Archive for November, 2009

I’ve been living in Jakarta ever since I took my very first breath. And despite some years of studying abroad, my life, love and memory are mostly about Jakarta and the people who lives within.

Like millions other Jakartans, I witnessed the city evolved from big town, into a metropolis which is very well moving toward mega polis. The public transport, which has never been in touch with the terms reliable are changing as new concepts are rolling in and the old labels are rolling out Jakarta today is unlike Jakarta 20 or 30 years ago. It’s narrow streets are continuously congested. The skies, are rarely seen in bright and clear blue. Instead, it always appeared that the skies always covered in clouds and hazy white smog. The criminality rate never subsided, consistently evolving in the most heinous yet ingenious way.

And unlike most developed cities of the world, Jakarta’s public transport left plenty to be desired.

The city council, despite of the wealth experience that they should by now possessed, seems to be always stuck in its infancy, and so far, has never been proved to be capable in doing something right nor gain the trust and confidence of the people it served.

In a very simple sentence, the bureaucracy is simply sucks. It is no wonder then that many friends I knew, girls especially, are so keen in leaving Jakarta, ad move to other more “civilized” cities such as Singapore, KL, Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, NY and Seattle. And to be all completely honest, I once have that thought in mind too.

TBC

By the time you arrived at this article you should by know understood the term that come out when I’m speaking about shoes, oxford, blucher, loafer, derby, monk strapped, cap toe, etc. But even if you don’t, don’t be afraid, millions out there are just as clueless about any of this terms when speaking about shoes.

Fortunately, men’s shoes are not as complicated as women’s. To give you simple illustration, man shoes are just like men’s emotion, can be easily compartmented, and not many derivation in between. Even in more than a century stretch time, the definition of men shoes hasn’t changed much.

The same thing can’t be said about women’s. Like her owner, women’s shoes are complicated and difficult to understand, it’s rich in variation, and even small ornamented decoration, can significantly alter the impression of the shoes from good to bad in an instant. Much more to be said about the derivation, which is the only reason why men’s are dropped dead when asked about women’s shoes.

Stop snobbing about woman, let’s take a look the type of man shoes defined by its constructions

Oxford

Oxford, which termed one of the most formal shoes existent, is a term used for a shoe with closed laced meaning the lace flaps are stitched in the bottom, hence creating a lean and tight impression of the shoes. Oxford is your standard business shoes, conservative enough to wear to the office at any given day, or even to the less formal party (those that does not required black tie). There variations that usual comes with the oxford, notably on the toe area which will discussed latter on.

Blucher
Blucher or Derby, is an open laced shoes. Meaning that the lace flaps are not conjoined at the bottom, as such that it only connected by the lace it self. The term Blucher it self comes from the German General Blucher during Napoleonic war, who demand such shoe construction for its solders at a matter of practicality.

Blucher, is considered as a less formal kind of shoes compared to oxford, nonetheless in this modern day, it is considered to be acceptable to wear blucher to the office and even to the party. In my opinion blucher offers in between solution between formal and casual boundaries.  Like oxford, it comes in multitude variants, defined by patterned observable in toe

Monk Strapped

Monk strap is defined by the visible leather strapped with metal buckle that crossed the shoes and replaced the function of the lace. The strap can be functional or not, single, double or in a rare case triple. But regardless, it offers a lesser degree of formality compared the Oxford or Blucher, and I’d like to think to think that lesser strap commands more formality. Like the two, monk strapped model can varies defined by the pattern observable in the toe.

Loafer
Loafer, is the least casual of the shoes. It is defined by visible stitches that in lining the toe are, resembling a moccasin, hence the term moc toe. Loafer is great for dress down, and while these days it is acceptable to wear a loafer with suit, it is still deemed as inappropriate for many of the sartorial observer.

