Seven Days Remaining: The Final Countdown
Sunday January 15, 2017
I had my farewell party at Southern Cross last Friday, and then a mega Final Karaoke at K Zone afterwards. So many people turned up, it was quite overwhelming! It was great to see everyone, especially those who I hadn't seen in a while. After karaoke, a small group of us went to Sassy Loves Cash for a bit, and it was around 3am that I finally got home. It was amazing. I had so much fun on Friday, and I'm going to miss these people who have been such an important part of my life for the past nine years.
In spite of my lack of sleep, I had my Final Badminton on Saturday morning, then yum cha at Regal. I was off to Wadestown for Andrew and Claire's farewell/engagement party too, and then back home to continue the big decluttering. I managed to fob off a lot of miscellaneous stuff to various people, so thanks for helping me out in that respect!
This morning was my Final Service at Central Baptist, and I had specifically requested to be on the piano to pay tribute to an amazing church that was so warm and welcoming to me those eight years ago. I love that the church continues to be so inviting to people across different life journeys, and that they encourage people to worship in a way that has integrity for themselves. It has been a blast serving on the music team, and I'm so happy I was able to bring a smile to people's faces with my cheeky playing style.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:30am on Sunday January 15, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 
It's Cold
Monday January 4, 2016
Happy New Year - it's 2016! I'm finally back in Wellington after a long miserable 8 hour drive through very wet roads and chaotic traffic down State Highway 1. Of course, the first thing that greeted me when I got home was some jerk parked in my car park, so I wasn't particularly happy about that. Turns out he's in Japan for a few weeks and I can park in another car park for the time being. Lucky for him, or I would have towed his ass out of there so fast.
Over the past couple of weeks, I got to catch up with heaps of people. There was never really a dull day, I was always out meeting up for lunch or dinner, or if I had some spare time, I'd even go to the gym. There was yum cha and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, I was back at Milse and Giapo, and went to Nol Bu Ne and Shao Lin Kung Fu Noodle. New Years itself was spent with my school mates on top of Mt Victoria in Davenport watching some very disappointing fireworks on the Sky Tower. It looked like someone was just running around the rim shooting off Roman Candles. We were too busy watching the fireworks being let off on the mount that we missed the end of the Sky Tower ones... and there was no big finale either. Lame!
Work tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:19am on Monday January 4, 2016 :: 0 comments ::
Nous Sommes Avec Vous
Tuesday November 17, 2015
What tragic news to hear on Saturday afternoon after badminton. Several coordinated terrorist attacks hit Paris, killing 129 people and wounding more than 400. In the midst of France's darkest hour, it is comforting to see the outpouring of sympathy and solidarity: the hashtag #PortesOuvertes from Parisians to offer shelter to tourists or displaced people who didn't have accommodation for the night; the stories of people who took bullets to save others at the cost of their own lives; the red, white and blue lights on landmarks around the world.
People express condolences in different ways. Some pray. Some light candles and lay flowers. Some sing songs. Some will change their profile picture on Facebook to one with a Tricolore overlay. And that's okay. As long as you can truthfully say with purpose and intent that you stand with the French people, then people are entitled to reflect and remember in a way that has integrity for them. At the same time, we should also think about other devastating attacks that have amounted to a huge loss in human life and continue to remember those in constant struggle, in places like Syria, Iran and Iraq. May we be forgiven for not always knowing about these events, because any loss of human life like this is tragic.
I was out last night at Owhiro Bay for the Leonids meteor shower. I saw an opportunity as the clouds cleared late yesterday afternoon, so I made a call to commit and recruited my trusty crew. The moon was 19% illuminated and definitely affecting the visibility of the night sky, but the brightest Leonids shone through. None of them were as spectacular as the Orionid we saw a month ago, but all in all, I would have seen around seven meteors. As the weather warms up, hopefully we can make these trips more frequent.
We had our PikPok Developers Conference for the year and I spoke on two topics: development for the new Apple TV, and ray tracing, a subject I hadn't touched since 2007 back at the University of Auckland's COMPSCI372 course. I also ran the second PikPok Programming Puzzle-o-rama with much success, and on the same day, rushed down to the council to watch the All Blacks victory parade. I've been to karaoke twice in the past few weeks, had yum cha, had all you can eat chicken wings from Tequila Joe's and watched the fireworks display at the waterfront.
The social calendar is filling up fast for the rest of the year!
Posted by Jeremy at 9:35am on Tuesday November 17, 2015 :: 0 comments ::
September Birthdays
Wednesday September 23, 2015
The NZHerald posted an infographic detailing the distribution of birthdays in New Zealand. It turns out that September is the most popular month for birthdays, and sure enough, I've been up to Auckland twice in the last week to celebrate two birthdays. Both were very special occasions and good times were had by all. For my step mum's birthday, we went to Chiko's out in Lincoln Road for dinner; for Mat's birthday, we were at Snapdragon on the water front. It was good to catch up with family and friends alike over the two weekends.
Work is getting busy now that we have some hard deadlines. There's something exciting thing on the horizon that I can't publicly reveal at the moment, but when the veil of secrecy has been lifted, I'll write more about my experiences and where I've been.
Though Wellington on a Plate has finished, the foodening continues. We started the month off with a big steamboat at Jordan, Mike and Mana's, then headed to Dianne's for a flat cooling party. Six people bundled into my little car - we stuffed Philip in the boot and he wouldn't shut up for the whole journey. This weekend is Mooncake Festival, so I will be organising yum cha on Saturday and then cooking up a storm on Sunday. I've got my favourite pandan mooncakes ready to go! In addition to it being a supermoon this weekend, there will also be a total lunar eclipse visible from Europe and Africa - a very auspicious event for the mid-autumn festival!
