“Live life fully while you’re here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You’re going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”~ Anthony Robbins
Last night my apartment complex celebrated National Night Out. This is usually done in the month of August but because it is so hot at that time, we had changed it to October where the heat wouldn’t be so bad. There was a theme, which was something that we decided to do with the party. It was The Gift of Water. It is something that we haven’t had in a very long time in the form of rainfall. So I guess we were supposed to “appreciate” having water? I’m not sure.
The menu was even just as wet as the theme: Fish, cole slaw, hush puppies. And what to drink? But of course, bottled water.
A gathering of neighbors and friends outside in the warm but pleasant weather to socialize and visit. But I noticed that during the set up for the party that they had placed water guns on the tables. I wondered why they had suggested to bring a rain coat. But who in the world has a rain coat around here??
There they were though. These really cheap water guns that do not hold a lot of water and do not shoot water very well either. One would have to learn how each gun worked the best. Which angle to hold it, and how to shoot it to make it spray the water. I mean, we are talking C-H-E-A-P in every sense of the word!
I found mine working the best to aim it upward a little and then let the water come down on the target.
And still, the question in my mind was: Water guns for the elderly? Is this a good idea???? It would be interesting to see who was going to go nuts with it and who was going to complain.
Everybody was watching everybody else. And that was the problem. Those who participated in the water fights, were not being watched. As soon as you started to watch someone else who had a water gun, you got it from someone else who you were not looking for at the time. People really needed eyes in the back of their head.
I didn’t get into it right away, but I did take off with two different water guns. One of which didn’t work at all. But one I learned how to hold it and fire quickly.
After the fish dinner, they played several games of BINGO. In that, I did not participate. I disappeared back home and then came back with a loaded water gun and crept amongst the crowds, shooting unsuspecting people as they were focused on their “intense game”.
The apartment manager and the social worker got involved in these water games as well. There was a grandchild that was running around with one, and apparently he got involved with the apartment manager in a huge battle that everyone thought was cute.
But as soon as the apartment manager would be in my area, I FIRED!!!
One thing that I noticed amongst the other neighbors that got involved in the water fun, is that they did not fire unless fired upon. So once I shot at them is when they would fire back. Nobody seemed to want to be the first one to shoot. So I guess that I was the one that was the aggressor. And that was fine.
I would not fire when they were looking straight at me. I always waited until they were distracted and occupied with something else unrelated. But no matter what, whenever I got someone they aimed to get me back. And most of them did.
I even got the social worker as she was just standing there eating a piece of watermelon. She screamed and then looked around for another water gun. She found one and started to shoot it, but it was the same gun that I had found that would not shoot anything so she was stuck with nothing and I kept soaking her.
Then of course the “threats” coming from the apartment manager and the social worker that they will get me back. We’ll see about that I guess. When it was all said and done for the night, the apartment manager tried to get the song, “Feliz Navidad” stuck in my head. But it didn’t work. (The original version, not the Céline Dion cover.)
I still wonder who it is going to be that is going to complain about the childish behavior of everyone else because of the water guns. I wonder who is going to be that stick in the mud and whine that it is immature. Of course its immature, but it was there for us to let loose and have some fun.
You didn’t want to shoot your friends, because they would fire back thinking it was an act of betrayal. And you didn’t want to shoot those whom you have conflict with, because that would only make matters worse. Especially if they don’t have a sense of humor. Soo…… who do you fire a water gun at??
Damn the torpedoes!! I shot them all!!!
I would later come back home to reload but I would mix water with whiskey. And I made sure that the water was nice and warm. Then I went back out to war. One thought that was shooting them with piss. But I have a little more dignity and sense than that. They just freaked out because it was so warm. Something that they were not expecting.
But it was definitely a good time, even if there are those who are going to complain about it in the near future.
Water fights are uncommon in October. But who’s to say when you can and cannot have them? And you can bet your last dollar that I’ve kept my water gun. I will be making a few surprises with it in the coming weeks. I just got to find a way to clean the whiskey out of it.
Dambreaker 