Hello! It's time for another prediction league- past time in fact. I greatly apologize for the delay, I've been dealing with some big life changes and also mistimed how far away the next choice was releasing.
Since the April Humble Choice launches on April 4th, predictions will be open until April 3rd. So only 5 days to get those guesses in! (sorry :< )
Important Changes Back to those important life changes, unfortunately I won't be able to be active on Reddit, which includes hosting these Prediction Leagues for the next few months. Fear not though! I will be hosting them in spirit. I am preparing some scheduled posts for May, June, and July. Unfortunately the scoring of points for June and July will be delayed until I can post the next one live in August. On the plus side, at least these will release at the correct time. 🙃
What is Prediction League? Prediction League is a fan-run competition, where each month people try to predict which games will be in the upcoming Humble Choice. Every user can guess up to 15 games and the highest price of one of them. Submissions are then scored based on the criteria below, and at the end of the season, the best players will become known throughout the land, oh and will maybe get a bit of cash money.
New Season Changes Last month, I removed the points for guessing the highest game price. Aside from it being hard to count, it tends to not have any correlation with games guessed. I'm trying to streamline the game to essentially just be about guessing the games.If you haven't played this season before, please read the short Rules and Scoring lists below so you are familiar with the new additions. Total Bundle Value, Number of Games, and extra points for round winners have been removed.
Rules:

• Post a maximum of 15 game predictions. If you post more, only the first 15 posted will count, even if you predicted a game as your #16.
• Please, make sure to spell game names correctly. Otherwise, they might get overlooked by the search function.
• All versions of a game, like standard and deluxe, will be considered to be the same. If a Choice includes a deluxe version, you don't lose or gain points for not guessing it was the deluxe.
• Feel free to edit your comment at any time, but not later than a week after the Prediction League was posted.
• If you guessed a leaked game before the leak happened, your guess(es) will remain valid and will still count for points.
• If you submit your prediction after the leak or edit your comment to include a leaked game, those games will not count for any points. Purposely using leaked games may also remove your previous points from the leaderboard.

Scoring:

• Each correctly predicted game is worth 2 points.
• Predicting three or more games in a single round is worth 2 additional points.
• Being the only person to correctly predict a game is worth 1 point.
• Predicting a game in the same series as one included in choice is worth 1 point. For example, guessing Dark Souls II will grant 1 point if Dark Souls III is in Choice. However guessing Sekiro does not grant a point if Elden Ring was included, since they don't share a name.

Tips

• Look at past Humble Choices and recent bundles. Humble doesn't usually repeat these games, so they don't make for good guesses.
• Look for recent freebies on sites like Epic or Amazon Games. Many games have been given away there, and then go to Humble a couple months later.
• Games that have gone on sale recently.
• Think big and small! Humble Choice headlines some large titles, but also includes smaller indies.
• New releases probably won't be included, think of titles released a year or two back.
• When in doubt, copium. If you've run out of ideas, you could put games from your wishlist and hope they appear in Choice.

Round 6 Points Biomutant was guessed by a whopping 17 people! The predictors: u/Torque-A, u/Leszczyn, u/AoiJitensha, u/caffinatedgoblin, u/arcthunder, u/biohazardbattle, u/PitayaKB, u/berserkis, u/AdolfGhandi42, u/MjuniorDC9, u/Menshi83, u/Retrobabe57, u/Porruno, u/0ptymu5pag3r, u/NobleDreamer, u/yasuperu, and u/VK1901 Edge of Eternity was only predicted by u/Knochentrocken_Nerd (plus bonus point) Demon Turf was only predicted by u/Superteletubbies64 (plus a bonus point)
Nobody predicted Jurassic World Evolution 2, Hero's Hour, Rogue Lords, Golden Light, or Monster Crown.
Season 6 Leaderboard

User	Points
u/biohazardbattle	12 🥇
u/Fall-Historical	10 🥈
u/berserkis	9 🥉
u/Leszczyn	9 🥉
u/RozaldVane	8 🏅
u/Ozark_Bosn	8 🏅
u/AoiJitensha	8 🏅
u/arcthunder	7
u/MJuniorDC9	7
u/dinkomaricic	6
u/Hydroquake_Vortex	6
u/Torque-A	6
u/Superteletubbies64	6
u/NobleDreamer	5
u/Knochentrocken_Nerd	5
u/payliz	4
u/Phoenix_Samurai	4
u/ThePSX	4
u/ArchtanSaga	4
u/Flyskio	4
u/Porruno	4
u/AdolfGandhi42	4
u/ucantbb	3
u/wjousts	3
u/JerAders	3
u/kabukistar	2
u/lborl	2
u/HerrieM	2
u/Good_Glass_8172	2
u/marcelosmashes	2
u/gmask1	2
u/MrEvilOverlord	2
u/thomasthe1st	2
u/ParsesMustard	2
u/TheAlmightyJessira	2
u/JohnMikeTrader	2
u/daifokilfo	2
u/kaliirion	2
u/WtfWhereAreMyClothes	2
u/Worried-Amphibian651	2
u/caffinatedgoblin	2
u/PitayaKB	2
u/Menshi83	2
u/Retrobabe57	2
u/0ptymu5pag3r	2
u/yasuperu	2
u/VK1901	2
u/NLGabber420	1
u/yaboixanderr	1
u/GIGEN_	1
u/Shnapple8	1
u/Chocolate-Biscuits26	1

​
Prediction League Hall of Fame Season 1 Champion (2017-2018) - u/K_U Season 2 Champion (2018-2019) - u/DeliriumTrigger Season 3 Champion (2019-2020) - u/HiTechGreg Season 4 Champion (2020-2021) - u/Genkii123 Season 5 Champion (2021-2022) - u/biohazardbattle Season 6: Ongoing

With double gameweek 29 coming up, we just want to gather your thoughts regarding our chip usage.
We provisionally decided to use the bench boost in the big double gameweek starting on Saturday, but maybe you've since changed your mind?
u/Totally--not-a-robot came up with the idea to free-hit in GW32, where 4 teams aren't playing, and the other popular option for it is GW34, when multiple teams play twice.
If you don't want either of the listed options, please vote for "other" and let us know in the comments what your preference is!
A reminder of the current team is here! We have 1 free transfer this week and a whopping £6m in the bank.
A reminder of the upcoming fixture schedule is here.
View Poll

Chance me! : sahsol
IB Student, final year, so grades aren't in O-lvl or A-lvl format. Plz excuse if this runs long, some extracurricular required further detail. I'm very uncertain whether will be accepted for law programme undergrad or not. Your judgement would be greatly appreciated.
MYP final class 10 result English lang + lit : 4 French lang : 3 World History : 5 GP : 5 Physics : 5 Art : 6 Math : 4 Personal project : 5 Total : 36
Diploma Final Environmental sciences SL (gave early) : 4 Math applications SL (gave early) : 3 Diploma Predicted French Abinitio language SL : 5 English lang and lit HL : 6 Psychology HL : 6 World History HL : 6 Predicted total : 30 or 32. If grades dont improve then 28.
Extra curriculars, some pointers :
-General secretary and founder of school society -Set up own business restoring and selling old cars -Set up bird breeding aviary business -Internship as media marketing manager and general coordinator at online fashion based business -Internship as accountant, tech support, media manager at company based in electrical and industrial equipment. helped develop & design their website, set up automatic customer queries answering program, set up social media profiles for the company, worked at their accounts office, and worked in the tech support department helping and repairing various gadgets for the company, oversaw all social media advertisements. -internship as accountant, teaching assistant, part of admin at school. in charge of tracking all purchases and expenses and recording them in the financial ledger, worked with teachers in planning course work, assigning & grading homework. As part of administration, was in charge of purchasing coursework materials, organizing events, scheduling exams, scheduling classes. -intern at law firm, worked various roles. dealing in tax and corporate law. such as accounts outsourcing, audits and assurances, income tax department, sales tax department, and corporate law department. -accountant,cataloguer at company based in dealing with electrical equipments and industrial contracts. worked in their accounts department, helped set up synced records for all sales, catalogued all products bought & sold as well as their quantities and linked it to the purchasing & sales record to completely document all financial outflow & inflow as well as expenditures & profit. -marketing manager at furniture showroom. in charge of overseeing media posts, handling advertising, answering customer queries. worked with the team to setup a showroom location and designate product placements to be aesthetically pleasing for customers. -Restoration of wrecked 7th gen Honda Civic from ground up.Completely restored a wreckedHonda Civic to brand new condition and made it road worthy. Completely rebuilt engine and transmission with help from experts. Put in brand-new AC system and AC coils, completely brand-new suspension, steering rack, radiator, new dry battery, shocks, axles, and all new wiring was done in the car. Repainted the entire car, put in brand new lights, new tyres, new abs brakes, put in a brand-new trunk and rear doors, and new spare wheel as well as tools (such as: jack, rod, and so on). Added a new navigation system screen, put in brand new imported seats, fixed the previously broken odometer, replaced blown fuses, and replaced all interior lights with new ones. Replaced the fuel pump and filter with new ones. New brake pads, AC filter, air filter, oil filter, etc. Put in a new dashboard, new windscreen and rear-view screen, side mirrors, new horns, new immobilizer system. Complete vehicle service done and all fluids and filter (brake oil fluid, oil filter, engine oil, transmission oil, anti-freeze washing liquid, AC gas refill, engine throttle body and spark plugs cleaning, oil seals, oil bearings, coolant, etc.) Completely detailed and deep cleaned the car. Rust coating and ceramic coating was also done on the car. -Beat Production.Self-taught at beat production and sound engineering. I taught myself how to use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and make soundtracks and instrumentals simply because of my passion and love for music. Without any prior knowledge and help, managed to produce complete instrumentals and soundtracks. -Film Projects. Ive made two shortfilms. The entirety of this was completed by myself, being a total one-person job, such as: formulating the story, visuals, and producing the soundtrack, audio experience, editing (despite having no prior experience to using editing software & audio workstations), and directing and producing all of it. I entered both short films in inter-school competitions and ended up winning. Both short films were also given screenings at my school and received very positive feedback. -Gadget Restorations. Ive restored many gadgets to working order and saved them from being turned into e-waste, and one such example of this would be an old dell desktop system that I worked on which had burnt RAM cards and was thrown out by a business firm. worked on it for 2 weeks to get it running again. fit in new heatsink, new thermal paste, upgraded RAM and replaced old RAM sticks, upgraded the storage from HDD to a SSD to improve working speeds, desoldered the old CPU in favour of a new faster one. After completion, I donated it to someone in need to help them with their education during pandemic. -Deaf Reach Ice Cream Drive.Helped organize and participated in icecream charity drives for Deaf Reach schools. All profits, and the initial investment, were donated to Deaf Reach schools to help sponsor the education and development of deaf kids at these schools. The money raised from this drive helped ensure less fortunate and disabled kids received a good education and fair chance just like fully-abled people. -participation in various interschool events

