#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. Listening to kids sing always makes me smile and gives me chills, usually! It’s so sweet and innocent sounding, and you know they’ve practiced so hard.

      That video is awesome!

  6. Your first job.
    Fast food? babysitting? tutoring? Walmart? Avon?
    Mine was working at a gas station. I loved it. I really bonded with the customers. I miss them. I still see some of them out and about and we stop and talk.
    I will never forget the experience that job gave me. I now have excellent people skills, among other things.

      1. Getting any paycheck. I still get excited to get mine handed to me. Its a direct deposited now, but i still get the ‘this is not a check’ check. Excites me….until I open it. LOL

  7. Opening your first checking account. It was my way of going into adulthood. Get any design on the checks, get a debit card…you’re good to go. I felt like I was someone. I still have Wizard of Oz on my checks to remind me of that first time I signed my name on a check.

  8. Deja vu.
    I feel like I have been here before.
    I have heard you say that once before.
    Did I dream of this place?
    This situation right now, what you are doing, how you are standing, what you are wearing and what you just said seems so familiar.

    Stop and give it a think for a moment.
    Its awesome.

    1. OMG! I was gonna submit Deja Vu as a topic of awesomeness today! Great minds think alike :D

      … and from what I can tell, there must be a lot of really great minds reading (ahem, and WRITING) this site!

  10. Here’s my Awesome thing :)

    Hearing a song and getting shivers

    You know, sometimes when you’re feeling down, sometimes when you’re feeling up, or when you’re not feeling at all, you’re drowning your sorrows in whatever way you do, and suddenly, you hear a song, perhap’s it’s a song from your childhood that reminds you of better things, maybe it’s a new favourite that get’s you dancing around, or perhaps it’s just so achingly beautiful it brings a tear to your eye. The point is, when you hear this song, your song, it sends a shiver down your spine, and sometimes that’s all it takes to get up and out of your gloomy mood, or dancing around the kitchen, or wherever you are, and that feeling when a song sends a shiver down your spine is just pure…

    AWESOME!

    Thanks for all your comments and your consideration Neil,

    -Jamesy

  11. Catching a glimpse of unexpected wildlife during your daily commute, or while you’re out running errands. There’s something so satisfying about spotting a deer while you zoom by at 70 mph – at first, you catch something out of the corner of your eye (“could that be a….?”) and then there’s one little second where your suspicion is confirmed (“it is!”) and you feel like you’re Steve Irwin (“crike she’s a beaut!!” :-))

  12. Getting the job you have always wanted. One you worked so hard to get, studied so long for, and dreamed about forever. The one job that defines who you are and the one job you love to go to everyday.

  13. Your signature.
    I had mine down pat, looked like scribbles but it was mine…then i got married. Still looks like chicken scratch but I had to practice a while to be able to write my new last name so fast.
    A few loops here, maybe a dot there, your signature is awesome.

  14. When your car starts rumbling and shaking, so you’re thinking there’s something wrong, but then you hit a patch of road that’s paved differently and it stops, and you realize it was the road, not your car. Being saved a huge repair bill: Awesome!

  15. ELECTRICAL BLACKOUTS IN THE SUMMER.

    It’s so dark that if it’s a clear night, you can go star-gazing… you manage to eat all your leftovers because you can’t cook or you can cook outside if you have a grill… listening to scary stories in a room lit by a single candle… having the windows wide open so the breeze can get in because there’s no AC… you can go spend some time outside, watch the sunset, read a book…

    1. It’s even better if you have a whole bunch of fireflies movin’ around outside as your only source of light.

      Just awesome.

  16. The 3-D books where you have to unfocus and cross your eyes a bit to see what the hidden picture is.

    1. I’m so bad at those! I’ve never been able to make them work… not that I don’t stop trying though!

      1. I faked it when i was little. My brothers could always see them and I felt left out. I never saw the lion on hill or the big flower, but I always said that I did. Now I can do it and its awesome!

        1. Bekah, I did that too! I couldn’t figure out how to do it when I was little (and my younger sister could), so I’d cheat and flip to the back of the book so I’d know what it was. Then I finally figured it out and was so happy :)

      2. Unrelated comment:
        Are you (Laura with the pink flower box) the same Laura as the Laura below with the Blue Pinwheel box? Just curious if Bekah is enjoying plenty of witty repartee on this comment page with two different Lauras (Crazy!) or one Laura with two different boxes.

