Sunrise at Laie Point

When I got home from the gym this morning, this is what I saw. Keep in mind, this is the view directly from my house. What a great way to start the day eh?

Operation: Hauula

Yesterday, I was invited by Wes to join in on an airsoft battle. It was my first time ever really doing something like this, and it was fun, and kind of an eye opening experience! We gathered around 10 in the morning. I quickly noticed that everyone else seemed to be experienced, and that I wasn't. Most people were wearing camouflage gear, had their own guns, and by their conversation, I could tell this was because they were pretty expert. I decided to go change out of my blue gym shorts and shirt into something a little more organic/dirt colored. It was a good thing I did! Everyone had automatic airsoft guns, which also indicated to me how into the game this group was. (group photo before we left my house)

We drove about 10 minutes to Hauula, the neighboring town. There are some trails that go up to a ridge. We played on and around the trails. The setting was pretty cool. There was an old Hawaiian heiau (temple or worship site) we started at. It provided a good base with a rock wall about hip height. There were lots of thick trees, so these guys with the camo were hard to spot. Our games were quite organized. Each game had different objectives. Some were assigned to take over, others defend. We even played one game called "president" where one man was the president, flanked by his armed escort. He had to get down the road before the rest of us, the assassins, could shoot him. So we hid on the side of the road in the thick brush. Some even hid up on top of a cement wall on the side of the road. They were particularly hard to spot, and had a good shot. (This is my gun on the heiau)

I felt a little lost for a while. I had no sense of strategy in comparison with the other guys, and I was much easier to spot. One game, Wes's brother in laws and I tried to sneak around the back to surprise the other team, but we ended up going so far that by the time we got there, the time had run out. We had hiked through grass over our head, tight trees, over rock walls...it was intense! I also discovered that I had to crawl to sneak up on people sometimes. I gained a whole new respect for what goes on in the military. It is not easy work, and I know my airsoft wars dont compare to the real thing!

After several games, we moved to another nearby spot. This place had been designed for airsoft and paintball games, it seemed. There was canvas tied between trees providing hiding spots. One team took the uphill, the other the downhill and then the downhill team would try to take over the hill.

It was about this game where I finally started to get the feel for the game. Kimball, the only Samoan who was there, and I were on the team that started downhill. He and I moved to the left side of the hill, while the rest of our team was in the middle and the right. We managed to sneak up the far left. He would fire uphill, causing the opponents to hide so that I could move undetected, then I would do the same for him. I got far enough up the hill, that I was actually uphill from several people on the opposite team, and could see them huddled behind their canvas barriers. They were surprised when they got showered with the bb's from behind and to the side! We won that game. (This photo is the two of us moving up the side. I'm the one further up the hill)


Overall, I thought it was pretty fun. It was tiring, but it was nice to do something a little different for a change. Hawaii is a great place to do airsoft because of all the vegetation.

Here are some other photos I like. Kimball is on the left, on top of the wall. And then the one on the right is after the "president" game. Looks like these could have been taken in some major conflict dont they!

And then he was 23.....

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday. Overall, pretty much a normal day. I woke up, went to the gym, did laundry, worked on some homework, showered, went to class, went to work, etc. Although, in class we happened to do an activity that required a spokesperson. It was selected based on who had the nearest birthday...so when it was discovered that it was my birthday, the class burst into song.

Dolly treated me to a great night. We started out by going to watch the sunset. It looked promising as we left Laie, with the sun's rays coming over the Koolau Mountain range. However, as we got near the beach, we could see there was a heavy cloud cover on the horizon. We sat down anyway and ate the stir fry that Dolly had made. When it started raining, we darted for the car and finished our meal within the safety of the Jeep.

We stopped by Dolly's auntie's house, Lagi, and visited for a bit. After a short visit, we took off to Mililani. I talked to Grandma and Grandpa Linebaugh on the way there, and then my parents while we were in line to get gas at Costco. After we filled up, we went and got tickets to watch Madagascar: Escape to Africa. While we waited for the movie to start, Dolly treated me to Jamba Juice. Then we went into the movie theater.

We had forgotten that you cant take drinks into the theater. The lady taking tickets was not very amused by our innocent blunder, and so we sat down and treated ourselves to a fruity brain freeze. The movie was quite entertaining, actually. It had some funny characters and I thought the animation was quite good. The story was fresh and interesting to me. It was fairly predictable, but certainly a good show.