Social Networking stuff

When I first heard of MySpace it was pretty much just a place for musicians to communicate with their fans. When teenagers started using it en masse for posting pictures of themselves using bathroom mirrors and to talk shit about people at their high school, I decided I didn’t care about MySpace. But I created a profile anyway and added some friends.

I hated MySpace. The layout and interface were horrible. It wasn’t fun to use at all. And then I heard about this ‘FaceBook’ thing.

I think FaceBook was for college students at first. But it soon morphed into the de facto social networking site for users of all ages. My buddy’s pre-teen son in Chico uses it. My 60-something year old uncle uses it. And lately, I’ve been using FaceBook a lot.

I use FaceBook so much now that I’ve neglected my blog. FaceBook makes it easy to post quick updates and pictures. And, since sooo many friends and family members use it, it’s easy to see what they’re up to as well.

I’m neglecting another thing that I used to be pretty good about too–e-mail. I used to fire off countless e-mails each day to friends and family. But now, since they’re all on FaceBook, I just use FaceBook’s built-in messaging. I can post a public message by writing on their “wall”, or send a private message easily.

So that’s where I’ve been. Look for me on FaceBook–search for “Thomas Roger Bissell”. See you there!

Long Way Round

Sometimes you experience something that changes your life forever. Be it big or small, it doesn’t matter. Looking back over the past few years I can think of some things that impacted me greatly: going to Trinity for the first time with Scott, listening to Beck’s ‘Sea Change’, meeting Yum.

And then, a few weeks ago, Yum and I watched Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s ‘Long Way Round’ documentary/adventure. And this changed the way I looked at life.

Ewan and Charley are best mates that love to ride motorcycles. They took small trips at first around the UK. And then they started to dream–big. A trip across Europe became a trip across Europe and Asia, and finally a trip from the UK to New York… the long way round, a trip around the world. And except for a short plane ride from northeast Russia to Alaska, they made the entire trip over land on two wheels.

20,000 miles in almost 4 months.

The friendship between Charley and Ewan is quite deep. As you watch them interact over the course of their adventure you can’t help but admire them–and maybe become a bit jealous. Their fraternal bond is magical. Anyone would be very lucky to have what they have.

A camera crew and a support team followed them in 4×4 trucks, usually a day behind. One swiss cameraman rode his own motorbike with Charley and Ewan to record and preserve the experience. So for the most part the guys were on their own, traveling all day long by motorcycle and camping in their tents at night in some of the most serene locations on Earth.

Mongolia was my favorite part of the trip, and for the boys it was the toughest. They almost gave up. But they made it all the way across the country, all the way across Europe Asia North America, and eventually to New York. I don’t want to give too much away, in case you decide to watch it–which you most certainly should.

‘Long Way Round’ is the greatest road trip of our time, and certainly one of the greatest adventures of all time.


Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor with their trusty BMWs

Back. Funk. Sigh.

So I’m back, and I wish I wasn’t. I had 9 days in Trinity this year and it was fan-fucking-tastic. I didn’t want to come home. But here I am. Back to work on Tuesday.

While I was up there I Twittered a few times a day, almost every day. Those updates can be found here or by reading the “Mobile Phone Updates” in my sidebar on this webpage.

All week long the weather was warm and sunny and dry–it felt like summer instead of fall. This was very bad for deer hunting. When the weather is hot the only time we see deer is the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset. So during the day it’s pointless to hunt–unless you’re right on top of the deer, they won’t move. They’ll just sit motionless under a bush or tree all day long.

So I modified my strategy to accomodate the weather. I hunted in the morning and the evening, and did other things during the day–like fly fish.

I’ve always wanted to fly fish Trinity. Over the last 8 years of going up there I’ve always marveled at the waters–it’s EVERYWHERE. Within 30 minutes of the cabin I’ve got my pick of 3 different creeks/rivers/streams. These waters are spring fed and flow year round. Consequently, the trout populations are quite healthy. And the fishing is superb. I got my fill of trout fishing this year. I’m sad that it took me this long to bring my gear and get my line wet. I caught fish every session, and lots of them. Typical California mountain stream trout: 6-10 inch rainbows. Healthy fighters. Beautiful coloring.

I had a spiritual (for lack of a better word) experience in the middle of the Trinity River on Friday afternoon. I had been fly fishing for a few hours, catching fish after fish, playing the trout quickly without tiring them out, and releasing them gently. I had stopped to take a swig from my water bottle and eat an apple and was standing in the middle of the river. The river was cold and the current was strong. Fish rose and jumped all around me. I looked on either side of the riverbank–rows of aspens and oaks swathed a canvas of colors from red to orange to yellow. Above them the Cascade mountains rose, covered in evergreen pine trees. At that moment I felt the most profound sense of peace and tranquility and satisfaction I’ve ever felt. And at that moment I knew how I wanted to feel for the rest of my life.

Didn’t take many pictures this year, except a few of the Trinity river.