A Series of Unfortunate Events
Saturday March 11, 2023
Last Friday, there was a big snowstorm to welcome me home to Toronto. As a result, I didn't leave my building on Saturday but by Sunday I was bored enough to venture out to meet up with my badminton friends for dinner. My back was sore but manageable. On Monday, while I was showering, something spasmed and I lost feeling in my left leg. It was so painful that I basically did not leave my bed for two days. I managed to see a physiotherapist on Tuesday afternoon and from then on, I was able to sit down for a few hours at a time and do some work, but I was still in a lot of pain. A heating pad that I ordered arrived and that has helped with mitigating the pain, slightly.
Yesterday, there was another snowstorm. My router bricked itself and I had to order a replacement from Best Buy. My bedroom lightbulb also blew for some reason. I can't stand up for more than a minute before my leg starts to tighten up and I get a sharp pain in my back. I've been using Lyft to get everywhere, even to the physiotherapist 7 minutes walk away. I've been moderately stressed with studying for the Canadian citizenship test as well, but thankfully my new router works and I'll be able to sit the test at least. Even the router setup was stupid, I had to create a Netgear account and allow all these permissions for my phone so it could access the router using the mobile data connection.
Next year I'm not coming back to Toronto until April.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:48pm on Saturday March 11, 2023 :: 0 comments :: 
Atlanta
Sunday March 5, 2023
The position of the driver's seat in my parents' car that I was driving around the Bay of Plenty caused my back to tighten up quite badly and when I went to pick up my luggage, full of Whittaker's chocolate, I put my back out, right before we were supposed to go to the airport. I was in agony the whole trip, but work had booked me a Skycouch to myself, which helped a bit. Some dork tried to claim one of the seats for himself before I told him I was entitled to all three seats. I did manage to sleep a lot on that flight, but it felt awkward because I'm not used to sleeping scrunched up. I like stretching my legs out and I was always afraid I'd stick them out the end of the seats into the aisle. Nevertheless, the flight went by so quickly that I didn't even have time to watch a movie, and then I was out into Houston airport for a five hour layover. My flight to Atlanta was delayed because the passenger bridge at IAH broke down, causing the incoming plane to be redirected to another gate so the passengers could deplane and we could board. Eventually I made it to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the world's busiest, just before midnight on Sunday.
In an effort to readjust quickly to Eastern Time, I was up relatively early to go to Atlanta Zoo with Pete, my fellow Kiwi workmate. We got a breakfast sandwich from a cafe just down the road and then took an Uber to Grant Park. Though it rained a little bit during our visit, it was nice to see lots of different animals out and about, especially the flamingoes, tiger and giant pandas. However, many of the signs around the zoo had world maps on them... without New Zealand.
We had lunch at Mary Mac's Tea Room, an Atlantan institution for over 80 years. The waitress asked where we were from and immediately opted to dial down the sugar content of our iced tea in case we got diabetes. When our fried chicken came out, it was a bit dry but we did that New Zealand thing where we just said it was fine when she asked us how the meal was, and then continued complaining while eating the rest of it.
We went our separate ways; I went to the aquarium since Pete had done that the day before with the World of Coca Cola. I took a behind the scenes tour which took me to the top of the large fish tank holding manta rays and the massive whale shark, the largest fish in the sea. I saw otters, puffins, penguins, hammerheads, jellyfish, seals and sealions, but the aquarium closed at 6pm so I had to wrap up my viewings pretty quickly. I met Pete again for dinner at 5Church, around the corner from our accommodation, for a delicious steak dinner.
The next few days I attended the Prytania Media Live conference, where I got to meet most of my workmates in person for the first time. It was a wonderful occasion reinforcing all the fantastic qualities of care and respect that the company was built upon. I managed to catch up with a couple of ex-Ubisoft colleagues as well, now at Possibility Space, my sister company. On Thursday, it was time to return to Toronto and I was met at the airport by Emilio and Sarah, who had graciously come to pick me up because of my old man back problems. It was dark and it was cold, but it was nice to be back. Sorta.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:49pm on Sunday March 5, 2023 :: 0 comments ::