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.)

One situation that constantly bothered me was when after I recorded, I was listening to my sounds and I turned my camera on sometimes to take pictures when I was recording. It bothered me because I could hear my camera turning on and it usually came at bad times. Another thing that goes along the same lines of the first was when I was recording I would play with the volume button, but I forgot that it records on the minidisk so I was pretty pissed at myself for that. I just made mistakes during the process and it didn't help me too much. (Note: I don't consider this technology related because I was mad at myself for making dumb mistakes.)


2. Describe, with details, two situations during Drift 1 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.

I enjoyed walking around the city and not really having to worry where I was headed. The day was a bit windy but it was still fun to go around and check out different places around town that might of brought me good sounds. Seeing as how I have never really lived in the actual city till this year, it was fun to explore everywhere and figure out new ways to get places. I also enjoyed seeing people walking around taking wedding pictures (I went on a Saturday) around town. It was pretty cool to see how many different people were around town just enjoying what the city has for them.



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!)

It was weird to go around and record stuff. People would look at me crazy and I would usually try to hide my microphones and mini-disc recorder. I was surprised that no one really tried to ask me what I was up to so I guess it was neat that no one really bothered me during the recordings. I totally thought people would be asking me what I was up to, so that was a relief. I felt professional after I had finished with my recordings. It was cool to see that some things I had planned out worked. For example, I thought it would be cool to just leave my recorder and not do anything for ten minutes and when I listened back to it I had caught a lot of things then when I did with my shorter recordings.



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 had to be when I was doing my ten minute recording. I had seen this grandfather and his grandchildren walking around the city when I was recording earlier and thought it would of been cool to record them. (The kids were on scooters so I thought it'd be cool to record them and they were saying things like "grandpa grandpa look!") During my last recording I got them so I was really excited to get them on the track. It just felt good because I saw them right away and I figured I wouldn't see them at all for the rest of the day, but two hours later I got them on tape so it was pretty cool.