I am currently writing this from my hotel balcony on a semi-deserted island shortly after watching the sun rise over Singapore across the Straits of Johor.

Before I get to the “what’s,” the “when’s,” and the “why’s,” a little housekeeping: I have moved The Sunday Succulent under a parent publication, 1525.

I plan to write more (skepticism warranted), and on topics beyond The Succ™, and this will help me remain organized.

If you’re reading this, you will receive both Succulent and non-Succulent related articles. There will not be a set cadence. You can obviously opt-out at any time.

Moving on.

In the original spirit of The Sunday Succulent, the primary purpose of this edition will be to more thoughtfully answer the question, “How’s it going?” for interested family and friends.

I suspect the recent uptick in this question comes from both intrigue and concern, primarily relating to my opening sentence.

So, where am I?

An island near Singapore.

More specifically, an island that was recently uninhabited coastal land prior to the $100B (yes, big B) Chinese Belt and Road Initiative development plan announced in 2006, launched in 2015, and largely abandoned by 2017. The vision was an eco-friendly metropolis designed to accommodate 700,000 residents.

Today, there are around 9,000 residents (i.e., 691,000 short of plan), giving it an eerie atmosphere that has earned it the nickname “ghost city.”

The background is interesting. Here are the spark notes:

• The development was aimed at affluent buyers, particularly from China.

• In 2017, Xi Jingping implemented capital controls restricting Chinese nationals from transferring more than $50,000 out of the country annually. (Effectively removing the opportunity to purchase available island properties ranging from $75,000 to $1M+.)

• COVID-19 and local political instability further exacerbated the demand problem.

• On August 25, 2023, the island became a Special Financial Zone (SFZ) to attract foreign investment and revitalize development.

On September 23, 2024, I arrived.

But why?

Here is the original email that set everything in motion.

I could count on two hands the number of people in the world who could send this email and deserve to be taken seriously. Balaji Srinivasan is at the top of the list.

For background, Balaji is an entrepreneur (with 9-figure exits), angel investor (GP at Andreessen Horowitz), professor (computational biology, statistics, computer science, engineering, and blockchain at Stanford), and author (The Network State).

I first heard him on this episode of The Tim Ferriss Show three and a half years ago, and he quickly earned a seat on my personal board of directors1. His association with the project sparked my curiosity; the characteristics of the program demanded my attention.

The full “why” exceeds the time and space we can dedicate here. But the most appealing aspects to me are the following:

• The daily loop. If we’re being honest, it is hard to be the best version of ourselves. We spend so much time managing our day-to-day lives and meeting our material needs that our higher needs—community, hobbies, continuous learning, spiritual health—are often neglected. Indeed, even our foundational needs, like physical and emotional health, frequently get the scraps. If time is our most scarce resource (remember, we only have one go at this thing called life), then “I don’t have time to go to the gym” or “I don’t have time to shop for and cook a healthy meal” are actually valid concerns for most people in our time-poor modern society. Part of the vision here, at least how I interpret it, is to move as far up Maslow’s hierarchy in system one as possible. That’s to say, a community where access to healthy food, exercise, skill development, and quality sleep is as fundamental as access to running water.

• Practical knowledge. It’s sort of a no-brainer to want to learn emerging technologies and humanities hands-on from some of the brightest minds in the entire world.

• Win and help win. A philosophy different from both the right and the left’s respective versions of zero-sum thinking and libertarians’ “live and let live” doctrine, win and help win is a vision towards positive-sum outcomes.

• Quality of participants. This was one that I was cautiously optimistic about coming in and have been blown away by in the first week. See below for more.

What are the people like?

“Are the people normal? Is it a cult?”

These were the initial questions from my distressed sister a couple of days after I arrived. I’ll attempt to answer both.

Q: Are the people normal?

