#it also just plays in more to the found family dynamic of the RC which I love & is maybe me working through some of my own stuff | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

midnight-in-town · 6 years

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I can’t help but wonder how much truth there is in the “you sacrificed your brother” statement. Like, undeniably, OC was the one who summoned Seb. Even if he didn’t kill him. It was an accident, right? So does that count as a lie or just twisting the truth? OC has been asking Seb if he lied about something a lot lately. What is it that he refers to? That RC could never come back, or OC sacrificed him? The order to never lie was presumably after. Both the “can never come back” and ->

Hello Anon. :) Soooo, to address your different remarks:

Sacrifice vs Accident

To quote you, “it’s an accidental summoning any way you look at it” in my opinion as well!

@cielsama14 explained it well enough as well here, so all I’m going to say is that our!Ciel definitely is the one who turned his back on God and called for Seb, which is why his brother’s soul was used to pay for Seb’s summoning. However, considering that he said…

I can’t call that a sacrifice, seeing as it’s not something he did consciously or willingly.

After reading the chapter, I also don’t think Seb lied, because he definitely heard our!Ciel calling and the fare for crossing was paid, so his interpretation that it was a sacrifice, especially considering the settings he found our!Ciel in, makes sense (even if we readers know that it’s not exactly what happened).

However, manipulation from Seb’s part is also rather obvious where I’m concerned, because he definitely decided to show up for a reason…

And his way to try and play it chill isn’t exactly fooling anyone…

…since our!Ciel didn’t really have any other option besides making that contract to survive the cult.

So in the end, it’s as William said…

About Frances

Frankly, whether she knew or not about which twin our!Ciel was, I don’t think it really matters nor that it will trigger such a huge reaction out of her in case she didn’t anyway. x) Besides, sorry but she clearly wasn’t wrong in ch132, I mean…

she never said that our!Ciel wasn’t clever enough for the job, more like he was too physically weak and we’ve had enough occasions to see for ourselves that, without Seb, Ciel would have indeed died many times in the past.

I mean, no worries, I can understand wanting Seb to mess with her a little, since she’s always keeping such a perfect composure, but I actually enjoy the fact that she, as well as Nina and UT, can give a demon cold sweat even though they’ll never be as strong as him. Besides…

this is Frances “tricked” by Seb in ch14, so I think she’s more level-headed than maybe you give her credit for (not that I can blame you for that, seeing how Yana uses her for comic relief most of the time xD).

Anyway, as I explained when ch132 came out, my opinion is that Frances doesn’t care about the Phantomhive family being successful or well-seen or anything, she just cares about its survival because she cares about her family. So the only moments we might see her falter…

…will probably always have to do with if/when she feels powerless about helping her family and maybe only our!Ciel (and not Seb) will ever have an influence on her in that aspect.

We have time before anything like that happens though, haha, so as always feel free to disagree. :)

Thanks for passing by Anon! I do agree that the Seb/Ciel dynamic is very interesting especially, since the more we advance, the more I see hints that they might end up clashing at some point, and that even though UT is counting on Seb to protect Ciel for now indeed. :))

Have a nice day!

#kuroshitsuji #ciel phantomhive #sebastian michaelis #2ct #frances midford #kuro132 #kuro137 #kuroshitsuji theory #anon #answers

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venturingintostartups · 5 years

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Being Confident is the Key to Life

Third Meeting!

What does your personality tells about your future? Am I entrepreneurial or not?

Our third meeting started with a personality test. The purpose of this personality test is for us to know if we are capable of being an entrepreneur, and how likely we are to become a successful entrepreneur. This is also for us to know if we can stay longer in the industry and with a thought of how we can save our own company in times of desperation and worse, bankruptcy. We took this test to evaluate ourselves to know if we are capable to allocate the time and resources we have to make the business solid and strategic, and also to evaluate our quality and reliability to the business industry. All this personality describes a good entrepreneur, am I capable of being one of them?

Upon reading these choices in the duration of the personality test, it gives me a feeling of excitement and at the same time, nervousness. Although there is no correct and wrong answer for this one, we took the test carefully and truthfully to assure authenticity of the result. It is all for the sake of reviewing our self-mastery and if we are capable of being one of the many good entrepreneurs.

In addition, upon carefully reading the choices, it gives me a reflection about my self on a short period of time. I realized that many of my decisions and choices in the past were humorous (my present-self absolutely thought about that). These decisions were not necessarily as bad as some of us thought, but then these choices, though tiny, somehow affect my present status. For instance, I wanted to go out with friends and spend all my money carelessly during those times. I know for the fact that it is not my thing but making those decisions was unexplainable for me either.

