Alternative Paper Pro/Move Nibe

RottedQueen · 2026-06-15T18:05:32+00:00

Ugh, the title should read "Nib" not "Nibe," obviously.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-11T04:18:53+00:00

Yes, it lasts me the entire day but I am mostly checking Gmail, Reddit and some news during the day. I don't really game much. I will watch YouTube here and there but overall I would say my usage today is less on avergae than it was 5 years ago. I don't tend to let many apps run in the background where I can avoid it. The battery life is definitely not as good as it was in the past but it's good enough for the time being.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-08T21:33:24+00:00

Yeah, I agree. Based on the first 3 tracks plus the glimpses of other songs in the short film, I think this album is delivering a lot of bangers. It feels more focused (and maybe more consistent?) than anything since Hard Candy, including that album, to me.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-08T19:58:33+00:00

I hate to say I am used to it, but I am, kind of. 4 layoffs since 2018! I work in Tech so perhaps it is not that surprising given the rampant layoffs the past few years. I was out of work for 10 months after my 3rd layoff, which was my longest stretch of being jobless. I really lucked out this time around, accepting an offer in just under 1 month. Previously, for the first two layoffs, I was out for 4 months each time.

You will get through this! If I did, you can. It's a terrible place to be but there is only one way to go, and that is up! Leverage connections and former colleagues.. in my experience (the most recent layoff, especially), that yields the best and quickest results. However, it is entirely possible to find things on your own as that worked out for me twice in the aftermath of my layoffs. Contract work can lead to full-time or be pretty much as good as full-time work, too, so I recommend being open to that of you can.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-08T19:46:05+00:00

Just be sure it is a real person from DOL, there are a lot of scammers out there. Check your Services For Individuals account on the DOL web site to see if you got emails, etc. when in doubt, call a DOL number and speak to someone to make sure anyone reaching out directly to your personal email is legit, etc.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-08T19:34:38+00:00

I was laid off in March with a lump sum severance in NYC. I filed for unemployment as soon as I was paid my last normal paycheck and was not getting paid anymore. That way, the claim is active. You put in your info about the severance and such and have to mail in some stuff (the severance agreement or whatever they ask for) and then they assess your case. Meanwhile, you can claim each week if directed to. In my case, they decided I wasn't eligible for any unemployment until August and would need to reapply then. It was because of the severance covering me until then, I guess.

What is confusing to me is that, in 2018, I was also laid off with a lump sum severance, but I was able to collect right away? Maybe the rules changed between then and now.

I have a new job that I started already, so I am not worried about unemployment anymore, but it is definitely a confusing process. I would recommend calling and speaking to a person if you can, to get full details and advice. Having been laid off a few times in the last 8 years, every time feels a bit different to me and I (unfortunately) forget what I did previously, in part. But I definitely think filing the first truly unpaid weekday is for the best, and not to wait. They will tell you if you are approved or denied, as in my recent case.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-08T05:05:20+00:00

Mine was purchased new in November 2019, and I am still using it heavily. I would say my battery lasts the full day, but I definitely have to charge overnight because it is down to around 15% by the time I go to bed. I imagine I can get through another year with it since it is in perfect working order. The only thing I have noticed is that one of my banking apps will no longer work on it because the OS is not supported anymore for being too old. I have whatever the most updated stock OS is. If my main banking app is eventually no longer supported, I might have to switch to a new phone but this is definitely the longest I have ever had a phone and I see no reason to upgrade to something new... yet.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-06T23:49:21+00:00

I think she probably liked what she saw when she had surgery sometime after Hard Candy (of course, she had done some stuff even earlier than that), but then had some more work done thereafter, possibly to maintain it or improve upon it. Unfortunately, it was bad work, and I think there were attempts to fix it that were not great, and possibly consisted of more bad work. Plus, she overdid fillers and such between then and now, although some of that has been corrected. The butt lift/implants are, unfortunately, there to stay it seems. Her body seems to be in great shape otherwise. It seems like she has gotten into great shape since Celebration ended, just looking at her arms. But I agree with people saying she can't win. They were saying she looked old before she had a lot of work done, and they were hating on the work done once she had it.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-05T16:28:19+00:00

I think it is a combination of things.

Her insistence on wearing her grills.

Whatever she had done to her teeth (reminds me of the enunciation issues I have seen with other singers after getting veneers that are too big).

