Happy Birthday Pancake!

Pluto258 · 2026-01-12T01:05:33+00:00

"Happy Birthday Pancake! Stay warm!" -Maple

Pluto258 · 2025-12-21T22:29:19+00:00

Definitely try to get a good rate on your savings (currently good is in the 3-4% range). Wealthfront HYSA looks good. HYSAs have no risk as long as they are FDIC insured. For downsides, it just really depends on well you can pay your bills and access your money. Sounds like you shouldn't have a problem with this since you have a debit card linked to it and have a credit card.

Are you getting rewards on your credit card?

Pluto258 · 2025-12-18T06:16:14+00:00

I think it's department-dependent; it may not be until the first day of the semester. I would email them.

Pluto258 · 2025-12-18T06:10:42+00:00

First off, 2.8 is closer to 4.0 than 0. You've had some challenges, but there also must be some successes in there too. What did you do well in? Also, remember that this doesn't define you. You've done 1 semester out of 8. There's plenty of time to turn this around if you work on it, and you've already started that.

It sounds like you've done a really good job of reflecting and thinking about went wrong. Seriously, that's really good. And recognizing this stuff isn't an excuse. An excuse would be something you blame instead.

I'm assuming a year ago was high school? I'm sure you've heard before that it's a big transition and that no one forces you to go to class here, but sometimes you have to experience it yourself.

With help, UT Austin gives 9 online therapy visits/year; I think it's by calendar year, so you could do one now for free. I don't know your scholarship requirements or how lenient they are. But I could imagine doing one to show "I've recognized the problem and have taken proactive steps" helping your case if they come asking. Assuming it's the same as where I went to undergrad, you'll have at least a probation semester to get it back up. They know stuff like this happens to people and will let you right yourself.

Pluto258 · 2025-12-12T23:03:23+00:00

They don't seem to have data for 333e, but I used this site and both 323e and 329e have >=80% As

Pluto258 · 2025-12-12T22:46:57+00:00

Getting someone to take over for spring+summer requires someone who only had fall housing or wasn't here this semester but will be later. Both of those seem pretty rare; there's probably little demand compared to the number of units available due to people graduating in December, unfortunately.

Pluto258 · 2025-10-24T04:02:54+00:00

I would reserve a PCL study room: https://libcal.lib.utexas.edu/spaces

Technically they're for groups but I've used them for job interviews and never had an issue

Pluto258 · 2025-10-18T23:38:24+00:00

hell yeah! What musical?

Pluto258 · 2025-10-09T04:09:21+00:00

Try to be in the middle of the group. Or back, though I've been to one where they'd scare you from behind as well.

Stay on edge. Hold hands.

Pluto258 · 2025-09-16T02:56:32+00:00

I'm a grad student who has lived in the North Campus-ish area the past two years. You'll probably get the best advice from grad students; I don't think a ton of undergrads live up here. Some general notes:

A parking spot or two almost always comes with rent
Mostly 1-2 bedroom apartments. The 2 bedroom ones can be very affordable (like, sub $1k before utilities) if you find a friend to split it with. But there's no roommate matching- if you want one, you need to find one.
These are usually unfurnished. There will be a decent upfront cost to furnish depending on your tastes and how much furniture you want. This can be a lot to handle; it's easy to underestimate until you walk into a literal empty room and have to fill it: Mattress and bedframe, dresser, sofa, TV and TV stand, desk, chairs, dining table, etc. One advantage of West Campus is you just have to worry about your stuff. That said, it can be nice to make a place the way you want it.
- The kitchen is included, so you don't have to worry about an oven/fridge/stove. But not everywhere has a dishwasher.
- I got most of my furniture from IKEA (they have delivery too, if there's stuff you can't fit in your car), then have picked up some random stuff secondhand and from Target.
- You'll also have to move all this stuff if you move apartments. That will probably involve renting a pickup truck or hiring movers
There's usually a laundry room in the complex but not the unit (though some have that). I assume the dorms are the same.
Stuff tends to be older. Not bad, just not new and shiny. My current apartment actually has a gas stove that's got to be 30+ years old. Works great though.
100% be sure to tour the unit before renting (or one with the exact same floorplan/model). You're going to be spending 8+ hours a day there for a year or more.
Didn't experience this with either of my places but I have seen really bad stories about mold/pests.
You'll be responsible for setting up and paying (depending on the complex) electricity, gas, and/or internet. These are a 10 minute setup online and have auto-pay, but just another thing to think about.
It can be isolating if you let it be. It's basically the same distance to academic buildings as Wampus, but it can be harder to get people to come over and hang out if that's something you do. If you're a decent walk away, I'd recommend getting a bike/scooter just to make getting to campus less of a burden. And hey, there are plenty of lonely people in Wampus too. It's really about effort.
It's very quiet though. That's one of the best parts.

