Things don't always turn out as planned - and Shunte McMillian is living testimony.

It's a little after 9 p.m. on a Thursday, and McMillian is getting his things together for work. His shift doesn't officially begin until 10 p.m., but he said he likes arriving beforehand in case something goes wrong.

"I like to get here at least an hour early so I can set up," McMillian said. "If I were to get here around 9:45 (p.m.), that would be pushing it."

McMillian is a 2002 computer science and engineering graduate, but that's not the career path he's been following.

"I wanted to do something in my life I enjoy doing - music," he said. "When I was about to graduate I said, 'I don't want to do computer science and engineering as a career.'"

Instead of working in his expected field, McMillian makes his living catering to others using his fingertips and two turntables.

'I'm feeding off the crowd'

In a hall almost filled to capacity, McMillian - who goes by the stage name DJ Reality- gently pushes three of his right fingers over a black, glistening record. This particular Thursday he's deejaying at the University Apartments Residence Life Blackout Party at the Spartan Village Community Center. With his left hand, he tugs on a fader bar silencing the sound blasting over the speakers. Each time he silences the music, the sound of the crowd's singing echoes.

It's 11:31 p.m. and three MSU students are standing by McMillian's setup. Lifting his headphones, he leans over to see what the group of three women need.

It's his first request of the night.

"Can you play that new song by Ludacris?" one of the students said.

McMillian told her OK, but she wanted him to play it right away.

"Right now," she said.

"If I see the people dancing and feeling the music, I'm not going to switch in the middle of a song," he said after she walked away. Shortly after, he played her request and she raced to the floor with her crew.

"I'm feeding off the crowd," McMillian said. "Reading them as much as possible and playing the song they want to hear is key."

Keith Redmond, programming assistant for University Apartments Residence Life and a mechanical engineering senior, said his organization has used McMillian for three years because of his ability to work the crowd.

"He has an ear for what the crowd wants to hear," he said. "He keeps the music updated."

The Muskegon native said he has always been into music, and deejaying as a career is second nature. McMillian said when he was seven years old, he always wanted to help organize music for family events. After a while, McMillian said he was the sole person in charge of the music.

"It's like playing an instrument," said the 27-year-old, who also plays the piano and trombone.

Later, at 12:16 a.m., McMillian is chanting to the crowd over his microphone, "I can't hear y'all!"

In between chants, McMillian said the worst part of his job is keeping the music going when there is no party atmosphere. In most cases, he said it's not a problem.

"Once you get everything set up and going it's cool," he said. "But then you have to make sure everyone is having fun."

And before everyone is dripping with sweat on the dance floor, McMillian does a little sweating of his own.

"Picking up a piece of equipment might look easy," he said. "But lugging it and putting everything into the car is the one part no one understands how hard it can be."

'Family is first'

It's 12:52 a.m. and the requests are still coming. Catering to a crowd of sweaty college students and smiling when asked to play a jam, McMillian doesn't worry about the fact that he has been up since 6:40 a.m.

Aside from deejaying, McMillian has other responsibilities - taking care of his 12-year-old nephew and budgeting time to study for graduate school.

When talking about his nephew, Jeffrie Sterling Lane Jr., who has been living with him since August, McMillian taps his left leg and bites his bottom lip.

He said before moving in with him, Lane had been fighting and getting into trouble at school.

"He's a handful," he said, laughing. "I told him (if he wanted to live with me) he had one more chance. Since then, he hasn't been getting into trouble."

McMillian said everyone deserves to have positive influences in their lives and that is what he's doing for his nephew.

"I just came to the conclusion that family is first," McMillian said.

McMillian said Lane also enjoys deejaying, but time restrictions prevent him from being able to teach him everything.

"I'd like to have him at something like this, but it's late," he said, referring to the Blackout Party. "It's hard to teach him in a home experience, compared to a live event. He only sees the good part at home."

McMillian said at times he will allow Lane to observe when he deejays poetry events earlier in the day.

Lane, who moved to Michigan from Texas, said he respects his uncle's work and plans to follow in his footsteps.

"I like what my uncle does," Lane said, between bites of potato chips. "I like music, and it's what I want to do.

"When I mess up, I feel like I've got to get better. I keep going back and practicing. If I need help I'll ask him."

Lane said McMillian hasn't only helped him on the tables, but he took him in when no one else would.

"I could live with my mom, but I wanted to give her a break because she has four children," Lane said. "He took me in when I didn't want to live with my grandma. He could have said no and left it at that, but he didn't."

When Lane isn't learning the tricks of becoming a DJ, he said he and McMillian play video games, watch movies and do homework.

Lane said if he doesn't perform well in school his punishment is not being able to practice on McMillian's equipment.

McMillian's mother, Evelyn McMillian, said her son doesn't get his skills from her, but she had something to do with his success.

"I never knew he had it in him," she said. "Number one, I asked him to be in band.

"Now he comes back and says, 'You know if I had not been in band I would have not learned how to read music or do some of the things I love to do.'"

Evelyn McMillian said she supports the path her son is following and wants him to be happy.

She also said he calls her at least three times a day and after he performs at an event to tell her how things went.

As for now, Shunte McMillian said he only has one complaint.

"My biggest gripe is that I want to dance at a party I DJ, but it's impossible," he said.