Living in a small town on the east coast of Tasmania

Moved here when the pandemic started. Tasmania was under lockdown at the time. I’ve always wanted to experience the country life but resisted because there’s no BJJ in these small towns. Since things were shut down at the time so I couldn’t train BJJ + cheap rent in a small town + wanted a change in environment = we moved!

I’m officially Dr Foo.

Officially graduated with a phd in Aug 2020, but actually was unofficially psuedo-done since March 2019? The time line was something like this:

• March 2019 – submitted my thesis.
• October 2019 – Uni responds with feedback (wtf right? blame lame uni policies).
• Nov/Dec 2019 – I handed in corrections
• Feb 2020 – I had not heard back from uni so I said “hello?”
• Feb 2020 – They replied “oops!” – Yep you’re done-do! Next graduation in Aug 2020.
• Aug 2020 – I receive snail mail with official certificates 🎉

It feels weird to call myself Dr Foo, so I’m not revealing it unless I have to.

Post-phd exploration

Doing all the things (trying) that I wanted to deep dive after my phd. 3 main areas:

• science: still doing research work – paid and volunteer
• design/creative: designing websites and creating content for social media – paid and personal

and how do I explain the third thing that is taking up my time…

crypto – researching shitcoins, getting excited, investing, following memes, following developments in the space closely, learning cryptography… learning how the world works and what the future could be.

Still looking for a way I can be useful at the intersection of my science background + blockchain. I have ideas… I see opportunities, but I haven’t got a single clue and don’t believe I have the ability to start something on my own. In the deep end here… but that’s ok. No rush, no fomo, just keep learning everyday.

extra side things:

• learnt how to build a static site on hugo and deploy it on render. Leaving wordpress.
• on a self-paced course to learn more coding language – next will be javascript and then a blockchain language like solidity or haskell? not sure yet – think that will help me be more useful in the blockchain space.

Reseting the routine

Fell off the new years resolution to sleep early + wake up early. Have had moments of semi-depression – feeling lost not sure where I’m heading – although everything I said above sounds very exciting and busy – I still have bouts of doubt and anxiety.

Sometimes I think I’m wasting my time and should be doubling down on the science. I do want to stay in science, just that there are so many other things I’m into as well.

Sometimes I wish I was like those people with strong conviction on their life purpose/path.

I remind myself of Tara Brach’s radical acceptance – giving myself a “hug” and telling myself “it’s ok, everything’s gonna be alright. You’ll find your way. Love the process and uncertainty. Accept. Let go. Celebrate the small wins.”