#539 When you open a book to the exact page you were looking for

Neil Pasricha

You cracked the case.

Seriously, when you pop open that textbook, flip open the yellow pages, or split the spine of that beach novel right to the spot you’re looking for it’s a beautiful moment.

Suddenly you transform into a gloomy trenchcoat-wearing detective who solves the case just by glancing at the crime scene. Yes, the street’s been taped off, someone’s crying under a blanket on the curb, and the city police are filling out witness statements on their notepads.

That’s when you peel up in a navy blue squad card, calmly light up a cigarette, and then stare at the surrounding buildings for a few minutes with furrowed eyebrows.

Then you calmly walk back to your cruiser, smile softly, and roll your window down at the local police before screaming away down the wet roads.

“Page 127.”

AWESOME!

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1,354 thoughts to “#539 When you open a book to the exact page you were looking for”

  1. Hi everybody,

    This is a strange comment string.

    From March 29 – April 2nd, 2010 it was home to Week 3 of 4 of The Book of Awesome Contest. Of over 1300 entries received, one comment was selected randomly and one was selected to be expanded into the final #539 for the list. Both winners received autographed copies of the book.

    Pasted below is the original contest post, all the original comments, and all comments received after April 2nd. It sure is big and chunky but it makes for some fun reading.

    Neil

    –
    Original Post:

    #539 Your idea here.

    Wow!

    Week 2 of the contest is over and it was a doozy!

    Keep reading below for the full scoop or skip straight to the bottom to enter the Week 3 battle for two more autographed copies of The Book of Awesome.

    For those who want the debrief: Last week’s contest was amazing. You contributed over 1000 thoughts, explanations, and hilarious rants about what’s awesome to you! It was so great to read and y’all are so eloquent, thoughtful, and beautiful with your words.

    Congratulations to Joanne V. who was picked randomly to win an autographed copy of the book for her comment about watching little kids dancing. And congrats to Mandy I. who wins one for her suggestion which has been expanded into #544 Elementary school science fairs on the list.

    Coming up with winners was not easy and hundreds of people could have easily won. But that’s what makes this week so great. Now’s your turn! After all, we’re giving away two autographed books each week and the odds of winning an online pick-a-comment contest have gotta be higher than the car raffle down at the mall.

    There are four more autographed books to give away and I’m really pumped for the final two weeks of the contest. Here are the same Q&As as before:

    • How do I enter? Super easy. Just tell us in the Comments about something you find awesome what makes it awesome to you.

    • How do I win? There are two ways to win: One winning comment will be written and expanded into entry #539 on the blog and one winning comment will be chosen randomly! For the mathy folks, that’s two winners each week.

    • When’s the contest end? Can I enter more than once? How will you contact winners? Will you mail books anywhere? Do all comments have to be suggestions? Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay, let’s see here: 1) Each of the four weekly contests will end Friday at 5pm EST. 2) Sure, you can enter as many times as you want. 3) We’ll use the email addresses entered when you submit your comment to contact the winners. So make sure it’s not your spam account. 4) Yup, I’ll mail the books anywhere. Serbia, Slovaki, Spain, Singapore — if you’ve got an address I’ll get you the book. 5) We’re using a random comment picker for one winner which will include all comments — including thoughts or opinions on other comments. So keep chatting because it helps your chances. (We’ll just delete spam or hateful stuff.)

    • Any legal stuff? Yeah, all contest entries and comments become property of 1000 Awesome Things.

    • What if I have other questions? Just ask them in the Comments. Plus, that doubles as an extra ballot entry for you, too. We’ll ask some kind folks to help out answering questions throughout the week.

    So! Are you excited as I am? Are you ready to play? Are you ready to make the list? Are you ready for some free books? If so, it’s time to come on down, comment on up, and get ready to win your very own autographed little piece of

    AWESOME!

    1. Having a great story to explain your injuries.

      As I type this, I can barely walk–both of my big toes have been terribly abused in the name of making great memories. My right toe has spent the last week in a walking cast after my friend and I climbed on a trampoline–for the first time since we were kids!–and, while we were giggling and bouncing and flying through the air, she landed on my toe. Oof. The other one suffered its injury last night, at two friends’ wedding reception, where the girl in the convalescing boot led the conga line! But sadly, by the end of the evening, I’d worn myself a blister the size of a nickel on my non-broken big toe.

      Getting hurt sucks, but it’s made way better when you can tell your coworkers that you’re limping because you were having too much fun.

      AWESOME!

      2. I was climbing over a fence way back in the day, and came down on my ankle wrong and twisted it. It hurt so much that I came down too quickly on the other one and twisted it also. Although I could barely walk for a few days, I had no limp since it made no sense to favor one over the other. Not awesome at the time, but now it’s a good story to tell.

