Bare Feet Wedding Fun 2013: FUNNIEST. Night. EVER!

#1. Easy off "dress shoes"! Perfect
for cold weather weddings, and
 eventual bare feet on the dance floor!

     It really never gets old. I mean truly, REALLY never gets old! This whole "bare feet at wedding receptions" thing that I do, dancing & partying all night, shoes-off & fancy-free, with my dates, and so many of the other girls in the room! Funny incidents, comments, and photo ops always seem to happen, but last Saturday "took the cake", so to speak. I've blogged about bare feet at weddings so many times, but I think, now, the tales of the most barefoot laughs, ever in one night, are about to be told! Buckle in! Obviously, everyone is used to seeing girls take their shoes off to dance, but when a monster apelike dude, with beautiful (so I am told, repeatedly!) feet & painted toes, does it, it definitely gets everyone to expose their silly side, and let loose just a little bit more...
     The wedding was at the newly rebuilt Larkfield Manor, in East Northport, and the rebuild was a smashing success.. the place is BEYOND stunning! I was marveling at the tile work alone, but the overall presentation is very high-end, and high-class, and truly needs to be seen to appreciate it! I, along with my date & very sweet friend, Jocetta (who is my barefoot dance partner supreme, too), arrived for the cocktail hour, and it was frigid out, having snowed about 3 inches. I usually wear dressy flip-flops, with no suit jacket, to wedding receptions when it's warm enough out to do so, but obviously a winter wedding isn't the case. However, I plan ahead, and shop accordingly! LOL.. I found "warm enough" dress shoes (photo #1) that look like dress shoes, but slip on like clogs.. No socks (yuck), or laces (annoying) to deal with. They look great with black slacks, and are off in a nanosecond when it's time to roll barefoot! WIN-WIN! 
     Shoes always stay on for cocktail hour, but when we get to our table for the actual reception portion, and have an actual place to leave our shoes, then all bets (and shoes!) are off. Once barefoot, we stay barefoot all night, except for trips to the bathrooms, because, as I've stated before, people are such freakin' slobs, it's ridiculous..  So, the bride, groom, & wedding party were introduced, the bride & groom had their first dance, then that first romantic, couples' join-in dance, and then it was time for the party music to begin. I said to Jocetta, "Ready to rock?!" and she answered with, "Are we taking our shoes off?", and I responded, "Of course we are!" ..and poof! Off go the shoes, Jocetta & Al are rollin' barefoot again! And now the funny stories start..

#2. Yep, these awesome
bare feet, coming
 to a wedding video screen
near you! :)

     We made our way out to the dance floor, and claimed one corner to ourselves and began grooving in earnest. Being an unapologetic barefoot-addict, one of the things I love noticing, are peoples' reactions to my bare feet! Like I said, Jocetta being barefoot wouldn't raise an eyebrow at all, because girls are supposed to take their shoes off, right?! Hah, but when they notice that I'm barefoot, even if they haven't yet noticed my painted toes, you can see them poke whoever they're with, and point out my naked feet to them! Most then laugh because they love it (and, yes, they eventually make sure to tell me this), but some laugh because they probably think I'm just a complete idiot! LOL! Hey, it's all good! I love engaging people, getting conversations & interactions going, and having fun with this shoes-off/pedicures stuff! So, as we were dancing, one of the professional photographers came up to us, smiled when he noticed my shoes were off, and took a picture of my dancefloor bare feet. About ten minutes later, a 2nd photographer stopped, and did the exact same. This wasn't the first time that a pro photog has snapped a pic of my bare feet on a reception dancefloor, as one of my favorite feet photos is the one a pro snapped of my bare feet at my friend Meghan's wedding, back in 2010! But now, the great twist: They were uploading the photos in real-time, to the giant, 10-foot video screens found on each wall of the reception room! My parents were at this wedding also, and my Mom came up to Jocetta & I, on the dance floor, pointed at the video screen, and said, "Look, your bare feet are on the big TV!" ..We started laughing, and I loved that moment, because we then realized that the video was on a repeating loop! ..So yes, my stellar, perfectly-groomed bare feet were making multiple appearances on those screens (photo #2) over the next four hours! LOL! ..While we were dancing, the emcee, who was on the floor with his mic while the DJ spun the tunes, came dancing over to us, noticed my bare feet, busted out laughing, high-fived me, and yelled, "YOU RULE, DUDE!!!" ..And, thus, that sets up the next incident.. :)

