红包

派"红包"是华人新年的一种习俗，华人喜爱红色，因为红色象征活力、愉快与好运。

派发红包给未成年的晚辈（根据华人的观念，已婚者就算成年），是表示把祝愿和好运带给他们。红包里的钱，只是要让孩子们开心，其主要意义是在红纸，因为它象征好运。因此，在分派红包的长辈面前打开红包，是不礼貌的做法。

春节拜年时，长辈要将事先准备好的压岁钱分给晚辈，据说压岁钱可以压住邪祟，因为"岁"与"祟"谐音，晚辈得到压岁钱就可以平平安安度过一岁。压岁钱有两种，一种是以彩绳穿线编作龙形，置于床脚，此记载见于《燕京岁时记》；另一种是最常见的，即由家长用红纸包裹分给孩子的钱。压岁钱可在晚辈拜年后当众赏给，亦可在除夕夜孩子睡着时，由家长愉偷地放在孩子的枕头底下。

民间认为分压岁钱给孩子，当恶鬼妖魔或"年"去伤害孩子时，孩子可以用这些钱贿赂它们而化凶为吉。清人吴曼云《压岁钱》的诗中云："百十钱穿彩线长，分来再枕自收藏，商量爆竹谈箫价，添得娇儿一夜忙"。由此看来，压岁钱牵系着一颗颗童心，而孩子的压岁钱主要用来买鞭炮、玩具和糖果等节日所需的东西。

现在长辈为晚辈分送压岁钱的习俗仍然盛行，压岁饯的数额从几十到几百不等，这些压岁钱多被孩子们用来购买图书和学习用品，新的时尚为压岁钱赋予了新的内容。

新年放爆竹

当午夜交正子时，新年钟声敲响，整个中华大地上空，爆竹声震响天宇。在这"岁之元、月之元、时之元"的"三元"时刻，有的地方还在庭院里垒"旺火"，以示旺气通天，兴隆繁盛。在熊熊燃烧的旺火周围，孩子们放爆竹，欢乐地活蹦乱跳，这时，屋内是通明的灯火，庭前是灿烂的火花，屋外是震天的响声，把除夕的热闹气氛推向了最高潮。历代的诗人墨客总是以最美好的诗句，赞颂新年的来临。王安石的《元日》诗： 爆竹声中一岁除， 春风送暖人屠苏。 千门万户瞳瞳日。 总把新桃换旧符。

爆竹声响是辞旧迎新的标志、喜庆心情的流露。经商人家．放爆竹还有另一番意义：他们在除夕之夜大放炮仗是为了新的一年大发大利。不过，据旧习认为，敬财神要争先，放爆竹要殿后。传说，要想发大财者，炮仗要响到最后才算心诚。旧时，从春节子夜开财门起，就有送财神的，手拿着一张纸印的财神在门外嚷着："送财神爷的来啦！"这时屋里的主人，为了表示欢迎财神，便拿赏钱给来人，送财神的口中，当然总免不了要说些吉利话。例如："金银财宝滚进来"啦！"左边有对金狮子，右边有对金凤凰"啦！等等之类的口彩。

大家放完爆竹回到屋里后的第一件事，就是拜天地、迎神、祭祀祖先。古时，这种礼俗很盛。因各地礼俗的不同，祭祖形式也各异，有的到野外瞻拜祖墓，有的到宗祠拜祖，而大多在家中将祖先牌位依次摆在正厅，陈列供品，然后祭拜者按长幼的顺序上香跪拜。南方人还在祭祖之后，查看历书上所载今年的吉利方向，燃灯笼火把，提壶挈酒，奉香鸣爆竹，开门出行，迎接喜神，称"出天方"或"出行"，浙江叫"出寻"，上海叫"兜喜神方"。此俗为趋吉、祈求神灵保佑一年百事顺遂。 除夕守岁是整夜不睡、通宵达旦的。是夜，主妇们忙着挂灯结彩，张贴春联，剪窗花，贴年画，红红绿绿把房子装饰得花团锦簇，为节日增添了浓郁的气氛。孩子们最盼望的事也许就是压岁钱了。压岁钱是由长辈发给晚辈的，有的家里是吃完年夜饭后，人人坐在桌旁不许走，等大家都吃完了，由长辈发给晚辈，并勉励儿孙在在新的一年里学习长进，好好做人。

