7:23PM, Murray Hill, Manhattan Just got back from ~1.5 hours outside. Walked to different places looking for places to loot. Didn’t find any. Talked about feeling “depression on the inside” that I wanted to make go away. I’m currently committed to looting tonight. Brooklyn-based poet Matthew Rohrer wrote “If you loot, I’ll do it to” on my Facebook wall on a post saying I was going to loot tonight. My idea is to throw a brick, then a metal trash-can, then the 3rd person runs in to get the Xanax, Adderall, etc. There seemed to be much less people outside than normal, but everyone outside seemed happy and calm, I think. More people were walking their dogs than I would have expected. Gristedes on Murray Hill closed at 6PM. Whole Foods was closed. Restaurants were open. Liquor stores were closed. Tree branches were down sometimes. (Tao)

7:15PM North Williamsburg, Brooklyn Oh shit.

Here’s a story at Business Insider about this. (Reader submission — Rion Harmon)

7:11PM Durham, North Carolina Thank you Sandy, for just being rainy and cold and miserable here at Duke University. No big, exciting, apocalyptic things happening here, so we’re all in the library slaving over the papers due in class tomorrow, all the while wishing we had gone to Yale. (Reader submission — Emma Smith)

7:07PM, Washington Heights, Manhattan We’re fucking bored. We’ve been waiting for something to happen all day and NOTHING. Resorted to making legit apple cider (with cinnamon sticks and everything) and pouring copious amounts of whiskey in it. As an apartment full of Midwesterners, this is a sacred ritual often associated with the onset of Blizzards and Tornadoes that we are re-appropriating to our new regional natural disaster, Hurricanes. Burning our good luck candles with the divine hope that we don’t run out of booze before all this ends. (Reader submission — Lauren)

7:01PM, South Williamsburg, Brooklyn We’ve [the Thought Catalog staff] been working really hard today preparing for a worst-case scenario in which we lose power/ internet/ our lives/ etc. and I’m like, really exhausted and cranky and have turned to wine and downloading torrents to make it all better, and in the interim, while waiting for Homeland to download, I read on Twitter something about a building collapsing on 8th avenue and was like …jesus… so I looked for the source of this catastrophe and it turns out the source is this indecipherable emergency website that looks to have been designed in maybe… 1992… and is probably the last place on earth or hell that I’d look to for help during an emergency. Photo below. (Stephanie)

7:00PM, North Williamsburg, Brooklyn It doesn’t sound like I’m at the beach and waves are crashing on me anymore, it sounds like some annoying person is repeatedly spinning a rope above their head really fast, making that ‘whurring’ sound.

3 fire trucks just drove by.

The tree out front of my apartment is getting worse. It’s swaying so much that If i stand on the sidewalk when a gust comes it lifts me up about .5 inches. I’ve showed this to the roommates and had them try it out like it was an amusement park ride to great acclaim. I wish I could invite you all over to do this with me.

As a precaution I’ve moved my bed to the farthest point from the window/tree. I don’t want to die in my sleep because a tree fell on me and I’ll be surprised if the tree doesn’t come falling down by morning.

A few times now I’ve tried ‘eyeing’ the distance to see if it would still kill me if it fell, and I think my new bed location is still within ‘striking distance.’ I’m just hoping the house will absorb most of the blow if it comes falling into it, if it doesn’t fall away from the house (which I suspect via the root system, etc).

The Domino’s was mad good. Still feeling really positively toward the delivery driver. Hope he is ok and home safe by now. (Reader submission — Rion Harmon)

6:55PM, Upper West Side, Manhattan Darkness falls upon the Upper West Side at 6:50, the wind is howling at the full moon, setting the stage for Frankenstorm to romp all over Manhattan just like King Kong. Diva Sandy is strutting up Broadway as we speak and I know this because of the trumpeting of car alarms announcing her way. Don’t worry family and friends, we’ve got our walkies so we can communicate with each other down the block! If you’re in a 30 mile radius tune in to channel 2 to join in on our sarcastic commentary for as long as our AAA batteries last. Which might not be much longer because we’ve been like little kids in a tree house Roger’ing and 10-4’ing before the first car alarm went off. Fuck, we should’ve prepared better and gotten more batteries. Over and Out. (Reader submission — Michelle and Tiff)

6:44PM West Village, Manhattan Been hibernating all day, finally decided the dog needed to pee and my boyfriend and I needed some air. It had gotten stuffy inside from my furious all day bakeathon. Curiosity got the best of us so we wandered over to the Hudson River. No, we were not original in our idea, there were 15 or so other people out there. Water is coming up and over the side of the park, flooding the walkway. The path almost looks like the shores of a beach, with waves crashing onto it. Piers aren’t underwater yet, but look like they might be soon. Attached is the evidence. Oh and not to worry, the Freedom Tower is still standing, you can see it shining bright from the West Side Highway. (Reader submission — Kelsey Hendrickson)

