Paintball!

I played Paintball for the first time today... it was a blast! My co-workers play often, and they have this great wooded spot near Stillwater they go to. I purchased camo pants and a jacket for myself at General J's Military Surplus on Nicollet Ave. I told the huge, black salesman I was here for Painball camo, and he looked at me in surprise, saying "you?" Yes me... don't let the work clothes fool you! :) After trying on a few sizes and styles, I bought pants and a jacket. Each piece was $30, but well worth the money.


(My new camo and Brian's gun)

We arrived at the spot around 11 a.m. this morning. Brian let me borrow his brand new gun and a face mask, and Scott let me borrow his extra gloves with armor-type plastic on them. I think there were 10 of us total. The first game we split up into teams, 3 against 7 (the big team consisting of a few newbies and semi-experienced players). About ten minutes into our capture-the-flag game, I hunkered down at one of the wooded bunkers they made a few weeks back, and assumed I was safe. Everyone seemed to be shooting in a frenzy, so I shot back... little did I know Brian snuck up behind me to my right, and BAM! I felt my first ping of a paintball slam into my side, then my back (and later I found out, in my right butt cheek!). I yelped out in pain and yelled a series of "stop shooting me" words, and had to walk back to our base with my gun in the air (signifying I was out and had to restart).

This image below is what became of the very first shot I experienced, in the right love-handle:


(Okay, this photo does NOT do the bruise justice! It looks much worse in person... all purple and black. And it's 2 inches wide!)

Let me be honest and say getting shot hurts like HELL! My first reaction with these three back shots was to keel over, then yell for people to stop shooting. Then once I got up to walk back to base, I had to laugh and how badly that hurt, and just the fact that I thought I was safe behind the bunker. The pain is only temporary though, and it's more startling than anything. I managed to get Brian back later, with two straight shots to the back!


(Brian & Me)

We played three more games after that. Brian shot me again in the second game, including one very scary neck shot! Man... that one hurt, too. It felt like it had gone through my camo collar, with paintball-on-skin contact, but it didn't. Here's the damage:


(Neck hit)

This is what most of my 9 total bruises look like (all red and white), except for the top shot; this one below I got on my hip, but didn't find until I showered this evening.


(A second hip shot)

Here's a list of my 9 total hits taken:
• right butt cheek
• under left arm (this one still stings occasionally)
• right mid-bicep
• left side of my neck
• right of my spine in the middle of my back (the most swollen of all the hits)
• right love-handle (the ugliest!)
• above the knee on my thigh
• below my bikini line on my thigh (which I originally thought was the crotch shot someone made)
• and my boob... yes, my boob. I also thought this shot hit differently out in the field, on my sternum; but later, I found the small bruise.

Most of the shots were tolerable, but the love handle... man, it's hilarious how funny I must have looked when my legs buckled from the shock and pain of it, then hearing my yelps for people to cease fire.

Really I'm just glad I didn't get shot in the fingers. I was afraid for my neck, but once it happened, I didn't expect it to surprise me as much as it did! So overall, I had a great time! I sat out for the fourth 'kamikaze' game... too tired and beaten up. I can't wait to see what that huge bruise on my hip will look like in a couple days... I'll have to add an updated photo on here when the times comes. :)


(The group. Front row = my co-workers!)

UPDATE: The bruise is getting uglier! This is 3 days later... it almost looks like a sunburst or something... might be a decent tattoo! :D