#786 Getting recognized for doing something you love

Neil Pasricha

Not cool in more ways than onePolar ice caps are melting, pirates are storming the seas, wars are heating up around the world, and the stock market is in a deep freeze.

Dude, it’s getting pretty ugly out there.

If you’re like me, sometimes you think about putting on boots and a raincoat, battening down the hatches, and hiding under the bed. If you’re like me, the only reason you haven’t yet is because you don’t know what hatches are, you’ve never battened anything before, and boots are pretty expensive.

these-boots-arent-cheapNow, we started up 1000 Awesome Things a few months back as a tiny getaway from this everyday. It’s just a brief escape from the downpour of bad news and sad news raining upon us, and I’m just some guy trying to remind myself of the simple things in life. Together we help create a place where unemployment figures, gun crimes, and rising sea levels sit backseat to wearing underwear just out of the dryer, the other side of the pillow, and old, dangerous playground equipment.

This is what they were drinking at the time

This week some nice folks sitting in lawn chairs and sipping lemonade down at the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences truck stop decided to nominate us for a Webby Award in the category of Best Blog – Culture/Personal. It was an extremely surprising and humbling gesture, and so I just wanted to stop for a day to say thanks.

Because honestly, getting recognized for doing something you love is a great feeling. Whether it’s a friendly ass-slap from the third base coach after your big home run, the long and loud applause from your grandparents after your screechy clarinet solo, or a simple “I had a great time” comment from someone you had a great time with too, well that’s what it’s all about.

So today I say thanks, everybody.

Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, thanks for submitting ideas. Thanks for raising this barn, thanks for voting this blog up, and thanks for being a community of fun-loving, eyes-to-skies optimists. Since regardless of race, taste, home country, or pant size, the eggheads at Wikipedia say 99.9% of our DNA is the same, we’re all living together on this spinning, blue rock trucking along on the same bumpy ride.

And I guess I just want to say it’s great trucking along with all of you.

Thank you so much for being

AWESOME!

(To vote for 1000 Awesome Things at the Webbies, please click here.)

We all live together on a pretty rock

Photos from: here, here, here, and here

50 thoughts to “#786 Getting recognized for doing something you love”

  8. Battered, yes. Battened, no.

    A well-deserved nomination. I am honoured to be a part of the global phenomenon that is 1000awesomethings. Good luck!

  9. oops, I meant to post this message at this entry…

    BTW, everyone that loves this blog…please take the time to vote for it for a Webby.

    It only takes a few minutes and Neil gives us so much and it is a great way of saying thanks.

    Don’t make Freddo have to come down to your place of business and give you trouble.

    1. And trust me… I’m pretty good at “giving trouble”.

      But seriously – voting for this blog is like voting for happiness and rainbows. And you wouldn’t want to vote against rainbows, would you?

      Plus, with more recognition, more people will get a chance to read these funny, uplifting (and all too often, bathroom focused) posts!

      1. Attn: World

        Not that kind of rainbow; you can be assured that supporting this blog will not offend God, nor will it weaken the bonds of any heterosexual marriages of which you may be a part.

        1. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

          This thread reminds me of an old favourite moment from “The Daily Show”. Frank DeCaro is reviewing “The Sixth Sense” and plays the clip where the kid explains why all his schoolwork drawings have changed from being dark and creepy to now feature colourful rainbows: “They don’t have meetings about rainbows.”
          Frank DeCaro: “Honey, in my neighbourhood, they do!”

  12. Congratulations on the nomination and thank you for having such a wonderful blog. I look forward to the work week, just to get a daily dose of awesome.

  13. Yay! congrats! i love love love this website all of my friends read and we refer to it on a daily basis. keep up the good work :-)

  14. Dude –

    I gotta say – reading your blog makes my day! In fact, it has become a staple in my office. Keep it comin’!

  16. Congratulations, I look forward to reading your blog everyday; work day that is. It is good to see someone getting recognized and nominated for something good that they do. Just bringing a little simple idea to mind is AWESOME!!! Perhaps just being alive on this palce we call earth is the most awesome thing!

  18. Great job! I look forward to every new day because there’s another awesome thing out there to praise and appreciate, and you’re right–we do all contribute to it. Congrats!

  19. I just wanted to say that I actually got to your website from the Webby awards (and I had come to the Webby awards cite from a Flight of the Concords referral to vote for them), and your website is now my homepage. What you’ve done with this cite is just incredible, and very entertaining.
    You deserve it,
    Lesia

  22. Congrats again, Neil…. I just know you are going to win… how could you not? It’ll now be 1001 Awesome Things!

  24. I did my part rockin’ the vote! 1000 Awesome Things is in the lead!! and I have to say, that is just…
    AWESOME

  25. Congrats! Can’t imagine any other site being as deserving. I voted.

    Thank you again for always giving us something to smile about.

  26. Wow!!
    This blog is like infusing fresh blood into the whole world of blogging. Seriously, I love the simple yet funny way in which you put forth and discuss some of the common little things we see in life. I have to give you credit for verbalizing those random thoughts that runs through almost everyone’s mind (like the last crumb in a bag of chips, to falling asleep in the backseat of a car) and presenting it neat. As for eyes-to-skies optimism, I am all for it.

    Great work on this blog dude!

  27. Congrats! I didn’t find this blog until you were already deep into the countdown and so I am eagerly trying to play catch up reading roughly 10 awesome things a day. You are the first blog I go to after checking my emails. Keep up the good work and I haven’t found anything unawesome about this blog up to this point!

  29. For the 50 Millionth time Congrats this blog is awesome. I love spending my work time browsing through the entries. And your blogroll is pretty sweet too.

  30. For some reason, the second to last line “And I guess I just want to say it’s great trucking along with all of you,” made me think of “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
    – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby”

    Beautiful. Thank you for making my everyday…
    AWESOME

  31. Thank you for providing one of the best blogs in the world. You have made me laugh and made me cry, which in my book is something that only good writing can do. You have touched the lives of many and we will continue to follow you religiously on the rest of your journey of 1000 awesome things.

  33. Awesome website and book…awesome ideas…awesome comments…AWESOME is the person that sent this to me…he should have a section all for himself – a selfless, thoughtful, kind, awesome human being who shares his financial wealth and his wealth of knowledge with everyone lucky enough to be in the circumference of his life.

    Thanks to great men!

  34. Pingback: The Power Of Awesome! « Spirit Lights The Way

  35. I try to read a bit of this blog every day. Though I’m primarily a realist/pessimist, this shoots some optimism into my day, thus making it that much more… awesome.

  37. I’m late, but it was well deserved. I’m still working my way down the list. I saw an article on cnn about this a few weeks ago. I started at 1000 and so far, I’ve enjoyed evey post!

    I like being behind, because I can read as many as I want in one day :). When I catch up, the anxiety of waiting for the next day’s post may be too much for me. Lol.

  38. Congratulations on your Blog and your book. Much rather read this blog than watch the news. I put a lot of work into my community website so it’s nice to get the occasional “nice job” comment – keeps you going :)

  40. Never too late to say Congrats, you so deserve everything and “Thank you”
    Led Zeeplin ,(but not Glen Close) style. =D

    1. So, now you can tell, this is my “Price is Right” site!
      All due respect, Led Zepplin, Glenn Close and Neil Pasricha!

  42. Wow i kno i didnt miss a day but my streak says i missed yesterdays but i just want to know is 70 the limit of ur streak ?!

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