        1. We are two separate Lauras! Though if I’m being honest, I’d say we are both pretty awesome. And yes … we both seem to like the back-n-forth with Bekah! Hehe :D

          1. Crazy. This is a pretty Laura-heavy board. There are even more Lauras than just the two of you, too!

            Plus, everyone likes the banter with Bekah (aka: Green Square).

            2. See without the colored squares, we would have probably never known. So the colored squares ARE awesome! :-D

              1. They ARE awesome! My pixelated-looking Blue Pinwheel is my alter-ego … maybe I’ll make it my Facebook profile picture ;D

  17. When you find out now that the person you had a crush on in high school liked you too

  19. Parades! No matter how old I get, I still love heading out to parades. Free candy, waving at kids on floats, firetrucks blasting their horns… the whole experience is awesome!

  20. Blowing up Peeps in the microwave. The colored sugar stretches, their heads expand and flop over, and juuuuuuuuust when they’re about to burst, you stop the microwave and shove the pile of goo in your mouth. Awesome.

      1. Yes, yes you do! I feel like I’m 5-years-old every time. They do actually burst if you let them go too far though, so be careful!

        1. How long is too long. I don’t wanna have a horrible marshmellow mess to clean up. I really wanna try this out now.

          1. Usually 7 seconds is the limit… just watch it closely and when it expands, pop open the door!

    1. I still wake up at 5:30 on weekends. Alarm isn’t set, but I wake up anyway. Knowing its Saturday, i just go back to sleep. Internal clocks are awesome

  23. Another one…randomly finding silly putty at home or buying it randomly at a store. What else copies stuff and has that awesome texture?

  25. Being able to actually set up your tent without the instructions. Mine is big and very tricky. I’m still perfecting setting it up.

    1. Being able to find flat ground for your tent. No rocks, tree roots, sticks, or on a hill. AWESOME

  26. Senior moments. We were visiting my folks one day when my son was 4 years old. He got up early and made breakfast. My mom came into the kitchen, opened the fridge and found a box of cereal. She put it back in the cupboard where it belonged and found a half gallon of milk. She was thrilled to know that even young children have ‘senior moments’ once in a while.

    1. LOL…….whenever my step-dad misplaced the remote, my mom always found it in the freezer.

  30. Dousing yourself with ice-cold hosewater, then jumping in the pool.

    Do it yourself, or have a friend do it if you can’t inflict it upon yourself. Squeal and hop around like an idiot for a few seconds. Then jump into the pool. What felt slightly cool before now feels like bathwater. AAAH. :)

    I did this all the time when I was a kid, and it was always awesome. It’s an excellent method for people like me who are complete wusses when it comes to entering a pool whose water temperature is best described as “refreshing”. And when you use the buddy method, it’s fun for the hose-wielder too.

    1. This is awesome! I love doing this, too. Or sometimes – kind of the same – if you’re at the pool when they’re adding a bit more water, swim over by the spigot that’s blasting out freezing water: this works either way. If you’re cold in the rest of the pool, this positively freezes you for a bit, but then the rest of the pool is warm. If the pool is already hot, then this is a great cool-down!

      :)

      1. Yes! I haven’t had much opportunity to experience that but when I have it’s been truly awesome. :)

  31. Bear Hugs.
    Nothing fills the void in your open arms better than your best friend, your mum, your dad or that someone special. It doesn’t matter that you can’t breathe because they squeeze so tight… it feels awesome.

  32. My idea for something awesome? That first green plant of spring. It’s been cold for weeks, and you are at that point where you are just miserable with all the chilly grey days
    Sure, it’s usually a weed, and there probably is still frost on the ground, but in that first little hint of life you realize the cold is gone, and that spring is just around the corner.
    Much better than Groundhog day for making you realize the long hard winter is over.

  33. Texting an friend all day while you are at work. yeah…I’m working, but I’m having fun too.

    1. Wow…what is wrong with my typing today?? This is like the 10th mistake on here I have made today.
      **Not an friend..LOL… A friend***

  34. Winning an internet contest.
    Yes! Sure. You entered knowing it was a long shot.
    Not expecting that “you won” e-mail.
    AND THEN! One new inbox message!
    You click as faaaast as you can, oonly to see..
    its from your grandmother.
    BUT! Check the junk mail!
    THERE IT IS!
    that feeling of shock and awesome filllls your chest,
    you call your best friend,
    and soon, your copy of 1000 awesome things is on its way to your door step.
    Congradulations friend.

