Rich Coast

Costa Rica is known for wide biodiversity. Between the tropical climate, the relative prosperity of the citizens, and the lack of overinflated natural resources the conditions are ripe for nature to proceed unfettered by interference of greedy humans. I read that there are 35,000 species of insects, 9000 species of vascular plants, 850 species of birds, 200 species of mammals, and 150 species of amphibians native to the country. It should therefore be of no surprise that Costa Rica is of great interest to many natural scientists both domestic and foreign.

I Wish That You Could Have Seen It

This shirt features two designs that show off the country’s biodiversity. The front designs has a number of different animals and plants by day. The back design of the shirts is of a night scene where only the yellowed eyes and some yellowed outlines of the animals are visible. Both sides also have Costa Rica printed in a corner. I thought that this shirt had a great concept and slick presentation.

I did not have my camera on me that day. Neither did the receiver nor donor. This shirt never made it near any of the doors in the background of other photos in the dossier. No easy opportunity to take a picture of the shirt presented itself and this dossier is missing a picture due to my lack of thought.

The quick turn-around time from donation to my giving of the shirt to a new receiver precluded my ability to take a picture of the shirt. Looking back, I especially regret my inaction because I have never seen another person wear this shirt nor have yet to find a picture of someone else wearing the shirt since that day. My memories of the design is something that I hope that I will never forget because I want to be ready to get photographic evidence of this shirt onto Free Shirt Archive.

Quick Transfer

Donor & Receiver Sarah* called me out of the blue a day earlier to see if I would be interested in taking a tour of a local landfill. I figured sure, why not? The next day I traveled with her to meet up with some other donors and and non-donors for the tour. Donor, Donor, Receiver, & Proofreader Adam* arrived with a large bounty of shirts for my perusal. I selected most of the possible shirts, but Sarah seemed to want to talk about this particular shirt a bunch so I figured that she should probably have it.

I remember that Adam was concerned that my donation to Sarah ruined his opportunity to make Free Shirt Archive history. This donation did prevent him from the most shirts donated by one person on one calendar day, but it did enable him to expand his accolades to by making him a Peoples’ Donor. This made him the most decorated of the donors by making multiple types of contributions to the Free Shirt Archive. These days, Donor Adam still has made the most varied contributions to the site and he holds the record for most shirts in a calendar day which he has matched twice.

Another Man’s Odors

The tour of the landfill was a good time. There was free food and brochures available at a tent. Other people that I knew showed up. The big draw was the van ride around the entire landfill.

The driver was also the head manager of the landfill. His responsibility for the dump allowed him, in his mind, to take ownership of the landfill through the incessant use of possessive pronouns. This habit led to talking about the smell of the dump. Locals originally were concerned about his smells. State government comes out from time to time to make sure that he does not smell too bad. He is always looking for ways to combat his own smelliness. I laughed to myself.