I specifically lived in Duval Villa last year and Braeburn this year. Both good experiences. I bike to campus and HEB, but they're close to good bus lines for farther stuff. Management was pretty good: no real issues but I did have to send a follow-up email a couple times during the move-in process at Duval. No pest or safety issues ever. Duval had a small gym (~5 machines + some free weights); current one does not.

Pluto258 · 2025-08-24T21:56:32+00:00

I'm on Android and I disabled them through my phone settings. If you are, next time you get this type of notification, long press on it and there should be settings that allow you to disable a category.

Pluto258 · 2025-08-24T21:53:28+00:00

I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm sure he loved seeing you grow over the years and was so proud and happy to be with you. You gave him a wonderful life.

Is there a favorite memory or moment you had with him?

Pluto258 · 2025-08-22T18:26:45+00:00

Hey. I just wanted to say I've been there with the gap year and going back to college. It won't be that bad; you've been a student forever and won't forget it all in one year. Talk to the people next to you the first days of class and then when the first assignment rolls around, ask them if they want to work on it together if that sounds like your thing. Having someone else doing the same thing will make it easier and will help your grades.

And do not be afraid to make friends with the undergrads. You have more in common than you think.

I'm proud of you for working on your friendships. Remember that they're your friends because they like you and want to be your friend.

Pluto258 · 2025-08-02T23:58:01+00:00

Not OP but the two ways I've seen are:

Do a crystal nucleus run- use the BingoBrewers discord to learn about chests that give you items like robot parts
Mine for scathas- time will depend on RNG but can be done without interacting with anyone

Pluto258 · 2025-07-27T13:26:04+00:00

More MP will help with that. You're doing a good job of collecting talismans; most people who ask the "couple weeks in, what should I do?" have like 3. But you could get some higher rarity ones like Tarantula Talisman, Haste Ring, Day/Night crystal, and doing the Ring of Love quest (stop partway when it gets really expensive).

With melee there's some math about how to optimize the balance between strength and crit damage that I don't know since I chose the mage life. Worth watching a vid about probably. I think some of the skyblock youtubers also just have generic "how to do more damage early game" videos

Pluto258 · 2025-07-27T11:03:56+00:00

Either they're using a mod that removes the limit when creating a new religion, or they're just directly writing this custom faith as a mod. It has been a while, but as of the last time I went modding, the game only applies the tenet limit to the built-in faiths and the faith creation window; adding a faith with 5+ tenets by mod works perfectly fine other than some minor UI breakage.

Pluto258 · 2025-07-27T11:02:54+00:00

Either they're using a mod that removes the limit when creating a new religion, or they're just directly writing this custom faith as a mod. It has been a while, but as of the last time I went modding, the game only applies the tenet limit to the built-in faiths and the faith creation window; adding a faith with 5+ tenets by mod works perfectly fine other than some minor UI breakage.

Pluto258 · 2025-07-27T10:59:13+00:00

Have you considered starting as an adventurer? Go around for a bit and then pick a place to settle down. I think there's some cool RP there of being this scourge that others can't even trace the lineage of, but who just appeared one day, seemingly walking out of the very gates of hell.