The emcee had fun with my bare feet,
so we had fun with their "flip-flops for sale sign! :)     
     ...The song set ended, and the emcee addressed the crowd, as I headed over to the bar, still barefoot (of course) to grab Jocetta & myself a round of cocktails. As I was walking back, the emcee was saying, "We have flip-flops for sale at the DJ booth for you ladies, or (notices me walking with drinks in hand, and points at me) you can just go barefoot like my big, crazy friend over there, with the bare feet and painted toes!" (EVERYone turns to look.. What? Painted toes?!!! LOL!!) I did a little victory pose to acknowledge the pointing out of my bare feet to a room of 200 people, to much laughter, and then kept walking to our table ..So Jocetta & I decided a funny pic would be of that sign (photo #3), up at the DJ booth.. because, unless you have a medical condition, or you're a nervous germ-a-phobe, if you're buying flip-flops at a reception, you're a party amateur!! Just go barefoot! Let me repeat: Simple life rule: "JUST. GO. BAREFOOT!" ..Unless you have bad, uncared for, feet! LOL! Then keep your shoes on unless you fix that sh*t! Hah! ..But the emcee pointing out my bare feet to everyone would only lead to more fun, smiles, and laughs! Read on..   
     The night continued with amazing sets of party music (much credit to "Tommy Tunes" DJ company), interrupted only by things like dinner, cake cutting, toasts, speeches, etc etc, but Jocetta and I stayed barefoot the whole time, and probably danced the most, out of the 20+ years that I've been attending weddings! Even my sister said, "You guys danced the ENTIRE time!" ..Danced so much that, honestly, my legs ached the next day like I had done the Cow Harbor 10K run! ..Zumba my ass, someone should market "wedding reception dancing" as a fitness craze! ..After one of those music sets, we headed back to the table to grab some much-needed water, and towel off my dripping head (pleasant, I know). The table closest to the dance floor had a group of girls sitting at it, in their 20's, all barefoot with shoes off, and the one, who's seat was closest to the aisle, noticed my bare feet as we were passing, and stopped us, exclaiming, "Oh my God! I love that you're barefoot!!" ..Me, I absolutely love "people" moments like that, and hearing that phrase more times than I can count, so I said, "Thanks! Come on, put your feet in here with ours for a pic!!" So she did, and as she did, noticed that my toes were painted metallic, exclaiming even louder, "OH MY GOD! Your toes are painted?!! I love THAT even more!!" ..(I'm telling you readers, you just can't make this shit up, it is just SO silly and ridiculously fun!).. I snapped a pic, complimented her on her very cute feet (photo #4), and we continued back to our table. But there would time for one more great, super-cute moment..
     So, last month's blog told of two funny, true-life stories, about how bare feet at wedding receptions led to some VERY funny, "tickling feet", incidents.. LOL! I thought last Saturday might go that route.. It didn't, but still really cute, and kinda' hilarious! Jocetta had gone to use the restroom, and I was sitting there by myself, resting for a few minutes from the dance cardio insanity (I'm the size of an NFL player, I need a few minutes!), and an older woman (maybe late 50's/early 60's), with short black hair, who could have been related to either the bride or groom, was walking by. She was walking back to the corner table, where there was also another couple, who had been making fun conversation about my bare feet, with Jocetta & I, while we waited on line for the photo booth.. This woman, walking by, with the short black hair & long dress, was barefoot also, and I made eye-contact with her & smiled, because that's what us barefooters tend to do: We notice when others are happily barefoot, and we smile because we know we are on the same wavelength! :) ..She stopped and said to me, still smiling broadly, "We all can't stop talking about your feet and your toes!! You are quite the conversation piece at our table!".. We both laughed, and she continued, "Do you paint your own toes?!" ..I laughed again and said, "No, I'm not that flexible! I have a pedi place called U2 Nails that I go to all the time!" ..Then (get ready), she asked, out-of-the-blue, "A pedicure?! That's great!! Do you have ticklish feet?! The scrubby part always kills me!!" ..I busted out laughing, and responded, "Funny you should ask! I pretty much have the most ticklish feet out of anybody that you'll ever meet on planet Earth!!".. Now we both laughed, literally out loud, and very loudly, and she said, as she patted me on the shoulder, what I am calling the random-stranger-line-of-the-night, "That's good!! I LOVE a man with ticklish feet!! I just LOVE ticklish feet, in general!!" LMAO!! ..I couldn't stop laughing at such a great, off-the-cuff, comment, as I said to her, "Then I am telling you, you would absolutely LOVE a video of me in the pedi chair!" ..She laughed yet again, probably at the visual in her head of me getting my feet tickled, and said, "Have a great night, it was nice meeting you! You've been making us laugh the whole time with your bare feet, so thanks!!", then high-fived me (I think I got about four, maybe five, high-fives, that night, because of my bare feet!), and went back to her table to sit by who I assume was her husband. ..And now that I think about it, based on her statements, I guess we can assume he has reeeeeeeally ticklish feet!  :)

#4. A spectator, with cute bare feet like mine & Jocetta's, wants
in a fun photo with us.. :)

     All in all, a perfect night! Frozen outside, warm inside, bare feet, dancing, drinks, amazing food, amazing people, amazingly funny moments! A reminder of the joys of love & life, both of which are made better by the fun of going barefoot! TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF! It's OKAY! 

     

Tales of the Ticklish: Wedding Bare Feet Redux!

     "Bare feet at wedding receptions" ..Total normalcy in my world, life's just so much better that way (the theme I will be repeating forever). But "ticklish bare feet at weddings"? Well, ok, I guess! Why not?! LOL! First off, a little, quick, fun, related blurb, from the very first, "Tales of the Ticklish" blog, over 2 years ago, in which I was talking about four of my best female friends, and the incredible amount of fun we've always had tickling each other's feet, throughout our entire lives:

Tickling Emilie's bare feet, and the start of
a truly beautiful & laughter-filled friendship!

"....Finally, last but not least, is the hilarious & pretty, ultra-ticklish, and just plan amazing, Emilie! Em & I were rockin' the dancefloor all night at her cousin Erin's wedding to my lifelong buddy Curt, and, of course, no surprise to anyone, we both had shoes off before anyone else at the reception, bare feet as soon as the party started, and joyfully stayed that way for the duration, even IF people were rolling their eyes at us! (Total normal behavior for this crew! LOL!!). In fact, Emilie, who is not from NY, and was meeting many of us for the first time, said to me, "I was a little worried what everyone was gonna think about the 'hick girl' from Michigan, with her shoes off & going barefoot all night.. Then I saw you barefoot, too, and I KNEW that we were gonna have nothing but fun!!" (Awwwww, I truly loved hearing this! That sentence will always warm my heart! And I knew that I had made an instant friend for life, simply from a mutual love of bare feet!) ..As luck (or a very well-planned game plan by Erin) would have it, Emilie caught the thrown bouquet, and I caught the thrown garter. So then it was "showtime": time for me to apply the garter to her leg! I sauntered out to Emilie, sitting in the center of the dance floor on the chair, beautiful bare feet peeking out from her stunning bridesmaid dress, did a really goofy, stupid, dance, then kneeled down & took hold of her bare foot (Yes, I would have removed the shoe IF it was still on! C'mon, you HAVE to!), and, in front of the entire room, an audience of 200 people, began lightly tickling that bare foot, right in the "nuclear laughter zone": the arch! Hah, she stiffened up in the chair, and bit her smiling lip, trying to hold in the growing laugh that was trying to burst out! But then threw her head back, and laughed, wonderfully, out loud, which is exactly what I was going for! Being the, uh, sweetheart gentleman that I am, I was nice and took it easy on her, and only tickled her for maybe 5-7 seconds, at the most, then gently slipped the garter on, and we continued our awesome party night together, except that, after I tickled her bare feet, the night quickly became a "Who Can Tickle Whose Feet" contest, with both of us trying to sneak up on each other, to quickly get fingers on each other's feet when the other one wasn't looking! LOL! This meant sneaking up behind chairs, and reaching under tables when we were sitting next to each other! That was a FUN night, and Emilie most certainly got her revenge on my feet back on Erin's couch, when I was too intoxicated to escape...Not that I ever REALLY wanted to.."