So I’m turning another decade older later this year. Some may consider it an important birthday, but I’m at the point now where numerical age isn’t as fun as it used to be and I didn’t think to make a big deal out of it.
My family on the other hand had the idea that we should all get together, rent a nice place for the weekend and celebrate because we never make my birthday a big deal and they want to make it special this year.
I decided it would be nice to get everyone together and agreed to indulge. We made arrangements and booked a place for my birthday weekend which is a few months away.
When I told my wife about the plan, she looked like she had mixed feelings. I asked her what was wrong and she asked if she had to join us. I told her of course because she is my wife and I’d want her to be there right beside me celebrating.
She then said it would be hard to get the weekend off and her only option was to call in sick, which she didn’t want to do.
The trip is a few months away and there is plenty of time to give her work notice. We work in the same field but for different companies.
My wife works per diem and doesn’t accrue PTO quickly. She said that she doesn’t like her manager and does not want to ask her for the weekend off because she is afraid her manager will say no, then if she calls in sick to get that weekend off, her manager will know she’s not really sick and she will get in trouble.
Instead, she would rather not tell her manager at all and just call in sick my birthday weekend. The problem now is she is getting upset about the idea of calling in sick.
I told her she should just be upfront with her manager because there is plenty of time to make arrangements at work and it isn’t an unreasonable request. I told her what is unreasonable is the idea of never asking for an extra weekend off in nearly 10 years.
What makes the matter more important to me is that this is a repeating pattern.
Every holiday season is full of tension between us. My wife and I both have to work holidays. Whenever there is a conflicting holiday where we both are assigned to work the same shift, I am usually the one who finds a way to change my schedule to accommodate hers.
Also, I work full time and pay all the bills. My wife works per diem, but her money is hers to spend freely.
I personally feel like she has a fear of confrontation and would rather push me around than learn how to professionally communicate in the work place.

Now what happen is that I ask him two days ago to meet this week and he wanted to meet the same day. in the evening he was ready to come pick me up but after 5 minutes he told me if it's okay we move it for yesterday because his friend is having a crisis so I said no problem.
Yesterday we talk a lot, but he didn't say anything about the meeting. so in the end of the day I ask him what going on that we were suppose to meet. He say that he was so sorry that he wanted to ask me at noon but because I was with my family( my cousin came back with her child after a year and he knew it) he didnt ask and that he totally forgot and ask if I can today and he put it in hin schedule. I said yes but I kind of answer him with sarcasm because i was disappointed.
I'm going to talk with him about this face to face and see what's up. I don't know if to send him a massage first because I know he is busy so he maybe won't answer because he works with patient and I don't want him to think that it's childish to not send him on purpose.
Also English is not my first language so sorry for any mistakes and also if it's too long. Thank you for whoever answer.

It is coming up to a decade since Grand Theft Auto 5 came out, and while the game has sold absolute gangbusters for Rockstar and even continues to sell copies, the gaming world is clamoring for the next entry. Rockstar is aware of this and has devoted its resources to the game's development. Now an insider claims that portions of the title could be cut in order to move up the game's launch.
Noted GTA insider Tez2 has suggested that Rockstar is targeting a 2024 launch for GTA 6 and that the studio is considering "cutting portions of the game" to hit this release window (via Dexerto). However, there may be still some time to wait before the game's launch with Tez2 claiming "holiday 2024" as the likeliest schedule. But this could also slip into early 2025, the insider added.

It is coming up to a decade since Grand Theft Auto 5 came out, and while the game has sold absolute gangbusters for Rockstar and even continues to sell copies, the gaming world is clamoring for the next entry. Rockstar is aware of this and has devoted its resources to the game's development. Now an insider claims that portions of the title could be cut in order to move up the game's launch.
Noted GTA insider Tez2 has suggested that Rockstar is targeting a 2024 launch for GTA 6 and that the studio is considering "cutting portions of the game" to hit this release window (via Dexerto). However, there may be still some time to wait before the game's launch with Tez2 claiming "holiday 2024" as the likeliest schedule. But this could also slip into early 2025, the insider added.

Tez2, a reputable Rockstar insider has suggested on the GTA Forums that GTA 6 is likely to be released this year with a tentative release date of 2024.
According to my own reports which date back to June 2021, this seems to be the case. My sources have said that Grand Theft Auto 6 has been aiming for a 2024 release date for some time, but speculation and past reveal/release schedules of the likes of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 suggest the game will be delayed until 2025.
If I were to guess – I believe the game would release in the holiday of 2025 instead of the spring.
As for when the announcement is made is unclear, but typically Rockstar Games likes to announce its big reveals on its own. So to set expectations, I wouldn’t necessarily expect the game to be announced at E3. Instead, I expect some form of reveal trailer in Q4 2023 to coincide with past reveals.
According to my own sources, one of the major reasons for such a long-winded “delay” is that GTA 6 will release on current-generation consoles only. With the tentative 2024 date being planned as far back as 2021, it was a means of ensuring that GTA 6 would have a sufficient console market to release on.
In late 2022, Rockstar Games had a security breach that resulted in over 70 videos on GTA 6 gameplay surfacing online. In its subsequent earnings call, Take-Two Interactive addressed investors to state that the leak was unfortunate, but they believe it had no impact on development.
“There’s no evidence that any material assets were taken, which is a good thing, and certainly the leak won’t have any influence on development or anything of the sort, but it is terribly disappointing and causes us to be ever more vigilant on matters relating to cybersecurity”, it was said.
As for GTA 6, for now, we’ll need to continue sitting tight and see what gets announced in the hopefully near future.
When do you think GTA 6 will be announced?
For more from Insider Gaming, check out details on THE FINALS BETA that starts today.
Related

