What do you remember most about the show “Rakett69”?One of the most striking things about the rocket was that it resembled a sauna. The filming mainly involved two environments: being in front of the camera is extremely stressful. The appearance of the show and the tasks were often designed in such a way as to evoke as many emotions as possible in the contestants, so the camera will warm up the emotions for about an hour. In between tasks, however, the contestants are backstage, where it’s a little dark and quiet, maybe even playing some relaxing music in the background. Some contestants give interviews, and it’s extremely easy to stay calm during the half-hour or so between tasks. The contrast was brutal and I can only compare it to a sauna with one hundred degrees inside and then a pile of snow outside.
Filming generally occurs in blocks of two episodes per day, with the longest block, including all preparations, lasting about a week. Each day of filming lasted about 12 hours, sometimes more. During this period, the sense of time is completely lost. The shoot has quite an autumnal feel, you go outside, it’s windy. During the week, you get the feeling that each show has a separate weekly volume. By the end of the week you will have lived a few months. Sometimes you might even see the sun. It was a very intense experience that taught me to know myself and to face the situation. I highly recommend it!Do you remember how you got the idea to participate in the show?I had a physics and biology teacher in elementary school Geil Siim, which sent me to more or less all the Olympics (in the field of natural sciences). In some, like physics, I was more successful, in others less. One day he offered me the opportunity to try joining Rakett69. I didn’t watch much TV at the time, so I didn’t know what it was, but it seemed interesting. Thought and done, we filled out the form together and it went on from there: preliminary round, maze, shows.You were especially famous for participating in duels. How did you always manage to participate so successfully?If I talked before about how being in front of a camera is an extremely stressful place, a duel is much worse. In this situation, you are fighting directly with another person, and if you lose, your journey in the competition will end. In such a situation, there is so much adrenaline in the blood that reading becomes extremely difficult – the eyes simply slide away from the text.
To be successful in a duel you must forget about your opponent and focus on the goal. Before the duel, I had a ritual: I drink and eat something with sugar, because in a stressful situation, blood sugar can drop quickly and take with it the ability to think. Then I did some physical exercises to get the blood circulating again and I was ready for the field.
In a stressful situation, you need to remember that stress is a driving force. The situation resembles that of an electric bicycle where the throttle stuck to the bottom and the brake is dead. The worst thing you can do is let go of the steering wheel. Such a panic attack cannot be fought, it can only be directed. You need to focus on things that can be controlled. I can’t control what my opponent does, I can only control what I do. When the task is at hand, I focus on the possibilities, when a million thoughts come, I let them come, choose the most promising one and try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll get the next one. You must always channel your emotions gently and focus on the things you can control, so you don’t end up in the ditch. Without control there is only panic in the head, and panic does not lead to progress.Which task was the most challenging for you?The hardest part of the competition for me was the cooperation and division of labor. At the beginning of the rocket season there are team tasks. In most cases, they are the ones where fewer coats are better than more. It is very difficult to implement five people, everyone is stressed, everyone has to prove themselves to be useful, there is only a few square meters of space at the table, each tool is usually a maximum of two. In my second season, when I was in the green team, the collaboration didn’t go well. I don’t even know why, maybe the characters didn’t match, maybe we organized things badly… But yes, the most difficult part of the competition was rather the people.You were on the show for season 7 and then again for season 8 – how did that happen?“Rakett69” was a very inspiring experience and I enjoyed it. In season 7 I must have done five shows in total and that was a bit too much for me, so I tried again in season 8 and I think I impressed the organizers well enough to accept me into season 8. By season 2 I knew more about how things work and I had an extra year of school and the Olympics under my belt, but I wouldn’t say it gave me much of an advantage. There were people who were smarter and more experienced than me, this season there were a bunch of people from the university and the Flight Academy.Have you also watched the next seasons?Only in a group with others 🙂 Every year we have joint screenings with people participating in the Olympics, where generally a polite number of rackets also come. A large number of my friends and acquaintances have been to Raketi at one time or another. Incidentally, this also helps dispel the myth of the antisocial nerd. There are many different types of nerds, some are introverts, some are extroverts. Rocket is generally made up of extroverted nerds, and more than a hundred apply every year.
