Relax, Breathe
April 1st, 2008 by Admin
I'm going to be a bit brutal here so if you can't take pure, unadulterated honestly, do not click to read the rest. Go HERE instead.
I respect each and every one of my readers, whether you agree with me on my positions or not. But, I didn't start start this blog for you. I started this blog for my mental well-being and for the Soldiers fighting for their lives on a daily basis in combat. I value your opinions, virtual and real friendships, and feedback but I don't care how many visitors I have or how many people link to this site. Naturally, I want as many people as possible to see the good our troops are doing on a daily basis and numbers play into that, but it's not my motivation.
Those of you who have been around since the early days and before when I trolled around the halls of Adopt A Platoon know that I'm a smart ass. If you've ever worked with/for me, you know that too.
This whole April Fools joke was MY idea and mine alone. I don't know if Marcus is receiving the same kinds of email I am, but if he is, back off! I dragged him into this, wrote all the posts, and schemed behind the scenes to bring in outside help from a few other sites. If you weren't in on it, it's nothing personal against you. If you never want to talk to me again – fine. I still get to go home to most beautiful woman in the world and you all have to live with that. Honestly. Those that know me know that I'm not defined by how many friends I have. My real friends are laughing their asses off at this joke. Yeah, they're embarrassed that they got suckered, but they see the fun in it all.
Here's a little tip for those of you that want to stick around and continue getting "a Soldier's perspective" on this war and military service (and some of you have already learned this lesson):
If it sounds too crazy to be true and April 1st is right around the corner - IT'S A JOKE!! Live a little! Relax and breathe!! Don't take life so seriously or you're gonna die before I do and I'm a young pup of 23 years!!
Now, I'd really like to hear any of YOUR April's Fools jokes that were played on you or you played on others.
Posted in Military Perspective
I'm a good girl. I'm not mean and I don't make people cry. So no jokes for me. I'm just over here in my lily white dress and working oh-so-hard on my invoices, and ummmmm, yeah, cue the wah-wah-wah music that sounds like bull$@%& . I won't tell until it's all done and over with. *grin*
Dear CJ (and Marcus),
You are bad boys! Now, go play some jokes on the Nigerian scammers or something else useful! I should have suspected something was afoot when JP chimed in. Hmmmmmm!
I'm glad to hear it was an April Fools prank and not serious. Whatever will you think of next??
Robin in Ohio
As I told to tell you Emily this afternoon, I still love you, even if I did fall for it hook, line & sinker. I've never really been a jokester, so I wasn't really tuned into the fact that April Fools Day was coming up. And, I can be a bit gullible sometimes
that should read "As I told Emily to tell you this afternoon"… I hate when I don't edit properly when more words come to me after the fact
I am "OUTRAGED"! I go home to the most beautiful woman every day not you CJ. How dare you. I can only assume if your statement is true then you also have been seeing Terri. Welcome to "The Days Of Our Lives" CJ.
Hahahahahaha! You guys are too darn funny!
Ok you asked for it. I worked for many years in a tax preparation office so alot of stress usually on the 1st of April. I wrote a little fake virus program on a bootable disk and slid it into my bosses computer so when he turned it on it would start a countdown till his computer crashed. Actually when it started his countdown he just called me to his office and told me to fix the problem, so the joke kinda fell flat.
Till later much, much later.
Since we were still using floppy disks alot to transport data between computers I reused that disk but didn't remove the bootable program on it. Well a few years down the road I had used that disk on my computer and forgot and left it in when I shut down the computer. Well next day when I started my computer up my fake virus started counting down. I started to freak and then saw it was my own creation. How sad is that when you get older and can hide your own Easter Eggs and forget for a brief moment that you had written a program on the disk. And you get caught by your own April Fools day prank.
Sorry to see that you are getting hate mail from folks. Hopefully they will calm down and see reason soon that this was just a joke.
Haha, good show! You really had me going. I thought I was going to have to make some phonecalls. I considered doing the "Sadr dead in Airstrike" gag, but thought it would be a bit too much.
I put rubber mice all over the backroom produce department then called management in about a pest problem.
This is a time to STOP and take REAL DEEP BREATH, FOR ME! I've seen many good Military men, in essence, be destroyed because of a prank. Your one of a few very good men who really know how to communicate, a rare quality. Now as I see it, your writing is helpful to you and me. Therefore, it is a win-win situation.
I went and talked with an old GUNNY SG USMC. He has the age, experience and wisdom to know how to do what I was about to ask of him. I actually asked him to do a "radical attitude adjustment" on me. He simply said, "It's CJ's life and career, that are on the line. They are his concerns, not yours. Let the consequences of any of his choices just come on down. They are his, not yours. The prank was just that, a prank. Let him have the FREEDOM AND RESPECT THAT IS DUE HIM! Grumpy, the same is true of you. Give them to yourself."
With that, I came home and wrote this before I forget it. Yes, I read Emily's comment to me. To the both of you, I'm happy to say GodSpeed.
Take care, CJ
Grumpy
Grumpy, I took as you were just being "grumpy". hehe. I hold no ill will towards anyone. You're a good man and someone I'd want in my foxhole if the need ever arose. I promise I would never prank you with the enemy at our 12 o'clock or any other time it mattered.
I never do anything I don't think I can handle. I wasn't going to reveal the hoax until 1700, but I got to that point that I didn't feel I could handle it anymore so I put an end to it. No offense taken. Emily takes care of me and is just being protective. I would expect no less from her. She keeps me alive in a very real way.
Know this: if these charges were real, I would have been a lot more brutal. I would have published the entire letter. I would have given names and phone numbers. I don't back down when I haven't done anything wrong.
Until next April 1st…..
CJ and Emily, I hope you didn't take my comment as anything other than a lighthearted response to the joke. I meant sick and cruel in that uniquely amusing CJ sort of way!
I am just glad that it wasn't true that your blog was suspended ! I value your blog and your opinions on the war etc. I just knew that someone had a bone to pick with you CJ and were trying to get back at you or Marcus! I'm wondering already what next April Fool's hoax will be Ha!
Turkey butt. LOL!!!!!
Absolutely perfect!!
Best April Fools gag played on me; I worked for a Restaurant chain known for it's traveling customers and featuring Rocking chairs on all their front porches – ones that we sold. Got a call shortly after loading and tying a rocker onto the back of a pickup truck for a customer – they told me they got on the interstate onramp in front of the restaurant, speeded up to freeway speed…… and the rocker fell off the truck! A car behind them was hit by the chair and ran off the road! And they demanded to know what was I going to do about it???! I about passed out, went white, (according to the gang) and then realized that the whole gang of my co-workers were standing outside my office window, giggling like crazy….they told me they had planned to involve someone posing as a cop, but I looked so sickly they had to end the joke early – I was pole-axed! It was a good one, I told them all (when I could speak coherently again) that I was 'off-limits for April Fool's jokes for the next FIVE years, seeing as they had done their job so well, and all'. That's about how many years I figure they took off of my life and they must have felt so too, as they readily (and relievedly, after all I was the BOSS) agreed. Still makes me shudder…..
CJ, that was Baaaaaaaadddddd. And excellent. Mostly the latter. Way to go!
Hmmm.
While we are all into April 1 jokes, here's another:
All is well in Iraq … surge is working as planned!
CJ, I think it was funny! You had me going for sure. But, I would have expected that list of names and numbers to call, if it HAD been real. So I guess, in the back of my mind, I figured something was up.
Thanks for the laughs …
I got "had" like the rest and now am most happy your site is back in action.
David