Hi everyone, hope you and your loved ones are staying well. The past summer and holiday season flew by so quickly, but it was nice spending time with family and friends through post graduation celebrations throughout the summer and holidays. There was this one beautiful rendition of Auld Lang Syne performed by Sarun Kungbunpot and the Feroci Philharmonic Society from Thailand that we were listening to as we rang in the new year. I’ll share it with all of you. We also had a lot of good food and were able to catch up together.
I’ve been able to catch up on movies and shows around the holidays. I got to watch John Wick: Chapter 4, Saw X, Nosferatu, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, and Celine Dion’s documentary to name a few. I saw a couple of clips from Youtube recommendations for movies that didn’t come to mind of watching but had caught my interest. A few of them were The Menu with Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy and Okay! Madam with Uhm Jung Hwa. There were also clips in my recommendations from Schitt’s Creek with Catherine O’Hara (bless her soul) from her performance as Moira Rose. She was an incredible actress, and I remembered originally watching her performance in Beetlejuice when I was a young boy.
A few friends had also asked me if I had watched Heated Rivalry yet since they enjoyed it based on their recommendations. I was finally able to get to it and had just finished watching the entire season two weeks ago. I thought it was very touching and thoughtful. The leads did a great job portraying their characters’ emotions and building up the story while the supporting cast knocked it out of the park. I liked the supportive roles from the people who were integral parts of their lives and how they set up an open and caring environment like when Rose spoke with Shane at the restaurant, Shane’s heartfelt conversation with his mom, Kip’s dad giving him a hug, and Svetlana reassuring Ilya. Aside from the show, I’m so happy to see them get recognized and be given opportunities to advance their careers. I got to see bits of Connor’s SNL performance, and it was cool that he was able to have fun during the skits especially the ice skating one where he reunited with Hudson and the stripper skit (which I believe he wrote). It was awesome to see Jacob, Rachel, and Brendan’s vision get realized on screen and the accolades the show is receiving. Definitely wishing them the best as they prep for Season 2.
I’m also going to try to get to When Life Gives You Tangerines (the Korean drama with IU and Park Bo-gum). This one has 16 episodes, so it’ll take me time to get through. However, I’ve heard really great things about it, so I’m excited to watch it soon. My previous blog entry discussed the IU concert that I attended with my friend, so this drama is something I’m looking forward to diving into.
I had also finished up healthcare continuing education for an upcoming renewal. It was nice to get it checked off the list so that I can continue maintaining focus on CPA review information. It was quite the adventure shifting my brain from diabetes management to the audit risk model! haha But I do enjoy learning up-to-date information from these fields, so it wasn’t too bad.
One thing I’m looking forward to is getting more daylight with the upcoming daylight saving time shift this coming weekend and getting closer to spring weather. I was talking to my friend in Chicago about how we noticed that the past few winters have been mild so this year we actually had a “winter” winter. Fortunately, the snow started melting throughout the week since it got a bit warmer and there were days where it rained. But I definitely can’t wait for the extra (and much needed) light!
Summer 2025: American Dream Mall and Birthday
Post graduation celebrations were wonderful. Two of my friends got me a huge Universal Yums Korean Snacks box as a birthday gift. The snacks were really good (esp. the chocolate biscuit snacks and the peach gummies). You all know my love of chocolate and anything peach related haha The one that surprised me was the Lotte Pine Bud drink. I didn’t know what to expect with it, but when I drank it cold over ice, it was pleasantly refreshing! I was sharing the snacks over the following weeks since I couldn’t finish it all. It was a good variety of different types of snacks like honey butter pretzels, cinnamon churros, bulgogi noodles, and hot chili popcorn. Birthday celebrations were also nice with a mix of Korean fried chicken, pizza and pasta from a local Italian restaurant, burgers, and steak. Speaking of birthdays, one of my favourite renditions of Happy Birthday is the In Game Levels in the Overcooked! Birthday Party game levels. Now I had to relisten to it when I typed this sentence since it got stuck in my head. 😆
In August 2025, I had a family visit, and so we went to American Dream Mall in East Rutherford. They have an indoor ski park, so it was interesting seeing people in the parking lot holding skiing equipment in the middle of August in Jersey. I thought it was pretty cool to have all of these attractions. We started off eating some lunch at the food court before exploring around. As I walked around the mall, one thing this trip reminded me of was how much I missed mall pretzels! Back in college, I’d grab something from Auntie Anne’s or other place in the food court selling pretzels before heading back to my dorm after meeting with friends. Now whenever I would go to Trader Joe’s during a grocery run, I’d either get the individual soft pretzel stick or a pack of soft pretzel twists in the bread section.
