... and I was so looking forward to it so that I'd have something to talk about. Betcha it's posted by the time I finish writing this one.

I guess, for lack of a better topic, I'll talk about yesterday. Yesterday the world played a big huge cosmic April Fool's Joke on me while I was playing one on other people (with help). When I find out via a newspaper that the corporate office of the company that I work for is moving, that's never a good sign about how "in the loop" you are. When co-workers, who supposedly respect you, invite you to lunch and don't come by to let you know that they're leaving for lunch - that's not really reassuring to you either. Especially after issues that have appeared earlier in your life suggest that this is a pattern of being deserted.

But the following I brought upon myself. Sort of. I had help.

A good friend of mine and I decided upon a joke - something that would give the illusion of our friendship being destroyed because of something physical being destroyed. In retrospect, maybe it wasn't a good idea. Maybe I should have shut up and be a boring little coward on April Fool's Day instead of being bold and putting something out there as we did. I guess there are too many oversensitive people out there who don't like it when the wool is pulled over their eyes. Or can't take a joke. Or don't like being played with. Makes me wonder if they watch the so-called "reality shows" because they like watching someone else be tweaked around with. Heck, I remember the days when people would play all sorts of humor on the BB, people were always laughing. It's nowhere near as fun and lighthearted as it used to be.

I haven't gotten any hate mail yet, but I'm just sitting and waiting. Maybe what's worse is that emails that I have sent to a few people have gone unanswered. I think it's the uncertainty that they never get a response that's worse than anything else. Myself and my cohort in crime certainly didn't intend to hurt any feelings, shill anyone out of any property, or make anyone angry at us.

So, why *are* so many people angry at having the wool pulled over their eyes? One theory is that they don't like being made to look stupid. That's valid. I hate it too, but if it's in the context of a really good and almost convincing situation then I can laugh about it. If the end-game is to make the person who the joke is being played on be laughed at by anyone else for the rest of the day, I can't wash with that. And that's certainly not what happened with this situation. Makes me wonder if some of the posts telling us that this was cruel and tasteless were doing so just to see if they could get a rise out of me, or make me overly contrite so that they could laugh and point publicly and say "Gotcha". Based on some communications that I've heard about the place, I suspect at least a couple of people had that intention, but the thread was killed before I would bite and they could jump.

There were some IM's that were laughing at one person who had IM'd me in the morning and complimented me on the joke. I played dumb. Three of us played our roles for the better part of an hour, laughing until the tears came. Laughing until we had him finally convinced, and then we all revealed at the same time in our different IM windows. He called us wenches (and rightly so), but all in good humor. I suspect he got a laugh out of it as well. But that was the most fun that we'd had with the joke for the entire day.

My cohort and I knew that there would be people who would be mad at us when the reveal came (and whoo-boy, there were), and we genuinely felt bad about those who truly seemed to come across as being worried about us. More were worried about our friendship, which I found comforting, since I've heard that my cohort has gotten flack for supposedly being my "lapdog". I didn't know I had another lapdog - I thought Sasha was the only one.

I'm sure that some were disillusioned as well that the friendship was really intact in the first place. I suspect there's at least one or two dark souls who *hope and dream and wish* she and I would get into a big brouhaha on the board and not speak to each other anymore. Honestly, a couple of people hit the nail on the head - it would take a lot more than something like that happening to split the two of us up. Of that I am pretty positive. Damn skippy, I am.

I've seen a bunch of people comment about the "in-crowd" laughing behind everyone's backs, that it was cruel to have a "clique" laughing at everyone privately. I don't know where they're getting that because the couple of people who did IM with me weren't pointing and laughing at everyone. Sure, we got a chuckle from OUR own joke - that is true. If the person playing the joke isn't laughing, then what's the point?

That brings up the whole "in-crowd" thing. Who *is* the in-crowd? Is it an amorphous group that constantly changes depending on who has what information at a given point in time? Or is it anyone who just happens to communicate with *me* on or off board for any reason? I'm beginning to think it's the latter, since someone in the past crowned me the Queen of the In-Crowd and these discussions about the "in-crowd" only seem to come up when someone gets offended at a joke I play or start something fun on the board that only certain people jump into (even though everyone is welcome to join in the fun). Funny, it's hard to be royalty when you're really the court jester. Not a cheerleader laughing at the nerds either - I'm not pretty enough, popular enough or coordinated enough to be a cheerleader. If I'm popular, in the traditional high school cheerleader sense of the word, then that's news to me. I'm a nice smart geek, and anyone who's met me in real life knows that is indeed the truth.

Someone posted this morning and stated that while the joke was tasteless in their opinion (and they had a very vocal opinion yesterday about how bad this was, in my opinion) that no real harm was done other than a couple of bruised egos. Ok... if that's the truth - if no real harm was done - then why are there so many people still torqued about it this morning? Why do I have as-yet unanswered emails from a couple of people who I emailed yesterday about non-joke related issues? Why is it still being discussed despite the admin asking that a certain discussion get back on track rather than rehash the joke? Whatever happened to the child in them that liked to laugh and tell their parents silly knock-knock jokes that make no sense and run down the stairs laughing at Christmas and Easter?

Probably stuffed in a box in the dustiest darkest corner of the attic with an old doll or something.

I bet if I'd posted something about no harm being done at the top of my confession instead of what I did, there would be a whole new storm of people being angry and wanting my head on a stick. Someone else posts it, who was previously angry, and I suspect that many will agree she's right. Either way, I don't win because I was the evil mean person who pulled the wool over their eyes. As a result of the ongoing negative communication (and lack of communication from others), I've found myself distancing myself from the board and posting only when I feel something is necessary (or where I have information that others might not have).

And by the way, how is it that someone can post something about being in fear for their lives, when it was really almost nothing (well, a cat falling into the bath can be scary, if unexpected I'm sure) and everyone laughs about that. I saw that subject line and was truly worried. But I should have known better because the individual in question ALWAYS posts things with ambigious subject lines no matter how many times we ask that she be more clear. She seems to live for the 'hook', I assume, but no one calls her on the carpet for it. I see a double standard here, but lord forbid that I question that on the board because I'd clearly get flamed left, right, and sideways for it, I'm sure.

That's all the thoughts that I leave you with today, so that you may ponder them over the weekend. Any comments are welcome, as always, and I will address comments left here that need addressing - they may be addressed in the comment box, they may be addressed in another blog entry. You'll just have to wait and see.