I just posted this in the birthcontrol subreddit. Let me know if anyone here understands what I am trying to get at. Im sure this could be considered slightly “off topic,” but as far as im concerned, this is as related to TRT (for women) as an enclomiphene citrate question is for men. Please skip to the TLDR if the first half is too abstract for the non-medical-professional. Thanks!
Hey im a straight male who is very interested in sex hormone endocrinology. I have done a lot of consultations with other men on black market anabolic, androgenic steroid usage (roided up gym douchebags, yes I know).
My question today is if anyone was able to correct androgen (primarily testosterone and DHT) deficiency that is induced by hpoa/hpaa down-regulation from the exogenous ethyl estradiol and progestin used in combined oral birth control? Has anyone ever taken blood labs for total/free testosterone, DHEA, DHT, and SHBG before and after starting “the pill?” If my understanding is correct, all of those measurements should decrease after starting BC (which is in fact steroids by the way) except for the sex hormone binding globulin increasing, all (generally speaking) being very bad news for the patient. If you started BC and developed low sex drive, depressed mood, lack of motivation, and/or decreased physical performance in the gym, then you are likely inducing an androgen deficiency by taking outside steroids (once again BC is just two 17-carbon, 4-ringed steroid molecules just like testosterone). I will repeat this: IF YOU STARTED BC AND DEVELOPED LOW SEX DRIVE, DEPRESSED MOOD, LACK OF MOTIVATION, AND/OR DECREASED PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE IN THE GYM, THEN YOU ARE LIKELY SELF-INDUCING AN ANDROGEN DEFICIENCY.
My solution is to add in DHEA since it is the most upstream androgen and should convert to testosterone and therefore testosterone metabolites as well, even with the hpoa and hpaa suppression mentioned earlier. The reason DHEA would be the solution is because the body can take the right amount and turn it into testosterone/testosterone-metabolites, BUT (VERY BIG BUT HERE) the body wont allow too much to convert to testosterone and wont cause virilizing (manly) side effects because the body will sulfonate the excess and excrete it on a longer timeline since the sulfonated form has maybe 20-30x the half life, if i remember correctly.
TLDR: there are 3 types of sex hormones - progestogens (pregnenolone, progesterone, synthetic progestins in BC…), estrogens (estrone, estriol, regular and ethyl estradiol…), and androgens (DHEA, testosterone, DHT…) - and they are carried by SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin). Combined oral birth control shuts down the body’s production of all three of these but only replaces two of them, all while raising SHBG (which lowers the proportion of “free” hormone out of “total” hormone). Has anyone added DHEA to their combined oral birth control to fix this problem ??? Im not an expert on female sex hormone endocrinology, but this seems to be a lot safer to do at home since you shouldnt be taking too much androgen, and DHEA, by itself, is such a weak androgen that it is only the metabolites we care about in the body outside of the brain. Once again, the body usually knows how to metabolize it into the correct ratios of downstream androgenic hormones since it is a bio-identical hormone, unlike ethyl estradiol and synthetic progestins needed for birth control to prevent pregnancy. I think the safety of this therapy is shown through the fact that Testosterone is a schedule III narcotic in the USA, but DHEA is available over-the-counter for 9 year olds to buy (please dont give a 9 year old access to any of these medications).
My final point is that if you want to try this out relatively safely, i would highly suggest starting out by only using a very low dose of DHEA - maybe 5mg per day or less. For reference, the usual male replacement dose is between 25-50mg per day, but i have technically seen cisgender women on doses higher than that. However, normal female replacement dosages are maybe somewhere closer to 15mg per day. My recommendations for OTC brands are pure encapsulations or life extensions.
Please consult a physician before doing any of this. I highly doubt this is likely, but there is a realm-of-possibility chance that my method will make your combined oral BC less effective. Your doc will likely give the green light for trying this if you are interested (until you tell them that you heard this from a roided-up douche on the internet lol). Legally speaking, this is general medical information, not specific medical advice! Any thoughts from anyone will be much appreciated.

I just posted this in the birthcontrol subreddit. Let me know if anyone here understands what I am trying to get at. Please skip to the TLDR if the first half is too abstract for the non-medical-professional. Thanks!
Hey im a straight male who is very interested in sex hormone endocrinology. I have done a lot of consultations with other men on black market anabolic, androgenic steroid usage (roided up gym douchebags, yes I know).
My question today is if anyone was able to correct androgen (primarily testosterone and DHT) deficiency that is induced by hpoa/hpaa down-regulation from the exogenous ethyl estradiol and progestin used in combined oral birth control? Has anyone ever taken blood labs for total/free testosterone, DHEA, DHT, and SHBG before and after starting “the pill?” If my understanding is correct, all of those measurements should decrease after starting BC (which is in fact steroids by the way) except for the sex hormone binding globulin increasing, all (generally speaking) being very bad news for the patient. If you started BC and developed low sex drive, depressed mood, lack of motivation, and/or decreased physical performance in the gym, then you are likely inducing an androgen deficiency by taking outside steroids (once again BC is just two 17-carbon, 4-ringed steroid molecules just like testosterone). I will repeat this: IF YOU STARTED BC AND DEVELOPED LOW SEX DRIVE, DEPRESSED MOOD, LACK OF MOTIVATION, AND/OR DECREASED PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE IN THE GYM, THEN YOU ARE LIKELY SELF-INDUCING AN ANDROGEN DEFICIENCY.
My solution is to add in DHEA since it is the most upstream androgen and should convert to testosterone and therefore testosterone metabolites as well, even with the hpoa and hpaa suppression mentioned earlier. The reason DHEA would be the solution is because the body can take the right amount and turn it into testosterone/testosterone-metabolites, BUT (VERY BIG BUT HERE) the body wont allow too much to convert to testosterone and wont cause virilizing (manly) side effects because the body will sulfonate the excess and excrete it on a longer timeline since the sulfonated form has maybe 20-30x the half life, if i remember correctly.
TLDR: there are 3 types of sex hormones - progestogens (pregnenolone, progesterone, synthetic progestins in BC…), estrogens (estrone, estriol, regular and ethyl estradiol…), and androgens (DHEA, testosterone, DHT…) - and they are carried by SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin). Combined oral birth control shuts down the body’s production of all three of these but only replaces two of them, all while raising SHBG (which lowers the proportion of “free” hormone out of “total” hormone). Has anyone added DHEA to their combined oral birth control to fix this problem ??? Im not an expert on female sex hormone endocrinology, but this seems to be a lot safer to do at home since you shouldnt be taking too much androgen, and DHEA, by itself, is such a weak androgen that it is only the metabolites we care about in the body outside of the brain. Once again, the body usually knows how to metabolize it into the correct ratios of downstream androgenic hormones since it is a bio-identical hormone, unlike ethyl estradiol and synthetic progestins needed for birth control to prevent pregnancy. I think the safety of this therapy is shown through the fact that Testosterone is a schedule III narcotic in the USA, but DHEA is available over-the-counter for 9 year olds to buy (please dont give a 9 year old access to any of these medications).
My final point is that if you want to try this out relatively safely, i would highly suggest starting out by only using a very low dose of DHEA - maybe 5mg per day or less. For reference, the usual male replacement dose is between 25-50mg per day, but i have technically seen cisgender women on doses higher than that. However, normal female replacement dosages are maybe somewhere closer to 15mg per day. My recommendations for OTC brands are pure encapsulations or life extensions.
Please consult a physician before doing any of this. I highly doubt this is likely, but there is a realm-of-possibility chance that my method will make your combined oral BC less effective. Your doc will likely give the green light for trying this if you are interested (until you tell them that you heard this from a roided-up douche on the internet lol). Legally speaking, this is general medical information, not specific medical advice! Any thoughts from anyone will be much appreciated.

