Some random Thursday thoughts

I struggled to wake up this morning. I don’t think I have fully woken up yet actually. Its late afternoon and I am about 6 cups of coffee down but nothing happening. My blood is still pure. Have to stick matchsticks into my eyelids to hold them open. I sometimes feel (today being a typical day) like I am 33 going on 105. No oomph! No drive! No inclination for anything! I just want to go home and crawl into bed.

I was at the Internal Audit Annual Conference the past couple days. Yes, I know *yawn* but it was actually pretty good. It was not restricted to IA and that was the good thing. There were some really cool motivational speakers and the two that I will never forget is Victor Vermeulen and Dr David Mohlape (?). They were excellent and, apart from leaving a room full of internal auditors in stitches with their jokes and anecdotes, they were awesome speakers and left us with some really good, thought provoking messages. It is really inspiring to listen to Victor and to hear about how far he has come. He has not let his disability stifle his growth in any way. While listening to him I realised that that is his purpose – it wasn’t cricket or soccer or rugby. If he had gone on to do some brain-dead sport, he would not have been able to inspire people the way he does now. His impact on individuals would not have been the same. But I’m sure he is glad that he is not playing cricket or soccer professionally for SA right now, anyway.
Besides, to get a room packed with IA’s to laugh is no easy task, believe me.

While at the conference I met some of the guys I used to work with at my previous job. While chatting, one of the managers said he is looking for auditors for his department. Now, I still have friends working in that department and, after he told me what they offering, I was really angry. My friends are not paid close to what they are offering these new people as starting salaries. The new people are coming in with no business knowledge. They know very little about what happens in the department. Probably less skill and experience as the people who have been there for a while. He is a manager and he told me that in some instances he is appointing people on the same salary that he is on. That is SICK! But you don’t want to know about the head of that department and her ideals.....
The problem is that people who have been there for years, do not get big massive salary hikes to level the playing field. Senior management will not sign off a big jump in salary for an existing staff member but will not bat an eyelid either to bring in someone on Bill Gates petty cash funding.
(btw, if any of you know of IT auditors or project auditors looking for a job, let me know)

If Mr Devil and Mrs Devil had a baby, who would it be? It would definitely be my boss. The lady definitely has issues and I am getting tired of them now. She is draining me. We have problems. We talk about them. Sort them out. We ok. Then her whore-moans get whacked and she is at it again. This rollercoaster is not working for me anymore. At the conference, there was a talk on toxic leadership. Manager’s who are evil creatures. Take credit for your work. Make you miserable. Don’t motivate and advance subordinates. Managers who only think of themselves and their own advancement. Those who push their subordinates down every time they can. Very cool talk. I actually thought it was my managers biography, until I realised the speaker was talking about leadership, the likes of which the world has seen in the form of Enron, Worldcom, etc.

There is also the Olympics – how is it that Zim can send 7* (I think) contestants and have 3 medals and SA with all their 240-odd* (I think again) hugely talented contestants, have no medals. I’m thinking it’s got something to do with the crocs that the SA team is wearing....
Also maybe Ryk should have had some Pronutro before he jumped into the pool. He does so well in the ad on TV!

Then there is this huge weight on my shoulders. I have made a decision and now just to sort out timing, etc. I have decided that I am going to bite the bullet and do it. I am moving to the UK. So now comes the fun, exciting stuff - selling of my place, my car, resigning and sorting out other stuff. Met with an estate agent yesterday to get a feel for the market. The market has really taken a downward slope recently. Should I move now? Next year? When do I resign? There is so much to think about? Maybe I need to sit down and make a list and make dead sure that this is what I really want to do (although I am sure) and that it is not just an impulsive decision to get away from here.

Oh, decisions. Decisions. Couldn’t life just be easy, peasy!

*I don't really know the numbers but it is something ridiculous in comparison.