Saturday was my first paintball experience. I rolled out of bed almost the same time as I would on any given weekday (ha! you thought I’d say “Sunday!”) and drove up the 5 towards Valencia. I arrived at Alfonso’s house around 8:30am and we proceeded to the complex. I had nothing to eat -and there was even less to eat once we got to the site.

After hours of preparation we headed up the hill (me decked out in Alfonso’s leftover gear) to shoot at each other. I was shot in the head ten seconds into the first game. In general I can’t say I enjoy paintball. Then again – maybe I was just hungry as hell. At mid-day we ate home-packed sandwhiches in the parking lot.

The one game I really enjoyed was the giant battle simulation. On a field full of old tires and burnt out automobiles (and a few boats) 150 “walk-ons” were sorted into two teams and then set loose until everyone on one team had been shot. I fared fairly well in both games (it is customary to simply switch sides after the first game for a quick second game). Because it was a much longer game I quickly ran out of ammo. By the start of the second game I had about a third of a hopper left. I decided to make the best of the situation and made my way to the very front line (the “50 yard line” as the experienced call it) to act as a sniper (it is extremely tough to get accurate shots from far away). This would end up making up for my earlier wussiness.

I came away with no confirmed kills – but several bloody bruises and burnt skin (I forgot sunblock). At closing (sundown) we headed back to Alfonso’s house and after showers we devoured five boxes of pizza.

I’ll probably play again – maybe a few times a year. I didn’t enjoy it enough to start buying paraphernalia. Especially since the equipment can get prohibitively expensive ($1,800 for a good gun, $300 for one day’s worth of balls, etc.).

And no, it doesn’t hurt as bad as people say. My first hit was in the forehead and I barely knew it.