I just posted this in the birthcontrol subreddit. Let me know if anyone here understands what I am trying to get at. Please skip to the TLDR if the first half is too abstract for the non-medical-professional. Thanks!
Hey im a straight male who is very interested in sex hormone endocrinology. I have done a lot of consultations with other men on black market anabolic, androgenic steroid usage (roided up gym douchebags, yes I know).
My question today is if anyone was able to correct androgen (primarily testosterone and DHT) deficiency that is induced by hpoa/hpaa down-regulation from the exogenous ethyl estradiol and progestin used in combined oral birth control? Has anyone ever taken blood labs for total/free testosterone, DHEA, DHT, and SHBG before and after starting “the pill?” If my understanding is correct, all of those measurements should decrease after starting BC (which is in fact steroids by the way) except for the sex hormone binding globulin increasing, all (generally speaking) being very bad news for the patient. If you started BC and developed low sex drive, depressed mood, lack of motivation, and/or decreased physical performance in the gym, then you are likely inducing an androgen deficiency by taking outside steroids (once again BC is just two 17-carbon, 4-ringed steroid molecules just like testosterone). I will repeat this: IF YOU STARTED BC AND DEVELOPED LOW SEX DRIVE, DEPRESSED MOOD, LACK OF MOTIVATION, AND/OR DECREASED PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE IN THE GYM, THEN YOU ARE LIKELY SELF-INDUCING AN ANDROGEN DEFICIENCY.
My solution is to add in DHEA since it is the most upstream androgen and should convert to testosterone and therefore testosterone metabolites as well, even with the hpoa and hpaa suppression mentioned earlier. The reason DHEA would be the solution is because the body can take the right amount and turn it into testosterone/testosterone-metabolites, BUT (VERY BIG BUT HERE) the body wont allow too much to convert to testosterone and wont cause virilizing (manly) side effects because the body will sulfonate the excess and excrete it on a longer timeline since the sulfonated form has maybe 20-30x the half life, if i remember correctly.
TLDR: there are 3 types of sex hormones - progestogens (pregnenolone, progesterone, synthetic progestins in BC…), estrogens (estrone, estriol, regular and ethyl estradiol…), and androgens (DHEA, testosterone, DHT…) - and they are carried by SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin). Combined oral birth control shuts down the body’s production of all three of these but only replaces two of them, all while raising SHBG (which lowers the proportion of “free” hormone out of “total” hormone). Has anyone added DHEA to their combined oral birth control to fix this problem ??? Im not an expert on female sex hormone endocrinology, but this seems to be a lot safer to do at home since you shouldnt be taking too much androgen, and DHEA, by itself, is such a weak androgen that it is only the metabolites we care about in the body outside of the brain. Once again, the body usually knows how to metabolize it into the correct ratios of downstream androgenic hormones since it is a bio-identical hormone, unlike ethyl estradiol and synthetic progestins needed for birth control to prevent pregnancy. I think the safety of this therapy is shown through the fact that Testosterone is a schedule III narcotic in the USA, but DHEA is available over-the-counter for 9 year olds to buy (please dont give a 9 year old access to any of these medications).
My final point is that if you want to try this out relatively safely, i would highly suggest starting out by only using a very low dose of DHEA - maybe 5mg per day or less. For reference, the usual male replacement dose is between 25-50mg per day, but i have technically seen cisgender women on doses higher than that. However, normal female replacement dosages are maybe somewhere closer to 15mg per day. My recommendations for OTC brands are pure encapsulations or life extensions.
Please consult a physician before doing any of this. I highly doubt this is likely, but there is a realm-of-possibility chance that my method will make your combined oral BC less effective. Your doc will likely give the green light for trying this if you are interested (until you tell them that you heard this from a roided-up douche on the internet lol). Legally speaking, this is general medical information, not specific medical advice! Any thoughts from anyone will be much appreciated.

Rockstar Games may already be planning Grand Theft Auto VI DLC. Fans have been chomping at the bit for more info on GTA 6 for a while as it will likely be one of the biggest games of all-time. Rockstar Games continues to raise and set the bar in a way no other developer is capable of and that will likely be no different with this game. Red Dead Redemption 2 was an absurdly innovative game that is a benchmark for open-world gaming and GTA 6 is both the follow-up to that and the second-best-selling game of all-time, Grand Theft Auto V. The developer is taking its sweet time on its next game and we've already caught a couple of glimpses at it thanks to leaks, but we're still waiting to learn more about it.
With that said, a recent comment from Rockstar Games insider Tez2 noted that they believe Rockstar is on track to announce GTA 6 this year and likely release it next holiday season, with room to delay into early 2025. In order to ensure the game does not get delayed more, Tez noted that Rockstar may have to start cutting content from the game which could then be finished and repackaged later as DLC. It's not something that's totally out of the question, as Rockstar did repurpose some stuff that was cut from Grand Theft Auto V later in GTA Online. Reports also suggested that when Bully 2 was canceled, some of its concepts and features were salvaged for Red Dead Redemption 2.
"I personally see an announcement as a given this year," said the insider. "I don't think the upper management is in a position to delay further to holiday 2025/2026. Cutting more portions of the game to package into DLCs to release later on may be sustainable for management than delaying further."
With all of that said, it's not necessarily a bad idea. In order to get the game out in a reasonable time, stuff will have to be cut, that's the nature of game development. However, it's always a good thing if it can be recycled for other content later down the line. Not only do you get a more fleshed out experience, but it keeps the core vision of the game in-tact. Rockstar has largely moved away from premium story DLC in recent years, so it's unclear what this DLC would look like, but it will likely be years before we even see it.

