Another year beckons
Well, here we are...December. The time when everyone should take a step and ponder the year past and the year to come. Not to mention all the glittery stuff that crowd the xmas tree and facades of our temples of consumerism. Yes, the perennial haunt that Singaporeans swear by - our bigass shopping centres that offer sweet relief in its advertised retail therapy and artic interiors.
The next year sees me becoming a college lecturer. Not that I feel adequately prepared for it since I have been trained mostly for delivering the secondary school curriculum. Guess the fat cats at HQ are sipping coffees and too busy attending long-drawn meetings to notice such a anomaly. So I have to spend my hols reading up...
The first year aka 2009 is going to be a real challenge career-wise.
I have started on my driving lessons. It sure aint easy driving a manual car. There's quite a bit of hand-foot coordination going around - there's just so much to do! Looks like I wont be a record-breaker in using the least no. of practicals to get a license. I am never the handiest man around when it comes to dealing with tools and machines so this is a huge deal for me. The first lesson was relatively OK - I only learnt to engage the 1st and reverse gears. I learnt how sensitive the accelerator was and that you really only need depress a small portion of the entire pedal's surface area to get a sufficient rev-up. The problem arises when I don't clutch in as the vehicle is coming to a stop. My braking is also shitty becos I apply way too much force as I near my stop and so the vehicle throws me and my instructor forward.
But today...what a huge jump from lesson 1. I thought I should be taught to drive in a linear direction first and get the gear-changing (while in motion) in my head first. But I have to go around bends and through traffic lights which meant I was juggling gear-changing, braking, accelerating, wheel control and signalling in lesson two already. My fault was in not clutching fully when changing gear (and not taking foot off accelerator momentarily). My movement from 2nd to 3rd gear is not the best either. I was gripping the gear knob too tightly thereby not allowing the gear to shift to neutral before I change up. I just have to move up the knob from 2nd, let it swing into neutral and then change up straight to 3rd. My braking is still horrid too. I would lift my foot off the accelerator and then straight away go into braking. Maybe I can let the engine-brake work itself a bit then estimate the distance to the stop-line and press early. Then just before the car stops I must clutch in FULLY.
Driving is really stressful at the moment...maybe I am crazy to take up manual driving in the first place since I know I will definitely choose an auto anytime. Anytime.
The next year sees me becoming a college lecturer. Not that I feel adequately prepared for it since I have been trained mostly for delivering the secondary school curriculum. Guess the fat cats at HQ are sipping coffees and too busy attending long-drawn meetings to notice such a anomaly. So I have to spend my hols reading up...
The first year aka 2009 is going to be a real challenge career-wise.
I have started on my driving lessons. It sure aint easy driving a manual car. There's quite a bit of hand-foot coordination going around - there's just so much to do! Looks like I wont be a record-breaker in using the least no. of practicals to get a license. I am never the handiest man around when it comes to dealing with tools and machines so this is a huge deal for me. The first lesson was relatively OK - I only learnt to engage the 1st and reverse gears. I learnt how sensitive the accelerator was and that you really only need depress a small portion of the entire pedal's surface area to get a sufficient rev-up. The problem arises when I don't clutch in as the vehicle is coming to a stop. My braking is also shitty becos I apply way too much force as I near my stop and so the vehicle throws me and my instructor forward.
But today...what a huge jump from lesson 1. I thought I should be taught to drive in a linear direction first and get the gear-changing (while in motion) in my head first. But I have to go around bends and through traffic lights which meant I was juggling gear-changing, braking, accelerating, wheel control and signalling in lesson two already. My fault was in not clutching fully when changing gear (and not taking foot off accelerator momentarily). My movement from 2nd to 3rd gear is not the best either. I was gripping the gear knob too tightly thereby not allowing the gear to shift to neutral before I change up. I just have to move up the knob from 2nd, let it swing into neutral and then change up straight to 3rd. My braking is still horrid too. I would lift my foot off the accelerator and then straight away go into braking. Maybe I can let the engine-brake work itself a bit then estimate the distance to the stop-line and press early. Then just before the car stops I must clutch in FULLY.
Driving is really stressful at the moment...maybe I am crazy to take up manual driving in the first place since I know I will definitely choose an auto anytime. Anytime.
posted by Ming at 2:20 AM
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