The Driving Test... Revisited!

I was pretty nerve-racked during my driving test. Firstly, I started off rather badly at the slope, where I revved the engine but neglected to release the clutch, resulting in a slight but rather embarrassing slip backwards.
Afterwards during my parallel parking, I actually over-reversed after the pole was sighted in my right wing mirror. I had to perform an additional reverse manoeuvre. Worst of all, I was reprimanded when I pronounced my successful completion of parallel parking, because I had not pulled the handbrake and put the gear into neutral. When the tester tapped on his PDA, in my mind I was wondering, "Is he checking the scoresheet?"
All this, I thought, didn't bode well for my test.
Still, I pressed on, completing the S course, crank course and vertical parking in quick succession. All this while my tester continued tapping on his PDA.
I was pretty sure I had failed by the time I left the circuit, and what I was thinking at that time was, "What the heck, I give it my best shot anyway" And compared to the narrow confines of the circuit, the roads were truly a breath of fresh air.
I turned left out of the circuit, crossed the junction, turned left into a small road, turned left out into eunos link, then turned right and headed back into the test centre without much incident, except for changing lanes too abruptly and neglecting to change up gear when I accelerated. (Just once!)
As I waited for my test results, I couldn't help but notice my tester placing some sheet of paper under the "pass" basket. And when he sat down before me to explain my mistakes, all I could focus on was the scoresheet placed upside-down before me. My score seemed to be 10.. the tester congratulated me.. I couldn't believe myself.. I had actually passed my driving test!
At that moment, I was the happiest man in Ubi.

Driving Home a Point

Today my driving instructor did it again..
"嘉逸, 驾车是不可以想的，驾车的人都没有头脑的。驾车只需要反应。。。"
My instinctive response was to agree wholeheartedly. But the reason I have to think is still because I'm unsure of using the clutch.
After countless lessons, I still get jerky beginnings and problems controlling my speed. Of course, I've improved a lot since I begun learning, but having these problems are certainly not reassuring one week before my test. And there's also the matter of judgement. Blame my slow reflexes for not reacting when the road is clear for me to change lane.
If there's one take home message from today's lesson, it's that driving's more about reacting than about thinking.

Update: I passed my driving test on 12/6/2009 with 10 points! :D:D:D

End of 1st week of medicine
The week was relatively uneventful, except we learnt that people in medicine seem to have shorter working hours compared to surgery. I may be wrong, but I feel a little more relaxed in medicine, compared to surgery where we have to rush around doing OT, and really chiong during morning rounds.
The bulk of the mugging seems to be in medicine. I mean, surgery is really mainful about doing the surgery, and knowing the possible complications of surgery, common surgical conditions etc.. which isn't really the focus of csfc. So for now, medicine=mugging.
But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so kudos to Ray and everyone from cg 19-22 for making it a more balanced experience. We are really happening!
1) on Thurs we went to 18 chefs for lunch. (According to the Sunday Times its owner trains ex-offenders as chefs, helping them to turn over a new leaf)
2) on Fri we played badminton! Really fun, didn't expect so many ppl to turn up. I played until my legs were rather sore, and towards the ends it was obvious I couldn't keep up with the others already. (luckily we played doubles, so I could slack a bit while C Hoe dashed around madly.. sorry la.. ran out of steam..)
With luck, the last 2 weeks might be just as fun. Except perhaps the week before OSCEs. Hopefully the swine flu situation would be better controlled by then.

I just let an entire day pass without much studying. It's a strange feeling, like deliberately taking a detour when a short cut beckons.

Sun, 10 May, 2009
I got up at 7am, had a quick breakfast, and left house at 730 for an early morning driving lesson. Surfing facebook for notifications. Having an early lunch comprising of leftover food. Going to Serangoon North to relearn CPR and first AID. Travelling home for a large chocolate cheese cake. Dressing up and taking pictures. Watching tv. Rechecking facebook. Replying facebook messages. And blogging.

And the nagging feeling in my head. Is telling me to to read browse... and talley... and stop slacking.
And start working.
But what the heck. It's my birthday.