Hippies, pirates and affected idiots

   [sunday]
   I don't know if this will be the final version of this week's entry [given the plethora of events that have transpired] but as the Florida twilight drifted in, so did the sight of a half a dozen huge kites dancing in the draft above Treasure Island, underscored by a synchronized drumming circle centered in the sand.
  Hippies, slackers and touristy onlookers were drawn to the primitive thumping and colorful kites flagging across the orange streaked sky. And if that wasn't enough of a lure, a throng was also being pushed from a beach bar at a nearby hotel that featured a pair of pathetic amateurs doing their absolute best to destroy popular songs from the '80s (a small pool to start with) with a sound my wife described as "grade F cruise ship" music. {it was just awful}
  The synchronized half-dozen drums were far more interesting. As is so often the case: the simpler the better.
[a little later]
   Shaking off the remains of the day, it always amazes me that when I stride onto the gulf strand it's as if the breeze obliterates any negative thoughts right off of me. What follows is a hypnotic, sandy traipse toward an endless bluish horizon, perpetually pulled to the wash of waves drawing closer and closer.
   The ocean is just an awesome thing and the Gulf of Mexico has one of the better ones.
[tuesday morning]
   Well, all this schmaltz about the power of the sea has another side.
   People With More Money Than Brains apparently think they own the oceans because they can afford a yacht and have endless time to sail the damn thing.
   I'm referring to the four Americans who were sailing off the coast of Somalia (yes, SOMALIA) and were captured and killed by pirates. Tragic? Yes. Unexpected? Hardly. The Americans were evidently fond of handing out Bibles as they sailed from port to port.
   At the risk of sounding crass, these so-called "adventure-seekers" were either illiterate (not likely) or so exceedingly arrogant to think that going anywhere near that part of the world in a boat was in any way a smart idea.
   I'm sorry. I cannot feel for these people.
   According to a niece of one of the victims, "She was not haphazardly traveling around the ocean, loosely traveling around."
   I beg to differ.
   If you are not traveling aboard a well-armed USN vessel in the Arabian Sea then you're taking a "haphazard" approach — it's been a freaking pirate haven since 1991.
   Nor can I feel for any "tourist" that goes hiking in Iraq or shopping in Pakistan and gets kidnapped. Americans who end up in these situations should not expect to get any help from the government or anyone else.
   They should simply get their estates in order and kiss their families good-bye before going off to try and cheat death.