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.)

Something that bothered me while I was on my drift was the lack of interesting sounds. While I was recording I had my headphones on so that I could listen to what I was recording. At that time the sounds seemed really boring and common. I thought my blog was going to be very boring and repetitive. As I arrived home and started to listen to my recordings, I was able to pick something special and unique out of every recording I did. I tried to find something special about every recording, I soon saw that I had a decent variety of sounds.

Another thing that bothered me a little was the lack of daylight during the time of my drift. If it weren't for that limitation, I would have loved to continue my drift for a few more hours. I found that there were more interesting and lively sounds during my earlier recordings as opposed to my later ones.

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

The simple act of walking makes me feel peaceful and contemplative. I felt at ease throughout the entire drift. Even when things went a little wrong with my map interpretation. I was especially at ease during my second recording which was the Empire State recording. I was simply sitting on a bench and listening to the sounds of the city.

The second time that I felt very peaceful was during the very last recording. After a long day of walking throughout the city I was more than happy to sit by the parking lot and wait for more interesting sounds to come my way. This recording came out to be about 7 minutes, at first it was just cars passing by, but then around 5 minutes into the recording I get 3 very interesting and distinct sounds. This made for a good ending to a very enjoyable drift.

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!)

Probably the biggest surprise I received from my drift was when I decided to stop and record by a building with a graffiti design that read, Bucket Works. As I was sitting there listening to the usual sound of cars passing by I heard two people leaving the Bucket Works building and then they entered a nearby car. As they pulled out of the driveway the car stops and someone asks me if I'm waiting for a ride, then another car pulls up and a large man gets out and starts to walk towards me, and asks if we were here for a wrestling meet. The man in the car replies and says that the wrestler was gone, and just as quickly as the strange encounter started, it ended, and both of the cars leave.

Once I had a chance to listen to the sound files on my computer, I was very surprised to know that in one of my recordings I was able to record the water in a sewer.This may not seem surprising but I found it to be surprising because during the actual recording I was concentrated on listening to the various insect sounds that dominated the area. I was happy to hear many layers in that recording.

I found it very surprising that just a few blocks north of where I started my drift, downtown Milwaukee no longer looks like a city. It seems that from where I started, downtown Milwaukee extends to the south, east, and west. There is very little to the north. I was a little disappointed because in my map of Manhattan, Central Park is to the North. I decided not to stray far from Milwaukee's inner city because I wanted to focus on the sounds of the city, and not so much on the surrounding areas.


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.

One of my favorite locations in my drift map is the Blue Building. I wasn't originally going to record by that building, but after I passed it on my way to another locations, I decided that it would be an interesting place to record. It turns out that out of all of my recordings, the Blue Building recording gave me the most Manhattan like recording. While in this location I heard various car sounds, people walking by, bus sounds, people talking, and even some people singing. The sounds from this location sounded a lot more like I would expect the center of Milwaukee to sound like, and it was only a block or two away from where I started my drift. I hope to revisit this location for my next drift, to see how it will be different.