Tan's Tavern

my life story

Not an autobiography. More of a list of people in my life whom I want to thank.

the family tree of mbs

To be frank, I have forgotten most of what had happened in Maha Bodhi School, though I can still remember how I wet my pants when I dared not to ask for permission to leave the class as Mdm Betty Tan looked very fierce. And of course I remember the family tree of my class 6F. I was the father of the lot, Linda was my wife, and we were blissfully wedded with a whole lot of children: Lingyan, Dawn, Peilin, Wanjun, Zhenting, Adeline... There were also "Pom Pom" Huilian, the charming Jiaman, the handsome Raymond, the ballet dancer Meiwen, my good pal Dai Teng, the very efficient class monitor Changhui, the gentleman Delin, the sweet little Xiaowei, the beautifully-tanned Fengping, the cheerful Xinxin, the forever-in-hot-soup Xijie, the intelligent and beautiful Yingmin... Not bad that I still remember their names, huh? I have lost touch with most of these friends, though some of us still meet up once in a blue moon. We used to quarrel over trivial matters (Weiping, I hope you have forgiven me), and confided so much in each other (Peilin, it's a pity that we have lost touch); we cried over our separation after the PSLE. Friendship has never been in this purest form since then.

Heartfelt thanks to all the teachers who have laid my foundations to become who I am right now: Mdm Betty Tan, Mr Xu Yongman, Mdm Huang Miaoyun... Thanks.

music roots in tchs

I should probably thank Christopher Tan for introducing me to Chinese Orchestra (though he quit soon after) when I first entered The Chinese High School. I thought it was not a bad idea as I could at least master a means of earning income by playing an instrument along the Orchard underpass in the event that I couldn't perform well in my studies. And I thought if I wanted to go in music, I should start from something Chinese because I am a Chinese. This decision became a major turning point in my life.

Then I was faced with the problem of selecting an instrument. Erhu gave me the melancholic feeling (and I didn't want to learn an instrument that will make me think of sad things), and the woodwind instruments reminded me of a movie that I watched when I was a kid, in which a suona player vomited blood and died in his performance (okay, misconception). In the end, I chose the liuqin, a pear-shaped plucked-string instrument, out of curiosity without even knowing how it sounded like. And I came to know Tom (he was in the same class as me and was also in the Chinese Orchestra). We went through the same learning journey under the tutelage of Mdm Chen Baojin and Mdm Tang Zeying, when we went to SBC (now TCS) to learn the basic skills of playing the liuqin. The threatening stares of Mdm Chen gave me nightmares, but it was really her who built up my foundation and excited my interests for the instrument. At that time, I practised the liuqin several hours every day. My fingers often bled and I mus tell you, it was plain HELL to have your wounds pressing on the strings when they were still unrecovered even though they were just deceivingly tiny slits (you cannot understand the pain unless you have experienced it yourself). Seeing music-loving seniors like Ronghua, Handa, Jonathan, Harvey, Weixu, Chuanfeng and Jinglun playing their instruments so well motivated me to go on as I comforted myself that all this "suffering" would be worthwhile. And it was worthwhile indeed.

Music camps were conducted every year, sometimes together with orchestras of other schools, and it was in one of these camps with RGS that I spent some memorable moments together with Huiyan, Wenjuan, Jiajia, Liquan, Shuxian (his death was a great blow to me - my first realisation of Death): squeezing toothpaste in Kaixin's slippers, sneaking out in the night to chat because boys were not allowed in the girls' hostels...

Soon came the juniors: Zewang, Zhenxiang, Zhizhong, Junhui... I saw my past in them, and they had the same passion and enthusiasm that I used to have for learning music. That drove me to set a good example for them just like Ronghua and the others did when I was a junior. We went to the music room every day after school to make music together, and we truly enjoyed ourselves even when we were just making sheer noise most of the time. Those times were probably the most memorable of my secondary school life - all the jamming sessions. However all of us have gone very separate ways now, each pursuing our own interests.

Though most of my CHS days were with the orchestra, my classes in 2G and 4G were an enjoyable crowd too. There were times when Tom and I used to fight by throwing tables and chairs at each other, Jonathan standing in between trying to stop us (he never could). There were also Mdm Cai Yaqin, the formidable Chinese teacher who could hear Tom and I talking bad about her even when she was walking several blocks away, Mdm Mok the Tyrant who "forced" us all to love chemistry, Chaowen the melancholic SNAG, Wenwei the all-rounder, Jianwei the tough-on-the-outside-but-soft-in-the-inside guy, Weisheng the Math expert, Qingchun the scholar, Haixiang the Man who melts women's hearts, Xiequn the cheery military band enthusiast...

That was when my character was moulded, and those were probably the most important years of my life.

