Definitely the Shittiest Game I've Ever Worked On
Friday March 6, 2026
After being laid off last October, I knew I was unlikely to land a job that side of the new year, so I decided to just relax for a few months. I played a lot of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, and purchased the Mega Dimension DLC to go with it. While it wasn't a particularly standout game - in fact, a lot of the gameplay in the DLC felt like chores - the active battle system was a fresh take on a very old formula. Still, it was a good way to pass the time, especially with the days growing darker and darker. We had a nice gathering at Asian Dragon Buffet with my friends from the badminton group for our end of year do, and then another buffet at Spring Garden for Izzy's birthday, but otherwise most of my days were spent playing on my Switch and cleaning up 20 year old PHP code for Psypoke.
In the weeks before Christmas, I had some interviews with a Vancouver company that looked really promising. The recruiter was a Kiwi - immediately putting me at ease. Real nice guy to chat to, and just wonderful hearing someone else that sounded like me. The technical test wasn't too difficult, apparently I had one of the quickest solves, and the cultural fit interview was also smooth. After finishing the two rounds of interviews with them, I was waiting to see if they would offer me a position, when surprisingly I received an offer from the last place I expected to - FuzzyBot. Someone was leaving and they needed extra hands to help ship the game. It was a no brainer. I loved working with the people there and I loved the work I did, so I had to turn the Vancouver company down. On January 5th, I started working for FuzzyBot again, on the shittiest game I have ever worked on.
We Gotta Go is a "friendslop" game - games designed to be played with friends, where the intent is to pull people in and go viral. In our game, you are the embodiment of poop, trying to find a toilet in a haunted mansion where everything scares the shit out of you, literally. There's so much room for humour and though it's not the kind of game I love playing, I have been having an incredibly fun time working on it. Turns out toilet humour is extremely popular.
The period between Christmas and New Years was nice. I cooked a big Christmas brunch with bacon, eggs, avocado and sourdough, and then an even bigger Christmas dinner with wasabi mayo prawns, and herb-crusted lamb cutlets, roast vegetables and purple yam mash. We finished the dinner with Costco tiramisu and hot chocolate! On Boxing Day, we had planned to go to Niagara Falls to see if they were frozen over, but the weather was so bad that we decided to stay in Toronto and have hotpot for dinner. For New Years Eve, we had another hotpot and then we went down to Billy Bishop Airport and braved the -10C weather to watch the fireworks over the waterfront in front of the CN Tower. New Years Day had nicer weather, so we drove to Missisauga to have IHOP and then to Tiffany Falls and Niagara Falls to see all the ice. It wasn't cold enough for everything to properly freeze over, but there's still beauty in the ice formations that we did see.
January and February have gone by reasonably quick, although there was a period of 11 days where I absolutely did not leave my building at all. The snowstorm during that time was so severe that both badminton and church on Sunday were cancelled. 60cm of snow was recorded at Toronto Pearson Airport. The piles of snow from that storm are still visible almost 6 weeks later, though we are getting False Spring 1 this weekend and that should melt away a bunch of the ice. Probably the highlight of January was seeing Rob Paulsen (voice of Yakko and Pinky), Maurice LaMarche (voice of The Brain) and Randy Rogel (songwriter) perform at the Flato Theatre in Markham. It was a night of 90s nostalgia, with plenty of laughs and humour. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to sing along to Yakko's Nations of the World song with Rob. United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru... 🎶 After the show, I got to chat with them a little bit and take a photograph with them, and mentioned that they had worked for Steven Spielberg, and I work for Max Spielberg, so at some point in time we've all had a Spielberg for a boss.
For Chinese New Year, I cooked up another massive dinner. I don't know what I was thinking - my place can only hold five people but for some reason I ended up cooking for like, eight people. I guess that fear of not having enough food was real. The yee sang turned out super well, and in addition to being immaculately presented, it tasted excellent as well, perfectly balanced in sweetness, saltiness, freshness and sourness. So many ingredients went in - the base of cucumber, carrots and radish, and then mango, pomelo, red capsicum, smoked salmon, salted egg fish skin and abalone - the premium ingredients inspired by the yee sang I had in Malaysia two years ago.
In addition to this, there were prawns, duck and lettuce wrap, roast pork, barbeque pork, stuffed tofu and fried rice. Phoebe had brought some famous Chinese New Year snacks as well as some of the selection of treats I had bought for dessert.
And now that it's March, and the Nondescript March Event has passed, I've felt a lot more reflective and introspective than usual. What I've achieved with my life, where I am now, what I want to happen in the future. Things have largely gone very well for me in my life, despite one very marked tragedy early on, and more recently, two layoffs in two years. I still feel uncertain about this year and how it will unfold, but hopefully things will turn out okay.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:54am on Friday March 6, 2026 :: 0 comments :: 
Wellington
Thursday January 26, 2023
I arrived back in Aotearoa New Zealand on Christmas Day, an emotional return to my homeland of thirty years. All through the last hour of the flight I had a Kiwiana playlist on repeat: Brooke Fraser, Nesian Mystik, Bic Runga and of course, Dave Dobbyn's Welcome Home. We circled around the Waitemata Harbour with Rangitoto and the Sky Tower in full view before touching down in Auckland International Airport. I was out within 30 minutes, a record time.
I spent Christmas Day in Pukekohe with the Palmers, then on Boxing Day, it was dad's turn to come back to New Zealand. I had a week of holidaying before I had to start work again, so I tried to catch up with as many people as I could. Quite a few fellow expats were back in the country too, it was great to reunite after all these years, even if we only lived 500km away from each other. The weather was absolutely stunning and I was lapping it up. I visited Auckland Grammar and the University of Auckland to see the new buildings that had been constructed in my absence. I spent New Years at Mat's house on the Shore, playing Loveletter and Rockband. There were brunches and fried chicken and desserts... and badminton too!
