1. How do you like MajaPiraja.net?

All but one person replied that you either like it a lot or that you think it’s perfect. You can’t imagine how happy those results make me! It’s so motivating. You make me want to blog even more.

2. How do you like the blog design?

59,9% of you liked that the design is white and clean (well, as clean as you can be with ink spilled all over it, I suppose). Good answer, folks. If this was a writing-oriented blog I’d probably have made the design more elaborate and colorful, but since the blog is half about the writing and half about the photography, I don’t want a fussy design that will take attention away from the photos. Does that make sense? It does in my head.

Most of you think it’s easy to find what you’re looking for, you don’t think my blog looks boring (Phew!), and you either love, like, or don’t have an opinion about my ink blots. Or, well, one of you really didn’t like them, but that’s one person out of everyone who replied ;)

3. How do you like the written content?

When it comes to the content, the results show that you want me to write more personal texts, more how-to posts, write more funny posts, or at least keep things the way they are. A few wanted me to start writing in Norwegian, but an overwhelming majority wanted me to stick with English, so that won’t be happening. Oh, and one of you want me to write more about carps. I’ll see what I can do.

4. How do you like the graphics/photographs?

The vast majority of you, about 75%, like the overall look of my blog. Hooray! None of you hate my photographs, and about 20% want more outfit photos. Fun times! When it comes to the black frame around my photos, a small minority of you really don’t like it – sucks to be you, it stays. It’s either that or a watermark, and you’d like those even less ;)

5. My favorite posts are…

These numbers were especially fun to crunch, because they’re spread pretty evenly. The favorite categories seem to be personal texts, photo posts and my monthly summaries – I had no idea you liked the summaries, I feel really bad for skipping July now! All in all, there’s no category here that sticks out as less liked than the others, so I guess that means I’m doing something right.

6. How old are you?

Most of you are in the 20-25 age bracket. The youngest checked herself in at 1-15, while the oldest few picked 50+.

7. Ninjas or pirates?

LoL for days. There’s an overwhelming majority of pirates out there (69,2% of you), as opposed to the 30,8 percent of  you who picked ninjas. One person refused to take the survey altogether because “Ninja pirate” wasn’t an option (Moone <3), and one wrote a long rant about how she was disappointed in me for supporting the polarization of ninja vs pirate, and that I really should have presented it as a whole spectrum with ninjas at one end and pirates at the other, because just because most people can identify as one or the other doesn’t mean that there aren’t people out there who place themselves somewhere in between. I love you guys, so so much.

8. Comments.

Your reasons for commenting are very different – some comment only when you feel like you have something to contribute, some of you do it to show support, some of you are too shy to comment, while others say they are too lazy.  Every option is just as acceptable as the others in my book – hell, I don’t comment on all the blogs I read, so I don’t expect anything different from you. Don’t feel bad about not commenting! I will say though, that I love every comment I receive, and that it’s very nice to know that there are actual people who read my blog and not just numbers on a graph over at Google Analytics :)

9. Who are you?

73,7% of you are girls/women, while the remaining 27,3% are boys/men. 60% are Norwegian, while 40% picked “International”. About half of you have blogs of your own.

10. I’m Curious! (The tell-me-about-yourself part of the survey)

I’m not going to go into detail here, as a lot of you were so wonderfully open and personal and I don’t want to betray anyone’s trust. I got heart-warming paragraphs written by long-time lurkers, fun greetings from old gamer-buddies, and a small insight into some of your everyday lives and dreams. One of you wants to be a ballerina, and most of you love Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Again, big fluffy thanks to everyone who participated. If anyone else would like to give their opinions, feel free – I’m not shutting the survey down just yet :)

I made you a little gif, because I’m cool like that.

Three more days now before I start my Project 365. I think this might turn out to be a ton of fun, and very educational as well. I hope I’ll come out the other end as a much better photographer! :)

Here’s the actual watch. It’s not bad looking, I’ve seen far worse-looking sports watches! It comes in four different designs. Yes yes, I know, we’re not supposed to be vain at the gym. Tell that to the concealer that resides permanently in my gym bag.