春节早晨，开门大吉，先放爆竹，叫做"开门炮仗"。爆竹声后，碎红满地，灿若云锦，称为"满堂红"。这时满街瑞气，喜气洋洋。 春节期间，各街巷通衢里，大户人家悬灯结彩。街头巷尾，乡里材社，到处百艺杂陈，各献高技，热闹非凡！人们欢天喜地，共庆新春。

守岁

我国民间在除夕有守岁的习惯。守岁从吃年夜饭开始，这顿年夜饭要慢慢地吃，从掌灯时分入席，有的人家一直要吃到深夜。根据宗懔《荆楚岁时记》的记载，至少在南北朝时已有吃年夜饭的习俗。

守岁的习俗，既有对如水逝去的岁月含惜别留恋之情，又有对来临的新年寄以美好希望之意。古人在一首《守岁》诗中写道："相邀守岁阿戎家，蜡炬传红向碧纱；三十六旬都浪过，偏从此夜惜年华。"珍惜年华是人之常情，故大诗人苏轼写下了《守岁》名句："明年岂无年，心事恐蹉跎；努力尽今夕，少年犹可夸！"由此可见除夕守岁的积极意义。

年三十守岁，俗名"熬年"。为什么称作"熬年"呢？民间世世代代流传着这么一个有趣的故事：相传，在远古的洪荒时代，有一种凶恶的怪兽，人们叫他"年"。每到大年三十晚上，年兽就要从海里爬出来伤害人畜，毁坏田园，降灾于辛苦了一年的人们。人们为了躲避年兽，腊月三十晚上，天不黑就早早关紧大门，不敢睡觉，坐等天亮，为消磨时光，也为壮胆，他们就喝酒。等年初一早晨年兽不再出来，才敢出门。人们见面互相拱手作揖，祝贺道喜，庆幸没被年兽吃掉，这样过了好多年，没出什么事情，人们对年兽放松了警惕。

就在有一年三十晚上，年兽突然窜到江南的一个村子里，一村子人几乎被年兽吃光了，只有一家挂红布帘、穿红衣的新婚小两口平安无事。还有几个童稚，在院里点了一堆竹子在玩耍，火光通红，竹子燃烧后"啪啪"地爆响，年兽转到此处，看见火光吓得掉头逃窜。此后，人们知道年兽怕红、怕光、怕响声，每至年末岁首，家家户户就贴红纸、穿红袍、挂红灯、敲锣打鼓、燃放爆竹，这样年兽就不敢再来了。在《诗经·小雅.庭燎》篇中，就有"庭燎之光"的记载。所谓"庭燎"就是用竹竿之类制作的火炬，竹竿燃烧后，竹节里的空气膨胀，竹腔爆裂，发出噼噼啪啪的响声，这也即是"爆竹"的由来。可是有的地方，村民不知年兽怕红，常常被年兽吃掉。这事后来传到天上的紫微星那儿，他为了拯救人们，决心消灭年兽。有一年，他待年兽出来时，就用火球将它击倒，再用粗铁链将它锁在石柱上。从此，每到过年，人们总要烧香，请紫微星下界来保平安。

以上便是传说中除夕守岁的来历。

年夜饭 (团年饭)

除夕这一天对华人来说是极为重要的。这一天人们准备除旧迎新，吃团圆饭。在古代的中国，一些监狱官员甚至放囚犯回家与家人团圆过年，由此可见"团年饭"对古代中国人是何等的重要。


家庭是华人社会的基石，一年一度的团年饭充分表现出华族家庭成员的互敬互爱，这种互敬互爱使一家人之间的关系更为紧密。家人的团聚往往令一家之主在精神上得到安慰与满足，老人家眼看儿孙满堂，一家大小共叙天伦，过去的关怀与抚养子女所付出的心血总算没有白费，这是何等的幸福。而年轻一辈，也正可以借此机会向父母的养育之恩表达感激之情。 孩子们在玩耍放爆竹的时候，也正是主妇们在厨房里最忙碌的时刻，年菜都在前几天做好了，而年夜饭总要在年三十当天掌厨做出来。在北方，大年初一的饺子也要在三十晚上包出来。这时家家的砧板都在噔噔噔地忙着剁肉、切菜。此时，家家户户传出的砧板声，大街小巷传出的爆竹声，小店铺子传出的"劈劈啪啪"的算盘声和抑扬顿挫的报帐声，再夹杂着处处的说笑声，此起彼伏，洋洋盈耳，交织成除夕欢快的乐章。

