Does This Make Me Look Foolish?

I HATE April Fool's Day. I hate it. For many reasons, not the least of which is the idea that perhaps we shouldn't have a day that gives that kind of prankish license to people determined to take themselves out of the gene pool through sheer stupidity. It seems like those people are never content to play jokes on only THEMSELVES.

But I also hate it because it's like an entire day devoted to attempts to humiliate people and y'all, I already have that on accident most other days. I don't really need a special day. Plus, it's very stressful to be peering around corners and checking every chair for whoopee cushions --it's very stressful trying not to get caught. Trying not to be the fool. I guess that's the crux of the matter--no one wants to be caught out and embarrassed, especially me.

And also, I think it's enough of a joke on everyone that Spring has still not arrived.

Unfortunately, I have passed this general dislike of April Fool's Day to my children. Jane (8) wanted to stay home from school today and I swear, if she hadn't already missed so much school due to illness, I would have let her. She's STILL angry/traumatized over the way her older sister (Ana, 11) and a friend hid in her room last year and jumped out at her.

Having taken such a stand on April Fool's Day, I must now prove that I am a hypocrite in all things by confessing that the Google April Fool's Joke warmed my nerdy little heart. Especially the G-Mail "autopilot" thing which purported to be a new enhancement that will answer your e-mail for you. My favorite part of the FAQ said this:

What happens if a sender and recipient both have Autopilot on?

Two Gmail accounts can happily converse with each other for up to three messages each. Beyond that, our experiments have shown a significant decline in the quality ranking of Autopilot's responses and further messages may commit you to dinner parties or baby namings in which you have no interest.

Comments

Ann in NJ said…
I'm with you. I was in a foul mood earlier and warned the kids to not even THINK about trying to play jokes on me. I don't find it funny - maybe the elaborate clever ones involving cake that looks like meat and meat that looks like cake, but even that only in theory. Too much trouble in real life. And notice that's "clever" rather than "mean".
Ei said…
LOL...no one dared mess with me today. I'm brillaint.

Muah.
I'm with you on this one, Barb. Absolutely hate it. And I almost fell for the Google gmail joke. I'm that gullible.
smalltownme said…
My almost 13 year old son and I messed with each other this morning..."I don't love you... it's not time to get up." Yeah, we did a bad job at April fools but a great job at normal stuff.
Anonymous said…
Don't worry about being pithy!!!

I am only pithy when I'm talking about orange brownies...or tangerine pound cake. (he he he)

Thank you so much for your comment. I love your blog too.

p.s. I completely ignored April Fools day...and it ignored me too.
MadMad said…
How did I miss that Google thing?! Too funny. I am such a sucker on April Fool's, too. I just always believe stuff.
Kathy Ireland said…
Uh oh. You're probably not going to like Jessie very much. She was the engineer (of a group consisting of her and two friends) of a scam to trick her entire class. It worked too. I believe she said tears were shed.
Kate said…
I agree about April Fool's day I already know that I am a fool and don't need help from others. I just found your blog and I will definitely be back.
Ream O Rama said…
I love how they based it all on a program called "CADIE" and then CADIE became rogue and started her own blog with cutesy pandas everywhere

Ya gotta appreciate utter silliness taken to the next level
Suna Kendall said…
My poor teen son (16) had one done to him that really upset him--his friends told him that his girlfriend was pregnant with another guy's baby. The guy had been hitting on her, so he believed it at first (though none of them actually have "done it" with anyone). Then he got mad at them for taking advantage of how much he cares about the girl. So, not a popular hobby at our house, either.
Grumpy Momma said…
Thankfully, no one in my family is that into April Fools.....