Last Sunday was a great day. My former roomate was getting married with the same girl he used to torture me every night with hours-long conversation over phone in our room after I got dumped, I met my old friends and catched up with each other, I ate tons of free food and I made friends with a bunch of strangers I met during and after the wedding. It was odd to call it great day though especially after watching Arsenal and Perak lost their recent league games.

But anyway, here are 5 things I learnt at wedding

1. Gotong-royong is a dying tradition

Gotong-royong or gejobos as the Javanese call it is in fact a dying tradition nowadays. There are no:

1. Buying onions, potatoes, dried chillies, bunga lawang, jintan manis and all those spices from our mom's favorite grocery store.

2. Neighbours who will lend some of their kuali kawah, blender, senduk, stove, chopping board and even their freezer for our mom.

3. Kids in the neighborhood who will be helping our dad sending meals with a talam, cleaning tables and washing dishes for 20 bucks.

4. Makcik-makcik who will come to our house as early as Thursday to start peeling the onions, potatoes and cleaning the chickens and the beef.

It's sad really because remember how we used to write essays like 'Kepentingan Semangat Gotong-Royong' back in primary school and we were writing how the spirit of gotong-royong is best displayed in wedding?

2. Traditional food couldn't be more scarcer.

Back in the olden days, tapai pulut was the top delight of any traditional Javanese meal. I'm not even talking about tapai ubi. Tapai ubi is more like the uglier brother of tapai pulut. It tastes awfully sour, the texture is bland and it looks like baby food and to make it even worse, it is often packed in plastic case.

I went to many weddings (especially Javanese weddings) in pursuit of the sweet and sour taste of tapai pulut but to no avail. It all make sense. How in the world would the catering company prepare tapai pulut for a wedding? No, they can't.

Now, tapai pulut is in danger to extinct - just like Malayan tiger, keroncong band and discette. Even the best slices of original Sunkist oranges, Californian apples, corn pudding, sirap lengkong and tapai ubi won't match with the worst tapai pulut, I give you that.

3. Wedding makes you question yourself

Wedding gives you a harsh reality check. You would be happy for them first, but as soon as you are back to your normal, single life you wonder if you would find 'the one'. You wonder if you'd get to meet her before your belly become more and more similar to your dad's (unless your dad happened to have a nice flat, muscular abs). You wonder if she's pretty as you would imagined. You wonder if you should be dating instead of stalking on some random chicks in another wedding that isn't yours.

4. Getting in touch with your roots

Nowadays, young generations are not very keen to practise their descendant's tradition. The Kayans are no longer wearing their neck coils, the people from aborigine tribes are no longer storing their ancestor corpes in a case and the Javanese and Banjar youngsters are no longer speaking the languange.

I gotta say, my Javanese is still not very impressive. I could speak in a specific occasion, but not in a daily conversation. Whenever I find myself speaking in Malay instead of Javanese to another older Javanese at a wedding, I feel ashamed. I feel like I'm the douchebag that speaks fake Cockney accent in Adibah Noor's taxi in a Hari Raya TV ad (remember?). So, from now on I will take initiative to learn Javanese so that I could speak and curse in Javanese like a Majapahit sailor.

I'm not one to talk about fashion but what happened last Sunday was not a coincidence. Almost every guy in the the wedding (aside of the bride and his bridesmaid of course) were wearing flannel shirt as if we were in Sonic Youth's concert. Few years ago (especially during early 90's), everyone is wearing a flannel shirt to almost everywhere. But since the decline of grunge music, flannel shirt become kinda like something an oldfag would wear. But I guess it's coming back now.

If you're bored to death in a wedding, try counting flannel shirts instead of sheeps.

Birthday doesn't mean shit when you are 23 years old. Sure it was a big deal when we were kids and it is gonna be a big whoop if pushing 100 years old. But, it is sure as hell doesn't mean anything now.

When you hit 23 years mark and you see your friends got married, you're gonna be happy for 'em at first. But as you look at their freaking wedding photo album in your boxer while eating crunchy kerepek pisang in Facebook, you're gonna start asking some questions to yourself.

What am I doing in my life? Why am I still single? Why can't I just meet a girl and fucking marry her? Why am I looking at these damn photos in my boxer? Why am I eating these damn kerepek in my boxer? As a matter of fact, why am I feeling sappy? Why am I watching My Girl drama series back after I felt certain I was over Korean dramas. Why? Por que? I'm a man for god sake. Men conceal sadness by beating the shit out of each other, kicking a ball around with 10 other men and talk shit about women. Haha.

This year, I will be celebrating Forever Alone day again. It feels good to be a part of special day that celebrates the fact that the only sms in your inbox are spams and your friend asking:"Dude, chk tis out! There's a new vrsion of 2 Girls 1 Cup video! Fckin hilarious!". It celebrates the fact the only woman who will say 'I love you' to you is your mom. And maybe your grandma.

And happy birthday, Cristiano Ronaldo. Sorry you still sucks. Happy birthday, Neymar. You seriously need to bulk up if you want to play in England. Happy birthday to you too, Carlos Tevez. You're much more complicated than Matematik Tambahan. And happy Maulidur Rasul!