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9:18 AM – The Aftermath

Like you, we were so caught up in the post-Dean’s Date rush we forgot to actually finish the blog. We sincerely hope you had better things to do last night than ponder our disappearance.

At this point, there’s not much left to say except congrats: you’ve conquered the monster once again. In celebration, a look back, courtesy of some Dean’s Date all-stars last spring.

Screen shot 2012-01-18 at 9.18.32

–LZ

4:00PM- Heading over the McCosh courtyard

Free giveaways (yeah right, I’ve never gotten one). Food. Fun. Jeff Nunokawa. Be there. Ciao.

–VC

3:20 – Classroom in Lewis (yup, snagged it)

In the spirit of the two most motivational things on the planet (cute animals and the promise of sleep, obviously), I bring you a message from Shironeko, the world’s most relaxed cat:

Shironeko

YOU CAN DO IT! And in less than two hours, you too can pass out amongst more alert friends.

– ASG

2:41 PM- The Wa

We Princetonians often have terrible eating habits—no real surprise there. I just chatted with Lominy who worked at The Wa from 1-9:30 p.m. yesterday. Check out what he had to say:

Did you notice Princeton students buying a lot of food last night?

They buy a lot of stuff. They eat a lot, too. With the sandwiches, they put a lot of ingredients on…. They ask for like all kinds of peppers or all kinds of condiments. It makes our job harder because everything just falls apart.

Did you get grossed out?

Yes, yes.

Was this just last night?

No, almost every day.

______

You are what you eat?

–DB

2:37PM-My room

My roommate’s stack of books, piled precariously high on top of our mini-fridge for the past week, has still not fallen.

IMG_0237

Titles of note: “Hamas and Suicide Terrorism”

“The New Oxford Annotated Bible”

“Inside Al-Qaida and the Taliban”

“The Historical Figure of Jesus”

“Allah, Liberty, and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom”

–AK

1:25PM – bed

Baby animals, meet Bent Objects.

Warning: more violence and innuendo than you’d expect from inanimate household products.

–VC

1:06 PM – Somewhere in the depths of Firestone

“Having caffeine in you is like being drunk but also smart. Drunk-smart. You know what I mean? It’s like being drunk off your own intelligence.”

Optimism or insanity?

Speaking of which, it is likely that somewhere in the last 24 hours your computer screens have started to look a little less like that Word doc, and a little more like this.

T minus 4 hours !!

- LBC

12:52 p.m.-Forbes Library

Just woke up from a glorious 2 hour nap after sending in my paper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For all of you still typing away, here’s a public service announcement from your friendly neighborhood blogger. DON’T DO THIS:

dean's date

–EL

12:37 pm — Chancellor Green

There’s no shame in procrastination, unless of course your Dean’s Date paper actually is going to save us all from the apocalypse or cure cancer.

But for the rest of you, if judgmental glances from the guy sitting next to you are keeping you from enjoying lemon baby, sleeping kittens & the like, try stealth procrastinating with Vanishd, which lets you browse behind a Word document, PowerPoint, or other innocent cover. Note: try not to laugh out loud at what appears to be a blank Excel spreadsheet, then we’ll just think you’re crazy.

–LZ

12:04 pm — Wallace Library

The key to the last 5 hours of Dean’s Date is tricking yourself into thinking that what you’re doing actually matters. That you’re on a really important mission. A mission far more important than getting a passing grade (or, let’s be real, turning in the paper.)

So go ahead and pretend that your lab report is about the next apocalyptic strain of influenza. Have you just spent the last thirty hours coding? You’re saving the world from Skynet, even if no one knows it yet. If you don’t finish that Gender Studies paper, a sloth somewhere dies. Raise the stakes!

To that end, some epic songs to get you going.

AW

12:00 PM- Still…floor.

I love sloths.

LW

11:50 AM – Whitman Library

At this point, everyone on campus looks like they’re about right here (ripped from a real essay):

Citations

While I’m posting, I may as well give the U-Store some love for the delicious iced tea and high-strength cough syrup they sold me last night. A plug for the store that serves all purposes, straight from their post in the aforementioned Prince article’s comments section (i.e. the early action piece). Caption credit goes to Nick Martin: “amidst a sea of diatribes against low admissions rates and reverse racism, the u-store gets in some quality ad time.”

U-Store comment

-CRM

11:34AM-My floor

Who needs caffeine when you can have an endless supply of encouraging compliments?

http://www.ilikeyourjacket.com/

fav: They should name an ice cream flavor after you

LW

10:58 AM – My bed…sort of

On the topic of babies (is it bad that lemon baby feels like it just happened?), don’t you wish you could hold up under pressure as well as this one?

