Greetings friends! I am happy to report that it has been nine days since I last checked Facebook. Nine days! The last time I went nine days without using the social network was in 2011 when Bethany and I were in China adopting Tiana. Facebook is banned there, not because the site is a massive time-suck and promoter of fake news, but because it is a platform for free speech--which communists aren't too wild about.
My reason for banning myself from Facebook is to preserve my faith in my fellow man. I refuse to be bombarded with lies, half-truths, and negative comments about politics and people any longer. Nowadays, when I talk to a friend, I have no idea whether he or she has recently posted some hateful nonsense online or not. And, as they say, ignorance is bliss.
Since taking this break from Facebook, I have rediscovered the creativity that has been lying mostly dormant within me. In the last nine days I have gathered materials for building 10 new homemade musical instruments. I've begun building a three-string cigar box guitar with some improvements over my previous models. I have also managed to read Stephen King's "Misery" and have started reading Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises." In the last nine days I've also written a newspaper column and a updated my blog a couple times. Somehow I also found time to sub at the primary school three times and attend a board meeting for the non-profit foundation I volunteer for. Oh, and I've spent some quality time, in person, with friends and family--without hearing a single insult or personal attack related to politics.
I'm starting to remember how great real life is compared to that virtual reality that 3 out of 4 people on Earth are stuck "living" in. Do I miss Facebook? No I do not.
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Facebook is dead to me. Welcome back to blogger!
Welcome to the old and improved online home of your favorite writer/substitute teacher/minister/maker of homemade musical instruments, Travis A. Naughton. Check this site regularly for links to Travis's weekly newspaper columns featured in the Boone County Journal (updated every Wednesday), links to his books available for purchase, and coming soon, info on purchasing hand-crafted folk instruments made by the Not-Quite-Right Reverend himself.
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Home and ten acres for sale (Hartsburg address)
For sale by owner: Ten heavily wooded acres, very secluded location, three miles from Ashland. Approximately 2000 sq. ft. Four bed, two bath, good heat & AC, large laundry room. Fireplace, three stall shop, three decks, great neighbors with fishing ponds, abundant wildlife, SoBoCo schools. Asking $219,000. You won't find a nicer four bedroom house on ten gorgeous acres in Southern Boone County for less! Will pay 3% buyer's agent commission. Sorry, no owner financing. (Not yet listed on MLS.) Call Travis @ 573-657-0061 for a viewing.
Front in winter
Front and party porch in summer
Back in winter
side and shop in winter
party porch
party porch decorated
front in summer
back in summer
eat-in kitchen, newer appliances
laminate floor in living room
fireplace in living room
master bed with attached bath
36'x24' shop/garage with electricity
treehouse
limestone outcroppings
scenic hiking trails
glade trail used by deer and other wildlife
south side of house
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
A letter to my fifteen year old self
Dear Travis,
Happy 15th birthday, my young friend. So you’re in the ninth grade now, is that right? Of course you know that this will be your last year of junior high, but in many ways it will also be the last year of your childhood. You won’t believe the changes in store for you over the next few years. I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice right now, which I fully expect you to ignore even though you’re a great kid. As intelligent as you are, when it comes to heeding the words of wisdom from your elders, you’re an idiot.
First of all, you really need to lighten up on your dad’s girlfriend. It’s perfectly natural for a child of divorced parents to harbor a little resentment for a parent’s new love interest, but you have been acting like a real ass lately. Seriously, refusing to have a civil conversation or to make eye contact for well over a year with the woman your father loves? Who does that? What you need to realize is that despite your best efforts to sabotage their relationship, your dad and Susan will be getting married in a couple years. As a result of this lifetime commitment, you will have a new baby sister and brother, who in turn will grow up to become wonderful people who you will be proud to call your siblings.
