It Did Not Turn Out Okay
Tuesday June 9, 2026
In my last post, I expressed some optimism for how the year was going to turn out. Well, We Gotta Go! didn't meet performance expectations and as a result, we're all back on the job market. It was pretty crushing for us; we'd put our heart and soul into making the game quirky and full of character. Everyone contributed a bit of their personality; for me, the inclusion of the Explosive Durian and the King Durian items were a real treat, but Art Director Noah also made us graffiti tags in the gas station bathroom, so I used it as an opportunity to sneak in a Kiwi reference.
I think this one was particularly sad because the small group of us were so talented as a team. I will miss working with each and everyone of them dearly. In the meantime, the weather has improved and it's no longer consistently below zero, and the sun sets after 8pm now, so there's plenty of things to look forward to in the coming months. Over the past month or so, Toronto's trees have burst into life with the cherry blossoms hitting peak bloom, along with the magnolias and tulips. It's truly a lovely time to be out and about in the city.
I was in Ottawa for Victoria Day weekend to catch the annual Tulip Festival, which I had last seen in 2018. Saturday was spent driving most of the time. We wanted to get up early to head down to Dow’s Lake before the big crowds, and had originally planned to be there at 8am, but instead my brain decided to wake me up at 4am and I couldn’t get back to sleep. So, we headed down at 6.30am and it was so peaceful and serene, barely any people at all. We met up with some friends later and went kayaking on the lake, then headed up to Parliament Hill and later to Gatineau Park for a short hike. Traffic heading back to Toronto was really bad on Monday, though we still managed to catch the usual fireworks down by Woodbine Beach.
We also went to Vancouver for a week. The weather was phenomenal - it only rained for 2 hours the entire time we were there. And of course the scenery was absolutely stunning. We did three hikes in the time we were there; the first was Joffre Lakes, an hour north of Whistler - three glacial lakes that flow into each other with that beautiful green colour and the stillness providing an amazing reflection of the mountains and the forests behind. We were there early before the crowds, and it was well worth it. The second was St Mark's Summit in Cypress Mountain, which took us up past the ski fields and over to the west side overlooking Howe Sound. The final one, the most brutal, was the Stawamus Chief in Squamish, a trio of mountain peaks overlooking the town next to the Sea to Sky Gondola. The initial climb was a 600m elevation of literally just stairs, worse than the Grouse Grind, but the view at the top was incredible. We covered many parts of town as well - biking around Stanley Park, exploring Steveston and Fisherman's Wharf, absorbing the ocean breeze from Spanish Banks and watching the sunset from Queen Elizabeth Park. I got to meet up with a few ex-colleagues as well, and as always, the food was excellent throughout the week.
Today I'm off to Europe. It’s a nice time to travel and it feels like a while since I’ve been overseas - New Zealand doesn’t really count as a foreign adventure. I’ll be heading to Barcelona for a few nights, running to my favourite cafe in the Gothic Quarter for a Suizo and Xuxo, then consuming as much tapas and alioli as I can, then I’m over to Rome for a week. The last time I was there, I had food poisoning, so I’m keen to rewrite those memories and properly visit the city and all its history. Then to Frankfurt where I’m meeting up with a Kiwi friend who’s living in the Netherlands, and we’ll road trip to Luxembourg, Brussels and The Hague and end up in Amsterdam where I’ll fly back to Toronto.
Posted by Jeremy at 5:11pm on Tuesday June 9, 2026 :: 0 comments :: 
Return to Newfoundland
Wednesday July 31, 2024
Last year in August, we spent a week in Newfoundland, travelling all around the island and sampling the best of what it had to offer. What we discovered was a magnificent island with untouched beauty and so much fewer people than tourist hotspots like Banff. We vowed to come back, and this year, here we are again, only visiting the west side but getting the opportunity to revisit a bunch of places and cover some more of the remote areas. A week ago, we flew into Deer Lake, picked up our rental vehicles, did some grocery shopping, and settled into our Airbnb. Wifi was spotty and I could hear literally everything happening in the kitchen, but it was comfortable at least.
Thanks to my recent Canadian citizenship, I was able to get free entry for the whole car to Gros Morne National Park. We started off with the Green Gardens hike, a trail which leads to some rugged shoreline and some lush landscapes. In the afternoon, we hiked to Baker Brooks Falls. Both were a warmup for the next day’s hike to the top of the Tablelands.
Said to be a part of the exposed mantle, the landscape of the Tablelands is mostly barren and almost like an alien world, littered with interesting rocks and minerals. On the drive over, I spotted a female moose on the side of the road, which I found incredibly exciting and felt like my Canadianess had increased as a result. The start of the hike began on a boardwalk, and we continued past the end by following the main stream and began the ascent to the plateau. I find this kind of terrain interesting for hiking, and my long legs help me climb rocks with ease. At the plateau, we waited for the rest of the group to catch up and then crossed to the other side of the gorge to begin the descent. This terrain was unpleasant to walk on, and this was worsened by several black flies that perpetually buzzed around our heads. After an hour or so, we began the descent by following another stream back to the boardwalk. All in all, the hike took around six hours to complete. This was far less enjoyable than Gros Morne, but still an achievement to be proud of. We relocated to Rocky Harbour for our accommodation, where the Wifi was strong but I was on the sofa bed and had no privacy and no curtains to block the 5am sun.
