He entered the small cramped room, and noticed that most of the others were already present. Noticing an empty seat right at the back, he sauntered towards it and sat down, making himself as comfortable as it could get. Truth was, the scenario was never going to let him get anywhere near comfortable.

The room was shrouded with deafening silence, interrupted only by the low humming cadence of the air-conditioner. The silence encompassed those who were too anxious to even think, some were in absolute fear such that they could hardly move a muscle, a few were in deep concentration, focused on the challenge ahead, while others having a sanguine mentality, almost bordering on arrogance.

Chewing anxiously on his Wrigley's, his mind swelled with a mix of competing emotions. Confident that he has the ability to overcome the task at hand. Worried that he might commit silly mistakes and thus not attaining his goal. Excited that he can demonstrate skills that reflect his true strengths. Dreading that he might have to further augment his expenditure for lessons if he fails to succeed.

One by one, the people began leaving the room that reeked of nerve-racking unease upon hearing their name announced by the old testers, donned in white but face revealing only blackness from years of boredom at their mundane job. It was 435pm, time to knock off, and all the more impatient these testy irascible testers will become.

Left with only 3 people in the room, he almost felt as if his instructor had failed to actually register his documents for the test. Just as he was pondering the possibilities of his instructor's screw-ups, a typical looking old tester entered the room and called his name. A surge of excitement and adrenaline shot into his bloodstream, as he stood up and marched forward. Here we go.

Entering the car, he switched on the radio, tuned it to 987FM. First song that played was Pussycat Doll's Jai Ho. Nice beats to pump himself up. He began the drive, with the tester initially offering kind words to perhaps alleviate the panic that he has so often encountered. Problem was, he was not even panicking anymore. Instead, he was in a realm of absolute concentration, and could not wait to show him how good he can really be.

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The test went on without anything out of the ordinary. As he made his return back to the starting point, he let out a slight sigh of relief. He followed the tester back to the debriefing room, desperately trying to catch up with the tester's hurried steps, who probably couldn't wait to drink some beer and catch up with old driving fellows at the coffee shop.

Sitting in the room, any feeling of anxiety or excitement has long dissipated. He was just awaiting the results he knew was coming. Just waiting for the black and white on paper. Waiting to see it himself. The tester turned to him, handed over the paper, and said "Look at your mistakes yourself. Bye." So much for de-briefing. He was probably the only one whom did not have a review session with the candidate. Nonetheless, he took the paper, and felt a sense of glee and elation rise up within him. The magic word was ... PASSED.

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Finally no more trips to UBI for lessons. No more manual clutch bullshit. It's gonna be AUTO all the way. No more boring drives around Eunos or the lame circuit. It has all come to an end. And I'm glad I did it in just one try. Finally, I'm a driver.


Wanted to wake up at 4am to catch Man Utd vs FC Porto. But overslept. And thank goodness I did. Coz it was another horrendous performance not worth watching. Disappointing.

Cheers.