a happy birthday for sharon

For Sharon's birthday I learned that parents shouldn't play paintball against their kids. I'd played paintball with Ethan and Sharon before, but we were always on the same team, so I was never in a position of having to shoot either of them for the game. But this time it was different.

For her birthday, Sharon wanted to play paintball. The nearest proper outdoor paintball course is 65 miles away, at the East end of Long Island. So, instead of going there, we agreed on an indoor course in Long Island City. And off we went -- Sharon, her friend Nolan, Asher and me. But this being a schoolday, the place wasn't exactly packed. There was, as I saw, one other family. Orthodox Jews, which makes sense, since this was Chol Hamo'ed Sukkot. But they were there for laser tag instead of paintball. So it was literally the four of us. Asher and me against Sharon and Nolan made sense.

The way this place does things there are three rounds of five contests each. The closed course was kind of nebbishy, but it fit the bill. I found myself facing a few challenges. For starters, Asher isn;t really up for things like spreading out. When a game would start I'd run off to the right and take cover, figuring he was off to the left. Then I'd look over and see him right next to me. Frustration. But, hey, I told myself, he's still looking to me to protect him, and he wants to be with me. So I'm getting a present, even though it's Sharon's birthday. And, you know, it's just us having fun. Who cares if he doesn't get strategy, as long as he understands (and follows) the safety rules. Chief among those is: keep your helmet/mask on. And he was great at that. So no problem.

The bigger frustration came with the guns. They kept not firing. I'd have a perfect opportunity for a shot, pull the trigger and...nothing. Or, sometimes a bullet (this place uses rubber bullets instead of paint pellets. Presumably it saves cleanup costs, and they're reusable) would kind of dribble out. It was almost comical, but this was serious. In all fairness, it's not as if the guns never fired; they were just unreliable. And this was a problem that afflicted all four of us. But the problem I had that was uniquely mine was that it was difficult pointing a gun at Sharon and firing. Even though it was a toy gun and a game. I managed, but it was difficult.

Of course, the proudest moments were when Sharon shot me. One particular moment was beautiful. There's a rule that you can't shoot an opponent at a range of closer than ten feet. Safety and all.  But within ten feet you can run up to your opponent and yell "SURRENDER!" in order to get him or her out of the game. So at one point Nolan and I were on opposite sides of an obstacle. Maybe eight feet away from each other. So I ran around the corner screaming "SURRENDER!" So he was out. But then, out of the corner of my eye I spotted Sharon. I turned and raised my gun to fire, but before I got a shot off she nailed me right in the chest. At the base of my throat. Great shot! And I was really glad I had paid for the padded vest.

I don't remember exactly how many games were won by which side, but I do know that Sharon and Nolan won the majority. Probably ten or more of the 15 games.

Then, off to dinner. We were planning to go to Sharon's favorite restaurant -- a Thai place in Mineola. She loves the massaman curry. But despite the fact that the listings on the internet indicated that they were open, they were closed. We had come full circle. A week and a half earlier, we were going out for Asher's birthday. We tried his favorite, which is Kyochon, a Korean fried chicken place in Flushing. But they were closed, despite the listing saying they were open. Instead, we ended up at the Thai place. Now the Thai place was closed, so we ended up with a pan-Asian Curry restaurant in Hicksville. Blair had heard good things about it. And the good things were generally true, though I have to thank Ethan for advising me that the Indian dishes would be better than the Thai.

And finally, the important part: cake. We had a black and white mousse cake and a seven layer cake. I'm partial to the seven layer. It's comfort food. And that's as positive a note as any to close this on.