Life

August 15 2019

The Nike Joyride Gives Me No Joy

Gee Why Life, Passion kicks, Nike, running, shoes, sneakers

Sadly, Nike’s newest runner featuring its bouncy beaded Joyride does not bring me joy. I ordered a pair of the Joyride Run Flyknit with my member access, and I even went a half size up based on early reviews by Foamer and Jami. They do look awesome.

But when I tried on my Joyride, the expectant joy vanished. They were snug. Like very snug even at a half size bigger. I wasn’t a fan of the FlyKnit toe box in which I could see my toes moving around.

Then that heel tab or the pull… I couldn’t exactly tell but it was eating into my heel after a few seconds of wear.

Then I took a few steps, and I knew these rides weren’t for me. My flat footed arches totally collapsed the in-step.

The Comforming Cushioning System is just too mushy for me. You can use your fingers to really push in that light blue foam.

Because of these issues with the upper and mid-sole, I can’t even evaluate the Joyride beads. At $180, I can’t justify keeping them on the hopes that they’ll feel and perform better after a break-in period.

So I shipped my Joyrides back to Nike. Hopefully, they’ll bring joy to someone else.

August 2 2019

Today Was Yeezy Day

Gee Why Life, Passion adidas, kanye west, kicks, shoes, sneakers, yeezy

Yes, I guess “Yeezy Day” is an actual thing where past and present Yeezy kicks are made available once again. Sounds like a kicks lover’s dream, but in reality, it really wasn’t. It was prolonged torture going after drop after drop that started at 3am Hawaii time. And being Yeezy Day, the releases came throughout the day finally ending around 4:45pm Hawaii time. Yep, that’s over 12 hours of shoe releases and over 12 hours tethered to a computer or phone hoping to hit.

Since 25 different Yeezy models released alternating between Adidas and Yeezy Supply, you definitely had many opportunities to get yourself a pair (or two or more). But that time investment stuck to a computer or phone was just too much, and I think the return on investment just wasn’t worth it. Sure, coveted models like the Glow in the Darks and the Black 350 surfaced again, they went quickly. Slow sellers like the Mauve 700 stayed slow sellers.

Although I applaud Adidas and Kanye for this overall concept and mixing things up with countdown timers, hidden drops, and alternating sites, they need to rethink the overall experience. Initial excitment turned into fatigue after the first few hours of releases. When everyone realized that the shoes would surface in waves, reality set in and life called. I had several appointments today so had to rely on mobile copping. Of course, this was an understood losing proposition, but I couldn’t help it. I even skipped today’s Kith pop-up opening (also because of the massive lines). I didn’t want to wait in both physical and virtual queues all day.

But back to Yeezy Day. Yeah, fun idea that became unfun, unpleasant, and bordering a nightmare. The prolonged ups and downs of copping, the conditions that changed from release to release, all the successes and all the failures – just too much to be enjoyed.

Copping Yeezys wearing Kith New Balances

I really don’t know what I ended up with – not much really and definitely nothing hyped. I wanted the Black 350 and another shot at a bigger sized Beluga, but these went out of stock super quick. Maybe if some shoes were discounted, I would have considered a less popular Yeezy 700, but at full price, it was an easy pass. As the hours labored on, I’ll admit the merciful relief I had when I saw this final countdown timer.

countdown-000-yeezy-day — The merciful end of Yeezy Day

July 27 2019

Kith Coming to Hawaii Momentarily

Gee Why Life coke, collaboration, hawaii, kicks, kith, shoes, sneakers, waikiki

Yes, hypewear purveyor Kith is coming to Hawaii but only for a moment. On Friday, August 2, 2019, Kith is opening a pop-up store in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center in Waikiki but how long this pop-up will stay in Hawaii is not known.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0WON20lh94/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The marquee of this pop-up is Kith’s collaboration with Coca-Cola. Yes, that Coke. This collaboration includes a hoodie, a polo, a sweatshirt, and a rugby.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Um2KSFAKj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Clothing isn’t the only merch available. There’ll be a Converse Chuck Taylor All Star featuring the Coca-Cola and Kith branding.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0XMW3wFCXl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Of course, being a collaboration with Coke, you’d expect the beverage to make an appearance.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0PUG-OlepT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

So what gives this Kith x Coke collection a Hawaiian connection? It’s the color of the clothing. The colors of the patchwork correspond to the official colors of the Hawaiian Islands. Now a quick aside, but supposedly the island colors were officially designated in 2000. 2000? That wasn’t very long ago. For those of us born and raised in the aina, weren’t these the colors used during May Day elementary school performances from decades ago?

