Saturday, September 8, 2007

Fun With The Neighbours ...

A strange phenomenon overcame me today. This evening I actually attended the neighborhoods community fair for the first time ever in my life. And that is a strange phenomenon for me indeed!

I've been staying in my neighborhood for about 12 years or so now and I'm not really the most social of neighbors (my mom is the social one here). This afternoon, after my disastrous lunch time excursion (you can read all about that one in my other blog, Spiff, The Spaceman) the wife and me decided to attend the community fair in the park near my house and we actually had fun there :)

A little background on the place I live - I live in a place called USJ Subang Jaya and we basically have a couple of different sections that has its own community events and stuff. The section I live in is a small little community in the middle (or at least close to the middle as I can make it out). This community fair has been held for as long as I can remember and my mom is an active participant in this fair, unlike her anti-social son ... LOL!

So, this year, in conjunction with our 50th year independence, the fair was held on a slightly bigger scale. There were loads of community advertisements in the neighborhood about the fair months in advance and as always I didn't give two hoots about it. But this year the wife and me decided to go and check it out since the 2 boys were going cos they have loads of friends from their school that would be there.

About 4pm today (that's the time the fair started) The boys walked over first (it's only 2 minutes away from my house) and the wife and me joined them a little over an hour later. When we arrived there, the fair was just about to get into full swing and I must say I was kinda surprised at the turnout and the activities going on. The kids were busily in the midst of some telematch or something (which unfortunately my younger son didn't win anything due to the fact he was paired with this other doofus boy ... LOL!).

There was this urmmm 'local' filipino band that was belting out some mixed numbers, a dancing trio of young teens doing some hip shaking routine (there were crowd pullers for obvious reasons ... LOL!) music was blaring, people were chatting and having fun, kids were running all over and the wife and me were totally awed by this. One of the committee members even came over personally and welcomed us to the fair. I was impressed! I've always thought of all the people around my neighborhood as a little stuck up. I guess they proved me wrong today.

So, after that, we joined in the fun. There was the entertainment sections, the telematch and games sections, the prize giving sections and the best part of all, the food sections :) And all this was actually for free, the music, fun and games, the entertainment and even the food and drinks! And they had loads of food and drink of various kinds. From the local favourites with the likes of nasi lemak ( literally means 'rice in fat'), fried noodles, goreng pisang (banana fritters) to western stuff like macaroni, sandwiches, muffins, cupcakes and loads more.

The wife and me had a blast, stuffed ourselves silly (gotta run a little extra tomorrow to burn it off) and sat around and enjoyed the entertainment they put on for everyone. In fact everyone had a blast, even the security guards who patrol the neighborhood joined in. Even my more anti-social than me Neanderthal neighbor turned up, though he didn't look like he was enjoying himself (the wife and me had a great time gossiping about him ... LOL) For those of you who don't know about my 'hatred' for my Neanderthal neighbor, you can just read one of my earlier posting titled Neighbour from Hell ... LOL!

I was really impressed by the community spirit that was in evidence here. All these years I've been giving this event a miss and have not really mixed around in my community and after today's experience I'm happy to say that I'll be there for next years event or even for any other events that they organize (they do have other events every couple of months) and may even try to play a more active part in it ... hehehe ... I'm actually surprised with myself for even writing this down cos I never used to believe in this community thing before. I guess I'm getting a little mellow in my old age ... LOL!

I'd like to share some of the pictures (well, 3 pictures anyway ... hehehe) I took. The quality is not that good, bear in mind it was taken with my lowly cell phone camera. So, to the USJ Neighborhood Community, thanks for the fun time :)



22 comments:

  1. Thats great stuff! Its so nice you got such a pleasant surprise - sounds like this group really know how to put on one of these! Hey, maybe next year you can do it again?

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  2. Sounds like a great time Nick, every now and then when we move out of our comfort zone we are pleasantly surprised! LOL at the pic your and your wife... very nice... feet! :-)

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  3. Nick, what a cute way to showcase those feet of yours & wifey...
    I see that you changed your header too. Is that how you look like? hehe ;p

    I hope everything is fine over yours. I missed a lot of catching up :)

    Janice Ng

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  4. Since when do you mix around with your neighbours? I've always had this impression that you would be the last guy on earth to be involved in this community thingy!

    It's a good start... But then, I would have gone too for the free food!!

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  5. Well good for you. Bet you were surprised you had so much fun. It's funny how if you go somewhere with an open mind, you are quite often amazed at how great the outcome can be.

    It looks great.

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  6. Cool! Finally a picture of you. Just a foot but still a foot. All we have to do is find the foot with the same amount of hair per square inch!

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  7. Lavender, it was a pleasant surprise indeed :) I never expected to even like these community stuff. I guess I was wrong in judging it without even trying it out. Glad I did go. Definitely going again next year :D

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  8. Josie, Thanx for the compliment on our feet. We tried to get give our best side for the shot .. LOL!

    Yes, I'd agree with you that sometimes we do have to leave that comfort zone and see what else lies out there. I'm all the wiser now :)

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  9. Hey Janice, glad to see you back online. Hope your brother is on the road to recovery.

    I look NOTHING like that image, Janice ... LOL! Well, maybe I'm losing my hair but definitely not bald, the bald look just doesn't fit me at all ... LOL!

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  10. Sweetiepie, I surprised even myself by actually going to the event. And you're right, I'm not the mixing around kind of person. I guess it all boils down to my shyness ... LOL!

    And the free food helped convince me to attend next years event! LOL!

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  11. Gypsy, surprise was an understatement! I'm even more surprised I actually had so much fun at the fair :) An open mind does help a lot!

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  12. Hui Sen, LOL, you crack me up buddy! Yeah, just go around town looking for the hairiest human being and it would probably be me ... LOL!

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  13. Nick-Glad to see you had a great weekend! It reminds me of a block party. In the state neighborhoods "block" off the road and have a party in the street! Thus a "block party!" Have a great week in the wonderful world of advertising! Sweet pics, not bad quality for a cell phone camera!

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  14. Barrett, that 'block party' sounds like a cool event :) We do have some kind of 'block parties' here but only for the bigger festive occasions.

    As for having a great week in the world of advertising, I'll let you know by Wednesday ... LOL!

    A great week to you too, buddy.

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  15. Hi Nick, it would be great if we could see more than just the feet! ;) Oh, my literal trans for nasi lemak is fat rice he he he!

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  16. Marzie, well who knows, maybe I'll post my pix part by part ... LOL!

    Fat rice sums it up perfectly. Damn, now I have cravings for Nasi Lemak.

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  17. Nice pair of slippers! :D

    Glad you enjoyed the gathering. I always love gatherings with foods. :P

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  18. Wow! What a Great time! (love the pictures too!)

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  19. Cindy, those slipper are vintage okay :) I've had them for close to 3 or 4 years now. Power, tahan lasak ... LOL! Only thing is, the bottom is so worn out that when it rains, I can do figure skating with it ... LOL!

    And the food was good too!

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  20. Meleah, didn't think anyone would love my extremely low resolution pictures but thanx anyway (wait a minute now, that wasn't sarcasm was it? LOL!)

    I did have a great time at t he fair, which to me was strange cos I never do attend stuff like these ...

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  21. I think, I love the photo of your beloved and your feet..... Just the fact that you refer to her as your beloved lets me know you are indeed a wonderful person and a brilliant Husband!
    Peace Nick!
    Sugar Queen.....

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  22. Sugar queen, you think you love the pix of our feet? LOL! I'm gonna be posting more of those feet pictures just with different floor backgrounds when I can :D

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