Bruises Never Felt so Good

   So I probably should have written this blog a few weeks ago, but there seems to be less and less free time in my schedule for blogging (and by free time I mean time I'm not wasting on the Internet).  I posted about going to a paintball game with friends a few weeks earlier (if you didn't know that, just scroll down some) and had forgotten about telling how the game turned out.  In short, it was awesome!  Playing the game is just half the fun in most activities, it is the stories that you walk away with that really matter.  So here's my story...

     I wake up at 8 reminding myself that I'm supposed to be at Corey's church at 10:30 and take a shower getting pumped up (yes, in the shower... what? don't judge me!)for the game at hand.  I get dressed (blue jeans, underarmor, and a black hoodie over that) and check my bag for the fourth time to make sure I have everything.  It's time to go so I get my Dad to run me up to the church to find that there's no one in sight of the meeting place.  I phone Corey and he explains that we're meeting at 12.  I head home and call Sam, who originally told me the meeting time was 10:30, and tell him of the new time.  He offers me a ride back to the church and everything is back on course.  About 9 other people turn out for the game and we're soon underway.

     The next few hours are really a blur of paint, mud, running, and near misses.  There are a few points that stick out in my mind in particular though.  First being during one of the first capture the flag games when I distinctly heard a paintball whistle as it flew into my gut, run the curve of my body and bounce off. I also remember my visor fogging up about 3 minutes into every game. The precipitation was so bad that I would usually identify opposite players by their position on the field or the direction they were running.

     During a team deathmatch game, I was pinned down behind a low barrier from 2 points and I remember nearly getting my kneecap busted from a paintball that went through the edges of the barrier.  One of my favorite memories is being behind the same low barrier and popping my head over the barrier to find out where the people where that were pinning me down.  I saw the person fire at me and immediately ducked my head back into the bunker.  As my head was about half-way back into the barrier, a paintball exploded a matter of centimeters from my head and splattered all across my vision.  I called for a paint check and I was ok.

     During my last game (a speedball match) I ran deep into the left mid-field and nearly knocked over the inflatable obstacles I was trying to hide behind. As I checked my position, I found that I had come out ahead of my teammates by about 2 rows of obstacles.  During a previous game on the same field, I found myself feet away from an opposing player hiding behind the obstacle next to the obstacle that I described above.  I knew I would feel bad if I shot this person in the head at such close range so I tried to use the other side for firing.  But on the same note as the sentence before the previous, I saw that there were people who could flank me from the right.  As I sat and figured my position, a paintball whistled by and glanced off of my kneecap.  Needless to say, it hurt and I had a limp for the rest of the hour.  I knew that Evan Ramsey's dad, my archenemy during all of the games, was close to the right so I decided to check on him.  As I shifted to the right, he jumped from his cover and shot me just a couple inches above my heart.  I fell and rolled backwards from the impact calling for a paint check even though I knew I was gotten.  That was the only time during all of the games that I had been shot, it felt good.  Back home and I'm on the computer for a while, then off to bed.  The next day I'm sore all over.  When I try to sit, I can manage to get about half way before collapsing into the seat.  But I don't care, cuz the bruises have never felt so good before.

Here's a few tips from an amateur paintballer for anyone interested in playing.

1. ALWAYS find cover. (even if that cover is a shallow hole that doesn't even go past your ankles)
2. Never look over cover. (you can be shot from a 360 degree angle over cover but at a much smaller degree from beside cover)
3. Don't try to wipe paint off of your visor, it will only make it much worse.
4. Make sure that you have enough ammo and air before a game. (one of the worst ways to get out in a match is a lack of ammo or air that you forgot to replenish before a match)
5. Run, don't walk. (I literally watched as one of my teammates walked for cover and got gunned down)
6. Keep your barrel clean. (ammo can go crazy with a greased or dirty barrel)
7. Don't be afraid to slide into a mud pit for cover or otherwise get knee-deep into a mess. (trying to save your favorite pair of blue jeans from a little wet Earth is an easy way to get out)
8. Have fun and don't get angry if you get out, it happens to everybody
9. Tell me when you're going to play a game!  I'm always up for a good game of paintball

Book Review: The War of the Worlds

H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds slowed my down with it's slow pace, but amazed me with its unique and original idea.

