Continuing my tribute to the potent combination of old age and long-term reverse culture shock may I present….

The weirdest damn thing that’s happened since I left Canada is that someone, somewhere, for undoubtedly monetary reasons, somehow—totally unintelligible to me—managed to convince people that running shoes are a valid hobby. Not running! The shoes. People collect them, join running shoe groups and chats, deal them, restore them, try to be active in the “running shoe lifestyle”.… That shit is just plain nuts. How are runners a hobby, let alone a lifestyle? What is there to even chat about vis-à-vis sneakers?

That’s like if you asked someone what their hobby is and they were to reply “toasters”. It’s nonsensical. I guess there’s probably someone in the world that has a weird affinity for toasters—maybe they own a few more models than strictly necessary. Maybe they’re even into the “toaster lifestyle”. They could chat about how different models brown their toast with like-minded toasterophiles. But, it is not a cultural phenomena, like collecting sneakers.

What the Hell?!?