Yeah I know this is a new account so some of y’all might be weary of it but I don’t care enough to find the login to my old account so I made a new one. For no apparent reason my extended family decided to visit today so that…. Is fun, so as a result I just want to talk with somebody to pass time. So a bit about me: I’m 19 and from the USA, I play video games, read, and write. I will not elaborate further on those for the time being. If you feel like chatting just send me a dm introducing yourself.

I don't really know where to start either, so I guess I'll start by saying I am a survivor.
Through no one's fault that lived in the house I grew up in, our childhood was very difficult. It was chaotic, turbulent, and often we had no running water. Our Parents split up when I was very young and there were periods of time where my father was simply not in the picture and my mother was more often than not in her room, so my siblings and I mostly managed that time on our own. When my mother pulled herself together and managed to raise us mostly alone, she attended college and earned her degree, becoming a special education teacher. As you can imagine, raising 4 kids on a teacher's salary, one with with severe disabilities, was incredibly hard for her to do. While my father did pay child support, he didn't make anywhere near enough to really help and his contributions was hardly enough to buy food for a month. Although I'm incredibly proud of my mother for working so hard to earn her degree, it was simultaneously the best and worse thing that could have happened to us. We had been receiving help from our state for my special needs sibling, and with her new job, we lost all the aid we had been getting for him and insurance refused to cover anything we had for him before the change. Things went downhill the years that followed and without going too deep into the details, cps was involved as the situation was becoming too dangerous for us all and my sibling was taken as a ward of the state. My father at that point has cleaned himself up and had been much more involved in our lives, but very early into my teen years he had to move away from us to find more work, and my relationship with my mother had become sour due to our resentments toward each other, so by the time I'd met him, I was desperate for any amount of love or attention.
I met him in while in a dark period of my life, my high school sweetheart, my ex-husband, he was my rock. I felt like he was the only person that held any interest in me, that would talk to me and listen to what I had to say, and he always knew how to make me feel better. But things didn't seem right to me, he would often talk badly of my family, but I was so angry and hurt at the time, I'm sure I didn't paint them in the best light so I didn't think anything of it. He would want me to do things with him, even when I was uncomfortable or tried to refuse, but I'd always give in eventually because I was afraid to lose him. He'd make comments about my body and make me feel like I was unworthy because of my body hair and my shape and I thought I was ugly. He'd broken up with me at one point without any explanation and only tried to date me again after I'd started dating someone else. When we did get back together, I tried even harder to keep him, and that's when I should have known what was actually happening. His comments came up more, he was more aggressive about what he wanted, and while at that point he had never hit me, he made me sleep with him when I said I couldn't do that/didn't want to. But I stayed because I didn't think anyone else loved me and I didn't know that what he was doing was wrong. My parents and I never talked about that kind of thing and my parents were single for most of my life up up until that point, and I didn't have step parents until I was in my late teens, so I didn't know that my experience was not normal in a healthy relationship.
As we grew older and graduated from high school I discovered that he had tried dating a girl I was close with and she warned me what he said and did so I broke up with him and started college on my own, only to learn we had the same psychology class and he pulled me back in. I wasn't doing well in school and tensions between my mother and I had only gotten worse, so when his parents offered for me to move in with them, I jumped at the opportunity. The only rule being I had to go to school or at least be working, which I followed, but at that point he had quit school and was constantly either quitting jobs or just stopped going altogether, and started volunteering at a VFD, so I felt obligated to earn an income for us in order to stay so I quit school and stated working. I was never allowed to see our bank details, I was never given the login nor would he let me see the account so I never knew where the money was going, but I didn't complain because I had food, running water, clothes, and a roof over my head and that was enough for me. I know that it paid for the car insurance for his vehicle, and an awful lot of subway, but I don't know what else he spent the money on. Eventually I needed dental care, which my family and I had not been able to get much of, and he needed access to mental health services and my income was not enough to cover either of those so I married him and I joined the military as I felt I didn't have any other options. He was ecstatic, but my family took the news hard and it only caused more discourse.
After joining, things did not improve. I remember finishing up bootcamp and being so excited with how much money I would be earning, I thought we'd never have to worry about it again, and I was so happy to be able to provide for him in ways that I had not been able to before. I would be earning a free education, getting health care, and eventually maybe I could raise a family like I always wanted, but felt was out of reach for me. It was only after I graduated that I learned he spent everything. He only returned some items he had bought because one of my siblings found out and made him give some back. After the graduation he wanted to move to where I was training for my job, so he drove up with all our things and stayed in a hotel room close to base. As you can imagine, that was also very expensive. We eventually got housing, but we had almost nothing when we moved in. He got a job on base and would watch all the women as they did PT, would drink every night at home, and things only got more turbulent the longer we lived on our own. Eventually he quit his job and would drink all day and get upset with me when I'd come home from work because I was too tired to do much and I was struggling to keep up in training so I was studying late at the school house almost everyday.
Eventually our relationship broke down after I had made a horrifying discovery, something so terrible that I couldn't even look past it. At that point I had made up my mind that the marriage was over, I couldn't be with him anymore, and I left to stay with a friend for a few days. During this time I had made a terrible mistake and cheated on my ex-husband. Not because I wanted revenge, but because I wanted someone to care about me, even if it was for the wrong reasons, but it only solidified my decision. After building up the courage to go home and tell him everything, the cheating, that what he was doing was wrong, and that I couldn't take it anymore and that I wanted a divorce. I didn't even get a chance to tell him before he told me if I ever left him like that or ever tried to end the relationship he 'would be upstairs with a gun in his mouth'. He had never threated himself or others before this so I believed him and I ended up staying and keeping everything a secret out of fear of what he would do. I took apart the gun he bought with the money I had earned and hid them in different parts of the house to keep him from killing himself and I told him he needed to stop drinking, seek therapy, and either get a job or work on school/trade school, and I would seek therapy for myself. I asked for marriage counseling, but he refused and said he'd do therapy on his own. He only went to a few sessions before quitting. I went to receive services on base for my marital issues and as I started talking to a counselor, she made it very clear to me that what he was doing was abuse and she would not allow me to leave the building unless I filed some kind of report on him, and me not clearly understanding how reporting worked in the military entirely, panicked and filled a closed report on him so at least there was a paper trail. I never went back because I was in denial about the abuse and I did not think I was a victim, if anything I felt as guilty as him.
As my career progressed, things did settle down for awhile. I had finished up school and at that point we had moved to my first duty station, he was still drinking, but not as often and did start working again part time and I had started becoming more relaxed. I met the division I would be working with and I loved them all. They were the first real experience I had ever had with stability and it was something I needed. I became more of a workaholic, volunteering to stay later to accomplish more tasks as we were shorthanded and I wanted to be more helpful to the division. Things had been going well for the most part, but I was still deep in denial about things he was doing. He had taken out credit cards without telling me and even took one out in my name without me knowing, I only found out after they called me to apologize for the card being late and that it was on the way. I was so shocked I didn't correct her and he maxed out all the cards. I still had no access to the account, but at this point I could text the bank to get the balance, but still didn't know where the money was going. He started to be more aggressive about intimacy and demanding more and more of me, and there were times where I'd wake up to him touching me or he would just wake me up for sex so I wasn't able to sleep much and I was tired all the time. I didn't say anything or try to stop him anymore because I felt like I deserved it for what I had done, and it was easier to give him what he wanted than to try to fight him or make him stop. I was afraid of what would happen if I ever said no.
After this point in time, we finally had an idea of when I was to be deployed and things began to ramp up. I was away from home more often, but it was still several months away from deployment and with the holidays coming up, we decided to go big that year and make thanksgiving dinner. A few days after thanksgiving, I wasn't feeling well and was experiencing abdominal pain, but with my PCOS symptoms I just figured my cycle was coming and was hitting me harder than usual, but he recognized that something was wrong and made me go to the hospital and I had emergency surgery for my appendix. I remember him wanting to take a picture of my stomach because 'I would never look the same again', all I could think about before that was how scared I was of the surgery and how long it would take for me to go back to work, but after that it made me feel even more ugly as it was one of the only things he ever really said he liked about me and I felt vain for worrying about the scars. The surgery didn't go as planned, and instead of the small incisions I was told I would have, I woke up to a massive scar right down the center on my abdomen. My appendix had been too close to bursting and they had to make a larger opening to remove it, and all I could remember was the blinding pain as they wheeled me back to my room where I was left alone with him. I did not receive any pain medication for several hours after and it was the worst pain I'd ever experienced in my life. When they finally did give me something, it wasn't enough and I was put on Dilaudid to manage my pain. The second night of my week long stay, my husband was lying in bed with me and asked me for sex. I was in so much pain, all I could think about was how horrible I felt, and I said no to him for the first time in nearly two years. That I needed to get better first and I didn't think I could handle it with the pain I was in, but he kept touching me and begging, saying the Dilaudid would keep me from being in too much pain and I felt so scared that I said yes because every time before I had said no he took what he wanted anyway and I was afraid that he would hurt me. All I can remember doing was looking out the window and the night, watching the cars drive away on the the highway and the cars leaving the parking lot and as he pulled up my gown, and I pushed the button for more medicine, but it wasn't enough to stop the pain. I remember the visitors I had after, I remember my division getting me flowers and a get well soon card with so many kind words that I kept all this time and all I could do was push the button for more medicine, but it still hurt so much. I had to walk after and every day to keep clots from forming and to start recovering, but my pain never diminished and I was discharged from the hospital.
In the months that followed my pain changed and seemed like it was spreading, but it never stopped hurting, sometimes it wouldn't be so bad, but others were so bad I couldn't get out of bed. He was still asking for sex and other favors, but with less frequency as he seemed more frustrated that I couldn't preform. Every time I had to, I was in so much pain I could not function at home or at work and it affected me very deeply. We tried getting help for my pain and to try and figure out what was going on, but all the doctors I saw accused me of drug seeking behaviors and wouldn't offer me any help or send me to someone who could help me. It got so bad that I started begging them for help and begging them not to give me anything until we knew what was wrong, all the while deployment was fast approaching and I was afraid that I would either miss the deployment, or that I would go, but still not know what was wrong and drag my division down. I became very depressed and started drinking as we made more appointments. I remember the 3rd or 4th time they sent me to gyno for my issues I had become so frustrated and angry that I laid everything out with the doctor, every single little thing I could think of I told them (all with the exception of my ex husbands treatment) and she didn't ask me any questions, she didn't ask me about the details of my many symptoms at this point, or try to understand how I was feeling. She instead asked me how my relationship was with my father was. All the while he was sitting in the room with us, the real cause to all my pain in aguish, just casually listening in, waiting to complain how I wasn't having enough sex with him as he did in most of the appointments and I became enraged. I defended my father, and I put my uniform back on and said I'd like to speak with another doctor and asked her directly how to file a report, not against my ex, but her for saying something so horrible about my Dad, the only man in my life I loved more than any other in the world. After I left I called to make another appointment as I couldn't see anyone else that day.
When I was finally sent to pain management, deployment was two months away and I was terrified. I wanted to go so badly because it meant I could get away from him, I could finally leave him and he would never be able to reach me so long as I was on the ship and safe with my division, but nothing worked out the way I had hoped for. I was told it was Fibromyalgia. That this condition was life long and there was no cure, that I'd not only be removed from the ship, but that I'd have to leave the military all together. I was devastated, and the little patience he did give me while we tried to get a diagnosis quickly disappeared. I was put on several different medications to manage my symptoms, but he continued to make me have sex, even when we were told not to so I could have a chance to let my body recover, and things got worse the more I pushed back. The medication was meant to help me sleep because my pain could be better managed if I slept better, but he would wake me up at night and hurt me, and it never stopped. One night, when I was on Ambien, I had gone to bed and I remember falling asleep next to him, but I woke up to him on top of me, inside me, it hurt so much and I was in so much pain and it was so dark I didn't recognize him. I tired to fight him off me, but the medicine was so strong I couldn't stop him and he pinned my arms down. I couldn't stop crying and he finally stopped. I can't remember if he finished or not because I fell back asleep crying and flaring up. He continued this kind of behavior for the months that followed and although he never went that far again, he did continue to make me have sex and continued to hurt me in my sleep to the point of waking me up, claiming he loved me too much to stop. I didn't feel safe enough to take Ambein anymore and eventually stopped it all together, I didn't sleep for 4 days after that. All of this was happening as I was removed from the ship and placed on limited duty orders to await my medical board, placed in therapy, physical therapy, and many other appointments and medication changes to try to get my symptoms under control, but things became harder for me to manage and my drinking only got worse. When I finally escaped him, with the help of my now husband, I stopped all treatments and medications to manage my symptoms. To this day I cannot bring myself to be in a hospital, doctor's office, or take anything other than the things I took as a teen because I know how they work and that I can defend myself when I take them.
I can't bring myself to write anymore tonight, but there were so many things that happened that it's too much for me to write it all down and while I know he did many terrible things, I also was not innocent and I broke my vows. I will never defend myself for cheating, I know it was wrong and to this day I punish myself for it, but I do not regret finally learning that sex was not something you take from someone you love, that it was not something that is forced on you, it's not supposed to hurt you. Rape is not a consequence for cheating, you might destroy your marriage, you might end a relationship or somehow work it all out and stay together, but you do not deserve to go through that even when you make such a terrible mistake. If they can do so many awful things and you stay with them, forgive them, and still try to make it work, why give them so much grace and not give yourself even the smallest amount? You are a human being who is deserving of love and dignity, you do not deserve abuse. If anyone reads this please know that if you feel alone, if you're in this situation still, know that I love you and that when you are free, things will get so much better for you I promise. You are worthy of love and your deserve better.

