JoshStrobl
i used
notify-send "Message Title" "The message body is shown here sdf saf sa fas df asd fas df asd fasd f asd fasd f as dfas f"
also tried 'show test notification' in the panel OSD extension. they show up in the clock applet though, just no popups. tried with a different theme, as well as disabling all extensions.
its probably one of those things ill figure out suddenly some day
Update, reboot, still alive 
Lucien_Lachance Maybe check of Notification Popups is enabled via Settings -> Notifications?
JoshStrobl yeah thats enabled
now i have the issue that no extensions work at all including user-theme, so i have the default gnome shell theme, and now notifications work. im also trying to eat half a pack of ryvita and got cheese in my keyboard that wont go away. lol, its not my day
Lucien_Lachance now i have the issue that no extensions work at all including user-theme, so i have the default gnome shell theme, and now notifications work
Have you read the blog post and the section regarding GNOME Shell, checking user extensions in .local, etc.?
yeah i disabled them all before rebooting, i guess maybe i should delete them and start from scratch
Make sure after you follow the steps of nuking them from .local/share/gnome-shell/extensions (the ones we ship, anyways, assuming those exist) that you ensure they aren't disabled via GNOME Shell. They don't easily expose it but you can check the contents of the follow command for anything related to dash-to-dock, topicons-plus, etc.
gsettings get org.gnome.shell 'disabled-extensions'If there is any, try running:
gsettings reset org.gnome.shell 'disabled-extensions'Then restart GNOME Shell by doing alt+f2 then typing r and pressing the Enter key to restart GNOME Shell. After which the extensions should be re-enabled, if not double check GNOME Tweaks.
its the panel osd extension thats the culprit, even when disabled
First reboot after update (budgie) and everything feels so much snappier.. i dunno if its placebo or not yet - but i felt i had to say it anyways.. with the usual bs reservations ofc (lol). Seriosly tho, thanks devs! 
you'd think that the new gnome wallpaper selection thingy was an improvement, but its not, maybe it is if ur on 16:9 but 21:9 wallpapers are just a blur
Lucien_Lachance Leave it to GNOME to mess up something good eh? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
JoshStrobl And the corollary, if it's broke, don't fix it (also).
dbarron And if users love it, remove it.
JoshStrobl
Who needs desktop icons, anyway ?
Actually I myself hate Desktop Icons. However, I know that it's a required feature for many, so removing it makes no sense.
dbarron I personally don't use it either, but I also recognize that how I use software and my needs may not be the same as someone else's 
Update done on two pc's without any issues, like berk mentioned i also noticed that my system feels snappier. Thanks to everyone involved in this awesome update!
i switched to budgie. got tired of fighting gnome half the time. budgie is nice, it just works. it lacks a few things/options that gnome has but i think the people who made, whoever they might be, must be decent folk
JoshStrobl If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Didn't know you work on LinuxMint as well 
Great update, however, no kernel 5.3? Waiting for it because of Navi. I was hoping finally login into desktop, not comandline only