A: No. I would not consider a former paratrooper turned human trafficking interceptor turned software engineer and prominent crypto voice “normal.” Nor would I consider “normal” a different special forces operator living in an off-the-grid village in the Colombian jungle who teaches animal flow and wants to seamlessly merge the beneficial aspects of technology into his otherwise technology-resistant community. Nor is the 30-something-year-old former Dutch central bank employee who learned to code by creating arbitrage bots that automatically facilitate trades across crypto exchanges while he sleeps, and who now operates a platform that gives unbanked individuals access to AI tools via crypto payments (and grew from 0 to tens of thousands of users in the past two months). Nor the Indian developer who builds complex applications in a single day, leads Vipassana meditation classes in the evening, and teaches non-developers how to code at night. Nor the Australian (lol, nor and Australians go together like PB&J) neuroscientist and biomedical engineer using AI to explore brain activity. I could go on, but I’m running out of steam and I think you get the point: no, the people here are not normal, and yes, that’s a feature.

Q: Is it a cult?

A: Good luck trying to brainwash this group. This is a collection of the most independent thinkers and non-conformists I’ve ever been around.

The standard participant is not your Stanford PhD (besides Balaji), but the breadth and depth of talent and intellect here is actually astounding.

It’s said that if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. If nothing else, I know I’m not in the wrong room.

Just for fun

Note: I am well aware that “the opposite of success isn’t failure; it is name-dropping” but I’m going to do it anyways, otherwise I won’t have sufficiently painted the picture of the surrealness of it all.

• Within the first two hours of my arrival, I 1) hang out with Balaji on the beach, discussing the idea of setting up autonomous boats to shuttle back and forth to Singapore. 2) Then, I am the first to arrive for food, by about 20 minutes, and sit down with Bryan Johnson (and his team of three), Vitalik, and a staff member from the Network School. 3) During this time, a storm blows the doors open, and Vitalik, Bryan’s son Talmage, and I work together to keep them shut by wedging umbrellas between the doors and lining up tables to prevent them from blowing open and flooding the room, all while Bryan films it.

• In July, my dad, uncle, and I rode our bikes from Indy to Lake James. During the ride, my uncle joked that he needed a “blood boy.” This was in reference to Bryan Johnson and his son. Two months later, I am having a meal with Bryan Johnson and his son.

• It’s pretty cool to see how fast things are being built here by The Network School. And shout out to the Malaysian government for their innovation-forward approach to regulation.

• Everyone here seems to be organizing something. My contributions have been persistently asking for a weight room leaderboard (this is my best shot at glory among this crowd) and organizing a “muggle power hour” for non-developers to try to learn to code using AI. The problem is, the MPH became a hit and now I’m committed to the power hour every M-F from 8:00 - 9:00 pm. Next project—we’re going to build an official tropical Network Dojo.

Until next time,

Sam

This week, I had a breakthrough.

No, I didn’t start dreaming in Spanish. And I haven’t quite finished mapping out the definitive equation to end human suffering. (Although I reckon proper sleep gets us a disproportionate amount of the way there.)

But I do now understand how dogs respond to human language.

Dogs acknowledge commands and their names not because they comprehend the meaning behind the word but because they learn to associate certain words and gestures with specific actions.

Obvious? Probably. True? I don’t know; I’m not a dog scientist.

But whether right or wrong, here’s how I know it to be fact.

While I was walking down the street, I overheard a local telling their dog to “vámonos.” This sort of thing always lifts my spirits. The idea of Spanish-speaking dogs will never not be funny to me.

As far as I was concerned, this encounter ended there. If I was still thinking about it, the thoughts were beyond the reach of my conscious awareness.

That is, until my subconscious connected the dots a little later at the gym. As my trainer shouted “codo,” I instinctively responded with a small step forward followed by a rear hand horizontal elbow to the pad. At the time, I had no idea “codo” translated to “elbow,” but I had been conditioned to perform that movement upon hearing that word.

In this way, I intuited how dogs hear humans.

Who knew that increased empathy for our four-legged companions would be an unintended byproduct of failing to grasp the Spanish language? Checkmate.

A weekend of reflection

There were two activities this weekend, which paired together, inspired reflection.

The first was a Friday night trip to a hole-in-the-wall gyro kitchen. I hesitate to use “restaurant” to avoid giving the wrong impression. The establishment consists of a kitchen and two foldaway tables, which make up the outdoor-only seating area, a fact which will be revisited in a moment.

I went because I had met the proud owners, a Soviet-era Armenian couple, earlier in the week and promised to stop by.

