New Shoes

(which is a Twin Peaks reference, if anyone’s keeping track.)
I rushed out and bought new shoes last night, shoes fer exercisin’ in. I’ve had none since I left New Zealand, which should give you an idea of my current level of fitness – still the same skinny, only now I get tired easily instead of having pretty decent stamina.
Anyway, I’d let myself fall into that trap of not getting the kit because not involved in anything, and not involved in anything because not got the kit. Silly. My sport of choice, basketball, is pretty hidden up here, and I just haven’t seen much else to get enthused about.
Then my boss said ‘come play basketball tomorrow lunchtime’ and i said ‘woohoo’ and now I have new shoes on my feet and a pleasant exercised-tingle in my legs. Lets hope I keep finding avenues in which to play. I’ve got the shoes now, anyway.
—
The shoes are Adidas. I’ve been a Converse boy for years and years, but Converse were bought out by Nike I believe, anyway their shoes are nowhere to be found. So I went with Adidas. They work. I did buy some extra foam inners at the salesguy’s suggestion, and can’t work out how much the decision was mine and how much it was me being suggestive-sold – definitely a combination, but I don’t know the proportions at all. Six quid for foam inners? Crikey! They are extra comfy though, and I rationalise to myself that they’ll make injuries less likely, which is important when coming off a period of no exercise, and… I think I got suggestive-sold. Damn. Am I too lazy to go for the no-questions-asked money-back guarantee? Probably. We’ll find out!!!
—
A bulletin board I frequent was recently attacked by internet trolls, who (I discovered today) were mocking us on their own bulletin board elsewhere. I had the dubious distinction of being quoted and called a schmuck and a dope. Hmm, I haven’t been called names behind my back since primary school, which is about the level on which the trolls are acting.
The experience is kind of meh really. I’m not even remotely angry, but I’m certainly not amused either. It is indisputable that the people involved were being dicks, of course – deliberately trolling a foreign bulletin board for cheap laughs is one of the cardinal sins on the net. Still, I can’t quite seem to laugh it off. Instead I find myself wondering what is going through these peoples’ heads, and whether this kind of behaviour will always be present in the new realm of the ‘net, where concealed identity and the limitation of communication to text only are the default situation and human tribalism rears it head the same ways as usual.
Hey, wow – I just realised that I haven’t forgiven them! Stupid trolls. Do they deserve forgiveness? Hmm.
(For the less net-literate, trolls are folk who post contentious/stupid comments in order to heat up an argument. They win their game when people respond. Yes, it isn’t a very complicated game.)
~`morgue