Paintballing in Orlando
I went paintballing about a month ago. A friend from UPS invited me to go with him one weekend early in October. I couldn’t go, but I told him that I was interested and that I’d definately go with him at some point within the month. It ended up being November so I decided to go the first weekend of the month.
He told me about this little place on Hoffner Avenue just East of Conway that has three fields and a pro shop, and he said he goes every weekend. So, I told him that I was going to go on this particular weekend, and he got excited. He reminded me of the times that he goes and told me all about it again. I invited a few other guys, but most of them already had plans for the weekend at that point. So I figured I’d just go and meet this one guy. It’s not like I’d need to be hanging out with a group the whole time anyway, right?
Well, this guy is really bad about answering his cell phone. So when I called him that day and he didn’t answer I didn’t think too much of it and I just went to the place. When I got there I told the people I was looking for my friend, but they didn’t seem to know him — even though he goes every weekend. That was weird to me. Know your repeat customers, people!
So, I rented the gear, bought paintballs, and went out to the fields to look for this guy. I talked to a lot of other guys to try and see if anyone knew my friend from work. No one did, so I just stayed at the last course and played with a bunch of people I did not know. Some of these guys were from a big group of employees from the Regional Hospital that is nearby. Others were amatuer league paintballers, which meant that they were really stinking good.
During the first round of actual play, I was the second to last guy to be shot out. I was happy that I lasted a long time, but pretty upset that I didn’t manage to shoot anyone (and know about it too.) I was even more upset that these guys came around my back left and ended up shooting me in the back of the ear… behind my face mask. It was one of these shots that just never happen. All the paint went into my mask and the wrapped around my ear covering my face inside the mask. It was aweful, and my ear didn’t stop hurting until the next day.
The next round was slightly better. I never got shot. I still didn’t knowingly hit someone, but we won and that is cool.
In some of the other rounds I would get hit mulitple times by these paintballs and they wouldn’t break on my arm or any other bare part of me that is somewhat muscular and has smooth hair. This is annoying because you are crouching somewhere, reeling in pain, wanting to walk out of the place and the ref is telling you that you are still in. This typically just means more pain until you actually get a good break.
Next time I will wear more clothes. Paintballs break on clothing really well. They also break on masks. They do not break on any soft muscled skin. Ears… yes. Arms… no. Face mask… yes. Neck… no. You live you learn, right?
Posted by David under Experiences, UPS, Lessons Learned, Backblogging |