All values in USD.
Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: nope because I'm planning on leaving the US (for my bf) after finishing school. Not sure how retirement balance works across countries.
Equity: nope but almost bit and bought a house in the middle of the insane housing price crisis? windfall?? in 2021. Boy would my life be different rn
Savings account balance: zip but 90k in bonds
Checking account balance: 60k
Credit card debt: nada, and using a debit card in Europe
Student loan debt: nothing, because my parents (bless them) paid for my (subsidized, bless FAFSA + need based scholarships) college tuition, and I got a free masters (thanks to my advisor + TAships) and am currently doing a free (aka on my advisor's bill again lmao + TAships) phd
Income
Income Progression: a string of tech internships (every single summer except freshman and masters and first year of phd) with pay from between 5500/month to 11000/month (pre-tax, adjusted for bonus and currency exchange rate) That high end was from a fancy startup and pre-brexit lmaoooo. Low end was gov work. And my current phd income is 2500/month, so this is actually an income regression lol
Main Job Monthly Take Home: Current internship is 5000/month but my overall taxes are low because I'm not here long enough for it to bump up my income taxes more than one rung. So keep in mind I make like 1700/month the rest of the year
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: I wish! Once I get my big girl job I'm going remote and setting up a ceramics studio, a grocery store, and then volunteering and making games. Work can go stuff itself. Honestly the more and more I work the more and more I feel like I want to turn stage left exit society, tyvm. People meme academia as being abstract and useless (and sometimes toxic...that one's deserved maybe) but unless you are at a specific type of company, corporate research can be equally "useless" but by way of having insanely short (as in, to production by year's end) deadlines so you're kind of forced to "fit a square peg into a round hole" eg work on a business problem that you (or your higher up) did not spend enough time defining and then somehow make it look like research when maybe the most cost-effective solution was something else entirely...sorry for rant
Do your parents pitch in monthly? Been financially independent since last year...to my great surprise. I used to be financially independent since undergrad graduation but apparently my mom started sneakily paying off my CC debt again in my phd so I had to change the linked bank account back. My mom thinks I'm poor lmao...I'm not
Expenses
Rent (includes utilities): 2000 ouch (Europe) + 500 (US) monthly
Transport: bike (free after fixed costs, yay!) and bus (free with school)
Renters insurance: none. Getting renter's insurance is like wearing my retainer...everyone tells me to do it (including myself) but I make up a million excuses as to not
Savings contribution: whatever's left in the month. Usually 400+-100
Investment contribution: is the stock market even real? I'm just kidding. But I don't really understand my finances, and I feel embarrassed about that, but at the same time I feel like after factoring in all my personal considerations, I'm better off not doing anything other than guaranteed bonds.
Debt payments: no. college is done, no house, no car
Cellphone: Prepaid in Europe, like 5 a month. But my US phone is actually on my parent's family plan. So I guess I'm still not financially independent...
Subscriptions: Occasional magazines 50 annually, school union 100 annually
Regular therapy: None. Therapy has been a hit and miss for me
Paid hobbies: Art supplies like 100 a year, books like 300 annually, audio like 100, bike stuff 100, kitchen stuff...400, fancy specialty ingredients...800, clothes 400 but my mom gifts me a lot over the holidays like 500-1000 worth, and gifts for f&f I budget around 800 a year
[Money Diary]
[Tuesday]
7am: wake. super groggy. Drink two gulps of fanta to actually wake and immediately regret it
8am: on the bus to work. Today is going to be a slow day which is nice.
8:30am: grab a rhubarb and rose yogurt for breakfast ($2). Delicious. Have to order this somehow when I'm back in the states.
12pm: Brought eggplant and bolognese for lunch. Eat with another intern and talk random stuff about our phds.
4:30pm: leaving early cuz today is my bf's last night in the country. I head to a bakery and grab a croissant and pretzel and baguette ($7) for him as an apology for an argument we had yesterday. I also head to a grocery to grab a pumpkin ($10) for curry later. I race to the bus! Almost miss it. Everyone is looking at me because I'm panting and I feel that strange awkwardness you get from being caught running without gym clothes.
6pm: Back home. We heat up leftovers (ramen for me and bolognese for him) and watch a chill video about balancing in gaming. It was either this or a math video and the math video was too long.
7pm: I ask him about when he's coming back to see me so I can let my mom know if my schedule fits my family's June paris trip or not (my mom's extremely hyped about this so I would like to come.) Because he's been dragging his feet figuring out his schedule we get into another argument, which then carries back into our argument from yesterday.
9pm: Answer some emails and book a flight for my return trip because my sister is going to her dream college and I want to be with her on visit week ($156)
10pm: I'm trying to read my paper for tomorrow's meeting but it's not going well because we are still talking about our problems
12pm: We cuddle and sleep. Argument's not resolved because neither wants to give
Total: 19 (Food) + 156 (Plane)
[Wednesday]
6am: wake. notice that it's 6am and go back to sleep
7am: wake and wake up bf. He's leaving today and so we cuddle, but like sadly (LDR, whats new.) Eventually I get hungry so I go and munch on plums. I am a bit distracted because I have a lot of meetings that I'm not well prepared for.
8:30am: catch bus. We joke a bit about yesterday's argument. Eventually, say goodbye when I transfer trams. I watch a video to prepare for my first meeting on the tram. Then I have a meeting, read to prepare for next meeting, rinse, repeat. Go out to eat with coworkers ($18)--conversations are so awkward (because of me. I don't have the extra mental capacity to try socializing with overworked dudes 4 years older than me and I've lost a concerning amount of EQ over the course of my phd.)
2:00pm: After a particularly stressful meeting (went well, thanks to my clutch skills) I decide I need to take a walk outside as a break. I go to the bakery to buy a chocolatine and apple danish ($5). I am not even hungry. I am just retail theraping and desserts look cute and smell good. Head back and have string of meetings until the end of the day. Very angry about my schedule
5:30pm: say fuck it cuz my brain is shot and go home. Why am I the only one who leaves before 6? Isn't this supposed to be Europe? I hate working a 9-6.
6pm: eat dinner (ramen), shower with rice on the stove (no rice cooker), rice burns omg now the bottom of the pan is burnt. I soak the pan overnight and leave my personal pan out for people to use.
7pm: reddit as revenge procrastination. I make a note to buy steel wool for the burnt pan
9pm: start writing money diary. Have wayy too much fun writing money diary while snacking on Comte and aloe vera water
11pm: realize its late and I have to finish reading a paper for Friday. I read a bit of the paper
1am: sleep
Total: 23 (Food)
[Thursday]
6am: Wake and look at random stuff on reddit for an hour and a half. I don't feel that hungry so I head out to work.
8:30am: I am very sleepy for some reason. I don't have a lot of meetings today, so I check emails, slack, and find a manageable task for the day. I end up getting distracted dealing with administrivia (ugh visa work!) I see that I have a seminar I want to attend the night and mark that down too.
10am: I decide I should try doing something productive so I start brainstorming. It doesn't really get anywhere, but I've realized that I probably need to read another paper to get a better idea of what I should do.
12pm: Head out to eat with other interns. I get shawarama ($16.) Delicious. Head back for more meetings. I try to read a bit but my focus is pretty shot so I start doing a more chill writeup instead.
7pm: We are having drinks at a bar tonight, and it takes time for people to get ready so I work late. We head out to the bar, which is crowded. I order a burger and soda because I don't want to make my sickness worse ($20.) We have a good time chatting and I get closer with some coworkers I didn't know well.
7:45pm: I say goodbye and leave early. As I'm scrolling through my phone on the late night bus, I realize that I've missed the seminar. I'm legitimiately devastated. I was thinking this seminar would help a lot with me pushing through a huge bottleneck in my thesis that's been stressing me out for the last year. I panic message my labmate to ask if the seminar was recorded, and thank the fucking lord, buddha, allah, hayao miyazaki, yes. It was recorded. My pants on fire are doused, my soul is saved. I cannot wait to fucking graduate.
9pm: I get back and notice the cleaning lady's cleaned the burnt pan. I feel a bad but grateful. After showering I am tired as hell. I really can't work today, but I stubbornly stay awake thinking that if I lay in bed scrolling through eBay long enough I might recharge. It doesn't work but I find some really nice stuff (cool architectural glass vase from a designer whose stuff I usually hate, secondhand clothes from one of my fav designers, suitcase from a brand with a style that I love but quality that is absolute trash for its price, and a gift for my college friend for her next bday) that I want to bid on.
11pm: Sleep
Total: 36 (Food)
[Friday]
6am: Wake and look at videos but now with zen. I have come to terms with my laziness. I get out of bed at 7:30 instead of 7:45 (progress!) and I snack on the chocolatine from two days ago. I finally find the time and motivation to deal with some administrivia and I head to work. On my morning bus trips, I like to press my forehead against the cool window glass and zone out to stripes of greenery but today I'm thinking about eBay and how I might travel to go visit my favorite eBay stores in person lol. A quick google search shows that a roundtrip ticket is $200. Interesting.
12am: Nice lunch with coworkers at a bakery. I get a croissant sandwich ($6) and a gift for one of my coworker friends ($14).
4pm: I wrap up writing a draft and go chat and review some stuff for school and then catch up with my coworker friend to give her the gift. 6pm: Head to the grocery for a dinner salad, plums, and some orange-mango juice ($13). Look for steel wool but there is none???
6:30pm: shower because I feel a little under the weather.
8pm: call my bf and tell him some juicy gossip at work. He gets bored around the 1 hour mark.
11pm: I start working on my writeup for school. I message the dude who is receiving the writeup that it's gonna be late. He is really nice about it but I feel like I'm taking advantage of his kindness because I am always late. Disappointed in myself but not sure how to change.
1am: sleep
Total: 33 (Food)
[Saturday]
6am: wake. Seriously not motivated to continue the writeup. I waste time on eBay and youtube for 5 hours.
11am: get dressed, brush teeth, and look alive. I've been planning out my day a bit so I call my bf while I clean my room and check up on my fridge. I toss out a quarter kg of ground beef that I forgot to finish, it is two days past expiry. I take stock of what I need for meal prep this week (carrot, onion, meat, steel wool) and load up my laundry before heading to the grocery. I end up also getting a lightweight aluminum bowl (it says stainless steel though??) for washing, blueberries, dried mangos, mushroom medley ($35.) I make curry with rice for next week and rice balls to add to miso soup later.
4pm: Eat curry. I call my bf after and try to write my writeup but I get very frustrated over trying to understand a paper and complain to my bf
7pm: I head over to my friend's place for a going-away party. I feel a bit ambivalent about attending because I still have my writeup but I had already agreed to come and I will miss these people when they leave. I want to aim to leave around 9pm. The host's house is lovely and we have some great food.
9:40pm: I head back home, shower, and work on my writeup.
11pm: sleep
Total: 35 (Food)
[Sunday]
7am: wake. My wakeup time is off from normal but then I remember that today is daylight savings in Europe. I still feel tired so I end up watching some dumb videos on youtube. I bid on two items on eBay ($70...tentatively). My friend from uni messages me about meeting up to chat tonight. Hyped.
11:45am: I remember my clothes are still in the dryer. The landlord wants the laundry room free between 11am and 3pm for airbnb reasons. I rush down to grab them. I got there right on time because the landlord has 3 minutes on the washer left.
12pm: Heat up curry and eat it with an apple, some Comte, and a plum. I take a supplement with water. I've been forgetting to do that.
12:30pm: Start working on writeup. I am determined to finish it before there is no sun left so I can enjoy the outdoors a little this weekend. Have my bf on vc.
4pm: One of my bfs jokes lands the wrong way and we have to talk about it. I'm fuming mad because I'm wasting time here.
6pm: Facetime with my friend from college! It's been awhile so we catch up for a long time. 9pm: Heat dinner (curry) and eat. Then I go and read a bit more.
11pm: I have a bit of a mental breakdown because I can't finish the writeup by the weekend, and it's not because I don't have time, but because I have bad mental health around it. I have a long heart to heart with my bf over the phone. I cry a little. Life is sometimes hard and everyone's life is really hard at some point. At some point I just start rambling about nothing. I fall asleep at 1:30am.
Total: 70 (eBay)
[Monday]
4am: wake. I have a bit of a shitty morning because my eyes are still swollen. I woke up early to work on this writeup but tbh I'm barely awake and not in the mood. This was a bad idea. I intermittenly wake and sleep between 4am and 6am, of which at tail end I realize that I'm just playing myself for a fool and then I actually sleep for a good hour or so.
7:15am: Wake for real and get ready.
8:30am: Arrive at work. I buy yogurt ($2) and eat a banana while checking emails. I decide to use company time to work on my writeup because I'm blocked at work by someone else right now anyways (this is about as far as my lukewarm ass will r antiwork.)
12am: Lunch with coworkers. I have a sandwich I really don't care for ($10.) I'm a bit woozy from lack of sleep so I don't remember much. Also, I got my period.
1pm: Meetings, meetings, meetings. So many meetings.
6:30pm: Meetings end. Catch up with my intern friend before she leaves. Will miss her. I go the grocery to buy a baguette ($1) and then go to the fancy, overpriced but also conveniently-located-right-next-to-my-bus-stop bakery to get a croissant and chocolates for my period ($25.)
7:30pm: I grab Mickey D's because I want to. Fish filet sandwich, fries, chicken nuggets, and a soft drink ($18.)
8:00pm: zone out in bed and chat with my bf
11:00pm: Work on the writeup
1am: sleep
Total: 56 (Food)
[Reflections]
Weekly total:
Food + Drink: 207
Home + Clothes + Beauty (aka eBay): 70
Transport: 156
Honestly, this was the first time in a long time that I had done such a detailed review of my week. I was honestly a bit impressed by how often I wound up on eBay (ngl the times I'm on reddit, I'm oftentimes searching for new brands and designers I like, so that I can go find them...on eBay. It kind of feels a little like I may have a bit of a shopping addiction?) I use it wayy too often to cope. The nice thing about it is that I always find great deals on eBay, but I think it's probably time to switch hobbies.
Also, I need better work hygiene. Like sleep hygiene but for work. I might start going into the office weekends just so that I can wrap up stuff early, leave, and then actually have a weekend.
This week was a bit pricier than usual because I ate out for dinner and bought a plane ticket, but tbh it's not that ooc for me. Food is almost exactly the same as what I spend a week in the US and usually I budget 400/m for misc stuff so it seems like my habits haven't changed much even after moving lol. I know some people might balk at the idea of 800/m for food and 400/m discretionary spending on a 2k/m income but being no car + having the school pay for my insurance (& offering a lot of free things in general) + most importantly, no debt makes it less of a dangerous risk and more of a poor choice lmao. In Europe, I think I will end up spending more on misc things here than back in the US because Europe offers a higher density of concerts, entertainment, and designers that I like within a 30 euros train distance (and 200 euros plane distance for the ones I really like.) My personal preference is to spend <2 hours a month total thinking abt finances (so basically budgeting if I have a major life change + just going thru my CC statement and updating my tracker) so I am happy with how I spend and prefer to overspend a bit rather than think about it too much.
For those who are curious, my monthly budget here:
food (weekly): 70 for groceries + unavoidable 50 for eating with coworkers 3x a week
overall (monthly): 3700 (income) - 2500 (rents) = 1200 - 300 (food after sodexo) = 900 - 600 (misc spending) = 300 (base savings) + 1000 (relocation) = 1300 (total savings) + a bit more after tax return
​
Hope you enjoyed reading! I'm curious to see people's reactions.

