Counting down

Much like a child awaiting the arrival of Christmas morning, I'm counting down the days.

There's slightly more than two weeks left to go for me on this project; once I arrive home, I'll be taking a break from work for six to eight weeks. Note I've omitted placing the words 'much needed' prior to 'break.' This past week is the first I've worked since leaving here on December 18th; I won't try to convince you I have it that rough...though the chaps in the picture above (part of my security detail) might suggest otherwise.

After arriving home in February, my lovely girlfriend and I will spend the next week sorting our belongings and packing what won't be sold, donated or tossed. Frantically, I might add.

I'll be attempting to replicate the packing abilities of minibus drivers seen here in West Africa, with assorted baggage, bicycle and fishing kayak towering several feet over the height of my truck's roof.

I'll admit I'm looking forward to this.

A lot, I might add, because it's just another step closer to us getting on the road to our new adventures on Vancouver Island.

And that's what I'm really looking forward to.

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Here are a few Vancouver Island beach flies I've tied for coho & pink salmon.

All are variants on fairly well-known (locally, at least) Pacific NW salt patterns. Changes to the original fly recipes were made not to add in a 'creative touch' but due to lack of availability of the originally-listed tying materials.

Ferguson Green and Silver

Pink and blue Handlebars

Cathy's Coat (or Kathy's Koat) variant

Bead-head Handlebars

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East, then west.

If things had gone to plan, I'd be sitting in an airport right now, bound for a return trip to Africa.

But for various reasons, most of which weren't confirmed until yesterday afternoon, I'm tapping away at my desk instead. This, in my mind, is not a bad thing.

Time > Money. Don't ever forget that, kids.

— Mat Trevors (@mattrevors) January 11, 2013

I like my work all fine & good, but an extra week at home is appreciated. Even if it means a 33°C temperature difference.

Note: It's an unseasonably mild day here in New Brunswick. Had I written this earlier this week or last week, that temperature difference would be more like 48°C. For my 'merican cousins, that's the difference between 81°F and -5°F.

So if things go to plan (version 2.0), I'll be sitting in an airport or on a plane next Saturday, bound for a return trip to Africa.

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If any of you follow along with my dribble on Twitter and Instagram, you're probably all aware of our plans of relocating. But in case you missed it, here it is: after I escape the clutches of work in Africa, we're moving to Vancouver Island.

We'll be doing our best Beverley Hillbillies impersonation with our moving truck, which may be familiar to car manufacturers, dealers and me as my 2003 Ford Sport Trac.

Valuables that can't be left behind & must be loaded on the truck include my Chupacabra kayak, fishing & tying gear, my bike, my lovely girlfriend's ever-growing book collection, as well as numerous personal & kitchen effects, including my various coffee snob paraphernalia.

And we mustn't forget Awesome the Dog and his crate, too.

After we pile a small U-Haul truck's worth of gear in and on a small truck, we'll then drive from the eastern side to the western side of the world's second largest country in February, known to some as 'winter.'

We're making the move for a number of reasons, but is best summarized by these two reasons:

• I'm on a mission to bridge the divide between the East Coast and West Coast rap scenes, and to prevent any escalating violence while promoting a confluence of the ideals and creativity of hip hop and rap from both coasts*. 
• My lovely girlfriend, Awesome the Dog, and I all absolutely hate winter. And both my lovely girlfriend and I would like a change in scenery, at least temporarily. Awesome is unable to communicate whether he wants a change in scenery as well, though. 

Note: The twelve months of fishing Vancouver Island provides, as opposed to six months of fishing here, has absolutely nothing* to with the decision.

* - Denotes a blatant lies, also known as a 'fibs.'

Follow along on this farcical adventure, complete with tweets of frustration and photographs of triumph and/or disaster on the aforementioned Twitter and Instagram, as well as here on mattrevors.com, in February, 2013.

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Enjoy a tune:

Don't see a video above this? Click here to view the full post.

Traveling Non-Angler Tuesday

More randomness

It's been a while since I wrote an essay of complete random bullshit, and, since I haven't posted here on ten or so days, now's as good as time as any.

1) Niger
Yes, Niger (not Nigeria. Two different places).

I'm going to Niger tomorrow for three weeks or so (and possibly again in January).

Hopefully I won't land what Bjorn called a grand slam of dysentery, malaria and getting kidnapped.

I will have internet access but have no idea of the workload as of yet, so posts may be sporadic. Well, more sporadic than usual...

There's no fishing there, which really doesn't help me write content for Traveling Angler Tuesdays.

Which brings us to...

2) Traveling Angler Tuesdays
Traveling Angler Tuesdays might be placed on hold for a little while.

I have no fishing trips planned or schemed (but some are dreamed). I am working on a few subjects for upcoming posts (doing liveaboard/mothership trips, using booking agents, etc.) and I was hoping for a few guest posts from other Traveling Anglers I was in touch with, but for now, this Traveling Angler isn't doing too much angling.

