Contemplation & Cisterns.

On Life, Home, Choices And Other Things.

mkcallicutt — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:09:19 +0000

I was born in Morehead City, North Carolina. I’ve lived in North Carolina all my life so far, and I’m quite sure I’ll stay there for the rest, too. There is something about North Carolina that has always held it dear to my heart, and while I’ve visited other places for a short time, North Carolina always calls me back, and the situation of where I want to finish my education is no different. I just finished my application to North Carolina State University, and I’m contemplating where I stand in my life right now. Where do I want to go from here? I’ll start my answer to that question with this: where I’ve been. I’ve been a student at Emmanuel here in Georgia for a year and a half now, and after this spring semester, I will probably no longer be a student here. I still have family here, so it’s most definitely not as if I’ll never be back. There really is something about this place that has already carved it’s own little niche in my heart too. I know for a fact that I will never, ever forget the memories and friends that I have made here. But things are changing, yet that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m changing. Who I am, and what I believe needs to remain rooted in order for me to make this transition work. I’ve always held that living one’s own life on one’s own terms is paramount to maintaining true happiness. There will always be hard times, and there will always be good times, and to have a successful life, you have to know how to handle both. My personal saying on the matter is this: “You have to learn to love rainy days as much as the sunny ones, because the weather doesn’t change for anyone.” I’m finding that the weather is becoming more and more fickle every day, so maintaining my previous attitude is coming in handy. The whole point of this rambling is to say this: love your neighbor and love your life, even if both of those sometime make you want to put a hole in the wall. Life presents choices, forks in the road, whatever you like to call them, and you have to chose. In the words of a dutiful knight who watched over something where people made choices for thousands of years, “Choose wisely.”

-M

The End Draws Nigh

mkcallicutt — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:29:26 +0000

This is it. The end of the beginning. The start of the the finale.

Also known as exams, or finals, or hell for some.

This is the time of the year that every single student the world over dreads. Cramming, studying, stuffing as much knowledge into one’s head in as little amount of time possible is the goal of many students when this time comes around. I myself will most likely fall victim to this cycle, but I believe that there is something else about this exam cycle that’s going to be different.

I’m not sure how to put it exactly, but I have a confidence in me that can’t seem to be erased. Even if I fail my exams, I just know I’m going to give my best and that seems to comfort me. This is what I believe many students do not have when they enter finals time. Some do, others don’t. Where do I get this confidence? From myself of course! I don’t mean that in an immodest way. What I mean is if you have any faith in yourself at all, then from their confidence is easy to attain. Many people I know lack any kind of self confidence whatsoever. They treat their confidence like an awkwardly large purse or awkwardly heavy book bag, carrying it around embarrassingly, constantly making excuses for it and constantly shifting it from one side to the other.

This would be my advice for those who would like the same kind of confidence I have: what you need to do is relieve yourself of your stress. Go out! Have fun. Hit the driving range. Call a friend. Cook a meal. Watch a movie. Just take a minute, right now and think of something that always puts a smile on your face, and do it. After you’ve done whatever it is you wish, then just apply that to your exam! Imagine your exam is whatever it is you like to do, and then treat the exam just like that. That is the key to getting rid of bad self-confidence exam problems. I hope this helps someone out there!

-M

Society Today

mkcallicutt — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:32:53 +0000

We live in a box our whole life, waiting for a sign or a miracle or some superhuman savior to come and make everything perfect, but none of these things ever happen. Before I go on, this is the reality that I want you to accept. That our lives will never change from an outside force, not in the truest sense. Only by changing our selves can we actually become what we were designed and meant to be. Some might be skeptical of what I’m saying as they read this. And that’s fine. They are like newborns, with eyes unused to the light that’s being let in for the first time. It takes a long time for a newborn to adjust. The reason why our society is how it is, is because humanity as a whole has forgotten common courtesy and disregarded righteousness as a “good trait” . Machiavelli figured this out a long time ago. That humankind as a whole are just a bunch of sniveling, cowardly, supposedly sane, and some times cruel beings at our very core. Don’t believe me? Ask a stranger off the street for 5$. See what excuses they’ll give just so they don’t have to give up a measly 5$ for a stranger. Machiavelli stated that the only two things that motivate men (speaking about both men and women) are greed and fear. Don’t believe him? Why do we go to school for 25 years of our pathetic lives? To get a good job of course. And to make a lot of money in said job. Does that sound like greed? What keeps us from walking into a bank and taking as much money as we want? What keeps us from attacking someone who made us mad? Fear. Fear of the law, and the punishment it insists upon humans for…well, being human. Our lives weren’t meant to be spent selling vending machines or spoons and trying to fix a society that continually gets worse. No, we are meant to experience everything that this place, this universe gives us. We are meant to connect with others, to love, to live, to die. Most importantly of all, we are meant to find true beauty in this world. Leaves rustling in the wind. The smile of a friend. Time passing. Rain. Wind blowing. The taste of a favorite meal. The touch of a loved one. A favorite song making us young again. These things are just an example of the beauty which is inherit to our existence that we seem to have forgotten how to truly enjoy.

