Woman, thy name is shoes.

Holy mackerel do I have a lot of shoes. Although I was aware of the fact before, in the way that I'm also aware of the fact that the sky is blue and a single man in possession of a high income must be in want of a wife, it really only came to my attention today as I sorted through a storage bin of my shoes trying to decide which of my many beloveds had lost their lustre and should be sent to their next life via the Smiths Family clothing recycling bins. Even though I really didn't want to throw ANY of them out, and in fact wanted to take ALL of them back with me to Korea, the fact that my tiny apartment is already stuffed full of shoes roosting in the oddest storage places (such as the storage place under my microwave unit and in bags and a suitcase out in my laundry) as well as overflowing in my doorway and that Korea is a veritable smorgasboard of shopping and beautiful shoes and thus bound to lure me into buying more forced me to be ruthless. So I made three piles - one: to be chucked, two: to be kept in storage, and three: to be taken back to Korea with me where their fate would be redecided again in a year. Of course, those piles are also in increasing order of size. For some, it was a relatively easy decision - for instance, I no longer have the fascination I once had with tie-up shoes or whatever you call shoes where you tie the laces around your ankle, so those requiring more than one once-round were gone, hopefully off to a more lasting love affair with their next wearer, probably some bogan who would truly appreciate them. Old work shoes that no longer have any grip on the sole or brought up bad memories of sweat and blisters at the mere sight of them were out straight away with good riddance. Any shoes that were so uncomfortable that I couldn't push through the pain and actually wear them for more than half an hour were evaluated by beauty and price, except for anything with bloodstains on the inside which were also immediately gone. Anything slightly pinching but wearable I added to the Korea pile, with the determination to find a better fitting equivalent during the year ahead. And so on. *sigh*

Here are some of my favourites:

My absolute favourites. I've had these for more than six years and worn them to death - literally! There are holes in the soles of both that I'm hoping some magic tailor can fix for me back in K-land since I haven't been able to find a replacement pair online.

Bought these in 2006 at Co-ex Mall. Sadly, I have to throw them out because they've gotten really dirty and numerous dry-cleaners have broken my heart by telling me that they are impossible to clean or dye another colour because of the leather/linen mix. Boohoooㅠ_ㅠ;;;

^ Definite keepers! My high-school formal shoes. Love 'em to bits! I only wish I'd had the foresight to buy a pair in every colour.

 My shiny shiny shoes from my last Valete at Fenner Hall. These babies were so sparkly that I appear to be wearing mirrorballs on my feet in every single photo.

My trashy trannie shoes! Bought these in Korea around Ewha in 2006. In the words of a male friend when I once asked if they went with an outfit:

"To be honest, I can't imagine a single thing that those would ever match. But you should wear them anyway because they're hot."




In the end, I thought I did pretty well - out of the 29 pairs of shoes in the storage bin, I ended up chucking 7 pairs, although I changed my mind repeatedly on my ratty purple fake uggs (if they were real I would have kept them) that I used to drive in during winter and practically lived in during my Honours year, and putting 11 pairs aside to bring back to Korea with me, most of which I will eventually throw away. However, I now have to go through the other 12 or so pairs in boxes in the toychest in my room, all of which I also love and will inevitably will want to bring back with me also.

Lesson of the day: this is too hard!!!