#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. Short Monday morning meetings. Meetings around here usually lasts an hour or more, but when its only ten minutes long its awesome

  2. The first cookout after a long winter. Invite a few friends over, fire up the grill, throw on some burgers and sit outside under the sun.

    2. Oh totally! First BBQ of the season is so great! It doesn’t even matter if all you have to cook are the freezer burned leftovers from last year, either!

  3. Procrastinating for tests and finding out that you aced it after. BIG sigh of relief and realization that you’re a genius – AWESOME!

    1. SO TRUE!! :D Nevermind the times it didn’t work out in your favor, this one by far makes up for it. You feel a great sense of accomplishment :)

  4. Those cars that travel with you on the interstate for a long time. Those people who travel the speed as you, it is a shame when one of us has to exit and depart the party. One almost feels as if they know the other car. Just yesterday I was on I-95, me and this fella behind went the same speed for at least half an hour, he mirrored me, I would pass someone and then he did too. Always kept the same distance, it was a shame we had to part. Probably the best part of driving on an interstate, in my opinion.

    1. Wow…. thought I was the only one….
      Whenever I’m on the interstate going on a long drive, I will pick out one vehicle going a decent speed and stick with it. I will keep my distance, but that one car is my interstate buddy. He keeps a lookout for cops, deer, and stalled cars on the road for me.

    2. I love this, too. You’re unspoken road buddies. I feel like they’ve got my back or something. You’re right though, it’s a shame to see them exit. You didn’t even get to say goodbye ;)

      1. This little guy just topped the charts in my heart, of one of my favorite songs EVER! THX:)

  6. It’s really awesome to watch something that you taped off TV onto a VHS long ago.

    My sister and I, every Christmas, watch this one tape that our parents taped about twenty years ago. It has “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Mickey’s Christmas Carol”, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Frosty the Snowman” all on one tape. Yes, we have since upgraded to DVDs of each of the aforementioned, but we have to watch the video at least once per season. Something about the whole experience contributes to a happy mood; the lackluster quality, the brief snowy interludes in between the movies, and most importantly, old commercials:

    Chia Pets, Domino’s, Crispix Party Mix, 7Up (the personified little dots), Duracell, Cabbage Patch dolls, Weebles, milk ads, Wendy’s (where’s the beef?), and many more.

    This is the only time I never have the urge to fast-forward commercials :)

    1. I love watching those old commercials. My mom has all the Charlie Brown specials and a lot of Christmas cartoons recorded on VHS. Love the old commercials, brings ya back to ”the good ol’ times”

  7. The Snooze Button.

    What an ingenius idea! Humans are naturally lazy, at least I know I am, and when the alarm goes off to get ready for work or school you just wish you could throw that disturbance at the nearest solid object for the gift of physics to bring you the sustenance of silence. Well, now that you’ve done that, you fall back asleep and when you wake up, you find out you’re late for whatever you had planned for the day.

    This is where the snooze button comes in, you wake up in the morning and instead of needing to spend your day purchasing a new alarm clock, you can hit this handy little button and sleep an extra 5 minutes before your alarm prompts you to get a move-on.

    That’s not all, it also lets you hit it multiple times! If you extrapolate that, you’re getting an extra 5 x t (however many times you decide to hit the snooze button) minutes before you have to get up to get on with your day. What an awesome idea.

  8. Truth or Dare.
    I remember playing this at sleepovers in middle and high school.
    Should I pick dare and have to lick a doorknob, make-out with a poster, eat something gross or pick truth and have to reveal who my secret crush is or what I really did with Johnny last week…. oh, the choices!

  9. When you walk through the well known streets of a well known town and *by chance* you find an unexpected street of beautiful old houses tucked away, or a park, or a shop which caters specifically for your hobby… that’s awesome.

  10. It’s extremely satisfying when you wake up from a fantastic sleep and you have hardly moved during the night, so you can just gently pull back the covers, slip out of bed, put back the corner of blankets that you just pulled back, and *presto*, your bed is already made. Awesome!

  12. When you are baking brownies and that first moment you can smell the aroma from the oven and it fills the whole house!

