i installed the latest glx nvidia driver from the software center and now when i boot, i get a blinking cursor after typing in my encryption password. how do i fix this or how do i avoid the issue entirely if i were to reinstall?

ctrl+alt+f2 and follow the rollback instructions here:
https://getsol.us/articles/package-management/history-and-rollback/en/

You likely installed nvidia-glx-driver (For LTS kernel) instead of nvidia-glx-driver-current (For current kernel)

If you don't know what you're doing in terms of which driver you need to install its advised you use "Hardware Drivers" application found in your system menu. It will make sure you install the right driver.

Note if you use Steam you'll need to click to tick box to install 32bit driver as well as steam requires this.

    Harvey ah, so i just installed the wrong driver. thanks for the fast reply, by the way! is glx-driver-current 418? because i need that.

        Harvey one more question: i installed glx-driver-current and steam won't open. how do i fix that?

            raenii
            As I said if you use steam you need the 32bit driver too.

            Just run this:
            sudo eopkg it nvidia-glx-driver-32bit