Hi everyone. I truly need some advice. My partner and I (W/W) have been together for about 3 years. Around July of last year she was fired from her job. We live together and she was making more at the time. Idk if it’s relevant or not but she has a degree and I don’t. I have only ever worked minimum wage jobs and she has held a few salary positions. Clearly she was the bread winner for our whole relationship. Around last year I had lost my job and was unemployed for about 8 months. This was during Covid and luckily I was able to find remote work because a coworker I worked with put me on to a remote job. I got the job and have employed with the company ever since. They don’t pay me more than 17 an hour so obviously trying to make it work for two people has been challenging. I always wanted to travel so I figured now was the perfect time since the only thing holding us back before was her not having a remote job where she can travel also. So we have been traveling and I’m hoping everyday she gets a job soon because there’s no way we can afford to live in the US without both of us working. When I wasn’t working even though she made the most money, I definitely felt a sense of urgency to hurry up and take whatever job I could because who wants to feel like they HAVE to support someone and have all the financial burden on them. That being said idk if she’s just depressed or just not wanting to try as hard to get another job but I’ve expressed several times that I don’t feel she has that sense of urgency. She’s expressed getting ghosted by potential jobs and I know it’s very hard to get a job in this economy. But I also have those creeping thoughts sometimes like am I just a crutch, is she actually looking for jobs as much as she says? I know it sounds bad but she has talked about wanting to be a YouTuber and make money from that but that can take years. Sometimes I feel as though she is delusional, I’ve even asked if I was to leave you right now what would you do. Like what if I just woke up one day left and never came back. This is a person who has no family support and nothing to fall back on as far as savings or a back up plan. I ask her several questions trying to see where her head is at and it just sounds like a bunch of empty “these jobs aren’t hiring”. She also is a person that likes to go out or enjoy nice things where in my mind there’s never enough money really so I’d rather stack a savings then go out. She says she gets that but then it feels like we keep having the same conversations. I’m not sure how long is too long to start making plans to maybe live separately because at this point idk what would make her have some urgency. I’ve expressed I don’t want to be a crutch or feel trapped and trying to provide the day to day necessities for a person who seems as though they barely are thinking about how they would provide this for themselves is very frustrating. I kind of feel stuck in a loop.any insight would be appreciated and feel free to ask me questions as this is layered and details may be needed for more understanding.
TL, DR- It’s almost a year since my partner has been unemployed and I’m not sensing any urgency in them trying to find unemployment
Me-female-30 Partner-female 29

I keep on getting the error code above whenever I join or make a Xbox party. Restarting the console, disconnecting my wifi and reconnecting it, restarting/turning off my wifi doesn’t help and as of making this post the Xbox live stuff is all up and running. I don’t know what to do and have had no reply’s on the forums

Ivaxa has been well known for his high BPM stream plays along with his obscene singletapping skills over the course of a few weeks at the time of writing. His most notable achievement is his S rank on Deceit [pishi’s Extra] +DT (Score) (Replay). However there is some unusual behavior that Ivaxa has that should be looked into. This thread will look into quite a few cases of these weird findings.
As of the current date, May 16th, 2024, we have collected enough information to submit our public review of Ivaxa’s activity. We are asking the osu! staff and other independent researchers to validate our information and proof-check every single aspect of it. If our findings would be proven to be incorrect and/or not substantial - that's completely fine. Our goal is not to just blindly accuse but to establish the truth.
This document contains currently collected information about Ivaxa, his scores, profiles, and potential connections to other “alt” accounts in the game. We, as an independent team, are trying to establish the legitimacy or lack thereof of said player.
As always, harassment of any of the people mentioned/involved in the report is inappropriate. Please be civil when partaking in the discussion.
Replays, and VODs can be found in a google drive at the end of the thread so you can investigate and see moments listed in the thread yourself.
But first, here's a few things to consider:

1. Ivaxa’s mouse is a HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2, he allegedly plays on 800 DPI with a 0.62x sens multiplier on osu!. The only reason as to why it’s alleged is because of his recent streams, his sensitivity seems higher than it actually is.
2. He plays with a Sayu O3C keypad that runs at 8000hz (Peripheral information can be found from Ivaxa’s Twitch channel.)
3. He is able to singletap 191 BPM streams consistently.
4. Ivaxa used to be a DT aim player, not much of a stream player until recently.
5. The player does have skill, however he may be using some sort of outside assistance software-wise like aim assist or relax hacks.
6. All replays in this thread were inspected using Circleguard.
7. Most of the information down below was conducted in the empirical (perceived) sense, so take all of it with a grain of salt.

Section one: Replays

There are a few moments within Ivaxa’s recent replays that felt unusual or very strange; mostly unusual edge hits, but also weird UR bar behavior.
The Deceit +DT
There are a few things to mention about this score. The first is an unusual UR bar behavior from 91076 ms (~1 minute 31 seconds) to 93123 ms (~1 minute 33 seconds). The UR bar looks like this in the end. This type of UR bar behavior is often found in 125 hz keyboards with a map that has a BPM that is a multiple of 125 (125 BPM, 250 BPM, 375 BPM, etc.). However, Ivaxa doesn’t use a 125hz keyboard or keypad, he uses one that is rated at 8000hz. This is rather unusual since this type of UR is only found in this section of the map only. Also, if he were to play on a 125hz keyboard/keypad, the type of UR that was shown above would be all over the map since the Deceit with DT is mostly 375 BPM.
The second would be his aim, particularly at around 1885 combo, his cursor shakes at an abnormal magnitude from the rest of the map. This shake can be caused by nerves, tapping strain of the left hand, or a mix of both. But, Ivaxa’s alleged sensitivity is so low that the shake that has been shown in the replay is either really hard to do or impossible.
Gotta go Fast +DTSO
This score has one thing that is quite suspicious. at 47582 ms (~48 seconds) into the map, an awkward edge hit is found where he over-aimed and seemingly snapped back to the circle. This kind of edge hit is something that a normal osu! player wouldn’t be able to hit entirely, especially at the speed at which the map is being played at. Another edge hit can be found in the same map at 28852 ms (~29 seconds), where the cursor doesn’t naturally curve at the end, instead snapping to the edge of the circle. Both cases may allude to the usage of some sort of aim assist.
Metal Crusher +DT
There are two things to note about this score, the first is some unusual cursor movement at the ending section of the map. Ivaxa’s cursor slightly follows the slider at 59128 ms (~59 seconds), and another right after at 60400 ms (~one minute). Movement like this paired with the speed at which the map is being played at just seems unusual/suspicious.
There are also five edge hits within the map, four out of the five edge hits are at the very edge of a circle. The probability of hitting these types of edge hits is rather low, especially when there are four of them in one map.
Edge Hit #1: https://i.imgur.com/g3VlDoz.png
Edge Hit #2: https://i.imgur.com/vpTKuw7.png
Edge Hit #3: https://i.imgur.com/oQiEwVR.png
Edge Hit #4: https://i.imgur.com/nJyVbiq.png
Edge Hit #5: https://i.imgur.com/MN9MfwN.png
Sendan Life +DTHD
There is something to be said about some of the 100’s that Ivaxa is hitting. More specifically some 100’s within a few of the maps that have been observed so far are very near the barrier of being a 300 hit regardless of whether the note is early or late (https://i.imgur.com/cxFSdjf.png, https://i.imgur.com/bHLurZn.png). The sayu is precise enough to actually hit these types of 100’s, however it feels like these have occurred too often, so much so that this play has half of the 100’s in the map has these “edge 100’s,” for a lack of a better term. There are also two 100’s (100 #1 and 100 #2) that have been hit at exactly the same lateness/timing.
100 #1: https://i.imgur.com/KR4BhWe.png
100 #2: https://i.imgur.com/pzg7zMn.png
100 #3: https://i.imgur.com/z5qIocV.png
100 #4: https://i.imgur.com/pgEBsKK.png
100 #5: https://i.imgur.com/rQ50Uhs.png
100 #6: https://i.imgur.com/oMkQ3O5.png

Section Two: Twitch Streams

The two pieces of information down below are more focused on his single tapping skills, along with some weird/suspicious moments during his stream.
Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG
At 15:37, Ivaxa is seen to be double tapping 270 bpm streams even though he S ranked the Deceit with DT around three days after said stream (390 BPM). At 49:15 mins of the same stream: he is seen to singletap 191 BPM streams, probably because he was warm when playing at his point.
Stream title: #17 #2PL Yomi yori 3 mod pass happening right now wtf,
On March 31st, 2024, on the VOD where he S ranked The Deceit +DT, at the end of the VOD at 2:58:42 Ivaxa is seen singletapping a 390 BPM burst. After which he paused the game and blamed Steam notifications. Despite the bottom half of his monitor being visible on stream through the webcam, where no steam notifications or pop-ups are visible, he then opened Steam to "change notifications settings.'' After allegedly changing the settings, his cursor trajectory on the visible parts of the monitor on stream tells us that he moved the mouse from the top most left corner, while usually Steam settings are located in a pop-up window at the center of the screen. Afterwards His stream allegedly "crashed."
To see the moment, play the following .mp4 file: 20240331 #17 #2PL Yomi yori 3 mod pass happening right now wtf Part 3 and go to the near end.
Stream title: #9 #2PL if i want to i'll farm req closed
On April 7th, 2024 Ivaxa showed on the osu! Game discord server that he is able to singletap 191 BPM (better picture of the graph), however six days later after the message, on his stream on April 13th, 2024 Ivaxa showed that he was able to singletap PoNo’s Yomi Yori 220 BPM streams at the end. This type of BPM jump in such a short amount of time can only be reasoned with by hardware abuse via rapid trigger. Either that, or some sort of relax hack that assists the player in tapping.

Section Three: Multiaccounting

There are many pieces of information that suspect that Ivaxa is multiaccounting, however there is currently no concrete evidence on whether or not he is indeed multiaccounting. Please keep this in mind when reading this section of the thread.
The Mulitiaccount & Play Count Graphs
Pipecat is the suspected multiaccount. First of all, both Pipecat and Ivaxa are placed 1st and 2nd on the osu!mania leaderboard in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland (This is done by using osu! subdivide nations). Both play count graphs also seem to compensate for each other as of 2024, April 4th (the graph for Ivaxa has been warped in order to have a better visualization).
Time-pp Scatter Chart & Best Performances
The same thing happens with their Best Performance Time-pp Scatter Chart from ameobea/osu!track (Pipecat's Mania Chart and Ivaxa's Mania Chart non warped). Both graphs seem to compensate for each other, especially at around the month of March, as of 2024, April 5th (again, Ivaxa's chart has been warped for better visualization of score submissions).
Speaking of pp, both accounts have similar maps in their best performances list (Ivaxa is on the left, Pipecat on the right). If you want to see more, just check their mania profiles.
This may ask the reason as to why Ivaxa hasn’t played any vsrg (Vertical Scrolling Rhythm Game), and yet his performance in mania is abnormal for his time played. As seen from the play count graph from above, Ivaxa would’ve most likely played mania first on the Pipecat account, and then proceeded to play mania again on the other.
Names/Naming Scheme & Last Seen
Their naming scheme can also be taken into account as, Ivaxa’s name was inspired by Vaxei, and Pipecat was inspired by Whitecat.
It is also worth noting that Ivaxa and Pipecat’s Last Seen times are near each other, being more or less one hour apart from each other.
https://i.imgur.com/uVucqXr.png
https://i.imgur.com/lYh4Gbb.png

