Back in the Air
Thursday August 31, 2023
It feels like a long time since I’ve been at the airport - really only five and a half months - but it seemed momentous to be back at Pearson on this sunny Friday morning as we embarked on our flight to Newfoundland.
Summer has been busy. Just the way I like it. There’s been festivals and food and events. There’s been hikes and dinners and visits. There’s been cause for celebration, and moments of grief and reflection. I always tell people how alive the city is during summer and this year is the first year without COVID restrictions, so people were keen to get back into how things were pre-2020.
I’d basically recovered from my back injury by the time Charlotte, my old flatmate, had come to visit me in May. She was here for an academic conference at York University, but had a few days to explore the highlights of Toronto. I took her to all my favourite restaurants; there were too many to go to and she didn’t have enough stomach space for all the ice cream. We took a day trip to Niagara on the Lake and had lunch at a winery specialising in ice wine cocktails, and then did the Whirlpool Cable Car and the boat tour into the Niagara Falls in the afternoon. The next day, we went to the zoo and suffered through 90 minutes on the 401 because they’d closed all but one lane on Collectors for construction. She was really lucky on this trip; she managed to see a raccoon when I took her to High Park Zoo, and a groundhog wandering the zoo grounds, as well as my two favourite neighbourhood cats, Dobby and Lhasa.
Rohit was in from Calgary for a couple of days for work, so I caught up with him for the usual dumplings in Chinatown. I went to the Pride Parade too, which was a really welcoming, jovial atmosphere. We had a hotpot and barbeque picnic out in Milliken Park for Canada Day and stayed to watch the fireworks. I went to watch a couple of drone shows too, one out in Woodbine Beach and the other by Ontario Place.
Perhaps the most significant event in the past few months is that I’ve become a dual New Zealand and Canadian citizen. I drove all the way out to Mississauga to attend my citizenship ceremony with 100 other people, and we were presided over by Judge Albert Wong, who was born in Malaysia and came to Canada and served in the armed forces. His story was fascinating and he was hilarious, and the fact that we were both born in Malaysia made the ceremony so much more poignant. It was a memorable event, and a few weeks later, I got my passport.
This is important because I’ll be travelling the to US next month for a work conference, and since I had to surrender my PR card at the ceremony, the Canadian passport is my only ticket back into the country. I’m looking forward to the event though, the company had planned to do it in Vancouver but Beyoncé’s concert was at the same time and we couldn’t get accommodation, so we shifted it to Los Angeles. I’m hoping there will be visits to Universal and Disneyland!
I mentioned in my last post that in May, Mum's eldest sister passed away. Imagine my horror when, on a Sunday night after badminton in July, I got a text from my sister that another of Mum's sisters passed away, this time the aunt that was closest in age to her. I managed to see her in December, and in my heart I knew it may be the last opportunity I had, but I didn't expect it to be this soon. This one really hurt. On the night that my mother passed away, my aunt was already on her way to Auckland from Kuala Lumpur, unaware that she was too late. She was devastated when she arrived. Because of my citizenship ceremony, I wasn't able to leave the country, but I still tried to watch what I could on Zoom. In her memory, I snuck "Power of Your Love" into the church service the following Sunday. We sang it at Mum's funeral too, its poignant first line "Lord I come to you; let my heart be changed, renewed" so rich in meaning for the occasion.
The week ahead will be a refreshing break from the busyness of summer, as we explore Canada’s easternmost province and all its rugged beauty. Like New Zealand, Newfoundland's scenery is largely unspoiled and untouched by human civilisation, so it's not uncommon for the best views to be hidden behind strenuous four hour hikes; in fact, our trip highlight is the eight hour hike up Gros Morne, the second highest peak on the island. Looking forward to it!
Posted by Jeremy at 3:57am on Thursday August 31, 2023 :: 0 comments :: 
Springing
Wednesday May 10, 2023
It's finally Spring in Toronto. The plants and flowers are well and truly springing from the ground, but the weather has been bouncing back and forth unpredictably too. Last week, we had a solid run of six continuous days of rain, finally broken on Friday with some beautiful sunny weather. I was able to bike through High Park and see the tulips, magnolias and cherry blossoms, before heading down to the lake shore trail to Cirque du Soleil, now located in Mimico. I saw Kooza, which was fantastic. I had sweaty palms through several of the performances, just watching and admiring the stunts and acrobatics of the show. The good weather continued on into Saturday, but it rained heavily again on Sunday. This week is much more pleasant, with temperatures set to reach over 20C at the end of the week.
