recently; picking up matcha from a furniture store kinda vibe (june 2025)
on my birthday month, making great progress on writing, recent watches/reads/events and picking up matcha from a furniture store 🍵
(It’s not summer here but there is something about this song that tugs at my heart somehow.)
Hola friends.
Sav here.
This second half of June has been, frankly speaking, a difficult time for me!
You can see me reference this in some previous posts, but I ordinarily keep struggles under the public eye until I’m past it.
This slump hasn’t stopped me from finishing off my 25 by 25 series which was the writing project for this last month, but it has stopped me from publishing anything in-between, which puts a bit of pressure on my intentions to write 104 articles by the end of the year. Though, with some extra ounces of effort, an environment that fosters creativity, distinctly LESS planning on what to write about and distinctly MORE forgiveness on publishing unpolished pieces — I can still hit 104 by the end of 2025.
Every month, perhaps twice a month, deserves a nifty recapping piece like this one — an activity I had originally done in my own little paper journal but now offload onto these digital platforms because if I didn’t post about it then it surely didn’t happen (this is a sarcastic comment). This is inspired, just a bit, by
’s titular ★ I WILL DO WHATEVER I WANT ★ newsletter. This was probably the first Substack page I subscribed to, because it was the first thing the system recommended to me when I made my account, so uh, I TOO WILL DO WHATEVER I WANT!!1!One of my big achievements in June was my 25 by 25 series, coming in five parts which I’m overall super proud of! Some old, some new, all of which having shaped my demeanour and outlook on life, one way or another. I’m very proud of these results and will likely revisit these pieces when I turn 26, 27, and do an update when I’m 30. This writing project also came with a personally imposed initiative to create accompanying carousels on my Instagram account. This experiment has taught me that I actually really appreciate having an overarching topic to focus on for the month, even if (probably ‘especially if’) I don’t map out everything I’m going to write about — it’s ironic how creativity grows in confines and clarity comes with execution.
The best performing post seems to be take the fucking complement and I like to think it’s because it has a more unique title and a very apt 0.5x picture of myself.
I haven’t set in stone my topic for July but I think it’ll be related to work and career and lifestyle; including technical and non-technical ways to make it suck less from someone who’s only about three years into corporate. This would loosely be inspired by
’s What Work Should Be (which is why I’ve been browsing and hitting like on a few of your posts Bree sorry! — I’m interested in reading your book though I hope it’s available on Kindle in my country.)
This 25 by 25 series came about because I turned 25 in June! My birthday was on the 15th of June, my self-proclaimed middle of the year (it’s not actually the middle of the year) and when I usually do a check-in and reset on how the year has gone for me + how I’ve treated the year. I haven’t done as much of that this year. My plate has been full. And I won’t deny there are dark clouds and thunderstorms above my head which impact how clearly I’m thinking about things, not unlike this bomb cyclone smashing into Sydney right now.
As for what I did on my birthday, I had an awesome dinner with my girlfriend :) We went to Restaurant Hubert in the Sydney CBD which is an underground French bistro that felt like stepping back in time where lads had monocles and women wore lacey gloves and everyone and their goldfish had a revolver by their belt. The most decadent steak and cocktails, wonderful music by a live jazz band and these immaculate, candlelit vibes where the problems of present day are so far away.
What else of interest do we have?
🪩 Headed to Vivid on one particular weekend — a light-based exhibition across Sydney’s CBD that’s pretty much the same every year and almost always insurmountably mid but still garners the same (and repeat) audience so what can I really say (it is me: I am audience). Modern Australia is grasping at stars in creating their own culture though I think Vivid has carved a nice spot in being a consistent, family-friendly, annual event. The coolest exhibit by far was The Endling, a glass pillar with a real dancer trapped inside, with some insane holographic storytelling depicting the doomsday fate of the world.
🎤 Karaoke is always fun! I’m making a self-imposed initiative to host a get-together or event of some kind at least once every 1-2 months because it’s so much easier to start/host something instead of waiting for someone to do it. Events like these are almost always appreciated, especially considering how the lot of us have transitioned into some kind of full-time work and find it increasingly more difficult to get together. I should put together a karaoke playlist. I mean, it’ll be mostly Taylor Swift.
