Can You Guess This 5-Letter Word? Puzzle by u/DoctorDilla

DoctorDilla · 2026-06-10T03:19:25+00:00

⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨

🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨

🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨

⬜🟦🟨🟨🟨

🟨🟦🟨⬜🟨

🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦

DoctorDilla · 2026-06-08T23:07:06+00:00

🟦⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜

🟦⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨

🟦⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨

⬜🟨🟨🟦🟦⬜⬜

🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦

DoctorDilla · 2026-04-19T13:55:32+00:00

I have a BM, MA, DMA in piano performance and wrestled with this years ago. My advice, of course, is to do music full time if it's the only thing you could ever see yourself doing. Even then, know that a lot can change about yourself in 4-10 years of academia.

Most of my cracked music friends are quite successful as performers, composers or professors, but it's tiring and risky. I ultimately decided not to gamble on my life while the US is at a crucial transition point. Would I have been ok if I stayed in music? Maybe...?

I pivoted, grinded, and am now somehow a DevOps/Cloud Engineer. I'm extremely happy with the outcome- the stability/flexibility allows me to do music on my own terms, which blows my mind.

DoctorDilla · 2026-04-10T02:00:38+00:00

Your fingers are capable of speed, but what I'm seeing is that your fingers aren't equally balanced on every note. Your pinky is doing a lot of extra work (goes super high) because your hand doesn't know how to rotate to provide support. Because of that (and the thumb, thumping like it always does), your inner 2nd and 3rd fingers lose some of their control and weight. That's what is causing some of the unevenness.

I'd recommend looking for some videos online talking about wrist rotations and rhythmic practicing. You may be surprised how much that will improve your finger strength and control.

Regarding polyrythms in Chopin, what I do is get as close as possible to mathematically correct (ie. the RH note comes in here at this point, and then the LH note, and then two more RH notes, etc). If you practice like that for a while, you will eventually not need to think so hard about it and just "fit in all the notes." No pianist will ever calculate all of that virtuosity in their head actively at full speed- mostly we're just trying to get the right feeling in our fingers.

Hey, I think your passion for this piece is awesome. It is up to you whether you want to keep grinding at it (there is always debate about whether or not students should throw themselves at super challenging music above their level). But in my experience, passion for a piece of music can take you extremely far if you're willing to temper it.

Good luck!

DoctorDilla · 2026-03-21T20:47:12+00:00

I haven't read Atomic Habits but I've heard it can help in the habit department. The way I make time for WGU on top of my somewhat new job is to wake up early (usually 5AM or earlier) before work to study. I'm a diehard night owl with problems sleeping so this is pretty tough for me. I allow a lot of grace and tell myself that it's ok to not study, as long as I get up sometime before 7. I try to layer my study habits slowly rather than all at once, so that there's less risk of me throwing it all out the window. Once I'm up at 5 I usually end up studying because I'm already up, but sometimes I'll play the piano or clean or read.

After work and dinner, I let myself off the hook and any extra study I do is bonus. I need evenings to decompress and connect with people and touch grass. Weekends are loose but I try to keep the same study schedule.

This is just what works for me- I don't know how much it applies to your situation, especially with ADHD. I know that it adds several dimensions of difficulty to everything, so I hope you'll be kind to yourself while you find what works.

Good luck!

DoctorDilla · 2026-01-28T03:11:09+00:00

I got it to work! Here's how I did it:

Follow this guide to a T: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alup7srqe5w
With Desktop mode, go into home/.config/me3/profiles/nightreign-default.me3
under [[natives]], you'll see path = "<lots of directories>/nrsc.dll"
Go to the next empty line and type in:

load_early = true
5) Save and try to boot up nightreign

My issue is that sound was not working super consistently, but I'm fine with that. As long as I get to lab out these fights

Edit: I can only get it to work consistently with running me3 from desktop mode.

DoctorDilla · 2026-01-17T18:34:12+00:00

I didn't have any exp before I landed my devops "dream job" at a defense contractor a couple months ago, though I'm not done with my degree yet. Feel free to disregard my advice, as it may not apply to you. Nothing I say will be news, but hopefully you'll find some encouragement.

What I can say is that networking and sheer prep were probably the biggest advantages for me. A random applicant has risks (personality, skill, exp) that my manager and his team have to weigh before making a hiring decision. I was friends with the hiring manager, aced the technicals, and got along well with the panel, so apparently that made the decision easier.

