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Taken shortly after the sneeze mentioned below. |
I've written a lot about the distinction between pain and suffering (like here). Our recent points-powered #1 bucket-list trip Down Under provides another example.
At one point on the trip, I fractured a rib. It affected my sleep (not in a good way!), made it hard to get out of bed, etc. One time I sneezed and felt like I might pass out from the Owww.
However, I did not suffer. I was incredibly happy nearly the whole trip (especially considering what was happening back here in Crazy Town). Every single day, I was far happier than a "normal" day with my "normal" pain.
(But I don't recommend fracturing your rib. Also: this WaPo article claims that not only can the placebo effect work when the patient knows it's a placebo, but it can even work when the patient knows and thinks the placebo won't work!!!)
Now:
More than any other type of post, readers say they like my picture posts. Yet I feel almost guilty about posting so many pictures of the adventures we've been able to take because of points and miles. I thought about just doing a link, but then I can't give any contextual notes. So I'm going to break this trip up by geographical area and try to be much more discerning in which ones I use.
Here are pictures from the trip down, Melbourne, and our time on the Great Ocean Road with Vincent, one of three cool people we have known online and were able to meet in person on this trip! I quote Vincent in Losing My Religions, and he used to blog at The Animalist, where he wrote some excellent (and inflammatory to Vegans) pieces.
I'll leave the pictures small; you can always click to see them bigger.
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The Arizona desert by the California border. Weird, no? |
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Free plant-based chicken (far right) and drink at Delta's LAX lounge. |
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Not a view of the earth you see normally. Video. #Waterworld |
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Flying Foxes in the middle of Melbourne; see next |
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Melbourne definitely won for cool architecture. |
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"Dances with snakes" |
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Koala! For mah sistah.... |