Next year, after you begin high school, you will fall in love with a girl. You will lose your virginity to this girl. You will become 100% convinced that the two of you will be together for the rest of your lives. Then she will break your heart. You will live, although you’ll doubt it. Sure, you’ll harbor a lot of resentment and say things about her that you’ll later regret, but one day you’ll realize that that young lady taught you a great deal about love and relationships and you’ll be able to apply those lessons to future relationships. Years later, you’ll even come to call her your friend again.
Happy 15th birthday, my young friend. So you’re in the ninth grade now, is that right? Of course you know that this will be your last year of junior high, but in many ways it will also be the last year of your childhood. You won’t believe the changes in store for you over the next few years. I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice right now, which I fully expect you to ignore even though you’re a great kid. As intelligent as you are, when it comes to heeding the words of wisdom from your elders, you’re an idiot.
First of all, you really need to lighten up on your dad’s girlfriend. It’s perfectly natural for a child of divorced parents to harbor a little resentment for a parent’s new love interest, but you have been acting like a real ass lately. Seriously, refusing to have a civil conversation or to make eye contact for well over a year with the woman your father loves? Who does that? What you need to realize is that despite your best efforts to sabotage their relationship, your dad and Susan will be getting married in a couple years. As a result of this lifetime commitment, you will have a new baby sister and brother, who in turn will grow up to become wonderful people who you will be proud to call your siblings.
Next year, after you begin high school, you will fall in love with a girl. You will lose your virginity to this girl. You will become 100% convinced that the two of you will be together for the rest of your lives. Then she will break your heart. You will live, although you’ll doubt it. Sure, you’ll harbor a lot of resentment and say things about her that you’ll later regret, but one day you’ll realize that that young lady taught you a great deal about love and relationships and you’ll be able to apply those lessons to future relationships. Years later, you’ll even come to call her your friend again.
During your junior year, you’ll give in to peer pressure and drown your heartbreak in alcohol. I know you don’t believe me now, but it’s true. This decision will alter your future in ways you cannot imagine. You will turn your back on many of your childhood friends who were smart enough to “just say no.” You will lie to your parents with alarming frequency. Your younger brother will eventually lose nearly all respect for you but will still try to help you by pointing out how you are wasting your potential. You will get drunk and verbally abuse him for saying so. It will take years for your family relationships to fully recover. Gradually your drinking habits will have a greater influence on you than your study habits and you will nearly flunk out of college. You will take awful risks while under the influence. You will drink and drive. You will use drugs. You will cheat death many, many times. You will become the virtual opposite of the innocent, positive person you are today. You will grow to despise the man looking back at you in the mirror. You will be miserable.
As difficult as things get, don’t give up on yourself. There will come a time when you realize how foolish you’ve been behaving and how lucky you are to be alive. You will fall in love with a woman who your friends will say is too good for you. She will help you heal yourself and show you how wonderful life can be. You will become a father, and you will rely on your life-experiences and remaining brain cells to impart valuable lessons to your son. You will stand on the Great Wall of China not once but twice and bring back two beautiful children as “souvenirs.” You’ll rediscover your gift for writing and touch people’s lives through your words. At the age of forty-one, you’ll realize that you have everything you want and need in life and that you are truly happy. And when you look in the mirror, for perhaps the first time since you were fifteen, you will like the person you see.
Take care of yourself/myself, my young friend. Enjoy being fifteen.
Travis
As difficult as things get, don’t give up on yourself. There will come a time when you realize how foolish you’ve been behaving and how lucky you are to be alive. You will fall in love with a woman who your friends will say is too good for you. She will help you heal yourself and show you how wonderful life can be. You will become a father, and you will rely on your life-experiences and remaining brain cells to impart valuable lessons to your son. You will stand on the Great Wall of China not once but twice and bring back two beautiful children as “souvenirs.” You’ll rediscover your gift for writing and touch people’s lives through your words. At the age of forty-one, you’ll realize that you have everything you want and need in life and that you are truly happy. And when you look in the mirror, for perhaps the first time since you were fifteen, you will like the person you see.
Take care of yourself/myself, my young friend. Enjoy being fifteen.
Travis
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