Final Fantasy XIII

So, I bought the game just DAYS before deploying to Iraq...again. I was able to get fairly far (got to virtually the end of disc 2 out of 3 disks...Yes, the game for the xbox 360 has 3 disks!) Once I got to Iraq and my xbox360 shipped out (thank you honey bunny), I was able to resume where I left off. Well, at the end of Chapter 9 is a Boss, who I might add, is NO JOKE. Anyone who is familiar with the Final Fantasy Series knows that Bosses towards the end start getting ridiculously hard. This guy was no joke. He has 4 Armor "Heads", as well as the main body. The 'heads' each have 6,000hp (hit points/health), and the body has a WHOPPING 420,000 HP. Now mind you that my characters are only at like 1200hp since I had been holding my own fairly well up to this point. After 6 FAILED attempts, I was ready to say fuck this game and call it a lost cause. Well after reading up on ways to defeat him and finally figuring out how to actually make money (gil) in the game, I was able to face him for one last attempt. Let's just say that I was able to wipe the battlefield with him. Here is my full report on how to beat the Chapter 9 Boss, Barthandelus.

I used Light/Sazh/Hope combo. Each character had maxed out their jobs up to this point and I had gone on to also upgrade Light's Gladius (gunsword) to Lvl 15 and also put accessories on the characters to boost their stats (gave Hope a Gold Bangle I upgraded to Level 4 which adds an additional 290Hp to his total health. My starting combo paradigm was COM/SYN/MED. I used librascope so that my characters would know all the weaknesses and strengths the boss had. I used Light's Blitz attack continuously while Sazh buffed my characters up to make them resistant to elemental damage as well as cast bravery/faith/haste on them as well. Hope simply kept my characters health up through constant Cura's. After getting buffed up, I swapped paradigms to rotate between Tri-Disaster (RAV/RAV/RAV) and Relentless Assault (COM/RAV/RAV). Once I had all 4 heads sent packing home, I pounded away the main body while switching every 5-6 seconds between RAV/RAV/RAV and COM/RAV/RAV, with the occasional healing with my Convalescence (MED/SYN/MED). Every time he casts Destructo, I pounded him to the mini-staggering, and then managed to fully stagger him which only allowed him to hit me with a measly 6 non-elemental strikes. I kept up that 3 Paradigm routine until he was depleted of all health. I managed to do this in 9 min, 28 seconds (out of a target Time of 11 min, 02 seconds). I only got a 3-star rating, but I am VERY proud of myself. But yea, this difficulty jump was RIDICULOUS.

Leave for 9 Days or School....

So, Chelsey and I have been planning to go camping (like week-long camping) for the last month or so. We did our little 2-day trip to see how the dogs would handle it. When I found out that I had been removed from the Unit Armorer Course, I saw that week as the perfect opportunity since the week after that, I would be doing intensive training on my job. So I did the paperwork necessary and turned it in. Chelsey and I began planning out the specifics, like what we would need to bring, what we have and what we would need to buy. So it comes down to DAYS before we are going on the trip and I found out that my leave had been kicked back because I was "Enrolled" in the armorer course. Now mind you that I stressed enrolled. Basically I am going to show up to the class with papers in hand and HOPE that I get into the class. Notice: my entire Platoon Leadership had approved my leave with the same notion that I would NOT be in the class. So for this to happen means that not only did I not know I was in the class, but our company 1SG failed to communicate the information down the channels so that I may know.

What's funny is that if I don't get in the class, I still cannot take leave till at least the end of August due to the training. And my 1SG asked me at the range what I think could help improve moral around the company. If he had asked me that today (or even tomorrow morning), I would tell him to let me take my much needed leave. I worked nearly 100 hours last week while the company did their qualification ranges. On top of that, I have been virtually the only one in the COMPANY to not have taken leave since block leave ended on 10 April of this year. I am basically needing this as a break and a reset so I would have my mind refreshed and ready to go for when we start training since it will have been nearly 10 months since I last did my job.

So, my next plan of action is to utilize my commander's Open Door Policy so that I may approach her about this and stress my case and see if something can be done to allow my leave to happen.

Slain ex-NFL star's alcohol level was twice legal limit...

So I have just gotten home from work, picked up the laptop and saw that headline on Yahoo! News. My first reaction was WHO GIVES A SHIT, HE WASNT DRIVING!!! He was in his damn place of residence when he was shot by his girlfriend. That headline is so misleading in getting people to check out the article. Anyone with 2 brain cells could figure that out... Here is the article as it appears on Yahoo!

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Authorities say former NFL star Steve McNair had a blood-alcohol level twice Tennessee's legal limit for driving when his girlfriend shot him to death.

Tennessee Assistant Medical Examiner Feng Li said Monday that a toxicology report showed a trace amount of marijuana in the body of Sahel Kazemi. Police say the 20-year-old Kazemi shot McNair July 4 in a Nashville condo before killing herself.

Police say McNair was likely asleep when he was shot twice in the head and twice in the chest.

Li said there was no way to tell from the report how long before McNair's death he had been drinking.

Kazemi was arrested for drunken driving in Nashville two days before the shooting. Police video of the arrest showed her telling the officer that she was high.

Stuff like this just pisses me off. Its like Jesus Christ, get better article writers who can come up with a more accurate headline that PERTAINS TO THE FUCKING STORY!!! If I were to be shot in my home, you can bet your ass that I would likely be WELL above the LEGAL LIMIT... *FOR DRIVING*