说到除夕的刀砧声，邓云乡撰写的《燕京乡土记》却记载着除夕一个十分凄凉的故事：旧社会穷人生活困难，三十晚上是个关。有户人家，丈夫到三十晚上很晚了尚未拿钱归来，"家中瓶粟早罄，年货毫无。女人在家哄睡了孩子，一筹莫展，听得邻家的砧板声，痛苦到极点，不知丈夫能否拿点钱或东西回来，不知明天这个年如何过，又怕自己家中没有砧板声惹人笑，便拿刀斩空砧板，一边噔噔地斩，一边眼泪潸潸地落……，这个故事让人听了．确实心酸。


吃年夜饭，是春节家家户户最热闹愉快的时候。大年夜．丰盛的年菜摆满一桌，阖家团聚，围坐桌旁，共吃团圆饭，心头的充实感真是难以言喻。人们既是享受满桌的佳肴盛馔，也是享受那份快乐的气氛，桌上有大菜、冷盆、热炒、点心，一般少不了两样东西，一是火锅．一是鱼。火锅沸煮，热气腾腾，温馨撩人，说明红红火火；"鱼"和"余"谐音，是象征"吉庆有余"，也喻示"年年有余"。还有萝卜俗称菜头，祝愿有好彩头；龙虾、爆鱼等煎炸食物，预祝家运兴旺如"烈火烹油"。最后多为一道甜食，祝福往后的日子甜甜蜜蜜，这天，即使不会喝酒的，也多少喝一点。古代，过年喝酒，非常注意酒的品质，有些酒现在已经没有了，只留下许多动人的酒名，如"葡萄醅"、"兰尾酒"、"宜春酒"、"梅花酒"、"桃花酒"、"屠苏酒"等等。在这些酒中间，流传最久、最普遍的，还是屠苏酒。但是屠苏酒的名称是如何来的？又是用什么制作的？从来传说不一。

年夜饭的名堂很多，南北各地不同，有饺子、馄饨、长面、元宵等，而且各有讲究。北方人过年习惯吃饺子，是取新旧交替"更岁交子"的意思。又因为白面饺子形状像银元宝，一盆盆端上桌象征着"新年大发财，元宝滚进来"之意。有的包饺子时，还把几枚沸水消毒后的硬币包进去，说是谁先吃着了，就能多挣钱。吃饺子的习俗，是从汉朝传下来的。相传，医圣张仲景在寒冬腊月，看到穷人的耳朵被冻烂了，便制作了一种"祛寒娇耳汤"给穷人治冻伤。他用羊肉、辣椒和一些祛寒温热的药材，用面皮包成耳朵样子的"娇耳"，下锅煮熟，分给穷人吃，人们吃后，觉得浑身变暖，两耳发热。以后，人们仿效着做，一直流传到今天。新年吃馄饨，是取其开初之意。传说世界生成以前是混沌状态，盘古开天辟地，才有了宇宙四方，长面，也叫长寿面。新年吃面，是预祝寿长百年。

除夕夜

除夕是指每年农历腊月的最后一天的晚上，它与春节(正月初一)首尾相连。"除夕"的"除"是"去"；易；"交替"的意思，除夕的意思是"月穷岁尽"，人们都要除旧部新，有旧岁至此而除，来年另换新岁的意思，是农历全年最后的一个晚上。故此期间的活动都围绕着除旧部新，消灾祈福为中心。

周、秦时期每年将尽的时候，皇宫里要举行"大傩"的仪式，击鼓驱逐疫疠之鬼，称为"逐除"，后又称除夕的前一天为小除，即小年夜；除夕为大除，即大年夜。

除夕是一年中最使人留恋的一晚。除夕之夜，最为热闹、喧阗，天一抹黑，孩子们或者半大小伙子，早已拿着香火，东一声、西一响地放起鞭炮来了，胆大的放大炮仗，年幼的一只手捂着耳朵，远远地探着身子点，其他小孩两手捂着耳朵，紧张而又焦急地等待着……。此情此景，即使人到白头也都还能记得。

除夕的主要活动有三项：吃团圆饭，祭祀，守岁。

The worst HR dept in the world

I've never realized how inefficient my company HR dept is until the day I was transferred to SSB. In other words, they can be described as "memang tak boleh pakai" as I've heard a lot of dissatisfaction from the SSB employees. If you want to know more detailed, I think my colleagues would be the best person to consult, haha....

