Camp and end of year

My address for the summer (until August 20th):

Steven Siden (Staff)
YMCA Camp Hi-Rock
162 East Street
Mt. Washington, MA 01258

Please write to me (and send food if you want.) I promise to write back.
I have limited computer access too, so email is probably good.

Well, one more regents to go. The US history regents was (dare I say it?) easy. I have CPR class tomorrow too. Physics regents and then graduation on Thursday. I leave for camp on Friday. Graduation is going to be really sad. The seniors this year were such an awesome grade. They will be sorely missed, and honestly, the beginning of next year is going to be really weird without them.

More to come before I leave.

Until Later...

It's almost over, and AOL

I had my math final today. I think I did well. I have no tests until next Tuesday, so I am beginning to consider this school free time a mini-vacation. The weather is beautiful, and ahhh, the year is almost over.

I was reading my favorite tech news source digg.com and I came across a story about someone trying to cancel AOL. This guy recorded the whole conversation. Personally, I despise AOL, and found this really frustrating/entertaining. Here is the link to the story on Digg. If that doesn't work, here is another link: Click Here.

Until Later...

Today was pretty chill

Today was pretty chill. We had caramel cake in English (thanks to Merideth), ice cream (thanks to Nora and Alana) and I didn't present, so I just laid back and enjoyed it all. Ms. Gocman is off having her awkward surgery, so it was low key. Physics was good, also low key, (last class with McGuinness until next year, yeah AP Physics!! w00t!) French was also sit back and watch people present. After school was supposed to be a hard follies rehearsal. Not too many people showed up, so it was also low key. The "rehearsal" like a stumble through. I really think that tech (to the extent that I had it set up) was completely unnecessary. We ran through the show, and called it a day. The problem that we have tomorrow is that we cannot be in there until late, because of open mic night. Eeh, w/e. Life's life.

Oh geez, how could I forget the Buzzer. My article was on the second page :) Yay! It was my first article for the Buzzer. The picture that they put with it made me smile. The PL article on the otherhand caused quite a bit of commotion, and a couple of peer leaders were crying because of what happened during their lunch meeting. I don't know the whole story, but shit went down. I hope it all works out for the leaders, it's a tough job.

Until Later...

Blah Tuesday

I had a good weekend. It sort of felt a little unproductive. I got my PL letter, and then was sort of lazy for the rest of the weekend. I was visiting family/had family visiting a lot. I visited my uncle, aunt, cousin, and grandma in CT on sunday. It was fun, we had a good BBQ. My cousin Isabel is adorable. She toddled around with Mark and I, playing on the slide and just being cute. I love small children. My uncle and his girlfriend visited on monday. They are always fun and entertaining to be around. We had grilled pizza, which was good as usual. I did some hw in the evening, and then went to bed.

Today at school was intersting. We watched part of a Green Day concert for about 15 minutes in English. blah blah blah day. MYS physics field test blah french movie blah follies blah. People did like my posters that I made for the follies though, that made me happy :) . Had art awards after school (me? art?) and went home. Procrastinated, talked to people online for a while, did a couple of supreme court cases for geller, and now here I am, blogging. And now, I am heading off to bed.

Until Later...

Happiness then mixed feelings

Today I went into town for lunch. Headed to through the spring (thing/fling?) and went to thomas'. Bought lunch there, and walked back to the car. I realized as I was walking, looking down at my hand wrapped around a brown paper bag, that I could have been carrying a bottle of liquer or beer or something. The thought made me chuckle and then I headed home. My mail comes around 2-ish, so I had some time to kill before I found out if I made it into PL. I watched some Black. White. for my english research project. People were kind enough to distract me online (big shout out to Becca for that one) while I waited for the mail to come. The mail came, and I found out that I was accepted as a Peer Leader for next year. Yay!! It brought mixed feelings though after it set in, because there are so many deserving people who did not get accepted for whatever reason. I feel bad for my friends, and happy for me at the same time. It sounds a little selfish, but I guess that's part of any competative process. I think being a Peer Leader is going to be such a fun, enriching, and rewarding experience, with lots of hard work. I look forward to next year.