  13. Telepathy.
    You look at someone and they’re looking at you and you smile at each other because you both know what you’re both thinking.
    You’re communicating telepathically.

    AWESOME!

    1. Cookie – I’m looking at you, and we’re smiling and each other, and we both know what the other person is thinking.

      We’re thinking that the next post is going to be by “Cookie”, and be about Telepathy!

      Let’s go check if we’re right…

  14. Telepathy.
    You look at someone and they’re looking at you and you smile at each other because you both know what the other is thinking.
    You’re communicating telepathically.

    AWESOME!

    2. I don’t have a hubby, but it is awesome to be able to fix something on your own! Or do a “masculine” task without the help of a male. This weekend, my friend came to visit me and when she was about to leave, we realized her car wouldn’t start … her trunk had been left slightly ajar and killed her battery.

      My dad insists that I keep jumper cables in my car, so I had some handy and we were able to do it ourselves. We felt accomplished, even though that sounds silly.

      Note: This is not to say that I wouldn’t have gladly accepted assistance from a male should he have offered! Hehe.

      2. Reminds me of a few weeks ago. My bff calls me. She is stuck at college, her car won’t start. I always keep jumper cables in my car so I went to give her a jump. Turns out she carries jumpers too but no one would stop to help her. It was snowing and cold. I couldn’t get my car close enough to her car because she was parked in front of a fence and there were cars on both sides of her. Finally I got my jumpers out, turns out they were longer than hers and I could reach her car.
        There was a guy two cars down watching us the whole time. But I did it and it felt great. I was a little mad at the guy who wouldn’t offer a helping hand to 2 young girls having problems in the cold, but what are ya gonna do?

        1. Oh man! Well, good for you ladies. I don’t wanna pull a Spice Girls on ya, but way to put some girl power to work. That’s ridiculous.

            1. I have an insane desire to high-five you right now, Freddo. You’re awesome. I might submit you for consideration on the awesome list.

  16. Being in a bad mood a whole day, and then suddenly someone says something that cheer you up. AWESOME!

  17. when you have to change the shoelaces and you do it perfectly on the first try, without having to rearrange and mesure them.

    and this time you mention spain in your post, so i’m from beautiful barcelona and living in beautiful granada, two awesome spanish cities!

  18. One word:

    NICKNAMES!!

    The well-known ones that everybody calls you…People even introduce you using your nickname. They’re the nicknames that people use so much that some people don’t even know your REAL name.

    Or…

    The nicknames shared only between you and your closest friends. There may be special meaning behind it, or maybe not, but it’s still pretty AWESOME! =D

  20. Elementary school breakfast.
    Super donuts, breakfast pizza, lucky charms with chocolate milk

      1. Yes…that is a must. I have been disappointed a few times. There is a book that I have recently read and the movie is coming out or already is, but I don’t want to see it now because I don’t like who the main character is. makes me kinda sad. i was really looking forward to that movie.

  22. Winning anything from raffle!
    I barely never win, but when it happens, it truly is awesome! My best win so far were two movie tickets about an year ago. I was super happy when I found them in my mailbox and then took my best friend to movies.

    2. I know what you mean! I never win anything, either. Last summer I was at an outdoor music festival thing in Mississippi and there was a booth that was giving things away based on your birthday. I was so surprised to discover that my birthday was a winning one! I excitedly claimed my prize, which turned out to be a designer baby bib and matching travel changing pad, along with a collapsable hamper and some Shout pretreater.

      I don’t have a baby and ended up giving away everything but the Shout, but what’s sad is that I was still excited to have won something. Haha! :)

  23. Walking on brand new fat-soled foam slippers. Feeling your feet sink into the cushy splendor is akin to walking on clouds. Pure luxury.

  24. When a Child Guesses Your Age

    Age is a touchy thing. When you are young, you are dying for others to think you are older than you actually are, but the older you get, the younger you want to seem. The only time people don’t mind it when someone over- or underguesses their age is when it is done by a child. Young children don’t have a very good conception of age, so their answers are usually humorous. Whether they guess you are 6 or 86, it is sure to bring a smile to your face. Awesome!

    1. My daughter keeps saying that I’m 14, but my husband is 80. Its so funny. He is older than me but not by that much!

      1. Ha ha.. awesome..

        I also like your line: “He is older than me but not by that much!”

