The moment.

Today is a very, very significant day for me.

It's the day that I've been waiting for, since 28 August 2010, the day I enrolled into cdc driving centre. All those time and money spent has finally been made worthwhile.

The past few days, I haven't been sleeping and eating well. Mostly due to the anxiety that I imagined I would face during the test.

But thankfully, everything went incredibly well today. Strangely, I wasn't that nervous before/during the test today.

I would specially like to record this day down, so that I would remember everything, the details even after years :)

I woke up at 5am today, very early because I would have to reach driving school by 7am for registration of my warm-up.

After I settled everything; bathed, packed my bag, I began to panick. Why? Because I realised that I didn't know how to adjust the positioning of the car, if my car were to swing towards the right during vertical parking. Yes, a very detailed scenario. It's very practical too. It might just happen. Then, I calmed myself down, and tried to think logically, then I sort of figured the steps out.

Reached the school at 6.45am, was already feeling kind of sleepy. Was called to the room for registration. 6 more learners were taking the test too. The warm-up admin staff was briefing us about the types of mistakes students made during the test etc. He asked a question "Is there bus lane today?" He was looking at me, as if wanting me to answer his question. And so I confidently answered him "No, today got no bus lane!" Then he replied" No, today got bus lane!!" I was shocked. I thought today no bus lane!? But he added on "Today got bus lane, but bus lane hours not in operation!" WTH. Everybody laughed.

Then, we were brought to our test car by the warm-up instructors for the warm-up. Yay, I got 253, it's a new car! I definitely like new cars better than old cars, seriously! I told myself I need to fare well for the warm-up, because, it will determine the amount of confidence I will have during the test. If I do well for the warm-up, it will definitely be a confidence booster. And yes, everything went well. :) Much thanks to the warm-up instructor, who was very encouraging.

After that, I proceeded to the room, waiting to be called out by the tester. 8.25am, tester opened the door and shouted my name"KOH WEI LING!" I proceeded outside to meet him. After seeing the tester, I felt so relieved, because he was definitely a nice guy based on his looks :)

I greeted him " Good morning sir!"
First question he asked me was "Why is your IC blue when you are bornt in Singapore?" The moment this question came out from his mouth, I knew that my gut feeling was right, he is a nice person, and he will be someone whom I will be able to chat casually with. I answered him. I'll have to thank my parents for giving me this identity. :)

"Go to your car and start the engine!" He ordered me. I proceeded swiftly to the car, then started the engine, and began to adjust mirror, adjust seating, check gear on brake, check handbrake etc.

He asked if I was ready. I was about to reply yes, when I saw that his seat belt was not put on. I told him "Sorry ar sir, your seat belt.......thank you thank you!" Yes, there is a need to be as humble as you can. He exclaimed "Oh yes oh yes!" I need to thank my instructor for telling me this; sometimes testers will purposely test the student by not putting on the seat belt, so that if the student moves out, he or she will get penalised for not observing the safety of the passenger. Anyway, tsk tsk! What a wicked tester I have! Want to "reward" me with demerit points even before I start moving out.Hahaha!

Everything went on smoothly, as far as I can remember. Until I proceeded to emergency test from directional change...

I was moving out from no. 17 to no. 18, then I realised, I miss my turning point! I was about to hit the kerb. Then I hit the kerb! I panicked. My tester asked me "You hit the kerb, didn't you?" I replied "Yes sir, I think so......" I tried to calm myself down, then I asked him" Sir, can I reverse?" He replied "Yes yes, of course you have to reverse!" Then I reversed and went in smoothly. After I made this major mistake, he switched on his tablet PC, and began to tap tap...tap tap....-.-

I tried not to think about this mistake that I've made, and proceeded to do parallel parking, vertical parking, crank course, S course, thankfully, I didn't make any mistake! Exiting from the crank course, I tried to engage a conversation with the tester.

