Driving License #3 : Lessons

I thought it wise to split the final part of getting a license (finally) into two bcs there are alot of things to cover haha.

So one fine saturday when I was finally free again I went for my first practical class which I has previously assumed was going to take 5 hours but everyone apparently does not care about the jpa so I clocked in about 3 hours. There were some complications getting me registered because i didnt take my undang here and wasn't under the same uncle blablabla so that took awhile. After all that boring stuff, we went under a tree (the uncle, another guy, another girl and me) and the uncle began to explain the 'engine' parts. So in this new system of grading, you're required to orally present yourself checking the car ex: you check the tyre pressure, it's ok, so you tell the examiner "the tyre pressure is ok" and you basically do that that for the entire car, opening and closing all the four doors, opening the boot and bonnet and mentioning the engine parts and all. (This part is a little bullshit tbh i mean you literally wind down and up the windows and say "the windows can be winded up and down".)

I assumed we were going to be doing that the whole day (but as I said no one there gave two shits about the hours jpa allocated) but after half an hour or so, i got to drive the freaking car omg. I have never handled a manual before so i was pretty excited hahahah. Uncle had me going round in circles, braking at the end of every circle i made LOL. Did that for maybe 10 circles then i got to do 3-point turn. Basically this is where people usually fail because you have to ONLY stop 3 times. Even if you jerk a little chances are the examiner won't let you pass. Next was the selekoh S and selekoh Z. Believe it or not i managed to go up on the kerb while doing the selekoh S bcs (noob). However i think uncle was in a terrific mood that day so he didnt scream at me 😂 Did many many rounds of those three elements before it was lunch and the other guy's turn to learn. Literally wasted somuch time waiting for the guy to finish so i got sunburnt. (50 shades darker) 

Next lesson i had to delay 2 weeks (ugh) bcs dad wanted to go back kampung. In this lesson I learnt how to parallel park. It wasn't difficult but it was confusing bcs uncle kept on changing his instructions lol like what. I chose a friday this time so i was the only one and got to go home immediately (yasss).

Third lesson was learning bukit (hill). Going up a hill is easy enough, but going up there, being required to stop RIGHT ON THE YELLOW LINE, braking and going down again is hell. I'd say out of everything this would probably be the one causing me to fail if i did fail (touchwood). I always manage to either go way past the yellow line or too far  from the yelllow line. That coupled with you having to control the levels of the clutch and accelerator evenly to prepare for descent is even worse. Fingers crossed i'll do fine.

Fourth and the most recent lesson i've been, i got to go on the road. (😱😱😱) This part uncle told me not to worry because apparently the examiners have been told to gurantee pass (if you get what i mean) me, considering i dont make any major mistakes like crash the car or smth. It's fun, because you get to accelerate up to gear 3, which is about 40km/h (probably more).I mean, in the circuit you don't get to accelerate at all, so obviously that's a big change hahaa. Ohh one thing i forgot to mention was that before you start to go out onto the road, they expect you to do another oral test, but this time inside the car. So you start the engine, and you gotta mention what all the lights mean, whether all your mirrors are looking damn fine and whether your wipers are working or not. At every junction, you have to stop, change to free gear, pull the handbrake, change to gear 1 and release the handbrake, even if there are no cars. This i really didnt see the point of i mean, your handbrake's gonna stop working in the span of 15 mins? Wha? The route that i'm supposed to use is full of holes and the road is small. That along with the fact that lorries go in and out every second is really stressful really. Got screamed at so many times for going too slow tho hahahaha. 💁

I have one last class scheduled before the test and uncle seems to have alot of faith in me that i can pass. Let's just hope he's right. Be back with another update before you know it 🚶

   

This doesn't fit

I believe that fitting in is a choice, not a situation.

If you really choose to fit in with that group, you probably will.

Maybe it won't seem to others that you fit in but the most important thing is what you feel.

How can you say you don't fit in, when you don't even try?

You only show up for events that interest you, where there are like mat salleh speakers and you don't interact with any of us much. 

No one has an easy time fitting in at first, no one can perfectly just zuup into a group the first time they meet.

Those who are able to do so are always the ones who are outspoken and making the first move. Talking first, saying 'hi' first etc. 

Sadly not every one of us were born to be like that. So then? What can you do?

You're supposed to MAKE bonds / friendships slowly. Gradually small buds will bloom into beautiful flowers, and that's when you'll witness the wonderful thing called friendship. If the bond is strong, nothing will part you, you'll feel comfortable interacting with them and not create excuses.

These are people you can openly tell 'I don't feel like doing this' heck, before  you even tell them, they would already know. And these are the friendships I live for. 

How do you think we got so close-knit in the first place? We went through all sorts of turmoils and mountains and valleys, many left, many joined, but who are you to judge from outside that we're perhaps not 'interesting' enough for you? 

I'm sick of people who claim no one accepts them for who they are, claim that they don't fit in anywhere, but do nothing to fix that. 

I'm sick of hearing people complain of being left out of things when (depending on the situation) it wasn't even in their place to be part of something or to know something. 

You've got to know your place in that friendship before questioning something.

Like who am I to question why the alumni don't invite me to their gatherings? Because i'm not part of their 'gang', so i know my place and just brush it off like whatever. 

I used to feel super offended whenever I saw some 'WO gathering' thing on ig or fb but you know what I realised, I'm not the only one feeling that, and now I've learnt not to give a damn. 

And I learnt to fit in without really fitting in. 

So, 

Before you people open your mouths to whine about what people are not doing to help YOU fit in, think about what you're actually doing on YOUR side to help YOURSELF fit in.