And Now Back to the Cold
Sunday March 2, 2025
It’s been a wonderful but busy eleven weeks - eleven weeks! Gone by already! - and as I leave Aotearoa, my home of 30 years, I’m full of gratitude for all the people I got to see and the food I got to eat.
When I went down to Wellington last month, I was reminded of the great lifestyle I had while I lived here; the great eateries, the walkable city, the beautiful night sky, the lush greenery and the sounds of native birds chirping in the trees. But as my friends have slowly left the city for the suburbs or even completely new cities, the vibe has changed and even I know deep down that my heart is in Toronto. Wellington will always be special to me, and I will be back in the future.
In amongst my usual weekly activities like Thirsty Thursday and Spicy Food Thursday, I also attended Owen and Bea’s wedding in Waikanae, literally on the other side of the world from where I had seen them last. It was nice to chat with people and explore Nga Manu Nature Reserve, but I was home early enough to catch the Dragon Dance and Chinese New Year fireworks at Frank Kitts Park. Today, I played piano at Central Baptist, a lovely reminder of my roots and a tribute to the community that has helped me so much.
Back up in Auckland, I was at Sam and Chara’s wedding with a bunch of my old friends from my church in Kelston, catching up with people who I hadn’t seen in over five years. My stepmum, who had been badly injured from a fall and surgery for a fracture, but is now in much less pain and discomfort than before, also arrived back from Malaysia. I caught up with Deanna, elusive Chief Cookie Officer of Moustache and got a private behind-the-scenes tour of the new premises. There were lunches and dinners with ex colleagues and old school mates and Uni friends, a Chinese New Year dinner with the all-important yee sang salad that we decorated with a snake made of cucumber, we celebrated Dad’s 70th at Lilian with a fantastic meal and exquisite cake, and William’s 39th at his place with a hilarious slapstick comedy about beavers, and three Jeremys. There was Auckland Pride, weekly badminton (my physio had told me I could play if I took it easy but still managed to evade injury after going a bit competitive), and a trip out to Muriwai with Alfie who was visiting from Toronto/Hong Kong.
Last weekend, I took my parents out to New Plymouth for a couple of days. My sister had recently been with her family over New Years, and after seeing the photos that they took, my parents decided they wanted to go too. The scenery and weather was fantastic. There were beautiful gardens to walk around, as well as the coastal walkway where the Wind Wand was. There were some magnificent views of the mountain, Maunga Taranaki, especially from Paritutu Rock, which was a steep climb on stairs for the first half, and then rock with a chain to hoist yourself up. I was impressed that Dad made it up there, and he was surprised by his own ability too. We caught the sunset up there on Sunday evening and the colours around the sky were majestic as they contrasted against the silhouette of the mountain.
The food was pretty decent too. On the first night, we went to the Orangery, famous for its tableside flambé menu. We had a great breakfast at the Arborio in the museum, and some nice Japanese-style bites for dinner at the Snug Lounge. All in all, it was nice to get away from the big city and enjoy the scenery in the countryside, and it really goes to show just how lucky Kiwis are to have this in their backyard.
In my final week here, my parents cooked abalone from Japan that had been dried and stored for 40 years. Dad had brought it to New Zealand from his father’s shop in Malaysia and I suppose it was finally a good time to eat it. The next night, I took them for an exquisite Middle Eastern meal at Advieh and had an amazing experience. And finally last night, we celebrated my birthday with a family barbeque. It’s been amazing. But unfortunately it’s time to return to the cold lingering winter of the northern hemisphere; but I’ll be back another day.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:19am on Sunday March 2, 2025 :: 0 comments :: 
2025 So Far
Sunday January 26, 2025
The end of 2024 was pretty quiet without my parents around the house in Auckland. I wrapped up work for the year, I spent a lot of time at the gym, I caught up with people who hadn’t gone away on holidays. I’m at the age where my friends are all talking about injuries and ailments like gout. I spent Christmas with my sister and her in-laws out in Waiuku. The weather has been mostly warm and sunny, and I’ve been loving it.
