Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Woots! I finally passed my G2 driving test! That's probably the highlight lately, lol. As I mentioned previously, I had been taking lessons with David from All Star Driving School, and he'd been guiding me and providing lessons for about 2 months every week. From driving in residential areas, to the main roads, parallel parking and all that. Relearnt a lot, especially for the local roads which are drastically different from Malaysia. My drive test was in the middle of the week, so I had to take leave at work. David drove me in the morning and guided me on the final things before driving to the DrivetTest centre at Toronto Downsview. The lineup was idiotic, honestly. Due to COVID, they were only allowing a small number of people in to do whatever they needed to do. There were 3 very unclear lines that converged to the door, one for candidates who had passed, one for checking in for your test, and the other for G1 knowledge tests. But you wouldn't know unless you asked someone in line, and even then most seemed completely uncertain.
Anyhoo, David managed to get one of the official parking spots to start the test, and I lined up in the unclear line for my turn. It was raining too, so that didn't help. I eventually got in, filled in the details and confirmed my test. Then I waited in the car, nervous as hell. I was confident I could drive and I would be a decent driver on the road, but I was paranoid about them nitpicking small stuff to fail me. After waiting 45 minutes in the car, my examiner finally came and got me to test my lights and horn, before getting into the car and telling me to start. I slowly drove out of the parking space and followed the route he told me to go through. I had done my own part in being as familiar with the route as possible, so nothing took me by surprise, but I was really concerned about some idiot driver on the road screwing things up to make me fail. Luckily, none of it happened. The ride was smooth and I did all the tasks he asked of me, almost screwing up during the 3-point turn but doing it fine in the end. Once I got back to the DriveTest centre, he tapped the tablet in his lap and was silent for a few seconds, and I was like, okay... so? Then he said "Congratulations, you've passed." Whew! I said thanks and took a huge breath of relief, having passed. I quickly messaged the waifu and she was like, you see, why did you worry, I had completely faith in you passing and all. David ran over to me and I gave him a thumbs up, and he was happy for me, congratulating me as well and saying he was confident I would pass. He had another student doing a G1 to G exam at Downsview too, so we waited for her and chatted in the meantime. She still had an hour left with him for her All Star Driving School package, so she drove while I was in the car, and David guided and reminded her of some things to note. While she went for her test, David and I chatted more at the DriveTest centre about random stuff. Eventually she came back but had failed. He drove us home after that and I took a well deserved rest!
Onion thought that me passing deserved a treat, so she took me out to Cafe Polonez as a congratulatory meal. The food was amazing! First time having Polish food, and we had heard from our friend Jessie that the Polish had this spiced warm beer. When we first heard it, we were like what? Warm beer? Yuck! But she said it was really delicious and told us to try it if we ever got the chance. So after ordering the food I asked if they had this warm beer, because it wasn't in the menu. The waitress said she wasn't sure but would check for me. She came back and told me that her boss said he'd get it done, so I appreciated the effort! They came back with the big beer mug and some cloves and other spices inside it. I tasted it and it was really nice! It was a very interesting flavour, tasting the beer and all the mix of spices. Absolutely delicious and nice to experience. The rest of the Polish food we had came a bit later, and it was gigantic. We barely ate half before being too full, but it was fantastic. Thanks my love =D.
Last week it was my cousin Chloe's birthday, and she invited me, Onion and her friend Namita for dinner and drinks at Dasha and Lavelle, respectively, with some pre-game at her place. We went to Dasha a bit buzzed, and ate a small meal in a very interesting environment, mostly learning more about Namita's life. An Indian born in Kenya to a Syriac Orthodox family who's been all around the world. Damn! Food was pretty good and we went to Lavelle, which took us a while to get in considering the line. Crazy crowded, you'd think COVID-19 didn't exist anymore, lol. Lavelle and 44 Toronto (a recently opened club) shared the same building, so the lines were confusing, but the lineup for 44 was just... ridiculous. We got into a lift and went up, getting a table outside with a magnificent view of the city and the CN Tower. Ate and drank some typical bar food and drinks, and we took some pictures of the skyline and ourselves. I don't know why, but lots of people approached us for dares by their own respective groups, lmao. We entertained them anyway. There was a woman who was doing an acrobatic routine on a lollipop hoop as part of the entertainment from the establishment too. We eventually took a Blue Night bus home since the subway service stopped already, since it was past 2am. Overall, a nice night! Hadn't partied in a while.
Oh, also David Yonggi Cho and John Shelby Spong both passed away recently within days of each other. Both were big, famous powerhouses in their respective spheres of Christianity. Yonggi Cho in the realm of theological conservatives (he founded the largest church in the world, congregation-wise) and Spong having been a former Episcopal bishop, hugely famous among progressives. While both have never had a strong influence on me directly, they were huge to my direct leaders and churches. Yonggi Cho was the pastor to Pastor Kong, of City Harvest Church (CHC) my first church, and Spong is widely read in Richmond Hill United Church (RHUC), my current church. So yeah, they're on completely opposite ends of the theological spectrum, opposite ends geographically and culturally, and I've read and listened to both their material, never having quite agreed wholeheartedly with either of them and their viewpoints, although I could appreciate some aspects of their teaching. I just found it... I don't know, almost "poetic"? In a terrible way. At least in regards to me and my development of my faith. That both these people died within days of each other, knowing their influence on my peers around the world. And seeing how people around me responded to both their deaths at the same time. Made me think.
I'm sorry, I don't know why I always end my posts on a death or something, lol. To ease it up, I'll just bring up something funny. My colleague Charmagne has a kid called Celestine, about 7 or 8 years old, who dropped by the office a few times. She's spunky and I always tease her, much to her chagrin. Anyway, Charmagne was having a video call with Celestine and asked if she remembered who I am, and she said "Yeah, he's the cool guy." LOL, bragging rights!
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11:50 AM