Section Four: Misc, additional “facts,” and Speculations

This section is dedicated to the additional miscellaneous information and our speculation formed from the data we discovered during the process of the investigation. These entries are not verbosely written due to us not finding enough evidence/information to make them included in the previous sections.
For ease of understanding the entry's level of absurdity, we marked them with color tags. The marking process for each entry was completely subjective so even the most absurd ones could be a potential aid for independent investigators/osu! staff as an additional lead where we “hit the wall.”
Fact: Could be used as a potential lead
Fact + Assumption: Not substantial enough to be included in previous sections/Assumption
Pure Speculation: Completely speculative fact/information
Fact: BayOfEvil (Ivaxa’s old username), does have an osu!report on it, although the report isn’t very helpful. One of the thread's replies includes a Discord recording with Ivaxa playing as “proof” of him being legit. This should be investigated further (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVQDdw1SSLs).
Fact: Ivaxa’s Mania score on Ne uchi +DT was set 22 days after his no-mod score.
Fact: In Pipecat's osu profile a discord server can be found (https://discord.gg/jkMydV3PTB), upon searching "Ivaxa" the only two mentions of the name is from the user Pipecat (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/577365869949354025/1225631393820708914/image0.jpg?ex=6621d52f&is=660f602f&hm=e3589cb93e9ffb2b7c0ef7ffbdedcc3b09df919a7082d11468035ff4f4f6e65e&).
Fact: Guitar to Kodou to Aoi Hoshi: Edge hit at the very edge at 202358 ms (~3 minutes 22 seconds) (https://i.imgur.com/PAWsyh7.png) Similar to the edge hit on FUCK YOU.
Fact + Assumption: FUCK YOU: Very erratic cursor movement at 4485 ms (~4.5 seconds) (https://i.imgur.com/mkRw4Ki.png) combined with his sensitivity and the map’s speed, this is basically impossible. Also he's been under-aiming a lot in this map but that might just be me. There is also an edge hit at the very edge at 60301 ms (~1 min) (https://i.imgur.com/GFxZctS.png), which can be questioned.
Fact + Assumption: Gotta go Fast HDDTHR: The UR bar is acting the same way that was observed with the deceit score from above (Gotta go Fast: https://i.imgur.com/ywA8XAu.png, Deceit: https://imgur.com/cbUtzya). With both maps being 375 BPM with DT, Ivaxa may or may not have used the same method of cheating if he is.
Fact + Assumption: Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG, at 15:37 mins, Ivaxa is seen to be double tapping 270 bpm streams even though he S ranked the Deceit with DT around three days after said stream (390 BPM).
Fact + Assumption: A Thread created by sampierat on twitter: https://vxtwitter.com/sampierat/status/1775216723743875457?s=20

• https://imgur.com/pC3DBMq

Pure Speculation: During a congregation, several people have noted/proposed that Ivaxa may or may not be using three keys in order to stream higher bpm’s, using a software that alternates the middle key (since he plays ring-index) between key 1 and key 2 to insure that nothing is suspicious with his tapping count.
Pure Speculation: We condone an anonymous survey inside the mania community, including some of the top players, regular 4k, 7k, and 8k players, and some tournament organizers. Most of the participants agree that Ivaxa’s progression and improvement curve is abnormal.
Pure Speculation: Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG, within the first hour of the stream, Ivaxa is seen to have completely lost his aim (44:46 min), even though he nearly fc'd Brazil on Fiery's Extreme with HDHRDT ten days prior to the stream. Although this evidence may not be as substantial as the others because of retry spamming Brazil.
Pure Speculation: The earliest known screenshots of Ivaxa grinding The Deceit Pishi's Extra, was on 2023, December 22nd (https://twitter.com/Ivaxaosu/status/1738245663631024453, https://twitter.com/Ivaxaosu/status/1738268599129632811, He later achieved an S rank on 2024, March 31st. He would've grinded the map for the past 3 months, however his play count seems to not reflect the grind, only having 237 plays as of 2024, April 5th (https://i.imgur.com/dg4HdSl.png).
Pure Speculation: https://youtu.be/Isp233epRAA the hands, and tapping technique may be similar to Ivaxa.
Pure Speculation: Potential lead/connection between Ivaxa and Pipecat could be found via steam accounts.
Ivaxa’s has two steam accounts (Both Steam profiles were sent to aknzx at one point):

• Main account https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199027517248
• Alt (thanks for Ivaxa posting it on one of the discord servers) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199081700184
  • Has a VAC ban on it
• Pipecat’s steam account:
  • “Main account” https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199389486073

Pure Speculation: Additional platforms related to Pipecat:

• Their youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@pipe_cat (We tried to use it compare Ivaxa’s voice and Pipecat’s voices already, not enough information)
• Their GD (GeometryDash) profile: https://gdbrowser.comNotPipeCat

Pure Speculation: Pipecat’s Windows username https://imgur.com/a/DCgtC82 (from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNTTpSl1hHo ) If it could be proven that Ivaxa’s real name is Krzys, it could be a potential lead (despite it being a very popular name in Poland).
Pure Speculation: Pipecat is recording videos on his Youtube channel using both a PC and a Laptop. The PC is running Windows 11, and the Laptop is running Windows 10. This Could be a potential lead.

Verdict

Ivaxa’s single tapping speed is very abnormal, especially considering that he was able to stream 220 BPM in just six days, starting from 191 BPM, all singletapped. His aim on some maps feels weird, and some edge hits are questionable in terms of legitimacy. The incident on his stream on March 31st of this year also felt suspicious and weirdly timed, as if he was covering something up. And Pipecat’s graphs line up in such a way that it seemingly compensated for Ivaxa’s play count, and pp-scatter chart. From the information that was gathered about Ivaxa, there is a likelihood that the player is cheating, via aim assist, partial relax, or a mix of both.
It is suggested/encouraged that you look into this yourself.

Files and Documents

For Ivaxa stream mp4’s, each “part” is in one hour segments (because untwitch). So part 1 would be the first hour of a stream, part 2 would be the second hour of a stream, etc. There are some parts where it didn’t download the full hour, so be aware of that.
We’ve also included one of the “VOD analyzer” test result files, which includes cursor positions from an analyzed stream segment (#11 #2PL 1.3k pp achieved). It was a completely custom-coded solution that analyzed the video frame by frame but it wasn’t used during the investigation, so we are unsure about the accuracy of the cursor detection.
Input data:
Approximate osu! playfield area on a 1920x1080 monitor:

-Top left of playfield area: (384, 126) -Bottom right of playfield area: (1536, 990) 

Ivaxa's Approximate playfield area on stream:

-Top left of playfield area: (329, 120) -Bottom right of playfield area: (1283, 835) 

Analyzed segment: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UOceGo6udbGH0p7jbZKvst4wqsIVWIWF/view?usp=drive_link
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LTDABXcFHSJnk5KNfHWdH1XPJwcdf4S1?usp=sharing
Streams Timeline

Date	Stream Title	VOD Links
March 20th 2024	we back boys	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1xFtwoU82d_qAKPyp7qEm2v4JVd8m-PDF
March 31st 2024	Yomi Yori 3 mod pass	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1PJQOhrao4CFsaeLg4wcwFPtBybdocAnB
March 31st 2024	1.3k pp achieved	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UOceGo6udbGH0p7jbZKvst4wqsIVWIWF/view
April 1st 2024	play game and then deceit farming	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1TsTmiNzDRIMpFn4lmUzwzS6n3AjyE3rY
April 9th 2024	Yomi Yori DT Farming Right now	N/A
April 13th 2024	singletap practice	N/A

Hi,
TLDR: looking for advice for 'deep recovery' from autistic burnout, venting/rambling a bit about my situation
Sorry for the long post, my life hasn't been great the last few years and I'm hoping that if I describe it in detail then someone might have some advice for where to go next, or be able to tell me if I'm missing something obvious. I've bolded the bits where I'm asking for advice.
I (24F) am not officially diagnosed with aspergers or anything autism related, but am recovering from what I suspect is autistic burnout. I had symptoms of moderate to severe CFS last summeautumn but am slowly recovering from it without any major crashes. When I read the description of autistic burnout I identified with it completely. The loss of skills and extremely reduced tolerance to stimulus on top of the fatigue is something I have really struggled to describe or explain to people (not helped by the loss of skills i.e. barely being able to put a sentence together to speak to someone). I've read Strong Female Character and Aspergirls, and am currently reading Unmasking Autism. I haven't completely self-diagnosed yet, but I am researching it and think it's a strong possibility. The first half of Aspergirls describes my childhood pretty well. I was often called a 'Highly Sensitive Person' and Unmasking Autism states that the creator of this term has said that the people she was talking about have since been diagnosed with ASD. Even if I am not Autistic, I often find Autistic people more relatable and easier to understand that non-Autistic people and find their advice for rest, sensory issues etc helpful to me. I am not looking for a diagnosis or diagnostic advice.
I currently feel like I'm starting my life over again, and I'd really appreciate advice on how to build a sustainable life when I have a lower tolerance for stimulus and find communicating more tiring than many people.
Context/life story: I'm from the UK. I have a degree in maths, was feeling burnt out and was going to take a gap year before doing a masters, but the pandemic happened and I moved back into my childhood bedroom. I couldn't face being stuck there again with no 'escape plan' so one afternoon I (impusively) signed up for a masters at a not so great uni and didn't do well academically. At the time I was considering a PhD and going into pure maths research. I don't have the grades to get funding for this. By the end of the masters my boyfriend had broken up with me and I'd lost touch with all my friends. The only person I 'spoke' to was my mother and even she'd say this was pretty one sided. In my dissertation presentation on zoom, I read a pre-written script and answered 'I don't know' to all the questions because I hadn't spoken to anyone in months and couldn't hold a conversation with the cashier in the supermarket about the weather let alone one with an academic about advanced maths. I scraped a pass.
After this was over (October 2021), I really felt like I needed a break. I decided I was going to have 2022 'off'. I was going to rest, get a job that didn't use my brain, move to a city so I wasn't so isolated (I live in Wales) and recover and rebuild before figuring out what I wanted to do next. I couldn't figure out how to move to a city without getting a professional job. I asked some family for advice but they didn't know either. I didn't know how to get any job near the town where I live. It's very cliquey, I don't know anyone who's got a job through a formal application process, it's always through a family or friend connection, and I'd lost touch with everyone by this point, my mother doesn't have any contacts and the rest of my family lives in another country. I get filtered out of formal applications because I'm overqualified and bad at lying. Spring 2022 I got sick of it and applied for about 5 software dev jobs. I got one basically without being interviewed. In hindsight that was the first red flag.
I moved to a city 5 hours away. I won't go into the details of the job but it wasn't great. I discovered they had a vrey high turnover for a small company. The new hires previous to me had lasted weeks, one only lasted days, before going on stress leave. I did 10 months. I signed a rental agreement for a year and was too exhausted to search for another job to pay for it. It was full time in the office because I was a junior. I had one friend who lived 3 hours away and every time we met up it was me driving to them, and my sibling needed a lot of help with uni and job stuff so I drove the 5 hours back home most other weekends. I did too much, but I didn't know how to not do too much. Within a few months of each other, my dog died, my grandad died and it was the 10 year anniversary of my dads death. I never had a bad performance review and I quit due to 'personal reasons'. The final straw for me was when I noticed in the office I was physically shaking from exhaustion when I reached for my mouse or keyboard. I think I must have been running on adrenaline or something because it was 2 months before I properly crashed. In this time I moved my stuff back to my childhood bedroom, and that is where I am now. July last year was when I crashed and thought I had CFS etc.
I would say I'm mostly recovered from the physical fatigue. I walk 10k+ steps a day and this helps me mentally. I know I should do more restorative yoga, I see this more like stretchy meditation than exercise and it also helps mentally. I used to enjoy powerlifting and I've tried a few times recently but I think I need to take that super slowly because I get carried away and it wipes me out for a few days after. Skills-wise, I am able to read books again, albeit books I've read before or childrens books. I sometimes have 'high energy' days when I'll read more non-fiction and try to plan my recovery. I am not up for doing technical computer stuff. Things I used to know still go completely over my head. Sensory-wise, I struggle having the big light on for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. I try to reduce screen time. I barely watch tv. I've deleted most social media so I only check instagram once or twice a week on my laptop, and I go on reddit or youtube if I'm looking for something in particular. I try not to listen to too much music otherwise the brain fog gets worse, but that's hard becuase it's one of the few things I feel connects me with the outside world at the moment. When family come round and there are group conversations, I cannot follow anything that's going on and it may as well be white noise. I haven't been in a public space for a while, so I don't know how I am with the background noise. I've reconnected with school friends and am going out for dinner soon, so I'll find out then. I will also find out how I hold up in conversation.
In the next few weeks I plan on looking for part time work. Any advice on suitable jobs would be welcome. I also start a compassion focused therapy group next week, after going to the doctors about this in october of last year *sigh*. I plan on working part time and living at home while figuring out what I want from a career and how to build a life. I wish I could just move to London but it's so expensive.
I see pure maths as closer to the arts than the sciences, and also enjoy fiction books (esp fantasy) and music. I played classical piano and violin/viola as a child to a reasonably high standard. I have no interest in computers really, it was just a job thats related to my degree and that I was good at. As a child I wanted to be a writer or a musician, but as a teen I prioritised moving out of my hometown and told myself that was something I didn't need to study and could work on in my free time. I had a 'maths brain' so it was easy enough to coast this path while I was grieving. I have learnt that the first things I let slide when I am stressed or busy, are the things I am interested in. Then it's chores, then my physical health. I have no idea when to stop or when to say no people. Not because I want them to like me, simply because saying no doesn't occur to me until after I've done it. I also don't notice when I am stressed or doing too much. I have gotten better at that the last few months.
In future, I think I need to prioritise my interests more than I have. I think I tried to 'fix' the stress from the things I 'had' to do with exercise and being very physically healthy. I think the solution is to prioritise working on my interests and passions. The thing I've found most helpful is keeping a diary. I started this last July. I'm now writing music and learning how to produce using Ableton. It's going very slowly but it's going. I've found creating things is better for me mentally than consuming them, even if I'm doing that using a screen. I am interested in the links between maths and music (group theory, geometry, topology etc), and plan to read more about this when I'm able. It would be a dream come true if I could somehow work self-employed doing this one day. I can't imagine working full time in an office again. It exhausts me too much to be able to do anything in my free time. I don't know how demanding it would be to work remotely full-time. I'm lucky I can live with family and work part-time for the forseeable future. There is no rush. I am 24.
Any advice on building a career your interested in, moving to a new city, managing stress and having healthy relationships would be very welcome. Or anything else you think it would be useful to hear.