Period: 1790.34 days

	Submissions	Comments
Total	1000	24738
Rate (per day)	0.56	13.81
Unique Redditors	623	4924
Combined Score	54183	128184

Top Submitters' Top Submissions

1. 1507 points, 19 submissions: ErstiesCasting
   
   1. How to take Amazing Pictures of Yourself - A detailed video guide (165 points, 8 comments)
   2. Dirty talk tips: How I went from never talking in vids to reciting the most explicit/detailed dialogue in almost all of them (156 points, 12 comments)
   3. Hey everyone, I made a new guide: "Speedy editing hacks for content creators – How to film videos in a way that cuts editing time in half" (132 points, 9 comments)
   4. Cam models: How To Retain People Who Come To Your Room (105 points, 12 comments)
   5. Custom video advice: How to keep people coming back for more (100 points, 9 comments)
   6. I asked an adult industry lawyer about his take on the SISEA Bill (or “Stop Internet Sexual Exploitation Act”) and here is his answer (that is pretty reassuring). (93 points, 5 comments)
   7. Hey everyone, I'm starting to write little guides with tips and recommendations based on my experience working in the industry. My last one is "Lighting on a budget - 5 tips on how to find the cheapest equipment and work with what you have", hope it is useful! Any feedback welcome :) (90 points, 6 comments)
   8. TikTok Tips for Cam Models (84 points, 16 comments)
   9. Putting on an Engaging Voyeur-Style Cam Show (72 points, 16 comments)
   10. Happy monday everyone :) Here is my new weekly article - "Balancing work and time off as a content creator". (65 points, 4 comments)
2. 888 points, 13 submissions: beywatch222
   
   1. Reminder to newbies and veterans alike (135 points, 48 comments)
   2. A very good read for new cam girls (113 points, 15 comments)
   3. Tips for Cam babies (94 points, 8 comments)
   4. Idk if this is aloud but so delete if not. Confidence (91 points, 7 comments)
   5. Did sph accidentally 😂 (79 points, 38 comments)
   6. Mental health toll (74 points, 67 comments)
   7. Thanksgiving in the US. Thankful for this group. (63 points, 9 comments)
   8. I feel like a session broke me (56 points, 59 comments)
   9. Guilt when not working (54 points, 32 comments)
   10. Mental Health toll (45 points, 20 comments)
3. 579 points, 4 submissions: searchwandernonsense
   
   1. Just your daily reminder to block/ban anyone for any reason (234 points, 20 comments)
   2. “Hey I know this guy, he’s a high tipper” scam (132 points, 24 comments)
   3. I almost never turn my lush on (119 points, 35 comments)
   4. Being asked while on Cam, “What do you do for work?” (94 points, 27 comments)
4. 448 points, 5 submissions: camgirlmya
   
   1. "OMG you're still horny after your last private?!" (181 points, 92 comments)
   2. Almost didn't login today... then I did and made $110/hr! Yay! (114 points, 21 comments)
   3. Does camming ever make you feel like a hypocrite when it comes to your values/morals? (65 points, 51 comments)
   4. As a camgirl, do you wish there were more content about camgirl problems and how to start? (56 points, 25 comments)
   5. Friendly reminder to clean your laptop/computer cords & everrrrrything you touch 😅 (32 points, 9 comments)
5. 436 points, 8 submissions: Aemberflyx
   
   1. Adult Selling Sites Content Restrictions: Update July 8th, 2022 (108 points, 20 comments)
   2. BASIC RULE BREAKDOWN (93 points, 8 comments)
   3. streamate placement how it works (79 points, 2 comments)
   4. New rules, please review! (49 points, 1 comment)
   5. RESTRICT Act (28 points, 1 comment)
   6. ADVERTISING TIPS (27 points, 2 comments)
   7. How much money can I make Camming? (26 points, 28 comments)
   8. How to improve your shows- a fabulous resource for new cammers (26 points, 4 comments)
6. 415 points, 5 submissions: s_leanne_
   
   1. A guy on CB put a smiley face and a HAT on his penis (189 points, 16 comments)
   2. I had my first “whale” last night! (128 points, 21 comments)
   3. SCAM ALERT: CB user saying his alt account is a big tipper (44 points, 5 comments)
   4. Didn’t want to mention that I cammed, and totally got busted by my roommate last night (29 points, 6 comments)
   5. How do you avoid sore muscles after a cam session? (25 points, 8 comments)
7. 413 points, 7 submissions: thetiny_blue
   
   1. Well, that happened (99 points, 30 comments)
   2. Out earned my partner (94 points, 15 comments)
   3. Custom videos - you don't gotta do it (81 points, 20 comments)
   4. Lush success! (40 points, 9 comments)
   5. After cam care (37 points, 21 comments)
   6. First hard-core troll-y scammer! "I'm your dad" (33 points, 7 comments)
   7. Let's share some funny fixes... I'll start.. mid show period... (29 points, 20 comments)
8. 400 points, 1 submission: Affectionate_Bonus_1
   
   1. Started off with a laptop and no webcam now I have a whole studio 😂 (400 points, 107 comments)
9. 389 points, 5 submissions: PRINCESSALASKA21
   
   1. total transparency as a full time cam model (135 points, 81 comments)
   2. a detailed break down of my work week (89 points, 30 comments)
   3. things i wish i would’ve known when i started camming pt. 2 (69 points, 37 comments)
   4. things i wish i would’ve known when i started camming (68 points, 17 comments)
   5. hacks for sextpanther (28 points, 5 comments)
10. 364 points, 4 submissions: dublinrae1
    
    1. Break station in my room (147 points, 25 comments)
    2. Ikea cart (105 points, 20 comments)
    3. Why do they ask where we live?!? (60 points, 45 comments)
    4. First sleep show last night (52 points, 20 comments)

Top Commenters

1. beywatch222 (1253 points, 204 comments)
2. XGrayson_DrakeX (1051 points, 128 comments)
3. Jade_Next_Door (944 points, 91 comments)
4. Altruistic_Tea_205 (858 points, 125 comments)
5. girlrosietta (813 points, 150 comments)
6. Viiibrations (794 points, 61 comments)
7. thetiny_blue (661 points, 105 comments)
8. TheRealRoseDallas (643 points, 90 comments)
9. DangerDarling79 (614 points, 88 comments)
10. CheeseburgerJesus71 (604 points, 68 comments)

Top Submissions

1. Started off with a laptop and no webcam now I have a whole studio 😂 by Affectionate_Bonus_1 (400 points, 107 comments)
2. I went from making $1k a year on OF to making more then that weekly and this is exactly what I did differently… by deleted (347 points, 136 comments)
3. I made a "content closet"! by SenoraSmoke (305 points, 50 comments)
4. I compiled a list of selling subs and nsfw subs that are helpful for getting karma in if you need to meet selling requirements by laurelsagexo (281 points, 48 comments)
5. 2020 Cam Girl Salary Survey Results by maxjanderson (265 points, 44 comments)
6. Paid off my student loans!! by routercatgun (257 points, 39 comments)
7. My cam room set up is finally complete!! Thoughts? by lana_babyy (249 points, 46 comments)
8. PSA To the girls who do everything in 2 minutes. I'm posting this for advice by HappyGirl7777 (248 points, 86 comments)
9. Just your daily reminder to block/ban anyone for any reason by searchwandernonsense (234 points, 20 comments)
10. Must Read for All Models (Especially Beginners) by Jade_Next_Door (233 points, 54 comments)

Top Comments

1. 143 points: XGrayson_DrakeX's comment in Ex cam girl here. An old regular from 8 years ago found my business IG somehow, sent recordings of my sex shows to me and my current boyfriend... mortified
2. 108 points: lilscottishgal's comment in Boyfriend was ok with me camming. But now uses it against me. What should I do?
3. 107 points: mistress_margotpain's comment in Should boyfriend be allowed to talk to other girls because I cam?
4. 106 points: lunakelly's comment in Open relationship because of camming?
5. 103 points: TheRealRoseDallas's comment in Raise your rates. Seriously, I can’t stress this enough.
6. 102 points: Minnie_moonie's comment in Scared, customer pmed me my real name. Please help
7. 100 points: No-Celebration5377's comment in "OMG you're still horny after your last private?!"
8. 99 points: Samantha38g's comment in Racial role play. Im white & I have multiple black men messaging me several times a day on chaturbate asking if i will call them a racial slur during a private show?
9. 95 points: deleted's comment in What type of opportunities/achievements has cam brought you?
10. 94 points: princ333sa's comment in Friendly reminder DO NOT RESPOND

Generated with BBoe's Subreddit Stats

I've seen a number of people complaining and lamenting that the strike has failed and we should just log back on. It's been ONE DAY guys. This isn't going to be immediately effective, Gaijin spoofed the numbers to specifically needle us and make us doubt our resolve. DONT BREAK!
In regards to a Mod breaking the boycott? Who cares! We have all sorts of "constitutions" playing the game and in the Union, we can't have an actual picket line to stop bodies entering the Snail Sucking Factory. Premium days burning a hole in your pocket? Daily logins weighing on your mind? That's a choice for YOU to make, but I for one won't give in on pure principal. Gaijin are underhanded and skiving, they KNOW people are hooked on this game and use that to squeeze out dollars.
The Union is based around collective opinion and common sentiment, and so far as I can see that hasn't changed at the core of things. People relapsing or being snide about lack of effect are just more reliant on the game as an extension of themselves imo, I won't knock them for that... I will knock them for being so publicly bitch-made!
HARDEN UP! HOLD THE POINT! SALT THE SNAIL!