Included in the box you’ll find the chest strap that tracks your heartbeats. It’s actually really comfortable to wear – I managed to forget I was wearing it today, until I had to do strength exercises laying on my stomach. Big plus!

The watch can help you set targets, and it will help you reach them. It will tell you if you’ve got room for improvement, if you’ve been improving, or even if you need to take a week off. If you want to lose weight, it can keep a weight diary for you. If you want to improve your fitness, or maximize it, it will help you with that as well, telling you what you’re doing right and what you need to do differently. And of course, it keeps track of your pulse, calories, intensity AND – wait for it – it can tell you what time it is.

As you may have noticed, there’s also an USB-sensor type thing in this picture. This is not included when you buy the watch, but is sold separately, at least with the FT60. If you get the higher-end model, the FT80, it is included when you buy the watch. So, you might think, why even mention the USB-reader if it’s not included? Because it’s really really cool, that’s why! Or at least if you’re nerdily inclined, like I am. See, if you place your watch on top of the USB-reader after a workout, it will download all the data from your watch and upload it to polarpersonaltrainer.com.

And it will give you all your workout statistics! This is an example of one of the things you can choose to view – as you can see, I’ve only worked out twice this week, as I got my pig flu shot on Thursday and my arm felt like someone had punched it for two days afterwards. On the website, you can also pick training programs, study strength exercises, keep track of your progress, or join the discussion forum. I really like this feature, as reading your statistics on the watch interface can be a bit fiddly. And I like graphs. And the Internet.

To sum it up, I love my watch. It’s easy to use, it’s fun to use, and it appeals to the nerd in me. Two thumbs up!

I did so much yesterday (cleaning, watching someone else fix Dellbaby), so today I’ve not done much at all. I’ve almost finished my blog presents (From way back in July – Nina, Caroline and Sofi, they’ll be in the mail in not too long I hope!) and I met Maren at a café for some girl talk. Then we went back to her place and met Kenneth the boyfriend and Teddy the poodle. This is where we decided that I’ve got to get rich. I’m not quite sure how one becomes rich, so I’m a but stumped, but sure, why not.

I’ve noticed famous bloggers post a lot of outfit photos, so I guess I’ve got to step up my game in that department. Here’s what I wore today:

As you can see, I’m putting Marius’s new camera to good use! Oh and the mirror doesn’t look half that filthy in real life, I swear.

Speaking of the boy, I bought him this the other day. I love it, I’d wear it myself, but I felt it was time he got a present :)

I don’t do them. I tend to think that no, I will leave that to the actual fashion bloggers, the ones who are experienced with this sort of thing. There’s half a gazillion of them (give or take), and I don’t think I would bring anything new to the table anyway, right?

Well apparently, one more didn’t hurt.

I wasn’t going to do this, but then StianK said that he couldn’t wait to see outfit photos of my new jackets. And I’m a sucker for requests. I can’t say no.

Ok, here goes!

Ok, that’s it! I had to add a photo of first outfit without the black skirt, just to illustrate how that pink skirt works on it’s own as well as underneath somethig else.

Now, this was hard. Taking these photos made me really self-conscious! Suddenly I found myself thinking things like “Oh snap, my skirt is wrinkly!” and “Crap, these boots are so wrong” and “God, why did I have to curl my hair, I look like a mess!” “MY FACE IS WEIRD!” And don’t forget “Why did I crop my photos like that, people aren’t interested in seeing what’s on my desk!” and “NO, my photos are overexposed!”

(Cue the inevitable quote: “God. My hips are huge!” “Oh please. I hate my calves.” “At least you guys can wear halters. I’ve got man shoulders.” “My hairline is so weird.” “My pores are huge.” “My nail beds suck.” Cookies if you know the movie!)

If I’m going to keep doing these, I need to move to an apartment that has a big white wall.

Oh, and posing is difficult. I found myself wishing I had no arms, because I had no idea where to put those damn things. Damn you arms!

