Tomfoolery

I am ashamed that I missed out on April Fool's Day in the blogosphere.

Gmail's homepage tricked me a few years ago. Never Turn in a Paper in Late Again! was the title of an article. I was definitely suspicious, but my foolery guard was down and I took the bait. They claimed to allow users to manually set the date and time of email messages.

I remember wondering about the feasibility of such a ploy, and being impressed at such a feat. Gmail insisted that users were only allowed a certain number of manual time stamps per month. This was when I realized I was being duped. Good one Google!


Top 4 Favorite April Fool's Day Pranks:

4.) The classic chalk-in-the-eraser trick is worth mentioning - kids love pulling it off and think its some huge deal and teachers are never impressed. I pulled it several times in elementary school. My teachers just shook their heads and politely smirked.

3.) Secure a rubber-band around the hose that is attached to your kitchen sink. I can't count how many times I've used this one. I've given this one up and instead teach the trick to small children.

2.) This year, my foolery guard was at its all time low. Church folk don't seem to get thick into that kind of stuff. At the Wednesday night children's program, a 4-year-old boy came running over to me with a big smile. Then he stopped, and got quiet. "Wob, yoyr shows untied..." At the exact millisecond I started to glance down, my ear felt this excruciating pain of a shouting voice, "APEWIL FOOOLS!"

I smiled, raised both hands in the air, and shrugged, "You got me. You really got me." The rest of the afternoon with the children was a chaotic mix of made-ya-look and there's-something-on-your-shirt moments.

1.) I called my aunt several years ago in distress, explaining to her that I was going to be a father. She didn't freak out as I had hoped she would. She started making plans and organizing things and asking questions.