College educational loans have mired many American students in deep debt after graduation.
For Brandon Axelrod, 27, of Long Island, New York, he is paying a $405,000 loan on installment while doing his residency in oral and maximal facial surgery at a local hospital.
The money doesn’t come from his residency work but rather from TikTok.
“I’m paying back my student loans by making balloon art and posting it on social media,” said the graduate of both Cornell University and Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, New York Post (NYP) reports.
“Doctor Brandini,” as he is known on TikTok, has 54,000 online followers who drive views to his page, which in turn generates revenue, according to NYP.
Shaping balloons into objects and characters has been Axelrod’s hobby since he was five years old. He also earned from the skill by demoing during birthday parties and corporate events. Among his viral balloons are giant syringes, the rapper Bad Bunny, a mini Statue of Liberty, an astronaut, and a peg-legged pirate.
Meanwhile, a different kind of balloon turned the California home of Hunter and Jenna Perrin into a neighborhood spectacle on 18 April.
When someone knocked at 8:30 a.m. and Hunter opened the door, the neighbor told him, “They just landed in your backyard,” NBC News reports.
Outside, the Perrins and their neighbors saw a hot-air balloon with a basket loaded with a dozen people in their yard.
“I was amazed that they missed our tree, they missed our house,” Jenna told NBC News.
The homeowners were told the balloon pilot was forced to make an emergency landing after they ran out of fuel.
The balloon passengers got out of the basket and new fuel tanks were ordered. The balloon was reinflated and loaded onto a truck, ending the spectacle.
No one was injured in the incident and no property was damaged.