6:42PM North Williamsburg, Brooklyn First photo was taken at 7:47PM last night. Second photo was taken at 5:20PM today. Water is definitely rising. Does not seem all that dramatic though. At this point, water seems to be rising very slowly. (Chris)

6:35PM East Williamsburg, Brooklyn ON 2ND BEER AND TYPING IN CAPS. WINDY AS HELL OUTSIDE! WON’T BE SURPRISED IF I LOSE INTERNET, BUT I HAVE A 4G INTERNET STICK THAT’S AMAZINGLY SLOW IF THAT HAPPENS SO THIS LIVEBLOG WILL CONTINUE! I’M IN MY NEW APARTMENT WHICH IS BEING RENOVATED SO ALL MY FURNITURE IS UNDER PLASTIC AND I’M SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF MY BEDROOM WITH JUST THE BED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL ALONE. THE WIND IS HOWLING! I’M LIVEBLOGGING! (BRANDON)

6:32PM Richmond, Virginia Nothing has happened all day. Been inside. Just went to get some ice cream, seems OK out. It’s a little windy and it’s drizzling some, but nothing to be too worried about yet. I did get several emails and calls from the Yale Alert system though, telling me that the University was cancelling classes today and tomorrow, and Yale NEVER cancels class. Also there’s a campus-wide curfew starting at 5:30. Do not go outside the University is telling people. I hope the flooding in New Haven isn’t too bad, since it’s right on the waterfront. (Madison)

6:24PM, Mount Olive, NJ Siding is ripping off of neighbor’s house. Dad and brother ran across the street to help them. Not sure how they are helping, they’re just sort of looking at it.

Dogs are crying and Mom is taking pictures and answering panicked phone calls.

Governor Christie is on the news saying hes disappointed in people for not listening to him and staying in dangerous places. (Reader submission — Maggie Lee)

6:22PM, 5th Avenue, Manhattan Most Luxury Fashion stores have been closed since yesterday 4pm. It’s interesting to see how Saks Fifth Avenue is the only store that has protected all windows with plywood sheets, other American stores have placed sandbags on doors, Juicy Couture being the one with most protection and therefore more funny tourist photos. Of course Italian or Spanish stores have no protection and lights still on -says a Spaniard-. On another note, the few open restaurants, which happen to be pubs, have “Call Me Maybe” or “Rayos de Sol” blasting. Is Jersey Shore on tv tonight? (Reader submission — Mar)

6:20PM, Union Square, Manhattan Union Square (50 minutes ago). (Tao)

6:11PM, Midtown, Manhattan Mid town, view from my living room… (Reader submission — Sagar Mulay)

5:56PM, North Williamsburg, Brooklyn This post goes out to the unsung heroes of Hurricane Sandy. From the emergency responders to the people on the street (and over at Domino’s) still delivering pizza to it’s customers despite the dangers.

It started out as a joke that I never thought would happen. What if we could order a pizza in this hurricane? Of all places, Brooklyn would be the one place where it would work. You can order almost everything here, why not Domino’s and why not now? Was Domino’s really going to deliver us a pizza in a hurricane with winds over 40mph? That seems insane.

After I submitted my order I waited, and waited. The Domino’s Pizza Tracker didn’t move. It just said that I had submitted an order (it still does, see screen shot) and never showed it being made by anyone and never said it was ‘out for delivery’. I figured it was a bust.

Until 15 minutes ago when a very sweet Domino’s delivery guy, who as you’ll see in the video seems almost happy to be delivering pizza to his customers during this historic ‘Frankenstorm’.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/52422105 w=584&h=390]

Thanks Dominos and thanks to our very special delivery guy. You are amazing. Stay safe out there. (Reader submission — Rion Harmon)

5:53PM, Allston, MA Weather.com said that there were going to be “Squalls.” So far we have been very disappointed. Not one Squall in sight. Almost as disappointing as the sporadic abundance of ponchos. I’m 80% sure a homeless guy was sitting outside of McD’s selling used ones to the poor sods whose umbrellas flew away. Unfortunately the poncho-clad civilians littering Comm Ave are continually blinded by the flaps of waterproof material floundering over their heads with every gust. Meanwhile, my boyfriend continues to say, “WTH: Where’s the hurricane?!” And shouting, “Sandy!” out the window like he’s Marlon Brando gone hipster or something. I’m watching Bob Ross painting videos and baking apples. (Reader submission — Chelsea Bergin)

5:17PM, Flatiron, Manhattan Pre-gaming looting at L’Express on 20th Street & Park Avenue (left to right): Mallory Whitten, Jordan Castro, Tao Lin, Katie DeMoss). (Tao)

5:01PM, North Williamsburg, Brooklyn 

Went to the Williamsburg waterfront again. Wind is so strong that at points, if you’re not careful, it will blow you over. No visibility. Waves are huge (for a river). We jumped all the fences. Cops were trying to evacuate everyone from hanging out there. Intercoms yelling stuff. Completely drenched. Wind was a lot of fun.

