Marcus’s Friends and Family Update #1

Welcome to my first Friends and Family Update! 🚀

Why am I sharing this?

I’ve relocated to Sydney (probably for the next few years) and I want to stay engaged with you.

This first update will be longer than others as it will cover everything I’ve been up to since I graduated in July.

Feel free to reply with your thoughts, I’ll be reading every single one.

July 🎓

Turned 24 and graduated from UQ with a double degree in computer science and commerce. I had an absolute banger of a time at uni. As Mark Twain said, "I never let school get In the way of my education". By far the best thing I did at Uni was get involved with UQIES. This led me to amazing opportunities such as the Ventures San Francisco Startup Adventure, the UQIES international trips and the EAIT Vietnam trip where I got the opportunity travel and work overseas with some of the most ambitious students at UQ.

August 🌏

Worked as a door-to-door sales rep selling solar and batteries for a month. Why? It forced me to talk to people I would never otherwise speak to. Thanks to that experience I have zero social anxiety speaking to new people now. Highlights of the job included knocking QLD's most dangerous street (police are not allowed to patrol there alone), getting given freshly baked cookies during a storm & being the highest-performing sales rep in the office in my third week on the job. Overall it was an incredibly humbling experience. I would recommend everyone try a D2D sales job for a month. You will become a more well-rounded human being.

Spent two and a half weeks travelling in Japan with Connor and his family. Absolutely goated trip. Japan is much more diverse than I anticipated and far and away exceeded my expectations. The food was great, the people were kind and generous and the nature was surprisingly lush and abundant. Highlights included Sumo Bull Wrestling, relaxing in the Onsens & eating Onigiri for breakfast at 7/11 almost every day.

September 🧘🏾‍♂️

I went to Sydney for a week as part of UQIES domestic trip. First few nights I crashed at a friend’s place (shout-out Aryan and Niel). Highlight of the trip was staying the last couple of nights at this Buddhist hostel. Normally costing $45 per night, if you attend a one-hour meditation in the morning and a half-hour meditation at night you receive a special price of only $30 per night making it I believe the most affordable accomodation one can get in all of Sydney. Also all the walls of the bottom floor are covered in some great quotes.

Gracie and I broke up 😢. It’s true what they say about guys post-breakup and the gym, October and November were record months for my lifts and I gained 4kg in 1.5 months.

October 📈

Moved out of the house I grew up into an apartment in West End. Absolutely loved living somewhere convenient and walkable as opposed to the suburbs.

Started at a crypto company called Vana. Got a job by cold DM’ing the founder who I met in Brisbane at a hackathon in June that had a total of 10 participants. One week after messaging him I started full time. They recently listed on Binance and are currently valued at 2.1B.

Read The Brothers Karamazov as part of my book club. It was overrated in my opinion. Way too drawn out. Only for those really interested in Russian history and philosophy.

November ☀️

Moved into an apartment in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. I’ll be here until mid Feb then going to have to relocate, hopefully to Surry Hills.

Started working full time as a product management intern at Atlassian. Amazing experience so far, thoroughly enjoying the free breakfast and lunch. Having a group of 100 other interns starting at the same time as me has also made making friends much easier.

Started off my time in Sydney strong with a trip to Wentworth Falls and the 3 Sisters as well as some Sydney Classics like the Bondi to Coogee walk and a beach trip to Manly

December 🌲

Very social month saying yes to everything. Never a dull moment. Playing Ping Pong almost every day at the Atlassian office with Hawkins 🏓 and drinking plenty of matcha 🧉.

Spent a weekend road trip doing Mount Kosciuszko. Very cold and windy but beautiful views.

Grand Canyon Hike in the Blue Mountains with Atlassian Interns. Defs need to return to this one to swim in the natural waterfalls 🌱

Flew back to Brisbane for a week to celebrate Christmas with family and catch up with friends. Spend New Year’s eve in Sydney watching the fireworks from a rooftop in Potts Point.

Looking Ahead 🐒

Really all I can ask for 2025 is that it’s as fun as the past one and a half have been.

I’m currently trying to put together a group of friends to go skiing in Niseko, Japan roughly from Feb 9th to Feb 20th.

I’m also going deeper into my meditation practice, regularly visiting the Zen Harmony House to practice at night. Meditation has significantly improved my quality of life and everyday experience. I’m looking forward to exploring my practice further with a meditation retreat sometime in 2025.

Currently Reading 📚

The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science

One theory I’ve been thinking about quite a lot 🗿

One request 🙏🏾

What book should I be reading next? It can be your all-time favourite, something totally left of field or something you feel just fits my vibe.

That’s all for now! Catch you next month 🙂

Marcus

PS,
Thanks to Darcy Douglas for the inspiration and motivation to start this newsletter.