all god's chillen got shoes. . . even me

[jazzfish]

A couple months ago I went and saw Coraline, with some lovely people. At the end there was a secret word of some kind.

That night I was poking around on the movie website, and found a place that seemed to want a secret word of some kind. So I went ahead and entered it, and answered a question about the film, and found myself entered to win a really neat pair of shoes.

"Sure, why not," I said, gave them my info (including shoe size), and thought no more about it.

Until I checked my email in Vancouver after getting lunch with uilos and Cynthia, and saw a subject line of "Congratulations - You have been selected as a winner in the Coraline Nike Dunks Giveaway."

I think I said "Huh!" Followed by "But I don't even wear shoes!"

They got here today. They're rather nice as size 10 shoes go. They're also too narrow for my 9.5EEEE feet: I could wear them, but they'd get stretched around my toes. (Same problem all normal shoes have.)

So. . . what do I do? The going rate on eBay seems to be on the order of $200. I'd feel really weird just selling them. . . but I also feel like someone else would appreciate them a lot more than I do. I'd wear them, but then they'd fall apart relatively quickly.

I'm definitely wearing them to work tomorrow, because I told my coworkers I would. I think they may collectively die of shock to see me in shoes.

Any thoughts?

Comments

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Well, how about that. :D

[jazzfish]

I know! If I were a fallacious gambler I'd say I've about used up my quota of contest luckiness, between this and a signed eBear book two years ago. (That, or I'd be jumping to enter a bunch more contests now, to ride my streak.)

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I entered a wikiagaming puzzle contest last year and won a $50 Amazon gift certificate (which I promptly misplaced the email about, though I should be able to pull it off my other laptop's backup hard drive), and I won a Toby Keith CD by emailing Jeff Foxworthy earlier this year, so I'm on a roll too!

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

Sell them. Somewhere out there is a person who will be made happy for days to have Coraline-related shoes. Did they come with any sort of proof-of-source?

[jazzfish]

They did come with a postcard, with a picture of Coraline wearhing her shoes on one side and "Congratulations on being a winner in the Coraline Nike Dunks contest!" on the other. So that's good.

I really don't know who buys these things on eBay. Or anywhere, really. Collectors? Seems kind of an odd thing to collect.

An idea that came to me this morning was to hang onto them until another charity-like auction (like the Accessible House, or the one for SJ Tucker) opens up, and put them into that.

Still pondering. Definitely not keeping them, though, I think my right foot is falling asleep.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Cool! You should take pictures to document their existence, too. (As a side note, we looked at that and didn't enter on the grounds that we wouldn't want them if we got them...)

[jazzfish]

Definitely. Photographic evidence of me in shoes isn't that easy to come by, after all.

I definitely wouldn't have paid money for them. Still, the 'neat!' factor is enough to outweigh the hideous yellow, and makes me willing to wear them.

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

If they were 10.5, I'd buy them off of you for whatever seemed like the proper going rate. But I fear a size 10 would squeeze my foot slightly differently, but no less annoyingly, than how they squeeze yours.

[jazzfish]

Yeah, and they're Nikes which run narrow anyway. Oh well.

[jadine.livejournal.com]

Sell them and donate some or all of the money. That way they go to someone who really, really wants them, and it maximizes your flexibility for using the money to do good elsewhere.

[jazzfish]

I think that's what it's gonna be. Probably best to sell it now, while the demand is high, instead of waiting for a Good Cause to pop up. And keeping them is pretty much out, what with that whole "making my foot fall asleep" problem.

[idoru.livejournal.com]

CBLDF!

[babushek.livejournal.com]

that is the most awesomely hilarious thing ever! possibly you should frame them... ;)

[jazzfish]

Perhaps, but I already have way more wall art than I have walls to hang it on. :)

[selki.livejournal.com]

My courier is waiting for you with a message in http://badmagic.livejournal.com/521122.html
I hope we can have a fruitful alliance.