Edward Yuen – Milt Hinton’s pictures

This was my second time going to the Mishkin Gallery on 22nd st. I thought the entire gallery was really interesting because i’m really interested in art. Photography is one of my favorite hobbies, so i really enjoyed seeing other works of photography. Milt Hinton was a jazz musician and also a photographer. He liked taking pictures in his gigs and liked taking pictures of his fellow musicians. He didn’t have really any main focus or concentration to his photography, he just took pictures of anything he saw. His photographs look pretty normal but they all have a deep meaning which is explained in the caption. Even though his pictures were pretty normal, it was still good quality and being a photographer myself, it was pretty obvious that Milt Hinton was a good photographer himself. Also, most of his photos are candid, and capturing good moments that are candid are really rare. I didn’t know a lot of the jazz musicians there, so i was a little confused at who i was looking at. The only jazz musician that i know is Louis Armstrong, and not all of the other musicians that were in the pictures. I had no idea who Milt Hinton was, but now i’m a little more interested, more in his photography than in his music though. Going to the gallery made me realize a lot how i really like photography. It used to be a major hobby of mine, but i never really ever went to galleries or exhibitions. It was just a normal hobby. But now, i’m a lot more interested and i hope to visit more galleries or exhibitions in the future. Milt Hinton really inspired me to start taking up photography as a hobby again. I want to now start taking photographs a lot more than i used to. I feel like i should bring my camera with me again everywhere i go because there are moments that happen randomly that i’d be able to capture, just like how Milt Hinton did it.

So I have to write 1500 words, so this is going to be pretty long. So my name is Edward, I’m currently a freshman in Baruch like everyone else in the class. I’m 18, born on July 9th, and I live in Forest Hills.  I’m Cantonese, nothing special about my nationality or anything. I speak broken down Chinese, not really good at it. I live with my mom, who has taken care of me for 18 years. My dad left, but whatever it’s all good. I really don’t have much family here in New York. Everyone on my mom’s side is in Hong Kong and my dad lives in Long Island. I also have a few cousins here and there on my dad’s side, but I don’t really talk to them or know them that much.

I have a pretty relaxed and straightforward personality. I’m usually laidback and chill. That’s my normal state, though. I’m also a very emotional person when it comes down to it, and I have really short patience. I really hate this side of me because it’s really screwed things up for me in the past.; especially past relationships. I tend to get mad at the littlest things, but now when I look at it, the things I got mad at were so stupid. I wish every time I get mad, that I just remember that I’m probably overexagerrating, but that never works. One thing most people don’t know about me is that I’m also very self-conscious. And by very, I mean like extremely super duper self-conscious. It’s something really personal to me, and though it’s probably not rational, it bothers me how people view me. Because of this, I try my best usually to only show my good sides in front of people. I’m also really shy. It’s a weird kind of shy though, because I’m only shy until people first start talking to me. Then afterwards, I can talk for days. Once you get to know me, it’s weird how you would’ve thought I was shy. I also hate quitting, and I also have to try and be the best at everything and better than everyone, though it doesn’t always happen.

I have many different likes and dislikes, too many to write in a single essay. But to put it simply, I enjoy things that most guys like; sports, music, video games, girls, clothes, and more. For now, I’m also addicted to playing Tetris Battle on facebook, to past time in classes and stuff. I also have many dislikes too, like spicy stuff, homework, work, cleaning my room, etc. Then, I have my pet peeves. There’s also a lot of them, so it’ll be hard to name them all, but some are: people giving me attitudes, people that don’t use common sense, when my blanket isn’t covering my whole body, and a bunch of other nonsense.

I also have many types of phobias too. One phobia I have is acrophobia. Acrophobia is a fear of heights. Everytime I’m on a roof or on the top floors of the Vertical Campus, I get crazy scared. I always feel like someone is going to accidently push me off or like some strong gust of wind will shove me off. I can’t even begin to imagine how it feels like when you’re falling down such heights. I also have trypophobia, which is a fear of small holes that shouldn’t be there. It’s really hard to explain, but basically I’m scared of holes in places where it shouldn’t exist, such as skin. Im not talking about small holes like your pores, but like enlarged pores or like just creepy holes in places. I honestly don’t know how to explain it, but if you google it, you would know what kind of holes I’m talking about. I’m also claustrophobic, so when I’m in some really tight spaces, occasionally I get anxious and start having trouble breathing. I’m also afraid of the dark to some extent, so that’d be classified as nyctophobia. I know I’m 18, but still, I have a really deep imagination. I always feel like something is going to pop up and scare the living crap out of me. Either that, or I’d make a turn in the dark and see some small ghastly little girl staring at me.

I grew up in a bunch of different places; Forest Hills, Flushing, Chinatown, and Brooklyn. I went to elementary school in P.S. 124, which is in Chinatown. There, I got to know many people that I still see today. Life in elementary school was memorable. I remember how my mom used to drop me off everyday to school, and that afterschool, I’d play some handball or basketball, then head off to my mom’s office and wait there til she drives me home. Life was really easy back then.

