25 July 1998: Birkenstocks

Saturday, 25 July 1998:

Birkenstocks

So today I ended my sandal quest by buying some Birkenstocks. I tried on a number of different brands, and seriously considered buying some Naots. I decided on the Birkenstocks mainly because they're wider (I have wide feet; I wear 10-1/2 EEEE sneakers, for instance), and because they seem to give slightly better arch support - handy since I have fairly high arches. My friend John had recommended Mephistos, which he has and which look pretty comfy, but I couldn't find similar ones around here, and didn't really want to spend $150+ on sandals anyway.

The Birkenstocks are rather hard right now, and I guess it will be a few weeks before I've broken them in. But hopefully they will work out. My docksiders have just about fallen apart, so it was time to replace them.

It's rather amusing to talk to people who have simply fallen in love with their "Birkies". I doubt I'll feel similarly. After all, they're just shoes.

I also went out and bought the new RoboRally expansion, Radioactive, which seems appropriately insidious, with radiation, toxic waste, and one-way walls. And I stopped off to see if another comics ship in town had a few of the missing Prince Valiant collections near the beginning of the run, but apparently they're currently out-of-print. Wonder if I can find them used? (I'm looking for volumes 3 through 6.)

Later in the afternoon I went to Westmorland Park for our team picnic. We had a good turnout - about 30 people, including relatives and significant others, and the food was pretty tasty. We played a bunch of volleyball. I have never played much, though I did okay. My team didn't win a single game, though.

At one point, one guy's 9-year-old daughter came out to play on our team, and I nearly ran her over on the very next play. After the jeers, I decided to stick to the limits of the section I was covering, and promptly got jeered again for not going after the ball aggressively. But I decided that if she's going to play, then I'm going to play it very conservatively. Particularly since I was still trying to get my muscles to "remember" how to play the game.

I dislike environments where I have to treat a kid like an adult like that, or give her special treatment because she's a kid. If we're playing to win, then I'm going to play to win. If we're playing to have fun, and screw the winning, then that's fine too, but I'm not going to give 100% (I'll give however much effort I feel like at the moment). You can't have it both ways.

This is one reason I don't want kids of my own, and why I generally shy away from interacting with kids. I don't like having to deal with them on their level, and they're (by definition) not entirely capable of dealing with me on an adult level. Many people have said that they think I'd be a good father, but really, I think I'd lose interest pretty quickly.

But overall the picnic was a lot of fun. Few of these people will ever be close friends, but they're a fun bunch to hang out with once in a while.

Michael Rawdon (Contact)