        At least I think it’s good.

      3. Definately! akthough that was like a post awhile ago, it had something to do with scars i believe…

      4. Hah! I have a story about this time I had to get stitches on my left butt cheek…and you’re just so right, it’s so much fun to tell stories like that and laugh at your own injuries with friends. :)

    2. Hey there.

      The most awesome thing is:

      Walking through your old childhood, while explaining a person from your new town, where your old friends supposed to live…

      Remeber everything that happened in your hometown. When you study or work in a new town, a new world, you don´t have so much time to visit your real hometown. But when you do and bring a friend with you, you have to take a walk with him to visit all the places that make you feel comfortable after all this years. You will say things like: “Ohh. Jimmy Smithson used to live over there, in the green one, he always stole my breakfast-milk.” or “Jenny used to live there…Summer ’92, oh my god!”. ETC.

      And the person you walks with you will recognize a big smile on your face, he travels through time with you and feels the melancoly, too. Even if he is at all this places for the very first time.

      Thats why visiting your old childhood is soooo awesome.

      1. Aww this is so great! But to be honest, its more awesome to you than to person you’r telling the long, disordered story with all the ‘oh and then there was that time, when…’

        1. Maybe you are right ;)

          But I kind of wrote it from the position of the listener, cause I was in that situation some days ago, when I visited a friend, when he stayed in his parents house. We walked a little while around… he told the stories..

          I thought it was awesome ;)

          But a very gut objection Alice. :)

        2. what about revisiting your elementary school, and seeing your kindergarten teacher, and she still remembers you!

    3. Ahhh, fresh fruit. Peaches, Strawberrys, Black Berrys, Apples, Oranges, Avocados…the list goes on and on. Healthy and delicious, they are nature’s candy. Both beautiful and tasty.

      Awesome!

    4. When you notice something new in your favourite program or video.

      We all have something that we love to watch, whether it’s a show, film or music video that really speaks to us, makes us laugh or reminds us of an amazing memory. But it truly reaches untold levels of awesome when you’re watching it for the hundredth time and you notice something that you never noticed before, a certain look two characters in the background are giving or perhaps a phrase that can mean something entirely different when you really think about it.

      Yes when this happens you experience the “Oh!” moment where you sit there and say “Ooooooh! I get it now” and want nothing more than to shout it from the rooftops wondering whether anyone else has noticed or if perhaps you are the first person in history to realise the truth. That is definitely an awesome thing.

    5. The Last Sweet in the pack
      You’ve travelled a long way to get that pack of sweets, and spent the entire way back guzzling down those sweet sugary chunks of hapiness. But you reach down, into the crevasses of your pocket and into the bag and they’re all gone. Your hand searches in vain to find another delicous nugget of joy…but the search is fruitless.

      So when you get home you pull the bag out of your pocket and are halfway to the bin scrunching up the bag when you feel a lump…you pull the bag back to shape and stare down at that final taste explosion that so nearly escaped your grasp. You savor the flavour and suck on it, no matter what sweet it is, it is the nicest sweet in the bag.

      Awesome!

      1. This happens to me all the time! Your disappointed when all your skittles are gone, But Wait! the surprise last one is still there, waiting for you.
        I wonder how many candy nuggets have been wasted because of careless people not realizing there’s is still one more candy nugget left

    7. Cracking open an egg and finding a double yolk. There is nothing more surprising and indulgent as whipping up a classic breakfast only to find two for the money in that shell.

      This recently happened to me twice in one week. Yes, I was eating a lot of eggs. Man, that must have been one fertile hen…

        1. It IS wild! I have seen this, and I know what you mean, Laura. It happened three or four times out of the dozen that we had. It’s crazy!

      2. Did you know they actually sell double yolked eggs? I bought some at a country store once. They were made that way on purpose! It was pretty awesome though!

        1. Not exactly “made” that way on “purpose”, but seperated from the singles and sold. A person raising chickens can’t make the chicken double yolk, only genetics and luck. It’s just like the odds of a human having twins naturally.

          1. Well Jay, thats a bit of a kill joy. Lets just keep the logic behind it as magic!

          2. how about the surprise of having two eggs in one. You think you have to crack open two shells, but ta da…only one.

          3. OK, you got me there Jay, good catch. But, still awesome to buy a whole carton of them.

    8. Winning a contest!

      It feels like, as adults, there seem to be less and less prizes awaiting us. As a kid, I always envied my brother for having the most amazing luck, winning anything and everything he entered his name into. But secretly, I always got to share the spoils. So I think it is great when your time comes along and brightens your day by winning a contest you forgot you even entered.