Sometimes while reading these choices, I consider both as my personality. But I have to choose only one. I have to pick what weighs more for myself. I have to choose carefully and truthfully, in preparation for the bigger world of entrepreneurship. This I must prioritize because having a firm decision, a decision that will guide me to the road of entrepreneurship, will be my stepping-stone towards success.

Now what is the result?

I got forty-three points! The result of my personality test says Something Entrepreneurial. A simple catchphrase yet means a lot for me!

I can actually verify this result, because as what I have observed in the present, I have master the attitude of handling or budgeting my allowance and making it into a great amount thru saving. Just recently, I started to attend mutual fund and investment seminars. I attended several seminars like, Fami (First Metro Asset Management, Inc.), which was organized Metrobank, and Mutual Funds 101. I am starting to think what my future awaits and what I will gonna be in the next 10 years. I think that starting today, as young human being as I can be, it is good or strategic for me to invest this early so that in the next few years, I will have enough funds for my family, business, assets, medical and even retirement plans. With this, I will be able to prevent future problems regarding finance, and if there is, it is not big enough for me to handle effortlessly.

After I found out the result, I felt proud of myself, even though I am just an average Information Technology student here in USeP. I have a bigger picture to look forward and to improve myself in the field technopreneurship.

Afterwards, our professor discussed the ecosystem of technopreneurship. Majority of the responsibility has a pre-requisite. For Instance, when you want to graduate from a university, you must study well and surpass the given tasks in every subject. In such case, studying well is the pre-requisite of graduating from a university. Diploma does not come in an instant or in a blink of an eye, but you have to work for it in order for you to achieve that diploma. Similarly for technopreneurial venture, having a successful business comes with a pre-requisite of setting objectives, proper planning, sound organization, proper financial planning, location and layout of plan, marketing system, research and dynamic leadership. It is also stated in 8 Pre-requisites of the Successful Business, an article shared by RC Agawal. As stated in the article, the 8 pre-requisites are described as follows:

Setting Objectives

Proper Planning

Sound Organization

Proper Financial Planning

Location and Layout of Plan

Marketing System

Research

Dynamic Leadership

To stay alive, we saved money in every aspect of our business. The technology industry stood in awe, and this is a great opportunity to create a new venture. Some of the largest company in the world is in direct use of a specific technology. On the other hand, the prominent opportunity quickly attracted competitors and capital.

Here goes the foundation of successful technopreneurship discussed by our professor. Successful Technopreneurship is good enough by having HELF, which stands for human resource, environmental resource, law and policies, and finance. The following will give us some insights about these four elements:

Human Resource

-It consists of a researcher whose a great thinker, idea generator and innovator. A developer which is an implementor, and technical people. Scanner, marketing people and financiers. Having the assembly of a great team impacts the path and outcome of a new business venture more than any other decision in its life cycle. A good team of the business makes a strong foundation on which a difficult situation may overcome. On the other hand, a wrong choice of team turns a daily routing of nightmare and will fail when the first critical period hits.

Environmental Component

-This is the place where developers or technopreneurs stay alive and continue their learning and self- improvement for the business. It consist of Science Parks, IT Parks and even Incubation centers. Academic Institution is the place where students and instructors learn from each other and improve their future endeavor. Research and Development Center exists to help out a business to make better competitive business over its competitors. Internet access and communication plays an important role, it strengthens relationship and connection between peers, and improves productivity and getting the work done fast and effectively. Communication and Other Support services is something that helps the team or the technopreneur to perform a job satisfaction. Unlike the use of internet as a means of communication, communication and other support services will be more personalize and direct since it is specifically targeted to an individual. Another important factor that must be taken into consideration is the geographic accessibility. In the part of the consumers or client, they are actually preferring an establishment which is strategically located within the heart of the city, which is why if you will notice, many of the technopreneurial companies are based in urban areas. Lastly, venture monitoring services/support is an important factor in which the trend or flow of the business itself will be monitored and documented to have an up-to-date report of the business status.

Law and Policies

As we all know, all transactions and businesses, whether locally or internationally, are bounded by laws and policies. Its purpose is to protect the rights and liberties of the parties involve, maintain orderliness of transactions as well as to establish specific standards to identify the scope and limitations of a certain technopreneurial business. When it comes to unexpected disputes and misunderstandings between two parties, laws and policies have the power to resolve such event in a justified manner.

Finance

Finance is considered as the blood of the technopreneurial business. Without it, it is nearly impossible to operate the business itself. The first investor in your business should be yourself. We must struggle in order for us to succeed, even drained up savings to plan for capital.On the other hand, when business income boost twice from the first investment then a new investment will come its way. Thus, this is where you can develop your business and and even build a new business.

