To anyone recovering from past DPH abuse: I'm proud of you for getting off of those terrible pills. You and I know what kind of hell you were putting yourself through and I'm so glad that's not your life anymore. I support you and please feel free to talk to me about it. I can't say I'll always be able to relate, but I'll listen.

To anyone currently doing DPH: I support you just as much. I'm sorry you're in a place where living through a dissociative hallucinatory nightmare is preferable to a clearer head. I really hope you find a way to live without DPH someday. Until then, please istay as safe as you can. Using during the day tends to be less horrifying than using at night. Choline supplements will protect your brain. Never ever take any more than a gram at once. I'm here to listen to you too.

What are your thoughts on why 90% of the clips in S4 were so short? Do you have any intel on that...

I mean let’s ignore the fact that regardless of length, all the clips lacked any substance anyway cause we’ve covered that. Despite all the many obvious flaws with S4 that we’ve all written verse and chapter about in the last few months I just find the clip length choices really bizarre? Wtfock usually have a few quite meaty clips throughout a season but we really got none here.

I suppose the argument is there that it was because of covid restrictions while filming etc but I dunno, if you’re shooting for a full day you can easily get more than a minute or two worth of content...and it doesn’t all need to be dialogue. Do you think it’s again just a combination of all the factors we’ve already discussed; inexperience of the team/misunderstanding of the format etc?

I don’t really know where I’m going with this ask. But just interested to hear your thoughts because it was yet another thing that added to the disjointed feel of the season.

(Sorry I don’t mean to keep making you repeat and repeat to anons that it was a plethora of factors that failed season 4 😂)

similar anon: Do you know why they changed director as well? Maybe they will go back to the old directors like they will go back to the old writers now they are in properly scheduled for S5?

similar anon: If they'd integrated her influencer lifestyle in the show, i think the sponsored content could have worked. As an influencer who was also trying to save money, it should have made it 1000x easier to incl. the sponsored content as a part of her world w/out the audience feeling ambushed by it. The sponsorships could've been peppered into the clips, not by force, but by incorporating more bts of her life as a influencer alongside her personal life

The old director went to direct sputnik’s new show Mesjes. I also have a theory I think we got so much sponsored content because sputnik spent so much money producing Mesjes/new content they couldn't afford the hit of not having a wtfock season air in 2020. wtFOCK is clearly their cash cow and producing a new show is expensive and I think they probably budgeted their entire 2020 production profits on wtfock existing so they couldn't delay till 2021. Thats just what I predict. 

Also it would have been well over a year till yasmina’s season would have aired. Also I think the clips were short because for some odd reason wtfock got it into their heads that we wouldn't be open to exploring a new character who wasnt Moyo or part of the squad and in a way they are right. We never asked for Kato and all of us were highly disappointed when we got her but it wasnt for the reasons they think. For one we clearly did not want a white protagonist in the age of BLM. If we had to have a new character because the fandom isnt dumb we know about the blocks then commit to developing them. Give them an actual narrative arc and am sorry I don’t want to hear about the covid excuse. Think about Druck how much time did we spend with nora just in her house or kiki’s apt? Its obvious production had to shoot a ton of druck in Nora’s house or they use a lot of parks/campsites/parking lots and the school. There was a ton of “walking to places” too in druck because of covid but what I wish wtfock would have done with Kato instead of the useless 1 min daily clips which btw I think didn't help the director catch how bad the season was going because he was seeing the playback in super short clip form was to use Kato being stuck in her home as a form to get to know her. She is influencer why didn't we have clips with her spending hours looking at other’s insta. Maybe do a sponsored clip with her trying to do a make up tutorial and spotlight the brand but maybe in the clip we see her do 50 takes because she is a perfectionist. Let her go to the gym but merely so she can put it on the gram and be that annoying person that “got up at 5am for a workout”. I just dont get why they didn't develop this girl its like they were to scare to give her any meaning and the only meaning she got was via Moyo but then that was weird because it made the fandom be like why are we following this girl again? if moyo is in 80% of the clips why do we care about her? Once again poor judgement Moyo could have been there but thats not an excuse not to develop her. So finally my thoughts It just seems that production was afraid we wouldn't watch unless the squads or moyo were there. They wouldnt let go of their daily drops(because god knows we needed 3 sponsored clips a week) and also to us spending time with the main in her room just seeing her life its like Kato became background in her own season and she only showed up to insult people and be problematic.

