Not quite the same issue, but similar in the sense that it was caused by a UEFI that didn't conform to spec.
I have an HP laptop that I installed Debian on, and it would never actually boot to grub even though I checked the boot entries several times over. You could open the settings and choose the boot entry manually, so it's not like it was a problem with the OS or with grub. Turned out, this model was hard coded to only allow a boot entry named "Windows Boot Manager" to be loaded by default. I used efibootmgr to rename the debian entry and it booted into grub straight away.
As far as I'm aware, the Truecrypt backdoor thing was speculation regarding the termination of the Truecrypt project, but it was not confirmed. You can see here that development of Truecrypt ceased in 2014. Veracrypt was forked around that time. As for whether or not you can trust it, you'll want to evaluate the audits that have been performed and decide if you trust them. You can find a link to what seems like the latest audit here.
Truecrypt is abandoned, and has vulnerabilities that will not be fixed. Veracrypt is a fork of Truecrypt that is still actively maintained.
It definitely takes a bit to get used to that, especially on the exhale. I found that it became better over time, especially once I was able to stop focusing on the mask and my breathing. I don't use the ramp up personally, as I find it more comfortable for me. Definitely keep at it, and you should be able to talk to your provider if you keep having issues. I had to go through a few settings/mask types to find the right one.
Super Metroid. It's an amazing game if you play it normally, and you can branch out into sequence breaking tricks pretty easily. It basically created/popularized an entire genre of games.
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