Devilishly Red

A big thanks to my family and friends for all the birthday gifts and well wishes!

It’s always nice to receive birthday SMSes from friends whom I seldom catch up with. It feels good to know that there are people out there who actually remembers my birthday. I’m so touched!

December is almost upon us and I’ll be busy over the next two weeks or so with work events (retreats and more retreats) and Koreen’s wedding on the 6th. It’s two weeks to my Bangkok trip and I’m so looking forward to it! I know I’ve just gushed over it in my previous post but I can’t help it. I must do it again!

This time I’ll go there and pig out (even though I really shouldn’t be putting on more weight) and do some serious shopping. By serious I mean not grabbing everything blindly and getting T-shirts that don’t fit me. Hahaha! I’ll go there armed with a detailed shopping list and I’ll make sure I spend my money wisely this time. Look out for my trip (and shopping) report when I return.

And yes, I know I should update my age on my website profile but I’m simply too lazy to do it now. Another time, yeah?

Guess what, I’ll be turning 29 tomorrow! So yeah, happy birthday to me! Time really does fly. I can’t imagine this is going to be the very last year where I can still proclaim myself to be in my twenties. I spent my 27th birthday in Melbourne and back then I remember saying this to myself – “I have three more years to go before I hit the big three O. I’m still ok.”

Now I’m left with 366 days. Not so ok I suppose. It’s times like these that reality really hits you in the face. I’ve been reminiscing quite a lot lately and I can’t help but feel that I could’ve and should’ve done more when I was younger. I know it’s all too late to harbour any regrets now but I certainly hope it’s not too late for me to start taking charge of my life now.

Is that what turning 30 (or 29) will do to you?

Anyway, I’ve been lazy lately. I had wanted to do up a little side project for my blog but haven’t really gotten down to it. What’s new? Maybe I should start rolling this out for the new year. Speaking of which, I can’t believe December is just around the corner and it’s somewhat surreal that the festive season is upon us again. I think I must be really getting old.

Having said that, I’m looking forward to December as I’ll be flying to Bangkok for a 5-day trip come 9 December. I’m so darn excited even though I last visited the city not too long ago in March. I must be too deprived of a break from the evil I call work.

I want a change in my life!!!

Yes, I’m fully aware that Halloween’s over and this has nothing to do with Halloween. I found the following article at Human Resources Online, where they send HR bulletins to my office email on a regular basis.

Bizarre HR: Zombie-like employees a burden on HR

US – Employees who display zombie or vampire-like traits are HR practitioners’ worst nightmare.

According to HR.BLR.com, a recent survey by Halogen Software revealed that among HR professionals, 44.2% zombie-type employees were most terrifying. Another 44.2% found vampire-type employees most terrifying.

Only 11.6% cited aliens to be the worst type of employees out there.

Alien-type employees are described as employees who no one knows where they came from, while zombie-type employees refer to those whose minds and dedication left the organisation long ago.

On the other hand, vampire-type employees refer to employees who hide in the shadows and suck the organisation’s resources dry.

Respondents said dealing with such employees can be a heavy burden on HR. The survey found that handling problem employees is the issue that HR is most likely to cite (35%) as the one that strikes fear into them the most on a daily basis. Recruiting and pay-for-performance issues (12 percent) were in a tie for a distant second.

I’m definitely a zombie. No doubt about it.

According to the article, zombies are HR practitioners’ worst nightmare. What happens when the HR practitioner IS a zombie herself?