Saturday evening was almost the perfect meal, well, as perfect as one can be without mom’s crab rolls or eating trout and salmon riverside minutes after its been hooked and clubbed.

I simultaneously attacked three of my favorite things in a ground-breaking act of multitasking.

Outside, at my table under the willow tree, I listened to the NCAA Tournament escaping through the screen door, read about fishing (a chapter about Alaska of all places) and chewed expertly chunked pieces of tri-tip.

This is not to say I did any of these things well, but it was one of those moments when you lean back on the back legs of the chair and think, “This, is awesome.”

My blissfully cluttered mind pinballed between Kansas State defenders stifling Jimmer Fredette, John Gierach catching grayling on Adams flies and the awesomeness of dinner. None of the three ever really arrested my full attention, but that’s okay.

There were times when the thoughts impeded on each other to the point that Gierach, a 60-something year old fisherman and writer, was getting stagger screens to help him get open shots, so I had to re-read from time to time to get a clearer picture of what was really happening.

Each was providing me with the release that usually comes with doing any of the activities; they were just all fighting for credit.

While fishing, I usually contemplate the intricacies of life and mull over dilemmas until a fish snaps back my focus. When I read, I think about fishing, and the times I contemplated the intricacies of life and mulled over dilemmas until a fish snapped back my focus.

When I eat, I just fill my stomach. But when I eat while fishing ...

I hope there are a lot of people out there like me, I know there are a few, that are doing one thing but thinking about another — like thinking about life while fishing, but thinking about fishing while living that life.

It’s funny and maybe a little ironic, perhaps like in the ninth grade when on some standardized tests I scored in the 98th percentile nationally in science, and 54th in writing. Or the time I tested into second semester Spanish in college. The two hour test took 45 minutes, because I couldn’t even read the questions, but guessed like a champ.

When the stomach was fully in charge of digestion, life became a little simpler, and after the game concluded and sun had set, simpler yet. I ambled around my barn almost exhausted, but in a good way, brain and stomach filled.

The worst thing I could have done would be to then get on the Internet, which I did.

But it was to take in the game-cast of my high school alma maters state championship basketball game. There’s always room for a little more basketball. There was room for more tri-tip too, so I ate the leftovers.

There was also more room for fishing, so I read myself to sleep.

To contact Jeff Lund, e-mail aklund21@gmail.com.