A childhood belief about cartoons

Whenever I watched Tom & Jerry cartoons when I was a kid, I always thought it was amazing how they did all these strange things like squash themselves flat or stretch. One thing I always thought was funny was when a cartoon character was inflated like a balloon, and I used to think that this was possible in real life.

I always wanted to find out, so I would do things like inflate a balloon and then inhale it all to make my belly swell up, and I once tried to use a bicycle tyre pump to fill me with air. I even asked my cousin to take the tube of a snorkel and blow air into it into me to try and blow me up.

I eventually stopped doing this (thankfully) when I not only realised it was impossible, but it wasn't very healthy for me to do this sort of thing. Heh, I wish I hadn't realised it sooner though, to save myself the embarrasment.