Hello Darkness My Old Friend
Friday November 28, 2025
Summers in Toronto are short - too short - and that all too familiar feeling of dread starts to set in as the leaves begin to change their hues from green to gold and red. Summer this year was very hot and dry, which meant that forest fire smoke was not great. Despite this, I still did my best to get out and see the city, whether it was for the multitude of cultural festivals, a trip to the Islands, blueberry picking at Wilmot Orchards, the free night at the AGO, or taking pictures of the many, many street cats that I’ve named after desserts. There’s Flan, a shy brown and white cat with a “haaa” kind of meow. His brother, Choco, a void with grey streaks, who tends to be a bit spicy. Oreo, a very rotund black and white cat that loves to flop on the floor and expose his belly. Smores, an aloof white and brown cat that always glares at me. Tangerine, a ginger who always has a place to go to. Sesame, a very talkative black and white cat who also has a tag saying “please do not feed”. Recently I also named Crème, a white and grey patched cat, and her brother, Brûlée, a friendly void, as well as Hazelnut, their brother, who’s a bit more shy.
We went to Point Pelee over Labour Day in the hopes we’d catch the monarch butterfly migration, but because of the hot weather, they hadn’t started their trip yet. Nevertheless, we visited the southernmost point of Canada, both on the island, as well as the bit on the mainland. We went canoeing around the marshes of Point Pelee Provincial Park, and got to meet some tiny baby turtles being released into the water.
Work was busy. We’d been leading up to our release on Nintendo Switch in September, and I had spearheaded the major feature, Buddy Up!, with GameShare. Because it was such a new technology, Unreal hadn’t fully supported it in the way we needed it to work, but after some help from the Nintendo forums, and some good old fashioned debugging (and some wild “I don’t know what I’m doing!” hacks), we managed to get something pretty damn solid, and I’m proud of what we shipped. Unfortunately, we didn’t do as well as we had hoped, and due to some other factors relating to the industry as a whole, the majority of the team was let go. I continued working until the start of October to finish the final QoL patch for Lynked, but it was a sad ending to a company and project I had poured so much into despite my short time there. We can all agree that the worst part of this is having to spend winter in Toronto.
The news broke the day before my parents were due to arrive in Toronto, which meant that after I finished up, I’d have plenty of time to take them around. We rejigged a few things and made some bookings, and soon I had a full ten day trip planned with them, from Algonquin to Ottawa, Quebec City and Montreal.
We covered so much in the month that they were here. For starters, I took them to Graffiti Alley, Chinatown and Kensington Market. That weekend, we went to Port Hope to see the salmon run, which was incredibly exciting for them. We had lobster mountain at Fishman’s afterwards, which was phenomenal. I also took them to Antler to try a bison steak and Tinuno for Filipino kamayan. The following weekend, we went for a maple farm tour on the way to Niagara Falls, where we got to try freshly made maple taffy. We saw the beautiful light show and fireworks over the falls at night, and in the day, the full splendour of the falls up close, with the boat ride right up to the Horseshoe Falls. We had a quick walk around the floral gardens and ended the day with a wine tasting for my parents, and an Italian meal in Niagara on the Lake before driving back to Toronto.
It was their anniversary on the Tuesday following our Niagara trip. We had dinner at New Orleans, a Cajun restaurant near Scarlett and Eglinton. Dad has always been a fan of Karen Carpenter, and being able to try the foods she sang about in her song On the Bayou was a real treat. The night had more to offer though - I’d been receiving aurora alerts and the readings online were all looking promising, so we went home, changed into warmer clothes, and drove out to Vaughan. Though the initial colours were faint, we were treated to a beautiful display of greens and reds at 11.30pm. Even without the cameras to show the colours, the lights were so bright on the horizon. An incredible spectacle for my parents, and such a memorable anniversary for them.
We covered St Lawrence Market and the waterfront that weekend. Saturday night was Nuit Blanche, and though there weren’t any standout art pieces, the vibe was great and a good showcase of the atmosphere in Toronto during these summer events. We had another lobster dinner at Yumi in Richmond Hill with the badminton crew, and then we were off to Algonquin the next day. We hit it at just the perfect time. I’ve never seen Huntsville so peaceful and quiet - I’ve only ever been there during public holiday weekends like Thanksgiving. The colours were stunning from Dorset Tower, and even though it was overcast the next day while we walked around the provincial park, we still got some beautiful pictures of the magnificent red maples on Highway 60, as well as a fox sighting!
We made our way over to Ottawa on Wednesday, where we did an immersive 3D experience of the Peace Tower, currently closed due to renovations. It was pleasant to be walking around Parliament Hill even though it was a bit chilly. For dinner, we found this incredible Burmese place near Chinatown that was super interesting and tasty. We had tried to go kayaking at Dow Lake, but they had closed for the day so we went the next morning, and dad throughly enjoyed being out on the water. We began the long drive to Quebec City, hitting some Thanksgiving traffic as we passed through Montreal.
I’ve only been to Quebec City once before this. It was fine, I guess? My parents loved it though. It’s got that French vibe and aesthetic, especially with the cobblestone paths in the old town, and the pots of flowers on the balconies. We had been super lucky with the weather so far and our lucky streak continued in Quebec. On our way to Montreal, we visited Chaudiere Falls Park, which I had missed my first time, and it was a short, peaceful walk (and free!) to see a beautiful waterfall.
I think my issue with Quebec is that I never know whether to fully lean into trying to speak French, or if I should just immediately admit defeat and go with English. I can’t really converse in French but I know enough to order off a menu and ask for basics, but it requires so much effort and my French is really bad, so I’d much rather just talk in English, especially if the other party knows how to speak English too.
We spent a few more days in Montreal. Originally we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to fill the time but everything worked out perfectly. Upon arrival, we went to St Joseph’s Oratory to catch the sunset. The next day, I took them up Mont Royal and then to the Botanic Gardens where we spent three hours walking around in the afternoon. At night, we caught the garden’s light show, Jardins de Lumiere, which we found to be well worth it. The Chinese lanterns that we had seen during the day had now been lit up at night, producing some incredible reflections in the lake where they were placed.
For our last full day, I took them around the old town and port area, and we finished the day at a French restaurant recommended by a friend, Leméac. What a meal - and what an incredibly massive dessert as well. The next day, we went to Schwartz right at opening for dad to try some authentic poutine, and then we did a Thousand Islands cruise before reaching Toronto late at night.
It was genuinely nice to have my parents around, especially because of the layoffs. The last time it happened, they basically just fed me all the delicious foods while we were in Malaysia. Being a tour guide gave me a sense of purpose and something to do. Following their departure, I bought myself a Nintendo Switch 2 and I’ve been playing Pokémon Legends ZA ever since.
There was the excitement of Halloween and a brief explosion of baseball frenzy as the Toronto Blue Jays made the finals (with a heartbreaking loss to the LA Dodgers), but it was only three weeks after my parents left that we got our first snowfall of the season. It was a significant dumping, with the snow lasting all throughout the weekend. It was an interesting sight to see the red and yellow leaves with a heavy dusting of white snow, which made for some beautiful pictures, but it was horribly cold and a sobering reminder that I’d be spending winter in Toronto, my first in four years.
In a last ditch effort to absorb some sun before the darkness of December and January, I’m off to Cancun - my first time in Mexico - where the forecast is 28 degrees. It’s begun to snow again in Toronto as we’re waiting to board the plane, and I’m looking forward to a weekend of warmth.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:43am on Friday November 28, 2025 :: 0 comments :: 