     As I continue to gather up fun & silly bare feet stories & photos for this blog, I occasionally am reminded of other stories that I forgot to tell since the inception of this blog.. Which is why it's ongoing: because it's never too late to share! 
      So, continuing the, now, "tickling bare feet at weddings" theme, going back about 16-17 years ago, I was at my friend Pat's kickass wedding. Pat was a friend from work, and so, many work friends were in attendance for the reception. We were all pretty bombed, I had my dress shoes off, and was sliding around the dancefloor in my black socks (this was looooooong before a friend's wife had dared me to get my toes painted black, which then set off this crazy journey of bare feet & pedicure fun that I'm currently on), being my usual crazy party self, laughing it up with all of my friends. Back at our table, my friend Bill's girlfriend (who I think was named Laura, or Lori, I truly can't recall exactly), who was also barefoot, noticed I had my shoes off, and asked, "Why do you have your shoes off? It's not like you had high heels or anything!" ...I then gave her the quick explanation of how I have always hated wearing shoes, and that, even though guys' dress shoes are nowhere near as bad as women's high heels, my stupid dress shoes were still killing my feet, and that I just always feel constricted with any shoes on..but ESPECIALLY with dress shoes on! Ugh! Laura then said, "Put your feet up my lap! I give really good footrubs!" I laughed at her unexpected statement, and looked at Bill, who said, "She totally does, dude! I'll be right back, I'm going to get shots for us while she hooks you up!"..Holy shit, I was about to get a foot massage at a wedding reception! From a stranger girl  who I had just met, maybe an hour prior! LOL!! WHO else does that happen to?! ..I plopped my feet up onto Laura's lap, and she grabbed one foot to start the massage, then said, "Ewww, your socks are disgusting!" ..Dancing in the socks meant dancing in many spilled drinks, I guess! Without ANY hesitation, Laura pulled off my right sock, and then my left sock, exposing both of my very nice, and very well-cared for, size 13 bare feet, perfectly up on her lap! She began the massage, and then commented, "Oh my God, you're feet are soft like a baby's butt!"..(I have always used very good lotions on my feet because, A) it keeps them from smelling bad in the event I get a sudden, unexpected foot massage, like what was happening in this case, and B) it keeps the sole skin soft & supple! Hey, foot care is not rocket science!).. I gotta admit, Laura's massage skills were pretty awesome, and I tilted my head back & closed my eyes, enjoying that moment's tactile pleasure, even as the reception music was pumping loudly. However, then came the ticklish twist.. I heard Laura giggle as my eyes were closed, and she asked, "With feet as soft as this, I am gonna bet you are really ticklish!".. Hah, I didn't even have ANY chance to answer her, before she went from the pressing technique of massage to lightly running her fingernails up my bare soles! Of course, being as ticklish as I am, I instantly started cracking up! But she was going so lightly with the tickling, that I didn't have to pull my feet away! That's the beauty of ticklish bare feet: It feels SO incredibly good while, at the same time, being so unbearable! LOL! But, now, picture this funny scene that I'm describing: shoes off at a wedding reception, leads to a impromptu footrub, leads to socks yanked off & me getting my bare feet tickled! Laura kept lightly tickling my feet, giggling at my ticklish reactions, even saying, "I love this sh*t!", and alternated between foot massage and foot tickling for a good 5-10 minutes. Then, feeling absolutely amazing inside, I just stayed barefoot afterwards, back out on the dance floor,  not bothering with putting those "disgusting" socks back on! ...Sometimes I really do sit back and laugh at all of the funny feet tickling incidents that have happened over the course of my entire life, just from having shoes off at the right moment! It's the unexpected, but always welcome, bonus of a "Barefooter's Life"!  :)

Bare Feet Wedding Fun 2013! (Say Hello to "Barefoot Sandals"!!)

Wedding reception bare feet... THE BEST!

   
     So, as summer has wound down and fall sets in (don't worry, my shoes-off friends, I am still barefoot, or, if I must, in flip-flops, 100% of the time), I only have one "bare feet wedding" story to share for 2013, so far, because there's only been one wedding that I've been invited to! But it was a doozy! It was my sister's wedding last weekend, and the joy of bare feet was VERY well represented at that affair!

"Barefoot sandals":
If your girl is a bare feet fan,
buy these for her immediately!

     My sister decided to get married on the beach of a local lake, and then hold the reception in the small pavilion building (a max of 100 people) at that lake. We catered the affair, cooked all the food, supplied all the booze, ourselves, as well as built her the wedding arch & benches for her beach ceremony. I knew that most of us were gonna roll barefoot, in the sand, for the ceremony (because shoes on sand just SUCKS, even more than shoes do, in general), and that a lot of us were gonna be partying barefoot during the reception, anyway, because taking our shoes off is just what we always do, and have done for many years.. But I was trying to come up with a way to convince my bare feet ladies (remember, I'm the only dude who happily runs barefoot with his special girls at these kind of events!) to stay barefoot from beach to reception, including those of us in the wedding party (who I really wanted all, or most, of us to be barefoot for when the deejay introduces us, during the reception "introduction" walk-ins, because I just thought the scene, and all of the photos, would be that much more adorable & memorable)..

