The Flat Head 3001 World Tour

[azrael0027]

3001 is a great jeans

[dkatz]

Hi team,

As BAerts noted, the 3001's are getting a bit... worse for the wear

Yo, D, did you blow that knee out already? That was a clean repair when I had them. So begins the "deterioration" stage of a pair of jeans. I think we can draw this one out, though. :-)

What can I say, neither me nor Uganda are terribly easy on clothing.

I'm going to have a little bit of fun with the knee, however I'm much more concerned about the crotch:

This is to the point now that I'm not really comfortable wearing the jeans to work anymore. However, I'm also not hugely confident in the repair skills of tailors here. For example, the repaired thigh of my SExDBxS09s:

So I'm faced with a choice, which I'd like all your thoughts on. Do I:

A) Have the jeans repaired here, probably not terribly nicely, so that I can continue wearing actively?

or

Relegate them to easy- and non-work-wear until they can make it to SELA and some much-needed TLC?

Thoughts?

[beatle]

awesome, Uganda repair special

[ranonranonarat]

personally i'd vote for a uganda repair since they are already beat to hell i can't see anything being able to shit them up. in anyways, they are traveling pants, so do what you have to!

[aho]

A poorly done repair can always be repaired further, so I say do the temp. thing and get er done!

[beatle]

I actually think giving circumstances that any Ugandan tailor could do a really great job. They probably repair clothes way more often than us ...

[PeterParker]

+1 on Ugandan repair. It will add character, and more importantly reinforcement to the jeans. Only concern would be the possibility for them to go "missing" while at the tailor's, but seeing as you've already had your SExSuFuxDB's repaired there it doesn't seem that risky.

[dkatz]

^ true, but they're not using superfancy supervintage superdarning machines or whatever, and they're all about cheap temporary fixes.

Right then, Ugandarepair forthcoming!

[-Z-]

very excited for the ugandarepair.

[jimmyc]

you gots to get them fixed there. Whatever they do will be awesome.

[dkatz]

Haha I love the enthusiasm up in here! To think I even gave it a second thought...

[dkatz]

This weekend was a bit rough... I've been battling a little bout of what I'll call "Idi's revenge" for the past few days, and thus the 3001's have spent most of their time either on my recumbent legs or gathered around my ankles in front of the porcelain throne.

Anyway...

On Saturday, I took a leap into the great unknown: I finally let my Aussie roommate make me Vegemite toast. Not sure if this is a first for the 3001's too (did they make it to Oz?), but I was pleasantly surprised! Gonna try it with avocado and tomato soon...

Had a walk through Bugolobi Trading Center, and was particularly amused by this sign. At least they spelled it "salon" rather than the all-too-frequent "saloon"

Yes, I'm pretty sure this is what USAID had in mind when this rice was donated...

Sunday, me, my beleaguered stomach and the aforementioned Aussie flatmate decided on some pool in a local bar

Enjoyed catching up on some headlines on the way

I've been wanting to do a little project for months and months now: dirt-dyeing t-shirts. I finally got the preliminary materials together. Hopefully I'll actually find a weekend to dedicate to it properly soon!

I'd noticed this lot of nice red dirt in Bukoto previously, so swung by with a big plastic bucket

Might require a bit of sorting and crushing, but should do the trick

More on that project if I get around to actually doing it.

Stopped by a gallery on Monday to have a look at a piece of art for my Mom.

Saw a painting I really really like...

Heard some music and walked to the lot nextdoor to find a youth choir going at it. Hung our for a bit and took a video, but unfortunately I'm having trouble uploading a file that large. Damn East African internet...

Stopped by one of the craft markets to pick up a clay pitcher

Sorry... forgot to take a picture of the pitcher

more in a moment

[dkatz]

Some quick and fruitless furniture-shopping

Then took a book with me to Le Petite Village and put my feet and the 3001's up for a bit of R&R

Unfortunately, a suicidal fly put a damper on the affair.

Driving to the office on Monday. I like these road-side plant depots

Most thug matatu ever.

I'm considering making a photo book, called American Bike Messengers are Pussies, featuring photos like this one. Corrugated steal sheets on a bicycle.