After New Years, the North Island was hit by two cyclones, bringing some inclement weather to Auckland. I flew to Wellington on the 6th of January, where the rain continued for that weekend, but a few days later, that beautiful scorching sun was back. I spent two weeks there, working from an Airbnb near the Embassy with my colleague Pete commuting in to work with me from the Official Crop Circle Games Wellington Office. Every day, I finished at 4pm and was able to enjoy the afternoons in the sun. The city hasn't changed much, physically, but friends have moved away or out of town, or they've got children and aren't able to hang out as much. But I really missed that Wellington lifestyle of living downtown, being able to walk around to all the good restaurants. I visited all my favourites and got to try some fantastic new ones as well. In fact, when I went to Little Penang, Uncle Keith recognised me and gave me a hug, it was truly wholesome and I was so interested to hear how he had been and how they had navigated the last few years. I saw friends I hadn't seen in six years, eight years, ten years, and each time, it felt like I hadn't been gone at all. Conversation flowed so naturally. So many people made the effort to come and see me as well, and for that I'm truly thankful.
I even made it to Zealandia, and was able to explore the vast expanse of greenery. What a great place - I wish I came here more often when I lived there. We saw some Tui, Kaka and Tuatara. I climbed Mt Vic, walked around Oriental Parade, had hot pot in Brooklyn, went for Spicy Food Thursday, played badminton and on my last day in the city, I even did an escape room about Atlantis. I had such a great time in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and I wish I could have stayed longer.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:41am on Thursday January 26, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
Porto
Tuesday December 28, 2021
I keep thinking I should have come here when I was visiting Portugal in 2017. Even though my first day in Porto was wet and miserable, I got lucky with the forecast on the second day and I got to walk around in the sun. The city is absolutely beautiful, I love those orange roofs and white façades adorning the cliffs overlooking the Douro River, the smattering of greenery in amongst the buildings and the magnificent steel arches of Pont Luis I. Even though the temperature was only around 15 degrees, it was warm enough to walk around with jeans and t-shirt, and a welcome change from the icy slush and bitter air of winter in Canada.
It wasn’t easy to get here. After doing my PCR test on Thursday morning, I thought that would be that and I’d get the results the next day with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately the technician didn’t screw the cap on the sample correctly and it leaked, so I had to visit the pharmacy again on Friday to redo the test. I was a mess of anxiety because I knew it normally takes 24 hours to get the results and I’d have to leave for the airport in 27 hours. I kept calling LifeLabs to request an expedite and ensure they knew there was a deadline.
After helping out with cafe and the Christmas Eve service, I still had no idea whether I’d be allowed on the plane or not, and I was feeling a bit dejected about the whole situation. We went for Korean BBQ though and that cheered me up immensely.
On Christmas morning, I was up early because I couldn’t sleep; every time I woke up I looked at my phone to see if anything had come through during the night. Finally at 7.30am, the test came back - negative! - and immediately a wave of relief just washed away all the stress of the previous week.
Sarah and Emilio were kind enough to drop me off at the airport after doing pancakes for the community at cafe on Christmas Day. Pearson was not as busy as I was expecting and I made it through security with no problems. The flight was very short, but I did pass out for a good four hours out of seven. I didn’t even have a chance to watch any movies! I transited through Lisbon smoothly, and then I passed out again on the flight to Porto.
After checking into the hostel, I began to walk around town. Though the rain was heavy, it seemed like a fashion faux pas to wear this obnoxiously touristy poncho I used in Peru, so like the locals, I opted for a €5 umbrella for the day. I wandered around the area where I was staying, Bolhao, spotting some amazing bakeries and Amorino, one of my favourite dessert places that crafts their gelatos into flowers. I continued on past Trindade, the central transport hub of the city and made my way to the Crystal Palace where I found the “Porto” sign - apparently this moves from place to place so I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon it by chance. I needed a break before dinner so I walked back to the hostel and chilled out for a bit before grabbing a feed at O Afonso, a place that sells Porto’s famous francesinha sandwich. I couldn’t resist getting some wine with it, but I wasn’t expecting such a massive pour of rosé for €1.50, and on top of that, they gave me some port on the house as well. Great start!
The next day, I was out the door at 9.30am to pick up some pasteis de nata from Porto’s finest, Manteigaria. I walked to Ponte Infante Dom Henrique for a magnificent view of Pont Luis I, then followed the south bank over to Jardim do Morro. I crossed back to the north side and walked up to the cathedral, then back down to the riverfront, following the road all the way to the lighthouse overlooking the mouth of the Douro River at the Atlantic Ocean. I was planning to walk back into town for lunch but conveniently the old tram was about to depart from Passeio Alegre, so I rode that instead.
Lunch was another mega meal that I wasn’t able to finish. I needed to walk it all off, so I wandered around town again, seeing a bunch of the famous churches and buildings that I had passed by in the rain. I went up the tower of Igreja dos Clerigos which boasted a magnificent 360 degree panoramic view of the city. As night fell, I visited the Crystal Palace again to view the Christmas lights, then stopped by Porto’s oldest chocolatier, Arcadia, to pick up some port wine dark chocolate, and then a local patissier to pick up some breakfast for the next day.
I walked down to the river front to see Pont Luis I lit up at night, and got some dinner in the area. Honestly I was still kinda full from lunch but I powered through the Portuguese specialty, bacalhao, and finished off with a glass of port and a delicious egg custard meringue. Food in Porto is very rustic, hearty and home styled, with big portions, and of course, the wine is absolutely fantastic, even if I can’t handle that much. I’d love to see some of the countryside and do a wine tour if I come back, which will hopefully be a summer trip.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:46am on Tuesday December 28, 2021 :: 0 comments ::
Christmas
Wednesday December 25, 2019
It’s been a busy time. Summer flew by so quickly, and in came autumn with its exceptionally beautiful colours. We went hiking around Muskoka, Ranney Gorge, Peel Forest, Hamilton and Niagara, and the reds, oranges and yellows were truly outstanding this year.
We got our first snowfall in November, and since then, a few major storms have hit but now on Christmas Day, the weather is sitting around 0C and most of the snow from last week has melted. Work has been busy leading up to the end of the year, especially since head office pushed the release of the game to next fiscal, but this past week was very quiet in the office. All the Christmas parties are done. I made a pavlova for the first time, to rave reviews, and presented it at the church’s Round the World banquet. I nailed the piano accompaniment for the Christmas service. I cooked a Chinese meal for the young adults, which seemed to go over well. Everything is pretty much done and dusted for the year, and now I’m at Pearson Airport, on my way to New Orleans.
What a year it’s been! I look back at my camera roll with fond memories of Peru and Machu Picchu, as well as travels to Atlanta, Chicago, Quebec City and Montreal. I’ve had some great food and some not so great food. We had our big E3 reveal, to much excitement and praise. 2020 will be a big year for Ubisoft Toronto and I’m glad I’ll be around for it.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:27pm on Wednesday December 25, 2019 :: 0 comments ::
A New Year
Thursday January 3, 2019
Finally back in Canada after a glorious two week summery excursion in the homeland. It's wet here, in Vancouver, and I'm told it's been snowing in Toronto. Sigh.
The end of last year was busy. We had our final work karaoke on Friday night in Koreatown. It was so epic and full of laughter and good times; there was plenty of Disney, 80s power ballads and 90s cheesy pop, and we even sang Phantom of the Opera - with Emily hitting those amazing notes sung by Christine at the end of the song. So good.
I went to the light exhibition down by Ontario Place as well. It was pretty serene walking around the island, but the art installations were pretty colourful and interesting. It's cool that even in winter when the weather is so cold, there's still some kind of incentive to go outside and see what the city has to offer.
Pokemon Go's long-awaited PVP feature dropped this month, but as expected, it was nothing more than a mind-numbing tap fest with only slightly more strategy than a game of rock-paper-scissors. The rewards can be obtained regardless of winning or losing, the cost to make your Pokemon competitive is extremely high, and there's just no incentive to take that plunge.
The flight to Vancouver and then Auckland was not too bad. I played Smash Bros for most of the time, but then ran out of battery power on my Switch heading to Auckland. It was an overnight flight, so I managed to catch some shut eye, but I also watched Ant Man 2 and Incredibles 2. I arrived in Auckland very early on Thursday morning, and I babysat my nephew for the day.
I'd been starved of decent Malaysian food for so long that my first three meals in New Zealand were Malaysian - Kampung Cafe in Glen Eden, KK in Greenlane and Little Penang in Wellington. I basically took the airport bus from Wellington Airport into town, said hello to my excolleagues at PikPok, dumped my luggage at Mana's house and went straight to Little Penang on the Terrace. Auntie Tee and Uncle Keith even recognised me while I was standing in line, it was so nice to talk to them and tell them how much I missed their food. They even gave me a free teh tarik!
PikPok has changed a lot since I'd left. The company's grown by 40 people in two years, and the kitchen now fits more than two people. It was good to see everyone and see how they were, and catch up on news in my absence. We also went for karaoke!
My two weeks was spent basically absorbing as much Kiwiana as I could. Burgerfuel, L&P, Hells Pizza, mince pies, feijoas, the accent, the sun. I even played badminton! I visited tons of my favourite places in Wellington and Auckland, and I caught up with so many people: old workmates, church friends, family, school friends, University friends. It seemed like everyone had either gotten a mortgage, a dog or a kid in the time I'd been away. Though I may not have messaged many people over the past couple of years, it was easy to slide back into conversation as if nothing had happened, and for that I'm truly thankful. Everyone was keen to hear how my travels were, and about my life and job in Toronto.
The weather was awesome. Even if it was raining in entire time, I would have still had a good time not freezing my face off. Most days it was cloudy, but the sun came through quite often, in that familiar ozone-less burny sensation. I got some great pictures of Wellington's waterfront and Auckland's Waitemata Harbour, and sent them back to some jealous Canadians.
But of course, all good things must come to an end. The flight from Vancouver to Auckland was another night flight, and I slept so much that I almost ran out of time to watch Crazy Rich Asians. I'm not looking forward to the cold months ahead, but I am looking forward to seeing all my Toronto friends again, and telling them about my adventures and how great New Zealand is.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:33pm on Thursday January 3, 2019 :: 0 comments ::
Winter Christmas
Thursday December 28, 2017
The temperature is now consistently below zero, with snow and slush everywhere on the streets. It's strange looking at it from within my very warm apartment, because it can be sunny yet -15C outside, and quite a shock when I leave the building.
Things got pretty busy for me as the year wrapped up. I attended my first Ubisoft Christmas Party at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, where a band called the Cybertronic Spree entertained us by dressing as Transformers and playing the Pokemon Theme Song. There were circus performers and lots of food and alcohol, and such a great atmosphere to celebrate my first four months with the company.
Ubisoft gave us the Friday before Christmas off. I took the opportunity to run a few errands in the morning - even getting in some time to do some Pokemon Go raiding. I tagged along with Victor in the afternoon, and we hit a few nests around the Junction/High Park area, getting lots of Pokemon in the process. It's horrible to play in such cold temperatures, but not too bad if you have a car to go around. In the afternoon, I headed into town to check out the Christmas Market down in the Distillery District, where it was totally packed with locals and tourists alike. I got some chocolate from the famous chocolatier, SOMA, and then went to Chinatown for hot pot and some games afterwards.
On Saturday, my badminton crew had dinner and karaoke at a restaurant out in Markham. The clientele is mostly Chinese, and as a result, so was the song selection. I let it slip the only Mandarin song I knew was Tong Hua, so I had to sing it. The native speakers seemed quite impressed with my pronunciation and singing ability, despite my inability to speak Mandarin, so I'll call that a win for me.
