Monkey on a Bicycle

I ventured forth today to purchase Eckhart Tolle's latest book, "A New Earth", and sitting behind the wheel of my car I managed to more or less maintain my equilibrium. I say "more or less" because there were a couple of occasions when I passed close to small monkeys that were performing various tricks on the median strip under a blazing sun. These poor animals are usually prodded continously to perform and treated poorly by their owners who view them only as a source of income.

The first one I saw was riding a bicycle around and around. The second one was repeatedly fetching a small rag-doll that was being tossed away. Fortunately, I didn't pass close enough to give my usual response, a hand gesture, but I could feel my temperature rising. According to the Urban Dictionary, the phrase "monkey on a bicycle" means "an inconspicuous phrase that gets one out of dangerous situations". In fact there are a great many phrases in the Urban Dictionary that contain the word "monkey" and I was only familiar with "monkey shines" and "monkey on your back".

Apart from that, my equilibrium wasn't really challenged because there was very little traffic on the roads thanks to the Lebaran holidays. It was smooth sailing to the mall where I bought the book and settled down to a coffee at Starbucks, which was largely deserted. While I was there, I tried to remain present and not drift off into thought. Of course, I had to keep pulling myself back to the here and now. At one point, I told myself to listen to music that was playing and as I did, there was a song by The Doors playing. The lyrics that were being repeated were "learn to forget" and while I did focus for a moment, I suddenly found I was contemplating the reason for Jason Bourne's "supremacy". He had forgotten his past and was thus unencumbered by it and far more focused in the present moment than his time-traveling adversaries.

So there are monkeys on the roads of Jakarta riding bicycles and my monkey of a mind is alive and well in my head, taking me in all sorts of unexpected directions. I guess I just have to keep watching its antics and try to keep it off my back.