#WeekendCoffeeShare – Another Rough Week

Published on by Yinglan

Good morning! Welcome, please help yourself to a cup of hot or cold beverage and join me for a quick chat.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you today is Lunar New Year. So happy new year and welcome the year of the dragon. I don’t really do anything on this day and no longer participate in any celebration of that culture but since people in my inner circle are saying it, I might as well throw it out there.

It’s been another rough week. It’s been a rough week because of month-end close. If you haven’t worked in finance, you probably won’t know what I’m talking about. Basically, it’s a list of tasks I must complete to wrap up January and the window to complete all those tasks seems to be getting narrower and narrower each month. Perhaps, it has to do with the increased volume of the influx of work.

There were approximately 80 emails in the 2 primary work inboxes I manage, with messages spanning all the way back to early January. On Thursday, I finally managed to clean up both inboxes and got both down to about 10 emails each.

My doctor called me this week to inform me about my blood test results. Great news, I don’t have diabetes yet. It turned out he did test my A1C and the result was normal. He is, however, adjusting the dosage on my thyroid medication. Hopefully, that will help with my exhaustion.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I’ve stopped drinking coffee. I haven’t had coffee for about a few weeks now, ever since I had the final scoop of my usual instant coffee. The coffee mom brought home from Japan made me jittery and nauseous for some reason. Though I am more tired than ever, at least, I’m no longer jittery. My hands are now just shaky from a messed up thyroid. It’s weird that after drinking coffee for so long, I’m not suffering from any symptoms of caffeine withdrawal.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you it’s my mom’s birthday this week. I won’t tell you how old she is except that my co-workers are older than her. I asked what she wanted to do and she said, “whatever.” I don’t know what that means.

We haven’t done anything, partially because of the weather. It’s been raining and snowing this week, even when it’s not been forecasted. It’s that atmospheric river that’s flooding California with never-ending deluge but it’s breaking into pieces as it’s moving inland, making the storms scattered and unpredicable at times.

Personally, I’m just relieved my vegetables are okay.

…and course, what’s mom’s birthday without her souring my mood? I got interrogated about spending money on bamboo stakes for the garden and some USB cable for the car. In my defense, I thought she’d be in the office the day the packages would arrive.

Yes, I’ll admit I have a shopping problem because when she was away in Japan, I didn’t feel compelled to shop. I think I shop because I’m a tad depressed. I’m depressed because I feel my mom is slowly trying to get me to become disinterested in my hobbies primarily gardening and photography by complaining that I’m wasting money on things and time growing vegetables she can buy for a few dollars at the store. There, I said it.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I will go prepare for this day as my aunt is coming by later to file her taxes and there’s a phone bill mom refuses to handle. It’ll be a long day.

#weekendcoffeeshare is hosted by Natalie of Natalie the Explorer. I appreciate you stopping by. Until next we chat. 🙂

17 thoughts on “#WeekendCoffeeShare – Another Rough Week”

  4. I’m wondering if the coffee your mom brought back from Japan is robusta? It’s usually grown in Vietnam, and has about twice the caffeine content of the usual American arabica. It’s also rather bitter, making it more of a condensed-milk coffee. Just a thought.

    龙年快乐!

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    1. We actually bought this coffee before in the Asian grocery store. I don’t know what’s the difference between being it in the US vs. Japan.
      The brand is UC and there’s a number associated with it and it’s 114. Do you know it? The jar said the beans came from Brazil. My mom would never buy anything from Vietnam.

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      1. UCC (Ueshima Coffee). Pretty common canned, vending machine coffee in Japan. I had to look it up, but 144 is supposed to be a mild, instant blend of coffees from Brazil and Papua New Guinea. They don’t mention the variety. But robusta is commonly used in instant coffees. Interesting.

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  5. No more coffee for you huh? If it caused me distress I think I could drop it without any drama, but now I’d miss it. I don’t think I knew about your thyroid issue. I know that it can cause a lot of strange symptoms and is hard to address. It sounds like your doctor has it in hand. I hope so.
    And tax season is back like an annual curse that simply won’t go away.
    I have a pile of related paper to process myself and am sorry to hear that you still get stuck doing the ugly job for your family.
    Sigh. I wish I had a solution for you as it would make me miserable to be in your position.
    Blessings.

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    1. Hi Gary, I don’t think the “no coffee” thing will be permanent. If anything, I’ll be back on coffee in a few months. 😀
      My thyroid has been messed up for the better part of my life – oscillating between hypo and hyper. I’ve been visiting endocrinologists since middle school though none of them suggested I kill the thyroid with iodine or just completely remove it. I would be on permanent medication after either alternative, which is no different than now.
      Yes, everyone in the family seems to think I’m a tax expert just because I have an accounting degree. “Filing taxes isn’t the only thing I learned in school, you know,” I’ve told them so many times just like being an engineer isn’t the same thing as being a handyman.
      Thankfully, they gave me a generous gift for Chinese New year, which should cover their tax-filing fee.

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      1. Sorry to hear that your thyroid has been a issue for so long. I’ve heard how hard this can be to work with – and who needs this kind of hassle just living?

        Well it was nice that your family at least gave you a generous gift for CNY for all your efforts. It must help cover the fact that they still feel entitled to your time – but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
        Have a great week.

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      2. My mom told me not to accept it. I ignored her and took the money behind her back because, hey, time is money and after filing their taxes for the last 5 years, I think I deserved to be paid for my service.

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    1. I think it’s kinda lost to the newer generation. Even when I was in China as a child, I didn’t quite knew what it meant other than it’s a time for me to rack up in savings and eat lots of food I don’t usually get to have during the other times of the year.

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