Posted by Jeremy at 11:55am on Wednesday September 23, 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 ::
The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway
Thursday March 27, 2014
Last Friday, I played "Let it Go" (because I really can't get enough of that song) live, at work, on a keyboard, with one of my colleagues who had had some opera training. It went down pretty well I thought, certainly the live element and atmosphere made it so special. Would probably not do that again.
I was at yum cha with Wei on Saturday and music at church on Sunday (where I played Let it Go, again, during the offering, and it totally went down well with everyone who knew the song!) On Monday we were at Crazy Horse for some amazing steaks and finally on Tuesday it was time to head to Queenstown.
I saw the GDC contingent at Wellington Airport on my way out and had a quick chat to them before scampering off to the gate. It was a fine sunny day as I left Wellington, and all was fine until the pilot announced that the winds were too strong to land in Queenstown, and instead we had to land in Invercargill and take a bus for two hours.
Whee.
It was a mildly pleasant drive, apart from the lady and two babies behind me, but it was around 2pm when I finally reached Queenstown Airport and met up with my auntie and cousin. We spent the rest of the day wandering around town, getting some Ferg Burgers and Movenpick and checking out the lake. We had a pretty big day the next day...
We took a day trip to Milford Sound as part of this Jucy Cruise company. After a long wait for the coach to arrive, we went on our way to Te Anau, then Milford via some spectacular sights and fantastic scenery along the way. The cruise itself was amazing, just being able to appreciate the beauty of the Sounds as you're floating by. We were on the foredeck as the captain pulled right up against a waterfall - exhilarating! The gush of cold spray and the force of the water soon dissipated as the sun blazed down on the boat. It's true - every picture you take is a postcard picture. It was 9pm when we finally got back to Queenstown, but what a day.
While yesterday was more laid back and scenic, today was more adrenaline pumping, as I took my first bungy jump at the original bungy at the Kawarau Suspension Bridge. It was a bit windy and chilly as I stood on the edge of the platform, nervous as hell as I gawked at my surroundings. I didn't have my glasses on so it was kinda good that I couldn't focus on exactly how far down it was. The guys manning the equipment there were awesome though, I spoke to them about my job and tried to sell Robot Unicorn Attack 2 to them. Eventually I waddled my way to the edge and they counted down...but I hesitated when he reached zero! I took a deep breath and gracefully fell forward, arms wide open like a majestic eagle.
The jump is over so quickly. You don't really have the time to process what's going on. As I lay on the catchment boat, I replayed the last minute in my head and tried to remember what had just happened. It was awesome though, the slight free fall you get and the adrenaline rush of it all - I'd probably do it again. My bravery spurred my cousin on to go or her first bungy jump, so congrats to her as well for having the guts!
We spent the rest of the day enjoying the wine and cheese of the Gibbston Valley before heading up to Wanaka. We went to Puzzling World and conquered the maze, had a walk by the lake and finally headed back to Queenstown for some dinner.
It's been a long day but tomorrow will be even longer!
Posted by Jeremy at 11:22am on Thursday March 27, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
Social Butterfly
Sunday February 24, 2013
I have been doing too many things with my life.
That\'s okay though, I have thoroughly enjoyed the fun times and the awesome people I\'ve been hanging out with over the past two weekends. Now is the time to make the most of the sun before it fades away behind the abysmal weather so typical of Wellington for ten months of the year. Summer has been great and it\'s sad (if not alarming) that it is March very, very soon.
Last weekend, we went out to Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt to watch some jousting after badminton. It\'s not particularly like what you would imagine (or what Hollywood would have you imagine). The tips of the jousting lances are fragile and break easily, and are colour-coded for each person. The idea is to land a hit against your opponent (with rules around where you can and can\'t hit - no hitting the horse!) and points are given based off aforementioned criteria. As the lances break, the resulting fragments are clearly identified by their colour to assist in the judging. There were also longbow displays and sword fighting re-enactments, but none as exciting as the jousting.
The next day, we were out at Adrenaline Forest in Porirua for part one of Ben\'s birthday celebration. Swinging, climbing, gliding and shuffling (often struggling) our way through the treetops proved quite the physical challenge at times; not so much the mental challenge I was expecting since I was so focused on the obstacles, I barely had time to look down at the ground. Unlike previous ropes courses I\'d been on, this one is more individually managed so you clip yourself onto safety ropes to traverse the trees instead of being belayed by a group of people on the ground. Additionally, you\'re equipped with your own pulley and hook system so you can clip yourself onto the wire and ride the gradient to the other side with some gravitational help. There\'s some great Indiana Jones-type swings, including one into a large spider web of ropes on course six!
Part two was competitive go-karting - teams of two doing 30 laps each. Jordan and I paired up to deliver a relatively unrisky and consistent display that landed us fourth place out of eight (not last, yay!). The karts supposedly reach 50kph and handle pretty well, though my skidding and sliding were not as masterful as I would have liked. I kept feeling like I was going to topple the kart over. There were fortunately no coloured turtle shells on the track.
I went for an improv show at the Gryphon Theatre on Ghuznee St, then to dinner at the Matterhorn on Friday night. I was last at the Matterhorn in 2009 and they have changed the menu and the style of eating since. The intention is that you order a selection of plates to share instead of having individual meals. Essentially it is like yum cha, except ten times the price. We found the concept complicated and were a bit nervous when the waitress asked us if she could have the authority to place food on our tab without our explicit permission. We shared some oysters with champagne sorbet, crispy pig tails, deer fillet with blackberry, potatoes with roast almonds and various other plates that I can\'t recall off the top of my head. The company was great and the food was good, but the messy logistics put me off and wouldn\'t recommend it - would have been much better if we had just had individual meals and maybe some sides to share.