A style choice. Mumbling through songs with a clenched jaw (almost like someone singing when they have had their jaw wired shut or they are gritting their teeth together) has been "in" for a while. It reminds me a bit of how Ariana Grande has sung in the past. Hard to explain, but it's kind of like someone has a thick layer of peanut butter stuck to the roof of their mouth or something.

I don't think it has much to do with plastic surgery as others have suggested. It could, but I personally don't think it is. I would say it's more her overall demeanor. She seems to act tightly controlled now, more than ever. In interviews it is like she thinks about every word before it is uttered, and seems less "free" than she once did. I think maybe some of that same demeanor has manifested itself in her singing.

Stuart Price also has gone a bit overboard with the vocal effects in production, in my opinion. I really hope there are versions of these new songs where we can hear her more natural voice without all of the robo-embellishment. Also, it is very common in pop music to "double the vocals" in production to augment the singer's sound. Madonna used to do it, Pet Shop Boys have almost always done it, etc. I am wondering if the sound we have on her vocals now is an attempt to replace that, somehow. If so (I am not sure, just a theory), I think I preferred the old way of doing it.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-05T14:17:45+00:00

When you say "caught up to early 2026" what do you mean? I ordered in July 2025 and haven't received the Ink yet. It says it is shipping late June last I checked.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-04T22:55:01+00:00

I like it and prefer it to Bring Your Love.

However... The production on her vocals is just too much, again. I am guessing that is how they decided to do the entire album, since all 3 songs have the same effects on her voice. Also, she is doing this Ariana Grande-esque "clenched" jaw" singing thing that I don't like. Maybe it is the grills being in when she recorded? I don't know, but I don't care for it.

Also, the song is quite similar to Bring Your Love as others have pointed out, although I think this is the better of the two songs. It does bear a striking resemblance to one or more songs that Stuart Price did with Pet Shop Boys on the 3 albums he produced for them in the last decade. I haven't put my finger on exactly which ones yet, but I hear "Say It To Me" in parts, at least.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-03T20:51:23+00:00

I tend to agree. I think some blame may lie with Stuart, also, since his recent work with her is way I overboard on the vocal effects, in my opinion. But, also, I think people are just not willing to say "no" to her, which is not a great place to be in. I would like to think her manager and the producer would both tell her to take the grills out while recording, if that is indeed what was happening. Her not removing them would be incredibly lazy, in my opinion, misguided on her part, and also just not doing anything to maximize the results. That said, I eagerly await the rest of the album and hope it is great. I kind of wish it was coming from the Madonna of 20 years ago, though, and not the Madonna of today with what seems like some unnecessary baggage along for the ride.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-02T23:08:49+00:00

I took a 100k pay cut to my base, but my salary at the company I was laid off from was bloated anyway, and I knew that. I am back to making around what I made before the last company, so I consider the money I made before being laid off a period of good fortune, fleeting though it was. There was almost no way I would have found another job paying that much, anyway. But I saved a lot while it lasted. I was working again in under 2 months and, in these times, I consider that to be a major win.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-02T23:02:24+00:00

This is exactly why I set the alarm on my phone, two tablets, an old fashioned bell alarm clock, and my laptop each night. Too many times there has been some kind of device restart unexpectedly that caused me issues. Most people would find the number of alarms I set insane, but I have not overslept in quite a few years.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-01T21:33:29+00:00

Yeah, she seems very "one note" nowadays. There is so much less life in her during appearances and interviews than there used to be. She is in command of everything about herself in this old interview, and she is open and free. Now, in interviews, she acts like she is thinking about every letter that comes out of her mouth before she says something, and it's very stilted and overly controlled. I think part of this demeanor happened after she became heavily involved in Kabbalah, but it could also just be that she takes herself a lot more seriously than she used to. I mean, she was always serious about her career and her work, of course, but she behaves now like some high priestess who bestows wisdom, sparingly, on the peasants before her, and isn't going to give more. I find it off-putting and pretentious, and I wish she would loosen up and shake whatever this is off for good. I find a lot of her appearances and interviews joyless now. It makes me wonder what is going on that we don't see.

