lights off at 6pm!

That's one of the new resolutions for PFP... to make way for more work-life balance, we've all agreed to leave the office at 6pm every Friday. That's quite a task for these hard working PFPians... who are notorious for late evenings. I guess, with 80% of the population under the age of 30 and mostly single, that's not big of a problem.

Another thing that was brought up during the last staff meeting was that at any one point in time, the dept only has about 10-12 bodies in office. Others are either away at courses or sick. What to do... dept so small, only 20 of us. And of late, there has been a flurry of hospital admissions, MCs etc. Working too much is not good, huh? ;)

We've also made another resolution... to go green! Tapau-ware from now on and no more disposable plates, cups, cutleries for our makan2. We've even set up separate bins for paper, plastic, aluminium/glass in the pantry. And hope to cut down on our paper consumption too.

I'm slowly getting into the *groove* of the dept. Unfortunately, being so short handed everyone is so busy, which leave minimal time for socialising. Hope to make it up at next week's dept team building.

Quite a number were rather apprehensive at the thought of team building. PFPians aren't known for their physical strength... more of mental talent (hence they're the one assigned with the difficult task of developing prudential policies for the nation's financial system). "These bunch is more of scrabble, chess... not rock climbing" JC said at last week's staff meeting. I assured them that team building isn't at all strenuous, in fact, it is rather fun. They had wanted me to share tips on how to do the various *challenges* that await us at Palm Gardens next week. Told them that it would defeat the purpose and that the real benefit is in the process, not the results. I had lots of fun during FSD team building... hopefully it would be the same with PFP. Am I lucky or what... to go through team building twice in a year? Some people may dread it but I'm actually looking forward to the weekend getaway.

AHB told me some time back that when I don't feel the *social contract* with the people around me, I'm less enthusiastic. That's true... I'm one of those who needs to feel connected in order to open up, be more involved, to *want* to do it. I still have not build that *social connection* with the new dept, hence the rather lethargic feel each day that I go to work. It ain't fun going to work feeling that way. Hope that this would change soon.

NMS is back to office the same day that I got back from my Terengganu trip. Good to see her again. It's funny how we didn't really *connect* during the short period that she was in FSD before leaving for Melbourne to pursue her Masters. Somehow our friendship developed while she was a thousand miles away... triggered when we met up when I was back *home* during a meeting last year and followed up by emails and reading each others' blogs. Unfortunate that we won't be working together...

I was working through the dept's workplan for the year and felt rather *disturbed* that there's still a LOT to be done... and it's already July.

A tough few months ahead, I foresee...