For New Year’s Eve, I bought myself some prawns and green-lipped mussels, and cooked those up for a delicious seafood feast, then I headed to Mt Eden to watch the Sky Tower fireworks and the Harbour Bridge light show. As usual, they were a bit disappointing, but the vibe was great. I was staring out over the city close to midnight and admiring the night sky; even with all the lights of downtown Auckland, I was able to see Orion, Jupiter and Mars. It was a reflective but enjoyable evening.
I went to play badminton on New Year’s Day. After my foot injury in November, I was a bit rusty from a month off sports, and after playing almost nonstop for 90 minutes, my body began to shut down. With all the aching and tense muscles, my slipped disc triggered again, and I was in agony for two nights. Luckily I knew the stretches to do to alleviate the pain, but it would be another week before I’d be able to get a physio appointment. By that time, my pain had improved significantly and I was back to doing many of my daily activities without too much of an issue. No gym or badminton for a few weeks though. However, I did manage to do a "military grade" 3km obstacle course in Matakana as part of Sam's stag do, though I had to skip the 3m wall under orders from the physio. We were super filthy at the end of it, but it was really fun and the weather was fantastic that weekend. I rushed home to pick up dad to go to his wine club's annual general meeting which was being held on someone's property in Red Hills, and they had a bunch of alpacas and two fluffy cats that I played with.
I took dad out to Muriwai one night to try and spot the comet. Though the weather was too cloudy to spot it, it was still a beautiful place to hang out and watch the sunset. The gannets of course were all there, squawking loudly and returning from their evening fishing expedition. We tried again the next day, just by going down the road to the waterfront, but saw nothing.
Now I'm in Wellington, at an Airbnb a few doors down from one of the properties I used to live at - the one with Smudge, who has probably sadly passed away in the eight years I've been gone. The last time I was here, the city seemed pretty dead because many people hadn't returned to work yet; this time, it feels a bit more alive down Cuba Street and Willis Street, but it's awful to see the Central Library and council buildings still in a state of construction. Many of my old favourite restaurants have shut in the past few years, a result of a significant reduction in the government workforce and the state of the economy in general. Still, there's a sense of nostalgia and a triumphant homecoming; like I've spread my wings to see the world and I'm back to see where I started and honour the city that I called home for nine years. And it's odd, because I've been away for eight years now, but it doesn't seem as long as my time in Wellington.
It's been a busy weekend catching up with people and eating delicious food. Of course I went to Little Penang, and Auntie Tee recognised me after all these years. I went to the Sunday service at Central Baptist too and somehow volunteered myself for piano next weekend. There's a lot of new restaurants that my friends are taking me to over the next few days, and I'm really looking forward to connecting with all my old mates too.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:14am on Sunday January 26, 2025 :: 0 comments ::
Snowbirding
Friday December 13, 2024
The year has gone by so quickly. It felt like only a few months ago that I had come back from Spain and Iceland, where I’d faced so many tumultuous events over the course of 90 days. But here I am again, ready to escape the cold and dark of winter in the northern hemisphere. This time it’s going to be simple. Just one country. Staying with my parents in Auckland. One week in Wellington. Plenty of time to catch up with people and enjoy summer.
As usual, I was a bit jittery on my way to the airport, just nervous about all the upcoming flights and timings and whether my luggage would be overweight. I finished up work in the afternoon, packed all my electronics and had dinner at Gus Tacos before taking the UP Express to Pearson Airport. Baggage drop (21kg exactly! Could have brought more maple cookies) and security were all routine and without incident. I found a public piano in the gate area but a small kid was banging about on the keyboard and I didn’t feel like hanging around for too long so I just went to my gate and did my Duolingo for the night.
Toronto to Vancouver was pretty busy, but not completely full. One of my row mates was also travelling to New Zealand, and it was her first time on a plane as well! The flight was uneventful, though I managed to do some work on my website, miraculously. It didn't seem like that long before we had passed Calgary and the Rockies and began descending into Vancouver. A short layover and I was back in the skies over the Pacific Ocean.
I think I managed to get six hours of sleep, of which only four were uninterrupted. They kept feeding us at strange hours and so I kept waking up to eat. This why I’m fat. I continued doing some work on my websites to pass the time; the power supply on the plane kept my laptop going pretty well.
