I would also like to bake, but no way do I have the energy. I have been wanting to spend a day baking cookies since before Thanksgiving.

It used to influence my speech tremendously, every day.

Do you recall how wonderful Gina Torres' voice sounds? How flexible it is, how it uses the full range of her natural scale, up and down, in expression? How, when happy, her voice bubbles with laughter, even when she isn't *actually* laughing? How she seems to loom in menace or ominousness, even when you're only getting a vocal? She's a trained singer, and she uses it in speech.

You sort of can't avoid it when you've drilled in it so much. There's a quality of animation that you just never seem to lose. I still startle people with how emphatically I speak--I frequently come off as intimidtating simply because I drop in and out of character, or mood, or even dialect, to express myself. If I'm tired, or intimately focused on another person in private conversation, it all smooths out into monotone, but otherwise, it's just who I am. Which is apparently more vocally expressive than other people are used to.

My diction, however, after decades of living in backwater southeastern US, has mushified somewhat.

It's the leading edge of hellacious wind and rain for the next few days, and I'm already tired of it. Want to curl up like a pillbug, or a bear, and sleep till May.

I'd also like to make some more caramel, a few cookies and perhaps a cupcake or a dozen. Sound good? Come on over when you can.

Can I come over?

Timelies all!

Heading to Atlanta for GaFilk this weekend. Need to pack, though it won't take that long.(Just have to decide which t-shirts to bring, and which matching earrings)

For those of you who have been taking these online courses what services have you found to be the best? I'd really like to find a good foundational accounting class to take. Coursera has one that looks good but it's not currently in session and there was no information about when it would be offered again.

I've so far done Coursera (Dino 101) and EdX (Chinese history and Intro to Computer Science). The quality of learning in both cases is excellent; I'm finding the Chinese history course to be most insightful of the three. As to the interfaces, I think the EdX interface is probably more sophisticated, but I often find it tricky to navigate. I found Coursera to be easier.

Both Dino 101 and Chinese history have been good about breaking information into manageable chunks and interspersing assessment, though from what Hil says, Udacity may be better on this. The Intro to Computer Science is a different beast, the lectures being the videotaped lectures in front of a class of Harvard freshpersons. (Probably not coincidentally, I find myself taking notes on almost everything in the lectures of the first two courses, but can be more discriminating for the last one.)

I haven't seen any accounting courses being currently offered on either platform, I'm afraid.

Amy, come on over! I'm currently "helping" Noah with his homework.

You sort of can't avoid it when you've drilled in it so much.

That's what I figured. I never participated in any drama, speech, debate-type activities, so I never had that kind of training. Also, I wish I'd asked for piano lessons. There's a list.

I wish I hadn't quit piano lessons (or can I blame it on my parents for letting me quit? hmmm) and I really wish we had a piano now. I would love to play now.

Kat, I'm walking, so look for me in ... two weeks?

I wish you guys could come over and eat my excess of panna cotta.

I do too.