FOLLOWING YOUR PASSION REQUIRES SOME SACRIFICE.
WHAT YOU WANT BECOMES A SACRIFICE, IF YOU DON’T SACRIFICE FOR WHAT YOU WANT.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
DO YOU HAVE THE PASSION?
#passion
THEY HAVE THE PASSION
IT’S NOT THAT WINNERS NEVER MAKE MISTAKES. IT’S JUST THAT THEY NEVER GIVE UP. THEY HAVE THE PASSION.
PASSION CHANGES EVERYTHING.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
YOUR PASSION
YOUR GOALS, YOUR PASSIONS. If your eyes are not on your goals, they are on distraction.
BE ADDICTED TO YOUR PASSIONS, NOT YOUR DISTRACTIONS.
USE YOUR PASSION TO MAKE AN IMPACT.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
THE WRITER INNOVATOR
When I first started my writing career recently, I mean really putting keyboard key thumping to computer screen (an equivalent to putting pen / pencil / quill (?) to paper); I never gave it much thought of where it would take me, that is; the writing. I will “boldly go where no man has gone before.”
I am a dreamer. Ah yes, I can remember far back to 1967, when I was in Standard 3B (Today’s Year 3). We were in afternoon school. Our class was the one above the “Tuck” Shop (canteen). This was in La Salle Primary School, PJ (Petaling Jaya, Selangor). There were 3 classes above the tuck shop – ours was the middle class. As you enter the front door of the class, my desk was in the front row, next to the window on the other side of class. Anyone of you went to La Salle School PJ? If you were in that school during the 1960s and 1970s, you will know these classrooms above the tuck shop. The word “tuck” in English means to tuck into your meal and shop means where you buy your food from in school. Nowadays, “canteen” in school or “school canteen” is the term everyone knows as a place to buy their food from. Is the word “canteen” related to the word, “cantor” (Figaro, Figaro, Fiiigaarrro!). No, just kidding.
I would spend most of the time, looking outside the classroom window, oblivious to most of what was going on in class. I watched the construction workers build the new block of the school. Today that new block is 55 years old.
I would daydream about so many things like what it would be like to fly an aeroplane so high in the sky. Often, I may just stare out into the emptiness.
It was for this reason that when I was in Std One of the same said school mentioned above in 1965, our classroom was one of those “shed” classrooms with zinc roofing, I think. There was a row of these classrooms. These classrooms are no longer there. Back to the reason… when I was in Std One B, the old bat, my class teacher Mrs Lee, bless her heart; came to our house one day to complain to my mother that I was slow. I mean how would she know if I was slow. She could barely see past her nose. She was 109 years old… well at least to a 7 year old kid like me. Guys who were in school at that time… you know her. She always wore nyonya outfits. But I’m sure she meant well. I think. Bless her heart.
One of my greatest dreams was, still is, I guess; is to change the world, to leave a lasting good impression. But I didn’t know how, until I started using what came naturally to me – that is to write.
At this juncture, I would like to say that this article is not what it is panning out to be. I started it with a complete different idea 😏. It’s a spinoff from the original. And the original is not written yet. Haha 😂.
Even then, I struggled and wrestled with this “gift”. This gift of writing. I most times did not pay attention to it. My whole school career had me scoring top marks in it. But I did not recognise its potential. So, when I left school; it was buried or stowed away with all my old schoolbooks.
After completing my schooling education, I somehow always landed up being a writer or editor for the many, many groups and organisations which I was involved in over the years. I still did not think anything of it because I felt that anybody can be a writer. Being a “Topgun” fighter pilot, maybe not. But writing, yes. I work best in stress / time constraint conditions and between 2.00am to 5.00am. Haha. Like Maverick of TopGun who enjoys what he does; I am “Innovator” and I enjoy what I do, too.
Thank God for keyboard key thumping to computer screen technology. My handwriting is one of my trademarks. It’s so bad that I have great difficulty reading it, too. The very first thing my class teacher of Std 4 B La Salle School, Klang; Mrs Mun, Bless her heart; asked me after meeting me for the first time in over 40 years was, “Alan, has your handwriting improved?”
Do you recognise the talent you have?
