No Time To Get Bored

By Ralph Fiorillo

Moving from Brooklyn as a child to Long island, to Florida, back again to Brooklyn and back again to Long Island is a story of exciting and adventurous experiences that fostered and stimulated perseverance, faith and strength of character. He has provided commentary on his various career changes from education to the world of business and hopes

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors Press
• Release date: Jul 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781643143880

Ralph Fiorillo

Ralph Fiorillo's emotionally, powerful memoir reveals how he endured a series of adversities from family moves to dramatic health set backs and financial hardships. Conversationally written and heartbreakingly honest, NO TIME TO GET BORED is an unforgettable reminder that regardless of failures, the American dream is still within reach for those who have the desire and the determination to succeed.

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Copyright © 2020 by Ralph Fiorillo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

AuthorsPress

California, USA

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Dedication

I dedicated this book to my wife and family and to all those looking for hope and excitement to improve their lives

Table of Contents

PREFACE

1: GENESIS

2: A SOUTHERN EXPERIENCE

3: THE NEXT CHALLENGE

4: SUDDEN CHANGE

5: PASSAGE THROUGH THE SHINNECOCK CANAL

6: SUMMER OF HARD WORK, FUN, AND RESPONSIBILITY

7: THE LONG ISLAND ATTRACTION

8: MYSTERIOUS HEALTH CRISIS

9: GRADUATION, A JOB, AND MARRIAGE

10: LEARNING TO FLY

11: DRIVING A FIRE TRUCK TO LAS VEGAS

12: SHARK CAGE, MONTAUK POINT

13: A DIFFICULT DECISION

14: THE CAT ISLAND EXPEDITION

15: GREAT EXUMA

16: SOUL-SEARCHING CHANGE

17: GRUMMAN INTERNATIONAL

18: FIREWOLF—THE FLORIDA OPPORTUNITY

19: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPEDITION

20: CHALLENGE ON TANCOOK ISLAND

21: SEMINAR IN MOSCOW

22: MUGGED IN KENYA

23: SOUTH AFRICA

24: LIBERIA

25: LEBANON

26: FISHER’S ISLAND

27: MARCO ISLAND

28: BONITA SPRINGS

29: JOURNEY TO CUBA

30: JOURNEY TO THE GALAPAGOS

31: THE BOYS OF BREAKFAST

32: EXPLORERS CLUB

33: CAMP VIKING—SANDEFJORD, NORWAY

34: ISRAEL

EPILOGUE

PREFACE

My Family

As a young boy, I never dreamed my future would be filled with extraordinary and exciting events. These events were the highlights of my boyhood, adulthood, and beyond, and were experiences of failure, successes, risks, rewards, moments of depression, but most of all joy, happiness, and achievements. I also believe we should not confuse activity with productivity.

We all should attempt to maintain a good, productive life, turn failures and losses into strengths and successes. Perhaps my story will inspire people who seem bored, unhappy, or do not feel productive with their lives to seek changes. We are responsible for our own happiness.

Aside from the above, I have always been and still am a firm believer in a fulfilling life. This can better be accomplished with good health and to me good health is wealth. I believe I have set an example for my family and friends alike. My motto Keep your mind and body in motion, coupled with a balanced diet, is what everyone will agree with. This way of life almost always helps you gravitate to others who believe and practice the same as you.

My dad lived by the Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He instilled this in my modus operandi, which was never forgotten.

My Parents

Another profound statement that has impressed and influenced me was made by Mark Twain, Kindness is the language deaf people hear and blind people see!

In the years I spent as an educator, I modeled my leadership skills based on the above and did the same for the rest of my business career as well.

I recall one of my trips to China, attending an international fire chiefs conference, being responsible for shipping a fire truck to Beijing for display. Navigating through the Chinese government’s regulations as well as the many other regulations was extremely stressful, but not impossible. Of course, our goal was to display the fire truck and sell it to a Chinese fire department to avoid the stress and expense of returning it to the United States.

backing fire truck into the exhibit hall - Beijing, China

Being familiar with the Chinese’s cunning ability to surgically negotiate a better price, I increased the selling price over 20 percent above the recommended factory price. The buzz word back home was that I priced the unit too high and was taking advantage of the situation. However, I was the one who spent over two days with the Chinese government officials, who relentlessly demanded a better price. The bottom line was a sales price close to what the factory recommended. Both sides displayed kindness during the negotiations. On many occasions, the Chinese hierarchy knows what day and time your flight leaves for your return trip, and if you are attempting to succeed in a sale or a trade agreement, etc., they decide that they will make a decision a day or two after your flight leaves. To be certain of any kind of success, you postpone your flight until they are ready to negotiate. This could be classified as the Chinese workout.They wear you down, hoping you succumb to their terms. I can proudly say I was never their victim. As a result of my several business trips to China in the mid 1980s and early 1990s, and working closely with government officials, I could foresee a gigantic, world powerhouse in the very near future. The deliberation and drive to improve was evident, and with the help of Western technology handed to them on a silver platter, quality and perfection for less permeated the world.

State dinner with government dignitaries including the British ambassador to China.

This was one of many experiences and challenges I faced during my journey of life. This memoir hopefully will touch many people; however, I am assured that my family will enjoy and cherish reading it since they were a part of it and influenced me in my motivation to write No Time to Get Bored.

The start of the Great Wall climbing

There are some important and meaningful life-changing thoughts that I recycle through my cerebellum on occasion. I always feel a need for myself and anyone else, no matter who they are or their position in life, to absorb and become influenced by these thoughts. We should all take time out of our busy and stressful lives to thank God for our blessings, be it family, friends, health, or economic achievements.

Here are some of thoughts I recommend:

• You must love and admire yourself first before expecting love from others.

• You must believe you can succeed and eventually you can do it.