Emotions have been up and down over the last few months as well, for various reasons. I'm slowly getting back to full health with my back injury, and have started playing squash and badminton again. Gym is slowly getting there too, it still hurts a bit to bench press, but the fact that I'm able to lift things again is deeply gratifying. My friends and I have planned a trip to Newfoundland in August, which is incredibly exciting; work was supposed to have a meetup in Vancouver in September, but that got changed to Los Angeles today because Beyonce is in Vancouver at the same time and finding accommodation was difficult. I'm still supposed to go to the S Club 7 concert in London at the end of October, even though Paul Cattermole, one of the Seven, passed away tragically at the start of April. Today, I learned that my mother's eldest sister passed away at age 85. She lived a good life, and I have fond memories of her playing mahjong with my mother when she visited New Zealand. There's a nice photograph of all six sisters on her Facebook page that made me a bit emotional.
It's been nice catching up with various people as well. Lina came in from Singapore for a couple of weeks, there's been meals with ex workmates, I went and saw Avenue Q as well. I got 20 out of 20 on my Canadian citizenship test, and I'm still waiting for an invitation to the oath ceremony, although IRCC strikes may have impacted the timing on that. My social calendar has been nicely busy for the last month, and as the weather warms up, it'll get busier. There's plenty to look forward to as summer rolls in. There's been some sad times too, but heaps of my friends have banded together to support me during those times, and for that, I'm truly thankful.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:40am on Wednesday May 10, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Saturday March 11, 2023
Last Friday, there was a big snowstorm to welcome me home to Toronto. As a result, I didn't leave my building on Saturday but by Sunday I was bored enough to venture out to meet up with my badminton friends for dinner. My back was sore but manageable. On Monday, while I was showering, something spasmed and I lost feeling in my left leg. It was so painful that I basically did not leave my bed for two days. I managed to see a physiotherapist on Tuesday afternoon and from then on, I was able to sit down for a few hours at a time and do some work, but I was still in a lot of pain. A heating pad that I ordered arrived and that has helped with mitigating the pain, slightly.
Yesterday, there was another snowstorm. My router bricked itself and I had to order a replacement from Best Buy. My bedroom lightbulb also blew for some reason. I can't stand up for more than a minute before my leg starts to tighten up and I get a sharp pain in my back. I've been using Lyft to get everywhere, even to the physiotherapist 7 minutes walk away. I've been moderately stressed with studying for the Canadian citizenship test as well, but thankfully my new router works and I'll be able to sit the test at least. Even the router setup was stupid, I had to create a Netgear account and allow all these permissions for my phone so it could access the router using the mobile data connection.
Next year I'm not coming back to Toronto until April.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:48pm on Saturday March 11, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
Atlanta
Sunday March 5, 2023
The position of the driver's seat in my parents' car that I was driving around the Bay of Plenty caused my back to tighten up quite badly and when I went to pick up my luggage, full of Whittaker's chocolate, I put my back out, right before we were supposed to go to the airport. I was in agony the whole trip, but work had booked me a Skycouch to myself, which helped a bit. Some dork tried to claim one of the seats for himself before I told him I was entitled to all three seats. I did manage to sleep a lot on that flight, but it felt awkward because I'm not used to sleeping scrunched up. I like stretching my legs out and I was always afraid I'd stick them out the end of the seats into the aisle. Nevertheless, the flight went by so quickly that I didn't even have time to watch a movie, and then I was out into Houston airport for a five hour layover. My flight to Atlanta was delayed because the passenger bridge at IAH broke down, causing the incoming plane to be redirected to another gate so the passengers could deplane and we could board. Eventually I made it to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the world's busiest, just before midnight on Sunday.
In an effort to readjust quickly to Eastern Time, I was up relatively early to go to Atlanta Zoo with Pete, my fellow Kiwi workmate. We got a breakfast sandwich from a cafe just down the road and then took an Uber to Grant Park. Though it rained a little bit during our visit, it was nice to see lots of different animals out and about, especially the flamingoes, tiger and giant pandas. However, many of the signs around the zoo had world maps on them... without New Zealand.
We had lunch at Mary Mac's Tea Room, an Atlantan institution for over 80 years. The waitress asked where we were from and immediately opted to dial down the sugar content of our iced tea in case we got diabetes. When our fried chicken came out, it was a bit dry but we did that New Zealand thing where we just said it was fine when she asked us how the meal was, and then continued complaining while eating the rest of it.