Hello everyone, re-post from another reddit forum thing, but I really need some help here. Recently my computer has been like shutting off and restarting within the span of like 10 seconds. The fans slow down, monitor goes black, fan lights stay on. Then a few seconds later the fans start speeding up and the fans seem to stay on the entire time (light/color wise), then they speed up again. My monitor then pops on and I'm back at the login screen. I thought it was a GPU overheating issue with some research. So I brought it into microcenter and they did a stress test on the GPU and the CPU. The issue never happened there even under stress test. This issue mainly happened when I opened RUST (game on steam) and tried joining a server, sometimes while I'm in a server, but mainly when joining one. Sometimes without rust even running. Issues never happened there. Anyways I asked and one of the guys there and they recommended to have the outlet looked at due to it maybe having a short or something, either way he recommended to get a battery backup that'd keep it running even when it went out that one second. I got a cyberpower 910 watt (guy recommended 600 for my pc specs but I went a little higher because I feel like I never can be too careful) I think. Anyways I set it up how it told me, anyways after setting it up I started my computer and went to try rust again, and once again the issue happens again. I also forgot to mention I plugged it into a different outlet which I am 97% sure is connected to a completely different circuit in the house so it shouldn't have any issue. My GPU idles around 50-55 C, and when playing my game (and working fine) I believe around 60-70. At this point I have no idea whats going on, and could really use help from anyone.

No. 1: That man can SING
Okay, this is the big one, and we have finally made it to Chris Colfer's 33rd birthday! Happy Birthday Chris!!
For my final post I wanted to do an in-depth analysis of Colfer's voice. There is a lot to unpack, and having majored in vocal performance, I hope I am somewhat qualified to do so. So, let's dive in.
Vocal Range: A2 - Bb5
First of all, Chris has a range of over three octaves. In Glee, his lowest note was A2 in Give up The Funk, and his highest note was G5 in Not The Boy Next Door. In this clip from 2010, Chris gets up and sings with a bar performer, reaching a Bb5 - three semitones higher than he ever got to sing in the show.
Chris is often described as either a 'male Soprano' or, somewhat more accurately, a 'Countertenor'. Both of these terms of course are intending to describe the uncommon heights of his voice, however they fail to describe the full scope of his vocal ability. The Countertenor range is G3 - E5, which is just over half of Chris' range; we're talking 21 notes vs. his 38 notes. Probably more. Definitely more.
Some vocal practitioners (myself included) are actually moving away from classifying voice types altogether, opting for a more holistic approach to vocal development, where the historically expected range limitations are removed, and a well-rounded, fully utilised instrument is developed.
Here is an academic article from 2014 about the greater depths to voice classification; well worth a read if this stuff interests you (let me know if for some reason the link doesn't work - it shouldn't require a login).
So, I much prefer to refrain from giving a name to describe Colfer's voice type. I refuse to put limitations or expectations around something that has already burst the doors wide open.
What I can do, however, is delve into the rich complexities of Colfer's various registers and resonances.
The Depths
Only a handful of times in the show are we truly graced with Colfer's lowest notes. At the beginning and end of Give Up the Funk, we hear Chris repeat that low A2.
It actually blows my mind that it's really him singing those notes. I would believe it was edited if it weren't for a radio interview he did shortly after the end of Season 1. The interviewer brings this song up, and Chris repeats the vocal line live. I really want to link this interview, but cannot find it anywhere! Someone please link it below if you know where it is.
In Daydream Believer, Chris sings a low C3, which is only three notes higher than the A2 from Give Up The Funk. So really, it's not as much of a stretch as it feels it should be. The tonal quality of the C3 is fairly relaxed and natural, as it is at the bottom of a descending phrase - he is coming from his middle range. The A2 from GUTF is the first note of the song, and the phrase he sings doesn't go much higher than it. It is also clear he is intentionally emphasising the notes as very 'tubular'* for that song. It certainly drops jaws and raises eyebrows - and it's meant to!
*That is not the technical term, but it's the only word that felt like an accurate descriptor! Lol. What he's physically doing is widening his vocal tract, retracting his ventricular folds to allow deeper resonance of the low notes.
Singers really only have two options when it comes to the bottom of their range. They can either sing with a breathy tone - listen to Darren's C3s in Daydream Believer to compare (he opts for breathy, and it's lovely) - or they can use a soft, full voice as Chris does. You let your voice drop down to the note, keeping your soft palate high and chin level. (The C3s in DdB are on the words 'sings', 'eyes', 'steed' and 'spend', in the verses.)
Technically there is a third option, which is to force out the note loudly (most often with a dropped chin), but doing so will just result in vocal damage. So... Please don't do that. If you're wanting a deeper tone, look into ventricular fold retraction as I described above.
Other notable low notes can be found in 4 Minutes, Perfect, Just The Way You Are, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, and Story of My Life.
The Centre
It doesn't feel right to describe this next portion as just 'The Centre', but for the sake of simplicity, I'll describe the majority of his range here within a few sub-categories.
It's likely you are familiar with the concepts of 'chest voice' and 'head voice', and whilst these are not perfect descriptors - more accurate terms are 'thick fold' (chest) and 'thin fold' (head) - they are more immediately identifiable, so I'll use them here regardless.
Everyone has the capacity to sing in both chest and head voices, and for every voice, there is a range of notes where you can sing them in either register. The decision about which vocal quality to use is informed by the direction of the musical phrasing (which I alluded to earlier) and the context of the note amongst others. Singing one high note in head voice amongst a whole lot of slightly lower chest voice notes can make it stick out like a sore thumb (wink), so then you've got to choose to either work on getting that note into chest voice too, or adjust some surrounding notes to be head voice instead. You can test this yourself by gently humming a siren. Start at a mid-low note, using the same kind of voice as how you speak, and slide up higher, paying attention to when your voice changes from chest to head, then slide back down and notice where the change happens. It's most likely a different note. It's also likely it felt uncomfortable or unstable on the way down, and you may have experienced a bit of a vocal crack. That's normal. Just do a little puppy whimpering and try it again. Better? If you're already an accomplished singer and are rolling your eyes at this, just go with me. I'm passionate about helping everyone learn to sing, lol.
When I do this exercise, I notice that by G4 I am having to transition to head voice on the way up (unless I engage nasal resonance or mixed voice), but then transition to chest voice on Db4 on the way back down. I have gone to the lengths of describing this (what we call a vocal passaggio) so that you can more earnestly appreciate how I next describe Chris' capabilities.
The 'Centre' of Chris' voice starts around F3 (the word 'twice', at the start of Perfect) in a chest resonance, and transitions to head voice around Bb4 (Not The Boy Next Door is a fantastic example of how seamless his transitions are - I'm so jealous). That is on ascending phrases, where the notes climb higher and higher, and Chris continually engages his nasal resonance (or mix) to extend his chest register and apply full-voice thick-fold resonance to notes that require that oomph.
In the other direction, the 'Centre' of Chris' voice ends around D#5, starting to transition to 'The Heights' at E5 (which I'll get to). On descending phrases, he is able to carry his head voice down exceptionally low (take the end of I Have Nothing, where he sings an Eb4 in head voice at the bottom of a run, or in A House Is Not A Home, where he sings a C4 in head voice on the first 'ends' after Cory's line). Take the exercise from before, but try to keep singing in your head voice as low as you can. Try the other direction but sing in your chest voice for as long as you can. It's tricky, and you need to really know what you're doing to bridge the gaps that our voices tend to 'naturally' have.
Colfer is someone who really does know what he's doing.
My top Kurt solos to exhibit this are Not The Boy Next Door, I Have Nothing, I'm The Greatest Star and Some People. Other songs where this skill is prominent are Love Shack, For Good, Popular, Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy, Don't Cry For Me Argentina and Defying Gravity. The transitions and extensions between registers or resonances in the centre of his voice are phenomenal, and I get so mad when people say he's not a good singer. Like really, the man's got vocal skill pouring out his ears, and some people dare to say he doesn't sound good? What planet are you on??
Ahem.
Go listen to those songs and pay attention to what I've described above. Each note is carefully constructed to be sung in either chest or head voice, depending on its position in the musical phrase, the mood of the song, or the words that need to be emphasised, all so that his voice always sounds magnificent, and the phrasing doesn't sound choppy as he goes between registers. I constantly work on this as a singer, and I can tell that he has worked on it, too, to the point of absolute refinement.
The Heights
This is again, not a technical term, but I like to be a little poetic. This is the part of his range that is only accessed in head voice; and what really makes him stand out, putting him amongst the likes of Prince, Michael Jackson, Frankie Valli, Barry Gibb, Mitch Grassi (although Mitch is two years younger than Chris, lol - he's the guy with the high voice in Pentatonix).
I almost don't know what to say about this part. It's simply mind-blowing. I love how Chris took something that he was made fun of, and honed it to become a real money-maker. Seriously. It makes me look at myself to find what exists that I view as limitations, but could actually be turned into something revolutionary.
He has the ability to sing notes that most normally only people AFAB can access. He has this ability naturally, with his vocal folds essentially being shorter than the majority of men post-puberty, but he worked so, so hard to make it a true talent of his.
The most incredible high notes he has are in many of the same songs as before, but I'd like to also mention his parts in It's All Over, Take On Me, and of course that amazing note at the end of Le Jazz Hot.
Dear Mr. Colfer, if you ever, ever see this, I just want you to know that you have so inspired me. I used to think I couldn't sing the songs I wanted to sing, but then you came along and showed me that my voice (cis-female, massive range and great head-voice, but little to no belting ability) might just actually be worth listening to. I am now a singing teacher and a school librarian, and yep, you are the reason for pretty much all of that. Thank you, and happy 33rd birthday <3
P.S. It happens to be my birthday tomorrow, so I dunno, maybe we were twins separated at birth by five years. Lol. I'm going to bed <3
EDITED for typos, syntax, clarification and correcting for inclusive language after a good night's sleep and a re-read, lol.

