drive, drive, drive your car....

i'll be the first to admit it: driving is not my forte. yes, i can drive spike to and fro metro manila but when even your sweet boyfriend has taken to sleeping when you're behind the wheel, you've got to admit to yourself that there's a bit of a problem there.

i've always wanted to drive. due to an amazing -- but unexpected -- chain of events, i was left with an 8-year-old lancer glxi which i have never driven my entire life. one night, after having driven on a main road only twice, i decided that i could not spend another night in UP and i wanted to go home. i let the thursday evening traffic pass, then at 9 p.m. i sat behind the wheel, and slowly, but surely, began my trek home.

the engine died on me 10 times. i switched both the airconditioner (my hands were really cold) and the radio (too distracting!) off and stared on the road like a mad driver. i clung onto the steering wheel for dear life. and when finally, i made the right turn onto my street, i sighed a huge sigh of relief and sent an SMS to every person in my phonebook. "i made it home, DRIVING, alone."

almost two years later, and a car to replace the glxi i smashed to smithireens, i continue to be the same menace on the road. i, however, do not see the need to turn the aircon off anymore, and i drive with the radio on so i can sing along. my hands are sometimes everywhere except the wheel -- texting, holding a siopao for breakfast, rummaging my bag for a pen i thought i lost, etc. etc.

today, however, i return to rosa, the quiet, scared driver. why? because our school's assistant dean just asked me if i could drive her to greenmeadows.

i'm scared. very scared.