Our Utah cousins are coming to town for a visit soon. Mildly dreading the political discussions that might ensue. I'm predicting that the one is voting for Hillary and the other is voting for Trump, but I guess we'll see.

My son got into the same magnet as his sister, although that was considered pretty much a given. But hey, they'll both be at the same school again! For a year, then it's off to high school. Yipes!

I also have a weird accent that I use when I sing, and I have no idea where it's coming from.

My son got into the same magnet as his sister, although that was considered pretty much a given. But hey, they'll both be at the same school again!

Yay!

For a year, then it's off to high school. Yipes!

Yikes!

It used to make me giggle a bit, these British rockers singing with a forced blues-southern accent, mimicking their musical heroes. As if that's the way lyrics *must* be pronounced.

It always perks up my ears a bit when an actor pulls out a legitimate regional south accent rather than fake generic "southern." And though I have soft consonants and the occasional slurred vowel, I don't think I have as area-specific an accent as I grew up with. But my ears do snap to attention when I hear rural NC on my teevee. Such as Leon Rippy on Saving Grace. Or the occasional NC LEO interviewed on national news.

I pick up a hint of a Southern accent when talking to my dad's family or a couple of very country friends, and one time found myself adopting elements of a Boston accent when talking to a group of strangers from there at a tailgate party in North Carolina. But I seem to be immune to picking up Texas, West Coast, and Chicago accents as well as those from other countries.

When I was in middle school a friend who'd moved here from New York said I was the only person in our class he could understand at first—somehow I grew up speaking like a newscaster from the Midwest rather than either of my parents or pretty much anyone I was exposed to as a young child.

After years on the phones, I'm finally able to tell some of the Southern accents apart. I really love a true Georgian/South Carolina drawl. Texas just sounds harsh. I don't hear many Cajun, and Kentucky/Tennessee doesn't quite ping me. Maybe it's because of the Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia I grew up with.

I got a lot of "Are you English?" when I went to college, but I've lost a lot of it from 30 years in Utah. When I'm tired or in a really good mood, though, the old accent comes back.

This is me! And the same holds when speaking to my friends and relatives on the phone. If I am looking at them I can grasp what they are saying, but on the phone it is hopeless.

This is me too! I hate talking on the phone to anyone but people I know well. I can't parse half of what they're saying, especially if they have a strong accent. And of course the majority of my authors who want to call me instead of email have accents I can't penetrate. *sob* Why don't they just use email?

But my ears do snap to attention when I hear rural NC on my teevee.

It's soothing to my ears to hear a Tennessee accent.

I need to finish my self-eval today. shrift, you finished yours, right? I'll take that as inspiration.

I did. I probably could have made more of an effort, but I'm not going up for promotion, so I decided to conserve my energy. Congrats on finishing yours!

I was feeling better on Tuesday, that clearly was a 'one step forward, two steps back' situation. I was out sick yesterday and I'm working from home today.

You don't actually have pneumonia, right?

You don't actually have pneumonia, right?

I don't have the symptoms, mostly just exhausted/congested. I'll go to the doctor if I don't feel better this weekend.