Nothing doing and doing nothing

Back from dinner after a Tuesday of non-stop stopping so I'll report in now. The main thing is that I am still coughing and this is making things like sleeping, waking and breathing difficult. I spent some time with my primary care internet and it told me that I have one of a few different things. Either I have bronchitis, asthma, smoker's cough or the common cold. The recommendation for all of them was the same -- pay for the premium service. I demurred.

When I got out of bed at about 6:30 this morning (not "woke up" as I hadn't really slept) I went outside and found a strong breeze and very cool morning air. I walked to the pool and found that the wind was not a freak weather occurrence right outside my room but was an issue there as well. So I came back to the room without a morning swim and tried to nap for a couple of hours. Fast forward a couple of hours and I made my way out again so I could sit by the pool as the children, who are dumb enough to swim with the wind whipping up, swam and I sort of hung out. It actually was a beautiful day to do nothing so i made sure to do a lot of that. And when I took a break from that, I went up to my room for a snack and some lying around doing nothing there. Very intense. It was sort of nice not to do anything and have nothing I felt like doing. Those all inclusive resorts with the horses and the dolphins and the classes where you learn to braid hair and play canasta with horses and dolphins make you feel like a lollygagger if you want to do nothing. Well, at this place, there is no arcade, no library and not on-site shuffle board so all there really is, is pool or nothing. I opted, repeatedly, for the latter.

For dinner we all got in cars and drove northward to a Grill place 10 miles away. Jam packed and overwhelming, it was. The appetizers were plentiful and satisfying which is convenient because the main courses were a bit less so. I appreciate what they were going for there, but it didn't live up to the hype that I heard from all sorts of people who swear that this is the best grill-type place around.

Tomorrow, I hope to find some time to procrastinate and sit around and watch the waves break. At least that's the plan. Who knows, I may just chuck it and spontaneously have a nap. Right now, I could go for some dental floss but I don't intend to exert myself.

My real subject is about conspicuous consumption. There is a lot here (but I don't mean the disease consumption, nor do I mean publicly over eating, though there is some of that). I don't even really mean the people walking around. Sure, many of them must have scads of money, or at least used to have it before choosing to stay here, but about the place itself. This hotel tries to be really fancy. I has no lobby to encourage riff-raff to malinger. It has no gift shop so the commoners can buy t-shirts with smarmy sayings or snow globes of exotic giftshops around the world. It has a computer in each suite, loads of armed towel boys who use their walkie talkies to get you your $15 dollar glass of orange juice, and stores built in which sell the kinds of things that give me an ache in my wallet when I simply walk past. But is it all necessary?

Is there any really, bottom line difference between a place like this and a Holiday Inn on a beach somewhere? Is a room at $700 a night substantially better than one for $150? Is the sewing kit that much more advanced? Do I gain anything by not having a video game arcade or an ice machine and vending machine on my floor? All I'm doing is sitting around a pool, soaking up the free sun and mediocre wifi. Do we really need to be seen rubbing elbows with the upper crust (mmmm...crusty elbow rubbings) in order to feel good about ourselves? I think not. And why do people worry about the baggage weight limits when they seem to have packed very few pieces of clothing, and small ones at that? Speaking of which -- sir, sir? You know who you are. I respect the effort but no one at your age looks good in a Speed-o and the pot belly isn't making your case any stronger.

I have to go unsee a few things.