Yai’s Kor

It’s basically 3AM now, and I’ve only just finished a 40 minute pre-lab assignment that I started at 10:30PM. And it’s quiet. It’s the only time I feel like I have the apartment to myself; the only time I really feel comfortable blogging, and this one is going to be about cars. More specifically, my first car.

On my latest trip back home, I had found out that my grandmother’s Saturn’s transmission was hopelessly trashed. And so my dad proposed to sell her my car and I agreed. I did this not because I wanted to get rid of it, but for two reasons. 1) My mom told me that it was probably going to get trashed anyway and 2) with me in college, it doesn’t get much time on the road. That happened about three weeks ago now, and I’ve only just been able to write something about it. It was an amazing car, and you never really forget your first.

I don’t try to publicize this, but I failed my driver’s test twice times before passing. The first two times were in a Chevy Blazer. Now, I can drive it just fine, but that car just gives me bad luck, I guess cause I had a terrible time in that car at the DMV. The third time, I took it in the car that would be mine for the next three years: a forest green 1993 Honda Accord SE. The feeling of passing in that car, along with the fact that it was almost the end of school made it a very good day that day. You can even pinpoint the day, if you’re willing to, on my Xanga.

I have a lot of fond memories in that car. Within the first hour of my having a license, I had already shown off that I could drive and that I had a car to drive to my friends by giving them rides to Walgreens. I remember, there was one Saturday before school ended that I just sat in my car for a good two hours in the driver’s seat, just relishing the fact that I could turn on the ignition and cruise if I so choose. I got into my first accident a month later, and my second half a year after that. I took it on a total of four long car trips. I’ve driven it at literally every hour of the day, from dusk ’til dawn back to dusk. It was an integral part to my Senior year of high school. It’s what enabled me to know more of my city, to make my first real earned money, to become independent. It’s been stolen and returned. It’s been broken into. I’ve taken it to Berkeley, Vallejo, Oakland, Santa Cruz, San Jose, and Cazadero. When I moved into my dorm, it was the only thing that I had with me. I’ve had so many people in my car, I couldn’t even start to count. But I’ve let only a few people drive it; off the top of my head, outside my family, I can count three. And many other stories and feelings in between.

For me, that dark green now 16 year old sedan was irreplaceable. It was the car that got me through some of the hardest times in my life, as well as some of the greatest. It is iconic to having fun, to enjoying high school, to growing up. These past three years would not have been the same without that car, and, as cheesy as it sounds, I will never forget it.