Yesterday after badminton, we had the PikPok Barbeque at the Mt Victoria Lawn Bowls club. It was a family-friendly event, with a kids-only bouncy castle (much to the disappointment of many of my workmates), face painting and board games available. There was of course the lawn bowls outside, and in defiance of the Wellington wind, beer pong on a table decked out with some fantastic Flick Kick Football artwork. Time passed quickly and it got a bit chilly around 6pm so I left for another barbeque out in Island Bay with my church\'s family group. Though it was a brief event, it was good to catch up with various people and I was absolutely smitten with the two guinea pigs called Pip and Squeak. I ended the day over at Andrew\'s flat in Roseneath, taking one hour to set up a new board game called CO2 and three hours to play. Would not recommend.
Finally, to finish it off, I celebrated Chap Goh Mei, the last day of Chinese New Year, at Big Thumb in style, with plates of chicken, pork and seafood in dumplings, buns, rice noodles and deep fried!
Though we don\'t have the fireworks and fantastic lion and dragon dance displays that the Auckland Lantern Festival provides, I\'ve had fun celebrating Chinese New Year in my own way. This will be memorable for years to come.
<<edit>> Okay we just got fireworks. Yay!
![jousting](\"/gallery/pictures/chinesenewyear-feb2013/IMG_3510.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Adrenaline Forest](\"/gallery/pictures/chinesenewyear-feb2013/IMG_3546.jpg\"){kind=link}
Posted by Jeremy at 7:33am on Sunday February 24, 2013 :: 0 comments ::
Back in Wellington
Monday January 7, 2013
First post of the new year. Not quite back at work yet - my past self was wise enough to apply for these first three days off as time in lieu. My sleep schedule is all wrong and I'm still quite tired.
New Year's Eve was really nice. I had some friends over for a potluck dinner which turned out to be a feast of meats and deliciousness. There was ample food to go around and plenty of leftovers for the next day. We played a few games of Spaceteam and Taboo before heading out to the peninsula to watch the Sky Tower's annual "worst New Years fireworks I've ever seen". We ended the night in style with a glass of strawberries in Lindauer.
It was such a fine day the next day that we met at Wing Wah for an impromptu yum cha, then went to Cornwall Park to spend the afternoon. We talked a lot about goals and resolutions for 2013 and decided that to start off the new year, it would be a great idea for Alice to go pet a sheep in the paddock. Sadly this mission failed. Nevertheless, after giving up, Alice randomly blurted out that she wanted Steamboat, and so plans were set in motion for Steamboat at mine. Awesome!
Equally as random was our decision to head out to the Pinnacles in Coromandel for a day trip trek. Planning for this took approximately 20 minutes. We met at mine at 7am and began the two hour drive to Thames, via Greenlane Countdown for some supplies and McDonalds for some breakfast. After some dusty gravel roading, we reached the base of the track around 10am. It was another brilliant day, with ample sunshine and a light breeze to keep the temperatures down. The trail led us through some classic New Zealand bush, full of beautiful greenery. We reached the Pinnacles Hut around 1pm for lunch, and then the glorious peak around 2pm for some fantastic 360 degree views of the Coromandel Peninsula. And of course the first thing people do is check their phones for 3G reception and post to Facebook. We returned to the carpark in just under 3.5 hours to start the drive home at 6pm. Despite some traffic woes along State Highway 2, we were back at mine at 9pm. Day was seized!
I spent Thursday cleaning the house in anticipation of my parents' return from Malaysia, but enjoyed yet another round of Peking Duck from Sun World with some ex-colleagues and current colleagues. Mitchell and David were feeling a bit adventurous, so we made our way into town and got some milk tea from Hulucat. Asian things that you can't get easily in Wellington :( Their taro milk tea with mango pudding is still as good as I remember.
On Friday, I was at Charlotte's house for hers and Jono's engagement party. Though it was a bit windy, the barbeque was stacked full and grilling a multitude of steaks and sausages. We did run out of gas though, so we resumed cooking on the frying pan. There was plenty of food to be had and it was great to meet the rest of the bridal party, with plans in motion for the stag do as well! Exciting times... Jono and Charlotte's wedding will be only one of three weddings I'm going to this year!
I had dinner with my parents and grandmother at Star Cafe on Manukau Road on Saturday, then went to Ben's for some games afterwards. I got to play Mafia as a real player for the first time in forever, and dominated as a civilian (bahahah). Some interesting rules in this game, I didn't quite like the voting and trial system, but thought that it was interesting that the sniper dies from guilt if he doesn't shoot a Mafia. Might just steal this for my own games ^_^
Sunday was church in the morning, Mexicali Fresh in Newmarket for lunch, DotA in the afternoon (it was grim...), a quick catch up to see my nephew before leaving, then a BBQ with the CSC at Sarah's. Good to see them, even if it only happens once, at approximately the same time each year. I felt a bit bad for turning up (almost uninvited too, trololol), eating, then rushing off to catch my flight.
And so today is Monday and even today is drawing to a close quickly (I've had two naps today). I've had a great Christmas and New Years but it's time to head back to work... soon.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:28am on Monday January 7, 2013 :: 0 comments ::
How do I summer
Saturday December 29, 2012
For the first time since I arrived in Auckland, it has been brilliantly sunny. I took advantage of the great weather by doing some laundry, naturally, and within a few hours all my clothes were dry! It's amazing!