There were two church services on Christmas Eve, both of which I played piano for. It was quite a challenge, trying to make sure everything was in order musically, but I think the worship team and choir came together quite nicely. I was surprised that it all fell into place and nothing majorly disastrous happened, because I only had a few hours of sleep the night before - I got home late from karaoke, around 1am, and I had troubles sleeping because I was so stressed about waking up early in the morning. A family took me for lunch to Swiss Chalet after the morning service, then dropped me home for a quick nap before I came back for the evening service. Afterwards, I went to a workmate's house for an amazing Christmas Eve dinner with turkey, salads, and a cold pasta dish marinated with a Japanese sweet-and-sour plum vinaigrette.
As I walked home, the snow was falling. It was serene and quiet, everything I had imagined a white winter Christmas to be. It was pretty awesome to see the Christmas lights on peoples' homes illuminate the fresh snow with all sorts of colours, and I can finally appreciate all the winter imagery that's so commonly associated with Christmas.
Another church family had invited me out to their house in Etobicoke for Christmas lunch, so that's where I spent most of my day. I managed to call my parents in Malaysia, and my sister in New Zealand as well, and got to hear from my excited nephews about what presents they got and what they got up to back home. I really do miss them, and I'm looking forward to going back to New Zealand sometime next year to see them, and all my other friends too.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:54am on Thursday December 28, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
2017
Sunday January 1, 2017
2017 is finally upon us. What a year it's going to be for me! In just over three weeks, I'll be starting my Big O.E. with the first leg of my journey from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur.
The past year has been good for me. I'm very proud of Doomsday Clicker and the financial success that it's brought PikPok. It's been a fun project to work on, and exudes the signature polish and gorgeous art style that PikPok games have. It's got that quirkiness and humour, and those systems have been fun to write. I took on a greater role in recruitment and we hired some cool people over the course of the year - some of whom I won't actually get to work with! I leave PikPok with my head held high, knowing I've made a positive impact on the company and proud of what I've achieved in my nine years there.
I got to see the Final Fantasy A New World Concert in Melbourne, and almost exactly a year later, I will be seeing the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds concert. I walked Lake Waikaremoana and barely survived with a bung knee. I went to five weddings, played piano at one of them and was a groomsman at another. We saw the end of Strawberry Fare, but went hard with Wellington on a Plate. There was Little Penang's fifth birthday, mooncake festival, hot pot, yum cha, late night trips to see the glorious night sky, badminton, squash, crocodile biking, and of course, karaoke. There was Pokemon Go and the ensuing hilarity of me being interviewed by the NZ Herald and Flava, and scoring a mention on TV3's Seven Days.
2016 has been pretty memorable for me and it'll go down as a pretty crazy year.
I've been spending the last week catching up with family and friends. Jules, Mana and I did the drive from Wellington to Auckland on Christmas Eve without any incidents. Christmas was spent in Waiuku on my sister's in-law's farm with loads of food and presents for the nine children in attendance! On Boxing Day, I bought myself a new laptop (that I'm currently using to type all this up) and spent the rest of the day on the North Shore at Mat's house with the Pokemon Gang. On Tuesday, I took James and Navi around Auckland for a whirlwind tour, visiting Western Springs, Giapo and the waterfront to check out the massive cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas. On Wednesday, I met Jono and Charlotte for yum cha at Sun World, then Jordan, Tessa and Mana for Korean food and some arcade games. It was my sister's birthday on Thursday and we had lunch at Carriages Cafe in Kumeu, then I was back in town for Bryce's stag do. We had dinner at Elliot Stables, then did an escape room and had drinks at Dr Rudi's in the viaduct. Friday I had dinner with Mel, Jarrod, Jono and Charlotte at At Bangkok, then dessert at Ollie's, and then on New Year's Eve, I was out in Cockle Bay with Jono and Charlotte again.
I've even found time to go to the gym while I've been up here. It's nice to be relaxed enough that I can sort out all my travel plans and organise things for the trip, and fit in time to catch up with people, eat delicious food, and lift some weights.
Here's to 2017 and the surprises it will bring me.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:40am on Sunday January 1, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
It's Christmas
Sunday December 27, 2015
The last month of work has been pretty manic, with builds of all our games going out on various platforms and systems all at once. In our last week, we had our annual game jam, which was pretty manic, but the end result was a quality set of very impressive games from all teams.
Social wise, there's been a lot happening too. There was Campbell and Linda's wedding, we got some kittens delivered to the office thanks to Uber, we went out to Cape Palliser for a miniroad trip, there was the 80's Party IV and Jordan's 30th, and we had a week-long set of Christmas events to round out the end of the year.
Last Saturday, six of us began our roadtrip up to Auckland via Owhango, where we stayed the night. On Sunday, we headed to Tauranga for some white water rafting down the Wairoa River, only open 26 days a year due to it being controlled by a hydroelectric dam. However, due to some problems with the booking system, we had to be rebooked for 1.30pm instead of 11.30am, so we went up to Mount Maunganui for a squizz at the beach. I've never actually been there before, but the sand and water were fantastic and inviting. Eventually we returned to our white water rafting meeting point and geared up for an exhilarating ride down two Grade V waterfalls. It was an amazing experience and one to be remembered for a long time!
I didn't really make any plans with people before I arrived in Auckland, but as was expected, my calendar started filling up very quickly. On Monday, I was pretty tired from the roadtrip, so spent most of the time at home. On Tuesday, I met Mat and Will in town for lunch at Ortolanas and we got some take away Milse too. I went to the cat cafe on Queens St with Reagan and Erica, then met Mana out in East Tamaki for Korean BBQ. On Wednesday, I met up with all the Wellington crew for dinner at Kushi, dessert at Giapo and drinks at the Belgian Beer Cafe, before going for a quick drive down Franklin Road - and by quick, I mean a very slow paced crawl from all the traffic. On Thursday, I was at my sister's house catching with my nephews and then off to Tatsumi with my parents for an amazing eight course degustation.
