I put my arm on his shoulder and said calmly, “Oh ok. So, what do you want to say? Everything will be the same as our past performances. Like the ones we had in our school, in the public park, and on people’s birthday parties. They were pretty successful. Although not many people went, more and more people are coming…”
“No! Stop! Stop lying to ourselves!” Shiao Wei yelled abruptly. “Three years had passed already. Three solid years! Let us all face the truth: Taiwanese people don’t accept our rock music. Period.”
After a moment of silence, Shiao Wei started talking again. However this time, he is not as vigorous as before. “I am sorry to be so moody today,” explained Shiao Wei, “It’s just that pressure is pressing on me. I am senior now, so I need to think my way out after graduation, right? Plus my parents disapproved me to play band. I do love Tiankon and rock music, but can interest be our survival equipment? Especially when it is about art. Therefore, I am going to quit”
This sudden bomb stroked me and I cannot utter anymore for more than ten minutes. Finally, I thought for a while. Then I made promise to him, “if there is over a hundred audiences in concert tomorrow, then you may not quit and vise versa.”
This is a hard choice for both of us. We all loved rock. That is why we decided to form a band in the first place. Shiao Wei is the guitar player, Pauline is the piano player, lee is the drum player, and I am the main singer.
As if they were premeditated, all of them came to me and requested to quit the band. So many reasons and questions came into my mind at the same time on their intension to leave this band. But none of them seemed to make sense to me. Where did the passionate go that we form Tiankon? Is it my problem that caused all this to happen? Or is it peer pressure that led them to give up? I don’t know. I seriously don’t. All I know is that Tiankon cannot carry on any longer. From their purpose, I can make hypothesis that this band will never acquire they success in the future. With this one and only thought, I disintegrated the band before the upcoming concert tomorrow.
I decided to leave this broken-hearted place. Therefore, I went to United States, where rock music is originated. In two years and so, I lived in New York and I learned how their music influenced their people. Their unique style and techniques is the major key to their success. By a chance, a famous singer met me and discovered my talent. The famous singer decided to raise me up to the sky. Honestly speaking, I don’t know which quality did she see on me. All I could say was that I was lucky. Four years later, I was able to become one of the well-known singers in United States. Large and mini concerts were held in more than twenty-five states. Fancy clothes and delicious foods are served. Lots of cash are received. But, I missed my family and my friends back in Taiwan. Four years had passed. Think back to four years ago when my parents strongly disagreed with my decision to go to United States, I persisted my own thoughts and came to this country when in the first place, I don’t know even know how to ask for a glass of water. Now, not only I can require my needs, but I can also refuse those Americans. My performance is fulfilled with cheers and clapping, but I felt terribly solitary afterwards in my personal time.
October tenth is a big day for me. This is the date that is finally settled by my company. Finally, I have a sensible reason to go back to my homeland. And that is that I am going to hold a concert there. I went back to Taiwan ten days before the concert because I wanted to stay longer time with my family and I wanted to look for old band partners to see if they wanted to work with me again to play our rock band. It is a vow that we made to ourselves that we would always be together in terms of playing band. It was Thursday afternoon when I returned home in Taiwan. Parents now forgive me, although they still don’t find it understandable. So they came to pick me up from the airport and drove me home. I spent a few wonderful days with them. They kept on saying that I changed. Communication with them was somewhat difficult, since I sometimes cannot express my words in Taiwanese. It has been a long time since I use so much Taiwanese at once. I ate Chinese food and foods made by mum, which I missed it so much. I spent time buying “lupentan” or things sold on the street. There are various things that there. Such as shoes, clothes, cosmetics, foods, books, electronics, pets, and many more. This is one of interesting sights you see in Taiwan and it seems very common among them.
A week later, I decided to look for my old buddies when I was in university. When I found them, I saw everyone become either businessmen or have their position in their majoring territories. They looked busy but satisfied with their lives. Everyone seemed to be involved in his careers. Then, I gave up. Why do I have to interrupt their life when it is only a naïve vow in the past? What a silly thought of mine, I thought. Things will change and things have changed. People who we meet in our lives, major events we might go through, experience of gaining and losing are like basic understandings to math such as the ways to add, to subtract, to multiply and to divide. This adds on to our knowledge. Once we get the hang of it, we can solve more intricate questions by using the basic concepts and techniques. So the math problems that we solve are dissimilar to the ones we did before. Those questions may cause us struggles and pressure, but once we solve to the answer, we feel great success. Just like Taiwanese people’s view of rock band and rock music. The concert was a great success, more than ten thousand people came. After time and other factors, Taiwanese people now accept rock music.
