back with black

Last Friday I was rushing through P.J. in my car trying to not to be late for my weekly session of futsal with my friends. The futsal courts shared a street with over a dozen factories, which had huge trucks getting on and off the street at what seems to be all the time. This plus the construction along the road caused abominable traffic jams during rush hour. And our court was reserved right smack in the middle of rush hour. One could only imagine the traffic at that point. I was literally no further than 20 meters from my destination when I was caught in a stand still traffic jam. After God knows how long, the three-ton truck in front of me started to move. However, it wasn't as good as it sounds. The truck was moving backwards (with reverse lights on) and smashed right into the front of my car. I can't quite remember what went through my mind, but I remember perfectly well what came out of my mouth. I'm pretty sure everyone can guess. *haha* Luckily enough, I wasn't alone at the time. My friend Hisyam, who refers to himself as 'The One' because he thinks of himself as Neo, was alert throughout the entire process of gathering the truck driver's I.D. number and the truck registration number. He also tagged along to report the incident to the authorities. Thanks buddy.

There wasn't too much damage but I was still devastated as this was the first time my car has been involved in a collision.

I only sent my car to the shop this past Thursday. I was amazed when the call man said that I would get my car back no later than Saturday. I thought the insurance claim alone would take at least two weeks, not including actually working on my car. After dropping off my car, Imtyaz and I went to Puchong to pick up a workshop car for me to use while they worked on my car. Just as we got the car, I had remembered my house keys were still in my car. So we had to go back to the workshop to pick that up. In the time that it took to pick up the temporary car and getting back to the shop, which was no more than 45 minutes, I could hardly recognize my car.



Imtyaz and I didn't need words to explain what were on both our minds. Our shocked eyes and dropped jaws said it all; wow, these guys work fast! It's really no wonder as to how they'll be done with my car within two days.

The next day, I was told to go back to the shop after noon to hand in some insurance information. On my way back from picking up some lunch for my brother, I got a call from the shop saying that I should come later in the evening as my car would be ready by then. No word in the English dictionary can express how I felt at that point in time.

Later that day I dragged along Faizal to the workshop to pick up my car. When we got there, my car was ready. Both the hood and side-mirrors were painted black, the bumper and front lip was installed and my car was ready to hit the road. So we thought. To our eyes, the paint was perfectly sprayed on. But to their eyes, it was somewhat uneven. I swear to God I couldn't see the flaws, and neither could Faizal. So after about an hour and a half of just loitering, waiting and chatting, my car was finally ready. And it looks good!