Life shifts¶

So, lets kick off my new website design with a banger of a post.

This post does get a bit long, but its a bit of an insight into various life changes I'd like to annouce.

So, there have been several shifts in my life lately that I'd like to discuss. To start off with, we have:

New machine, who this.¶

So as of now, I have gotten a new MacBook Pro. But not just any MacBook Pro.

The specs¶

I decided to go with the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M5 Pro), as it was the latest model at the time and recommended by my university.

But I decided to go a bit higher than I went last time when I got an upgrade.

I decided to opt for:

48GB RAM
2TB SSD
The non-binned SoC (18C/20G)
Nano texture display

I did use the student discount to save around 250$ on it (it's actually really good tbh, would recommend), but I did have to cancel my obamacare and use the ACA to afford it (im joking haha).

I went for high specs for a few reasons, namely:

I run various things that do prefer high perfomance (VMs, some gaming, etc), even if its not strictly required, it does help.
I want to ensure I'm not as limited in the future, as I don't think I'm going to get an upgrade in 4 years next time (and even if I did upgrade, I'd still like to keep this machine around).

Why upgrade?¶

The MacBook Pro I had beforehand was a base model MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021). I got it 4 years ago (for high school, both as a graduation present and a tool).

That machine got me through alot. Everything from complex school assignments, to late night Genshin Impact runs, to novel Apple device research.

But, it's no longer the same machine it once was.¶

This is both literal, and metaphorically.

Litreally, as it has had numerous replacement parts installed (Display x2, Top case x1, Logic board x1) over the years it's been used.

Metaphoriclly, because the machine it was in 2022, is not the machine it is in 2026. It has pretty bad battery life issues now, plenty of comestic damage, and storage would always just... fill up.

I will keep the machine ovbiously, because I want to do experiments with it and have it as a backup.

A natural progression¶

As of yesterday, I have graduated from High School. It's a strange time, isn't it?

I will discuss a bit about my High School experinces, some of which I've not really discussed yet, both publicly and privately.

The academic part¶

I found myself not super hating academics. Infact, I'd say I enjoyed them at times, such as me finding the subject matter intresting, or the assignment being simple.

I took various classes, including ones that were related to my intrests, and ones that weren't really. Some classes I geniunely did not enjoy, primarily due to difficulty, workload, and teaching methods.

I didn't go for super hard level classes, as I just... didn't think I could handle that level of stress, pressure, and lack of time to pursue my intrests and hobbies (or even to relax tbh).

I did few school-sponsored extracurriculars for much of the same reasons, and that I didn't really find any that I felt like I'd enjoy due to the workload and social dynamics.

I did decently well in school, although I did struggle at times at various points for various reasons, whether that be feeling overwhelmed with pressure, exhaustion and burn out, or just, not wanting to wake up at 6am all the time.

Truth is, I spent 4 years in a high school enviorment, and have came to the conclusion that the social enviorment SUCKS.

The sea of flowers at the end¶

I will be starting at a university in the fall of this year. What will that bring? I don't super know yet, but I am excited for new shifts, new people, and new freedom.

But, I will try as hard as possible to make sure that theres no more 6am wakeups.

Shifting oneself¶

So around 2.5 weeks before this blog post (6/8/2026), I started something new.

Something that I've been meaning to start for some time, and had to go through a bit of a painfull process to start (it was mainly finding a provider who'd serve me with informed consent, and waiting a bit for them to start).

It is called... (drumroll please)... Feminizing HRT!

Some notes¶

I am happy to report that I got a good dose to start with for now. Specifically, 2mg of estrodial (taken sublingally) and 50mg spironolactone (not to be confused with my upcoming project, and it's taken by swallowing), twice per day.

I got mine via a planned parenthood in NYC (aka, mamdanistan), which is Infomred Consent (no need to go through 8 rounds with 2 differnet therapists just to MAYBE get a low dose that won't do anything). Best part is that it allows minors (above 16) with one parent consenting.

Also, NYC is an awesome place :-)

but orangera1n why didn't you do injections?¶

I get that quesiton by several other people, and I do wanna say that while I did consider them, I choose not to for a variety of reasons:

I'm not too comfortable doing injections myself, espically for a lifelong process.
I prefer the regularity of pills, because:
1. It's much less likely weird mood shifts will occur if i miss a pill over an injection.
2. It also feels more... purposeful and active to do so twice every day.

An unexpected twist...¶

Contraty to the above 3 sections, there is one shift that I geniunely did not expect, and was taken by suprise.

So if you've been paying attention to the iOS jailbreaking and research scene, you may have heard about a new bootrom exploit, called usbliter8. This is big for a variety of reasons. Namely:

GID Key decryption for A12, A12X/Z, A13, S4/S5
Tether booting, namely:
- Dual boots (yes im defo doing those)
- Tether downgrades
Jailbreaks for iOS 17/18/26/27
SSH Ramdisks to fix devices that have been bricked over the years

There is one big downside with this exploit, it's that: you cannot have a passcode on iOS 12?-16, and iOS 17+, SEP encrypted stuff won't work whatsoever, until a workaround is found (there are some ideas being discussed)

That said, I am excited for this exploit, and what it'll bring, both for myself, and the broader community.

I've also started preliminary work on a tool to use it, one called Spironolactone. This tool will attempt to bring SSH Ramdisks, tether booting, and more! (NO ETA YET)

Conclusion¶

This is one of the first of my "more personal" blog posts I've written, but I did want to open up a bit.