Our "experiment" reminded me much of something I had done in elementary school. I believe that it was in the fifth grade. What we did was place four different genres of music around the room: Jazz, classical, country, and pop. We were to do our assignment while listening to the four types of music playing at the same time, and write about what we heard the most. As it turned out, the results were almost tied on what was heard. About half the class heard the music that was closest to them, and the other half heard the type of music they like better. The two or four people in the middle of the room heard what is constituted as white noise and were able to space it out. They were the ones whom completed the assignment first and best due to the fact that they didn't have the distraction of the ability to distinguish music.
While this wasn’t quite the same experiment we did in English, there were the similarities. There were many more differences, though. For one, in fifth grade, we didn’t have a crazy instructor pacing around the classroom, checking everything, and touching the knobs and dials. We also had the same type of music player for all for types, because that was part of the control. In English, there were no controls, only variables, which creates a very horrible experiment. When you have a full stereo and a dinky CD player, you are bound to have volume problems. Everybody had to crank their music, and I had to turn mine down. A final difference was that everybody in fifth grade was an equal distance from the music player. The people who were closest to the music player were all the same distance away from it, as were the people who were furthest away from the player.
We get started, and the first thing I hear is "Track One" from all around the room, followed by "Disk one," "disk two," "disk three," "disk four" from the various CD players.
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The music is starting. I hear a base, drum set, what sounds like whirligigs, and some random, indescribable noises! This is a bit strange, I think as the music starts. It's really weird sitting there and hearing fragments of music coming from around the room, corroborating, making it sound like one CD on a super high surround sound! I hear a bunch of "Ah's" emancipating from Gary's stereo, and Sylvia's is the first to have works spewing from the speakers. Number two has stomping, or thunder. Now, a Phantom of the Opera quality kind of music is radiating from each of the music systems. Well, for a few seconds anyway. There are bunches a guitars and "ah's." As I look around, I notice some people are making the this-is-strange type of face. I can't blame them, however; I'm thinking the same thing! I can now hear and understand some words: "You're invisible now," then it reverts back to the mumbling that I've been hearing throughout. Ooookaaaay, I'm thinking, The CD's are now screaming. No doubt in agony to this music! I notice that many people are laying or sitting Indian-I mean "Native American"-style. I am the only one in a desk though. I can't write on the floor; I need a desk. My stereo is now playing a bass, now a flute, now a trumpet. More people are starting to lie down. And I really don't want to write this as I glance at my book. I'm tempted to pick it up and start reading. This is the perfect music to read to! Track three is sounding odd, more than likely because two players are out of sync! Sylvia's is a bit behind, and Gary's is a bit ahead. His is playing one of the ugliest thing's I've ever heard! It sounds like one of those banshees you would find on TV. I look up, a bunch of my classmates are looking up at others, and some are scribbling away, furiously, in their books. Professor Ware, the oddball that he is, is just walking around the room, sitting at various locations and screwing with the volumes of the players. I mouth to Katelyn, "This is strange." I don't know if she understood or not, but she nods just the same. You can really tell that two players are now out of sync by the atrocious noise diffusing throughout the room. It's horrible!! I am glad that Kara and I are synced, at least! OOOH. Here comes Professor Ware to adjust the volume of the speakers... again! I am about to suggest that we just blare them all and see what happens and feel the full effect, but I hold my tongue. Instead, I grab the remote for my stereo and press a button to see how much time is left. Twenty-two minutes!
Gary’s is now way ahead, Kara and I are still synced, and Sylvia is two or three seconds behind. More people are starting to lie down.
I decided to look around and count. Six people are lying down (one is asleep, I think). No, eight are lying, and more are falling asleep, or just thinking with their eyes closed. I really don’t know how people can sleep with this atrocious racket. It’s unbelievable! I hazard a glance at the overhead screen to see the title of this newest song, track 5. “The Train Ran Over The Camel, But Is Derailed By The Gnat.” What an odd name!
Kara and I are still synced. Gary is about 10 seconds ahead, and Sylvia is two or three behind.
There is now one person I’m positive is asleep, maybe two. Professor Ware is still walking around the room. 10:28 left. Yay, we are almost finished with the racket!!
I wonder what we are going to do next. No doubt some horrid essay about all of this!
Eight people are lying down.
It’s starting to sound like wood shop in here! “March of the Rotten Vegetables.” Oddest titles I’ve ever heard. Oddly enough, I can almost hear the vegetables on the march! Another person sat up, and I still think that the one is sleeping.
YES! Last song! 4:12 left! It’s about dogs and the toys they didn’t ruin. Kara’s is the only one playing music, and the others are narrating words. Nope, Sylvia’s is the only doing words now. The others’ are doing music.
I have no clue what to think anymore! The three back to playing words (mine, Gary, Sylvia) are so off sync, one can’t make heads or tails of what’s going on! I glance at the timer, 45 seconds. Class is almost out, too! About five minutes left.