If anyone would like to contribute a guest post with how-to's or other fine points of being a Traveling Angler, by all means, get in touch, but I'm not chasing people down.

Trying to track down fishing addicts to write something is like herding cats, for f** all.

Not that I blame them. I'd rather be fishing, too. I'll always be a fisherman that writes, not a writer that fishes.

3) Pic of me with the best Key Lime pie ever

I'd shoot someone for a piece of that Key Lime pie right about now.

And that, folks, is why gun laws are tight in Canada. We'd shoot people over pie.

But not dog shit. Never dog shit. That's just irrational.

4) International Fly Tying Symposium
Last weekend I was in Somerset, New Jersey for the tying symposium; my first 'official duty' as Clear Cure Goo's writer-not-in-residence. I had a blast meeting a lot of folks that I had only spoke with via Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Skype up until that point.

I understand turnout was a little down this year; a lot of that had to do with people dealing with the aftereffects of Hurricane Sandy.

Thanks to Brian of CCG for letting me tag along and to everyone for stopping by the CCG booth to say hi. It was great meeting y'all.

Note: I'll probably write a little more about the IFTS on the Clear Cure Blog soon, so keep your eyes peeled for it over there. 

5) Being sick sucks hole.
Honestly, I've been having my ass kicked by a cold/flu since the tying symposium in NJ, so I haven't been posting too much here, there, or anywhere else for that matter.

I've been combining various elixirs and concoctions for the last few days. The congestion remains...but I seemed to have made a new friend that appears after certain medications have been mixed together:

As I'm 28 hours away from boarding multiple tin-pigeons (with their healthy recycled air) for the better part of a day and a half, I'm hoping adding some Buckley's flu medication into the mix finally knocks this bastard down the basement stairs for good.

I'd like to take the elephant with me to Niger, though...

6) Being sick isn't the only excuse, though...
As I wrote many weeks back, I've been using my side project, The Saltwater Fly Journal, to share a lot of content that previously would have been posted here. Stuff like this. And this. And this, too. So sign up for email/RSS updates (right hand sidebar, underneath the Redington banner) so you don't miss anything awesome on The Saltwater Fly Journal.

Because someday, there will be awesome stuff there. Trust me.

7) The following people/blogs need to keep doing what they're doing...
...because it's damn good:

• Warmwater Chronicles
• Smallmouth Fly Box
• Pine Island Angler
• Stream2Stream
• Chi Wulff
• Salt 396
• and many, many more...

8) Some people just don't get it.

"Kramer goes to a Fantasy camp? His whole life is a fantasy camp! People should plunk down $2,000 to live like him for a week." George Costanza

Someone recently referenced that quote while talking to me about my life. Some days I think it it's bang-on.

But that particular day I just purchased this to keep strapped to my body 24/7 in Niger.

Fantasy camp, my ass...

9) I love this website.
I like to mix it up once in a while here: fly fishing and lifestyle.

That lifestyle probably doesn't jive for the majority (go back to 1) and 8) on this list) but I'm sure two or three of you are interested in it a little bit.

Oh, that link might be classified as NSFW and/or the kids. There's a lot of swears in there.

My apartment is in a state of flux right now. I call it controlled chaos. The clutter and squalor quotients are kept to a minimum, at least. The kayak, fishing gear and all the fly tying materials in the living lend a certain loveable ambience to the place.

UFYH gives a much-needed dose of reality to the realm of cleaning & organizing: cleaning sucks, but it needs to be done (for advanced level reality, give this guy a read...if you can handle it)

It's a good site to read when things get out of control.

10) The new James Bond...
...was ok. It was no Avengers, by any stretch, but it was good.

11) Music for your playlist
A few tracks I've been listening to recently, give 'em a listen:

(Can't see the videos above? Click here to view the full post)

Random London Post v1.0 - Just chillin'

Time/Date: 0645 GMT, 15-Feb-11
Location: Tavistock Square, London

This was Sunday & Monday for us:
0900 - Depart Sabodala project area
1130 - Arrive Dakar, chill out (pics below)
2100 - Face a mob of people at Dakar Int'l Airport
2330 - Depart Dakar
0630 - Arrive Paris-CDG
0730 - Train to Gare du Nord, chill out (& freeze) in train station
1213 - Train to London
1430 - Chill out, go eat sushi
2130 - sleep fully dressed on most comfortable bed I've been on in 34 days

It's been fun so far...

Here are some pics from Dakar.

Boarding procedures at Sabodala Int'l Airport

The 49m-high monstrosity over looking Dakar. Read more about it here.