LT2 of hcjc

In Hwa Chong Junior College, writing the orchestra journal was a daily ritual for Yingyi, Shuzhen, Peiwen, Meicen, Xiaolin, Daohui, Zewang and me, though I never knew exactly when we started with this practice or who initiated it in the first place. IF the tradition of writing the orchestra journal is still around in hcjcco: hey, we were the pioneers who started it. Anything could go into our journal, and everyone was free to write in it. It could be an article about life, an argument on religion substantiated with documental proof, a poem, or simply some impromptu comments or record of the day's events. At that time, everyone was fighting over the possession of the book in order to write something in it, and the book was soon fully packed with all our work, appended with lots of other attachments of pictures, cartoons and notes.

LT 2 was a place of refuge for us the orchestra members. Whenever we were free we would go to this crammy orchestra room tucked at a corner of LT 2 to try out our new CDs on the hifi, play the instruments, and read the orchestra journal if it was there. Sometimes all of us happened to skip lectures and come to the room at the same time, and the place would become so crowded with people we could hardly move in it. And sometimes we made so much noise that the lecturers who were delivering their classes in the LT would knock on our door to complain. Most of the time we didn't care anyway.

Another favourite hangout place was the MacDonald's located off Bukit Timah - the one with a pond in front of the restaurant and a small bridge spanning over a clear pond of turtles. We gave the place a very nice poetic name: Xiao Qiao Liu Shui (Little Bridge Over Flowing Waters). Till now, we have been longing for a day when we can go back there to talk about the old times, but we still have not managed to find a time when everyone is free for such a gathering. And even when we do gather, the meeting venue is always some other places. Maybe the place is no longer there already, I do not know.

My class 94S23 was filled with interesting people: Yiwan the sweet girl scholar, Yiwei the kungfu guy who was a Math exponent as well, Yuanlong the straightforward pilot, Zhicheng the witty beanstalk, Guoqiang the full-of-ideas guy, Ivan the guitar maestro, Tai'an+Qibin+Dennis the jamming guitarists, Jianwen the quiet psycho, Pinghai the chessmaster, Huiyan my confidante, Lishan+Yanshan the twin Xena-warriors... Not forgetting our dear Mdm Yeo who carried an amplifier everywhere she went as she was rather soft-spoken, and Mr Yeoh, Miss Ong...

Though it only lasted two years, it was the time when I truly tasted the feeling of loving and being loved.

the army days

Mine's a confidential unit, so I guess I can't reveal much here or else the military police will come chasing after me. Just wish to thank (in no particular order) Jeremy Lim (for your guidance in computing stuff and introduction to rock music), Dennis Yap (for the late night talks...), Alex Tan (for your receiver and jokes), Jimmy Kok (for your advice in games, etc), Edmund Low (for your movie recommendations), David Yong (for your album recommendations), Lawrence Kwek (for shielding me from "arrows"), Jhon Po (for always being wacky and different), Moses Yap (for relighting my passion in guitar), Qinghua (for being the sunshine every time even when the morale of everyone was low), Zhiyuan (for being such a wonderful working companion!), Gary Khoo (miss the time when we were playing bridge), Thomas Chan (still waiting for your chicken-flavoured ice-cream), Jason Boo, Jasper Lim, Terry, Zhisheng (for your supply of TIME and Newsweek), Dezhi (for your corny jokes), Qixian (sorry, always suan you...), Guowei (better known as Foo), Lim Kok Leong (for trusting me so much), Sito (for your advice in life), Samuel Loi (for being such an amiable guy!), Alan (for tolerating my unexplained disappearances), Rongbao (for being such a trusting pal) and Guangyang (for sending all the funny jokes). Thanks to everyone for making my brief (yet seemingly-long) stay in the National Service bearable. It's been a pleasure working with you all.

And also, thanks to my friends in BMT: Kin Seng, Alfian, Eugene, Jiahui, Rongxing... BMT was FUN with all the ghosts and wild boars!

nus

- 1 -

I was so glad to be allocated to such great classes in National University of Singapore, even though it was supposed to be boring being in an all-guys class for the first semester.

Every single person in class B3 was an intelligent and hardworking individual, each having his own goals and ambitions: Christopher the seemingly flirtatious guy with the tender heart, Mathiu the anywhere-also-can-sleep Graphics expert, Guowei the unbutton-one-button a-beng who's actually a gentleman, Jeremy the cool brainy dude, Jaya the Puddytat with The Fringe, Jingshen the tanned forever-smiling guy, Zhixu the Boy-boy with The Bag, Joshua the always-lost Computing genius, Guoxi the forever-one-cake-in-hand guy, Hongru the Mechanics lover and Junming the scholar with the screeching laughter. Not forgetting the people from my neighbouring class B4 who attended tutorials together with us: Changqing (affectionately known as May) the cheery and most helpful hunk, Shengping the compare-your-answer-with-me-leh cheerful guy, the oboe player Calvin, Lai Kit the Lecher, Terry the Maths expert, Weilun the computer freak, Baxiang the lots-of-econs-questions problem kid, Bernard the testicle-stepping Armaggeddon, Tian'an the ringged d*ck guy... And I remember those times when we were all confused by the r's and s's of our Maths tutor, when Sio Lian "caught" Guoxi writing on the board, the insomnia-curing Thermo and Econs lecturers, AKK's infatuation with Sungei Road computers, the Graphics teaching assistant with The High Pitch Voice, the "gentlemen-please-help-me-out" Maths Gupta, the "good-morning-guys" EE Ben, the Mechanics freak CM Wang who always got so excited about forces and equilibriums... These little bits of memory simply bring a smile to my face.

