I ordered a new pair of new sneakers tonight. Aren’t they purty?

I’ve never owned a pair of New Balance before. They look cool, and they’re wicked comfortable, so I have high hopes that I won’t be bitterly disappointed. Plus, I think Sarah swears by them, maybe, so that’s got to count for something, right?

This marks the first pair of new sneakers I’ve bought in several years — and the first pair of non-white shoes (aside from my Sketchers) I’ve owned since the black pair of All Stars I wore to death in high school. Those shoes — which I only paid like ten dollars for then, not the outrageous 40 to 60 dollars I seem them sell for now — were quite literally worn till they fell apart. After they served as my regular shoes they metamorphed into my work shoes. At the time I was working at Wendy’s, and my All Stars accumulated a horrendous amount of grease and other archtypical fast-food-related foulness upon them. One day, the toe of one of the shoes began to slightly curl up. Soon, this curling had grown to stupid proportions. I looked like a fucking hobo, and not really wanting to, I finally threw those shoes away. Shortly thereafter I quit the fast-food biz for good, looking for sunnier pastures elsewhere. A couple of months later I discovered the wonderful world of retail, and began developing film at Meijer, where I could wear whatever goddamn shoes I wanted without fear of them getting filthy. Little did I know that I’d be developing film for the next six years.

But that’s a story for another day.

JAB