Lead Thoughts :: !Weblog - Entries for March 30, 2011

Mar

2011

The Plight Of Jeans & Shoes

I Shouldn't Have This Problem In America!

(0)Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - 09:39:59 pm
(Posted Under: No Category)

You know, one of the great things that I'd take advantage of whenever I traveled Stateside was the opportunity for pick up new shoes and jeans.

As far as shoes went, the advantage was always price. I'd pretty much always pick up pairs of Vans that I liked for somewhere between US$25 and US$50 - usually at that lower figure range. Jeans however, that whole thing was based out of necessity. Finding jeans I actually liked in Australia started to become fairly difficult in the late 90's, and the flood of euro trash styles just continued to increase throughout the 2000's. So much so, that trips to Arizona in 2005 and 2006 were fashion saviors. Sure, the price of Levi's also slayed the prices in Australia, but it was all about style baby.

So now I live in the States. When it comes to jeans and shoes, it's all pretty much smooth sailing from here, right? Not quite. When I moved here, I was in a desperate position when it came to jeans. Pairs from 2005 and 2006 were barely holding on by a thread - literally. And having lived in Australia for 2 and a half years, Katie was suffering the same affliction. But in early 2009 I wasn't sweating it. We were months aware from moving to the land of stylish jeans of days gone by. The home of the brave.

It'd been 3 years between drinks in America for me. Almost as long for Katie. Things had changed. Gone were the days of walking into a store and having the dilemma of wanting every pair of jeans on the shelf. The affliction that was jean shopping that plagued my homeland of Australia had traveled across the Pacific Ocean and infected North America. The euro trash style had taken over here also. The only style of jeans it appears to not have taken out Stateside is the oversized and baggy rural redneck style. I'll avoid both like the plaque thank you very much. Things were not at all helped by the fact that at some point Levi's also dropped my jean - the 504. Thanks for that.

The search for jeans was long, laborious and rather unrewarding. To the point that I had to settle for a pair that I weren't overly happy with, later finding some fashion relief thanks to the "Arizona" brand. Funnily enough, with the use of a store coupon, the pair of jeans I own that I like the most currently cost me a grand total of $6! And I'm actually faring better than Katie, who still lives in a dire pants situation. Her motherland continues to leave her hanging.

But the whole runners thing has got to be different though, right? Yeah, not so much. As I remember it, I didn't have a dire shoe situation when I touched down in the US. No I didn't. I'd broken out a pair that I'd brought here in 2006 at least a few months earlier to boarding the flight to the US. But somewhere between then and now I've walked a hole into them. For reals. Not the usual wear at the back on the heel. A really decent hole in the sole at the front of the shoe. It's not a half assed one. I brought half of Sedona back to Phoenix in my shoe the other month. That sock will never be the same again. [wink]

It's been an issue for quite a while. Initially I was able to get by - this is Phoenix - it doesn't rain. It kinda sucked in the midwest and the snow over Christmas admittedly. But once it got big enough that I could feel the surface I was walking on, and then when I'd put on a white sock in the morning and take off a black one at night, we knew we had a problem to address.

But my plight wasn't due to not trying to do something about it. We started looking at new shoes - I don't remember exactly when, but quite a while ago. When we started out, admittedly I was a bit picky, by all accounts wanting to find something I liked, but also get it for a $25 type deal of days gone by. As time went on, and the hole got bigger, that became less and less of a priority. To the point over the past few months where the only requirements I've had has been 1) a shoe I like and 2) that is comfortable. No store, including several Vans outlets, could satisfy these rather modest requirements. Last night we had a break through, finding a pair that I can live with. As too the $39.99 price tag, I can force myself to live with that.

We'd actually gone out to replace the Converse flip flops as per the last entry. The flip flop search didn't end the way that at least the shoe one did. Here comes more months of painful endless searching. Oh, I can't wait!

Now Playing: Satelitte - Some Of The Things

Mar

2011

Have I Been Here That Long?

(0)Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - 12:49:09 pm
(Posted Under: This Desert Life)

It's heating up in the desert, and is time to deal with my flip flop situation. Katie got me an awesome pair of Converse flip flops for Christmas a few years back. Maggie did a number on them back in Warsaw. Well, just on one actually. Chris did an amazing patch up job on them, which got them through until last year, when they finally gave way and broke.

Trying to source a new pair, because let's face it - they're the perfect flip flops for me - the following conversation ensued:

"Do you remember where we got them?"

"I wasn't there when you got them. But didn't we see them at Sports Authority?"

"Sport's Authority is an American store!"

Well, there you go - almost two years in, and I have no idea what sports stores are Australian and which ones are American! For the record, I was thinking of Rebel Sports. Of course, I absolutely could not recall that on my own and had to hit up Google for a map of Northland Shopping Center. It's kind of a bizarre thing.

Anyways, if anyone in Oz comes across any stores that stock these, please let me know. I can't find any, and for all extents they appear to have been a UK/Australian line. I can't for the life of me find any hint that they were ever sold in the States. As far as I can make out they're "Converse CT Sandals".