Hey folks,
Org that I'm with is (finally) moving to Service, and with premium capacity to boot (yay!). This is huge news and a great move, but it seems there are so many ways to configure how Service gets used from end to end and I am wondering how you guys have your reporting environment set up in terms of: workspaces, deployment pipelines, sharing reports, controlling privacy, and why that way?
Workspaces:

• do you guys have 1 workspace each for dev, test, and prod overall? Or do you guys have dev, test, and prod per process or business unit? do you have a data workspace and a content workspace? If the last one (data/content), doesn't this mean your lineage view isn't complete since you can only see part of the full lineage in each workspace?

Deployment Pipelines:

• do you guys have none, one, or many? Why that number? And how is it set up? I read that some people have deployment pipelines (and workspaces) purely for dataflows and datasets and some purely for reports.

Sharing Reports:

• do you guys give end users access to the workspace? app? or do you just share reports via the manage permissions and give them a link and ask them to go to the "browse" section of power bi service? Something other way?

Privacy:

• related to the sharing of reports. Are you controlling the sharing via email distribution groups per report and/or dataset? Or on the workspace itself? If the latter, does that mean you have multiple different workspaces for each audience?

​
I am currently considering three very different methods in terms of workspaces, deployment pipelines, and report sharing:
1) Three workspaces in total: DEV, TEST, PROD. One deployment pipeline controlling all artifacts across the three workspaces. In all three environments, there will be staging and transformation dataflows in before they feed into datasets/datamarts. Only the production ones will have scheduled refreshes. DEV and TEST will have stale data and be refreshed on-demand and only as often as needed.
Reports to be shared via manage permissions > URL, so users dont get any access to the workspace, but can see content that is shared with them via the "browse" tab in Service.
​
2) Two workspaces: data workspace, content workspace:

1. Data workspace with just dataflows, datasets, and later datamarts. There will be staging and transformation dataflows here before they feed into datasets/datamarts.
2. Content workspace with reports, dashboards, apps, etc. where all the content is pointed at data from the data workspace

3) Many workspaces: data workspace, workspace for each business process or unit

1. Not sure how deployment pipelines would be set up in this scenario. If data workspace is A, and say HR workspace is B, Finance workspace is C, I don't think that deployment pipelines allow you to have A point to both B and C?
2. Content sharing to be controlled on the workspace itself

​
I'd like to get your expert thoughts on the above vs. how you have it set up/what you would recommend.
​
Cheers 📊

Background: 29F, SG, Chinese. Partner is originally South Asian descent but is now a citizen. We have known each other for almost three years.
LONG POST WARNING. STRAP IN AND WITNESS THE DRAMA. BUCKLE IN FOR A RANT/VENT
My mother is quite the character - she nitpicks and is fixated on her 'cantonese heritage' despite my father being hokkien. When my fiance first visited wearing a red t shirt for Chinese New Year, she focussed on the informal nature of the clothes; when he brought a pricey bottle of wine to the gathering as a gift and drank it together with my family over the meal, she noted this as 'alcoholism'. The cherry on the cake was when my fiance gave my family a Christmas gift set of treats, she nattered about the absence of a handwritten card attached to the gift box.
I got engaged one year ago, and in that moment, the saddest thing that struck me was that I was more worried about him getting approval from my parents first than fully enjoying the moment.
Since then, at my request, he did host a dinner at his apartment with my parents and younger sister in tow, to 'ask for my hand'. My parents agreed, with my father asking him to co-buy another property in my name, and my mother wanting the usual 10 tables for the chinese banquet, tea ceremony etc. Unfortunately, in that moment, she said, "I always thought my daughter would marry an ang moh (Singlish for caucasian man)". To alleviate the tension, my fiance laughed it off by making fun of his own skin colour, but that statement weighed on him and he wanted an apology. My mother not only refused to apologise, she and my father sought to gaslight ("No, I'm not racist, I simply meant because you're so westernised, I thought you will marry a white man!", "If he had a problem with it, it's his problem for focussing on his skin colour... if others call me yellow, so what?".
Because of this, wedding planning was deferred. There was a second confrontation last year in June, where my parents and fiance met up separately to discuss the comment. Needless to say, things did not go well. My dad apologised on behalf of my mother, but my mother was still unhappy : NMom: "In all my life I have never apologised, just ask your father!", "He is so rude to tell me that my comment is inappropriate!", "No, I'm not racist, in fact I welcomed him during Chinese New Year although it is inauspicious to have a black face around!"(Note that 'black face', when literally translated from mandarin, means having a disgruntled expression.).
Since then, fiance and I fought multiple times over my parents, with him threatening to leave if I continue to try and nudge my parents around. He has Ultimately, this year, during the first day of Chinese New Year, my parents initially didn't want to have him over but ultimately added one dish to the menu. My fiance also came to take the bull by the horns, coming by appropriately dressed, and even apologised to my mother twice for being "rude" for telling her she was being rude. While the storm appeared to pass, she still uses this episode of my fiance telling her off as a reason for why she doesn't like him.
Fast forward to today, where ultimately I decided to get started on wedding planning and set a date. My fiance and I have always wanted a small wedding involving close family and friends, and as foodies, we wanted to pick a nice, Michelin-starred restaurant instead of the usual hotel ballroom banquet that is the norm in Singapore. To be fair to his family, we wanted to opt for 'western' cuisine. Since then, additional requirements were thrown in that were not discussed before: involving a geomancer to pick an auspicious date, adding in a guo da li ceremony with 10 baskets of wedding cookies to be given, and even mandating an all-Chinese banquet 'to cater to seniors', with at least 100 guests coming from them. Note that (i) 70% of the folks on my mum's invite list comprises of the 'seniors' especially her mother's side of the family, (ii)I have never spoken or interacted with at least 80 of these people, and (iii) in addition to our new house, my fiance and I will be fully footing 100% of the wedding bills and planning for it, with no help coming from my parents. Reasons she has given include: If you invite one, you need to invite all, I'm not giving away my daughter in a low key ceremony, this is about family and you need to invite the seniors as well. Finally, for (iv) the tea ceremony, my mother proudly told me to engage a 'mistress of ceremony' and that she would not be helping with the prepping of the tea, moving of props, etc.
We ultimately booked a venue of our choice, but my fiance gave in and paid the deposit for 12 tables of 10 people, with chinese food, and add on live stations. I informed my mother about the venue, and asked her to just prepare the guest list. As I had not involved my mother at all due to recent history, she never stopped haranguing me about the date, menu, and even how the sit down affair would work, citing reasons like 'As this is a family milestone, it would set us at ease to know how it works'. She even did an excel sheet detailing at least 5 different options for the hotel banquet.
Prior to going for my holiday, I attempted to set boundaries, explaining that we had outstanding financial commitments for the house and we had paid deposit for the venue, and it would be excessive to have two receptions. This culminated in a confrontation via WhatsApp while I was on holiday. Frustrated, I told her that "It is Chinese food, sit down, and you get your chinese banquet of your dreams. This means NO TWO WEDDINGS, ONE AND DONE. I'm giving up what I want, a destination wedding with elevated food just so you have your moment in the sun. I hope you're happy now."
Apparently, she was so butthurt, she immediately withdrew her guestlist of over 80 people and told me to go for the small wedding I liked, leaving my fiance and I with a venue that can accomodate 120, with just our guests of approximately 30+ people. Good outcome? Nope. She nitpicked the venue, stating that it is "cheap", and she didn't want our relatives to criticise or say that she married her daughter out being stingy. For non-Singaporeans, it is not that the venue was inappropriate, in fact, the cost of the venue we picked would be on par with the median hotel ballroom banquet price. Not only did she refuse to hear me on the budget I've set for the wedding, she (i) stood firm on wanting the separate chinese dinner, with her paying and hosting this dinner, and refused to go for the venue we booked, (ii) asked for a pin jin (bride dowry) cash equivalent of the chinese banquet dinner for ten tables, or 100 people, (iii) still asked for the si dian jin (bridal jewelry), plus the guo da li items, (iv) when I tried to establish boundaries by stating the budget limits and how we have tried to cater to her wants, and that costs will escalate with gown rentals and the exertion of energy and time in planning for an additional event, she asked that my fiance "send an elder to speak" to her.
The only concession I could extract was explaining my budget, and with our venue taking more than half of the budget, this would mean we would seriously need to compromise on other things like the gowns, photography, decoration etc just to have two events. I even told her: "Do you really want me to walk in to the venue in a H&M white dress?" She offered to pay for the Chinese dinner, and all we needed to do was show up, but got extremely unhappy when I told her that if she was planning it, we would not be helping in any way, shape or form, and we would not be giving her money equivalent to a second venue. Her rebuttal? "Don't tell me your fiance doesn't want memories of that day", "the groom should pay for the wedding anyway, it's tradition", "Fine, I still want the equivalent of the 10 tables in your pin jin, besides you were going to spend the same amount anyway for your wedding", "If he gives $8, this just shows how much he values you", "a wedding is not just about the both of you... you don't want to regret getting married without blessings. It is a family event, and I want to take this opportunity to get everyone together. Isn't it sad that the only excuse for catching up and meeting up is at funerals?"
I'm really angry and frustrated. I did feel guilty as I still do want to get wed in peace and with immediate family present, and wanted to cancel my existing venue for the smaller venue I preferred while letting my mother have control of her little pet project (the chinese dinner), thus ensuring non-interference in my actual small wedding. Both my fiance and my counsellor told me that this was naive of me as my mother's antics was an exercise in pushing boundaries, and with the escalating demands and shifting goalposts, this behaviour is likely to endure even in her pet project.
What made me really sad was I actually googled to see if I was being a terrible person, and it took reading forums that I am 'normal' in wanting a wedding day for MYSELF, and I deserve to host MY wedding the way I want to feel that my emotions are valid.
Redditors, especially Singaporeans, what do you think?