      1. I remember way-back-when my good friend Patrick started talking about going to Atlantis. No he wasn’t high. Apparently he found this giveaway trip to a hotel/ resort sorta-like place. And because it was in the back of a Lego magazine, he was sure he’d the only one entering it. All I can say i, he never went to Alantis…

      2. I spent one summer in college without a job, so in order to do fun stuff, I entered a LOT of contests. I basically made sitting by the phone my full-time job, and because of my dedication (I would spend hours calling to win concert tickets), I actually won quite a bit! I got to attend 4 concerts and got tickets to the movies! Too cool!

    9. Cool Stuff in Public Bathrooms:
      It’s so awesome when you go to the bathroom somewhere, and there is SOMETHING cool in it that distinguishes it from the average public bathroom.

      1. The hand dryer from the future: Those hand dryer thingys that just have holes for your arms, and you stick your hands in up to your wrists and slowly pull them out while super-air blows on them and drys them!!

      2. A Different Soundtrack: When the bathroom is playing great music, OR if they are teaching you Spanish (or other language). In some Mexican restaurants, you can learn Spanish words while going to the bathroom! Talk about multi-tasking…

      3. Full Length Mirrors: Because, come on, at least some of the reason you’re in the bathroom is to see how you look. When you get a bathroom that has a full length mirror, get ready for an extra boost of self-confidence as you check out full-size you.

      4. Lotions and hairsprays and other stuff to try: This bathroom at a local bar near me keeps all these goodies in their bathroom! So I can spray my hair, use their lotion, and have at least 4 options of hand soap.

      5. When there are a million stalls: You walk in (for ladies especially), thinking it’s going to be cramped, you may have to wait, and that 2 of the 3 seats are going to be covered in pee. But you push open the door, and there are a hundred stalls!! Surprise! Your chances of a clean stall are much higher now.

      6. When everything is automatic: Once I was in this bathroom where stuff that I didn’t even know could be automatic, was! The toilet automatically re-covered itself with a new paper cover after every use. Then you get up and it just automatically flushes. Then, you just put your hand under the soap dispenser, and boom-soap! To rinse, just simply put your hands under the faucet. Then wave your hand in front of the paper towel holder, and there you have it! In and out with barely touching anything!!

      Whatever it is, cool random stuff in public bathrooms always makes the experience a little more enjoyable, plus, you get to go tell all your friends about it so they can go in and check it out. Everyone bonds over the surprise non-traditional bathroom stuff. AWESOME!

      1. My friend and I were in a Mexican restraunt, and the bathroom doors signs were in Spanish. Lets just say she quickly came running out of the wrong bathroom

    10. Having a sun warmed vehicle awaiting you in the parking lot on a cold day after a long work/school shift.

      I think one of the most awesome moments comes after walking through a large parking lot on a cold, gloomy, drizzly, rainy day, opening your car/truck door and getting in only to find that it is warm and cozy! … all thanks to the awesome power of sun beams! It’s sort of like all of the things that probably went wrong that day don’t even matter because the world doesn’t hate you quite so much to leave you with a cold car ride home.

      This awesomeness is multiplied if your shift ends at dusk when its already getting dark… then its even more unexpected! It’s like your car loves you so much that it is willing to hold the sun’s warmth to share with just you!

      1. That sounds great on a cold day, but where i live it, my car only seems to become unbearably hot on the hottest of days :( not so awesome

    12. Blowing real hard at a dandelion that has gone to fuzz and watching the fuzz float all around.

    13. I don’t know if you covered this already, but thinking that you might be sick with something pretty serious, or broke a bone and then finding out it’s not all that bad after all. Or having a family member go through that, feeling the apprehension of waiting for test results, x-rays, etc and finding the lump isn’t cancerous, that bone isn’t really broken, it’s only sprained, etc. I find that feeling pretty Awesome!

      1. Yeah, like “close calls” in general: almost getting run over by a bus, nearly forgetting to pick up the baby at the sitter’s, not quite falling into the well, just getting grazed by the bullet, that sort of thing!

    14. The moment of happiness when you listen to a song that you haven’t heard in a while and you remember all the lyrics.

      The radio’s on, and you’re absently listening to some tunes and driving with some friends. You hear a familiar chord and suddenly your foot’s a-tappin’ and your head’s a-bobbin’. It’s one of your favorite songs that you haven’t heard in ages. The first verse is a little rocky, but after that catchy chorus, floods of rhymes and melodies flow off you’re tongue. You were able to recollect almost every word. This song must be that good to stay in your brain for so long. Just like finding a lost earring in your sock drawer, you were able to wade through everything else in your cluttered mind and extract a wonderful, valuable piece of information.

