It's the middle of the week here in Portland. It is in most other places, too.
The sun is out in full force. "A heat trough," the weather man said last night, "is moving up from the South and should bring with it more heat tomorrow and Thursday."
A friend of mine has this theory that heat makes people crazy.
"Air conditioning may be the single most effective therapeutic technique," he said. Or something like that.
The only problem is that I usually step directly from my air-conditioned office into the heaviness of the day's heat. At 5pm, if my friend is right, people go utterly mad.
Judging from the dangers of rush-hour traffic (especially when, like me, you go by foot or inline skates or bicycle) I think he's right.
Last night, I bought a pair of Stan Smiths. They are totally white. New, and pretty damned close to unbearable.
I can't wait to spend some time in the dirt with them on. When they're beat up, that's when they're mine. Until then, they might as well still belong to Adidas.
When I was a geeky middle schooler (as opposed to a geeky college grad) everyone I knew had a pair of Stan Smiths or Jack Purcells. They were just the shoes to own if you were cool.
A couple of weeks ago, sitting in the Salt Lake City Airport, I ended up next to a huge group of middle schoolers. They were everything you expect from unsure, clumsy, not-quite-adult, not-quite-kid kids. Loud. Silly. Highly aware of everything everywhere.
They all had the same sunglasses on. There were probably thirty different colors, but all of the glasses were the same style. I'd forgotten how important it is to fit in when you're that age.
So I bought my Stan Smiths and laughed a bit to myself. I thought about all of the kids who called me "geek" and "nerd" back then. I thought about my attempt to be more like them.
And I remember finally growing out of what was so hard, into a place where I could be just me. Or at least, where I have the freedom to figure out exactly what "me" means.
I'm still figuring it out. And now I'm doing it with a pair of really bright shoes.
