Waterloo to Reykjavik
Wednesday February 22, 2017
A high school friend of mine met me at Niagara Falls and took me for lunch at a nearby winery before heading back to the falls for an Escape Room. Themed around science in one room and art in the other, we worked effectively as a team of five and a half to solve all the puzzles with 25 minutes to go - this room had an 18% success rate! Feeling pleased with ourselves, we walked down the river path towards the actual waterfall.
It's hard to put into words or even pictures how magnificent the Niagara Falls are. The view from the Canadian side is definitely superior, as you get a better angle of both sets of falls. Furthermore, it was such a sunny day that the spray from the river produced a fine pair of rainbows, making the sight truly memorable.
We went home to Waterloo and played some games before retiring for the night. The next day was pretty relaxed, and as it was a public holiday, my friend had the day off too. We went to the next town over to visit a VR Arcade called Ctrl V. It's exactly what you think it is - a set of cubicles with the HTC Vive wired up for you to play in for an hour. There were some really fun games in there - no Into the Dead though. My favourites were a simple shooter where you shot flying pods and dodged their bullets in turn, and a stand-your-ground zombie shooter that provided some fantastic shock and scare moments!
We ended up playing board games again that night, one called Tales of the Arabian Night, which is a controlled, shortened version of Dungeons and Dragons. My character had a horrible time, but the game was kinda fun.
Today I swam for a bit, but struggled with my sore shoulder, and also walked around Waterloo. My friend works at the University of Waterloo, so I met him for lunch, then detoured to an amazing board games and collectibles shop on the way home.
And now, I'm on the plane to Iceland. Forecast is partially cloudy with a 40% chance of aurora, increasing to 60% on Thursday - the exact date I am going aurora hunting!!
Posted by Jeremy at 12:51am on Wednesday February 22, 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 ::
A Spring in my Step
Monday September 8, 2014
With Wellington on a Plate well and truly over, and with such positive feedback from several people, I have decided to formalise the 'foodie' part of my blog in a separate section. It'll function pretty similar to this one, but it'll be focused on food only. I intend to keep it pretty casual and probably only for special occasions or exceptional food experiences.
Wellington on a Plate was a blast. I had an amazing time, dining in 26 restaurants, with 36 people, had 11 meals and 21 burgers, spent $971.17 and enjoyed every minute of it. So good to share my adventures with people who truly appreciate food in all aspects, and I am well and truly blessed to have friends like that - especially the crazy ones who came down from Auckland specifically for this! The Last Supper at Arthur's was poignant, with thirteen people in attendance as well. So amazing.
I played badminton for the second time in seven months on Saturday, and survived, but just barely. My quads are pretty sore from the jumping but my back held up quite well, so I just need to soldier on with some painkillers and keep on trucking. Following that, I met up with Jord, Joe, Jen, Josh and Christine for lunch at Leuven before heading to Escape Mate. In a very similar vein to all the escape rooms that I went to in Malaysia and Singapore, Escape Mate is nestled on Johnston Street in Wellington CBD, opposite from Leuven. There's a single puzzle room inside a vault, but another room is due to open soon. It was an intense afternoon, and we got out with 1 min 48 secs to go, but managed to break a bottle used as a prop in the process.
I've been playing Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright for 3DS too, and just finished that last night. Fantastic game, great characters as always, but I felt a bit let down by the ending and really missed the ability to yell ~OBJECTION!~ into the microphone. I think the writing is much better in Phoenix Wright games - you become very attached to the characters and it's clever how particular storylines weave together and intersect at the last moment for a dramatic finish, and that was missing in PL vs PW. Nevertheless, the game has amazing production quality - absolutely loved the artwork and character modelling, and so nostalgic hearing familiar themes again, especially Investigation ~ Cornered and the Turnabout Sisters.
And finally, yesterday, I celebrated Mid Autumn Festival by cooking my annual mooncake festival dinner, with roast pork, deep fried tofu, Thai prawn salad and lettuce wrap, and of course my favourite pandan mooncake to finish the meal. Yummo!
Posted by Jeremy at 9:46am on Monday September 8, 2014 :: 0 comments ::