A Pleasant Surprise

As you may well know, today is my birthday. Nothing really surprising, since there's bound to be someone somewhere out there in the world, celebrating their birthday no matter what time of year it is; it just so happens that today is my day.

Nothing unusual happened when I woke up this morning. Every little item in the room was still as unbearably boring as the night before - except for something in particular. Something that made me rub my eyes a few more times just to make sure that I wasn't still asleep when I first laid my eyes on it.


"Could it be...?" I asked myself. Wanting to be assured that it was the real deal, I carefully made my way to the other side, all the while holding my breath, in fear of that I might accidentally sneeze -or worse, belch - and scare the funny looking object sitting quietly at the corner of my bed.

The rectangular shaped item still hadn't made a move, so I took it as an invitation to come closer. And come closer I did, until I was looking right down upon it.


By this time, I was already blue in the face from holding my breath too long. And I did the unimaginable - I let out a heavy sigh. I tell you, the unidentified object jostled about! I hastily retreated from where I was crouching before, lest I wanted to present myself as a threat to the poor thing. After what had seemed like an eternity passed by, I finally plucked up the courage to approach it again.

This time, I was sure it was what I thought it to be.


Hardly able to contain my happiness, I promptly - and rather clumsily - jumped up and down on my bed. I had finally received what I wanted all this while - a camera! I then proceeded to rush out of my room in search of my parents. Oh, the joy!

Mum and Dad, thank you so much for getting me the camera!

These two pictures are a tribute to Mynn

*sigh* If only that was what really happened. I could've written a script about the morning's event worthy of a Hollywood production team with Steven Spielberg at the helm, or M. Night Shyamalan for that matter. He seems to be interested in all that is suspenseful and mysterious.

Unfortunately, I bought the camera 3 months ago using my own money, which would explain why I've been short on cash ever since. I think my mum noticed this, and I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that she even knows that I bought the camera. But I know that she knows, so I suppose you could call us even.

(Mum: Aiman, it's not funny. Duit tu boleh simpan dalam ASB untuk masa depan. Ni buat beli kamera. Cuba sayang duit tu sikit)

No, that was not an actual quote from my beloved mum. But I wouldn't be surprised if she says something along those lines later on when she reads this entry.


So, if the camera is not the pleasant surprise (as mentioned in the title earlier), then what is?

Actually, the most pleasant surprise of all on my 21st birthday is that I don't feel like it at all. Call it self denial, but the thing is that I still feel as if I'm 20. Not a single snide remark has managed to get the fact to sink in. Not even all those bad 'Dah boleh mengundi!" jokes. I do wonder why.

And that, my friend, is the pleasant surprise on my birthday :)