Checking out the fishing district with Matt & Ivann

The fisherman personalize their boats for good luck

Chill out on the beach (& get harassed by peddlers)

So yeah, that's what's up. A lot of 'hurry up & wait' at airports & train stations...and chillin'.

We have absolutely no plans for the next few days in London. It's kinda nice.

Here's some Brit rock for y'all:

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How to Perfectly Hard-Boil an Egg

Time/Date: 0220 GMT, 04-Feb-11
Location: The edge of a former open-pit mine, SE Senegal

A little local history/lore:

The open-pit mine mentioned above was operated by a Dutch company a couple or so decades back.

As the story goes, they were smuggling the recovered gold out of the country, apparently thinking money for mining royalties would be better spent on wooden shoes and/or dykes (insert giggle here).

The local populace didn't appreciate this too much, so they were asked very politely (think pitchfork & panga polite) to consider relocating their operations elsewhere.

Back to present day: at another drill site, an unwelcome visitor decided to stop in.

(photo by M. McGregor)

He was quickly dispatched with hospitality not typical of what I've seen in West Africa.

(photo by M. McGregor)

For those of you that clicked on this honestly expecting to learn the best way to hard-boil an egg, here you go:

• place eggs in a medium-sized pot; 
• cover them with cold water to ~1cm above the height of the eggs; 
• add a dash o' salt (I use sea salt, just to be cool & hip); 
• bring water to a rolling boil; 
• let simmer (i.e., turn to 'Min' on stove) for 12 minutes. Not 10 min. Not 13 min. TWELVE; 
• run under cold water for a minute or two; 
• enjoy.

PS-Don't belittle yourselves by posting theatrical & self-righteous 'you rape the earth' anti-mining comments. Unless you happen to be making them through telepathy or via a computer made entirely from organically-grown switch grass from inside a sod hut. Just sayin'.

Random Senegal Post, v3.0 - couple of pics

Time/Date: 1635 GMT, 24-Jan-11
Location: Senegal

Here are a few pics of the camp I'm staying at.

I bought one of the Hipstapacks for the Hipstamatic photo app on my iPod & have been shooting some random pics with it.

And no, I have absolutely no freaking idea why they do that to the trees.

My humble abode...

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More music brought to light due to iTunes shuffle:

Flashbacks of the Social Club in mid- to late 90's: $5.50 double dark rum, Murch & Lana slinging booze behind the bar, me & the boys in Loyalist corner. And, in case the dark rum wasn't angering the blood sufficiently, this tune would come on. Shenanigans.

(BTW- Happy b-day, Capital O)

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Random Senegal Post, v2.0 - I ponder the arts

Time/Date: 2335 (GMT), 17-Jan-11
Location: Senegal

Note: There’s a pile o’ videos in this post. If you can’t see them in your RSS Reader, click here to go directly to the post.

A minor side-benefit to sitting on drill rigs through night shift: they occasionally break down.

This allows one to do fun activities, like having a sip of water/coffee, eating, using the bathroom, or completing data entry. When the drill is coring, it’s possible to have no chance to do them.

(Un)fortunately for me, even when things are semi-chaotic, I ponder things a lot. Blame lack of focus, multitasking, whatever.

Since I’ve been listening to my iPod non-stop since leaving YFC, I’ve been pondering music. And I’ve been reading a lot, so I’ve been pondering books, too.

At this very second, the rig is on a prolonged breakdown (& I completed all activities listed above). So I get to type up my ponderings in my corner office.

The corner office. Great view.

Pondering Topic #1
I firmly believe Hey Rosetta! (myspace here) is severely underrated. I’ve listened to Into Your Lungs a few times while working & find it brilliant.

You can pick up their album on iTunes here. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Pondering Topic #2
One of my 11 for 11 goals was to read more meaningful shit. Not being mentally prepared to dive into Walden (reading it now, more on that below), I started with The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio.

Le Clézio was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008, so it’s easy to believe he writes meaningful material. The book was good; I recommend it.

But...

**SPOILER ALERT**

The ending pissed me off so much I wanted to throw the book in the nightwatchman’s campfire. I like stories with endings of ‘boy wins game (in this case, finds treasure), boy gets girl, they live happily ever after.’

I read hundreds of pages to discover the main character doesn’t find the treasure or get the girl, and then lays down in the woods to die. He doesn’t do much to change that whole ‘cheese-eating surrender monkey’ stereotype.

Pondering Topic #3
To recover from the piss-off of The Prospector, I grabbed Playing for Pizza by John Grisham from the community pile in camp.

I’m not a Grisham fan, but I needed a light-hearted read & the first few pages seemed to fit the bill.

Verdict: #win

And yes, the boy wins the game & gets the girl.

Pondering Topic #4
Wintersleep (myspace here) was on Letterman last week (video below). This is great; congrats to them. The US is a tough market to break into; national TV is a delightful way to do it.

