#357 When the baby crying on your flight finally shuts up

Neil Pasricha 75 Comments

Look, I love babies.

Sure, we laugh, high five, sing songs, and play cars. We talk, read books, dream dreams, and stare at stars.

But one thing we agree to disagree on is proper behavior on overnight transatlantic flights. Me, I like sleeping. Them, they like screaming for hours on the lap beside me.

Generally when this happens all I can do is focus all my energy on sending silent signals to their brain and hoping my message finally gets through.

Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up.

AWESOME!

Photo from: here and here

#359 The wind

Neil Pasricha 38 Comments

I’m listening to the wind, to the wind at my soul.

Where it comes from, where it goes, well … who really knows.

All I know is that the wind is a great part of life for a few big reasons:

1. Helps plants make love. Roots twist and tie bushes and trees into forest floors preventing them from spreading their seeds too far. Thankfully the wind blows by to carry maple keys and pollen into new spaces and new places. Next time you glance at fields of pretty flowers besides the highway or see a spread of tall trees over the horizon… well, just remember who helped make it all happen.

2. Breezy comfort. When I lived in Boston our creaky apartment turned into a steamy sauna in the summer. It felt like an oven with lots of summer sun and no A/C. Well, my roommate Joey and I had no choice but to lie on sweaty couches eating popsicles in our underwear while praying for cool breezes to float through to give us a few moments of bliss. Yes, when you score a cool breeze on a hot day, when you land a warm gust on a chilly one, always remember to give thanks.

3. Come sail away. Sailors and windsurfers love the breezy push of wind over the glittery ocean water, kids love flying kites in the park, and everyone loves windmills spinning to grind out energy jolts and keep our Dutch fields picturesque.

Yes, when the wind whips through your body, when it whips through your soul, sometimes you feel that supernatural sense of being at one with nature, at one with the world, and at one on the planet. Wind is a constant that gives comfort because it’s invisible but always there. Wind has blown sand across deserts and ripples across oceans for millions of years… so when those free and easy breezes whisper across your face just remember to close your eyes… and just remember to enjoy a tiny little moment of

AWESOME!

.Thank you to Amazon.ca and The Vancouver Sun for naming The Book of Awesome a Top Book of 2010!Photos from: here, here, and here

#361 The first snowfall of the season

Neil Pasricha 84 Comments

Crystal flakes form in space before floating down from cloudy skies.

Soon blankets of white coat sidewalks like icing and frosty corners freeze in shady yards by the shed. Scarves twist tightly around necks, noses sniffle and turn red, and everyone walks the streets with wide eyes and snowy lashes. Boots slip and slide on the sidewalk, mittens swipe seats in the park, and branches glow under a silent new moonlit world.

Sometimes the first snowfall gets your bones excited about everything the season brings — family moments, quiet times, holiday shopping, and grandma’s cooking. It’s a symbol of venturing out into a new world and bunkering into an old one.

When the snow flies down for the first time everything slows down around you and nostalgia bombs burst in your brain … of slip-sliding to school on sidewalks, slushy snowball fights in the park, and sticky mittens rolling snowmen on the front lawn…

AWESOME!

Make it an awesome Christmas!

Photos from: here and here

#363 Correctly guessing the secret ingredient

Neil Pasricha 19 Comments

Sniffing bean dips, chewing brownies, inspecting casseroles for clues, you’re swishing and swallowing while channeling all your body’s powers towards your mouth. Make sure to close your eyes, sniff bunny sniffs, and slowly move that chewed-up paste around your tongue so it touches different tastebuds.

No, it doesn’t matter if it’s something sweet in the cheese dip or something spicy in the squares. All that matters is that when you get it you put your hand up, bow your head, and smile softly before yelling it out.

“Cinnamon!”

AWESOME!

Photo from: here

#364 When you get caught in the rain and just don’t care

Neil Pasricha 60 Comments

Water, water, everywhere.

Most of our brains and our blood and our bodies are water. Most of our babies and our beagles and our baths are water. Water rinses apples and washes cars. Water steams carrots and cures SARS.* (*Study pending.)

Yes, water cures thirst, shaves legs, and grows plants. Water flushes toilets, washes hair, and ships pants. We cannonball into pools, we float off the docks, we ice down our drinks, and we rinse all our socks.

We love water but somehow there’s one major moment where we dread Nature’s Best Liquid. Yes, I’m talking about rain, people — because you know as well as I do that when the skies split and the clouds crack everyone scowls and scampers for cover.

And that’s exactly what makes it great when once in a while you just, you know, don’t. That’s what makes it so great when it starts pouring on you and you just stop caring altogether.

Jumping in puddles, laughing with friends, chilled to the bone, soaked till the end — yes, when you’re getting wet and loving it suddenly soaked shoes, squishy worms, and rain hair mean nothing. You’re a gorilla in the rainforest, you’re a lion in the monsoon, you’re just another animal on Earth soaking and swirling and spinning and twirling in your beautifully wet blissful moment of

AWESOME!

Photos from: here, here, and here

#365 Getting dressed out of the dryer or laundry basket

Neil Pasricha 32 Comments

Hands up if you’ve ever been a bachelor.

People, if you’ve been there you know the lazy-boned joy of sleeping in a bed half-covered in clothes, eating breakfast over the sink to avoid using one of your three plates, and getting dressed straight outta the dryer or laundry basket.

Yeah, you know how it goes: Alarm clock buzzes and you’re suddenly grog-sliding around your cramped apartment as a Bedhead Nude.  Next it’s time to pop open the dryer door or eyeball the assorted clump of clean clothes in a basket and start fishing through your wrinkly clothes for a wrinkly wardrobe.

Balled-up underwear, twisted T-shirts, and crumpled jeans that are still a bit wet fit you jusssssst fine and before you know it you’re looking hot to trot.

Now just make sure when you pull off this classic move you take a second to nod in the mirror and smile slowly while congratulating yourself on saving some valuable time. Ironing shirts, rolling up socks, folding underwear?

No thanks.

We’d rather fill our days with an extra five minutes of

AWESOME!

Photos from: here and here