Headed for the driving center in the morning and was about 45 minutes early, so I waited 45 minutes before my warm up session started, had my warm up session with an instructor I have never been assigned to before and he guided me around the circuit once before making our way to the test route.
During my warm up, I actually hit a kerb in the crank course, that was really nerve wrecking because I've never hit the kerb in the crank course before, the crank course was my strongest subject and I actually managed to fuck that up. I thought it would count as an immediate failure, but the instructor told me I never mount so it would only be 10 demerit points. I can't really remember how the test route went, so it must have gone quite smoothly, there were a few times the instructor would ask me to check my blind spot but other than that, no major screw ups I can remember.
After the warm up session, I followed the instructor to the waiting room on the second storey, where he drops my IC and PDL into a little box and that was the end of the warm up, the next time I was in a car, it would be for my test.
The warm up room only had 5 people including myself, 2 Indian guys, a middle age lady and a China guy who was probably my age. At around 11.50, the first tester came in and called out for the middle age lady, 10 minutes later, the China guy was called and shortly thereafter, my name was called.
The tester who picked my IC was quite a friendly guy, we greeted each other, he tells me the test route we were gonna take and I honestly really didn't know which test route it was, I know it's number 2 but I don't know how route number 2 was like. Later I find out it was the same test route I took for my warm up.
So I got into the car and away we went, the circuit went by really smoothly, although I think he forgot to do the slope and at that point I really didn't want to let him know, so I just kept quiet when he told me that we were going out to the test route,I didn't want to be given the chance to gain more demerit points.
I have to say though, I actually hated test route number 2 because of the particular U-Turn I had to do, it was at this U-Turn that I got scolded so many times by this one instructor during my peak hour lesson, it was nothing but bad memories, fortunately for me, the road at that time was actually quite clear, so I was able to my lane change with ease and didn't get stuck at the U-Turn for too long.
As we were nearing the end of the test route, lo and behold, what I had fear would happen happened, there was this fucking pedestrian standing in the middle of the T-Junction, trying to jaywalk her walk across, I wasn't able to see her because I was behind a lorry at the time, so when the lorry turn the corner, I assumed the road was clear because there's no way there would be anyone standing in the middle of the fucking T-Junction, the jaywalker probably also assumed there wasn't going to be any car behind the lorry and when I saw her, I quickly did a hard brake, she sees me, smiles at me apologetically and takes a step back before putting up her hand to apologize again and I thought that was it, that would be my confirmed immediate failure, I almost killed someone, I was so pissed off at that woman as I was making my way back to the driving center. That was what I was worried about, some inconsiderate pedestrian popping out of nowhere on the road and there she was, standing right in the middle of the fucking T-Junction.
So as I was nearing the driving center, the tester decided to start small talk and ask me about what I work as and where I was working, and we had a short and friendly chat in the car which calmed me down a little. We got back to the driving center and I was send back to the waiting room to wait again and because the tester started to get chatty at the end, it had me hoping for the better, in the room, there were 2 other guys who were waiting for their results, the China guy and one of the Indian guy, the China guy passed with 18 points (because he showed me later on) and well, the Indian guy failed his test, he had a lot of problem in the circuit and was lacking confidence, 5 minutes later, my tester comes back, hands me my test results and goes...
"Okay, you pass."
I had this stupid smile on my face the entire time he was talking to me, everything that was happening in the room I just tuned out, I was so fucking happy, I was hoping to pass, obviously, but I wasn't really expecting to, not after how horrible my last revision went, in fact, when I went for my revisions and if the instructors were treating it like a real test and scoring me, I would get insanely high scores like 40 to 50 demerit points with 2 Immediate Failures thrown in to be the cherry on top of a demoralizing lesson, so to be presented with a score of 8 points was OMFG insane.