Apologies this is late, I completely lost track of the date/time difference!
Disclaimer: I am very grateful to have had a lot of parental assistance over the years and also have serious mental health diagnosis, both of these flavour my money choices heavily (e.g. private healthcare and lack of car loan/insurance)
I am also heavily pregnant so please excuse any baby brain related errors!
​
START SCENE
Retirement Balance: $62,000
Equity: $35k of a $680k property, we bought our 3 bedroom apartment last year using my parents’ equity, so no deposit was required.
Savings account balance: 20k - a lot of health/baby related costs have come out of it lately!
Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it): $800 which I pay off each monthly pay, if it wasn’t for the grocery rebates I’d consider getting rid of it.
Student loan debt (HECS): BA in passion/fun area, then IT/Accounting degree, very proud to say I am down to my final $19k!
My husband P earns around $90,000 in healthcare but can be more with overtime, he has around $30k in super and his HECS debt is due to be wiped out following our recent election so won’t be including that.
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: I had been working in retail full time after loving full time work instead of uni, until my transition to IT so started as a retail casual worker on $30k 10 years ago and changed to IT 6 years ago, jumping from $55k to $95k in that time, mostly through promotions, 1 company merger and 2 company changes.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: I am paid $5200 monthly and P is paid fortnightly at $2400 to $3000 depending on his shifts. Both our pay excludes tax, HECS payment and medicare levy, his pay includes salary packaging.
Section Three: Expenses
Mortgage: 3150 (locked rate until next year, pending interest rise)
Savings contribution: $500
Donations: $25-75 a month mostly to various MH organisations
Electric/Council/Water: 400 (we’re currently overpaying ahead of Mat leave)
Internet/our mobile phones: $320 (we’re currently overpaying ahead of Mat leave)
Subscriptions (Newspapers (NYT, SMH), Youtube, Xbox, online backups/cloud, VPN, pregnancy app, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Bitlocker, UberOne, Spotify Duo): $110
Private Health insurance: $420 for Top CoveTop Extras + pregnancy
Car insurance: covered in my parents plan, our car was a gift from my parents
Regular therapy: Psychologist $220/fortnight and psychiatrist $280/quarter
Transfer to P for things like fuel: $500
7 Day Money diary:
Thursday:
5am
I’m staring at the ceiling while the baby kicks my kidney, P snoring next to me, contemplating my existence. I’m trying not to start ‘the list’ run through in my head (buy milk, have I booked my next blood test, where is my winter coat, etc).
5.30am
Give up on sleep and get up for the day, I make a weak coffee for me and a regular coffee for P (I like the taste of coffee, weak lets me have 2-3 cups throughout the day without hitting my pregnant caffeine limit) and start packing up my lunch and bags for work. It’s OB day so I won’t be in the office until 10am today.
9am
After a dance party in the car we’re at the OB, all good news and another list of final scans and tests, we’re now in the downhill run! I pay for my last half of (private) OB management fee since we’re passed 28 weeks now. ($2500 (Medicare rebate soon: $580))
Stop at a bakery to treat myself before work, danishes are the breakfast of champions! ($12.00)
2pm
Last vendor meeting of the day, and i’m ready to take a nap. I’ve decided to spend the rest of the afternoon working on my handover document, I’ve only got 8 weeks to go before Mat leave!
3pm
Text my psych to convert our Saturday afternoon to a Zoom call, I’m not up for extra waddling to the train this week.
5pm
Spend the train ride home working on my crackhead baby spreadsheet (colour-coded, multi tabbed, shopping list, meal prep list, etc) and researching baby items.
P meets me at the station to grab my bags and we walk home, well he walks ahead and I move at a more stately pace.
7pm
Crawl into bed with a bowl of pasta and Ambulance UK on the iPad, kitten at my feet, older cat at my hip. Eventually P awkwardly maneuvers around blankets, my pregnancy pillow and cats.
11pm
Spontaneously adding to my online chemist wishlist of things I need for post birth and hospital bag. Cats and P grumble when I once again get up to pee, pregnancy feels so glamorous now.
Total: 2512.00 (pending MR)
Friday:
6am
Wander around the apartment with coffee in hand and contemplate the nursery layout options, I’ll measure it all tonight and make a floor plan so I can visualise it better. After boarding the train, I scroll through my due date Bump Group on Discord and catch up on the topics, many of the mum’s are NA based so the chat pops off 12am - 4am my time. I message a few friends and my bestie spams me with tiktoks. We tell a few dark MH jokes and I try not to laugh on the train.
8am
Arrive at the office, coffee number 2 in hand and I jump into a few Teams chats with various groups, including my manager and counterparts in another city’s office. They’re in a different time zone ahead of us so they flag any issues that started earlier our time and I’m grateful.
1.30pm
Where the hell did today go? I’ve barely left my desk and can’t believe the amount of firefighting I’ve been doing today, following up vendors, coordinating fallback solutions for outages, soothing ruffled feathers and talking team off the ledge in stressful situations.
I’ve definitely not eaten enough today and decide to place an ubereats order instead of raiding my mini fridge stash - Subway it is! ($18.97)
I spend my lunch break reading my latest pregnancy/birth book (The Complete Australian Guide to Pregnancy and Birth) and it’s honestly my favourite one I’ve read so far. I’m also a big fan of the podcast the authors run. I have queued up this week’s episode for the trip home as the mum featured has a similar mental health issue to me and I’m excited to hear her journey, also to get ideas for things to raise with my care team.
5pm
Security protocols kick us out of the office building and I am thrilled to escape! P picks me up from work since he’s off today, and my hips and feet are very grateful. There’s a quick stop in at Coles for pizza ingredients, milk and the very essential choc chip waffles. ($46.94)
Once we’re home P feeds the cats and unpacks while I get started on the bases, my birthday present last month was a KitchenAid and at the rate I’m going the cost per use is coming out pretty damn good! I leave the base to rise, pop my feet up and do my nightly blood pressure (127/82) which I log into my health app. I also add my weight from yesterday’s OB appointment and I'm thrilled to say I’ve stopped losing weight now the suspected HG has finally settled.
7pm
Take several brag photos of my pizzas #homemade and settled in front of the TV with blankets, footrest and P. I do send P back to the kitchen twice for serviettes and my water bottle, but once I’m settled, I’m not bloody moving.
I queue up the latest Top Chef (International All Stars Season 20) on Plex and get ready to support my fellow Aussie! P grumbles about my fixation with Top Chef, but all he gets is side eye in response. It’s a great episode for creativity, he even admits the winning dish is impressive. He vanishes the second the episode’s over for his office and a rewatch of the extended, super, mega, special edition of The Hobbit. I move on to Ambulance UK and annoy him over text with questions about the medical terminology being used.
8pm
Bedtime with a heat pack as my back is killing me! I try to convince P to come to bed and hold it against me since bubs is not allowing stomach laying anymore.
8.30pm
Success! P is helpfully holding it against me while I finish the episode and scroll the Iconic. Oh no! There’s now Stanley cups on there, I add it to my wishlist and promise myself I’ll think about it first. I want to also be a chic put together Stanley cup girlie!
Total: 65.91
Saturday:
3am
Back scrolling the Iconic and on a hunch check my credits (after rage returning maternity clothes a few weeks ago) and bingo there’s a credit there. I play around with wishlist items and stacking discounts, there’s a pale pink theme developing between the pink pregnancy overalls and the Stanley cup.
3.30am
Screw it, I’m ordering (10 points if you can guess what room of the apartment I made this order from) and it’s all due this afternoon except the pregnancy belt I've been grumbling about wanting. ($14.95)
9am
P brings me coffee, the kitten and the statement that he’s approved our Medicare Safety Net balance (he’s our primary family member) which means the rest of our refunds will be great going forward!! I’m very excited for 90% back on out of pocket costs for most medical things from now until December. Between my mental health and pregnancy I’ve beaten my normal record of September for the max you can pay OOP.
12pm
I’m sitting on the floor in the nursery trying to sort out piles of tiny clothes and remember to get P to help me off the floor before he heads to work. I head to the kitchen and start the bread process, I make our bread from scratch every weekend and the KitchenAid has made this sooo much easier. I decide one x1 wholemeal seed bread for P and x1 rosemary focaccia for me. Once they’re rising I head off to bed for a nap before therapy this afternoon.
3pm
I made myself some tea and washed my face to prepare for therapy as I woke up from my nap feeling like I was on another planet. I head into my office, no no now the nursery, damn I slightly tear up at the thought of my nice office now being a small desk in the corner. Well that can be another topic for my session today!
3.30pm
My psych and I go over all of the last 3 weeks worth of appointments with my health team and what my next steps are. I need to sort out my postpartum stay referral and lock in when I’m starting my top up meds. We talk through some of my work frustrations (not clear cut sexism but a level of obliviousness some of male managers are showing) and how I’m tracking mood/symptoms wise across the pregnancy. We’re both very aware that the final few weeks of pregnancy and the accompanying hormones can cause serious issues, so we go over warning signs and coping mechanisms. We go over the difference between ‘normal pregnancy feelings’ and my mental health condition feelings.($220)
4.30pm
Session done and my bread has all risen nicely despite the cold weather, I start the baking process and contemplate dinner. P is at work until 10pm so I’m on my own, which means all the Top Chef reruns and Ambulance UK my heart desires! I have a craving for spätzl so dig that out of the cupboard and defrost the schnitzel.
Iconic delivery!! I am officially a Stanley cup owner! I ordered the original, not the soft matte because Tiktok told me to, so I’m hoping I’ve made the right choice. Something about cold water through a straw just hits the spot. My glittery Starbucks cup looks on in disgust.
10pm
P finds me at my desk working on my spreadsheet of crazy, I mean baby, and is impressed but also too tired to focus on it now. I hear him calmly explain to the kitten that he can’t join him in the shower but he isn’t entirely successful.
We get into bed and P puts headphones in so I can drift off faster (or because I threatened more Ambulance UK? We’ll never know!).
Total: $234.95 (pending MR)
Sunday:
4am
And I’m up early again, my passenger is apparently an early riser these days which leads to me looking down and asking for more sleep “pleeeeease!” I try 37 positions and try to get comfy before finally drifting off again.
8am
I steal P’s dressing gown (mine’s now got an awkward gap due to the bump) and start the coffee process, the kitten joins me after finding a piece of plastic to pinball around the kitchen with, I am not coordinated enough these days to dodge him so I remove him and plastic to the living room.
I’m craving an egg muffin so I cook some sausages, eggs and toast english muffins and enjoy a mindless tiktok scroll while I eat.
12pm
I’m surprisingly tired after doing nothing all morning and head back to bed for a nap. I really hope the tiredness isn’t a sign my illness from last week is back! I’ve got a support group meeting in a few hours so I set an alarm.
2pm
I join the support group Zoom and immediately hear about how many people are sick or recovering from some flu or cold thing. There’s a lot of bugs going around at the moment! I meet some new people who have the same disorder or same ‘family’ of disorders as me and I update the group on my pregnancy journey. I really bond with 2 of the new ladies and I offer my email up to both to keep in touch before next week’s meeting.
5pm
I’m happily browsing Facebook Marketplace for baby things when Mum calls, she’s been shopping for baby (uh oh) and is excited to tell me about it. Amazingly she’s bought a bedside bassinet very similar to the one I was planning on buying secondhand and a safari themed lamp for the nursery. She’s also ended up with a high chair for their house on the coast and a bunch of themed fabric for swaddles, pillows, etc.
Total: 0.00 thanks Mum!
Monday
7am
I wake with my alarm for once, which would be odd except for how awful I feel. I end up deciding to call in sick, the flu thing that knocked me around until early last week appears to be back. Pregnancy means lots of cold/flu meds etc are not an option so I can’t soldier on. I alert my manager, set my team up with urgent tasks, chuck my OOO on and crawl back into bed.
A few things debit like SMH and Youtube (accounted for in monthly expenses above)
10am
I open my phone to a flurry of emails on my personal account, OH! It’s healthcare cover day! We have finished all our waiting periods and the beacons are lit! Let the floodgates of services and information begin! Our hospital and health fund both email to welcome me to their online learning platforms.
11am
A nice lady from our health fund calls to give me the spiel. I'd normally be wary about what all these amazing services are going to cost, but it’s all covered! She tells me about the learning platform (Nourish), the sleep clinic calls I’ll get after the baby's arrival and the welcome pack I’m going to be mailed. I get my login details as soon as we hangup, another fun thing to explore tonight once I’m feeling human again.
P is amused by how excited I am for all this information, he does caution me against over planning/over researching which is something I’ve been working on with my psych. I struggle to find a good balance between planning for problems and over planning to the point of stress. It’s a work in progress. I suspect I’ll always have issues with control/over planning.
4pm
I’ve napped most of the day, dealt with 1 urgent work issue and am now getting access to the hospital’s learning platform (Cradle). I'm grateful they’re short 5-7 minute long videos so put some on the iPad while I make tea and toast before deciding to tackle the nursery again.
7pm
Mum calls about more baby things - they’ve bought me a change table!? I’m slightly annoyed then I’m thrilled - it’s a brand I like that’s normally $400 ish for $30 at auction yesterday (a Sunday afternoon family hobby). They've just collected it, they’re going to sand and paint it for me in a nice green for the safari nursery. Another thing ticked off the baby spreadsheet.
Dinner tonight was heated up leftovers, I’m too tired for cooking.
Hmm blood pressure is high, I hope this is just sickness related and log it in my app.
8pm
Bed time! Despite sleeping all day I am exhausted and pass out almost immediately.
Total: 0.00 thanks again Mum!
Tuesday
11am
I’m in the office however I cannot tell you what I’ve done today, it’s all a blur and when I sit down with my ipad to make notes for this money diary my brain goes blank. I scroll through my sent emails and can see I’ve sent 26 emails (herding a difficult vendor, setting up meetings for later in the week, submitting my sick leave for yesterday and setting up a new starter orientation). I make another coffee and realise the mini fridge hasn’t been restocked (because I am the one that stocks it each week sigh). I jump online and do a grocery order - yogurt, cheese, salami, tomato paste, sliced bread, babybel cheese, apples and several juices) (52.00) it’s due in next 2 hours.
1pm
I make myself toasted sandwiches and try not to eat the entire packet of babybel. My work lunch group tells hilarious stories from their level of the office and it’s a nice escape from my level’s workload.
2pm
I send off my psychiatrist's referral for my private postpartum care stay (1-3 weeks long) and check it’s all covered with my health care fund (it is!). The private place I’ll be staying at calls me to check in, advise me of next steps and to give me my tentative booking date of 1 week after birth. I’ve got a spare 20 mins so do my intake assessment with them over the phone and get the all clear to be accepted in a few weeks. I’ll get another assessment 2-4 days after I give birth just to make sure I’m still a good candidate. I look over the welcome pack, what to bring lists and advice on partner overnight stays that all hit my email when I hang up. I forward the relevant bits to P and jump back into work.
5pm
An afternoon of meetings meant I did no deep/focus work or work on my handover, but I accept that and move on. I top up my Opal card for the week (50.00) via the app and it’s loaded by the time I’m tapping on the train. I’d normally account for this in the expenses up top but my train trips are very sporadic right now due to pregnancy waddle, so I’ve been carpooling with coworkers and P has been collecting me if his shifts line up along with the occasional UbeShebah.
5.15pm
I’m pinged regarding a site issue and it looks like the site is down. I jump on via my phone and iPad while on the train, I also start my time tracker for out of hours work. I scrap the conference call between my team and the vendor at 6pm and instruct the site to rollover to fallback mode, my team member gets them online again. I email my manager a quick update and switch back to tiktok scrolling. I’m really enjoying not having to fight for a seat most train trips now since I’m so visibly pregnant!
6.30pm
P meets me at the station again, is horrified that I’m dragging 3 books, several cups to wash, my coat (I overheated on the train) and my iPad around in multiple bags, he snatches it all and we start the walk home.
He’s made bolognese and it is the best smell to walk into after a cold day! I smother mine in cheese and prop my feet up to depuff. Then I puppy dog eyes at him and he agrees to Ambulance UK, we’re now in the London seasons and I’m loving the big city vibes. He still cringes at the medical sounds, but takes the time to explain how these patients would be treated at his hospital after their ambulance trips. I enjoy his commentary and it adds a background I would never normally know about.
8pm
I take my blood pressure and it’s high for the 2nd night, I’m a bit concerned but trying not to stress. It’s not 160/100 aka get your butt to ED but it’s still over normal. I log it in my health app and make a note to monitor it and call the OB if it’s up again tomorrow.
I message a friend about his opinion of epidurals (since he does them all day) and ask for the dumbed down reality check, he’s been an amazing support this pregnancy so I know he’ll give me a great answer, and he replies back with all the pros/cons as well as the common issues and how they get fixed. He reminds me to ask my OB since I’ve got pregnancy hypertension, it’s likely I would almost benefit from that common side effect and I make a note in my phone to ask at the next appointment.
Total: $102.00
Wednesday
5am
Coffee, kitten pats, older cat snuggles and then a small cry because I forgot to wash my preferred pregnancy leggings. I thankfully remember I’ve got an onsite vendor meeting today so don’t dress like a potato! I still wear Stan Smith’s but a cute knit dress and scarf up top so I look presentable. I bathe in embryolisse cream after washing my face (fun pregnancy fact - you can develop dry skin patches that make you look like a lizard!) and actually put some makeup on (Charlotte Tilbury base, YSL touche elcat, innisfree powder, lancome mascara and CT blush) followed by Replica’s By the Fireplace perfume. Ready for battle!
7am
On the train scrolling through the morning reports, I’m relieved to see all systems are reporting green after a few small hiccups yesterday. I move onto discord and catch up the overnight conversations in bump group.
9am
Quick catchup with my team and then I spend the morning preparing for the big cross time zone/country catch up with all IT team leads also updating my WIP tracker. I obviously then forget to save it and rage stomp off to the kitchen to make conciliation coffee.
I rage shop for KitchenAid accessories but don’t actually buy anything and my manager comforts me over teams.
12pm
I’m wrapping up in person site meetings to see a bunch of messages from P, he’s grocery shopping and querying baby wipe brands. (One of the best tips I got was to buy a pack of nappies and wipes each grocery trip to build your stockpile so it’s not such a shock, since newborns go through 10 nappies a day!). I reply but I’m a bit late and he finishes in Aldi, Coles and the butchers for the next fortnight (389.23). I’m getting very over this cost of living price increase on basic things like milk. He’s a smart shopper so I know that he didn’t overdo it.
3pm
I’ve taken my blood pressure a few times today and it keeps coming back high. I ring the OB’s office and book in for tomorrow morning (spoiler: my blood pressure meds are increased and I’m asked to check in with my pregnancy nephrologist sooner)
4pm
What the hell is this debit? Oh it’s the meal delivery service I forgot to suspend this week, guess we’re going to be a bit overstocked on food this week. I’m just going to class this as idiot/baby brain tax. (69.95)
5pm
P collects me and I have a small cry in the carpark, he’s had the baby capsule installed and driven to collect me with it so I can see it. Things are starting to feel very real now! I practice removing it and carrying it up to the apartment when we get home.
Leftover bolognese for dinner and we do separate screen time. I head to my computer after a bit to review my spreadsheet, since P has smashed out a bunch of things today in Baby Bunting. Nappy bin, capsule + install and baby bath are all ticked off! I get the receipts off our emails to log the costs (375.16)
7pm
Mexican bowls for dinner and we decide to try out the new RPA reboot that’s recently come back to TV (from the 90s!). I honestly hate every minute of it, the talking heads are really cringe and after the gritty realism of Ambulance UK (and Nurses Down Under) I can’t cope with it. We switch over to Ambulance UK after 1 episode and discuss deleting the rest. I was also really disappointed by how “doctor focussed” it was to the point where the nurses and allied health professionals (physios, ambos, etc) were cut out of certain shots, but you could still see their hands or shoes, that’s just not reality in Australian healthcare they’re the people patients see 90% of the time! Okay getting off my soapbox now.
8pm
I start my out of hours tracker and handle an issue for a site 3 hours behind me, in the end the onsite team and I get our part done, one of the vendors does not. We decide to tackle it tomorrow and a flick off a complaint to our account manage regarding this vendor rep. I notice a few of my counterparts are all in a teams call in their timezone and realise they must be cutting over a new system since it’s so late their time. I make a note to not bother them first thing tomorrow since they’ll likely all be start late.
9pm
Yep blood pressure is still high, so I’m glad I’ve got the appointment booked for the first thing tomorrow. P takes it for me twice just in case I’m doing something wrong with the cuff but unfortunately it’s still high. I’ve finished my new pregnancy book and I would recommend it to any Aussie mums or dads to be out there, P even flicks through it.
Why are both cats trying to sit on me? Oh we forgot to feed them! I sort them out and all is well again in their world.
10pm
My glorious bed calls me to me and I bundle myself up in the blankets, scroll through tiktok and happy cry at birth videos.
Total: 834.34
END SCENE
Weekly Total: $3749.20
Food + Drink: 589.09
Fun / Entertainment: 0.00
Home + Health: 2720.00
Clothes + Beauty: 14.95
Transport: 50.00
Other (Baby): 375.16
REFLECTION:
Besides the health care costs, this is a pretty normal week for me! I’m obviously thrilled to hit the Medicare max as this makes things so much easier with health care costs. I feel really relieved to know all my future costs are being covered by private health or what isn't is at a higher rebate now. Seeing my hospital estimate last week (before private health covers 95%) was really confronting and made me briefly reconsider my choice to go private, but the things that are now covered by health fund are amazing and worth nearly $30k over the first 3 months of the baby's life (especially if we end up needing special care nursery).
I’m pretty impressed about how many wtf and ffs I say in real life that I’ve removed from this diary. I find the Aussie approach to swearing can be a bit relaxed haha, so I did my best for you guys!
The impact of the baby brain is very real, aside from mental blanks at work, I had to check things like my subscriptions and ask P a few times, since so much of it is bpay and auto-debit, I don’t pay attention to it! There’s a few charges we have always had historically like tolls and ubereats that we’ve cut way back over the past few months.
I'm also considering a "what it costs to have a private baby in Aus" as well as a follow up in a few months once I've settled into Maternity Leave life (minimum wage, not my current salary) because tracking was fascinating and I'm a data hoarder.
Happy to answer any questions in the comments if I've explained something poorly.

