Ok, time to respond to feedback on the pressing question of my shoes. And thanks, as I was wondering. :-)
@phoenyx: You immediately saw something I didn’t even know myself about myself: I laced my shoes differently as you observed immediately, and I never noticed. I was only barely aware that there were two possible patterns, so great is my lack of attention to cosmetic shoe details.
And you’re also right that the shoes are comfortable, which is vital because I do USE my shoes a lot.
@kevbo: Indeed I do not enjoy shoe shopping, and yes I do break them in and they get comfortable. I typically own and regularly use 1–3 pair of shoes which are all almost the same, plus 1–3 others that I almost never wear (boots & dress shoes that I can’t stand because they are uncomfortable and dangerously tractionless).
And ya, I stride around and express myself by walking, running, loping and bounding around as a physical embodiment of freedom and individual expression.
In fact, I failed to learn how to tie my shoes the orthodox way in Kindergarten, which was a stressful for me until I invented my own way to tie my shoes which made sense to me and the result looks identical unless you study it.
So in this in-depth study, 2/2 people can read accurate things about me from looking at my shoes, and I have no such abilities. :-)