Good Monday morning! Welcome to the first #weekendcoffeeshare of 2019! If you will please follow me into the elevator, we will take this little chat up to floor 9.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you I’m at work (shh…) and would offer you to help yourself to a variety of delicious hot beverage and maybe a slice of my homemade butter pound cake. The pound cake may be a little dry but it was made purely with love.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you I was excited to come to work this morning despite driving to the train station on the snowy, icy roads. You would not believe how exhausted I was after last week. I feel like I haven’t had a moment alone.
After my mom left for training on the day after new year, I was left with babysitting duty. I spent the week picking my aunt up from work at 6 pm, taking time off work to drive my cousin to school for testing and job interviews, and cook when I am home because I didn’t want to wait two hours for dinner because that was how long it would take my aunt to prepare a meal versus the 30 minutes I usually do it in. Though I’m not starving for dinner, I still prefer to eat early so my stomach has enough time to digest before bedtime.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you I have been trying hard, sometimes very hard, to breathe and not let my anxiety get the best of me. I have been doing breathing exercises and reciting mantras I discovered on Pinterest and have been retreating to my or my mom’s room when time allows to watch TV or listen to the radio. At times like these, even little things like this will calm my anxious nerves.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you I received an email last week from publisher who published my short story last year. It was an invitation to submit again. I think they are doing something different this year, at least based on my understanding of the email. It looks like the anthology will be organized by genres this year. I’m not sure what my story will be yet but I’m sure excited to write it.
Lastly, if we were having coffee, I would tell you I should probably return to work now. Today will probably be a busy day but I am ready to take on anything now that I have my coffee. I would thank you for coming by and having coffee with me and I will try to make it back here this weekend or next Monday.
This is Another Story 
Mmm… good pound cake. Thank you 😉
Have a great day.
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Thank you. Have a great day. 🙂
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That story bit is bright. All the best!
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Thanks. That’s the bright bit of the week. 🙂
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I understand perfectly 😀💐
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Congratulations on the invitation to submit and publish again, Yinglan! That is fantastic. Thanks for the chat in the elevator. ( and the pound cake looks delicious)
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Thank you. 🙂
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Congrats on making it through the holidays. I think your cousin can figure out how to bus now, don’t you think? It’s not like he’s jusst 18. I’m glad you can find some peace at work and another congrats at being invited to send in a short story again. Well-deserved. Take care of yourself lady, don’t get too stressed or anxious. If you need to leave for a drive or a night to have some space, there’s nothing wrong with that! Cheers 🥂
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It seems like the longer they stay here, the more I got to know them again, the stronger sense I’m getting that my aunt (cousin’s mom) thinks we, my cousin and I, “the new generation aka millennial” are somewhat helpless. I am trying very hard at the moment to prove I am not so she can stop treating me like that little girl my mom left in China from two decades ago.
I think my cousin is a very capable person. He just has the same problem with his mom as I do with mine.
I am glad too to be able to find a peaceful environment at work to be able to quiet my mind and focus on something else other than my irritating family life.
It’s going to be so exciting to write a new story and submit again. It will be something to look forward to this year. Thank you for dropping by. 🙂
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Hey lady. Hopefully you and your cousin can figure something out. I think the image of millennials is false. Not in every respect but I’d say in many. There are some incapable millennials, but a lot of us are more versatile, and hardworking than the term denotes. We grew up in a different world, that’s always scary to older people of any age, even Generation Y before us, in someways. But, a lot of it is supposition. We still had childhoods at the dawn of today’s technology. What’s worse is the post-mellennials who quite helplessly are even more entitled and have never not had technology 😱🤣 I would say those before Gn-Xr’s said the same thing as did generations before them. You can’t win in a changing technological culture or perhaps, whatever time or era you’re born in.
Your short story sounds exciting. Glad you have that to look forward to as and also the peace of work 🙂 I’m happy you have the job thing lined up.
Cheers and look forward to your next story and Monday coffee. Am hooked on matcha 🍵. Pumpkin spice my fav, but have managed to go through mint and vanilla (not my favs), to finish them despite. Take care.
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I agree, there are many stereotypes out there that paint millennial as those who are helpless without technology but a lot of people forget, unlike the Gen-Zs, we didn’t grow up with iPhones and social media, we grew up with paperback books and VCRs and Windows 95s. I just wish my cousin and I can show them we are not as helpless as they think, that we’re intelligent and versatile human beings who are more than capable of thinking for ourselves. *sigh*
Ooh… I love matcha! I have a small bag at work which I often use to make Almond Milk Matcha. So good.
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Yeah I think your dead on Yinglan. The media puts out a lot of things about millennials which aren’t true if a lot of us. In turn, these stereotypes are an issue for both sides. I think one day they’ll have no choice but to see. My parents are at the end of the boomers, almost retired. So I think they are now that millennials aren’t as stereotypical as many older gen-x or even early gen-y believe. It will be interesting to see how it is with us and after. Glad you have your matcha. It’s a life saver for me 🙂
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Hey, great about the invitation for a new story. How exciting! Sounds like you are being less frustrated about having to share space for living. Your problems are quite common among all ages who live together. Probably even those who are near the same age, as you and your cousin. Adults are expected to have their own mind sets, which will quite often cause conflict until one learns how to deal with it, or both learn how to compromise. 😀
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Yeah, I think I’m more used to having more people under my roof now and I agree, adults and everyone are expected to have their own mind sets. I just wish my aunts would allow that since I’m sure my cousin, like me, often feels like he doesn’t have freedom of expression in the house.
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