Even though H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds was published in 1898 the speed of the story telling can become slow and encumbered. These times of slow progression could be blamed on the now unfamiliar language used and slang of the time. The unfamiliar language is not helped with a lack of footnotes, which helped me immensely when reading The Time Machine. However, there were times when the story progressed in great pace to what I am typically used to reading. Thinking of locations in relation to others and general directions can be very difficult if the reader does not live in the general area of London or does not know the towns and cities nearby. Luckily, most of the locations do not have a great impact when following the main ideas of the story. Towards the end of the book, H.G. Wells conveys the narrators feelings in an incredible and easy way. My chest swelled with the very same feelings of the narrator when his words were used and I had a very real feeling of recognition for all the small things of our world.

The most unique characteristic of The War of the Worlds is the plot behind the whole book. Very similar to The Time Machine, the ideas in The War of the Worlds are very unique in just the thought of how H.G. Wells could have imagined this up, especially during his time. Just the concept of how the martians looked and how they were described blew me away. Also, I can scarcely imagine how H.G. Wells could have thought up the process in which the martian war machines were built as the narrator of the story watches from a nearly destroyed building.

H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is probably one of the best sci-fi books I've read thus far in my life, even with the sometimes crawling pace of the story. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about unique alien technology, martians, or sci-fi in general.

Book Review: The Time Machine

      Try to think far into the future, as far as you can. H.G. Wells' The Time Machine teleports you straight into the future thousands of years from now, or according to the book it does. 

     I remember that I was once told that ,”The past is a strange, distant land.”  That might not be exactly what was said, but the general affect is still given.  H.G. Wells published The Time Machine in 1895, which can easily be picked out by the writing style that H.G. Wells uses.  I feel a slight air of dislike for the writing style that H.G. Wells writes in, but I remember that his style was the normal in his time.  Some of the vocabulary can become confusing because many are no longer used in the same way.  Even though the vocabulary may be strange, the words used seem to better get a point across about the mood than I think normal writing would.  An exert from The Time Machine reads, “The Eloi, like the Carlovingian kings, had decayed to a mere beautiful futility.  They still possessed the earth of sufferance...”  If it were not for the footnotes on each page to help me to translate and understand some of the words, there is no doubt that I would have read this passage differently than was intended.

       It must have taken a vast amount of imagination to think up the environments of The Time Machine.  The present day surroundings would not seem that odd to us even in this time.  When the Time Traveler moves through time though, the area opens wide to vibrant and sometimes scary future.  As the Time Traveler traveled, he thought to have seen many amazing advancements, “I saw great and splendid architecture rising about me, more massive than any buildings of our own time, and yet, as it seemed, built of glimmer and mist.”  We are left to our own imagination to think of the advanced buildings.  As the Time Traveler stops moving through time, he finds himself first in a dim world occupied by a single sphinx statue.  This world opens to be what could almost be described as a strange paradise.  However, beneath this paradise is later recognized as a grim situation between fellow man.  The final known setting of The Time Machine is simply barren land.  The description given by H.G. Wells gives the feeling of depression or giving up and letting what will happen happen.

     The Time Machine, I believe, could easily be the definition of Science-Fiction because of its ability to draw imaginatively on scientific knowledge and speculation.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Sci-Fi or who delights in looking deep into a story to pull out different meanings.

As the paint flies

     On weekends during this month, I usually have marching competitions and such.  Now don't get me wrong, marching contests are awesome and all but I'm worn after each contest, and it tends to eat up my weekends pretty fast.  However, this weekend we don't have a competition OR a Friday night game to play at (YES! haha).  My friend ever since I can remember, Sam, told me today that there's going to be a church paintball game this Saturday for Corey's (another friend) church.  Sam, Corey, I, and a few other friends usually have Airsoft games during the weekends of the year.  I've played in the church paintball game last year, so it will be awesome to get back and play another game.  I can't wait till Saturday!  I'm definitely looking forward to nailing some people with a hail of paintballs, haha.