Living under the same sun

Everything seems to be very quiet in our neighborhood lately. I hardly see my fellow law-abiding citizen jog in the morning or busy-body maids gossiping with each other about their stingy lady bosses. Even Samantha, a petite blonde living next door became very agitated with the serene surrounding . She will moan and whine on anything that suddenly disrupted her afternoon nap. A hunky postman doing his usual business will really piss her off. A real bitch she is. Samantha is the only dog in the vicinity. She barks at anything that passed in front her gate. Loneliness has really got into her. Though she is such a bimbo, a real stud is hard to come these days. Not while she is confined in her comfort zone. But I believe even a spoil brat like Samantha will be a good sire one day.

And thank you to our Bolehland weather, it is summer again. The blazing heat, skin-biting UV, air pollution, head-banging deadlines and traffic jam has worsen the situation and really shrunk our lifespan (into half) as compared to our own species in the northern and southern hemisphere, who has the privilege living in the fridge. But who are we to complain? With mamak and tom yum stalls around the corners that operate 24/7, all year round. It is a fiesta!

Back in my neighborhood, I have a different story to tell. In order to kill the boredom and to fulfill our social obligation, my fellow law-abiding citizen who shares the same 'lorong' with me decided to have our annual communal gathering, while at the same time celebrating the labour day holiday together - pot-luck style. The truth is, we have been engaging in this healthy activities ever since we moved in into this neighborhood seven years ago. The idea was initially mooted by me (ehem...ehem) thinking that by knowing my fellow law-abiding citizen better would allow me in the future to borrow their grass cutter or even their posh car in case of an emergency. And not surprisingly, whoever came up with any good idea will almost unanimously be selected as a leader, in this case the chairman of the 'lorong' of course. (I noticed these has become a common practice in the government sector, no wonder why not so many good and constructive ideas being put forward these days :)

With 44 houses in the 'lorong' and very supportive law-abiding citizen, the venue will be rotated among us. The chairman has the honor to choose which house to become the host. I was the first, in fact the second and the third to host such an event, that if my memory still serves me right. In a way, this gathering has also served as a testing ground for budding cook to show off their cooking skill. This has left the men, who oblige willingly to succumb themselves indulging with all the food they can stuff into their belly. The gathering has become a tradition and I hope the tradition will continue.

But strange it may seem, in all of those occasions, we somehow have never invited the blondie Samantha to join the fun.

The host cum-treasurer (far left) giving an inspiring opening speech to the speechless guests.

Ice-breaking session after the opening speech has left our bilal (in the middle) gasping for breath to recite a 'doa makan'.

Kids are having their good time as well.

After an inspiring speech by our host and a short doa recital by our bilal, the ladies made themselves busy preparing the feast.

Oblivious to the heavy discussion that almost rival the parliament around him, one of the law-abiding citizen helping himself with satay kajang, courtesy of our bilal.

Archive of time - the theme of our previous gathering was BBQuing under the moon. Seen here was one of our ex-member of law-abiding citizen (stripe t-shirt) who had moved out to join another law-abiding citizen in another neighborhood. That was the last BBQ we had.

Archive of time - members of the community deeply engrossed discussing the current affair - mostly rubbish but rather very entertaining.

Archive of time - the ladies, with enough corum to vote and send in their representative in the next general election.

Archive of time - our prolific and outstanding chef, checking to make sure the foods were not contaminated by straying saliva from a heavy discussion nearby.