Hello redditors, i have been stuck at this problem for 2 days already and have no solution. So i am working on a RestourantSearch project. I created a database and now am working on backend. I successfully implemented registering and signing in. When a user signs in the server successfully generates a correct jwt token which contains userid and the type of user. However when i try to post a request with Postman, i set the Header key to Authorization and the value to Bearer . I always get the error that the verification of the token was unsuccessful. After some debugging i concluded that the token is correctly forwarded to the server but when the jwt.verify executes it says that the token header and payload are NULL. I will firstly provide the code to my authMiddlewre.js, if you need anything else i will provide.
authMiddleware.js
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken'); function authMiddleware(req, res, next) { const token = req.header('Authorization'); if (!token) { return res.status(401).json({ message: 'Nedostaje JWT token u zaglavlju Authorization' }); } try { console.log('Token:', token); const decodedToken = jwt.decode(token, { complete: true }); console.log('Decoded Token:', decodedToken); //console.log('Header:', decodedToken.header); //console.log('Payload:', decodedToken.payload); // Verifikacija JWT tokena const decoded = jwt.verify(token, 'petar123'); console.log('Dekodirani token:', decoded); req.user = decoded; next(); } catch (error) { console.error(error); return res.status(401).json({ message: 'Neuspješna verifikacija JWT tokena' }); } } module.exports = authMiddleware; 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
this is my console log ( the parts i think are important are bolded)
Token: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJrb3Jpc25pa2lkIjoyLCJ0aXBrb3Jpc25pa2EiOiJhZG1pbmlzdHJhdG9yIiwiaWF0IjoxNzE1ODg2ODQ3LCJleHAiOjE3MTU4OTA0NDd9.GW81P2WsXxutCvvr2mcicirIOepxtztzEPnCaOaopFs
Decoded Token: null
TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'header') //
TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'payload') //
at authMiddleware (C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\authMiddleware.js:22:48)
at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\node_modules\express\lib\router\layer.js:95:5)
at trim_prefix (C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:328:13)
at C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:286:9
at Function.process_params (C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:346:12)
at next (C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\node_modules\express\lib\router\index.js:280:10)
at C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\node_modules\body-parser\lib\read.js:137:5
at AsyncResource.runInAsyncScope (node:async_hooks:206:9)
at invokeCallback (C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\node_modules\raw-body\index.js:238:16)
at done (C:\Users\Petar Djukic\Documents\si.24.28.res\Aplikacija\Node.js\node_modules\raw-body\index.js:227:7)
as you can see the token is forwarded properly but for some reason when decoding the header and payload are null.
I know that the token is good because when i put it into jwt.io i get this, which is the correct data. However the console says that header and payload are null.
HEADER:ALGORITHM & TOKEN TYPE

{ "alg": "HS256", "typ": "JWT" } 

PAYLOAD:DATA

{ "korisnikid": 2, "tipkorisnika": "administrator", "iat": 1715886847, "exp": 1715890447 } 

VERIFY SIGNATURE

HMACSHA256( base64UrlEncode(header) + "." + base64UrlEncode(payload), ) secret base64 encoded 

I am going to UNLV in the fall as a first time college student. I will be 31. I don't have a vehicle and I will not have one anytime soon. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into as far as rental options in the area/age-related issues.

 B R E A K 

I currently live in North Vegas and I get around the city perfectly fine between the city bus, cycling, and walking. Getting to the UNLV campus would be a 1-1.5 hour journey for me each way in my current living arrangement.
My current rent is 900 a month, and I'd prefer to stay under 1000 and not go over 1200 max. I would have no issues with a shared bathroom, and am curious about the "under 900" options I've seen people starting threads about in here.
I would be mentally worn down by any kind of shared kitchen arrangement, and I will wear down on any Roommates too. I am a health/fitness/cooking nerd who eats 4000+ calories a day and I cook all my own shit, so the fridge and freezer space would be "contentious" if you lived with me. I can compromise, and would make it work courteously if I had no choice.

 B R E A K 

What living arrangement options exist that fit this price range, are walking/cycling distance from class, and would locate me around a demographic that is somewhat age-appropriate? (I would say 23 or 24 is the age cutoff where I would stop feeling like a creep as far as neighbors go). I understand some co-mingling with the kids is inevitable, so I'm open to compromise.
Option 2 is going to school online and stay here at my current location, but I know my own learning style and what I want to get out of college will benefit from living on-campus-ish. I need the regimented schedule brick and mortar provides if I am to succeed. Thank you 🙏

I'm sure many of you have come across "trad-wife" content at some point or another online. I've been fed this content more and more lately, which had me thinking about what this "trend" means for mothers and families, and what impact it has overall for the mothers who are still "in the trenches" today. Whether it's a trend you participate in, or one you roll your eyes at, I think for the most part, it garners an emotional response from women, especially mothers, in either a positive or negative light. I also want to make it clear that "trad-wives" and SAHM are NOT the same thing at all, and should not ever be used interchangeably. These are two completely different things. A SAHM is still a working independent woman whos job inside of the home to be viewed equally as important as any work outside of the home.
I fall under the category of someone who is triggered by "trad-wife" content and generally have a pretty negative, critical response every time I run into it. But today, as I came across a video of yet another "trad-wife" influencer, who was defending her lifestyle, and call to "traditional" ways, I decided to stop and actually take a minute and be honest with what emotion I was really feeling when I come across this content. It isn't actually rage, disappointment or fear, like I tell myself it is. It's jealousy.
The truth is, my first reaction is jealousy and a sense of inadequacy that feeds off of my deepest insecurities as a mother. Jealousy for the mothers that can stay at home all day with their children, who can clean, bake, garden and cook with their little ones at their side. And as someone who is a working mum, but not by choice, I feel jealous of the extra time these women can spend with their children during these short pre-school years. I feel inadequate because I secretly fear I am failing as a mother by choosing a double income, over the financial insecurity of a one-income household. Inadequate because my house is a mess and I'm burned out from work from a job I hate by the time I get home, that I worry my children aren't getting the best version of me.
After the initial emotional response of jealousy, my logical brain kicks in and reminds myself that this lifestyle they are showcasing isn't reality. Most SAHM's aren't baking sourdough on homesteads all day. They aren't showing the 3AM wakeups or the teething drama. This isn't an accurate representation of motherhood for 95% of us. This leads me to my next emotional response, which is to then to substitute jealousy for criticism. I begin to list all the ways their lifestyle is flawed, naive and unsustainable to give myself some false sense of superiority to these women who are essentially just cosplaying.
I'm sure this reaction isn't uncommon. I feel it's a natural response for people to substitute the emotion of jealousy with criticism to justify their own lifestyles and choices that feel attacked. You could argue that the "trad-wife" movement is just that--a way for some SAHM's who may feel the need to justify their lifestyle and choices of not be in the work force, when surrounded by a world that places outside work in higher esteem than domestic work.
However, I would like to clarify that just because I feel jealous when watching this content, doesn't mean I wish I was a "trad-wife". I find the entire concept to be just as toxic as the "hustle"/"girl boss" culture they are fighting against. Not to mention, a completely misinformed and myopic view of what a "traditional" wife or family looked/looks like throughout the world. The "traditional" wife they are cosplaying as is just ONE example of a historic "traditional" family and a woman/mothers role within one. Yes, women have always been charged with domestic duties and childrearing. The home has always been where women have traditionally been taught to focus on, however, women have also ALWAYS worked outside of the home too—either on farms, factories or kitchens (etc). And women have ALWAYS outsourced childrearing to either a nanny or governess (if wealthy) or they had their eldest kids stay home and look after the younger ones. Working mothers, and hired childcare are not new concepts to the female history.
But, I do see how this trend came about. It’s an allergic reaction to the extreme push for women to get out of the homes and into the workforce. To climb the corporate ladder while breastfeeding. To pity the girl with the college degree and spit up stains on her shirt at home with unused potential. To take “equal rights” so literally we act like a man’s life or parental journey is identical to our own. Ignoring our monthly hormonal fluctuations and pretend we're fine to sit through that 2 hour meeting while popping Midol. That we add more value to society as another cog in a machine sitting in a cubicle, then managing your home and family, because that's just "sitting at home" all day, right? And maternity leave is really such an inconvenience…
Looking at both extremes, I found it funny how both sides share the same core issues/beliefs which do nothing but hold mothers, and families on both ends of the spectrum back. This is what I found were the major issues in the perception of motherhood at both extremes, when I took a step back and away from my own biases as a working mother.