Friday was Christmas, and that was double dinner at my sister's and then a family friend's house nearby. On Boxing Day, I was at Long Bay Beach with my schoolmates, and a good old traditional Kiwi barbeque at Mat's, and today I've been hanging with the guys from KCC. There's been mafia, Love Letter and Dota, and it's been pretty full on!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:11am on Sunday December 27, 2015 :: 0 comments ::
Merry Christmas!
Thursday December 25, 2014
It's been a busy time in Auckland, catching up at various eateries with friends and family. On Monday I caught up with the Pokemon gang at Sun World, Newmarket for yum cha, and then the Auckland PikPok crew at Tae Neung Korean Barbeque for dinner. On Tuesday, I met up with Matt at My Kitchen and then went with my parents to Tatsumi in Newmarket for their Christmas Special Degustation - sooo good. Expect an emotionally charged food blog post about this in the new year.
On Wednesday I was at Reuben's playing 7 Wonders with the Babel expansion and a quiet dinner at home before heading out to Milse in Britomart for some fantastic summery desserts. The night was not over yet though, there was some Smash Bros to be had at Julia's. Yuss!
And finally today, I got to see my adorable nephews - one almost four years old and the other almost a year old. We drove out to Missions Bay for a classic Kiwi Christmas picnic; we were one of many hundreds of people enjoying the wonderful warm weather around the city. We ended the day with a turkey roast back at home.
Early flight to Melbourne tomorrow!
Posted by Jeremy at 8:57am on Thursday December 25, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
One with the Wind and Sky
Monday December 22, 2014
The last week of work was a fun but hectic mess of frantic game jamming, as we pulled together to stick code, art, design and sound into an enjoyable experience that would wow our colleagues. Jimmy, Linda, Jayde, Nathan and myself were Team Four for Game Jam 2014 and unfortunately, four is also where we placed - just outside of prize money contention. Nevertheless, we produced something we were quite proud of so that's something we can take away from the week.
On Saturday, Mike, Will and Phil bundled into my car and we began our journey to Owhango, on the west side of Lake Taupo near National Park. Mike had kindly offered us the use of his holiday home for the night, so we took advantage of this and enjoyed the fireplace, pool table and spa pool. It was good to break up the road trip to Auckland, especially since we had a big day the next day...
I had been keeping close tabs on the weather for Taupo all week. The forecast had consistently said showers for Sunday, but as we drove towards Taupo, the clouds in the sky began to open up to brilliant blue and sunshine. We had one agenda in mind only: skydiving. This was an idea that began during the Great Kayaking Trip in Motueka but didn't happen because of strong winds. Two months later, this crazy idea became a reality as the four of us committed ourselves to the wind and sky, leaping out over the Great Lake Taupo with the most fantastic scenery around us. Mike, Will and Phil chose the 12,000ft jump; I opted for the 15,000ft jump. I watched them as they were forced out of the plane into the air below, becoming increasingly nervous as my time approached. My tandem master signalled and I shuffled forward to the exposed hatch, and then with no time to be scared, I was shunted out.
The few moments are completely terrifying, but once the free fall kicks in, you're much more relaxed and can start enjoying the scenery. I remember the glittering blue waters of the lake below, the greens of the forests around the area and the clouds in the distance that were covering Ruapehu. It was exhilarating but over too soon as the parachute deployed. I gasped and hyperventilated as my brain started to acknowledge just what I'd done, and as we continued our descent, I was still trying to get my head around just how lucky we were with the weather and conditions. It was absolutely fantastic and such an amazing experience.
We continued our journey to Auckland and I arrived back home around 7pm, in time for some soup kambing and sambal seafood that my parents had made for dinner. I rushed off to Massey badminton courts for a few hours of high-intensity badminton before finally hitting home and taking a well earned rest.
What an awesome start to the Christmas holidays.
Posted by Jeremy at 4:51am on Monday December 22, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
End of Year Shenanigans
Sunday December 14, 2014
It's that time of the year when the parties go wild and the people start gearing up towards Christmas and the end of the year. Most of us are looking forward to the holidays ahead, even among the stress of Christmas shopping and looming deadlines, and, for the PikPok crew, the competitive nature of this year's Game Jam. Several of the teams have already begun their prototyping ahead of the final week, so it's shaping up to be a tough competition indeed.
Again, despite my efforts to try and play Pokemon or failing that, work on my Game Jam game, this week was quite busy in terms of social events. We watched a horrible Ewoks spin-off movie for 80s Movie Night on Tuesday, then on Wednesday I was out at the Fringe Bar to watch Joe's improv graduation show and then stayed for another show by Wellington Improv Troupe. On Thursday, good old Bryce had come down for Kiwicon so we caught up with him at Crafters, and on Friday... it was karaoke!
Jules is turning 30 this year so she's been having a series of birthday-related events, one of which was an amazing karaoke session last Friday. We started strong, with some good classics like Final Countdown, Bohemian Rhapsody and Keep on Movin', followed by some more contemporary songs like Tay Tay's Shake It Off. But the highlight of the night was the Idina Menzel Let It Go battle between myself and one of Juliann's friends Sarah, who rose to the challenge and duetted the iconic Frozen song with me. We channelled the frozen fractals and icy blasts, crescendoing to the final note, and at the song's triumphant end - the cold never bothered me anyway - we high-fived a job well done as the entire room erupted into wild applause.
The night had not ended there, however. We finished up at KZone and headed to JJ Murphy's to see Vigz's band Zephyr playing some cool 70s and 80s covers. There was the oldest mosh pit I'd ever seen. But the environment was jovial and light-hearted, and we ended up mobbing the dance floor during Summer of 69, so there were plenty of good times to be had.
On Saturday we had the final PikPok badminton session for the year, and then it was off to the bakery for some pies, and then to LBQ with Thomas and Astrid for another MKR BBQ. Despite the weather, Ian and Sandie had set up their equipment and were making some delectable things. I chose the Hefe marinated Lamb Loin on Bruschetta with Goat's Cheese Mousse and Mint Pea Crush, which was pretty good. The goat's cheese mousse was wonderfully smooth and had such a good flavour to compliment the other ingredients. We stayed for an hour and a bit, and then headed off to the Apartment bar for the PikPok Christmas Party.
