Confession of a Southern Wannabe

Time/Date: 2035, 30-Jan-12
Location: not the South

Today was a good day for receiving the mail, even though the repeated banging on the door caused Awesome the Dog a few freakouts.

All in the same day, I received my FFF membership package, the new Orvis catalogue (even though I requested not to be sent it; I work in an authorized Orvis fly shop), the new TFM redfish hoodie, and a cap from Southern Culture on the Fly.

My Southern apparel collection grew a bit today...

Some might ask, "Why would you get a redfish hoodie & a hat from some southern fly fishing e-mag? You're from Atlantic Canada."

An easy, and partly true, response would be, "I respect what they do & wish to support them."

But really, the whole truth is...I (not-so) secretly want to be a Southerner.

That's right.

I'm a southern wannabe.

This goes beyond my affinity for hot sauce & chicken wings, people, so why don't y'all just grab yourselves a tasty mint julep and set yourselves down & hear me out?

My main issue is this little tidbit right here.

It's called weather.

Here's the weather here at home for the next few days (note: I converted from Celsius for y'all):

Fredericton, NB

And now a few selected locales in my wannabe-adopted homeland:

Charleston, SC

New Orleans, LA

Islamorada, FL

What you don't see in the extended forecast for Fredericton is a stick-figure with a noose around his neck on Wednesday.

Then there's the whole fishing thing.

I'm not necessarily shitting on the fishing scene here in NB. I mean, it's alright. But the season opens April 15th (May 1st on lakes/ponds), and closes Oct.15th...or Nov. 30th on tidal water, if you're brave enough to handle it.

And if you break it down into some sort of spreadsheet-thingy (Table 1A), the scales tip a little more to fishing in the South.

Table 1A: Ummm, yeah...it isn't that bad here...

And it's not like I haven't been there before; heck, I even brought some reds to hand before some of your own have (you know who you are...):

It was only 3 days, and it left a serious impression on me.

I've been calling myself a semi-retired country gentleman for almost two years now...how much more epic would it be if I could replace 'country gentleman' with 'Southern gentleman?' That's almost worth the price of admission right there.

Other random positives about the south:

• Open liquor laws: here in NB, get caught with open booze, it's a fine of over $85. From what I saw in NOLA, the police officers cheers you.
• It appears the Antiques Roadshow comes through regularly. This would make my lovely girlfriend quite happy.
• Going to see if Hazzard County really exists sounds far more appealing than visiting the Shivering Songs Festival (no offence to Shivering Songs, but 'shivering' doesn't sell me).
• Barbecue is a way of life & state of mind. Here, barbecue ranges from common novelty (summer) to ordeal (winter).
• My blossoming bass bug skills would be appreciated more there than here.
• Running from a hurricane sounds more fun than sitting through a blizzard.
• I could use being there as an excuse to listen to Willie Nelson more often.

So, my southern readers, I'd be properly honoured if y'all would consider harbouring a northern illegal alien...and his lovely girlfriend...and his adorable dog...and quite possibly a few other northern refugees that might pass through next winter....

This northerner wants to wage a war of aggression...against being cold, bored & fishless all winter...

And I even have the southern rock thing down...sort of...  Enjoy the track:

PS - Mom, Dad, I'm not really moving to the south. At least, not yet...

Back to School

If you have read my twitter feed in the past week or so, this will be old news. But for those of you who aren't in the twitter loop...

I'm going back to school.

No, not the time & money-sucking post-secondary academics that I already battled through...spent over $40K on...successfully completed, but a more enjoyable and artful return to academic life.

Study materials I can really get behind...

I'm talking about the FFF's CCI program.

FFF = Federation of Fly Fishers

CCI = Certified Casting Instructor

Successful completion of this intensive self-study program & exam will permit me to put all those letters after my name.

Funny enough, I don't put those other letters after my name very often. Really not sure why that is...

I've been in touch with a casting instructor already to discuss a few things (thanks, Dean!) & get a few tips, which was pretty awesome.

After talking to Rich via email, I pretty much decided attending the exam session being offered in March was f**king insanity overly optimistic. My timeline for this is, for the most part, my own, but I want to get it done sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately he doesn't have any tips (outside of schnapps) for nutting-up to go outside to practice casting in -25°C weather...

(Quick update: it was super-ass mild here the last couple days. This keeps up & I'll be using the city's outdoor rink in Officers' Square as a casting pond)

Unfortunately going back to school won't involve this...this time at least...

Enjoy some tunes:

Musical Interlude (again)

Time/Date: 1210 AST, 09-Sep-11
Location: HOME!

I made it home.

I'm excited about this; it's five weeks off. In the best part of the season for Atlantic Salmon...and smallies, stripers and muskie...oh my!

I'll have some fishy content next week after I take a few days to win back the love of my girlfriend & Awesome the dog.