We went our separate ways; I went to the aquarium since Pete had done that the day before with the World of Coca Cola. I took a behind the scenes tour which took me to the top of the large fish tank holding manta rays and the massive whale shark, the largest fish in the sea. I saw otters, puffins, penguins, hammerheads, jellyfish, seals and sealions, but the aquarium closed at 6pm so I had to wrap up my viewings pretty quickly. I met Pete again for dinner at 5Church, around the corner from our accommodation, for a delicious steak dinner.
The next few days I attended the Prytania Media Live conference, where I got to meet most of my workmates in person for the first time. It was a wonderful occasion reinforcing all the fantastic qualities of care and respect that the company was built upon. I managed to catch up with a couple of ex-Ubisoft colleagues as well, now at Possibility Space, my sister company. On Thursday, it was time to return to Toronto and I was met at the airport by Emilio and Sarah, who had graciously come to pick me up because of my old man back problems. It was dark and it was cold, but it was nice to be back. Sorta.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:49pm on Sunday March 5, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
Auckland and the Bay of Plenty
Sunday February 26, 2023
I can't believe it's been three months since I left Toronto. Working remotely makes it feel like the days go by so quickly, and there's been so many things to do and so many people to see that it really feels like I've maximised my time in New Zealand. Of course, there's been a few interruptions - namely some devastating floods and a severe cyclone tearing through the North Island - but on the whole, I kinda prefer that to -20C weather.
I left Wellington and returned to Auckland in time for Chinese New Year. Though my sister and stepmum weren't back, I was able to spend the day with dad, going for a short hike on the Upper Nihotupu Reservoir track in the Waitakere Ranges before checking out Arataki Visitor's Centre and The Olive Kitchen for lunch. No one was more excited to see me than Sam, my sister's cat, who was meowing loudly at 2am because he'd been starved of attention the previous fortnight.
The following weekend we celebrated dad and my nephew's birthdays with a quiet meal at my sister's place, though the torrential rain was already in full force that day. We drove through four rivers on the road to get to her house, we didn't realise how bad it was in other parts of Auckland. I've never seen it this bad before and it's really a wake up call that we should be taking more action against climate change. I continued to catch up with heaps of people over February - too many to list - but there was always good company and good food. I managed to squeeze in a bit of karaoke as well!
I did a road trip with my parents to the Bay of Plenty. That was really fortunate because we were originally planning to go to Napier, since I'd never been, but accommodation was super expensive that weekend due to Art Deco, and it's not really my scene, so we chose to go to Tauranga and Whakatane instead. The weekend before we were supposed to go was when Cyclone Gabriella hit the North Island, causing widespread flooding and damage to the Hawke's Bay. Thankfully the Bay of Plenty was spared heavy damage, and by the time we got there, the sun was out in full force so I could work on my tan. On the Saturday, we drove down towards Rotorua, stopping in Tirau for lunch. We did the Redwoods Canopy walk and visited the Blue and Green Lakes before heading to Whakatane and Ohope where we checked into our Airbnb, right by the beach. On Sunday, we visited the Farmers' Market and walked along the mouth of the Whakatane River. Dad and I wanted to go kayaking so we left my stepmum in town to wander around the shops, but we found out that there weren't any kayaks available, so we went to the Kohi Point Lookout and walked to the edge of the ridge for a spectacular view of Moutohora/Whale Island and Whakaari/White Island. As I understand it, White Island remains closed to all visitors after the fatal tour a few years ago, and even when we were visiting, plumes of steam could be seen rising from the island.
On Monday, we drove to Tauranga, stopping by Te Puke and Kaiate Falls along the way. Though the road to get there was pretty rough, the falls were pretty spectacular and worth the drive. Part of the trail had been washed away due to the cyclone damage, but thankfully enough of it remained for us to walk around. We stopped by Patrick's Pies when we got to Tauranga, who have multiple awards and have been New Zealand's pie winners for several years, and I caught up Andrew and Richard and their families in the evening. On Tuesday, we climbed the Mount - no easy feat for my parents - and then headed back to Auckland.
I've honestly enjoyed my time here immensely. It really did feel too short, and I'm not ready to go back to freezing temperatures quite yet. My next leg of the journey is to Atlanta via Houston, for a work conference, and then back to The Six on Thursday.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:21pm on Sunday February 26, 2023 :: 0 comments ::