Oh well, it’s all out on the internets now. I hope it was worth it :)

See what I mean? Try not to laugh yourself silly if you’re an actual mathematician, I know this is usually regarded as child’s play. It’s not to me, damn it!

(Yes, Maren and Eli Sofie, I’m talking about you two)

I’m getting there though – I just have to get over my mental maths-block. I always hated maths. The abstract kind, mind you, I’m good with money and I think I’ll be able to do this pretty well too. Fingers crossed!

Maths fuel. Mmm ,caffeine.

So that’s basically what I’ll be doing today. I refuse to leave my desk till I get the hang of this!

In other news, I’ve decided to retire my old chucks.

It’s about time, don’t you think?

I am slowly getting myself used to the concept of getting up early. Seeing as we’re getting dangerously close to February, I thought it might be a good idea to, you know, not sleep till 10 every day. I’ve barely touched my books yet (Except for that one time in the doctor’s waiting room, when I had to sit there for 2 hours anyway so I could just as well study to pass the time) and I think maybe I should get on that as quickly as possible.

Anyway, since I’m up early and all, I’ve already had time to read a blog or three. In one of them I read this post called “to everyone who wants to get rich from blogging”, and contained – you guessed it – tips on how to make money from your blog. Now, with my whopping 100 page views a week I have no hopes of making a single penny from this, but I thought it would be fun to follow her advice anyway.

First tip: Find your target audience. Who reads your blog already? Why do they read it?

Target audience #1: My friends. And my boyfriend. People whose blogs I stalk on a regular basis. This is easy! But fine, let’s dig a little deeper. I got myself statcounter a few weeks back, and from it I get all kinds of cool information.

This is a list over the top 17 google searches that have brought people to my blog.

Clearly, that one post I made several blue moons ago about House M.D being in “101 dalmatians” paid off. And that one sentence about red hairdye being the herpes of hairdyes also scored me a few readers, it seems. Why anyone would google the words “herpes narcissist” I have no idea. I guess that makes my target audience #2 House M.D fans and .. shrinks? Doctors who specialize in STDs?

But hey, there’s an even juicier one! Now, I had no idea that blonde hair with dark roots was a kind of fetish, but clearly it is. It says so right there! I already know that i am loved by the girls-with-glasses fetish community, but this is a whole new brand of freak, at least to me.

Target audience #3: Pervs. Too bad I dyed my hair brown, huh. It lost me at least one reader! Statcounter tells me that the perv in question is an American. American perv, if you read this: Get a job in a hair salon! Something tells me you’ll find happiness there.

Ooh, and I kinda wonder who it is that googled my full name. Statcounter tells me it’s someone in Sweden. I know a few swedes, and I know for a fact that two of them know my full name, so I might know who this is. I also wonder if they found any dirt on me. Anyway, that one brings me back to #1, so no useful info there.

I don’t think this is the best foundation to build a blog empire on. Desktop shrinks, pervs, and people with STDs. Oh, and my friends.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I have been approached about advertising before, from a company who sold printed tshirts. I accused them of being a spambot and think I actually might have insulted them a bit. I don’t remember what the company was called, but if anyone from it reads this: I am sorry I accused you of being spambots. It was very nice to be asked about advertising space, although I don’t think you’d have made a lot of money off it.

I think I’ll stick to catering to myself and my friends. At least they’re faithful readers. Not like those fickle pervs!

And now there’s no more Harry Potter left. All I can do now is wait impatiently for the next book (last one! Eeep!), next movie, wear my ravenclaw-scarf and mock Ida’s crush on Draco Malfoy.

Ida + Malfoy, here presented in amazing OMG-Separated-at-birth-O-vision

Hear that Joanne? Write faster! FASTER!

Hmm, what else. Oh, only 5 days left for me to finish my application for Bergen national Academy of the Arts. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m going home for easter holiday on Sunday, I would’ve had over two weeks on my hands, but I guess those 5 days will have to do. After that there will be eating of chocolate and snuggling of boyfriend to be done. Whee ^_^

Just as I was saying “I think girls taste better than boys though” (In a rather loud, 11pm manner) , an old lady entered our busstop.

The look on her face was priceless.