I did more than just laundry though, a bunch of us went out to Karekare Beach, near Piha, just to chill in the sun. Though some dark ominous clouds rolled over around 3pm, they were nothing more than extra sunshade and the conditions remained warm and pleasant.
Just got back from an epic Korean BBQ place out on the shore called Arirang with my friends from CompSci. So much news to catch up on... no one ever keeps me informed :(! There was a huge amount of food and I was blown away by how cheap it all was as well. I tried freshwater snails for the first time, as well as cold noodles, and was spoiled for choice with the multitude of delectable side dishes. Nothing in Wellington comes close to the quality AND quantity at this place. Huge thanks to Laura for sorting everything out and cooking all the meat for us.
Yesterday I caught up with some ex-colleagues - Vaughan and Roy - as well as Alan, who had driven my car up to Auckland from Wellington via Taupo. We played a few games of pool and had a great meal at Erawan Thai on Jervois Rd. It was a little weird seeing my car up here when I didn't drive it up... after dinner we went our separate ways and I ended up at Ben's house for some board games (and Spaceteam!) until 1am. Citadels is slowly becoming a favourite of the group!
On Thursday I went for yum cha with my sister and her family. Nephew is still as adorable as ever, and was well behaved at the restaurant. It's so good to go with my sister because I get to eat things that my friends don't normally eat, like tofu and tau fu fa. I spent the afternoon just catching up with them, and then playing with my nephew after his nap. I feel so proud to be his uncle!
And finally on Wednesday, I went into town to check out Boxing Day sales. Yeah, it's not really like me at all. Queen St was full of people (lots of Asians lololol) looking for bargains; peering into some of the small shops, they're crammed packed with people who can barely move around, such is the utter madness of these Boxing Day sales. As for myself, I purchased a few items from the Warehouse: some bedsheets, new shoes, some socks.... nothing really that exciting. I remember walking around thinking about how much I hate shopping and that I can finally say I did the Boxing Day thing and that the amount I save doesn't feel like it justifies the chaos I experience in the shopping malls. Never again.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:21am on Saturday December 29, 2012 :: 0 comments ::
Missing Auckland
Monday December 5, 2011
I often get asked if I would move back (or when I'm moving back) to Auckland for work. A few months ago, I thought about how hard it would be to leave what I have now - a good job, great friends, a good flat and flatmate, 15 minutes to anywhere in town, badminton on Saturdays, Strawberry Fare - and many other things. I thought about how awkward it would be if I went back to Auckland, but only because I hadn't been back since Easter and it felt like I'd drifted apart from people. I know I complain a lot about Wellington, especially about the weather and the lack of good Asian food, but the city is neat and compact, it has character and most importantly, after 4 years, it's finally feeling more like home.
I was in Auckland last weekend for a friend's wedding (I missed that big 5.7 earthquake too). Two of my other friends at the wedding were in a similar situation to me - they felt like they'd drifted apart from various people there and were wondering if it was going to be awkward seeing them again after so long. But it wasn't. We just slotted back in naturally and it felt like nothing had changed. It felt good. It was good to be reminded that strong friendships endure time and distance, and for that I'm thankful.
The wedding was amazing. The bride was an hour late - I know it's the norm for brides to be late to a wedding but Jo has never been known for her punctuality anyway, so it was a compounding effect. The ceremony was nice and the food was delicious. Jo had set up a candy bar for people to take away a sweet reminder of the day - such a great idea! I want a candy bar at my wedding. After cleaning up the church, we went to the reception restaurant to begin preparations for the night's dinner.
And what a dinner. Buffet style, unlimited oysters. I had 10! No regrets. The seafood was fresh and juicy, the roast pork, chicken and beef were sumptuous and the salads were light and refreshing. There was two different kinds of cheesecake for dessert - one was lemon, the other was some kind of chocolate concotion, I think. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it tasted like there was some kind of berry flavour. In any case, I was lucky I didn't overeat because it was time to break it out on the dance floor. Party rock - whoo!
I caught up with my school mates at Sun World for yum cha. And again, there was no awkwardness (apart from the natural awkward aura that Tom provides) - we just chatted like old times. Food was top notch as usual. We went our separate ways and I went to catch up with my sister. I haven't seen my nephew in so long - he's grown so much and he is still absolutely adorable. He's a bouncy baby and smiles back at you when you smile at him. It was so cute when he tried to grab the cat - I feel sorry for the poor cat, as my nephew is just clutching whatever his little hands can grip: whiskers, ears, fur, tail!
My flight was quite late so my parents and I went out for dinner at KK with some relatives who were visiting from Brisbane. I hadn't seen them in around 10 years and I was shocked to see how much the three girls had grown. I wouldn't have been able to recognise them in the street. It was good to see them again and of course, the food really hit the spot. Why can't we get nice things like that in Wellington!?
Photos from this brief but very enjoyable trip to Auckland in the gallery.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:47am on Monday December 5, 2011 :: 4 comments ::
Easter
Tuesday April 26, 2011
It's always good when I go back up to Auckland to catch up with friends and family, and certainly Easter this year was no exception. The weather was warmer than Wellington, albeit a bit wet, but that didn't stop any of plans. Thursday night was spent at Momo's, naturally, and all of Friday I was helping my father build a deck. We made some pretty good progress - the remainder that we didn't finish required the use of a jig saw that we didn't have at the time.
