Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Well that happened #8: My School Shuts Down for 1 Hour

DISCLAIMER: The things I say in the stories I'm about to tell are all from what I have experienced, felt, or heard. For more accurrate information, I will supply links to news coverage so I don't put any false information here. Ok thanks.

Yesterday ( Tuesday for me), I went to school like a normal day-- well normal for this summer, since I'm taking summer classes. (For some reason, I thought there would be no greater time than taking 2 extremely advanced math classes and a government course?? Yeah, great idea, me...)
Anyways, so I went to school, and I could kinda tell it was going to be a weird day. For one, I'd been sick over the weekend, and I still felt a bit under the weather, ya know? With the sore throat and the headache still following me wherever I went. Also, it didn't help that I hadn't understood how to do HALF of the linear algebra homework from this week so I didn't finish and IT WAS ALSO DUE THAT DAY.... but I digress

So. As I've said 3 times now, I WENT TO SCHOOL. Government went by fine, and by fine I mean I just kinda daydreamed my way through the class, took a pop quiz, and left. I left the classroom only to find that it had started raining heavily outside, and- not wanting to get drenched- I found a cozy nook in the science building at my school and started figuring out the homework. On my way to this cozy nook, I saw these two police guys, you know, just casually roaming the school. I figured they were just two buddy school security guys just doing their jobs. Then while I was sitting doing my homework, they passed by my spot, talking in low voices, and my spot wasn't exactly close to where I'd spotted them in the first place, so I was a bit like "wow what a coincidence." But I kept doing my homework, but I also started imagining things... Like "What if they think I'm a criminal... What if they suspect me of hiding something? OOOOO AM I AND UNDERCOVER SPY??" stuff like that.

So a while goes by, and the SAME POLICE DUDES walk by me a THIRD time. My brain then went crazy coming up with wild stories to fit my situation. It also didn't help that the rain hadn't really let up, and it was about time for me to go to my linear algebra class. While I was packing up, I got a text from my school's emergency notifications system telling me to leave all buildings and to avoid parking structures. At first I thought that maybe there was a flash flood warning or something, or maybe the weather was getting bad.... but then I came to my senses and realized that if weather WAS getting bad, they would not be sending texts warning people to leave the safety of a building. So, I was utterly confused, but since I didn't really know what was happening, I figured I'd go to my class and see if anyone knew anything there.

Then, just as I was about to leave, my friend Destiny walked by, and we were both suprised to see each other, since neither of us were usually in that part of campus. I asked her if she got the text about the evacuation, but she didn't know what it was about either. So then I figured I'd continue with my plan and go to class to ask the teacher.
I started walking down the walkway by the student union, and somehow by some sort of miracle, met my professor walking the same way, so I asked "do you know what's going on?" He also didn't know. Secretly I'd hoped he'd give me some direction such as "oh you should evacuate and go home" or even "lets go to class anyway", but no such luck, he just told me that his email was down so he was confused and that he was extremely confused. He explained his woes about how he couldn't send or recieve emails, and how he'd contacted the help desk, who then directed him to HR, who then directed him to an office, who then.... Well you get the idea. We walked and talked, until we reached a crowd of people out side the student services building, when an official looking lady came out and said "Everyone needs to leave. Get off campus and go home."

So, then my professor and I walked and then parted ways, and I found my friend Destiny again, and asked if she wanted to come home with me since I'd gotten the idea that something dangerous was going on. I'd heard the words "bomb threat" somewhere, and was eager to leave in case anything bad happened.
Her and I walked to my car, and we drove to my house. The traffic out of school was absolutely terrible. It was slow and it was still raining. While I drove Destiny looked up news, and apparently there WAS a bomb threat and we even saw a news helecopter over the school.

THEN, would you believe it, halfway home, everyone got a text saying "All clear, please resume normal activity." Turns out, as Destiny later told me, the bomb threat was a HOAX??
I was having a bad day though, so I just continued driving, and went all the way home. I thought- screw it my homework is in pretty bad shape, I'm having a terrible stressful day, I'm gonna go home. Besides, there'd been a bomb threat for a little, so no one could blame me if I didn't go to class or take my quiz, or turn in my homework.

Destiny and I arrived to my house, and I settled in -snacks and all- and prepared for an afternoon of studying for an exam I had the next day. Then right when I was about to begin, I got an email from the professor saying that class was still gonna continue and that problem session would also not be cancelled.

I just about cried then. I didn't want to go back, I didn't want to sit for two hours doing straight math, then take a quiz. I just didn't. But, there'd been an email, so no excuse. So I made my way back to school completely dejected.

Well guys. That was my day. I got my grades back-- 21/40 pts on my homework and a 19/20 on my quiz. Quiz.... Welll Ok. Homework? RIP.

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QUICK PSA:

I've decided that I've outgrown this blog. I am currently working on constructing a new one somewhere else. I'm thinking I want to dedicate it to what I think is my new and improved aesthetic (emphasis on I think...). Also, I'm trying to organize and be more what I want my ideal person to be. Maybe a little TMI, but I have hopes for the future, especially this coming fall semester.

So, yes, look for a post in the future redirecting you to my new space. It might be soon, it might be in a year- with my procrastination...who knows. YOU WILL IF YOU UH CHECK HERE ONCE IN A WHILE ;) ;)

I love you guys very very much (the maybe like 2 of you who read these...)

Alexis

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Links for news stories:
http://www.wfaa.com/news/ut-dallas-bomb-threat-was-a-hoax/452505230
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2017/06/27/ut-dallas-campus-evacuated-bomb-threat
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2017-06-27/university-of-texas-at-dallas-orders-evacuation-after-bomb-threat