And boy was it a party.
There was Smash Bros set up on the Wii U and Giant Jenga all ready to go. We had five PikPok-themed cocktails from Oreo, Into the Dead, Flick Kick Football Legends, Robot Unicorn Attack and Rival Stars Basketball. There was much joviality and plenty of shenanigans to go round. At one point in time I was singing I'll Make a Man out of You and also Let it Go in French. At another point in time, I started the Animaniacs Nations of the World song. I was also balancing on top of a tower erected from the Giant Jenga blocks and I was also involuntarily trust falling into the loving hands of my co-workers.
We moved on to Little Penang for some food around 8pm, where I promptly declared how amazing the night was all over the table - it must have been those three shots right before I left. Thankfully Nic, Damon, Mana and James, who were with me, took care of the mess as I was ushered into the bathroom to clean myself up. I felt much better after that, and continued on to the Fork and Brewer very briefly to see Ben off, before being walked home by Polly and Vigz.
I posted a rather dire-sounding message on Facebook making seem I was in quite a bad place, so several people had texted me to ask me if I was okay, and I reassured them everything was fine, that I was just drunk and overwhelmed because it's the first time I've ever done that, and I amended the message on Facebook as soon as I could. But it's humbling to see that I can count on all these awesome friends to be there for me if I ever need them.
For that, I am truly blessed and thankful.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:29am on Sunday December 14, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
Christmas and Boxing Day
Thursday December 26, 2013
Whew.
Just been catching up with a bunch of my old schoolmates from Grammar. Good to see them and find out what they'd been doing for the past wee while, and also playing some good old fashioned Mafia for nostalgia. Boxing Day was otherwise pretty uneventful, but (excuse the geekout) I've managed to obtain yet more Pokemon for my Pokedex so that should keep me occupied for a bit while I try to catch them all.
Christmas was good too, a great feed at my sister's house and playing with my very excited and active nephew. I had a solid nap in the afternoon before heading out for some night badminton at the Massey courts. Not bad at all! I managed to hold my own against the hardouts! Quite impressed with myself on that one. It was exhilarating to get out on the court and push myself for a good couple of hours and sweat out all the delicious food I'd been stuffing my face with.
Not too many plans over the next few days, but am looking to go for a road trip over New Years. My Christmas has been great. Hope you've had a Merry Christmas too.
Posted by Jeremy at 1:35pm on Thursday December 26, 2013 :: 0 comments ::
All Quiet on Christmas Eve
Tuesday December 24, 2013
I was mentally checked out from work probably a week before we actually finished. The final week we spent doing a Game Jam of sorts - management presented a series of questions they wanted answered and we were to spend a week trying to see if we could answer these questions. It was okay; I felt like last year's Game Jam was way more enjoyable. I was lucky I had a great team this year and though things were a bit rocky and indecisive at the start, we pulled together and made a pretty neat toy. We celebrated the end of the year with karaoke at New Kor.
I drove up to Auckland on the Saturday after work had finished with two colleagues. We made good time; we left Wellington around 9.30am and stopped in Waiouru for lunch, Taupo for ice cream, Huka Falls for some sightseeing and Tokoroa for a quick nap, and still made it to Auckland at 6.30pm-ish. As usual, the drive was straightforward and easy, though I was a bit miserable and tired at the end of it.
I got to see the new KCC building for the first time at the Sunday Christmas service. It's very spacious and looks great, and it was great to catch up with so many people. We spent the rest of the day playing games like Buzz, Dominion, 7 Wonders and Up and Down the River before heading home around 1am. Whee.
On Monday I did some last minute Christmas shopping at West City Westfield. Not as busy as I thought it would be, but I wasn't there for too long. I picked up some food supplies as well, and I caught up with my sister and her family. My nephew sure has grown! So cute. I played soccer with him for a bit. Adorable that he's so excited to see me. Will be looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow for Christmas lunch.
After a quick nap, I was off to Newmarket to catch up with the Wellington/ex-Wellington crew for our traditional Christmas dinner at Sun World. Sumptuous plates of Peking duck, prawn balls, lamb cutlets, fried tofu, fried squid and chicken filled the table. It was an excellent meal with excellent company.
And finally today, I caught up with Amy in Ponsonby at the Foxtrot Parlour, before heading to Reuben and Shereen's to catch up with the other guys from youth group for a Christmas potluck lunch. We did a last minute Secret Santa that worked out pretty well. Everyone was told to bring one dud gift and one nice gift. I scored myself a Gucci pocket air-freshener thing (the "dud" but not really!), as well as a microfibre cleaning cloth. We played some Time's Up, although looking at Board Game Geek's description of it, we played it horribly wrong. Still, we had a fun time and everyone was satisfied and tired by the time we parted ways.
It's been almost non-stop social events since arriving in Auckland. I'm always surprised by just how busy I am over this period despite making very vague plans prior to coming up. It's not really my style to do that, but apparently it works well and it's a lot of fun (sometimes very tiring!) seeing people and catching up.
Holidays are great.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:47am on Tuesday December 24, 2013 :: 0 comments ::
It's Christmas Time
Tuesday December 25, 2012
I have to admit, I'm a little jealous of all my friends in Wellington posting these pictures of the glorious weather, while in Auckland it's overcast and windy and wet. In any case, the weather has never stopped us celebrating Christmas and having a good time.
Yesterday I introduced my friends to Spaceteam on iOS and also played a bit of Citadels too. Dragon Gate! In the afternoon I had to rush off to Pak n Save to prepare for a small Christmas Eve dinner at home, as well as supplies for Christmas lunch the next day. It was totally chaotic there, with hundreds of others running around the supermarket trying to finish their last minute shopping. Thankfully I was done with plenty of time to spare and had a good meal with Mat and Jono, despite two last minute cancellations from Tom and Andrew.