        I would hope that your husband isn’t 66 years older than you.. :)

    2. This is hilarious! I was in a class of kindergarten students and one of them asked how old I was. I asked how old he THOUGHT I was, because I knew it would be something hilarious. He didn’t disappoint. He said ” … hmm maybe like, one hundred and nine?”

      I’m 23. Hahahahah.

        1. Wow, to look so good would be a treat! ;D I’d say we’re darn near twins.

          No, thankfully, I am not quite there.

          1. Be careful though. It was just 86 short years ago that this woman was posting jokes to her “internet friends” on blog comment boards, talking about how ridiculous it is that someone would think that she was 109.

            And BOOM! She’s 109 already!

            1. I shall heed your advice and make sure to live it up over these next 86 years. I don’t want to be sitting in my wheelchair, regretting those comments!

              1. *cue your student walking past you in your wheelchair in 86 years: “BOOYAH! I knew you were 109″*

  25. singing in the shower. I always sound so much better in the shower than I do in the car.

  26. laying awake in the middle of the night and identifying the sounds of the house.

    when you’re young it might scare you, but when you’re older the “monster noises” turn into

    oh that’s the weird hum the furnace makes when it gets warmer, the fridge is clicking again, the dog is going down the stairs and he reached the bottom, Oh there’s the train, it must be 11:30….

    knowing what all the sounds are – AWESOME!

  27. Fun food!
    my favourite – anything that you can PEEEL apart slowly.

    Cheese strings, pull and peels, the old fruit to gos

    they look like just a clump but you get your fingers in there and after peeeeling back slowly you devour the yummy goodness!

    1. Eating the ENTIRE ice cream from the bottom up is deliciously awesome and takes some awesome skills.

    1. This one already exists in Neil’s long list of awesome, but it really is SOOOO awesome. Nevermind that you might have severed some nerves in the process, you don’t have to make a second trip. Worth the potential damage, if you ask me ;)

      When I lived on campus a few years ago, we had to park REALLY far away from the dorm where we lived. I don’t know what was wrong with my roommate and me, but we had gone to Walmart and bought like a 24 pack of bottled water, 2 cases of soda, and each had like 3 or 4 bags. Don’t ask me why we didn’t park in front of the dorm long enough to unload. For some reason, we just decided we could carry it all. This was such a bad, albeit ambitious, decision. We were so miserable and had to stop to readjust several times. I bet we were quite a sight (at one point I was balancing a package of bottled water on my head, tribal style). Anyway, we made it in one piece and I probably don’t even need to describe the level of accomplishment we were feeling ;D

  31. Catching lightning bugs.
    Catch them in your hand and let them loose or put them in a jar for an instant night light.

  32. Eating Junk Food Right After a Dentist Visit

    A terrible feeling: when you realize you have to go to the dentist tomorrow. You know rationally that any damge to your teeth since the last visit has already been done, but you make sure you floss for the first time in months, frantically thinking the dentist won’t notice that you don’t actually floss every day. You brush extra well, twice, and even use mouthwash, in high hopes that the dentist will compliment your teeth, say how beautiful you’ve kept them. What normally happens, however, is the dentist just reprimands you for not flossing and reminds you how important it is to floss and brush every day, at least twice a day. They clean your teeth and send you on your way, holding that little appointment card telling you your next visit. So what to do now? Your teeth are freshly, professionally cleaned, you don’t have to come back here for a whole 6 months! And then you know what to do. You’re going to eat junk food. Candy, McDonald’s, ice cream…Oh how great it feels to eat junk food first thing after a dentist visit. Awesome!

    *note: same concept also applies to eating previously forbidden food and chewing gum right after your braces come off.

    1. What’s better is having the dentist give you candy. Kinda ashamed to admit this, but i passed out in the dentist chair a few years back and after making me smell that really bad smelling stuff to wake me up, he gave me a candy bar to get my blood sugar up. Getting chocolate from the dentist is awesome.

