This is As Corny As PJ Gets

The sweltering heat didn't do much to his mood as he waited for the green light on Jalan Raja Laut that Thursday. That day, his helmet no longer felt like an anvil and the smoke from the furniture lorry in front of him smelled like chocolates. He patted the cell-phone he kept tucked in his waistband, not wanting to mistake its vibrating signal for the one emanating from his motorbike. Next to him, in a silver Waja, a 40-year-old man propped his elbow on the closed window, the breeze from his air-conditioner fluttering the wisps of grey hair on his neck.

Thought it was easy to fall in love but you, you, you. (1)
You're different this much I know, yeah you, you, you.
It might be your guile, It could be your mind.
It might be the way you take your time.

She mentioned something about a field assignment, didn't she? Maybe that's why she hasn't called. A group of ladies walked across the zebra lines, chatting away, and he checked to makes sure she wasn't one of them, even though he knew she wasn't even in KL that day. One of the women was carrying an umbrella. He chuckled as he remembered how she once gravely told him she didn't believe in umbrellas, as if it was a major belief system the rest of the world accepted and she'd be punished for denying.

I never know how much to say with you, you, you.

That was it. She said so many strange things, looked at things differently than him, that sometimes he didn't know how to respond and could only laugh. Sometimes, talking to her made him feel stupid. Maybe not stupid, but not as smart. Strangely, he didn't feel bad afterwards. Just this urgent need to be smarter. Wittier. Funnier.

It might be your needs, It could be your eyes. (2)
It might be the way you sympathize
Oh you, you, you.

His hip was definitely vibrating this time. The light was still red. He quickly unhooked the phone from his waistband. A text message. The Waja next to him began to move, the furniture truck's engine shifted its noise level from stalled to now-we're-getting-somewhere. He remained balanced on his old bike, head down, loyally studying his phone.

I don't think it's easy to stay in love
but you, you, you, you.

Other motorbikes and cars began to whizz by, none of which missed the opportunity to honk at this fool texting a message in the middle of afternoon traffic. Two men on a bike swerved to his left, the passenger shouting "Hoi! Jalanlah! Mau mati, ka?" He punched in the last of his reply and tucked the phone back into his waistband. The light had turned yellow, and then back to red. Oh well. What's another ten minutes in the hot KL sun?

You. It's you. It's you, you, you.

Ikebana at the recent Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle
Did you partake in this year's commercialism Valentine's Day?

(1) U (Vedder), 1998, Wishlist single/Lost Dogs.
(2) Whenever I hear this line, I always thought he said "It might be your knees" instead of "your needs". I like my version better. Knees are sometimes underappreciated and it's just like Eddie to notice.