1. This VideoThis video brings up SUCH AN IMPORTANT POINT that I feel like shouldn't even need to be brought up because it should be common sense. Laci Green, in case you haven't heard of her, is a Youtuber who talks about sex. She is amazing. This video talks about how the idea of masculinity literally kills people and causes mass murders. It talks about how some men think they have a right to a women having sex with them, so much so they they are willing to "punish" them for not having sex with him. One thing that really infuriates me is that this video is flagged as violet and offensive. Excuse me?! The fact that this guy committed mass murder because he thought he had a right to sex offends ME. The fact that someone is willing to talk about it does not. 2. These ShoesSo I first saw this picture. On this blog. I and I was like "Holy crap I need those shoes." Then I went to the website and found out you design them yourself!! What?? Here are the ones I made and I swear as soon as I get some money I am ordering them. Only $78 for funny custom shoes. Yes I did basically the same design she did but I really love it so I don't really care. Link to the store here. 3. Mindy KalingI love Mindy Kaling. She is like one of my heroes. Recently she gave a commencement speech at Harvard Law School and here it is. She is so funny but I also think the speech is cute and inspiring. I just love her. If you haven't read her book I definitely suggest it, it was the book that got me into autobiographies. xoxo Natalie
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I am such a big goal maker. I have so many goals that I have them organized into category based on time to complete by, type of goal and how achievable it is. Lately though I've been focusing on really small goals. Like I'm talking tiny goals. And you know what, it feels awesome. Every day I write in my planner 1-3 things that I want to get done that day. Sometimes its something really simple like make my bed as soon as I get up, or only spend $30 on groceries, or take out the trash. But by writing down these small things that need to get done it gets them out of my head. Normally I just think the night before of all the small things that need to happen the next day. Then I wake up in the morning and I've forgotten half of them. As the day goes on I try to remember them all and try to keep mentally reminding myself to get them done as soon as I have the chance. It just takes up too much memory space that I don't have. When I put on paper the small things that need to get done, I don't have to constantly remind myself. My mind is free to think of better things. Plus for me, I always get things done if it's written down. Having a concrete goal that I can cross off as soon as its done is really helpful. Also physically seeing my list dwindle makes my day a little less stressful. And I think everyone can use a little less stress in their life. I'll end this post with a couple small goal making tips: 1. Write them down. Preferably in a cute planner or whatever you like looking at so goal making is enjoyable. 2. Write them on something you can't lose. I used to write mine on a post it note and then I would lose it and get all stressed about trying to find it or trying to remember everything on it. 3. Write down the biggest of your small goals at the beginning of the week and plan your week so you don't have anything major to do all at once. Spread tings out so it doesn't get overwhelming. 4. Make adjustments. If you have to move things around that's fine as long as you don't put them off indefinitely. 5. Never give yourself a long list. I always like to keep mine to about 5 tasks because then it always seems doable. xoxo NatalieOk so this post is for the whole divergent series because I just finished it over the long weekend. Basically what I'm going to do is post discussion questions about the book and or it's themes and answer them and then do a little review of the book. Please if you've read the book, tell me your answers to the questions too because I don't have answers to them they are things I thought while reading the books and want to discuss them. Spoilers beyond this point!1. Do you think that when people are strong in one thing it usually means they sacrifice another quality?I found it really interesting that they talked about the strengths of the factions but also the weaknesses that those strengths bring. I don;t remember what they are exactly but something like with truth comes a lack of compassion, and with bravery there is a lack of mercy, stuff like that. And it made me think about personality types and how for every strength there is a weakness and I think that's why no one is perfect. It's kind of like the Sims where you only have a certain amount of green things and you have to choose how to distribute them among good personality traits. 2. Since Tobias isn't really Divergent what gene do you think he has that is extra strong or "impure"?I thought about this a lot when it was first revealed that Tobias wasn't actually divergent, he just was able to resist the simulations really well. I wondered what faction he would have gotten from his test if he wasn't able to resist the serum. Every time I think about this I have a hard time trying to pin him down because his character doesn't really fit into one personality type which makes me think that that is part of the theme. Maybe the test could only tell so much, like which characteristic is strongest, not necessarily which you solely possess. I think that the people in the book fit into their test results because they were told those were their test results. Kind of a placebo effect. And those who were told they were divergent realized their full potential by not trying to conform into a mold. I think this shows that the difference between GD and GP was just in everyone's head the whole time. 3. How easy is self sacrifice when you know it's for the greater good?I really liked that the author brought this up in the book when the characters were all sitting around waiting for someone to volunteer to go in the weapons room where they know they'll die from the death serum. Even when you know that sacrificing one life in order to save hundreds, or thousands, or millions it's still hard to decide which life it'll be. I think that this is because, to me, all life is precious. Also, you never know the repercussions of one person's death. I also like that the author talked about when it's ok to let someone sacrifice their life for you and that was when it was an act of love, not a way to get out of guilt. 4. Can a good quality also be a bad trait?I think everyone can agree that selflessness, truth, knowledge, kindness, and bravery are all good qualities to have but do they have downsides? Can they turn into bad qualities when taken to extremes? This kind of ties into the first question but more like "is it possible to have too much of a good thing?" I think that no good quality can stand alone, which is why the faction system is flowed. I think all those qualities are the ones that are important to a "perfect" society but also none of them can be isolated. You need to have all qualities to be a perfectly balanced and stable person. Like truth is good but there also needs to be compassion because the truth can hurt too. Just like bravery and selflessness only work when they are together. 5. Is peace possible?I don't think so. In order for true peace to occur everyone has to think the same so that there isn't any conflict. In order for this to happen people need to give up their free will which I think is the whole conflict of using the memory serum. I think a lot of times there is a struggle between peace and free will, which is sad because a utopia would have both. If you think of any other questions or have a response comment below I would love to discuss with you!I thought this series was really good! It was a fast read and was really entertaining. It was very stereotypical scifi/post-apocalypse teen novel though so if you're expecting some ground breaking new book this is not the way to go. But if you like this sort of thing then this gives a new twist to a kind of beaten to death genre. Other similar suggestions I have are the Hunger Games series and the Uglies series (I think Uglies is my favorite of the three). Let me know what you think!
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A little about meNatalie. 26. Mechanical engineer. Mining and Minerals Engineering graduate from Virginia Tech. I love pugs, pink, crafting, feminism, makeup, and reading. Archives
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