Me & my beautiful Jocetta.. bare feet for
a beach wedding ceremony

     What I came up with were these "barefoot sandals"(found on amazon.com), basically jewelry that lets a girl show up for/stay barefoot during the entire event, yet makes her bare foot seem more pretty and formal. There's a loop that goes around their middle toe, and then the rest of the piece clasps around the ankle. Just absolutely beautiful. So I ordered a pair for my sister, and all of the girls in the wedding party, as well as for some of my dear female friends that would be attending the wedding, as well. Well, as it turned out, when it comes to the happiness of bare feet, and tirelessly promoting it, I KNOW what I am talking about! The sandals were a total hit! My mom (the beautiful, lifelong barefooter who I inherited my happy bare feet attitude from), and my teenage niece both went barefoot from the beach, to the reception intros, and stayed barefoot for the whole party. My bride sis wore the sandals on the beach, but wanted to wear the new heels that she bought for her introduction and first dance, which I completely understood. The maid-of-honor wore the barefoot sandals on the beach, but there was a size issue (they were too big), so she ditched them for her flipflops during the reception (even though I would've preferred that she just rocked the party out in total bare feet, like the rest of us). And the friends & cousins, who I bought those last few pairs for, were barefoot from the moment the reception started! So, all-in-all, my subtle plan to get as many people barefoot, like I was, for the entire four hour event, worked at about 75% efficiency! I counted about 20-23 people at the reception (out of 100) who were barefoot, and joyful, as they partied. That's why I do what I do: because bare feet, especially at weddings, ALWAYS adds to the happiness factor! At least it does in my laughter & smile-filled world!

The set-up we built for my sis.. Not bad, right?!
And how could you ever not wanna be barefoot for this?! LOL

More beach ceremony bare feet, my metallic toes representing,
and my niece & 'Cetta sporting the awesome barefoot sandals.. :)

Tales of the Ticklish: European Renfaire Feet Tickling?! YES, Please!

Laugh it up, baby!

      Hello, barefoot friends! I had previously mentioned my love of European medieval Renfaires, and the hilarious fact that they lock "unsuspecting" people into "oldie-tyme" stockades, pull off their shoes & socks (once they're locked in & immobilized), and tickle their bare feet into hysterical laughter, much to the the silliness-loving delight of any crowds that assemble to watch the spectacle! So, let's now expand on that great, and deliciously-addicting, topic..  :)
      If you've never heard of a "Renfaire", it's a festival whose theme is based on the medieval times, or The King Arthur period. Everyone's in period costumes, and they go around in character, speaking in medieval dialect and phrases. Many demonstrations of medieval behavior occur, including jousting, minstrel entertainment, poetry & literature, arts & crafts, cooking & dining, and lastly, public justice displays (done in a fun, comedic fashion, not brutally, as it was done back then). And this is where American & European Renfaires differ SO greatly! I've seen wooden stockades at American Renfaires, but they are all the type where you just lean into the clunky contraption with your head and arms sticking through, but you're still actually standing while locked in, being ridiculed by your "lawful accuser"..

Beautiful girl,
beautiful bare feet,
BEAUTIFUL laughter!

     But over in Europe, particularly in Italy & Spain, the stockades take a wonderful turn for the better (from a fun, laughter point-of-view).. The stockades are seated, and, once you sit, they have you place your legs up in the ankle-cuff stocks, lock you in, and then lock your hands above your head, exposing your ribs and sides! From the videos that I've seen on YouTube, even though I can't understand the language, what happens next is that, once the volunteer is locked in, they begin the presentation, addressing the crowd, telling the volunteer that they're in some sort of oldie-tyme "legal trouble".. And, as a lifelong lover of ticking bare feet (and also addicted to having my feet tickled! LOL!), this is where it becomes one of my favorite moments EVER! I simply can't get enough of what happens next! As they speak, they usually begin removing the volunteer's shoes & socks, much to the volunteer's very visible, and loud, shock & surprise..(I don't know how they could be surprised! The moment I see helpless, immobile feet, I immediately think, "Laughter time! Let's tickle!")..and also tying the big toes against the top edge of the stockade, so that they can't squirm their feet too much! They usually begin with tickling the person in the stockade's ribs and underarms with finger pokes, to test their overall level of ticklish, before moving onto the exposed, bare feet. Most videos, it starts with fingers tickling feet, then comes a feather (soft part), then the stiff quill part of the feather, then some kind of thick brush across the soles, before ending with a sonic toothbrush (Uh, that's kind of cheating, right?! They didn't have those in Ye Olde England, did they?!) in the arches and under the toes!!! Hah, too awesome, right?! ..And I've also seen some videos, where they've put honey on the toes of the volunteer, and walk up an actual living goat, on a leash, which then licks all the honey off of that trapped person's bare feet (kind of gross, but still awesomely hysterical)! All this time, most people (if they're at all ticklish) are howling with laughter, and the crowd of festival onlookers, that always gather around to watch the show, are usually cracking up laughing, too! How could you not laugh?! Probably one of the most fun, craziest spectacles you could ever witness live & in person!

I absolutely LOVE it,
would volunteer for it in a nanosecond!

     I previously had speculated that the ridiculous, and misplaced, uptightness of American society is why these tickle-spectacles don't occur here in the States, but only overseas, just like tickle torturing contestants on game shows (talked about that a few blogs back, as well. Go enjoy that one next)! But how can a society that gives big ratings to Miley Cyrus' asinine "twerking",  have a problem with huge laughter, and tickling, and the only clothes removed on a person being their shoes & socks?!! I just don't get it! Lighten up, tickle someone! Most people DO love it, even if they think it's weird to talk, read, or write about it! ..Screw that, my friends, I still love being weird! AND, YES, LAUGHING!
;)    ..(Search YouTube's "Renfaire Tickling" videos for more on this ridiculously fun scene)..

Tales of the Ticklish: 'The Art of Laughter 4'! (More Ticklish Laughs on Instagram!)

Awwww!

Beautiful girl, beautiful laughter!

I love it! As long as people keep posting the fantastic, fun, ticklish bare feet laughter that happens during pedi scrubby time, I'll keep collecting their happy photos, doing some cool, artsy, color/crop edits, and putting them in a blogpost on here! Instant day-brightener, no shoes (or socks) required, EVER!

My newest favorite ticklish pedi photo!
Love the head thrown back, true "laughing out loud"!

