So, a bit of back story to begin...

Plus some back info to fill in the gaps.

The day this task came to be found me with a bag of balloons and in clown makeup. That's right I said clown makeup.




Earlier in the day I had been filming a movie for school in which, you guessed it, I was a clown. I felt that it would be easier to get the face paint off in my own home, so after shooting the movie bits I hopped on a bus back towards my home in full makeup. Let me tell you it was a riot watching people doing double takes as they got on the bus and saw there was a clown on board.

Now, I have learned how to create balloon animals from my mom, and I was wearing a balloon hat as I got off the bus and started walking towards my house.

That's when the neighborhood kids riding around on their bikes spotted me. I mean, not exactly hard to miss.




I don't know their names, but I recognize their faces, and they like to wave at me when I drive by. They also like to decorate the street with sidewalk chalk, so I am pretty fond of them.

One of the girls came up and said "I like your hat", so I immediately took it off and plopped it down on her head.

It fell down past her eyes, so I adjusted it's size and gave the hat to her.




The other kids came over and thought that me being able to do balloon animals was just the coolest thing in the world. I still had quite a few balloons left over, so I offered to make some balloon figures for them.

This brings me to the task.

I feel that this falls under the Public Art Opportunities task. Other players doing this task completely allowed other people to make their own form of art, but you have to LEARN to make balloon animals, or else they will pop pop pop.

I was merely a tool which the kids used to make cool balloon things. I let them choose the colors and what they would like, and in what size, and how it was made.

And after all, what are balloon figures than just poofy sculptures, really?
Plus, the kids wore them out in public, so I thought this had the necessities of the task, if not the grandeur of some of the other ways people had completed them




The girls wanted "Fancy hats like the models have" to quote them, and the boys wanted heroic swords, which were also safe fore stabbing and slashing.

I fiddled with the first girl's hat, my old hat, to make it even better for her, adding some pink "doilies" which were just bits that float around when you move. She insisted she had pink, and I was lucky enough to have one pink balloon left to use.

I had finished the first hat, and was starting on one of the boys swords, which would end up being a red pirate sword, when a woman came outside to see what was going on.




I don't blame her, I mean come on, a clown surrounded by children on the side of a suburban street is a little suspicious. Once she got closer she recognized me and asked what was going on, and she thought it was so cute that I was making balloons for the neighborhood kids, and then just ran back into her house.

I thought that was the end, but then she came back outside with her camera and started taking pictures!

And lo! the makings of a sf0 task were in the works.

By the time I had run out of balloons I had made two very high fashion hats for the lovely ladies, which I assured them were very chique, and were about twice the size of their heads.

I had also made a "blood red" pirate sword with a swirly golden guard, and a jedi light saber in sky blue and greens, one sword for each brave warrior boy.




I also made a small dagger to give to the girls, because the boys would just not leave them alone, and come on, a girl's gotta defend herself, even against balloons.

It was so funny, watching them bike around with their balloons, the girls clutching their hats to their heads, and the boys pedaling at one another and swinging wiggly swords. Just about gave me and the woman conniptions from laughing so hard.

I asked her what she would do with the pictures, and she said she would put them online to show what a nutty neighborhood she lives in. She agreed that I could use a copy of the pictures for myself, cause, you know, I'm in them.

I wished that she had gotten some pictures of the kids with their completed balloons, and some of their wacky antics, but apparently her camera batteries had died.

Still, I suppose those are the risks one takes when the photographer is not oneself.

I am glad she did take the pictures, though, because I had not really been planning to do any tasking that day, and look at how well things turned out!

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