The most unforgettable episodes are the few days after the exams, when the two classes gathered and went ice-skating (my first icy experience), bowling, arcade, stingray and coffee all in one day, followed by an overnight stay at Christopher's house with Chris himself (thanks for being such a good host), Junming and Willy (the most honest, upright, mature and independent guy I have ever known), when we went to view the 33-year-once Leonid Meteor Shower at East Coast Park, and talked about marriage and life at the airport Swensens and Heeren Marche.

- 2 -

In the second semester, with the introduction of the Girls, our hormones started working and everybody suddenly became concupiscent. Christopher, Bernard, Junming, Guowei, Baxiang, Mathiu, Zhixu, Jeremy, Rene and I were streamed into the Civil Engineering course, and we were still very close despite the fact that we were separated into different classes. During lectures, we still sat together, and we became highly reputated for being That Noisiest Group sitting at the middle row of the lecture hall. Guowei's "hello?" brought him to instantaneous fame, and Junming's characteristic laughter soon made him well-known by everyone in CE too. And we started giving the girls code names: Hairband, Pink Riding Hood, CY-squared, AY-squared, Halleluja (aka Mrs T), etc. Life seemed more interesting with the girls.

My new class of Group 7B was an extraordinary potpurri of talents: Yuling the spotted-in-Bugis-with-a-guy enthusiastic Buddhist social worker, the Beautiful Girl with an Ambition Fiona (aka Fiofio, Piyo-Piyo) who managed time and friends with no problem at all, the bridge-desperate homie girl Ruiyun, the sweetie cute-cute white-lover hallo-nevermind-moron Jennifer, the drop-knives-when-nervous Xinli, the Hunk (once voted one of the chioest babe in NUS) Caleb, the most amiable joker of the class Jianming, our most responsible Good Man class rep "Hiong Bong" Weihong, the lion-dancer Weiming, the noisiest (according to Fiona) fun-loving Guohao, and our most mature-looking "Emil Chow" Mortal Delun...

- 3 -

After losing touch with Chinese music for ages, I finally gave up rational thinking (that music will get me nowhere) and joined the Huayi Chinese Orchestra, which consisted of mostly old friends. There was Jiajia, who'd grown from a sweet little girl to become an almost tigress-like figure as the Chairperson, and also many others like Jiahong, the music enthusiast who reminded me of myself in the past, full of passion in the pursue of musical perfection; Ping'an, the Disgusting Man who ate pukes and enjoyed Jocelyn's pat-on-the-buttocks; Yucheng, the wiser Pet of the group; Kaiyang, the funnyman who never ran dry of jokes; Melvin, who simply loved his shades and seemed to have some potential of being a conductor; Yanfen, who was an old friend of mine and was definitely more than just the demure-looking sweet girl-next-door whom she appeared to be; Youchun, the fatherly buaya whom I shared the girl-spotting hobby with; Huiyan, the jovial Sunshine of the Orchestra who lit up every outing; Yingjie, the outgoing helpful girl who loved to play with all instruments; Zhimin, the sweet and tanned new-age girl... I must have left out many people, but all I wish to say is, being together with fellow music lovers was a pleasure, and an honour.

The planning of our first interschool Interaction Day had definitely brought us closer together, as everyone was involved in the planning and execution of the big day. We were also involved in the Millenium Performance in year 2000. (This was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records!) Just hope our deep passion for music will go on forever.

- 4 -

It's the new millenium, and everyone seemed to have been happily paired up. Bernard was attached to Karen since Semester 2, Baxiang had won the hands of 'Mrs T' (now openly known as Fengling), Christopher was blissfully coupled with 'Hairband' (now openly known as Xiaoyun), and Guowei had won the heart of LJ (Lijun). The 'Friday Club', or the 'Five Men Gang' (which consisted of Christopher, Baxiang, Guowei, Junming and me) met up less often as workload got heavier and our lives were becoming more disparate, but we still got together sometimes during lectures. I still remember there was one night when we went to the Tiong Bahru market and ate to our hearts' content with dishes coming after dishes serving after serving... Food is always capable of bringing people together, isn't it?