Now, remember that I said shoes is defined by the observable patterned in the toe area ? These are the pattern:

Plain toe, you guess it, it comes without pattern whatsoever, in can means a whole cut (the whole shoes made from a single sheet of skin, and the only stitched are those conjoined the upper layer with the bottom soles). Plain to is deemed to be the most formal of all, and those made of patent leather, is still the standard demand for a black tie occasions.

Cap Toe, cap toe defined by a horizontal line separating your toes and the rest of your feet. It can be a simple single or double stitches, or can be brogues (those with patterned holes). This is the ultimate standard business shoes. It can be matched with any suits, and can never go wrong for any business occasions. If criticality demand, you can even wear them to wedding, funeral and parties where black tie is not required. The cap is there for a reason, you will notice, that the cap usual falls in area where your shoes bend for your walk, hence the stretch mark is not too visible.

Wing tip, defined by a wing like shape that starts from the inner side of the shoes, formed a “w” like shape on the toes area, and ended on the outer side of the shoes. These patterned can either be single/double stitches, brogue or full brogue, which usually denoted of a small pattern on the capped area. Wing tip is the least formal of all, it is initially designed as a country side shoes, one that would wear for casual strolling in British country side. Works very well for a summer suit, and less casual patterned (checked or tweed). These days, wing tip is an acceptable option to be wear to the office, as it comes with laced (closed or open a like) it is still more formal that loafer or moc toe, which many men chooses these days.

Moc toe, defined by a loafer like stitched in line the shoes. These are one of the most hits model available in the market today. It is usually observable in some type of derby and slips on, but never on oxford.

Now I would love to list down, in order of importance the type of combination above, but instead I will write a single piece outlining the my preferred choice. Do I miss anything ? Feel free to add on in the comments sections.

I wake up this morning, and happily surprised as I found the Jakarta sky is clear and blue unlike the usual. This kind of scenery reminds me of the Jakarta where I grew up years ago, when the weather was much friendlier, the temperature cooler and the world was more quite that today. Jakarta that I knew of, and so very much loved.

By any means, I was initially intended to put up a post about my love wih the city, but lately decided to do it next time. So for now, you oughta be content with this bright picture of Jakarta, one taken from my apartment’s 27th floor window, the other from my 22nd office window.

Jakarta after the rain, from my apartment window (source: personal archive)

Jakarta after the rain, from my office window (source: personal archive)

About a week ago, one of my most adorable friend, appeared to show her contempt on love. Now, me being coward, didn’t have much guts, to ask her what happened.

There are many way someone or even your self can hurt your feeling. Albeit through love, work and even just ordinary life. And when things got worse, you’ll be glad if you have someone who can listen to you, share your sadness, and eventually cheers you up. But it just unfortunate that such privilege doesn’t come everyday, nor to everyone. There are those of you, who are lonely, can’t share a thing. Or even if you do have someone, sometimes you just want to be left alone.

Well, admittedly, after more than eight years in the same relationship, I’m not much an expert in heart break business. And while I considered my self as better than average man in understanding women, I admit that I have much to learn in terms of soothing my own feeling.

But as you guess my friend 8 years is along time, enough for several hills and peaks, ups and downs and wide range of emotionally exhaustive incidents, which made me wonder, what the hell am I doing now ? So, it is unavoidable that during this reign of love, I collect, sampled and analyze list of things that can make me feels slightly better. Off course, things that worked for me may not be necessarily worked for you, nonetheless . Here’s my pick (Booze and dope excluded due to their obvious impact

1. Listen to loud music. This works particularly if you are in heartbreak mode. Listening to music, the mellow one made you realize that you’re not alone, and that there is someone, who’s just experienced the same thing like you, waiting to be cherished and loved.

2. Watching movie. Working well for most situations, it works pretty muck like a dope, or booze, helps you to forget things. Try to pick something light such as Ben Stiller’s, Adam Sandler’s or Tom Cruise’s. Or something motivating, like Shawsank Redemption and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. But if you need to satisfy your ego, and feeling a little bit suicidal, Godfather is really accommodating.

