*this.is.war* So I was talking to a colleague about paintball when she went recently. I wondered if I would actually engage in this activity after the stories about massive bruising, dirty clothing, paint-stained shoes and the norm. I didn't have long to wait to think about going for it when the invitation came to join a group of about 40 pax. As the weather in Sydney was heating up, i was quite indecisive as it would be a-burning in Nov. I would also have to purchased shoes (i didn't have a pair i was willing to throw out) and clothing, and the worst thing ever, was to wake up at an ungodly timing on a Sat and drive an hour to the place. The boy couldn't make it due to exams. Well, i decided to go for the experience anyway and after a mad rush buying shoes ($8 fr Kmart!!) and clothes, organizing a carpool (me driving 3 other blokes, how great) and testing my injured legs from the fall in the office, i was on my way to Blacktown for a game of paintball at 6.45am (late as usual) last Sat, 14 Nov. There were 400 odd people milling around when we arrived and I was very surprised at the crowd. Soon we were getting into our gear (which stank like mad with the smell of dried sweat of 1000 strangers + the not-dried-in-the-sun damp smell), packed some heat with the paintball world version of the AK47 and were on our way to one of the 12 fields in the war-zone. The main rule of the game was to wear your goggles at all times due to the high possibility of blinding your unprotected eyes should one of the pellets hit you. Females are well-equipped with a vest, gloves and neck protector. Guys do not have any of these. I thought it was quite strange to think that the guys have fingers less susceptible to injuries. 
Amongst the group was a colleague of mine (who was kinda the one to started off introducing me to this group) who was injured the last time he played paintball. A pellet hit him on the forehead which started bleeding. Being a bit of a wuss as he usually was (i mean this in the nicest way possible), he was determined to ensure he was well-protected this time round. Besides wearing a thick long-sleeved top, he brought a ski beanie and a cap (worn the other way round so that his neck was protected). It certainly brought about heaps of jibes from everyone all round. It was such a great and fun experience! Totally brought back memories of my days in high school in the National Cadet Corps (NCC)!! I very satisfyingly saw myself took out 3 others from the opposing team from far range. One of them was even carrying the flag - sense of achievement ! 
war-area - the white objects in the background are one of the barricades I didn't get hit that much (probably 3 times) but those times were quite painful. The worst was this fool who shot me consecutively 3 times from the side which resulted in the pellets going under the lower part of the goggles, hitting the side of my lips and splashing paint all into my mouth. It hurt like a bitch and tasted like shit and i was furious as there wasn't a need to shoot that many times. needless to say, i hurled some abusive words in the direction of that fool. that was the only time i was out of the game (the other times the pellet didn't break so no paint = not dead). 
me and E At the end of it, we were all exhausted and thirsty (sun was out and hot hot hot) and stinky. As i was out of ammo, i didn't get to participate in the last round of the free-for-all (not too many people had ammo left anyway) so i took the chance to clean up and change. Everyone was entitled to a free pizza (yes, one whole pizza) as part of the deal, so we were all eagerly waiting for the pizza to arrive. Everything was cleaned up in good time. 
pizzas galore 
survivors of war - back in civvies I wouldn't mind going for it again, and no doubt would get the chance to (the boy is quite interested in going). I doubt i would ever do it in Sg though, under the sweltering heat - can't imagine how i am going to survive that! 
$8 paint-stained KMart shoes  the only visible gun-wound | 
