Free The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha

throughout the week and then pulling in to fill your tank just before they zoom sky-high again .
    Honestly, when you nail it just right you walk away laughing, patting the extra three dollars in your pocket and daydreaming of how you might spend it this time. Lottery ticket, windshield washer fluid , maybe some beef jerky for the ride home. Either way, you’ll be sitting pretty when you cruise by the station on a full tank tomorrow and notice the prices are hiked back up.
    You came out to play the Gas Game this week.
    And you won.
    AWESOME!

The pushoff
    Dad’s holding you steady as you pedal, pedal, pedal. Then you suddenly realize you’re still going, so you look over your shoulder and he’s way back there, waving and cheering you on.
    You’re riding your bike for the first time.
    AWESOME!

Wearing sandals when you shouldn’t be wearing sandals
    I went to college in a small town that got hit hard by weather extremes.
    In the fall , the summer winds would quickly cool and sharpen, ripping into your cheeks on the way home from class, leaving them red and finely shredded like you’d just applied blush with sandpaper.
    In the winter , the roads and sidewalks would be covered in piles of wet slush—little bombs of slippery ice-dirt and road salt that would explode onto your pants and shoes and leave nasty stains when they dried.
    In the spring, the snow would melt away, leaving soggy grass everywhere. You would see that grass and think it was solid, but your foot would sink into it, cold little mud bubbles rising around your shoe from all directions and soaking right into your sock. It was like walking on a peat bog covered in smushed worms and last year’s dog poo.
    It was not pretty. And so my roommates and I were left with just two options:
    1. Try to predict and adjust for the weather. You know, wear lots of layers, carry umbrellas on sunny days, build a collection of waterproof boots, and start using phrases like “bunker in” and “venture out.”
    2. Ignore it completely.
    Well, we chose Option 2.
    And we faced the consequences.
    We got windburn and had sleet slip down the back of our T-shirts. We got dirt soakers and then permanently stretched our socks while peeling them off at the front door. We got dry legs, we got bone chill, and, brother, we got rain hair bad.
    But eventually we got good at ignoring it all.
    My roommate Dee was the master of ignoring the weather, the biggest proof being that he wore sandals year-round . Wind, snow, rain, it didn’t matter. “The toes need to breathe,” he’d say sternly, “breathe.” And he’d emphasize the point with a sturdy lip and a firm strapping of the Velcro. Then he’d slap on his heavy backpack, take a deep breath, give you a wink, and trudge out into a blizzard, navigating ice patches and slush piles like a pro.
    Sure, there was the occasional Bad Day that came with being chronically unprepared for Mother Nature’s worst blows, generally involving a dirty-puddle splashing all over you from a passing truck or being unable to feel your toes until you put them on the radiator for twenty minutes. But you made it through.
    And come on, there is something great about wearing sandals when you shouldn’t be wearing sandals. It’s liberation from shoe shackles, freedom from the oppressing sock , and a violent rebellion against those frostbite warnings on the weather channel.
    People of the world, let’s face it: If we can come together to take down the shoe, then really, nothing can stop us.
    AWESOME!

Getting off an airplane after a long flight
    B.O. clouds dissipate and float away, wailing babies quit wailing at the luggage bay , your cell phone works, so you call friends up, say hey, and all your scrunched-up, bunched-up , hunched-up muscles just relax as you stretch them out now, feeling A-OK . You’re out of the window seat, out of the aisle, you’re back on two feet, so just walk away and smile.
    AWESOME!

Picking up a q and u at the same time in