Because I passed!!! :D ALL PRAISES BE TO GOD!

The day starts out like this. I leave home a bit late, but usually this wouldn't be a problem for I would still be able to catch the bus and reach the driving school on time. However, that day, I was pondering on the option on whether to take another of the bus services to a MRT station instead and take the MRT to the school. And then it happened: the bus that I was to take OVERSHOT the bus bay! The bus bay was full, with people getting off and one bus that probably thought I was getting on it, and my bus stop is in a blind spot so that TIBS bus driver just assumed I wasn't going to take it and just shot by. I let out a "WHAT?!" in a high-pitched voice after a pause, as I was just stunned, flabbergasted, indignated (if this were an appropriate word here). There was not enough time to wait for the next bus of that service to come so I did that plan B. Even then, I had to run a bit and reached 2 to 3 minutes late for most of the cars had left their parking areas except for mine (conveniently for I didn't have to wait for it to make one round back). My favourite instructor was there already waiting for me. Lately, he's been taking a lot of my lessons, so he recognises me. This old man, he's patient, and not so quiet and solemn that you feel a bit intimidated by the silence, he's alert, and most important of all, he has perspectives on safety that most people don't realise, like releasing the handbrake WHILE checking blindspot on the slope in case a motorcycle appears from behind. (yes, WOW, how can he think of such a thing?) Under his tutelage, and NOT pondering on things while driving especially when waiting at stop lines, my skills improved and were refined.

During the lesson, I kept sneezing midway through the lesson. That morning when I awoke, I had a mild sore throat in a small area and I had a slight runny nose that wouldn't stop slowly flowing. I tried to control myself, holding a tissue paper in one hand, and if I felt a sneeze coming, I would stop the car (when doing the parking), sneeze, then continue.

Also, while parking in the parallel parking lot, I heard a muffled explosion sound (it wasn't loud), saw at the opposite parallel parking lot, the car overheated. Smoke was coming out through the front grilles and there was coolant liquid dripping from underneath the engine portion of the car.

So, the morning had quite a weird sequence of events...

Since I couldn't find a lunch buddy to eat with me in the area, I rushed back home, had a quick lunch, and went back to the driving school for the warm-up lesson. I didn't want to be late again so I opted for both plan A and B: which ever bus came first I would take. The bus going to an MRT station came first (a bus service I had never taken before, as with the one I took in the morning). I looked through the back window of the bus twice to see if my regular bus was behind (for this bus took the same route for a portion of the journey as my normal bus), and I stopped doing it after I think the lady behind was giving me a weird look. Well, I should've looked behind for my bus did appear behind and I only saw it through the side window when the bus I was on diverted away from that direction I normally would go on and hence my chance to get off and change bus was gone. Oh well.

I reached the school just in time. The car I would be using in the exam, which students get themselves familiarised with during the warm up lesson, was weird for an auto car: the steering wheel was tough to turn! I had to use a lot of effort to turn the wheel, especially full-lock, let alone tilt, so much so that I had to change the way I turn the steering wheel to get a better grip and apply a stronger force, as well as take a longer time to turn the wheel. The instructor hence advised that I really had to use very slow speed to allow myself to turn the wheel (for a given the distance under normal circumstances). He also pointed out that at number 16, the S-course, there was no right turn, and if an instructor asked me to enter there from the outer lane, which involved turning right, I was to say "Sorry sir, but I cannot do a right turn here." . He also did emergency brake (E-brake they like to call it) in a weird location, in a lane or area that I usually never do E-brake at. He said examiners might do it anywhere "because accidents can occur anywhere" (that's the rationale of the testers). At the end of the drive on the road, he reminded me not to mess up the test by hitting the gate when turning in. The instructor gave advice during the session using a lot of Chinese proverbs. The last part of the session, he gave me a talk to control my emotions and set my mentality aright. Learn from my mistakes from my last test, be confident, and continue to do my best though I may have made a mistake; do not let the mistake affect me for the tester might give chance for me to pass if I do well for the rest of the test. "Be confident, like the Singapore Idol contestants", he kept emphasizing. A few Chinese proverbs here and there, and his parting words were "Remember a few months ago, on your first lesson, when you had no skill, and where you are now.", and wished me all the best.

Earlier in the day, and the day before, Alex had sms-ed me to wish me all the best and some reminders and prayed for me. Marie, Mum and some other people also wished me well.

So the instructor brought me up early to the waiting area where some testees were already waiting. It was a long wait. I prayed to God; I could sense that God's power is at work that day more strongly than on previous days, for the weird series of events showed that God was in full control of things and was going to decide my fate. I also had a feeling that I would pass, but there was also a chance of failing. I prayed to God that I would pass, but it was His will and not mine if He wanted me to drive or not. So I prayed, relaxed and focused. There was this student on my right, first-timer, I had a feeling she wouldn't pass (I was right as I saw her sitting down at the admin counter later looking a bit sad) for the way she was thinking showed she wasn't ready, a bit, but only a bit, like how I was on my first test. She took out a piece of paper to STUDY where the E-brake locations were. I told her, no point studying it, for testers can test it anywhere, like what my instructor told me earlier, and anyway, the tester would first ensure it was safe before testing it, and sometimes, they might not test it at all. She was nervous and kept thinking of questions and asking me like how many testers were there (i just pointed to the wall where all the testers names were) and she told me she hoped for test route 1 "which was the easiest". I replied to her that as long as your skills are fine, any route shouldn't be a problem, This was also for the girl on my left, also a first-timer. I told her at this time, traffic is quite light so she should be able to change lane. To keep the woman (about 30 years old I guess) on my right from asking me anymore questions, which would break my mood and hence concentration and attitude, I told her to just relax and focus now. So finally I could continue praying and focusing without distractions.