    AWESOME!

  35. Blowing out all the birthday candles in one try. It gets harder when you’re older ya know. But it seems to me that your wish is absolutely certain to come true if you have to work that hard.

  37. The unexpected outcome of a science experiment.
    Whether it’s something you’ve seen in science class, a cool “Mythbusters” episode or the time you discovered you can’t lick your elbows. Science rules. *Bill Nye tune*

  38. When you turn on the TV to a movie’s opening credits.

    You don’t know what the movie is going to be so you stop and watch the production company’s names roll by hoping it is something you love.

    It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen the movie a million times, or have it on DVD already, the fact that you caught it on tv makes it so much better!

  39. Learning how to play a guitar riff from your favorite song.
    or learning your first riff
    What’s the one song everyone first learns how to play? Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple, right? Its so easy and awesome!

  40. The “never-ending pee” When you go to the bathroom and think all liquids are out of you but you just keep going and going and going!

  41. Playing pretend.

    Playing pretend was and is so awesome. Anything goes! If you have lots of toys, those toys can be anything. If you don’t have toys, that’s ok! You don’t need them anyway.

    I remember, one day, years ago, my sister, next door neighbor, and I walked the perimeter of his house for hours. We just kept going ’round and ’round … and ’round. But it wasn’t his house — we were on a jungle hike! We’d stop occasionally at their backyard fort … ahem, I mean, our ranger station, to rest and gather supplies. And it was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done.

    Dress up, complete with mom and dad’s funny old clothes; a play kitchen with a gourmet Play-Doh meal; swing set McDonald’s drive-thru; sidewalk chalk roads upon with to Rollerblade and bike-ride … I could honestly go on and on.

    Imagination is a dying art.

  42. It’s awesome to put Ivory soap (yep, it’s gotta be Ivory!) in the microwave. I won’t give it away incase people don’t know about its awesomeness, but it’s great!

    1. Is this actually awesome, or are you just trying to get me to ruin my microwave? :)

      Come on, give me a hint.

      1. Oh, it really is awesome! Keep in mind that I’m kind of lame / easily amused, though.

        Ivory is made differently than other bar soaps in that it is kind of “whipped” and has air bubbles in it (thus, it will float whereas other bars sink). Anyway, if you put it in the microwave, it expands SO much! And .. you can still use it after. It’s just a mega-soap structure. As in, not in bar form.

        Well I believe that was more than a hint ;D But if people don’t know what it is, I guess it can’t be awesome!!

  43. The mixture of corn starch and water is really awesome. It’s a solid! It’s a liquid! What?! So fun (easy and cheap, as well).

    1. It’s a non-neutonian fluid & knowing geeky stuff like that is really ….
      AWESOME!

      1. Oh, is this the stuff that you can push your finger into really slowly, but if you punch it, you bounce right off of it? That is SO cool.

  44. It’s awesome when celebrities do truly altruistic things. Not because they feel pressure to donate money on a nationally televised benefit. Not because they want recognition for their deeds. Not even because they have some kind of court-mandated order for community service.

    Not that those things don’t benefit people all the same, but it’s so awesome to hear of someone doing something just because they recognize that they are in a position to help others, and that’s what they want to do.

  45. Seeing the first firefly of the summer.

    Check out this website!
    http://www.firefly.org/
    I had no clue that they were disapearing. Let’s keep the bliss of seeing the little lightning bugs glitter at night.

  46. It’s awesome when you find that one radio station that plays music when you’re going to work — as opposed to stations that play a solid two hours of DJs mindlessly chatting with one another about American Idol, spiders, cookbooks, Craigslist, etc.

    Not that I don’t appreciate some funny DJ-banter from time to time or the guess-this-song-from-only-the-first-note contests, but it seems that the airwaves are inundated with that. The music station is a rarer find.

    Note: I am also a music FANATIC … so of course, that’s just my preference. :)

  49. It’s awesome to find a piece of last year’s Easter candy hidden in the Easter basket grass :D You probably don’t wanna eat it, especially if it’s one that’s been exposed to basement/attic/closet air for a yeah, but it’s still funny.

  50. It’s awesome when a little kid gives you a compliment. Kids are genuine and sincere, and they truly believe what they’re saying; they’re not complimenting you just because they want something in return or because they feel obligated to.

    “You’re so pretty.”
    “You sing good.”
    “You’re the best draw-er ever!”

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