Jayekin’s “Say what you want” bloggy

Today, I learnt something new about myself… Before I get to telling you about it, let’s talk about how today (Saturday, 4th Oct) had been…

Morning

Drove my mum and dad to the market to get some groceries and stuff… Everything was cool… The driving was ok.. More confidence… YAY!! for me….

Noon

Set off to Woodlands to start our outing to our relatives’ houses.. Meeting my aunts, uncles and cousins over at our aunt’s house in Woodlands… Driving was ok… Yay!! again for me… That’s cos I checked out the route (Street Directory) before setting off… Only thing was finding the carpark and stuff.. I was sort of lost when I reached the neighbourhood.. hehehe.. Thank god for my bro’s superb memory….

From Woodlands, it was back to my house… My aunts, uncles and cousins came over… Again, the driving was cool… I just needed to back track… So Yay!! again for me…

Mid afternoon

Setting off to Tampines to my uncle’s house… This time, convoying with my cousin’s car.. I just needed to follow his car to Tampines. Not an easy feat, let me tell you… still, the journey was cool.. My cousin would slow the car down to make sure that I could catch up.. So Yay!! for my cousin… However, the roads were alien to me.. I was just following blindly.. A little uncomfortable cos I felt that I should have planned out a route - just in case…

Ard 5pm…

Reached my aunt’s house over @ Marine Parade… Again, the driving was cool… Still incomfortable cos I felt that tis better to have a planned route than to just follow blindly…

Evening (Peak hours)

Made our way to our uncle’s house @ Hougang…. This was where everything that could go wrong went wrong.. This time, we had three cars convoying… So I followed my uncle’s car instead of my cousin’s… Oh yeah… My uncle drives fast.. So as not to get lost, cos I really did not know the roads there, I had to sort of catch up with him… There were really lots of cars… which made it difficult for me to change lanes and stuff.. And the cars were alos changing lanes and stuff.. which was quite frightening.. So I needed to be on the look out…

Not only that, ever since I started driving, I have problems driving at night - I can barely see the cars and becos of my astigmatism, the lights seem brighter than always.. Sort of night blindness… And den there’s the cars and buses fighting for lanes… My goodness… I was also tired by then…

On the way to hougang, a bus on my left took up a bit of space on my lane, so I had to shift the car a little to the right so as to avoid grazing the bus.. This particular taxi, driving at a fast speed, just honked at me (he was on the right lane).. Which I do not understand why, cos I only took up a bit of his lane and he had quite a lot of space for him to pass by my car… Fine.. Maybe it was my fault.. was ok with that… was starting to get a little nervous tho… (I was in the middle lane, the taxi was in the first lane).

At a junction, the cars on the right lane would turn out to the right. Since I was in the middle lane, I could go straight.. So I drove on straight.. Thank goodness I was alert.. Cos the same taxi that honked at me, just swerved out from the right lane to my lane without signalling at all.. I had to jam break…. So did my cousin who was driving behind my car…  My cousin honked loudly at him.. I couldn’t do anything else.. I was too shocked…. That was when I started panicking..

I managed to drive on, following my uncle’s car… Den I saw him signal to the right, So I did that.. Den suddenly, my dad and bro informed me that my uncle just turned left towards the carpark.. “Oh my god?!!! where the hell should I go to to turn back?!!” Thank god my cousin swerved right in front of my car (I was driving slowly) and signalled me to follow him…

We went to another carpark to u-turn.. Since I was nervous and in a panic state, when I was reversing out, I almost grazed another person’s car.. My instincts went on overdrive and I managed to turn the wheel the correct way… Following my cousin, we managed to reach my uncle’s carpark with no probs…

At the carprk, I had another problem… I couldn’t park properly.. My car was crooked.. almost grazed another car.. When my bro and mum said that I was too near my car on the right, I nearly snapped at them.. oh my god… after a few tries, I managed to get the car parked.. but it was still crooked.. My cousin was kind enough to help me park the car again… Thank you cousin…

By then, my heart was pumping so fast that I thought I was either hyperventilating or getting my athsma… My hands were trembling.. My stomach was protesting - wanting to throw up… My other cousin said that I looked pale.. I just kept quiet.. I couldn’t say much… I tried breathing techniques, but that didn’t work.. I was on the verge of crying.. Which I did when my mum asked if I was able to drive back home… I didn;t know what to say cos my hands were still trembling and my heart was still pumping hard and fast..

My mum, bless her kind soul, suggested that one of my uncles to help drive back home, since everyone’s coming to my house again… I was so thankful to my uncle.. Thank you, uncle!!! My uncle advised me to keep cool and take my own time driving.. to not be pressured to follow the front car’s pace.. I’ll take that advice to heart…

So, the thing that I have learnt today about myself - I need to PLAN my routes before driving anywhere… Since I’m unfamiliar with the roads, PLANNING is a necessity for me… If I follow blindly, I will not remember the routes at all and I will feel very insecure… Next thing to remember - OTOT - OWN TIME OWN TARGET… Last thing, try to finish going to all the houses before night comes…

Although traumatised, tomorrow is still another day.. But thank god it’s just Jurong, bukit batok and yew tee areas…. Some of the roads that I’m more familiar with… So I need to psyche myself to not be afraid and to just drive… I know I can do it… And I have to do it.. if not, I’ll be forever scared to drive..

So, I’ll be planning my routes and taking my time to reach the places… Jum-chan, GANBATTE!!!!!  Since I’m the only driver in the family, yar.. I have to drive… My dear brother, if you are reading this, please, please go get your driving license soon…