Tired physically and mentally

Booked for driving school on wed morning with liyuan and put $800 into my BBDC account. Booked 2 practical lessons on fri, 2 theory lessons each on thur and sat at the internet terminals immediately after creation of my account. Went Lot 1 for some shopping of new year clothes afterward. Bought a shirt at men studio and a t-shirt at world of sports. Coincidentally, we saw aaron who was in my PMB branch in Mindef and found out that my whole branch was having lunch at a restaurant in Lot 1. Went there to greet them and left shortly coz we had lunch already. Paul joined us later to search for jobs at hotels as part-time banquet waitors since we are learning driving and can't get a full-time job. Arrived at Shangrila Hotel after walking around 400 meters from the bus stop opposite Raffles Girls school. Went in through the back door for employees and headed for the training room at human resources. We were rather surprised with the condition of the employees sector which looked like offices in a factory. We were told that the interview is at 6.30 pm and the time then was 1.30 pm. Wondered where to go after that and we decided to try other hotels in Orchard. Went Grand Hyatt and asked the reception about application of jobs and were directed to the entrance for employees at the dilapidated back door behind the hotel. Had to exchange our id for security passes to enter the place. We were given an application form to fill in after going to human resources. Then, we were bought through huge kitchens to outside the banquet office and were requested to wait outside. Gave them the application forms and were told to attend the training lesson at 5 pm when they will shortlist people for the part-time job. Went Marriott later for the same thing and were informed that they do not need part-timers currently. Meritus Mandarin were our next stop but their reply was no as well. Headed back to Grand Hyatt and waited 1h at a ballroom for the training class which actually starts at 6 pm. Found out from a supervisor that the hourly rate for first-timers is $5. It's $1 less than Shangrila and we told them no. Wandered to Wheelock and filled in more job application forms at Olio Dome. Went back home since we could not meet the 6.30 pm timing for Shangrila interview. Did not find a job in the end but i think it was kind of interesting searching places for jobs.

Kept searching the bbdc website for practical lessons cancellations so that i can book. Chanced upon a thursday timeslot and booked the practical lesson immediately.

Went for my 1st practical lesson in BBDC and spent some time searching for my instructor and car amidst the thong of people. My instructor was quite good as he told me the right things to do instead of shouting at me. Drove onto public road after driving around 20 times around the circuit. Stalled the engine once and realised how easy it is to stall unlike military vehicles which would vibrate violently before stalling. The half-clutch position is like a 3 quarter clutch position and if u release a bit more, it would stall. The first lesson was more like a familiarisation of civilian cars but the gear was very smooth and can be handled with more ease than military vehicles. The pickup speed for driving centre cars are all quite slow. Anyhow, i got 8 stamps for my 1st lessons. Felt quite happy with my number until i saw Daryl and knew that he got 11 stamps. Talked for a short while before attending my theory lesson which starts 10 mins after my prac. I took a bit of time searching for the room and was 10 mins late. Had a rather informative Basic Theory Lesson 2 which reinforces the things i should do and shouldn't do during the test. Watched a few video clips of real accidents on the road and it made my mind more alert. After lesson 2 ended, i attended BTL 1 which was rather boring as i knew most of the information already. Slept through 25% of the lesson. Spent 100 + 10 + 100 + 10 + 100 = 320 mins in the driving centre on thur.

I was contemplating whether i wanna go kayaking with ks, jy, zy and jk on fri morning as it was very far away from my house and i have driving lessons in the afternoon. Went anyway since i love to go out more than i love to sleep. Took 184 to clementi and took 196 from the interchange. Bad bad decision. I was in bus 196 for 1h and 27 mins. Arrived at parkway hawker centre late for 45 mins. Luckily jy and zy were late too so i was spared from the chiding. After we finished our breakfast, we headed to Big Splash's kayak rental store after walking for around 25 mins. The hourly rate was $6 for sit-on-top kayak which was the one for inexperienced kayakers. Ks's kayak was more expensive as he is licensed to use the sit-in kayak as he got 2 stars for the kayaking course in the past. Headed to the empty beach carrying the heavy kayaks after storing our valuables and bags. The scenery was very nice and the weather is quite good. I got onto the single kayak and we paddled to a yellow buoy. Continued our paddling after resting for a while. It was rather tiring and my arm muscles were sore after a short while. Felt more pumped up after taking a break at another stretch of beach. Zy and Jy capsized when they tried out Ks's kayak but Zy perservered and did a good job of manoevring the 2-star kayak. We changed kayaks after our break. When we were paddling back to the shore. Jk bumped into Ks and me and the front of his kayak slid up on my ankle depressing the kayak i was on. Luckily, there was no sand or bumpiness underneath the kayak or else i would have bled quite badly. I did not notice my slipper dropping into the sea until a few seconds later and exclaimed that my slipper is gone. Ks saw a hint of orange beside the kayak and reached for it. I was quite happy to see that it hasn't sunk much and reached to grab it too. Guess what? Our double-man kayak flipped and we were thrown into the salty salty sea. My other slipper and Jy's cap also thrown in the sea. Only managed to salvage 1 slipper. Luckily Jy's nike cap floated and was retrieved. Actually i was only planning to change my 3-quarters but now my whole body is wet. We reached the shore at 12.30 pm, carried back the kayaks and washed them, returned the life jackets, paid the fee and went to bathe. I got my driving lessons at 1.55 pm at bbdc and was quite anxious because it was quite late already. Left at 1.15 pm from Big Splash and was walking really fast to a nearby bus stop. Took a bus to paya lebar mrt and was desperately looking for a cab to bring me to bbdc in 20 mins. Finally found an empty cab after crossing a fence onto a traffic light junction to get to the empty cab. I was praying that nothing bad will happen if i was late for the driving lesson. Some of the roads are narrow due to the construction of the Kallang/ Paya Lebar Expressway and there were many cars at traffic light junctions. I was really relieved when we got onto PIE. The trip took about 30 mins and i arrived at bbdc at 2.15 pm, 20 mins later than the scheduled time. Luckily my lesson was not forfeited or i would have cursed myself for days. (1 lesson is $58.80) However, i got only 4 stamps for the 2nd lesson. Was totally disappointed and i think it must be due to my latecoming and that i did not drive very well during the lesson. Had another lesson 10 mins later and the instructor is quite young, around 30 years old i think. I corrected most of the mistakes that i made during the 2nd lesson although i stalled quite a few times on gently-sloped junctions. When i got back my book from the instructor, i flipped through the book and saw that i had completed stage 2. Counted the number of stamps he chopped and it was a whopping 10 stamps! I was really really glad for his generosity and had an increase of 14 stamps out of 33 stamps today. I only need 13 stamps more and 2 auto lessons before booking the practical test. Also have to go for a driving simulator lesson after completing stage 2. My driving program seems to be ahead of schedule as i'm already halfway through the course after 3 days. Hopefully i need only maximum of 5 practical lessons including the 2 compulsory auto lessons before booking for the actual test. My back and legs are quite sore after the 2 driving lessons and my arms are still quite tired.

Will be having 2 driving lessons next mon and 1 lesson on tue. Hopefully i will complete all the stamps by then. It's really amazing how fast we can learn if we got time to spare. Gotta wake up early for theory lessons in the morning later. Ciao!