Photo Essay

Hypertext Essay

The radio station in the student center is one of the places I hold dear to my heart. This is a place where I am welcomed and very comfortable. This place is as exciting as a glow in the dark, multiple colored lava lamp. It is a place where I can go if I am having any problems that need to be dealt with or if I just want to be around some of my friends. It is a place where I can connect with others that like my music and other genres of music. A place where my friends and I provide ourselves and our listeners with music. The station is a loudspeaker that broadcasts all the time. The inside of the station has mainly black walls with splattered neon paint of the colors yellow, red, and green.

Here I can express myself any way I want even on the walls of this place. Here my friends and I can do just about anything we want because it is our area, our place, our space, and our station. The ceiling has some ceiling tiles over the entrance, the booth, and both offices but not the main sitting area. All over the main sitting area is just the frame ready for tiles to be put in. An architecture structure is built in an L shape above the room with two cabinets as the bases. We can see the structure because it is above the framing in the room and we have no ceiling tiles. About everything in here was hand-made by the people at the station so that is why I get such a “homey” feeling. The floor, which we laid ourselves, is made up of wooden tiles that are two by two feet long that are covered by a thin rubber and separated by one inch wide wooden beams. There is a sound booth I use to broadcast our music to everyone. There is also the manager's office with all the hardware and our back-up files with all of our music and files for playback. The station has a refrigerator and a microwave because we are allowed to. It also has have a lot of of people come to this place because we get a lot of requests and visitors. The usual company are the multiple DJ's including myself, the general manager, the chief engineer, the DJ manager, and many close friends of those people come in this place all the time. We also get the occasional complainer, fan, potential DJ applicant, security, and administration drop by every once and a while too.

The overall surroundings of this place is the Joe Mack Wilson Student Center, all of the people in the student center, the campus life, and all things included with that.

The sights of the station are calm and exciting at the same time because of everything that goes on here. People could be just doing some homework or just studying making it a calm place with not too much noise. Also this place could be exciting when we have our one professional DJ Azul play on the turn-tables because he makes all music awesome and blend with his professional mixing skills. The sounds in this place are somewhat difficult to understand or explain because the radio station has so many different songs playing; the sound is never the same and could be anything. The booth always has some music playing and the waiting room only has the music playing out loud if we turn on the overhead speakers. The station has no specific smell except for some electrical equipment. The station has no taste and the movement in the station varies on how many people are in it and how many are partying.

The radio station makes me feel relaxed at sometimes and other times excited. It is all determined by who is broadcasting music at the time and what music is playing because it is a radio station. If one of the DJ's that likes to play slow music is on, I will be more relaxed and calm but if I am playing my music or another DJ that plays music like me that is very fast paced and loud I will be very excited because they are the tunes that appeal to me the most. I always feel comfortable because I am listening to good music with friends.

Earlier this week a listener in the student center crowd of the station e-mailed the Dean of Students Barry Burkhead about a DJ playing bad music and it being too loud. He said he could not study. This angered all the people in the radio station a great deal. Barry forwarded that email to our General Manager who then forwarded it to the DJ Manager and he took out the complainers name and showed us the email. We all were furious. The student center is not meant solely for studying at all actually; It is a place of gathering where students can talk and have a good time. If someone wants to study they can go to the library right across Sycamore Grove. Another thing is that we are allowed to play whatever music we want as long as the volume is not excessive, no vulgarity, racism, or sexism. We did not play any music of that kind. We were extremely mad because many of us wanted to find out who this complainer was and have a few words with him.

Someone who would not want to be around this place would say the station is a trashy and not deserving of being the radio station. The visitors would probably not touch anything because they would find it not safe or dangerous. They would learn though after staying here for a few hours that this place is an excellent ground for making friends, listening or playing music, and having fun. They will realize that if you are not an irritating person or have any terrible traits about you that the people here will take you in just fine. We always are looking for more potential DJ's because we want all kinds of music to be played.

My ideas for this place are big and small. I think this place is a great area to relax and chill. I have an plan to make this place expand and so much more popular. All of the people here at the station have the idea and plan to expand to sponsors and receive funds for our music. This place is important because we provide music online and for the people in the student center. The student center and school events get music because of this place.