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the-bitch-files · 3 years

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Spring Reading Wrap Up!

Hello! Instead of doing a monthly wrap up or individual reviews, I have decided to do a seasonal wrap of the books I have read. Here, I will list all the books I've read I've watched during the Spring months - March, April & May - and include some select reviews. This is because I only have so many thoughts about these things and there are some books where I want to write a review and have plenty of thoughts about it. Hopefully that makes sense. So, without further ado, let's get to it!

What I Read

MARCH

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu (2017) - 5 ★ Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (2019) - 5 ★ Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton (2021) - 5 ★ Good & Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister - 4 ★ Men Explain Things to Me And Other Essays by Rebecca Solnit (2014) - 5 ★ The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe (2021) - 5 ★ All Eyes on Her by L.E. Flynn (2020) - 3 1/2 ★ The Book of Gutsy Women: Favourite Stories of Courage and Resistance by Chelsea and Hillary Rodham Clinton (2020) The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan (2020) - 5 ★

APRIL

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin (2020) - 2 ★ Vagina Problems: Endometriosis, Painful Sex and Other Taboo Topics by Lara Parker (2020, memoir, non-fiction) Girl A by Abigail Dean (2021) - 5 ★ The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto (2021) - 4.5 ★ The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn (2021) - 5 ★ Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women White Feminists Forgot by Mikki Kendall (2020, feminist non-fiction) - 4 ★ Sisters by Daisy Johnson (2020) - 3 ★ Dear Ijeawele: A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2017, short feminist non-fiction)

MAY

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney (2017) - 3.5 ★ Moranthology by Caitlin Moran (2012, collection of her newspaper columns) You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (2016) - 4 ★ People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd (2021) - 1 ★ Pretty Bitches: On Being Called Crazy, Angry, Bossy, Frumpy, Feisty, and All the Other Words Used to Undermine Women ed. by Lizzie Skurnick (2020, anthology essay collection)

REVIEWS

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin (2020) - 2 ★

This was my worst read of the season. This book was slow-paced, slightly predictable with a plot that felt like it had already been done and an ending that had little effect on the world in the book.

Following Ember Williams - which is short for September, named after her birth month - who sets out to take down the Red Court, a secret society within her high school which grants favours for others at a price, in revenge for an accident which left her elder sister April paralysed two years earlier. After joining the Red Court (RC) and playing a part in missions (including election rigging for Homecoming, breaking up couples and takedowns of other students), Ember faces a conflict of morality and struggles with the secrets she's keeping from her best friend, Gideon, and new love interest/crush, Chase - who happens to be one half of the couple she breaks up soon after joining the Red Court and the guy that she competes with academically. This leads to drama within her own life and Ember spirals into her obsession with the Red Court while trying to keep up with school and her relationships with friends, family and now Chase.

I didn't connect to Ember as a character as she seemed to be hellbent on revenge and while I do enjoy a good revenge tale, this was not that. It seemed like she changed her mind sometimes on her opinion on the RC, even going so far as to think herself as a potential new Queen of Hearts (the leader), remaking the RC with her own vision. It did not seem like a good idea and just selfish thinking that she is superior to these other girls and the RC itself. Ember says that she is doing this for her sister - and at one point it gets all 'this is bigger than you and me and I must do it for the greater good', which seems cliche - but it seemed like April wasn't convinced and didn't want Ember to do it.

Also, the 'romance' between Ember and Chase was pretty boring and quite forced. They just kept bumping into each other and Ember was like 'I can't be seen with this guy because of my place in the Red Court. but I'm really starting to like him. What do I do?' Chase seemed like a good enough guy but not developed enough as a character. The romance itself was just added drama for Ember to deal with on top of the RC shit.

This turned into a rant and I usually don't like to complain about books this much - sorry. TLDR: I thought it was going to be a good revenge tale; it wasn't. Waste of Queen of Hearts/Alice in Wonderland motif. Too slow paced as well.

The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe (2021) - 5 ★

This book was sooo good! I loved it - it was so thrilling, action-packed, heartbreaking, and brilliant. A few things that I loved in this:

bisexual protagonist with great rep (she has a good relationship with her male ex as they are now friends, and is a good relationship with her current girlfriend)

the protagonist, Nora, is a con artist who is v skilled but is dealing with what she's experienced and how she grew up with her con artist mother

the girlfriend, Iris, is amazing and well-written as a character and love interest. she loves vintage clothes, is resourceful and wants to investigate arson for a living which gives some skills that helps them out

the action is set in a bank robbery and this takes place over a matter of hours so it is quite action-packed for a short time frame. the characters have to think quickly on their feet in order to survive and it really questions what would you do to survive when placed in a life-or-death situation

as someone who deals with bad period pain/constant abdominal pain (potential endometriosis), I really liked the inclusion of a character with endometriosis in Iris. During the bank robbery it's revealed that Iris is on her period, so dealing with a heavy, painful period along with the stress of a hostage situation must be overwhelming. Iris is such a badass for this and we see her do some heroics near the end. I love Iris

the characters of Nora, Iris and Wes (their best friend and Nora's ex) are bonded by their friendship and have past trauma and asshole dads (or stepdad in Nora's case) in common. their friendship is awesome and they will do anything for each other. a great example of found family trope

