaining. I would love to hear feedback on what y'all who have read so regularly thought of the whole thing - too much content? Not enough? More fiction? More pictures? Kill the italicized explanatory bits?
I dunno if I'll do the same thing next year, but this year was fun! Tomorrow is the actual event, and I'll post a report with pics sometime in the next few days. Thanks for coming!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
My Life and Karate, Day Thirty
I have been remiss this week, but ramp-up to the actual event is eating much of my brain power. And we are less than two hundred dollars from our goal! This is awesome - I confess I was a little skeptical that we'd hit it, in this economy.
Thanks to everyone who's donated, and if you haven't yet, There's still time! Here is the link.
Thanks to everyone who's donated, and if you haven't yet, There's still time! Here is the link.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
My Life and Karate, Day Twenty-Eight
My dojo, Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self Defense, is running its major yearly fundraiser. We're a nonprofit martial arts studio, which is something of a rare beast, and we raise money every year for our scholarship fund and the free self-defense classes we offer in the community. For my part, every day until the day of the Kickathon, I will write a random amusing anecdote about karate and self-defense, or possibly just whatever strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
It's Tuesday, and that means I get to make bullet lists. I love bullet lists. Although I'm too lazy to make actual bullets.
- We're only a few days from the Kickathon. I hope everyone's been enjoying the blog - I know I've got a reasonably steady readership, from the stats (which I totally do not obsess over, whatever gave you that idea?) If you've been one of those regulars, I will ask again that you please consider chipping in $5! We're not quite at our goal yet - it's reachable, but we need just a little more help to make it happen.
- If you're still a little fuzzy on what we're actually raising money for, black belt Graham lays it out in plain terms.
- I mentioned this yesterday, but hi to the Stumptuous folks wandering over!
- Either Saturday or Sunday I'll post pics and results from the Kickathon itself - hopefully none will be too terribly embarrassing, but with my sense of balance, that may be too much to ask.
If you'd like to donate to our fundraiser, there's the link!
It's Tuesday, and that means I get to make bullet lists. I love bullet lists. Although I'm too lazy to make actual bullets.
- We're only a few days from the Kickathon. I hope everyone's been enjoying the blog - I know I've got a reasonably steady readership, from the stats (which I totally do not obsess over, whatever gave you that idea?) If you've been one of those regulars, I will ask again that you please consider chipping in $5! We're not quite at our goal yet - it's reachable, but we need just a little more help to make it happen.
- If you're still a little fuzzy on what we're actually raising money for, black belt Graham lays it out in plain terms.
- I mentioned this yesterday, but hi to the Stumptuous folks wandering over!
- Either Saturday or Sunday I'll post pics and results from the Kickathon itself - hopefully none will be too terribly embarrassing, but with my sense of balance, that may be too much to ask.
If you'd like to donate to our fundraiser, there's the link!
Monday, November 2, 2009
My Life and Karate, Day Twenty-seven
My dojo, Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self Defense, is running its major yearly fundraiser. We're a nonprofit martial arts studio, which is something of a rare beast, and we raise money every year for our scholarship fund and the free self-defense classes we offer in the community. For my part, every day until the day of the Kickathon, I will write a random amusing anecdote about karate and self-defense, or possibly just whatever strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
I confess I missed last night's update - so close to perfection, too. Also, if you've found your way here from Stumptuous, welcome! And now, on with the blog.
Tonight in class, our instructor talked a little bit about maintaining focus and composure in practice, even - especially - when doing things that make us uncomfortable. She said "Has anyone ever said something totally insulting, and you got so flustered you couldn't respond? Practicing keeping your composure here will help your brain get used to that feeling, so it doesn't totally lock up when you're stressed." I could certainly relate to that - today more than usual.
I am not a girly girl. I tend to wear baggy t-shirts and jeans, my hair is as often buzz-cut as anything, and I spend very little time worrying about my appearance. This is, however, partly a defense mechanism - I am rather well-endowed in the chest region, and if I wear tight shirts or look particularly feminine, I get attention that's unwanted at best, and usually unpleasant.
This morning I grabbed a shirt that I haven't worn in ages. It's just a long-sleeve tee, but it's got a particularly wide neckline - wide enough that I had to move my bra straps over a bit so they weren't hanging out. I'm thoroughly tattooed around the shoulders, so on the one hand it's nice to be able to show off the art. But in the elevator on the way to work, I realized that I looked way more femme than usual, and it made me uncomfortable.
Nothing in particular happened today to justify it, but it has, in the past. I remember one time at a restaurant out in the Hill Country, some good ole boy came up to me out of a clear blue sky and said, "You're pretty, but you need to wear some makeup."
What do you say to something like that? There were so many different things wrong with that statement that I couldn't pick one to call out. I just stared at him, appalled, and he went away. I didn't feel particularly insulted, because the opinions of ill-bred idiot strangers are not particularly valuable to me, but I certainly wished I'd had some snappy comeback instead of just a blank stare.
Hopefully self-defense practice will improve the odds of getting a quip out before I punch the next bastard to pull something like that right square in the throat. Really, people. Who raised you, anyway?
Some days I suspect my instructor despairs of ever teaching some of us the principles of non-violence. She keeps trying, though.
If you haven't already, please do donate $5 to our fundraiser - the event is on Saturday, and this is the last big push to meet our goal.
I confess I missed last night's update - so close to perfection, too. Also, if you've found your way here from Stumptuous, welcome! And now, on with the blog.
Tonight in class, our instructor talked a little bit about maintaining focus and composure in practice, even - especially - when doing things that make us uncomfortable. She said "Has anyone ever said something totally insulting, and you got so flustered you couldn't respond? Practicing keeping your composure here will help your brain get used to that feeling, so it doesn't totally lock up when you're stressed." I could certainly relate to that - today more than usual.
I am not a girly girl. I tend to wear baggy t-shirts and jeans, my hair is as often buzz-cut as anything, and I spend very little time worrying about my appearance. This is, however, partly a defense mechanism - I am rather well-endowed in the chest region, and if I wear tight shirts or look particularly feminine, I get attention that's unwanted at best, and usually unpleasant.
This morning I grabbed a shirt that I haven't worn in ages. It's just a long-sleeve tee, but it's got a particularly wide neckline - wide enough that I had to move my bra straps over a bit so they weren't hanging out. I'm thoroughly tattooed around the shoulders, so on the one hand it's nice to be able to show off the art. But in the elevator on the way to work, I realized that I looked way more femme than usual, and it made me uncomfortable.
Nothing in particular happened today to justify it, but it has, in the past. I remember one time at a restaurant out in the Hill Country, some good ole boy came up to me out of a clear blue sky and said, "You're pretty, but you need to wear some makeup."
What do you say to something like that? There were so many different things wrong with that statement that I couldn't pick one to call out. I just stared at him, appalled, and he went away. I didn't feel particularly insulted, because the opinions of ill-bred idiot strangers are not particularly valuable to me, but I certainly wished I'd had some snappy comeback instead of just a blank stare.
Hopefully self-defense practice will improve the odds of getting a quip out before I punch the next bastard to pull something like that right square in the throat. Really, people. Who raised you, anyway?
Some days I suspect my instructor despairs of ever teaching some of us the principles of non-violence. She keeps trying, though.
If you haven't already, please do donate $5 to our fundraiser - the event is on Saturday, and this is the last big push to meet our goal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