Until Later...

Video Capture Cards + Character

Yesterday I crashed (with invitation) the faculty meeting in the auditorium about the smartboards. There was a demonstration, during which someone asked a question about using them with VCRs. The response from the SmartBoard rep was yes, with a video capture card. Now let me be frank here, VIDEO CAPTURE CARDS?!?!?! My computer at home doesn't have one of those! No way in hell would we buy video capture cards so that the smartboard could work with VCRs. That sales pitch was weak in my opinion.

Today at lunch I sent our director of technology a email asking the terms of the Spano grant, to see if we could "stretch the money in other ways in the classroom." Her response was implying that I had suggested getting more than the planned 20-24 smartboards. She explained that the consensus was that we should "start with a limited number rather than a large amount." She mentioned 100 being too many to manage. I was infruriated after reading this, because NOWHERE in my email did I mention MORE SMARTBOARDS, NOWHERE! Not only that, she didnt explain the terms of the grant, my original question. It is so frustrating when someone doesn't actually read an email. After cooling down, I sent an email back kindly reasking the question, and suggesting that if we bought less smartboards, we could "use the remaining money to pursue our strategic plan's goals." I dont really see smartboards fitting into our strategic plan. There's more I'd like to vent about, but it's not the time or place.

NHS inductions were tonight. They were awkward at first, but after the formalaties, it was all good. The most embarassing part was when you were being inducted, you went up in front of everyone, and people talked about you, your character, acomplishments etc. It was flattering to hear my things though. I had a feeling that Kate Berner would induct me, and she did! Kate and Hilarie bought me flowers after telling a story about how the flower order got messed up from Crazy for You, and I never got a set. Kate mentioned me needing 11 fingers again, haha, that's my running tech joke. It was a good time, and now I am going to bed.

Until Later...

Lazy Sunday + Saturday Recap

When I woke up this morning, I knew it would be a lazy sunday. I have been procrastinating as much as possible much to my dismay. What is really on my mind though is the play. Doing sound for plays is so much fun. I think theater in general is special too. Last night's play went well, and was well received. Afterwards, was the cast party which was fun. During the day, Ben Weiner and I had made tin cutouts of Kate and Terg's names which we metal taped onto the front of a light. When you turn the light on, their names were illuminated from behind. It looked cool, and they both were impressed and so was the cast. :) Yay showing off handy work! What makes me sad to think about though, is the fact that Crazy for You was the last play that I got to work with Kate and Tergis for. They are both amazing people, fun to be around, friendly, and knowledgeable. It will be weird being the only sound guy with no one around to set a level that I see to push me to do better. I have always looked up to him, and in his absence I will need to push myself. It will also be nice to not be in his shadow as much. I appreciate the arrangement we had for this show, I think it worked out nicely.

Kate Berner, where to start... She is funny, compassionate, a great stage manager, and just a great person overall. I feel like we could have been better friends if the stars had been aligned differently. I gave her her own maglight set last night at the cast party, because she had borrowed mine. I somehow have gotten into buying the stage crew maglights because they all borrow mine. Ben Anderson used to borrow mine, and I bought him a set for his birthday. Then Kate started to borrow mine, and I bought her a set. That looks wierd after I typed it, but w/e.

I am confidant that the tech next year will be fine. I am just sad that two great members of the theater tech family will be moving on. I wish both of them luck in any future endeavors, and hope that our paths cross in the future and beyond.

Ben Weiner, Ben Anderson, and I have been the tech trio that has worked together on the middle school shows. I at least, still think of us as the middle school tech crew to some extent, and for us to be the head guys running tech for the district next year will take some getting used to. It will be a fun year though...

So, mixed feelings about this show: great people leaving, but it was an amazing experience. In general, the current seniors are a really spectacular grade, and they will be sorely missed next year. And at the same time, I'm gonna be a senior! w00t!

I probably should start my homework now, lol.

Until Later...