Bespoke shoes

The manufacturer is German, the business is in Budapest, the style is Scottish, the leather is from Chicago.

Horse leather.

Poor horsies.

This video is repeat-y. The same scenes over and over, the same information over and over.

€1,200 = $1,353
€1,800 = $2,029
€500 = $564 (for the last)

It happened again yesterday.

Except at the end not the beginning and from the doctor not from a lady.

I mention this not to brag, rather, to to share information I think is important. It's not just me thinking it either, rather, it's the feedback I'm getting that didn't happen before. The feedback is surprising me because it's so odd.

I had to go back to the clinic for the doctor to sign a state form regarding vee-hickle license plate registration.

I thought that I had to go back. It's possible that wasn't necessary. The form is both threatening and ambiguous. The doctor read it differently than I did. His interpretation makes sense because he is a sensible person, but the form he is making sense of is not sensible. I can describe the non-sensible portions that make it indecipherable but all that is boring.

I waited a very long time, then finally he saw me about the form. He signed it now I'm good.

On the way out he said, "The ladies here really like your shoes."

That's two compliments from the same place. It shows they talked about it when I was gone. The ladies told me themselves the day before, now I see they told him too.

The shoes look like the shoes featured in this video.

Except mine are 10X less expensive.

Here's the thing:

I have three pair of shoes from this company, Thursday Boots.

Wait! I have to read comments to the video before clicking off.

Ew. They're all negative and contradictory and presumptuous. Most the comments are ridiculous.

Back to Thursday Boots.

I'm very happy with these three pair. All three evoked comments from people who don't usually notice. But this company is a bit weird. They know their sizing is off. All three of mine are in different sizes. The size that works best for me is one full size smaller than usual.

First I ordered my real size and I'm happy with that. Although there is a bit more room in the toe.

The second I ordered 1/2 size smaller per their suggestion plus in wide. I like that one a lot too because they fit best when my feet were swollen, although laced up to the maximum width possible.

The third in normal width and one full size lower. I think this fits the best.

However, I like them all.

A lot.

The first one was complimented on at a funeral when I was standing around in a circle. That made everyone look at my boots and discuss them.

The second pair was complimented at somebody's home. "Your boots are gold." And they were, in that light at that moment.

The third pair was discussed at the doctor's office. The compliment was the first thing a woman said to me. The second day the doctor relayed what the woman talked about after I left. This was the first time I wore them in public in the daytime.

Here's why they stick out and get this unusual attention.

Because the shoes that men wear today totally suck.

Everyone is poncing around in athletic shoes, even non-athletes. I suppose for comfort. I don't know. I don't get it.

So it's very easy to stick out by simply not doing that.

Shoes were a big f'k'n deal growing up. I hated it. "Shine your shoes, shine your shoes, shine your shoes," all the time, week after week, year after year. It was essential our shoes looked great.

My brother and I had to shine our dad's shoes.

Oh, man, I hated that.

His shoes were so BIG!

(They were actually smaller than mine would become eventually, by 2 + 1/2 sizes.)

Shine the shoes, shine the shoes, shine the shoes. What a drag. There was a whole box of crap that goes with this task, filled with polishes and brushes too big for my hands, and rags. Like my brother and I were two little shoeshiners. How degrading.

"Son, do you want to shine my shoes?"

     "FUCK NO!" I thought each time. While my mouth said, "Okay."

Such a slave. Ew, I hated myself for never challenging the pussy-ness of issuing an imperative in the form of interrogative." Quit asking me if I want to do something we both know I don't want to do. That's just so mealy-mouth. It's a thing Air Force officers do. Apparently. It's a thing done to me the whole time growing up. It's the thing that made me the asshole that I am today.

Do  you want to mow the lawn?
Do you want to wash the car?
Do you want to trim the bushes?
Do you want to clean up the yard?
Do you want to pick up all that dog shit?
Do you want to rake up the leaves?
Do you want to shine my shoes?
Do you want to brush your teeth?
Do you want to shine your shoes?

Fuck you, I don't want to do any of those work-related things. Leave me alone. Why was it so necessary to see me being industrious all the time? What was it about seeing me relaxing or doing my own things that got on his nerves to badly? Quit bossing me around all the time by asking me if I want to do things that I don't want to do.

No, I'm busy making a kite.
No, I'm busy drawing a picture.
No, I'm already busy putting together a model airplane.
No, I'm reading Mad magazine.
No, I'm changing my aquarium.
No, I'm reading comic books.
No, I'm making a clay castle.
No, I'm soldering these wires.
No, I'm copying Japanese.
No, I'm playing with my lenticular photo of King Tut's burial mask.
No, I'm melting crayons.
No, I'm making a Boston cream pie.

Shoes. All the time shoes. Take care of your shoes, clean your shoes, polish your shoes.

On Air Force bases we were total freaks about shoes.

They had to be polished.

And not just regular polished, no, they had to be highly polished.

And then that whole shoe-system collapsed.

And that's how you can really tell a guy by how they are put together.

Regular, ordinary shoes make you stick right out because everyone else has taken the slipshod path.

Literally, slip shod.

The easiest shoe-route possible.

So when you don't do that then you stick out and women in particular notice you. I think because they have a shoe-obsession too.

A woman I dated kept all her shoe boxes. She identified her shoes in her closet by their original boxes. She still does this presumably. That is her system.

And they're all very good shoes. Women's shoes are amazingly expensive compared with men's shoes. She described to me why they are worth it. She went over all the details like this video. It got down to the itty-bitty delicate stitching all around. Stitching on men's shoes is a lot more clunkier, 15X more heavy-duty.

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[Incidentally, that doctor called back at my home.

He told me he's looking at results of the blood draw done two days ago and he sees my kidney function way down below acceptable.

He told me to stop taking medicine and start drinking tons of water to prepare for being tested further elsewhere.

He mentioned dialysis and that word freaked me out.

He thinks my kidneys have stopped working, or they are working very poorly for some reason. He was alarmed. And he made me alarmed. He thinks this is the cause of why I am feeling so low energy. So, all of that's coming up right now.]