3. Sports. My personal pick, especially if I have difficulty in sleeping. Walking 8-9 kilos will definitely worn you out. And by the time you get finished, you’re just too tired to think and you can sleep like a baby. The only drawback, if your fitness is below standard, there is a good chance that your muscles will hurts like hell.

4. Playing PC Games. It works pretty much like number two, with difference being this activity make your mind pretty active, so that you spare no space for other things. It’s very time consuming, and when you are too tired to keep going, you might back to your sadness again.

5. Playing music. My old time fave. Here’s the reasoning, when you’re sad, you want to share your feeling, but sometimes no one available to listen to you, you can turn to music instruments. This loyal piece of work should available anytime to hear your pain. I personally prefer to play my old violin, and playing the most sad and gloomy tone possible, driven my self contempt nuts. One more thing with playing music, is that you can share your sadness to people around you, who overheard your music, without them being burdened by your pathetic story – though you can still burden them with false tone if you are sucks.

6. Writing. Based on my own personal experience, I realized that I was most productive when I was feeling bad about something. But off course this is not for everyone. I for one, are very lucky to be blessed with the talent but not everyone does.

7. Read a book. There are millions, millions and million book out there that wait to be discovered and read. I prefer reading my old collection of Hornblower series, Grisham’s and Sparks. But any reading material (excepting college text book) are just as good. And while I’m not a big fans of religious reading, it help you motivate your self, and acknowledging that God, heaven, and hell do exist. If you think no book can help you, buy a new one, or an old one, get your self to the used book markets, pick one randomly, and bring it home.

All in all I have to admit that, despite all these, the best medicine is of course time. What about you, what is the best medicine for your heart break ?

Everbest black moc toe derby (coustesy of www.everbest.com.sg)

For quite sometimes, my choice of footwear lies in a single brand called Mario Minardi, which have proven to be reliable, stylish yet affordable option.

However the Minardi has a tendency to follow trends hence there are occasion, like recently when I find their lines is no more suitable to my taste and preference which is usually falls along the line of rather conservative style, namely oxford and derby.

And it was such conditions that I took a chance on a brand called Everbest.

Everbest for the better part is a well known entry level brand who offers generous collection of shoes with affordable price. Those who frequently visit one of the major malls in Jakarta, will undoubtedly found themselves at least once in one of their store. And whilst it is obvious that the quality of this machine made shoes is far from perfect, it is acceptable by my standard.

And by my standard means a reasonably beautiful shape, a decent quality of leather and reliable stitch.

My first try felt on the a black calf moc toe derby, the outer sole was rubber whilst the inside resemblance oilskin. The stitches are of the decent quality, and is obviously machine made, run tidily along the shoe frame.

Needless to say the shoe are very comfortable, I’m wearing size EUR 42 (UK 8), and finding one is  not an hassle, and feels just right. The leather is very flexible,  even daily wear will leave a very minimum stretch mark on the bending area, which is something to be applauded. And while initially, I intended to use the shoes for formal occasions only I now found my self wear the shoes in daily basis. So far, I am very pleased to say that I’m happy and satisfied with the shoes.

If I have any complain, it will be on the rubber outer sole. And while admittedly this sole are reliable, and flexible to sustain daily abuse of tarmac or gravel, it lacks the elegance of leather sole. Same thing goes with the inner sole, the oilskin, is reliable and easy to maintain, but then again, it lacks the flexibility, and comfort of the leather.

Its fixable though, albeit it might cost you a quarter of the pair itself. My suggestion is simply bring your shoes to the cobbler after approx 1 year of usage, and ask them to replace the oilskin, with leather inner sole,  which is guarantee to be more comfy and sweat absorbent. At this point, you can ask them to fix and scuffle and add some patch on the rubber sole, should it is needed.  Combine this with fortnightly polish, your shoes should be walk worthy for years to come.