#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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Photos from: here and here

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

  1. Watching meteor showers on a clear night and realizing that, no matter how close they might seem, they’ll never hit you. Ever.

    Also that they just might be actual spaceships passing by Earth.

    1. I have never seen a meteor shower. :-(
      I don’t know why. maybe I just didn’t know about it when it was happening or I was busy and couldn’t get outdoors. I think I need to put that on my list of things to do.

      1. Bekah – August is supposed to by one of the best month’s to view metero showers and shooting stars. I hope you have at least seen a shooting star!

        1. Very few, but yes. I just never know when things like this is supposed to happen until the day after its over.

    2. Lived without air conditioning my senior year in high school and my freshman year in college.
      Mom didn’t have any during my senior year, then I moved out, but didn’t have an air conditioner until a few months after I had my daugher. I can’t live without it now.

  5. It’s so awesome to go swimming that first day that the pool is open. You see the water, you feel the sunshine and you know summer’s just around the corner. You gather your friends and head on down to your neighborhood pool, local Y, or friend’s backyard for the first time in practically a year. You jump in — it’s freezing, and you knew it would be, but hey! You’re swimming! Take that, Mama Nature. You may not stay in the water long, but if you’re like my friends and me, you shiver and float along in the chilly H2O if for no other reason than to revel in the fact that you’re rocking some kind of pre-season swim party :D

  10. Receiving wedding invitations from people you don’t really know.

    We all love our friends. And those weird connections we have because of our friends–those are always an added plus in those. That friend-of-a-friend working at Baskin Robbins that gives an extra big scoop on top of your cone, just because they recognized your friendly face. Or the mom that you run into in Target who can help you locate the mouthwash you’re looking for, so you can avoid asking a sales associate, who gives you a weird look, pointing to rows behind you where it’s on the first shelf sticking out in the aisle. Yes, random relations can come in handy. My personal favorite: the wedding invitation from the person you barely know.

    It happened today as I went to the mailbox to get, well, the mail. In it was a written out envelope, addressed to me. Snail mail is a rare occasion to come nowadays, especially in letter form. So when I open to get that wedding invitation from the brother of one of my best friends, a small smile came upon my face. I’ll put it this way–it’s not as if I’ve met the guy once; we just aren’t buddies. The age difference plays a factor in this one–the older brother never wants to hang out with the younger sister and her friends. Ever. So it’s not as if I’m being avoided. But to get that invitation in the mail…it’s nice to know that you’re actually memorable enough to invite to such an occasion.

    So whether you like admiring the template they placed such a date on, wondering why there’s always a sheet of tissue paper in one of these letters, or scoping out how well they picked on their future spouse, it’s one of those things in life that are just…awesome.

  11. Walking down the street mouthing the words of the song you’re currently listening to and not giving a damn about what others think of you when they see you doing that.

  13. First-day-of-school clothes in elementary school. As the summer wound down, I remember back-to-school shopping. There’s something special about those new folders and number 2 pencils, but the best is definitely picking out the back-to-school outfit. My dad would take me to the local department store, and I’d spend the day trying on clothes, until I found that perfect outfit. The first day of school rolled around, and I was ready to go, dressed in my brand new clothes, looking good and ready to learn.

  14. Getting Mail

    Now, I’m not talking bills, junk mail or credit card offers. I’m talking good old fashioned snail mail. Getting an invitation in the mail or a thoughtful card sent just because. It makes that dreaded trip to the mailbox actually fun, because you are excited to rip open that envelope when you see the return address…

  17. Hi there!
    I’ve been thinking of a couple things that are awesome, and perhaps I’ll be able to post them for future contests (or whatever) if I don’t win. But one awesome things for me is this:

    Going back to bed after you get up in the middle of the night to pee.

    Don’t you hate it when you wake up, you look at the clock, and it’s only 3:51. Ugh. The worst part is, the only thing that is keeping you up is that nagging bladder of yours, but your bed is just so comfy. Yet, if you don’t get up soon your bladder might explode (which wouldn’t be good for anybody). So you finally get up out of bed, stumble on over to the bathroom, and do your thing. Then once you get back to bed, there’s this whole new comfort level like you’ve never felt before. That nagging bladder has shut up, and the pain is gone. The bed suddenly feels softer than ever before, and you feel lighter, more relaxed; basically, it’s Heaven. Time to go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Yeah, I’d say that feeling is pretty awesome!