There is a certain aura, a cultural meme, regarding the United Nations Armed Forces. A very particular version of events that is peddled across the galaxy, generally the result of an interstellar game of telephone. This aura is that of an unflinching, uncaring war machine. One that starts with the goal of total destruction of its opponents, and works towards that by any means necessary.
It is easy to see how this came about. Even putting aside the pre-Contact War conflicts, there is plenty of brutality to be found. The exploits of Spearhead Platoon during the Second Hekatian War, fighting it's way from the Susquehanna to the palace of the Hekatian Emperor, has particularly dominated the popular consciousness for many, and it is difficult to argue they did not experience some of the worst the war had to offer. A still frame of Corporal Heppell, gas mask concealing all but his eyes, half a second away from plunging his plasma-enhanced bayonet into a Hekatian platoon commander, has become one of the most reproduced images of the whole Battle of New York.
While plasma bayonets were only issued to a small portion of British units during the Second Hekatian War, melee fighting still occupied a disturbingly high proportion of the wars with the Hekatians a modern war. The Battle of London (both 2021 and 2025) saw civilians armed with little more than axes and clubs achieving at least some success against mechanised Hekatian forces in the tight urban confines of the city, with their contributions in the Second Hekatian War forming a part of the critical force that halted the Hekatian offensive. Less well commemorated, but by no means less brave, was the near-complete annihilation of the 8th Battalion Rajputana Rifles in the opening phases of the Battle of New Delhi. Caught out-of-position by the surprise landing of Hekatian forces, the soldiers rushed into battle against a far-superior Hekatian force. By the day's end, only 3 soldiers survived from the entire ordeal, but their counterattacks, waged with everything from rifles to chunks of rubble used as clubs, successfully held up the better part of a division for some critical hours. Doubtless similar stories exist across every front of the war.
Infantry fought with all manner of weapons, with KPA forces famously utilising shovels and large quantities of grenades while fighting from trench to trench on the slopes of Mt. Paektu. During the later stages of the Battle of New York, Gurkha units roamed the irradiated rubble of the city, wielding plasma-enhanced kukris: this was so extraordinarily effective that Hekatian units in the Brooklyn area had a bounty set on the weapons, on the basis that each collected meant another of the feared soldiers had been eliminated, and that soldiers would be more watchful in hopes of collecting said bounty. The actual effect was that the number of losses credited to Gurkha units went up, as their soldiers (now aware of just how effective they were) delved deeper and deeper into psychological warfare. Meanwhile, Hekatian soldiers became so jumpy that they often exposed themselves to Human forces by firing away at nonexistent targets, and were so nervous as to lose all composure when engaged. When the United Nations counterattack successfully trapped a large quantity of supply-starved Hekatians in the radioactive ruins of New York, an intimidation campaign of such ferocity was launched that even a century later headless Hekatians are occasionally located within the New York area.
There are, of course, other ways to be brutal than a bayonet or bullet.
The Second Hekatian War, for example, saw the mass deployment of nerve gas against Hekatian forces landing in Southern England, with this considered to be the single deadliest event in the history of warfare (excluding attacks targeted at civilian populations). True numbers on the death toll are hard to come by, but it is estimated these attacks alone killed roughly 100,000 Hekatians, unprepared for the gas as they were exiting their ships, with an unknown number severely wounded. This is at present the only confirmed deployment of chemical weapons in either war: rumours persist of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea having used significant quantities during the fighting across the Korean Peninsula, and into Northeastern China. To this day, neither the People’s Republic of China, nor the Korean Federal Republic have confirmed these rumours, and all files regarding the status of the DPRK’s chemical arsenal have been sealed away until 2155.
Chemical weapons were not the only weapons of mass destruction brought out in desperate defence of Earth. Biological weapons were deployed, albeit in significantly less flashy ways. Though continuously denied by the United Nations to this day, all evidence indicates that a modified form of Tularemia was deployed against Hekatian forces in the United States. By all accounts, this was extraordinarily effective in shattering Hekatian morale, along with generally degrading their ability to resist United Nations counterattacks. This disease, relatively minor as far as biological weapons go, was generally non-lethal, and thus believed acceptable to be used against the Hekatians without causing further escalation if discovered.
Currently, there is significant reason to believe the Hekatians may have deployed biological weapons of their own, which may later have morphed into the infamous Cincinnati Flu, though this is highly controversial amongst war historians, and is believed to have occurred independently of the use of Tularemia. It is also worth noting that declassified British documents speak openly of a large stockpile of anthrax being distributed across the island at the start of the Second Hekatian War, with the intent being to release it en masse as a form of vengeance should Britain fall. Still uncertain is why, even a century after the war and the collapse of the Hekatian Stellar Imperium, several Hekatian-majority worlds (including, most infamously, Kulabaddos) semi-routinely see severe outbreaks of a disease worryingly similar to H1N1.
The most destructive WMDs in pure terms were the InterStellar Faster-than-light Missiles. Effectively the old idea of the Relativistic Kill Vehicle, except with a hyperdrive strapped to them, they saw very little use across the war, except for a few carefully calculated deployments by United Nations forces. Using stolen missiles, the Muaytrov and Hualkinov anchorages were utterly destroyed, followed by the military staging post of Traxio.
But these are not the weapons of mass destruction thought of when the Second Hekatian War springs to mind.
In the course of the Second Hekatian War, nukes were tossed around in large numbers. City after city across the United States of America fell victim to Hekatian nukes, while American strikes (generally tactical in nature, directed at concentrations of Hekatian forces and key command and control sites) usually invited yet more retaliation. Historians are unable to come to much of a conclusion on the effectiveness of this strategy by the American military, in no small part due to the difficulties of credibly predicting what would have happened without it. It is arguable that these attacks were responsible for the collapse of Hekatian morale and eventual widespread mutinies: this can also be attributed to any of hundreds of factors. It must be noted, though, that the Hekatians began the nuclear game with the destruction of Washington DC, and that ultimately all responsibility lies with them.
After the war, there was much debate on the morality of this action, rather than just the efficacy. It was declared by some that Humanity, now no longer in an existential fight for it's liberty and potentially survival, was in a "post-nuclear" age, where it could step away from these insanely destructive weapons. While this did hold for biological and chemical weapons, it simply could not for nuclear weapons, as the reality of maintaining an effective military on the interstellar scale quickly caught up. Nukes are fielded in what could be described as a liberal amount: fashioned into Nuclear Explosively Formed Projectiles or Casaba-Howitzers, they form the backbone of the Stellar Navy’s anti-ship missile arsenal. Special forces units have routinely made use of sub-kiloton devices in the Rigel Campaign, and conventional forces maintain large stockpiles for tactical usage. Even the famous SIM-94, defender of the skies, is more commonly than not fielded with a nuclear warhead of some sort.
These are carefully calculated tactical uses, yes. A Casaba-Howitzer melting a warship is a far different thing than the nuclear bombardment of Los Angeles, both in scale and morality. But most commanders do still hesitate when they order a nuclear strike in an exercise. Failsafes abound for all devices intended for anti-ship purposes to prevent their usage in other ways, while devices for use as bombs are subject to hyper-strict command-and-control procedures. ISFMs are subject to even stricter control, since their misuse could devastate an unshielded planet.

