More notes on shoe purchase and maintenance

My clean darlings, inside my shoe cupboard

I just finished cleaning and rearranging my shoe collection and I have some notes that I just need to jot down. These notes apply to myself, so feel free to ignore it. However, if you do find them relatable, I hope they are useful for you. The notes aim to increase my own appreciation towards my shoe collection and hence (hopefully) reducing my need to buy more shoes.

Okay, we both know that there’s no such a thing as too many shoes for women like me (i.e. shoeaholics), but we can still reduce the frequency of buying shoes. And if we eventually do buy that extra pair of shoes, we know that we are investing on a pair of good, beautiful, long-lasting shoes.

Shoe size

First thing first: Get your shoe size correct. What's the point of having a gorgeous pair of shoes if you can't wear them because the size is off? Here I have elaborated how to get the shoe size correct. But I summarise it here again in this post. I am comfortable with shoes with insole length 9.75” (24.5 cm) and width of ball of foot a tad over 3” (8 cm – which means it’s a medium width).

My own shoe size is as follows:

Okada Masaki's new English-subbed movies: Space Brothers, Himitsu no Akko-chan, & Life Back Then

Update 26 Sept 2017: click here to read my update of Okada Masaki's performance since 2012. 

Okada Masaki on 'Life Back Then' Friday next week on RED!

It's a bit difficult to find new Okada Masaki movies with English sub these days.According to Asian Wiki, Okada has at least three new movies/series that are already released for 2013, but I haven't been able to see them due to the lack of English sub.

However! It's with real pleasure that I announce that the great subbers of Dramacrazy.net etc have uploaded the following movies for us:

Space Brothers with Oguri Shun (already seen it on RED, but I love the movie so I will watch it again!)

I'm watching the bits part of it now, and I think the RED translation of Space Brothers is better than this online version. Still, better than nothing!


Himitsu no Akko-chan with Ayase Haruka (click this link to see it online)

Pics from Akko-chan's Secret (from Jaewinter). It's really a good movie!

And last but not least...(click to read about Life Back Then and Ikuta Toma (!)):

Phil Jimenez on BMWW

Gotta love this fan art work by Theva!

DC hasn’t catered to BMWW lately (as in, almost none at all), but for many BMWW fans, the sparks are still there. And when a writer the caliber of Phil Jimenez professed his undying love to BMWW (well, at least their friendship, if not romance), a BMWW fan cannot help but swoon and drool. Special thanks to my friend DaisyJane at www.batmanwonderwoman.com for posting the original article.

Phil Jimenez was actually responding to a post on the Nu 52 Wonder Woman (that I’ve never read due to limited comic access and my anger on DC’s treatment to Diana). Laura Sneddon wrote the post; some people responded to it, including Phil and artist Mindy Newell. The whole interaction can be found here. But I have two things I’d like to highlight in this post. First, is Phil’s description of Wonder Woman, which I think encompasses it all:

I Dreamt (Rabindranath Tagore)

I Dreamt 

by Rabindranath Tagore

'Restful', by Pino Daeni

I dreamt that she sat by my head, tenderly ruffling my hair with
her fingers, playing the melody of her touch. I looked at her face
and struggled with my tears, till the agony of unspoken words burst
my sleep like a bubble.

I sat up and saw the glow of the Milky Way above my window,
like a world of silence on fire, and I wondered if at this moment
she had a dream that rhymed with mine.

I Asked Nothing (Rabindranath Tagore)

The Gardener XIII: I Asked Nothing

by Rabindranath Tagore

  

'Woman with a Pot' by Shashikanta Parida

I asked nothing, only stood at the edge of the wood behind the tree.
Languor was still upon the eyes of the dawn, and the dew in the air.
The lazy smell of the damp grass hung in the thin mist above the earth.
Under the banyan tree you were milking the cow with your hands,
tender and fresh as butter.

And I was standing still.
I did not say a word.

It was the bird that sang unseen from the thicket.
The mango tree was shedding its flowers upon the village road,

and the bees came humming one by one.

On the side of the pond the gate of Shiva's temple was opened and the
worshipper had begun his chants.
With the vessel on your lap you were milking the cow.

I stood with my empty can.
I did not come near you.

The sky woke with the sound of the gong at the temple.
The dust was raised in the road from the hoofs of the driven cattle.
With the gurgling pitchers at their hips, women came from the river.
Your bracelets were jingling, and foam brimming over the jar.

The morning wore on and I did not come near you.

Lotus (Rabindranath Tagore)

Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, a century ago. This is one of his poems, a favourite of mine:   

Lotus

Pic from marrymeweddings

On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying, and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded.

Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind.

That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing
and it seemed to me that it was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion.

I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart. 

The Lover's Passion ~ Desire (Jalaluddin Rumi)

The Lover's Passion - Desire
by Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi


(original title from Deepak Chopra's CD: 'The Lover's Passion')


A lover knows only humility, he has no choice.
He steals into your alley at night, he has no choice.
He longs to kiss every lock of your hair
Don't fret,
he has no choice.
In his frenzied love for you, 
he longs to break the chains of his imprisonment,
he has no choice.

Music video of The Oath of the Vayuputra

Fans of The Shiva Trilogy who are not yet aware that the third and final book is to be released in two days, you better be aware now!

Yes, on 27 Feb, bookstores in India are releasing The Oath of the Vayuputra. My darling friend and I have ordered it from a friend of a friend in India. Cannot wait to read it!

Meanwhile, please enjoy the music video The Oath of the Vayuputra by Sonu Nigam and Taufiq Qureshi in high definition. It's supercrazily superb!!!



Who's that dude playing Lord Shiva? He might be a good candidate for the action movie, if Hrithik Roshan isn't available. But I hope Roshan is going to play Lord Shiva, with Aishwarya Rai as Lady Sati. I cannot think of another screen couple fair enough to play the Ultimate Couple!

Looking for Your Face (Rumi)

The Dawn by Mahmoud Farshchian

Looking for Your Face

by Mevlana Jallaludin Rumi


From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes