Plant Sperm Everywhere! (Scrapbook 22)

No, this is not a picture of my new car, nor is it a picture of my car. I do not even own a car. This is a picture of my neighbor’s car that just has a whole ton of pollen on it. My left eye has been irritated for the last several days and it’s either because I have an eye infection or because all of this plant sperm is getting into my eye. I would rather the irritation being caused by all of the pollen getting into my eyes than me having an infection because then I have to go to the doctor. I am not scared of the doctor or anything, it’s just a pain to have to go there and wait three hours in the lobby to be seen. Then you have to get medicine and drive back home. However, my eye bothers me even when I am inside, so I am not sure exactly what the cause is. My eye does not look infected nor is it bloodshot so no need to put it on display. Just really annoyed that my eye has been bothering me and amazed at how much pollen is everywhere. Those pictures are of a black PT Cruiser, from a distance, the car looks like a shade of gray and yellow. The pictures were not made to be art, just a reference to show how much pollen is out there and give me an idea for what the cause of my eye irritation is.

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Charlie's Jelly Beans (Scrapbook 21)

The first picture is of my friend’s cat, Charlie, and the second picture is of some Easter Jelly Beans. Jelly Beans are one of my all time favorite candies and oddly, Charlie likes them too. I found this out when I accidently dropped one on the floor; he sniffed it, and then ate it. I doubt candy is good for the cat so I did not feed the cat too many (only three beans in total). Just a side note- Charlie is pretty old, I think he is probably fourteen or fifteen years old but he looks and still acts like a juvenile, frisky feline. Luckily, the cat was still acting fine after consumption and it was lucky for me that no one saw me feed the cat. Lastly, Charlie did not ever really search for the container of Jelly Beans on the table after I fed him. It probably is a good thing that I did not cause the cat to develop a bad eating habit. I just found it really amusing that a cat eats Jelly Beans so I just wanted to show some people of this comical discovery. Actually, in the picture with Charlie, Charlie is eating a Jelly Bean but I do not think you can tell from the picture. So these pictures were not meant to be art, just something for laughs.

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Eastern Tent Caterpillars or Gypsies (Scrapbook 20)

Here is a picture of some Eastern Tent Caterpillars in their tent nested in a cherry tree. Most of the time, the Eastern Tent Caterpillars are confused for Gypsy Caterpillars. Gypsy Caterpillars are known to defoliate entire trees and destroy large percentages of forests. Furthermore, Gypsy Moths usually consume our beloved fabrics and hence moth balls were invented. Despite the fact the Eastern Tent Caterpillars are not Gypsy Caterpillars, they still are bothersome pests because like all caterpillars, eat leaves. Thus by having a mass of Eastern Tent Caterpillars on a cherry tree, the cherry tree will probably be completely defoliated unless someone deals with the caterpillars. The easiest way to deal with these pests is to get a long stick, poor some gas on the end of the stick, light the stick, and light the nest. There are probably some pesticides that would do the trick but that would require you to go out to the store to buy some. Furthermore, most of the caterpillars fall off the tree before dying and just climb their way back up. So if you use pesticides, make sure to by plenty of it and try not to breathe it in yourself. Using fire is not that safe either, because you can always burn the tree or get your lawn caught on fire. Regardless of what strategy you use to take these suckers out, the main purpose of this picture is to point out that these are caterpillars need to be exterminated even though they are not much of a hazard as the Gypsy Caterpillars. (This picture is not art, just a picture telling to be warned about the defoliating menace. The picture was taken in Chestnut Hill's park)

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Dogwood Tree (scrapbook 19)

This is a picture of a dogwood tree in my neighbor’s yard. The tree drew my attention simply by its beauty. I know it’s dorky, but every time I see a dogwood tree I remember my deceased golden retriever. Let me sum up all my feelings for my dog by saying, my dog, Liberty, was the best dog anyone could ever have. Of course, other dog owners will beg to differ but the point still stands that every time I see a dogwood tree that I remember Liberty. Now, yes the tree is a dogwood tree and the word dog makes me think of dogs but really there is a different reason behind why I think of Liberty when I see a dogwood tree. The main reason is the fact that Liberty was buried under a dogwood tree. So in totality, this picture was not meant to capture the beauty of the tree as a work of art but as a memorial to my dog. I think the reason why I had such a connection with this dog was because I grew up with the dog since I was born. My parents got the dog as a puppy when they got married and well… I came a year and a half after the dog. In addition, the dog saved me from drowning when I was four by jumping in a pond after me and letting me grab on to it, and swim me back to shore. Almost a far fetch story but true.