How I Recovered a Hacked Facebook Page

   You always hear about people's Facebook accounts getting hacked, and often see the consequences of it (constant event invites to random sales with dodgy links). However after working around social media for so long I always thought I'd seen it all, and wouldn't be fooled like so many others before me. So when I got hacked and had a Facebook page with 25k followers stolen from me, I was left feeling like a true sucker. But I got it back, and actually found a friend in a guy who had taken me to hell and back, from a country I'd never even heard of. It starts fairly typical of any hack story you'll find on Yahoo! Answers or on the Facebook community boards. I woke up very early on Wednesday morning to check my pride and joy, a Facebook page I'd organically grown to 25k followers in the space of 2 months. However, I was on alert as I discovered the following message in my inbox, posted by "Facebook Pages": "Dear Facebook user, After reviewing your page activity, it was determined that you were in violation of our Terms of Service. Your account might be permanently suspended. If you think this is a mistake, please verify your account on the link below. This would indicate that your Page does not have a violation on our Terms of Service. We will immediately review your account activity, and we will notify you again via email. Verify your account at the link below: =============================== **insert dodgy link here** =============================== Thanks for being part of Facebook Community. " I gave this a quick skim and believed it to be legit, partly because I was half asleep, and partly because I definitely had infringed copyright laws with a few of my posts. Looking back I should have noticed the grammatical errors or checked the profile that the message came from (which was a blatant fake) but nonetheless I clicked through to the link, which took me through to the page below. Facebook phishing Without thinking twice about it I entered my details, which directed me back to Facebook's help page. I then messaged the phony "Facebook Pages" profile from my page to tell them that it was done, and that I was waiting to be reviewed. Feeling like I'd sorted the issue, I left the page and got ready for work, promising to check out how the review had gone before I left for the day. After getting ready I went to log into my Facebook account but was having no luck. I tried my details again only to notice that it wasn't my password that was incorrect, but my email address. In fact, it was saying that my email address was not registered with any Facebook account. I was perplexed but tried again, this time logging in with the email Facebook provides on default ([email protected]). This got me in, and it was at this point that I knew there were some serious issues. Facebook had informed me that somebody in another region had tried to access my page. They'd done more than that.. this hacker had actually got complete access to my account, and proceeded to change the email address to a spammy looking Gmail account. Not only this, they'd posted porn images on a bunch of local pages from my account, sent several friend requests and, to my dismay, removed my admin status from my beloved Facebook page. I was freaking out majorly, and for a number of reasons. My page was a big deal, but the account was also linked to my credit card and PayPal accounts, not to mention the probability of getting temporarily banned for posting porn everywhere. I messaged the page a few times and got ignored, posted to the wall and got banned, and after not hearing from Facebook support I'd pretty much conceded defeat. However before I gave up I thought I'd talk in a language we all understand: Tom: I'll pay you for the page back. Just name your price and I'll pay it. Hacker: $1000 Success! No way was I prepared to pay that kind of money, but at least the hacker had recognised me. I just had to keep him talking, get him to understand what he'd put me through: Tom: Sure, just send me your PayPal details. USD yeah? Hacker: You can send me via westerunion or moneygram Just the fact that they said 'me' seemed to change the conversation. This wasn't a robot, there was real human being behind this, probably somebody who could be reasoned with. Tom: Would you consider being a nice guy and just giving it back? I worked very hard on the page Tom: You're from Europe yes? What good is this page to you? No response for 12 hours, it was time to bait him: Tom: Just send me your details and we'll make the arrangement. Money gram please Hacker: okey Hacker: i will send you details just in case Hacker: you are a nice guy too but man i need some monney even if you don`t send me 1000$..at least 300$ talk to you later Tom: Don't we all need money. I was going to sell this page soon anyways. Hacker: Can I trust you? Tom: Trust me in what way? Hacker: I actually post stuff on pages I get. But this seems that you really give much time on it. Hacker: When can you send me the money? Tom: I could do it immediately. But how can I ensure you'll give me ownership back? Hacker: You will have my word. First I make you editor. Add me and I'll make you editor right now. Next thing I see a friend request pop up from a name I won't mention, but could barely pronounce. The display picture was of a pretty girl looking away from the camera. Considering their last status update was back in 2012 I concluded this was fake. Hacker (now using fake profile): When should I post on your page? I will only post once a day Tom: What's your site? Let me have a look at your content Once he sent through his site I knew that I was dealing with a pro hacker, but an amateur online marketer. It was poorly designed, had spelling and grammatical errors everywhere, and the fact that the visitor counter he'd installed was still in double digits was proof that it wasn't doing too well. He gave me back editor controls of my Facebook page (I could post but not do much else), which was a start, but I continued to go in with a soft approach: Tom: Can you make a comedy post?