– ASG

10:46AM-Edwards


Andrew Bird is the best soundtrack. He’s a sort of funky-indie instrumentalist with some vocals, a little blue-grassy, and most of all, chill
Andrew Bird channel

–AK

10:35 AM – AMAZED AT RUBE GOLDBERG

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING. Watch this. I kid you not, it’s the best 2 minutes you’ll ever waste:

For anyone trying to read a textbook at breakfast and eat at the same time, this is ABSOLUTELY necessary, unless you need to turn more than one page. (Just get me a hamster, don’t ask questions.)

–VC

10:27 a.m. – OIT

Last night’s slushy downpour seemed a depressingly appropriate soundtrack for our collective mindset. And though the forecast today is still looking pretty bleak (literally, below, and figuratively), all our favorite caffeine refueling stations are open and there are still six and a half hours to hit those page limits. We just might pull this  off.

Unless, of course, you’re one of the three people who came into the tech clinic with computers that won’t even turn on.

See? It could be much, much worse.

–LZ

10:18 a.m. – edge of delirium

Good morning!  (although I’m guessing it’s not)  Oh what a lovely day for… finishing your papers in a dark cave.

-NP

9:53 AM – still stuck between Adrienne Rich and Gayle Rubin

Like the seventh Harry Potter movie, we’ve decided this blog is so massive that it requires a second installment. AND NOW FOR THE THRILLING CONCLUSION.

Is it just me, or is every conversation I have from now until Intersession some version of this?

–VC

Have any tips for us? Drop us a line at pressclb@princeton.edu

5:00 PM — Everywhere

Brian Wilson, after pitching the winning game of the 2010 World Series, expresses all your emotions perfectly in a single sentence.

Congrats guys, another Dean’s Date managed. Now please, for the sake of your sanity, either go to bed or start having fun.

– WAS

4:47 PM — Underneath the invisibility cloak

Did you see us make it disappear? We thought we’d do Princeton a solid and rid it of one more procrastination tool during the final stretch, so we put the invisibility cloak over the Dean’s Date post. Some may call this a “technical glitch.” Semantics…

If you missed it, keep clicking the refresh button to see if the magic happens again…

SJP

4:42 PM — McCosh Courtyard

pant

There is currently an insanely long line for these sweatpants stretching from the mouth of the cathedral to (last I checked) to around Murray-Dodge. Good luck if you’re planning on getting a pair. I just did. They are silky smooth.

WAS

4:34 p.m. – Carl A. Fields Center

Ready, and…SUBMIT!!!

See you all at McCosh in 30!

-SG

4:26 PM — Mile 26

As we head into the final painful stages of sleep deprivation and prolonged mental activity, we can use some tips from others trained to push their bodies to the breaking point—marathon runners. While DCW may insist on a divide between the cool sporty kids and the dorks who wear their allnighter badges like Olympic Gold medals, I maintain that we share some common ground with our athlete friends.

Here’s what Mary Wittenberg, president and chief executive of the New York Road Runners, the group that puts on the ING New York City Marathon, has to say about competitive marathon runners:

“Mental tenacity — and the ability to manage and even thrive on and push through pain — is a key segregator between the mortals and immortals in running,” Ms. Wittenberg said.

You can see it in the saliva-coated faces of the top runners in the New York marathon, Ms. Wittenberg added.

“We have towels at marathon finish to wipe away the spit on the winners’ faces,” she said. “Our creative team sometimes has to airbrush it off race photos that we want to use for ad campaigns.”

If you’re covered in slobber and waiting for your towel at the end of this finish line, you’ve done us proud. Keep kicking.

SJP

3:19 PM — Cafe Viv

So I was looking for a little inspiration (for this blog post, not for my actual Dean’s Date papers, mind you – I am an upstanding follower of the honor code, and let’s face it, if you’re still looking for inspiration at this point you have no business being on a blog site.  Just kidding, we want you here anyway.)  A little poking around the dark recesses of the Internet brought out this gem: EssayGenerator.

Type in any phrase, and it gives you a more or less grammatically correct, albeit very short, essay on the subject of your choice.  Fun!  Let’s see what it has to say about Dean’s Date…

The beginning is shockingly good – as in, start worrying about the artificial intelligence revolution because this thing reads minds.

Some highlights:

“Underestimate dean’s date at your peril.”

“As soon as a child meets dean’s date they are changed.”