Returning to the question: I have only seen my seasons more or less in full, the last few I have only seen partially.Were you already curious and inquisitive as a child?However, I have always enjoyed crafts, engineering and science. As a child I built remote-controlled airplanes, treehouses with elevators, and other similar gadgets. In 6th grade I sketched out some physics from a game in a notebook (I didn’t see real physics until 7th grade). I had rules about how gravity works and how elements transform into other elements in “stars”. It had very little to do with reality and I preferred to just do it for fun. I even tried turning it into a simulation in Excel, but that didn’t quite work and I didn’t know how to program normally at the time, so it just sat there.What else did you do as a child, what were your hobbies?Over the years I have cultivated several hobbies: a few years of model aeronautics, a few years of judo, shooting, athletics… At fourteen I decided that the violin was cool and even later I completed a five-year program at a music school. On top of everything, I also played with silver melting. There were many hobbies…What subjects were you most interested in at school?The most interesting were labor studies and physics. In both cases, the primary school had excellent teachers. In terms of business education, I really enjoyed carving and making things with my hands. We had a very well equipped classroom, in addition to woodworking and welding, we could also do forging and welding, and at one time you could even work clay there.
Physics-wise, I quite enjoyed the Olympics. They were like intellectual weightlifting competitions where you give everything you have for 5 hours. I did even less well, I went to the Republicans every year and from time to time I even got some good places. I didn’t reach international level in physics, I did more in astronomy. Were you an exemplary student at school?Absolutely not. I also finished elementary school with no A’s, but the grade sheet in high school was pretty colorful. I’ve never cared about grades, life is too short to chase numbers. I rather focused on my interests. School is first and foremost a tool for self-development, and self-development does not coincide with the pursuit of good grades.Was there a teacher who influenced you the most?The aforementioned Geil Siim was my physics and biology teacher, who in elementary school pointed me towards the Olympics, for which I am extremely grateful. He also helped a lot with the preparation. He provided experimental materials and equipment and explained when something got complicated.Aivar Johansson he was my professional teacher. He was an extremely good teacher. The students really respected him. Aivar not only taught how to hold a saw, but also how to work. He taught independent thinking and work planning.Who else guided your interests and development?In Russian times there were “Noor tehnik” magazines, today YouTube channels play this role. Many of my scientific and technical horizons come from there.What are you doing now?I am currently in the additional year of my physics degree (4th year) at the University of Tartu. There are many different projects at the university and outside of the university: I work as a textile robotics specialist in the IMS laboratory at the UT Institute of Technology, I lead the SemuBot mechanical team at UT, I dabble in electrochemistry as part of my thesis, and as a hobby I develop a metal 3D printer and a couple of microscopes. There are many exciting things in the world and the only sad thing is that there are only 24 hours in a day.At one point, you even had plans to study abroad. Is it still valid?I graduated high school in the spring of 2020, so the world caught fire a bit after I made the plan, which is why I stayed in Estonia. It had its advantages, I retained access to the labs and I know the local language (Estonian), so I can take more or less any university course, which is quite problematic abroad. At the same time, abroad is a very big place and I would like to see some of it, so I would do a master’s degree abroad, I just need to decide which degree I want to get, which is relatively difficult with the diversity of countries and my interests. ..Has participating in the show changed anything in your plans?Not really, it was a great experience and I was invited to a couple of events afterwards, but it didn’t cause any major changes in my plans. Rather, the rocket taught me how to deal with stressful situations.What are your other goals and plans for the future?The dream would be to live with the freedom to do creative development work. To be a tech artist, but every artist must also be an entrepreneur, so this would also require financial and sales skills. Starting my own business would open some doors, simplify some processes, so that’s partly what I’m heading towards. Let’s hope it’s worth it.
I would also like to continue my education, but I would still do it with intention. Going abroad for the sake of abroad is useless and expensive. I would first make a list of the skills I lack and then choose a curriculum that teaches them. Fortunately, there are some options with a physical basis.
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2023-12-05 21:53:35
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