      AWESOME!

    15. My idea – finding a wallet you think you have lost

      This actually happened to a colleague of mine this morning in New York of all places.

      It was raining heavily so he caught a cab to go a breakfast meeting. At the end of breakfast he reached for his wallet couldn’t find it – so he assumed he had dropped it getting out of the cab.

      He left the restaurant an hour after he arrived – and there was his wallet sitting in a puddle next to the sidewalk. Best of all – it still contained his driving license, credit cards and cash.

      So sometimes torrential rain has an upside

      Shanny

    16. Care Packages

      There is absolutely nothing better than coming back from a long day in class/at work and seeing a package with a return address from Mom (or even better…Grandma :)). You eagerly run up the steps, open the door and find the first sharp thing you can find to slice open that finicky packaging tape.

      Now comes the best part…what’s inside.

      If you’ve got one of those academic moms, it’ll usually be a book, some pens and maybe a new note pad moms who worry you don’t do your laundry enough you probably find sheets, dishwasher detergent and dryer sheets; and if you have a chic mom sends that pair of shoes you’ve really been wanting, accompanied with a new headband.

      The best though is the mystery box. Inside is everything ranging from Scooby Doo BandAids and that classic movie you’ve always wanted, but never had to a crazy pair of socks and a singing toothbrush along with assorted other knick knacks you’ll probably never use.

      And of course, the best part is tucked away under layers of tissue paper at the bottom of the box. The cookies, to “share with your roommates,” aka eat by yourself and remind you why you love Mom (or Grandma) so much.

      AWESOME

      1. Good one, Katie!
        Anyone else old enough to remember those “Tang” commercials where the kids at camp are getting care packages, and “Marty” on the top bunk is opening his.
        “What did you get, Marty?”
        “Oh…underwear.”
        …packages of Tang fall to the floor, kids grab them up.
        “Underwear, eh Marty?”
        For some reason, “Underwear, eh marty?” became a catch phrase of my childhood.

    17. Attending community theatre auditions.
      Yes, the plays and musicals are great, but the auditions are FABULOUS. Watching your mailman delve into Hamlet or your dentist belt out a show tune will give new depth to your world. Really, finding out about anyone’s hidden talents or passions is pretty awesome.

    18. so i’m sure someone’s already said this . . . but i’m going to have to go with bedhead baby. i mean, really. AWESOME.

    20. At first, I want to thank you for this AWESOME site! :)

      So here goes…

      I really like tea, but what I like most is forgetting you made your tea. It’s that moment when you sit down on the couch, turn on the TV, get bored for a bit and then –
      you remember you left your cup in the kitchen to let the tea brew! You go get the cup which is all nice and warm, not hot, and the tea tastes just right. Then you don’t even care what’s on TV, you have your tea to drink.

      That for me is awesome!

    22. Watching your favorite funny movie with a friend who’s seeing it for the first time. You laugh BEFORE the funniest parts because you know what’s coming. Your friend gives you a funny look.

      You just KNOW they’re gonna love it.

      Awesome!

    23. Having exact change at the vending machine.

      It’s 2am and you have a paper due in 7hours. No time to take a nap but you could sure use a pick-me-up. Wander to the vending machine in the hallway and start counting out your change from your wallet. 55, 60, 65, 75.. ugh only 5 more cents needed for that bag of m&ms staring at you from behind the glass window. You reach into the pockets of the sweatpants that haven’t gone through the wash since, well we dont really want to know how long… YES! amongst the lint and crumbled post-its rests a lone nickel. Click those coins into the machine and down drops your sugary snack – with only nickels and dimes it doesnt even feel like spending money.

      AWESOME!

    24. Let me tell you what is awesome:

      When you first bite into a delicious apple, and the juice flows down your chin. But then you realise, a little bit of apple skin is stuck between your teeth, and it ruins the rest of the apple for you. For days afterwards, you feel this nagging irritation on your gum, and nothing, not fingernails, not toothpicks, not toothbrushes or floss will get it out. Then, one day, as you go about doing your mundane daily chores, you just feel it slip out from between your teeth. That feeling of absolute unadulterated joy, to be able to pass your tongue by there and not feel a bit of apple skin. That is awesome.

  2. Any kind of break from school, whether it be spring break, winter break, or summer break. I think of it as the school saying to us, “You’ve worked hard. You deserve to take a load off. Have fun.”

    AWESOME!

  3. It’s awesome to be the first person at the red light. You get to zoom off as soon as the light turns green instead of having to wait behind the long line of people who are not paying attention :)

      1. Your absolutely right, its a natural high when that light turns green as you nail the gas pedal a better distance then you normally would as you glance into the rear view mirror and see all the cars behind you get smaller and smaller. Providing you live in a town with several timed lights and you know the timing of them it makes it even better. :) It is an AWESOME feeling.