It sounds like Gary’s just broke, until mine and Sylvia’s join in. Then you can tell it’s dogs barking and fighting. SILENCE. Thank Goodness!
I have about eighteen hours to make an observation, turn it into an essay, and hand into my classmates to test the mercy of their pens is what I think as I look at my watch and note that the time is 6:10 pm on the 25th of February. I am sitting in the main room of Theta Chi, preparing for the meeting. I have just learned that instead of our regular meeting, we will be having a guest speaker. In fact, he was one of the first pledges of Theta Chi fraternity here at NebraskaWesleyanUniversity.
Yes, this is the day before the rough draft is due, but I decided I liked this one much better than my trip to the Westroads Mall, which I know that at least one other person did. I tend to rant too much when I have to talk about a public place and I see things I don’t like.
I am at the fraternity, having just left work from the library. Everybody had just finished their meals, and was waiting to be excused from the table to take their seats at the meeting. I guess I made it just in time! I am actually mastering this time management thingy! I work until 6:00 pm on Mondays. Theta Chi has the weekly dinner at 5:45, lasting fifteen to twenty minutes. The last couple of weeks when I work, I manage to make it to the meeting just before it starts up! I am actually excited about that for a few seconds until the meeting starts up.
We go through the usual routine: role call, creed, people talk. Today’s meeting wasn’t really all that special or funny due to the fact that we have a guest speaker. His name is Dick Meyer, and he was one of the first pledges of Theta Chi. I am extremely busy taking notes on what he says, because I am also writing an article that will be handed into a couple of newspapers by the fraternity. I am actually super excited about that!
It is actually a bit hard to pay attention since the lights are off, Meyer is being redundant (telling us for the third or fourth time that the average age of the crew was 72), and I am in an extremely comfortable couch! Reminds me of class sometimes. I get really relaxed, the lights are off, and we are watching an extremely boring movie that teachers have shown every year, to every biology class since the 70’s or 80’s. I want to doze off, but I know I can’t since I need to pay attention.
That only makes things harder, of course. I am trying to write two different things in the dark. First I am writing what I’m doing, and I am also taking notes on what Mr. Meyer says. It’s a very hard thing to do, writing in the dark on two different objects, about two different things. My notes are all over the page. I didn’t do my observation in the composition notebook because I have a slight OCD thing. I can’t stand random writing. So, I wrote on another piece of paper, and will read off it, and put it into my notebook if Professor Ware would like me to.
Everybody is dressed up extremely well; I was able to take note of this before the lights went out. I know that the reason behind it is Mr. Meyer. I find it extremely strange though, that most of the people in the fraternity seem to color coordinate every time we have to dress up formally. Last week, most of us were wearing red and white. Today it is mainly black and red or white. I don’t think that the people who live in the house plan it, and I know that those of us who live out don’t. It is actually a lot of fun to be wearing the exact same suit as two or three other people, and none of you planned it. Especially when those two or three are your closest friends in the fraternity! Sometimes I think that there is more to this “brotherhood” thing than just a bond to the house. I think that we are truly connected to each other!
I am sitting next to Andrew Riquier, whom I think is falling asleep. I ponder waking him up, but before I do anything he pulls himself out of it. Darn! I could have had fun waking him up. I am a very evil person when it comes to that. Need to focus on Mr. Meyer!!
He just finished telling us about what LST stands for (Land Ship, Tank by the way), for the third time. I think it was third... I lost count when I got distracted thinking about waking Andrew up, doing the observation, and plotting an article. You really should not be sitting somewhere comfortable when doing this, I’m starting to learn!
Mr. Meyer is wearing his tan US Navy land uniform, telling us about preparing the ship they are remodeling preparing to sail to America. He is going off on a tangent about who is who, so I am taking the time to actually observe!
The couch is one of those types like most L-shaped couches: rough and comfy! The grey floor looks like it needs shampooed. And I can tell this in the dark! It is a bit warm in the room since there are about twenty-five fraternity brothers packed into the room. Mr. Meyer has seven or eight awards. I can’t tell for sure, because some are bigger than others. I do know that there were two rows, three on the top, and I think four or five on the bottom. He is missing the middle two fingers of his left hand up to the first knuckle on the digits, and has a ring on the ring finger. It’s not a wedding ring, though, so I am going to try and find out what it is. I do, and it’s a Mason ring! Mr. Meyer is a Mason! That is so cool! I knew I had seen him before!
I had gone to a funeral as a support beam for one of my friends. It was for her figurative grandfather, who also happened to be a Mason. I swear this world keeps shrinking! Pretty soon it will be just like the Small World ride at Disneyland. As long as we don’t suddenly break into the harmonious “It’s A Small World” song I can survive!