There’s something emotional about coming into Auckland. I always have Dave Dobbyn’s Welcome Home playing - I know the song wasn’t written for expats but I appreciate the sentiment and emotion of the song. As the plane finally descends below the cloud line, I see the beautiful blue waters of the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours, Rangitoto, the rolling Bombay Hills, and the Sky Tower. It’s been fourteen hours in the sky, and finally, I’m home.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:02pm on Friday December 13, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
A Wisconsin Thanksgiving
Monday December 2, 2024
I’ve really enjoyed my time here in Wisconsin, this short stint over American Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly interesting place, but the people that I got to meet and catch up with were my primary reasons for coming here. There was a lot of food and alcohol, and some hilarious memories that we’ll talk about on our Discord for years to come. Insinkerator-gate!
I guess it was nice to just have a very quiet holiday where I could wake up late every day and not worry about work for an extended weekend. No obligation to code something for the website or fix bugs. Couldn’t even really go explore by myself since it was so cold and I had no transport, but I did get to see a little bit of the surrounding towns and countryside. Stoughton has a very strong Nordic presence, and I got smashed off a 10oz cup of cider before sobering up at Culvers, known for their butter burgers and frozen custard. Went up to Madison once to have brunch on Saturday, there happened to be a cat store with two cute voids sitting around. At dinner, we watched a bit of Jet Lag, a YouTube channel where in this particular season, they had turned New Zealand’s highway system into a board game and raced from Cape Reinga to Bluff. We also played Lynked: Banner of the Spark, and it was a genuine joy to learn that so many in the room had purchased the game and were playing it too.
I was supposed to meet Matt in Chicago during my six hour layover but he wasn’t feeling too well so I ended up venturing to Logan’s Square for some food by myself. It was all terrible. The pizza was too salty and the ice cream was gross and too sweet. Better than being cooped up in the airport at least, so after I had acquired all my food, I headed back to the airport. Security was a breeze and I’ve just been sitting around monitoring my Duolingo progress and organising things for my last full week in Toronto.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:10am on Monday December 2, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
Busy. Busy busy busyyyyyy
Thursday November 28, 2024
It seems like the only time I have available to sit down and blog is when I’m at the airport. I’m on my way to the US to visit some old friends from Psypoke days for US Thanksgiving. FuzzyBot has declared a studio holiday for today and tomorrow so I took advantage of it and booked flights to Wisconsin when they dropped to $360. This might also be one of the last times I’ll be in the US for the next four years.
It’s been crazy busy for the past few months. We released our game into early access on Steam and have been met with very positive reviews so far, but a few issues around stability and performance. But we’re all incredibly proud of what we’ve made, and I’ve never had such encouraging feedback from my friends who have actually downloaded the game to play. We have a lot to do before world wide launch next year, but things are looking good for Lynked: Banner of the Spark!
Summer was busy too. There was Pride and Canada Day. I got Fourth of July off as well, so I did a day trip to Hamilton to see the waterfalls, as well as a Costco run where I didn’t think I would buy much, but I ended up spending $96 on cereal, dried fruits and a beautiful hydrangea plant that later died. There were food festivals, barbeques, lots of cat friends, a trip to a free zoo in Peterborough, ice cream, and many lobster dinners. I went to the CNE and got some soft shelled crab and saw a kapa haka performance from a troop from Canterbury. We went up to North Bay for Labour Weekend and Algonquin for Thanksgiving to see the fall colours. There were some stunning auroral lights that we caught by Brampton - twice this year! - a great sign of the solar maximum. There was the salmon run at Port Hope and Etienne Brulé Park. There was Mooncake festival and the Final Fantasy VII REBIRTH concert with Arnie Roth conducting the Toronto Symphony Orchestra once more. I got introduced to Activate, I went to Nuit Blanche, I went comet hunting, I did a day trip to Niagara on the Lake, I met my fellow Torontonian workmates for dinner, I made dumplings and I wandered around the Christmas market at the Distillery District (but it was on a Tuesday so it was free). Things have really been so much nicer with someone to join me on all these things to do around the city and the province.
I’ll be heading back to New Zealand for Christmas this year. Looking forward to all that summer sunshine again, as well as family and friends that I haven’t seen since…well, technically last year, I guess. I’m lucky to have a job that lets me work remotely and will try to use this benefit as much as I can.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:40pm on Thursday November 28, 2024 :: 0 comments ::