It all starts with poster board.
Getting mom to drive to the drug store to load up on the thick flimsy is a great start to a great project. Grab a sheet of white, a sheet of neon pink, and if you’re lucky one of those thick cardboard three-folds. Come on, we both know that cardboard added some scientific integrity to your research — the seventh grade equivalent of getting your work published in The New England Journal of Awesome.
Now, it doesn’t end there. Next you’re grabbing markers, spray paint, baking soda, and Styrofoam. Once you’ve got everything together you’re rushing home and getting down to science, people. The carpeted corner of the unfinished basement becomes your lab and it’s time to spend hours putting on lab coats, staring into microscopes, and pour bubbling green liquids into beakers. Also, taping.
Come on and let’s count down some classics:
6. The solar system. Jabbing those spray-painted Styrofoam balls with a straightened out coat hanger is a truly great feeling. As is painting a splotchy brown Australia on Earth and a big eye on Jupiter. If you want to go the To Scale route, remember to leave Pluto at home.
5. Volcano. There are two types of eruptions. First, there’s the Underwhelming Fizz — where you stare deep into the mouth of the fiery beast only to witness some rock-hard hunks of baking soda floating in a pool of strong-smelling vinegar. It’s disappointing, but you can always try again and hope for a Superblow — where everyone stares with wide-eyes as red ooze bubbles and slides down your carefully painted volcano onto the GI Joe townspeople below.
4. The one the kid’s parents obviously did. Also known as robbing your child of the thrill of scientific discovery in exchange for a B+.
3. Growing something. Whether it was lima beans or patches of fresh grass, it was a a classic move to study Sunlight vs. Shadows, Music vs. No Music, or Watering Plants vs. Pouring Coke On Them.
2. Coke is bad. Speaking of Coke, did you have that kid who left a tooth or some nails sitting in it for a month? The groundbreaking research typically concluded with a harsh indictment of the entire soda industry. And maybe a business card for the kid’s dad who was a dentist.
1. The one that didn’t work. Every science fair had a few of these gems. They were sad and beautiful at the same time. Because that down-faced ten year old standing in front of a dim lightbulb was learning how to deal with lost efforts and how to get back their drive after a fall. Keep that chin up, tiger. You’ll get ’em next time.
Yes, beautiful science fair moments were always a perfect close to months of hallway passion, energetic teachers, and long lonely nights cutting construction paper letters with pinking shears. Letting kids learn, letting kids dream, letting kids try and try and try — well, there’s just so much good that comes of that.
As they bottle insects, jab battery wires into lemons, and rub magnets together, you can see the whirring gears spinning with delight. Yes, all that learning just sponges, soaks in, and sticks there forever as the next generation of curiosity seekers tease their buzzing minds forward and forward and forward…
AWESOME!
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Girl Scouts.
Adorable and their cookies are delicious.
New pens are always awesome! Even more so when paired with a fresh notebook or pretty new stationary.
when you start to make cookies and just end up eating all the dough instead…
Waking up in the morning and realizing that your head is in the most perfect position on your pillow that you refuse to move and risk losing its
cloud-like form
Finding out that stuff that was cool when you were younger is, in fact, still cool.
I currently work in an elementary school with first graders and it’s amazing how many things stay the same. Kids still love making cootie catchers, dinosaurs, writing love notes to their classmates and teachers, really cheap plastic toys/jewelry, stickers, or very simple science experiments (like, watch what a magnet does to this paper clip!). Even small things like hair bows and Spider Man lunch boxes are still chilling among the cool crowd in first grade. Maybe this ties into the whole thing of looking through the world with the eyes of a child, but it’s great to know that some things will never change. AWESOME!
What’s a cootie catcher? When I was a kid, you didn’t want cooties at all. Was it supposed to keep you from getting them?
My little brothers use to come home from school and try to tell me a joke or something, one that I learn at their age in school. Its like the jokes are cirrculating the building or something. No new ones, just the same old awesome ones.
Walking out of class after finishing a big test.
No matter if you think you did great or….well, not so great, once you leave that chamber of anxiety and stress you feel a little lighter, a little happier, and a lot more relieved.
Because no matter what the result, you’re done with that sucka!
AWESOME!
Going to the fair!
Whether it’s a town, county, or state fair, it’s exciting no matter how old you are!
The rides!:
Ferris wheels, haunted houses, bumper cars, and the scrambler to name a few! Who cares that these rides are carted all around the place and put together at a moment’s notice? The sketchier the better! The element of danger just adds to the thrill.
The food!:
Funnel cakes, enough said! These doughy delights are enough to make me go to the fair over and over again!
The animals!:
There’s always a section with all kinds of farm animals, cows, goats, llamas, rabbits, you name it, it’s there! It’s like a world tour of farm animals.
The unforgettable memories with friends:
No matter how old you are, the fair is a place where you create memories that last a lifetime with your friends. The hot summer night, the crowds of people, the departure from the normal everyday activities….
AWESOME!
Jumping off the swing at its highest point.
