Micro-assignment 4

I was hoping this wouldn’t be a wasted effort.

And so it was not entirely wasted. It didn’t turn out so badly that I would have to resort to my backup plan. I also learned some new things about Blender 3D. Yet it did not turn out quite good enough to justify the amount of time that I spent on it. Oh well...

The place that I pick was the Numbers Garden behind Dreese Laboratory. This is really one of my favorite places on campus. I remember walking by it on my very first day at Ohio State. “This is so cool,” I thought, quickly followed by “Where the hell am I?” It’s unfortunate that when I went to take my pictures, there were a group of kids, who seems to be visiting, playing around the numbers. This limits the spots and angles that I can choose from, since I didn’t want to be that creep who walk around taking pictures of little children. So I had to pick the lonely number 6 that no one seems to want to play with. Which is kind of strange, because in retrospect, I was often closer to people who are more isolated and lonely. Could it be because I am an isolated and lonely person myself?

The object that I pick is a computer. (Not really mine, though, because my computer would be way beyond my 3D modeling ability.) The reason for this object is that, as stated in the previous project, the computer is very important to me. My life would suck without it. ‘Cause we belong together now, yeah…

Anyway, this computer is small, standing among the larger numbers. This is a symbolization of my humbling experience at OSU. Meeting a lot of people, many of which are very smart and talented, make me feel a lot smaller than in high school. It’s like standing among the giants and trying to be something more significant, more than just another college kid. And maybe someday, I would actually be able to do something that would make a difference, something that would make me more than just another person in the sea of people, like the computer that is not just another computer, but one that gets to stand in the Number Garden.

I would make my sculpture out of steel. It is usually cold on the outside, but when a computer is running, it is very warm inside. (My CPU generally is at 36-40°C when idling, which is pretty close to the temperature of a normal person. Just thought it’s kind of interesting.) This is how I feel other people may perceive me. I think I often seem unfriendly, but if people get to know me, maybe I’m not that cold.

Speaking of getting to know me, the audience can remove the side cover of the sculpture. It’s already removed in the picture. To know how a computer works, you need to pull off the cover and take a look inside. It’s the same way with me. I don’t generally open up to people, but if they pull off the cover, they would get to know me. This turns out to be not so good in terms of making friends, because really, who would want to put an effort in a person they don't know?