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Picture of a picture of a picture (scrapbook 18)

Even though this is a picture of my artwork, the picture of the artwork was not meant to be art. You see, I was help cleaning out my friend’s pool when I saw this lizard drowning in it. So I picked up the lizard, took a picture of the lizard (which was still on my hand) with my phone, and let it go in some nearby bushes. Later, I drew the picture of the picture and gave it to my friend’s mom thinking that she would enjoy the artwork since she was an artist. This happened several years ago. Now, when I went back to my friend’s house, I saw the picture hanging up on their fridge and took a picture of it just out of impulse. Oddly, seeing that my picture has hung on her fridge for so long made me feel good about my artwork. So yes, this is a picture of a picture of a picture.

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Prom Night (Scrapbook 17)

This is probably my favorite picture of all times hence it deserves at least my attention. This photo was actually shot last Saturday, April 18. The beautiful lady kissing me is my girlfriend who I have been dating for 16 months. We are both dressed up for Leonardtown High School’s Prom and we are on Solomon’s boardwalk right outside of DiGiovanni (where we just ate). I have been to three proms before this one and this prom simply bested them all. People say that “your high school years are the best years of your life.” And even though I go to college, the high school prom and being with my wonderful high school sweetheart “made my day,” where certainly “one of those days” make it the best times of your life. So what if it’s a “mushy” photograph, it means a lot to me even though it was not shot to be a work of art. I just think the picture deserves my attention so that I can always reminisce on all the beauty contained in that picture and the wonderful time we had together.

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Ponded! (Scrapbook 16)

This must have been one of the best “pond-ings” ever; the girl getting “ponded” is my brother’s girlfriend. For those who do not know what “ponding” is, “ponding” is a St. Mary’s tradition where you get thrown in St. John’s Pond on your birthday. However, my brother’s girlfriend’s birthday is on Easter and she would be up with her family that day. So what we decided to do was surprise her a couple days early. I don’t think I have ever seen someone get so much air and distance off of a throw before; she probably was thrown a good five or six feet out into the water, reaching heights of about five feet above the water before plummeting into the water and muck. It was even funnier that she, my brother, and I had crew practice in ten minutes and Allie who is a national ranked rower, coaches us novice members on some days, and on this day she was suppose to coach us. Thus, she was a little late to practice because she had to throw on some dryer clothes.
These pictures weren’t intended to be art, like most of the pictures I have scrapbooked, the pictures are meant to preserve time so that anyone can look back at the photos and savor the moment. And photos like these pictures deserve our attention so that we do not get too caught up in our studies and works to forget about all the good time we had.

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First Regatta (Scrapbook 15)

This was the first regatta that I have ever gone to. This is a picture of St. Mary’s varsity 4+ boat at Occoquan Regional Park, VA. Sadly, I did not get to race in it, mainly because I am on novice team (people who have rowed less than a year). However, it was an amazing experience to see all the training pay off for the team.
This picture drew my attention primarily because it was my first time viewing a regatta and so it will always be a memory to cherish; the picture is actually of Men’s Varsity 4+ sprints. There were so many people there and everything was hectic but that’s what makes it memorable. And like I just previously mentioned, it is fascinating to see how all those 6:00 a.m. practices and hour long erg workouts reflect our performance. This picture was not designed to be art, just to capture the essence of the race, the posture of the rowers (to critique), and to capture the overall moment. In the picture, the rowers are at the “finish” position at the starting point and each rower has correct posture. In this particular event, St. Mary’s got second place. I just have to hand it to the team and coaches on how well we did.

You can also find results here

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Perspective Students (Scrapbook 14)

Simply, this picture was taken inside my room after I just ate lunch at the Campus Center. On that particular day, there was a ton of perspective students all around campus and at lunch time, they flooded the Great Hall. Consequently, I had to wait in line for fifteen minutes just to get a crape. I was not annoyed that I had to wait fifteen minutes in line, just bored. Oddly enough though, the positioning of my “freshman” lanyard (with my ID) on top of my antique high school sweatshirt reminded me that I too was a perspective student just last spring. (A note about the “freshman” lanyard- only freshmen wear them, and usually, the freshman would stop wearing them by the first week of school so that others would not associate them as freshmen.) This picture is not art, just coincidence; it’s not that unlikely for a messy teenage boy to throw his belongings on top of more of my belongings.

