AuTalkz II - 017 - April Fools Jokes

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Because today is April Fool's Day, I decided to touch on jokes and such...and break the fourth wall a little. 

Anyway, I've always had mixed feelings about April Fool's Day; on one hand, I like it since I have an inner prankster.  On the other hand, I don't want to be the butt of a joke.

Yes, I have done jokes/pranks...but they were silly things, as my sense of humor is different.
When I was younger, I'd practice and tell a straight out lie (which, looking back on it, was super obvious) and then say "just kidding, April Fool's!".
Really, I wasn't fooling anyone, but it was how I played around during this day.
When I got a little older, there were pranks I wanted to pull...but I never liked getting into trouble, and even something as simple as switching the water with a bottle of Sprite soda just seemed to be...I dunno...something I couldn't do.
I did Rick Roll people for a couple years when that was a thing when I was a bit older (I even did this in an MMO called Mabinogi; that took a lot of prep, but my character had plenty of ranks in instrument, so I pulled it off). 
I also had written a couple short stories which I'd post in my journal/blog which were crazy, but just realistic enough to be believed...then come out and say "nope, this is fiction...April Fool's!".
One year, I pulled a joke (another written story prank) on April 2nd because I figured "nobody expects an April Fool's joke on April 2nd!".
Nobody really got it, and said "hey, you can't do that because it's not April 1st"...but it was still legit in my mind.

Point is, I was always really...I'd say "simple" and "low-key" in my jokes. 

There are a couple reasons I was like that.
When I was younger, I didn't truly grasp the concept of April Fool's Day, and I legit felt sad and hurt when someone would pull a prank on me.  I knew it was a day to pull pranks, but pulling pranks is sort of a special thing in that it can easily hurt someone if they aren't a good friend or family member and KNOWS it's just a joke.

Friends rib each other...usually.  I don't really do this except with my brother, because we know we're just joking around.  I hate being ribbed and-or laughed at; it doesn't feel nice, and coupled with being bullied since 3rd grade onward, I can never tell if someone is playing an innocent joke on me or if their intent is less than innocent.

Let's face it...some jokes aren't funny.

When I do jokes and pull my silly "pranks", I have a Golden Rule:
NOBODY GETS HURT

That includes emotional pain, as many jokes can embarrass people as well.

Now, I don't know if my understanding of jokes and pranks (as well as my unwillingness to do something more than just being silly) is because of having ASD (being unable to tell whether or not I'm being truly made fun of or if it's just a friendly joke)...or because of years of emotional torment in the form of bullying.

It rates along the lines of understanding sarcasm at times, which is why I did this issue.  I considered making a prank issue, but I didn't want to prank my AuTalkz audience...I felt it'd be rude and mean.
It's hard to tell where the line is between "teasing" and "being mean".  More than once, I've hurt people's feelings unintentionally with teasing, even though I thought it was just friendly ribbing.  Once I was called out on it, I felt terrible of course.

More differences between "normal" thought process and "autistic" thought process; this time, on jokes.


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