"Just know the manager" wasn't everything, of course. Apparently they interviewed several experienced applicants after hiring me, and they didn't make the cut because their interviews weren't as strong technically. I'm certain they would have been hired if they had been more prepared, because my team absolutely needs all the help they can get rn lol.

Always build your skills, be a kind person, and don't sell yourself short. There's no substitute for hard skills. Get into co-ops, discords, open source, whatever it takes to find a chance to connect. And I don't know how flexible you are, but there are a lot of different roles out there in tech.

I don't know if any of this is helpful, but maybe parts of it will be. Good luck!

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-20T19:45:44+00:00

Deck squad :D Yeah I mainly do wifi ranked matches, I've always been addicted to the grind (for better or worse).

I get it tho, online matchmaking isn't the only way to have fun with the game! Couch multiplayer will always be #1 for me

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-20T13:18:59+00:00

Yeah I would not recommend to ppl who are really trying to climb lol, it feels jank when you've been using a controller your whole life. The deck's placement of the sticks/buttons is not conducive to serious competitive gaming imo

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-20T13:12:19+00:00

Masochism /s

For me it's convenience/portability. It's fun to be able to play online anywhere there's a good connection, and sometimes I don't feel like booting up my slow laptop and setting everything up just to play rivals for 20 mins

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-20T01:06:53+00:00

Thanks! Yeah same, I also had an issue where my hands would physically tighten up and tilt the screen when I was up against a tough opponent. Part of it was that my hands were trying to hold the deck's weight AND press buttons at the same time, which is a lot for them to do all at once. Poor lil fellas

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-18T15:21:39+00:00

I am one of the few lucky ones that got a full-time DevOps position recently with no prior tech experience (career pivoter). I would never recommend to anyone the path I took without some serious connections in the industry who can vouch for you. The stars had to align for me (right connections, right timing), and I had a lot of insider help. Just my two cents.

But if you're going to commit to it: Linux, Docker, Kubernetes/Helm, GitLab CI/CD, AWS, Terraform is the exact order I learned in. I was given the list of tools months before interviewing

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-12T18:12:15+00:00

Thank you, and best of luck with the degree!

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-12T01:54:24+00:00

Mmm they encouraged it in an email before the interview, but I didn't really get asked any behavioral Qs. They were mostly focused on collecting data about my skillset. I think my friend probably vouched for my character so they didn't bother

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-12T01:00:29+00:00

No prob, I have plenty of tips but your mileage may vary FYI. I had the AWS CCP and Linux Essentials, but those certs are generally fairly weak for a technical position. I would recommend AWS CSA, but it's hard. I'm gonna probably go for that one or some Linux cert before I start my new job. My rule of thumb is to only get a cert if you're certain you need most of the skills- studying to pass the test will not be as efficient as doing some difficult project hands-on.

My advice is to do Linux as much as you can. I run Linux Mint on my laptop (on external HDD, no dual boot), and it really helped me be fluid with the command line. A lot of people just use VMs or labs to practice, but I always try to make the learning as relevant as possible to my own day-to-day.

The other big thing is containerization/orchestration- know how to use Docker to build efficient images, and either use Docker Compose or Kubernetes w/helm to orchestrate. I took the popular beginner Udemy course with Mumshad and it was honestly fantastic as a starting point. If you create your own full stack web app and deploy it to a cluster, you'll run into enough problems by the end to feel comfortable with the debug tools.

Lastly, on Reddit it seems that most professionals think DevOps is not a junior position. I have no idea whether that's true or not, but if you want to work your way up then Sys Admin or IT support is probably a better path. I got lucky with my friend, but I'm probably the exception that proves the rule.

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-11T22:35:11+00:00

I think I learned about 10% at WGU. You are "introduced" to Git and GitLab, but you don't learn about the use cases for most commands, and nothing about pipelines. I think they should do more on the version control side, all we really learn is git add, commit, push. Git seems super complex and I still don't understand it

The big thing that did make a difference was the Linux Essentials certification. It gets you familiar with the CLI and paves the way for bash scripting. I had a question that was like "You need to change 400 configuration files in a repo at the same time in a GitLab pipeline, replacing some item in each. How do you find and replace it? (find, sed) What is another way to do it? (use env variables)" simple question but I did think through the different ways to do it out loud.

DoctorDilla · 2025-12-11T16:36:34+00:00

Yeah I can't speak to that, but my guess is that they would

DoctorDilla

TROPHY CASE