1. We need to recognise that both lifestyles come with the enormous privilege many women don't have-- The ability to live off of one income is a privilege just like having enough money for childcare or family support is a privilege. For many, our family set up wasn’t a choice, it’s a necessity. The reasons to be or not to be a SAHM are not always a choice or preference. A lot of times these are hard decisions that include major sacrifices. Before you judge either lifestyle, acknowledge the privilege you might have in the CHOICE to follow either life path. A woman who HAS to work to keep her family fed, even if all she could afford were Poptarts for breakfast, is just as good of a mum as the one who made fresh sourdough that morning. The mum who has to go back to school shopping at the second hand store, and mend hand me downs to dress her kids on one income is just as good of a mum as the corporate baddie who bought her kids the trendy shoes their kid asked for. Both kids are fed, both kids are dressed, both kids are loved.
2. No matter what they say, we all love our kids, and how they turnout does NOT come down to your choice to work in or outside the home -- At the end of the day, I don’t think kids of working mums turn out much differently than kids of SAHM. I think we all know personal examples of rotten kids or adults with both types of mothers. Neither dictates your relationship with your child. As kids get older, they naturally drift away from us. The truth is we may mess up in ways we didn’t even consider. Our kids may always blame us for being overbearing by not having a life outside of the home. Or resent us for never being around because of work. Bad/toxic mothers can be found both in the home or the work force. Just think back to how the adults in our lives talk about their mothers--sometimes it was "mum had 6 kids at home, but she somehow managed to keep us all fed and cared for", or "mum had to work a full day cleaning houses, but she'd always make sure we read a book together after work". All mothers make sacrifices, no matter what type of sacrifice it is. Our kids aren't going to love or resent us for our choices to work or stay at home, but how we show up for them. Don't underestimate our children's ability to recognise our sacrifices on either end.
3. Full time domestic work and homemaking is a real full time job that hold just as much value as working outside of the home and should be treated and respected as such.-- Childcare is a full time job. Full time nanny's and daycares prove that. Homemaking is a full time job. We hire cleaners, interior designers and household staffs that prove it. Cooking, is a full time job. We hire chefs and nutritionists that prove it. So, when a woman is a SAHM does one (or more likely) all of the above jobs for her family, it’s given lesser value or consideration than someone who works outside the home? You hear “I like to get dinner ready and the house clean for my husband who worked all day he deserves to relax when he gets home”, as if you sat around watching tv all day? Just because you enjoy it, or it’s for your own benefit doesn’t make it any less of a real fulltime job. You deserve sick days and breaks throughout the day like any corporate job would...except you never actually get them. The person bringing in a paycheck doesn’t contribute a greater value to your family than you. And same goes for working mums—you already have one full time job, don’t discredit the work left at home as just “chores” that you additionally take on as “lesser value” expected tasks. If two people work outside of the home then two people need to be responsible for domestic work. These are full time jobs. Spouses cutting the grass and taking out the trash is not equivalent to cooking, childcare and cleaning. We need to stop ignoring the home in the overall picture of a healthy family life. We all need a safe place to live that is clean, we all need to eat nutritious food, and our children NEED someone to look after them. These things have a real invaluable place in society. As a working mum, I'm finding more and more how hard it is to bridge that gap, to manage two workplaces essentially, the home AND the outside work. All attention and focus goes to work outside of the home, but the home life doesn't just sustain itself. We are neglecting the importance of our domestic life in favour of the outside working life. This goes for both working mums and SAHM's. We need to stop ignoring that piece of the puzzle if we want to create the complete picture. As it stands now, most working mums cannot afford help in the home which is effecting our mental and physical health--SAHM's don't get any sort of financial nest eggs or assistance at basically working for free, which makes them more vulnerable to abuse.
4. Men need to be included in the domestic work in a way that sets them up for success. You are doing your family or spouse more harm than good by taking it all on yourself. -- By not giving dads a real opportunity to be involved in domestic duties you are depriving them and the children the full depth of a parent child bond and perpetuating that domestic life isn’t as valuable as outside work, or that domestic work is strictly a "woman's" domain. If you are a SAHM, and your job is to care for the house and kids, you just worked a full 8 hour day, just like your spouse. Because you stayed at home all day, most likely the basic chores have been done (though, kids are wild and even things like unloading a dishwasher can't be tackled), and maybe dinner is cooking. That alone is taking so much off of your spouses plate. Every family situation is different, every work situation is different, however, both you and your spouse are entitled to decompress a little after a full day. Dads need to be incorporated into the childcare aspect at the very least when they come home. Maybe since you spent all day with the kids, your husband gives them a bath and puts them to bed. Or, if you are a dual income house, maybe you split the bedtime duties, giving you the chance to spend SOME time with your children, after being gone all day--and just "play time" alone isn't enough or fair. I think a big way we fall down in including men into the domestic responsibilities, is for the same reason working mothers are struggling. The workforce was never set up with women or mothers in mind, and homemaking was never set up with men in mind. Now, some people will use this as an excuse to perpetuate that it shows that "a woman's place is at home", but studies have shown that over and over again, that fathers who are more involved at home make happier, more successful children. Children gain an enormous value from having fathers be just as involved in their upbringing as the mothers. And, I argue that men also gain just as much value from this. My husband is an equal partner in childrearing, and I'm in awe to see how much he has completely flourished and grown in this role. The truth is, most of us don't find fulfillment in our jobs. It's a paycheck. But a lot of us do find fulfillment in parenting. But to my point, we aren't setting men up to be successful in these roles, because men don't always think or approach things the same way as women. How many times have we had arguments with our partners because they ignored a mess, or didn't clean/do something properly, or we had to "nag" them to follow up on a chore...I know I have. But then I decided to take a step back and change my perspective on the home and family, and look at it as almost a military or corporate environment. Women don't thrive on deadlines and assigned tasks. We are better able to multitask, switch gears. To be too hyperfocused on one thing doesn't work so well when you have so many jobs to tackle at once. But men seem to work better with structure and direction. I feel like women see the big picture, and can zoom in from there, but men need to break things into smaller tasks before they can see the bigger picture. When a man retorts with "I'm not a mind reader", they are being just as dismissive to your needs and views as you would be by saying "you should just know". The truth is we are different. We were raised different, our brains function differently...but, I've found my partner excels in the household if he is given clear directions and expectations within the household. If instead of viewing it as two separate worlds, work and home, I approach it as equal sectors of one unit. Like how accounting is just as valuable to a corporation as their sales team. We are all operating for one goal, and one greater good. If your partner works outside the home, and you stay at home, then you need to view yourself as the manager of the home and delegate accordingly. How can you help your partner in their work day, and how can they help you in yours? You are on the same team. If you both work outside of the home, then you both need to take equal responsibility for the domestic work. You are both managers of the home, how can you support each other? What does one person do better than the other? Being passive aggressive because your spouse doesn't naturally see what needs to be done like you do, doesn't help anyone. Your spouse becomes defensive, and never learns, and feels out of place in home where you have inserted yourself as manager instead of an equal partner.
5. Other people’s choices don’t discredit yours no matter what they say. -- Everything seems to be a targeted attack these days. People can’t seem to live in a way that makes them happy without you feeling threatened by it. If a woman is happiest at home catering to their husbands whims, that has no effect on your choice to be a stay at home dad. One is not a threat to the other unless you begin to feel superior to another. That the way you choose to live your life is so superior you want to control the narrative and influence personal choices of others in your life by attacking someone else to lift yourself up. I can’t help but ask myself who is benefiting from staging us against each others? Definitely not the mothers. Lumping one group as “those people” keep us divided. Each side more extreme in their POV echoed by peers and targeted social media. We have been fed that it's an "us" versus "them" issue. That one side is pushing us back into the stone age, and undoing all the progress we have made in the feminist movement. The other side feels attacked for finding joy and value in living a life at home and as a mother, that society has stopped valuing their contribution...really, society as a whole hasn't changed much in the past 40 years. The workforce has more working mothers than ever before, but work culture and regulations have not changed to accommodate that. We have to change to accommodate them. SAHM's have always existed, but we have not elevated their status to show the equal contribution they have in our society. In the end, society is still just exploiting women. A capitalistic profit driven society benefits more from more people in the workforce. I think we are all angry at the same thing, a lack of choice and a lack of respect. Women fought hard to enter the workforce and gain independence and equal rights so that we could have the CHOICE of what our life would look like. But are choices are still being under attack. Being a SAHM or a working mum is no longer a choice for a lot of us. We are being goaded into believing one is more valuable than the other, and that's just not true. If you find peace and fulfillment at home, that doesn't make you any less educated or independent of a woman. And if you love your career and thrive in your work, that doesn't make you any less feminine (because apparently we can't be feminine and work anymore according to some...) or as good of a mother. We are humans and multifaceted and cannot and should not be defined by one singular role.

This ended up being some sort of weird feminist manifesto, which isn't want I intended, but I guess I had a lot to say on the subject. I suppose I'm just scared at how well social media has gotten at dividing us. Social media isn't inherently good or bad, it's a tool for connection, but now even mothers are being pitted against each other. We all know it takes a village to raise a family, but we've pitted the village against each other. We are too busy claiming we are "under attack" from our peers, when we're just puppets--they want us to feel "triggered", and I'm glad. Because now I'm triggered, but it's not at the "trad wife" who is harkening back to a world that never existed, but at the people who are instigating this. Who are filling women's heads with this nonsense, and trying to box up our "values" or what "femininity" means...what it means to be a woman and mother. Because being a woman and mother has meant a lot of different things throughout history. We control our own narratives. We need to stop insinuating that our way is the "right" way, or that society is faltering because women are no longer "feminine" or because women want to go back to staying at home. All of this is "right", all of this is "feminine". Being a woman can mean whatever you want it to mean, and being a mother just means loving your kids and doing your best everyday.
***NOTES: I know this was a very hetero/cis centric post that focused a lot of perceived gender norms that excludes the same-sex or trans families...even single mothers. It was written as a reaction to a "trad wife" trend that is extremely hetero/cis centric, so my reaction to it is from this perspective as a hetero/cis mother. However, I know these values and views totally effect all families no matter what they look like. So, I just wanted to put it out there that I see you, and would love to hear your voice on this as well.
Also, a lot of sweeping generalities in here as well. These are broad sweeping statements and generalisations based on societies general assumptions about genders and family life. Right, wrong or myopic, it's what we live in. My point in all this IS that every family and every person is unique, and that we can't keep functioning under the assumption that there is only one way or one family dynamic out there.

