College is hard

I knew that college was going to be hard. But I had absolutely no idea how hard it really would be. the first few weeks were such a blast! Staying up late, doing little homework, having such a grand time. It isn't that way anymore. I have never felt more alone and on my own than I do now. I forgot how hard it is to make lasting friendships. I never knew what it was like to be without family. I have never done so much homework in one day than I have had to do here. I am quickly learning that life really isn't a fairy tale and that I need to wake up and face the real day.
Homework really sucks. Especially when I have no idea how to do it. And I don't know who to go to for help. It feels like I am alone in a huge, new world. I feel so lost.
I guess all I can do is plaster a smile on my face and pretend to know what I am doing.

Quote to live by

Today is the best day of my LIFE

Rhetoric! Ah!

So I was looking online for a good example of a rhetorical tool. One that struck me as really funny was a bumper sticker.
This sticker is a good example of rhetoric because it is an adertisement for a certain website, but it makes you want to visit it because on the side in huge letters it says GET HIGH. While the sticker is actually talking about climbing it has implications to other things as well. The statement Get High could refer to a substance high, but it can also refer to a happy high. When you are having so much fun, you can feel 'high on life', if you will. You feel like everything is going your way. Who wouldn't want to feel high? I think this is very much an appeal to pathos.

College is a blast!

I have been having the most amazing time being a freshman! It was hard to leave my seniority behind, and adopt the title of freshman once again. But I've discovered that it isn't near as bad as I thought it was going to be. True, I should probably study and exercise more, and play and eat less. But that is totally half the fun!
I've learned many things since I've been here:
~Volleyball is funnest when the ball gets stuck in trees
~Going to bed at two might not be the smartest thing when you have to wake up at 8 for chemistry the next morning.
~Fuze and Sparkling cider have an intoxicating effect on you.
~Movies are more fun when there are twelve people crammed on your couch
~A dance party can be cool even if there are only two of you
~Late-night walks should be avoided
~Running through sprinklers in the middle of the night is very cold, but way super fun
~Ice cream, pickles and yogurt don't count as a healthy meal
~It is way fun to sit outside on a blanket and 'do homework' (we actually just were watching boys walk by)
~It is more fun to hang out with a bunch of rowdy guys than a group of competitive girls
~Alone time can be beneficial
~Attracting fruitflies is harder than expected
~Provo is a bubble
~Tunnle singing is the BEST
~Chemistry is HARD

Boys are dumb

Boys are dumb. I used to like them a lot. They used to be fun to look at, to talk to, to tease, to flirt with, to be friends with. You get the drift. But now they are just dumb. Well Actually, I still like boys. But they are confusing little creatures. I don't even know where to begin with this topic!
Why do they do what they do? What compels them to say what they say? Why do they have to be so cute? Why do they have to act so incredibly stupid? Why do they think it's cool to be a jerk? I realize I may be generalizing quite a bit, but I am seriously wondering these questions.
So, what defines a cute boy? A dumb one?

Cute: (doesn't usually happen this way ;))
~He seems a little tough on the outside, but you get to know him and he’s really a sensitive guy.
~He is musically talented. What girl does not dream of a guy who can sing or play guitar?
~He dresses pretty nice. Not too nice. It can be kinda cute when I guy sorta tries, but fails to match his clothes.
~He opens the door for you.
~He tells you you’re beautiful, even you’re just really good friends. And he means it.
~He takes 5 minutes to fix his hair. Not more. Not less.
~He respects you for you.
~He teases you, but knows where to draw the line.
~When he’s with your friends and you, he acts the same as when you are alone.
~He makes inside jokes with you.
~He tells you his secrets.

Dumb:
~He won’t open up to you and show you his soft side.
~He pretends he is too cool for anything.
~He spends more time getting ready for the day than I do.
~He tells you you’re beautiful and act like you’re the only one, then the next day you see him do the same thing to your best friend.
~He is super mean to you and you have absolutely no idea why.
~He talks to you one day, then ignores you the next.
~He is a total slob.
~He expects you to do everything.

Probably more on this subject to come...

Politics... Blech.

One thing I strongly dislike is politics. Just the word 'politics' gives me the shivers. I do not like how the presidential candidates treat each other, nor do I like to see the country so divided in something so important as the next president.
I read an article online today, about how the whole presidential campaign between Obama and McCain has been degenerating. They are always telling lies about each other. They try to find the worse in each other and emphasize that. They try to make big deals over the tiniest thing, and leave many more important things unsaid. The article says: "There are real issues in this campaign, some of which don't get talked about much, such as the coming entitlements crisis, and some of which get addressed in ludicrous terms, such as the energy crisis and Obama saying he can make us energy independent in 10 years. That's an impossibility short of miracle discoveries no one can now foresee." I think the candidates should get over themselves and start doing what they are supposed to. I don’t even know who I am going to vote for. I guess this is something I should really look into. I really just don’t like either Obama or McCain. McCain is too old, and Obama is too democratic.

