Blogosphere and GFC Changes

Hello to all my dear readers! I found it strange that for several months I had no GFC follower, so I started doing some research. During holiday I had a bit more time to read about blogging and I was preparing another giveaway when I suddenly realized that GFC has been discontinued this spring. So this just made me aware of how important it is to keep up with news. Some blogs had massive GFC readership which was built up with lots of efforts. Everyone has to adapt to changes and also try to preview the upcoming shifts. There has also been a communication problem here from Google's side, because I don't remember getting any notification about this change coming...maybe it went to my spam or was written in the usual official format nobody really reads. Instead I would have used some sort of warning in the widget itself, or something similar.

But back to Beauty and Aikido,  I am not sure if my friends from GFC can see my posts any more and I am still working on ways to transfer you guys to some other platform, Goolge + or Facebook. This is rather troublesome, so I still need to do some research. You can also sign up for the free newsletter that I have or follow me in Google Reader via the RSS feed which has fortunately not been touched.

So in fact this is an invitation for everyone reading this post and who has been following only through GFC to join me on the following links:

Silvia Pebble on Google+

Beauty and Aikido on Google+

Beauty and Aikido on Facebook

Beauty and Aikido RSS Feed

Daily Tweets

Training Notes on Tumblr.

Beauty and Aikido Free Newsletter

If you know any way I can mass export my GFC friends, please let me know in a comment. Would love to hear from other bloggers about the way they bridged this change!

4th Kyu Preparation - Salami Slice Approach IV

Source: www.aikidocity.com

I cannot estimate any more when I will be taking this exam unfortunately. It has happened that I did not attend the winter training camp from various reasons. Then I just received a mail that in the next camp, only those can take an exam who have participated on the winter camp, so there go my hopes out the window. But the salami slice approach continues.

The topic of this post will be kote gaeshi. For the 4th kyu exam you have to execute it from aihanmi katatedori, katatedori, shomenuchi and yokomenuchi. However I am pretty sure that our Sensei will be asking for kotegaeshis executed from a number of other attacks, too. What we did this week we paired up in groups of three and ukes could attack the way they wanted. Tori had to execute techniques, as always it had to be nage waza and not osae waza, that is you had to perform a throw and not a pin. I did not do well with the shoulder and elbow grabs, so I need to practice that. Not too many videos found on elbow and shoulder grabs, so I will just have to stick with my training and pay more attention.

 Let's see how Monsieur Tissier does it from aihanmi katatedori.

And some footage from one of our summer camps:

Thanks for reading this post and stay tuned for some more. The winter holidays are approaching which sort of slowed down my posting pace, but there will be some more posts. I will not be doing any Christmas giveaway, but stay tuned for the 2 year anniversary of my blog in January. I am already planning something for you guys!!! To make sure you will be notified, become a follower of this blog by joining the GFC community on the left hand side. 

Don't forget to follow me for training notes on Tumblr. I post training notes at least twice a week!

Blogging Year 2011- Conclusions

Dear Readers

This has been my first year of blogging and as the end of the year approaches, I decided to draw a line and evaluate my posts. As this is a fairly young but rather ambitious project of mine, I am looking forward with a lot of positivity to 2012 and hope to create even more valuable posts that will engage you, my dear readers. I also hope to get more feedback for the posts I am writing in 2012.

I have cathegorized my post in two groups: Most Read Posts and Post with Most Feedback.

1. Most Read Posts

I got most of the views for the Inspiring Quotes by Steven Segal post. I guess everyone needs some inpiration from time to time and if it comes from role models as Steven Segal, then it is even more interesting.

Then a Beauty post follows closely about some swatches I made from my one and only Dior Pallet I really price a lot.

Third is another Beauty related post, with the Cosmetic Calculator. I hope it helped you all be safe about the cosmetics products you use.

I decided to include this post also as forth, again a Beauty related one. I was showing you how Half Moon Nails are done with some O.P.I nail poishes. 

 2. Posts with Most Feedback

 In another cathegory I would like to review the post with the largest amount of engagement through commenting. I know that this is not much, but for me each and every comment from you meant a lot.

First in line is my post about a Haul that I put together after shoping with Joy Magazine Cupons:

Second in line is an interview with Anne Marie, that got also rather popular and got four comments. But it is not the number but the quality of the comments that made me so happy. So see the whole story click here. I hope this was as inspirational for all the aikidoka out there as it is for me.

Another post where readers felt like commenting was the "Waiting for Winter" nails, that you complimented as being cute. Thanks!

 Last but not least, this Review about some Yves Rocher products has engaged you also to comment. Hope you found the review useful!

This all being said, I wish you a Happy New Year and hope to have you as a visitor on my blog in 2012 also!