(it's a comedy fan page) Then we post that one first, and slowly just post all kinds of stuff Hacker: I thought you had money:P. Lol. Tom: What do you mean? Here is more information in regards to hack online fb 100% gratis have a look at the website. Hacker: I mean, I don't really have the life you have. Tom: Where are you from? Hacker: Kosovo Tom: Ah Pardon my ignorance, but I'd never heard of Kosovo before. I've barely travelled outside of Australia, and have never been to Europe. I quickly read up on it on Wikipedia to discover Kosovo's brief history - it had only been a country as of 2008, when it had unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. According to Wikipedia Kosovo was known to be "Extremely vulnerable to organised crime and thus to money laundering", so everything was starting to make sense. Hacker: just send me 200$ i will give this page to you I sensed that there was somewhat of a power shift taking place. The site he showed me was struggling, which was why he had proceeded to hack other pages.. in a way to grab some quick traffic. Tom: Hey listen but, if you start posting on this page you'll currently get no interaction, nobody will click man the base is too small, you might get 10 clicks tops a post. Hacker: This isn't the first page I use for posting. I know what I'm doing on this Tom: Man I own my own content site, similar to yours. There's a reason I haven't posted yet.. the base is too small it'll just destroy the page. Hacker: oh Tom: If we grow this page we can make money. Off affiliate deals and off your website's AdSense Tom: I'll split it with you. Just let me continue to grow the page From this point on the subject matter of the conversation completely changed. He asked one more time for money, but it became more an opportunity for him to pick my brain, to learn more about growing a website. I showed him blogs of mine and gave him advice on what he can do for his page. In the space of about 10 minutes this clever, manipulative hacker became like a kindergartener on his first day of school, soaking into his brain everything I was throwing at him. Tom: Do you ever get content ideas from reddit? Hacker: Whats reddit Tom: Omg really? Man, this will help you more than any money I could give you. Hacker: I will not even think of removing you from your fan page or something Hacker: I just learnd something. And that's good. Hacker: Btw thanks for sharing We went on about content strategies, SEO, etc for a while, but I had a few more questions to ask him. This was so fascinating to me, I'd never been hacked, let alone got the chance to communicate with a hacker. Tom: How many pages have you hacked? Hacker: Hundreds man. Tom: What's the largest Hacker: 600k Hacker: But don't say hacked lol sounds stupid Tom: What's your actual name? Hacker: Elvir Elvir was opening up, and he proceeded to tell me more about himself. He's a 22 year old economics student, trying to make money of websites in his spare time. He still had a.blogspot domain which he wanted to change but he couldn't afford a domain, and he wasn't getting enough traffic to generate AdSense revenue. We continued talking for the next 2 days sporadically. He'd ask me various questions around online marketing, while I was trying to get to know more about him. At this point I thought it was time to see if I'd completely reimbursed him. Tom: hey can you make me admin? i need to add my account so i can post vid again. Hacker: I make you admin now. (and he did) Hacker: But I really need that help from you Once I got admin status back I quickly deleted him off the page, changed all my login details and made a new account to manage the page (just in case he could get back in). Despite this however we still talk a few times a week, usually when he wants advice on how to write a headline, or how he should fix his page design. I actually even sent him over some money for a domain on a $15 prepaid credit card, which he was thrilled about. I know that most situations don't end as positively as this - it sounds like nearly everybody who has their Facebook page hacked virtually loses it for good, and Facebook doesn't try to help out in the slightest. But it made me learn that there's still a human element, a vulnerability if you will, in everyone. What started out as one of my scariest online experiences actually turned into something of fascination, and my experiences with Elvir in Kosovo sure went a way into affirming that's there a little bit of good (and evil) in all of us.  

