You may remember this guy, Fajar from Indonesia, 13 years old at the time, and a marshal at the RC track in Medan. I wrote a blog post about him back then, which you can read here if you like. I realised I never did write about the fact that some time after the visit, he dropped out of school as his parents couldn’t afford to send him, so I had my local distributor find out if he wanted to keep going to school, and if his parents were OK with me paying for it. They were, so I did.
On the left, when I first met Fajar. On the right when he got his new school uniform, and went back to school.
I just had the good news that 5th grade has begun, as a new school uniform was needed. Cool to see, and it made me think…oh boy here we go again!
My point of today’s post isn’t to say look how awesome I am, (although please feel free to do so also), it is to say that it’s really easy to make a positive difference in someone’s world. It doesn’t take much at all, even a village idiot from Finland can manage it. I don’t know if Fajar’s life will change due to my help, but what I do know is that I am providing him with an opportunity. Sometimes all a person needs is an opportunity.
Still loving the marshaling duties at the Medan track!
it’s really easy to make a positive difference in someone’s world. It doesn’t take much at all, even a village idiot from Finland can manage it.
In 2003 when I was 19 I saved money, working two jobs during my gap year before university, and went to America for three months. After discovering RC Racing I realised that the coolest tracks were in America, and many of the best drivers too. Something clicked one day and I went from “I wish I could go there” to “I will go there”. It really was as simple as that. I feel like most people never make that connection. For some reason I did and it changed my life. Since then my default way of thinking is “I will”.
I had this tiny Suzuki swift death trap I rented because it was the cheapest car available from “Super Cheap Rental Cars”! Also the only place I could rent a car at 19. It had a cassette player and I recorded the above Sum41 album on a tape, and played it over and over driving mostly to KZ Speedway. Still an awesome album! I just saw Sum41 are finally releasing a new album after years, can’t wait.
Since I listened to that album for 3 months straight, every time I hear it, it brings back great memories. Stuff like:
I stayed at a youth hostel in Huntington Beach. I went to the beach once. I shared a room with a Japanese surfer and a German guy training to become a lifeguard. I wondered what’s that smell in the hallway? Smelled weed for the first time. I met Robban Gus and John Jesus Sandberg on the front porch on the first day at the hostel. I arrived there with Timo Blonde Jesus Jalas. After a couple of weeks of the 4 of us, and another 2 weeks with the 3 after Timo left, I was left alone. We had stayed at motels together, but now I moved back to the hostel. I have never ever felt as lonely as the first morning I woke up and stood in the shower looking out at the sunny weather, thinking I’m in heaven, but I’m all alone. I could have cried, seriously, it was bad for a bit.
I didn’t have a cellphone, or a navigator, just a map, and quarters for payphones. I didn’t call my parents for 2 weeks, and when I met Jukka Steenari the first thing he said to me was call your mother now. She had called him. I’m such an asshole. Luckily the freeways in LA are simple to navigate. I can’t believe all that I did just with a map.
I went to the local library to check my email and post shit on sgrid. I went to Kinkos to print stuff I needed, and get online too, and I met Ralph who worked there, who thought what I was doing was so cool that he would let me do everything for free. Ralph was cool.
I went to the track almost every day, SoCal RC Raceway for 1:10th and KZ or Perris for 1:8th. I met Jimmy Pierce and Notch and they took me racing with them. I wasn’t alone anymore. Yay! I collected racebucks at SoCal by racing 4wd:-) and cleaned the tables and floors at night so I could race for free. I saw the first B4s being tested. I shopped at the 99cent store lol. The biggest burgers at burger king and Mcdonalds were 99 cents too.
Because I was willing to step out of my comfort zone, because I was willing to put in the work, working in a warehouse, and then taking the bus to McDonalds for the night shift there, because I thought “I will” instead of “I wish”, I had 3 of the best months of my life, which kickstarted my journey which has taken me to where I am today. 34 countries visited, my own RC car brand, and worldwide sales.
I still don’t have much, I’m a single 33 year old with no money, living in my parents basement, but I do still have that same determination. That determination will either take me to a lonely grave or unreasonable success. Time will tell which it is. In any case, I will have lived my life, not existed through it.
“Most people are reasonable, that’s why they only do reasonably well” — Paul Arden
I never even realised it before, but someone brought it up in a FB chat to me. I didn’t realise how much people care, and how seriously they have taken the above interview. Now to me that was hilarious, and for my friends too. It’s just a comedic situation, you never know what will happen next. It seems like people just want another boring interview. Where is the fun in that? Slapping the mosquito off was just a spur of the moment thing, something unexpected and fun. And the answers, well just a Finnish Motorsport tradition. I should have said “Tyres were good, car was shit”, but that was too many words. Looking at the comments, I just can’t understand how people don’t get that this was not a serious interview. Do they not hear someone laughing in the background? Do they not hear Phil say we were attracting an audience? Do they not realise Phil said “in a nice way”. Does that not beg to be messed with? They don’t even get the GayQ comment by Phil when walking up to me. Just some fun among friends. Maybe it is too much inside humour for the outside world to handle?
The thing is, I get that an interview like that could be bad for my company, but I only have one life and I intend to enjoy it. And I bank on the fact that there are enough intelligent people in the world for me to be able to be me, and still run a business. Maybe I have watched too much Monty Python, and Fawlty Towers and my idea of humour is too skewed for the real world, but I found that interview to be funny, and the reaction of random people to it hilarious. I mean some people I don’t know, and have never met feel this strongly about me:
just that 30sec interview made me hate him wow
What a dick head he is. Glad I left his buggy long ago. What a jerk he is…
Dude! why is JQ so mean and rude?! how is he even sponsored like really, i would have punched him if he did that to me.
That is amazing to me. Check out those youtube comments on the above video, seriously! And as for the Finnish Motorsport tradition, enjoy the videos below.
THEQuagraine 