entry nº 21 // 20180306

i’m very happy to have brought back from the states, this time around, my trusty old timberland boots, given that it’s been winter here, and it feels nice to have a good pair of boots on. 

but lately my left boot has been making, like, a kind of squeaking sound when i walk? at first i thought it was a rock stuck in the treads, but when i took a closer look i found nothin’. i thought to myself, in the words of my friend will garré, in the words of some woman he overheard outside the stone zoo in stoneham, MA, disappointed by the amount of wildlife she was able to see during her trip to the zoo: “there’s nothin’ in there.” hmm.

so like, i guess you could say i’m a little stumped. where’s the sound coming from? i feel self-conscious when i wear the boots, now, particularly indoors, particularly in corridors, on linoleum, or tile. i find myself kind of keeping my left ankle cocked to the side a little bit when i step, so i’m distributing the weight onto the left edge of the foot a little more than the right. it seems to help. but is it going to result in like, ankle or knee issues down the road? or like, some kind of hip thing? yikes. 

i guess my main point is, you move to a distant country, you follow love where it leads, you immerse yourself in the vibrant depths of a new culture… but you never consider, even for a moment, that your left boot is going to start making an untraceable squeaking noise. nobody ever tells you about that. nobody ever teaches you what to do when that moment comes. 

[addendum: this was like, months ago. the right boot started squeaking, too. but it’s spring now: no need for boots anymore.]