Mr. Meyer is back on track! He is telling us about his life before he joined Theta Chi. Meyer is saying how he went straight into the navy after high school, served his two years, and decided to give college a chance, where he majored in Party-ology, and minored in Women-ology. That is until he joined Delta Omega Phi, which later became Theta Chi. And, we are done.
It is now time for personal, or one-on-one, questions. I have quite a few for him, but now I can’t remember them! I shook is hand and thanked him for coming. Mr. Meyer has some rough hands, but I don’t know what else you would expect from an eighty-one year old. I stuck around for a bit and waited for everybody else to finish up with their questions and whatnot. While I was waiting, Scott Lloyd (the guy who asked me to do the article) came up to me and thanked me for doing this for him. I told him it was really no problem, but I do need a bio on Mr. Meyer to add in to the article. Scott told me he’d get it to me.
When everybody finished talking to Mr. Meyer, I go up to and introduce myself. At first, he thought I was the secretary of the fraternity. I clarified that right away, and he was ready to chat up a storm about his time in Crete. I find it personally fascinating, and can’t wait to talk to him again when I have more time, and no essay to type up for what I did just a few minutes ago.
Monday, February 25, 2008
So, if you look at this paper's time date, you will notice that it a little bit late. If you really want to know why, I've the most interesting story for ya. You see, I was walking along merrily, listening to my CD player and carrying around a little bag with four other CDs, when some crazy guy (I think his name was Joshua Ware) decided to pick me up and toss me down a conveniently placed well. That well was pretty deep, about 50 yards, I'd say. I was falling for a few seconds. But, I landed on something soft, and survived, amazingly enough! I don't know what I landed on, and frankly, I didn't care. I was alive! When I stood up to look around, I noticed an archway. This was no common archway, either. It seemed to be made of some sort of silvery substance, and it glowed. When I moved over closer to the arch, I noticed it was a liquid, Mercury I believe, and the glowing came from beyond the arch, and was only reflecting off the Mercury. So, I being the idiot that I am, decide to follow the path through the archway. It went on for what seemed to be miles, and there were strips of what I can only guess were all of the elements. I saw gold, silver, aluminum. When I got to what I assumed were the Lanthanide and Actinides, I decided to start running, to avoid any radiation poisoning. I soon-well, it wasn't really soon, it was more of a later, so I later arrived at the end of the multi-elemented tunnel. When I arrived at the end, I was in complete surprise! I never would have expected to find this room!
I walk into this room, and this is what I see! Even the labels were there! I wanted to spend many, many hours studying this exquisite room, so I did. I tried to find where everything that went "off drawing" went to. For example, if you look closely, you will see the outlet, with a cord coming out of it. That cord is very fringy, making a a fire hazard! I wanted to see where the mysterious cord led to, but when I got to the end of the striped wall and floor, there was nothing but white. No cord, no room, nothing! I took a few steps forward, thinking I was just blind for a sec. I wasn't thinking about looking at my hand until after I took those steps, I then gave myself a V8 smack. When I turned around, I couldn't find the strange room. I had to fumble every which way! It could have been for hours or days, I don't know. I never got hungry though. After a time, I finally made it back to the room, and decided I was done examining it, after that escapade. As I was leaving, I walked past a doormat, inside the house. I should have been suspicious, but I wasn't; I was just trying to get out of there! All of a sudden, the doormat hollered at me, "Hi! I'm Mat!" I nearly died of a heart attack. I spun around and tried to figure out who said that, but there was nobody there, except for what was labeled as a priceless masterpiece. Honestly, it looked like the art of a two year old! I think it was supposed to be on old lady. The piece was labeled "Picasso on Crack" which, I guess, explained a lot. When I looked at the doormat, it shouted at me once again, "Hi! I'm Mat!" After seeing that, I decided that the radiation got to me, and it was time to leave! I sprinted all the way though the 311 elemental rings in the hallway to make it back to the well. But then I remembered something. I have no way out. I've got a CD player, five CDs, and some head phones. Heck, I didn't even know where the well was located (cursed English professors and their confusing ways)! So, I did what any light, sensible person would do. OH! Do you know how rare that is, to find a light sensible person! That is nearly an oxymoron! Most light people don't have enough sense to keep their body healthy, and most sensible people are sensible enough to eat. Yes, there are the exception: the people who are light naturally, for example! Kara Maddox is both light, and sensible, as is Katelyn Delaney! But, I digress. I used my headphones and a CD as a grappling hook and step. I would toss the earphones as far as I could, and climb up. Then, when I reached the end of it, I would stick a CD there to balance myself on. I managed to make it up the well side in about three hours, when I noticed it was 11 pm, on a Sunday night. This meant that I was trapped down the well for two days! I wasn't even hungry, either! Maybe I was affected by the radiation. As soon as I escaped from the well, I ran to the nearest computer to tell of my adventure! And as a warning to all, be ware of man named Joshua Ware! He is an evil man who forces us to take five CDs or Tapes down a well or onto a desert island with no reason!
