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.)

The hardest part of Drift 1 was finding a four hour time period to do my walk. I work every day of the week and the only time I could do it was at night. So one night, I just stayed up the entire night and did the walk. I was tired but I got it done. Another part that aggravated me was the lack of rich, textured sounds. Most of the sounds I recorded were very dull and boring. I barely found enough sounds that were good, and even the ones I chose to put in my blog didn’t seem good enough.

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

While I was walking on Oakland Avenue around midnight, I felt very calm. No cars were passing by and the wind was gentle and barely moving some leaves. I was completely alone and I could hear every step I took. I felt in complete control and felt like I could do anything I wanted and no one would care.
The other situation I felt peaceful was when I was on the bridge over the Milwaukee River on Locust Street. I had my headphones on and was listening to absolutely everything. I had the volume turned way up, but not too loud so that when a car drove by it didn’t bust my ear drums. I could hear every leaf move and could even hear the river. I just sat there for about 10 minutes and listened while recording sounds.

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!)

The biggest surprise was how quiet it is a night. At some points in my walk, there was no noise. When I was in a neighborhood, I couldn’t pick up any noise, not even the wind.
The other surprise was how busy it is on Water Street at 2 o’ clock in the morning. The bars are just closing and every bar is still packed to capacity. I would have thought most people would leave by than.
Another surprise was the amount of recordings I had collected at the end of the night. I was out there for about 5 hours and I had about an hour and a half of sound collected. The most I recorded in a single session was about 3 minutes, but I guess when you add all of the times I pushed the record button, it adds up.

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 when I was walking down Water Street and seeing all the drunk people. They were talking to me but it was hard to understand what they were trying to saying. I just thought they were funny and just kept on walking. I know some drunk people can be dangerous so I just tried to keep walking and get in a different area. This affected me because it made me want to get off of Water Street and get in a different area during my Drift walk.