There are new barefoot activities on the way! Well ones that will defiantly have posts to go with them I mean.
A few posts back I mentioned a local Rob Zombie concert coming up and the grand debate to go barefoot or not. I've decided that this will be a barefoot event for me. If I fail to get in the door barefoot flip flops will be used to get inside but stashed into my purse at the first opportunity.
I also have not mentioned the fact that one of my college courses is a public speaking class. I have indeed given my first two of four speeches barefoot and have received no comments regarding it. My next project however is a persuasive speech and I've registered the subject of "persuading my audience to kick off their shoes more often." Sadly this is only a 6 to 8 minute speech so I am unable to go into too much detail but I do intend to speak of the health benefits of going barefoot, the health issues caused by shoes, and the legal parts of going barefoot (as many people believe there to be laws against it). I'm hoping to kill some myths through this speech, but if that will get it's own section or not has yet to be decided.
While this may not be a huge thing to many individuals I'm quite excited to get the word out to between 30 and 40 college students, and hopefully the truth will take another step in slowly spreading.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Out for a Walk
Despite lack of their mention before I do indeed have pets. I have an Australian Shepherd names Aleu, and 2 ferrets named Twilight and Sora.
When I walk in general I walk barefoot and when walking the dog there is no exception. I live in a nice enough neighborhood (lower middle class, but one of the quieter areas as far as crime goes), and thankfully the only issue I tend to run into are the leavings of other dogs with owners not polite enough to pick it up (on the odd occasion I do step in it I simply rub it off on the ground to the best of my ability, and wash when I get home). I notice when walking my dog I don't get many, if any comments. I'm simply one of quite a few locals that walk their dog, and Aleu gets more of the attention than I do.
As the weather cools off though I find my ferrets enjoy going on the occasional outdoor outing as well, and while the ferrets don't tend to walk as far they seem to draw far more attention. Yet as odd as tit is to see ferrets out and about... Somehow that attention transfers over to my bare feet far more often than walking my dog.
I've asked a couple of people, and most of them seem to give me some variation of 'I've never seen ferrets before, and their so close to your feet!" This may be true as at least Twilight is shy of people and will try to get me to pick him up when presented with a new person, but I wonder if it's simply the fact that people tend to ignore the little things when they see what they're use to and the mind simply fills in the blanks. I wonder if people don't simply see someone walking a dog and move on, but are jolted by some other animal at the end of the leash and thus see the other oddities as well.
Just a theory, likely based on taking far too many psychology courses, but I wish there was some way to really test it.
As cold weather is soon coming in I await the "aren't your feet cold?" comments, and some of my class mates are taking bets as to when I'll put on shoes (never if I can help it, but I've considering investing in some soft soled moccasins though I honestly doubt I can due to the high price tags they tend to carry).
When I walk in general I walk barefoot and when walking the dog there is no exception. I live in a nice enough neighborhood (lower middle class, but one of the quieter areas as far as crime goes), and thankfully the only issue I tend to run into are the leavings of other dogs with owners not polite enough to pick it up (on the odd occasion I do step in it I simply rub it off on the ground to the best of my ability, and wash when I get home). I notice when walking my dog I don't get many, if any comments. I'm simply one of quite a few locals that walk their dog, and Aleu gets more of the attention than I do.
As the weather cools off though I find my ferrets enjoy going on the occasional outdoor outing as well, and while the ferrets don't tend to walk as far they seem to draw far more attention. Yet as odd as tit is to see ferrets out and about... Somehow that attention transfers over to my bare feet far more often than walking my dog.
I've asked a couple of people, and most of them seem to give me some variation of 'I've never seen ferrets before, and their so close to your feet!" This may be true as at least Twilight is shy of people and will try to get me to pick him up when presented with a new person, but I wonder if it's simply the fact that people tend to ignore the little things when they see what they're use to and the mind simply fills in the blanks. I wonder if people don't simply see someone walking a dog and move on, but are jolted by some other animal at the end of the leash and thus see the other oddities as well.
Just a theory, likely based on taking far too many psychology courses, but I wish there was some way to really test it.
As cold weather is soon coming in I await the "aren't your feet cold?" comments, and some of my class mates are taking bets as to when I'll put on shoes (never if I can help it, but I've considering investing in some soft soled moccasins though I honestly doubt I can due to the high price tags they tend to carry).
Monday, October 4, 2010
Driving Barefoot
Now for anyone that does not know driving barefoot is in no way illegal.
Because I don't want to argue if it's legal or not here (because that's not the point of this post) I'm just going to direct people to check out this page for more information in regards to it.
Looking at that link I also notice the Virginia letter is from 1994... I may just have to take it upon myself to get an updated version of that.
Now onto the topic at hand:
I don't take shoes with me when I leave the house anymore. I don't want to risk myself chickening out at the last moment, and so I can honestly say "I don't have any shoes with me" when someone asks.
My issue? No matter how safe a driver I am (and I'm not saying I'm the best out there, everyone makes mistakes) I can not guarantee how safe the drivers around me are.
It's inevitable that at some point in your life you're going to get pulled over or get into an accident. That's just the way life is. Maybe you'll be in a strange part of town and miss that stop sign, maybe you're running a bit late for work and speed, maybe you'll slam on your breaks and be unable to stop in time for the person that pulled out of the gas station and directly in front of your car- There's always a possibility.
My worry? I'm going to get stuck dealing with a police officer and it's going to be that one office that is going to make it into an issue. I've had good experiences with cops before, and bad experiences but I admit the bad ones are the ones that sit more visibly in my mind. I don't consider cops to be bad people by any means, but most everyone has a horror story, and I think many people would agree they worry when they'll get their own.
I enjoy driving barefoot- It's comfortable, I can feel the peddles, and there's no guess work as I find there is with shoes breaking up that connection between my foot and the peddle. But what's going to happen when I get slammed with a reckless driving charge by a cop for driving barefoot? How would you even argue that case?
In that light I often wonder... Is it worth being able to honestly say I have no shoes with me, or to keep a pare of flip flops under the seat just in case?
Because I don't want to argue if it's legal or not here (because that's not the point of this post) I'm just going to direct people to check out this page for more information in regards to it.
Looking at that link I also notice the Virginia letter is from 1994... I may just have to take it upon myself to get an updated version of that.
Now onto the topic at hand:
I don't take shoes with me when I leave the house anymore. I don't want to risk myself chickening out at the last moment, and so I can honestly say "I don't have any shoes with me" when someone asks.
My issue? No matter how safe a driver I am (and I'm not saying I'm the best out there, everyone makes mistakes) I can not guarantee how safe the drivers around me are.
It's inevitable that at some point in your life you're going to get pulled over or get into an accident. That's just the way life is. Maybe you'll be in a strange part of town and miss that stop sign, maybe you're running a bit late for work and speed, maybe you'll slam on your breaks and be unable to stop in time for the person that pulled out of the gas station and directly in front of your car- There's always a possibility.
My worry? I'm going to get stuck dealing with a police officer and it's going to be that one office that is going to make it into an issue. I've had good experiences with cops before, and bad experiences but I admit the bad ones are the ones that sit more visibly in my mind. I don't consider cops to be bad people by any means, but most everyone has a horror story, and I think many people would agree they worry when they'll get their own.
I enjoy driving barefoot- It's comfortable, I can feel the peddles, and there's no guess work as I find there is with shoes breaking up that connection between my foot and the peddle. But what's going to happen when I get slammed with a reckless driving charge by a cop for driving barefoot? How would you even argue that case?
In that light I often wonder... Is it worth being able to honestly say I have no shoes with me, or to keep a pare of flip flops under the seat just in case?
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