NUDM Diaries: A Block-by-Block First-Person Report on Dancer Sanity

We had three of our writers who were doing DM this year—Angela Twerkel, Egg, and L’Shawnatova Brown—report back updates on their state of mind at each block, answering the questions:

1. How tired are you on a scale from 1 to 30 hours?
2. Would you rather be here or in the bathroom of the Deuce?
3. Comment on your current state of mind

Here’s what we got, verbatim:

PRE-DM

Egg

1. 0/30
2. no no no no no place I'd rather be *music notes emoji*
3. My hair is weird and I like sleeping but it's too late to turn back now

Angela Twerkel

1. 3/30
2. Rather be here, not Deuce bathroom
3. Feelin good, as breezing past an ex hookup into an authorized personel only area. It's a 3 not a 1 because I already ate half my snacks

L’Shawnatova Brown

1. On a scale of 1-30 hours I'm at a solid 5
2. I’d much rather be here
3. If I die bury me inside the Louis store

BLOCK 1

Egg

1. 0 still YAYYUH
2. Screw the Deuce
3. New block new me new do

Angela Twerkel

1. 5/30
2. Still rather be here than deuce bathroom
3. I've got camel toe in my sparkly neon leggings but just spent the past block seated because productions

L’Shawnatova Brown

1. I'm about 3 hours tired on a scale of 1-30 hours
2. Still would rather be here than the deuce bathroom.
3. Coolest moment: Kanye came to open the festivities and premiered a new song with Ringo Starr and the bassist from Franz Ferdinand.

BLOCK 2

Egg

1. 0 still YAYYUH
2. Screw the Deuce
3. New block new me new do

Angela Twerkel

[Lost contact with our writer, presumed dead until further notice]

L’Shawnatova Brown

1. I'm at about an 8 on the 1-30 hours scale
2. Still would rather be here
3. They had a really interesting avant garde piece where the music stopped for 15 minutes and we just played games. Not sure how I felt about it.

BLOCK 3

Egg

1. 2 level of tiredness
2. The deuce would be alright because I'd still be dancing uncomfortably to a song I don't know in Satans armpit 5 feet away from that guy I made out with last month but at least I'd be drunk
3. s/o to the guys who resorted to singing the national anthem when the sound system went down, way to think on your feet

Angela Twerkel

1. 10/30
2. Duece bathroom still not preferable, but I'm experiencing Duece pizza level munchies
3. hyped on filming ppl but not coherent. sorry for missing last message, I dropped my underwear on a frat guy and will never live it down. [Editor’s note: Twerkel was on a video team for DM, so the filming thing isn’t creepy, she promises]

L’Shawnatova Brown

1. I'm at about 15 hours on a scale of 1-30 hours
2. Still would rather be here
3. I accidentally tapped the shoulder of somebody I didn't know, looked at them, decided I wasn't coherent enough to even apologize, and just ran away.

BLOCK 4

Egg

1. 10 level of tired
2. They don't give out free foot massages at the deuce so I'd actually kinda rather be here
3. I write with my legs up the wall which is fitting because i have officially hit a wall. Why keep going? 'There is no end to this madness, egg, must you press on?' I say to myself out loud while people stare. And then, a voice, the voice of the angel in spandex with her feet up the wall next to me: 'I really like how your hair is different each block.' Her words as sweet as Tupelo honey, I smile and say thanks. I am quite bashful Thus I beat on, a boat against the current, borne back ceaselessly to dance

Angela Twerkel

[Contact again lost with our writer.  Pretty sure she’s dead this time]

L’Shawnatova Brown

1. On a scale of 1 to 30 hours I'm at about 273 kelvin
2. I would rather be here still though it's close
3. Interesting choice by the battle of the dj's winner to play Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony in it's entirety

BLOCK 5

Egg

1. 13 on the tired scale
2. I tried bribing the security people five dollars to let me out and it didn't work. Five dollars gets you a lot farther in terms of breaking the rules at the deuce. I'd rather be there.
3. I would suck bill clintons dick in the Oval Office if it meant I could curl up In the corner of this tent and wrap myself in its sweat coated tarps and sleep for 12 minutes right now. Heading into this block I fell asleep with a literal drum line playing in front of me and half a donut hole hanging out of my mouth.

Angela Twerkel

[Yep, she’s definitely dead]

L’Shawnatova Brown

1. Currently sitting at 35.5 miles on the scale
2. Would rather be at the deuce bathroom. Any bathroom really.
3. At this point shouting insults at people is the only way I can keep myself awake. It's only a matter of time till I accidentally insult one of the starlight kids.

BLOCK 6

Egg

1. 10-feel more awake
2. I would rather be locked in the bathroom if the deuce with vomit on my shoes than listen go uptown funk one more time
3. I would listen to uptown funk one more time if it meant I could leave. A dancer drew a face on a balloon and made it his companion and has been carrying it around for the last two blocks. But he did not name it Wilson and he will not get an academy award for this shit

Angela Twerkel (She lives!)

1. 20 out of 30
2. Deuce bathroom mirrors are really flattering
3. I think I missed two blocks, but I'm also eating cheese off the cold greasy box of leftover pizza. In public.  It's red Bull time

L’Shawnatova Brown

1. Really this question again? God idk. Let's go with 22 for shits and giggles
2. Honestly the deuce isn't even that bad. Like I could have a mediocre time there, even if I was just in the bathroom the whole time. Yeah, I like the deuce.
3. If you're into a severely deflated feeling of self-worth and a general numbness toward every aspect of life, then block six was dope.

BLOCK 7

Egg

1. Falling asleep while writing this so...20?
2. Is it weird that I'm actually having a great time during the moments where I can keep my eyes open?
3. I wouldn't wish this exhaustion and foot pain on my worst enemy. Except for that one kid in high school who kissed me and told everyone that I lied about it. Yes Ryan, I still remember that. Also we just had a 'standing lunch' which doesn't count as lunch. That's bullshit.

Angela Twerkel

1. Chugging forbidden caffeine was so the move, I'm maybe a 5 out of 30 and feeling more socially acceptable
2. So what's the difference honestly between duece bathroom and this? Maybe just the lack of killer heels
3. But I'm texting like I'm drunk and low key hulocinating, thought someone was following me around the dance floor but really I was just mistaking all short haired red heads for each other

L’Shawnatova Brown

1. I have no more use for tiredness. Dancing is all I know. Each time a block break ends, I dance. There's nothing else to it. This is my life now.
2. There is no deuce. All that matters is dancing and this god forsaken tent.
3. I'm becoming accustomed to my new role. I am a dancer. I have surrendered my soul to the carpeted floor of the tent. My life is in the hands of dancer relations now. The horror. The horror.

BLOCK 8

Egg

1. 15? I don't think I distinguish between tired vs not tired/ day vs night/ alkaline vs alkali metals anymore
2. Just deuce
3. I would lick the DM ceiling to go to sleep. Getting excited for the end until I realize that The end is in 9 hours. I come to accept that I will be here forever. The tent feeds me. It protects me. This is my new life. These are my people now. There is no turning back.

Angela Twerkel

1. 1/30 I’m a dancing queen
2. Having the time of my life
3. Sweaty sweaty life [Later in the block] Halp Halp Halp I drank the coolaid Mama Mia I'm crying to mama Mia

L’Shawnatova Brown

I killed a man in cold blood during the playing of darude's sandstorm. We were in a mosh pit and a kid got pushed into me the wrong way, so I grabbed him, put him in a chokehold, and suffocated him to death. Nobody noticed until after we left the tent. It remains to be seen what will become of me. I can still remember his useless gasps for breath, squirming in my arms as I lulled him to sleep. Dear god, what have I become? Sent from my iPhone

BLOCK 9

Egg

1. Tired: 10
2. Deuce? Hell no I'm making it to block ten dammit
3. NUDM is kinda like 127 hours except if I cut my arm off I still wouldn't be able to go home (or sit down)

Angela Twerkel

[Block 8 super-crash was final communication]

L’Shawnatova Brown

[No communication, honestly pretty worried based on Block 8 response]

BLOCK 10

Egg

1. 0 CAUSE ITS BLOCK TEN
2. NO PLACE ID RATHER BE BECAUSE BLOCK TEN
3. BLOCK TENNNNNN

L’Shawnatova Brown

[Whereabouts/sanity unclear]

POST DM (Only one survivor)

Egg

1. Tired: 30
2. Screw the deuce I’m going to sleep
3. I would apparently dance for 30 hours given only ten minute breaks every three hours and one frigid jog in the sunlight and 1000 varieties of popcorn i don't want m in exchange for being released from that tent after 30 hours. I literally can't keep my eyes open but I actually highly recommend DM all jokes aside. It was hell on earth for a little bit there but nothing has made me prouder to be at NU. Go cats.