Fun randomness for you today: my feet. Well, it&#039s not so much about the feet as it is the sandals. Actually, thinking about it, it&#039s pretty much half and half. Two feets, two sandals. So what? Well, my feet haven&#039t gotten used to them yet and they haven&#039t stretched out to accomodate my feet. While the bottoms of my feet are tough as leather from lots of walking everywhere barefoot as a child (adolescent, teen, uh, now…), I don&#039t walk on the tops of my feet so they&#039re pretty sensitive still. Imagine that, me not walking on the tops of my feet. Other people do enough of that for me! So I got these new cute strappy sandals the last time I was out shoe shopping (which happened to be with my big sis), and they match several of my blue shirts really well, so I decided to wear them for their first outing today since it&#039s pretty warm out although now it looks like it&#039s going to storm soon.

So they kinda hurt a little on the walk to campus from the apartment, but since my desk faces the office door, I can slip them off without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, I had to put them back on to wear to the complete opposite end of campus. Hell, while I was lecturing, I slipped them off behind the podium. They rub along the edge of my feet about an inch under each big toe and pinky toe. I was wearing my cutsie Care Bear sandals yesterday, so the areas near my big toes were already a little worn. Back at the office, the sandals came off and I decided I wasn&#039t going to go anywhere until I left to go home (and even then probably have the husband come get me). Well, that plan didn&#039t last long.

See, I&#039m working on this grant project for the center which entails a lot of research. Since I&#039m the research-a-holic (being a grad student), Cathy asked me to work on it. Since Monday, I&#039ve spent nearly every free moment here looking up the efficacy of mentoring and tutoring programs, early intervention programs for at-risk students in low socio-economic groups, various colleges&#039 admissions standards, and parental involvement in children&#039s school activities. Yeah, not anything I&#039d research on my own, so it&#039s cleaning up the floor with me wearing me out. I haven&#039t even left the office to go get lunch this week; I&#039ve been drinking cup-o-soup things here at my desk. Needless to say, between all this research and my recent bout with an almost-all nighter, I&#039m pretty tired. I needed caffeine but have no change for the machine in this building, so I pretty much had to walk to the Commons where I could use my card and maybe pick up some snacks.

Yeah, walk to the Commons. That meant putting the shoes back on. I&#039d already stuck little round Band-aids (Yes, I use that brand so I can legally use that term.) on the sore spots by my big toes, so I figured I&#039d be okay for a little jaunt. The problem? Halfway there I realized I&#039d stuck the Band-aids on the sore spots from yesterday, and these sandals were rubbing my feet the wrong way elsewhere! Dammit. Okay, take it slow, take little steps, you&#039ll get there and back okay. Yeah, I got there okay, but when I stepped outside once more, I felt this sudden sploosh of liquid on my right foot and the relief of some pressure. Yuck. Yeah, the blister which had been the size of a pea had popped. Dippy. A quick glance at the other foot confirmed that at some point it had rubbed open as well. I stopped and did a quick &#034I&#039m just adjusting my sandals&#034 manoeuvre to actually slide the Band-aids to these now-excruciatingly painful spots. A very slow and painful walk back got me to the center and up to my office where the sandals came off and four new Band-aids went on by my big toes and my pinky toes (to avoid those getting worse). When I get home, I&#039ll get some Neosporin (yes, that brand name as well) on them and just wear some other flip-flops to work which don&#039t maliciously attack my nasty-anyway feet.

So for those of you who don&#039t like feet, I hope you enjoyed yourselves. For those of you who like feet too much, I really hope that you didn&#039t. That&#039s just gross. Like my feet right now, lol. I&#039ll stop grossing you all out now. Ear signing off.