One does not simply close the Reading Room

Hey so it's actually been a while since I outlined that big bad to-do list, which of course is still getting longer despite the items on it that actually get completed.  One of those omnipresent items is coordinating and overseeing the development of an IFE video produced by RIT Production Services (known to most as ETC, but that "isn't their name anymore"). For the past couple weeks I have struggled to establish a shooting schedule for 11(!) undergrad student interviews over two afternoons. As you can imagine, this is no small feat, as not only are students' schedules unpredictable but college students aren't the best at reading/responding to e-mails. And then even once it's all scheduled, you have to keep your fingers crossed that everyone actually shows up when they are supposed to, and is wearing what they are supposed to (no pure black/white, or saturated colors, or patterns), and bothered to comb their hair that day. I honestly don't know why anyone dreams of being in video production, but I guess that just goes to show why it isn't for me (and how they can charge so much for it). 

Well anyways, I am happy to say that everything actually seemingly went very smoothly. I wasn't present for most (read: any) of the shooting, but I have been told that everyone showed up when they were supposed to (or arranged it among themselves that they be there at one of the allotted time slots), and I've heard that some of the interviews were really, really, REALLY good. For once, scheduling and communication did NOT break down, and maybe I can actually take some of the credit for successfully organizing it all. But I can't brag too much really, because the real work was done by the film crew, the students, and of course Joe who had to do all the interviewing of all 11 students. 

I felt bad that shooting was scheduled for the last two days before break, although that was strategic because theoretically students wouldn't be super busy, pre-break tests would be completed, the Reading Room (the chosen shooting location) shouldn't be in strong demand, and things overall should be generally quiet. Well, some of these things were true: obviously we were able to get scheduling to work out, without complaints of being too busy; and there weren't any tests left that were demanding students' attention. But although things were generally quiet, the building was still lively enough to interfere with the shooting - what with people making noise in the hallway, using the hand blowers in the bathroom, etc. And, it turns out students were getting majorly offended that they couldn't use the Reading Room - "They can't take the Reading Room away from us!" "How dare they monopolize the Reading Room!" "What is THIS?!" And then the ultimate passive aggressive maneuver - anonymously leaving a sign on the closed door:

Know your meme

Although I am really annoyed by the sense of entitlement displayed by our spoiled rotten students (I can call them that because I was once one of these students that thought I was entitled to 24 hour ownership of the Reading Room), I have to really give credit to whoever left that, because I thought it was hilarious.

Anyways, I brought in homemade cookies as a show of appreciation for the film crew and students that had to be here, since I figured most of them probably would have blown off early for break (like so many of the students in Imaging Science Fundamentals did) if it were not for the shooting. But it turns out no one even touched them, so I'll just enjoy my amazingly delicious cookies by myself, thankyouverymuch. And with this perfectly baked up splendor of butter and sugar, I bid you HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!