Happiness is...

Happiness is love.
Happiness is music.
Happiness is a friend. A mother. A sister.
Happiness is finding love for an enemy.
Happiness is nurturing others.
Happiness is listening to others
Happiness is serving others.
Happiness is noticing others.
Happiness is appreciating, lifting up, and helping others.
Happiness is a well-timed word.
Happiness is love.

Sadness is hate.
Sadness is silence.
Sadness is a betrayal. A break-up. A mistrust.
Sadness is indifference.
Sadness is keeping to yourself.
Sadness is turning someone down.
Sadness is selfishness
Sadness is blindness
Sadness is depracating, putting down, and punishing others.
Sadness is biting word.
Sadness is hate.

Happiness is way more fun than sadness. Writing down the characteristics of both, I realize that there is absolutely no comparison between happiness and sadness. Happiness is something that is often hard for me to find, yet it is something that I am constantly striving to find. I find that it is so much easier to wake up in the morning telling myself that that today will be the best day of my life. It is so much easier to wake up at 6:30 in the morning and be grumpy all day. But it isn't worth it. When I am feeling sad, or down. I need to write down what it is to be happy, and what it is to be sad. If I decide I want to be happy, all I need to do is help someone. Do a little service. Listen to good music. Or even just tell someone that I love them.

Moral of the story: Tell yourself that today is going to be the best day of your life. It makes every difference in the world!

Music 1

Like I said in my first post, I am very passionate about music. I love to sing. I often break out into random bursts of song. I like to sing in the shower, while I am cleaning, while I am doing homework, when I am bored, when I am shopping. Pretty much all the time. I love singing in small groups, and I think it would be way fun to get a group together and just sing around a piano somewhere.

I started taking piano lessons when I was 6 years old. I only took them for a few years, but I continue to teach myself songs. I started taking band in the sixth grade. I was the second chair clarinet that year. I decided I wanted to take up the clarinet because both my mom and my grandma played clarinet in high school. I even used the same exact instrument they used. I took band off and on since then. I love being a part of band, participating in making a beautiful noise.

More than band, I enjoyed choir. I decided to try out for philharmonic choir (girls had to audition, boys did not) my sophomore year. I had fun singing as a second soprano. The next two years I advanced into the top choirs. I met two of my best friends in choir, and we had so much fun singing together and goofing off together. Junior year, we went as a choir to San Francisco, and I had perhaps the most fun of my life there.

This first semester I am in University Chorale, and it is such a blast!

5 Topics

~The deer problem in Helena
~Brucellosis in MT cattle
~The Casino problem in MT
~Helmet laws in UT
~Going Green

The deer in Helena are beginning to pose a problem to many people and families in town. They eat gardens, lawns, and flower beds, and their waste is hard to get rid of. There have been many problems with deer crossing the roads in town and being hit, harming themselves as well as the drivers that hit them. There has been much debate on the subject of trying to fix these many problems. Many people want to eliminate all the deer in the area. This would, however be quite hard to do, since some deer migrate, and there would always deer coming back to the area. Another option would be just to eliminate a certain amount of deer. This wouldn’t completely eradicate the problem either, but it would help control the deer, and there wouldn’t be as many problems. It would be a lot less of a hassle than trying to eliminate all of them. There has also been controversy over how the deer should be eliminated, and how many should be killed, and who should be allowed to shoot them.

First Blog Post Ever

Well, I never imagined I would be here, staring at a blog post, trying to think of some interesting thing to blog about. Yet, here I am, trying to complete an English 150 class assignment. Not thinking of anything cool. So. I'll start at the basics. I am Mallory, a freshman at BYU. My passion is in music, I especially love to sing. My favorite color is purple, but I also really like pink. I am a fan of rainbowy, sparkly, and shiny things. I like to read Harry Potter. I am a facebook addict. There are 8 people in my family, and I am the oldest of 6 kids. I have 4 younger sisters and 1 younger brother. My dog's name is Lucy. I love to paint my nails random colors. I am a little loud sometimes. When I was a little girl, I had so much fun playing with my little sisters. We would play with barbies, we would color together, we would play doctor, veterinarian, house, princess, horses and many other fun things. I tend to eat a lot of junk food. My favorite kind of candy is Twizzlers, but I like pretty much all candy. And I cannot possibly think of anything else that would benefit anyone if they knew. So enjoy my first blog post ever.