On Saturday, I met up with Wellington-related people for yum cha: Jordan (current workmate), Bryce and Vaughan (ex workmates), Will (workmate's brother), Charlotte (flatmate), Jono (flatmate's boyfriend) and Mel (flatmate's boyfriend's ex-flatmate). The restaurant was extremely busy but we were finally seated at 12.50pm where we proceeded to enjoy a plethora of prawn and pork dishes. Excellent!
The Sidhe guys relocated to the Cock and Bull after lunch for a few drinks, until I left to return home via two bus routes. It surprised me that the Link bus now costs $1.80! I remember the good old days when it was $1. I met up with my CompSci friends at Sri Mahkota for dinner, and Movenpick in Newmarket for dessert.
On Easter Sunday, I was at KCC catching up with the old youth group and various other people, before heading to Wing Wahs for another yum cha, then Yifans and MCC in town for some gaming. DotA... so good. Sunday night was family dinner night, so I got to spend some time with my adorable three month old nephew.
Monday was pretty wet. I met Mat for a bromantic lunch in quite possibly the most inappropriate suburb for two males to socialise in - Ponsonby - and we made plans to meet up with Peter, visiting from Canada, that evening. I wanted to take them to KK but unfortunately that was closed so we ended up dining at the Thai restaurant across the road. We stopped by Ollies on the way to the airport, and then just like that, my four day escapade was over.
It's a busy time for me. Only three more days...
Posted by Jeremy at 9:35am on Tuesday April 26, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Dominionated
Wednesday December 29, 2010
Wanted to play badminton after church on Sunday but I guess because it's a public holiday, the courts were locked up so we ended up going to Matt's house nearby and playing Rock Band, Raiden 3, and even Boggle.
I went over to Richard's house on Monday to try out his new board game - Agricola. The silly game took us four hours to complete, but it was kinda fun nevertheless. Maybe we'll be faster when we get better. I also snuck in some table tennis with Hsin Yao and of course the family pool and also the piano were well used that day. I led everyone in a rousing chorus of "The Tide is High"...
The next day, the rain came.
Despite the wet conditions, I met up with my workmates at Sun World in Newmarket for a delicious yum char. The place was absolutely packed and for good reason too; the food was tasty and the variety was fantastic, and all for a very reasonable $19. Jono and Charlotte went their separate ways but the Sidhe crew met up again at Bryce's house where we played Dominion and Cranium! Fun times.
Posted by Jeremy at 5:42am on Wednesday December 29, 2010 :: 0 comments ::
End of the Villa
Friday July 23, 2010
The time has come to write my closing statements sitting from my desk at the Villa. It has been a really good 14 months living here, despite being so far away from everyone and everything. I'll miss the luxuries of a dryer and dishwasher too...ha, I've been spoiled. Anyway, Internet will be gone for [however many days it takes XNet to reconnect me], which means I'll also be missing out on the Starcraft II launch on Tuesday. Sigh.
It's been a tough few weeks for me, there's been so many things to organise in and out of work, so many things to worry about and plan for; however, there is light at the end of the tunnel and lots of events to look forward to in the upcoming weeks.
Work has been going well, I've been very busy with some good old C# and WPF work. Plenty of things to learn and experiment with - totally loving it. Just got back from dinner with some workmates at New Kor as well, so things at Sidhe are pretty sweet at the moment.
Quick list of notable things:
- I took last Monday off on account of sickness. Ironically, there was some news about one day sicknesses.
- Briefly took a gander at the All Whites parade on Wednesday.
- Had yum char last Friday thanks to the continued success of Flick Kick Football at the top of the UK app store. Not so lucky this week though.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:25am on Friday July 23, 2010 :: 0 comments ::
May Happenings
Monday May 10, 2010
Not many exciting things happening at the moment, but I'll blog anyway for the sake of appearing up-to-date with everything.
Yesterday, at Charlotte's insistence, we went to Animates in Thorndon to admire the adorable animals there. It's weird when she does the baby talk thing to them. They had a few bunny rabbits there, and three kittens. So cute!
On Saturday, I met some workmates for yum char at Majestic Cuisine. I was so thrilled with the food (and uh, the wonderful social aspect, of course) that I forgot to take pictures. But oh well. Seems like everyone enjoyed it, so it might be grounds to organise another one in the future.
I won another Starcraft II game on Saturday night, but I was playing a noob so it wasn't really that satisfying. Playing online is so stressful, especially 1v1. I'm always freaking out over my build orders and what to do and micro-managing everything, I don't know why I keep subjecting myself to such torture everytime I play. Oh well.
Had another round of golf/driving range on Thursday, but I was rather off-form and didn't strike that many good hits this time round. Hopefully this will change for this week.
On the Psypoke front, I'm still trucking away at this damn damage calculator. What used to be three files doing the bulk of the calculation is now just over ten, all in neat classes and database-driven functions. The silhouettes for the three Generation V starters were released today, with the actual pictures suspected to be leaked sometime tomorrow. I'm kind of apathetic to it, but it would be nice to know, I guess.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:53am on Monday May 10, 2010 :: 1 comment ::
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Monday February 15, 2010
Happy Chinese New Year to you all, and wishing you wealth and prosperity in the year of the tiger! A bunch of us from Sidhe had yum cha at where else but Majestic Cuisine, where we proceeded to devour plates of dumplings, rice noodles, tarts and buns. Of course, I made everyone have the durian tart, and much to their surprise, it was tolerable! It was unlike anything else they had ever eaten...
It was good that Chinese New Year was yesterday and not today, because today was Epic Fail Monday. Fail #1: car rear ends another car in moderately heavy traffic outside the bus stop. Fail #2: I spent the entire day trying to get a build done to our level designer, only to have the machine have a major spazz and refuse to work. Sigh.