“Though I would rather be in bed I will now examine the primary causes of dean’s date.”

Don’t let me get your hopes up, though.  It goes downhill pretty fast:

Let us consider the words of that silver tongued orator, that most brilliant mind Elijah Bootlegger ‘A man must have his cake and eat it in order to justify his actions.’ [2] I argue that his insight into dean’s date provided the inspiration for these great words. To paraphrase, the quote is saying ‘dean’s date wins votes.’ Simple as that.

The question which we must each ask ourselves is, will we allow dean’s date to win our vote?”

It sure doesn’t have my vote…and neither does this essay machine, for that matter.

Two hours – it’s go time.

-LEZ

3:10 PM– Second Floor Frist

As the final hour draws ever closer…

  • Still have a bajillion words/pages to write?
  • All the nearby print stations are broken?
  • Operating on less than .5 hours of sleep?
Embrace it.
Embrace it.

–VC

3:03 pm – Delirium is a funky place

If you’re like me, you’re anal about saving your work. You ‘save as’ your essays multiple times, hoping that the extra copies will ensure that the labor of your love/desperation won’t suddenly get up and disappear.

Sounds good and all, but the problem with this approach is that you get a folder full of papers titled:

‘Yoga in Prisons’
‘Yoga in Prisons, second draft’
‘Yoga in Prisons, updated for reals this time’
‘Deans Date copy’
‘FINAL JRN paper!!!’
‘NO PICK THIS ONE. FINAL FINAL COPY’
‘JRN story HERE LOOK HERE’

Don’t ask me why I don’t use the streamlined system of titling them ‘Draft 1,’ ‘Draft 2,’ and so on. I assume my mind doesn’t think in such ordered terms early Tuesday morning. I like my titles to have Punch. Energy. Pizzazz!

So anyways, here’s what happens. I open ‘FINAL JRN paper!!!’ ready to edit and submit. Shocked to find gaping holes (read: at least 5/18 pages) in essay. Wonder, “OMG, did I fall asleep and not finish the paper like I thought I did? Did I really not finish it? I DELUDED MYSELF into thinking I finished?!?” Panic ensues as I frantically start writing, anything- anything really, to fill up the space.

Twenty minutes later, for some reason, I go through my notes, and revisit my alternate drafts. Realize that ‘FINAL JRN paper!!!’ is not, in fact, the final one. ‘Deans Date copy’ is. Everything is there.

All is well.

-SG

2:33 PM — Firestone Trustee Room

Guys, you’re so close! But, I know the last stretch can be grueling. Are you lacking motivation? Let this guy rev you up.

If HE can do it, YOU CAN TOO.

– WAS

2:30 pm –Back to the hallway with the Turkish Alphabet poster.

So, when professors say that we must include our signature of the Honor code with the electronic copies of our papers, they mean that we can sign in Paint, right?

Right.

Here are some of my greater samples.

signatures2

–LRW

2:17 PM — The Internet

Like us on Facebook. Don’t pretend like we’re not friends by this point, we’ve been up all night together.

– UPC

1:33 pm — In my room (uh, still…)

The only workouts I ever manage to squeeze in on Dean’s Date are a few chairside jumping jacks to break up the blood clots in my legs.

Thankfully, a tipster sent in this video from the Princeton Crew Team.  It’s a first-person view of some strenuous-looking speed gauntlet, and it’s pretty (vicariously) invigorating.

Sayeth our tipster: “You feel like you’re actually getting dizzy with him in the beginning, and if you go to 1:18, the guy FALLS and skins his hands. I feel like I just exercised.

– DCW

1:21 p.m. – The minds of LMNT

It was the A-Teens last night, LMNT today. I fear that I will forever be known as the girl-who’s-obsessed-with-teeny-bopper music, but please, this is as good a day as any for flashbacks to my junior high glory days.

I couldn’t find the official music video, but this is so much better. How old are these kids, anyways?

*TRIVIA: LMNT, pronounced “element,” was chosen as a band name because the musicians liked the symbolic meaning. The four basic substances that make up the universe – earth, wind, fire, and water – are completely different, yet coexist in harmony…wait for it…just like the band members themselves!

Gotta love diversity.

-SG

1:00 PM — Cafe Viv

Time’s getting pretty tight, but can you spare three seconds? You’re here, so I’m guessing yes.

For extra giggles: Open the video in YouTube and keep pressing ’2.’ Repeat ad nauseam.

Try not to fail as hard this Dean’s Date.