Hi, i saw a lot of posts about Prolific (on beermoney and other subreddits). They all said that is very easy to make some good money doing surveys, but it's difficult to be accepted and that there are people waiting months or years (a friend of mine said that is waiting in whitelist since 2022).
Not living in either the US or the UK, I was very discouraged from entering the site, living in Italy, but surprisingly I was accepted after just 8 hours! So i verified my ID with my driver license, i put all my personal infos and i did the initial test.
So i was finally in the homepage, waiting for studies. The problem is: i never have studies! I had only one survey (5 minutes for 0.79) in 2 days. Am i doing something wrong? I keep seeing people who manage to earn even 50 dollars a day or more. There are no studies in Italy? I am very confused right now

This is in response to a couple of posts from the past week regarding generative AI but long and late enough I figured a separate post makes sense.
I'm a songwritemusic producer who has been pretty deeply involved in these conversations for the past year. Below are insights I've gleaned. You can also join me at artistsresist.org where you will find my more or less monthly articles on generative AI and techsploitation. You can subscribe for free or (if you’re able to and want to support this work) support Artists Resisting Exploitation (ARE) at various tiers.
That said, we don’t actually need a single leader. The scope and reach of Big Tech is so great that no single person can seriously take this issue on and win. Moreover, elected officials like Senator Chuck Schumer have too much of a vested interest in our failure (including too many personal ties to Big Tech). Therefore, despite the fact that most people think stealing from artists to train generative AI on copyrighted work is wrong, the government continues to delay real regulation and to cater to Silicon Valley and Wall Street (fintech).
What’s working, nonetheless, are the efforts of and solidarity between many artists, including visual artists affiliated with the Concept Art Association and Create Don’t Scrape, writers with the Authors Guild, well-known musicians with the Artists Right Alliance, the Recording Academy, the Human Artistry Campaign, and (I like to think) the very grassroots work of Artists Resisting Exploitation (ARE). All of these groups fight for artists’ copyrights.
Note that there are groups like Fight for the Future (which is affiliated with Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW)), which are actively anti-copyrights but not always upfront about this. (Creative Commons and Electronic Frontier Foundation are also anti-copyrights and have aligned with Big Tech corporations’ “fair use” defense of scraping copyrighted work to train generative AI models.) However, for self-serving reasons, these anti-copyrights organizations are the groups academia (full of pro-scraping, Big Tech-funded researchers), the government, and tech policy groups and think tanks often turn to for “artists’ perspectives.”
In general, I suggest avoiding AI bros and focusing on uniting with likeminded artists. I think this is a better use of time and has more of an impact than attempting to convince those who put profits over people, including those who are paid to promote generative AI, invested in generative AI stocks, or employed by exploitative gen AI companies, to do what is right.
I firmly believe that if the vast majority of artists, who tend to care about protecting copyrights, band together, we can and will get through this. Popular generative AI models could not exist without us. In essence, these corporations and their users are dependent on us. But oppressors have historically (and possibly as a defense mechanism) long disrespected and despised those they’ve exploited. This is no different. Still, they only win if we give them our power by being complacent. I personally love art and artists too much to stand by while something that is so precious to my existence and to that of humanity is grossly devalued. No art form that can be digitized, however unique or innovative, is safe. Groundbreaking work that an artist has devoted years to creating can be pilfered, increasingly, in a matter of minutes.
We need solidarity between artists of all disciplines. For musicians, this means not using AI models that were created by exploiting visual artists (for example, for album art), writers, voice actors, etc. Fairly Trained has ethically created alternatives, and we should use those if we use gen AI at all. We also need to consider ways we, like visual artists, can poison models by supporting the development of tools similar to Glaze and Nightshade.
In the short term, we must speak up on social media, leave comments on articles and videos, and (most importantly) contact elected officials. In-person advocacy is especially effective. You can find your state arts advocacy group and get involved by meeting with or, if that’s not possible, calling or emailing your local and state elected officials. For Californians, these would be Californians for the Arts and its lobbying arm California Arts Advocates. In April, ARE joined other arts groups in meeting with the offices of seven elected officials in Sacramento. Remember, elected officials want to be re-elected.
Californians for the Arts’ and California Art Advocates’ rallying cry this year is #ArtWorkIsRealWork. Spread the word and post this everywhere, please. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make a living from work that you love and that you have devoted years to studying. Moreover, the fact that AI companies need and profit from your work is evidence of its value. There is something wrong with seeking to profit from another human being’s nonconsensual, unpaid, and (therefore) coerced labor.
Again, although there are advocacy groups, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment. Fighting Big Tech corporations that have seemingly unlimited wealth to throw at corrupt government officials all over the world—much of it, ironically, gleaned through exploiting artists—is exhausting extra work nobody asked for. They hope we will tire of it and give up. Those at the forefront of this struggle need to know that there are others who can take the baton when we need a break. I think I can safely say nearly all artists doing advocacy work on this issue would rather be making art. But we see a world in which that will be, increasingly, difficult as our works are stolen to line the pockets of the wealthy and then used against us to force us out of creative industries. So, if you love your art and art, in general, please do your part.

Is this a brand new build, or an upgrade to an existing build?

New

Please list any existing parts or monitor(s) you have that you would like to re-use with this build. For upgrades, a PCPartPicker list of your full build is extremely helpful. Be as specific as you can be here, including links or exact model numbers of each component whenever possible.

This is the recommended build so far

What will this PC be used for? Examples include things like gaming, general/multimedia use, photo/video editing, coding, AI/ML, etc. Include specific games and applications you intend to run, and any particular performance goals you have, as each may have different specific hardware needs.

Gaming-Valorant, Sims, GW2, Destiny, cozy games, BG3

What country will you be purchasing in? If you are in the US, do you live near a Micro Center? For other countries, please check if your country is supported by PCPartPicker by using the country selector dropdown on the top right - if not, please provide some links to reliable local vendors you are comfortable ordering from.

USA near a micro center

Do you need one or more monitors included in the budget? Please list how many and any size/resolution/refresh rate preferences if needed.

current monitor

What is your preferred and maximum budget range for this build, in local currency? Parts lists may sometimes have additional shipping costs. Please note whether prices in your country include sales tax or not, and adjust your budget accordingly. Typically VAT countries will have it included in the part list prices, whereas regular sales tax countries like the US and Canada will not.

Around $1000 USD but no more than $1200

Do you need WiFi, or do you have a wired ethernet connection available?

Need Wi-Fi

Do you have any specific size or noise requirements for the build?

no

Do you have any aesthetic preferences for color or lighting? Describe what you're looking for, or feel free to provide some links to examples that may help. Some people prefer an inobtrusive stealth build, while others may prefer a case full of rainbow RGB.

Love the look of an all white build and a more squared rather than rectangular tower case. If I can get a significantly better build using black parts and case, then that's fine as well and not a dealbreaker.

Any other specific requests or requirements? Examples might include a specific minimum amount of storage, or a particular CPU socket for a future upgrade path, etc.

Would like to be able to upgrade this build in the future. Need decent storage, but other than that, I don't think I have any specific requirements.

After saving up for several months, I purchased TWO refurbished Reavon UBR-X-100's today (total was $1,398 with free shipping and no taxes). In my living room I have an LG OLED 65" C8 and have it hooked up to a Sonos 5.1 system. I've been using (don't laugh at me) an Xbox One X for my 4k and blu-ray player. It's actually worked well for me the last several years although I know I'm not really getting full Dolby Vision and/or HDR with it. I thought I would use it to occasionally play video games but I actually never do so having a dedicated player will actually benefit me (especially something that can make full use of Dolby Vision and HDR).
In my mancave, I have an old school 2008 Samsung "50 plasma 720p television and Sonos 5.1, and while I know I won't actually get 4k, the picture quality on that plasma trumps any LED I've ever seen (yes, that's a purely subjective statement and not an objective claim). I'll eventually upgrade it to an OLED as well, but I freaking love that plasma and can't force myself to get rid of it while it's still working. The second Reavon is going to go to the mancave and will be future proof for 4k when I have that available. It'll be replacing by old Panasonic DMP-BD60 blu ray player there.
I definitely shopped around, but I wanted to go with something top tier that wouldn't cost $2k plus (that rules out Magnetar) and that still has product support if needed (that rules out Oppo). I did seriously consider the Panasonic UDP-820 and 9000, but getting a region unlocked one (I have alot of region B blu-ray's from Arrow and Second Sight) would have been even more expensive than the Reavon which has that region unlocked feature right out of the box. I just want to have a universal player that will be able to play anything without having to have multiple players in both rooms.
Anyway, I'm super excited for my new players and I'm looking forward to the major upgrade in picture quality. And I'm sure it'll continue to sound fantastic with my Sonos speakers. I'm hoping I won't have to get any new players for many years, as our love of physical media is certainly becoming more niche. But, like Peter from "Dawn of the Dead" says: "You never know."

About

The goblins from the Village of Gob are waking up clean every morning, and this has directly impacted the local market for the worst and a great danger emerges from the woods putting pressure to fix Gob's mystery. However, this is only the beginning of a 3 session adventure that uncovers a tragic conspiracy.

What You Get For Playtesting

• Your name will be added to the list of playtesters in the credits page on the final version of the book.
• A copy of the playtest material used to keep
• A PDF of the adventure run for the playtest after the last session

Playtest Content

We will be playtesting three ancestries that were made for the Pratalia setting. The goal with this playtest is to see how the ancestries function mechanically in-game and get feedback on the lore and roleplay for them.
🐸 Roog

Frogs that can jump very far, mastered the art of calming one's mind, and have a weakness to psychic energies and emotional disturbances

🦋 Orphaned

Celestial moth-like beings that master the fine arts and have a very naïve and curious demeanor

🐱‍🚀Noblins

Hairless Cat like beings that like to live life to the max, live chaotically, and have a penchant to overdo it "just a tad"

​

Game Details

• Players: 4-6
• Played Using: Foundry, Discord Voice Channels
• Adventure Length: 2-3 hour sessions, 3 total sessions, same time weekly
• Cost To Play & Ways To Save $
  • Cost: $12 per session ($36 total)
  • Early Bird: First 2 players that sign-up for any group get Half-Off the first session
  • Bring A Friend: Sign-up with up friends and you and your friends reduce the price per session by $3 (Saves $9) (This does stack with Early Bird)
  • Free $10 Towards Your First Game: If you never made an account on StartPlayingGames, you can use this referral link to get a free $10 that you can immediately use towards these games
    • https://startplaying.games/referral/cl710ephv7978109iegq1bdu4m

GROUP TIMES AND SPG LINKS

There are 6 groups that people can join to play. Below is when the first session starts for each group. Sessions 2 and 3 are on the same day and time each week.
Group 1: Wednesday May 22 8PM EST
SPG Listing: https://startplaying.games/adventure/clw614ptv001tg1r0ati6w2kn
​
Group 2: Thursday May 23 8PM EST
SPG Listing: https://startplaying.games/adventure/clw617x5i00038yd5fxj4x4r8
​
Group 3: Friday May 24 2PM EST
SPG Listing: https://startplaying.games/adventure/clw618ty50003mz3nln48qjuu
​
Group 4: Friday May 24 8PM EST
SPG Listing: https://startplaying.games/adventure/clw619mly005i8zr30m94vkxe
​
Group 5: Saturday May 25 2PM EST
SPG Listing: https://startplaying.games/adventure/clw61ad8a000x3754vi2xbfue
​
Group 6: Saturday May 25 8PM EST
SPG Listing: https://startplaying.games/adventure/clw61b654004lidjceukus48y

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Open-source GitHub Repo Paper Describing the Process
Aside: If you want to take the course I did online, the full course is available for free on YouTube.
When I was a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, I took this course called Intro to Deep Learning. Don't let the name of this course fool you; it was absolutely one of the hardest and most interesting classes I've taken in my entire life. In that class, I fully learned what "AI" actually means. I learned how to create state-of-the-art AI algorithms – including training them from scratch using AWS EC2 clusters.
But, I loved it. At this time, I was also a trader. I had aspirations of creating AI-Powered bots that would execute trades for me.
And I had heard of "reinforcement learning" before.. I took an online course at the University of Alberta and received a certificate. But I hadn't worked with "Deep Reinforcement Learning" – combining our most powerful AI algorithm (deep learning) with reinforcement learning
So, when my Intro to Deep Learning class had a final project in which I could create whatever I wanted, I decided to make a Deep Reinforcement Learning Trading Bot.

