Howdy Ya'll/Y'all

Yeah, so, hopefully you'll never see/hear me utter those words again- the howdy part. Having grown up in Nashville, I'll admit that I did go through the obligatory country music phase (circa the best years of Garth Brooks' career) and I was just about over it when the Dixie Chicks blessed my life with "Goodbye Earl". In fact, that one song alone extended my country music listening phase by a good solid year. However, what I'm trying to get to and I guess I should just say is that I pretty much despise country music and I don't say things like howdy. There's no real rational reason for not liking it, it's just that terrible images come to my mind when the twang is turned up and sometimes I even throw up in my mouth a little. Yeah, welcome to me, by the way.

Speaking of welcome to me, this is my first blog, ever. I read a few here and there and one regularly and make fun of a few others more than I should. I'm not sure I can nail down a reason for actually starting a blog. I mean, with the new year here, I've been thinking quite a bit about changes/improvements I'd like to make in my life. The blog falls into the changes category but perhaps if some bored venture capitalist stumbles upon my posts and is looking for something to blow money on (they are, by definition) then maybe they'll ask me to write a back-of-the-tolietseat book of musings and life lessons. Right, I know. But, a girl can dream, no?

So, I guess I'll gradually introduce myself to all of God's green earth (I don't like country music but as a true southerner, I can't help using terrible Scarlett O'Hara-esque cliches) gradually. I mean, I've got to keep you coming back for more, right? :) And on that note, I'll get back to the original inspiration for this post, which is the word ya'll/y'all. I give the two spellings options (despite the fact that only one is really right) because until about 5 hours ago, I spent all 27 years of my life thinking y'all was ya'll. Don't know why. However, I use the word in writing quite a bit so I'm forced with the tough decision of maintaining a fairly innocent bad habit or fixing it. We'll see how that goes. I actually noticed the proper spelling while driving back to Nashville from Cincinnati this afternoon. There was a billboard that had y'all on it and the epiphany occurred. It was actually a really good thing because I was having a terrible time staying awake while I was driving and realizing that I'd been living a lie my entire life juiced my mind for a good 5 minutes (nearly running up under an 18-wheeler kept me alert for the next 15 minutes).

Anyway, the billboard caused a moment of self-realization. I frequently notice really obscure things and sometimes don't notice overtly obvious things. The y'all is obvious- shoulda probably picked up on that one a while ago. However, I've been known to also notice unzipped pants on complete strangers a good 50 yards away. I can even detect cell phone calls before they ring- not really on my own though, only when I'm near my laptop and the science things jumble up and loud static occurs. I guess that doesn't count. Oh well, literally all the wonderful examples I thought of while alternately holding each eyelid open with one hand and the steering wheel with the other have escaped my mind now. The thing is, if you stayed tuned to this blog, I'm sure you can start your own list of ridiculous things I notice. :)

p.s.- I just noticed, for the first time remarkably, the red underline of ya'll via spell check.