Hi Emma ^^ I msged you eons ago in late-Jan. I hope I’m not disturbing your rest or anything, you seem so busy these days! Thanks SO MUCH for sharing about yourself, it’s just so reassuring to know that other people go through the same thing as I do. I’ve learnt to give myself a break (like today!) and check every once in awhile/not be so hard on myself. I tend to be quite similar to you in terms of what I do when I wanna veg out! I find that having sufficient rest is so impt too (1/4)

I have no idea how people pull all nighters :SI feel like a zombie at work when I don’t get sufficient sleep and just end updoing crap work. And it sounds like you’re making incredible progression wrtfinances! :D Like you, I’ve mostly only been in “almost relationships” as well,and seem to attract very emotionally unavailable types of men (a reflection ofmyself?) or men who are very sticky and needy. Or the types that show intenseinterest but never follows through. (2/4)

Telling myself that these men aren’t right forme is the best type of closure ha. I do notice that there are quite asignificant proportion of men do that sort of asshole thing where they don’t doanything abt the situation and just allow it to fizzle out. The co-workersstaring is really quite ridiculous. You’re talking about ppl in their 30s/40shere. Like grow up – either say something or quit staring. (3/4)

Thanks for your comforting words about mygrandmother’s situation, cancer is such a difficult thing to deal with. Btw youlook really good in your recent posts and when I read about the various plansyou’re making for myself I feel inspired too. New year was great thank you, butno rest as I had friends visiting from overseas. Hope your hectic days are oversoon!! :D Thanks Emma

No problem~! Sorry I forgot to respond to this.I meant to do it a few days ago. ^_^

I’m happy that my story could help! And yes, ifI get less than 6 hours of sleep, I’m done for the next day at work. I used tostay up super late in university and up to my mid-20s, but I just cannot do itanymore. Haha, I feel like I could pull off a 14 or 15-hour work day back thenlike a rock star. And now, I’m on a 13.5-hour work day and I know all I’m goingto want to do tomorrow is just sleep, but I have to get up and go do anotherinterview and then rehearsal.

Yea, it’s a work in process. I’m happy with howmuch I’ve put aside so far, but it’s going to take a lot of self-control tostick to my savings plan for the next several months. Luckily it’s only superstrict until I apply for the F visa. Then I can lighten up a bit, though stillkeep putting money aside every month.

Thinking about everything this year, and yea,it’s going to be a work year. Might mean I have to pass on some things, orspend more weekends at home. And a lot of busy days off and late nights, but it’llbe worth it by early next year when I’m finally free of company life andfocusing on what I love. Plus, setting my own work hours and doing more writing. ^_^

It does help, doesn’t it. I mean in my past, I’vedated my fair share of assholes. But at the same time, I’ve dated some prettygreat guys that unfortunately, things didn’t work out with. I’ve always thoughtthat relationships are a combination of the right person and the right timing.I’ve been with a few guys who certainly were the right type, just the timing wasn’tgood for one or both of us. For now, I’m at a place where I feel like I’m readyto have a serious relationship, but have yet to meet any guys that I’d want tobe in a relationship with. Haha, maybe it’s a side effect of getting older. Iknow what I want in a partner and don’t really want to waste time with someonewho isn��t what I want.

