Five years ago, I moved from the southeast US to the northwest. I took my southern accent with me, and, as far as I know, it's been fine. I've been able to get work, make friends, and mostly function as normal.

My accent is light. It doesn't sound southern to other southerners, but it does sound southern anywhere else in the US. People who have commented on it say they like it (but what else would you say, I guess 😅).

But I'm about to take on something that will require me to be persuasive. I'm wondering what Tildes thinks: will my accent diminish my ability to be persuasive? Should I try to train my accent out and develop a more neutral accent?

I find myself torn. On the one hand, a southern accent could immediately call to mind the stereotypes of the south: stubborn people without much education. Maybe it makes sense to let that go and start on a more level playing field. On the other hand, my time growing up in the south is part of my history. It makes me unique and maybe the upset expectations (if someone hears me and expects me to embody those stereotypes I mentioned before) could make me more memorable.

I generally don't like the idea of filing the rough edges off things, especially when those things are people, but at the same time, I have goals I want to achieve and I'm willing to do what it takes to reach them. So, what do you think?

Edit: I appreciate all the comments so far! For a little additional context, I want to be active in local politics. Not trying to run for office or anything. Not sure exactly where I'll be taking that on yet, but it won't be in the south.

Getting to that age that I know my hearing is declining and I have steady tinnitus, which I'm pretty used to already. Conversation in a quiet room is no problem but in a busy restaurant I have to concentrate and strain to pick up what's being said. I can tell I have to play things a bit louder than I used to. I'm delaying going to an audiologist for a test out of anxiety that I'll have to get hearing aids.

Which makes me wonder what they're really like - How does using them change your hearing? Do you get back the crisp highs and lows in music? Is conversation in a noisy place easier? How much maintenance do they require?

Hi everyone :) I am pretty obsessed with consuming information as someone with ASD, and one of my preferred topics to really dive into is Psychology, Philosophy, and Business ethics that can relate to the other 2 topics. I generally read a lot of articles, journals, and studies, but I have found myself really wanting to dive back into the course topics that I was learning about in college before I dropped out, as I don't do well in structured school settings.

I have been re-visiting a lot of Freud's work and other basic course stuff, but I do love more advanced topics that make me connect the dots between my personal studies and my schooling, so honestly just drop some titles for anything nonfiction and not as self help directed and I will check it out.

Thanks guys :)

What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?

I'll go first: turn-based combat.

While not as common as they once were, there are still a lot of games, AAA and indie alike, that get massively popular and are known for their supposedly excellent turn-based combat. Games that are probably what a lot of people who don't care for turn-based combat make an exception for, for one reason or another. Say they really enjoy how Undertale is "the RPG where you don't need to kill anything", or how Persona 5 is "so stylish". Also, there's the classic JRPGs of old, such as the older Final Fantasy games, or these more military grid based kind of games like Fire Emblem.

I just don't "get" any of it. I've never beaten a game featuring turn-based combat from start to finish. Yes, that includes Pokemon games. I don't know what it is specifically. I've beaten games of basically every other genre, but when I start any turn-based game because of some friend recommendation or good reviews, I try it, am genuinely invested for a couple hours, then my interest in the game just dies all of a sudden. I don't think it's any one issue really, probably a lot of different things.

Anyone else never really got into these kinds of games? Or do you have some other game genre that everyone else swears by that you just don't care for?

Alternative title(s) Horimiya: Piece
Genres Romance
No. Episodes 13
Information MyAnimeList AniList AniDB

Synopsis

It followed the relationship between Hori and Miyamura, two high school kids slowly forming a bond and falling in love - but only so much manga can be adapted and put into a thirteen-episode series. "Horimiya: The Missing Pieces" is here to fix that: It goes back to the beginning of the original series and fills in the pieces of the original manga that were left out in the first adaptation. From silly moments to quiet ones, this is a chance to reconnect with your favorite characters and see what happened between the scenes of the original.

^{(from IMDb)}

Discussion rules

BEWARE OF SPOILERS. Since all episode discussions are within a single thread, here are some rules to ensure revisits are safe from spoilers.

Special note:
Since this is a bonus series for the original run of Horimiya, assume there'd be a lot of spoiler for the original show (i.e. details about the original show won't be/ don't have to be hidden). Please watch the original first for the best experience.

Direct links to each mini-thread

Episode discussion (main)

| Ep1 | Ep2 | Ep3 | Ep4 | Ep5 | Ep6 | Ep7 | Ep8

General discussion (extra)
| General chat || Main series, Source material,

^{P/S: See here for more ongoing show discussion threads this season.}

I don’t know why, but I just can’t get good at Chess. I’ve played for a couple of years and my elo fluctuates drastically. I’ve been as high as 900 and as low as 750 playing rapid in the last two weeks on chess.com. I would just like to break 1000 for now, or heck, even just get into the mid 900’s.

Does anyone have any resources or tips for how to get better at this game? I’ve watched videos online, I’ve been doing the lessons and whatnot that are offered through chess.com as well. I’m just so incredibly frustrated and I’m tired of losing all the time.

Good morning ~ This is a thread to discuss new album releases that have arrived on our doorstep this week. Feel free to share albums and EPs that have caught your eye and interest!

Discussion Points

What are you looking forward to listen to?
Have you listened to any of these releases?
What are your thoughts?
What have you enjoyed from these artists in the past?

Why Friday?

Most (but not all) new LPs release on a Friday, as labels want to give the release a full week of sales before entering the charts.

~~ Feedback on the format welcome!

/// US states so far: California.
/// Countries/regions so far: Germany, Ireland, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Australia.
///

What's happening in your corner of the world recently?

Since the front page is frequently dominated by US news (understandably so with the site is mostly US users) I thought it'd be nice to have a place to highlight news from other countries.

To avoid this thread from becoming just a mirror of the frontpage though, here's something I think we can try, see if it works:

• Start a top-level comment with the country name then post the news as reply (together with your commentary if any). Others can reply to that same top-level comment if they want to share other news, naturally grouping them according to countries.
• English articles are nice but if the news you want to share is available in your language only, that's even better! The value of a thread like this is to highlight the local perspectives, which aren't necessarily well represented in English-speaking news outlets. You can also write a brief summary (in case autotranslate does poorly :p), as well as any context or biases that foreigners might not be aware of.
• For our US friends, you can go one layer down and share state-local news (not all states got representation on the frontpage I'm sure). Same idea, start with the state name then reply with the news. But please keep them all under the "United States" top-level comment so it's easier for others to collapse and find news from other countries.
• Anything you want to talk about other than news sharing can be posted under "Misc".