"Sir, are you a Malay or Chinese?"
"Hahaha, why?"
"Cos I see your face look like Chinese but your name is a Malay name!"
"Hahaha, I am a baba!"
"Oh oh, I know I know, nyonya!"
"Yes yes hahaha...."

Then, my tester began to chat with me too!

"Hey, I like your watch, what brand is it?"
"Oh, it's casio! Very cheap only!"
"Oh, how much? The design very nice.....
"$30+! My mum bought it for me! Sir, why you ask leh? You like watches ar?"
"Oh, ya, cos I collect watches! I got French connection, Longines, Rolex, Casio etc!"
"Wah I see i see! Wah Longines expensive leh.....So you only collect leather pieces or those sports types also?"
"I only collect leather pieces!"

"Ok, turn right now, we are moving onto the road!"

YAY!!!!!! HALF OF THE BATTLE WON!!! :) To me, being inside the circuit is even tougher than going outside the road. Tremendous stress.

I purposely drove very slowly in order for him to give me the e-brake, but he didn't....zzzzz..

It was a very smooth ride on the road. I did everything I had to do. Checked blindspots, signalled, overtake cars, change lanes....Oh yes, I realised, in order not to give the tester a chance for marking you down for not checking blindspots, you have to be like a tortoise. Stretch your neck to the longest you can, turn right, turn left, I was exactly like one during the test. And eventually, I wasn't marked down for any safety checks.

There was a junction when I had to turn left. Double checked that the light has turned green, no pedestrian crossing the road....I began my turning! Turning halfway, FUCK (exactly what I was thinking at that point of time), an indian man on a bicycle SUDDENLY ride across the road, I had to e-brake! I was terrified. I checked the pedestrian light, and it was red, means that man didn't have the right to cross the road. I almost peed. I thought it was me who drove upon red light. But thankfully, it wasn't my fault at all. Then, what surprised me even more was, the tester complained about that guy to me "See, foreign workers always like that, don't care about danger, so careless, red light still dare to cross! Already teach them still don't want to follow the rules. One day they will get hit down!" I LOLed. Relieved at the same time. Luckily I stopped in time too. I can't imagine what will happen if I didn't stop in time and hit that Indian guy.

Then, I drove back to the centre with his instructions. I was grinning all the way back. Even though I knew that I hit the kerb inside the circuit, I knew I had already passed, since I didn't make any other major mistakes.

Following the tester to the room, I was still grinning to myself, I was about to tear, because I was so touched. My efforts and time put into driving had finally paid off. I had already missed 1 lecture, 1 tutorial, and 1 CYA duty because of driving lessons, I can't imagine having to eat into my curriculum time once again. I told myself, if I failed this time round, I won't want to retake anymore, because I can't let driving affect my studies.

Inside the room, I sat down at a table, waiting for my tester to show me my results. I was very anxious and excited! When he finally told me that I passed my driving, I was sooooooooo happy! What made me even happier was that, he commented, "Your driving is ok!" Previously, I had an instructor telling me that my driving was very good, when he was sleeping throughout the lesson, like WTF, you didn't even open your eyes, how'd you know my driving was very good?! Of course, I doubted his words and didn't believe him AT. ALL. But, this time round, it's the traffic police who told me that my driving is ok! Even though he did not said my driving was good, but, being an "ok" driver was enough for me :)

Of course, I owe the passing of my driving test to many factors.

1)Instructors

Remembered how I always hated going to driving lessons because I was constantly being verbal-abused by some instructors? Remember how I said I will slam my license on some particular cars after I passed my driving test? Well, I had long forgotten those days and I eventually gave up hating those instructors. The reason is because I have gotten some really nice driving instructors after those sad episodes. I wanna particularly mention some names, although they won't be able to see this - Steven Kuek, Hong Kong Hwee, Seah Choon Chai, and last but not least, Walter Peh Kim Hock. They were the ones who really taught me the art of driving and the importance of safety on the road.