That and the fact this place was rumored to have the best gyros in Buenos Aires. (Though when I mentioned this to the owner, he quickly corrected the last part to “en el mundo.”)

I was glad I went. Horacio and Anna couldn’t have been more hospitable. And the gyro was really good.

But as the wind picked up and started to drive the rain diagonally onto the only seating area at my disposal, all the while I was following along with friends’ plans back home via our group text, it seemed like as good a time as any to reflect on why I was choosing to live 5,000+ miles from home.

Exploring the Recoleta Cemetery the following afternoon accentuated this feeling.

The cemetery is home to 4,691 above-ground vaults containing the remains of many of Argentina’s most prominent figures.

Seeing these former (…obviously) heads of state, Nobel Prize winners, and other once-world-renowned individuals as bones in a box, I naturally revisited the thought of how I was spending my precious time on Earth.

So, with Socrates’ famous quote, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” on my mind, I found a nearby patio, ordered some empanadas and a beer to wash down all the death, and jotted down a few notes.

Here are some main reasons I’ve decided to be without a home base indefinitely.

Pattern Interrupt

Here is what I said in "The Sunday Succulent – November 30, 2022" from Mexico City:

Before I left Indy, a close friend asked me why I wanted to come down to Mexico (and his wife quipped I should go to a therapist instead — fair point).

One of the reasons I gave him was that it would be an opportunity to pattern interrupt from normal routine. We're all conditioned by our culture and upbringing, and I started catching myself operating on autopilot. After 29 years, everything from belief systems to standard interactions had begun to calcify.

This was a chance to do a sort of reset.

I was excited to encounter new situations and observe how I handled them.

Aside from being a year older, the sentiment holds.

Personal Circle of Order

Growth happens when we straddle the border between order (familiarity) and chaos (new experiences).

As we continue to expand our Personal Circle of Order™, otherwise known as our comfort zone, we increase our agency as an individual.

Travel is but one of an infinite number of ways to accomplish this.

Enhanced Perception and Observation

In novel situations, our perception is enhanced. As environments become familiar and routine, our perception loses force. This is a feature, not a bug. Our brain is hardwired to conserve energy. But sometimes, it’s fun to throw that sucker into high gear and rev up the five senses.

This also applies to observation of the self.

“And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”

Prior to semi-moving abroad, I thought of travel more as an escape from reality than immersion into a new reality. Rather than constrain myself to a little corner of the world, I want to encounter as much of its natural beauty and diversity of cultures as I reasonably can.

This all can be tied up neatly with a quote from The Alchemist.

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

(If those all sound too high-minded and grandiose, you might be happy to hear that the world-class steak and wine, cost of living, proximity to other destinations, and opportunity to continue learning Spanish “poco a poco” also influenced my decision.)

Help needed!

My gym has begun asking me for song recommendations.

So, I’ve started a playlist called “Gringo Workout” (see below) to share with them. Please let me know which certified workout bangers I am missing.

The weight of America rests on our shoulders.

On Friday, I returned a one-hundred peso bill that a passerby had dropped.

Now, before you suggest I replace Mother Teresa in Sainthood, which might be a lower baseline than common knowledge would suggest, it’s worth mentioning that the one-hundred peso bill in question is roughly equivalent to a dime1.

It’s hard to fully grasp the country’s inflation crisis until you see it firsthand.

For example, look at the following picture and take a wild guess as to what it was used to purchase.

(Correct answer below.)

While Argentina isn’t quite Zimbabwe in 2008, still, every day’s a workout when you gotta carry around 50,000 pesos in your jeans. (IYKYK)

Due to this inflation and the Argentina government’s restrictions on foreign currency, there is a black market exchange rate for US dollars (USD) known as the blue dollar rate. This rate is considered closer to the actual market value of USD, which is preferred to the Argentine peso (ARS) as a safeguard against inflation.

At the time of this writing (it can fluctuate hourly), the blue dollar is 1,020/1 (USD 1 = ARS 1,020), and the official rate is 821/1. This means that, at the moment, you would have 20% more purchasing power with the blue dollar rate than the official exchange rate.

In other words, it would be fiscally irresponsible not to use the black market, blue dollar rate.

