So, this should be a relatively interesting blog post. I am going to skip talking about how hellish this last week was and focus only on my forays down in Florida from Wednesday the 13th to Monday the 18th. Why was I in florida? Well, because of NCPA College Paintball Nationals of course. Nationals takes place in Lakeland, FL. We play in the Single A division (highest level).
And so it began: We left West Point a little after 1600 and headed to Newark Airport. The drive was a constant reminder of why I hate Jersey (the dreary weather didn't help much either). After arriving at Newark, we found out that our flight to Atlanta was delayed. This did not bode well as we had a tight connection as it was. To bide our time a few of us had dinner a Japanese restaurant in the airport. It was surprisingly good. In addition to my main meal, I tried a piece of river eel sushi. It was so flavorful!!!!! Eel meat has the same texture as that of a fish, a revelation in my book. After dinner and a little more waiting our plane arrived and we began our flight to Atlanta. Now the flight was fine, except for one instance of turbulence. The one time we hit turbulence, and it was a big one, was just after I was handed my in-flight coffee. Now remember I am in uniform, gray paints and white shirt. Somehow my shirt was spared but its a miracle i didn't just leap out of my seat screaming because all the coffee which hit my lap was scalding. So the rest of the flight I had the little air vent at full blast on my pants which in turn made me very cold. Oh well. We arrive in Atlanta and guess what? We missed our connection, oh joy. Next flight available, the red eye, 7 hours later. Yes we slept on benches and floors, or at least attempted to. Now you know when you go to the airport you see the people sleeping like we were and your just like, "hmm, how long have they been here?" or, "what are they doin?" Well we got all those looks in the morning. It didn't help that there was 15 of us take up half of a gate's seating area. Luckily we were not in uniform at this point, because then we really would've looked odd. So finally we get to Tampa around 9 or 10 am. We get the bags, we get the vans, and its off to our epic house (which was beyond epic because it was cheaper than your everyday average hotel).
Day 1 in Florida:
So we arrive at the house. Its a mad rush to claim sleeping areas (yes we are so mature). We unpack our stuff and its time to chill, at least for a little. After a Walmart run for supplies (including multiple nerf guns) we head to Central Florida Paintball to walk the fields and sign in. For those who don't understand paintball, walking the field consists of checking out the relative positions of the bunkers on the field and finding angles, shots, blind spots, etc. After that its another Walmart run (I probably went like 10 time over the time we were there) and back to the house to chill. It was decided that we would fix dinner instead of going out. Myself and teammate Taco were very happy about this. We had lobbied very much as we are both self-proclaimed cooks. I would say that Taco is better than me, based on pure experience. Aragao, also was a cook and joined into the fun. The main course of the night was steak. We were going to have two different types: a Spanish style Taco would make and a Brazilian style which Aragao would make. What was my task? Odd jobs at first until I discovered that Taco had also bought fresh chorizo sausage. It was decided that we needed something to put in the rice and that was my job. I took a pan, place an ample amount of Mojo marinade (one of the things Taco was using with the steaks) in the pan, added the fresh chorizo in small blobs, chopped onions, frank's red hot chili sauce, a little salt, and some of the flesh from a lime shredded. This turned out amazing and was added to the sticky rice which Taco made. Everyone loved it. The next thing I had to do was prepare mushrooms because some of the guys wanted them on their steaks. What did I do? I uncapped the mushrooms after washing them and slice them up. I threw them into a pan over a high flame and cooked them in a lot of balsamic vinegar, with chopped onions, and lime zest. These to turned out wonderful. I neither like balsamic vinegar or mushrooms of that kind and I thought they were good. Taco and Aragao and myself had a blast cooking. The rest of the night was fairly uneventful and bedtime wasn't terribly late since we had to get to the field in the morning and begin our run through nationals.
Day 2 in Florida:
We got up, ate breakfast (made by Taco), and headed to the field between 9-10 am. The first day of nationals, the weather was warm (80s to be exact), the air smelt clean, the chatter of paintball guns being prepped drifted through the environment. We were exactly where we wanted to be. Surrounded by ballers, all wanting to kick some ass. We were scheduled three games that day. First University of Tennessee, then Long Beach, and finally Universty of Florida. Our game against UT was a tough one. We lead the game at one point but in the end they edged us out by a point or two. Not terribly disheartened we relaxed and reupped for our next game againt Long Beach. This team took second the previous year and they beat us in our first match in nationals last year. When we finally went against them after some delay, again, we had a lead and eventually got edged out. After this match we only had 45 minutes till our last match of the day. Our game against UF was excellent and we crushed them 8-2 (roughly). We left the field that day content and ready for more.
That night, Aragao's Family came over and his dad fixed dinner for us. It consisted of steak, sausage, rice, and black beans. It was a great meal. Again bedtime wasn't too late. We had wake up at the same time the next day.