Nevertheless, I did manage to complete a build and deliver it, at approximately 6.45pm. It means I wasted the whole day on this instead of finishing my prototype which needs to be done by Friday... SIGH.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:33am on Monday February 15, 2010 :: 1 comment ::
Halloween
Sunday November 1, 2009
iPhone development has been going well. We just finished another game under the PikPok brand, so expect to see it in the online store sometime. You'll hear it from me as well :3
I acquired a new ornament for my desk.
Spent Friday night playing Hearts and 500 with three others from work. Way better than going out and drinking >_> Nevertheless, the drinking continued with my workmates the following night at a Halloween party. I went as a white guy dressed as an Asian guy. I know, it was an ingenious costume. There was a Bloctopus (from Shatter), lots of devils, a Zorro, a Rambo, a Nacho Libre, a Cowboy, some Vampires and lots of other weird and pretty hard-out costumes. Oh well. Maybe next year.
I also had dinner at the new flat (name pending) by the Botanical Gardens where Matt, Jono, John and Mel are going to stay. It's a nice place, but looks a bit dark because of its position. I look forward to spending lots of time drinking and being merry there.
Yum char today with Laura and Peter. Good to catch up with them, but it felt the quality of the food had declined a bit. We got to see Peter's new place, and then it was quickly home for an afternoon nap. Awesome.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:42am on Sunday November 1, 2009 :: 0 comments ::
Labour Weekend
Wednesday October 29, 2008
I had a fantastic Labour Weekend. So good catching up with all my friends. As a result of the excessive fun, I have caught a cold and am suffering at work. Today was terrible, I couldn't concentrate and I kept sneezing and after drinking that disgusting Lemsip crap I felt like throwing up.
Anyway.
I finished up at work on Friday and met Laura and Raymond at Cha for dinner. It was still relatively early, so Raymond and I went back to his apartment and Laura went back to hers at around 7.40pm. Then Raymond wanted to have a shower and by the time he finished...it was 8.05pm.
Picked up Laura at 8.10pm
Got to the flat at 8.15pm
Picked up Jono at 8.25pm
Arrived at the airport at 8.30pm
Boarded the plane at 8.40pm
Took off for Auckland at 8.50pm
Yeah, rushed, much. In the chaos I left my keys at the flat, but that wasn't too big an issue. I got picked up by Casey at the other end and met Bob, Ted, Amber and Han at Momo's, where I proceeded to knock my glass over and cut my hand in the process. After bleeding profusely, they decided to give me a free drink (YAY).
I turned up at church on Saturday morning, much to the surprise of the music team (apparently Jin hadn't told them I was on). So yeah, I got to play piano, and that was great jamming with the boys again. So much fun, far more fun than at Central Baptist. Afterwards, we distributed some flyers for the Light Party before I headed over to St Heliers to meet the Grammar Gang for lunch at La Vista. Great food there, so good to catch up with everyone. I was free for the rest of the afternoon and it was still early, so we went down the road to play Mini Golf. There were so many fails there, it was awesome. Props to Amnon for beating Richard!
It was still early in the day so we went back to Mat's flat and just hung around for a while, watching Family Guy and playing some Smash Bros Brawl. I really can't stand the Wii control scheme (and that's not because I've been working with it for the past week). The Wiimote has so few controller buttons that they could not possibly encapsulate all the techniques into a user-friendly scheme. Once I started with the Gamecube controller, it felt so much better. MetaKnight and Dedede are awesome! :3
Left the flat and went to Cinta's place for dinner with her, Alice, Jo and Reuben. We had apricot chicken, some cheese and cauliflower, boiled vegetables and roast potato, and Oreo cheesecake for dessert. Awesome stuff. We spent the rest of the night solving those stupid take-apart-shape-and-put-them-together-again puzzles.
Sunday morning was church, had heaps of fun on the piano but it wasn't my best day (I screwed up the offering piece) but I think people just appreciated me being back on the piano, which was really nice. We had testimonies from our group heading to Cambodia for a short term mission, as well as a delicious curry lunch for fundraising. I hung around for a few hours for BASIC and then the guys went to play pool. All I can say is... black ball fail.
I went out with Dad and Uncle Tony and family to this teppanyaki place in Ponsonby called Fuji. Entertainment was fantastic, food was delicious, but unfortunately not as filling as I would have liked. Really had to work for our food as well! I caught a piece of egg in my mouth, and two bowls of rice flung in my general direction.
Met up with the youth group guys at Momo's (haha, again). I didn't cut my hand this time, which was great. I had a taro milkshake with mango pudding, but didn't feel like eating much more. We were keen on going out after that, but nothing happened and we just went to bed.
But Matt, Sam and I ventured out the next day in the blazing sun to Mission Bay, where we enjoyed some unhealthy breakfasts in the form of ice cream, waffles and pancakes. We hung around Bastion Point before heading into town. We took at stop at Yifans where Matt played the new Street Fighter - I really like the art style, with the black paint strokes. I had to rush off soon after to meet Casey, Bob, Laura and Raymond for yum char at China. Good food, again, but unfortunately I was still a bit stuffed from breakfast. However, I did manage to cram a durian puff and a mango puff, so all is well.
Spent the rest of the afternoon fixing dad's computer, then met up with my sister for a chit chat. Her cat is adorable <3 and very vocal too. Being the awesome sister that she is, she managed to get me this:
It was a quick dinner at Uncle Tony's before heading to the airport. What a weekend. Catch all the action in the gallery.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:07am on Wednesday October 29, 2008 :: 1 comment ::
Photo Dump!
