Shoes!

[telerib]

A train leaves Newark at 10 am
I am wearing $100 sneakers.

I'm not supposed to be. They are supposed to live exclusively in my gym bag when I am not explicitly engaging in athletic activity. You see, I have flat feet and doing any sort of impact aerobics in $40-$60 walking sneakers was giving me shooting leg pains. It really bugged me that I'd have to stop, not because I was out of breath, but because my feet hurt. My sister recommended that I invest in serious running shoes, designed to absorb impact. So I did. At the price I paid for them, I decided that they should be reserved just for exercising, to extend their life.

Except that I forgot to pack other shoes in my gym bag today, so I'm wearing them at work. Dear God are they comfortable.

Another train leaves Philadelphia at 11:45 am
What shoes would I wear, if I were not wearing my new sneaks?

Usually, I would wear my old walking sneakers. Not very professional, but that's not really a problem.

I might want to wear one of the pairs of cute shoes I have purchased in the past year or two. Except... the cutest shoes tend to be the little sandal kind, or maybe the strappy kind, or... well, "ladies' dress shoe (social)" not "ladies' dress shoe (professional)." Of "ladies' dress shoe (professional)", I own... two pair, certainly (black and brown, natch), and perhaps more (if a shoe has an open back and small open toe, but is otherwise foot-concealing and a little clunky, is it a social sandal or suitable for work?).

Anyway, pumps would look a little odd with the casual attire common around here. Sneakers are fine; Tevas are fine. You can look as grungy as you wanna be. We got a guy who shows up in a T-shirt and flannel daily. It's cool.

A general aviation craft departing Trenton chokes at 15,000 feet and descends towards the tracks
That kind of informal is fine. But polka-dot sandals with a small heel? Too... flirty? Is it the bare footedness that is taboo? No, the Tevas are fine... That the bare foot is displayed attractively by the shoe? Too sensual?

I want to wear nice shoes to work. I like to buy fun shoes, but not so much the serious work shoes. But fun shoes are perhaps not the shoes to be wearing to work, even though I can wear crap shoes and no one cares. Why is the crap OK but the fun is not?

It is a very good thing, probably, that I have a huge, wide, flat foot. This makes it hard to find the very fun, modish shoes except at Payless or Target or somewhere else where you are getting a knock-off of the season's expensive shoes for under $20 in a 10W. (The red shoes? Found out they're almost a copy of one of Coach's spring fashions.) The Manolo, he would be upset with me for buying the cheap shoes, but... I do not have the life that needs the $200 shoe. The shoe would sit, sadly unworn, in my closet for many months at a time.

Maybe this will change.

But the sneakers are sooo comfortable.