Background: What is Deep Reinforcement Learning

Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) involves a series of structured steps that enable a computer program, or agent, to learn optimal actions within a given environment through a process of trial and error. Here’s a concise breakdown:

1. Initialize: Start with an agent that has no knowledge of the environment, which could be anything from a game interface to financial markets.
2. Observe: The agent observes the current state of the environment, such as stock prices or a game screen.
3. Decide: Using its current policy, which initially might be random, the agent selects an action to perform.
4. Act and Transition: The agent performs the action, causing the environment to change and generate a new state, along with a reward (positive or negative).
5. Receive Reward: Rewards inform the agent about the effectiveness of its action in achieving its goals.
6. Learn: The agent updates its policy using the experience (initial state, action, reward, new state), typically employing algorithms like Q-learning or policy gradients to refine decision-making towards actions that yield higher returns.
7. Iterate: This cycle repeats, with the agent continually refining its policy to maximize cumulative rewards.

This iterative learning approach allows DRL agents to evolve from novice to expert, mastering complex decision-making tasks by optimizing actions based on direct interaction with their environment.

How I applied it to the stock market

My team implemented a series of algorithms that modeled financial markets as a deep reinforcement learning problem. While I won't be super technical in this post, you can read exactly what we did here. Some of the interesting experiments we tried included using convolutional neural networks to generate graphs, and use the images as features for the model.
However, despite the complexity of the models we built, none of the models were able to develop a trading strategy on SPY that outperformed Buy and Hold.
I'll admit the code is very ugly (we were scramming to find something we could write in our paper and didn't focus on code quality). But if people here are interested in AI beyond Large Language Models, I think this would be an interesting read.
Open-source GitHub Repo Paper Describing the Process
Happy to get questions on what I learned throughout the experience!

I need help before I let myself feel stupid in front of my new coworkers lol.. I'm doing volunteer coding for a non profit that sees people in low resource communities.. so the documentation is not exactly proper. I'm already struggling with my first case LOL.
"6 months pregnant G3 P1 ab1. say is at 6 montyhs, nio vitamins- just throws them up. Having sharp cramping pain on the right, The pain is worse when she lays down. Good fetal movement. No bleeding.. Lots of diarrhea,6 times/ day has mucus, watery, sometimes a bit of blood. She looks well though. No fever. The diarrhea comes and goes. This far into pregnancy. Metronidazole is fine for the dysentery. Her first birth was in 2016, in Brazil. Had C section for failure to progress after 24 hours. Baby 4300gram. advised to return for eval in 4 weeks, and that she needs to be in a hospital for close managment due to risk of needing another c section-It was a large baby. Declines PN vits."
Any advice on how and in which order to code this? I might be over thinking it. The company says to code a Dx if even it says "suspected" or "possible" so idk if i'm coding dysentery or diarrhea.. SO i'm thinking either of one those, gestation, and the history of previous pregnancy? I finished my program like a month ago and feel like i suddenly forgot everything!!!

Is this a brand new build, or an upgrade to an existing build?

1. new

Please list any existing parts or monitor(s) you have that you would like to re-use with this build. For upgrades, a [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com/) list of your full build is extremely helpful. Be as specific as you can be here, including links or exact model numbers of each component whenever possible.

1. no re-use parts except for my monitors; Acer XB240H and Samsung Odyssey G3

What will this PC be used for? Examples include things like gaming, general/multimedia use, photo/video editing, coding, AI/ML, etc. Include specific games and applications you intend to run, and any particular performance goals you have, as each may have different specific hardware needs.

1. mainly videogames and editing. CS2, Vegas Pro and After Effects.

What country will you be purchasing in? If you are in the US, do you live near a [Micro Center?](https://www.microcenter.com/) For other countries, please check if your country is supported by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com/) by using the country selector dropdown on the top right - if not, please provide some links to reliable local vendors you are comfortable ordering from.

1. Sweden, it is supported by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com/)

Do you need one or more monitors included in the budget? Please list how many and any size/resolution/refresh rate preferences if needed.

1. no.

What is your preferred and maximum budget range for this build, in local currency? Parts lists may sometimes have additional shipping costs. Please note whether prices in your country include sales tax or not, and adjust your budget accordingly. Typically VAT countries will have it included in the part list prices, whereas regular sales tax countries like the US and Canada will not.

1. 10,000 SEK or about $930 USD. Sweden has VAT.

Do you need WiFi, or do you have a wired ethernet connection available?

1. I have ethernet

Do you have any specific size or noise requirements for the build?

1. mid tower

Do you have any aesthetic preferences for color or lighting? Describe what you're looking for, or feel free to provide some links to examples that may help. Some people prefer an inobtrusive stealth build, while others may prefer a case full of rainbow RGB.

1. black case

Any other specific requests or requirements? Examples might include a specific minimum amount of storage, or a particular CPU socket for a future upgrade path, etc.

1. 3 storage drives. I would also like it to be as power efficient as possible.

Have you used Reddit, Telegram, free "visa bots," or custom scripts to help navigate VFS Global and the visa application process? I want to talk to you.
I am social scientist researcher at University of Oxford doing a study about government outsourcing of visa application processing to companies like VFS Global, and the experiences that visa applicants have with them, including getting help online with their applications.
Looking for

• People who applied for any kind of international visa through VFS Global in the past two years
• People who turned to Reddit, Telegram, free bots, or custom scripts for booking appointments, or other kinds of help
• Successful or unsuccessful applications. Whether the process was smooth, or your visa was refused or delayed due to technical glitch, I want to hear what happened.

Why Share?
Your stories will help us understand the experiences and challenges of visa applicants using vendors like VFS Global. It will also help us learn more about the ways people get help when they face challenges.
Your experiences are very valuable to this research, which could contribute to further research or even inform visa policy.
What’s Involved

• One 30 to 45 minute interview in your choice of medium. We can meet live via Microsoft Teams, or talk via email, Telegram, Signal, or Reddit messaging.
• Discuss your visa application process, experiences, and the tools you used.
• Your identity, data, and personal details will be protected under Oxford's ethics and data protection regulations. (Ethics code for reference OII_C1A_24_045).

If you would like to help, please PM me here on Reddit at u/oxresearch, or email me directly at [elizabeth.millican@oii.ox.ac.uk](mailto:elizabeth.millican@oii.ox.ac.uk) and I will send you more information.

Today was my 8th EMG. I showed the muscles where I had fascics and weakness. All was clean/normal. Also clinical. 10 neurologists cleared me of ALS already - clinically and then 8 emgs that were normal. I have still my doubts after reading about some cases, where especially young people have clean emgs for years and then turning dirty. I was tested in all possible muscles in the past 3 years but after every EMG I try to think what if in the other muscle or other side something would be shown. The neurologist that performed the EMG today just stick the needle in my muscle and immediately shrug his head and said no MND. No other neurologist did this. After that he was sticking the needle for a minute into the muscle and then I needed to flex with the muscle. But the whole EMg was like 15 minutes maybe.. what if he has performed it wrong? I see many here doing it for an hour or more. At the end he said it is just BFS and that I can be assured it is not als considering my age (24), duration of symptoms (2 years and a half), clinical exams and emg. I am still worried because I still have all my symptoms.. perceived weakness (like I can’t hold my phone for more than 10 minutes or sometimes even at eating my hand feels weak when using the fork or knife), bad cramping in the same spot (hurts a lot and feels like the muscle is getting tight), being sore and exhausted all the time like I have run a marathon, tremor in muscle activity, fascics (to mention that they were not even seen on my EMG, although I have them all the time?!). Besides that I have also trouble swallowing (saliva only, no food and liquids), feeling that my voice is nasal (although my parents and friends don’t seem to notice a difference), trouble getting air when speaking (like some words just can’t be pronounced well but the speech is not slurred.. just missing air when speaking and it makes it harder to speak then). So I thought even about a bulbar onset because actually no bulbar muscle was tested in my EMGS ever (I was told no clinical points towards it and that bulbar in my case would be absurdly to even consider) but I was also told that if it was bulbar and I had problems in my limbs (which I have), the EMG would show it anyway. What is now my thinking about everything is just the fact that I feel so alone in this. Nobody believes me anymore or how much I struggle. It is hard to accept to live like this forever and even the fear of a terminal disease being a possibility makes me unmotivated to do just anything in life anymore. What advice can you give me? And what are your thoughts on my situation? Thanks so much to the community for sticking together and sharing the stories. I hope and pray for the best of all of us.