– WAS

12:55 — Still in bed, still working, still living, still blogging

According to Brian No ’10, while the liveblog post may have 1,250 views, the homepage here at www.universitypressclub.com has over 2,100.

“So, like, wouldn’t it be accurate to say that something along the lines of half the school has read the liveblog?”

I guess so, Brian.

AW

Continue reading…

DO YOU HAVE A TIP FOR US? LET US KNOW AT theinktips[at]gmail[dot]com

5:45 P.M. — My bed

After many hours of not-sleep, countless pages of top-form b.s., a sprightly walk to Robertson to hand in some papers, some McCosh kettle corn, and a sick Dean’s Date water bottle, it is time for sleep.

Wake me up when it’s time to get down.

– WAS

4:13 P.M. — Some advice from Alec Greven



May come in handy later. Like in 47 minutes or so. Or maybe not.

– ASG

4:00 P.M. — Princeton

There’s one hour left. Oh my god. Where did all those other hours go? The end is in sight…

– WAS

3:40 P.M. — The Edge

Read your papers once more through. One of my recurring nightmares is turning in a final paper that has all the profanity and gibberish that accompany first drafts.

“INSERT BULLS–T ABOUT GLOBALIZATION HERE”

My first draft calls.

– WAS

3:31 P.M. — So. Close.

But in case you were wondering, you haven’t quite hit this milestone yet (and if you have, contact the Guiness Book of World Records immediately).

– ASG

3:25 P.M. — On the Brink

Need some more Gaga for the final stretch? Mr. Christopher Walken gives you “Poker Face”:

–ECS

3:03 P.M. — It’s almost time.

No matter how hard
The task may seem
Dont give up our plans
Dont give up our dreams

No broken bridges
Can turn us around
Cause what were searchin’ for
Will soon be found

Cause we’re almost there

– AW

2:57 P.M. — My room

Just thought of one that the anagram generator didn’t come up with. (Yes, this is how I procrastinate.) This one goes out to all the freshmen (and young sophomores?) out there:

Dean’s Date = Da Sad Teen

:( <— teen

– GN

2:39 P.M. — I don’t even know anymore

It’s getting to be that time. Here’s some motivation.

Yes, you can do it. Let’s just all pray our professors don’t have this reaction:

–WAS

12:28 P.M. — My Nightmare on Elm Street.

4 hours and 30 minutes to go. Whatever you do, do not fall asleep.

Don’t fool yourself. Dean’s Date wants you as badly as Freddy Kruger does.

–SJP

11:37 A.M. — Hey. Stop it. Wake up.

–AW

10:00 A.M. — It’s five o’clock somewhere

In these places, more specifically: Amman, Helsinki, Istanbul, Athens, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Beirut, Kyiv, Cairo, and Minsk. I don’t think those are the places this dude had in mind when he wrote this song.

– WAS

(Keep reading below!)

Continue reading…

UPDATE ON THE AFTERMATH:

Number of minutes late I ended up turning my French paper: ~35

Number of minutes I spent blogging in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations, all through the wee hours of Dean’s Date: significantly greater than 35

Do I have any regrets? No!

…well, maybe. –GN

5:00 p.m. — Your room

Congratulations everyone! Dean’s Date 2010 is “officially” over. But now the party begins. Just ask ’90s R&B star Montell Jordan. (We all know South Central Princeton does it like nobody does, so go ahead and bust out the lyrics.)

Go ahead, kick back and relax. You’ve earned it. Unless you’re still working, in which case, what the hell are you waiting for?

– WAS

Continue reading…

Well, that was exciting… Now, we’re going to sleep. Thanks for reading our beta blog!

2:55 am –Cliatt told the Prince that it took that period of time for an alert to be sent because investigators were interviewing witnesses to establish whether there was a “credible threat.”

2:42 am –Oh, and the University is offering counseling for “individuals stressed by the incident,” the Prince says. We’re curious as to how many postponed midterms this is going to lead to.

2:35 am– The real story tonight: Why did it take 80 minutes for Public Safety to send out an alert? If this had been a real criminal with a real gun, it would have been bad news bears.

2:15 am– The Prince is reporting that some dude is under custody of Borough Police. He was carrying a “permanently disabled and nonfunctional firearm” that he was planning to show to a friend.

1:52 am– “I was watching Milk in the Frist theater, where there was a bit of an uproar when everyone received the first message on their iPhones, and the ‘all is clear’ text actually happened as the end credits were rolling.” – SJP

1:46 am– Quote of the night: “So that’s what it’s like, going to Yale.”

Continue reading…