    2. I totally agree! Sometimes I slow down to be the first one at the red light when there’s a lot of traffic just so I can zoooom off toward the horizon! Awesome!

    1. Yeah! I like when I’m finished eating a lollipop, pretending the stick is a cigarette.

          2. yes!!!! banana gun(s) I always want two…one for each hand and then pretend i’m at the OK corral…bang bang…and back in their holsters :)

  5. It’s awesome when you cook something that tastes good, especially if you weren’t expecting it to!

    1. :-) I like to experiment in the kitchen and my poor husband is always my guinnea pig. haven’t gotten too many complians outta him.

  6. Finding old toys and playing with them is SO awesome. Play-doh, Barbies, GI Joes, Strawberry Shortcake, finger paint, Legos, stuffed animals … you get the idea. :)

  7. It’s awesome when you find a CD that’s so scratched, you just know it won’t play … but it does!

  8. Eating chinese takeout(or any kind really), right out of the little takeout box! No utensils other than chopsticks required, AWESOME!

  9. It’s awesome to have house guests (usually). It’s an extended slumber party; always lots of excitement, good or bad.

    It’s equally awesome, too, when they leave. This sounds bad, but hear me out! As great as it was to have them there, it’s always nice to be able to clean up, get your routine back to normal, and have some space. :)

  10. It’s awesome when you pay for one thing but get two:

    “The bartender accidentally made two Long Island Ice Teas, this one’s on the house!”

    “We accidentally put pickles on this burger, but you’re welcome to take it anyway — we’ll just throw it away.”

      1. Oh yes. That’s already one (the double-up at a vending machine) … I’m thinking that this (my idea) is very very similar! Oops!

        1. The opposite is happening right now – our vending machine is out of change, so everything is a dollar. It’s interesting listening to the comments as people realize they are helping increase the vendor’s profits by 10 to 15 cents with each purchase.

          1. Hey, Ken, here’s an idea: start paying for things with smaller change! Just an idea!

  11. Finally having enough tickets at the arcade to get an awesome prize… none of that 25 ticket bubble gum, or that 100 ticket crappy yo-yo… finally, you can get that HUGE teddy bear that costs 10000 tickets.

    :]

    Definitely an awesome moment.
    [At least in my life. ^^]

    1. Yes! I still have this awesome Dr. Seuss hat from an arcade visit when I was younger. :) I can strongly remember that I was one ticket short of getting it, so I had asked a passerby in the arcade if I could have a ticket and they gave it to me. ^_^

    2. We always did that at arcades… we spent months pooling our tickets for that huge ridiculous laser-light lamp or a disco ball. Ridiculous, but awesome!

  12. It’s so awesome when your teacher lets class out early, or when your boss tells you to go ahead and leave a few hours early.

    Even if the amount of time is spent doing nothing, it’s time that is very valued!

  13. Waking up on a Saturday morning and thinking its Friday morning. The dread and anxiety that pumps thru your veins for those few adrenaline filled seconds is completely washed away when you realize its Saturday and you can stay snuggled in bed for a few more hours! The relief and happiness is undescribable. Awesome!

    1. I’m embrassed to admit it but that actually happened to me just this past Saturday and I felt more like an donkey butt when I called my boss to tell him I was running late!! ROFL!!

  14. It’s awesome when the store cashiers keep the coupons from that week’s ad at the register, at the ready to save you money! Forgot your coupons? Don’t worry … they’ve got them and will happily combine as many offers as they can to get you a good deal. So awesome.

    1. That IS awesome. Or if you have a close friend willing to let you be weird … and pull their skin off too. :D

  18. Busting open a piñata at a party! That candy is coming down because of that incredibly powerful swing of your bat.

    AWESOME!

    1. I remember the first time I bashed open a piñata. I got candy and… a pair of disguise glasses. xD

      AWESOME!

    2. Even just watching kids take turns at a Pinata is pretty awesome. Where I live, there are a lot of kids who have outdoor birthday parties in local parks, and their parents usually have Pinatas strung up from some tree.

      My wife and I often stop and watch all the kids take their whacks whenever we see one of these parties, and it never fails to bring a smile to our faces.

    4. Watching the pinata that you made is also pretty cool. I have made easy ones for little kids, a rubber covered one for a man’s 30th, and a 42″ diameter one with a huge target on one side for a 60th birthday.

      The best part was watching them try to break it open and the mad rush after.

