Alot of things have happened this week.

30th July 2004. That day marked the end of J2s' canoeing life. Sr Canoeing team didn't win anything in the Nationals, again. It has been 2 consecutive years. I've seen how hard the J2s train and how much effort they put during training. I'm kinda sad for them, as well as for the team. But it has really put me into perspective. That I gotta train much harder if I wanna achieve something.

Well, that day also marks the start of "Hell Week". The J1s had gone to Mrs Kok to ask for early leave so that we could go down to Kallang to support the J2s. It turned out to be a BIG BIG mistake. As Mr Tan said, it was an outright act of defiance, to actually defy his orders, when he gave clear instructions to stay in school. At that point, I was really surprised. Angry as well. I had thought that Mr Tan gave us permission to go to Kallang. That's why I went. I would never go if I had known. What made it worse was that the person who came up with this idea didn't stand up when Mr Tan asked. I was totally infuriated! And so we had to meet him on Monday for training, where he will take us HIMSELF.

Training was incredibly tough on Monday. The toughest I've ever been to. Nothing can beat it. After the usual warm-up run and stretching, he started the "hell" training. We had to run around the track on lane 8 in 1.45 mins. I gave my all in the first round, so that I could keep up with the team. But I was still lagging behind, the last in fact. When we came back, we had to do push-ups. But we had faced the wrong direction, so off we went for another round, this time in 1.30 mins. It was crazy! Then, we had to do push-ups while shouting,"I'm a canoeist! I'm disciplined!". The whistle sounded. We had to run again, this time in 2 mins. I was last again. Then, we had to do sit-ups while shouting,"I'm a canoeist! I'm determined!". And it just kept going on and on - at least 5 rounds I think. Too tired to count! And I was totally afraid of the whistle. Cos whenever the whistle sounded, we had to run. I was like almost dead already! After all that running, we had to do 100m sprints in 30 secs. We did about 10 I think. I could hardly run then. Finally, it ended with 2 rounds of slow jog and cool down. Now, the frightening thing came. "Meet me tomorrow morning at 7 in your canoe singlet. Don't be late."

I was dead tired from the training. When I got home, I totally had no energy to do anything. I just showered and went to bed. I really dreaded what was coming tomorrow. It's definitely gonna be morning jog. Argh!~

I reached school at 6.58 am the next day. True to my belief, we were going for morning jog. 10 rounds in 20 mins! Luckily, the team jogged at a pace where we covered 1 round in 3 mins. In the end, the team jogged 6 rounds while I jogged 5. Or else I'll never be able to keep up. I had to go report to Mr Philip Tan after the 3rd round. We had to meet him again - at 6.30 that evening.

I really dreaded it. What if it's another 10 rounds around the track? I was like already so dead from the last training and the morning jog. How am I going to survive this? Luckily for us, Mr Tan just wanted us to do a study plan, like what are we going to do to improve our result by Wednesday.

I did the study plan during PE on Wednesday. Anyway, training on Wednesday was also really tough. The J2s took us. I did no prior warm-up before training, so my muscles were like so tight! We had to do 2 rounds of circuit. Then we had to run 1 round in 2 mins. I was so tired already! We reached in 2+ mins. So had to do push-ups. Next round was in 2.20 mins. I think we came back in 2.30 mins. So push-ups again. Then, we had to run 1 round in 2.40 mins. We managed to came back in 2.38 mins. I was really glad then! Not only because we can stop running, but also because I think I did push myself in that final round. We had to do some short sprints to the pull-up bar in between the jogs, cos we made some mistakes. After all the running, we had to stay in pumping position. It's a tradition in the Sr Canoeing team - every batch have to stay in push-up position for 2 hrs. I was so tired, I puked. My arms were feeling SO SO sore! And the weather was SO SO HOT! My left hand went numb, and my palms really hurt! The numbness in my left hand only went off after 2 days.

The J2s said alot of things while we were in pumping position. Frankly, some of what they said didn't really go into me. But after the training, we had the debrief, where Mr Tan revealed that this is the "Hell Week". Then, the J2s took turns to make their "speech". I would say that that was quite a touching moment. Most of the stuff they said really inspired me. It gave me something to think about - what do I want to achieve at the end of my college life.

Well, I felt a deep sense of achievement for making through the week. Many times I really felt like giving up. Yet for some reasons, I didn't. There's this thing in me that always tells me that I can do it, that I don't wanna quit, not after coming this far. I also feel that this week had really bonded the team closer together.

On Thursday was our AGM. Each of us had to do a short introduction and say what post you want to be. I hate this kind of things! It's sickening! I don't want any post. I'm not power-crazy. I'm not here for that. I'm just here to place my votes. I actually a few candidates in mind for some of the posts - Captain : Melvin, VC : QQ, PTI : Ashraf, Logistic : Hong An, PRO : Boon May / Yuen Foong. But that short introduction session made me rethink some of my choices. In the end, my choices were: Captain - Melvin, VC - QQ, PTI - Ashraf, Logistic - Hong An, Kah Meng, Secretary - Boon May, Treasurer - Yuen Foong. Most of whom I chose got into Exco. Except the PTI - Zhenxian, Secretary - Yuen Foong and Treasurer - Bennett. I'm pretty happy with the new Exco. I feel that they have the capability to lead us to a better future. Anyway, after the new Exco was announced, the bad news came. Our training's suspended till after our Promos. I was kinda happy at first, but deep down, I felt really disappointed. All the things we have worked so hard to achieve will be lost. I think this's the first time I feel really sad when training stops.

Today's the National Day celebration. It was sucky! Nothing compared to the one at GM. Well, I'm really looking forward to the long National Day break. I think I really need it. Yea!!~