Toss it mean and catch it clean.
Drop that jaw, tilt that head, and let’s get down to business:
• Level 1: Pop Practice. It’s important to start small with popcorn. There are no penalties for misses here, since the corn is light and doesn’t collect much dust if it hits the ground. This is a baby step and it will take time to master, but it’s an important rite of passage before hitting the next levels. (Note: In some circles, this level also covers marshmallows, Cheerios, and Corn Pops.) 5 points.
• Level 2: The Grape Beyond. Yup, next step is big ol’ grapes. Usually someone on the other end of the movie couch is munching on the vine in their own little bowl. If you’re feeling a bit hungry, simply drop your mouth and tap the couch cushion while saying ‘Uhn! Uhnnnnn!’ to get their attention. Soon a cold, hard grape should be flying fast at you. If the toss is good you should catch it perfectly. Other fruits like raspberries and strawberries fit here as well. 10 points.
• Level 3: Dog On A Bone. This extremely advanced move involves catching something larger than your actual mouth. An apple, peeled orange, or corn on a cob are good targets. You need to time the molar chomp perfectly and be prepared for embarrassing T-shirt stains and a black eye. 25 points.
Yes, when you catch food in your mouth you’re suddenly sitting high on top of the snack-eating universe. You’ve just combined equal parts laziness and athletic ability in a daring couch potato feat the likes of which this family room has never seen before. So when you nail it smoothly you know what to do.
Chomp it loud.
Chew it proud.
AWESOME!
awesome thing:
moving into your first real place. you’ve lived with your parents, in dorms, and with friends. now you’re finally living on your own.
everything’s in your name. all the food is your’s. the rules are your’s. you can walk around in your underwear, or naked, whenever you want. you can drink out of the carton. you can lick the knife and put it back in the jar for more. you can leave your dirty socks on the living room floor.
it’s YOUR castle, and no one else can tell you what to do in it.
The weather getting warm enough to BBQ with friends.
Let’s be honest, it’s not so much about the BBQ than it is about the start of the summer season and great memories with friends. Baseball games, cannonballs into the pool, late nights camping, they all begin with the start of summer, the start of the warm weather, and officially kicking it off with friends.
AWESOME!
When you write a page of notes (or a letter, or anything, really) with a pen and you flip to the back of the page to feel the imprints of your writing. Not only do you get SEE how much you’ve written, you get to FEEL it!
You’ve been eying that project on the shelf that’s been sitting there for months, waiting for its turn to rise to the top of your priority list (i.e. sewing up a hole in those jeans, finally filing all your coupons, or hanging up your pictures even though you moved in 6 months ago).
You can feel it. It’s been creeping up on you this whole time: the moment has come. It could be a late night inspiration, a Saturday morning surge of take-on-the-world-ness, or that night when your plans get canceled and you can hear your project whispering to you from the silence of the night. It’s gathered dust. It’s even gotten to the point where you don’t even care anymore if it gets done or not.
But that moment, when you decide you’d rather drink your sour milk in the fridge than let it go another day without attacking this project, is a moment of epic proportions.
You turn on some good tunes and get to work. And before you know it, the project is done. Inevitably, you think, “That wasn’t so hard. Why didn’t I do this sooner?” But heck, just the fact that it sat there, idly watching you day in and day out, gives you even MORE satisfaction of a job well done. A job you didn’t really even have to do anymore, it’s been so long. But you DID do it. Nike would be proud.
And when you can check that item off your list(s), it’s like regaining the past 3 weeks/6months/4 years of your life. You’ve taken back the steering wheel to your life, and you can now take on anything the world throws at you.
Awesome.
Disobeying “freshly painted” signs.
Alright: Digging out the summer clothes from the attic in the spring. Best thing EVER after a long winter. Actually just did it today :)! I love the smell of the box, the “Oh I love that shirt!”, and trying on your favorites to check if they fit. It’s truly AWESOME! (But you knew that.)
When you’re a little kid and you manage to blow a bubble gum bubble for the first time. Wow that seems like a long time ago. My big sister could do it way before me and that really made me mad :-)
The e-mail saying your “book of awesome” has shipped a week early and will be on your doorstep soon… AWESOME!
Getting a song stuck in your head, especially when its a good one :D
old couples holding hands on park benches. cute and awesome!
I think one thing that brings a smile to my face is that one person who chooses to give me their full attention while I rant about how bad my day went.
These people are awesome as long as they don’t try to convince you to stop complaining.
an avocado’s power to enhance any food.
I am thoroughly convinced that everything and anything tastes better with avocado slices delicately perched atop. They are just too good alone, but they have enhancing effects on other foods, it’s magical.