    5. Anything that you break open to get a treat inside is awesome, but especially if you have to work at it a little, and maybe even get a little violent. You know what I’m talking about: pinatas, kinder surprise eggs, walnuts, those toys in the vending machines that come in those impervious plastic shells, etc. There’s a special satisfaction when you’ve had to go a little medieval on it!

  19. I know there’s already a post recognizing the awesomeness of “Your mom’s scrambled eggs”, but I think your mom’s macaroni and cheese is also worthy. Mmmm. So awesome.

  20. It’s awesome to go on a family vacation with another family or to have a friend come on vacation with your family.

    If you’re close enough with the family, you’re aware of some of their, um, quirks. If you’re not, this is the time to discover them! Same with them and your family. It’s a week (or more!) of closeness, sometimes unbearably so. But despite all the issues that inevitably arise, much fun is had, memories are made, and pictures are taken. :)

  21. It’s awesome when someone drops by your office and brings you coffee and/or a coffee shop goodie. They know you well enough to know that this little pick-me-up will start your morning off with a smile.

  22. It’s awesome to .. GRADUATE! :)

    Applicable to anything, school or not school, in any stage of life. It’s always a celebrated accomplishment.

  23. I awoke late one rainy morning last week and remembered, to my horror, that I’d forgotten to take out the trash the night before.

    I looked out my window and realized my neighbor’s garbage was still at the curb.

    I breathed a slight sigh of relief and rushed to get the bags, get my shoes on and get outside. The hauler had just turned down my street. I waved and he waved back.

    The sun might as well have come out because my day had gotten off to a better start. Awesome!

  24. It’s awesome to find an old diary / journal / blog and read your former-self’s thoughts and rantings.

    When I was in high school, Xanga was the big thing to have. So everyone got one (technically a blog), though no one really blogged in what is now considered traditional blogging-style. Anyway, every now and then I go back and read what I wrote and I simultaneously laugh, blush, cringe, and feel pangs of nostalgia.

    1. For whatever reason, I shut down my xanga a few years ago… I now wish I hadn’t, as I want to read what I wrote!

    2. About a year ago my bff and I found her old diary and we went through it and read everything. Made an entire night out of it. We laughed so hard and even cried a little. It was so awesome. I didn’t keep a diary in high school and I regret it.

  25. I love it when I see people of one culture eating in a restaurant of another culture. For example, when I walked into my favorite Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) restaurant the other day, I was taken by surprise when I saw a few American families. It’s nice to know that there are people out there who are willing to steer away from the norm and try a sampling of another one’s cuisine. Who are willing to respect what everybody in this world has to offer to Earth’s platter. In the form of food! And anything else for that matter. ;)

    AWESOME!

  26. It’s awesome when you re-try foods that you have never liked, only to find out that you are now a fan! Broadening your tastes is almost always a great thing :)

    1. Yeah! Or listening to a cd you never had liked before and now realizing that you love it!!!

    2. Just did this last week with a biochem test. Thought I did awful and ended up with an A! Absolutely AWESOME!

  28. It’s awesome to get so engrossed in a book that you read the whole thing in one sitting.

    1. *cue mental image of my unshowered, hungry, sleepless wife, mid-way through the third book in the Twilight saga..*

      It’s not as awesome as you might think. I literally had to pry the books out of her kung-fu grip and force her to come to bed.

      *shudder*

      1. HAHAHAHAH! That mental imagery was pretty awesome! I’ll go ahead and explain that I’ve never skipped a shower in lieu of reading … but I’m not married either, so I suppose I could do that without inflicting my nastiness on another! ;D

        1. Well.. it IS 4 books.. but have you ever opened one of them? They’re printed in size 26 font.. it’s unreal?

          I think its just to make teenage girls feel like they’re reading really thick literature, with tons of pages, but I swear – if your printed those books in “regular” font, they could be consolidated into a single, thin volume.

          1. I’m proud to admit I’m a female who has consciously decided to not read the Twilight Saga. BAM! Team ME!

            1. lol… Team Me… I’ll have to tell my wife that one..

              You’ll have to continue to be viligent however. She was trying to hold out as well, but once she (very skeptically) started out on the first book, she immediately turned into the unwashed troll I described above, as she hungrily devoured all four books.

              For my part, I maintain that I learned everything I needed to know about vampires from BtVS.

              1. Oh, I am so diligent in my convictions. One time I even passed on hanging out with all my friends because they were planning to watch Twilight. Lame, yes. Caving to pressure, no. :)

                I’m sure that I WOULD end up liking it, and I can’t bear the shame.

                Yeah, I feel like BtVS kinda doesn’t get any credit for paving the vampire trail. ‘Cause now EVERYTHING is all about vampires, but Buffy did it before it was the thing to do.

