If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s how to take a joke.

That being said, April fool’s day is one of my favorite holidays, if not most respected.

A designated day out of 365 days for good old Tomfoolery seems like quite a way to celebrate life and just have some fun.

From putting sugar into a salt shaker to gluing the caps on every pen in the office, my tried and true antagonizing pranks have been a sure bet for laughs.

To liven up the campus just a few weeks before summer, I have a few suggestions of different pranks you can try out.

For those living in the lodges, you’re in luck. Classic pranks are easy for you.

While your roommates are in the shower, grab their towels and clothes quickly and proceed to ignore their shouts for help.

Also, turn the showerhead to where it will spray the victim in the face while standing outside of the shower.

Place cotton in the toes of a friend’s shoe and watch them consider that their feet grew overnight.

Pranks that can also happen at home are to swap out the sections in the newspaper from this week to last week’s, then wait to see if anyone notices.

I suggest the comics sections.

Or perhaps leave the television at an obnoxiously loud level and turn it off.

Take a needle and thread then proceed to sew the victim’s underwear together on one long string.

If you have one, hide a baby monitor in a room and wait for someone.

Make sounds every few minutes, enough times to drive them crazy but not enough to allow them to find where it is coming from.

Set a friend’s alarm clock to go off at 3 a.m. or earlier.

The ultimate prank at home would likely be rearranging the furniture in a couple rooms and wait for everyone to come home and notice.

Gluing objects down is always a good choice. Shampoo bottles, toothpaste and books.

In the classroom, if there’s an important paper due, print off pages in about the amount of what was due for the project.

Swap out a friend’s project lying on the desk and proceed to spill soda on it.

This works best if you don’t apologize and just say “My bad.”

Wait for the anxiety attack but don’t wait until they strangle you.

Or, walk into class and ask a fellow classmate “Are you ready for the test?”

This works best if you have a friend confirm that there is a test in class that day.

At work, buy a dozen bacon doughnuts a few days before April fool’s day.

Bring the box in and leave it in the break room as an unexpected treat for your co-workers.

Or scrape out the filling in a package of Oreo Cookies and leave the intact cookies.

If you’re technologically savvy, find the victim’s computer and press Control, Alt and any arrow key to change the screen from the upright to the sideways or upside-down position.

You can unplug the keyboard or mouse or even make a screen shot of the desktop into a background, remove all the real desktop icons and watch as the helpless computer user can’t click on anything.

Place a Post-it Note on the optical eye of the victim’s mouse. When the mouse doesn’t work and they lift it up to see the bottom, leave a clever note on the Post-it.

When it comes to cars, adjust the settings in a friend’s car.

Change the radio station settings, air conditioning, side mirrors and bring the seats up very close to the dashboard.

Or, leave a strip of bubble wrap behind the back tires of the victim’s car.

When they back out, instead of little pops, it will sound like one loud pop.

Watch from a distance at your friend’s confusion.

Better yet, just fill their car with blown-up balloons.

So, good luck.

Don’t do anything that isn’t safe, and remember that it’s not so much being funny as it is being brave.

Is it childish?

Well, perhaps, but, more so, is it funny?

Oh, definitely.

Happy April fool’s day!

By JESSICA MEYER

Editor

jessmeye@umail.iu.edu