April is the Humor Month! It goes without saying that we all need to add a liberal dose of humor in our lives if we have to fight out the odds. Having a sense of humor is a rare gift and if you can laugh away your days, you belong to an elite club of lucky people. On that note, let’s begin our ride…

Last year, Steve played a prank on me that really drove me up the wall. If you were not around then, you can read it here. This time around I’m determined to freak him out as well. I have a prank that can bring life to a full circle. I am not vindictive, don’t get me wrong, but I chanced upon this plan and I want to try it out. I have got Donna in the loop with me. The plan is already rolling! It was not really difficult to plan it out once I knew what I wanted to do.

Natalie’s husband, Ike, is a business tycoon. I planned to get someone to call up Steve and tell him that Ike wanted to meet him! Donna got a friend of hers to make the call. That guy called Steve up and told him in a stern voice that Ike wants to meet him at Starbucks on April 1st. I immediately regretted the decision to mention Starbucks. Which business tycoon would want to meet a guy who he believed was dating his ex-wife at Starbucks? I was hoping Steve wouldn’t see through it. But I was wrong.

He came up to me stealthily and told me that Ike wanted to meet him. I kept a straight face, hoping that my expression wouldn’t give anything away. Steve looked concerned. He said, “One point bugs me Bob, why would he call me at Starbucks when he’s that rich?” I knew he’d see through it! But I thought on my feet and told him something that would make anyone see through the plan. I said, ‘It’s the recession Steve!” Steve nodded his head in acceptance. Boy, is he worried! I hope the prank doesn’t make him lose his sleep and all. That would be really bad. But, as of now, the April Fools Day prank is rolling. Stay tuned!

Someone is jumping out of her skin at the slightest click of the door or of the window! No, no one’s gone cuckoo yet. It’s just our woman activist Irina who faced a rather bizarre situation. It’s scary for her but for the mean person deep down in all of us, it’s incredibly funny. What happened is, she had to get ready to be with her boyfriend Alex and accompany him to some charity foundation. Irina, being the fashion freak she is, decided to have a hot bath to pull up the glam quotient. So far, so good.

She was having her hot tub bath when she realized she’ll be late. So she decided to give Alex a quick call. That call never went through. In her attempt to open the door, she turned the door knob in the wrong direction and locked herself in! She thought there’s something that she can get around the lock, but with each unsuccessful attempt, she started losing her grip on herself. The hot tub was heating up the air and she was running short of air to breathe.

Thank God! Alex was due to come in. When he walked in, he heard the muffled thuds on the washroom door. He quickly dashed towards it and turned the lock to release her. It took Alex all of his persuasive skills to calm her down. She wanted to run out of the house. Alex explained to her how she locked herself in the hot tub. That calmed her down for sometime. She saw the humor behind the incident after some time and made Alex swear that he wouldn’t come out with what happened. But Irina being Irina, it was not long before she was on the phone, telling everyone who cared to listen how scary the experience was!

Megan has got Leo amidst us again! Yes, she tugged him along with us on the bar-hopping trip we had on St. Paddy’s Day. He was quiet on that trip initially. I think Megan threatened him in some way to hold his tongue. He kept up a benign smile which was no less irritating. I tried to keep my eyes off him. I don’t understand, but somehow he can really get under the skin and make you feel that you’ll do something desperate.

When we were all drunk to varying degrees, he had not touched a drop. I found that very odd. I mean why would anyone go out on a bar-hopping spree and not drink? I didn’t have to ponder long. When we were all exhausted happy, he began his motivational speech. My friends were ready to strangle him, especially Rick. Leo spoke on the tough times we were in (Thank heaven he told us! We’d never have known otherwise!) He also advised us on the waste of expenses such a bar-hopping trip meant. When Megan tried to tell him that we were just out to relieve stress, he began talking on ‘economically viable’ methods ofrelieving stress! We were exasperated.

The trip came to an abrupt halt. None of my friends were in any mood to continue Leo’s inspirational speech worked on the universe. It took the steam out a bunch of ready-to-go party peeps out for some fun. I wonder how he manages to make a career out of motivational speeches when all he can do to us was draw out our energy. And not just once, on several occasions. I think that is why he stayed away from drinking. He was always looking at this as an opportunity to try out his skills on us. I don’t think I want to meet him again. What about you?

Will is his name. If you have not guessed it already, I’m talking about Cathy’s colleague who has a crush on her. If you have not read that, you can do so here. Will is now friends with Cathy. He, as I had thought, did not make a move to be on talking terms with Cathy outside office. It’s just that his luck favored him and he got the right opportunity at the right time and made the most of it.

It may come off as staged, but Will actually bumped into Cathy at a cubicle corner. He apologized immediately and picked up the files and CDs that Cathy had dropped on the floor. Cathy, of course, thanked him and he is supposed to have said, “I’m glad I could be of some help.” Cathy was disarmed and they started talking on matters that were related to work. They were both concerned about the lay-offs happening all around them. They have exchanged numbers and are now regularly in touch

I know you guys want to know how Adrian is reacting to all of this. Frankly, he does not have much of a choice, does he? He is taking it as lightly as he possibly can. He’s being the supportive partner. But I know and so do some of our friends who know about the matter that he is in pain. Megan is concerned if their relationship would survive this rather curious crisis. I hope so. Would you like to suggest ideas to Adrian? Leave them on the Facebook group

Irina has decided to celebrate. No, its not her women’s activism or any other such reasons that has prompted her to uncork the bottle. It’s the birthday of her boyfriend Alex. Irina thinks he needs a special treat, and not only because she was rescued from a hot tub bath by her knight in shining armor (suit and tie in this case!). She has also been thoughtful enough to realize it’s the first birthday of Alex since he began dating her! Yes, you read it right. She made this point to Kate when she buzzed her up to fine-tune the birthday celebration plans. After considerable research on what would be the ideal birthday party for a political campaigner, they decided to cut out the add-ons.

From what I heard, Alex is a no-frills person. He likes to keep it simple and sedate. He doesn’t like a birthday party where people come in droves and get drunk. In short, if you ask the cynical person in me, he wants a boring birthday party! But, Irina is super excited about arranging it. She has called only a few selected friends, yes, I am one of the lucky few. Alex will call in some of his friends. But he is also against calling his professional contacts for a celebration like this, if you call it a celebration, that is. Irina has ordered his favorite dishes and drinks. Though our tastes don’t really match, I’m really looking forward to meet this guy.

This week we have to round off with a quote on humor. Here’s one by Ellie Katz: “Warning: Humor may be hazardous to your illness.” Simple, but a good rip-off on a more famous counterpart. Did you like the quote? You can leave a humorous quote too. Just drop in on our Facebook group