Bruce Van Dyke

Make your destiny

Charles “Chuck” Kazemi doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d start a clothing line, but he did. His idea is simple: Wear your mantra on your chest. The mantra he sells is Make Your Momentum, and he says that people who wear the shirts get a constant reminder that they are in charge of their own destiny. Kazemi took his own advice when he sent an email to this paper just when we needed an interview for 15 Minutes. See the T-shirts on the web at www. makeyourmomentum.com or like him on Facebook www.facebook.com/ makeyourmomentum.

Tell me a little about Make Your Momentum.

Make Your Momentum is an idea we came up with in October 2012. It was an idea to get some friends involved in a T-shirt clothing line. Not even a clothing line, for that matter, just a way to do something fun that we could enjoy. The reason I wanted to get some folks involved in it was because the more positive people [there are], the greater the likelihood of success. The success would be greater the louder the voice is. We’re having fun with it. We’ve done a lot of cool stuff. We call it a positive attitude lifestyle movement. We’re just trying to get some minds moving in the right direction: If you dream big and you push hard, you can achieve anything.

PHOTO/D. Brian Burg H ar T What were you doing before you started this T-shirt line?

I’ve got a full-time desk job. I’m a vendor at Microsoft Licensing.

What do you do for Microsoft?

I work in the department called Windows Store. It’s essentially a brand new program that was released with Windows 8 that allows developers and OEMs such as HP or Dell to have an app program where the consumer can purchase apps and stuff like that.

I think those are all good ideas, but how does that come about from a T-shirt?

Our motto for Make Your Momentum is Desire+Drive: As big as you can dream, as hard as you can push. Essentially, keeping that message close to mind and close to heart. Some people need a rubber band or a tattoo somewhere visible to kind of remind them to quit smoking—we’ve pretty much … come up with the idea that if you live the attitude, you live the lifestyle. The philosophy for the T-shirt is the only way we know how to do it. But we’re proof that it’s possible because we started with nothing and we’re making something. It’s all because we’re aware of how much we want something, and what we’re going to do to go after it. That’s pretty much it. Being aware and having a constant reminder that you have so much potential, and you need to focus on that more often. So these T-shirts sound sports related to me.

The big thing about Make Your Momentum is a lot of people think physical momentum is what we’re trying to suggest, and that’s not necessarily the case. Physical momentum is the best example that people may personally relate to—“Yeah, you know, I’ll wear it to the gym.” And in all honesty, it’s a made-in-America T-shirt, it’s 100 percent cotton, it’s a super-fashionable shirt, but it doesn’t really belong in the gym. They’re that comfortable, and people think it belongs there, but that’s the biggest issue I have, is separating the idea that it’s not just a physical attitude, it’s a mental attitude. It’s a lifestyle attitude that if you change your mind, you put yourself in better situations to achieve. It’s not just for sports, but we actually promote sports, too. We actually just sponsored an MMA fighter over the weekend. Ω

Crisis of the month

∫y Bruce Van Dye

brucev@newsreview.com

One thing I’m anxiously awaiting is a new self-manufactured government financial crisis. Come on, folks, this ain’t no time to stop now! I mean, after you get me all tizzied up with the thrills and chills of The Debt Ceiling Drama, The Fiscal Cliff Face-off, and The Sequester Molester, I’m now positively strung out on all these wild episodes of Political Chicken.

And I have total faith that Congress will cook up a juicy new crisis soon, because it sure doesn’t seem to be getting distracted with any kind of Jobs/ Infrastructure Bill. What up, Boehner? You want to get around to something in that realm? Or are you and your fellow Tea Timers too busy declaring March to be National Tabasco Sauce Month?

Another story I’m waiting for is that of the hardcore Tea Party kook, who, because of Obamacare, now has insurance for his cancer-riddled young son. And because his boy is now getting treatment and feeling better and so forth, maybe the kook has now backed off a bit in his hatred for Barack, Harry and Nancy. Just a bit. As in, you know, he now admits there’s a chance that Obama really was born in Honolulu. Maybe.

So where is this story? The numbers say it simply has to exist. In fact—well, wait a sec. I work for one of them there newspapers. Hey, if I just described you, Mr. Tea Party Kook, get a hold of us here at the RN&R. I think I can guarantee—cover story, babe! • Oh, by the way. You did see the story that California is projected to have a balanced budget next year? Just checking. It got kinda buried and lowballed with all the Oscars and Globes and Grammys flying around. But yes, Gov. Brown said that not only do projections show the budget being balanced for California in fiscal ’13/’14, but there’s an actual chance of—wait for it—a surplus! A word rarely seen in stories about government budgets these days. (Various estimates range from a surplus of $1 billion to a deficit of $2 billion).

But wasn’t the Golden State gonna slide off the aforementioned Fiscal Cliff and into the Pacific about three or four years ago? Gee, funny what can happen when you go ahead and goose those taxes on millionaires.

• Mitt Romney finally got on the tube last week to have a chat with Chris Wallace of Fox. In the interview, Mitt said about his now infamous 47 percent video, “It was a very unfortunate statement that I made. It’s not what I meant. What I said is not what I believe.”

Hmmmm. “What I said is not what I believe.” As one smart aleck online commented, “Uh, isn’t that called lying?” The funny thing is, I thought that video was the one time that us Americans could see exactly what Mitt believes. Which is why he’s currently appearing in La Jolla and not Washington. Ω

Think Free