Edited May 4

Being Lost...

Being lost is not a feeling most people enjoy having. When I was a little kid we had an enormous forest behind my family's house. I would always go into my backyard to either throw a ball around with my dad or friends, play with my sister, watch and learn how to cut grass with my dad, do other lawn work, help my mom in the garden, or explore the forest edge of our property. I would never go too far into the forest because I was absolutely terrified of what was in there. I was young so I still believed in monsters and creatures that could come from the forest. On top of that my family had actually seen coyotes passing through the back yard. My room was in the back of the house and my window looked out directly into the forest. So whenever I saw some creepy movie I would be absolutely terrified of what could come out of there. I always thought something or someone was watching me. One day my older friend went into the woods because he heard another one of his older friends was back there dirt biking. I wanted to follow, so I did. There was a very rough path that lead deeper and deeper into the woods but eventually it faded into nothing because of how far it went. We must have been walking for at least thirty minutes not stopping once because we could hear the bike's noises off in the distance. My friend was very excited to see his friend so he ran ahead and I lost him. Now back then I had to follow him because the path was gone but since he ran ahead I had no path to follow. Once he was out of sight I was absolutely lost. I was terrified and horror struck. I screamed and yelled but no one replied. I picked the direction I thought was the way home and started walking that way. Then I heard a growl and a swift movement behind me and that is when I lost it. I immediately was adrenaline pumped and scared for my life. I sprinted full speed in a straight path that I thought would bring me home. It did bring me home and I ran full speed right into my house, slammed the door, locked it and went and sat on the ground and just yelled out in fear. My mom came running and asked what was wrong and I just stared in shock. I did not go back into those woods for a long time until I was much older. Since then I learned not to take chances if I could get lost. It's a scary world so I try not to get lost anymore.
Edited May 4

First Day of College...

My first day of college was not the slightest bit of what I thought was going to happen. It was move-in day and my mother and I have just found my room. I call my roommate whom I have not met yet and get the deal on when he is going to show up, what he has with him, and whether he needs any help. In the process of walking up to the dorm building two guys approached me and asked if I needed any help moving my things into my room. I was totally psyched and said sure because I was lazy then and did not want to have to move all of my things on my own. My mother pulled up in my vehicle with all of my things and we all brought my stuff up to my new room. The two guys were the recruitment chairman and president of the fraternity I later come to join. They invite me to a Braves game on Saturday and leave to go help and find other guys. My roommate shows up after that and my family meets his. We talk for a little bit and set everything up then our parents leave and we talk more about our classes. I learn about his major and that it's the same as mine. We go down to the lobby of the dorm to meet the others because the Residence Life is holding a party for everyone to get to know each other. In the middle of this party a guy I met before move-in day calls me and invites me to a concert that night right then and there. The party by the way was a total bust and was not great at all because the residence life was trying to make us collect names and majors of other people and once we got ten we were able to get some pizza. I give my roommate my card of names on it so he can get some free pizza and I sneak out the back away from the Resident Assistants and meet my new friend. We go to an awesome show and stay out till about 1 in the morning. I come back later and find my roommate still awake so I just get on my laptop. I sit there feeling the new freedom I get from being off in college and thoroughly enjoy it. I realize that a lot of other people are also still awake so I go out into my hall and meet all of my neighbors who some end up becoming fellow brothers in my fraternity but others end up joining a different fraternity but we still remain okay friends. I end up finally going to sleep that night around 4 AM to be ready for the next day and first day of classes to come. The first day of college was a new experience and was a once in a lifetime event.
Edited May 4

If I Won $100,000,000....