And today's Christmas plans were great as well. So nice to catch up with my sister and her family - my nephew is almost two years old now (how time flies...) and full of laughter and energy. Now that he's walking and talking, he's a lot of fun to play with and absolutely adorable. He even knows how to high five! I'm sure there will be many more memorable moments to come.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, wherever in the world you may be!
Posted by Jeremy at 6:52am on Tuesday December 25, 2012 :: 0 comments ::
Merry Christmas!
Friday December 24, 2010
Wishing all of you who read my blog (I estimate around 3 of you) a Merry Christmas.
The past few days have been quite delicious, with visits to Tony's Steak House on Lorne Street, Tonino's Pizzeria in Mission Bay and Dragon's Gourmet in Epsom. Great catching up with various people!
More eating today... just finished a heavy brunch and just killing time until tonight, where we're going to have a heavy dinner. Ah, it's truly Christmas.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:35pm on Friday December 24, 2010 :: 0 comments ::
End of Line
Saturday December 18, 2010
The Sidhe Christmas function this year was a two part extravaganza, the first part being Tron: Legacy and the second part being at the Ballroom, a pool lounge.
I went into Tron expecting "terrible" and I got "average". I was anticipating lying in my seat, writhing in agony but it wasn't actually the case. It was a mildly entertaining film with pretty graphics (bar Jeff Bridges in CGI) and an enjoyable soundtrack. Final verdict: not the worst two hours of my life. I have to say, though, movies aren't very social events. You're all focused on the screen and can't talk with anyone, so if we could avoid yet another movie for next year's Christmas do, that would be great. (Last year, they had 500 Days of Summer, but I was unable to attend that due to my flight to Malaysia ":(")
Following the movie, we had about an hour to kill and Surya really wanted to go to Strawberry Fare, so we gathered a small group and went. I was astounded at the number of new desserts I hadn't tried... there was a strawberries and cream one, a gooseberry dessert of some sort, the key lime pie was back, and there was a cranberry and white chocolate cheesecake, which I ordered. Absolutely fantastic.
The rest of the night was good. I played two games of pool with Jordan against Damon and Rob C, in which we were owned, twice. The remainder of my time there was catching up with various people, drinking, scoffing some pizza, just chilling and relaxing really. Being a Thursday night, there was some self-control to be exercised so most people started drifting away around 10pm so we could at least turn up to work the next day...
The last day of work was pretty uneventful, and I was just cleaning up my scripts and committing my code to the repository. We submitted the Zen Puzzle Garden update to Apple, so hopefully it'll go through review soon. We said goodbye to four of our artists by having dinner at Harem, and we learned of some surprising resignations for next year. Gasp.
The past week has been pretty hectic in terms of finding a flat to live in. After turning down the Mt Victoria property that I mentioned in my last post, we were kinda desperate to really wrap up the flat hunting situation before the end of the week. It so happened that we found another place at the bottom of Brooklyn Hill that Charlotte and I loved, and it also turned out that the landlord really wanted to get the tenancy sorted before the end of the week as well. So all in all, things aligned perfectly and now we have a really nice flat about 20 minutes walk from work and we are paying the same amount of money for it as the Mt Vic property.
Thank God for that.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:49am on Saturday December 18, 2010 :: 0 comments ::
Merry Christmas!
Thursday December 24, 2009
So I'm jumping the gun a little bit, who really cares?
We're just about to head to my auntie's house for a gigantic Christmas Eve feast. I'm expecting to see five of dad's six siblings at the dinner, and all their children (and for one, their children's children) - that's approximately 30 people. Truly a celebration in typical Malaysian style!
Anyway, here's wishing you all a blessed and joyful Christmas with friends and family, wherever in the world you are. To those of you who are hard pressed during this time, I really feel for you and hope things improve in the year to come.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:43am on Thursday December 24, 2009 :: 0 comments ::
Safe and Sound, but Melting
Friday December 18, 2009
Arrived safely last night at just before 8pm local time into the humid awesomeness of Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The flight was quick, only 10 hours, and felt shorter by the fact so many good movies were on! I watched 101 Dalmations (nostalgia), G Force (adorably cute), Up (entertaining and heart warming) and half of Bolt (got cut short by the end of the flight). There were so many kids on the plane though, it was really annoying. This kid in front of me kept looking back and throwing his toys on the ground so I had to pick them and I just wish I could have backhanded him, or something. Sigh.
Anyway, the work Christmas party was on Wednesday at Park Road Post out in Miramar, and while I couldn't stay for very long, it was cool just chilling out and having some delectable snacks (eg, grilled prawns) and a bit of wine to accompany. I had to leave before the movie, but I was told it was 500 Days of Summer.
And yes I have Internet access, yay! So I'll probably be online in the mornings while I'm waiting for things to get in motion for the day.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:44am on Friday December 18, 2009 :: 0 comments ::
End of Year
Tuesday December 16, 2008
Well, this'll probably be my last blog post this year. It's going to be pretty busy from now on, and I probably won't have a computer while I'm up in Auckland.
Thanks to all of you who visit and post comments and drawings. You can read more of my rantings at my 2008 Summary.
And with that, have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2009.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:07am on Tuesday December 16, 2008 :: 1 comment ::
Post Christmas Activities
Thursday December 27, 2007
The period between Christmas and New Years always seems so blah. It's like something's meant to be happening, but nothing does. Ż\(ş_o)/Ż
Anyway, we had an awesome feed on Christmas day. We had cheese platters (with some pickled onions, yum!), chicken nibbles, roast pork, glazed ham, potato salad, hot salad, green salad...and then for dessert we had these custard things in pastry cup...things. That were really really nice, so it's all good. And we also had a 5-layer rainbow jelly that took 5 days to make.
