Some South Carolina Scenery....

Here are some pictures that I took while in South Carolina at the beginning of the summer. I have been able to enjoy some of the things I love after finishing my Masters degree at Auburn. Writing and photography are among those things. Here are some of the shots I took while down in South Carolina. All of the photographs are shot digitally with a Nikon D90. I used the following two lenses: AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED and AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR. I listed the technical information for those of you who might actually want to know if photography is one of your hobbies. I hope you enjoy! Comments are welcome!

I took this picture while walking out on a boardwalk at Litchfield Beach with my uncle. The butterflies were very beautiful!

I spent several investigating the islands near Beaufort. Among those islands are Fripp Island, Hunting Island, Lady’s Island, Paris Island (Marine Training Headquarters), and St. Helena Island. I took these pictures while out at Coffin Point. I met a really nice woman who let me photograph scenery from her property for a few hours. She was really nice!

I photographed this picture at Folly’s Beach just outside of Charleston. The son is standing by his father waiting for the catch of the day.

I took this again while spending some quality time with family in Litchfield Beach. The sky was obviously an amazing bright blue. It made for a very nice picture.

This picture illustrates a house known as The Castle in Beaufort, South Carolina. I tried to attain a unique perspective with the gate. The house is supposedly haunted by a dwarf ghost.

I took this picture while in Charleston, South Carolina. The unusual perspective and composition is part of a fence around a historical graveyard.

Copyright 2010 – James L. Cartee iii (JLC iii)

I Shall Miss My Friend

Claims that I persist in the doubts of my own intentions,

Months go by with thoughts in conflict I think you failed to mention.

Forwardness you respect in the pursuit of dreams but not in the communication of friendship.

You befriend too many people in what you protest becomes negative connotations

And then blame in a written letter what my lesson on life is with all your experience.

Your youth at best describes a neophyte’s interpretation to lecture things you throw away.

Caught in the brainwashing of a new significant presence in life you challenge old ways

You wanted space; so you took it as you have many things. I was fine with that,

But I was not acceptingly okay with you making this about me…

My ambitions, my forwardness, my personality because circumstantially it never is about me.

It was always only about you…the misinterpretations and the miscommunications.

You overanalyzed something that was nothing only to make drama over nothing that exists.

You dump friends because you have the luxury of friendship selection

Because you conjecture in your own mind that there were supposed deeper affections.

This accusation inconveniences my new call to honor this other supposed person

When with space everything you claim in its own lies grows to worsen.

After so much time I put efforts in only to have another person quit in the end.

In truth I only miss the person who was fun, jolly, and could keep secrets as my friend.

They disappeared into the African shadows of a mechanical flight that came to arrive

With the presence of a newfound love who knew would come to suggest and take

Everything in life that was good and now was considered to be a mistake.

Two years down the drain in the seriousness of what was really not that serious of a matter,

Changing as a victim from self-indulged crushes, I hope after you lost you still remain flattered.

James L. Cartee, 9/6/10

Days 19-21 – A Long Labored Weekend

This has been an interesting weekend because I went to the Toby Keith concert (Thursday with Dad and Uncle Ray), had Mom date night (Friday), went to see Auburn play against Arkansas State (Saturday), slept 16 hours (Sunday), and then caught up on writing/emails/contacts among many other things including some much needed time with God (Monday). When I was sleeping, I felt like I was in hibernation as a bear. I must really have been tired. Today has a random laundry list of to-do items….nothing really too exciting. The best thing is that I have made some time to write this blog entry among a few other new things.

When I first started thirty-two days of writing in my quest to find myself, I really started off hard staring at the computer way longer than I should have. I think I was writing like ten pages on average a day. It was going rather well, but I was getting burned out rather fast. Perhaps the most important thing I will take away from this Steeple Chase is that writing must not become your life. You must still live a life away from the keyboard. I would stay in my dark corner without much socialization besides occasionally seeing my parents every few hours and our wonderful little Boston Terrier King David.

As I continue my break or sabbatical from school or what most people have deemed as responsibility in general, I am learning more about myself and life that I did not take time to notice in graduate school. They had us busy with literature reviews and communicative theoretical concepts that no one has or ever will hear about unless you get a professional advanced degree in Communication. I think Communication can be summed up in two ways: 1.) You’re good at it, or 2.) You suck at it! Do not take offense to the later of the two. The good news is that communication is something you can improve upon. Heck, I studied the subject for two years, and a university gave me a paid-for degree for it.

This morning I really woke up with this feeling of helplessness. I am not referring to the help-me-God-because-I-am-about-to-die helplessness but rather that I am helpless without God. My dream of writing a book and touching lives means nothing without God. In fact, everything means nothing without God. So I woke up that thought fresh on my mind.

I feel like writing is a trudge-through process. You just have to keep going even if people say you are wasting your time. I do not wake up each day dying to get to my computer, but then again not a significant amount of people have taken interest in my writing. While that should not be my sole motivation, sometimes I have trouble just doing this to glorify God. I occasionally enjoy an encouraging comment of “Hey man, I read what you wrote, and I agree (or disagree) with what you said.” Sometimes you do not even care if the person likes what they read. You just want them to read.