Quick sidenote: While writing this, a woman in her 70s or 80s walked by with a t-shirt that read, "Go climb a cactus." I hope you enjoy that as much as I did.

There are a few ways to get the blue dollar rate, but the most common advice is this:

Go to Florida Street, find someone shouting “cambio,” follow them to their Casa de Cambio, and make the exchange. Apparently, this works surprisingly well.

Luckily, my Airbnb host’s nephew runs a Casa de Cambio and lives nearby, so he delivers to my apartment, saving me time and back alley dealings.

His name, Franco Ferrari.

There's not much to say about Franco Ferrari other than that I'd rather have no other person on Earth as my money changer. And if this all sounds sketchy, I can assure you that Mr. Ferrari's service and attention to detail would shame most modern retailers and restaurants.

The Sunday Succulent is like Switzerland regarding politics, but here’s to hoping Argentina’s new pro-Bitcoin president can turn things around.

Poll answer: chocolate milk2

New city, similar routine

While black market money exchanges are a first, the rest of my “arrival routine” remains pretty consistent.

Whether I’m staying somewhere for a week or three months, getting into a natural rhythm of life is crucial to productivity and general well-being. Below was my “arrival routine” in Buenos Aires (x2 due to the moves).

Pre-arrival

• Book Airbnb3. The filters I use are:

  • Neighborhood (based on research)

  • Entire home

  • Price range

  • Guest favorites

  • Wifi (confirm directly with host)

  • Dedicated workspace (confirm in pictures)

  • Kitchen

  • Air conditioning (depending on location)

  • Additionally, I’ll read the reviews and do a Google street view of the area

Day one

• Arrive at the apartment and check in with the Airbnb host

• Unpack and put everything in its place

• Setup workstation

• Take a nap

• Go to the grocery store or market and stock the fridge

Day two

• Find a gym and workout

• Find a Spanish school

• Lock in my daily schedule

• Walk around the neighborhood and take notes on places I want to go

Day five

• Get a SIM card for my spare phone (in the future, I will do this on day one)

By week two

• Have a few go-to regular establishments

Main takeaway: I try to get everything tedious out of the way in the first 12 hours and be in a consistent routine within the first 48 hours.

Bonus

Live look at me this weekend, sleeping in peace and quiet:

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao,

Sam

Doorman Dilemma

Common sense tells us that if something embarrasses us, we stop doing that thing.

But I can't help myself.

Here, most of the doormen (and women) are digital. They are displayed on a large television monitor which overlooks the entrance.

And as far as one can discern personality through a screen, they're rather friendly.

Each time I enter, they greet me with a wave. And each time, I wave back.

The problem is, I'm pretty confident nobody's actually there. For multiple reasons, I believe they are pre-recorded, and the door opening triggers them to wave. I'm not 100% sure, but I am 51% sure.

This means that more likely than not, I am waving at an inanimate object each time I enter the building.

And every time I do, my sympathetic nervous system lights up my cheeks like a Christmas tree, and I curse myself for my foolishness.

Attribute it to my Midwestern upbringing, but in the less-than-likely chance there is a live person on the other side of that monitor, I can't and won't stop waving.

More Door-Related Mishaps

At the risk of spending too much digital real estate talking about digital doormen (and women), there was a brief moment this week when I was convinced they were a sham. Or at least not doing their job to serve and protect our building. (Although I still need to figure out how that would work.)

It was when I went to open my apartment door, and a man, clearly inside the apartment, began yelling.

I'll skip to the punchline: rather than walking up two flights of stairs to apartment 2D (my apartment), I had only walked up one flight to 1D (not my apartment).

I can think of no better on-the-spot language proficiency test than explaining why you're attempting to break and enter as the rightful occupant walks towards the door.

Do I use the preterite (fue) or imperfect (estaba) to represent 'I was'?

'To try' is 'intentar,' and 'ando' in Spanish is equivalent to 'ing' in English.

Ok, so 'Estaba intentando (I was trying)...'

Too much time has passed without me saying anything. 

These thoughts went through my head in an interminable second.

At last, I succumbed to the tried and true "lo siento" and scrammed.

Observations

One of the more rewarding things that comes from writing The Succ is that it forces me to be more observant of what is happening around me.

