Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Being Tomi Astikainen
I named this blog entry after one of Tomi´s favorite movies, Being John Malkovich -- a movie where random people got the chance to get into John Malkovich's head and live his life for a few minutes. In this blog entry however, I do not intend to write as if I were Tomi. I would still write as Erica. What I will do though, is let you in on what was in my head during some of the top moments I have had with Tomi.
Top Memory #1: Two beers and two decisions - I only had 2 chances to have solo beers with Tomi and both times were memorable for me. The first one was during the September ICX weekend, where we talked about his future and figured out that perhaps going on a traineeship would be best for such a free-spirited guy. The second one happened in the good old Kantsu bar called Kannel Krouvi, where I, finally decided to apply for MCP.
What struck me most about both moments was how willing he was to make me understand him and how willing he was to understand me. This just goes to show how loving he is as a person. He may not realize it but he is one of the most caring people I know. For one, he made sure that I would become his friend (and not just a workmate) by going out of his way to get to me and get me to talk. He gave me honest yet well-said feedback and he tried to understand me even when I was in the worst of moods. He also had a way of making me believe in myself. He gave me compliments when I deserved it. And although he gave them often, I knew that every time he said something nice, it was sincere.
Top Memory #2: Eating the spicy sausage soup in Kantsu - When I first put that soup in my mouth, my lips literally started burning. It was THAT spicy. Hehe. :)
However, no matter how much eating that soup hurt, having that soup in our fridge was a testament of how generous Tomi was. Often, when he bought and cooked food, he made sure there was enough for everyone. Plus, although I could have cooked, I often gave the chef's hat to Tomi because he loved doing it and he was good (especially with mixing and matching spices)!
Tomi's love for spices also characterizes him. His life is full of spices. He loves facing life head on, rising up to challenges, going on adventures and taking risks. This is one of the many reasons why I believe Tomi will one day be a recognized entrepreneur. Aside from the fact that he is a great sales person, a good motivator and an evolving leader, he is just willing to take life's dares and deal with them. He does not give up easily. He fights a good fight. Now, that is what success stories are made of. :)
Top Memory #3: Tomi reading his sugar cubes after Success and Input - If I were to write a book about leadership, I would certainly make Tomi a case study. He is an amazing leader. So amazing that I assume that all his sugar cubes from those seminars were of gratitude for inspiring the people he has led over the year. The LCs just loved Tomi. They loved him not because he was perfect but because he was imperfect and yet was brave enough to face these weaknesses and work on them. He knew what made people tick and always kept people's motivation in mind. He had an innate love to learn more about leadership and to constantly improve himself as a leader. He never stops trying to become an even better leader simply because he knows that his potential is limitless.
My memories with Tomi do not end here. We have shared so many good and trying moments together that there are so much more stories and lessons to chronicle. The everything you desire nights, the movie nights where I ended up sleeping, the walk to the bus stop before going on our Christmas holidays, the sales visit to Basware, the roll calls, the Alfapet games, the train rides to functional weekends, the random picture taking at the office, him looking at my computer screen, the "ding! ding! ding!" comments, the handover, the laughter, the tears, the successes and the post-its. :)
I know there are so much more memories waiting to be made with THE Tomi Astikainen. And even though he is miles away, I know that we don't have to wait be in the same place for us to continue creating those memories. After all, our friendship knows no borders. :)
To Tomi, I just needed to say this once more: "Line!" :) Hugs!
10 comments:
i really like reading your posts to the people you care about. even though i don't know most of them... lucky people!!! :) big hug!
Thanks Cileia,
Dont worry one day I will feature people whom you know and of course, you never know when I write about you. :)
Hugs,
Erica
I miss Tomi!!!
Many of the things Erica mentioned are so TOMI :)
Tomi - I miss your random comments, your strangely perverse humour, the dinner on Kanstu's roof, your visits to Turku (especially the last one with Bailey's shots at 5 a.m.) and your way of showing your affection for people. I even miss shouting "Line, Tomi, line!!!" ;)
Hugs!
Seminars sure aren't quite the same without Tomi there. Ding! Ding! Ding!... :D
Well, I know Tomi since my first day in Finland. And since then beer night in Kannel Kroivu, we became friends.
Top moment: Although we were/are thousand kilometers apart, we shared the "pain" when our national football teams (Finland and Macedonia) played against Portugal and England. He wasn't able to see the matches, so I was updating him via SMS. He wore the Macedonian T-shirt I gave him before he left to Sri Lanka, and later on I wore SUOMI scarf, that I got for present.
Finland played draw, and we (Macedonia) lost. But, I had a friend "next to me" to share.
Hyvä Suomi ja hyvä Makedonia.
Hyvä Tomi ja hyvä PetaK.
Tomi, enjoy the Tomi day, and every other.
C ya later.
Erica berica, its extremely cool gesture to write the way you have put down. Good stuff!
Btw, its also good to hear a different side of Crazy Tomi :)
Well... Hum.
Long story short - Tomi is one of the reasons why I'm still in AIESEC today. Without him, I would've probably quit ages ago.
Sometimes AIESEC can be so damn homogenous - we need people who are not afraid of standing out. And being weird. In a positive way.
So yeah. One of those sugarcubes was mine.
Hi Amit,
Thanks for the nice comment on the blog. And yeah, there is more to Tomi than the crazy side. :)
Ari, Keijo, Petak, Annika - Yeah Tomi is sure "missable." Hehe. :)
Oh my god,
This posting brought tears in my eyes... Actually first time I left Finland. That's quite an achievement. Hmm... I wonder why I haven't cried for 1,5 months... well, more about that later in my blog, maybe.
Thanks Erica! At first I thought you'd just repay for what I wrote about you, but this was more than that... this was sincere, and full of internal jokes! Ding, ding, ding! :) This didn't really helped in my emerging home-sickness, no, quite the opposite.
Guys, now that mummo mentioned about the sugarcubes, I don't know if I ever thanked you for them. I doubt. But they were really meaningful, and I still carry them with me. These were the only sugarcubes I've saved (not to mention EuroLDS), so they do mean a lot to me. Best reward of leadership is seeing more leaders grow. I love you all!
-Tomi
PS. Only thing that worried a bit in the posting is that it's written like obituary. :) Tomi was this, and Tomi was that... I'm not dead yet!!!
Welcome Tomi! :)
Sorry about the past references, I was really thinking of all of our Team Lego moments that is why.
But yeah, guys, Tomi is alive and kicking! Just watch him rise to the top of the business world.
You might want to start sucking up to him actually. You never know when you need a job. :)
Hugs,
Erica
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