Paintball, Dancing, and Genocide

The above topics may not seem related, but I assure you, they are in ways that may surprise you! Take a load off and have a seat… oh, you already have? Fantastic. Now, relax as I tell you about the adventures I had yesterday*.

It was 8 am, between 30 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny, almost perfect weather for a game of paintball. I had woken up at 6 to prepare for the day’s excursion: a trip to Skirmish with the Paintball Club. I may have grumbled a little bit, still groggy from the early rise, but I was mostly excited. Last year, I did this same trip, but then, it was raining and cold. As a result, the trip was mostly miserable, as my mask kept fogging up, and I had no idea how well I was doing. This year, I decided to give it another shot, but I had to pay for the trip ahead of time, meaning I was having faith that the weather would be better this time around.

As luck would have it, the weather worked out great for the most part. It started out chilly but warmed up as the sun came out, and the wind picked up in the afternoon, decreasing accuracy, but it was sunny, and that’s all that really mattered. Most of the time, our group was split up into two teams of 12 or 13 people apiece, and we competed against each other. For one game, our 25 person group faced off with another 25 person group, a chaotic struggle that ended in victory for Lehigh.

The highlight of the trip for me was one of the last few games, which took place on one of Skirmish’s largest fields. Fortunately, one of my team members was also the President of the club, so he knew a way around the side of the field that would take us behind the other team’s position. Getting there involved ducking through a bunch of branches, and eventually, I felt we had gone far enough and decided to come out of the branches and go back down the field towards my team’s end. Along the way, I came across two opponents (separately, not simultaneously), so I snuck up behind both of them and told them to “surrender or die” (a rule where, once you get to within 10 feet of an opponent, you can say that phrase and, if your opponent doesn’t surrender, you are allowed to shoot your opponent at point-blank range, which generally hurts a lot and causes your opponent to be eliminated from the game). They had enough common sense to just acquiesce and leave the field (which is what happens when an opponent is shot or surrenders) instead of resisting, getting shot, and still being eliminated from the game. After that, I met up with two other teammates, who were pinning down an opponent. Thanks to the suppression fire, I was eventually able to get a clear shot and eliminate him too. So, in total, I scored 3 “kills” in one round, a pretty good score for anyone and especially for me.

There were a few incidents during the trip that had the potential to be ruinous but weren’t. After the Tippman Castle field, I ran to get some water and ran right back. By then (it couldn’t have been more than 3 minutes), my group was gone, my extra paintballs had been taken, and so had the paintballs in my gun. Frantic, I took my gun and ran to the field where I believed my group went, only to find they weren’t there. Using several referees, I was able to track my group down right before they began the next game, which was actually the one detailed above. And someone gave me some extra paintballs, so I was able to play for the rest of the day.

The only other issue occurred in the last game. By that time, everyone was low on paintballs, so we decided to play a few rounds of a game called “Civil War.” In this game, the two teams stand opposite one another, about 50 feet apart at the start. One team fires a volley (one shot per person) at the other team, then the other team returns fire. The game proceeds with each team taking a step forward after each volley until everyone on one team is eliminated. To be eliminated, you have to be hit with a paintball, and the paintball has to explode on impact; otherwise, it doesn’t count as a hit, even though you will probably feel it.

In the last round of this game, I ended up being the last person on my team against 5 or 6 others, an unenviable situation. On my last shot, the wind almost foiled my attempt, but I waited for it to die down a bit before firing, wanting to not embarrass myself before the end (and also to lessen the pain that was to come), and I successfully eliminated one of them. Next, I braced for the inevitable, hoping only to protect my “valuables,” so I placed my gun in front of my crotch. The signal was given, and shots were fired. It felt as if everyone hit their mark, because I was bombarded with impacts all over: my face (protected by a mask), my leg, my chest. However, I had neglected to scrunch my head into my body, leaving my pasty white neck vulnerable, and that’s exactly where one of the shots landed.

I took it like a trooper and didn’t yell, but that one stung like the dickens, and I could taste paint in my mouth (not pleasant but also non-toxic, so no big deal). My teammates congratulated me on my bravery (did I really have a choice, though?) and examined me over. Noticing the hit to the neck, someone said, “Hey, it’s bleeding.” I almost panicked until he said reassuringly, “Oh, don’t worry; it’s not bad. It’s just a pinprick.” Nonetheless, I made sure to wash that off (and my sweatshirt and coat, which got splattered a little bit by the paint that got underneath my rented camouflage jacket) upon returning to base camp. If that paintball to the neck had hit a little harder, I could have been in serious trouble, but instead, it only left an extremely visible welt, which you can see here if you so choose (be warned: it’s not the best picture or terribly pretty; I took it today so it probably looked worse yesterday).

Now comes the dancing: There was a party happening Saturday night to which, originally, I didn’t think I’d be going because I figured I’d be too sore after paintball to attend. Well, I was very sore, but I thought it would be a good idea to show up for at least an hour and see my friends. Man, am I glad that I changed my mind and went! Without a doubt (ok, I had some doubt, but I checked my previous blog posts and didn’t find anything to contradict the following statement), it’s the best party I’ve been to in over a year. It started out small, as I arrived at the very beginning, but at 11 pm, it became a madhouse but a very reasonable one with lots of friendly people. Good music was playing, I was able to find quiet places to have conversations with friends, and there were callbacks to classic events from previous epic parties hosted by some of the same people (“Oats Challenge!”). Oh, and I drank a little bit, so I’m sure that helped (Yuengling Premium, in case you’re interested; and no, it wasn’t much better than my first drink). As much as I thought I might regret it in the morning, I even did some dancing (I swear, it wasn’t because of the drinks, I just wanted to!). I ended up staying through the very end, and even beyond, playing Super Smash Brothers and watching Venture Brothers at 3 in the morning. Some not-too-scandalous pictures of the night can be found on Facebook here.

My legs may feel like they have clamps attached every time I move them, especially when I use stairs, but as long as they’ll mend (and I think they will), it was totally worth it. Thanks to everyone who was involved in making yesterday awesome, and now, I’m going to finish this weekend off the best way I know how: destroying the world several times over with a Lehigh friend in Defcon. With all this post’s topics covered, I bid you, Good night!

*: Anytime it says "yesterday" in this post, I mean "Saturday." I started writing this post Sunday afternoon, but it didn't get finalized and submitted until the wee hours of this morning, by which I mean Monday. Confused yet?