Settling Down to Boardgames

Choo choooooo! And we're off! All four of us gals settled down to a train across Europe game, trying to outwit each other in playing a game which involved chope-ing (monopolising) train routes across Europe (see photo for our game in progress). Yours truly won but in a group of beginners it was purely by chance rather than strategy.

It was our first time at Settler's Cafe, a boardgame cafe in Singapore near Clarke Quay on a lazy Saturday afternoon when I was bored and I ended up rounding up a bunch of friends to try this out. It turned out to be a lot of fun and I liked the whole set up of a fairly plain and simple cafe, with game masters in attendance at the press of a bell to explain rules and otherwise take orders for snacks and drinks.

I went back again for their member's night which also turned out to be a lot of fun but I think that was partly because I had a ready friend there in my cousin who has been mad about boardgames ever since his teenage years. So integrating into the group was made easy for me. Definitely a good scene for anyone interested in boardgames.

Stretch and Ache

My tummy has been noticabely expanding and so I finally decided to stop being in denial and return to the gym. Aikido is great and I do not want to have to cut down on my thrice weekly practices but it simply doesn't keep me in shape enough.

So I signed up at Amore Fitness which is a gym just for women. It's not that I demand an exclusively female atmosphere but I was looking for a combination of convenience in terms of location and a selection of classes I would like to go to at the right time. Amore fitted that bill this time and offered a once a week package which is costing me S$70 a month for a year. It's expensive but I'm hoping that after a year I will be in decent shape and can go back to just aikido.

I was sold 20 minutes into the Belly Blitz class which is a class based on belly dance movements because I was having sooo much fun with it. I figure it's good for my sense of coordination and my belly but I noticed that it was not my abdomen that ached the next day but my shoulders. I've since tried another Belly Blitz class with my brand new hip scarf which shimmers and jingles along with the music but sadly I was a lot less coordinated that day so despite the adornment, I'm sure I looked more clumsy than sensuous. And this is one class I'm glad is being held in a women's only gym since I'd be a lot more self conscious if there were men around.

So I then decided I should experiment around with the other classes to see what else would suit me and tried out the pilates class yesterday. It was a slow moving workout concentrating on a lot of the smaller muscles which was interesting. I discovered that my lower abs are very weak and some of the muscles which help with my balance in my legs also need strengthening. But oddly enough my left shoulder is very free of tension which surprised me since I spend a lot of time on the computer...must be all those nikyo pins during aikido have stretched that joint out nicely. My right shoulder joint is also nice and loose but is slightly more tense than my left. It's actually very useful doing this class because now it gives me a better idea of what areas of the body I really need to work on and lower abs is really one thing I'd like to improve. Other than of course overall fat reduction and toning.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to try out the yoga class and the abs, hips and thighs session as well.

My Favourite Spot: the Hammock

My Favourite Spot: the Hammock
Originally uploaded by CatSienna

This for me symbolises Pangkil most: the long lazy afternoons spent dozing or reading in this enormous hammock which can fit easily 2-3 adults.