I am a shallow human being. I just need you to understand what you’re working with here.
Back when I was studying law at UC Berkeley, Boalt Hall, I was up for a pretty prestigious scholarship, for my skills for advocacy mostly. I’m sure you can’t tell here, but I’m a bit of a talker. I managed to use that talent to do well in classes that involved, well, talking persuasively. During my interview for my scholarship, I was asked the one question you would expect, the one you would prepare for: What made me want to study law? And I wasn’t prepared. Because I wanted to be spontaneous. Speak from the heart. No canned responses for me, talented speaker that I am. So no preparation.
That’s when I brought up Gidget.
You see, when I turned 9 years old, I was watching Gidget Grows Up, one of the Gidget episodes in which our dear heroine decides she wants to work at the United Nations. Because Gidget has only two years of college under her belt, the only job she can land is that of tour guide. Well, once I found out that a place like the UN existed, I got it in my head that one day I, like Gidget, would work there. Only I didn’t want to be a tour guide like Gidget. So I decided to become an attorney specializing in International Law.
I stuck religiously to this goal for 14 years. First, I studied languages--I could speak 5 by the time I graduated college. I received my undergraduate degree in International Relations. At Boalt Hall, I took classes in International Law.
Maybe it was the shock value--maybe the middle-aged white men in that room were tired of the same canned responses--but I got my scholarship admitting that Gidget influenced me to study law.
And now, I have found a new muse.
Last night, I watched Mom’s Night Out.
That scene where the ladies slow motion walk into the club like they own it? Yeah. I want to do that. Ok, they were actually walking down the sidewalk on their way to a chichi restaurant, but you get where I’m going with this. Just like that nine-year-old girl who spent fourteen years planning for her job at the UN (And no, I never did work at the UN), I want to walk into a club with my two gorgeous, younger friends, one at each side, and feel the eyes of everyone in the room upon us. Because you can’t help but notice me and my posse. We are that striking. Each step in our Jimmy Choos is real estate we own. And like Sondra, the Patricia Heaton character in Mom’s Night Out, despite the ten years I have on my companions, I will look like I belong.
And for that, I won’t need to learn five languages or get a law degree. But I will need to lose some weight. I figure about 10 pounds.
Now, before you judge me for being motivated by some cheesy movie scene, I will point out that the reason these scenes appear in movies is precisely because they are powerful. Those women walking into that restaurant hit a universal truth. It’s practically Campbellesque. The plot built to that moment--the film maker wanted my reaction. Maybe it touched on something as mundane as recapturing my youth, I’m really not sure. But I know that I want to arrive somewhere, hair blowing back, my two gals--one blonde, one brunette--both gorgeous and much, much younger than me, my wing women. And it will be empowering.
It took almost the entire month of April but I have accomplished Simone’s first step. I know what I want to get out of my goal. Booyah.
This is my year of change. I hope you join me.
Please feel free to comment below.
Back when I was studying law at UC Berkeley, Boalt Hall, I was up for a pretty prestigious scholarship, for my skills for advocacy mostly. I’m sure you can’t tell here, but I’m a bit of a talker. I managed to use that talent to do well in classes that involved, well, talking persuasively. During my interview for my scholarship, I was asked the one question you would expect, the one you would prepare for: What made me want to study law? And I wasn’t prepared. Because I wanted to be spontaneous. Speak from the heart. No canned responses for me, talented speaker that I am. So no preparation.
That’s when I brought up Gidget.
You see, when I turned 9 years old, I was watching Gidget Grows Up, one of the Gidget episodes in which our dear heroine decides she wants to work at the United Nations. Because Gidget has only two years of college under her belt, the only job she can land is that of tour guide. Well, once I found out that a place like the UN existed, I got it in my head that one day I, like Gidget, would work there. Only I didn’t want to be a tour guide like Gidget. So I decided to become an attorney specializing in International Law.
I stuck religiously to this goal for 14 years. First, I studied languages--I could speak 5 by the time I graduated college. I received my undergraduate degree in International Relations. At Boalt Hall, I took classes in International Law.
Maybe it was the shock value--maybe the middle-aged white men in that room were tired of the same canned responses--but I got my scholarship admitting that Gidget influenced me to study law.
And now, I have found a new muse.
Last night, I watched Mom’s Night Out.
That scene where the ladies slow motion walk into the club like they own it? Yeah. I want to do that. Ok, they were actually walking down the sidewalk on their way to a chichi restaurant, but you get where I’m going with this. Just like that nine-year-old girl who spent fourteen years planning for her job at the UN (And no, I never did work at the UN), I want to walk into a club with my two gorgeous, younger friends, one at each side, and feel the eyes of everyone in the room upon us. Because you can’t help but notice me and my posse. We are that striking. Each step in our Jimmy Choos is real estate we own. And like Sondra, the Patricia Heaton character in Mom’s Night Out, despite the ten years I have on my companions, I will look like I belong.
And for that, I won’t need to learn five languages or get a law degree. But I will need to lose some weight. I figure about 10 pounds.
Now, before you judge me for being motivated by some cheesy movie scene, I will point out that the reason these scenes appear in movies is precisely because they are powerful. Those women walking into that restaurant hit a universal truth. It’s practically Campbellesque. The plot built to that moment--the film maker wanted my reaction. Maybe it touched on something as mundane as recapturing my youth, I’m really not sure. But I know that I want to arrive somewhere, hair blowing back, my two gals--one blonde, one brunette--both gorgeous and much, much younger than me, my wing women. And it will be empowering.
It took almost the entire month of April but I have accomplished Simone’s first step. I know what I want to get out of my goal. Booyah.
This is my year of change. I hope you join me.
Please feel free to comment below.
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