The cumulative effects of such a war have continued to be felt for decades afterwards. The Second Hekatian War is believed to be the war with the single highest rate of PTSD amongst veterans. Post-war advances in medical technology helped to at least lessen the effects of physical wounds, and the general improvement in living standards that followed the wars has significantly helped many veterans, but some things can't be solved by getting to take a holiday to space on the cheap. This is of course not to mention the refugee populations of the former United States, many of them surviving by flukes while losing their entire family. It is a horror no one seeks to experience again.
Yes, the plasma bayonet is still technically fielded by both the Territorial and Stellar Army (though, notably, not the Orbital Infantry, who solely fight in the cramped confines of space stations). But it has not been used in combat in decades, and is widely agreed to only exist because of tradition, and also as a somewhat risky means of cooking food. To the average soldier, the idea of a bayonet charge is unthinkable, not least because it means a lot has gone wrong.
When the Hekatians were at the gates in 2025, it was necessary to project a certain image. The unflinching warrior, remorseless and unplagued by questions of morality. Even at the time, this had serious problems. Now, in 2150, things are different. That image is back in the box as far as the United Nations is concerned, even as the myth continues to spread. But the thing about boxes is that you can always open them up again. The only hope is it never will be.

---Authors Notes---

Some points: the Korean Federal Republic is supposed to be the unified state that now comprises the Korean peninsula. The Rigel Campaign thing is something I have been meaning to expand on for a while now, and has been mentioned before, though not by that name. Fingers crossed I can sort out the relevant stories for that some time soon.
Some may notice that there has been a slight retconning of ISFMs here. Originally they were intended to hit their target at FTL speeds: I have spent at least a year bothered by my earlier concepts of FTL. Firstly, the problem of where they got the energy to go FTL: this was covered by a "no one knows", which was eventually meant to be "no one knows but it's being siphoned from other dead universes and for some reason can't be harnessed by other uses", which was a cop-out to be honest. The second issue was that obviously any shield to protect against this would be absurdly powerful, so absurdly powerful as to render any planet basically invulnerable to everything. Thirdly, they had an interesting effect on space battles, in that they forced them to be more conducted in orbits of planets where collateral damage would prevent the usage of ISFMs. I really like this as a concept, especially since I think it's a kinda nice inversion of how anti-ship missiles work in reality (which force ships to get further and further away), but I realised that ISFMs were basically just too good at this. So I have decided to change it slightly, so that it's closer to a "slipspace" style. ISFMs are now just RKVs with the ability to go faster than light, then they drop out slightly before hitting the target. Still very powerful but less nakedly reality breaking. The point about forcing battles to be more in orbit still stands, but now those ships could better defend themselves or evade. Basically the difference between how hypersonic weapons are portrayed against modern carriers, and their current reality: still capable but not perfect. The same change applies broadly to regular hyperdrives, but they're not really that affected.
Anyway, if you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee, it helps a ton, and allows me to keep writing this sort of stuff. Alternatively, you can just read more of it.

Note from roberestarkk

I am blatantly copy-pasting this from elsewhere to help test a text-to-speech issue

As the title mentioned, I just started to look for jobs. I applied to multiple places and the HR sent me the requirements.
This includes working on public holidays for double pay (normal pay 7.50 an hour), is able to travel to different branches (because they're short staffed) and transportation is on my own. I don't have a vehicle, I could walk to the two branches but needs to drive to a third branch. We can also take our breaks according to schedule, I also need to work 6 days every week, and the working hour is 12 hour every day. Is this okay? I'm thinking that transportation itself is gonna eat up a part of my salary and parents won't let me get a license because it's expensive. 🥲

Rockstar Games may already be planning Grand Theft Auto VI DLC. Fans have been chomping at the bit for more info on GTA 6 for a while as it will likely be one of the biggest games of all-time. Rockstar Games continues to raise and set the bar in a way no other developer is capable of and that will likely be no different with this game. Red Dead Redemption 2 was an absurdly innovative game that is a benchmark for open-world gaming and GTA 6 is both the follow-up to that and the second-best-selling game of all-time, Grand Theft Auto V. The developer is taking its sweet time on its next game and we've already caught a couple of glimpses at it thanks to leaks, but we're still waiting to learn more about it.
With that said, a recent comment from Rockstar Games insider Tez2 noted that they believe Rockstar is on track to announce GTA 6 this year and likely release it next holiday season, with room to delay into early 2025. In order to ensure the game does not get delayed more, Tez noted that Rockstar may have to start cutting content from the game which could then be finished and repackaged later as DLC. It's not something that's totally out of the question, as Rockstar did repurpose some stuff that was cut from Grand Theft Auto V later in GTA Online. Reports also suggested that when Bully 2 was canceled, some of its concepts and features were salvaged for Red Dead Redemption 2.
"I personally see an announcement as a given this year," said the insider. "I don't think the upper management is in a position to delay further to holiday 2025/2026. Cutting more portions of the game to package into DLCs to release later on may be sustainable for management than delaying further."
With all of that said, it's not necessarily a bad idea. In order to get the game out in a reasonable time, stuff will have to be cut, that's the nature of game development. However, it's always a good thing if it can be recycled for other content later down the line. Not only do you get a more fleshed out experience, but it keeps the core vision of the game in-tact. Rockstar has largely moved away from premium story DLC in recent years, so it's unclear what this DLC would look like, but it will likely be years before we even see it.

For context.. I’ve been a Registered Nurse (BSN) for 4 years. I was active duty for a few years and got out recently (honorable discharge).
I was excited to be able to CHOOSE where I worked and what I did as a nurse when I got out because I didn’t love my previous specialty the military assigned to me. I found a really unique job that I quite enjoy. Pros: ~It’s a really nice facility at a well known organization ~ Arguably the BEST coworkers I have ever had in healthcare, from my office mates to the director, I have never felt more valued and supported from a coworker perspective. ~ Flexible schedule, can usually come in various times pending patient visits ~ They allow us to work remote about once a week ~ ZERO micromanaging ~ M-F, no weekends, holidays or on call Cons: ~ Extremely long and difficult commute, about an hour each way ~ Horrible pay (my spouse is also a nurse and just graduated, they makes about the same as what I am making with zero RN experience, previous LVN experience) ~ I am making about 1/3 less than what I was making in my previous job
I have gotten quite far in the interview process with another hospital organization that is willing to pay me significantly more. It’s a different specialty, more so doing over the phone triaging and medication management. Not exactly a life long passion of mine, but it’s stable. Pros: ~20 minute commute ~ at least $10 more and hour ~ great benefits ~M-F, no weekends, holidays or on call
Cons: ~ No remote working ~ not sure if I will ever find people as genuinely good and kind as the ones I have now ~ not really a patient facing position
I will find out this week if I am offered the new position, I have debated for weeks what I should do. It’s a really tough decision. I would feel terribly leaving my current job, as I truly enjoy the work and the people. But the opportunity for a higher salary and a fraction of the commute is tempting… help.

I’m planning a holiday for couple mates and I for next year. I’m trying to decide which stop would be best as we can only do one due to time constraints.
We are 28-30 and love outdoorsy things and are suckers for good food, beer, wine and spirits so which has the best. This will be our stop straight after the Rockies. Probably be there 2-3 days before flying out.
Cheers in advance!