Ultimate Coffee Date: November 2023

Welcome to another Ultimate Coffee Date! I cannot believe we’re already at the second-last coffee date of the year. Where has the time gone!?

Ultimate Coffee Date: November 2023

If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d tell you that…it’s officially been 4 years since I started working at my current workplace! This is extra exciting to me mainly because at year 4, we start accumulating an extra week of vacation in the year (yayyy!!). The next “jump” up in vacation is at the 11 year mark, so I’ve got a while to wait on that one, haha.

Lately I’ve been kinda frustrated because the place I work for gives the false impression to patients that what they’re getting is concierge medicine when in fact it is not. (For reference, concierge medicine physicians usually have a panel of ~400-600 patients and only see 6-10 patients per day. I am supposed to have no more than 2100 patients but instead am fast approaching 2700.) This of course is leading to all kinds of failed expectations, but, ya win some, ya lose some.

For instance, how often can you say that a patient wrote a poem for you!? :D

If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d tell you that…I haven’t dressed up in Halloween for ages, but one of my friends at work approached me a couple weeks ago with her idea for her costume this year and asked if I’d join in (“I swear it’s not because you’re Asian!” hahaha). When I heard who she wanted to be, I couldn’t resist.

If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d tell you that…I’m linking up with Lauren over at Shooting Stars Mag on Tuesday again for her “My Month is Booked” linkup!

This past month, I finished reading (all as audiobooks because yay for commutes)…

• A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, by Becky Chambers – This is the second book in the Monk and Robot series about the protagonist and a robot’s quest to find out what humanity needs. The best way I can describe this + A Psalm for the Wild-Built (the first book) is that it’s a cozy, peaceful read that makes you feel like a warm cup of tea. The dedication for this book is “for anybody who doesn’t know where they’re going” and I think it definitely accomplished that!
• Songs of the Humpback Whale, by Jodi Picoult – This is the first novel by one of my favorite authors, published back in 1992. It’s told in several different viewpoints by a handful of main characters, all in first person and not in chronological order. (I unfortunately didn’t enjoy it very much.)
• The Bandit Queens, by Parini Shroff –  This is our county’s book pick for its annual reading event + is about a woman whose village thinks she murdered her husband + is doing quite well with her own business + freedom, so much so that other women start approaching her to ask if she can help them get rid of theirs. The author is local + will be popping by later this month for in-person discussions at multiple libraries so I’m gonna try to go to one of em’. I really enjoyed this book! She has talent for weaving in all kinds of complex issues (misogyny, abuse, the patriarchy, women’s rights, the social castes, etc.) with dark humor + if she writes more, I definitely hope to read her future novels!

From a recent hike I took to Pirate’s Cove with a friend!

See past ultimate coffee dates here!

(Link-up with Coco @ Running with Perseverance & Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner!)

End-of-Month Recap

• I have one more hike to share from New River Gorge National Park — the Kaymoor Miners Trail!