Think back to first grade, when the swing sets were the place to be during recess. You would race to get the good one that wasn’t rusty and didn’t squeak. Once there, you started your journey. You gained speed, feeling the wind in your hair as you swing back and forth, slowly gaining altitude. Suddenly, you realize that everyone is watching you, as you have gotten higher than anyone else had previously. You know what you must do. After making a few last pushes for more height, you let go of the swing right before you feel it swing back. Your stomach turns as you suddenly have no seat to rest on, and you fly through the air and fall safely into the sandbox. AWESOME!!!!
A sandbox is a good landing pad, but so is a huge pile of freshly raked leaves!
the only thing that beats freshly washed sheets is if those sheets have been dried outside in the warm sunshine!
Defying gravity.
There’s this place in NC, “Mystery Hill,” where you can make a ball roll on an upwards slope, water flow uphill, that sort of thing. (The one in Ohio is a copycat. The North Carolina house was built four years prior. So, HA!)
And then, of course, your more basic forms of gravity defiance. Loops on roller coasters, skate boarders soaring off the half pipe, &c.
Just any way that you can break one of the strictest rules of this universe. . . or at least bend it a little bit. Awesome? I think so.
There’s one in NJ too! Ewing Avenue exit on Route 208. Awesome!
Friends that wear the same sized clothes as you!
Two wardrobes are always better than one.
Text messages saved on your cellphone.
The inbox in my cellphone is almost always full thanks to the zillion messages from past that I don’t have the heart to delete.
Some of these are from friends when I was having a bad time, some wishes, some random conversation I don’t wanna forget, some from a guy I secretly had a crush on!!
So when I am having a bad day or am plain jobless with nothing to do I read these messages and the feeling is AWESOME!!!
That’s the same reason why I save a few of my favorite pictures on my digital camera… AWESOME!
Drinking something cold and feeling it go down your esophagus.
AWESOME!
or drinking something warm and having your stomach feel warm! (especially good with hot chocolate…)
MMmmmmmmmmmmmm
exactly, thats what i’m sayin’
Opening my mailbox and finding an unexpected 5 lb bag of gummy worms from a great friend after a really bad day. Yeah, it was
AWESOME!!
Free samples at the grocery store!
Who doesn’t like free samples?? I remember as a kid I use to go with my grandma to the store and I would have to try every sample they had.
Don’t really find many free sample ‘vendors’ nowadays.
When someone compliments you on your new haircut.
New hair, new you. Even if I’m not sure if I like it or not, it makes my day when someone notices and tells me how much they like it. It’ s a little reminder that there are people out there that like you enough to pay attention to you and notice when you change things up a bit :)
Crying.
Just letting it rip, letting it all out and taking a load off. Gasping for air, wasting kleenex and having someone telling you it’s all going to be okay.
Finishing, printing, stapling an essay!
After staying up all night, desperately trying to make it to the 2500 word requirement and pressing that last “.” at the end and crying out, ” DONE!”
The look on the face of one of my students when he/she “gets” a concept they were struggling with.
Making a cup of hot coco or tea and your first sip is just perfectly warm, doesn’t burn your tongue and isn’t cold.
When your horoscope is really positive and/or accurate. It’s eerie but provides an AWESOME feeling, especially for someone with little real knowledge of astrology. It’s fun to check though!
Lying on the back outdoors and watching the stars on a cool, dark night. AWESOME.
When the person doing laundry before you cleans the dryer lint off the tray. Such a great little surprise!
Oh, definitely! And then because of that, you feel the need to clean off yours when you’re done and the chain continues!
The smell of the world after the rain. :)
The smell of freshly baked cupcakes.
It permeates everything and is super delicious. YUM.
The cool, soft, squishy feeling of your own pillow when you are really, really tired. Mmm, awesome.
When you wake up and think, “I did not die!” “I don’t die easily.” “One more day!” “Thank God I am alive!” “I knew I would wake up!” or any other variation expressing gratitude for being alive.
Awesome!
liking a food no one else in your household likes: you get to eat all of it.
I’m the only one in my house that likes pickles….so I like to buy a big jar. I still offer it to others just so I can laugh while I take a big bite.
The vast assortment of inventions and discoveries that have made our lives so different.
The moment that you think you might have a major discovery of your own.
Tasting something for the first time.
Growing your own plant.
The reflection of what you just did that you were scared of. Especially anything with high volocity, falling, flying, or risking your life and well-being.
Having a speech dedicated to you.
Being told thank you for things that you thought were being taken for granted.
It was previously mentioned by someone else, but skipping stones really should be up there.
Figuring out a very difficult riddle. The ah-ha! moment.
Beating your parents at a game they taught you, and later when your kid beats you at the same game after you taught them.
Working for a cause that is bigger than you, knowing that you did something.
Lay beneath the surface of water (a shallow pool is probably your best bet here) while it’s raining. It feels different than just being rained on; more of a massage.
Saving the life of an animal.
Staying up so long that you become “slap-happy”.
I love doing volunteer work. I am currently working with two organizations and yes…it does feel awesome.
i love the late-night giggles! the most mundane things become super hilarious!