Where there is smoke, there is fire. Firstly, they never make any arrangement for those (like me) who are relocated to another company. They should know that employees with RMSB pass card are unable to access to SSB. So, they should do their part in getting them accessible to SSB. I still remembered I called them up during my last day in RMSB. Then only they realized: "Oh ya hoh, you cannot access to Synthomer with your current card hoh..." Walao, faint! Another techinican who is from RMSB and being transferred also, was unable to access to SSB during the first working day in SSB, due to HR's "kerja bodoh" loh. To me, if they are efficient enough, they should make a proper arrangement and get all these things done. (shake head 1)

Not only that, they also promised me that a new SSB pass card will be issued to me once they got my new employee number, and this probably will take 1-week time. Okay, then, after one week I called up the dept and asked for my new pass card. As expected, the card is still not done yet. Reason given, they have not received the employee number and claimed that I will get the card at the end of January. What? This is ridiculous! What is so difficult to get the employee number and issue a new card for me? I really dun understand... (shake head 2)

I just received my very first payment slip yesterday. Again, the company did not deduct Socso payment for me. Last time in RMSB, this issue happened where the company did not apply Socso for me for 10 months! Luckily, there was nothing bad happened on me, touch wood! Now, it reverted back with no Socso. Moreover, they also made mistake on my EPF number, one figure is missing... How can this happen? I strongly believe that they do have all my records in the employee database. For this matter, I again called up HR and surprisingly, they just played "tai chi" and said that the payment slip thing is done by the IT dept manager....What? Then, what is their responsibility in the company? (shake head 3). No wonder there are so many people stigmatize that "HR dept ni macam kaki tangan kerajaan".....

穷做工 做工穷

何谓“工作”？

“工作的概念是劳动生产。主要是指劳动。劳动生产是可以创造价值；而劳动可以创造价值，也可以不创造价值，若无用功。工作，首先，是为了学会在社会上独立生存。没有生存，就更别提学习、生活和发展了。其次，要从工作中学会负责，因为工作也是在社会中的一种责任。再次，工作也是一种学习和积累为人做事的经验。工作不是生活的全部。生命的意义在于生活，工作只是为了生活的更好，生活不仅仅只限于工作。工作的意义在于发挥出我们的才能，使我们得到一种成就感，即满足人类的最高需求，使我们的心情更加愉悦，从而使我们生活的更加美好。而金钱、荣誉只是我们潜心于工作带来的副产品。”

各位，对于以上的陈述，你到底有多赞同？至于我，我绝对举双手双脚同意工作固然重要，但绝对不是生命的全部。然而，对于陈述中的最尾一句，不是那么地赞同。扪心自问，有哪位不是为了糊口，有口饭吃而工作呢？至少我是这样。不仅如此，毕业时还背负着二十多千未偿还的政府贷学金呢。。。。可说是，还未正式赚钱，已欠下周身债。说得难听些，比赌徒还糟糕！

从位好友口中得知，有人竟然有能力在短短的五年内把贷学金偿还完，而且是靠一份微薄的薪水。我的天，真的“猴塞勒”，佩服！佩服！自己当然觉得很是惭愧、没用！还每天抱怨不够钱用啦、穷啦，有的没的！ （不过是真的穷嘞！）人家打工，我也打工；有人穷做工，努力拼OT；也有人做工穷，好像我这样。。。哈哈，你又是那一类呢？

曾经有人告诉我，他十多年前毕业时打的第一份工的工资为一千六百元，但那时还是有能力供车、供己、给家用等等。。。更不可思议的是，还有得存呢！然而，十多年后的今天，有些大学毕业生的薪金还是仅仅的那一千六百元或更低呢！可悲的是，今时今日的消费与物价可以说是十多年前的好几倍！无奈地说，人们的薪金根本停滞不前，没有随着时代的变迁和消费的高涨而有所调高。。。所以我并不否认，上一代的人都比现在的人富有。还有人曾为了省钱而餐餐啃面包。。。屁啦！现在面包不再便宜，不再适合穷人家吃。。。那么，可以吃什么呢？套某人一句话：吃屎啦！哈哈！

A Brand New Life for Me

Synthomer Sdn. Bhd. (a.k.a. SSB) is the company I'm currently working with, starting from 1 Jan 2008. This company is just located 200 metres away from my previous company (RMSB) and both companies are sharing the same management system in terms of HR, Finance, Accounts and IT departments. However, there is a vast difference especially in operation wise. A brief introduction of SSB's background are as follows.

