Drift 1 Assessment

1. Describe two situations that aggravated, bothered, shocked or otherwise stressed you during Drift 1. (Please note that the situation CANNOT be technology-related.)
My most annoying situation during my drift 1, was catching all the automobiles going by. Everywhere I went, cars, buses and motorcycles would pass by in the background. I understood I was in the middle of the city, but I preferred no car or bus engines zooming by in the majority of my recordings. Another thing that annoyed me was the long walk where I felt I wasn’t getting anything worth blogging. My first recording of the train was amazing, so it downsized everything else I recorded after.

2. Describe, with details, two situations during Drift 1 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.
When I sat down on a ledge near the O’Donnel Park Office (across the street from the Milwaukee Art Museum) I was taking a break from the hot sun and walking for almost 2 hours, when all of a sudden birds started chirping. It was the first sign of real nature on my drift. I live in rural area, so I’m used to more natural sound of animals, trees and grass without construction and automobiles. Also another time I got caught in the moment was when I recorded the train. Something about it was beautiful even though there was the screeching of breaks and clanking of metal. Like I said in my Drift1 blog, it reminded me of when you trace the rim of crystal glass and it makes a beautiful sound. I was so caught in the moment that I didn’t realize the guy honking at me to move out of the way.

3. Describe three surprises or unexpected situations you encountered on your Drift and in the days that followed. The surprise could stem from your expectations that conflicted with "on the ground" realities, cultural or social issues of which you were previously unaware, feelings and reactions that you did not expect to have, appearances and soundings of things you did not expect, good or bad outcomes of "on the spot" decisions you had to make, or the discovery of "deeper" realities in the materials you brought home. (Again, skip anything technology-related!)
On my drift it surprised me that nobody really cared what I was doing. I thought people would be staring at me or tell me to get lost, but nobody seemed to even notice. I also had an “on the spot” decision to make when I was recording some decent sound of a construction site when I heard the drawbridge start to chime on Young St. I stopped the recording and went right next to the drawbridge to get the sound and it turned out pretty cool. I even used it as one of my clips on my blog. Another thing that interested me was the sound of the waterfalls I recorded. I did three different ones and they all turned out different. Two of them were nearly the same, but at different distances. I could tell the difference, but they were both a solid sound with no tones or variety. The one that I keep and put on the blog had a verity of tones from the vent and waterfall which I didn’t notice until I listen to all the recordings. It was a little bit of a surprise.

4. Describe your favorite experience, situation, place, or recollection from your Drift. Be specific about what happened, how you felt, how you reacted, and why you think this particular experience affected you so much.
My favorite experience was the train. I stood there for a long amount of time recording as much as I could, so that I would have the perfect recording. The sound was just amazing and I never listened to a train like that before, which is why this event affected me so. I heard the train coming so I went under the bridge and figured I would get some interesting sound there, but it actually muffled the train and the only thing I could hear were cars. So I went to the side of the bridge and began recording again. Soon the train put down its brakes and that’s when the really interesting noise came. I couldn’t stop recording and like I said before, that’s when a guy was honking at me, but I thought it was just part of the train. Finally, I looked over to check my surroundings and realized this guy has been honking at me for the last 45 seconds and at the end of my recording you can here an “Oh” of embarrassment come out of my mouth.