If I won one hundred million dollars I would probably go into a small stage of shock at first because I would not be able to believe it happened. I would immediately put all of the money into a bank account and talk to my family and friends about what I should use it on. The first thing I would do is make sure that my family is financially secure for the rest of their lives and have everything they need. I would make sure my dad had no more bills to pay off and own his house. I would see that my mom can finish her schooling and be able to get a job that she will enjoy doing while having her house also paid off. As for my sister I would give her anything she wanted as long as it is not bad. I would get my own place, probably with some of my brothers in my fraternity and we would live together. If I do not get my own place or room with my fraternity brothers I would get a small townhouse so my sister could live there with me and have anything she wanted. I would pay for all her schooling in whatever field she desired and make sure everything went smoothly. She would get any car, clothes, or any material possession within reason. Once my family is totally secure and has everything they would like then I would donate a large sum to my fraternity so all of us could have the coolest events and socials around. We would have all of the best things in our fraternity house and all kinds of money to be able to do large events that could bring in even more money for us all. A problem I have when I have enough money is that I want to give a lot to people I like because I like to see them happy is there is anything I can do to raise their spirits. That is why a lot of my money would go to helping out my sister. I would also give large amounts of money back to my parents as thank yous for raising me and doing so much for me. After all of that I would probably get my self the best quality of material possessions I want like clothes, a car or ten, top of the line computer and laptop equipment, a nice house, and everything to fill those things up. Winning that kind of money would just change my life so much I could not say what more I would do with the money because there is just so much I could do. Although I do know I would be riding a lot of go-karts. I would do my best to be responsible with the money.
Edited May 4

Things I do when I procrastinate..

When I know I have work to do for something but I also know I have time to do something else and can do the work another time I tend do multiple things. I of course feel guilty about putting off the work. A little part of me is constantly telling me the whole time I am putting off the work that I need to just stop, make some free time in my course of procrastination, and do the work right away. If I did listen to that little voice I would: 1) think I was a little loopy for listening to a voice in my head and 2) I would get a lot more work done so I have a free conscience and could do all the activities I was going to do anyway before doing the work. While I am procrastinating I usually am relaxing with my friends or doing some activity with them. Almost always though I am with them because we all stick together whether we are busy or not. Even when I do or do not procrastinate I do my work or slack with them. The reason for this is because eventually they will tell me if I have waited too long to do some work and they convince me to get it all done. Many assignments that I have done so far have been encouraged by them. If I am not with my friends I might be watching some television or on my laptop watching some episodes of a certain show I find good on Hulu. The activity that I almost always do while procrastinating whether I am with my friends or not is go to the recreation center and lift weights since I am such a personal fitness fanatic. I might also be doing an average guy thing and be trying to flirt with a girl or be with a girl which totally distracts me from a lot of things that I should be doing whether it is school work, chores, or any other task I might need to be doing at the time. On most days I use my computer at least 50% of the day. In that time I am on my laptop I am on Facebook. A large amount of time I waste is on Facebook because it is a social networking site all of my friends use and it is a place to meet other people. That is about all I do while I am procrastinating though. I try not to do so much but it cannot be helped.

If I Were A Superhero I Would Be...

If I were a superhero I would be the Flash or at least have his powers. To understand why I would want to be like him I have to tell you some of my past. Throughout high school I ran track competitively and always enjoyed the feeling while running. Something I had pride in was being able to run faster than almost anyone I came across. I always enjoyed the feeling of the air whipping past my face while sprinting full speed across a plain, up a hill, down a hill, over and around obstacles. The experience was always an adrenaline pumped occurrence. Then when it came to sports I may not have been the best at catching, throwing, or what else any sport involved to be done to play but I was almost always the fastest so I always had an advantage. When I would play soccer I could always catch my opponent and steal the ball. When I played recreational football or with friends I could always out maneuver the defensive line. So that is why I would want to be Flash, the superhero. I would run so fast and be able to go everywhere in the blink of an eye. I would travel everywhere and anywhere because I could get there so quickly and get anywhere else if I needed to be somewhere. I could even run on water. Just being able to run on water is reason enough for me to want to be that superhero. To be able to move so fast that I could move my body across water and maintain that high speed continuously is unbelievable. I would do that just in my free time to show off or racing boats. I would cross the ocean multiple times and be able to do it in a matter of a few hours without slowing. I would also compete in the Olympics and other running competitions because I know I would win. That may seem unfair but I would not tell anybody except my close friends of my abilities. I would run in all of those competitions and win them all being known as the fastest man in the world. Something about the title of being the fastest man in the world also contributes to why I would want to be like Flash, the superhero. No one could touch me. No one could catch me. I would be only a blur.