  20. NO HOMEWORK!
    I love evenings when there’s absolutely nothing I have to because they occur so rarely. I don’t have to work, practice was cancelled, and my room is clean. The sun is shining and it is a beautiful spring day.

  21. Awesome Thing?

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

    So when I went to Catholic Elementary school, once a week we would have song practice so that when we had mass later in the week we would be know the music. My friend and I always had competitions where we would pick a random number song in the songbook and see who could open the book closest to the number we picked. It helped pass the slow song practice, and it was always super exciting when one of us hit our number dead on.

    But think about it. What are the chances of opening a book to the exact page that you were looking for? If you have a ton of reading to do, and open your textbook to the exact place where you have to start, doesn’t it feel like the assignment just got a little bit easier? It sure does.

    This one gets bonus points if the book is longer. The ultimate “opening a book to the exact page you were looking for” occurs with one of those thousand page dictionaries…the kind that doesn’t have the helpful alphabet tabs on the side.

    So next time you open a book to the exact page you were looking for, take a moment to bask in the glory of an everyday victory that doesn’t happen everyday. Take a moment to congratulate yourself for one of those little things that is just

    AWESOME!!

    (EDIT: Congratulations, Jess! – Neil)

    1. Yes! I love doing this. My 7th grade teacher got mad at us for bragging about it, but when she opened her book to the exact page, she was super excited.

  22. Having your loved one sleep next to you and have that one moment of perfect peace!

    Ohh of course, the peace is only when he/she does not snore :)

  23. Lick-A-Beaters
    Apparently when my husband was young when his mom would make cookies he would ask for the lick-a-beater, so that is now what all spoons, beaters and paddles are referred as. Every one wants the lick-a-beater. My oldest child sneaks into the kitchen when nobody else is looking and asks me really quietly, like she doesn’t want any one to know she still likes it. My youngest child doesn’t even wait until I’m done mixing to ask. I have pictures of my oldest when she was two sitting on her grandpas lap while they both had a lick-a-beater. Last week when I made cookies with the girls at church, a shy little twelve year old girl who doesn’t talk much asked me if she could have the spoon. Don’t tell me the woes of eating raw egg in the cookie dough, The real risk comes when you put that perfectly good lick-a-beater in the sink.

    1. Licking beaters (and spoons and bowls) is the number one joy of baking! Raw eggs be darned! Love this, and I have fond memories of doing this since my childhood … and pictures / videos of trying to shove the whole thing in my mouth. I soon learned the proper licking techniques, though :)

    1. Totally. Pulling an all-nighter and seeing your work in all its perfectness brings tears to your eyes :)

  26. When the clock stops at work and you don’t realize it until 1.5 hours later and suddenly you are closer to leaving!

  27. When your garbage disposal is full—vegetable peels, eggs shells, etc—and you flip the switch. It makes the most satisfying sound when a full sink gets ground up, and then you hear the sound of the motor running clear. I purposefully wait until it’s full when I’m cooking, before I flip the switch, rather than do it periodically, so that I get the full effect.

  28. Taking a shower when you really need one…like after a day of cleaning up dog poo and possibly getting it on your face…all you have to do is strip off all your clothes and lather up from head to toe. Maybe twice. It’s just such a relief to know that all the nasties are washed away forevermore, and you’re free to prance around without feeling dirty anymore.

    1. The feeling of being clean is just as awesome as the thought of being able to get dirty again. And getting clean afterwards.

  29. Sand in your toes. It ‘s absolutely over used, but when you get down to it, it’s one of the most awesome things on this large planet.

  30. Having a gift or a card from someone you haven’t talked to in a while show up in the mail when your having a bad day. It’s the best when you get home from a long day at work to find a card in the mail from a friend or family member.

  31. My awesome thing of the day:

    Getting your online homework questions right on the last try (you only get 8 tries)….WITHOUT doing the reading from the textbook (YAY google!).

  32. Dewdrops

    On anything, grass, leaves, people, hair, anything.
    They’re like orbs of cleansing hope.

  33. Putting down that pencil after working your brain to shreds in a test. Nothing beats knowing you did your best and feeling free…

  35. Holding hands;

    It’s so amazing even The Beatles made a song just about how amazing it is.

