Wow, it has been so long since I have talked to or seen any of you. I cannot believe how many of you are married with little kids! Congrats to all of you on the marriages and births. Those are some cute kids you all have. It is weird to me to realize how different my life is compared to you guys, being a single dude and living in LA. I am definitely a few steps behind all of you in that aspect. It was so fun looking through all your blogs and seeing what you guys have been up to. Here is a quick update on my life:
I have been at Merrill Lynch for a year and 3 months here in Los Angeles. I am a financial analyst in their Private Banking Group, and we have about 120 high-net worth clients, and manage around $4 billion dollars. Our clients are $50-100 million dollar clients, and they include movie stars, athletes, and successful business owners. It is a greab job, and a great experience, but I am getting burned out from waking up at 5 am every day and working 12-13 hours a day, 5 days a week. I think next summer I am going to leave Merrill and either go to business school, or just look for another job either here or in Utah. I have a pretty sick set up here though. I live near Santa Monica on the 16th floor of a skyrise that has a balcony that faces the ocean. I am roommates with Wyatt Benson from Rexburg. I have an amazing ward and spend a lot of time with my calling in the E.Q. Presidency. One downfall about LA is that every band comes here, and I go to way more concerts than I probably should. I went to 2 in one week in July (Coldplay and Good Charlotte), and I have tickets to Counting Crows/Augustana and Weezer/Angels and Airwaves coming up.
Sorry this post is so long, I just wanted to give an update of life in LA. If anybody is interested, my email address is marklaynewalker@gmail.com, and you can check out my blog at thebookofmark.blogspot.com. Also, if you ever come to LA and need a place to stay, let me know.
Rockclimbing in Malibu Canyon
A shot of LA from the Getty Museum.
My job hooks me up with tickets to all kinds of sporting events. (Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Kings, etc...)
Me, my bro, my sis, and 12 of my friends took a trip to Maui in May.
It is so nice living 10 minutes from the beach. I miss having Quinn here to go with me though. He and I went like every Saturday last summer when we lived together.