Bare Feet As Art, part 4: As Summer 2013 Winds Down..

     Continuing my search for the best in artistic, eye-catching, and FUN bare feet photography from the internet, here's the latest that I've found, as well as my newest, smile-indcuing works, too. And I stay away from "foot fetish" photography, because I tend to find most of those pics very non-artistic, and kinda' lame! Jamming your bare foot into a camera lens and making a kissy "sexy duckface" to the viewer isn't artistically captivating, in my opinion. "C'mon, man! Show me some f***ing creativity!" LOL! ..In the following photos, even in the cases where the photos aren't mine, the color, crop, and text edits are. Enjoy! No shoes required! :)

My very HAPPY toes & soles, sending artsy love!

A Bare Feet Butterfly?! LOL

More outdoor summer bare feet,
done absolutely artistically perfectly!

Emile & Emma's mommy/daughter pedicure fun made
for a perfect barefoot photo moment!

Bare feet perfection from Oggl..
The photographer's daughter reading on the couch :)

"Happiness & Bare Feet"!
Or, Happiness BECAUSE of Bare Feet! xo

Tales of the Ticklish: THE. BEST. PRANK. EVER! (If You Love Tickling the Ticklish!)

     You can never have enough bare feet tickles in life, right? Well, here's a fantastic video that I saw about two years ago on YouTube, and it instantly became an all-time favorite, and a prank that I would have SO loved to have been part of (I might be a hulking gorilla, but, yes, I DO pretty much have the most ticklish bare feet on planet Earth! LOL!!) ..I wish that I had thought of this skit, or, better yet, been one of the people strolling through that mall, thinking that I was about to get lucky & grab some freebie "foot massage" action, only to be caught up in the hilarious joke! The best thing about this prank is that it's fun & harmless, so beautiful in its good-natured attitude, and NOT a malicious prank that embarrasses somebody so badly that they can't show their face in public, afterwards! ..Basically, a French comedy TV show set up a booth for "free reflexology", but, instead, surprise-tickled the customers' bare feet, and those people's reactions are GREAT!! I absolutely LOVE this! ..Except for the goofy-ass clownish music, and that godawful "canned studio laughter" that the segment producer/editor set this video to! I would much rather have no music at all, hear the sounds of the funny scenes as they develop, and actually be able to hear the people laughing! Because laughter rules the roost, always! Enjoy, my friends! Have a great, barefoot, and hopefully tickled, weekend! :)

Tales of the Ticklish: Tickled By Strangers? True Stories!

   

Pretty much how my bare feet were dangling
off the arm of that
Stonybrook University library couch!

     It's crazy how things work out sometimes. On a blog that was created, over two years ago, to talk about the fun of going barefoot in life (as much as humanly possible), and the silly, funny uniqueness of a big dude who gets crazy colors & nail designs on his toes during pedicures, the thing that STILL dominates my writing (because it gets the most replies, AND definitely gets, by far, the most blog reads), are hilarious stories about tickling bare feet! People simply LOVE ticklish feet, even if they never admit it because they think it's "weird"! I mentioned before how absolutely lucky I was, growing up being super-close friends with (and still close with, now as adults) awesome girls who absolutely loved tickling feet and/or having their feet tickled, because it has filled my life with fantastic and memorably hysterical bare feet tickling moments, all of them worth sharing to make other people laugh! And yes, almost all of them have been shared here, able to be found in the previous 12 "chapters" of this blog's "Tales of the Ticklish" series, so scroll back and have some more fun after reading this! ..But the one thing that I haven't written about, until now, is the two occasions in my life where I had my bare feet tickled by complete strangers, thus proving my theory that more people love tickling feet than will ever admit to it! LOL!

     The first ticklish incident was back in my college days, at the University of Stonybrook, circa 1989-1990. I mentioned previously that, when the weather was warm enough, I would just stuff my flip-flops into my backpack, and go to all my classes barefoot, because I loved being barefoot so much, and it just felt so much better (and stress-relieving) to me to be walking around with bare feet on an 80+ degree day. (And I just never gave a sh*t about wearing shoes, which, of course, still continues to this day!) This also included library study/homework/research time, where I ALWAYS had my shoes off. Winter months had me taking off boots to walk around the library in socks, and the spring/early summer months meant happy bare feet on library carpets. I wasn't the only one, that's for sure. I distinctly & vividly remember bare feet all around that library, so I wasn't alone in my "getting comfortable" ways! The library was HUGE and had many reading areas with couches set up, not unlike a cozy living room. One day, I was laying on one of those couches, on my back, with bare feet propped up on one of the couch arms, soles exposed. I was reading some papers, so I was holding them up above my face, when, out of nowhere, I felt a long fingernail sliding up my sole, tickling my bare foot! It's well known, and I have no problem admitting to it, that I have the most ticklish feet ever.. therefore, I yelped out a laugh, and spasmed badly, as I lurched to a sitting-up position, only to see this smiling, college-age girl walking away. She was looking back at me with a huge grin as she said, "Sorry, but I couldn't resist!" (There's that line again, that we all know so well), and I was like, "Wait, you don't have to go!" (like suddenly I was gonna get a date because she tickled my feet! LOL! Hey, stranger things have happened!) ...She waved & kept walking, I never saw her again, and thus, that was the first mystery foot tickle of my life..

     Fast-forward a few years, to the late 90's, and now I am "on the job" as a NYC police officer. I was on the LIRR train home after a day tour, which ended at 3:40pm, and I remember it was brutally hot summer day, made worse by the fact that the train had little to no air-conditioning. It was a semi-empty train, I was in an aisle seat with no one next to, or across from, me, so off came the flip-flops and up went my bare feet on that empty seat across from me. I put my sunglasses on, put my head back against the headrest, and closed my eyes to attempt to get an hour of zzzzzz's before my train stop. Probably two, maybe three, minutes passed by (because the train hadn't pulled out yet, as stragglers were still getting on), when I was jolted by the sensation of fingernails lightly running up my bare sole! Eyes instantly blasted open, as I once again convulsed and "yelp-laughed", almost out of the seat! This time, it was an older woman, with grey/silver hair, heading down the aisle, who had just tickled my bare feet as she was walking by and noticed them sitting there up on the seat!! Big-ass smile on her face, and she gave me a cute "Atta' boy!" pat on my shoulder as she passed by.. And what do you think she said? Yep, you got it: "Sorry, but I couldn't resist it!" ..LOL! And off she went, the 2nd mystery feet tickler that I encountered in my life!

