Playing at Sandbox Training Ground

I was invited by a friend to go to one of the trial classes and that the theme currently they were teaching was “Gladiator”.

Which totally fits me because I’m still into Kassandra of Assassin’s Creed.

Anywho, Sandbox Training Ground does fight choreography, wireworks and much more. You want a dramatic fight scene? You can learn from there.

At the time of this post, they’re at 10 Raeburn Park which is nearish Outram. It’s a clean and quiet place. I like the spring floor of Sandbox’s it’s very springy (duh) but if you know how to do acrobatics and stuff like that, it’s a fun floor to bounce off.

With my background of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and pro-wrestling, fighting for film is totally different!

I had to reverse my usually steps which made me confused until I got it somewhat. Usually I really WOULD hit a person with my sword and the twirl while it looks dramatic in film and is so cool, it’s totally something I would not do in tournaments because it’s the best way to get stabbed quickly.

And fight choreography is safe, but you have to “sell” it which means you have to do the acting too. Which seemed odd the first time for me because in fight choreo, it looks great in FILM but it’s all “air”. It is so, soooo different from when I get smacked or something.

Did I enjoy the session? Yeah. The community there seems pretty neat and the instructor does have safety as an important thing.

Check them out if you ever want to learn how to do stunts or fight choreography, more info on their website because they’ll have the ‘fight’ of the season of teaching and you’ll be able to see what it is since they’re constantly trying to improve their syllabus.

Also, their instagram, @sandboxtrainingground is very updated so you can have a looksee too.

Giving Up

Firstly, happy International Women’s day. I am a woman. Happy me (?)

Secondly, it’s raining once more. Sheesh, I keep writing about the rain but last weekend. Upon a Sunday, it was raining so heavily and the Saturday night prior, I was watching a Malaysian movie called Imaginur (it’s really good and feels, if you have the opportunity to watch it, go for it!) and went home around 11pm or so?

It was considered ‘late’ to me but to wake up in the morning of a rainy Sunday at 8am, I went “Meh…” because I had booked a session at the Gympod. Instead of letting the slot go because I do know the ‘balance’ of is it worth wasting your money or your time, I checked and I could swap the time around to evening instead.

If I gave up, I would have just not gone to my gym session, instead I made the effort to at least swap it to a different time but still do it.

Which worked because it rained much heavier after I swapped the booking while in bed and it would have been horrible to travel all the way to the specific gym location I go to.

Yet, AUGH I could have just given up. Yet I didn’t. Which is totally different from quitting or knowing when to stop and restart.

For one thing, I always “stop” and not go to events or exercise sessions or training sessions if I’m not feeling good that day. It’s totally a different feeling and it’s a NO don’t do it because in general, I would also have to be considerate and think about the safety in others. If I’m not feeling good, it’s not safe to continue, thus try another day.

But giving up is different in my definition. There’s a sense of “You can do it but you choose not to because you just don’t wanna” for me.

Then there’s quitting, quitting because I know something is not going to work out and that should be ‘quick’ because that means I’ll try ANOTHER way. It’s a cut losses, you know this won’t work so let’s find an alternative method because… we aren’t giving up.

So are you the type that gives up, do the stop and restart or quit and find a different method kind of person?

Meanwhile, it’s annoying.

One of the reasons I keep on training is not the adults, no no. It’s ESPECIALLY the children. Like thanks. If they want to keep seeing me in a ring or stage and such, well. I can’t disappoint them can I? They are highly likely not able to read my blogposts or social media stuff but they’ll be able to pop up whenever their parents bring them along.

And if it’s just for the one kid or whomever that says, I wanna see you there or gets all “GASP!! It’s a girl!” like Anya from SpyXFamily all excited with her Waku waku-s…

Then sheeesh, I got to work on for it, won’t I?

Song of this post recommendation, listen to Tuyu’s song. Click CC for English subtitles!

App fatigue

Do you guys get app fatigue?

Recently Kopitiam is stopping their Kopitiam cards and are switching to an app based one. I do go there once in a while but let’s just say I’m not the target audience because I didn’t use their Kopitiam cards to have significant ‘discounts’. But their announcement to switching to an app based one while would be ‘easier’ to download it feels meh to me because that’s just another new app to register to.

Before this, the Passion card’s services for some places like Giant and Guardian changed to Yuu. I don’t know what’s worse. Hearing the song “Nobody like you” by Phua Chu Kang (the character, not even Gurmit himself) on loop as you go to these places to purchase your things or that now you have to install another app (Yuu) for rewards.

I liked the tap tapping for Passion card because it was there, it’s linked to the debit card for mine and I didn’t have to install anything if I wanted to use the points.

Then there’s the SimplyGo Ezlink app that Ezlink is promoting so people can use their wallets more too for more rewards and topping up stuff.

No, I’m tired even if you get a $2 cashback for converting your regular Ezlink card to a SimplyGo one. I’ll top up my ezlink card manually at the train or bus station with the machines there.

But Sarah, it’s just installing an app, easy one!

NO!

Bit by bit, installing more apps, you might think it’s free but at this rate. Guys. At this rate. How much space are these apps going to take? You might think ohh it’s just so small but no, at this rate, how much space is it really going to take up on your phone?

It might be even worse if you keep installing all of these apps and then you realize you run out of space for more apps that you need a smart phone with a bigger space or something.