Hello, everyone, and hopefully the wider internet who didn't know about Rayark beforehand. I am a big fan of DEEMO and am new to this Cytus subreddit. This post is to clarify what is going on currently with Rayark and the use of A.I. tools, and clearing up some critical misinformation that threatens to poison the discussion with typical post-truth rhetoric.
I attempted to cross-post this from the truedeemo reddit, but I was not allowed to. Hopefully, this post is allowed regardless. If not, I apologise.

Background

As of this moment, there is a negative reaction towards Rayark for not only using A.I. image generation to create illustrations of low quality, but also supposedly firing their artists.
This claim is most commonly perpetuated through this tweet, which cites to a tweet citing this Korean tweet saying (DeepL), "The company that fired the entire art team to use AI is coming sooner than I thought". Another originating point of the discussion was from this tweet and the cited thread beforehand, which itself cites a Yahoo article talking generally on Cloud Computing A.I. in Taiwan, which the CTO of Rayark was invited to comment.
The claim is also being backed by a tweet from the former Art Director of Cytus II, Ching Yei, who's English tweet can be viewed here. Cbotme is being used as an example of an artist frustrated by the use of A.I. in a narrative about Rayark firing their artists.
As a result of these tweets, a narrative has been created where Rayark is firing their artists for A.I. image generation. Common interpretations of quotes from the Yahoo article include the CTO wanting to replace the traditional team-based collaboration model in favor of A.I. doing the work instead. Firing expensive wage or contract-based artists in favor of cheap A.I. image generation tools is also another interpretation for quotes on improving efficiency, reducing costs, and increasing profits.
The narrative is anti-capitalist and rightfully considers the ethics of A.I. in game development and how it affects Rayark's employees. However, there is some extreme misinformation that needs to be corrected quickly before the entire discussion about Rayark and A.I. use is poisoned, and legitimate reasons to be frustrated at Rayark are overshadowed by post-truth rhetoric.

Is Rayark Replacing their Team of Artists for A.I.?

The answer is no, as of current public knowledge. How this conclusion came about could be from two specific paragraphs in the Yahoo article. I was given a human-made translation to further aid my comprehension of the quotes, but Google Translate and DeepL were more than satisfactory. The following were translated with just Google Translate.

