Hello, my name is Younis Alsallaj. I am a freshman at New York City College of Technology, and my major at the moment is Accounting. I am 17 years old, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I enjoy hanging out with friends, playing sports, and working out. In addition to these hobbies, I also enjoy driving. I started driving when I was 16, which was when I got my driver’s permit, and until now I still enjoy it. About 7 months after I got my driver’s permit, I got my junior license. After I got my junior license, I started working for my dad’s company as a taxi driver. When I become 19, I would like to apply for my TLC license, so that I may start driving a green cab or an uber.

My hobbies all involve movement, and physical activities. I really do not enjoy anything that does not involve movement for too long. I get very bored, annoyed, and I get an itch to start moving. My favorite hobbies are working out and playing sports, but on top of my list has to be driving. Driving plays an important role in my life. Not only is it something I enjoy doing , but it is also my job. Moving from place to place at a very fast pace is one of the funner things to do in life, and something that is very hard to get bored of. Driving is something my family has pride in, as most of them drive or their jobs involve driving.

I was about 16 and a half when I started to think about taking the permit test, which is a written test. I was so confident that I would pass that after 20 minutes of studying I started telling my dad I was ready to take the test. My father did not believe I was ready, so he waited a few more days until I take the permit test. I still did not study, and it was on the way to the DMV where I started to review to brush up on some things I may have forgotten, and hoped for the best. The main things I tried to remember were the questions about alcohol, who is entitled to the “right of way”, the signs, and when to use signal turns. I went inside the DMV, and waited on line for an hour for the permit test. When I went inside they asked me for my ID and my social security, then directed me to take a seat for the exam. I sat down and was handed the permit test which consisted of 20 questions to answer. There was approximately 7 questions about the signs, 3 questions about alcohol, 1 questions about a blind man crossing the street with shades and a guide dog, 4 questions about when to use the signal light, and 5 questions about who is entitled to the “right of way”. I handed in the test, and took a seat in the section where the results were handed out. I waited about 30 minutes for my results. The results came up to me answering 14/20 answers correctly, so I barely passed, but passing is passing. I went outside, and the first thing I asked my dad was if I could drive us home, and he replied “so you passed”.

I took a break from driving, and when it was time for me to apply for the road test, I started driving again. It was May where I said to myself that I had to practice driving for the road test. My practice consisted of me driving my dad to work and back, driving with a few of my dad’s drivers, and parking with my dad’s car in front of his office. Driving is really easy, it just requires you to stay alert to what you are doing and the position you are in, and being more alert to what is going on around you. Being alert to what is going on around you, to me, is the number 1 thing a driver should focus on, because there is alert of crazy drivers that do not pay attention to the road and for you to stay out of accidents, YOU have to be the attentive one.
There is 2 requirements to taking the road test, the first being you have to wait 6 months after passing the permit test, and the second is you have to have a certificate stating that you have taken the 5 hour class. May 15, I took the 5 hour class, which was really boring and was a waste of time to me. The only thing I really got out of it was when to move on a stop sign, and that’s about it. The driving school then registered me an appointment for the road test, which was June 1st. The rest of May, all I practiced was my parking, because if I was to hit the curb while parking on the road test, that’s an automatic fail. One of the drivers working with my father gave me good advice, which was to use my mirrors while parking to measure how far you are away from the curb and to know when to cut the wheel to turn into a parking spot.

The day of the road test, I was so excited that I woke up extra early to go with my dad to work, so I can get a boost before the test. Also, right before the test, I had a driving lesson. It was a good thing that I had a driving lesson right before the road test so that my memory could be on point, and to be sure I wasn’t missing out on anything I did not know. Turns out there was one main turn that appears on the road test called the “k” turn, or the 3 point turn. The 3 point turn is basically a broken U turn, where you make the U, and go reverse and then back into drive. The road test itself was really short. I thought I was going to be tested on a range of 7 to 10 blocks, but my driving instructor judged me off of 3. When it was all said and done, she was telling my all my mistakes and how to learn from my mistakes from the future, so I thought it was a bad thing, because she was listing all my mistakes first. Then she handed me a receipt, meaning I passed, so I thanked her and told her ill try my best to stay safe on the road.
I then started working part time for my dad, taking some customers, and just enjoying driving in general. My dad got me a Nissan Altima 2013 S car to work in, which got me even more hype than I already was. Thank god, I have never got into an accident, and I have a clear license. When you are having fun doing something, you cannot get too crazy. You always have to be on point, and take advantage of what you have, because it is for the better. I plan on having a clear record, so that way when I apply for my TLC license, it would be easy. Then soon after that I would start driving my dad’s green cab or make my car an Uber X car. Car service is something I enjoy and it is something that is in my blood, as most of my family owns a yellow cab, green cab, or black car. Having your own set time for your job is awesome, and if it pays then it works.