• You should not doubt yourself and then fail; think victory and succeed.

• Your success does not require a super intellect (I am the first to admit that).

• You should not be concerned with how many brain cells you’ve got that matters. . . it’s how you use them.

• Your ability to think has a greater value than your ability to memorize facts.

• You should live until you die—don’t get life and death confused.

• You should never be age conscious (excusitis, age, health, lacking skills, etc.) Thank God I do not think of my age often; however, I admit that getting old is not for sissies.

I must admit that it is difficult for me to follow the above 100 percent of the time, but just occasionally, I ponder over them to get my adrenaline functioning again.

In our daily existence,if we do all we can to take care of ourselves,life on earth is not forever! Eating healthy, frequent exercising, taking vitamins, keeping our cholesterol in line, etc., we will still die at some time. With that being said, we should all discipline ourselves to turn our lives into meaningful, challenging and exciting activities. Boredom is not an option!

1

GENESIS

I was born in Brooklyn, New York, although I was too young to remember that part of my life. My family moved to Baldwin, Long Island, as my father continued to work for the sanitation department for the City of New York, working not only with his brawn, but also with his musical talent as a trumpet player in the Sanitation Band. Although he worked for the city as a civil servant, he had an abundant amount of adventures, entrepreneurial spirit and a degree of risk-taking spirit tucked away for future debut. It was an unusual characteristic for salaried workers since most workers at that time, and obviously today as well, think and talk endlessly about vacations, benefits, 401 plans, medical care, retirement, pensions, and the like.

With that said, my parents ventured to the rural countryside in a small town called Baldwin, Long Island! At that time, it was rural, with a share of farms, and was a downright safe and fulfilling place to raise a family.

My parents had a modest brick house built for about $6,500 on about an acre of land which provided plenty of property to farm and raise chickens. Would this life contrast be acceptable? Our family had little choice but to assimilate into our new environment as quickly as possible.

My mother was a devoted wife with a charming and agreeable personality who had the foresight to realize this wrenching move, leaving her relatives in Brooklyn for what was considered, at that time, to be the countryside and turned out to be the best decision my parents could have made.

I was too young to understand if this move was right or wrong and did not know what my two older sisters, Nancy and Madeline, thought about it either. At that young age, I didn’t know the difference between Brooklyn and Baldwin.

Prior to starting school, at the age of four, I decided to walk to the local ice cream and candy store with my gold coins which I had collected from the breakfast cereal boxes. This store was almost a mile from our home but knew approximately where it was since my parents took me there on occasion. I was so proud of myself just to be able to find the store, only to experience an emotional failure to my journey. The store clerk told me the coins from cereal boxes were not real money and could not buy candy. To placate my disappointment, he gave me a piece of chocolate candy before I began to cry.

In the meantime, my parents realized I was nowhere at home or at the neighbor’s home, and they called the police to report me missing. A short time later, they found me outside the candy store, crying while I was attempting to figure out how I was going to find my way back home.

The bottom line from this little adventure was that I was punished, but I learned a lesson from it all.

As time passed, I remember starting my school years in the kindergarten at Schubert School, about three quarters of a mile from our comfortable home! There were no school buses nor any type of transportation to get there resulting in a long walk each way. Walking to school these days in most towns is considered outrageous and downright impossible in today’s disruptive world.

A young adventurer

I had a wholesome education, starting with Mrs. Clark in my kindergarten class to Ms. Shaw in the fourth grade. As a left-handed student, I naturally wrote with my left hand curled over what I was writing (as most lefties still do—including Presidents Clinton and Obama).We didn’t have ballpoint pens in those days, so writing with an ink pen would sometimes get messy.

Thank goodness for Ms. Shaw, who would keep me after school and hold my wrist straight while practicing penmanship drills (circles, dashes, vertical lines, alphabet letters, etc.) Because of her, I write like right-handed people write, but not too very neatly!

Living in Baldwin was great fun. I made lots of good friends and kept in touch with one family even after I got married.

My parents kept busy making financial ends meet. My father had an early retirement as a result of severe arthritis and other issues, so he began farming and raising chickens with my mom, who jarred a good deal of vegetables.

Having a decent amount of chickens on our little miniature farm fed us every Sunday and then some with leftovers. I took to learning all about the necessary responsibilities after coming home from school. I was responsible for cleaning the chicken coop, which was a smelly, hateful job!

The only good part was gathering the eggs that our chickens so graciously gave us. As you can imagine, we had an adequate amount of fresh eggs in our diet—not to mention my father poking a small hole in each end of an egg and making me suck the raw egg as part of my diet. (How awful and unthinkable!) My mother would crate the eggs and sell them to our neighbors who loved fresh eggs.

During the spring when the front lawn prospered with beautiful green grass, the crabgrass had a habit of overtaking the beauty of it. So, after school, my job was to pick and pull crabgrass and fill a whole bushel before I could play with my friends. I finally thought of a great idea to fill the bushel much, much quicker. I would go into the woods and fill the bushel to about half with clippings and weeds I had previously put there. How ingenious! I would fill the bushel in half the time, show it to my dad, and then run off to play. This ingenious idea lasted for only about three days when I realized my father was smarter than me and too alert for me. I forget what my punishment was, and glad I cannot remember.

Having mentioned that my father was somewhat of a risk taker with an entrepreneurial spirit, his thoughts were now focused on moving to Florida due to his spinal arthritis. Dad finally had to retire and later made a couple of trips to Florida with my uncle and decided the West Coast and not the East Coast of Florida was best if that decision was going to be made and would materialize.

This part of our life was in the middle of World War II with severe rationing, blackouts, apprehension, and fear of what would happen next. I recall pulling down the blinds and shades at night, turning off all lights while the area was patrolled by safety personnel (wardens). The wardens had