The tester then told me to head to the warm up area to watch the graduation video, I was so fucking happy. Me, in the warm up room watching the graduation video, on my very first attempt at the Traffic Police Test, that's crazy, but there I was 5 minutes later, watching this video of people dying in car accidents, I couldn't see much because my view was blocked by some lady's head, I do remember this one photograph that was flashed on the screen of someone's leg that was bend the other way with the bone jutting out, it was nasty but thankfully they were just pictures and not videos of the guy's leg actually bending the other way with the bone popping out of the leg, but the fucked up thing was that there was a little kid in the room watching the video with us, like a toddler in the front row who had a much clearer view of the video than I did, watching the video of brutal road accidents, the father who was sitting beside him had to cover the kid's face the entire time the video was playing, it was fucking hilarious because when the BBDC staff realize a kid was in the room with us, they got a bit shocked as well, but the Dad just settled with closing his kid's entire face with his hands.
After that, we were send back to the second level to get our temporary license where I had to wait 90 fucking minutes for my turn to be called, it's ridiculous, and it's not even a weekend. I waited there for 90 minutes for my turn. 10 minutes in I decided to just go to the canteen to grab a drink for like 10 minutes, but got scared I might miss my turn and went right back up after I was done consuming my packet of Vitasoy.
So I spend about an hour on the second floor after my Vitasoy just waiting for my turn. But waiting an hour is better than waiting another 2 months to retake my TP test, so I just kept thinking that and it made the wait more bearable.
I managed to get my temporary license at around 2.45pm and that was it, I've finally done it, after 2 years of heavy procrastination, I've finally gotten my driving license, I can now use my parents car to drive to where ever the fuck I want without having to wait 20 minutes for the bus in the sweltering afternoon heat and I MIGHT be able to use the car during my reservist because travelling from Changi to Bukit Timah by public transport is not a joke.
I realize in the past few weeks I actually have a body odor issue because my back wouldn't stop sweating, whenever I get up from the bus seat, I would get a whiff of this horrible smell and every time I thought it was from the Uncle in front of me or the student seated behind me, and I will start judging them, turns out I was the source of that foul smell because after the hundredth time smelling that same smell every time you got up, you start to connect the dots. So now I always feel very self conscious after I have waited 10 minutes under the sweltering heat for the bus to arrive, get on the bus and sit in the empty sit in front of someone, because when my body has cooled down and all the back sweat has dried up, the pungent smell will start to permeate the air and drill it's way into the nostrils of the innocent souls seated around me, and the person behind me will bear the full grunt of it.
Anyways, I definitely couldn't have pass my TP on my first attempt had my instructors not been so anal about perfection and had the tester hadn't been so lenient, I was very lucky. What a huge load off my shoulders and now all that's left is to see whether or not I get accepted by SIM, and if that isn't successful, its my career I have to worry about.
So I spend about an hour on the second floor after my Vitasoy just waiting for my turn. But waiting an hour is better than waiting another 2 months to retake my TP test, so I just kept thinking that and it made the wait more bearable.
I managed to get my temporary license at around 2.45pm and that was it, I've finally done it, after 2 years of heavy procrastination, I've finally gotten my driving license, I can now use my parents car to drive to where ever the fuck I want without having to wait 20 minutes for the bus in the sweltering afternoon heat and I MIGHT be able to use the car during my reservist because travelling from Changi to Bukit Timah by public transport is not a joke.
I realize in the past few weeks I actually have a body odor issue because my back wouldn't stop sweating, whenever I get up from the bus seat, I would get a whiff of this horrible smell and every time I thought it was from the Uncle in front of me or the student seated behind me, and I will start judging them, turns out I was the source of that foul smell because after the hundredth time smelling that same smell every time you got up, you start to connect the dots. So now I always feel very self conscious after I have waited 10 minutes under the sweltering heat for the bus to arrive, get on the bus and sit in the empty sit in front of someone, because when my body has cooled down and all the back sweat has dried up, the pungent smell will start to permeate the air and drill it's way into the nostrils of the innocent souls seated around me, and the person behind me will bear the full grunt of it.
Anyways, I definitely couldn't have pass my TP on my first attempt had my instructors not been so anal about perfection and had the tester hadn't been so lenient, I was very lucky. What a huge load off my shoulders and now all that's left is to see whether or not I get accepted by SIM, and if that isn't successful, its my career I have to worry about.
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