A Long Year Searching For Good Shoes: January 2021
I've spent the last year searching for the perfect pair of shoes for my new dock job.
This little #saltlife #docklife story starts off with some repurposed old shoes. Traverses though expensive, bad sized, poorly designed shoes, with trials and errors. All before coming around, almost full circle upon a classic heart felt Stephen King novel type of happy ending.
Sounds scary? Sounds like a horror movie inspired by Rub Maps?
Nah, it's cool. Just shoes in a post series with lots of weird #photography and complaining structured to look like unsolicited information.
I want to share this story. Good shoes are important. If foot pain or back pain makes you contemplate walking over to the sunny side of the street, you might have a shoe problem.
It's tricky sometimes. Inflammation and poor circulation in the feet makes old or bad shoes a passive source of pain and frustration. Seriously, it's not gonna helping. If you don't feel energized enough to walk across the street to see the sunset, you might have a shoe problem. (Lazy too, yeah, but it's easier to be lazy when muh feet hurtz.)
Size matters. All dick jokes aside, shoes that are too large will allow too much play and friction. Don't put them inside your butt. Even the best socks won't save you from friction pain that lasts all day. By the end of the day, you'll still feel the pain inflicted by the play. Oversized or loose shoes can be almost as bad. Our feet tend to move inside the shoe as we pivot and stop. I'm not talking about playing sports, i'm talking about regular activity. Our feet use the shoes and ground to do lots of things out lazy backs "girly man" arms don't want to do. Your toes press against the inside top to create more grip via tension... lots of stuff!!! I could go on, but I sure you notice.
Good shoes and the proper sized shoes make life and work easier. (Beware of memory foam insoles!)
Please leave a comment. Pick a question!?!
Tell me why you like your shoes.
Tell me what shoe color you don't think you could ever wear.
Tell me any fun shoe detail about your shoes.
Jungle Toe, Jungle Rott, or jacked up toes from military boots? (Show us pictures.)
Do you wear flip flops most of the time?
If you stepped in dog shit, would you clean the shoes or toss them out?
Ready! Set! Go!
January 2021
I'm starting out the year with a new job and older shoes. This story starts with DVS brand shoes. I purchased them at a skateboard-ish store. Not usually my style, but idgaf as much any more. They have a little more color than I usually like, grey, red... it's fine. I look at the price ranges first and then consider what I can tolerate.
I did not intentionally take pictures of the grey/newer DVS shoes. I did managed to find the DVS shoes while looking though my phone's image gallery.
BONUS POST EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!!!
I created a special video to commemoration this new blog post series. Check it here, Brah:
MORE!!!
I almost forgot! I made a few pogo stick music vides while wearing them! Trip-out, Bro:
Old Fan Of Old DVS Revivals
I was once a black shoe, dark colors, brows, maybe a maroon... almost never white or gaudy/flashy type of shoe guy. I've owned several pairs of DVS Revivals. They look like this:
I've owned glossy leather versions and sued typed. That's all I can remember at the moment. I liked them a lot. As they wore out, they strated to look like nice work boots. It's a skate shoes, but the look was similar.
I liked them because I could skate with them and still look like nice shoes for someones church. Later i used them as a "dress-cassual" shoes for jobs that required lots of walking around in fancy places. I like everything about them.
Revivals were the first shoes I purchased online from Zappos...
I could probably get another pair and be happy with them outside of work. Let's see what Zappos has now...
Oh dang! Wtf?!
They ain't got shit.
What happen?
DVS Revivals are gone.
Hmmm... CHINA!
These new DVS all look kinda maybe-ish... kinda meh-ish... kinda Arizona PWT-ish... but maybe not so weird once ya get the laces tightened down well. Probably really good for dumpster diving with yer meth wife. They have lots of padding on top.
Good shoes for kicking a bucket or the side of a skateboard deck.
New job during COVID.
Speaking of slave stuff. We can see the new job-text drama along with the DVS shoes (Revivals are gone). See the right edge in the evidence submitted below.
I'm wearing the newer DVS shoes and that image is from January
It's a marina job that pays under the 15/hr. That's most people think is minimum wage here in CA USA. The actual minimum wage rate is lower for companies that have less than 26 employees. Or maybe it was 24, whatever, it's a stank-ass loophole.
