You know your university sucks when one of the modules you HAVE to take to advance costs so much. Well this is happening right now, where there's this class I absolutely have to take to advance and there are way too many people going for it. Damn all you people who don't have to take it but take it to piss the rest of us who do off anyway.

I'm going to be stuck with 4 modules instead of 5 this semester because nothing fits. It either has lectures that clash with my compulsory classes or it clashes with the exams of my compulsory classes. Which means I'll probably have to play catch up in future semesters.

I had my first driving lesson today. Didn't do much, well learned the parts of the car I needed to know. Learned to start the car, change the gears, how to operator the direction indicator (lol) and did a teeny bit of U-turning. Apparently, he's going to teach me how to turn in the next lesson, which is kinda fast consider my left and right feet aren't feeling very cooperative.

I stalled the engine twice today. First when I was stopping the car, the car was already at a complete stop when I released the clutch while depressing the brake pedal. Lol. That was kinda lame. The second time, I can't even remember how I stalled the engine. Anyway I'm still having some troubles changing the gear, I somehow end up stepping on the accelerator and clutch at the same time (about 3-4 times). On top of that, it's a little difficult to pull up the hand brake (no troubles releasing it though).

My instructor mentioned I should consider getting contacts to facilitate the checking of blind spots. Strange advice. And he gives me way too much personal information. I know the number of children he is, what they do, where he went on vacation in the last year, the number and age of grandchildren etc etc etc. o.O

Been watching lots of CSI and playing the SIMS 2 lately. I'm almost into my 2nd generation of Sims. First gen is about to transit into elderly-hood and die. Second gen is currently in university (I've already decided on the main 2nd gen Sim). I'm also watching an average of 4 episodes of CSI Season 6 a day (Currently at episode 14).

I went down after classes today to the driving centre (again) to book my final theory test as well as apply for my Provisional Driving License (PDL).

What I expected to be a short trip lasting 30minutes took me over an hour.

Booking the Final Theory Test was easy enough, because NO ONE was in the administrative centre (meant for private candidates, the school candidates have a far larger room with more counters).

What happened next was an hour's wait at the Traffic Police counter to apply for my PDL. And for that one hour's wait, I was rewarded with...

A PIECE OF PAPER.

-.-

Ok, it's supposedly extremely valuable since I can actually get the driving instructor and start practical lessons with it, but seriously?!?! ONE HOUR FOR ONE PIECE OF PAPER???

Mind you, it wasn't even A4 sized. More like 12.5% of a regular piece of A4 paper.

Sheesh. What a waste of time!

I realised that my brother got conned when he bought his final theory handbook. He bought it for $3.70 in 2004, now it's going for $3.20! HAH!

I'm using his though, that tattered piece of crap. I better pass on my first attempt man. After his useless basic theory handbook gave me a heart attack by excluding portions, all of which (the excluded portions) came out for the test on Tuesday.

I think I should keep an eye out for additional handbooks, just in case. So who passed their final theory within the last year and would like to loan me their handbook? It's only till....... erm March...

I have till March the 21st to study for it. YIKES.

Ok, now that I've passed my Basic Theory Test (my brother's handbook was USELESS because the traffic police bombarded me with a handful of flood related questions, which wasn't covered in the handbook. On top of that, I saw some 75% worth of new questions that weren't reflected ANYWHERE in the 250 questions in the handbook. Conclusion? USELESS handbook!!!

I ended up bluffing my way through 90% of the paper and actually passed (you need 90% to pass). Intelligence and common sense actually triumphed. Not that I'm that intelligent or have loads of common sense to begin with. *Shrugs*

Ok, now that that is done, another new possible headache (ok there's actually 3) has emerged.

a) I need to book my Advance Theory Test on Friday and the test would most probably be in mid-March

b) I need to apply for my Provisional Driving License so I can start taking practical driving lessons

c) the most troublesome one, I need to find a credible, decent, hygienic, English-speaking driving instructor

a) and b) are not problems you see, c) is the irritating one.

Does someone like that even exist in Singapore (I bet that those exists in other countries!!)???

On the much lighter side of things, I actually slacked through today. The only productive thing I did was to complete my 2nd statistics tutorial. May I stress on the word "ONLY"????

Yes, so to make myself feel better, I'm off to do some late night work before I turn in for the night. Sociology readings, here I come. *Sigh*

I had a weird and disturbing day. Very disturbing.

I did my usual thing of being in school by 7.10am, studied a little, went to the library when it opened and continued studying till it was 15mins before my first lecture of the day. On my way down from the 6th floor (studying room) to the 4th (main entrance), I spotted a couple in the Reference Section of the library (5th floor) doing this.

MAKING OUT.

What the hell?!?!?! Which sane person makes out in a library, in full view of everyone in the Reference Section and ANYONE using the library stairs!!?!?!

Yes, yes, you 'love' each other, but is there a need to scare the daylights out of fellow undergraduates by displaying your affections for everyone? If you did it in some park, beach, car park, I could understand. But seriously, a LIBRARY?!?! In a spot so open all visitors to the library could see you???

So that was the weird bit.

Time spent on the roads after school was filled with accidents.

First, I had to rush from my university to the driving centre (from extreme west to industrialised estate in the east) in 1h 15 mins. Usually, it sounds like a pretty reasonable thing, not this time. I have to make it clear that there are normally 2 possible and plausible routes for getting to the east from campus, via 2 different expressways. The first involving the CTE (Central Expressway??) and the 2nd the PIE (not apple pie but Pan Island Expressway). To get to the part of the driving school would involve the PIE (to most reasonable and sensible people).

Obviously my father doesn't belong to that category because he took the CTE and not the PIE. Not only was it insensible, it was fraught with accidents today!!!!

Accident 1 was from Keppel to Fort Road, it took us 30 minutes to clear that stretch (on a good day it would take barely 10 minutes). And then we were caught in Congestion Number 2 just as we were approaching the test centre (peak hour jam).

I made it, barely on time. With 5 minutes to spare.

Ok, I passed (my Basic Theory Test, which means I can now apply for my Provisional Driving License and for my Advanced Theory Test). I was in the cab, on my way home (please prepare for disturbing scene) when I was less than 5 minutes away from home, on the verge of exiting the expressway when we were caught in a jam. As the cab inched forward, I finally got to see what was holding everyone back, apparently a lorry had crashed into a taxi and there was a bike behind a lorry with the rider UNDER the lorry. The rider was stuck under the lorry with his arm in an extremely awkward position. I can only guess that the bike went from being in front of the lorry, to skidding under it (leaving its rider behind in the process) to being behind the lorry. There were 2 motorists (a car and scooter uninvolved in the accident) who decided to help by talking to the stuck rider. On the road shoulder on the left (the horrific accident was on the right most lane), 3 cars had collided into each other. So 6 vehicles just so happen to get into accidents within 20metres of each other.

Car bumpers were littered along the Chevron marking....

I've seen the wreckage of horrific accidents from time to time, but hell, I've never seen the casualty still lying on the road, hoping and praying that the ambulance would come soon. I shudder to think that by the time I passed by, the poor rider must have been under the lorry for a good 10 minutes and the ambulance only arrived close to 20minutes AFTER I got home. By that time, I guess the rider must have been in a critical condition. I reckon he was already in a critical condition by the time I saw the wreckage, and that now it would probably take a lot of luck, good karma and a pretty darn miracle to save the poor guy. I wouldn't want to be his family now, imagine the phone call. That would make anyone's heart break.

I'm definitely going to have nightmare-filled nights for a while. *SHUDDERS*