Posts Tagged "acts of stupidity"
Paintball. Just like war except for the war part.
Paintball. Oh paintball. How can I aptly describe it? What would possess a seemingly rational thinking person to wake up early on a Saturday morning and willingly run around the woods with a gun that shoots little pellets of paint at speeds that top off at 290 feet per second while other people are shooting little pellets of paint at speeds that top off at 290 feet per second? I really wish I had an answer for you.
After resisting the pleas and taunts for the past couple of years, I finally succumbed to the curiosity and agreed to join the group for a birthday party. In theory, it sounds like something that’s right up my alley: it’s a fairly active game with all the running and strategy, plus you can win. And we all know how much I love to win stuff. However, in practice…well, it actually wasn’t that bad.
So I was at Paintball Jungle at the 8:30 in the morning waiting for the rest of the stragglers to show up. I probably should have came late because standing there that early gave me the opportunity to stare at all the crazy serious paintballers in all of their gear. There were guys in full on camo [one guy looked like Storm Shadow] with large paintball guns, pistols; one guy even had a grenade looking thing! That alone is pretty intimidating for any first time player [especially one that was inadequately dressed]. Plus, there were rumors that some people were even wearing ghillie suits.
What’s a ghillie suit? Imagine swamp thing with a paintball gun.
What? You thought I was making this stuff up? Now, I did not see the ghillie suit creatures, but one of the guys in the group saw them. The best part: the crazy serious didn’t stop there! The ringleader of the whole outfit, some guy named Magic Carpet Bob, strolled up wearing a beret and camo pants and conducted the morning orientation as if he were conducting an actual military briefing. I was tempted to take his picture but I had a strong feeling he wouldn’t have found my reasoning of wanting to blog about him as a compelling reason to being so subversive because this paintball stuff is SERIOUS [yes, all caps serious]. While going through the rules, he regales us with a story of how some guy somehow managed to shoot himself in the eye just a couple of weeks prior. Yeah, that totally helped my nerves.
All in all though, paintball wasn’t as terrible an experience as it could have been. I had fun, and admittedly, the games we played before lunch were more fun because I barely got hit [and when I did, it was in the helmet so it didn't hurt] and yes, the main reason why the games after lunch went downhill quickly was because I got hit, hard and repeatedly at short range. NOT FUN. Who thought speedball was ever a good idea? You get put on this tiny court with no where to run and tell us to run at each other and start shooting. Close range is where you die. Because you know, those paintball thingys hurt! And they’re whizzing by you at almost 290 feet per second! This is not “10 Things I Hate about You” paintball after all.
Would I go again? You know, I probably would if I can roll up in some police riot gear or dress like a hockey player. If I can get the super padded shirt, shorts and arm and leg guards with a jersey and pants I’d be good to go. Mainly I’d go again so I can get better. I tend to camp out in one spot and now that I have a better idea [and a vendetta] of how to play the game, I’m feeling more confident to actually run around. And the bruises, while gnarly, weren’t to extremely horrible.
There’s nothing like hearing the paintball guns while trying to sleep.
Read MoreHello Friday. You look pretty today…
I went over everything three times and charged my iPod and DS and packed it all away. I even remembered my pajamas. Everything’s ready to go.
And then I get to work and realized that I didn’t charge my phone. Utterly fantastic. I’m down to two bars…way to fail. I don’t think I’ll be using it THAT much but it goes from two bars to flashing empty bar fairly quick so I’m not too hopeful at the moment. What a bonehead move that was. Oh well. Not too much I can do about that. You live, you learn and make mistakes and then deal with the consequences. Because really, all this whining and moping isn’t going to make my phone recharge, so why worry about it any more than I have to? My thoughts exactly.
At least I have extra socks and underwear. Because those things are important. Seriously.
So score one for me.
Unfortunately for me, our IT department doesn’t have a compatible charger that I can borrow for an hour either so it looks like I may have to buy [boo urns] a new one for the time being.
Which I really don’t want to do. Hmm…I wonder if the DS charger is a micro USB.
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