After elementary school, I went to M.S. 104 Baruch Middle School on 22nd st and 2nd ave. Life started changing a lot then. People strived to be “cool”, there was drama, and things were just different. In 6th grade, I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. People were fighting, smoking, and just doing things 6th graders shouldn’t be doing. I hung out with them mainly because everyday, I still needed a ride from my mom, so I’d still hang out in Chinatown. 7th grade came and I discovered how to use the train. Now, I didn’t have to go to Chinatown everyday, and could just take the train straight home afterschool. Because of this, from 7th to 8th grade, I barely ever went to Chinatown; instead I just went home and played video games. I played so much video games, that I literally became a pro at every game I played. Even to this day, I’m a beast when it comes to shooting games, sports games, and more.

After middle school, I attended Brooklyn Technical High School. I was so hype when I got in, because I didn’t have the best grades in middle school, yet, I got a good score on the SHSAT, so I got into Brooklyn Tech, which is a specialized high school. Wanting a change of scenery, and missing the days when I used to play sports, I decided to join the football team. I remember the first day at camp, I told myself I was going to quit. But quitting never happened. Even though football took so much of my time, I lasted all 4 years. It taught me a lot of things, like how to endure hardship, and how to be more responsible.  High school in general an interesting experience. I got my first serious girlfriend in sophomore year, it didn’t last long, but we were “unofficial” for like 8 months before we actually went out. A lot of things happened my junior year. I met my ex who I eventually went out with for 1.5 years (broke up recently), and my best friend also pretty much backstabbed me. But both these experiences really shaped me up into the person I am today, and taught me a lot of lessons. My ex really made me realize what caring for a person really meant. My relationship with her made me a more caring and understanding person, and I wish it could’ve lasted longer. To this day, I still care about her, miss her, and really cherish those memories I had with her.

And now, I’m in college. College is so different than high school. I’m still procrastinating a lot like in high school, and since classes start later, I tend to oversleep and miss class or go to class late. I realize that in college, I have to be a lot more responsible for myself; that no one else is going to be responsible for me. My classes are alright. Math teacher can’t speak English, Political Science teacher can’t teach, Writing teacher is too….old. My anthropology teacher has really changed a lot within the weeks, she’s a lot nicer now. My psychology professor is one of the best teachers I’ve had. His classes are fun, but they teach you a lot too.

My life hasn’t been as interesting as a lot of people’s, but a lot of things still ha happened. I’ve changed a lot since I started going to school like 12 years ago. In the future, I expect my life to change a lot too, with a lot of twists and turns. I hope I grow up to become successful, that’s something I’m dedicated to do. I don’t care what it is, as long as I become successful and become someone in the world. One of my favorite quotes in the world is “You never what you’ve got until it’s gone”, because it’s really been reflected in my life. I’ve regret a lot of things that I’ve done, but there’s really nothing else to do but to just move on. What’s the point of crying over something that’s already happened? It’s hard to move on yeah, but it’s something you have to do.

And to finish my essay, here’s a picture of me with Wiz Khalifa, met him at Bamboozle 2011:

helloooooooooooooo.

So, yeah. What’s up everyone, my name is Edward. I am a freshman at Baruch, went to Brooklyn Tech high school, am 18 years old, and live in queens. I’ve lived in queens my whole life, but went to school in manhattan and also in brooklyn, so i don’t really have a specific borough that i grew up in. As for my personality, i’m usually very laid-back and carefree, but when things are important, i usually try my best. I’m a generally funny person if you get to know me, mostly for the things i say. I tend to be pessimistic at times, because i feel like if you’re negative, that you won’t get disappointed as much. Disappointment tends to be one of the things i hate the most in the world.

My top three concerns as a freshman are my grades, friends, and how i act. Grades are a given, i mean everyone wants a 4.0, but not many can get it. I myself, am not book smart at all. I hate studying, i’m lazy, and i have a hard time paying attention. But despite all that, i still want to try my best. In high school i had a pretty bad average, and am surprised i even got into Baruch. Friends? Well, if you get to know me you’d know that i’m pretty outgoing and such once i’m friends with someone, but i’m actually hesitant to talk to new people. I guess you can say that i’m shy? Kinda. And since this is my freshman year, my concerns are how i’m going to act this year. I want to start off on a good note, so freshman year is definitely the time to do that. I hope i don’t mess up or catch another lazy attitude like i did in high school.

My experience at Baruch is way different that my experience at high school. Now, i have a lot of breaks, with a 2.5 hour break 3 days a week. That makes things a lot easier as i can study, eat, play sports, and do much more in that time. The atmosphere is also really different from my high school. My high school had 5000 kids in one building, and Baruch is different as it’s 3 buildings.

I think my first year of college will change me a lot. I mean, it already has. Senior year of high school, i literally did nothing at all. I never did any homeworks except projects (yeah, cool kid, i know). Now, i can’t copy people’s homework or anything so i have to do it at home. It’s making me into a more responsible person.