     I have a psychology theory that those of us (myself included) who LOVE tickling feet, or having our own feet tickled (even if we can't endure it), do that almost on purpose: leave our vulnerable, bare feet in a spot to hopefully be tickled! But I think that we might not even realize that we're doing it! I think, subconsciously, we just pop our bare feet up to get comfortable while we read, nap, watch TV, play with our smartphones, etc etc., and then, somewhere deep in our brains, that part of us that craves therapeutic laughter, good feelings, or pleasant, positive human contact, hopes that someone with similar opinions about tickling will come strolling by, notice our feet, indulge their tickling urge, and then offer up that apology line that I hear played on "repeat" throughout the entirety of my very-ticklish life.. "Sorry, but I couldn't resist!!" ..I hope it continues for as long as people love laughing & making others laugh, and it never makes me mad, or annoyed, to have my feet tickled! ..Uh, if it does make you mad to have your feet tickled, you're probably taking life way too seriously, anyway.. :)

LIRR ride home last Saturday night from NYC, with my bare feet up
and relaxed. Coincidentally, this is EXACTLY how my feet were
positioned in this post's "train tickling" story! LOL!

Tales of the Ticklish: Feet Tickling, 'Party Games'?! Why not?!!

     I had such a blast, blogging, a few weeks ago, about how much I loved feet tickling on Howard Stern, plus any feet tickling that appeared on European & South American game shows.. Well, during a fantastically fun conversation, earlier today, about the joyful silliness of tickling trapped, ticklish, bare feet (an irresistable topic that has been written about many times, and very happily received, since this blog was created in 2010), we started giggling about the sheer, hilarious madness that would ensue if you were to combine the craziness of "tickling bare feet" with the structured rules of party/family games, during a dinner/cocktail hang at your house, or one of your friends' residences! Now, before you think that I've completely lost my mind, if you're a bare feet (and therapeutic laughter) fan, just hear me out.. And get the bottles of wine/alcohol ready, even though they're not required! ..(But they WOULD totally add to those games' fun factor)..
      First of all, you would need a way to keep people snugly restrained, and I kinda' like the padded stocks featured in the photos on this particular blogpost! I don't want partygoers getting hurt, cut, scraped, splinters, etc. so ancient medieval stocks aren't gonna work, but the 2013 versions, with the padded ankle cuff areas, would be perfect. As would the back-stretching "inversion table" that I blogged about in an earlier "Tales of the Ticklish", which locks your feet in at the ankles, and then hangs you upside down, trapped. You might be able to flail your arms around, but you're not getting your feet out, that's for sure. I have no idea where you buy padded medieval stocks, so an inversion table might be your best bet. But, on the other hand, being locked in the stocks means you're not upside down with blood rushing to your head while you're laughing/spasming. Remember, this is supposed to be FUN, not an injury-fest!

Wanna play a game?! YES, please!!

      When you're guests arrive, ask them to take off their shoes at the door, to be more comfortable, and also to "help keep your floors clean". Some may be barefoot, some in socks.. Whatever, it's all good (and you could always pull off their socks later, if needed!.. LOL!!). If you're a regular reader of this blog, then you already know that, if I'm coming to your party, I'll either just show up barefoot at the start, or I'll automatically slip off my flip-flops/shoes at the door, even without being asked to.. (Happily, all of my bare feet friends think exactly like I do)..  But, let the drinks, and conversations, and laughs, start flowing freely. When everyone's good & tipsy, it's game time, and here's the two favorites we came up with today:
     1. "Ticklish Pursuit", utilizing Trivial Pursuit, or some other cool trivia/fact game. Person gets asked a question. If they give the correct answer, it moves onto the next person. When someone gets a question wrong, they get locked in whatever the available device is, and the bare feet tickling begins.. Depending on the ticklishness of the person being tickled, it could get really, really, hysterically fun! While they are being tickled, they get asked another trivia question. If they get the answer wrong, or are unable to answer because of their ticklish laughter, they get tickled for a limit of, say, 20-30 seconds, finally let loose, and then the game continues. But, IF they are able to answer the question correctly while being tickled, then they get let out of the device, and they, in turn, get to CHOOSE who goes in the device next to have THEIR feet tickled! Now it's up to that new person to either correctly answer a trivia question while being tickled also (and if so, THEY go ahead and choose the next ticklee), or just endure the tickling, and resume the regular game order after the feet tickling finishes. Brilliant, right??
     2. "Tickle-tionary", utilizing Pictionary, or some other art/charade/guess-what-this-is game. Same premise as above, but the room is split into two teams. The game starts with a team trying to guess the drawing as more & more clues are put on paper. If they guess correctly, fine, the next team goes. The first team that fails in guessing their drawing, has to choose one of their OWN teammates to be locked in the stocks and feet tickled.. And now, here we go again! LOL! As that person is being tickled, by a member of the other team (or a designated tickler), their own team draws out another Pictionary word, on paper that's directly in front of the face of the person being tickled! If they are able to guess the word, they get let out of the stocks, and choose someone on the OTHER team to take THEIR place and be tickled! Then that person's team has to do the same thing for them: try to draw a clear enough picture that the person being tickled can guess what it is while laughing/thrashing about!
     Points can be given for correct/incorrect answers, with bonus points given for answering while being restrained and tickled, this way the game has an actual goal to it! But barring those two examples, you could always just grab a stopwatch and have a classic tickle contest, where everyone takes a turn being locked in, gets timed while bare feet are tickled, and the one who holds back laughing the longest, wins. However, the more I think about it the more that I just LOVE the idea of adding mild tickle torture to any kind of party game. It would totally work, as weird as it sounds!.. Underam & rib tickling is totally permitted, too, if the restrained person doesn't have ticklish feet! If someone isn't ticklish anywhere (then they are an alien from another planet), let them be the "designated tickler", so they can participate! ..I guarantee that NO one goes home from that party in a bad mood!! Now, pour me a glass of wine and let's all take off our shoes (if they're not already off!!).. :)

"You Have Such NICE Bottoms of Feet!" ..."Really? Uh, Thanks?!"