It’s been a long time I wanted to submit this story to the Potato Queen herself!
It’s a long story, actually it’s two stories in one, because as it involves the same person over more than decade long, it’s worth telling the whole story all at once (and it makes it may more fun too!). I decided to share it because it’s the kind of story that doesn’t seem to happen very often.
Below you will find goodies about an ex, a wedding, a dress, a delivery company and more! Please simply be mindful English is not my first language, trying my best to entertain you all the same.
This story goes back a long way, when (let’s name him) Frank (M) and myself (F) were both in college (both 17 at the time, we’re now 33), young and naive teenagers. We started as friends and eventually decided to be together. We then decided to move to another city together, as I was about to start university.
It went well for a while and then started to go south. So, long story short, after about two years together, we decided to break up. It wasn’t a mean breakup or anything, I think we were mostly disappointed it didn’t work out. Anyway.
We live in the province of Quebec. For those who don’t know, there is this weird tradition of starting and ending about any lease on July 1st. I have no idea why, but Canada’s Day has always been for anybody moving, in this province, a synonym of sweating under the sun, moving boxes, lifting heavy things and ending the day with cold beer and cheap pizza in a new and probably not so clean apartment. Why this context? Because we broke up two weeks before July 1st. It means it was virtually impossible to find another apartment so close to this date. We were about 7 hours away from both our families living on the countryside. We were also awfully broke students. We decided to give it a chance at being roommates.
Yes, it was super awkward at first, really not easy to manage to say the least. We were walking on eggshells and were definitely on edge for a while. There were also some pretty awkward situations, like this one time he decided to bring a one night home as I was sleeping in the adjacent room. Not only that, but the shameful phone call he had to make, waking me up in the middle of the night, so I could unlock the front door because he had forgotten his keys to find out he had brought home an acquaintance of mine. Nowadays I find this story delightfully funny tbh. But on that night, as I couldn’t go back to sleep because the gal decided to show off how an amazing singer she could have been —because, oh boy, this voice carried loudly all the way to my ears for more than an hour — I did not find it funny. I was furious, but prepared myself for the eventuality it would ever happen again. Do you remember the “Tiny Wall Challenges”? Let’s just say I had some games ideas after that night.
Anyway, anybody would probably have walked away but we still deeply cared for each other. We even did better than just survive through this whole year as roommates, we decided to move into a bigger apartment with two other friends. Believe it or not, we stayed there two more years. Moreover, these years were some of the best years and I still keep lots of good memories from this period.
Fast forward to the second part of the story. After being roommates for years, at some point we parted ways and lived our lives. We maintained contact throughout the years and when Frank finally started dating his wife to be, I was absolutely happy for him. He asked her to marry him and she said yes! Our friendship still held such a high place in both our hearts that he asked me to be one of his groomsmen, with his other best friend and his little brother. I felt so honoured, as I was technically a female, to be chosen to be on his side at the wedding.
The bridesmaids chose matching dresses in a beautiful forest green, all from a specialized website from UK, and I was to also be in a dress on the groom’s side, but matching the colour of the other groomsmen suits. With Frank, We all shopped together for their suits, chose a beautiful dark grey for his and a light grey for us, and we were able to match it perfectly with clothing samples I ordered from the website. Everything was going as planned. That being done, I ordered the dress, considering buying two inches heel shoes to go with it. It would take about four months to be done and the dress would arrive about a month and a half before the wedding. I decided to wait for the dress to arrive to pick shoes to go with it.
Four months passed, and I finally received a notice that the dress was on its way. The bridesmaids dresses arrived a bit before mine and they were all absolutely beautiful. As we all ordered from the same shop, we were able to choose different dresses that suited each of our styles, with identical fabrics that made the whole thing look fantastic.
I received the delivery’s notice, saying it was to be delivered by DHL. (If you never had to deal with this delivery company before, let’s just say this in itself is a red flag, but what could I do.)
I chose a delivery date that I could be home all day. I awaited their arrival, and waited. At some point I received a notification that they couldn’t deliver it because there was an error in the address. I called DHL customer service as soon as I read it and could verify with the clerk on the phone that there was no error on the original delivery address and that actually, internally, they miss-wrote a letter of the postal code. The person assured me that the delivery person would be notified and they would then be on their way back.
I waited. It never came.
The next morning, I received a notification that, unable to deliver it, the expeditor had agreed to DESTROY the package! I screamed! Why in the world would the UK online shop allow to destroy a custom made dress that took four months to do?! And why the hell the delivery service didn’t make any other attempt after being responsible of the address error in the first place. I was beyond mad. I called DHL, they confirmed someone at the company had agreed on the destruction of the item. I wrote to the person I was in contact with from the beginning at the online shop (this lovely clerk who clearly never asked for any of this). Over there, they couldn’t find who the hell agreed to this insane request to destroy the dress. They were also appalled and didn’t understand how it could have happened. They could put a request to redo the dress rush, but we first needed to either try to stop the destruction from happening by going to the DHL warehouse directly, or to obtain a proof from DHL that the dress was irreversibly lost forever.
It felt surreal! The fiancées were both furious too. There was only one DHL warehouse we could go to do this kind of request in the city and it was really far. As the clock was ticking, they jumped in their car, joined me, and to the warehouse we went, arriving a few minutes before closing like an epic movie scene. The clerk there was mind blown by the whole situation. It seemed we were too late and the best we could do was to have the proof that, in their system, the dress had effectively transited and was destroyed.
With photos as proof in hand, I forwarded everything to the clerk of the online dress shop. Days passed, as they were awaiting the okay to start sewing a new dress. They were really trying their best to help the situation but it seemed to be a mess over there about the whole situation. We were now a month before the wedding. At some point, I was starting to panic. They finally agreed to redo it, but it would be waaaay too close before the wedding to receive it. Like a few days before kind of close, if nothing happened in transport this time.
I decided to go shopping for another dress. I spent a whole day trying to find the perfect grey that would fit the other groomsmen suits. In the last possible boutique, there was one dress checking all the criteria. I bought the new one and wrote to the first shop, hoping they would agree to refund the lost dress.
I took an appointment later that week to do the adjustments on the new dress. I then shopped for shoes. I found a cute pair with one inch heel that would be perfect for me. I’m not used to walking with heels, so the lower the better after all.
Like all this turmoil wasn’t enough, my family called and told me that my grandfather’s health suddenly decreased. Remember? Seven hours drive from family. I canceled some plans and bought a ticket for the night’s bus ride right after the dress fitting. On that morning, the UK shop agreed to refund the dress. That part was a big relief. I went to the dress fitting. At last, three weeks before the wedding, The second dress would be ready in about seven days. I came back home to gather some things to get back out to catch my bus.
But suddenly, the doorbell rang.
I opened.
Some DHL delivery man casually gave me a package and left.
Yes. That’s what you think.
I closed the door, went to my room, sat on the bed, opened the bag. It was indeed the first dress. I had a melt down. I cried so hard. I put the dress down, looked at it, told it “I’ll deal with you when I come back” and went away to the bus station.
Few days later, coming back from the family, I collected the second dress and dealt with the first one, which no longer fitted the length of the shoes! My MIL at the time knew an old lady who was lovely enough to accommodate me and do the fitting of the first one for a as modest price. I decided to keep it a secret until the wedding day. (These friends wouldn’t do any drama about reveals etc, nor would they think it was stealing any of their thunder, don’t worry about that.)
On the wedding morning, I effectively surprised the bride and groom with both dresses. They were mind blowed, flabbergasted to say the least! I put the original one for the official photoshoot and discretely changed right after dinner for the other one. People around that had followed the incredible adventures were laughing out loud and finding it hilarious that I decided to wear both of them as I had so much troubles!
Quite a story with dresses and with an ex, right? Guess what, I’m also the godmother of their first child!

I’m in a difficult financial situation and need advice. I apologise for the long post, there is a TLDR at the bottom!
I’m 34 and live at home with my parents. I had to move back several years ago when I was on a lower income and my flatmate abruptly moved out and I couldn’t afford to live on my own. Since then through a mix of some very stupid decisions and a failed business I’ve gotten myself into a huge amount of debt. I also have a teenage child who lives with their mother about 6 hours away.
I have roughly £35,000 in debt and I earn £50,000 per year.
I want to move closer to my child so we can spend more time together. Currently I visit one weekend a month and I bring them down to me during some holidays.
Despite earning more than my parents ever did, owning a house or even moving out at any point soon feels like an impossibility, which is due to my debt. I’m ashamed, depressed and feel like a failure as a son and a father.
My family doesn’t know the extent of my debt, sometimes me moving out comes up in conversation with family who ask me why don’t I go and rent before saving up to buy a house, I try to explain to them that renting would be more expensive than a mortgage (which it would be), but really I know that I could rent if I didn’t have so much debt to pay off each month. Heck if I didn’t have this much debt I’d easily be able to get a good deposit together quickly and move out.
By January of last year I’d managed to save about £2,400 in a LISA towards a house deposit but then the company I was working for went insolvent and I lost my job. I got by for a little while on my final pay and money my parents loaned me but then I had to withdraw my LISA which also resulted in a 25% fee so I only got about £1,800 out of it and had to use some of that before I got the new job. I didn’t have any savings or emergency fund.
When I got a new job, I didn’t want to put the money left over from the LISA withdrawal straight back into it just in case anything like that happened again so I put it in an emergency fund with 5% interest and have about £1,700 in there and I’m doing my best not to touch it at all.
After a few months of my new job I started putting money into my LISA again and I now have about £2,300 in there.
My aim is to save up a 5-10% deposit for an £80,000-£120,000 house (where I'm looking is pretty cheap), but it's slow going as I only put in about £150 a month due to my debts.
A mortgage for a house on the lower end of that scale starts around £400 per month for 30-35 years. It's frustrating that I spend almost that amount each month just to visit my child (I understand there are additional bills however with homeownership).
I also have no idea what mortgage rate I’d get, or if I could even get a mortgage in my current situation. I went through Barclays and NatWest’s mortgage in principle calculators recently that both said they wouldn’t take me on after a soft credit check, they referred me elsewhere to companies that work with people with bad credit ratings but I haven’t contacted those yet.
Expenses:

• Child maintenance: £380/month (increasing by about £50-£80 in a few months)
• Visiting costs: £300 - £400/month
• Bills: £300/month
• Groceries: £150-200/month
• Child ISA: £35/month
• Loans: £728/month across four loans
• Credit cards: £315/month across seven cards (plus an extra £300/month I’m paying)

Debt Breakdown:

• Loans: £19,418
  • £8,036 at 12.9%
  • £6,464 at 12.9%
  • £4,414 at 13%
  • £504 at 0%
• Credit cards: £15,218
  • £660 at 0% until November 2024 - will be paid off before then from the extra £300 I’ve been paying off each month
  • £592 at 0% (will be paid off)
  • £2,940 at 0% until September 2024, then 24.9% (hoping to transfer to a new 0% but may not be possible)
  • £2,770 at 0% until August 2025, then 22.9%
  • £7,200 at 0% until November 2025, then 26%
  • £594 at 24.9% (paying £100/month instead of minimum)
  • £462 at 19%

I’ve only now been able to apply for redundancy from my old job, it’s still ongoing but I am getting a payment of around £4,500 soon and waiting to hear if I’ll get anything else for unpaid holiday.
I’m also due a £5,000 bonus from work but due to tax that’ll be around £2-3,000 I think.
I don’t know what the best option is for this money.
Should I put it all towards my debts? I could pay off one loan with the redundancy and that would clear up £200 a month that currently goes to that. Or should I use it on the credit cards instead?
Or should I put some into my LISA so that I can put less into that each month (or none if I max it out - about £3,800?) and then put what I was paying into that each month towards my debts (£150pm), along with the rest of the redundancy/bonus money?
I have about £800-£900 left over each month, £300 I put towards paying off my debts, £150 goes into my LISA and then about £150-200 on groceries.
Thanks!
Edit: I should have mentioned I’ve spoken to StepChange (debt charity). The only option available to me is a payment plan which is basically doing what I’m doing now myself.
TLDR
I'm 34, live with my parents, and have £35,000 in debt. I earn £50,000/year and want to move closer to my child. My debt makes this seem impossible. I have monthly expenses of roughly £2,250 , and I'm expecting a redundancy payment and a work bonus soon. Should I use these funds to pay off debt or save for a house deposit or both? Any advice on managing my situation would be greatly appreciated.