A few highlights were from the Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park. We got to ride a couple of the rides but the one that got me was the Skyline Scream. I haven’t ridden these types of rides in a long time so both the immediate ascent and the drop really hit me (though it was incredibly fun!). It launches you all the way up to around 125 feet (38 meters) so that you can see the Manhattan skyline and then it drops you down.
Before leaving we stopped by H-Mart since I needed to buy some ingredients for cooking and some coffee. We also bought some takeout dinner that we could eat later that evening. The trip was great but we were all exhausted and wanted to just relax for the rest of the evening.
2010 Montréal Holiday Trip
I was cleaning up around the house, and I found my old digital camera which I bought in April 2009. It was a Sony Cybershot that I used during grad school at Syracuse and a few years after. It served me well and as I scrolled through the pictures, it was just a burst of memories. There were a few that I forgot about such a comedy show and karaoke sessions I attended. Good times indeed! Within the pictures I saw one of my past trips to Montréal. With the major blizzard that we recently had in the NYC area as well as having just finished Heated Rivalry, it reminded me of all of the travel preparations for that trip.
I didn’t write an original blog post on this, so I’m going through the pictures and my past emails to try and piece together the trip. I can’t believe it will be almost 16 years ago that this specific trip took place!
Back in December 2010, my friend and I went to Montréal for the holidays and into the new year. At that time, we also had a snowstorm that canceled our original flight. Originally, we were going to fly out from Newark but because of the snow and cleanup, all of the Air Canada flights to Montréal for the afternoon of our departure were canceled. We contacted the airline and luckily there was a flight out of LaGuardia at 1 PM the next day. The representative was very kind and helped rebook the flight. I also notified the hotel that we would be arriving the next day.
Although we lost a day due to the delay, we were still able to make the most of the trip. The flight was only around 1.5-2 hours, so we had the rest of the day to explore around. Once we landed it was smooth getting through customs and immigration. We took a taxi to the hotel and got checked in. The original canceled flight from the previous day was at 8:40 PM and we would have arrived just past 10 PM. We wouldn’t have been able to do much other than grab a bite to eat and settle in at the hotel. So, things worked out in the end.
The pictures above were us walking around and exploring downtown Montréal during the first night. There are a few here from outside Musée d’art Contemporain. We decided on where to go for dinner and agreed on Maison du Jazz. I ordered the poulet rôti, salade de choux et frites (roasted chicken, coleslaw, and fries) and a glass of sangria. There was also a live band playing during our meal. The vibe was pretty chill, and my friend and I were just catching up on life and updating each other. I was so sad to have read that this place had closed down a few years ago due to the pandemic.
After dinner, we just continued walking around and taking pictures. We did get to see Raymond Mason’s sculpture, The Illuminated Crowd.
The next day after getting breakfast, we went shopping at Centre Eaton. My friend was looking for a coat while I went to get some souvenirs to bring back for family and friends. We had a quick lunch at the food court and discussed where we were going to head to next. We went to a smaller art gallery but we weren’t allowed to take pictures. Later on we passed by Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and wanted to visit there, but we didn’t have time since it was close to closing time by the time we got there. Later that evening, we ate at a Japanese restaurant and continued shopping around.
On the evening and night of Dec. 31, my friend and I got a quick dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. We were going to head out for New Year’s Eve celebrations afterwards, so we needed something to keep us full. I got the filet mignon with sauce bordelaise, mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus. We got to meet some new people, and we all wished each other a Happy New Year. After the celebration, we returned to the hotel around 3:30 to 4 AM. Our flight back was at 2:55 PM that day on January 1, so I didn’t get as much time to sleep. But we did have enough time to eat a short breakfast, get everything packed up, and take the taxi to the airport.
Overall the trip was nice but I think we just needed a bit more time (work was busy so we were a bit time restricted on that end for taking time off). The schedule felt a bit packed and tight since we tried to get as much done each day and with it being the holiday season, there were just a lot of attractions and activities to do. En tout cas, je me suis bien amusé! It was a wonderful time and everyone was incredibly sweet.
As a bonus since we’re reminiscing, I’ll end the blog with a picture of me pie-ing my friend in the face for a charity event back when I was an undergrad student at Rutgers on the College Avenue campus. The guy next to him was a professor (I forgot which department). After making the donation, you were given a choice to either pie my friend or the professor. The professor was so nice and told me not to feel bad if I decided to pie him. Fun times!
I just want to thank all of you again for your continued support and coming in to read my posts. I really appreciate it. It was really fun revisiting the old pictures from my camera. To think, phones now are a convenient and quick way to be able to take pictures!
The one thing I enjoy from writing these blog posts is that I can have this historical record (kinda like reading your old diaries that you had written as a teenager) to look through, and I’m always happy to share these memories with all of you. Please continue to stay well everyone and sending you and your loved ones my love and support. 💌
