Kermit,
I lived in Singapore with my family for 4 years. The short version of a long story is that my dad was a workaholic and wanted to spend more time with his family, so he retired a little early and we moved overseas so that he could spend more time with us. I've been back a little over a year now.
I am from and still live in Dixie, probably not so very far from you, although I don't want to say exactly where I live (hope you don't mind). I am told that my southern accent has been getting worse (I mean, stronger) since I've been back... I can identify with a lot of what you say in your "southern" blog, although the new south and the old south (even of the previous generation) are quite different.

Glad you like my blog, thank you.