red balloon #73

Released: 15th July 2008, Fitzroy, Vic, Australia

Sighted: 15th July 2008, NAB Offices, Melbourne, Australia
"Red Balloon # 73 literally popped up in one of the back offices at NAB... at my desk! It was hiding in the computer screen, surrounded by a whole bunch of technology junk. Isn't a nice splash of color in an otherwise dreary office setting?

But really, when I got to thinking about it, I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Balloons are so wonderful, we decorate with them and love to have them at parties, but what do they actually do? I passed it on to my husband, wondering if he'd find it or not, and figured at least it'd brighten someone else's day. Someone I care about.

Then my friend Jennie, because I think she likes red things.

Oh, then I Googled "Red Balloon" to see why I had some innate cultural attachment to the idea of a red balloon. Here's what I found:

1) Nena's (a German techno/pop singer) 99 Red Balloons song as a sort of memorial song after WWII, originally in German and remade into English. (http://www.mp3lyrics.org/n/nena/99-red-balloons/)

2) The 1956 French film Le Ballon Rouge, which apparently has a sentient, yet silent balloon (I have to go see this now).

3) An Australian-based Corporate Incentive company that outsources rewards and recognition. (Cheerful!)

4) http://www.redballoon.net.au/gallery ... (I find this one suspicious...)

5) In memory of... everything. Red balloons appear to be memorials mixed with a celebration.

The cultural attachment doesn't seem to have a realistic explanation, since none of these things was I really aware of before the balloon passed by my computer...

Then finally it turned 5:30 pm, real life intruded, and I decided it was time to go home.

Warm greetings to anyone else who sees one!"