I hope things work out with your grandmother! I’mright there with you. My grams just got word that her cancer may have come back(third time) so we’re currently waiting for her to do another scan to see whatexactly we’re dealing with. I’m hoping it’s nothing too serious.

My Ketogenic Experiment Part II: How did I start my first two weeks on Keto?

Week 1: How to Keto

Where did I hear about the ketogenic diet?

The first time I heard about the “ketogenic diet” outside of medicine was a few years back while perusing YouTube, I came upon a video where a guy was describing his technique for entering ketosis. This piqued my interest as I have been studying the effects of nutrition on health since I started practicing medicine 5 years ago and this was the first time I heard of anyone altering their diet to purposefully put themselves into this metabolic state. He explained how he would begin by fasting for 48-72 hours consuming only water and electrolytes in the form of bone broth. He would then periodically check his blood ketone levels to ensure they reached 0.06-3.0 mmol/dL which was consistent with being in “nutritional ketosis” (btw – since ketosis is based on strictly regulating carbohydrates and increasing fat intake, all ketosis is nutritional). After he entered ketosis, he would continue to monitor his blood ketones several times a day and strictly adhere to preset macro-nutrient ratios composing approximately of he daily calories consisting of 70-90% fat; 5- 20% protein; and 0-10% carbohydrate.

Wow… going keto seemed like it would be a total pain in the ass! And if you are jumping right in without research and preparation, it will be a pain in the ass! I have to disclose a few things that were working in my favor as I began this journey. Last year I implemented various types of intermittent fasting (IF) into my life. IF is an entire topic in and of itself and I could write a book about the many benefits of getting in a regular fast here and there but we are trying to stick to the keto topic today. In short, IF will teach your body to tap into its fat stores for energy after it depletes its glycogen stores, which is essentially stored glucose. Initially, your body may try and break down protein into glucose to get this energy (this is bad) but our bodies have had millions of years to adapt to intermittent feeding periods and after a few attempts at IF your body will activate genes that allow it to burn stored fat as energy and spare muscle mass. This, in essence, is a type of “intermittent keto” as the process is basically the same. So with a little IF prep work (as little as 30 days worth), your body should have the machinery in place to begin burning fat a lot quicker than if you cut out all the carbs cold turkey. Does this mean I had no carbohydrate cravings? Nope! I fell face first into a pile of chocolate covered Oreos left over from Christmas on day 2 and to start all over. But luckily, that was my only hiccup. The next day I got rid of all chocolate and sweets in the house (except for Alter Eco Dark Chocolate, I could eat 2-3 squares of that a day and it only had 2-4 grams of carbohydrate) because after I saw those first ketones register on the meter, I didn’t want to ruin all my hard work.

Weeks 1 & 2

Before I started, I bought a blood ketone meter. I have mixed feelings about this and for most people, you really don’t need one. For one, it is a great way to measure your state of ketosis. It will give you an accurate measuring of your body’s ability to create ketones in the absence of glucose. However, this can be a nuisance as well. Our bodies will go into ketosis despite whether you check the levels or not. I guess a ketone meter plays a role in experimenting on which foods you can safely eat and which will drive your levels down. Also, if you’re like me, I like to see measurable results and checking my ketones daily was a way for me to record my progress and give me something for which to strive. It was difficult to reach 1.5 mmol of ketones and I sure as shit wasn’t going to ruin it with another chocolate covered Oreo! On the other hand, if you check it too often, you’re going to drive yourself crazy <- Trust me!!! So my recommendation is to check your ketone levels, initially, every day at the same time. I did this every morning and watched the levels slowly creep up (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4).

