My Work Boots Are The Most Expensive Shoes I’ve Ever Owned.

My work boots are the most expensive shoes I’ve ever owned.

Also the most comfortable. I chose them after trying on several different brands and comparing lifespan vs usage vs comfort - I needed them for a physically demanding job, not the weekend hiking trails. I could have easily chosen cheaper boots that would have lasted long enough to be worth their low price, but I know the Sam Vimes Boot Theory and knew weaker, less comfortable boots would make my life harder in the long run.

So when the outside edge of the heel started wearing down after three years of heavy use I went to the shop I got them from and said “hey this is a common problem for me with how I walk but now it’s affecting my ankles and knees and I don’t wanna have to buy a new pair, is there a way to fix this?”

The salesman at this very fancy upscale boot store said “oh yeah, there’s a shoe repair place that can give you some heel guards - it’ll keep the rubber from wearing out.”

So at 8am this morning right after my 9hr shift ends I went to the shoe repair shop and it is the most hole-in-the-wall, is-this-a-real-business-or-a-mafia-front, am-I-gonna-get-shot tiny cinder block cube I’ve ever seen in my life. I grew up plenty poor and love me a good hole-in-the-wall business, but going from upscale store to this cash-only repair shop gave me whiplash. Wasn’t expecting this when a guy who wears three piece suits to sell boots said it’s the best place to go.

The skinny kid behind the counter looks somehow 16 and 25 at the same time, but when I tell him this place was recommended he smiles and says to hand over my boots. I hand him the vaguely warm foot-smelling boots, and stand in my socks in the 3’ square entryway surrounded by every color leather polish you could buy and watch as he turns my boots around in his hands, sizes up a crescent moon bits of plastic, and unceremoniously hammers tiny nails through them before handing them back.

The heels are perfectly level again. I can walk without almost rolling my ankles. They don’t clack loudly on the pavement or feel different. This is gonna fix my knee pain. It cost $10.

This kid had every tool he needed within arms reach, worked fast and smoothly, I was in and out the door in less than 8 minutes, and it only cost $10.

I didn’t think anything could cost only $10 anymore. I’m so used to hyperinflation prices I was spiritually thrown back to the 1400’s visiting the cobbler in town square. This kid might have been that cobbler and just decided to never die.

I’m still reeling from the whiplash, and gobsmacked at the price, and thrilled I didn’t have to go buy new, worse work boots (cuz I don’t have that kind of money for a second pair, I’m expecting these ones to last a decade) and it feels like I just experienced one of the rare little chunks of magic that floats around our world.

More Posts from Cryptidzatitagain and Others

1 year ago

tip: You can write about the same character as many times as you want. Who's going to stop you? God?

1 year ago

thinking about it logically, i reckon that the orange side is his own separate entity (who just so happens to be able to exert his powers over the other sides). but i for one am So Sick of watching Logan be ignored (and SO Sick of watching him have his autonomy stripped away), that if it all comes down to him being "controlled" by another side, i am quite frankly gonna be peeved

1 year ago

Computers are very simple you see we take the hearts of dead stars and we flatten them into crystal chips and then we etch tiny pathways using concentrated light into the dead star crystal chips and if we etch the pathways just so we can trick the crystals into doing our thinking for us hope this clears things up.

2 years ago

Day 3 (Three)

Bi Pride

Characters: “Nicoren [no last name in canon | Disaster Crew] & Stephan Castellanos-Nomikos [Disaster Crew]”

image

  [Image Description: Two people stand near each other with part of a big cat next to one character to show that he is related (not in a family way, in a concept way) to it. The man on the left who has the big cat, specifically one based on a jaguar that has a condition that causes the production of a lot of melanin, is named Nicoren. Nicoren has dark skin, oddly green eyes, and curly black hair that seems to have some deep jade green in it. Nicoren is wearing a tank top with the text “I’m purrfect” on it in the bisexual colors, he is also wearing black shorts with bisexual leggings, and black boots to finish this look. Nicoren appears to have a strange tattoo on the inside of his lower right arm, he is also a “were-jaguar” or at least something that can be called that. 

  The man on the right is a Caucasian with messy blond hair and golden eyes who is named Stephan of the Castellanos-Nomikos family. Stephan is still sitting down and is much bigger than Nicoren.]

  [Text in Image: Stephan; 7′2″ (seven feet and two inches, or around 218 [two hundred and eighteen] and a half centimeters) monstrosity (in reference to the fact that Stephan is a ridiculously tall being; ‘(no one in fam [family] knows why he is so tall); Nicoren; lowkey 6′4″ (six feet and four inches, or around 193 [one hundred and ninety three] centimeters); You think he’s like 5′6″ (five feet and six inches, or around 167 [one hundred and sixty seven] and a half centimeters) but no (in reference to Nicoren); Both Bisexual; combination of Nicolau & Renato (a note of the names combined to make Nicoren’s name); leads people to victory (the meaning of Nicolau, to my knowledge); reborn (meaning of Renato, to my knowledge); Were Jaguar; June 3rd (third); Bi Pride]

   These two (plus their friend) are not apart of any universe I have made yet but I want to state that they are somewhat inspired by alittlesliceofcucumber‘s Spooky Lads! AU. They aren’t dating but close friends. The three of them have a business of sorts that is basically “pay us a commission and suggest what we do, and we try our best to do it (without destroying the world)” they will even do some less than legal things but they generally won’t commit murder. They are often mistaken for monster hunters as they often do things related to the supernatural but they are very much not. 

