First Day to remember...

After a long wait... I finally got her! One of my life goals has been achieved! Mixture of emotions churned in me as I continued to stare at her... Her name was Nina-vau ("Light" in Kadazan)... but later changed to Tinipi ("Dream" in Kadazan)... (Explanation to this is written at the last paragraph.)

The best part was... she belongs to me...

My very own beautiful car... My baby... A basic auto VIVA with solid white coating... She really looked elegant... and I can't wait to drive to IPG the next day! =)

Next day - 01/04/2010

Went happily to IPG, singing to familiar songs played by Light and Easy... only to discover class was cancelled... (No, this wasn't an April fool joke!) So I decided to continue with my AE with my comrades at the library... All went well until I thought it was a good time for me to get going home since I had something to do later that afternoon...

Nearly home... then at a sharp curve... a lorry came speeding down the narrow, kampung road and heading my way! With only the thought of trying to avoid that mentang-mentang-lori-besar-ko-makan-jalan-lagi I moved my car slightly forward towards a ditch... and just as I thought "Please don't go in the ditch..." Tinipi's left front wheel fell in... (STUPID LORRY!!! THANK GOD I DIDN'T CATCH YOUR PLAT NUMBER!!!)

Surprisingly, I didn't panic or cry or wail... All I did was said "Crap" softly, tried to reverse but Tinipi won't budge, then called my mom since home was actually few kilometers away.

Many vehicles passed my way, first few simply slowed down, stare at me and my car and drove off... Then, coincidentally some juniors heading back to IPG from school (sem 7 = practicum) stopped and tried to lend me a hand. More people came after that... with the intention of helping me and Tinipi... My mom, Rico and Aunty Mel (who dropped by our house) shortly came to the rescue too...

Looking at the crowd... I was touched and felt very grateful that there are still many whom are kind and helpful...

Minutes later, everyone agreed it was best to carry Tinipi by hand in order to cause least amount of damage to the rim... So, all the men got into position (some even went into the ditch, which was still filled with water in order to assist the carrying of the car!) and on the count of three, lifted her up and placed her gently on the road again...

Everyone applauded for a job well done and all I can do was thank them from the bottom of my heart... And the beauty of this situation was, other than the juniors, the other people whom stopped to help were all strangers... But of course, I thanked the juniors too!

The moral of the story? - Now I'll slow down at the curve and make sure there are no other vehicles coming from the opposite direction before I move. If there are, I won't budge until that vehicle move pass me first.

Besides that, we (as in my mom and Rico... My job's to approve the name, if I like it! LOL) came up with a new name for my little baby... since according to the Kadazan's culture, if something bad happens after one is given a name (i.e. like when a baby is born, and he/she continuously fell ill, its best to change his/her name) because the name may not be suitable... hence the name "Tinipi". =)