Since Christmas, I've been trying to get my sleeping habits back to normal after waking up at 4am to go to the airport. I think I'm back on track... kinda. Oh, and Sam arrived safely, so that's good too. \o/
I've been playing a lot of DS. Namely Pokemon...I've been breeding Larvitar and I finally got a good one ¬.¬ Anyway, that's half of my team, I need to get an Abra, Machop and Staryu now. Sigh. I wish the game makers would stop being so freaking stupid over IV Breeding and just make it some kind of max(father, mother, random) function. I also played Mario Kart DS over Wifi with PT, and that was lame, because he got a Blue Shell at the last course and pipped me to win the race. But all in all, we tied because I won the first two and he won the last two, so I'm not too fussed, and I fail at MKDS anyway so it doesn't bother me.
Lastly, I have also been hacking Pokemon ROMs. Yes h4xx0r lolz. I've been looking at the trainers' Pokemon. So far I've figured out level, dex number, item held and moveset. There's another number that I'm not too sure about...Weng Hao hypothesised it to be some kind of AI difficulty, and it makes sense, but I don't know of any way to test it.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:34am on Thursday December 27, 2007 :: 1 comment ::
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Monday December 24, 2007
Edit: So I'm up at 5am, waiting for Shereen to pick me up so we can go to the airport. XKCD is just so appropriate (but not for the same reasons)
Posted by Jeremy at 11:15am on Monday December 24, 2007 :: 0 comments ::
Christmas Service
Sunday December 23, 2007
So today we had the Christmas service at KCC. I was saying that it felt a bit hectic because I was trying to remember all my lines, as well as play the piano. But it all sorted itself out in the end.
The Christmas skit went really well. I didn't forget any of my lines (which was good), and I managed to ad-lib to cover up some late cues and also some other forgotten lines. There was a slight bit of panic when I realised I didn't know where the wireless microphone was, but frantic pointing by Andrew soon solved that. Yeah, I'm really pleased with how it went. Those of you who missed the skit will get the chance to see it later, because Uncle Ken filmed the whole thing. ¬.¬
After the service, we all went to grab a bite from Noodle Canteen in New Lynn. Cinta and I shared a honey chicken noodle, which was really nice. I kept telling myself not to eat too much, because we had an afternoon tea thing with my sister for her birthday later. In the end, I was feeling really hungry, so I took more from Cinta and also from Alice.
So after that, I made my way to Mission Bay. Despite the traffic and the lack of parking spaces, I managed to find a spot just in the back streets behind Burger King, and I joined the rest of the family at Mecca Stonehouse. At this point I wasn't feeling that hungry, but I ordered a chocolate mud cake, and after (happily) devouring it, I suddenly got hungrier. I don't know, why does it seem that I get hungry when I eat more? O_o Anyway, after that, I began stealing squid rings from Anita, and bread from my parents, and my parents got sick of me stealing food so they ordered another plate of bread and dip. Yum :3
So having been fed extremely well, I began to feel drowsy, and it wasn't until 5pm I struggled home and went straight to bed. Ahh, the satisfaction of eating too much and then napping.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:07am on Sunday December 23, 2007 :: 0 comments ::
Sour Apple Rings
Friday December 21, 2007
So I FINALLY FOUND MY BELOVED SOUR APPLE RINGS!!! They were in New Lynn Foodtown, and it was a huge effort trying to get to them. There were these teens standing outside Foodtown singing, of all things, lame songs from High School Musical, at an obscene volume, so I had to crank my iPod to maximum to try and drown them out. Yeah, I know, it's amazing I'm still alive. But it was worth the struggle for those sour apple rings :D Yeah I also have sour coke bottles and feijoa lollies too. Ahh, happiness comes in artifically flavoured gelatinous treats.
Yeah I managed to finish my Christmas shopping, once and for all. It was actually pretty hectic in the malls today. Lots of people, no parkin
g, long queues...eh. At least it's done and I don't have to worry about it. Oh wait, I still need to wrap everything -.- Ngoh. I suppose I'll do that tomorrow.
What else..oh yes, Sam invited me (and Matt and Sam) around to his house for a simple meal of spag bol. Following that, we went to Parnell for Chocolate Boutique, but once again we were disappointed by the huge crowd standing around. So we walked further down to Movenpick where I had a sticky date pudding :3
Also! I have updated the Gallery with more kitty pictures from Sam's Farewell. Soooo cute. I also have a few pictures to share from our end-of-year bash at Wenderholm:
Posted by Jeremy at 10:39am on Friday December 21, 2007 :: 0 comments ::
Christmas Lights
Tuesday December 4, 2007
I can't believe it's three weeks to Christmas. Geez. I need to do my Christmas shopping soon. In accordance with the festivities, we took my auntie to Franklin Road in Ponsonby to see the Christmas lights. They have a tradition of lighting up all the houses on the street with extravagant neon lights, and it attracts a lot of visitors.
Yeah, the lights were impressive. But if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Bleh.
We found this little one inspecting the car.
I think he found the wheels were a bit off balanced. Also, he told me we needed a bit more oil, so I must remember to top it up sometime.
What else...we had dinner at Canton Restaurant in Kingsland with my step-mum's friend from Malaysia. Oh, I went to West City and bought some sour coke bottles and feijoa lollies. Epic win. I just need my sour apple rings and sour gummi bears and then my collection will be complete.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:35am on Tuesday December 4, 2007 :: 2 comments ::
Christmas Skit
Saturday November 17, 2007
So the youth are doing a Christmas skit for the Christmas service this year. I thought I'd go along so I could be the musician dude, because I'm usually the musician dude and don't have to act.
And then, all of a sudden, I'm the main character dude. Wut. I have to memorise all these lines as well x_x It should be a good skit though, if we can all get our lines sorted and our acting polished.
I'm excited by the prospect of Momo's <3 Apparently the story is that Viet got bored and so we're all congregating at Momo's now. Yay! I must remember to bring some cards along.
Posted by Jeremy at 6:30am on Saturday November 17, 2007 :: 1 comment ::