Happy New Year.
I finally tried absinthe. What a lovely drink…and by lovely I mean sharp and strong. It made two of my friends vomit. Clearly it’s not for everyone. But I sipped it all night and really enjoyed myself.
My new pal MO enjoyed it as well. MO is a modern day explorer, which is an enviable life choice. He’s been to all sorts of foreign lands and also checked out the view from on high by going into space. I know! He went into space! Dig that.
I love it when people have been away from their native McLand for a while because I like culture shock observations.
- MO is philosophical about it, saying he’ll eventually integrate but is currently aghast at the abundant consumerism he’s facing. He was confounded by a mall kiosk that sold “bears in chairs.” Really now, are they necessary?
- R-n-R take a practical approach to their brief stops in McLand and stock up on organic food when they get to town. Oh, the chemicals they are forced to ingest in the third-world. It makes me shudder to think. I should have gotten them an AeroGarden.
- And then there’s my favorite sailor who has too much money and not enough time. Oh, the decadence (with the dubious exception of pork rinds). Can’t get him to eat sushi, but it’s good fun anyway.
So, I’d never heard the term “medical tourism” until MO mentioned it in reference to Thailand. And sure enough, there’s a Wikipedia entry about it. He said there are shopping-malls o’ medical services where you can go and get all sorts of surgery. I suspect being in Thailand buffers the pain of recovery. It would be inconvenient to die in Thailand though.
Bah, I’m not dying from lasik. Who wants to go with me? Let’s take a trek for better sight and pick up some of that famous Buddhist enlightenment on the way. I wonder if they can implant it in a same-day procedure. I’m sick of being blind and ignorant.
