Willpower and dedication: a sure (and tasty, I hear) recipe for success.

You know something? I dislike many things about Republicans (except for Ronnie Reagan at Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roasts – man, he was even funnier than Bonzo back then), and yet, I found the perfect quote to start this post – and it was made by Dubya himself. Try not to imagine a chimp, and it’ll even sound right.

Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.

President George W. Bush

Inaugural Address, January 2001

I happen to believe this is true; we cannot measure “success” by a) a random set of performance indicators which we pick according to our current state or mind, or b) by what we consider as our personal definition of it. We see “success” when we watch our community grow, when we see our families prosper, when we look into the eyes of our children and see happiness in their faces, and a bright future for them. Gah. I agree on something with GWB – kill me now, please.

Hell froze over, and stuff.

So, what does this have to do with anything? First of all, I needed some “filler” for this post (not really). Second, I’m going to share a secret with you. All along, I wanted to see Casey succeed. Yes, I did. I’m not trolling you – I’d have loved to see him selling his last few houses, getting a really good job, keeping G, and doing something extraodinary with his life. Because that’s what success means to me. If we, as a community, succeed, we are better off as a whole. I believe this is part of the core values on which America was built. America, the Beautiful!

Thanks, I feel a shitload better now.

And this is what pisses me off about Casey. He was given a chance to become part of one of the greatest societies of this era; he got the chance of  a first-rate (some may argue on this point, but humor me, please) education, he had the best food the planet could offer, the most options for development – and yet, he chose to ignore, ridicule and offend the country that gave him and his family shelter. He laughs at America’s education. He throws away perfectly good food because he thinks pesticides will kill him. He pee’d on a dollar bill, for Christ’s sake. He could become a succesful member of our succesful society, but he prefers to waste his life on drugs, conspiracy theories, and lazyness. A shame. A complete and utter shame.

But I’m not here to write about GayBoi – I’ve devoted far too much time to his antics, and I feel a breath of fresh air is needed around here; what about a success story? And what if, said success story is happening to… Casey’s own cousin, Ulyana Peychev?

 

 

 

 

Here's how a real "entrepreneur" looks like, Casey.

Picture the following scenario: this chick (who is quite hot, actually) is raising her child alone. She’s studying hard. And she’s working her butt off at food festivals and events. She was “discovered” when Casey posted about her in his Facebook – “haterz” began talking shit about her (uhm, myself included, in this blog, actually) just because she was related to him. One by one, she convinced us about how… different she is. Bright, funny and a hard worker, she even got a former hater to sell her the vinyl lettering for her own truck at cost. Is that cool, or what?

Ulyana, if you read this – and I hope you do – you are a valuable member to our society, and America needs more people like you. You are creating valuable jobs; providing a great service, and have built a community that supports you. I’m sure you’ll have a bright future – damn, you are building it one day at a time. For you and your son. Congratulations on your success. People like you really deserve it.

If you want to hire Ulyana’s services, head over  to http://www.myspace.com/eurocuisine . You’ll surely be glad you did.

James Marks
Picking my nose on top of my old pickup truck.
June 1st, 2010.