You sat on the remote! Whaa ha ha ha ha HA! *gasp* ha ha ha *gasp* *sigh*
When the cop sees you speeding, but lets you go anyway
Because he has bigger fish to fry… the pump on the brakes and eye contact avoidance as you freely pass is AWESOME
I’ve got a few:
Popping bubble wrap– Love to feel and hear that crisp “pop”. So delicious I don’t want to stop. Starting to rap here…
Skinnydipping– It’s exuberant, adventuresome, freeing, sensuous, and so very unnaturally natural! Slip-sliding away…
Memory scents– It’s crazy when you KNOW that smell. It jerks you around to full attention. Your brain franticly stumbles backwards, trying to find IT. When and if it does, you are completely removed from the present back to whenever or wherever that scent impressed itself into your brain. Amazing.
Watching people sing and “sit-dance” in their cars. It just plain makes my day brighter.
Smelling a BBQ. Nuf said.
Eating an artichoke and then drinking a glass of water. Truly tastes like someone added a teaspoon of sugar to it. Really cool. Go try it.
Speaking of sugar–
Eating a teaspoon of sugar to stop hiccups. Works better than anything else. Wonderful release from torture, and eating the teaspoon of sugar feels so naughty, but hey, it’s medicinal!
Walking barefoot in really sloppy mud. That squish, squirt, suck and ooze feels so very goooood. Not to mention those highly irrevrant sounds…
Seeing a dog with his head out a car window, ears flapping, eyes peeled open, nose wriggling, and tongue lolling. Wheee!
Bubble wrap is my favorite!!!! Fun and a stress reliever.
yes…memory scents is one of the best things. Whenever I smell veggie soup it takes me back to my grandma’s house.
Movie day at school. I have always loved it when I walked into a classroom, tired and not really wanting to do much and the teacher announces that we are watching a movie.
I love those 3D books where you have to unfocus your eyes to see the hidden picture…those are awesome!!
Canadian Spelling
It’s always nice to have a bit of colour in your life.
Just seems to brighten up the whole neighbourhood!
That’s my favourite, eh.
The perfect combination of fluffy inside and flaky outside on a croissant.
The moment that your computer unjams. That is ultimate happiness!
Finding a good pen. One that writes good and doesn’t skip. Its so hard for me to find a pen that I like, but when I do find one I never let it out of my sight.
Knowing that, right now, you are exactly where you need to be (and doing exactly what you should be doing).
I’m expecting a pretty tumultuous year (baby on the way, threat of layoffs at work), but on the way to work this morning, I felt the incredibly awesome feeling that, right now, I’m doing what I love and life is wonderful…..and I should just enjoy each day that I get to experience this sensation :-)
Or even pens that click. Great stress reliever, just click away….yeah you’re gonna get on some peoples nerves, but at least you’re calming down a bit.
When you go to the dentist, expecting to have teeth pulled out, holes filled in and those pearly whites made whiter. So when your dentist is done poking, proding and scraping, and tells you that your teeth are fine, get ready to smile and show them off because your teeth are so perfectly..
AWESOME!
this happened to me last week! AWESOME!
When you realize at the end of the day that you’ve been wearing your underwear inside out all day but you didn’t notice because it was still comfortable!
Finishing your Matriculation examination test, that you’ve prepared for months and coming out of the classroom with tired eyes and feeling totally numb, and then realising it’s finally over. There are no more books to read and it’s time to relax.
Using a piece of a Twizzler as a straw. It brings you back to being 6 years old again!
It is kind of mean but “Getting that annoying song out of your head and getting it stuck in someone else’s” because nobody likes to suffer alone!
Getting the song I hate out of my head is great. Even though I usually turn the radio off whenever I hear a song I don’t like, it seems I learn the words to those quicker than to the ones I really like.
Beating your older siblings in something for the first time!
needs no further explaination,
AWESOME!!!
amen :)
YES!!!!!!! 2 older brothers and I was beating them at checkers and chess when I was 7.
Waking up too early to the smell of Bacon. You were out late on a Friday night, good times with friends or family, you drift of to never-never-land with perhaps a few too many liquid refreshments under your belt, but smug in the feeling tomorrow is Saturday and you get to sleep in . . . THEN BAM! There it is, that sweet, salty, warm smell of someone cooking bacon downstairs. You want to stay in bed – you’re not ready to get up, you don’t have to get up, but you do get up. You un-crumple yourself at the breakfast table, draw in a nostril full of that magical bacon aroma, savour the moment and then begin the day a bit too early – Awesomeness!
Drinking sodas out of a glass bottle. Glass bottles just feel so much better. I’d gladly pay the exrta 50 cents so that i can feel as though i’ve stepped back to 1956, sitting on a front porch on a summer day in Mayberry, just sipping on an ice-cold coke.
The first day you slip on your flip-flops after a long winter. Your toes aren’t used to the freedom of sock-less shoes, and that weird part that goes between your toes feels more than awkward. But then you walk outside and feel the sun on your freshly-painted toenails, and everything is alright with the world.