Yes, I learned about tendons when I was younger but it was a word I learned from going to see a Doctor about an accident that happened. I had my left hand injured and I couldn't grip anything for a few weeks. I worked at a grocery store as a bagger while I was in high school.  The cashier put two 2-liter bottles of Pepsi to bag and for some reason one fell on the other and from the pressure one of them came at a bad angle on my left hand. Bagging with only my right hand for about 3-4 wasn't too much fun. Thankfully, I had a really nice Store Manager so he did what he could to give me other tasks that didnt require me to strain my good hand.

This weekend I ended up playing Rayman Raving Rabbids and Cabela's African Safari on the Xbox 360. My right index finger (trigger) and my wrist are so sore. How much is too much when it comes to your hands? I wonder if I'll grow muscles in areas I never knew about in my hands or if I am going to strain them too much and injure my tendons. By the way, Raving Rabbids is so much fun! I am currently having a problem trying to sheer sheep though. Besides the cow basketball (which took me about 30 tries), the sheering sheep is extremely difficult.

P.S. My thumb was doing fine about 2 days after being squished.

Thanks for all of your feedback abput my first video at GameSpot. Here are some answers to the private messages and comments in my blog and videos.

1. Keep at it! Many of you encouraged me to continue to play. Thanks for the tips about how to aim I really appreciate that. I have been told that some shooter console games have a type of auto-aim. In the PC scene if you have any type of aim assistance (via aim bots, etc) you are considered a loser. I understand why consoles have this assistance but you can only imagine how much I would feel like I was cheating if I have assistance. When I noticed that a button allowed me to run for cover I felt like I was cheating! As you can see I have a long journey ahead to get to know the console shooter scene. For some of you who have been playing console shooters for years I am probably light years away from what you know. Then again, if you never played a PC shooter then you're light years away from what I know. I have a little over 10 years of experience in this area. 

2. What do you mean FPS? It's a Shooter: I called this a FPS because you can zoom in on someone in first person view. I had one guy mention that Gears of War wasn't a FPS. I looked into it further to find out that this game is categorized in the shooter genre. You learn something new every day. I am still a toddler in the console shooter scene. It may take me a while to get to know the lingo.

3. You are so bad at this game; I played awesome the first time: Yeah, I explained that in the first video. If I wanted to be superficial I could have played this game a couple of days to good at it and pretend it was my first time playing the game. Or maybe I could have edited out the dumb parts. Did I want to show the real me? Of course, I am not going to pretend I am better at something than I really am. I can't say that I liked my ego being crushed. If I was on a server for a variety of popular FPS games in the past I was normally 1st, 2nd or 3rd on the server. I am a bit rusty lately from playing World of Warcraft though. I am not really bad at games so this really was much more humiliating than you can imagine.

4. Can you play other console games? Of course but when it comes to online games I normally choose PC games. I am trying to change that as much as possible because I know there has to be some great online games on consoles. The genres I normally play with console games are adventure, racing and fighting.

5. But you ran Xbox Live tournaments, how could you really be this terrible? To admin a tournament you don't have to be as good as the players who register for it. The tournaments I ran were great because I had assistance with staff and other players who were heavily in a particular game's scene. From having their knowledge it was easier to admin the tournaments I helped out with in the past. I can say that I got really familiar with Xbox Live during that time and that is one reason why I have been interested in this platform. Plus, you have a wonderful tournament coordinator that is extremely talented and passionate with all types of games! 

6. Add me to Xbox Live! I'll add my gamertag to my profile as soon as I get it registered. I don't think my real alias will be available but I have yet to figure out how I am going to hook up the internet to my 360. It's easy at work because we have outlets everywhere but I may need to see if I have a router at home. I am not very tech savvy so I may have to bug some friends about it.

7. How did you do the first person view on your controller? Well, if I told you this it would ruin my prestige (haven't you seen that movie?). Maybe one day I'll make a video about how silly I look with my digital camera but for now... I'm the magician and you're my audience! No tomato throwing please...

8. Why didn't you read the Gears of War handbook? I rented Gears of War and the handbook wasn't included. Sure, I am known to jump into a game after skimming the handbook until I learn the hard way. If I had the handbook for Gears of War I would have read it because this game seems like it would have needed it. As for the others saying there was a tutorial I don't think I played the game enough to know this. But as you noticed I took the training route in the game to discover how to play through the single player campaign.

9. Your TV is so small. Yes it is and this is exactly why I bought it. I got tired of trying to move huge a huge TV from place to place. Calling my b/f or trying to find friends to move a TV is annoying. I have never really cared about surround sound systems and the way the game looks on my TV or monitor, why would I care about that now?  Then again, you should try being a girl who can't lift a heavy TV with another person. At least I can move this TV around anywhere I need to and when I want to.  

10. What type of digital camera was that?  It's a Canon PowerShot A530 digital camera. I tested it out before recording these videos and it came out fuzzy. After setting up my desk lamp it came out much more clear. The video sound wasn't great but it didn't do too bad indoors. I have recorded videos outdoors and this digital camera does awful with sound recording. The wind really destroys my videos.

On a final note, I rushed in there at the end when I knew better. By the time I got to that area I really wanted to shoot the guy and he wasn't even getting any damage. I rushed in there at the end and I know this is the reason why I died. Game Over

Not really my first video blog but it is my first video on GameSpot! Tonight was my first shot at Gears of War. I used my digital camera to record.

Coming from a FPS background where I always played with ASWD on the keyboard, space key to jump, Q to crouch, and used the mouse to move my head around in the game makes it difficult to even think about a game pad. How do you jump or look around, let alone shoot? I did feel a little comfortable using the right trigger key because I used the same finger I use when I shoot with my mouse key.

I remember the first time I tried Halo on the Xbox. Oddly enough I was at id Software's office at the time I tried it. I recall the guys telling me to try Halo out and I laughed because out of all people these guys would have to understand how weird it was playing without a mouse and keyboard. It took me about 1 hour before I felt okay in the game. I think I played Halo maybe three times after then. Ready for my humiliation? See it for yourself! [VIDEOS]

Note: The video ended up being longer than 10 minutes so there are two videos.