                1. The movie was TERRIBLE. I somehow got suckered into watching the first one, and it was unimaginably bad. The wife claims that the books are way better than the movies, but the movie was unwatchable, so I’m not sure that’s saying much.

                  And this isn’t some macho guy saying this – heck, I’m usually LOVING things targeted at highschool girls (i.e., Buffy, Veronica Mars, etc.) but I was shocked at how awful the movie was.

                  Just wanted to make sure you knew that WHATEVER you did that night instead of watching that movie, was time well spent.

    2. This reminds me of my daughter’s Grade 2 assignment: what would you take to a desert island. She wrote “I would take food, water and books. Because you need them to live.” Amen, girl!

  29. Baked goods warm out of the oven are awesome. The smell, the melt-iness, the warmth… worth almost burning your fingers!

    2. I really like it when baby photos of people are scanned onto a cake. Just did this for my mother in law. It was her 6oth birthday. One side of the cake was a recent picture and the other side had her first baby picture. So awesome. No one would eat the pieces of cake with her face on them, though.

      1. Ha ha “no one would eat the pieces of cake with her face on them”.

        “Nose piece? Anyone? I have a nice piece here with an eye? No one wants a piece??”

        1. Its just creepy. “Hey honey…give me a peice of your mom’s eye, that looks really good.” LOL….Just creepy.
          The cake looked really awesome, though.

  31. It’s so awesome to get caught in a warm, sporadic, summer rain.

    You’re just out doing your thing; maybe you’re walking around downtown, on your way to get some ice cream after dinner. Maybe you’re out in your yard, pulling weeds from the garden. Maybe you’re playing tennis with a friend. All the sudden, completely unexpected, the sky opens up and rains. Just for a few minutes. It’s the best: you’re not at risk for getting struck by lightning. You’re not freezing to death in gross cold rain. You’re not even mad, because it happened so unexpectedly that it’s just fun. Splash around and enjoy it for a minute!

  32. Finding unexpectedly someone you knew on a train or bus.

    After a big day of school or work and when the sun is down you’re starting to feel tired and pissed for some unknown reason but suddenly you have that 1.5 second eyes meeting with your old friend that you didn’t see for months. After realizing who she/he is, you go sit beside them and start chatting and exchanging phone number. The awesomeness in this is that your train ride doesn’t feel ssoooo long anymore and you can go back home with a smile on your face. :]

    AWESOME

  33. It’s awesome when you were little when you went to a friends house and it ended up being a sleep-over and having your mom drive over to give you your pajamas and toothbrush.

  34. It’s awesome to watch home movies. The poor video quality, the funny clothes, the cheesy narration — it’s all amazing. The memories come flooding back and you feel warm and fuzzy, maybe even a joyous sadness in watching those who are no longer with you. You can reminisce over the weird furniture, the bizarre choice of wallpaper and carpet, the old hat that grandpa used to wear, and what pieces each of you remembers from that particular moment. Also, it’s a great opportunity to bury your face in embarrassment when you watch yourself push your little sister down, back-talk your parents, and pick your nose. Hey, no one said you were at your best … but those WERE the “good old days”! :D

    Note: Also applies to old photos.

  35. It’s awesome to unexpectedly see someone you know when you’re on vacation. This happens an eerie amount to my family. We’re from Missouri, but have run into someone from our hometown when we were in: Charleston, SC, Destin, FL (x2!), and even Hawaii! So bizarre and unexpected.

    1. When I was growing up several families on my street went to Myrtle Beach, S.C., at the same time every year. I never understood the appeal.

      To me, vacation is about getting away from your routine and experiencing new people and new places. (Of course, this doesn’t include randomly running into people you know, especially if you haven’t seen them in a long time.)

  36. When you’ve pulled off a successful all-nighter after procrastinating for an REALLY long time.

    YOU’RE DONE! Now’s the time, you get to flop on your bed, rest your head on your fluffy pillow and sleep sound knowing that you’ve completed your last minute paper/assignment. Sure you shouldn’t have procrastinated, but you did. You gave way to the power of laziness and paid the consequence of last minute panic, that stresser that’s universal for all students alike. But you know what? YOU ARE a student and that’s what students do. Yes, it isn’t fun while it’s happening. You yawn, your intake of caffeine doubles in size, your eyes burn and your internal clock despises you, but you’ve overcome the late night battle. You’ve fought the tiredness, you’ve overcome that hurdle and you can rest easy… until the next assignment that you leave until last minute.

