To start off, something UNUSUALLY unusual happened to me a couple of days ago. I'd never imagine my very own eyes playing tricks on me. I was sitting on the train back from woodlands after sending Shannon home and I just happened to notice a guy get on the train. What made him so particular to me was the fact that he had his chalk pouch hanging out from the side of his trousers.

Bearing this in mind, I happened to notice him getting off at Admiralty station just one stop down. I SWEAR when I say I saw that pouch walking out the sliding doors(the pouch being on him of course).

The million dollar question has to be this...If he got off at Admiralty,and I continued on to Yio Chu Kang while stopping along the usual station at Yishun; how in the WORLD did this very same guy, YES...the one with THE pouch, come back on again in such a seemingly impossible span of time? Excluding the fact that he got off at the wrong stop, realised his blunder and took a cab down to Yishun, the probability of that event being reality is just bloody damned freaky.

That aside, I've got other issues to bugger about. Something else on a more personal issue..Mr. Tan's committment to coaching the lifters(concerning me especially) has really got me disheartened as well as concerned about my own individual progress as a national lifter.
For some strange reason, he's been coming to training at 7.10pm every evening without fail only to leave at 8pm.

This could be due to certain possibilities...It could be old age- for a 72 year old man to cycle to a training centre nd back to home thereafter is a tiring task no doubt.

Another reason could be due to the fact that he's simply becoming lazier. But if this is the actual happening,then it creates due cause for alarm. I just don't understand why he can tell me ocassion after ocassion that he wants us to work for upcoming games and that it requires TIME to work up to a certain level.

Yet he says we havn't shown results. I've only trained for 2 years and I am NO prodigy! What's going on??

Yet what happened this evening left me disgruntled. I asked, "Mr. Tan, how come today so early?" (pertaining to his very unreasonable early departure)

His reply was simple yet upsetting,"Aiyah..I'm not interested already."

Which brings up several thoughts for discussion doesn't it? The first being, shouldn't a coach stand by his athlete no matter what? I've been training with Mr. Tan for 2 years now, why is he suddenly dropping me? I've put myself through a torture most people couldn't even endure yet I was never able to re-convince him to stay.

And having unenthusiastic lifters with no pride nor passion doesn't help anything for me at all. It's a pure and sad fact that there are only 5 lifters who train in Singapore,2 of which compete internationally, I being one of these two. How can I get hi to stay? Why doesn't he want to help?
The only feeling within me now is one that soulessly says, "I wish I had a new coach now".

In case you didn't know who Mr. Tan is, he's none other than Mr. Tan How Lian(known as tan howe liang but that's his official name); 1960 Rome Olympic Games silver medallist. Now a storekeeper for the National Stadium and default coach for the SWF.