     I've been doing these fun (and addicting) pedicures for over three years now, blogging about it for two years, and sometimes, even at this stage, the comments from the Asian pedicure girls still make me laugh unexpectedly. My current pedi girl (the one I use regularly if she's available) happens to love how ridiculously ticklish my bare feet are (and I mean REALLY loves it, similar to the way that little kids used to love The Wiggles! LOL!), and, as I have mentioned numerous times in prior blogs, I think that she loves it so much that she actually scrubs extra, to tickle my feet on purpose, and break down my defenses to make me laugh, literally, out loud, and convulse like someone is electro-shocking me! She makes comments like, "Ooooh, now my favorite part..." as she is putting lotion on the pumice stone in preparation for the tickle-scrub, or tells me, "Breathe, funny man, breathe..", as I am sitting there, turning purple, trying to hold in the laughter (and failing) during her scrubbing! LoL! ..Other comments include a different pedi girl, who was admiring how well I took care of my feet, calling me, "Baby Feet", and nudging the girl who was working on my friend Allyse's feet, telling her, "He have baby feet!", and then they both laughed, and continued their conversation in Chinese, obviously still talking about me..
     But my all-time favorite comment from a pedi girl came from Annie, who was my regular toes specialist, and the best nail-design artist I've ever met on this toes journey, until she moved up to Boston to get married and start having babies. During one pedicure, she was working on my soles with pumice stones, callous removers, & lotions, and, at one point, she just held my foot in our hand, inspecting the bottom of it the same way that a diamond appraiser inspects a diamond, or that an art critic views a painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She looked up at me, smiled, and said, with a hint of joy in her voice, "You have such nice bottoms of feet!!".. I laughed, and said, "Really? ..Uh, ok.. Thanks?".. I didn't know what she meant because, how often do you see the bottoms of your own bare feet? I mean, like, really get a good, close-up view of your soles? Probably not too often, right? I've been told that my size 13 feet are cute about a thousand times over the course of my life, so I can only assume that she was commenting on my good skin & non-crustiness (thanks to a plethora of lotions!).. But, for all I know, she may have just liked the shape of my feet, or my "cute, wrinkly soles"! LOL! I have NO idea what she was referring to, though! So, as a result, I am popping up some bare soles pics on this written piece, and let you, the readers, decide for yourselves! "..nice bottoms of feet"? ...Yeah, I don't know what she meant by that, but I tend to agree 100%..  :)

Me & Rebecca, and our "barefoot in the office" photo fun  :)

It's gotta be the irresistable wrinkles, right?! LOL!

Bare Feet in School, Barefoot Teachers, Happy Memories!

 

It doesn't happen often, but, to me, barefoot teachers are
just a special kind of cool!

       
       Waaaaaaaaaay back when I started this blog two years ago, when I mentioned a lifelong love of bare feet, and a complete disdain for wearing shoes, I referenced two teachers that I had who both taught their classes barefoot, at least 50-75% of the time, and how that fact was one that played a key part in shaping my "bare feet attitude". Let's have some fun now, and expand on that point.. 
     In the junior high that I went to, it was not uncommon for me, or my friends, to slip off our shoes in class, or in the carpeted library (especially there!), to be more comfortable, whenever we felt like it. No, I didn't have shoes off everyday, but it was definitely not a rare thing to see 9th grade me with my shoes/sneakers off, tucked under my chair, whenever the need to relax in class suited me. My 9th grade social studies teacher (who eventually became the school's principal), Ms. Kroon, was a middle aged woman with fiery red "ginger" hair, who was very nice, very helpful (if you needed it), and very quiet & demure. Either her feet were always killing her in high-heels, or she just hated wearing shoes as much as I did, because she almost ALWAYS took her shoes off to teach class! I vividly remember the constantly repeating scene like it was yesterday: She would have her shoes on at the start of every class, but after taking attendance and starting the lesson for that day, there would come a point where she would go sit down at her desk, while we were all quietly reading or writing something. Then, like clockwork, "ka-klunk, ka-klunk", you'd hear the sound of her heels coming off and dropping to the floor. As a 15 yr. old bare feet addict, this made me smile every single time I heard it, and it would be at least three times, in a five day school week, that Ms. Kroon's shoes were being discarded. She was the first "authority figure", outside of my own family, that validated my own desire to not wear shoes, and I loved it.

An internet photo I found that bascially illustrated
 my behavior during the hot May/June
 days of high school! :)

