Instant Message conversation 2

This is an Instant Message conversation with my friend Dylan from Chapel hill, North Carolina. Dmaix17 is Dylan and I am Elbrando12. Dylan goes to school at the University of North Carolina at chapel hill (UNC). This conversation started randomly when I got online to check my email and it happened to be during a very important UNC basketball game, which Dylan was watching. I was not watching the game because I was at the library so he updated me while we talked. Throughout the conversation we also basically update each other on stuff such as how our weekends were, video games, and spring break plans. But consistently me and Dylan touch bases about the score of the game and UNC basketball.

When we talk about Halo with numbers we are talking about our ranks in the game on xbox live. When we mention Rumble pit we are talking about a game type.


elbrando12: whats up dylan

dmaix17: chillin watchin the unc clemson game
what are you doin

elbrando12: oh really whats the score

dmaix17: 80 82 clemson

with 32 seconds left

oh my god
its tied

damn

clemsons pretty good
yea

that duke unc game sucked
yea it was horrible
it was cause we didnt have lawson

yea whats wrong with him

he like sprained his ankle

he'll be better before the tournament wont he

yea he should be

did you get crazy this weekend or what

haha not at all

i had a bunch of tests last week

and smoked so much on friday

and then last night i went to a movie and passed out

jeff and ben came down and chilled sat night was a little out of control
yea i have a test monday

nice
yea i have a physics one next week

but it shouldnt be to hard

i played call of duty on live

im getting pretty sick of school not gonna lie2:

yea it sucks

it was all intense

yea we should play halo its so fun

i kept getting worked

id try to do halo shit and just get run

ive been playing halo lately tho im a 44 in rumble pit now

nice
i went down to a 42

what were you

a 43
so nothing bad

nice

whats the score of the game

84 84

it went into OT

2:45 left

didnt they go into overtime last time they played

i think so
hows north carolina weather

is it still hot

its been so nice
like sunny 60 degrees

its straight freezing here

damn
yea its been getting warmer here

what are you doin for spring break

no idea
whens yours again?

uh hold on let me check

march 17-22
mine starts march 7th

and classes start march 17th

its 90 90 with 30 seconds left

clemson ball

now 2 seconds left UNC ball

well?
UNC timeout

damn

UNC passed it in and called another time out

yea i just checked out my shit and i don't have any tests that week u have spring break but your thinking of coming out here after school right

yea
i might try and go for spring break too
but im like 95% sure im coming after school gets out
it just went into another OT

nice

well not nice i guess

but im gonna go

dmaix17: alright take it easy

Elbrando12: later

Instant message conversation

This is an Instant Message conversation with my friend Dylan from Chapel hill, North Carolina. Dmaix17 is Dylan and I am Elbrando12.


elbrando12: whats up dylan

dmaix17 is online.

dmaix17:

chillin watchin the unc clemson game

dmaix17:

whats are u doin

elbrando12: oh really whats the score

dmaix17:

80 82 clemson

dmaix17:

with 36 secs left

dmaix17:

oh my god

dmaix17:

its tied

elbrando12: damn

elbrando12: clemsons pretty good

dmaix17:

yea

elbrando12: that duke unc game sucked

dmaix17:

yea it was so gay

dmaix17:

it was cause we didnt have lawson

elbrando12: yea whats wrong with him

dmaix17:

he like sprained his ankle

elbrando12: he'll be better before the tournament wont he

dmaix17:

yea he should be

elbrando12: did you get crazy this weekend or what

dmaix17:

haha not at all

dmaix17:

i had a bunch of tests last week

dmaix17:

and smoked so much on friday

dmaix17:

and then last night i went to a movie and passed out

elbrando12: jeff and ben came down and chilled sat night was a little out of controll

elbrando12: yea i have a test monday

dmaix17:

nice

dmaix17:

yea i got a physics one this week

dmaix17:

but it shouldnt be to hard

dmaix17:

i played call of duty on live

elbrando12: im getting pretty sick of school not gonna lie

dmaix17:

yea its gay

dmaix17:

it was all intense

elbrando12: yea we should play its so fun

dmaix17:

i kept getting worked

dmaix17:

id try to do halo shit and just get run

elbrando12: ive been playing halo lately tho im a 44 in rumble pit now

dmaix17:

nice

dmaix17:

i went down to a 42

elbrando12: what were you

dmaix17:

a 43

dmaix17:

so nothing bad

elbrando12: nice

elbrando12: whats the score of the game

dmaix17:

84 84

dmaix17:

it went into ot

dmaix17:

245 left

elbrando12: didnt they go into overtime last time they played

dmaix17:

i think so

dmaix17:

elbrando12: hows north carolina weather

elbrando12: is it still hot

dmaix17:

its been so nice

dmaix17:

like sunny 60 degrees

elbrando12: its straight freezing here

dmaix17:

damn

dmaix17:

yea its been getting warmer here

elbrando12: what are you doin for spring break

dmaix17:

no idea

dmaix17:

whens urs again

elbrando12: uh hold on let me check

elbrando12: march 17-22

dmaix17:

mine starts march 7

dmaix17:

and classes start march 17

dmaix17:

its 90 90 with 30 secs left

dmaix17:

clemson ball

dmaix17:

now 2 seconds left unc ball

elbrando12: well?