I was one who often made the mistake of stepping on the brake too often on the road, both necessarily and unnecessarily. Instructors reprimanded me that, I shouldn't do that, because I am endangering the lives of other road users, especially motorists. Motorists are often the most endangered group of people on the road. They told me that, if I were to e-brake so often, if it was a car behind me, at most he would bang onto my car, my neck would be injured. But, if it was a motorist behind me, he/she will straightaway fly out of the bike. That was scary. I wouldn't want that to happen, because I'll be haunted for the rest of my life. Checking of blindspots are also necessary, even if you are an experienced driver, because you'll never know when motorists will squeeze through the lane when you are making a turn. Seriously, those were the precious advices that I will keep it with me for life, because I wanna be a safe and skilled driver.

2)Luck

I got a very good and nice tester. Sadly, the cold and hard truth is that, the tester you get for your test does matter. If the tester is a smiley and casual guy, you have already won half of the battle. My instructors have told me that there are four testers in cdc driving centre, they are often known as four heavenly kings, if you got them for your test, chances are, you won't be able to pass, unless your driving skills are really goooood. But even if your driving skills are really good, these stern-looking testers would have already cause you to shit in your pants even before you start. Then, you will be so nervous that everything will go wrong.

One thing that caused me to be pretty angry with one of my instructor was that he told me who the four heavenly kings are, and even pointed their face to me, which means I knew who they are, their names and their faces. Imagine if I got them for my test, I would already feel like giving up. A huge part of stress came from this, knowing that I might just get any of these four testers. But thankfully, I didn't got any of them!:)

3)Confidence

Confidence is really important. Don't be nervous, because being nervous doesn't help - this is what I told myself before the test. Everyone emphasizes that a tester wants to pass someone who is a confident and safe driver. So, show the tester that you can!

4)Skills

5)Day of the week

Saturday is no doubt the best day to take a driving test. Because the driving centre isn't so crowded, and almost everyone's feeling good! Even driving instructors dress casually. This made the atmosphere much more relaxed.

6)Weather

Good weather is key too. At least it is the key for me, because out of the 27 lessons I have had altogether, I did not have any chance to drive in the rain before, not even once, so if it does rain, I wouldn't know what to do, except to utilise the wiper! And the thought of the side-view and rear mirrors being blurred really scares me.

7)My family and friends' encouragement

Yet another key to the passing of my test. My friends have been telling me not to be nervous and be confident. It does help,seriously! Thank you for everyone who has been encouraging me and telling me that I can! :) I especially want to thank my mum, because she has been really encouraging, telling me that it's ok if I fail, don't stress myself unnecessarily!

After knowing my results, I took a bus to Pasir Ris, wanting to give my parents a surprise. :) Initially, when I reached their stall, I purposely pulled on a long face, LOL. My mum commented "fail ar?" It was the reaction I wanted from her, hahaha! I wanted her to be surprised when I tell her the truth. Indeed, she was very happy, hahaha. My parents went around telling other stallholders and customers how their daughter passed her driving. It was a proud moment, this was the first time I've ever made my parents feel so proud of me.

This is the best birthday present for me this year. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. I love everyone. I love the luck that tua peh gong has blessed me with. I love how my four-leaves clover necklace seems to bring me luck. I love how I feel that I am a very fortunate girl. 14 May 2011, the day I will remember forever.

I would also like to encourage a friend who will be taking a driving test soon. Like how she has encouraged me, I would like to wish my friend all the best and I believe that lady luck will shine on her. *Pass my luck all to you!!!* Jiayou jiayou, I won't say anything like how you must pass your test, because very often, this is the invisible type of stress that people give to you unknowingly, knowing that they have high expectations for you. Dear friend, jiayou! <33

I took more than 2 hours to churn out this blog post. Because as I have mentioned, this is something I would like to remember for life :)

Anyway, I was a little sad when I tried to log into my cdc student account, I realised I can't log in anymore. And all those moments sitting at the benches waiting for driving lessons to start and standing behind the cars waiting for the instructors to come. Ahh, great memories!

Thank you if you took the time to read this super long post. :)