      Fast forward three years, to high school 12th grade, and my math teacher was Mrs. Hickey, another very nice & kind teacher (one of my favorites over those three years of high school) who I was lucky enough to have on my schedule. Back then, going barefoot (or walking around carrying your sneakers/shoes) at my high school, was almost commonplace. Not like a beach, mind you (most students did keep their shoes on), but, on any given day, you'd see people in class with shoes off, see people strolling thru the halls with no shoes on (one of my best friendships in life, with my high school friend, Jennifer, was started by us noticing each others' bare feet in the hallway between classes!), or people chillin' out in the student commons (hangout area) without shoes. During the cooler months, this usually meant socks on, but in May, when it started getting hot & humid outside (and worse inside, with crappy air conditioning, or no working AC, whatsoever), then you'd start seeing more & more barefoot students at various points throughout the day. Again it wasn't anywhere near the majority of kids, but it was definitely out there. I was one of those who would sometimes lock my sneakers (or sandals) in my locker, and just do the last 2 or 3 periods of the school day barefoot, especially if gym was done for the day, and I wouldn't be needing those sneakers for any athletic stuff. So, my math class was 7th period (second to last class for the school day), and thus, it was very easy for me to come happily strolling in, totally barefoot, not a care in the world. Sometimes, Mrs. Hickey would already be barefoot, having removed her shoes during the class before. Other times, she would just start class with shoes on, get us working on something math-related, and then slip off her heels, leaving them at her desk, and teach the rest of class barefoot, including writing math lesson material on the chalkboard, and walking up to individual students' desks to assist them, staying barefoot the whole time. Again, I absolutely loved it! To me, that was more proof that I wasn't a complete weirdo for wanting to be comfortable & barefoot for as much as I could possibly get away with it! But the coolest thing was the one day that I was exiting her class, as it finished up, barefoot (because we had eaten lunch down at Crab Meadow Beach, and I had left my shoes in the car upon returning to school), and she poked me on the arm as I was walking out the door. As she looked down at my bare feet, toes peeking out from the legs of my blue jeans, Mrs. Hickey smiled broadly, and told me, "Looks like I'm not the only one who loves not wearing shoes!" .. Validation! Not that I ever needed it, but it was sure nice to have it..   And don't even get me started on my "bare feet in college" years.. LOL!   ..So, teachers, take your shoes off once in awhile, go barefoot in class! I bet there'll be more than one student who loves that you do..  :)

Bare feet for a good cause still means bare feet in class! Happiness!!

Tales of the Ticklish: Who Doesn't Love Peek-A-Boo Feet?!?

Don't be silly, you are NOT walking by
this without tickling! LOL!

   

My beautiful friend Ruby can't resist 
tickling her son's bare foot
 as it peeks out from under a blanket! :) .. LOVE!

      During my happy, silly, fun, lifelong love of tickling bare feet whenever the joyous, laughter-inducing opportunity would pop up, one of my favorite things in the entire world is the irresistable cuteness of "peek-a-boo" feet! Things like feet peeking out from under a blanket, feet sticking between car seats, feet hanging off a couch arm or bed.. all completely impossible to pass up if you're walking by! I think it's simple human nature to want to make someone else laugh out loud, or just feel happy, so seeing bare feet "gift-wrapped" & waiting (for tickles) is what makes that whole hilarious scene so delicious! If you've ever seen videos of the Renfaires (medieval-style festivals) over in Italy, they are always locking people in stocks, with their bare feet sticking out, and tickling them, MUCH to the delight of the crowd that gathers to watch, and relish in, the hysterical laughter! (I would LOVE it if those types of fairs happened here in the states, but, as I blogged about in an earlier "Tales of the Ticklish", we are just too uptight a society here).. I know I'm not alone in this, as many of my dearest friends (Ruby, Emilie, Jocetta, Erin, Kim, Sue, Nicole, Christine) all think like I do! Hah, and many of their kids do, too! I mentioned, a few weeks ago, that kids (well, at least the family & friends that I personally know & love) absolutely LOVE tickling feet, especially once they find out you're ticklish! Plus, they are the most ruthless in getting YOU to laugh! If you don't know this fact, you simply don't have any kids around when your shoes are off! LOL!! ..In fact, many people probably don't even realize how much they love tickling "peek-a-boo" feet, they just love seeing those feet, and get all happy at the sudden thought of running fingertips up their child's.. or parents.. or loved one's.. or ticklish friend's bare soles, to cause some kind of perfect combination of laughter, spasms, giggles, and yelps! It's as much addicting fun for the tickler as it is the ticklee, I assure you! It just takes a freak like me to sit down & actually compose a blog about it! ..Laughter is always worth the annoying freakiness! Keep tickling those feet when you see 'em!

AHHHH! I LOVE this photo from FlickR!! Irresistably fun camera angle!!

Dirty Bare Feet: "Ew.."? or "Awesome!!"?

   
   

Saw this photo online, had to edit it with a
motto that I fully believe in!

I was walking around
a NYC rooftop, barefoot, during a
20-min. phone call.. This was my
"reward"! LOL!

     Well, to answer this blog title's question, I guess it depends on the situation! You see, being a happy, "Who gives a sh*t?", barefooter like I am, it's completely normal for me to inadvertently trash my own bare feet, and get them filthy, as I go about my day in a carefree way, with or without flipflops on.. Even being the self-admitted pedicure addict that I am, just being outside barefoot, especially during summertime, is a surefire way to trash your feet (Hah, but usually instantly cleaned by jumping into a chlorinated swimming pool!).. And continuously mopping your floors doesn't matter, you are simply getting dirty feet if you love being barefoot. Wedding reception, "shoes off & barefoot", dancing all night (which, of course, I'm still a complete expert on! LOL!), on the most beautiful, polished marble/wood floors that you could ever hope for, and you are still gonna be scrubbing those tootsies off in the shower later! Stopping off at a supermarket, barefoot? It's not the smooth, shiny (addictively cool to the soles of your bare feet) market floors that'll get'cha.. It's that asphalt parking lot! And kids? Kids are SUPPOSED to have dirty bare feet! That's part OF being a kid: "Go outside, and don't worry about putting shoes on! Come back if you get a splinter!" For us adults, it just makes us still feel like a kid inside (as does bare feet, in general)... Still, all of these "dirty feet moments" are easily fixed with some body wash & a scrubbrush in the shower. So, to me, "dirty bare feet" just means that you really enjoyed your day, or had lotsa' fun, without your shoes on! I guess the, "Ewwww" part would come in when someone has bad hygiene, and doesn't shower regularly to clean themselves up. Or, sadly, like a homeless person, doesn't have regular shower/soap access. Then I get that "Ewwww!" part, because "ain't no one got no time for" any cheesy, gross feet! Outside of that unpleasantness, IT'S SUMMER! GO BAREFOOT!

From Instagram, a barefoot handstand! To me, this is what being a kid is all about:
Shoes off, dirty bare feet, and just having FUN!!!

Happy 4th of July, 2013! All day and all night barefoot! 
But, wow, did I need a nice chunk of Dove bodywash to fix these! LOL!! 
God bless America, and the happy freedom to go barefoot!