As a refresher, here are the colors of the islands:

Hawaii – red
Maui – pink
Molokai – green
Kahoolawe – grey
Lanai – orange
Oahu – yellow
Kauai – purple
Niihau – white

Ahh, okay… not sure if the actual clothing pieces are matched to the Hawaiian clime (I mean three of the four are long sleeved for our humid weather). But you have to appreciate the collaboration that’s coming to the islands for its launch. And Ronnie and his kith and kin will be present.

Although I have conflicting plans for that day, I’ll try to make the opening at some point since I’m eyeing that short-sleeved polo (because really, I’d die of overheating in the others).

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Y389kFCpz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

July 25 2019

Posting for Posterity

Gee Why Life air jordan, hostess, kicks, shoes, sneakers, travis scott

Just wanted to post these pictures for the sakes of posterity. One day, I can look back on these and remember. Well, I can remember taking the L for the Travis Scott Jordan 1 Lows, but Cocobeanheart got the W.

To ease the L, I treated myself to these limited time Hostess snacks.

The Orange Creme Pop Twinkies don’t quite taste like a creamsicle and the orange filling is almost neon in color. The Mermaid Cupcakes aren’t bad with cruchy bits on the frosting top.

July 24 2019

Will Nordstrom Disappoint Again?

Gee Why Life air max, am90, kicks, nordstrom, shoes, sneakers, viotech

I just don’t know what to expect from Nordstrom online. Will they or won’t they?

July 22 2019

I’m Starting to Sense a Pattern

Gee Why Life, Pulp kicks, Nike, shoes, sneakers, travis scott

I’m definitely starting to sense a pattern with me and Travis Scott shoe collaborations. As in, I’m never going to get them. I struck out on the Travis Scott Air Jordan 1 High several times. Then I missed the Low drop on Travis’ own site and on the SNKRS draw the following day.

You do see a pattern, right?

July 7 2019

A SNS Raffle Win Isn’t

Gee Why Life, Passion disappointing, kicks, raffle, shoes, sneakers

I’ve been lucky enough to have won two sneaker raffles from Sneakersnstuff (SNS) over the past year. My first raffle win was for the Yeezy 700 Inertia colorway, and my most recent raffle success landed me the Air Jordan 1 Retro Gym Red colorway. But as I’ve come to disappointintly learn, a SNS raffle win is not a win afterall.

Both my raffle wins have been cancelled for a variety of reasons. For the Inertias, I was given this reason after contacting customer service:

We, unfortunately, had more raffle win orders than our system could handle which resulted in a few more raffle win orders than we had pairs. The size you ordered was sold out by the time your raffle order was created.

Okay… the reasoning is somewhat plausible but on the other hand, not really. For the Gym Reds, I got this response:

There was, unfortunately, a stock malfunction regarding this raffle and therefore we have not been able to fulfil your order.

So a system error and a stock malfunction negated my raffle wins? Seems kinda shaky, especially since this is coming from a vendor that deals with volumes of shoes on a daily basis. I mean how can the company stay in business with these kinds of inventory issues?

For both times, the winning notification emails say to wait a few days for an update. After several days, I contact the SNS support and usually receive non-commital responses like we’re still going through the volume of orders, etc. The end of the line comes when you receive a response from Tatiana. She seems to be the bearer of “unfortunate” news and her emails are followed by a refund from SNS. Unbelievably disappointing.

Now, SNS opened their raffle for the Yeezy 350 Lundmark colorway. Should I even bother?

May 18 2019

ResExp: Coppingkicks Mood

Gee Why Life coppingkicks, kicks, resexp, shoes, sneakers

Okay, really, it’s not that bad. But right now, my #coppingkicks mood is like this:

I missed out on most hyped releases, but again, just gotta keep things in perspective. Although they are just shoes, I wouldn’t have minded a pair or two (hint, hint Travis Scott).

May 11 2019

A Morning of Stress

Gee Why Life, Passion kicks, Nike, running, shoes, sneakers, travis scott

Bottom line: I didn’t get a pair of the Travis Scott Air Jordan 1 that released on Nike SNKRS. I was there, and I was ready with three phones and three accounts. But I got hit with error after error just trying to navigate the purchasing process. Apple Pay didn’t register. I think I mistyped my credit card CVV which I think really messed me up. I was asked to re-enter passwords. I couldn’t pick sizes and this was the worst – getting denied access.

I think this was triggered when I switched my phone from wifi to LTE. I think Nike really clamped down for this release and any change or any out of the ordinary activities triggered a ban. After I changed my phone back to wifi, I could access SNKRS but the damage was already done. SOLD OUT.

So after that, I put this on and went for a run.