With the major hikes out of the way, we did the Western Brook Pond boat tour, a cruise around a glacial carved valley with some fantastic cliffs and waterfalls adorning them. We were lucky that the morning rain had stopped in time for us to enjoy the time on the boat, and the clouds began to part slightly at the end of the cruise as well. We ended the day with a short hike around Berry Hill, and a sunset viewing at Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse.
On Tuesday, we started the long drive to the northern tip of the island. We stopped by Arches Provincial Park for a breather and continued to Port au Choix, where we saw several caribou (also known as reindeer!). Our Airbnb was in St Lunaire Griquet, and though I had a room to myself, the heating was dependent on the controls in the other room, and worse, the water smelt extremely metallic and unpleasant.
Originally we had planned to cover the historical Viking site L’Anse aux Meadows on Thursday, but since the forecast was looking wet, we brought it forward to Wednesday. We had also abandoned plans to visit Labrador due to complications with the ferry. It was fascinating to learn about the Viking settlement. Since migrating in different directions from Africa thousands of years ago, the arrival of these Norsemen marked the reunion of the Western European world with the Eastern travellers that colonised Russia and North America. We spent some time at Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve before returning to L’Anse aux Meadows for dinner at the Norseman Restaurant.
The clouds and cold rolled in on Thursday. We spent some time in St Anthony, admiring the view from Fishing Point. We spotted two icebergs floating in the sea, and drove to St Anthony’s Bight to take a closer look at one of them. We tried to follow the road along the coast to find the other, but that area was so devoid of accessible roads that we couldn’t really find a good viewing point, so we just went home and rested. Dinner was at a restaurant just five minutes away, and by that time, the rain was really bucketing down.
Our drive back to Deer Lake was long and boring, but we finished off our time in Newfoundland was a visit to the Insectarium. This was surprisingly interesting, and well worth the $15 and one hour we spent there. The butterfly garden lets you get up close with several colourful species of butterfly, and on the main exhibit floor, the staff were happy to take many of the live insects out for you to hold, including stick insects, millipedes and cockroaches! It’s been a wonderful week but I’m looking forward to being back in comfort in my own bed and apartment. Next week is a short week for work with both Canada Day and Independence Day being holidays for us.
Summer has been busy so far. I visited Little Canada, did Doors Open, saw Hadestown, and went to African Lion Safari. Matt visited from Cleveland and we went to the Illuminarium at the Distillery District, the cat cafe in Scarborough, and the fireworks for Victoria Day at Woodbine Beach. I had a very boujie dinner at Louis Louix thanks to FuzzyBot, and Korean barbeque lunch to farewell John, Tina and May. I finally finished the main story of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but still have a bunch of side quests to complete. In the meantime, I’m determined to make the most of the magnificent weather while I can, and it feels like I’ve accomplished so much already.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:11pm on Wednesday July 31, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
Montreal and Ottawa
Saturday May 26, 2018
Last weekend was Victoria Day Weekend, which is approximately equivalent to Queen's Birthday in New Zealand. I went roadtripping with my badminton crew to Montreal for one night, and Ottawa for the second night!
I was a bit surprised when I found out the trip to Montreal would take 6 hours. It's around 540km away, which means it's only 100km less than the Auckland - Wellington distance. It was cloudy and a bit wet in some places, but we made it there around 5pm, having stopping at various service centres along the way. I was also missing Community Day for Pokemon Go, which featured Charmander, but thankfully Brian was willing to play my account for me. We had dinner at an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant, then wandered around the old part of Montreal for a while. The last time I was there was in February 2017, and it was bloody cold, so it was nice to walk around without my face hurting.
In the morning, we walked around Parc des Rapides, named after the rapids of the St Lawrence River passing by. The park is a bird sanctuary, and we managed to spot a few of the great blue herons nesting on some logs in the calmer part of the water. After another all-you-can-eat buffet, we went to Ottawa for the tulip festival. By that time, the sun was out in full glory. We parked over by Dows Lake, and I opted to kayak around the lake with Rohit, while the others shared a canoe. After being on the water, we walked around the tulip gardens until dusk, and settled in for dinner by the lakeside. After it got dark, we enjoyed a pretty sweet fireworks display over the water!
On Monday, we had our third all-you-can-eat meal before exploring the Parliament buildings and then crossing the river to Gatineau, where we did a two hour hike in Gatineau Park. Despite the dozens of flies and bugs swarming our heads, we made it out without any bear sightings and started our drive back to Toronto, finally arriving close to 11pm. What a weekend!
With spring in full force, my social calendar has been filling up. I visited High Park for the white cherry blossoms, and Trinity Bellwoods for the pink cherry blossoms. I watched Eurovision at Pauper's Pub with Marc. I shared 50lbs of lobster with my workmates (it was so good). Things are definitely becoming more exciting as we head into summer!
Posted by Jeremy at 4:09am on Saturday May 26, 2018 :: 0 comments ::