Currently running Fedora 37 with kernel 6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64. I pulled the latest version of Workstation (VMware-Workstation-Full-17.0.0-20800274.x86_64.bundle) and installed it without issue. On first run, it needs to install vmmon and vmnet. Then it throws the error message "Unable to install all modules". The logs mostly look fine until we get to this:
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 Log for VMware Workstation pid=35968 version=17.0.0 build=build-20800274 option=Release
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 The host is x86_64.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 Host codepage=UTF-8 encoding=UTF-8
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 Host is Linux 6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64 Fedora Linux 37 (Xfce) Fedora Linux 37
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 Host offset from UTC is -05:00.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/uslib/vmware/settings": No such file or directory.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/uslib/vmware/settings": No such file or directory.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 PREF Optional preferences file not found at /uslib/vmware/settings. Using default values.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/home/use.vmware/config": No such file or directory.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/home/use.vmware/config": No such file or directory.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 PREF Optional preferences file not found at /home/use.vmware/config. Using default values.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/home/use.vmware/preferences": No such file or directory.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/home/use.vmware/preferences": No such file or directory.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.726Z In(05) host-35968 PREF Optional preferences file not found at /home/use.vmware/preferences. Using default values.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.733Z Wa(03) host-35968 Logging to /tmp/vmware-usevmware-35968.log
2024-05-16T18:22:36.755Z In(05) host-35968 Obtaining info using the running kernel.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.755Z In(05) host-35968 Created new pathsHash.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.755Z In(05) host-35968 Setting header path for 6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64 to "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include".
2024-05-16T18:22:36.755Z In(05) host-35968 Validating path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for kernel release "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:36.755Z In(05) host-35968 Failed to find /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h
2024-05-16T18:22:36.755Z In(05) host-35968 /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h not found, looking for generated/uapi/linux/version.h instead.
2024-05-16T18:22:36.755Z In(05) host-35968 using /usbin/gcc for preprocess check
2024-05-16T18:22:36.769Z In(05) host-35968 Preprocessed UTS_RELEASE, got value "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:36.769Z In(05) host-35968 The header path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for the kernel "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64" is valid. Whoohoo!
2024-05-16T18:22:37.371Z In(05) host-35968 found symbol version file /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/Module.symvers
2024-05-16T18:22:37.371Z In(05) host-35968 Reading symbol versions from /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/Module.symvers.
2024-05-16T18:22:37.418Z In(05) host-35968 Read 25912 symbol versions
2024-05-16T18:22:37.419Z In(05) host-35968 Reading in info for the vmmon module.
2024-05-16T18:22:37.419Z In(05) host-35968 Reading in info for the vmnet module.
2024-05-16T18:22:37.419Z In(05) host-35968 Invoking modinfo on "vmmon".
2024-05-16T18:22:37.424Z In(05) host-35968 "/sbin/modinfo" exited with status 256.
2024-05-16T18:22:37.424Z In(05) host-35968 Invoking modinfo on "vmnet".
2024-05-16T18:22:37.431Z In(05) host-35968 "/sbin/modinfo" exited with status 256.
2024-05-16T18:22:37.457Z In(05) host-35968 to be installed: vmmon status: 0
2024-05-16T18:22:37.457Z In(05) host-35968 to be installed: vmnet status: 0
2024-05-16T18:22:37.474Z In(05) host-35968 Obtaining info using the running kernel.
2024-05-16T18:22:37.474Z In(05) host-35968 Setting header path for 6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64 to "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include".
2024-05-16T18:22:37.474Z In(05) host-35968 Validating path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for kernel release "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:37.474Z In(05) host-35968 Failed to find /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h
2024-05-16T18:22:37.474Z In(05) host-35968 /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h not found, looking for generated/uapi/linux/version.h instead.
2024-05-16T18:22:37.474Z In(05) host-35968 using /usbin/gcc for preprocess check
2024-05-16T18:22:37.490Z In(05) host-35968 Preprocessed UTS_RELEASE, got value "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:37.490Z In(05) host-35968 The header path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for the kernel "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64" is valid. Whoohoo!
2024-05-16T18:22:38.084Z In(05) host-35968 found symbol version file /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/Module.symvers
2024-05-16T18:22:38.084Z In(05) host-35968 Reading symbol versions from /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/Module.symvers.
2024-05-16T18:22:38.130Z In(05) host-35968 Read 25912 symbol versions
2024-05-16T18:22:38.131Z In(05) host-35968 Kernel header path retrieved from FileEntry: /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include
2024-05-16T18:22:38.131Z In(05) host-35968 Update kernel header path to /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include
2024-05-16T18:22:38.131Z In(05) host-35968 Validating path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for kernel release "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:38.131Z In(05) host-35968 Failed to find /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h
2024-05-16T18:22:38.131Z In(05) host-35968 /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h not found, looking for generated/uapi/linux/version.h instead.
2024-05-16T18:22:38.131Z In(05) host-35968 using /usbin/gcc for preprocess check
2024-05-16T18:22:38.144Z In(05) host-35968 Preprocessed UTS_RELEASE, got value "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:38.144Z In(05) host-35968 The header path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for the kernel "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64" is valid. Whoohoo!
2024-05-16T18:22:38.147Z In(05) host-35968 Found compiler at "/usbin/gcc"
2024-05-16T18:22:38.154Z In(05) host-35968 Got gcc version "12".
2024-05-16T18:22:38.154Z In(05) host-35968 The GCC version matches the kernel GCC minor version like a glove.
2024-05-16T18:22:38.159Z In(05) host-35968 Got gcc version "12".
2024-05-16T18:22:38.159Z In(05) host-35968 The GCC version matches the kernel GCC minor version like a glove.
2024-05-16T18:22:38.164Z In(05) host-35968 Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:38.164Z In(05) host-35968 No matching PBM set was found for kernel "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:38.164Z In(05) host-35968 The GCC version matches the kernel GCC minor version like a glove.
2024-05-16T18:22:38.164Z In(05) host-35968 Validating path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for kernel release "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:38.164Z In(05) host-35968 Failed to find /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h
2024-05-16T18:22:38.164Z In(05) host-35968 /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h not found, looking for generated/uapi/linux/version.h instead.
2024-05-16T18:22:38.164Z In(05) host-35968 using /usbin/gcc for preprocess check
2024-05-16T18:22:38.182Z In(05) host-35968 Preprocessed UTS_RELEASE, got value "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:38.182Z In(05) host-35968 The header path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for the kernel "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64" is valid. Whoohoo!
2024-05-16T18:22:57.887Z In(05) host-35968 The GCC version matches the kernel GCC minor version like a glove.
2024-05-16T18:22:57.887Z In(05) host-35968 Validating path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for kernel release "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:57.887Z In(05) host-35968 Failed to find /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h
2024-05-16T18:22:57.887Z In(05) host-35968 /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/linux/version.h not found, looking for generated/uapi/linux/version.h instead.
2024-05-16T18:22:57.887Z In(05) host-35968 using /usbin/gcc for preprocess check
2024-05-16T18:22:57.902Z In(05) host-35968 Preprocessed UTS_RELEASE, got value "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64".
2024-05-16T18:22:57.902Z In(05) host-35968 The header path "/lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include" for the kernel "6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64" is valid. Whoohoo!
2024-05-16T18:22:57.902Z In(05) host-35968 Using temp dir "/tmp".
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 Stopping vmware (via systemctl): [ OK ]
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 make: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only'
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 /usbin/make -C /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/.. M=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 make[1]: Entering directory '/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64'
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/linux/driverLog.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/apic.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/comport.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/crosspage.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/moduleloop.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/sharedAreaVmmon.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/statVarsVmmon.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/task.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/bootstrap/bootstrap.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoader.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoaderVmmon.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/bootstrap/vmmblob.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 LD [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/vmmon.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 MODPOST /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/Module.symvers
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 make[1]: Leaving directory '/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64'
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 make: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only'
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 make: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only'
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 /usbin/make -C /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/.. M=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 make[1]: Entering directory '/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64'
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/driver.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/hub.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/userif.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/netif.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/bridge.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/procfs.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/smac.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/vnetEvent.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/vnetUserListener.o
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 make[1]: Leaving directory '/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64'
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 make: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only'
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 [AppLoader] GLib does not have GSettings support.
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of vmware.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units.
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 Using kernel build system.
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/cpu_types.h:29,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/modulecall.h:33,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:58:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/vm_basic_defs.h:779: warning: "DO_ONCE" redefined
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 779 #define DO_ONCE(code) \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from ./include/linux/prandom.h:12,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/random.h:153,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/nodemask.h:97,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/sched.h:23,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/binfmts.h:5,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:31:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 ./include/linux/once.h:46: note: this is the location of the previous definition
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 46 #define DO_ONCE(func, ...) \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/cpu_types.h:29,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/modulecall.h:33,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./common/vmx86.h:33,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/linux/driver.h:32,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:47:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/vm_basic_defs.h:779: warning: "DO_ONCE" redefined
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 779 #define DO_ONCE(code) \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from ./include/linux/prandom.h:12,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/random.h:153,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/nodemask.h:97,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/list_lru.h:12,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/fs.h:13,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/highmem.h:5,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:25:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 ./include/linux/once.h:46: note: this is the location of the previous definition
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 46 #define DO_ONCE(func, ...) \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/cpu_types.h:29,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/modulecall.h:33,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/moduleloop.c:33:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/vm_basic_defs.h:779: warning: "DO_ONCE" redefined
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 779 #define DO_ONCE(code) \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from ./include/linux/prandom.h:12,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/random.h:153,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/nodemask.h:97,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/sched.h:23,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/moduleloop.c:31:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 ./include/linux/once.h:46: note: this is the location of the previous definition
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 46 #define DO_ONCE(func, ...) \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/cpu_types.h:29,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/modulecall.h:33,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.h:33,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.994Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.c:38:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/vm_basic_defs.h:779: warning: "DO_ONCE" redefined
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 779 #define DO_ONCE(code) \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from ./include/linux/prandom.h:12,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/random.h:153,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/nodemask.h:97,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 from ./include/linux/sched.h:23,
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.c:31:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 ./include/linux/once.h:46: note: this is the location of the previous definition
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 46 #define DO_ONCE(func, ...) \
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoader.c: In function ‘MonLoader_Process’:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoader.c:794:24: warning: the comparison will always evaluate as ‘false’ for the address of ‘entries’ will never be NULL [-Waddress]
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 794 if (header->entries == 0 header->count == 0) {
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 ^~
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 In file included from /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoader.c:57:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/./include/monLoader.h:239:19: note: ‘entries’ declared here
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 239 MonLoaderEntry entries[];
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 ^~~~~~~
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/vmmon.o: warning: objtool: CrossPage_CodePage+0x207: 'naked' return found in RETHUNK build
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 ERROR: modpost: "__pte_offset_map" [/tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko] undefined!
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make[3]: *** [scripts/Makefile.modpost:144: /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmmon-only/Module.symvers] Error 1
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make[2]: *** [/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/Makefile:1998: modpost] Error 2
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make[1]: *** [Makefile:246: __sub-make] Error 2
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make: *** [Makefile:117: vmmon.ko] Error 2
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 Using kernel build system.
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/bridge.c: In function ‘VNetBridgeSendLargePacket’:
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/bridge.c:1413:11: error: implicit declaration of function ‘skb_gso_segment’; did you mean ‘tcp_gso_segment’? [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 1413 segs = skb_gso_segment(skb, 0);
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 tcp_gso_segment
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/bridge.c:1413:9: warning: assignment to ‘struct sk_buff *’ from ‘int’ makes pointer from integer without a cast [-Wint-conversion]
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 1413 segs = skb_gso_segment(skb, 0);
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 ^
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make[3]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:243: /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only/bridge.o] Error 1
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make[3]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make[2]: *** [/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/Makefile:2046: /tmp/modconfig-401vk8/vmnet-only] Error 2
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make[1]: *** [Makefile:246: __sub-make] Error 2
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 make: *** [Makefile:117: vmnet.ko] Error 2
2024-05-16T18:23:14.995Z In(05) host-35968 Unable to install all modules. See log for details.
Okay, so nothing immediately helpful to someone as unskilled as myself. I hit up ChatGPT and got some advice:
cd vmware-host-modules
git checkout workstation-16.2.3
make
sudo make install
So I gave that a shot. Got this response:
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/workstation-16.2.3'.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Branch workstation-16.2.3 has been retired on 2022-08-11 and has not been
* receiving any updates since. Please switch to latest 16.x version
* available.
*
* Latest kernel version this branch is intended to work with is 5.19.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
make -C vmmon-only
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/useDownloads/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only'
Using kernel build system.
make -C /lib/modules/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/build/include/.. M=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
make[2]: Entering directory '/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64'
MODPOST /home/useDownloads/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/Module.symvers
ERROR: modpost: "__pte_offset_map" [/home/useDownloads/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko] undefined!
make[4]: *** [scripts/Makefile.modpost:144: /home/useDownloads/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/Module.symvers] Error 1
make[3]: *** [/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/Makefile:1998: modpost] Error 2
make[2]: *** [Makefile:246: __sub-make] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory '/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:117: vmmon.ko] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/useDownloads/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only'
make: *** [Makefile:21: vmmon-only] Error 2
This seems to be a pretty common problem. I head over to a KB article from Broadcom. (Broadcom supports VMware?) but that had no effect whatsoever. Problem remains.
I bounced around various forums. Tried this.
This didn't work either.
Tried this from github and at the make step it throws this:
make[4]: *** [scripts/Makefile.modpost:144: /home/useDownloads/vmware-host-modules/vmware-host-modules-workstation-17.0.0/vmmon-only/Module.symvers] Error 1
make[3]: *** [/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64/Makefile:1998: modpost] Error 2
make[2]: *** [Makefile:246: __sub-make] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory '/ussrc/kernels/6.5.12-100.fc37.x86_64'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:117: vmmon.ko] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/useDownloads/vmware-host-modules/vmware-host-modules-workstation-17.0.0/vmmon-only'
make: *** [Makefile:21: vmmon-only] Error 2
So I'm stumped. Could there be a kernel issue? What am I missing?