That day, there was no tester to first brief us on who was getting which tester and which route. I found out from my instructor in previous lessons that they used to draw ping pong balls to decide the route, but now they start to allocate them to the tester and testee to the tester. I got route 5 and I didn't get the P! There's a tester whose surname begins with P, the instructors (more than one), told me he was very ngiaow, that he would pick on the student to find all the faults that they had, and if he doesn't like the student, he would find faults enough to fail the student, as with an indian boy student my favourite instructor had experienced, according to what my instructor told me.

Side-track here. I notice that the motorcycle instructors who double up as motorcar instructors, have a weird way of sitting in the car, not straight and upright as we usually do, but usually slumped in the chair, senget to one side.

So I went about my test, I didn't realise that I didn't reverse up the ramp enough, and didn't understand the tester's words, did he want me to reverse back up some more or go forward? (And so I got 4 points.) Never mind, I will still do my best for the rest of the test! (Now, that's the right attitude, instead of the one I had last time which was "Sure fail, might as well just clock up more points lor".) So I went on the road, making sure I kept a safe following distance, stopping at the stop line, not exceeding the speed limit, turning when I had the opportunity to, and for the return leg back to the school, all I kept thinking was "don't muck up the test", a few times as I went down the road and finally approached the gate.

I followed the tester up to the tester's room, and waited at the desk, anxiously. I saw the P at the desk in front of mine, telling the student he failed in the same manner he did to me and went through his mistakes. I waited. I prayed a bit. I waited. It was in God's hands already. The tester was hooking up his laptop, downloading the information and getting it printed.

Finally, he came to my table. He didn't sit long; I saw the paper as he sat down the word that meant so much to me: "PASSED". I "broke down" in relief and joy for a very short while, sighing/exclaiming in a whispery voice "Yes!" He told me to go to room 5 and handed me my things. I didn't catch what he said clearly so I just took a queue number and waited for my turn to apply for my license. There were 15 numbers ahead of mine. I sms-ed a few people for I didn't know who to tell besides Alex who explicitly stated to tell him the results. The only person I called was Daddy, who open hearing my results was stunned (for I heard silence), and then "very good" or "well done", clearly hearing his joy. I waited for some time, then managed to ask 2 girls in the queue if they were applying for license (for I overheard them), and if I was meant to do anything before that, for I saw clearly room 5 was for trial theory test. Apparently, I had to watch a video in there, and I could just walk in during the test. I thanked the girls and went to watch the video, which was a bit scary in that they showed actual footage from traffic cameras of accidents, where the car was travelling down and just rammed into the stationary car or lorry there, the taxi lost control and in one smooth curve as it went round the bend slid across the lanes into the lorry. There was one video clip for motorbike as well. They also showed 2 testimonials of victims of accidents. One was from drink driving, who was jailed and lost his license and "freedom" that driving gives, and a women who lost her fiance and now has speech and movement difficulties, and the accident happened when she was just 21 and just accepted her boyfriend's third marriage proposal.

When I was done with the video, my queue number hadn't been called. Finally after a long wait, which included sneaking up a packet of milo from the canteen downstairs (no drinks allowed outside canteen area) I could get my license done, then went down to buy the P-plate and collect my training booklet. At the admin counter, I saw my instructor, who was there to enquire about me for I hadn't collected my booklet yet at that time (it was already 5.30pm and my test was at 3.45pm), where he saw me and asked for my results, and I was happy to tell him I passed. He was happy and offered his congratulations and a handshake. I am really thankful to Mr Chue. The counter lady agreed with him that it was just a new beginning to my journey on the road(no pun intended).

I reached home quite late, but to be expected, and saw my neighbour walking dogs with my grandma's former maid, but instead of the 2 mongrels and 1 border collie as expected, I saw 3 brown dogs and 1 black and white dog. I thought I had seen something wrong. Anyway, the first thing I thought of was the border collie, which was cute and intelligent, and called out its name, but my neighbour didn't stop. So I quickly ran up to them and saw the last brown dog: it was my own dog! So I called out his name, and he turned around and smiled at me. My neighbour passed me his leash and told me that he went along on the walk for he was whining when she and my grandmother's former maid passed by my house and was very happy when he was able to come along for the walk. She also had to carry him at one point on the walk for she was afraid he would get tired (and he would, for the route she usually takes is much longer than his normal routes).

What a perfect way to end a good day, just the dog and I, walking home.