Sunday, May 29, 2005

What a Great Day!!

Yep. We had an awesome day today.

Logan decided he wanted to go outside. I suggested we go for a walk. At first he wasn't too keen on it untill I said we could go to where they played the boot game.

The walk down to the water wasn't all that exciting. We stopped an petted a dog or two and that was it.

Once we were down there, there wasn't any thing happening. People were sitting there enjoying the sun and a picnic lunch. So we walked along the water and looked at the boats and ducks. One lady asked if Logan would like to feed the ducklings some bread. She didn't have to ask twice. After the bread was gone the ducks swam off. We said thank you the lady for giving Logan the bread and wandered on.

We stopped at a scuplture called The Wrestlers. It's kind of 3D stick figure art. Logan thought it was cool but wanted to continue on to the steam train, the Spirit of Sir John A.

We walked around it and found a place to sit. We watched some seagulls fight over some scraps.

Next we walked past City Hall and found a flea market going on. It wasn't much but Logan enjoyed looking at all the stuff. There was even a small park with a canon in it. Logan big comment on that was, "It's got spider webs on it" then wandered off again.

On the way home we a girl sitting on the sidewalk across the street. Logan wanted to see what she was doing. She was drawing a pretty nice mermaind with her sticks of calk. She was nice enough to let Logan draw too. He did a little doodle and signed his name. Since we didn't have any change to give her we ended up giving her a bottlecap liner for a free Pepsi.

Next we saw a puppy near McDonald's. I'm not sure what kind, it looked like a boxer or bulldog cross. Logan got a kick out of how friendly it was. Since we had a bottle of water with us we gave the puppy a drink.

Finally! We made it home, but we were only inside for a few minutes. Logan decided he wanted to draw on the sidewalk. Thankfully we have a bucket if sidewalk chalk!

Now, he's just gotten out to the bath and is relaxing by watching one of his favorite shows.

Tomorrow is another day!

Friday, May 27, 2005

Paintball manifesto

Recently on the Spec Ops Forum a member known as Tyger poseted a manifesto in regards to woodsball paintball.

Although he says it's a first draft I think it's more than good enough to share with the rest of the world. This is mearly to "get the word out" but my own opinions follow very closely with Tyger's.

Woodsball™ Manifesto
By: Tyger

We are Woodsball™ players. We are the core of paintball. Over 90% of the players play paintball in the woods, and yet 90% of all in-paintball media coverage ignores us. We play not for prizes or money or fame, but for the passion of the game. We play because the challenge is there; every weekend, all around the world. We just need to show up and accept it.

We are not the pretty-boys of speedball. We are the anti-heroes of the mainstream. You won't see us on posters or in videos sliding into bunkers with names like "cans" or "snakes", and that's fine by us. The real game isn't spit shined, groomed and polished or made for TV. It's down and dirty, in the literal trenches. Our fields are not well maintained lawns; it's terrain that both teams overcome. We don't complain about sand or dirt or uneven fields, its part of the world we play in. Scratches and dings in our equipment are displayed with pride, and we can tell you where they happened, and how deep in the crud we were when we got it.

We are the roots of the game that have been abandoned by much of the mainstream industry. We don't throw aside where we've come from to make the game more palatable for an audience. If nobody sees what we do, it does not make the effort or result worth less. We drive through back roads to fields that nobody knows about but ourselves. We know we're there when we lose our favorite radio station and the cell phones won't work anymore. We play under the media radar with no reward other than bragging rights because we want to play. There are no prizes, no million dollar checks, but that makes neither our tenacity to win no less fierce nor our games less meaningful for us.

Our chosen uniform is camouflage, not because we want to be militaristic but because it works. We use our clothing as a part of our game, something that escapes many of the "firefight specialists" that play only arena games. The paintgun is only one tool of a well rounded player, not the only tool. We know this; as we use all the skills and tools we have every weekend.

Based only on our clothing, our gear, and our chosen locations of play, we are looked at as inferior players. We are told we would never stand a chance in a "real game" of paintball. We understand your arena game; yet you refuse to understand our woods game? We are not throwbacks to a long dead game. Yes, we are living history, but we have evolved. We honor our roots, but we do not abandon them to follow the next "promise" in paintball. Long after the "flavor of the month" arena game has worn out, we will be playing in the woods. To know the past is to control our future, and we embrace both.

We are told that we should abandon the woods, for the better good of "the future of the game". Our presence threatens those who never have, and probably never will, understand what the origins of paintball are. They think we will scare away the media by looking like "militia members". Not that fist fights and blatant cheating will attract any better media attention in their games. Not that terms like "Bounce Engineered" or "Ramping Technology" mean anything to the true roots of what paintball started as; what paintball should be. Are the arena players scared of us or ashamed because we remind them what they should be?

We are woodsball™ players. Any given weekend we'll be playing our game with a grasp on the past and an eye on our future. Players that don't understand will come and go, we know this. They can play under the bright lights in front of audiences and pretend to be rock stars all they want. We'll be in the woods years after you retire, playing the game of paintball the way it always had been played; with honor, with integrity, and with friends. All 90% of us.

© 2005 Panther Free Press
http://www.tyger.us

Open permission to print / distribute / repost on other personal web pages as long as this disclaimer, my web site and my name remain attached to the text. "Share and Enjoy" Any use of this article in a paid media (Magazines, paid or sponsored e-zines / paintball field pieriodicals or newsletters, and so on) is permitted ONLY if permission is given first from the author.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Last month I was supposed to go to KEYS (Kingston Employment & Youth Services)to meet wiht a job councellor. Unfortuneately she had to reshcedule for this past Monday.

Things went as well as could be expected, I guess. I was just our first meeting after all. It was a "get to know you" type of thing. We talked about my past job experiences. Where I worked, what I liked and disliked and why. I was even able to mention my wanting to go to the Paintball Training Institute (PTI) in Tennesse. Hopefully on May 25 we'll be able to talk about it more. If I'm mega super ultra lucky they'll say, "Here's the money, have a nice trip."

The other day I went into the army surplus store downtown to see if they had a certified airsmith on staff since they sell some paintball gear. I was told no. So that could be a potential employer.

I know I'm dreaming, but if i get the training they surplus store hires me I might be able to talk the owner into opening an indoor field in town. Granted it wouldn't be MY field, but I'd be in charge of it. I'd actually be doing something that I want to do and not something everyone thinks I should do.

I don't care if I make millions of dollars. I want to do something that I'll enjoy, something that will keep my hands busy and my mind working. Being at a paintball field would be a huge advantage. I'd have a place I could test the repaired markers, and play or ref when I can.

So please. Pray, sacrifice goats, eat bugs to/for what ever version of god that I'll have some good luck with this. Other wise I'll probably get stuck working with computers.