  37. Homemade movie remake

    Reproducing a part of your favorite movie, from the epic scene from “La Fureur du Dragon” to the romantic kiss of “The Notebook” it will always be AWESOME

  38. feeling like you lost something and after hours and hours of turning the house upside down you give up. but then, years later, you find that one thing you were missing and still have some use for it.
    awesome.

  40. Music from when you were younger.
    I think I was about twelve when I got my first CD player. As a child of about that age two of the first CDs I owned were Disney Classics. Now, in my early 20s, when with a group of friends talking about movies from our childhood and thinking of those songs, when someone starts singing them, I go a lot further in the lyrics than most can because of these CDs. When you were a kid, that’s what you did, you listened to the same CD over and over and over again because you didn’t have iTunes with 10,000 songs on it to shuffle through, you had one CD and it would play its 15 songs then you would either hit play again or change the CD. Because of this, these lyrics are imbedded in our very beings, and still cause people’s eyes to open when we bust out all of the lyrics to A Whole New World, or Under the Sea.
    Fast forward a year or two:
    As I moved into the tween years, it was the early 2000s and the music popular for my age group at that time were groups such as the Spice Girls, N*Sync, the Backstreet Boys, S Club 7, etc. Now, close to ten years after getting into music there is still a place in my heart for these genres because they bring me back to those times. It was fun having crushes on boy bands and wanting them to be your boyfriend, it was a good time making up dances to Britney Spears (her first CD), and it is still lots of fun when every once in a while one of those songs comes on the radio, especially if you’re with all your friends because you still know the song, and every word to it.
    I know that this is not just the case for me, either. In grade twelve one of the teachers I had and her girlfriends like Duran Duran when they were younger, and during that term she went to one of their concerts. She told us about it during class, before and after. Music just does that to people, it brings you back to a better place.
    Listening to the old music one grew up with, whether it was Disney, late-90s Pop, or whatever you grew up with, it’s always lots of fun, because whether you want to admit it or not you still know all the words, and you still sing along because of the memories it brings back. It truly is Awesome!

    2. I agree,
      also when you have a favorite band/bands that no one has ever heard of. Being in your car and you play that band and everyone turns and looks at you with the ‘where did find this band’ look!!! Amazingly AWESOME, also knowing the name, artist, or album of a song, or somtimes all three

      1. Steph, I must be about the same age as your teacher. In the ’70s, the first music I got was on vinyl. When I was a teenager in the mid-’80s I had Duran Duran’s Rio on vinyl. I never saw them in concert though.

        I love the ease of downloading music, but miss one thing about albums. The cover art on many, including Rio, was just awesome. (CD covers just aren’t the same because they’re so small.)

        1. I was born in the wrong era. I am with you on enjoying the widely-available selections of music, but I would have LOVED to have been able to buy albums as my primary means of music enjoyment. I love album covers. My roommate and I, a few years ago when we lived on campus, decided to (respectfully and carefully) use album covers and albums to decorate our room. We were both drawn to them. I have grown up listening to records my whole life, as my parents always played records (we even own a jukebox!)

          http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v42/166/44/34300743/n34300743_31276603_6737.jpg

          1. Albums have made a slight comeback among audiophiles, who say they just sound better than CDs. Some bands put both out. I don’t know how good the cover art is. Dave Matthews Band’s last CD’s art probably looked fantastic.

  42. When kids are really, really happy to see you. They run to you, screaming your name and give you the biggest hug ever. What a way to feel validated!!!
    Awesome.

  43. Presidential pets

    OK…who didn’t LOVE it when the Obamas decided to get a puppy?

    And how amazing was Checkers, who was immortalized in Nixon’s speech as “the only gift he was going to keep” while defending his mildly illegal funds?

    Because every White House, be they Republican, Democratic, whatever – they’ve all got pets. Maybe it Socks, Clinton’s cat who disliked their dog, Buddy. Or maybe it’s William McKinley’s Mexican double-yellow-headed parrot who makes your eyes twinkle. It’s because it’s something you have in common with the First Family. It helps you remember that hey, despite all that governing, at the end of the day they go home to a wagging puppy butt, a slow but loving tortoise, or a purring cat too.

    http://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/whitehousepets-1.htm

    1. This really is awesome. It’s so random but I seriously love presidential pets!!! It’s always been a big deal too, like “oh the Queen of England in such-in-such time was known for her spaniels”
      So great :)

    1. Absolutely.Getting my entire 5th grade class to sign my cast was totally worth all the itching underneath my cast (I used to try to scratch underneath it with a chopstick)..

      Also, this leads to the obviously awesome moment of getting your cast removed!

    1. Or like when the combination of songs follows a random theme.
      Recently I got “If Rap gets Jealous” (K’Naan) immediately followed by “Jealous of your cigarette” (Hawksley Workman).

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