When it comes to shoes, dear Ladies & Gentleman, I am very much JKE.
I remember some 12 years ago, my classmates including the teacher (!) would laugh about me coz I was wearing leather shoes. Something like this, actually:
“You look like a business man”, they said, pointing at my shoes. “How can someone walk in such shoes?” – “Perfectly well”, I replied, knowing that soon they’d be wearing similar shoes. Those were the days when everyone was wearing Sneakers and guys used to have long hair. So rebellious, yeah!
One year later on, their hair was cut short, the guys in my class studied business administration and started wearing such shoes. “But do I say?”, I thought back then, “now look at you – who’s the business man now?”.
11 years fast forward, and I see myself selling my single-pantry-kitchen corner, including a fridge for something like 80,- EUR in order to buy this pair of shoes that really caught my attention:
ADIDAS Adi Racer Low (in a different colour, though..)
It was love at first sight. It was a good choice, because I had been rummaging through shoe shops in Bremen, Hamburg and Lüneburg for something like three weeks, and never had the “yeah, these are the ones – the one and only ones”-feeling. Upon seeing a reduced pair of black and white Adi Racer Low, I instantly bought them. And I am still wearing them today – even had them in Kenya with me and found another fake copy for sale at a BATA store in Nairobi the other day. Great shoes.
And this weekend, I bought another pair of sport shoes. Jogging shoes, actually, coz I urgently need to do more sports. Maybe it’s the age, maybe it’s sitting at a desk all day long that shortens the sinews behind my knees (ouch!) – but the point is: I ignored this “sports” nini for a long long …longlonglong time.
And here I am, with my new pairs of ASICS GEL-1110s. Really, I never knew walking in such shoes is such a blessing on tarmaced roads.
(= a.k.a. the REAL difference between the U.S.A. and Europe – just look at everyone’s shoes and you know where ppl are coming from. Ama? ;-)
I echo that…More sports indeed, more sports! Speaking of USA attire, I cannot stand anyone who wears a nice suit male or female and wears sports shoes to work OMG! So tacky , I do not care how comfortable they are to walk in..Arrghh.
Hahahahaha.
Sports shoes do not make you an athelete, I know.
Last June, I went to the store and bought myself a nice pair of Nike Air Shoxs (with ka-springs at the behind) since like you JKE, ” I urgently need to do more sports.”.
I have never ever done any exercise since I bougtht them and I am almost as fat as Giant Haystacks.
It always amuses me when I meet someone for the first time and they ask me “You are from Kenya – hmm, with all the runners. Are you a runner?”
I ask, “Do I have the physique of a runner or is it just the shoes that are giving my 250 lbs running game away?”
On another note, I am still thinking about your post on racism. I wish I could add to it but I am pretty much tapped out. It exhausts me to think about this subject and wonder what effect it will have my kids.
– Steve
I had a good laugh at “the REAL difference between the U.S.A. and Europe.”
My wife (a Kikuyu) and I (an American) used to play a game in Kenya called “guess where the tourist is from.” And it’s true, footwear played a big part in getting that right.
My wife also says that a nalgene bottle hanging from a backpack is an indicator of american-ness.
I like your new kicks, but the Good Year logo would put me off these (sorry to insult your beloved). I fell in love with a pair of Adidas once. They were grey and burgundy shell toes. I just knew they were the ones. Wore em every day for at least three years. It was so sad when I had to finally let them go.
p.s. I’d like to apologize to the world on behalf of my country for the sneakers with a suit look.
die goodyear-adidas schuhe haette ich vor 3 tagen fast gekauft;) nice! sind mir im adidas shop sofort ins auge teleportiert worden.
hab mich dann aber fuer die neuen ‘response’ entschieden, weil ich einen ersatz fuer meine alten ‘supernova’ (laufschuhe) brauchte … d.h. ich habe mir laufschuhe kaufen muessen, weil ich hier meine (mittlerweile) alten auf den guten indischen boden geschreddert habe … und in diesem klima sind solche laufschuhe schon was feines, wenn man viel unterwegs ist …
p.s.: nur idioten und neureiche tragen hier allerdings turnschuhe (und n paar bloede studenten) … ansonsten tragen in indien ALLE sandalen (meist flip-flops)
I really like Vans. Those Adidas look too noble too my taste.
Ha! Now up to 5 days of jogging, using 4-year-old “runners”! Going for 6-days-a-week-for-6-weeks. Wish me luck. And good luck to you, K1.
Steve, still gotta hit you up on the One Laptop discussion. Gimme, say, 6 WEEKS, to find some time. Sorry.