Day 3 in Florida:
We got up, ate breakfast (made by Taco), and headed to the field between 9-10 am (sounds familiar huh). So we get to the field and its not long before we have our match against FAU (Florida Atlantic University). Our hopes were up given the previous day's scout report on them. Before our match, Chris Lasoya (pro-baller) came over and gave us some tips and pointers and congratulated us on our performance thus far. The match was rough. We never had a lead on them. We ended up losing by a decent margin and were kicked out of the tournament. We were upset, to say in the least. We cooled out for awhile and then helped support Air Force and Rutgers by coaching from the sideline. When we left the field, we went back to the house and chilled. During this time a few people were watching the broadcast of nationals. Ollie Lang and Chris Lasoya were commenting on their favorite games and teams. They both agreed that we had the most intense/entertaining games. Ollie made the statement that we were basically his favorite college team. They never mentioned once that we lost or were kicked out, they only focused on how awesome we played against some very tough teams in their opinion. UT ended up in first, followed by Long Beach (Cal State). They continually mentioned how awesome we played and how much they loved watching us. We had plenty of reason to have our heads held high. That evening we went to eat at Golden Corral with the Florida West Point parents Club. It was a good dinner and then it was shenanigans time at the house. At this point we had 3 R/C helicopters with missiles, a remote control truck, and about 6 nerf guns. Plenty of skirmishes had occurred the previous two days but this night was particular mayhem. We also had a blast in the pool, making up games, dunking each other, and just bonding as a team. Bedtime was whenever, the next day was a free day.
Day 4 in Florida:
So this day we had off since we got knocked outta the tournament. The whole team went to Busch Gardens in Tampa, save Cpt. Thomas and myself. We both went to Ybor City after dropping Doobie (our coach) of at Tampa airport. Ybor City is a historic neighborhood NE of downtown Tampa. It was founded in the late 1800's by a cigar manufacturer. Today it is a multicultural cigar paradise. This day was one of the best in my life, better than my first kiss, my first trip to Germany, getting my driver's license, etc., etc. Everything felt right, smelled right, and looked right. I instantly felt comfortable and oddly, at home. Everything that day was amazing, perfection, that is if it existed. We parked at the start of Ybor City and as we walked, seeking our first destination we passed bars, tattoo parlors, cigar shops, and restaurants. I knew this was my place. We checked out Ybor Cigars Plus first. I think we were the first customers of the day. A kind lady in her twenties with a heavy Spanish accent showed us to the walk in humidor and told us what was popular and good. We settled on the Mareba Green Mild. An average length cigar with a thinner gauge, wrapped in a flawless green wrapper was to be our first smoke of the day. We were handed a box of wood matches and found a seat just outside their door by the street. It was absolutely mesmerizing. It started of woody, Cpt. Thomas believed it was oak. It transitioned to spicy halfway thru and then blended into a smooth finish. What a great morning cigar. To our luck, the one day we decided to go to Ybor City, their was an Italian festival going on around the "City Square." We bought some tickets and took a lap around checking out all of the vendors. After getting some legitimate Italian Ice, we sat down and watched the contestants of "Italian Idol." Every competitor was surprisingly good. After we finished our Ices, we took another lap and picked which food vendors we would spend our tickets on. After eating I spotted an old lady selling fedoras. Me being the too young of a guy that loves the look of fedoras found an especially dashing one which I just had to purchase. After that we got iced coffees at "The Bunker." It was a very nice coffee shop and wine bar. After this, we left the Italian festival and found ourselves just taking in Ybor City by walking down the strip. We eyed some places to check out on the way, got to the end, turned around, and inspected the different stores. We went to our second cigar bar. It was also the flagship store for La Herencia de Cuba, a brand I had heard of. I met the roller for La Herencia. He looked to be in his seventies by now and he began his career just as his father did, rolling cigars in Cuba. This guy was cigar legend and cigar history. He couldn't understand me (I don't speak Spanish) but Cpt. Thomas asked him and we got a picture together. After having a wonderful cigar there, and buying two for the road, We looked through a few more stores. It never got old. Each place was a new experience. We went to one last cigar bar. I bought a small Arturo Fuente to have a coffee with. I ordered a Cafe Con Leche. This was a standard Latte with a kicker, caramel cayenne syrup. It was great, the boldness of espresso, the sweetness of caramel, and a kicker of cayenne pepper at the end of each sip. It was the perfect companion to a cigar. After this we had to head back to the house back in Lakeland. We had dinner with the parents club again. I had 3 cigars while in Ybor City and brought 17 home with me, well worth the money. I fell in love. A love which I have never felt before. I love my family, I love my friends, I love my dogs, I love Berlin, I love Puerto Rico, but god dammit, I LOVE Tampa!!!!!!! It has everything I like with good weather to boot. Like I said before I felt an uncanny comfortableness in Tampa. Originally my life goal was to open a bar and restaurant in Boston......Um change of plans...........Cigar bar and restaurant in Tampa. I have never felt such an overwhelming sense of rightness and comfort and joy in a city. That one day truly changed me. The rest of the day consisted of dinner and then shenanigans at the house.
Day 5 in Florida:
It was Monday. We cleaned the house and left by 11 am. We got to the airport and much to our dismay, our flight was delayed again. I didnt get back to West Point until 10 pm. No bueno. I was up late studying and catching up.
Conclusion:
So there it is. That was my trip to Florida. I've spent the whole day writing this in chunks. Im going to edit this later and add some of the pictures I took. 3 more weeks and then I'm halfway done with West Point. At this point dear readers, I bid you adieu.