    Especially if it’s with someone who loves you.

  36. Finding a missing puzzle peice.

    Yeah, it may suck to find it. But, then it starts the fun of finding said peice. Especially if it’s the last peice of the puzzle. Because then you’re on a mission to find it.

    And then when you put that last peice of the puzzle in and see the picture completed.

    Just, Awsome.

  39. When you end up in the middle of a group picture with friends. Everyone gathers around you making you feel extra special. You don’t have to awkwardly worry about what to do with your other arm. You get the best angle in the picture. And later it looks like you were the life of the party.

    AWESOME!

  40. It’s awesome to be the first person to mess up a new jar of peanut butter. This is similar to the awesomeness that is being the first person to use the new toothpaste tube, but it’s different enough to be its own brand of awesome. My family and I would (ahem, and still do) compete to be the first person to jab a knife into the fresh jar. Even if it meant eating far more peanut butter than you’d anticipated, via finishing off the old one JUST to get to the new one ;D

        1. What? No sucking around here.. Just extra awesome!

          If my sister was here, she’d comment that we should add an extra awesome thing, for being the first one to dip into a fresh jar of Nutella.

          She’d also comment that it would be awesome if there was a way that you could have Nutella main-lined into your bloodstream automatically. She’s a bit obsessed on this topic.

          1. I’m not even joking when I say that I’m eating Nutella straight from the jar as I type this. Which is, of course, awesome.

            P.S. Don’t think that’s too gross, I’m totally the only one around here (my apartment) who likes it/will eat it. :)

            P.P.S. Your sister would be correct.

              1. Oh my gosh. That was amazing. I especially liked “but you may be saving this for #1.” Hahaha. Please tell your sister that I think she is AWESOME! I’d comment after that one, but the chances of her seeing it are slim-to-none. Also, I think she’s right, you should get a free autographed book as well.

                1. Hey Neil.. see this? Laura wants me to get free stuff! Laura seems super cool.. do what Laura says!!

                  Free stuff for Freddo!

                  *storms off to chant this slogan with a picket sign, to the same cadence of “Donna Martin Graduates”*

                  (Go to 0:30 if you don’t get the reference.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iunYmHH0UNI)

                    1. Oooh.. I like it! If all the commenters were to join in the *slow clap* there is no way Neil could refuse.

  41. Hey!
    The most awesome thing is swiss cheese.
    A while ago I discovered that they make hole-less swiss cheese and I was mad. Holes mean less cheese and more money, and yet I’m doubt if I’m the only one who would pay more for holes. It’s probably one of the only foods where less really is more and it’s one of the funnest foods to eat. Plus, it’s fanatastically tasty (I’ve been told this is subjective).

  42. Sitting on dad’s shoulders.

    When you’re five and no one takes you seriously, dad would always be there to give you a boost and make you feel like you could do anything.

    AWESOME

  43. I know with the name I’ve provided, this doesn’t seem the case….but,

    When you’ve got a ridiculous name and someone pronounces/spells it right the first time. My last name is a doozy. In class, when calling roll, I always get that teacher that will stop in the H’s. That’s when I know it’s coming. They’ll squint their eyes, make sure there’s no letters missing, and look up to see if I’m watching. They’ll give it a shot, and about 90% of the time. Every once in a while, though, someone gets it right. And every time that happens it’s pretty AWESOME!

  45. GETTING A SILENT CART AT THE GROCERY STORE!!!!!!

    Getting a noisy cart that has a stuck wheel or squeaky bearings is the worst–but when you get a cart that is perfectly silent and doesn’t draw attention to you, it makes your shopping trip totally AWESOME!

  46. Closing all open windows/tabs when you finish a big paper

    Nothing feels better then when, after you have been working on a big paper for days, you finally get to close all the tabs and windows you kept open pertaining to the paper! You’re done!

  47. A home made meal.
    After being away for a while, mom (or dads) cooking just seems to be the best.

  48. It’s awesome to FINALLY get superglue off your fingers. That’s a horrible feeling to have dried superglue on your fingertips, rendering them dry, scratchy, and unable to receive any feeling. Then finally … it’s off! Yay!

  50. It’s so awesome (and fun) to use those hand dryers that blow so forcefully it makes your skin flap! :D

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