Tuesday was the best day of the year. April Fool’s!

After carefully planning what I considered a mind-boggling, knee-slapping, side-splitting article regarding April Fool’s Day and its humorous aura, I was notified that my column would unfortunately be pushed back to April 2 to make room for a Tony Bennett special. My flawless work of art was demolished. My heart was shattered, my mind rattled. It was the best prank of the day.

Nevertheless, I buried the proverbial hatchet and dismissed the situation as an ironic twist of fate. Yet, I still feel there is much to discuss on the popular holiday, the day after.

We’ve reached the aftermath. After another 364 boring days of sober honesty, the beloved annual festival of horseplay has passed once more. Toilet paper, packing peanuts and inebriated bodies litter Pullman lawns the morning after. Yes, it is finally April 2.

Not only did April Fool’s Day’s chaotic hoopla allow riddling pranksters among us to indulge in their inevitable tomfoolery, but it meant that in the probability of the holiday’s mischievous spirit, you were the punch line of an embarrassing joke. After all, the first of April is the day we remember what we are the rest of the year.

We’re fools.

April 1 was the day you checked the sugar bowl before mistakenly sprinkling salt on your cereal. It was the day you glanced in the mirror for a “Kick Me” sign. It was the day you watched your seat for a whoopee cushion. It was the day when lame jokes, elaborate pranks and cockeyed events were not only expected, but welcomed with childish hilarity.

Of course those who share my featherbrained fear of the slapstick holiday simply sealed their eyes, shoved their fingers in their ears and hummed, entering an impenetrable fortress of isolation in a vehement attempt to ensure that no matter what anyone said or did, they were not the fool this year.

You know who you are – the weak-kneed and lily-livered, trusting no one, questioning anything out of the ordinary and meticulously inspecting all personal items, bedding, toilet seats and chairs. This April Fool’s Day, you looked not just into people’s eyes, but through them. And at all costs, your objective was simply to avoid falling out of your everyday routine.

Then again, some of you approached April Fool’s Day the way I did – you struck first. You became a black belt in the art of hoaxing before a probable prankster could pull a premeditated gag on you. And it worked.

Before you literary critics begin to scold me, I know writing a column about April Fool’s Day jokes isn’t that funny, especially the day after. Every prank has been done before, and yesterday’s were – for the most part – pretty lame.

Swapping the wallpaper image on a friend’s computer with a screenshot of the computer desktop, removing the icons and watching as he or she panicked was lame. Dumping your boyfriend or girlfriend as a joke was lame. Informing your mother that you were pregnant was lame.

At any rate, there was still a number of April Fool’s pranks that deservingly captured unsuspecting victims. Super glued change to a sidewalk. Garbage cans filled with water leaned against dorm neighbors’ doors. Balloons placed over the tailpipes of victims’ cars. Icy Hot gel smeared on dorm toilet seats. A bottle of Jose Cuervo filled with urine left on the midnight bus.

OK, that one went a little too far.

But in the spirit of the holiday, the unapologetic humor offered comic relief in an otherwise monotonous world. And, to both the delight and dismay of many, it’s now time to move on to that same, boring lifestyle.

No fun. No games. No jokes. Today is April 2.