Nick Hwang
Focus Timer Was something that I made to counteract my short attention span. When I first moved to Baton Rouge, I would purposely disconnect my ethernet cable from my laptop, to keep me from checking Facebook, MySpace (my DJ profile), Email, etc. The timer is a way for me to track my at-task time– usually [...]
I've picked up a hobby since I've been in Baton Rouge. I spend a couple hours a month playing blackjack. In a short time and on a small college bankroll, I've become a VIP player at a local casino. I won't mainly be posting tips on how to play blackjack, but mostly about the culture [...]
I haven't written in a very long time. Last semester, I arranged and directed music to an LSU theatre production of Maria Irene Fornes's Promenade , music by Al Carmines. It was an "experimental" musical at the time in the 1970's, that didn't reach much success. Fornes's obsurdist approach to forming the piece may have [...]
I'm on my way back to Baton Rouge after a week visiting my parents in Florida. My stay was actually cut short because of a strengthening Tropical Storm Fay approaching the bay area. With word that the storm system would strike on Tuesday afternoon, my would-be departure time, Southwest airlines posted they would honor adjustments [...]
I've spent several hours on the phone with E-trade, trying to close my account. They are probably the most frustrating and backwards company ever. Closing my account involves a fax, where an email, internet, or phone will not do. I've sent a fax 3 times with instructions to close my account, everytime I call to [...]
At the hotel in Denton, I was waiting for the elevator when a father of two, sitting in the lobby, yelled something in spanish at me. I turned around, puzzled. He asked if I spoke spanish. No, I'm asian. Oh. You look like you're from Vera Cruz. I'm from Taiwan. Oh. Okay. The elevator opened. [...]
Latex Post I'm sitting in a 15-seat van on the way to Denton, Texas for Electric Latex, an electroacoustic festival held in the South. It's an eight hour drive. We're on hour 6. My electroacoustic professor and 7 composers. At any given time, there are 3 powerbooks/macbook pro's being used. One is learning to program [...]
My masters recital was on Halloween. It went very well. I premiered my string quartet, which I feel is the largest work so far. I'm so glad that I've finally done with this phase and moving on to applying for schools and writing my thesis. This past month has been horrendously busy, and i'm looking [...]
I played Double Dragon 2 for the first time yesterday on my mac. I can not believe how hard it was. I was literally stuck on one section, where I had to jump a string of disappearing platforms, for an hour. One hour. I don't know how anyone could have done it on the classic [...]
One of the first things the graduate advisor told me 2 years ago during orientation was that it was going to be hot in Baton Rouge. And the best way to stay cool walking around campus was to find routes that involved the most shade, even if it involved a longer route. He was completely [...]
