COVID-19
Tuesday March 24, 2020
It's a strange time. Countries around the world have gone into lockdown, closing all non-essential businesses, public amenities, education providers, tourist attractions and meeting places. The streets are much less busy, save for the frenzy at supermarkets as people stupidly hoard supplies like canned food, frozen pizza and for some inexplicable reason, toilet paper. Thankfully, the weather is still cold and miserable, and the temptation to go outside is almost non-existent.
I'm lucky that I have a place to live, food to eat (and damn my cooking is so good) and that I have continued employment during this time. In fact, as part of the entertainment industry, it's our duty to provide that beacon of entertainment in the darkness of social isolation. All of Ubisoft Toronto is now mandated to work from home, as are many others in the city. Having the Internet keeps me connected to friends and family around the world who are going through similar lockdowns. Of course I miss badminton, going out for dinner, karaoke, going to the gym and playing the piano, but we must make sacrifices now or pay much greater consequences later.
It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There's growing uncertainty with what the world will be like in a month's time. In two month's time. We just have to take it one day at a time, knowing that our self isolation is for the greater good.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:57am on Tuesday March 24, 2020 :: 0 comments :: 
New Orleans
Tuesday December 31, 2019
I spent the last five days in New Orleans, basically inspired by this video to go and explore Creole and Cajun cuisine. NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana), as its affectionately known, was never really on my travel radar, but this year I knew I wanted to get out of the country for Christmas, especially since I had the time off anyway, and I wanted to go somewhere warm and different.
As much as I would have liked to reenact the video like Katrin and Janine, I didn't have enough time, or really the stomach space. I did the best I could, and I thoroughly enjoyed not only the food, but the history behind their cuisine. Apart from that, there's some beautiful architecture in the French Quarter, and City Park and Audubon Park are really nice walking areas, but there's not much else to see in the city, so I spent a lot of time just lazing about and playing Pokemon Go. It's so good to see the city back on its feet after Hurricane Katrina, although the devastating collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel right in downtown was still visible. I found Amorino, the gelateria that crafts their ice creams into roses, which I had first tried in Seville, Spain. The Steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi River had a lady rocking out on the steam organ, which was probably my favourite memory of NOLA. There were street performers and random jazz music jams in the French Quarter, and a lot of drunk people walking down Bourbon Street. I'm not really a party animal, nor am I a big drinker, so I didn't really participate in that side of New Orleans, but I still had a really good time.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:47pm on Tuesday December 31, 2019 :: 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 ::
Cusco to Lima
Monday September 2, 2019
We spent a short morning in Cusco, trying to see some of the city before our flight to Lima. We took a taxi to town and split up. I ended up going to the market to grab some food while the others wandered around the main square. There may have been some Pokemon related activities as well. As we met back at the Plaza de Armas, there were hundreds of people congregating for a parade of some sort. Tons of kids were dressed up in various costumes - almost like Halloween - there was a Disney group, a superhero group, a cowboy/western group and more. None of the group had any idea what was going on, but it was interesting to watch nonetheless.
In Lima, we took a taxi to the central square and had lunch at Bembos, a burger joint. The group really wanted ice cream as well, so we tried to get some from KFC, but it wasn't very good (and Nancy ended up dropping her ice cream anyway). From the central square, we walked to Chinatown via some various museums that Alfia wanted to see. Chinatown was kinda depressing and dirty, so we didn't stay too long. The group was fascinated by this bakery selling mooncakes and roast pork.
We took another taxi to the tourist area, Miraflores. We spent some time walking around Larcomar, the open air shopping mall overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and we left to walk to a nearby restaurant for some seafood. As we were walking, we began to realise it wasn't accessible by foot, so we ended up just taking a taxi. The food was good, perhaps a bit too sour on the cerviche, and some of the dishes were sold out (we were there pretty late), but it was a nice place to have our last meal in Peru.
On reflection, Peru was an awesome experience. No photo accurately captures the majesty of the Andes and Machu Picchu as you look down from the mountain top that you've just walked up. The food was excellent. I didn't expect to speak as much Spanish as I did, and even I surprised myself with how much I was able to communicate. Google Translate definitely helped a lot, but I picked up a lot of words just by walking around as well. It's a pity we didn't have longer, because there were some really nice places to visit in and around Cusco, like the Rainbow Mountain. Maybe we can visit again in the future, and perhaps stop by Bolivia and Argentina?
Posted by Jeremy at 6:00pm on Monday September 2, 2019 :: 0 comments ::
Salkantay Day 3 and 4
Saturday August 31, 2019
We continued through the rainforest, admiring the flora and fauna. Our guide pointed various plants important to the Incans, like ones used for medicine as well as ones used for colouring clothes. There were some forest fires on the other side of the river, and it was pretty sad to see the smoke filling the air like that.
We got to try some of the locally farmed food - the maracuya is a sweet passionfruit, as well as some deliciously creamy avocado. We got shown how coffee was harvested, prepared, roasted and ground as well.
Our final stretch for our third day was along the train track between Hidroelectrica and Aguas Caliente. The path follows the river that circles around Machu Picchu. We arrived just before dusk and settled in for our last day of the trek.
It was another early morning to take the bus to Machu Picchu. We decided not to walk up because it would have been dark, and we wanted to save our strength for going up the mountain. We got an explanation of Inca history from our tour guide and we said our goodbyes as we started our hike up the mountain stairs. It was tough, basically just rocky steps the entire way but after 75 minutes, we reached the summit. What an amazing view of the citadel from above. You could even see Salkantay Mountain beyond the ridge near us. We spent half an hour admiring the view and taking pictures before descending and walking around the ruins.
The ruins are fascinating in their own way. You can tell that there were houses and terraces for farming crops, and the Condor Temple was pretty neat as well. We saw a chinchilla dozing off in the sun, and of course the llamas grazing in the main field.
We were exhausted after the mountain ascent and walking around the ruins so we took the bus back down to Aguas Caliente and had lunch (and purple corn ice cream!) before taking a train and van back to Cusco.
Posted by Jeremy at 6:00pm on Saturday August 31, 2019 :: 0 comments ::