Jasper Slapped: January 2011

January 18, 2011

Food, Fun, and Armed Robbers

Such an interesting end to a great weekend here on Baylor campus.

Around 11:15 as I'm stepping off the elliptical to leave the SLC my phone rings. It's a 254 number I don't recognize so I don't answer it. I go to the bathroom, my phone alerts me that I have a voicemail, I then get a text. As I'm walking toward the door I check my phone and see a message that says "Two black males, 1 wearing a black shirt & 1 wearing a white shirt, armed and thought to be on campus. Please remain inside until further notice" (voicemail said the same thing).
So naturally I turn around and head toward the computers in the SLC planning to hang out and see if an announcement is made. About 10 minutes later an announcement is made to stay inside the SLC and employees start locking the doors. No other announcements are made, but through others at the SLC we learn that the two men were spotted by memorial and that there are a ton of police cars all over that side of campus. At midnight the SLC closes and the lights go out. We are once again advised to stay in the building. However, a large group of guys announces that they are leaving and a few ask me and the one other girl in the SLC if we want them to walk us to our cars. I say yes, because I live way off campus and can get home without driving on campus, plus I'd rather be at home than on campus with no information about what is happening or where the suspects are worrying that they may walk through the doors.
As a group we all head outside, running to our cars and jumping in once we hit the small parking lot by the SLC. I did make it home fine, the whole time hoping that the armed men weren't looking for a getaway car! We just now (at 12:45) got the official all clear, a little while ago it was announced that the men were arrested outside of Penland.
News Story: http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/UPDATE_Officers_in_Manhunt_for_Suspected_Robbers_of_Local_Stores.html

And now, on a happier note, the good part of the weekend in pictures!
Saturday Morning I headed to Austin, battling the rain and traffic to visit Ryan and his family for the rest of the weekend! Saturday it was really rainy but we went to The Domain, B&N, ate dinner at Pluckers, and enjoyed wandering around 6th Street.

Sunday lunch at Iguana Grill on the lake. Very yummy Mexican food!

At the Oasis on the lake. We had a really good berry sundae desert here!

View from the Oasis, there are some insanely massive houses out there!

After lunch we visited the Capitol building where they were setting up for the inauguration.

Ryan and the picture of the Tx president who chartered Baylor

Looking down onto the floor, later we were under the floor in the basement!

Unfortunately the Senate and House were closed so we couldn't go in there.

The dome!

Back of the capitol. It looks white, but really it's very pink!

Capitol building at night

We ended Sunday night with delicious white pizza at Home Slice and Mission Impossible.

Sunday afternoon we set out for lunch and adventure!

After crossing the river we saw a place to pull off where you could hike.

This is the awesome view from a cliff we hiked up!

Me and Ryan on the rocks

What a good way to work up an appetite!

For lunch we went to this really good burger place called Shady Grove.

Then I headed back to Waco

January 14, 2011

Last first week of school

Is over! And it went pretty well although I do feel like senioritis is setting in.
This semester I don't have any Friday classes, which is really cool, but also weird. I feel like I need more to do, which I probably won't be saying in a few weeks when I have tests to study for, papers to write and SING practice to go to. Anyway, I'm only taking four classes, only one of which is on M/W. So I guess that gives me lots of time to look for a job. Haha.
I did get all my graduate school applications in the mail this week. It's really nice not to have those to worry about anymore. I also applied for a paid summer internship, because it sounded really interesting, it's full time, paid and if I can't find a job or decide on grad school it would be something to do this summer. I'm not really sure what the internship entails, but it's with a collegiate greek life company that puts out a magazine, directory, discount cards for local businesses and has an online community to connect greeks all over the country. It's a marketing/sales internship, but it sounded interesting and I suppose I'll find out more during my phone interview next week. That's basically it for the job front, not much is posted on the Baylor job listings yet, and nothing I qualify for is on USA jobs in Tx right now but I'll keep looking.
I guess now it's time to describe my classes for anyone out there who is interested.
1.Violence in the American Screen: So far, really interesting. It's weird not having a film background and being in this class because I don't understand everything being discussed (like specific people, editing and shooting techniques). But we have screenings every week, and the books for the class seem interesting. Plus I like movies.
2. Theories in Psychotherapy and Counseling: Sounds more interesting than it is so far. First, I'm not a huge fan of the professor, and her complete lack of knowledge on how to use the electronics in the class room is annoying. Maybe it will get more interesting, I think it might solidify my thoughts that I shouldn't go into private practice counseling later in life.
3. Forensic Science: love, love, love it! Obviously a topic I'm interested in, I'm just sad I didn't have a forensics minor and that I'm graduating and can't take classes like "Blood Spatter" and "Crime Scene Photography" because lets be honest, this is a field I could see myself working in. It's a freshman level class (easy, hopefully!) and the professor is really young and cool, plus the stuff we talk about is interesting.
4. History of Texas: Not looking forward to the 20+ page research paper, but other than that seems interesting. When one of the textbooks is called Lust, Violence, Religion you know the class is going to be interesting. Plus I like Texas, and Baylor has the Texas Collection on campus which means primary source documents and really old maps and stuff we can use. We get to wear gloves too, which makes me feel cool.

Well that's about it for my first week. I'm off to paint a backdrop!

January 02, 2011

Happy New Year!

Another year has come and gone, and Christmas break with it. Since I'm not one for resolutions I didn't actually make any, except to find a job and have my own apartment. Anyway, since I last posted finals ended and I went home for Christmas break.
Highlights of my break:
-Work: I went back to Studio for the last time this break. Although I love the people I work with, and It's been a fun job I'm glad to be done working there, and ready for a real job!
-Zoo: This break I had multiple zoo days! The second one I'll get to later. Traditional zoo day with Kevin and Jason was awesome. I made friends with an otter, saw Toby, and visited the new African forest! It was awesome, we got stuffed otters and red pandas as souvenirs and ended the day with Chilis.
- Movies: As usual I saw quite a few. Tron, How do you Know, Black Swan, True Grit, Tangled. I think that's it.
- Ryan's visit: Ryan came down from Austin for the Texas Bowl and for New Years.
- Texas Bowl: Was fun, despite the rain and the loss.
- Howl: Ryan and I met Jason and Matt there after the game, and as always it was a good time. We also went to Howl for New Years Eve which was a blast!
- Feeding Giraffes: On zoo day number two Ryan and I got to feed the giraffes! For $5 you can have three big pieces of lettuce and feed the giraffes in the new African forest. It was really cool to get that close to the animals.

So it's been a pretty good break. Tomorrow is my last day in Houston and then I'm headed back to Waco for recruitment and classes start back the 10th!