Rhea Games Chief Technology Officer Zhong Zhiyuan pointed out that generative AI has had a great impact on the game industry. For example, in the past, the idea of ​​a game or the elements it wanted to make were all completed through the joint efforts of various professionals. However, now through Image-based AI generation will soon enable a module to be realized. He believes that in the short term, the game industry will be able to see a certain level of efficiency improvement due to generative AI. In the future era of AI prevalence , the production cost of many content is reduced, the profit will increase, and the entire content industry will become more competitive, but relatively terminal users will experience more and more advanced games. - 雷亞遊戲技術長鐘志遠指出，生成式AI 對遊戲業衝擊非常大，像是過去想要完成一個遊戲的 idea，或者想要做出怎樣的元素，都是經過各種專業人員合力完成，然而現在透過圖像式生成AI，很快的就可以讓一個模組付出實現，他認為短期之內可以看到遊戲行業因為生成式AI帶來某種層度效率上的提升，在未來這個 AI 盛行的時代，許多內容的生產成本降低，利潤就會增加，整個內容產業更加競爭，但是相對的終端的使用者會體驗到更多更進階的遊戲。
In terms of the game industry, Zhong Zhiyuan believes that those who are unwilling to accept changes in the AI ​​​​era, or who are still unable to fall into the "good" range, may eventually lose their competitiveness. For Rhea, he is still waiting to see how generative AI will affect the entire game industry. In terms of talent standards in the future, he thinks it will be a very natural evolution. He cited as an example 20 to 30 years ago when computers were popular. At that time, new employees would test typing and pinyin, and some companies even tested typing speed. Now, typing is a common ability. In the long enough future, AI will eventually It will be integrated into the society, and in the end, it may be the same as drinking water, which is everyone's "daily life". Then of course, the way the company judges talents will not be the same as in the past. - 在遊戲產業方面，鐘志遠認為，身處 AI 時代不願意接受變化、或者始終無法落在「好」的範圍的人，有可能最終會喪失競爭力。以雷亞來說，目前也都還在持續觀望生成式AI對整個遊戲產業造成怎麼樣的影響，而未來在人才的標準上，他認為就是一個非常自然的演變。他舉 20~30 年前電腦盛行時期為例，當時的新進員工會考打字跟拼音，甚至有些公司會考打字速度，而如今，打字就是一件稀鬆平常的能力一樣，在夠久的將來，AI 最終會融入在社會當中，最後可能跟喝水一樣，就是每個人的「日常」，那麼當然公司在判定人才的方式，也就不會跟過去一樣。

The idea of Rayark wanting to abolish the traditional system of teamwork for A.I. image generation comes from the notion that a new module of production will come to the industry as a result of A.I., and those who don't jump on now will lose their competitiveness. However, this notion does not in any way suggest that the artists at Rayark are being fired for A.I. tools. Rather, it is more likely that Rayark is encouraging (or pressuring) their employees to adopt A.I. tools and the "communicator" they had recently hired (source: original link archive). This pressure is to ensure Rayark and their employees remain competitive in a possible future where A.I. tools actually do dominate the industry. This notion is evident by the CTO's example of employees being tested on digital literacy skills at a time where digitization was sweeping the work industry. The digital society is now the modern day. Rayark believes that building digital literacy skills for A.I. tools is the same kind of progression as the digital computer, and therefore, are preparing for its possible future.

Is Rayark Sacrificing their Artistic Integrity for Greed?

While the CTO says nothing about the artists being fired, he doesn't mention how Rayark is keeping their artistic integrity. The CTO has a clear focus on reducing costs and driving profits, and we are seeing poor-quality generated illustrations that rightfully upset us and scream shoe-string budget. But what exactly is happening at Rayark? Unfortunately, we do not know what Rayark plans to do with this supposed "new module" and what they are currently doing to maintain artistic integrity. The end results matter to the costumer, not the process or intent. Therefore, we can be rightfully be upset about the final illustrations.
What I can say, however, is that the simplest explanation can suffice for now until actual information from former and current employees in-the-know clarify things for us. With game development, there are various costs, such as employee wages, subscriptions to stuff like Adobe software and Google's Cloud, Slack chat, and so forth. As production continues, more of this money is spent in the hopes that a return can be made. The CTO is suggesting that the efficiency of A.I. tools can shorten production time, which naturally means less money spent, naturally meaning an easier time seeing returns. The less time it takes to reach the baseline quality expected of Rayark, the better. This scenario is supported by a similar talk to the CTO from the actual CEO of Rayark, Ming-Yang Yu, with the ChatGPT example (Google Translate).

Rhea Games CEO You Mingyang discussed how AI will change the game development process from the perspective of the game industry. For example, the composition of game products includes characters, props, icons, as well as the production of game advertisements and login pages. Through cooperation with AI, the development speed will be increased by more than 100 times. For example, you can let ChatGPT generate the moves of the character (such as the tricks of the witch), or provide the characteristics of the character, let it generate prompts/spells that can be drawn by AI, people only need to think and be proficient in how to communicate with AI, and the new job For example, "AI Communicator" was born. You Mingyang pointed out that with the assistance of AI, the workflow will change. In the past, the production of game characters usually consisted of deciding on the character design, drawing a draft, and finally finishing the draft. Now you can directly use AI to finish the draft after deciding on the character settings, and then adjust the character settings. "The time for reshuffling is coming, and companies that fail to keep up with the introduction of AI will be eliminated." - 雷亞遊戲執行長游名揚則從遊戲產業的角度討論，AI 會如何改變遊戲開發的流程。例如遊戲產品的構成包括人物、道具、icon，以及遊戲廣告、登入頁面的製作等，透過與 AI 協作，將使開發速度提升百倍以上。 例如可以讓 ChatGPT 生成角色的招式（例如巫女的招數），或是提供角色的特徵，讓它生成可用 AI 繪圖的 prompt／咒語，人只要發想以及熟練如何跟 AI 溝通即可，而新的工作如「AI 溝通師」因此而生。 游名揚指出，有 AI 的協助，工作流程將產生變革，以往製作遊戲角色通常是決定人設，繪製草稿，最後完稿。現在可以決定人設後直接使用 AI 完稿，再來調整人物設定。「重新洗牌的時間即將到來，沒有跟上 AI 導入的公司將被淘汰。」

Does this sound greedy? To the end user, the end product matters most. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that Rayark is being greedy because A.I. image generation posted on their social media and used in their games (mainly Cytus II) means that despite the quality issues, it is "good enough". To Rayark, it is possible that the quality issues being noticeable was unforeseen, especially for their newly hired A.I. communicator. Perhaps, there's a quality assurance issue, as Echo with the 6th finger in the 3.0 promotional image was deleted and edited out after, among other A.I. issues that could be quickly fixed. Because we don't know what is happening, we cannot assume what Rayark is doing to remedy the problem, if they are.

Are the Artists at Rayark Leaving Due to A.I.?

The answer is that we do not know yet, so we should not claim it is happening. The biggest example cited at the moment is Cbotme, a former employee at Rayark, being angry due to the use of A.I (English Twitter Weibo). However, despite the tweet intending to communicate the information in Korean to their English audience, some important context was missing. Cbotme is Ching Yeh, a former Art Director at Cytus II who left the company years before A.I. tools were in the public consciousness. Rather than being frustrated as a victim to A.I. tools, the frustration is at their previous hard work being soiled by A.I. tools. Therefore, Cbotme is not an example of an artist leaving or being fired by Rayark due to A.I. tools. Regardless, their opinion is perfectly valid, just not contingent to the actual employee situation at Rayark.
Another example I could find of a song artist for Cytus II was Kurokotei, who made Honeykill. They also tweeted their frustrations about A.I. being used by Rayark, and they also think A.I. is a genuine threat to artists who make a living out of art. This is also a perfectly valid concern, but it is not contingent to the actual employee situation at Rayark. That is the distinction that needs to me made clear: As of this moment, we do not know if artists at Rayark are leaving due to A.I.

How do the Employees/Artists Feel about Using A.I.?

The biggest issue with the discussion of this controversy is that the employees at Rayark, former or current, are likely under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and, therefore, can't answer our questions for legal reasons. The purpose of an NDA is to ensure trade secrets are kept under wraps, but it also prevents everyone but PR teams to speak for the company, as the careless actions of an individual can damage the reputation of a company.
There are examples of former employees expressing their personal frustration at Rayark for using A.I. tools, but there is next to no information about the exact details of how the tools are being used, how the employees feel about using the tools, if there have been rebellions against the use of A.I. tools in the company, if there is any bad blood between the employees and management, and so forth. Office politics is infamous in every company for being complicated, secretive, and making the public feel powerless in invoking change in a company.
Therefore, due to the lack of actual inside information expressed from recent former and ongoing employees, we can't claim that the employees, especially their artists, are suffering due to Rayark, that they are at risk of being fired, that they are being forced to use A.I. regardless of artistic integrity. It is genuinely frustrating, especially for me, who wants to be on the right side of history. This leads me to my next heading: about how misinformation which I described comes to be in the first place.

How Did Misinformation Get Spread About this Controversy?

Modern-day Rayark does not have the best reputation. DEEMO II's launch was utterly disastrous, with two big examples of failure being the gameplay LAGGING for a rhythm game, and FOMO'ing songs being sold at inflated prices. Cytus II is argued passionately by JOEZCafe to use almost every psychological trick in the book to frustrate and scare players into paying for the game. This includes but is not limited to making players fear being spoiled in communities they talk about the game in, if they choose not to buy the latest character pack with important story elements. Don't buy the pack for the story, can't talk in the community anymore. Implosion ZERO_DAY is a Kickstarter project that reached the funding it needed, but the anime film is yet to receive any release or even an update since 2019, borderline scamming people who invested into the project. Cytus II for Android users also wiped everyone's save during the 4.2 update, with many losing years of progress. Rayark's apology? One paid song pack. These are just a few examples of Rayark screwing over players deeply. Naturally, a lot of people will hate Rayark and want the company to be punished.
Not only is Rayark hated for just a few of these issues by many people, but many people also hate the possibility of A.I. taking over jobs, especially those for the art industry. Various reasons include A.I. art being soulless, rampant with ethical issues like using copyrighted works without permission. Though the benefits of using A.I. image generation have been recognized in work, outcry about what the technology means for one of the most human-associated professions is perfectly understandable. To see Rayark using A.I. image generation, talking about how a "new module" is imminent regarding traditional teamwork collaboration, how the adoption of A.I. will benefit business without mentioning anything about artistic integrity, and how people and companies will be "eliminated" if they don't adopt the technology now, is a perfect recipe for disaster. Not only will you have people with a personal vendetta against Rayark, but now people with a vendetta against A.I. art enter the mix. The last thing left was an accidental misinterpretation to set the fire, and people would create a fiction that fits every negative connotation possible: An incredibly capitalist company who only cares about money, no longer cares about producing good quality work, and is now sending artists out into the street because they're no longer economically viable.
It's a very gripping narrative that should mean the downfall of Rayark, the punishment they deserve. However, the actual reality of the situation is significantly less extreme. Rayark is not firing their employees. They're not being replaced by A.I. Those expressing their frustrations had already left the company before A.I. was in the public consciousness. This means there's some leeway for Rayark to wiggle through and not meet their downfall, as upsetting as that is to some people who call for their games to be pirated, that the company should never be supported again, and other calls for Rayark to crumble. It's post-truth rhetoric, where emotional content is more important than the actual facts at hand, a fact that would have been seen by visiting the original Yahoo link, reading through the article, not relying on secondary sources like Tweets, and considering a balance of what's good and bad about Rayark's current decisions.

What is Going to Happen Now?

The next few days, weeks, months, or years are going to be interesting. It is entirely possible that everything I said would be completely proven wrong by a sudden surprise appearance of a Rayark employee telling us the entire situation. Maybe Rayark themselves actually give a response. Maybe we never find out anything, and the entire controversy is forgotten. Regardless of what happens, what is important is keeping a healthy discussion about the topic. To keep a healthy discussion, we need to make sure we carefully do our research, consider alternative explanations and rationales, and criticise Rayark for things that actually do exist and happen. That is the overall point I wanted to make with this post as I continue to see singular tweets being spread around without the context required to understand them.
Please feel free to share anything that answers the headings in this post. Are there verified examples of Rayark firing their employees due to A.I.? Is Rayark intentionally sacrificing their artistic integrity and are driven by greed? Are the artists/employees at Rayark leaving due to the company's direction? Are there any other examples of former and current employees expressing their feelings about the situation? What would also be the reason that the misinformation continues to be spread, and if my interpretation of the Yahoo article is wrong? Please let me know amongst yourselves. I would love to see actual, genuine examples of Rayark being evil. If there is actual evidence, use it to destroy Rayark with all your might. Just make sure it is real. That is what's most important to a healthy discussion about this controversy.
I hope this post helped everyone get up-to-date about the situation, including those who didn't know Rayark beforehand. Thanks for reading!

