The other weekend Vanessa and I joined some of our new Meetup friends here in S.K. for a day of paintball. Now as many of you know, I have been in love with guns, shooter games, and just about every form of projectile you can imagine from slingshots to sniper rifles. I can't really explain the reason for my obsession, except to say that I think it has something to do with the incredible science behind it. There's something about it that I just find fascinating. Now I'm not going to lie. When it comes to paintball and airsoft too for that matter, I also love the ability to inflict a little friendly pain. Call me a sadist but there isn't a single person who's played the game that can deny the satisfaction that comes from landing that perfect shot right on the knuckle. That little yelp of pain just puts a huge smile on your face and the adrenaline is intoxicating. It's just so stinkin fun!
Anyways, I was a little timid about the whole event when William posted the description on Meetup. I've known for a while that Korea doesn't really have much of a gun culture and while paintball and airsoft are gaining popularity, they still aren't the most experienced gun handlers. Shooter safety is just as important with fake guns as it is with real ones and paintball is no exception. They aren't generally life threatening but under the right circumstances they certainly can be. Our friend Ros who came with us ended up taking a paintball right behind the ear at pointblank because one of the girls didn't have her safety on. Now if you ask me, that's just as much the instructor's fault as it was hers. Generally speaking, our instructor was mediocre at best. During his demonstration on how to safely handle the gun, he kept pointing the barrel at us. Shooter safety 101, never point the barrel of any gun, loaded or not, at anything you don't want to shoot, i.e. people.The other thing that concerned me was the equipment. The guns themselves weren't bad. They were well maintained and easy to operate but the masks we were given would never have been allowed at any legitimate paintball field. Faceplates that don't cover the ears are not good protection. They did add a new level of fun to the game however as you could see pretty clearly who you were shooting at. Not that I was gunning for anyone in particular and certainly not for my wife. ;)
The field wasn't half bad. A little small for my taste but it had good cover and a nice hill to climb with lots of trenches and ravines to go diving for cover into. The only thing that kinda stank about it was the fact that the ground was covered in burs and pine needles that dug into your knees as you knelt for cover. No pain, no glory though.I was a little bummed that we only got 50 rounds per game but in the end it just made you shoot more conservatively. The last game we played was kind of a Showdown where we had 3 people per team standing about 30 yards apart, each armed with 15 rounds. One team went first and took their 15 shots at their friends, then the other team took theirs. I won't lie about it, this was my favorite part! I hit Van 8 out of 15 which in paintball ain't half bad. Van hit me once, but she sure made it count. Somehow she got me smack square in the chin, under my mask. Stung like hell but I think I deserved it. I also probably deserved the whacks with her hairbrush I got over the next few days as well.
All in all, it was a super fun but kinda lame and a little scary day!
P.S. Ros was just fine. She took it like a man and got back in the next game. Had a nice welt to show for it though. Must be that tough South African blood that kept her from crying ;)
Our janitor, one size fits all outfits were extremely fashionable. As you can see the inseam area hung nearly a foot below where it should have been for Van.
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