” magda-drive ako hanggang Baguio magda-drive ako hanggang Bicol
magda-drive ako hanggang Batangas
tapos magswi-swimming d’on sa beach”

“gusto kong matutong magdrive
(kahit na wala akong kotse) >/span>
gusto kong matutong magdrive
(kahit na walang lisensya) b
magdrive….drive
drive
magdrive…magdrive
drive…drive…drive…drive”

Overdive by Eraserheads

Driving is one of my dreams when I was a little child and when I first took my first lesson on driving from my mom, I was very excited and overjoyed. I was 12 years old that time, no kidding. We had an “owner-type jeep” back then. However, since I was a small kid and probably too early to learn driving, I had this difficulty seeing the road. I also had a hard time reaching and pressing the clutch, brake and the accelerator pedals. The result, most of my driving practices end up in minor bumps. Prior to that, I did a 1 kilometer drive within our community and able to turn successfully and reverse. Then my training stopped for no apparent reason.

The next time I had a driving experience was 7 years later on a Tamaraw FX vehicle owned by one of my college friends. Together with some of my closest “tropa”, we decided to practice driving with the help of Richmond. We practiced for just one day, within that same neighborhood.

Then I thought and wondered to myself when will be the day that I’m able to drive our vehicle outside of our neighborhood, into the highway and the most challenging… the expressway (freeway). I’m waiting for that day to come… the day when someone teach me on how to drive… again. Despite having a car and a SUV, I never spend a single moment touching the gas pedals and able to move them at least a meter. You see, the thing is that my parents take them everyday… may dad use the car for work, my mom use the SUV for product pick-ups. Sunday is the best time but it is their rest day. I’m turning 23 this June 17 and still I can’t be my mom’s driver for our business. I felt this shame enveloped me, I feel a bit useless. What if there’s an emergency and no one knows how to drive, imagine that. My dad planned to take me on a driving school but the money crisis that time prevents him. Soon, I grew tired of waiting and let the days passed by… until one day.

Last Wednesday, June 06, 2007, God made my dreams come true. That day, my mom was going to Romblon along with a number of large bags full of Natasha products. My dad asked me to come along and then drove us to Batangas Pier. After we took of from the pier and leave my mom on the ship, my dad slowed down and parked beside the road pavement and asked me to drive. “Are you serious?”, I said. “Come on, its easy and this vehicle is automatic transmission”. “Think of this as if you were playing a PC game”. Then the moment I switched places with him I said to myself… “This is it!”. I press the gas pedal and drove the Revo slowly. I’m a little bit nervous that time as some motorists overtake us. I pressed the gas pedals a little bit more to speed up faster… the feeling was overwhelming. As I was driving, I noticed that the steering wheel is sensitive. Enough to turn the vehicle right or left as I turn the steering wheel slightly. I do have some other problems after that because I never drove an automatic transmission vehicle before. I press the accelerator a bit harder than usual without noticing it. With my dad as my guide, he explains to me the steps on braking and turning. However, I have this problem with the braking stuff… I press the brake pedals too lightly. I press the gas pedals harder and I brake slowly… that would be a recipe for a disaster. Eh! My dad keeps reminding me about that. As we reached the intersection, I stopped on the side road and I switched places with my dad again. There’s a traffic enforcer out there and I don’t have a driver’s license. It’s just that I don’t want to screw up on the intersection with some fast moving vehicles. Enough to let the traffic enforcer knock on our window and ask for my license. That would be difficult to get away from that situation. My dad decided to take the practice on the Star Tollway which spans several kilometers. Wee, that would be fun because there are few vehicles pass there and it will took me 30+ minutes to drive.

We reached the tollway and along the way we search for a place to temporarily park our ride. “No parking” signs were laid out on all possible stopping locations. Worse, there are several roaming high way patrol cars roaming the area. It’s difficult to spot one since there are news that highway patrol men are on guard there. They have hand held radios to inform the others who violated the “no parking” sign. Well, disappointed we are and decided to take it to the SLEX (South Luzon Expressway). On the SLEX, we went through a gas station and parked there at the exit. We switched places again. I asked my dad to let him do my seat belt as I was accelerating. I felt my heart beat faster as I slip through the crowded expressway full of speeding vehicles. This is it, this is it! I speed up a bit faster to cope up with the vehicle ahead of me. I was driving on the expressway at 60 km/h. My dad never get tired of reminding me of important details on driving. Always keep a distance ahead on the next vehicle “Distancia Amigo, ehehe), signal when switching lanes and look what’s going on in the side mirrors. Be alert and don’t panic when things go wrong. After 20 minutes, we reached our exit point in Southwoods, Binan. We stopped there and switch places again. I felt noting after that… I bit shocked that I finally made it through the expressway. It’s an achievement.

Wow I did it… but then that’s just the start of it. I must learn more. Maybe I have to experience an accident by hitting another vehicle, a light post, or worse a human being just to learn from it and be a good driver next time. Waah! Wag naman sana! But hey, mistakes are the way for us to learn.

I’m planning to get my driver’s license soon so I can drive and have a valid ID. My previous school ID isn’t valid anymore. Wish me luck!

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