I really enjoy their first three albums & saw them live a few times in F’ton & Vancouver. The Van show at the Commodore Ballroom ranks up as one of my favourite shows.

My personal opinion: I was disappointed they hauled out Weighty Ghost for Letterman. They have much better stuff. I can assume why, though: it’s the tune most appealing to the masses.

If I was to see them live (again), I’d much rather hear this:

Or this:

(yes, I realize they wouldn’t be able to crank out a 9 minute song on Letterman. If anyone writes a comment to me regarding that, you’re officially a tit-head)

Regardless, best of luck to them. I love it when Maritimers kick ass.

Pondering Topic #5
I’m a couple chapters in on Walden by Henry David Thoreau. It’s pretty deep.

To summarize:
Shit just ain’t right.

Pondering Topic #6
When you find yourself at a drill rig at the wee hours of the morning & having a few more hours to push through (without the aid of coffee), I highly recommend this tune to help get the synapses firing:

On that note, the drill just fired up.

I must have one last sip of water to prepare for the onslaught of drill core.

See you at 7AM cross-shift.

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Random Senegal Post, v1.0

Time/Date: 2335 (GMT), 13-Jan-11
Location: Sabodala, Senegal

Greetings from Senegal!

I arrived on the client's project site earlier today after a 2-hour ride in a Caravan & spent the day getting the lay of the land. I don't have too much to say about anything (yet) but the 'camp' is pretty damn cool (it has a bar...I have mixed feelings on that).

Here are a few pics with some tunes (get used to this style of post for the next little bit).

First up is my absolute favourite song from 2010 (can't see the video below? Click here to rock out). Just try to not bop your head or do some sort of pelvic thrust to this tune.

I was grooving along to this while sitting in the back of the Caravan...which probably made the guy next to me a little nervous. At least he gave me some space.

Side note w.r.t aeroplanes: I like Beavers & Otters better. Go Canada!

Here's my view from my seat in the Caravan. I didn't have a chance to shoot any aerial shots of Dakar, unfortunately (click here to see a shot I wish I snapped). It's a pretty cool looking city from 2000 feet up (not so much on ground level, at least where I was last night). It even looks like it has some surf breaks, if that kinda thing floats yer boat.

Next up is the operations manager jumping off the roof of his truck after frantically searching for a cell signal.

You might notice above that I've been reunited with Toyota's Hilux, my favourite discovery in all of West Africa (other than les patisseries are alive & well in the former colonies). After returning this past fall, I searched eBay trying to locate one. Love 'em. Almost as much as les patisseries...but only because croissants are more affordable.

Another pic of the Hilux.

A couple more random shots from the quick site tour:

And some more tunes (click here if you can't see the video below). Enjoy!

Oh, Black Keys, how do you play your blues so, so dirty?

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“MNMLSM” (or something like that)

Time/Date: 1225, 29-Aug-10
Location: Project Site, BF

Recently I’ve been reading up on minimalism (see blogroll). There’s plenty of info online on the subject; several people stepped back from their “normal” lives due to the recent recession, changed their lifestyle, and have shared their stories.

(BTW, I find irony in there being abundant information on minimalism. Just sayin’)

Much is regurgitated from blog to blog, like minimalistic flavours of the week. One writer posts an idea, and others follow suit, changing or expanding the idea.

There seems to be a competition to see how truly minimalistic some people can get. “I’m car-free” to “I have 100 possessions” to “I’m living in a cardboard box & chose to burn all of my socks.”

BUT...

Ideas of minimalism have merit. I have clutter in my life, and I’m removing it to simplify things a little more (also, I’m keeping posts to <250 words. For my sake and yours. Twitter has taught me brevity).

I entertained a few of these ideas while packing for Burkina Faso.

If it was a vacation, there would have been less.

Future “mnmlsm” posts: list of shit I’m tossing out (or donating); advocates of minimalism worthy of your time; MacBook minimalism.

Enjoy the ride.

Clutter probably not an issue in these homes

African Sunset

Time/Date: 2230, 28-Aug-10

Location: Ouagadougou, BF

Hi, and welcome to 411#3. My name is Mat, and I will be your bartender-fishing guide-DJ-exploration geologist-photographer for this literary adventure. You may know me as the loveable rabble-rouser on Twitter with the nom de guerre, @CloudbreakELS.

Some of you might be asking questions, such as:

1. What the hell is 411#3? 
2. Why should I read this crap?
3. Why is complete ("compleat") spelt wrong?
4. Mat, why the f**k are you trying to write another blog?
5. Have you seen any giraffes in Africa?
6. Are you really an expert in the fields of: a) bartending b) fishing c) dj-ing/music d) exploration geology e) photography?

I will answer those questions in more detail.

Just not right yet.

Instead, just enjoy some music by The Black Keys & a picture of an African sunset I took: