It's Thursday. On Monday I'm heading back to campus, along with bazillions of froshies, eager and excited to start the MIT experience.

Going back as an upperclassman (a junior!? WHAT!?) is much different than going to campus as a freshman, for almost more reasons than I can count. My dad asked me this morning "Do you think the freshmen are scared about how hard MIT is going to be? Do you think they're scared to get to campus?" My answer? No, absolutely not. If you're a freshman, do not be scared right now. Be excited. Orientation is one of the craziest weeks you'll experience at MIT, seriously. You'll be rushing around, meeting tons of new people, doing whatever it is you want to do, with almost no mandatory events but a ton of optional fun ones.

MIT is very big into student organization and student-run activities, which is probably for the better, seeing as we're much more creative than the institute big wigs. While all the froshies are running around having fun during orientation, the upperclassmen will be running around organizing, ferrying, making Home Depot runs, and generally going out of our minds trying to get things done. This is ok though, because we are used to being stupidly busy and are really quite good at it.

This entry is a shameless plug for an event that Keri inspired me to organize. She doesn't know this, but now she does! Have you ever heard of Mattress Dominoes? This video will give you the gist of it. They claim it's a "World Record Attempt."

I don't know about you, but 41 people seems like a really lousy record attempt. Maybe because they figure there's no way to get more mattresses than that. I beg to differ.

In a few days there will be a thousand excited freshmen on campus, each with their very own mattress! We also have the second longest hallway in the country. What are a thousand kids, with a thousand mattresses, in one of the longest hallways, going to do? We're going to make a legitimate attempt at the world record, blowing a measly 41 people out of the water.

Day and time are TBD at this point, but keep an ear out! This will happen, and it will be awesome!

See you all on campus in a couple of days guys, almost there!

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

lol, that will be hilarious...and totally awesome

Posted by: Olivia on August 20, 2009

... awesome.

Posted by: Piper '12 on August 20, 2009

no way! I actually posted first?

Posted by: Olivia on August 20, 2009

In a word....Epic.

Posted by: Jennie ('14 Hopeful) on August 20, 2009

That will be awesome if you can pull it off!

Posted by: Su ('14?) on August 20, 2009

A thousand mattresses? You better get Professor Greenspun to do some aerial photography and make something creative! Not that I expect any less...

Perhaps do it on the next World Pillow fight Day come spring?

Posted by: Harish ('14?) on August 20, 2009

AWESOME. :D Words do not suffice.

Posted by: Natalia ('14?) on August 20, 2009

What is the longest hallway in the world?

Posted by: Oasis '11 on August 21, 2009

@Oasis
It's in the Pentagon

Posted by: Snively on August 21, 2009

heck yes.

Posted by: David '13 on August 21, 2009

Count me in! And I think we can fit more people if we make a few turns!

Posted by: JB '13 on August 21, 2009

If we went from merely Lobby 7 to Building 8, it would probably take a couple hundred people

Posted by: Claire '13 on August 21, 2009

Snively, there can has a problem.

That stupid silly LAM (Laboratory for Advanced Materials or some such) construction along the infinite has greatly thinned the infinite's width right there.

Does anybody have a mattress we could bandsaw in half?

Posted by: Cam on August 21, 2009

Where are you going to get 1000 mattresses, though... steal them from people's dorms?

Posted by: Anon on August 21, 2009

@Anon

You don't steal. That's bad. You just momentarily borrow.

Posted by: Ester '13 on August 21, 2009

That will be awesome, wish I could be there! :(

Posted by: Chandramouli N on August 21, 2009

omg this is epic!

Posted by: Luka on August 21, 2009

I think it's pretty safe to say that if it's done properly, there's very little chance of the record being broken, given that the people in the Pentagon are unlikely to bring mattresses to work.

But the logistics of this will be crazy. Getting in touch with everyone, making sure they come, getting the people in line, getting their mattresses in line, it's a recipe for organizational mayhem. But complete epicness if it can be done.

Posted by: bd outsider on August 21, 2009

I'd love to do it, I just have no idea how I'm going to get my mattress all the way from my temp room to the infinite...did I mention I'm not very strong? haha

Posted by: Tommy '13 on August 21, 2009

I am so there.

Posted by: Bridger '13 on August 21, 2009

I am totally in for that.

Posted by: jennyqiu'13 on August 21, 2009

I want to go just to see 1000 kids carrying mattresses down Mass Ave. Also, Cam is right. There are these huge temp walls starting from where you turn to go to building 4 to the end of the infinite (sounds contradictory) that narrows the hall to what feels like 2 feet wide.

After, everyone should bring their matresses into Killian and put them together like floor tiles and have the biggest bouncing-on-beds event ever.

Posted by: Vicky Z ('15?) on August 21, 2009

absolutely amazing. I'm so there.

Posted by: Kim '13 on August 21, 2009

absolutely cannot waitttt

Posted by: hamsika '13 on August 21, 2009

Epic win.

We better see lots of photos and videos.

Posted by: VAL '14? on August 21, 2009

Definitely there!!

Though I'll need help getting my mattress there from Next House...

Posted by: Liz '13 on August 21, 2009

Um, awesome.

Posted by: Mikey on August 21, 2009

Although this would make our record attempt even more complicated and difficult, imagine if the train of dominoes went over the dome. Can you say epic!!

Posted by: Chris on August 21, 2009

Not if I beat the record before you guys!

Posted by: Vinay on August 22, 2009

@Vinay

Uhm, what? Even if you beat the record first (with who, anyway?), we would still beat *your* record. So is there a point to that?

Anyway, sounds pretty fun, I'm in....

Posted by: NathanArce on August 22, 2009

@NathanArce

It was pretty obvious that Vinay was joking... defensive much?

Posted by: 0 on August 22, 2009

Ummm... the world record is now 80 mattresses as of August 16th in Sydney, Australia.

http://community.guinnessworldrecords.com/_Largest-Human-Mattress-Dominoes/blog/523840/7691.html

Posted by: an MIT Mom on August 22, 2009

pshh, 80 is nothing.

Posted by: Garrett '13 on August 22, 2009

Is it really scheduled for September 1st? If you pushed it back to the 5th or 6th (after move-in day), then the whole Institvte could be in on it!
Just a thought, and best of luck!

Posted by: MIT Student on August 23, 2009

@MIT Student
I think the issue with that is they'll all be involved with floor rush/painting/getting prefrosh settled/buying books. MIT has kinda started by then. If we do it early then we're catching everybody when there really is nothing else to do.

Posted by: Snively on August 23, 2009

You're scaring MIT Frosh. How dare you!

Posted by: Rob on August 23, 2009

Snively,

Fun idea to start the school year!!! Just a note on safety, I see a potential for ankle/foot injuries if participants do not position their feet properly. I suggest a few of you try it out first to find what's safe.

Posted by: A parent on August 24, 2009

Fun, fun, fun! Another reason to obssess over M.I.T. World record for mattress dominoes...lol.

Posted by: Vinaya '15? on August 27, 2009

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