Road-work. Ugandan style.

By the way the "Diversion" just meant "drive off road"

Probably my most frequent meal in this country: toast, avocado, tomato, and usually a fried egg. DELICIOUS

Nice note to end today's update on. At the end of my street:

[dkatz]

Oooookay team.

So you'll remember we were facing two predicaments. The first looked like this:

So I brought the 3001's to my homey Jane and let her have her way with them (note this is a different tailor from the one who did the repairs to my SExDBxS09)... "Gifted Designers". Love it

Pretty damn impressed with the results!

The knee was also looking a bit worse for the wear.

I decided I wanted the 3001's to show their travels with a little bit of African flavor, so I replicated a repair I did to my SExDBxS09.

Step 1. Pick out patching fabric

You may recognize this fabric from a shirt I've been seen sporting

Step 2. Position the fabric and pin it in place

Step 3. Stitch stitch stitch!

Step 4. Done!

[dkatz]

Bit of a rough-and-tumble look to it, but I dig. Hope all past and future TFH 3001 Tourers will as well!

[ThinFinn]

^me like!...

well done daniel...

would you mind to take a complete front- and backshot of the 30001's?...

would be awesome!

must spread!

edit:

did jane worked the patch to make it look like faded denim?...looks like it!...

[beautiful_FrEaK]

aweseom updaytes (as usual) and great looking repairs!

[dkatz]

ThinFinn- it looks to me like Jane just cut up a pair of old jeans or something for the patch. I love that you can see whiskering on the patch too!

And I'm actually planning to wait until the end of my time with the jeans to photograph, at which point I'll do some pre- and post-wash pics. So you'll just have to wait

Thanks b_F!

[ThinFinn]

^no problemo mate

actually this makes it even more interesting...so keep up the good work mate

cheers

[pomata]

that painting is really good

great updates, man

[ranonranonarat]

i love the hint of kiteniege peeking through the knees. very nice touch to the Flat Head World Tour jeans. this is amazing! got to spread though. i prefer your self repair as opposed to the shop repair though. i should send some your way for repairs. hahah!

[yakrian]

Those repairs look great. The self-patched knee is just one most story told by the jeans, themselves. So awesome.

Must spread.

[entropy kid]

Glad you decided on two different repairs.

Jeans seem to reach a stage where each new wearer will have to face some surprise...

[dkatz]

Thanks guys! I enjoy doing that kind of repair and like that I'm leaving evidence of my life in these jeans on the jeans themselves.

Ranon - I would have loved to kitenge-patch the crotch as well, but it wouldn't have been strong enough so I decided to let a pro go at it.

Pomata - yeah man. The gallery's supposedly having a holiday sale soon, might stop by...

[dkatz]

Right-o team. Let's move on.

A few snippits from last week. No grand adventures, so just a couple snaps of the life the 3001s have been leading on my legs.

A little photo representation of a world in which rules are considered little more than suggestions and laws have minimal bearing on every-day life.

When I popped in to Jane's shop in Bugolobi Trading Center to drop off the 3001s for crotch-patching, there was an NRM (National Resistance Movement - the ruling party and Museveni's personal political vehicle) rally-parade getting started. Boda-boda men can be "hired" for pretty cheap to deck themselves out with propaganda for whomever is supporting them and drive around causing a scene.

Incidentally, word is the September 2009 riots were mostly... staffed... by boda-boda men who'd been hired to do so.

And they're off

Thanksgiving, ex-pat style. It's a funny thing trying to explain what American Thanksgiving is all about to Ugandans... or any non-Americans!

Despite the lack of family which I felt quite acutely, we American international orphans did the best we could and it turned out quite nicely:

Good food

Good company

Good conversation

And a nice 7am phone call from a big crew of family and friends as they finished their meal rounded out the deal. Not a bad showing for being half an Earth away from home.

After a full grumpy workday on Friday (working the day after Thanksgiving should be a sin), went with some buddies to beer and pool away the week for a few minutes. Discovered one of my homeys is a fuckin SHARK!

And then there was Saturday...

[dkatz]

Too, too damn early, got on a shuttle from Kampala to do something I've had people telling me I NEED to do for the entire year+ I've been here...