Something in the Way

mkcallicutt — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 04:25:49 +0000

In my Political Science 102 class here at Emmanuel College, we watched a independent video about the current state of political divides among regular people here in America. One thing that really stuck with me that the video pointed out is the lack of any kind of civil discussion or discourse of politics amongst just regular people, even among families and friends.

There is so much hate and anger that comes along with any kind of discussion of politics today, that wasn’t as prevalent 40 years ago as it is today. People rally, protest, and verbally abuse each other in ways that previous generations would have never dreamed of. Politics in the US used to be a social, civil, and actually political kind of events, where voted drives and rallies were the talk of the town, and everyone attended. Now, due to the disconnect from actual physical interaction between politicians and people due to the advancement of communications technology, people have become so apathetic to any kind of cause.

This is a major problem that isn’t talked about much. Seriously. Just go home and bring up any kind of controversial topic with your loved ones. See what happens. I’ll wait.

Back yet? Was I right? No? Well then your family is weird and oddly in harmony with each other. Anyhoo, ask your selves these essential questions Is this where our country has gone to? Are we just all needlessly dividing ourselves according to just our political view?

There is no real answer to these and many more questions that could be posed about this topic. People are imperfect, and as long as humans continue to exist together then people will fight amongst themselves. My purpose in this post is to get your gears moving in you head. To open up the can of taboo that is political views and divides, and to share that openness with anyone you can.

I can only hope I’ve had some kind of success.

-M

A New Year, A New Vision.

mkcallicutt — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:25:04 +0000

So. The last update on my blog here was quite some time ago. It seemed prudent to update it, so here I am. Updating it. Anyway, yes, the holidays have come and passed, with this year’s Christmas being my first “White Christmas” and being snowed in with my entire extended family for 4 days being the highlight of my Christmas, along with lots and lots of visits to my girlfriends house being the best part of the entire break.

The New Year has also come about. It is 2011, and I swear it’s still 2010 and the government has brainwashed everyone into thinking it’s the future. I could have sworn I was just stepping into my high school to enjoy my last semester there before I graduated and went off to college. I could have sworn I just got out of my car and began unpacking here at Emmanuel College. But, the reality is that, yes, it is 2011. A new year, and a new semester. I really don’t know what 2011 will have in store for me.

Last year I had some good idea with my high school graduation, my brothers wedding, starting college, but this year? Who knows what will happen. I’m just thankful I’m still here to see it. I’m thankful for the best friends in the whole world, for the opportunity to study at a good college, for a girlfriend who brightens my day every day, for a family that is always there and always loving, and for God keeping me on his path. I think I just discovered what 2011 will hold in store for me. I have a vision of myself strengthening all of my current, future, and past relationships. I see myself actually reading the Bible after 18 years of being a “Christian”. I honestly can say I’ve had no intrest in anything having to do with Christianity or God or Jesus in the 18, almost 19 years I’ve been alive.

Last year I had a major experience that opened my eyes to what everyone had been telling me my entire life about God. I had always gone to church, but I never really cared about any of it. I sure didn’t live like I was supposed to. And that didn’t bother me. But now, I’m honestly trying to be more….Jesus-like, I guess. More compassion, more laughter, more love, and more God. It’s gonna be hard, but I’ve got all the motivation and people to support me that I need.

So here’s to a succesful, new, and exciting New Year.

