Post
by RingO'Fire » Tue Apr 13, 2004 7:17 pm
Yee haa! Just got my new Swear Armadillos delivered today! Order to delivery = 1 week (shipped from Portugal, no less!). They've got little spiky rubber pyramids all around the edges and a little two-inch long rubber rhinoceros horn thingy on top of the toes. Also, the little spiky pyramids are sewed into a strip of velcro, which velcros ("velcro" is a verb too, right?) all around the outside of the shoe. So...I can put another layer of velcro, with some cool bright colored dangling thingies sewn in, between the shoes and my velcro rows of spiky pyramids.
Ooooh! Maybe some little bells - like the kind that east Indian dancers wear on the bottoms of their costumes! Would that be too annoying though? Would you be annoyed if you were dancing and having to hear the sound of some dude's little shoe bells all jingle jingling while he did the boogie stomp next to you in the playa techno disco?.
On the down side, they're a little heavy, about two pounds each. Kinda feels like wearing some heavy duty hiking boots. I guess I was expecting the soles to be all light and fluffy and squishy, but they're made out of this sorta hard plastic stuff. They're just a tad big too. I've got about an extra half-inch or so from the ends of my toes to the inside toe of the shoe. I carefully checked several US to Your a' peein' shoe size conversion web sites to make sure I was getting the right size before I ordered. I wear a US 9&1/2, which is supposed to be equivalent to a European 43. Oh well, at least they're not too small. Oh, and not having had any platform shoes since the 1970's, I forgot that they don't really bend with your foot in the middle. Your foot bends inside the shoe while the shoe stays rigid. When walking and transfering your weight off of your rear foot (technically onto the ball of your rear foot) and your rear heel comes up, the shoe doesn't bend too because the sole is so thick and rigid. Instead, your heel slides up inside the shoe. I know this is a recipe for heel blisters, so I'm gonna make sure to break them in as best I can and bring plenty of moleskin with me.
On the up side, they're really well-made. Best of all, they're pretty comfy and they sure do look cool! When you see me on the playa, I'll be doin' the boogie-stomp in my big-ass Armadillos!
...but it seemed like such a good idea at the time...
So many questions. 