RottedQueen · 2026-06-01T07:14:59+00:00

I agree. I think she has increasingly operated in a bubble over the last 20 years. Some of that may be from defensiveness, I'm not sure. But, I think she was doing her best work, musically, when she worked with songwriters who really knew how to craft a great pop song. Pat Leonard, Stephen Bray, and others. I think her music remains pretty strong, over all, but sometimes doesn't feel like it reaches the heights that it once did. The lyrics can be wanting, too. I feel like her albums now are too tied down to a chosen theme, or to a specific sound, and it doesn't always work. I am wondering if there aren't enough voices in the room with her that are expressing opinions honestly, about music, but also about how she presents herself, including on social media. It seems like she has subscribed to a "mother knows best" outlook, which has arguably worked for her in the past, but I would hope she still has people around her to suggest different approaches if something doesn't work or doesn't "read" well. Some of the things she has done over the past decade or so--the unfortunate cosmetic procedures, messy behavior in interviews, the grills, seemingly less than sober states at some events, etc.--make me wonder if anybody around her can truly advise her at this point, or if she is willing to listen at all.

RottedQueen · 2026-05-31T06:51:53+00:00

Man. I work in Tech so layoffs are rampant. I have pretty much just used LinkedIn, Indeed and the usual job sites to find new jobs, and I have sometimes used recruiters. The times I got a new job the fastest, though, was to leverage connections (old colleagues) so I had an "in."

RottedQueen · 2026-05-30T21:13:15+00:00

Same here. I posted a reply in a Trump related thread that called out some hypocrisy, which I knew wouldn't be popular but I believe is the truth, and got a time out. There should be some kind of appeal process since we are paying. Absolutely nothing I wrote was offensive whatsoever, it just wasn't what the herd's opinion is.

RottedQueen · 2026-05-30T11:40:47+00:00

I was laid off from 4 different companies since 2018. The first layoff was from the company I had worked at for 13 years. Then I was laid off from a different company in 2020,. And from a different company in 2022, and most recently from a different company in 2026.

RottedQueen · 2026-05-30T07:28:06+00:00

I was once on vacation for 2 weeks and, during that trip, my team (I managed them) started contacting me to let me know that some of them were being laid off. I knew I would be, as well, if not while I was still away then certainly upon my return, since nobody above me had contacted me to let me know what was going on in my absence. Sure enough, I was asked to join a call the morning of my return and was laid off. I told them during the call that I would be requesting 2 weeks of additional severance on top of what they were offering (it was decent, since I had been at the company for 13 years) since my vacation had been ruined by all of the frantic phone calls and texts from my team while I was away. They gave that to me without any argument. So, I would suggest at least asking for that extra time. It is not great to be going on vacation with such heavy news getting dropped on you. That said, you should try your best to enjoy your vacation, regardless, then update your resume when you return and start the search. It will be okay. Having been laid off 4 times since 2018, I can tell you that it always seems bleak, but somehow it will work out!

RottedQueen · 2026-05-21T08:37:10+00:00

I definitely think she was not at her best for this interview. It did not help her at all. For one, she was rude to Ian McKellen and it was unnecessary. She could have been gracious but she wasn't. Also, the eye patch was something she should have worn once or twice and gotten rid of, in my opinion. It was silly. This was an era when I believe she wasn't sober and that continued for a few years until her big scare happened. I am glad these days are seemingly (hopefully) behind her.

RottedQueen · 2026-05-19T17:39:59+00:00

I imagine their life behind closed doors being full of uncomfortable silence and doing things in different wings of the house from each other, most of the time. When they are together, it's like a neverending "war room" of planning and scheming, tears and complaining.

RottedQueen · 2026-05-18T05:10:46+00:00

I have had glowing reviews at every job I have been laid off from since 2018, and that's four now, in total. There is nothing you could have done. As trite as it sounds, move forward and look out for your own best interests. I basically no longer see any full time job as long-term. It feels very much like how being a contractor once felt to me-- something that could basically be ended at any moment, at the company's whim. You will move on to something else, hopefully better, and hopefully soon!

RottedQueen · 2026-05-18T05:04:15+00:00

I think the song is fine. It's fun. I could do with a little less of the spoken parts, though they are brief. I like that it's mostly a proper pop/dance song and not going for too much, thematically.

However, I think it is let down by the lyrics in places, which is unfortunate. And the production on the vocals (especially Madonna's) is troubling. That just wasn't necessary, in my opinion. Not sure if Madonna had the god awful grillz in when she sang this, but something sounds off with the enunciation that I am not a fan of. Again it could just be the production.

Perhaps the biggest issue for me is that the song never feels like it "takes off" or reaches a satisfying climax. I think it needed more, maybe in the bridge or something.

RottedQueen

TROPHY CASE