To be clear, there is nothing groundbreaking here.

But daily, I feel more dialed in and perceptive to things I might otherwise miss.

• Mrs. Officer(s). There appear to be two requirements to be a police officer here: 1) be a woman and 2) be attractive. The sight of a lady officer manhandling a drunk during the Super Bowl had me ready to act up.

• 'Buen dia' hit rate. Like waving to monitors, I can't help but tell people 'good day.' In Mexico, it was met with a 95%+ response rate. Here, it is closer to 40%. It just means I need to work harder.

• Cocoliche. The Spanish spoken here could easily be confused with Italian. In Mexico, I could make out enough to get by OK in my day-to-day. Here, I can't understand a damn thing.

• Walkability. Though massive, it's a highly walkable city. It's hard to imagine living anywhere that requires a car anytime soon.

• No tacos, no problem. I love tacos. If I had to choose one food for the rest of my life, it would probably be tacos (the versatility!). But please don't worry about me. I can make do with steak and wine in the meantime.

• Time warp. Yesterday, I got hungry at 6:00 pm. Big mistake. Every restaurant that looked good for dinner didn't open until 8:00 pm or later. As an attempt to throw them off my gringo scent and not be the first to arrive, I showed up at 8:30. Mission accomplished, I was second. The dinner rush, families and all, came as I was wrapping up around 9:30.

For those concerned, my new apartment is fantastic. I'm officially settled in.

Buenas noches and a great week ahead to all.

Ciao,

Sam

It’s rumored that close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. That a miss is as good as a mile. And that you can be so close, yet so far.

I can confirm those rumors are true.

Case in point, my living situation in Buenos Aires.

I arrived last Sunday with minimal sleep but a positive attitude. The first order of business was finding a spot to watch the Super Bowl1. With that accomplished, I returned to my apartment post-game, whipped up an abbreviated Succ, and had a restful night filled with sweet dreams.

Everything was going according to plan.

Then came Monday. With it, the morning sun illuminated the plenitude of my studio apartment. I awoke to an abundance of natural light shining in from my open-air patio, a comfortable bed with an (almost) suitable number of pillows, a satisfactory workstation, a kitchen with all the amenities, and a bidet with enough water pressure to make Lil Nas X blush.

That’s not to mention the rooftop pool and in-building laundry, all located in one of the city’s best neighborhoods.

But it’s also said that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

This unfortunate but recurrent fact of life was again proven correct on Monday night.

As I gently tucked myself into bed, I anticipated another night of blissful sleep. Then the beat dropped. And continued to drop for six hours at a volume and bass level that rendered my falsely advertised soundproof windows completely ineffective.

That’s how I discovered my apartment was connected to a popular nightclub2. (When a nightclub opens at 11:45pm and closes at 6:00am, 96% of its business hours are during the morning. Therefore, morning club would be a more accurate business category for Beatflow. But I digress.)

On Tuesday, I sleepily reasoned that surely it was an outlier due to Monday being the last night of Carnaval. (Hint: it wasn’t an outlier, Shirley.)

At this point, I found the club’s lineup on an Argentinian ticketing platform, so I was ready and helplessly waiting for the bass to drop on Thursday, which it did. This was followed by Friday’s concert which would have put a sperm whale to shame.

So Saturday was spent finding and moving to a new Airbnb.

After arriving to mold-covered walls, broken appliances, and general filth throughout the apartment, Saturday afternoon, evening, and night were spent appealing to the better nature of the new host and Airbnb support staff for a full refund3.

Today was back to square one, looking for a new home, which is thankfully found and settled.

So close, and yet so far.

Due to these unforeseen circumstances, I wasn’t able to explore this weekend. I should have some initial observations ready for next Sunday.

But, some important lessons were punctuated in this first week in Argentina. (I’m exhausted so these will not be checked for grammar or punctuation and I’ll probably wake up horrified that I wrote them at all. But they’re on my mind, and it’s unlikely anyone will read this far, so why not?)

Lesson #1: Money vs. Time/QoL

While the original outcome was no bueno, the decision to double up and book a new Airbnb was obvious. Money is a tool, freedom is the goal. In this case, the freedom to be able to sleep in peace was nearly priceless.