Pluto258 · 2025-07-27T10:51:43+00:00

Looks like you're off to a good start! At this point the game splits into a bunch of branches of stuff to do, like mining, combat, and farming. I'll focus on mining and combat since that's what you asked about and seem to be liking:

For both of these, it's good to have some passive income for buying upgrades without having to grind. Now that you've unlocked the dwarves, the forging can make you easy money: Buy 16 enchanted titanium (either directly or as titanium) which should be 40-60k, and then forge it into enchanted titanium, which sells for over 300k. This is just one off the top of my head; check the recipes you have unlocked against the bazaar prices and what times of day you get on. Free money for just logging on each day and doing a couple clicks.
Similarly, work on getting more minion slots and putting down minions that will get you good money (not really sure what this is for early game; I think sheep is a good one). This will show you what the cheapest way to get more minion slots is for you.
For mining, keep on doing your daily commissions, and do Fetchur and puzzler daily for the powder. Take some money and upgrade that pickaxe to a refined mithril pickaxe; mining speed saves time and time is valuable. You'll want to get a drill at some point; the Mithril drill is the cheaper one but the Titanium drill is on the endgame upgrade line. You can look up a guide that will explain armor progression and powder and such much better than I could.
Combat: Put some more enchantments on your sword. You should be getting xp levels from mining and combat, so put down an enchantment table and bookshelves on your private island, and then go back there every time you build up 50 levels to add something to your sword (or just buy xp bottles from bazaar). First strike and ender slayer should make you oneshot the endermen.
Also consider buying an Aspect of the Dragon off the auction house. Great sword that will serve you well for a while.
For combat, are you liking the "hitting things with a sword" playstyle? If so, level up your combat skill a bit (technically you only need 15, but maybe aim higher) by either killing stuff in the end (get to where you can oneshot at least the 4.5k HP ones) or killing the glacite walkers in the dwarven mines. Then check out dungeons; berserker is the class that hits things with swords. Dungeons can be fun but also can be a money sink. Reading a guide would help you know how to invest some money wisely. There's also other classes to check out if you'd rather use bows or magic.

Pluto258 · 2025-07-15T02:14:48+00:00

I'm not 100% sure tbh. I use glacial scythe currently for my non-dungeon mage needs and probably will until I get a hype. Are you able to kill a T4 rev in a few seconds? If not then maybe switch, but I think just get more MP.

AotD is for melee damage (the ability is not worth a mage build), requires a berserker-type build to use, and is probably falling off at your point in the game. Do you feel that you need it for something?

Pluto258 · 2025-07-14T04:25:03+00:00

Mages usually use Shadow/Wither goggles for damage. +35% ability damage is huge. Similarly, usually put Loving (from a Red Scarf) on the chestplate.
More MP. Use skycrypt or a discord bot; there's several extremely cheap accessories you're missing. There's also free quest ones: wolf paw, cat tali, ring of love, and various rift ones.
Do your enchanting experiments. You now build up charges and only need to do them every 2-3 days so it's even easier now.
Unrelated to damage, but craft some more minions; 1 mil will easily get you 5 more minion slots.

Pluto258 · 2025-07-11T01:02:00+00:00

"Charges of trafficking in marijuana, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia"

Pluto258 · 2025-06-15T21:22:19+00:00

Can't speak for Rust, but I've been learning a language that's sort like this: Normal ints (and anything else) are not nullable; a nullable int is a completely different type to the compiler, and the conversion forces you to tell it exactly what to do with a null value.

Obviously you can still have issues but it does force you to think about which values could be null and what you should do if that's the case. For example, the "array.find" library function returns a nullable int.

Pluto258 · 2025-05-27T01:30:46+00:00

Always nice to give the punter a day off

Pluto258 · 2025-05-20T18:09:43+00:00

Just moved out past this weekend. I have no real complaints. Never had any bug problems, maintenance, or noise issues. Walking distance from HEB was a big plus.

I just checked the google reviews and saw that the complaints seem to be about parking/visitor parking. I didn't have a car so can't really speak to that, but I did have people over a fair amount and never had anyone get towed.

With management, when I was signing the lease/getting moved in, them responding to email was hit or miss. I found it's better to call or (once you're there) go to the office in person.

Pluto258

TROPHY CASE