My father taught me how to drive when I was about sixteen years old.  But, he’d been badgering me about the subject when I was still fourteen.  I credit those two years of negativism to repressed memories of my toddlerhood, thanks very much. 

So basically I’ve known how to manipulate the gears of a car for seven years now.  Not that I knew to do many things; I just went around inside our village for drives whenever the whim for it struck.  I never went out of our village on my own, even when I had my driver’s license already. 

Chalk it up to low self-esteem or whatever, but I am deathly afraid of disappointing my father with my driving.  I guess it’s partly because my older brother’s an insanely good driver.  The dude can maneuver a car into the tightest of slots without even breaking a sweat.  Don’t believe me?  Just ask my friends; they saw him do something akin to that old Rexona ad on TV.

Plus, if I do manage to put a dent/scratch/whatever on whichever car I’m driving, I imagine that the lectures that would follow would be something highly unpleasant.  I saw how they treated my brother when he scratched our van; I don’t want any of that action, please.

So for years I’ve been scared to drive.  But after the Cabanatuan Job, something inside me clicked.  I actually felt the need to learn how to drive outside the comforts of our village walls.  I just had to. 

And I am driving on my own.  Well, I have been for the past two weeks.  It formally started when I had my girls (Az, Chen and Nic) over out our house and they forced/convinced me to take the car out for a spin to the local grocery.  I kid you not when I say that the experience was a high.  It was a personal victory, however insignificant this tiny little achievement of mine be to your eyes.  I took the car out without parental supervision, how cool was that?

Yesterday I drove to Binan with an old friend of mine, L.A. to get our SSS number in the SSS Satellite station there.  Even though the place was a busy jumble of jeepneys, tricycles and whatever vehicle you can possibly think of, we made it there with no scratches.

The whole process of getting a social security number took longer than I thought so we decided to have lunch at Starbucks in the Caltex station in the South Expressway.  It’s been years since I’ve last talked to this girl and it’s amazing how much gossip I learned in those six hours with her.   

As I’ve said before I’m not really sure what changed.  All I know is that there’s this new source of confidence I’ve somehow tapped into and I just can’t wait to wreak havoc/drive to Manila.