Companies that operate as a franchise can work this loop whole. One time, I mentioned this gaming of the system to muh boss while asking for a raise at the same time. I said other stuff about manipulating peeps. I didn't get loud, but we had to close the door. There was no debate. By the end, I was the first person to make the jump from 13/hr to 15/hr. I am grateful to be heard. 15 sucks too, but I'll take it for now. It's a COVID year.
ANYONE dealing with tourists and cleaning up after them in a slightly hazardous environment deserves lots of money. Riotousness and unqualified arrogance is rampant in these fake adults. Just like all other industries I've worked in, the stingiest clients are usually the ones who ask the most OR create the most drama or require hand holding. The spoiled dudes from OC always have an issue... late, neglectful, risky, dramatic, need, bullyish, drunk, and also asking for change to a one hundred dollar bill.
LAME, desperately tattooed, SUMBLIME wanna beez and rich, sarf punk nazi, ex-cocaine heads slaves, desperate to be a instagram star.
Anyway...
Not at Work
I wear these Merels while I'm walking around at home.
The image above is from early January and I'm not sure what happens to these shoes. The are a red-ish color. I think they were a second pair that managed to slip through the cracks of my camera and drain bamage.
Please leave a comment. Pick a question!?!
Tell me why you like your shoes.
Tell me what shoe color you don't think you could ever wear.
Tell me any fun shoe detail about your shoes.
Jungle Toe, Jungle Rott, or jacked up toes from military boots? (Show us pictures.)
Do you wear flip flops most of the time?
If you stepped in dog shit, would you clean the shoes or toss them out?
Thanks for reading.
Look forward to a post about the next month's shoes action. It's gonna get exciting. Like playing with a cat.
Thanks for supporting muh blog posts!
Please repost and share to anyone that is interested in a journey about shoe durability.
Please comment!
Let me know what you like. What do you do with your shoes? Ever had one stuck in yer butt? I hope not. They say hope is a good thing, if you thing so, well then, "stay hopeful" more importantly, have a nice day.
Look forward to a new post series featuring my year long shoe journey. Lots of buyer's remorse and !drama, but I promise a happy ending.
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For years, I wore Etnies. They were good shoes with a reliable fit. Once the skate shops stopped stocking the style I wore, I would order on-line (CCS) and I knew they were going to fit well. THEN, I could only find the shoes on Amazon. The final pairs I bought didn't fit well and felt cheaper in quality.
Next up, Merrell shoes, which I still wear most of the time. They look like crap and the soles wear out quickly if I do much walking on blacktop, but they fit well. I buy them at the outlet store or off of Amazon.
I just replaced dress shoes. My wife and I go dancing, and some of the dances involve dressing for the 1940's or 50's. Plus, we attend a traditional Latin mass on Sundays, and traditional Catholics tend to dress up more for church. So, I bought three pair of Cole Haan shoes - black, brown and grey. They look like the old wingtip shoes. The grey ones have a sole that is more like a Vans shoe. Comfortable and stylish!
Thanks for the reply @kunschj!
I might have owned a pair of Etnies. They've always look like great alternatives to DVS. I've also noticed the change in quality you've mention. I'll spoil my post series a little to say that I've recently come to appreciate VANS shoes. Cosy and satisfying, but I do see a lower quality version of some of their shoes. ALSO, I know for a fact, through first hand fashion industry manufacturing experience, buyers will ask manufacturers to reduce small elements of a garment's quality to purchase at a lower price. Hence, the TJMaxx, ROSS, or whatever type of stores.
Rubber materials... raw materials sellers are probably maintaining a similar nit-picking. Instead of leaving off the zipper to lower the cost, it's "use less of that expensive and durable chemical to make the sole"...
I try.
Yeah "Merrell", thanks. Decent shoes for the price. I've owned two pair. I can't use the slip on types. I prefer flip flops or laces always. At first I thought they had a zipper in the front. That could be interesting.
Dancing sounds fun. Cole Haan, I'll look for those. Good looking shoes. I could see a person wearing those to church and while they get out of their lowrider in Wilmington CA. I like brown ones on the left.
Nice shoes! Don't hurt nobody! :)
Ah yes, Vans. I wore them for years, starting in the mid 1970’s. I used to go to the store on Torrance and order them in mixed up colors - one blue and red, the other red and blue. Never got the checkered ones Spicoli wore.
I wore the gray shoes to Church and then attended the potluck afterward. My priest loved the shoes. He thought they were a different brand, and showed me them on his phone. They looked similar. Can’t recall the name though. Anyway, they are comfortable.
Thanks for the Hive!
Your test about shoes is really best one. Like that too.