Soy Sauce Packets & Epiphanies: I'm Getting Awfully Close...

close to thirty, not close to being a millionaire.

i got some new summer reading even though summer hasn't actually started yet. a recommendation from my pops and the good people at u.s. news and world report. my pops has always been one for get-rich-quick schemes, though cynical to the highest degree, but never had the balls to try one out for himself.

i'm told, in the introduction of this book that this is anything but one of the aforementioned schemes. there is even a warning on the back cover reading "WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO BECOME FILTHY RICH." the book is called A Million Bucks By 30: how to overcome a crap job, stingy parents, and a useless degree to become a millionaire before (or after) turning thirty. it's by a young chap named alan corey.

all i've gotten so far is that it takes eating a whole lot of ramen noodles, but i'm only on chapter one. i survived four years of college eating little more than ramen noodles when not at work, and i see where that has gotten me so far. i'm constantly reminded, even since i quit 34 days ago, that i would be richer if i hadn't smoked all those years. que sera, sera. i'll keep you posted on the book and my progress towards millionaire; or at least my plan to get there.

the story behind ssp&e:

so i'm not sure if you're anything like me, but being the 'off the cuff cuisine' chef that i am, i try not to let anything go to waste. you know, when you bring home some bk or mickey d's, and after consuming your poor excuse for food, have ketchup packets or sauce shots left over that you throw in the door and forget about. same goes for chinese food, and you know they always give you enough sauce to put out a fire at the pentagon with your order. you throw them in your refrigerator door and forget about them. then one day you're trying to impress some last minute guests that have decided to stay at your place for dinner and all you have in your 'gourmet' kitchen are some ramen noodles, frozen veggies and some leftover grilled chicken from last weekend's cookout. the makings of a superb, on-the-fly stirfry. but wait, OH SHIT!, how are you going to make a sauce for your stirfry with no sauce? you look in the fridge and all you see is a bottle of ketchup, french's mustard (i use the term mustard loosely when describing french's), and a jar of pickle juice. oh no, what to do, what to do. then you bust open the butter holder, that invariably has never seen a stick of butter in it's life, and VOILA! soy sauce, duck sauce, hot mustard! packets, but instant chinkychow sauce nonetheless! each one of those packets, collected over time, came from a meal, inevitably eaten over conversation, an argument or during a lone lunch of self-reflection, came from a time and place in the past. as are our lessons learned. we learn through the years how to cope, how to inspire, how to teach, and how to live. we don't always remember those lessons, as we throw condiment packets in the fridge we throw life-lessons into the back of our heads, until one day we find ourself in a situation where it becomes relevant and we pull them from the back of our minds as to not waste the advice and lessons of the past. the moral of this story, and the linking of it to my blog- our life experiences are our 'soy sauce packets,' our hidden links to our experiences of our past...

e·piph·a·ny - noun - a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience. [www.dictionary.com]

the epiphanies that we experience in life, questions or situations that we find ourselves in, and don't know how to resolve, can most often be solved my raking our brains in search of a 'soy sauce packet.' an answer to a question. a solution to a problem. and so this, this blog, is simply an ever-expanding culmination of soy sauce packets in my butter box, and the epiphanies that have helped to make room for more butter in my fridge...

3 comments:

Anonymous, 11:09 AM: i was never stingy..sorry you perceive mee that way....
Anonymous, 12:35 AM: I'd love to hear what you think of the book when you get further into it... please do keep us updated!
tony a.k.a. isweatbutter, 12:41 AM: i was planning on writing a little something as i went along. it's a great read though and i've been blowing through quite large chunks at one time. but i will... i'll be putting up my "why this won't ever work for me" synopsis soon...

Soy Sauce Packets & Epiphanies

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I'm Getting Awfully Close...

Sunday, May 18, 2008

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