My new furled leader, fly box, and a couple books were waiting for me when I returned home. Notes about using/reading them will be included in this so-called fishy content I speak of.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend. I'm going to Lava Vodka Lounge & seeing Bedouin Soundclash tonight.

Here's some music. Definitely NOT Bedouin Soundclash. Enjoy!

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Predator Patrol

Time/Date: 1100 AST, 14-Jun-11
Location: Fredericton

The muskie hunt on Saturday morning was really fun.

I got to learn a few things about muskie and their habitat & prey, and also (finally) got to try out my Redington CPX 10-weight rod.

PLUS...

There's something perversely enjoyable about fly fishing from a boat in downtown.

The only way it could've been better would be if it was a week day and all the sorry saps stuck in traffic on the Westmorland Street Bridge were on their way to work while I was casting away all the worries in my little world.

In fact, if it were a week day, I would've tweeted the mayor to look out his office window. I probably would have invited him. There's a good chance he'd accept, too. That's what it's like having a cool mayor (looking at you, Toronto...that's what you get for electing an ass).

As for fishing for muskie, I'll let this photo speak for itself:

Regardless of the outcome, it was a good time, and there's plenty of season left to land this so-called fish of ten thousand casts.

Only about 9500 more casts to go.

Thanks for the guided trip, Andrew!!

********
Tonight, it's striper-hunting time on the Fundy Coast.

Tomorrow's a full-moon, i.e., higher than normal tides (aka "spring tides"). It's mid-June. Migratory stripers may be here.

Where I'm heading, low-tide is ~1730, high tide is ~2330. Sunset is about 2130-ish. This could work out in my favour.

It'll be a late one; I plan on fishing until 2AM or so.

But I am ready.

We'll see how it all unfolds tonight.

An army of Clousers await marching orders for tonight

It will be about an hour and a half drive each way. I'll probably a little tired on the way home. That's why I have this tune well-situated on several road trip playlists to sing along to. It gets the synapses firing.

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Once Upon a Time In Mexico, Chapter 1

Time/Date: 2050 CST, 27-Feb-11
Location: Estado de Guerrero, Mexico

My pocket-sized Latin American Spanish phrasebook did not have the following useful phrases:

• "I'm sorry, sir, but I am not smuggling a weapon. It is a fly-tying vice. If you sit tight for 8 minutes, I can tie you up a Clouser Deep Minnow."
• "I do not wish to drink Dos Equis, as it is the beer of douchebags back home."
• "Do I receive Aeroplan miles for this hotel stay?"
• "Your food looks very tasty, but I'm worried it will give me the shits."
• "Kidnapping me will embarrass us both. I'm not wealthy, and the food costs of keeping me will be higher than any ransom you will receive."
• "Would you by chance know how to whip-finish this Clouser Deep Minnow?"
• "Do you know Salma Hayek? I have a friend that thinks she is cute."
• "I pray to Jesus you have more toilet paper than this."

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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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Ipod Photo Phun

Time/Date: 1845, 18-Nov-10
Location: Undisclosed former gold mine in Nova Scotia

I brought my D-SLR on this trip for the trip to Louisiana and figured I'd maybe shoot some pics of the project area too.

Then I got here and realized how dreary of a place it is. The constant overcast weather & continuous off & on rain doesn't help, either.

The forested area the drill rig is focusing on is just like any other forest. Funny thing about a lot of project areas, especially in Canada: see one, see them all.

Strolling around the abandoned mine & mill site provided some semi-interesting shots though. Enter Hipstamatic & Plastic Bullet on my ipod touch.

(get them on iTunes here & here)

It's still dreary, but at least the photos look kinda cool.

Music: Deftones. I could write three posts on them; they've been one of my top 2 favourite bands for quite a while. But I won't. Give 'em a listen.

Insomnia, S01E01

Time/date: 0205, 29-Aug-10
Location: Ouagadougou, BF

Maybe it's the heat. Or the unofficial apres-dinner beverage of Burkina Faso (instant coffee + powdered milk, microwaved). Or it could be the Malarone...again.

I can't sleep, so I will attempt to give some background on how 411#3 came to be. From the first post:

1. What the hell is 411#3?
411#3 will chronicle my attempts to maximize the awesome & minimize the bullshit. I'm learning a bunch of new stuff and attempting to lead a fun & a little less ordinary existence.

I got the name from where I was the moment I decided to do this: my accommodations at the project site, a converted shipping container. It's my room number. It had a nice ring to it.

2. Why should I read this crap?
A few reasons: I'm mildly entertaining and can occasionally be informative. And I'll have a picture and music track at the end of each post. At least 411#3 can be one more thing to distract you from work.

From here on in, simplicity is key. I'm going to try to keep posts short, but as my friends can tell you, I can occasionally get a little verbose on certain topics. I aim to minimize it (this time around).

5. Have you seen any giraffes in Africa?
No.


Simplicity, damn it.