dmaix17:

unc timeout

elbrando12: damn

dmaix17:

unc passed it in an called another timeout

dmaix17:

with 1.2 secs left

elbrando12: yea i just checked out my shit and i don't have any tests that week u have spring break but your thinking of coming out here after school right

dmaix17:

yea

dmaix17:

i might try to go for spring break to

dmaix17:

but im like 95 percent sure im coming after school

dmaix17:

it went into another ot

elbrando12: nice

elbrando12: well not nice i guess

elbrando12: but im gonna go

dmaix17:

alright take it easy

elbrando12: later

observation revision

Time: Thursday night around 6:00pm

Location: At my house observing subjects A and B for around 10-15 minutes playing Call of duty 4

Subjects A and B sit down to play Call of duty 4 on x-box live. We have two LCD TV's with two x-box 360's set up in a small room. The room has light peach walls with white carpet but it is hardly noticed because the lights are dim. Massive poster maps of the world decorate the walls. There are two computer chairs that the subjects sit on. Subject A is a smaller sized guy wearing gray sweatpants and a Utah sweatshirt. He has very short light brown hair with a scruffy beard. Subject B is large in size and height. B is clothed in red gym shorts and a white t-shirt. He has very long bushy dark brown sideburns and is wearing a blue wool beanie. Both subjects are Caucasian and both have controllers in hand.

The game starts and subject B asks subject A "what gun is good for this level." "The shotgun will tear it up, just use flash bang grenades" says A. The game is a first person shooter where all you can see is "your hands" holding a gun. The mission is to kill more enemies then the amount of times you are killed. The subjects run around in a war zone atmosphere trying to kill the other team. As I watch subject A's face his expression changes constantly. His eyes widen and he bites his lower lip. Subject A has a firm grasp on the controller and his thumbs are moving with amazing speed hitting the buttons. They both are leaning forward at the very edge of their chairs and are close to the screens. "Damn," says A as he leans back quick to relax his posture after he is killed in the game. Subject A leans forward again bites down on his lip and lowers his eyebrows. His eyes stay peeled open and he doesn't blink until he is killed. As I start watching subject B he has a smile unlike A. B turns to A and says while chuckling "The shotgun is so tight." A doesn't reply and is still rapidly firing buttons. Subject B grabs some baked lays shuvs them into his smiling mouth. He wipes his hand vigorously on his jeans and grasps the controller. The chips crunch loudly over the war zone sounds of bombs going off and guns firing constantly in the background. Both subjects lean back in their chairs as the noise comes to silence and the game ends.

observation

Time: Thursday night

Location: At my house observing subjects A and B playing Call of duty 4

Subjects A and B sit down to play Call of duty 4 on xbox live. We have two lcd tv's with two xbox 360's set up in a small room. The game starts and subject B asks subject A "what gun is good for this level." "The shotgun will tear it up, just use flashbang grenades" says A. As I watch subject A's face his expression changes constantly. His eyes widen and he bites his lower lip. Subject A has a firm grasp on the controller and his thumbs are moving with amazing speed hitting the buttons. They both are leaning forward at the very edge of their chairs and are close to the screens. "Damn," says A as he leans back quick to relax his posture after he is killed in the game. Subject A leans forward again bites down on his lip and lowers his eyebrows. His eyes stay peeled open and he doesn't blink until he is killed. As I start watching subject B he has a smile unlike A. B turns to A and says while chuckling "The shotgun is so tight." A doesn't reply and is still rapidly firing buttons. Subject B grabs some baked lays shuvs them into his smiling mouth. He wipes his hand vigerously on his jeans and grasps the controller. The chips crunch loudly over the warzone sounds of bombs going off and guns firing constantly in the background. Both subjects lean back in their chairs as the noise comes to silence and the game ends.

dirtbike 2

This past summer I was living with my father in Pocatello, Idaho where I went to highschool. It's definantly a fun place to live with all the awsome outdoor activities available. He lives in the mountains where there are plenty of trails for riding dirt bikes. We own two KTM 105's which are smaller than a normal size bike, but are still really fast. Me and my friends had been riding all summer and we had decided on taking our bikes up to some trails about twenty five minutes from our house.

We pulled up to the parking lot and began to unload them from our truck. I had two of my best friends Justin and Jeff with me that day. It was an extremely hot dry summer afternoon but we were all eager to have some fun. After slipping our helmets on, strapping up our gloves, and locking the truck we hit the trails. We all decided on going to a track that wasn't far away to play around on some jumps and berms.

