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On The Lighter Side


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Vantage Points Header Joel ElvesonPART OF THE “growing up/growing older/maturation” process is to look back on some of your antics from the days when you had fun doing all those silly things you did. Anything from car tricks to practical jokes or just about anything else that caused you to laugh so hard you actually cried tears from your hysterically funny hijinks. Below are a few of my best stunts as I “look back…”

The milkshake wars – Giving somebody like me a driver license at the ripe age for vehicular fun was like whatever it was like. My friends and I would chase each other with our cars (two people to a car since one had to drive while the other did the hurling) and as soon as we got close enough a chocolate milkshake (it had to be chocolate) was chucked at the other car. Whichever car was most successful with their bombing efforts won the game. By the way only White Castle or Jack In The Box shakes were used as they were the thickest.

Fun with dad’s Dodge Dart – Dad had this 1971 Flake Green (hideous color) that was perfect for the gadgets we hooked up to it. My friend was a collector or old New York City Police Car Sirens, Fireballs (revolving lights that attached to the roof of your car via magnets) plus police radio consoles. We would chase kids smoking dope with the siren blasting and the fireball spinning. We would also take care up some of hilliest streets in the Bronx (Waring Avenue) where the car would up a hill before banging on the flat part. Knocking down highway cones as well as smashing shopping carts into other cars or other carts was fun too.

The Adventures of Mean Duck, & Clean Duck – We were infatuated by the kids TV show that really wasn’t a kids show by the name of the Uncle Floyd Show. Uncle Floyd had this wise talking puppet named Oogie. I wanting some like Oogie bought these clown small clown dolls and told everybody that they were ducks.

These “ducks” solicited prostitutes. Yes, the prostitutes were willing to “do” the ducks but noticed they had no genitalia but were still willing to try as long as duck would pay them. We drove off seeking to do more mischief which we found in Rego Park, Queens. Waiting for a traffic light we stuck one of the ducks out of the window and had it yell at the driver in the car in back of us. The guy gut so flustered that he crashed his car into another one. He told the police the duck was yelling at him so he could not concentrate on driving. The driver of that car was admitted to the hospital for psychiatric observation.

The Puppets – Not being content with the fun we were having with the ducks (we all collected them) we started buying Sesame Street Puppets. One night the bridge tolls were going up at midnight so we came up with the idea we would go through the toll booth moments before the tolls were going up and have the puppet (I think it was a Burt puppet) hand the money to the toll taker and start cursing at him. Traffic was backing up while the toll collector was cursing back at the puppet. When a police officer came to the booth to see what was going on we hid the puppet. A new toll collector was put in place to whom we paid the old toll and went on our merry way.

Along the way we wound up on a runway in Laguardia Airport which was restricted for Army Aircraft only. Can you imagine the sight of these planes coming right at us? Fortunately the planes ground to a halt allowing us to “bolt”

Studio 54 – Some of the funniest times were spent harassing those wanting to get into Studio 54 along with those whose job it was to pick only the “beautiful people type) to let in. We would lure the disco loving crowd over to us with the promise of free tickets. When they got up to the window of my Chrysler New Yorker we sprayed them with an old pressurized Fire Extinguisher that we filled with bodily fluids along with other assorted liquids. Or we would simply throw eggs at them.

People from various organizations my father belonged to would call the house when my parents were not home. Since my voice was nearly identical to that of my father I was able to say some very “not nice” things to these people which caused them to hang up My father would inquire if anybody had called him since he had not heard from him. I would slyly smile and say “sorry dad nobody called.”

Yes there the marijuana years where we would set the produce belt of this supermarket we were working in on fire. I had to dodge assorted rotten fruit that came flying up the belt at ne while I was weighing fruit. We smoked dope in Washington Square Park with this guy and his dog when Jimmy Carter was running for President.

There are so many more tales to tell but it is 3:44am here in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday August 16, 2015. So how about some of your merrymaking during your younger years when this article comes out.


Joel Elveson
Joel Elvesonhttps://jelveson.wixsite.com/recruitersite
INDEPENDENT Executive Recruiting By Joel is an "up and coming" Executive Search Firm formed and headed up by Joel Elveson whose visionary ideas, leadership & creativity have brought to life a more "user-friendly" approach to recruiting. His clients and candidates form powerful strategic partnerships that we use to help you. Joel’s Firm offers Permanent, Temporary (case by case), & Temporary To Permanent staffing solutions for all of your Human Capital Requirements. Contract IT/Consultants are available if needed. Above and beyond they are experts (by way of their personal industry work experience) with mortgage, mortgage banking, middle-market banking, accounting, along with many others under the vast financial spectrum of disciplines. Their business goes beyond candidate recruiting as they also train, mentor and develop your internal recruiting staff with an eye towards helping you reduce the cost of hiring. They will also work in areas such as compensation, effective onboarding processes and alike. In other words, their business is to help your business by becoming an extension of you by filling in gaps that cause delay or waste. The recruiting methods employed by Joel’s team are time tested that results in a high rate of successful placements. Joel was trained in the art of recruiting by some of the top staffing industry executives in addition to the best recruiter trainers who to this day drive me to exceed the lofty goals he has set forth.

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8 CONVERSATIONS

    • Life certainly was more fun back in those days. As much fun as I had back then at age 62 if the opportunity were to arise to do those things all over again I would have no interest. Thank you for commenting, Sandy.

      • I guess that is our decision…..maybe we have to make that bucket list and start doing it while we can! Age is just a number and it is how we feel and act, as well as how we take care of ourselves so that we can remain active and keep having fun.

        • There is certainly something to be said of having a “list” of things you would like to do or accomplish before you pass away. My health is not perfect but nothing that is a threat overall. I am not quite sure how a 62-year-old is supposed to act. Thank you (no name showed up) for your comment.

    • Thank you for reading and commenting on my article. Your scenarios of riding boxcars to Alabama or sleeping under the stars at Woodstock sound GREAT. Woodstock was something so amazing and so incredible (aside from the music) that sadly it is not likely to happen again. But, who knows you never know.

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