I’m tired of apps. Can we just get multi usage apps in a digital environment instead of ‘solo’ apps just because management of whatever company says ‘We should have an app’ to track customer spending and rewards etc?

Surely ‘creating an app’ is not one solution to things.

Are you guys tired of this or do you like all these apps nowadays?

It’s raining today and probably tomorrow

It has been such a wet season. It’s raining almost daily ever since my post about going to the Istana during the holidays. It’ll only be sunny for a just a few hours and then back to rainy skies once more.

Having a dryer at home is really useful during this season. In the news it had said we were supposed to have sunny skies by this time in February but I guess, global warming’s affecting it.

Continue reading It’s raining today and probably tomorrow

Sustainable Exercise

It was a cool night

Firstly, this isn’t an advertorial post because I gotta pay for it but if you wanna try Gympod like I did. Might as well get 10% OFF your first paid booking.

Download The Gym Pod App and use my code SARAHGYM when signing up OR just download via my link: https://app.thegympod.com/refer/SARAHGYM

Ok, that’s done with. It’s that little button under ‘profile’ that you too can refer a friend for it.

This is a review of it. I had been looking pretty much at many gyms but I wanted something ‘private’ or something worth it, you know?

I went with gympod cause apparently if you book the session, the whole pod is yours! It’s true. Except for the bigger ones like “The Dungeon” which is made for sharing with others.

Continue reading Sustainable Exercise

The Istana

It’s open house time!

It’s been around 13 years since I went to the Istana. I remember posting about it on national day in 2010.

And this year, 2023, I went to the Istana once more during their open house!

For those who don’t know, it’s free for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents.

For tourists and others, it’s $2. Unlike 13 years ago, everything has to be paid via qrcode so you should have paylah/now or its equivalent ready. Ticket proceeds go to charity.

Do also note what you can or cannot bring into the Istana grounds, there are rules on their website and you can also take note on the dates they’ll have it.

Entrance also depends on the weather and if it is too bad, you won’t get in since it IS a large space and the probability of being struck by lightning is high during a storm.

Continue reading The Istana

First Hijabi Pro-Wrestler in Singapore

I’m not the first female Singaporean pro-wrestler, that’s definitely Alexis Lee.

I’m not the first hijabi pro-wrestler, that’s very much Nor ‘Phoenix’ Diana.

But I’m very certain I’m the first Singaporean hijabi pro-wrestler.

Sarah is blocking flames with her buckler and holding a sword
Photo by Mezame

So hi, if you haven’t known me yet. It’s me, Sarah. And I’m very sure you might have a mutual who knows me if you don’t know me yet especially if you live in Singapore because we’re indeed a small country.

Note: This post is pretty long so I’ll break it up in a few sections

  • The First Appearance
  • The Second Appearance
  • The ‘Last’ Appearance
  • Behind the Outfit
  • What’s Next for Sarah in Wrestling?
Continue reading First Hijabi Pro-Wrestler in Singapore

Finding Me

All this talk about finding another twitter equivalent such as Mastodon (I don’t know what that is), or going back to Tumblr (I know what that is) and retreating to even Facebook or instagram after that person bought over twitter made me go huh.

For now twitter’s the easiest to shout into the void. But because of that, well, let’s not get into it right now because of why people want to leave it, there’s plenty of articles out there talking about it. If you don’t know, that’s ok.

This is about finding me.

I’m not ‘leaving’ its platform yet but I want you to know there’s a reason why I kept the same online name although at times, I might cringe because it sounds pretty chuuni when stated out loud. (Short version: It’s based on an original character.)

It’s obviously not my real name but it’s something I’ve stuck to. I’ve see the cycles of the internet to know that not everything is forever. We can try to make things last, that’s the dream. (Which is why also decentralized data intrigues me especially E T H but this isn’t that kind of article.)

But nothing is forever when you don’t have control of it. Heck, even if you have control of it, it might not be forever but you’d have that glimpse of a chance of knowing how long it might last.

And that’s why I like to cast something akin to a digital spell. Like faery tales and stories, you have power in a name. And that’s why, I’ve made sure that whatever platform it is, if something happens, you’ll still be able to find me. Like a trail to a lighthouse, you’ll find me since I’ve left the trail for you, if you need to find me.

I know not everyone needs to find me, but. If you need to, the track is there and if you do know me, and are a mutual who wants to find everyone else if anything happens, well.

Start here.

Global Mat Soul Kitchen’s briyani

Disposable box of briyani and pineapple achar
The box of briyani with achar

It was more than a month ago (some time in September 2022) when I saw the notification from Global Mat Soul Kitchen’s instagram that he was opening orders for his “mutton ov doom” aka mutton briyani.

I had followed his account for much longer and since it was the first time in a long while that I finally got that notification, I knew I had to try it.

Were all those articles about his briyani being the best really true? What is all the hype about it? What’s this mysterious briyani?

To get it, you had to follow the exact instructions and be polite about it because hey, this person really did cook food for you if you managed to get an order in time.

What I had to do was message my order, follow said instructions and go to the specified pick up point with my own plastic bag. Remember! Bring your own bags and make it sturdy. There has been a sad tale when one customer’s plastic bag broke and all the beautiful briyani was strewn upon the cement floor.

At this point of blog post, you might ask me was it worth it?

Well, duh. Yes, it is.

But hey, this is a Sarah post, so heck that if you wanted a tl;dr version you’d read other people’s reviews with pictures.

Continue reading Global Mat Soul Kitchen’s briyani