WHITE-WATER RAFTING ON THE NILE!

I've seriously been trying to do this for the entire time I've been here, and finally found a weekend I could steal away from work and other obligations to actually get it done. A couple friends/acquaintances were interested too, so we got a little group together for the adventure.

The source of the Nile in Lake Victoria is at Jinja town, about a two hour drive East from Kampala. Included in the price of a full day of rafting (pretty steep at $125) is transport to and from Kampala, dinner, a couple beers and a night's accommodation in a dorm-room. For some inexplicable (to me) reason, the people I went with elected for a half day of rafting and to travel back to Kampala that evening. I jump at any opportunity to NOT be in Kampala!

Getting kitted out

and getting my game face on. I dare the Nile to take on THAT face.

I seriously considered donning the 3001s for the adventure, but after a not-very-joking warning from one of the guides about the weight (and resultant proclivity to sink) of wet denim, I opted for swim trunks.

3001s stayed dry and safe in the truck.

Let's fucking do this thing. I'm in the faded-pink helmet at the front-left of the boat.

Okay that's a little bit intimidating

In we go

Hoo shit.

Aaaaand over we go. Right into the washing machine.

More in a moment....

[dkatz]

That flip wasn't too bad, and the guide all but admitted he'd done it intentionally. I managed to cling to the boat AND my oar, and held pretty hot for doing so.

A few minutes later, however, we hit Silverback - a serious class five rapid with four waves to traverse. We made it through the first three with some degree of grace, then we hit the fourth. I distinctly remember rapidly approaching a solid wall of water directly across our path and wondering how the hell we'd get up and over it...

We didn't.

Right now I was thinking about how suddenly gravity seemed weaker

And by now I was thinking "shit. I forgot to hold onto the boat"

It was actually a pretty gnarly experience, that one. Despite the gigantic life-vest and my furious upward strokes, I stayed down for long enough to start getting... nervous. I kept looking up and wondering at how the surface of the water continued to stay so far above me. When I finally surfaced, having drank about a half-gallon of delicious Nile Riverwater, I was far enough downriver to not even be able to see the rapid, or any of my fellow raftmates. One of the rescue-kayakers appeared in front of me moments later and yelled for me to grab on. He dragged me towards the shore, smacking my tailbone solidly against a rock on the way, and instructed me to stay put on a stone on the bank while he went looking for other floaters. Eventually he came back, towed me to another raft, which delivered me to my original raft. I was a wee bit shaken up, but not enough to not keep going!

Fortunately there were also plentiful opportunities for less strenuous activities

At mid-day I ditched my lame half-day-er friends and joined another boat, full of Canucks

You can easily see who the serious power-house of the team was

Fortunately this boat turned out to be much less flip-prone. However, we did decide we needed a little more water-time. So as we dropped in to one class-four rapid, at the moment when the guide would normally have shouted "GET DOWN" he instead instructed "JUMP", and out we went. Unfortunately it turned out I was on the non-photographed side of the boat this time.

By the final rapid of the day, we were all pretty exhausted. We hit a pretty strong wave and all felt the boat catch air and start to tip

Shockingly, and much to our glee, the boat stayed beneath us. We were pretty impressed with ourselves

Finding myself alive and back on dry land made me feel like this

Except that this guy made me feel like a major pussy

Dude carried that (not light) raft on his head the entire way up a very steep path (see the previous photo for the altitude dude traversed on his way from the riverbank) to the waiting truck. We first-world-ers are majorly weak.

[beatle]

wild stuff..glad u guys made it...

[ranonranonarat]

You can easily see who the serious power-house of the team was

oh yes i do. its obviously everyone else who has their oars somewhere in the water or at least somewhere near to the water. the slacker is the guy with the oar above his head. hehh..

on a serious note, i never knew you could do shit like this over in uganda. i always had the impression it was done somewhere in australia/new zealand/wherever you could find a touristy brochure with a bunch of rich white people, rafting. cool shit that happens in uganda. oh and damn, i always thought that the raft took six people to carry. so now i know superheores do exist. thanks for sharing!

[aho]

Brilliant post dkatz! Love this tour dearly lol (but can't +rep!)