👩🏻🏫 Went to a pub quiz night. No topic in particular, just general knowledge, and the four of us did pretty well! I think we were about 6th place. Middle of the pack. Genuinely not a bad result considering at least a quarter of the questions where fiercely Australian things. I was surprised to somehow recognise the theme song of UK television show The Chase, which I only know because it frequently played in the change room of my previous office (and is the reason I’m occasionally five minutes late because it is quite compelling).
🏄🏻♂️ In the dead of winter, for whatever reason, we decided the Northern Beaches would make a great weekend getaway. We stayed a night at an admittingly dodgy studio at Mona Vale to visit some of the less popular beaches in Sydney, including a gorgeous sunset happy hour at The Joey by Barrenjoey Beach, which I suppose is actually the northern-most tip of Sydney. I don’t think I’d ever live in the Northern Beaches because of how much of a public transport dead zone it is but I could totally see why some people would. It’s got that high-class, gated community vibe where if you’re in the know — you’re in the know. Unfortunately, as a brown-eyed black-haired lad, I am not in the know.
☀️🌑
Whenever I come back from a trip, I experience a few revelations, getting a newfound inspiration or desire for something. This one was a bit short to really foster anything but I’ve put the following bullet points in my phone:
Make a bucket list of some kind
Add exercise back in your schedule (please)
Studio apartments kinda suck
Cook vegetables before cooking protein
You know what else happened this June? We picked up some matcha from a mysterious online retailer. Twice, actually, one of which at a furniture store in the middle of nowhere. It' felt like picking up drugs. Why is the price of matcha soaring like a cryptocurrency? Why did we need to constantly refresh a Shopify page for a 30g can of Marukyu Kokumen as if we were buying Coldplay tickets? Don’t answer that. I know the answer. I just can’t relate because 1) I’m decidedly neutral about match 2) like hojicha more and 3) cannot wait for it to be dethroned from the public limelight to make room for the more regular teas (earl grey and jasmine are my goats)
A few recent reads and watches:
The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber — It took a long while for me to finish this but I managed to squeeze in the last two chapters after forgetting about it for a while (I referenced it in February here), Gerber talks about one of the biggest pitfalls of entrepreneurship: businesses are often borne by Technicians (who do the work) who are often too in the weeds that they forget to be the Manager (who allow things to happen) and the Entrepreneur (who dreams the future). I’ve incorporated some of its learning into how I’m operating this blog from now on so uh, you might see the language tune a bit more business-y!
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reed — A rock-and-roll story on the rise and fall of legendary (fictional) band The Six and their dramatic collaboration with Daisy Jones, told in the form of a dynamic, unravelling interview. I really loved this storytelling style and the drama that crackled between the characters and despite viewpoints changing almost every sentence, never did I find it confusing! The story flowed like rhythm and blues, and I expected nothing less from this author. Super fun read that I would recommend to anyone.
Squid Game (Season Three) — This show is the absolute talk of the town and needs no introduction, but despite that, I’ve actually not seen a single post about in Substack which I find quite interesting because they’re still raising pitchforks against Donald Trump and Sabrina Carpenter. Anyhow, I don’t have any strong opinions about it other than the (NO SPOILERS) below:
It was better than season two but mainly because season two was incredibly lacklustre
The ending was appropriate and symbolic which I always appreciate even if it’s not ‘satisfying’
I hope that post-credit scene does NOT lead into anything more
That’s probably it for a June update. From here on, these updates will likely be a more monthly endeavour because not enough happens in a week for me to write this and if I spent all week reporting on the previous week, how can I do anything that moves the newsletter forward?
I like this format, though. It’s a great mind dump that lets me buzz my fingers across the keyboard while garnering some appreciation towards the events that have happened, because it’s so easy to forget and find ourselves back on the hedonic treadmill. Life is long — we have plenty of these opportunities within us.
Signing off, friends.
substacks i’ve liked recently:
modern day social etiquette you should live & die by -
🍽️your clothes are meant to be wrinkled -
🌂- 🌸