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Mischief Making: A l-u-v Story

Before I became a M.I.L.F., I was totally a prankster (not/never to be confused with hipster).  These two things are related, and I aim to show you how.

Many people believe that the true testimonial to successful Practical Joking is the length in which the jokester is able to keep a straight face.  I have to admit; I see their point. For me, though, practical joking is fun for the same reason themed parties and Lamaze classes are: I’m a planner.  The events themselves aren’t all that fun, unless they involve supreme doses of sozzling, something my job didn’t usually include, even though it’s taken many a happy hour to move on.  No, planning the jokes was pretty much the fun of it for me.

This could be why most of my practical jokes didn’t go down in history, because no one, with the exception of my co-conspirator whose name I can’t mention for fear of repercussion, ever found out about them (see above paragraph).  Although, there was that close call with the pink paint in the alley.  Late into the game, though, I discovered that planning jokes could be more beneficial when said joke was actually carried out.  This, I credit to my husband, whom I soon discovered was one of those gullible types.

When McKnight and I first met, there were numerous reasons for us not to date, none of which I’ll share with you here.  (We’re still working those out in therapy.)  There were, however, *no* good reasons we could come up with to not be friends.  This worked for me in several ways, not the least of which was that I had a new “subject” to “torture,” ala High School rogue flirting methods, circa 1994.

***We interrupt this endearing chronicle with a brief message about life & love. A good way to find out if someone has the same humor as you: play practical jokes on them at work, where they (should?) long to be taken seriously.  Now, back to our regularly scheduled manifesto.***

I spent many hours designing my hoaxes-to-be.  Much like Ayn Rand’s definition of art, my jokes were meant to lend meaningful existence to an otherwise useless day.  My favorite of these was hiding poor McKnight’s sugary breakfast-cereal-of-choice and replacing it with FiberOne.  I had done my due diligence by previously instilling in him a Twilight Zone level of paranoia that our cleaning company’s employees couldn’t really be trusted, and he took the joke completely out of my hands by actually believing that I didn’t have his cereal hidden in my desk drawer. I can’t say it didn’t make me jump with glee to find out that even ridiculously obvious tomfoolery could be fun, given the right recipient.

The other important factor for a joke to live past its prime, regardless of originality or creativity, is Audience.  For some reason, there was a woman at our work who was obsessed with the “treats” I would leave at McKnight’s desk.  She just couldn’t figure out why such a nice looking young man (he reminded her of her son, no doubt!) would have two hot pink surgical gloves full of variously shaped yellow highlighters hanging on his cubicle wall.  A disturbing sight, for sure.  But so was her helmet hair induced by too much hairspray, which I definitely did not gawk at in the same way.

Practical jokes soon turned into private ones, as we shoved our skeletons back into the closet or, in some cases, watched them grow so big that they no longer really mattered, until, before long, we were the only ones that really got the joke.  While he became as fond of me as he’d previously been of just my attention, I learned that the best kinds of surprises aren’t the ones you’ve pre-thought out and way over-analyzed in your head.

In short, we fell for each other, as innocently as one suckered into a senseless prank.  I guess we were easy marks: an under-appreciated guy and a sedulously capricious girl, with just enough sense in between them to be bamboozled by love.

Tricksters 4-Evuh

Made 4 Each Other


8 responses to “Mischief Making: A l-u-v Story”

  1. Jason Jason says:

    You are sedulous as a mo fo, no diggity no doubt. I can’t wait for McKnight’s post later this month, where you discover that all those boxes of FiberOne have been put into your dinner each night. That’s much worse that Soylent Green, when I think about it.

  2. emmyem7 emmyem7 says:

    Aw! Cute story about love.
    (vom)

  3. You’ve written another great story! That’s a great photo of you and McKnight, too. The part about the gloves full of hi-liters is a wonderful touch.
    My favorite line is “just enough sense in between them to be bamboozled by love.” That’s funny and romantic at the same time. I must admit that when I’ve been in love (once real, once just an infatuation), I haven’t had much sense at all. 🙂
    I can’t quite get my mind around the idea of becoming a M.I.L.F. someday, though I suppose it’s better than the alternative. 🙂
    The best practical joke anyone ever played on me was in high school. After lunch one day when I got back to the dorm (boarding school), I found that the contents of my room had been removed and meticulously re-assembled in the basement. The bed was made, all the books were in the right order on my desk, my computer was set up, but it was all in the basement. I wasn’t thrilled at the time, but I laugh about it now.
    Anyway, congratulations on another wonderful article! It was a lot of fun to read. (Also liked the Ayn Rand reference; I’ve read “The Romantic Manifesto.”)

    • Avatar lee lee says:

      Thanks, Rinth. I’m glad you came back to the site and we’ve kept you entertained. I kept a pink surgical glove in my car for a very long time, just because it made me laugh… But then other people started worrying about me, so I had to throw it out.
      College is the *perfect* time for pranks. If only I could remember those days gone by…

  4. Avatar llxt says:

    testing 123

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llxtm About llxtm

LLXTM is the Head Dreamer of this publication and various other projects, including Needle-Movers.com, The Perpetual You, and Ladymade. She has no spare time and yet eeks out moments to spend with her two {human} boys and two {puppy} boys. She can’t wait for spring, aka Covid Gardening, Part II. Follow her @wordsbyleelee on Instagram, or find her on her front porch in Hamden, CT.

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Issues

December 2009
Season Finale
November 2009
{Seven Deadly} Sins
October 2009
Mischief Making
September 2009
Green Ethics
August 2009
ESCAPE