I once ordered chicken noodle soup at a Mexican restaurant on Balboa Island (Newport Beach) and it came with avocado slices on top! I was so bewildered and skeptical, but I took it all back once I tried it. It sent ribbons of euphoria (quiz: what song is that lyric from?) through my entire nervous system as I forced every member of my family to try some.
I love Balboa Island! My wife’s family introduced me to the area. I have enjoyed joining in their tradition of walking down the main street, window shopping, while enjoying a chocolate-covered banana.
when someone knows you well enough to finish your sentences
It is equally AWESOME when there is someone who knows you well enough to know what you’re thinking before you even have to say it.
The teacher asks a question that you don’t know, then luckily she does not call on you to answer it. awesome relief
Awesome is awesome!
Eggs sunny-side up are awesome, as well!
bacon
waiting for the best book ever to be released/ waiting for something awesome!
adjusting to a dark room
everything is unfamiliar and scary and you cant even see your own fingers. until suddenly your eyes adjust and you can make out shapes until suddenly the darkness isnt so scary!
That moment…after your head finally releases all the pressure built up from ascending or descending or healing…and your ears pop. Awesome.
The feeling of relief you get after finishing a test that you’d spent all night/all week/a long time studying for.
or what about a test you thought was going to be hard, but turned out to be easy?
jello
ITS AWESOME
J-E-L-L-O … it’s aliiiiiive!
When you meet someone you connect with so well that they say things that are exactly the way you feel or what you think. It’s lame because when you agree it seems like you’re just repeating what they said, but its awesome to know that you have so much in common with this person you just met and that they’d probably trust you enough to know that you’re not just agreeing with them.
Picking up your phone right when you get a text message. Awesome!
Figuring out an optical illusion. Awesome!
A really corny joke. Awesome!
Putting the last piece of a puzzle in place. Awesome!
The Usual. When you go to a diner or a barbershop so often they memorize what you buy. You just say “The usual” Sit down and it’s all smoth from there.
Getting reconnected with someone at the perfect time. Maybe you both are having a baby, maybe you’re both switching jobs – whatever it is you need that person in your life at that time for support and love and they’re there – awesome.
Good hair days.
When you go to one of your regular places (Starbucks, anyone?) and employees remember you/strike up genuine conversation.
discovering a new song that you immediately love, but being in that stage where you haven’t heard it enough to get sick of it or even know every note so that when you hear it, you still feel surprised.
AWESOME.
When you find a full Oreo in your cookies ‘n’ cream. Its an edible prize and you just find an affinity to adore the person or machine who decided to put an edible prize in your ice cream.
i just pre-ordered two books!
My pre-order shipped today, so yours might be on the way soon!
Awesome is… having a weekend birthday.
Mine’s during the weekend this year and I couldn’t be more excited!!
When you wake up and the coffee is already made :-
)
Perfectly al dente pasta!
When you find something you were going to purchase anyway in your favorite color.
Spell checker. Awesome.
If this one is selected, it should say, “Spell checker. Awesum.”
When your birthday is on a Friday so you can celebrate all weekend.
Your favorite candy bar.
Midnight Milky Way………mmmmmmmmm
Im Germany there is a new kind of chocolate. It tastes totally like the sweets I loved when I was a child. Totally awesome.
Garage Sales
Dancing by yourself
Dancing in the rain.
You toss aside the umbrella, spread your arms wide, and slowly twirl in circles in that misty summer rain. Awesome.
Really cool sidewalk chalk drawings.
80’s Dance music/Hair
The fact that some 80’s dance music/hair came BACK.
Dinosaur chicken nuggets.
Yay! :D
When a great song comes on the speakers in a store.
I have been known to bust a move or two.
The friend who gives really great hugs.
Summer afternoons
Food you make all by yourself, from scratch.
Bonus points if you’ve made a full 3 course meal AND dessert. :-P Break out the wine and enjoy.
stepping on really crispy leaves! Those always make you feel warm inside. It’s even better when people go out of their way to share these leaves or give their leaves to you, and the same the other way around. yay!
Jumping in leaf piles after raking in fall! Always makes you feel like a kid again. Also ruins that few hours of hard work you just put in…
But is totally worth it!
This is one of my favorite things to do on a walk! My boyfriend finally stopped telling me to quit it, becuase he finally figured out it is useless. Stepping on crunchy leaves totally makes the ‘getting up early to exercise’ activity worth it.
When you have to catch the bus and you get to the bus stop just as it arrives. Instant gratification.
When you can use your knowledge or something you just learned to answer a Jeopardy question. You can impress your friends and it fills you with pride.
When you learn a new word and actually get an opportunity to use it in a sentence.
sunglasses