I was in the lead being fairly confident on how to get there. We were riding in basically a desert type atmosphere with sage brush blanketed hills and small patches of juniper trees. The trails were dusty and the faster I went went the cooler the wind felt. After about 10 minutes of cruising we were there. I had been to this track once before and I thought I knew where I was going. I started going fast up a trail on a small hill. I thought it was the same trail I had gone on before and I thought I knew what was on the other side. When I reached the top of the hill in third gear I was ready for a little bit of air and a nice smooth landing. I immediately saw about a seven foot hole! Oh no, it was to late. I slammed on my brakes causing my bike to stop and me to keep going, hitting my knees and flipped over my handle bars. I had gone up the landing ramp of a jump and the hole was from the dirt they used to make it. I flew in the air landed in the pit arms first and did a role. I looked up in time to see my bike about to hit me so put my legs up and kicked it out of the way. I had felt something not normal happen to my left arm as I landed so I looked over. My forearm was facing the opposite way my shoulder was turned. I immediately thought oh shit its broken and started yelling for my friends, who had not seen the accident happen.

Even though my arm was messed up and I should have been feeling pain it didn't hurt at all because of the adrenaline. We were far up in the barren idaho mountains with no help or anyone for that matter around. All that was going threw my mind was how am I going to get out of here. Once Justin and Jeff found me I explained things and we tried coming up with a solution for getting me out. We decided that Justin was going to off road the truck as close as he could and I would walk the rest of the way. As Jeff and myself sat there in the dirt with no shade in the desert I started getting real dehydrated. About forty five minutes later, after I almost blacked out Justin came running up with a Gatorade. After chugging it down we made a sling out of our shirts and began to walk. The pain was excruciating with every step and the beating sun didn't help. This was by far the worst part of my memory. After around a hour we had made it to the car and it would be another hour to the hospital.

Imagine walking into the hospital with a ghetto rigged sling out of shirts, covered in dirt, wearing torn clothes, and just looking completely exhausted, I couldn't help but smile. We had been through a lot. The x-rays came back and the doctor said that I had dislocated my elbow with a fracture as well. My elbow was the size of a grapefruit and I couldn't wait for my elbow to be back in place. I got put to sleep and they had to have two doctors lock my elbow back to normal. What a horrible memory, but one that I learned a valuable lesson from. The lesson being never assume you know whats on the other side of a trail. I promise I won't be neirly as crazy when dirtbiking comes around next summer. It only takes once.

Dirt bike accident

This past summer I was living with my father in Pocatello, Idaho. He lives in the mountains where there are plenty of trails for riding dirt bikes. We own two KTM 105's which are smaller than a normal size bike, but are still really fast. Me and my friends had been riding all summer and we had decided on taking our bikes up to some trails about twenty five minutes from our house.

We pulled up to the parking lot and began to unload them from our truck. I had two of my best friends Justin and Jeff with me that day. It was an extremely hot dry summer afternoon but we were all eager to have some fun. After slipping our helmets on, strapping up our gloves, and locking the truck we hit the trails. We all decided on going to a track that wasn't far away to play around on some jumps and berms.

I was in the lead being fairly confident on how to get there. The trails were dusty and the faster I went went the cooler the wind felt. After about 10 minutes of cruising we were there. I had been to this track once before and I thought I knew where I was going. I started going fast up a trail on a small hill. I thought it was the same trail I had gone on before and I thought I knew what was on the other side. When I reached the top of the hill in third gear I immediately saw about a seven foot hole, but it was to late. I slammed on my brakes and flipped over my handle bars. I had gone up the landing ramp of a jump and the hole was from the dirt they used to make it. I flew in the air and landed in the hole arms first and did a role. I looked up in time to see my bike about to hit me so put my legs up and kicked it out of the way. I had felt something not normal happen to my left arm as I landed so I looked over. My forearm was facing the opposite way my shoulder was turned. I immediately thought oh shit its broken and started yelling for my friends, who had not seen the accident happen.

Once Justin and Jeff got there I explained things and we tried coming up with a solution for getting me out of there. Even though my arm was messed up and I should have been feeling pain it didn't hurt at all because of the adrenaline. We decided that Justin was going to off road the truck as close as he could and I would walk. As Jeff and myself sat there in the dirt with no shade in the desert I started getting real dehydrated. About forty five minutes later, after I almost blacked out Justin came running up with a Gatorade. After chugging it down we made a sling out of our shirts and began to walk. The pain was excruciating walking and the beating sun didn't help. After around a hour we had made it to the car and it would be another hour to the hospital.

The x-rays came back and the doctor said that I had dislocated my elbow with a fracture as well.
My elbow was the size of a grapefruit and I couldn't wait for my elbow to be back in place. I got put to sleep and they had to have two doctors lock my elbow back to normal. What a horrible memory, but one that I learned a valuable lesson from.

Me

My name is Brandon Skoumal. I am a junior and my major is biology. I originally am from Omaha, Nebraska, but I have lived in Chapel hill, NC and Pocatello, Idaho. I chose to go to the U mainly because of the ski resorts and it's close to where my dad lives (Pocatello, ID), but not too close. I enjoy snowboarding, playing xbox 360 (mainly halo 3), racquetball, watching movies, and basically just hanging out. My favorite food category is Italian and I have no pets.