The housing board now announces 10 remaining Watt studio doubles and 4 Ruggles 8’s, although those numbers are sure to fall quickly. The only drama remaining today is exactly when everyone remaining in suite selection starts to drop to general selection by default.

Keep checking back for a more measured day of blogging from a more sedate John Jay Lounge.

Things seem to be moving along predictably…no major surprises today, except (perhaps) for the fact that over half the Ruggles 8 suites were taken, which wasn’t a surprise so much as the answer to the question lots of people have been asking. Here are the numbers:

Woodbridge

A—0 B—0 C—0 D—0 E—0 F—0 G—0 H—0 I—0 J—0 K—0 L—0

Watt

2BR—0 1BR—0 Studio DBL—19

East Campus

ECX—0 Doubles (6^th floor)—5

47 Claremont

3 person suites—1 4 person suites—0 5 person suites —0 6 person suites —1 7 person suites —10

Ruggles

4 person suites—0 6 person suites—1 8 person suites—5

Those 5 EC doubles are still up for grabs because, according to Joyce, a Housing employee, “the sixth floor of EC is really isolated. Those doubles have a private bathroom, but there’s no kitchen, and there aren’t a lot of people on the floor.” She predicts that despite EC’s perennial popularity, rising sophomores will get those suites after rising juniors grab the last remaining studio doubles in Watt. Contrary to rumor, they are not being held for anyone as special-interest housing.

The Shaft will pick up tomorrow when point value 20, lottery number 1908 begins the shenanigans at 9:30 a.m.

Not even five minutes after the entire board was updated, a Housing employee came back out to make it final: All of Woodbridge is gone. Rising-junior groups of two now will now either pick into Watt, or drop into General Selection and take singles, although there are still five mysterious EC doubles that seem to be available and haven’t been taken yet. The Shaft will investigate and report its findings.

In the meantime, rising juniors coming in and looking at the board are mostly responding to the new numbers with groans. So it goes.

Woodbridge is evidently still up for grabs, as evidenced by the recent good luck of Spec Arts Online Associate Ginia Sweeney and roommate Maxine Keyes, who just snagged 6G.  “It’s on the shaft,” Sweeney said, “but we’re not too upset, just because we both got two rooms and we both need our privacy.”  Ginia and Maxine had discussed putting up what they call “Japanese-style screens” if they had gotten a studio double, but instead, their two-room suite will even have room for a couch! According to Ginia, “Everyone’s invited to hang out!” According to Maxine, everyone is not invited to hang out.  The Shaft will keep you posted on the results of this fierce battle of wills.

Woodbridge, according to one rising junior who just picked his suite, is now down to the G line only.

Upon hearing this, two rising juniors within minutes of picking high-five and whisper, “Woodbridge!” Only a few more groups of two, and then Watt studio doubles will become the best doubles available on campus.

Rising juniors have already begun dropping into General Selection, too—a recently passing group of four, unable to get suites in Claremont or Hogan, is now keeping its fingers crossed for Broadway, where the rising juniors with the best numbers will snag singles.

In the spirit of the times, another rising junior who recently scored a Claremont 3-person suite with his friends changed the iPod from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools,” perhaps an ode to the chain of unlucky rising juniors who will soon find their hopes of Woodbridge dashed.

Chain chain chaaaaaaaaaaaaaain.

Woodbridge seems to be running down to the last available suites in the G, D, and I lines, although Housing hasn’t updated the whiteboard since 12:45. We’ll update with numbers when we get them.

In the meantime, in one corner of the room, Housing employee Christopher, bearer of soda and potato chips, is scooping extra ice out of a cooler to free up space. “Let everybody know there are more drinks ready,” he tells The Shaft. The Shaft, judging by the several six-packs of soda and iced tea currently being placed in said cooler, has decided that Christopher is indeed a man of his word.

In another corner, Spec campus news editor Jacob Schneider is anxiously awaiting his turn to pick into what he hopes will be one of the last Woodbridge suites. Jake’s foot is tapping a mile a minute, and in a few minutes we’ll know if he and his potential suitemate have emerged victorious. “Think happy thoughts,” he tells The Shaft. Also worth noting: We are now slightly below lottery number 1000 for 20-point groups, and 3 Ruggles suites have already been taken. This year’s big question was whether the renovations to that dorm would make it more popular among upperclassmen, and so far, it seems that a few rising-junior groups with excellent numbers have already opted for the 8-person suites.

Third corner: “Stuck on You” suddenly popped up on the Housing iPod, coming after more upbeat selections such as “Love Shack” and “Take On Me.” The Shaft, eager to not kill the mood, has taken the liberty of changing to the “Pub Crawl” mix, which inexplicably begins with the decidedly non-pub-crawling Beastie Boys.

Fourth corner: A grey-haired, middle-aged woman with a white nametag on walks into the room. Perhaps the mother of a prospie? Either way, she took about 20 seconds to look at the room bemusedly, shrugged her shoulders, and left.

The room is pretty quiet right now, but Housing hasn’t updated the board in awhile. The Shaft predicts that Woodbridge will be taken very soon, if it hasn’t been already…so keep an eye out for more updates soon.

A lucky group consisting of two brothers–a rising senior and a rising sophomore–with the number 513 just snagged the last Watt 1-bedroom, which is located on the second floor.

There are still 34 studio doubles left, not to mention lots of Woodbridge doubles.

The Shaft did not realize that there are no appoint times between 12:30 and 1:30 every day for lunch.  Right now, there are only two students here, both of whom are reading for class while listening to the Lauryn Hill album playing from Housing’s speakers.  The Shaft is considering a short nap in this bean bag chair.

More substantive updates to come after appoints resume.

The shaft is listening in on some pretty intense debates between lucky juniors who have the luxury of choosing between three different lines in Woodbridge. For those of you who haven’t spent hours poring over the floor plans, a quick rundown:

D is the only low-demand double in Woodbridge that does not have a walk-through bathroom (i.e., the bathroom isn’t inside the smaller room), so if your roommate has a significant other or you’re a light sleeper, you might be attracted to D for this reason.

I is desirable because even though it’s a walk-through, it overlooks 115th Street and is NOT on the shaft like G and D are. While you might have to walk through your roommate’s room to use the toilet, you won’t have to contend with that annoying kid on the shaft who plays drums at 3 a.m. You’ll also get to experience a wonderful thing called “air circulation.”

G is the least desirable of all the Woodbridge lines: it’s on the shaft, and it’s a walk-through. It does, however, have a HUGE pantry in one of the nicest kitchens in the building (The Shaft has investigated). And honestly, you should just consider yourself lucky to be a junior living in Woodbridge in the first place—it’s worth the inconveniences of the G-line just to snag a spot in the dorm.

And speaking of Woodbridge, here’s what’s left:

-6 of the rooms in the D-line (including, mysteriously, the 7th floor)

-The I-line below the 6th floor.

-All of the G-line.