  33. A One-Year-Old’s Birthday Party

    After a child hits the age of 2, it usually understands what a birthday is, or at least what happens at birthday parties. Food! Presents! Fun! A 2 year old gets this. But a one year old usually has no idea what is going on. The parents invite everyone they know to celebrate their little one turning one and everyone gathers for a huge party, often overwhelming the child. The poor kid doesn’t even get the concept of presents and the parents are the ones ripping the paper off the gifts. And then, the best part of the whole party: watching the little guy smash into his very own cake. Now here is something a one year old can understand! “There is a cake covered in frosting, sitting right here in front of me, and no one gave me any utensils to use for it…should I just use my hands? Mommy and daddy are smiling and encouraging me, I’m not getting in trouble…ok, here I go!” And then all the party guests get to take pictures and laugh while the lucky tyke digs in. Cake and frosting end up covering everything in a 3 foot radius and while cleaning up is a job for the parents, the day was great, the memories and the pictures will last a lifetime, and best of all, their little toddler is tuckered out and will sleep soundly tonight. Awesome!

    1. The icing on my daughter first birthday cake kind of stained her face for a day. We gave her a bath right after to try to get it off, but her face was stuck bright pink. So funny.

        1. Thanks Laura! Actually, I knew what it was (I’ve watched it many times and it is in fact awesome).

          I was just hoping that I could get Andrea to elaborate after she said “Need I say more?”

          I guess it wasn’t that funny, but I thought it would be great to get her to write several paragraphs on how awesome Shark Week is, after claiming that there was nothing more to be said on the topic.. :)

          1. I actually thought maybe you were joking, but I couldn’t leave it to chance! Thank God I didn’t elaborate too much … or else I’d be ashamed. Haha.

            1. Well, I didn’t want my rep to be that I’m that weird guy who spends so much time commenting that I don’t know any pop culture references to commonly known things like Shark Week.

              But no, your response was totally appropriate. When in doubt, I always drop the knowledge via wiki.

  35. Someone telling you that they are proud of you or you telling someone that you are proud of them. Its a great feeling both ways.

    1. Yes! Or in the case of the “Parent / tween” relationship: not being completely embarassed by each other. I submit the following totally geeky example.

      On the way to school the birds were singing, including a cardinal, and some other bird that had a “shriller” cry.

      My tween daughter then starts parody-singing to “Thriller”: “It had a SHRILLER! Shriller cry!” So I joined in and kept the song going.

      My daughter st0ps and looks at me and says “I’m glad you’re the sort of mom that doesn’t get mad when I sing weird things to Michael Jackson.”

      I looked at her and said “And I’m glad you’re the sort of kid that doesn’t think it’s embarrassing when your mom joins in.”

      Are we dorks? Yes. But we’re dorks who are proud of each other!

      1. It had a shriller… Shriller cry..
        And you know that spring has sprung when the cardinal takes flight..
        You know its got a shriller.. a shriller cry..
        I would watch it fly away but the morning sun’s so bright…

        *does awkward arm motions that is a cross between the Thriller dance, and a bird flying..*

  36. Watching a baby discover its hands. The baby waves his arms and his hands catches his eye. He can’t stop looking at them. He turns them in all directions with big eyes and an open mouth. So Awesome!!

  37. Can I just request that the winning entry for this week’s contest not be related to elementary school, like the last two were? I personally have very few awesome memories of elementary school, and it seems like there are so many more awesome things out there! Over 2000 entries for the first contest and almost 2000 for the second – there had to be something awesome among all those entries that’s not related to school!

