u/Legitimate-Pop-5354

I made a post a few weeks ago about my first failure, I went in feeling unprepared and just wanted to see how I'd do, did surprising well with a 674. I studied a little bit more with some TD practice exams but not as much as I should and went for it again, this time a 635.

This time the exam certainly felt harder. Had to dig a lot more into Microsoft learn or some answers, the ones where you need to decipher for a bicep or json script were doing weren't as obvious. My case study was at the end instead of the beginning this time and that made it hard to budget my time with that looming over me, next time if its at the end again I may just skip ahead to it and get it over with. I got 80% on three categories, but didn't do great on computing and did downright bad on storage, hopefully if i hit those meaningfully for two weeks I can pass next time.

So I got reached out by a recruiter, and was told this position could be up to a 25% increase for me. I interviewed, got the job offer, and the person who reached out to me, not my recruiter, told me the max pay they could actually do was a less than a 10%. She tried to sell me on other things like getting into management at Booze. I declined and forwarded her the email with the original salary and politely told her either one of them is a liar or they need to get their act together and get on the same page. Same thing happened to a colleague of mind who interviewed for the same position. Anyone else?

WGU gives me 4 attempts at this exam, so I took on without studying much. I've had a very busy semester and am getting a bit burned out, but I only have AZ 104 and 305 left to graduate. I passed AZ-900 years ago and reviewed some John Savill stuff but found it hard to focus and I couldn't even get through the cram the night before. I primarily wanted to take it cause failing has always been my biggest motivation to study. I did a few TD subject exams and like one full practice exam I didn't do well on.

I don't mean to sound arrogant or put those who are struggling with this cert, but I didn't feel like this exam was boogeyman I was lead to believe. Maybe I was just blessed with a easy question block and I'm going to get rocked next time, and I've always been a good test taker. The AI summary in Microsoft learn really helped me find or eliminate answers on a question without wasting too much time.I had one scenario based set, and two or three 3 questions sets of Yes/no does this solution work for your scenario. I got 2-4 do these operations in the right order questions and those were the biggest struggle for me due to my lack of labs.

My observations:

Some questions are just reading a yaml or bicep file. If you just breath and read it, use Microsoft learn to look up any commands are syntax you don't know. Same with the multiple choice questions about the correct CLI script to do something.

On the Yes/no questions, on all mine I really thought only 1 out of 3 was the correct solution. Idk if that's the rule, but if so knowing only 1 out of 3 is right may help you, or maybe if you are truly lost just hitting no on all 3 is the mathematically best move.

Again, labs for the "what order should these steps be in" questions, that's not something you can look up in Microsoft learn without sinking a huge amount of time into.

Any other tips or what not would be appreciated.

I'm hoping to lock in, do a bunch of TD and measure up exams, and pass next Friday/Saturday.

I know for most people Gear 3 is peak. When I played through it in high school, I was off put by the seeming change from a gritty tone and the Lambent seemingly usurping the Locust as the main threat.

Having recently played through it again, my feelings about the Locust being replaced were greatly overblown. You definitely fight the Locust more than the Lambent, and when the Lambent hit Azura it really feels like this world ending threat instead of just a different enemy faction.

Some thoughts that could have tightened up the story a bit:

Game starts off great with Marcus just exhausted over the loss he's suffered. Flashback to his dad was great, but showing how he went from prison straight to saving the day by deploying the light mass bomb, only for humanity to be pushed back further, thinking they destroyed the Locust by sinking Jacinto only to be trapped on a ship now. The "we're all stranded now" line never really hit. The loss of the ship should've been bigger, what was one of few remaining outposts of humanity was just lost. It felt like a "welp, that happened" moment. I wanted to here about the remaining gears worried about how they were going to eat and drink. I wanted to see Sam wanting to have a baby with Dom but Dom refusing cause he still hurting over Maria and "how could I bring a kid into this world?". While we were told how bad things are, they never felt desperate. I felt the desperation in Gears 1 and 2.

I feel like the savage locust didn't get enough spot light. Given that Myrrah was is the deadlands when she spotted Marcus, I guess those ones weren't savage, or at least being savage didn't feel unique. I think they should've had some locust big bad declare himself the locust King and try to rally the savage locust under his banner in the deadlands, and myrrah comes and personally puts down the usurper. I think it'd give the savage locusts a little more identity, give myrrah some credibility, and some analogies could be drawn about how the Locusts are infighting now, they aren't so different from how humans were given the Pendulum Wars.

Overall, was pleasantly surprised I like it more this time.

Since coming to the Lord and committing to faith and church membership, I’ve noticed a trend. A lot of Christians—particularly those raised in the church—speak a dialect of "Christianese" that uses biblical and spiritual language to mask very worldly motives.

Instead of articulating spiritual truths, these phrases are often used as clichés and platitudes to get a desired outcome, avoid effort, or look holy.

A few examples I've noticed:

We face problems individually or as a church, and people immediately say they will "pray for a solution" While prayer is vital, it’s often used by people who refuse to offer a tangible solution or contribute in any practical way. They want the appearance of doing something without having to make any actual effort. Similarly, people declare they "love the Lord" but never serve in ministry, don't participate outside of Sunday service, and generally display no fruit. The phrase has lost all meaning.

When I was dating, I noticed the exact same trend used to disguise worldly expectations:

-When a woman said she wanted a "Traditional" Christian man, more often than not, she just wanted a financial provider to handle the logistics she didn't want to deal with—not someone to actually lead her in a biblical sense

-When a woman said they wanted someone "Ambitious," it usually just meant they wanted a man who could provide a usually high level of material comfort.

I’m sure women run into similar issues with men using spiritual language to hide worldly or selfish motives.

What sayings, phrases, or buzzwords have you heard used within the church to justify or disguise completely worldly desires and expectations?