'Well Worn' Shoes

Sometimes it's funny being married to someone who is as naturally social as Euge is. We can hardly sit at a bar or restaurant for very long before he is making friends with the people at the next table, which frequently leads to some funny situations.

Last Sunday, after the apartment lusting was through, we went out to dinner in our own 'hood. We went to the Telephone Bar - which you may remember - and we sat outside.

We had some delicious soft-shell crab, randomly saw my friend Bill (who now runs a burleque show in Brooklyn that is admirable in both the quality and humor of it's performers), and were getting ready to leave when it started to rain.

It was the kind of rain where it goes from nothing to torrential downpour in a matter of seconds. Not wanting to get totally saturated on our way home, we opted instead to have another drink and wait it out under the awning.

There was another group, who had been seated just outside of the awning. As soon as the rain started they moved to the table next to us and, in no time, Eugene was chatting it up with them.

As it turned out, the two women in the group lived together and ran a business together. We're not sure if they were a couple, but that it kind of irrelevant to the rest of the story. The business that they ran together was as resellers on eBay.

We asked them what sorts of things they resell and they said pretty much everything. We asked them what the most surprising thing was that they'd seen for sale and they said:

"Well-worn shoes."

Apparently there is a huge fetish market for well-worn shoes and there are a few suppliers who specialize in that category. To the extent that they have photos of nasty old beat up shoes being worn by some pretty looking legs. And all of them have "well-worn shoes" in the product title and then some sort of a write-up describing - in graphic detail - how the shoes got so worn and exactly how they were worn out.

I'm so bummed that I find out about this right after I threw out a ton of well-worn shoes.

That could have been my down payment!

Something to keep in mind when you are winnowing down your possesions for Colorado...

ps. I heart the postage stamp portrait. That is a V. Cool gift.