  38. – mini concerts in your head when you have your head/earphones in and the volume super loud.
    – road trip sing-a-longs
    – high fives
    – high tens
    – people bringing you cups of tea/coffee when you didn’t ask….in bed :D
    – collapsing on your bed after a long day
    – sticking post it notes and stickers to people without knowing (cruel, but funny…”KICK ME”)
    – Accents :D (irish, english, american, italian and french…whether they make you melt with they sexiness or pee your pants from the funniness of them)
    – putting glue all over your fingers and then peeling it off
    – bubble wrap
    first time your allowed to go out shopping wiht your friends without parents
    – the heat of the sun warming you up sunbathing
    – first clean snow of the year
    – Finding the perfect item of clothing you were looking for in your size – on sale
    – big (/boyfriends) hoodies
    – Code names (whether they’re for boys you like or girls that are horrible…its great knowing no one has a clue what you and your best friend is on about)
    – late night sleepover conversations
    – laughing at the fakeness of a movie
    – ‘Ctrl + C’…’Ctrl + V’…”right that’s that homework done”
    – perfect neatness on the first page of your school book
    – perfect shot into a rubbish bin
    – laughter that makes you cry
    – note passing wihtout getting caught
    – making friends with old people
    – finishing lent or new years resolutions wihtout cheating
    – the game when you are little and wave to everyone in the big cars and lorries and they wave back
    – the ‘pop’ sound you can make with your finger and mouth
    – a perfect temperature bath
    – Friday
    – making up little silly songs abotu what your doing “bubbles bubbles everywhere…now i have to wash my hair…” (to the tune of twinkle twinkle little star)
    -AWESOME LISTS

    I know thats a lot, but me and my friends decided to make one.
    But, we think they’re all totally AWESOME. Hope you do toooo! :)

    1. I apologise ifthis end up annoying some people, however, I have just read how the winner is picked. And, as I understand it it is a random comment picker, therfore, the more I post, the more chance I have of getting my comments picked, and as I have given 30 ideas in one post, I’m going to add an extra 29 comments to this one :D including this little message.
      1

          1. 4 :) (also, smiley face emoticons when typing, because they add emotion to what your saying in your chat online; however, i do end up putting them into my homework by accident a lot :S )

                  1. I’m sorry to bug you, but Neil alludes to deleting “spam or hateful stuff” in the rules…so, it would be better to provide comments with some actual sustenance.

                  2. KatyW.. what happened? You promised us 29 posts, but you got tired at 7?

                    Where is the committment of the kids these days?

                    It’s like you just got distracted in the middl

  39. Here’s an idea for this week:
    When the song you’ve wanted to buy for months finally becomes available on iTunes.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love iTunes, but there are some songs – mostly those from obscure soundtracks or by non-American bands – that they seem to be averse to posting. The worst is when it’s a song that’s been played on the radio for ages, yet iTunes won’t have it until the CD is officially released – sometimes months later! So you go along and sort of forget about it, even though that tune is always somewhere in the back of your mind, and then, one day, BOOM! HOORAY! SUCCESS! That really awesome song that’s been stuck in you head for a year is finally available! AWESOME!

  40. Staying up all night. I used to do this a lot back in high school but I can’t so much nowadays. But one day a year I stay up for about 40 hours straight. Black Friday. I get up early on Thanksgiving, stay up that night and go shopping on Friday. A lot of coffee is involved and I get a little goofy, but staying up for 24 hours or more is awesome.

  41. Camping. I love camping. Out in the woods, under the stars, making dinner on the open fire, roasting marshmellows, the smell of bug spary (ok well, not so much the bug spray).

    1. Getting dirty and muddy and its ok because you are out camping. you are ‘one with nature’

  42. Aw man, I’ve had so many ideas in the past week, but now I forgot them all!

    I need to start writing these things down!

    1. Whenever i have an idea that I don’t want to forget I send a text to my work email.

    1. so true… as kids, we were led to believe you got a free tootsie pop if you got this lucky wrapper.

  44. The calm of the city when it snows.
    In all the hustle and bustle of city life, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But when the first snow flakes fall, the city seems to shut down. The snow covered buildings sparkling in the lights is breath taking and makes you realize how beautiful the world is. So curl up with a book, walk around the city, or start a snowball fights with friends. Enjoy the quite for the short time you have it. Awesome!

  45. Going swimming, jumping out of the water, running through the hot sun and then finally into an air conditioned house. The feeling from going cool to hot to cold is awesome.

  46. the crazy amount of energy you have right after you get over a cold. you’re down and out for days (weeks) and can barely walk around without getting sleepy, and then all the sudden you can put down the tissues and climb a mountain instead.

  48. Having a good nights sleep, and waking up refreshed. This hasnt happened in years for me because of school and Insomnia but when it happens it gratly improves my day :)

  49. Narcisstic people are awesome just for the fact that they can go on and on about themselves without tiring. I commend them for that.

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