Badminton Rackus.

Aching arms. Flat-out exhausted. Sore muscles. Drenched sports attire. Back aching. 3 hours of hard-core badminton.

I hadn't touched a badminton racket for years (not counting the night before when I was stroking shuttlecocks with Ben at 12 midnight to reacquaint myself), and suddenly last night I was thrown into a group of guys who have been practicing every week for years.

I'll like to think that I was forced into this, that having more than 5 different colleagues ask me to join their teams in light of the upcoming company's Badminton Challenge on 5 Dec changed my mind about skipping the sports event, that I had no choice but go tonight for a practice session with the other team members to prepare for that day...

But to be honest, I have only my colleague to thank for being the first one to ask me about making a team of doubles, and stirring my interest in that almost-forgotten sport, and letting me join the bunch of hard-core badminton folks who meet every Thursday after work to play.

It's crazily tiring and exhausting.. and yet it was REALLY fun! I feel like I'm just a beginner among all the experts (which isn't too far off from the truth, really) and I had so many kind "coaches" who gave me tips and helped me to improve the techniques of serving or returning the balls.

"Focus," they told me. "Keep your bat up, ready to catch any ball any time. Be in a half-crouching stance that is ready to move in any direction at any speed. Don't jump, let the shuttlecock fall towards you. Serve low so that they cannot return as a smack."

The cool part is that they are all inviting me and the other two 'new ones' to the group to join them again, as they meet every week.

The not so cool part is that my partner for the doubles just found out this morning that he has a training course on that Saturday, 5 Dec, which cannot be postponed. Which means that if I still wanna play on that day, I have to find another partner. Bummerations!

Well, see how it goes, then. At any rate, I sufficiently enjoyed myself last night to want to do it again! Just for the workout, I mean. The competition part is not realllllly a factor.

Now let's just hope the aching muscles get up on their feet again soon. You know, you never realize how many muscles you have until every single one of them aches all at once, each time you move. It's like, hey, I didn't even know I had a muscle there!

But yup, believe it or not, it's a good feeling. Shiok.

**She keeps smiling whenever she thinks about it.. randomity is meeting new friends who have actually been working in the same company as you for one and a half years and you never knew. Talk about BIG companies.**