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NOTES:
1. Pic. 1; Fiorenzza Chiuminatto
THE FLYING BRICK
I have always loved cars for as long as I can remember. I remember one day when I was six years old and in Standard (Today’s equivalent of “year”) 1 at La Salle primary school, Petaling Jaya, it was during recess (break) time. I walked out of school to the shops nearby on Jalan Gasing and came across a newspaper vendor displaying little cars for sale. They could have been Dinky and Corgi brands. I saw an Austin Cambridge or Morris Oxford model that caught my eye.
I asked the shop guy to let me see the car. It had a little knob (reminded me of the little round pencil sharpener) on the roof of the car. By turning the knob left or right; it ingeniously turned the front wheels of the car in the direction the knob was turned. This car reminded me of my father’s real Austin Cambridge that he had at that time.
Fast forward today and my interest for cars has not diminished, even a little bit.
My friend, DD; has an interest in cars and motorcycles. It is more than just an interest, DD is an avid enthusiast in restoring vehicles of yesteryear. He has “brought back to life” several vehicles including a Volvo 123.
He recently brought an old Volvo, the 240GLE; to pristine, showroom condition – literally. It’s colour “angelic white”. Everything about the car is worthy of a premium executive vehicle.
DD wanted a Volvo 242 next. It is 2 doors (hence the number denominator: 24(2). After searching many parts of Malaysia; he managed to find one which was in reasonably good condition, without the need for major restoration. It was in one of Volvo’s traditional stock-standard colours: light blue.
This 242 was going to see a different remake. Instead of just restoring it to showroom condition; DD’s plan was to fashion it after Volvo’s BTCC model – “The Flying Brick”. – He bought a model kit of the Flying Brick… yes, you read right… a model kit car. His brother-in-law helped build the car, complete with full decals. The Volvo was fondly nicknamed “The Flying Brick” because of its squarish shape.
One of the first things he did with the car was to have it repainted white, as per the model display unit he has. Then, get this: he replicated the decals which are on the model car and custom made them to scale to fit the real thing. Pictures of the model are below, too:
More plans for this car include removing the rear seat and adding a roll cage. With an eye for detail, DD will bring this car up to specifications as close to the original racer as possible. Yet, this vehicle will still meet all requirements to be a street car. Keep a lookout for it.
VOLVO 242 (1974-1984)
In August 1974, Volvo presented a new generation of cars called the 240 and 260 Series.
These new models had been developed from the 140 series and were very similar to their predecessors, and with influences from the VESC safety concept car. The changes included a new protruding front, large bumpers and a further-developed chassis, featuring McPherson front-wheel suspension. At the same time, a new 4-cylinder engine series with single overhead camshaft was introduced. The previous B20 4-cylinder was still offered in basic versions for some time.
Two-door cars were still very much in demand, particularly on the Nordic markets, and it was therefore only natural to include a 2-door in the programme. However, as the trend was moving towards 4-door cars, the 242 was taken out of production long before the 244 and 245.
Over the years, the Volvo 242 was produced with many different engines and gearboxes.
The most interesting versions were the 242GT of the late 1970s and the 240 Turbo of the 1980s marketed in North America. Both cars offered spectacular performance and answering in full to the classical proverb ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’. The same goes for the 242 racing car which won the European Touring Car Championship in 1985.
For model year 1983, the emblem at the rear of all 240 models was changed. No longer did it say 242, 244 or 245. The badge just said 240, as part of a new designation strategy. In reality, however, most people continued to refer to their cars as a 244 or 245. Nevertheless, this change did not mean any large-scale modification to the cars.
MODEL SPECIFICATIONS
Model: 242
Variants: 242 GT
Produced: 242,621
Body: 2-door saloon
Engine: 4-cylinder, in-line OHV, 4-cylinder, in-line SOHC, 4-cylinder, in-line SOHC with turbocharging.
Transmission: 4-speed manual or 4-speed with el. overdrive, with floor-mounted gear lever. 3-speed automatic.
Brakes: Hydraulic, disc brakes on all four wheels.
Dimensions: Overall length 490 cm, wheelbase 264 cm.
Misc: In 1985, the Volvo 242 won the European Touring Car Championship. (1)
Teaser: Look what’s coming up soon…
NOTES:
- Volvo Cars Global Newsroom