Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Getting My Driving License (The BBDC Way)

THE NEED

The need for a family car grew painstakingly with the arrival of Megan and Melody especially for working parents like ourselves. Daily routines of sending and fetching Megan to and back from the childcare became increasingly difficult as work nowadays dun seem to be any easier than before.

Besides that, our ‘worldclass’ public transport isn’t helping at all… Waking up earlier to avoid the massive crowd would meant waking up at 5am and getting to leave the house by 6am… I know a lot of people are doing that, but its getting extremely difficult for us, as working parents whom hands on everything by ourselves.

Owning a car may exceed our expenses, but that can come later. First and foremost, get a car license.

THE SCHOOL

Lotsa debate on whether to be a school learner or a private learner. But to cut the story short, I went for the school option. Not much of a weighing the cons and pros, not even the cost, just lazy to ask around which private instructor is good… Sad to say, I’m the last rare breed of my cohorts who dun have a car license, hence either their instructors retired or hang over IC… So, the most logical choice of school to me, Bukit Batok Driving Center.

THE COST

Never really tabulated the cost, but only know that there is a enrolment fee of $89.88 initially. Thereafter, deposited $200, $1000, $500 and $500 on different dates, to my BBDC account.

The breakdown of the cost would be:

(A) Administration Cost

Description Cost
Enrolment Fee + 1 Year Membership Fee $89.88
Membership Renewal for additional 8 months
($7.49 x 6mths + $8.03 x 2 mths)
$61.00

(B) Theory Lesson Cost

Description Cost
Basic Theory Lessons x 2 $34.24
Basic Theory Practice x 2 $6.42
Basic Theory Evaluation x 1 $3.21
Final Theory Lessons x 2 $34.24
Final Theory Practice x 2 $4.28
Final Theory Evaluation x 1 $5.35
Driving Simulator x 1 $11.77

(C) Practical Lesson Cost

Description Cost
19 x Practical Lessons to Complete Course
- Practical Training: $59.92
- Fixed Instructor Group: $10.70
$1341.78
3 x Revision Lessons
- Practical Training: $59.92
$179.76

(D) Test Cost

Description Cost
Basic Theory Test x 1 $6.00
Final Theory Test x 1 $6.00
Practical Test x 1 $183.71

(E) Other Cost

Description Cost
Photo (For Course Enrolment) $7.00
Photo (For Driving License Application) $7.00
Provisional Driving License
- 6 months renewal: $25.00
$50.00
Driving License Application $50.00

And the total cost is… $2,081.64/-

THE TIME

The whole course took me 591 days from the date I enrolled on 9th Jan 2010 and finally passing the practical test and applying for my driving license on 24th Aug 2011.

Sounds like a long time, but not quite so, as there are some gaps. After passing my Basic Theory Test on 24th Feb 2010, my practical training only started on 16th May 2011, 15 months later as I couldn’t find time to continue.

Hence in actual fact, minus the 15 months gap…

9th Jan 2010 Enrolment
24th Feb 2010 Passed Basic Theory Test
16th May 2011 Start Practical Lesson Stage 1
27th Jun 2011 Completed Practical Lesson Stage 5
19th Jul 2011 Passed Final Theory Test
25th Aug 2011 Passed Practical Test

Besides the 15 months gap, most of the delays came from waiting for test dates for Basic/Final/Practical Tests.

THE EXPERIENCE

In a nutshell, I had a good learning experience with BBDC. Afterall, I’m really glad to be able to pass the tests with only 1 try… Especially the Practical Test that has to fall on a heavy rainy day… Enuff said, am really glad its all over…

Monday, August 22, 2011

The girls who light up my life

Megan, 3 years, 1 month and 19 days old, is getting smarter as the days go by. She is learning things with extraordinary memory, whereby we only need to mention once and she remembers… Once, I told Megan not to disturb her mum as Joelle was on the phone, Megan asked who it was and I replied ‘Joey’. Few days later, Joelle was on the phone with Joey again, and this time Megan asked ‘Mummy you talking to Joey?’… You can imagine Joelle’s surprised look…

Melody, 1 year, 3 months and 26 days old, is getting cheekier as the days go by. She is walking a few steps now, but is not confident to taking more steps by herself and tend to crawl more. She is starting to sing lately, to ‘twinkle litter star’ and ‘Elmo song’, not the entire song thou… And its absolutely entertaining despite having to hold up the iphone, playing the Elmo Song for hours for Melody, and just hearing her goes ‘ya ya ya, yayayaya’ makes you wanan play the song one more time…

Here again, the girls…

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IMG_1373 IMG_1374

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Both girls, of different characters exhibits the similar effect on me… Light up my life…

Thursday, August 18, 2011

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