(Chris)

4:47PM, North Williamsburg, Brooklyn I went to the waterfront. The wind almost knocked me over. It was like I had a friend almost. Pic taken 45 minutes ago. (Reader submission — Kyle)

4:41PM, Indiana Cornfields appear to be under little to no threat of destruction in Indianapolis. In the meantime I’m becoming insanely and irrationally jealous of all the adventure and fun happening on the East coast. I’M JEALOUS OF NATURAL DISASTER. (Reader submission — Emily Mennel)

4:39PM, Upper West Side, Manhattan Expected to stay in NYC from Thursday Oct. 25 until Sunday night but will now be stuck here until Wednesday or Thursday due to Sandy. Debated driving back to Solon, Ohio around 12 pm today but didn’t because the weather was becoming increasingly windy and cold. Called my work and told them that I’m stuck and don’t know when I can return.Jordan Castro has a dead phone with no charger, and another one of my friend’s phones is broken. They are relying on my phone to keep in contact with their families back in Solon, Ohio. Wonder if the power will go out. I have been informed that trick or treating has been cancelled in Solon due to Sandy. Have gone to stores with friends two separate times for food and each time had eaten the food within 3 hours. Drug supply is currently dwindling. Have ~1 mg of Xanax and ~2 grams of marijuana. Am saving Xanax for when the storm is more intense. Walked to location on campus to smoke a blunt with Jordan Castro and others. Saw a small branch of a tree break off during a wind gust and fly into a picnic table. Saw a seemingly scared squirrel huddled on a tree branch. It is becoming increasingly harder to light cigarettes outside. Columbia University has cancelled class for Monday and Tuesday. Earlier asked a stranger on campus to show me what she bought for her food supply. It contained ramen noodles, chips and pudding. She said getting noodles was dumb because the power will likely go off. Current plan seems to shower then take a cab to endure Sandy with Tao and Katie. (Reader submission — Mallory Whitten)

4:34PM, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn About to open first Sweet Action. Chili is heating up. Starting to feel actually nervous with storm approaching so quickly. Just going to wait here and keep fielding these emails and updating. (Brandon)

4:28PM, Gramercy, Manhattan Gusts in Gramercy. (Tao)

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/52415860 w=584&h=390]

4:22PM, Armonk, NY Rules of current drinking game: Whenever anyone on the news says “hunker down,” drink. May the odds be ever in your favor for the Hunker Games. (Ella Ceron)

4:21PM, Washington DC Shirtless man in horse mask spotted jogging in Northwest DC. (Reader submission — Stephen Dodge)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTO_NsYkqOo&w=584&h=390%5D

4:19PM, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn Shit’s about to get real. Storm is 65 miles away from Atlantic City. (Brandon)

Hurricane #Sandy is 55 miles (90km) from Cape May, NJ & 65 miles (105 km) from Atlantic City, @nhc_atlantic says. LIVE bbc.in/TQy5SH — BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 29, 2012

4:06PM, Gramercy Park South, Manhattan (Tao)

4:02PM, South Williamsburg, Brooklyn After listening to the wind beat the roof above me, I’ve decided to flee my apartment and join some friends so I didn’t have to endure the storm alone. While walking down Havemayer with 40MPH gusts ripping my poncho off of my body, a friendly passerby invited me to his hurricane party down the street. Gotta love Williamsburg. My new view… wonder if these people are worried about their pool? (Reader submission — Lauren Bozarth)

It’s UNO time. (Reader submission — Lauren Bozarth) 3:59PM, Somewhere in ManhattanRoommate and I braved pre-storm weather to gather more supplies and ran into this. Also, our school shut down the elevator in our dorm and we had to walk up 13 flights of stairs with bags of groceries. Here’s a tree on 3rd Ave. (Reader submission — Evelyn Hernandez)

3:47PM, Murray Hill, ManhattanGristedes. 29th Street & 2nd Avenue. (Tao)

3:27PM, Philadelphia, PA The irony of the situation is that on Saturdays I have no problem staying inside and reading a book/watching tv all day. But now that there’s a hurricane and we’re forced to stay inside, I’m bored out of my mind. At least I have all the necessary makings for Alabama Slammers and its officially afternoon, so I can start on them… (Reader submission — Jillian Pekel)

3:20PM, North Williamsburg, Brooklyn These images from NASA show you just how huge this storm is going be. This is going be big. (Chris)

3:17PM, North Williamsburg, Brooklyn Operation Hurricane Sandy Pizza Tracker in full effect. Do us proud Domino’s! Let’s see if this actually happens. Updates soon. (Reader submission — Rion Harmon)