Time to change gears

IN LIFE, as in driving, there comes a time when you have to change gears.

But in life, unlike in driving, you change gears much less often and the aftereffect is more long-term.

Getting married is changing gears. So is having children, raising them, and letting them go so that they can build their own lives.

Shifting from one career path to another is also like changing gears.

Although writing is not a profession since it does not require passing the bar or a medical board exam, it can be a career if you love to write and your work is accepted by editors.

In my case, I not only love to write, I also love cars, and enjoy driving cars.

People, especially those who think that the world of cars and motorsport is exclusively for males, sometimes ask me how I came to write a motoring column.

“On the Road” was originally a consumer advocacy column. When Eggie Apostol, the founder of the Inquirer, noticed that I often wrote about the value for money and safety of cars, she suggested that I turn my consumer column into a consumer-oriented motoring column.

And so “On the Road” was born 28 years ago.

But it was always like a pastime, not my main occupation.

Somewhere along the way, against the backdrop of Edsa 1 and its aftermath, I worked full-time for 20 years for a big corporation on Ayala Avenue in Makati. At the start, I sought and got the permission of the president of the corporation to continue my writing activities.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. Writing a motoring column involves attending press conferences where new car models are launched, test-driving new cars individually, joining trips out of town or abroad to test new cars with other motoring media, attending the anniversary dinners, celebrations or “meet and greet” socials for new top executives of the automotive industry, going to auto shows here and abroad, and then writing about them.

Motoring journalists have been invited to cover Formula One races, and to attend events in Italy, Germany, France, England, the United States, Australia, Korea, Dubai, Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Palawan, Ilocos Norte, Oriental Mindoro, Banaue-Ifugao, Batanes, Baguio, Bacolod, Boracay, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Zamboanga, and of course, Subic and the Clark International Speedway.

Because of my motoring column, I got to visit many of the places above.

Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?

It is the reason why some young newcomers continue working for irregularly published car magazines, even without pay, or create their own online features—just to get invited.

And why many motoring publications are launched only to fold and vanish.

However, after many years of enjoying the perks, the free trips and the parties, a sense of “Been there, done that” begins to set in.

The decision to stop and change gears hits you like a ton of bricks.

LOST DREAM. You stop because you remember a dream you nurtured when you were a youngster.

My dream as a child was that when I grew up, I would live on top of a mountain and write a novel that would make readers laugh and cry.

It looks like I lost that cherished dream, somehow.

I can always say that I never had enough leisure and treasure to become a writer of literature.

Excuses, excuses. The truth is that I got waylaid by my passion for cars and driving.

But the passion is still in my heart and mind!

So even as I close “On the Road” for the last time, you may still see my byline in the Inquirer’s “Road Talk” supplement, in AQ, the quarterly magazine of the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP), and in a new platform.

I will still write about motoring, but not weekly anymore.

Because hey, I have a dream to chase…