Sunday September 28, 2008
Time to clear out some photos from my phone. As I said on Monday, we celebrated the announcement of Rugby League 2: World Cup Edition, my first game at Sidhe Interactive. The company took us out for some nibbles and drinks. Meet the team!
Those Wellingtonians seemed pretty happy that they beat Auckland for that Ranfurly Shield, so they held a parade for the players.
I was owned by the bus strikes on Wednesday and arrived at work 30mins late, so that night, I planned to stay at the Hub and walked to work the next morning. Good weather for it as well! On Friday night, I met with Jono and Dave at this Malaysian restaurant where we had the awesomest grilled prawns. A bit pricey, and not very big portions, but delicious.
Today, music at church - daylight savings meant I had to get up at what was really 7am. Then I met Laura for yum char at Majestic. I need to stay awake and not nap to keep this sleep schedule intact.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:19am on Sunday September 28, 2008 :: 0 comments ::
Epic Olympics
Sunday August 17, 2008
I was up until 2.30am last night, watching Valarie Vili shotput her way to New Zealand's second gold medal at the Beijing Olympics with a mammoth 20.56m throw. I also watched as the Evers-Swindell twins beat out their competitors by 1/100th of a second to grab New Zealand's first gold of the games. The tension waiting for the final result after the photo finish - just epic.
We also watched Mahe Drysdale, Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater achieve their bronzes, as well as Hayden Roulston's silver medal race. Awesome effort from all four guys.
Congratulations to all our medal winners on day eight at the 2008 Beijing Olympics - you've done the country proud.
And if that wasn't enough, I woke up to the news of the All Blacks owning South Africa 19 - 0 in the rugby - huge congratulations to them as well.
Pretty eventful Sunday as well - piano at church this morning, yum char with Laura and her friends at Grand Century and swimming at the Aquatics Center in Hataitai. Wooooo, physical exercise. Yay me.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:26am on Sunday August 17, 2008 :: 0 comments ::
Weekend Photos
Monday June 23, 2008
Well, not photos strictly from the weekend, but whatever.
Wellington at Night
Show and Tell Prize from Sidhe
My First Music Practice at Central Baptist
Yum Char with Laura and Peter at Dragon
So yeah, I had my first music practice at Central Baptist. It's quite different from KCC - we start at 9am on Sunday morning and finish just before 10am O_o which really puts on the pressure. I knew some of the songs and picked up others, and I was accompanied by a saxophone, an organ and a flute, so there was plenty to mask my mistakes. But it's a really nice piano, as you can see, and it's really great to be playing for church again.
Yum Char was pretty average. Yeah, what can I say? It was a bit more expensive, not very good variety (too much fried food), and the mango pudding tasted very artificial. We'll be sticking with Majestic...although Peter wants to go to Grand Century some time.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:16am on Monday June 23, 2008 :: 0 comments ::
Queen's Birthday
Tuesday June 3, 2008
Alice, Cinta and Jo came down to Wellington for a visit on Saturday very morning. I picked them up from the airport at 8am - thus began the love affair with Wellington.
Saturday was sight-seeing day. We went to Mt Victoria, Oriental Bay, Lambton Quay, Civic Centre, Te Papa and Botanical Gardens. We saw the Beehive, that stupid Platform 9 3/4 sign at the Railway Station, the giant floating silver ball, my workplace, a large umbrella.... we ate lots of delicious things too. We had brunch at the Parade Cafe (I had been there with Andy, Nat and Jono before) where we totally indulged on far too much bacon, corn fritters, eggs and divine chocolate cake and carrot cake.
Sunday I took them to Central Baptist where they were treated with scones ("I approve!" said Alice). They can report back to KCC and tell everyone how I'm doing :p We went for yum char after that, at Majestic Cuisine, where we insisted on tofu fa, mango pudding, and durian pastries. I also took them shopping down Cuba Street and Lambton Quay, and that was rather excruiating. We had a simple dinner - two wood oven pizzas from Maverick's, just down the road. This was in anticipation of epic dessert at Strawberry Fare, where we ordered far too much and I had to force myself to consume the entire lemon cheesecake that I had ordered (It was delicious). They also met everyone from the Estate and the Hub - we hung out for a bit at the Hub.
But the worst of the shopping had yet to come, as we went to Dress Smart in Tawa. Geez. Haha nah it was alright. There were some cool non-clothing shops there that had interesting things (like a sim card backup device for $2 or something like that, or giant candles shaped like Chess pieces). We had a quick bite at KFC before heading back to Valley Girl on Willis, where we saw Auntie Su, Yining and Liann. Then it was a quick walk up Lambton Quay and Cuba Street again, before heading home to pack. We ended the weekend of awesome food by going to Great India on Courtenay, where, again, we ate far too much.
It's been a really good weekend! And we have more visitors this weekend too \o/
Posted by Jeremy at 10:03am on Tuesday June 3, 2008 :: 0 comments ::
Commerce Graduation
Wednesday May 7, 2008
Commerce graduation was fantastic. The forecast was set for 100% chance of rain, but all we saw were magnificent blue skies and mostly sun, although some very brief overcast moments provided some relief from the heat.
Anyway, the day didn't quite start off as planned - I woke up at 8am instead of the planned 6.45am and ended up missing the Commerce breakfast (which wasn't that great anyway, I heard). I still arrived in time for the procession and it was a nice walk to the town hall. Since I was in the first ceremony, we went straight in and sat down.
