A quiet weekend
14 July 2026
I had zero intentions of leaving the house this weekend. I’ve been out and about practically every other day this week, and my brain was screaming, “Please, just sit your butt down, rest, and give your poor wallet (especially your husband's) a break.”
But then two things happened. First, the weather today was actually nice—shockingly less hellfire-hot than usual, which felt like a sign from the universe telling me to get out there and bask in its glory. Second, I glanced at my upcoming calendar and felt a sudden wave of panic. It is completely swamped with family weddings, get-togethers, and lots and lots of unavoidable people-socialising.
I am a very shy and introverted person through and through and I knew that this afternoon was officially my last window of freedom for the month to go out on my own terms and desperately charge up that social battery to last for at least a fortnight. My husband was also having this sneezy fit whenever he's indoors from all the cat fur flying around and we thought maybe going outside would ease it down (disclaimer: it wasn't because of the cat fur, more later). After mulling it over, I grabbed his shoulders and announced, "Dress up, we're heading out!" to which he sagged down to the bed, mourning for his afternoon nap he was planning to take. Well, too bad!
If you’re into cosy, beautifully niche hobbies—think hunting for antiques, vintage paintings, vinyl records, secondhand books, old-school comics, stamps, toys, or even getting tailored suits and custom outfits made—Amcorp Mall is the absolute holy grail. I'm embarrassed to admit that my husband and I are late to the party. This place has been a legendary spot for ages, but we only recently started becoming regulars. Today, we headed there with one very specific mission in mind: hunting down common cards to help fill the gaps in his One Piece TCG collection. Personally, I don't know much about One Piece, manga and anime, or the entire hobby of collecting cards, but the ones my husband is looking for are adorable and I had the whole day to kill and leisurely spend to help him out.
We took the train there, and honestly, I loved the long commute. It gave me a chance to just pause on the books I’ve been reading and let my mind wander while watching the world go by.
Random train thought, though: have women’s bags shrunk lately? Like, where are we supposed to put the rest of our stuff?!
After a long lunch at the mall, we spent hours happily drifting from one booth to the next. We were actually just about to head home when a thought hit me: since we’d already commuted all this way, it would practically be a crime not to stop by my absolute favorite place—✨Kinokuniya Bookstore✨ at KLCC!
Also, until earlier this week, I’ve completely, emotionally obsessed with the BEAUTIFUL Lore Olympus series. The moment I finished volume one, I was hooked. Naturally, my local bookstore didn't have the second volume in stock—and honestly, with their whopping RM120 price tag, maybe that was a blessing in disguise. I almost passed out just typing that number.
Let’s be real: with eleven volumes in this massive series, I have to be incredibly precise and economical with my choices if I want to survive financially. I needed to do some serious price math. My mission at Kino was to see how their prices held up against the ones currently sitting, desperately waiting, in my Amazon shopping cart—give or take that jaw-dropping international shipping fee.
There’s also the tiny detail that I’m technically on a strict book-buying ban for anything outside of the Lore Olympus universe. My husband ever-so-helpfully keeps me accountable for this, which is the only reason we actually managed to leave the bookstore completely unscathed. I must have you know, this rarely—if ever—happens. Usually, I leave a bookstore with at LEAST two books secretly hidden (and paid) on my person.
We finally unlocked our front door at 10-ish PM—which, let’s be honest, is the absolute equivalent of midnight when you’re in your 30s. By the time we walked in, my husband’s harmless little sneeze from earlier had fully morphed into a full-blown flu. He probably picked up a bug somewhere out and about earlier this week, meaning all four of my cats are officially absolved of any guilt.
Right now, he’s parked in front of the TV watching the Liverpool vs. Brentford match, holding a strip of paracetamol in one hand and a lukewarm bowl of homemade porridge in the other. As for me? I’m sitting at my PC, completely surrounded by a pile of snoozing cats, writing this down. All things considered, it was a pretty successful weekend adventure.