So yesterday I found out that I couldn't log in to the web app as it returned with an error on the login page saying " An error has occurred. Traffic from your network looks unusual. Connect to a different network or try again later. [Error Code 7] " but still the saving new logins from the extension was working so I didn't really care about that much. But today when I was going to login to a website, Bitwarden said there were no saved logins for this website while I remember after I created the login Bitwarden asked to save it. So today I went ahead and reset the pw and created a new one and when I was gonna save that in the extension, it returned with the above error and doesn't save it. Anybody else having this problem too? Btw I don't use tor or a vpn or anything. Just a dns filter from nextdns only. Any help would be appreciated guys!

I accidentally added the wrong key to my cart and bought that. I accidentally bought a steam ACCOUNT by a store fulllIIIII of negative reviews. The store is Siastore on G2A. I don't care that it's an account I just want to play the game I bought. I was very confused when looking at the key. Then I've worked out that these details are apparently meant to be the login details... However, the log in details don't work. It says it has a steam account and 'pass. These don't work. It opens nothing at all. Then it has an email and pass and a site to login to access the email. Which is all in a language I can't read at all! How the hell am I meant to set up this steam account? How do I get in?? I'm confused and getting so frustrated. I've contact the seller and G2A and so far I have no response. Which is the same as what others have said they also dealt with. Has anyone bought one of these and actually been able to access it? It says you'll be emailed a guide. There is no guide. There's no instructions. I'm so over this.

Past day or so, i have been noticing my XP going up without having done anything to account for it. I have factored in pet care and diving and home rating and login bonus. I keep an open calculator and tally while playing.
Anyone else noticing this? Hey, i am not complaining and hope it keeps up but dang it feels like my sense of reality is being screwed with (and being mentally interesting it is not hard to do).

Hey guys,
EDIT: Brief note to emphasise I'm running BOTH W11 fully updated and LTSC, and so far LTSC is great at everything
Been playing with the win 4 since I got it a month ago trying to find a comfortable experience with the OS. Love the hardware (planning to flash the display with the usb method soon but only because I know there's an issue - haven't noticed it)
I immediately imaged the windows partition when I got it using a tool called Macrium Rescue. It's an ISO, I recommend it for decent backups. Then I installed "Atlas OS" which kept f-ing up the boot with what I now realise is its own script that removes a load of stuff and not a lack of drivers. Then I went back to the GPD install and stripped out all the bloat with a fantastic tool called "NTlite" (Be really careful with it if you have a go, it can DESTROY your os if you mess up) and that was ok. Then I reinstalled fresh W11 and sort of did the same thing but I just can't get on with W11. It feels like it has so much installed you can't remove that constantly does things you don't want - im never sure who WOULD want what it does but there must be a small group of people who play the weird online games that show up in the start menu and actually click the login screen tips right?)
So I used Gparted (another bootable ISO, linux based) to split the pre determined windows partition in half - 2x150Gb partitions - and tried out windows 10 LTSC edition. A quick summary of LTSC can be found here - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/ltsc-what-is-it-and-when-should-it-be-used/ba-p/293181 - But essentially its meant for installing on systems that don't want lots of updates and downtime so its also very bloat free. I know it has its risks etc but I'm not doing anything sensitive on this device and use 2f authentication everywhere.
I highly recommend giving it a go if you feel like your W11 Os is flabby, as you can essentially make a more compatible version of Holo OS / Steam OS by having it boot straight to steam big picture or just use it like windows 10 but without it offering you a one-drive subscription or telling you its cloudy all the time on the taskbar. Been stress testing it with RDR2 and it's doing amazing. 10fps more in testing than W11 but ive only checked it once. I find not looking at FPS means you always feel like it's looking good if you mess with the settings a little. One thing I will say is 60hz refresh rate is nice but 45 has been great all round too.
Anyway, if you can BUY a copy of windows 10 LTSC, and definitely not use torrent sites whatever those are, its the way to go in my humble opinion.
Brief steps for those interested. use at your own risk.
Backups / Repartitioning etc - lots of guides on this sort of thing online but be careful
If you've got all your drivers installed and working follow this, its easy ("Drivers for reinstalling Windows" section)
https://lucasc.me/post/aya-neo-tweaks#drivers
Otherwise they are all available on GPDs website
Create install USB for Windows 10 LTSC (Rufus is a great app, balena etcher and others out there) and install to the 300gb windows partition or your new one alongside windows 11 like me.
Windows update will find some drivers, but once that's done head to "device manager" and right click the ones that it can't find drivers for - update drivers - point it at your backed up folder and it will do the rest, Its only a few but you can't do them all at once
The last essential thing is "AMD software adrenaline edition" that will sort your graphics drivers and chipset drivers.
https://www.amd.com/en/support/apu/amd-ryzen-processors/amd-ryzen-7-mobile-processors-radeon-graphics/amd-ryzen-7-6800u
Following that, anything you like, I do MSI afterburner for stats, Ccleaner for cleaning and there apps on the GPD website you might want like motion assistant etc but ive been using Cyphray's BAT files for TDP

Feel free to ask me anything, I'll do my best. Im no expert, just a lucky experimenter it seems

​

And its true. I would say Apex Legends and League of Legends, dispite how you may feel about them, are the most successful f2p games we have at the moment.
Both games only sell cosmetics, every playable character is available to be earned at a reasonable speed, apex especially, new guns are added to the entire arsenal, no perks for paying, loot boxes are openable without paying. Earnable currency is not gated and reasonable amounts are given for just playing - you dont have to consistently perform at the top percentile all of the time just to make money. There are no arbitrary cool downs to characters which means even if you get absolutely destroyed, you can queue right back up for another match.
This is how f2p should be handled, every system is geared towards getting the player to actually play the game, not punishing then for not paying. War Thunder has premium accounts, premium vehicles and premium rewards yet completely due their own greed theyve warped the economy so much that its not even lucrative enough to play while paying for these assets (which are supposed to speed the grind up) while also double dicking free players.
What Gaijin has done has put a time limit on War Thunder's life span. As higher tiers get more ridiculous, players who dont outright leave will begin to migrate to lower tiers. As new players join they will run into a wall of experienced players with full upgraded vehicles who they cannot hope to compete with. While getting their asses beat whole sale, they will learn that high tier is such a mess that not even whales want to play them - the incentive to continue the grind is completely nullified, the new players quit without spending a cent.
This is the inevitable future in store for this game that will approach at a much faster pace than even Gaijin could anticipate. This is why this protest is so important. Gaijin is not thinking about the future of their own product, only about the next quarter's profits. We are the ones who want to see this game last another 10 years, we are the ones who played daily, who researched and shared knowledge to balance vehicles (sometimes to the detriment of our countries' national security, the idiots).
And now we are doing what we can to hit Gaijin in the wallet as it seems to be the only thing they care about anymore. It has to be us, the redirection needed will not come from Anton or Kirill, the devs will not stage their own protest for the game, the shareholders only care about the money. It is up to the players, it is up to us.
No logins for the next two weeks, cancel your premium time and not one more dollar paid to the snail until actual concrete changes are in place!
We are on the right path, if we continue to push they will yield or the decisionswill send this game into an unrecoverable flat spin.
Continue the fight and be proud! What we do is for all aviators, tanker and sailors(i guess) who enjoy this game.

How safe is your blog right now? Like any website, blogs are vulnerable to security issues. At any given moment, your blog could come under attack from hackers, malware, or countless other threats you may not even know about.

With over 30,000 website hacking incidents reported daily and an estimated $10 trillion in annual damage expected by 2025 because of cybercrime, blog security has become more important than ever.
From protecting your users’ data to keeping your content safe and secure, understanding how to improve your blog security protects you from online harm, lets your readers know they’re visiting a secure site, and even helps with SEO.
Almost half of all cybercrime attacks target small businesses like blogs, and many bloggers don’t have the resources to recover from an attack on their websites. So, how do you secure your blog so we don’t have to face the threat of an attack?
Most bloggers don’t even realize where their sites are most vulnerable, leaving the door open for hackers, thieves, and shady characters to sneak in. While most of us have taken care of the blog security basics, protecting a blog or website is more complex than you think.
In this article, we’ll look at the most common and damaging blog security threats bloggers face today. We’ll unpack how to check up on your blog’s current security status, what you can do to improve it, the most useful blog security tips and how to ensure your blog is safely secured and protected.

Blog Security & Why It’s Important

​
As big businesses, agencies, and corporates have doubled down on keeping their online assets safe, cybercriminals are finding it more difficult to break into company websites and databases.
This means that digital criminals are focusing on the growing blogging industry as a lucrative target. With more and more people generating bigger revenues, larger followings, and extensive databases through their blogs, blog websites have become a prime target – especially those who don’t have the expertise or expensive resources to protect them.
The State of Blog Security
How to improve your blog security is an often-overlooked aspect of blogging that can have devastating consequences if ignored. With 43% of all cyber-attacks aimed at small businesses and an increase in almost every cybercrime category, staying up to date can be tough.
Unfortunately, most bloggers are creative professionals, unskilled in the art of fighting online security threats.
Thankfully, we can take some basic steps to shore up our frontline defenses and cover off any blog security threats, gaps and vulnerabilities.
Impact of Poor Blog Security
Privacy and user data protection are critical to ensuring your blogging success. You can be held liable if your user’s data is stolen, and negligence in keeping it safe can even lead to your blog being shut down.
Hackers love to take control of websites, publishing mischievous content and offensive posts, effectively destroying your brand just because they can. And if your blog covers YMYL content, you could end up in hot water as a result.
And lax site security will negatively impact your blog’s SEO, not to mention the damage the perception of an unsecured blog site will have on your brand. Always remember, users want to feel safe too.

Legal Blog Protection

​
Before we go any further in understanding how to secure your blog, it’s important to remember that blog security and legal protection go hand-in-hand. As much as you’re required to protect your blog from security threats, you must also protect yourself.
Legal blog protection comes in many forms. From disclosures and disclaimers to privacy policies and listing terms and conditions, legally protecting your blog is just as important as boosting your blog security.
Find out how to legally protect your blog here.

Blog Security Threats (& How They Can Harm You as a Blogger)

Blogs face many different threats. Since blogs are available for anyone to read and are often frequented by hundreds or thousands of visitors each month, they’re naturally exposed to myriad security risks.
As a general rule, the better your blog does and the more successful it is, the more likely you are to attract unwanted attention from online criminals. We look at some of these threats and break down how criminals and hackers use them to launch attacks on your blog.

Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks rank as the most common threat online, not just to bloggers but to everyone on the internet. Phishing attacks are responsible for 90% of all reported cybercrime, and this type of security threat is growing due to the ease and effectiveness of executing it. 91% of all phishing attacks launch with a phishing email, and phishing is an effective malware delivery system that is tough to combat.
Phishers, posing as legitimate contacts, send an email containing links or downloads. Once clicked or opened, these links and files give attackers access to sensitive information or infect your system with malware which allows them to access your sensitive data.

Password Attacks

Password attacks are a simple yet effective method criminals use to access your online profiles, networks, and more. Many people use weak passwords that are easy to guess or deploy the same passwords for multiple accounts.
Hackers use brute force tactics to guess passwords, and once they’re in, they can snoop around undetected, take control of an account by changing the password or blackmail you with the information they steal.

Malware

Malware is software written with the goal of harm to data or your devices. This software can access your computer or mobile device through various methods and channels. While phishing is the most popular method for getting malware into systems, you can be infected through unsecured networks, plugging into untrusted hardware, or downloading malware without even knowing about it.
Viruses, trojan programs, or spyware all fall into the malware category, each capable of significantly harming your computer or systems. Learning how to improve your blog security to face these risks off is essential.