  Nicoren and Stephan get along great, with their love language being lovingly insulting each other, being salty, and sarcasm, but they have one genuine argument that they will never agree on and will go on until someone stops them. It is all about whether being turned a vampire, but your heart never stopped beating until they were full vampire, could be considered dying. 

  Here are some close ups of the two.

image

  [Image Description: A close up Nicoren and more specifically the text. You can see that here Nicoren has fangs. Nicoren is doing finger guns. A small example of the tattoo is seen off of Nicoren’s body. It looks like a “t” with a shape similar to the circular part of the on/off button that on electrical devices. The circular part does not touch the “t” and is at the bottom/smooth part of a “t”]

  [Text in Image: Nicoren;  combination of Nicolau & Renato (a note of the names combined to make Nicoren’s name); leads people to victory (the meaning of Nicolau, to my knowledge); reborn (meaning of Renato, to my knowledge); Were Jaguar; June 3rd (third); Bi Pride]

  Nicoren is the newest member of this odd jobs club and least educated. He is both the muscle, the looks, and the distraction. He can best be described using three (3) words that start with the letter ‘b,’ bada**, b*tch, and b*stard. He knows that he is a solid 10 on looks but cannot read (Stephan and Kolimai are teaching him) but he can identify a crazy amount of random stuff. 

image

  [Image Description: A close up of Stephan so you can see the text better and see that his eyes are golden with tones of red and not brown.]

  [Text in Image:  Stephan; 7′2″ (seven feet and two inches, or around 218 [two hundred and eighteen] and a half centimeters) monstrosity (in reference to the fact that Stephan is a ridiculously tall being; ‘(no one in fam [family] knows why he is so tall); Both Bisexual]

  Stephan is from a well known, famous, and powerful family of magic users (most are sorcerers but some are wizards) and is an extremely intelligent young man... so you would think he would be good at magic... but his genetics decided to be a**holes and gave a condition where he will get migraines, mild vertigo, and very severe motion sickness when he casts (or even affected by) magic. There is only one spell he can cast without this condition activating, summon balloons. He is also gained a habit where if he panics and can cast a spell, he will cast that spell. It has solved a lot of problems, but it also made a ridiculous amount of problem exponentially worse. 

  He is extremely stubborn, clever, and can hold a grudge for eternity. He may be an a**hole, but he is a loving a**hole.

  Image drawn on June 3rd or 6/3/2022.


Tags
2 years ago

Day 1 (One)

Gay Pride

Characters: “Blaze Patton ‘Vivero’ [SHOA] & Erin Strange-Brooks ‘Mothman 2: Electric Boogaloo’ [SHOA]”

image

 [Image Description: A man named Blaze hugging and kissing his boyfriend, Erin. Blaze has a darker skin tone and has a deep red hair that is extremely kinky (as in curly), his name is meant to be colored with the colors of the “mlm” flag colors (I believe that is what that flag is called). 

  Erin has a lighter skin tone compared to Blaze but is not white who also has wavy light blue hair. Erin’s name is colored with the colors of the bisexual flag.]

  [Text in Image: Blaze x Erin; Pride Month; #1 (one); Gay Pride]

  The two are from a story that I have nicknamed SHOA for now. The two, personality wise, are extremely different as Blaze is very open with his emotions and very quick to respond to everything, while Erin is quiet, barely speaks to acquaintances, and very slow to respond. They are even opposites in the fact that Blaze is a lot smarter than he acts and Erin is a lot dumber than how he looks.

  Though they both have been assigned as the ones who will drive on roadtrips but should never drive in any other circumstances. Blaze (as the very ‘creative’ name his parents helped him choose) has fire related abilities, or more accurately he can generate heat (which can result in fire) and has extremely high resistance to heat, fire, and for some reason molten stone (doesn’t ask how they found that out, his 8th birthday party got wild). When Blaze gets a bit emotional, he can accidentally melt the steering wheel.

  Erin is basically a walking electric generator who has to release electrical energy, so he won’t get even more damage to his nervous system or heart. This means that he is only aloud to drive electric cars as he always ends up breaking most hybrids and other kinds of cars. 

  The two didn’t really confess, they just mutually realized that they were both interested in dating each other and decided ‘okay, we are boyfriends now.’ They even forgot to tell people until like 3 months after they got together. It is as if they were just made for each other, Erin has communication problems, but Blaze is so good at reading people that he can just practically read Erin’s mind. 

  No, I will not explain Erin’s hero name yet. Not even Blaze knows why he chose ‘Mothman 2: Electric Boogaloo.’ 

  Image drawn on June 1st (first) or 6/1/2022.


Tags
2 years ago

you know if joel does take the antagonist route i think itll be interesting to see whether that at all effects hermès. like do you think they’ll be in the middle of battle and joel’s watch will beep and he’ll stop all fighting so he can walk hermès home from school and to sausage, who also doesnt mind a potentially evil god having 50/50 custody of his kid?

2 years ago

loudspeaker interference ATTENTION ALL SHOPPERS THERE IS A FUCKING BEAST LOOSE IN THE HARDWARE AISLE


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cryptidzatitagain - CryptidzAtItAgain
CryptidzAtItAgain

Welcome to my domain, Cryptid's the name and I am here to stay. You can ask me stuff if you wish.

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