The plotline of the bank robbery is written alongside flashbacks to Nora's past through the different aliases she has had - the eponymous 'girls I've been' - and we really get to see what Nora's learnt, and how her mom has manipulated her into living these lives and running these cons when Nora didn't ask to be a part of it. She was born into it really, since it started so young. It's all she's known but she wants more from her life. The men that her mom - Abby - chose to be the marks were always bad guys and they got worse as Nora got older, culminating in crime boss and Abby's love Raymond Keane. Nora's past and present collide during the bank robbery with secrets being revealed.

The whole novel was fantastic. Highly recommend.

Girl A by Abigail Dean (2021) - 5 ★

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and god, it was so good. 'Girl A' deserves all the praise it is getting - and some of it is included on the inside cover. As devastating as it is brilliant, this novel is a compelling read that looks at the lasting impact of trauma from the perspective of Lex Gracie, a survivor of child abuse and neglect that became a nation-wide headline-making case known as the 'House of Horrors'. She is Girl A, the girl who escaped, but there is so much more to it than that.

The narrative switches between the present day with Lex at age 30 and dealing with the aftermath of her mother's death in prison as she is the executor of her will and now owns the House of Horrors, and the past taking us through Lex's childhood and the abuse she and her six siblings faced. Since the timeline shifts quickly by paragraph, sometimes it can be quite jarring and confusing as you realise that she is talking about the past but I understood this mostly. You could say it speaks to how hard it is to shake off that kind of past.

Sometimes it can be hard to read simply because of how horrifying the abuse is and the conditions that the Gracie children had to live in. That just shows how strong Abigail Dean's writing is. This is a fantastic debut and one that I found absolutely excellent.

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (2016) - 3.5 ★

I continue to love Megan Abbott's writing style as she writes great prose about women, their bodies, the relationships between women and femininity. She writes about sports that considered typically feminine - cheerleading in 'Dare Me', gymnastics here and ballet in the upcoming 'The Turnout' - and it feels like a deep dive into the sport itself and the impact it has on the girls who take part and their bodies. Gymnastics was central to the plot as the protagonist's (Katie) daughter, Devon, is a star of the sport. Multiple times we are reminded how extraordinary Devon is due to her ability as a gymnast and commitment to the sport.

There is a mystery here with the death of a young man within this community being the catalyst for the events of the book, but it takes a backseat to the gymnastics. I do wish there was more to this mystery but it seems that it was not the focus here.

I did not like this as much as I did my other Megan Abbott reads - 'Dare Me' and 'Give Me Your Hand' - but it was still a great read.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn (2021) - 5 ★

This was *chef's kiss* amazing.

The writing was brilliant, the twists were stunning (particularly in the last 10%) and the dynamic between Amb (Ambrosia Wellington) and Sully (Sloan Sullivan) was intense, toxic, co-dependent, and destructive, both internally and externally - as in, destructive towards themselves and other people. The title is a reference to the optimism of Amb's roommate Flora, when in actuality, the niceness was mostly fake, particularly from the perspective of cynical Amb. there were a few quotes here that I liked, including:

"I don't know if it's disgusting or impressive that girls can do that for each other. that we can achieve that level of deceit in the name of sisterhood."

"People thought girls' bodies were our deadlines weapons. they had no idea about the mountains our imaginations could move."

"the world loves a pretty dead girl."

"I discovered my own version of sisterhood. It doesn't have to be merciless, feeding on the chunks it tears from its own flesh. It can be softer, more forgiving. because there are girls like me, fighting to make the society we're fenced into a more hospitable place for all of us."

"I turned into a monster, but the world knows exactly how to make monsters out of girls who want what they can't have."

Definitely recommend! Especially if you're a fan of Megan Abbott (it's like 'Dare Me' and 'Give Me Your Hand'), toxic female friendships, and dark academia (I don't know if this could be considered dark academia, but ). 5 stars all the way.

So, what did you read in the spring months? have you read any of these books? if so, what did you think? let me know in the comments. thanks for reading! - Cat

#books #book reviews #reading wrap up #long post #girl a #the girls are all so nice here #you will know me #these vengeful hearts #the girls I've been

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