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Firsts and Lasts-Smoking (Scrapbook 13)

This picture was taken outside of Dorchester. This is a picture of me smoking my first and last cigar; I will not even bother trying a cigarette. The social aspect of smoking such as hanging outside with my friends on a late night was fun, and being able to say that I have smoked once in my life is fine, but for me, once is enough. After smoking I had to brush my teeth for a good five minutes and wash my mouth out with some Listerine before my mouth even felt remotely clean. After that I had to shower for ten minutes before feeling clean. And just as bothering was the fact that my clothes smelt and made my room smell so bad that I had to put my clothes straight into the washer. It was even worse when I could not fall asleep because I was coughing pretty bad and had to take a cough drop. I do not want to rant about all the negative consequences of smoking but simply note that despite being the health freak I am, I actually did smoke a cigar. So now I can check that off my “things-to-do” list.

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Finally, A Nice Day (Scrapbook 12)

Even though it’s still winter (I think the season ends on the 22nd of this month), St. Mary’s County finally received some good weather. I saw some people tanning out in the sun, others biking around, people reading in the shade, and this fellow skateboarding. This picture was taken right outside of Dorchester and was the only shot I was able to get of him jumping over the bench. I just thought that he had some wicked talent; the picture itself was not designed to be art. The photograph just shows us that it was a good enough day to do anything that we wanted to. Well until six o’clock or so when the temperature dropped around twenty degrees. At least there is only four more days till Spring Break and hopefully by then, it will have warmed up.

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Baldies for Boobies (Scrapbook 11)

Our college was quite successful at raising money for cancer research and cultivating enough hair for wigs for the people who need them. Even though we are all poor college students, we were able to raise over $400 dollars and cut off 373 inches of hair. This was all done in one day (March 7, 200) in front of the campus center. Here is a picture of one couple who helped make “Baldies for Boobies” a huge success (the name of the fund raising campaign). Overall though, we should thank GJL for getting everything organized and hope they keep up the good work. This picture is not art because one- it’s a picture of my brother and his girlfriend (just joking), and two- it is only meant to signify the achievement GJL made in supporting a good cause.

(the picture was taken inside a dorm room, but this link shows where “Baldies for Boobies” was held)

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Crazy Ducks (its snowing still) (Scrapbook 10)

Originally I took this picture not thinking much of it, but when I examined it today, I thought those ducks must be crazy. This water must have been close to freezing the day they were swimming in it because the next day it was frozen over. You always imagine all the ducks migrating south for the winter or at least flying away from storms because their instincts kick in. Well these ducks have been here all year long (well at least every day I have been on campus). So I tried to see why these ducks do not migrate. I assume that they probably don’t because they don’t need to. But personally, I would rather go where it is warm than stay in the cold even if I could survive through the cold conditions. I assume that these are ducks must be one of the following: American Black Duck, Gadwall, or a Mallard. I am not so sure though.

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Blizzard of March 1-2, 2009 (Scrapbook 9)

Two weeks from Spring Break and we got a whole 10 inches of snow. This is St. Mary’s County too! I can hardly believe it. It was almost a new record low for the amount of snow we received in a given “winter” until today. So I spent today trying to build an igloo which only turned out to be a cruddy 4ft high fort (with a radius of 4ft from the center). I spent four or five hours on it before I had to go to dinner. But before that I took this picture; I haven’t seen a statue like this since I have been up to Rome, New York. Pretty cool if you ask me. How does the snow stick to the guy’s stomach anyways because that is an approximate 85 degree angle? Just lots of tough bonds between all the molecules I suppose.

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Boathouse's Finest Look (Scrapbook 8)

A lot of the locals and teachers of St. Mary’s complained about building a boat house on the river’s shoreline claiming how it would obscure the gorgeous view of the water. Well, if you don’t think this picture shows the beauty of the environment despite the boathouse, you’re crazy (in the most positive way of course). The reflection of the boathouse in St. John’s Pond is actually quite outstanding, the sunset is amazing, and how the snow creates a soft white blanket on everything it lays on top of is really eloquent. So in totality, I took this picture to show how beautiful our campus is and to show how insignificantly the boathouse’s presence affects us.

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The Frozen Bicicle (Scrapbook 7)

This bike was found right outside of Dorchester. I am pretty sure this bike won’t be going far anytime soon. It just shows how much some people care about their valuable possessions. Even if the storage bike room inside Dorchester was full, they could have at least brought their bike in their own room before the storm. My roommate had to bring their bike in our room several occasions and it wasn’t really that bothersome. But really, this dilemma drew my attention because all the icicles hanging off of the bike made it look really neat and because the bike was stuck in place made the situation funny.