So today has kind of been a mixed blend of emotions as I seek the next phase of life. I will finish this first book and hope to keep writing. I also can’t help but keep wondering about this writing thing especially when those I am around most don’t really seem to care one way or the other.

Day 17 and 18 – Eat, Pray, and Love….Some Afterthoughts

Tonight I went with my mother to eat dinner at a restaurant named Chuy’s (I highly recommend by the way.) and to see the new Julia Roberts’ flick, Eat, Pray, and Love. I have read the book and enjoyed it even though I did not completely agree with all her religious affiliations and thoughts. I do however find Elizabeth Gilbert’s approach to life reassuring. I find that I am often a free spirit compared to most friends and family. My unique taste for adventure is often seen as an excuse not to grow up or get a real job. I find it interesting that getting a car payment, mortgage, and steady job are what define individuals as people especially in the United States. Unless you do that people silently judge you for not doing that instantly within two weeks out of college or high school. In the book and movie, Elizabeth is asked to name a word that describes her as a person. Her first inclination is to answer “writer,” but she is quickly reprimanded being reminded that this is an occupation not a descriptor for someone’s inner personality.

I have been looked down upon for moving back in with my parents, even though I know several friends who still live with their parents. I have been looked down upon for wanting to travel, do mission work, or as I currently am writing a book. My behavior is often interpreted as irresponsible or I often hear, “You can do that as a part time job” in addition to your full time career. Remember responsibility is defined by having a twenty-five year career so you can retire in luxury only to pat yourself on the back at the end of the journey for what….for a job well done! Americans indulge in this idea of “I worked hard” so “I deserve this.” They often forget that God does not give because people deserve it. He gives because He loves.

I have enjoyed finishing my Master’s degree. I enjoyed going out to dinner with my mother tonight on a mother-son date night. I am enjoying my life, and as Elizabeth Gilbert spent a year of her life finding balance, I think there is something to be said for that.

I am young. I am single. And I do not have a mountain of debt that will take me three decades to pay off. I have freedom to do as I choose. And it just drives some people crazy.

It’s amazing how far some people come. They wake up one day old, gray-haired, and droopy to find themselves miserable in a lifetime’s worth of worries and working for an end all-be all retirement plan. They get divorced. They may end up alone....I wonder honestly all for what? To have no memories….to die alone….or to make everyone else miserable around them.

I respect what Gilbert did. She said enough is enough and took time to enjoy her life without feeling guilty about it. I do not believe God intended for us to feel guilty about enjoying his creation….serious about a career or not. You know what….I am going to the Auburn football game tomorrow to spend some much treasured time with my friends. I am going to spend the next two weeks diving into church life and writing. Then I am going backpacking for five days in the Smoky Mountains. It is not a year in Italy, India, and Indonesia, but I still understand the concept of taking time to enjoy my life with God and not feeling guilty about it. But apparently people get angry when that is not considered taking life seriously. Or perhaps I take life more seriously because I take time to enjoy it. I guess it just depends on how you look at it.

Day 16 – Switch It Up!

Tonight I volunteered with our youth ministry at Church of the Highlands, which is called Switch, and this evening was the first service in their new youth wing. The building and the technology is really a blessing from the Lord. Highlands has it really good! I have been trying to get plugged in more since I have been home. Sometimes people feel disconnected from church communities because they never try to connect. That has often been the case in my life as I love to church hop, place to place, really never calling anywhere home. Mark Pettus delivered a rocking message! I felt like I was in a locker room before a big football game, like Rudy was about to come out through the tunnel at Notre Dame University. Then of course I got to sack the quarterback as well. Like a good Auburn football game, I enjoyed the ministry experience.

I slept a good bit today. I have found myself rather tired the last few days, not down just tired. God has been teaching me to rely on Him 100%, completely. I think as Christians, at least I myself, tend to try and control everything. Sometimes all you can do is book a plane ticket and fly to where God might be calling you. It is like Shane Claiborne’s experience with Mother Teresa. He somehow was able to get the saint on the phone with a number he got from a random Catholic church. When he realized it was her, he asked what he was going to do. Where would they stay? She just told him to come. I think the Lord would like us to take the same attitude. Come in the moment as you are. Live in the moment as you are. God will take care of the future moments if you just take care of the present moments.

The message tonight was about seizing the moment. It reminded of that time when I saw Eminem blow Pop-A-Doc away in the final battle of the movie 8 Mile. At least in the movie’s depiction, it appears that Eminem did not have an easy road to success but none of us do most of the time. Those who encounter “luck” are one in like five million or some crazy stat like that I heard John Maxwell say one time. Here is the theme living as a faith-walker: Do not settle on being average. Be great! Do not take the easy way out, sitting down to watch your favorite television program every single night and then going to bed to get up the next day only to be a couch potato again the very next day. As the Passion conferences impel, do something now! Maybe I am not changing the world just yet with my writing, but at least I choose to stay the course. I write on this blog on almost a daily basis whether anyone reads it or not because I believe one day thousands of people will. I do not say this to sound arrogant but rather instead to show how God works through me. I have a story that will educate, inspire, and encourage others with similar struggles. While at one time, I might have thought my life was ending. Tonight I was reminded that even at twenty-eight years of age my life is just beginning. God created a great masterpiece in all of us. Do you choose to paint the canvas or would you rather just stare at it?