Monday, March 09, 2009   8:54 PM
i went at 80km/hr!i had driving lessons today from 9-11am. Rima wanted me to do a two-hour lesson with her instead as she reckons i need a lil more practice with the wheel. mum wldnt let me drive her car as yet- giving the reason she hasn't bought insurance to cover an under-25 driver. -_ -'' (i think she's just wary of me crashing her car- my reckless attitude deceives my image;) we drove all the way from thornlie to maddington and then to cannington, before taking leach highway home to thornlie after passing through canning vale.
today's lesson aint as bad as the previous week. i finally managed to lossen a lil bit of that tension from freaking out in the driver's seat. yes, like all beginners im nervous. and to make things worse- i had parents who only passed on the four go. haha! i guess its just being singaporean that makes me anxious whenever i sit behind the wheel. rima totally understands- she claims singaporean drivers are the worst she's ever seen (the way she puts it- reckless and no consideration for speed limits) i'll admit that part, dad just loves speeding sometimes.
in today's lesson, we made a few minor changes to accomodate to my small height, we didnt do that last week as i wasn't taught how to check my mirrors. so first thing, mirrors got adjusted. i had a seat cushion as i was too short to see the front of the car:D the wheel had to be brought down a notch to my level and what else? yeah i had to bring the seat forward so my feet could touch the brake and accelerator just nicely. (rolls eyes) 'here's the part where you laugh because im way short' yada... yada... yada... whatever.
i drove unto a curb twice today. haha! both times from making too sharp a turn around a bend, that after i made the turn, the car just went over the curb and was about to hit a bicycle stand when rima braked hard. seriously i was too short in my seat, i didnt even see the stand after we went on the curb. overall, she said it was an improvement from last week.
practice makes perfect. the only times when it doesnt is when you had a totally change of scenario. when we first started out, my roundabout turns were made really slowly so i could run the processes in my head before putting them in action. we practiced in a built-up area that had little traffic so i was pretty much in a world of my own/ that mentality screwed me over when we ventured into heavy-traffic areas that had 2-3 cars in the roundabout. rima had to accelerate for me using her own accelerator as i was taking my time around the roundabout. HAHA! seriously, i thought i was still in la-la land. now you could have guessed what happened right after when we returned to doing roundabouts in built-up areas again. i accelerated too fast this time- i lost control of my steering haha. ah well. hate it when the scenarios aint in your favour.
braking's still needs practice esp. my braking distance and roundabout turns still need fine-turning. other than that, i've learnt to check my mirrors and sideways before crossing an intersection or whilst at the roundabout. so yay! rima's favourite phrase on me ' amanda, you need to loosen your grip. feel the turn. ' -_ -'' i am so feeling it.