the one about 2nd day of driving around
Took the car for a spin today. Yet again. Of course, Dad was with me. He wanted to make sure I could drive safely and confidently before he let me drive on my own.
Went up the PIE today, on to Toa Payoh past Grandma's house. Later, went to fetch Mum from some church at Bayshore Road.
It's really special and interesting to fetch my parents around. For so many years, I've always taken the back seat with both my parents at the front and my Dad driving. Now, I feel proud to be able to drive them around while they can relax as passengers.
Have duty tomorrow. Going to drive there with Dad giving me directions. Then I'll drop there and cycle in while Dad drives home cos he needs the car at night.
Ok, have to sleep soon. Goodbye!
the one about passing my driving
After 31 lessons, 2 stressful tests and 52 demerit points later, I can gladly say that I am able to drive officially. Woohoo!
This morning could probably be the most tense morning in my entire life. Everything went fine during warm up. But on the actual test, I totally screwed up my circuit because I striked the kerb while doing crank course.
Crank course??! Supposedly my most confident circuit item and I go hit the kerb while negotiating the bend. Probably the nerves. But that folly added a hefty 10 points to the demerit count. Ouch!
Needless to say, that strike pretty much knocked off a huge deal of morale for my outside courses. Luckily, I didn't make much mistakes outside.
The tester seemed to be in a bad mood today, giving me 'the face' wherever I hesitated too much at a turning point or junction. At one point, he kinda shouted at me. But he was on the forgiving side. And that's good.
Dad accompanied me to drive around the area that afternoon. Went up the ECP, past VJC, under the overhead bridge I used to jog on, then on to the Parkway Parade area and several other nearby neighbourhoods.
Still have to get used to parking without the poles. Of course, a more sure way of getting your car in the lot is to carry 4 poles in your boot everywhere you drive, so you can do it the 'driving centre style'. But it attracts lots of attention I don't want. Inconvenient too. Bah.
In the evening, I drove my parents to Marine Parade for dinner and back. Haha..so surreal. Am proud to be driving my parents around too.
Next on the agenda: study the road directory.
the one about driving test 2
Driving test tomorrow. Feeling rather calm now. Can't say that I may feel the same way tomorrow morning.
Because this means a lot to me and I can't imagine waiting another 2 months for a retest. I give myself stress easily. And that desire to achieve what I want badly and the worry of not reaching it really puts me at my wit's end sometimes.
I'm afraid of failing. That's quite bad. Because there's a saying that goes something like failure being one of the crucial stepping stones towards success. Bah. I think the last 19 years of my life wasn't all that successful and the thought of just being average kills.
I need to get that drive. Not only for tomorrow.
the one about dad giving me haircut
Have been worrying about my driving test recently. It's like next Friday. I really can't bear the thought of having to wait another 2 months or so for the next one.
I don't know why but my parallel parking still sucks. Can't seem to park the vehicle straight in the lot. Most of the time it's fine but other times it's just...And I sometimes don't know which way the car is slanting to, so I sorta screw it up when told to adjust my vehicle to a straight position.
Driving on the roads should be fine. Technically. Just hope that surrounding traffic don't mess up my chances of passing. Grr. Let's just pray for smooth traffic.
Anyways, Dad just trimmed my hair again. He's good. Have I told you before that he picked up this skill when he was in the army? And that he has been saving his big family loads of cash - that could have otherwise went to the barber - during chinese new year in his younger days.
He still uses the little tool which you have to keep compressing in order to make those little trims..you know, to 'slope' the hair at the back. The cute little tool that gives out the 'tick tick' sound.
No barber in Singapore seems to use that anymore. Even the old barber shops have 'upgraded' to the bulky, electric ones.
My dad is rather good given he's not a professional. And he does save me my 10 bucks that I would have given to the barber.
Ok, gotta go now. Play some computer games or something.
the one about live firing and great ice cream
Hello, haven't updated in quite a while. Life's boring but quite peaceful.
I passed ATP with an average score of 18/28. That's quite shitty actually, but it was quite tough to get. Zeroing seemed to indicate my aiming was fine. However, when it came to actual practice, I was firing everywhere else but the target. I was quite pressured because I might actually fail and come back for the reshoot.
No one wants to fail. Duh. Especially not in this case. I don't want to wake up at 4am and return home at 2am the next day. That's really crazy.
Anyways, I started to get used to all the shooting and began identifying my mistakes. Luckily, I managed to score like..11/16 for my day shoot, so I only had to hit 3/12 targets at night to pass. Haha..on the bright side, I'm like 4 hits away from marksman.
Away from army life, I finally went to eat at Ben & Jerry's. After like a few months of passing by the cafe, glancing at the prices and then turning away in disbelief, I actually sat down with my friend to consume their really expensive ice cream.
We had the mix and match thingey, which meant we could have 3 flavours. Strawberry Shortcake, Cookie Dough something and some rich chocolate ice cream with pieces of dark chocolate shaped like fishes. Could have taken a picture of the ice cream but I forgot. Argh!
I must say, great quality ice cream with lots of fillings and rainbow colours are worth splurging on. Top it up with adorable names and you have customers streaming in regardless of the hefty price tag.
Go with a friend or some buddies. Ice cream tastes better that way. :)
Ok. Gotta got now...simply because I've run out of stuff to blog about. Haha, but I'll be back wiht more words and pictures as soon as I get some inspiration, probably after I hang out in town. Hopefully soon.
