Episodical happiness

There’s little doubt that the best surprises are those that bring about an episodical happiness. The kind of surprises which are totally unexpected that one could not help but grin from ear to ear upon receiving them despite not feeling all that happy. An episodical happiness was what I experienced last Sunday.

Empty was the state I found my home in upon return from KLIA (with a detour to Putrajaya to get my car which was parked at my uncle’s place) since Mak and Ayah went visiting my aunts in Johor, and Abang, my younger brother, is seldom back home before midnight.

Baghdad, our dear cat was mewing at the front door, gesturing his hunger. Upon realising his plight for food, Baghdad’s mewing was joined by a chorus of other mewing by his sister Comel and Comel’s kittens – Basrah, Najaf and Fellujah. Kept them away from the front entrance and quickly brought in my luggage. Went to the kitchen to check the cat’s bowl, filled the two bowls with their food and opened the kitchen door to let them in. Played with the cats for a while, letting the kittens to be more familiar with me. 18- months old Baghdad and Comel are already familiar with everbody at home, but the same could not be said about the 3-months-old kittens. Among the three, sleek, all-black Fellujah is the least manja. (Note to self: Must pet and play with Fellujah more from now on…)

Unpacked the bag. Put all the dirty laundry in the laundry basket. Got all the keropok and air pencicah out of the bag. Kept the tapai in the fridge. Searched for something to eat in the fridge. Fruitless search led me to finally having a plate of Indomie goreng.

Wandered when Mak and Ayah would return from Johor while slowly consuming my instant noodle. Got the cats out of the house, took a look around the house to make sure that all doors and windows were securely locked. Thought to myself that it wouldn’t be too bad to be home alone as I could watch the recorded recent episodes of Jake 2.0, One Tree Hill and Gilmore Girls (re-run) undisturbed.

Opened my door, immediately noticed a parcel lying on my bed. Quickly switched on the lights and grabbed the brown parcel addressed to me, posted from Seremban.

I saw the Ujanailmu rubber stamp mark on the parcel and instantly felt a surge of happiness. I grinned as I tore the parcel open.

When I found out on artakus.net last week that Kota Arialun, the second book in Saga Artakusiad series could still be purchased online via Ujanailmu, I immediately made my order of it, along with a copy of Legenda Numerius, the latest Saga Artakusiad book. Since online purchases usually mean waiting for two weeks before the goods get delivered, it goes without saying that I was absolutely delighted to receive both books less than a week after I made my purchase.

Both books were individually wrapped, with a layer of bubble wrap surrounding them. The copy of Kota Arialun I received was not in mint condition, the cover had some whitish spots. Well, it was fine by me – so long as I get a copy of the book, that’s what matter most. Besides, the book had been over a decade old. But wait a minute – it is a part of the second print in 1992, not the first print of 1988. Apparently, Saga Artakusiad’s earlier books were reprinted after all. (Duh, well, okay, so I stand corrected…)

I thought I saw some scribble on the front page, so I took a closer look at it – oh my… The book was personally autographed by the author Ahmad Patria! Yokatta! That more than made up for the book’s substandard condition

I moved my attention to my own personal copy of Legenda Numerius. It was not autographed, but that’s okay. I did not expect it anyway, though it would have definitely been a bonus if it was autographed too.

My earlier plan was dismissed. Instead, I started reading Legenda Numerius (LN) right away. However, after a couple of days of staying awake late, I was too tired to read much, and fell asleep right after I programmed my video recorder to record the latest episode of The O.C.

I’m still reading it – just finished Chapter 03. Will come up with a review soon, insya Allah.