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Safety First (Scrapbook 6)

I think it is safe to assume that St. Mary’s is probably one of the safest campuses in the United States; the only real dangers are the crosswalks and natural hazards. We proposed to build a bridge over route 5 to eliminate being hit by oncoming traffic; however, this idea was shot down. Despite this, we can still ensure crosswalk safety by deploying P.S. on the roads. So what do we do to ensure our safety from the harm of natural hazards? St. Mary’s has regular inspections of its safety equipment required by Maryland State Law. It seems kind of silly to mention because don’t all schools follow state laws and check their safety equipment. The answer should be yes, but have you ever needed a fire extinguisher and picked one up to combat the fire but the extinguisher did not work because it was outdated. Well I have! Luckily, the fire was in the very portable vacuum I was using and so I unplugged the vacuum and took it outside on the pavement (then I tried to use the extinguisher). Even though the extinguisher did not work, the fire died down quickly and there wasn’t really any real damage to it besides to the belt of the machine. So it was a relief to see that St. Mary’s fire extinguishers were checked and that the old ones were replaced. So why isn’t a fire extinguisher art? Like the water fountain, a fire extinguisher only has one purpose, to put out fires. A fire extinguisher does not represent anything, does not narrate a story, imply any hidden meanings, evoke any emotion (unless its gratitude when it comes time to use one and it saves your life), does not depict a story, etc.

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P.G.'s Sanitary Water Fountain (Scrapbook 5)

This is the overview of a water fountain in Prince George’s Residence Hall. I probably use Dorchester’s water fountain over seven times a day, occasionally to fill my 20 oz. water bottle. Like I said, this is a picture of P.G.’s fountain, not Dorch’s. I got thirsty while playing Frisbee Golf and decided to use this fountain. No, I did not have the camera with me at this time but I came back to take a picture of this wonderful, sanitary fountain. Now for all of you that have been in Dorch, and have been acquainted with its disdainful, unique smells, and the piles of garbage, and the bathrooms sinks clogged with who-knows what, you start to value clean and sanitary objects (especially when you get sick a lot from living in there). So, a clean water fountain I could drink out of was very pleasant- I did not have to look at anyone’s spit caught in the drain, or hair for that matter, nor did I see any food particles or Ramen Noodles stuck in it; there was no mold either. So in totality, the sanitary fountain provides me water, which helps me sustain homeostasis, which makes me happy, and I do not have to worry about getting sick when I drink from it. The fountain itself may be a plain fountain, and is definitely no work of art, but it is important to at least note that at least somewhere outside of Dorch, there is a clean fountain people can drink out of. If someone wants to argue that this water fountain is a work of art, they can by posting a comment. But this fountain has only one purpose- to provide water. It is not designed to entertain, it is not a sort of medium, it does not depict any hidden message, nor does it evoke any emotion; it is just a simple device.

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Our Trash (Scrapbook 4)

Yes, I did in fact post a picture of our room’s garbage and even though our garbage might be someone else’s treasure, our garbage will still be sent to a landfill. Did you know that America (as a nation) generates the most waste per day. On average, Americans waste four and a half more lbs/person/day. 55% is residential garbage and the other 45% comes from industries and commercial trade. Interestingly enough though, we as a people of St. Mary’s College have gone 100% green. At least as a college, we are wasting on average 900lbs/day less now prior to our tray days. On a side note, just last year we spent over $2 million on achieving going 100% green. In addition, St. Mary’s college is one out of 17 colleges in the United Sates purchasing 100% green energy. In totality, I thought this was amazing (that our college is good about not wasting and going green) and I just wanted to brag about our amazing-ness. Last but not least, I want to mention how the picture of our garbage is not art because it is garbage.
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Laptop (Scrapbook 3)

This is my brand new laptop. It can be pretty much found anywhere since it is so portable (duh), but here is a picture of it in my dorm. My computer drew my attention because, it is sleek and new. In addition, computers pretty much revolve around our lives and I thought it needed some additional attention. What I mean by “attention” is that we should value computers as (almost) a necessity, not meaning we should get on our laptop and sign on facebook or such. Sometimes we take our computers for granted. We could still be solely relying on snail mail, phones, our pens and pencils, the dictionary, the library, etc. Pretty much, computers can do everything and without them, we would still be in the industrial revolution era.

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