#WeekendCoffeeShare: Last Saturday of 2018

Published on by Yinglan

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Good Saturday morning! Welcome to the last #weekendcoffeeshare of 2018! Come in for a cup of steamy hot coffee, tea, cocoa, or whatever.

Can you believe it?

The last Saturday of 2018. We made it through another year. I never doubted we wouldn’t but at times, I thought this year would never end and then at other times, I wish time would slow down.

Do you feel this way too?

If we were having coffee, you’d probably notice I’m a little sweaty this morning and might be a little confused since the temperature outside is in the teens. I have been working out, running to be specific, on my treadmill. I tend to work out early in the morning when possible. I read somewhere that working out first thing in the morning would speed up your metabolism for the rest of the day as well as cause you to eat less.

Don’t take my word for it, I read it in an article a while ago and sorta got stuck in my head.

If we were having coffee, I would ask you about Christmas. How was it? Did you do anything fun and adventurous? Go anywhere worth talking about?

I would tell you I, along with my family, took a trip west to see the Bonneville Salt Flat. I was there earlier this year but the scenery between this and my last trip are definitely not the same. The sun was shining and the Salt Flat wasn’t a lake on my last trip.

This trip, on the other hand, the weather was awful on this trip. There were clouds, rain, and snow. The cold made me want to get back into the car the moment I stepped out and the rain and snow made it difficult for me to shoot any long-exposure because water kept getting on my lens. This is the best photo from the trip. I didn’t particularly want to go monochrome but with clouds and ugly weather, it felt like the thing to do.

After seeing the water-filled salt flats, we proceeded to West Wendover, Nevada where upon inserting 5-dollars into the slot machine and pressing “play 10 per line”, I won the most I’ve ever won in a casino – a whopping 60-dollar.

Yeah yeah, I know it’s not a lot but it brought so much excitement. The machine wouldn’t stop dinging for 5 minutes (maybe longer). I could feel my eyes bulge as the number went up and up. When will it stop? I kept wandering and when the dinging finally stopped at 60-dollars, I muttered, “whoa.”

That day, I treated everyone to lunch before returning after lunch to try my luck once more at a different slot machine. And I won again. Is it really this easy? I started to wonder but then, why did I lose so much money the last time I was here?

Hmm…

I walked away with 68-dollars that day. If you ask me if I’d go back, oh yeah, definitely.

If we were having coffee or whatever hot beverage of your desire, I would tell you thank you for dropping by. I would wish you and your love ones a Happy New Year. 2019, here we come!

16 thoughts on “#WeekendCoffeeShare: Last Saturday of 2018”

  2. Wow, congrats on winning 68 dollars at the casino! I’ve never gambled in my whole life and I don’t intend on it, but sometimes it’s really tempting.

    I think exercising first thing in the morning, even if it doesn’t speed up your metabolism, can be good, so that at least you’re done with it.

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    1. Thank you. It sure is tempting to gamble and it is fun in a way (when you win). 😀
      And I agree too about exercising first thing in the morning – get it done and don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day.

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  5. Hi YingLan. I just wanted to say I had a great 2018. I got to meet a bunch of new friends – like you. I also accomplished my writing goals or: 1) getting my blog up and working and 2) build my story collection to 50 essays. Done and done. I take that as a success, but am not ready to put a stake in the ground for 2019 just yet. Have a great 2019 yourself. Blessings.

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  7. Happy New Year Yinglan! After following your blog for a while I’d say that you can be very proud of the hard efforts, and results you’ve been achieving when it comes to your photography. Of course I only see what you post here on the blog, but if I didn’t know better I’d say that you’ve made it a priority to improve your photography, searched for cool places to photograph, and that you succeeded greatly in your attempt.

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    1. Happy New Year!
      Now that I have a steady job, I can have time to focus on my hobby. So yes, in the new year, I am making improving my photography a priority. 🙂

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  8. Happy New Year, Yinglan!
    I agree with what Gary said about not being ready to put a stake in the ground for 2019 just yet. The end of the year was so busy and we several nasty storms three which brought blackouts and the other hail which broke through the roof in my office and damaged the car. That doesn’t allow you to think about much at all, except I will say that I’m in a grateful mindset, yet also wondering about the bad things which happen to people. A tree fell on my friend’s son’s hand and he has something like 10 fractures and it sounds like they couldn’t save one of his fingers. It’s not the end of the world or the worse thing that can happen to you. However, it reinforces those times in life where you’re driving along and everything is going well. No traffic. Sun’s shining but then out of nowhere, you get blind-sided. I feel quite sad that our friends are going through this atm. Makes me want to reverse time and change things for them not that I’m wanting to be a superhero. I found it hard enough to think of what to buy them as a gift and saw some Ferro Rocher chocolates which look like gold nuggets in their gold wrapping, seemed perfect and we bought some M & Ms for their son.
    Anyway, we’ve had a great New Year watching the fire works on the TV at home and indulging in chocolate mouse and pavlova….yum!
    Best wishes,
    Rowena

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    1. Happy New Year, Rowena!
      Wow, those are nasty storms. I hope your friend’s son’s hand is okay and will recover. I’m sorry about his finger but I agree it’s not the end of the world and this kind of thing does make one be grateful of the normal, happier times.
      I’m glad you had a great time watching the New Year fireworks on TV. I love watching that too.
      Thank you for reading and hope you have a great 2019.

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