It began simply, with a twist of the fantastic. We were walking along the Moda Seaside on a chilly Sunday afternoon, taking pictures and chatting and generally enjoying each other’s company.
And there they were, shimmering in the gray. Rows and rows of brightly colored balloons.
They were irresistible.
I ran over and motioned for my friends Lucy and Kivanc to follow. “Will you take a picture of me in front of these balloons? And then I can take pictures of you.”
Lucy is used to this, by now. I ask her constantly to stand in front of pretty walls, colorful backgrounds. She’s a good sport and doesn’t mind indulging my color mania, so she grabbed my camera as I positioned myself in front of the colorful balloon blobs.
And then, Kivanc muttered urgently, “You have to move. RIGHT NOW.”
I didn’t understand what was so pressing and I wanted to make sure we got the picture. Then I realized there was somebody pointing a gun at me.
Oh God.
I jumped up in a panic and Lucy and I skittered to the side of the balloons.
POP.
POP.
The balloons where my head had been mere moment before exploded.
Apparently, this is a game. You can pay for the opportunity to shoot at rows of colorful balloons on the Moda Seaside. I don’t think the guns have bullets (it’s some kind of pellet, as far as I could tell), but it would still hurt to be in the line of fire. There’s no warning, though, so innocent (or ignorant) passers-by, like me, always have the chance of becoming collateral damage.
So obviously, we needed to try this.
It costs mere cents for five shots at the balloons and the man running this particular balloon game was eager for customers. After a few rounds and even fewer popped balloons, we discovered that, apparently, shooting balloons (and people) isn’t as easy as it looks.
Oh well. I still got my photographs AND I didn’t get shot by a gun-wielding balloon-killer. That’s a win overall, in my book!
8 Comments
Lisa Eldridge
April 4, 2013 at 2:14 AMGreat Blog entry! Full of great imagery, word choice and suspense. Love reading about your adventures!
Katrinka
April 4, 2013 at 11:46 AMThank you! And thanks for reading, I appreciate it.
enadworn
April 4, 2013 at 6:33 AMKatie!
This is great! Love the gun photo:)
Keep up the beautiful work!
Leonardo
April 4, 2013 at 11:38 AMI’ve seen those balloon guys but I don’t get the point 🙂 If you enjoyed it then it should be a good thrill. Keep the posts coming.
Katrinka
April 4, 2013 at 11:45 AMI didn’t get the point either, until this! Since then I’ve seen people shooting at the balloons rather frequently. You should try it sometime!
Katrinka
April 4, 2013 at 11:46 AMThank you so much 🙂
Kıvanç
April 4, 2013 at 3:18 PMAbsolutely awesome!
page
October 2, 2015 at 7:37 AMDo you have to rely on your country to give you something all the time, think out
of the box and improvise on how you would
earn more than what employment can offer, CNBC investing may help.
Try to use large bags; it will be easier to cut smaller shapes
out of larger pieces than add two pieces together.
The unique design of the Beetle caught the attention of millions of people of different age groups all
across the Western countries and continued its successful run through decades.
Wow, incredible weblog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for?
you make running a blog glance easy. The total glance of your web site is
excellent, let alone the content!