Ransomware

This is malware-type software used to take control of your computer, laptop, or mobile device. Once a hacker is inside your system, they can lock you out of your device, encrypting your data, and demanding that you pay a cash ransom before they return access.
Some ransomware tactics include attackers who threaten to delete your files, share private data and content with others, or pose as you and do serious damage to your brand. Ransomware attacks have increased with the advent of cryptocurrencies, making it difficult to track attackers down after paying. These blog security threats can be the most damaging and stressful/

Data Theft

Data privacy is one of the biggest concerns among internet users. From simple email addresses to phone numbers, names, physical addresses, and personal preferences, armed with enough of your personal information, a criminal can steal your identity and wreak havoc with your life.
When your readers submit their information to you, they expect you to keep it safe. So when you suffer a data breach, any trust that once existed is wiped out in an instant. Protecting your user data as well as your own privacy is also a legal requirement for blog and website owners in many countries.
Steps for How to Improve Your Blog Security
​
Improving your blog security is a process. Once you’ve taken the necessary actions and ensured that your defenses are up and running, you’ll need to keep an eye on things to stay protected.
Here is an essential action checklist that you can begin with immediately to get your blog security up to speed.

1. Run a Blog Security Audit

A blog security audit allows you to review your current blog security status to better secure your blog. This first step is essential to help you understand where your existing security vulnerabilities are and what you’ll need to start focusing on to correct them. This
Confirm Your SSL Certificate – This is the first step every blogger should take in their security audit. An SSL certificate means that your connection is secure, and many browsers won’t let you access a site if it doesn’t have one. You can check yours here.
Check login activity –Look at your login activity to see if anyone has tried to log in maliciously. Check your email and text notifications for suspicious activity, and always check that you’re not using the default “Admin” username.
Assess your URLs – Many bloggers forget to change their default login URLs to unique ones, making it easy for hackers to force their way into the backend of your site.
Review your plugins – Hackers sometimes use old, unused, or unverified plugins to gain access to your website.
Check your antivirus – Antivirus software protects your computer and notifies you of potential threats.
Review your OS security settings – While most operating systems have built-in security, these measures can easily be deactivated without you even knowing.
Try to prioritize the most important security areas first. These are the security elements that, if compromised, would have a devastating effect on your blogging. This step should form part of your general website audit checklist.

2. Enable the Basics

Now that you’ve got an idea as to the basic security situation for your blog, you can begin taking action to beef up your protection. First, we look at the basic technical aspects.
Enable HTTPS encryption – Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a secure protocol that prevents data interceptions and connection interruptions while transferring data. But in order to enable the protocol, you’ll need an SSL certificate.
Get an SSL certificate – As mentioned, an SSL certificate means that you can safely transfer data between your website and the server without worrying about being hacked in the process. Here’s how to get your hands on one.
Tweak your login URL – Another hacker favorite is default login URLs that haven’t been changed. Reconfigure your login page URL to reduce the chances of hackers finding and attacking it.
While these basic security actions won’t turn your blog into a fortress, they are essential for laying the groundwork for your other security features.

3. Software, Non-Security Plugins, & Themes

Next security stop: Software. Outdated or unverified programs and apps present a massive risk to your blog. Think about deleting and getting rid of any unnecessary software and review the programs, plugins, themes, and apps you want to keep.
Update all software and download new program versions – Updating software is essential to keeping your data and blog safe. Providers regularly publish patches and updates that help protect against any identified weaknesses.
Get rid of old or unused plugins – Non-security plugins can pose a big threat to your blog. Hackers can use them to gain access to your site, so delete any untrusted, unused, or outdated plugins and only enable safe verified ones.
Review themes and delete old ones – Believe it or not, some themes are designed to provide malicious access to your site. These untrustworthy themes can be checked and verified by your host or website builder.
Almost all software and related programs can be checked and verified online. Be careful about what you install and be cautious (even with software that appears to be legitimate) about who you give permissions and access to.

4. Review, Update, & Change Passwords

On to passwords. Passwords have been around since before the internet was born, but they’re still one of the most effective access blockers – and among the most vulnerable. Good, strong passwords are a must for any blogger hoping to keep their sites safe, so updating and refreshing them is vital.
Choose varied, complex passwords – This is a security action most of us have been taught since we were kids. Don’t use the same password for more than one login, incorporate all the uppelower case, special character, and word-number combos you can think of, and be creative. Creating good passwords is essential.
Reset existing passwords – Changing up your passwords every now and again is an effective way of ensuring that any compromised ones are reset, blocking hackers and keeping them guessing.
Use a password manager – Remembering passwords can be difficult, especially if using complex combinations for multiple sites and portals. Secure password managers are a safe and effective way to safely store your passwords without forgetting them.
Also, consider enabling biometrics as an additional security feature for saving passwords. Never share your passwords with anyone unless absolutely necessary – rather, create new profiles or logins for people instead.

5. Use a Secure Hosting Service

Choosing a reputable hosting provider for blog websites is an absolute must for any serious blogger. But while server speed, uptime, and support are essential to enjoying the benefits of using a top hosting service, so is security. Hackers often target hosting services with vulnerabilities, gaining access to the site data of thousands of blogs and client information.
Look for hosting security features – Some hosting services prioritize security above all else. Check to see which providers provide what security features. From automatic backups to regular security scans, as a rule, the more expensive the service, the safer it is.
Check their track record – A hosting provider who has been hacked or breached in the past may not necessarily still be vulnerable, but it can mean they’re not 100% secure.
Consider using a dedicated server – While having your own dedicated server can get pretty expensive, there are still monetization opportunities for using one, and your blog will likely be a whole lot safer. The last thing you need is for someone sharing a server with you to have weak security, leaving the door open for a hacker to get in.
Verifying your web hosting service is an important step for any blogger, but many forget to check in on their security offerings. Consider paying for additional security features offered by your hosting service, and don’t forget to pick one based on your unique blogging and security needs.

6. Back Up Your Content

Thanks to the advent of cloud technologies, we can now safely store all of our content, user data, and information online without worrying about losing physically backed-up information in an event like a fire or flood. Backing up your information means that, even if you get hacked or lose everything to malware, you can still access and restore your data.
Hard backup the most important stuff – While cloud storage is extremely safe and secure, having a “Plan C” hard-backup solution (I.e. Backing up and encrypting your data on your own physical drives) for your most critical data is always a good idea, just in case.
Choose a secure cloud storage service – Most cloud storage backup solutions use end-to-end encryption and secure login access to keep your blog data safe. Some services, however, do not. Always check to ensure you’re using a reputable cloud storage service.
Enable automatic backup – Backing up is a mundane task many people forget to do regularly. Set up your backup solution to re-write your stored files as frequently as necessary.
Backing up your blog data and content safeguards against losing everything in the event that an attack devastates your blog. Regularly backing up your information to a secure location and ensuring it is kept safe means that you can pick up where you left off instead of having to start all over again.

Blog Security Tips & Options

​
Now that you know the basics behind how to improve your blog security, here are some of the options you have at your disposal. There are many other standard and advanced security features, services, programs, and tools you can use to enhance your overall blog protection, as well as for specific threats, but we’ve picked the option we think are the most accessible, affordable, and essential.

Security Plugins (for WordPress users)

WordPress-based websites use many plugins that are safe and secure. But adding one or more security plugins to your blog ensures you’re protected from most brute-force password attacks and hacking attempts. They do this by limiting login requests, reporting suspicious login activity, and blocking dodgy users.
Security plugins are also effective at stopping malware from infecting your website and system while ensuring that welcome search engine crawlers aren’t mistaken for potential hackers. Top security plugins for WordPress include:

• Wordfence Security
• iThemes Security
• Jetpack

Firewalls (WAF)

A web application firewall (WAF) protects against attacks and blog security threats on an app or website level. While most operating systems and networks use regular firewalls to block unwanted visitors on a DNS level, WAFs take things further by filtering out malicious requests to the blog website or associated apps.
The best WAFs are ideal for protecting your users’ data and payment information databases against attacks that come through your backend via apps and other sites.

2-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication methods follow a basic process: Request two separate identification methods before granting access. There are multiple options for standard authentication when using 2AF to secure your blog and login access:
Knowledge – Things you know (like your password)
Possession – Using something you have (like an OTP received on your smartphone)
Authentication– Proof that you are who you say you are (like using biometrics).
When two of these evidence factors are combined, your security is effectively doubled. Many 2FA methods have time limits, and some require logging in using separate devices.

Conclusion

As they say – if your house is more secure than the neighbors, you’re less likely to get robbed. Well, when it comes to how to improve your blog security, boosting your website security won’t completely stave off any unwanted invaders, but it will make your site a whole lot less attractive to hackers, malware, and other potential threats.
Always keep your security beefed up, regularly update and review your protection measures and scan for any threats or issues. Trust nobody unless you’re 100% sure you know who they are, and try to take every possible precaution. Blog security threats are real, and these these blog security tips could save your blog from significant harm.
Aside from the data damage that malicious attacks can do to your blog, the trust you’ve invested in building can be wiped off the map in an instant if you’re not careful. Follow the legal guidelines for your blog, prioritize your user data security, and put the measures in place that will stop or at least slow down those shady characters.

Trying to log into my Visible account. Does the reChapta image thing, then asks for the sent SMS code (two factor authentication), but never sends the SMS code because Visible posts the red information box "There has been an issue with your account or information. Please contact Care." which basically prohibits any ability to login.
WTF?????
.... also, there is no one to call - you have essentially cut off all abilities to contact you!!!!!!
You need to rethink your customer interface

From the article.
Hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans have lost Medicaid coverage in recent weeks as part of a sprawling unwinding of a pandemic-era policy that prohibited states from removing people from the program.
Why it is only the ones that need health care the most are the ones that get all kinds of cuts.? We really don't like poor people. ? Or is it that we do not want to accept the fact that they do exist?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/us/politics/medicaid-coverage-pandemic-loss.html?auth=login-email&login=email

Only writing this shit off my chest because I'm in some sort of carthasis state about likely leaving the game soon and I need to have some outlet.
4 years of logging in daily. 4 years of semi-easy RTA master rank and chill. 4 years of constant Guild war battles. Invested quite a bit of money.
I just can't anymore. Still instant CLilias picks, Evasion Adins more toxic that Violet, units like belian that destroy any soul strategy or edward that destroy all debuff units, Zio who guarantees first turn disable, surviving counter units that 2 shot your actual damage units. So many units that absolutely demonlish one or another playstyle completely, so the most profitable and safe way to play is to just bruise through everything.
I'm dreading every single guild war with the same 30 bruiser teams across every single castle. I'm dreading every single RTA match with instant bruiser picks. 20 matches, only one player tried to cleave.
I'm just so done. I've fallen to bronze RTA today. I haven't engaged in the last 10+ guild wars because my logins were so scarce.
I'm longing for the days were Basar openers and Charles counters were considered broken. The powercreep has just gone too far. Right now, the only thing keeping me logging in on a non-constant basis is the invested time of 4 years.
But why now - Its really quite the conundrum, isn't it? - Smilegates operations never changed. Kept introducing broken units. Kept that state alive for way too long before introducing the counter unit. Repeat ad infitinum. I was always "fine" with it. Never liked it, but it didn't bother me enough to quit. But for over a year I am plain unhappy with the game now. I hated the last 2 RTA seasons, I never especially liked Guild war but since Angelica & CLilias I'm just even more done with it + Choux buffs was just the nail in the coffin. It's the same as always. But somehow, this state, its...
... probably the end for me. I'm not even sure I can deal with another few months of even opening the guild war screen. I don't even care about RTA this season because I don't care for the skin. I'm literally in a state where I forget opening the game, because I just feel better due to it.
Quite literally, Powercreep & Bruisers have broken me. Arby was not enough. Dizzy was not enough. Whatever else was not enough. It's an unchanged state of bruisers everywhere for over a year. And I'm just done.

Guys I hate to be this person asking for a login but I'm desperate.I'm 17 and i can't have a card until college. I know I won't have any time at all to watch DnD in the fall, because of the college workload. The only free time I have is now but I don't have an account. I've binge watched fantasy high, ExU: Calamity and anything else you can get for free. I just want to watch ravening war now that it's out. My parents only care about cable shows ( theyre real old and kinda conservative), they don't even know what DnD is 😭