-Mike

Giving thanks and celebrating.

mkcallicutt — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:42:55 +0000

As in the title, this post will be about holidays. Specifically, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am fully prepared and intending to completely engorge myself this next week back home in North Carolina. Multiple times. And the same will happen for Christmas break. I’m not really sure why I’m writing this blog. I guess it’s just a place for me to put what I think about my life at this moment right now. I feel like I’m so close to the final push to finish strong in my intellectual life here at Emmanuel. Finals will begin the week I return, and I have many final papers/speeches/presentations to give before the actual “finals” begin. I’m not worried about it though. So far I’ve done fairly well in my academic life here so I’m standing strong. A good bit of my time over Thanksgiving break. On the note of Thanksgiving, this year I’m not just going to see it as an opportunity to eat food and be with family, but as a time to actually give thanks for everything in my life up to this point. And boy, do I have so much to be thankful for. If you don’t stop and think about it, you will never be thankful for anything. Even if something is given to you “free” always be thankful. If you lose your gratitude, you will lose whatever you had. They say you never know what you have till you lose it, and this next week that will be my creed.

Time, Cycles, and Life

mkcallicutt — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 21:05:43 +0000

It’s funny how the hours melt into days, the days melt into weeks, and the weeks melt into months. It seems only yesterday I was stepping outside of my car at my brother’s house, family in tow, about to embark on that brave new adventure called college. And now it’s November, I’m sitting here in the EC Library, but outside it’s dark, windy, and cold. I’ve made it through almost 4 months of college so far.

All those warm and eager summer days have faded and now winter’s chilling grasp is falling over Franklin Springs. Everything seems to be slowing down to a crawl. Traffic, schoolwork, friends, the weather. I’m sitting here in disbelief at how fast this moment has come. If this is how the rest of my life is going to be, then I’ll be retired and dead before I can say “hold up a minute”. Thanksgiving will be on my doorstep in just about a week. After that, we have just one more week and Christmas Break will be here. And after that, any spring semester always goes by fast, no matter what school or where you are. Then it will be summer. I’ll be home and enjoying my free time. Then August will roll around, and all of this will begin again. It’s the cycle of my life for the next 3 years.

This ‘cycle’ has been my life so far for the past 18 years, although there were some interruptions and restarts. Moving, changing homes, new schools, middle school, high school, different schedules. All those things were disruptive to the cycle, but no matter what, the cycle always continued. After I graduate college and am hopefully married, another cycle will begin. Graduate school, careers, family, aging. This is what I predict my future will consist of.

Is this the future that will come to pass for me? Will a crazy white haired doctor come along with a time machine and allow me to change what has been, or what will become? Do you like chocolate? Only God knows. All I know now is that I have a paper to work on.

Life at College So Far

mkcallicutt — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:04:07 +0000

The “college life” for me has become, and still is, quite an experience. Every single day it is something new and crazy. I barely get any sleep due to the massive amounts of sound, smell, and room visitors my dorm room experiences. The lack of sleep is something that I have attempted to deal with but am still adjusting to. I have seen my fair share of sleepless nights, but this place takes the proverbial cake. Music, yelling at the top of your lungs randomly at 3 am, vacuuming, basketball/soccer in the hallways are just some of the reasons why sleep is just beyond my reach. Then there’s school work. This is the main reason why I am up at all hours of the night. It’s not for lack of fault and procrastination on my part, by any stretch, but there is also the fact that next week I have 2 political science group presentations, a final draft of an important paper, a fully researched 7 minute speech, an English group presentation all due in that same week, with most of those items due on the same days as another item. I know I’ll get them all done to the best of my ability, but they will come at a high price. There is a popular statement about college: “Welcome to college. Pick two: 1) A social life 2) Good grades 3) Enough sleep.” That is what has defined my college experience so far. It’s a constant juggle of when to sleep, when to have some social fun, and when to work. And just like any fallible human, sometimes I have ‘dropped the ball’ so to speak when it comes to doing all three things. With a girlfriend (for whom I am ever thankful for), church, classes, intramural games, movie nights, open dorm nights, homework, Athens and Hartwell trips, time at my brother’s house, dorm-room upkeep are all things that I have to keep up with. Now, I am by no means complaining about all the things I have to do. In fact, I am so very thankful I have these problems because some people don’t get to experience college, which is a very sad fact. So what I am really trying to say here is that college, with all that it entails, is by far the most challenging, but also the most rewarding experience I have had the privilege to experience in my life so far.

Hello world!

mkcallicutt — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:12:16 +0000

Finally made a blog today. I have always wanted to make one, but now that I can get extra credit in my English Class, I was motivated to just actually do it. Later on, perhaps tomorrow evening, I will post my blog entry for October. I hope once I get my extra credit, I will continue this blog and express my thoughts most days.

-Michael