How many times do we sacrifice (non-renewable) time, or quality of (probably non-renewable) life for a dollar amount that is immaterial in the grand scheme of things? What’s your time worth?

Lesson #2: Trigger Events

The decision to book another Airbnb was made at 6:00am on Saturday morning after a sleepless night of tossing and turning. At that moment, another month and a half of that situation was unthinkable. So, why after I finally got my refund late Saturday night from the second Airbnb did I briefly consider the idea of staying in the current Airbnb (“everything is great except for the morning club in my bedroom”)?

Humans are creatures of habit and comfort, and big decisions are made at moments when we feel compelled to act.

An example of this in everyday life would be someone in a comfortable but unfulfilling job (been there). The comfort is more dangerous than complete misery. Misery requires action and therefore change.

An example of this in business would be that someone isn’t going to buy your product or service just because you say it’s great. Even if they believe you. There has to be a significant reason for them to trade their resources and status quo to try something new.

Lesson #3: Anger = Self-administered Poison

Today I had to meet the host of the doomed Airbnb to return the keys. I was self-righteous in my anger. And I was extremely cold when we met. Not rude. Not mean. But cold. I had worked up that anger before the meeting after going over everything from the mold to the refund refusal, and the fact that I had only gotten two hours of sleep the night before. I carried it with me after the meeting for about three blocks before I realized it was not only useless to be angry, but counterproductive and stupid. It was an uncomfortable feeling in my chest. And total preoccupation of my mind. When I realized this, I snapped out of it and my entire mood changed. It felt like being poisoned and then given the antidote.

Then, I felt bad for the previous interaction.

I think there is an underlying code that we look for in other people and how we think they should behave. It’s unique to each of us and relatively inflexible, although it changes with us. People who behave within that code, we allow ourselves to become intimate with. People who operate outside of that code, we keep outside of our circle. But even with those people, we can and should still remain kind.

It’s kind of like receiving poor service at a restaurant. You don’t make a scene, you just don’t return.

Bonus: Packing list

For anyone interested, here is what I carry in my two backpacks. (Pictured below.)

Bags:
*Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L
*Osprey Nebula 32L

Base layers:
*Socks (x7)
*Boxers (x7)
*ClimateSmart Arctic Core (top)

Tops:
*Vuori workout pocket t-shirt (x2)
*Vuori everyday t-shirt
*REI dri-fit t-shirt
*DSG dri-fit t-shirt
*Patagonia pocket t-shirt
*Mizzen and Main golf polo
*Mizzen and Main short sleeve button down
*REI dri-fit long sleeve

Bottoms:
*Vuori all-purpose shorts
*Nike running shorts
*Vuori Meta pants
*DSG joggers
*Levi Strauss jeans

Shoes:
*Strike MVMT Haze Trainer
*Oboz Bridger hiking boots

Travel documents and wallets:
*Eagle Creek RFID blocker travel wallet
*Ridge wallet
*Driver’s license
*Passport
*Photocopy of passport (x2)
*Credit card (x2)
*Debit card (x2)
*Cash ($100 bills) to exchange for Blue Dollar Rate

Electronics:
*Lenovo laptop (14”) and case
*Asus ZenScreen dual monitor
*Roost laptop stand (I know, not an electronic)
*Logitech bluetooth keyboard and mouse (+ mousepad)
*Kindle paperwhite
*USB Type-C (x2)
*Lenovo laptop charger (x2)
*iPhone (x2)
*iPhone charger (x2)
*Airpods

Toiletries:
*Bagsmart dopp kit
*Shaving cream
*Razor
*Toothpaste
*Toothbrush
*Fingernail clippers
*Tweezers
*Carmex lip balm
*Deodorant
*Cerave facial moisturizing lotion (30 SPF)

First aid:
*Imodium
*Ibuprofen
*Neosporin antibiotic gel
*Three band-aids

Miscellaneous:
*Buff
*Waoaw sleep mask
*Cabeau Evolution S3 neck pillow
*Goodr sunglasses and case
*Mini carbon monoxide detector
*Nalgene 32 oz. water bottle 
*Journal (x3)
*Pen (x4)
*S-biner (x3)

Notably missing: plug adapter

Ciao,

Sam