The Synthomer group of companies forms part of Yule Catto & Co plc. Synthomer is a world-class supplier of synthetic polymers to industries ranging from paints and adhesives to textiles, speciality papers and plastics. We specialise in polyvinyl acetates, polyvinyl alcohols, acrylic polymers, styrene butadiene latex (SBR and Nitrile) and liquid polybutadienes (Lithene) and offer a broad range of products, created in 10 manufacturing centres.

In Kluang site factory, the main product is NBR which stands for Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Rubber latex. It is produced by emulsion polymerisation of acrylonitrile and 1,3-butadiene. This NBR latex is mostly suitable for manufacturing of various types of gloves ranging from household gloves, surgical gloves, examination gloves, fabric supported gloves and etc.

Okay, let's stop all the formal things. Being in the new company for 3 weeks, what I can say is I really need more time to adapt to it. Everything is so new and not familiar to me. For instance, the working environment, the colleagues, the nature of the job as well as the boss.

Kick off with the working environment. Comparatively, I prefer more my previous working office. The main reason is because the new office is so small that it only fits in 4 people including the boss. Yes, the boss is in the same room! OMG, it sucks! This is the only part that fails my "ideal office" criterias. I personally do not like the boss be the same room with me, cos I ought to stay alert all the time in order not being caught "ular". But in terms of stationeries and office utensils, I got bigger desk and colour printer here and I got my own scissors, more pens, own stick and paste and etc....which I did not experience ever when I was in NR.

Next, as mentioned in the previous post, I got two colleagues now. One is an Indian gal; another is a Malay guy. The Indian gal just joined the company for around 1+ years meanwhile the Malay guy joined the company since the commissioning period, about 6 years. Both of them are nice-talkers, can talk a lot of things not only working matters but also some gossips. We exchanged a lot of SSB and RMSB stories and of course we gossiped a lot about the restructuring issue too. The Indian gal has got a very good command in english. I could hardly find grammar mistakes from her speech. Really thumbs up for her english! Owing to have less colleagues now (previously was 6 colleagues), the office is kinda silent compared to the previous one. Previously, I had chance to speak mandarin more often; but now, it turns opposite due to no chinese colleague here. Nvm, I would take it as a good chance for me to polish up my english in order to deal with the MatSalleh boss.

Last but not least, it is about the MatSalleh boss. I only managed to meet him up at the 3rd week of Jan. The first two weeks he was outstation in KL since December. Basically, he is a British, last time was working in Synthomer UK and then was relocated to Kluang since 2002. Undeniably, he is a good-looking guy but unfortunately, he is considered short (about my height). OMG! His english sucks! I could hardly understand his english! Sometimes, I just don know whether he is talking to me or to the others. Compared to other MatSalleh, his slang is totally different, his is greatly thick! My colleagues told me that he came from a "kampung" area in the UK so that's why his english is not easily understandable. They also took time to adapt to his english and I hope I manage to....I think I need to watch more James Bond 007 movies....

Already 3 weeks, nope, going to be the 4th week in the new company, I still don get my own PC! My boss told me that I will be using the Inidan gal's dekstop and one more laptop will be issued to her. But, when will he do that? How long will it take to get the laptop ready? He must know how low the IT department's efficency is! As long as the laptop is not ready, I will have no PC to use.... the life without PC really suffers and boring to death! When other departments colleagues saw there is no PC on my desk still, they were so shocked and said: "Boon Kiat, so kesian! Where is ur PC? Ur PC still not here ah?" Aiyoh, what can I do? It is beyond my control....Even my colleague has been informing my boss that I still have yet got my PC. Sigh! My boss dissappears again to KL starting from next week and left a big question mark for my PC....

2008年的第一篇。。。

This is the 12th day of the year of 2008 and yet this is my very first post of the year, so late! Haha.... Yes, I admit that I'm getting lazier and lazier to keep this blog updated with my current life... paiseh! Anyway, Happy New Year 2008! Sounds so belated, not sincere at all! Haha....

Okay, would like to apologize to those who always log in my blog and nothing is being updated... So, now, for this reason, I posted this... (sounds so "fake") :p Hence, pls don complain anymore. I promise, more to come, yes, more will be on my new job, new colleagues, new environment and also the new Mat Salleh boss, maybe? Just stay tuned....