On being a girl

for reasons that are far beyond the scope of the next few paragraphs, there are few things that i dislike more intensely than admitting that i desperately love things that are stereotypically girly. these include:

1. mariah carey ballads
2. you telling me that you think my hair looks dope
   
3. shoes

items 1 and 2 are things that i like.

i have a palpable lust for shoes. i sometimes go to bed thinking about them. i daydream about them while i'm eating noodles. i leer at them out of the corner of my eye.

i spotted my latest conquest in a copy of a paper magazine that i got for free from the coffee shop around the corner of my house. i was flipping through it absentmindedly when i spotted them.

they were perfect. in a basic pump and mary jane style. worn by very thin girls who looked bored out of their minds. they're white, pointy, have 3.5 inch heels, and black lattice on the vamps. perfect arch. they're dope as shit. i decide then that i must own them.

naturally, i flip to the page where paper magazine is supposed to tell me who the designer is. it's the spring07 line of rodarte. rodarte is a lovely line that sells dresses for $17,000.

i go home an do intense research online for an hour. i discover that rodarte has paired up with christian louboutin to do a line of shoes specifically for the sp07 line.

i check every site that carries louboutin shoes online. they are nowhere to be found.

i email rodarte myself. it was started by two sisters who are from pasadena and went to berkeley. because i write emails for a living, i'm pretty good at it, so i write a nice, concise, engaging, email that is both complimentary to the spring line, as well as slightly inquisitive about the shoes that are featured in the line.

lo and behold, one of the sisters writes me back. aha! check barneys ny and la, she says.

i call both stores. the woman i talk to in los angeles has never heard of rodarte and the guy in new york asks me to email him a picture of the shoes - no dice, but he agrees that they're SO CUTE.

i write the laura (the sister who answered my email) back, and kindly and apologetically, explain that neither barneys has them and that i'm still searching. she suggests that i try the louboutin boutiques in nyc.

i'm in luck! i have a trip planned for work in nyc. what an excellent plan. instead of working, i will search out my love in a storefront on madison avenue.

unfortunately, i find that i actually do have stuff to do in our new york office, and have no chance to look for them while i'm there for three days. on my plane ride home, i can't believe that i've done the unthinkable: i've chosen to work over love.

to make amends, i'm working on being sent back out to nyc in early april for a conference and look for them there.

so. what is the point of this long and incredibly boring story?

the point is that if i were as polished and persistent about my career as i have been about these shoes, i probably would have already started my own microcredit bank, written three books, and just finished up a music video with timbaland. that's the point.