 My ketones levels were undetectable in the first 3 days and then fluctuated widely as my body learned to operate without glucose. Then I had to pee! I mean A LOT! I woke up 2-3 times a night to hit the toilet and forget about holding out till 9 or 10 am to drop off my first few cups of coffee. I was literally peeing every 30 minutes during the first few days. When your body burns through its glycogen stores, you lose a TON of water. You store about 3 grams of water for every gram of stored carbohydrate. So if you go from eating 300-500 grams of carbohydrate per day to 25-50 grams – you’re going to lose a lot of water, my friends.

 It is important to know that as you lose your water, you lose your electrolytes as well. I initially knew that I was in ketosis when I was woken at 3 am with a muscle cramp in the instep of my foot. It was quite painful but I was expecting it nonetheless as I had done plenty of research and knew that getting your electrolytes in check was a critical step in feeling good throughout the process. At first, I remedied this with a ZMA supplement at night and a teaspoon of salt in 8 ounces of water every morning. But then I found an all in one electrolyte supplement called LYTEshow that came with a nifty travel dropper bottle. I just tossed it in my bag and poured a dose in my water 4-5 times a day. Once I got my lytes in check – I was truly good to go!

The Dreaded Keto “Flu”

I never felt sick entering ketosis. Most folks I’ve found will complain about feeling fatigued, sluggish, and generally “foggy” at first which is dubbed “The Keto Flu” and from what I heard, the symptoms can be quite severe. I experienced none of this. Except for the occasional muscle cramp, I suffered no ill effects. In fact, the muscle cramps actually served as a reminder that A. I was indeed still in ketosis and B. I needed to up my electrolytes.

Athletic Performance

The biggest change I encountered was a significant drop in athletic performance. This can be a HUGE issue for folks may be the deciding factor when it comes to trying their own self-experimentation with keto and this is understandable. I don’t compete in jiujitsu anymore nor run 5-10k races, so I really wasn’t concerned about a temporary drop in performance. I do enjoy high-intensity exercise with my body-weight, kettlebells, dumbbells, and sandbags. However, without sufficient glycogen storage, my muscles would bonk out rather quickly (bonk is used by athletes to describe the state in which there is absolutely no fuel left in the gas tank). For example, instead of being able to hammer out 20-30 burpees in a minute, I would run out of gas at 15 and need a good 3-5 minute break in-between sets. This was a weird feeling and took some getting used to. I no longer participate in long-distance endurance sports, so I have no personal experiences with how keto affects those activities. From what I would imagine is that long distance aerobic activities would improve after becoming keto-adapted – improved ability to metabolize fat as efficiently as we metabolize glucose. Why? If we are glucose dependent and not keto-adapted then after we burn through our glucose stores at various rates and when we hit “empty” we experience the dreaded bonk. I experienced this phenomenon out in the Nevada desert during a particularly grueling 100+ mile bike ride back in 2010 (before I was aware ketosis was even a thing). I literally rode till my legs quit. I had no more energy in reserve to keep going so what I had to do was slosh down sweet glucose filled jelly supplements and gooey syrups in order to power myself to the finish line. How would ketosis have helped me back then? It’s hard to say but I imagine my body would have been able to easily switch fuels from glucose to fats and left me with a virtually unlimited supply of energy to keep me going without having to suck down sugar every 15 minutes. So athletic performance may be a concern in the short term but if you’re a weekend warrior who wants to up his game, ketosis may work for you. A period of metabolic adaptation can take anywhere from 1-6 months for most folks forgo this process. You need to ask yourself, what do athletics mean to me? If you’re covering an NFL wide receiver or hitting home runs for a living – maybe not for you. Do you enjoy the occasional community  5-10k or even marathons… it may fit you perfectly.

So that covers my first few weeks of the ketogenic diet. Stay tuned next week for weeks 3-8. Topics include sleep, weight loss, muscle gain and much more!

Part I – Part II

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