AAR GSL Week 1

What is an AAR?
An After Action Review (AAR) is a review of training that allows soldiers, leaders, and units to discover for themselves what happened during the training and why. It is also used to solicit ideas on how the training could have been performed better. AARs are not critiques because they do not determine success or failure; rather, AARs are professional discussions of training events. Leaders and evaluators avoid lecturing participants on what went wrong. They use AARs to tell a story about what was planned, what happened during the training, why it happened, and what could have been done differently to improve performance. ~~Army Field Manual 25-101 Battle Focused Training

Week 1 GSL Starting Score: 24220
Week 1 GSL Ending Score: 30695
Week 1 GSL Points Scored: 6475
Hand of Thrawn Current Rank: 7th

With this being my first Gamer Score League I went into the week not really knowing what to expect. I felt I had strong showing for my first week but consistency and endurance will be the key to success.

Planning: I had my weekly plan laid out well in advance which was a huge benefit. Going forward I will continue to do this and discussing my plan with my Team Captain, ThrawnOmega, and my fellow Teammates, DarkTharen, Bishop x360a, BL4ACK SiLv4, and Derek1337

Execution: I played a total of 9 games, completing 3 of them. NCAA March Maddness 07 was my greatest challenge, as I grew very frustrated with the All-American settings achievements. So much so that this game will probably stay at 960gs on my card for a long time. Areas for improvement would be on the researching of the achievement guides before playing the game. I found myself having to pause my game more frequently then I would have liked to look at guides over at x360a.org.

My Week 2 plan is already set and will use the next few days to refine it and strategize with my Team as we make our move up the ranks.

Hurry Up and Wait

Hurry up and wait. The phrase that every new soldier in the US Army becomes familiar with within their first weeks of service.

Hurry up and get to where you need to be. Wait for additional orders.

Never did I think this phrase would relate to my hobby of gaming, but in fact that is exactly what I have been doing for the last two weeks as we inch closer to the launch of GSL VII.

Hurry Up: I have a spread sheet of the games I plan on playing during the GSL. Over the last few weeks I have been hitting the local video game stores, websites, and friends for games that I can buy, borrow, or trade that are on my spreadsheet. With my growing collection I have begun working out the roster of games and what order to play them. I have put my Wifey on notice that any discussion, arguement, agreement we have during the GSL can not be held against me as I will be so focused on unlocking achievement that I probably will not realize she is talking.

Wait: Is it start time yet? Not playing my 360 and unlocking achievements is driving me crazy. I find myself sitting through a episodes of Grey's Anatomy with the Wifey just to keep me away from playing. Waiting. I can only browse through the x360a forums so many times a day, spamming the refresh button to keep me from playing. Waiting. My week 1 roster of games is set, but Ill probably go through it 20 more times before the GSL starts. Waiting.......

January Recap

January has come to an end and I can honestly say that it was one of my best gaming months. My current Gamerscore stands at 23,508 which put me at a 5,508 gain for the month of January. What is even more exciting about that is the fact that most of those points were earned during a two week challenge. Imagine if I had pushed myself for the whole 31 days! Good thing I didn't do that though because I really need to pace myself with GSL VII just a few weeks away.

Gamerscore Gained: 5,508
Retail Completed: 3
Arcade Completed: 1
GS needed for 50K: 26,492

My Mom always told me to place nice with girls.

Sorry Mom, this girl is going to get her butt kicked. As if I needed any more motivation to reach my goal for 2009, I have agreed to race gamergril6969 to 50K. Should be a very fun race as she is also apart of this seasons GSL.

The Hand of Thrawn

Its official, I am now a member of The Hand of Thrawn. GSL VII can not get here soon enough now. We might not be the early team favorite to win it all but I strongly feel that we have a shot. I have begun planning my route to put up as many points as I possibly can. The 8 weeks of competition should be very fun and exciting.

The Army says a Soldier only needs four hours of sleep to be effective. My military training in sleep deprevation should give me a slight edge on this gaming battlefield.

Quick Update

Another game to add to the completed list for my second 100% compeltion of the month. Madden 08 helped me raise my score past the 23k mark and also sealed my victory is the x360a challenge over on 360voice.com!

x360a.org announced GSL VII and I have entered my name to be drafted. Im looking forward to participating. Im hoping to land on a solid team but most importantly to make some new gaming friends. My gamerscore should see a very nice boost from the competion which is a big plus.

My goal to hit 30k by the end of 2009 is going to be smashed early this year. Im officially changing my goal to hit 50k by then end of the year; hopefully by the end of the GSL if Im lucky =).

Fallout 3 Sig

Was hooked up with this awesome Fallout 3 sig by DirtyMcHater. This guy is extremely talented. You can view some of his work at the following link.

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=111121

No new gaming news to report. I have taken the last few days off to focus on English class which is probably a good thing. Once I knock out this essay for the week Ill be back in action.

Nice Start to 2009

As the countdown to the end of '08 ended and 2009 began, I made a New Year resolution to to take my achievement whoring a bit more serious. On January 1st, I sat at a measly 18,000 gamer score. My goal that I set out for the new year was to reach 30k by the end of '09 which would be a 1k a month pace.

Its three weeks in and I'm well ahead of schedule. So much so that I will have to adjust my goal here shortly. I was in a race to 40k with a fellow member over at x360a.org but due to some girlfriend aggro he had to pull out. Not all is lost though as I am also racing Masonasaur to 60% completion. This race will be very close.

Currently I'm finishing up Cabela's Big Game Hunter. Once completed Ill be just a couple hundred shy of 23k and 5k for the month of January.