Old Man Morgan

Sometimes I would just like to give up on work. While I fully recognize every day is a new day … new challenges … new work tasks … it would just be so nice for (every once in a while) to not have a crisis or major project staring me in the face. I am still working on the company plan … and we have to submit a plan to the government. Then, yesterday, I find out I have been assigned to a team to do a very important internal controls review.

Being on the controls review team is not an absolute surprise, given my background in internal controls. In fact, if I wasn’t on the team, I would have been very surprised. BUT, what gets me is a) NOBODY told me about it until yesterday, b) key tasks are due by 28-September [next week is a holiday week associated with Ramadhan; thus, anything needing done by the 28th really needs to be done this week], and c) the peak workload is a 2 week period on top of my planned mini-vacation with Thasya and Decy.

My mini-vacation is non-negotiable, just like this coming December. I threw away last Friday’s “vacation day” for all intents and purposes – by working 1/2 day and then both Saturday and Sunday. I still have 30 days of unused vacation (1.5 mos) …. with just 3.5 months left in the year. There are only 2 school holidays between now and year end … and I intend to take my vacation during those holidays. I will not continue to move my vacation back …. and back … and back. Even so …. I will carry into next year 2 weeks of unused vacation and consuming the 1st week of January as “2009 vacation”.

I don’t mean to be ugly or go negative, its just that I am not a machine. I have to have downtime and rest like everybody else. I should be allowed to enjoy holidays (like others), take vacation (like others), work normal hours at least every once in a while (like others). After all these years, I have clearly learned that there is no “majic bullet”. There is no “if you just do one more project, you will get a big raise/promotion”. Bottomline is, it will likely just not happen.

The above doesn’t mean I have depressed, upset, have given up, etc. Its just a statement of the facts. I am already 51 YO, the die is cast. There is very little I can do that will result in a significant uptick in my career. My career (what’s left of it) is pretty much set. What is still open is what kind of assignments I have until I retire.

For the avoidance of doubt, I very much like my current assignment. It is challenging. It is rewarding. It is exciting. It makes a difference in the company. My key message today is …. I need a bit of “downtime” to regroup and refresh.

**** On a very positive note, Decy had an excellent day at the salon/spa yesterday. Had 6 people wanting body scrubs and full body treatments. YAHOO. Congratulations Decy !!!!

Need to eat breakfast then call a cab for going to work (Pak Yono is sick today). Ciao ciao. GBU.