I'm driving! Well, learning...

For this year, the major house renovation has to take a backseat. I guess we'll just wait until our ceiling collapses on us, by then we won't have a choice. Of course, I'm hoping that the ceiling will understand the financial difficulty and waits until we really do have the budget.

Barring that, I'd have to occupy myself with simpler things but with greater impact on the nearer future, granting I'm not already preoccupied as I am.

Xofi will be schooling soon. Before I start scouting for schools, I finally conceded that I really do need to learn how to drive. Well, for several reasons, actually. And that is not counting the self-serving ones.

So, off I go, with my friend, enrolled in a driving school. We had our first two hours the next day. My first observation was how people are so inattentive of their safety and the safety of others, and yet the population is booming!

The driving instructor kept telling me that I don't have to look over the rear-view and side mirrors that often as long as I'm staying on my lane. But hell, cabs sprout in all directions -- left, right, back, front, up, down. It's crazy! Tell me, how can I stop paranoia from checking the mirrors all the time? Who's telling that they're not gonna bump my behind when I'm not looking?

On the other hand, it eases down the expectation of seeing some gory roadkill few blocks ahead.

My recurring thought (i.e. encouragement) when I'm about to plunge into a traffic jam that's seemingly impossible to get out of: If I can get it out of here alive, I can drive anywhere. That's the beauty of driving on Philippine roads.