Yoga on Speed

Stranger of Sword City (Part 3)

Yeah! My team has reached Level 13 so will be able to class change. But should I place two party members in the infirmary to recover their lost life point/ heart. Maybe this is what I will do while level grind for the others (to a level so they can class change too):

* change Knight (Loki) to Cleric, then place him in infirmary, level 6;

* keep Dancer (Pixie) as is, then place her in infirmary, level 13;

* change Samurai (Diana) to Ninja, level 6;

* change Ranger (Orlando) to Wizard, level 6;

* keep Fighter (Godot) as is, level 13;

* keep Wizard (Saruman) as is, level 13 

This is such a major undertaking ^^

Cat Stretch

Okay, here is a yoga pose that, seriously, cured that annoying pinched nerve on my left shoulder/neck that has been there for many years. It's a pose that I now try to incorporate into my teaching/ classes. 

Quite an intense back bend there ...

It's a very, very deep spinal stretch (see photo). I obviously don't have the flexibility to go as deep as the lady above (you need to have quite a flexible spine to have the knees so close to the chest, which is pressed onto the ground). At the beginning, my chest could barely touch the floor without sliding my knees all the way back ... so I looked like I was just lying on the floor faced down. 

Gradually though, my knees got closer while keeping my chest down. But I had this issue, when my chest - and chin - are pressed on the ground, my left shoulder/neck area was SO tight (explains my pinched nerve?) that my left upper arm/elbow would lift off the ground and it took many, many breaths in the pose to finally lower it down without causing too much pain.

So I had that problem for awhile ... in the meantime, my to-go-to teacher gets us to do lots of back bending in his vinyasa sequence so my spine, especially middle and lower back, has gained much flexibility over the past six months. That must have helped. Now, I can have my knees slightly closer to my chest when I'm in this cat stretch -- I can feel the middle back arching a lot. So I do warm up with some back bending before knee, chest, chin down. 

But MOST amazingly, when I do cat stretch now, my left upper arm/elbow no longer lifts off the ground and there is NO pain around my left shoulder neck area, whether in or out of the pose. So, if I have to recommend any yoga pose for people who have very stiff shoulders, this would be the one! Try it out ... it's a great pose to relax in ... but remember to warm up first ^^ 

Stranger of Sword City (Part 2)

This turns out to be quite a fun and addictive game. And it's not available in Asia (!) so I had to download it from my UK PSN account. 

The beginning, with really sh*t equipment and low level, was tough. Two of my characters got KO-ed for no reason at all (like, falling down a hole? Doh!) ... but have grinded a little and I'm now okay even with the bosses. 

Stranger of Sword City is kinda like Tactics Ogre LUCT + Valhalla Knights in that it features a class & race system and that skills can be transferred over if you do class change(s). So a team member may start off with being a Knight and ends up as a Cleric. It's not something I tried with TO but it is a vital part of the overall game strategy for Stranger. The only thing is levelling up is quite slow in this game and you will need to reach a certain level to make the class change worthwhile (i.e. collecting some cool skills). 

I like the sprites of this game, very nice art.
This is lovely Diana, Samurai-turns-Ninja and
the best attacker on the team 

My initial team setup is: Knight/ Fighter/ Samurai in the front row and Wizard (my main)/ Ranger/ Dancer in the back row. My plan is to turn my Knight into a Cleric (so I'll have a tank healer LOL), Samurai to Ninja (latter have better stats and skills), Dancer to Cleric. I also have an option to turn the Ranger, practically an archer to Wizard cos the character's race is an elf. Thematically that makes sense. My dwarf Fighter is fine as he is and so is my main. I think my team will be quite balanced to have two hitter/tanks (Fighter and Ninja); mages (my main and archer); and healers (Knight and Dancer). I think I will have this setup ready before entering mid game ... heard the bosses there are quite hard.  

Will have to put Crisis Core down for now. Like X-2, I'm totally OP-ed in that game anyway and need to take a break from all that mission grinding ><

Stranger of Sword City

Oh, Here is what I recently posted on a forum re my latest progress in Crisis Core that I've been playing lately: 

So I'm advancing in Mission 9 (approaching 9-5-x) ... have decided to go as far as I could while potion lady is still available.

I'm not going for the perfect setup (for now) but maxing out VIT has helped a lot. So right this seems to be working okay: 

Darkness to inflict damage and lowering own HP when in break limit; Costly Punch; Curaga; Stop Blade for its (60) ATK stat (for Darkness); VIT UP++ and Zantetsuken. I'll fine tune this in the future but to migrate stats from one materia to another is not something I look forward to doing...>< 

As for accessories I have: Brutal, Adaman Bangle, Power Suit and Genji Shield. I am looking forward to getting the Ziedrich (to boost VIT AND SPR). Dunno if I need Genji Helmet (am not using much magic other than Curaga) but Genji Glove would be great to replace Brutal. Genji Amour I won't have until I move on with the story. 

Okay, will see if I have enough protection to take on the 9-5-x missions ... heard they are tough ><

But having just watched Warcraft, now I want to play a RPG with races and classes (!!) Stranger of Sword City seems like a good choice. It's a turn-based dungeon RPG and it's ... roguelike, which means it's a totally unforgiving game (Natural Doctrine and Curry God come to mind!!) But it has very interesting customisation so will check that out this afternoon. Time to revive one of my Vitas ^^