The ceremony didn't take too long, and we were soon out taking pictures with parents and friends before heading to China for yum char. And it was a pretty good yum char, but not as good as Majestic Cuisine in Wellington. Following that, it was up to Albert Park and Business School for more pictures, and then a quiet night at home.
Phew.
I shall be more prepared and energetic for Friday's graduation.
Posted by Jeremy at 6:10am on Wednesday May 7, 2008 :: 0 comments ::
Yum Char
Sunday April 13, 2008
We resolved on Friday night that we would go for yum char, since some of us hadn't been in a long time; or in the case of Jono, never been at all.
We chose to go to Majestic Cuisine, since it's such good value for money and the quality is pretty much up there. We had so much food.. prawn dumplings, scallop dumplings, vegetable dumplings, siew mai, rice noodle, char siu bao, glutinous rice, deep fried squid, pork ribs, pork pastries, mango pudding, tofu fa, custard buns, coconut cubes...simply awesome. However, there were not enough egg tarts and no more durian pastries :(
We had so much fun that Jane and Andrew could not contain themselves.
The rest of the day was spent napping and playing... DotA! Yay! :D
Posted by Jeremy at 11:04am on Sunday April 13, 2008 :: 1 comment ::
Epic Long Weekend
Thursday March 20, 2008
Let's start chronologically. You'll never guess what I did on Sunday.
Yeah, there were four of us: me, Laura, Laura's friend and Laura's friend's friend's boyfriend's friend.
Anyway, after that, we went to Mt Victoria - pictures in the gallery. It was such a windy day, we kept getting blown around. The view was awesome though, however it was a pity we couldn't see the South Island. We saw quite a few planes going in and out of the airport - it's really weird when you're walking by the mountain and suddenly you see a plane at the same altitude as you.
This week was the last week for our sprint (Basically, a task period) at work, so we were trying to finish off all our tasks. I think I was pretty productive this week, I managed to achieve a lot of things that I didn't have any idea of a week ago.
Yesterday I celebrated a friend's birthday, but I also mourned the loss of a family friend. It really was a hilly day yesterday. My heart goes out to all those affected... I'm sorry I can't make the funeral and I guess it's just lame timing.
Tomorrow.. I leave for Auckland at 1.15pm, arriving 2.15pm. It'll be awesome seeing everyone again, and I know I'll have a great Easter camp with my youth group.
Posted by Jeremy at 6:01am on Thursday March 20, 2008 :: 2 comments ::
Yum Char
Sunday February 10, 2008
Laura and I went for yum char today at this place on Courtenay Place, in Wellington. It was called Majestic Cuisine. Seems to be very popular with the locals - the restaurant was really busy and almost all the seats were filled.
Anyway, it felt so good having things that I had taken for granted in Auckland. One, chopsticks. My flat doesn't have chopsticks and I really miss the use of them, especially for cooking (like grabbing stuff out of the oven) and eating (instant noodles, not that I have had lots of those). Two, Chinese tea. Chinese tea is awesome, especially on cold days. I have it practically every day at home, but it just felt so good being able to drink Chinese tea.
I said I'd take some pictures for Casey, so here they are.
Cheong Fun, Tofu Fa, Chicken Feet
Durian Tarts!! OMG!!
Apart from the things listed above, we also had Siew Mai and fried taro pork dumplings. All in all, it was a really nice yum char.
Laura also showed me a place where I could get milk tea, but she didn't recommend it and said it wasn't as good as Momo's. OH WELL. I'll still try it out and get back to you later on this :O
Posted by Jeremy at 10:49am on Sunday February 10, 2008 :: 0 comments ::
Birdie
Thursday December 13, 2007
So today was a big rush, trying to firstly help Mat move out of the flat, secondly organising Yum Char with Simon at Hee's Garden, thirdly I'm so totally late for the LAN at church but that's okay, because we found THIS at the flat!
It was so small and cute and..probably extremely terrified when Tom picked it up. But we took the opportunity to take pictures and then Tom set it down again. But it just sat there unhappily, so I picked it up (it was so cute) and took it to the tree where its parents were, and it jumped out of my hand and flew happily back into the tree. Ah, happy endings.
Okay I better run for the LAN. I think they're all expecting me :(
Posted by Jeremy at 2:47am on Thursday December 13, 2007 :: 0 comments ::
Flat Cooling
Wednesday December 12, 2007
It's probably not a very common term, but if you explain it by using a contrast to "flat warming", it makes total sense.
So yeah, the time has come for Mat, Simon, Tom and Richard to move out of 'the flat'. So they had a flat cooling party. Without Richard and Simon. It was so damn awkward for the first three hours or so. First of all, Mat's rower friends came, and they were loud and rowdy and I didn't really feel like socialising with them, so I joined Tom's friends. And Tom's friends were total morons and kept dry-humping each other, so that was really disturbing and what-not.
Eventually Graeme showed up, so at least there was one other Asian in the house. Simon eventually showed up at 11pm, so we made plans to have Yum Char before he left forevarz on Saturday.
Anyway, interesting things we did:
- showed Tom lemonparty
- put lemonparty as a background on Tom's computer
- unplugged Tom's mouse and keyboard to prevent him from changing aforementioned background
- shutdown Tom's computer to prevent him from changing aforementioned background
- ridiculed Tom's choice of words in that lame Facebook Scrabble game (eg, chouse, areae, catlin)
Tomorrow! I'm helping Mat move out because I have the van. Then we're going for Yum Char as a farewell thing for Simon. Then I have the LAN <3 So it'll be a pretty busy day for me...and I should probably go to sleep because I have to wake up before my parents leave the house.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:45am on Wednesday December 12, 2007 :: 0 comments ::