Today, the Washington Post came out with an article and named DC as having one of the riches suburbs in the nations. Does that make me feel richer living in the DC area? Nope, instead...it enforced the notion how everything is over priced here, and living here, I have to pay for it all! Worse, my salary still looks the same as yesterday!!!
DC Suburbs top List of Richest Counties
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Sake Tasting
Yes, most of your have probably done the wine tasting, and cheese tasting, but have you tried sake tasting?
Most people in the US have very little knowledge of sake. Sake in Japan refers to all alcohol, and what most Americans drink or call "sake" are really known as "nihhonshu" (prepared by brewing milled rice, water, yeast and other ingredients."
Moreover, a lot of Americans drink Sake warmed, but this is not how all sake should be served. yes, they do serve sake warm in Japan, but not all sake.
You can bring a new delightful twist to your next "tasting" party by hosting a SAKE-Sampling party. Things to note before your party: sake is categorized by the amount of rice grains polished. More polishing makes for a purer product.
Experts have suggested, like wine, you should serve from the lighter tasting to the heavier, more complex sake.
Example of what to serve:
Start with Junmai sake (amde with water and rice that has a 30% polish) - this of this as your regular table wine
Then move to Junmai ginjo (this will taste aromatic, with floral and anise with a smooth clean texture)
next, try a Honjozo sake - example: Ohkagura HOnjozo (made with distilled alcohol and rice) This one will taste rich and creamy with nutty aromas and a sweeter more full bodied texture.
Finish with a Daiginjo ( a combination of distilled alcohol and 50% polished rice). Try Nobu Diginjo - this is a full flavored sake with an assertive nutty aroma.
All of the above should be served Chilled!
Also, stay away from ceramic cups, those are usually reserved for warmed sake. Use wine glasses or shot glasses instead, or you want to be really fancy, you can buy glass sake cups.
And it is not necessary for oyu to serve sushi with your tasting, you can serve it with any beef, game or duck.
or to really show off your sake knowledge, do food paring as if you are serving wine. For example, Juneau jinjo are good with seafood and honkies are excellent with fried foods. But who really cares - as along as there is good food let your taste bud tell you which sake goes best with which food!
Most people in the US have very little knowledge of sake. Sake in Japan refers to all alcohol, and what most Americans drink or call "sake" are really known as "nihhonshu" (prepared by brewing milled rice, water, yeast and other ingredients."
Moreover, a lot of Americans drink Sake warmed, but this is not how all sake should be served. yes, they do serve sake warm in Japan, but not all sake.
You can bring a new delightful twist to your next "tasting" party by hosting a SAKE-Sampling party. Things to note before your party: sake is categorized by the amount of rice grains polished. More polishing makes for a purer product.
Experts have suggested, like wine, you should serve from the lighter tasting to the heavier, more complex sake.
Example of what to serve:
Start with Junmai sake (amde with water and rice that has a 30% polish) - this of this as your regular table wine
Then move to Junmai ginjo (this will taste aromatic, with floral and anise with a smooth clean texture)
next, try a Honjozo sake - example: Ohkagura HOnjozo (made with distilled alcohol and rice) This one will taste rich and creamy with nutty aromas and a sweeter more full bodied texture.
Finish with a Daiginjo ( a combination of distilled alcohol and 50% polished rice). Try Nobu Diginjo - this is a full flavored sake with an assertive nutty aroma.
All of the above should be served Chilled!
Also, stay away from ceramic cups, those are usually reserved for warmed sake. Use wine glasses or shot glasses instead, or you want to be really fancy, you can buy glass sake cups.
And it is not necessary for oyu to serve sushi with your tasting, you can serve it with any beef, game or duck.
or to really show off your sake knowledge, do food paring as if you are serving wine. For example, Juneau jinjo are good with seafood and honkies are excellent with fried foods. But who really cares - as along as there is good food let your taste bud tell you which sake goes best with which food!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
That is why we became lawyers
Today, while I riding on the metro to work, I pick up the free "Express" newspaper they give out here in the Washington, DC metro area - and of course this is in the paper.
A Shandong, China, student is suing his teacher claiming mental distress after being punished for sleeping in class, China Daily reported. Four months ago, Xiaodong fell asleep during class and was awakened by his teacher, Wang; when Xiaodong fell asleep again a few minutes later, Wang made the student stand in the corner of the room as punishment. He refused, walked out of class and went home.
And I am sure all lawyers all inspire to bring cases like such....
A Shandong, China, student is suing his teacher claiming mental distress after being punished for sleeping in class, China Daily reported. Four months ago, Xiaodong fell asleep during class and was awakened by his teacher, Wang; when Xiaodong fell asleep again a few minutes later, Wang made the student stand in the corner of the room as punishment. He refused, walked out of class and went home.
And I am sure all lawyers all inspire to bring cases like such....
Friday, August 18, 2006
Mid-Life Crisis
It has appeared to me that numerous co-workers at my job are currently through mid-life crisis! I mean, does everyone really go through mid-life crisis??? What is this all about. All the men in my office around their 40s want to get out of their marriage, want to have a new girlfriend... basically want to be different than they are now. I am not sure if they are "bored", and this age thing is really hitting them or what - but what is this phenomena?
Here are some insights from the internet:
Midlife is the old age of youth and the youth of old age.Proverb
If this is true then many people are standing on the threshold of a "new youth." It is what Gail Sheehy in her book, New Passages, calls the "second adulthood." We all have a second chance at becoming the person we are meant to be. This second chance is called midlife. However, midlife is a new and often dangerous territory.
What is a helpful image for the midlife process? Perhaps it is the Midlife Quest in which there is a challenging adventure of seeking, exploration, and discovery. Or, it might be Midlife Metamorphosis where there is the profound change of reformation and transformation. Another image is that of Midlife Renaissance with a new birth, a new beginning, and a chance to start over. There is also the possibility of Midlife Crisis where there is a sense of urgency along with intense emotion and perplexity. Of the four possibilities it is Midlife Crisis that is ultimately most appropriate. This is because the two fundamental elements of crisis are found in all of the images.
A Dangerous Opportunity
The Chinese word for crisis readily shows these two basic elements. In the Chinese language the ideogram for crisis is made up of two separate characters. One of these characters represents "danger" and the other represents "opportunity." Thus the proper translation of crisis from Chinese is as a "dangerous opportunity." Any crisis in our lives provides the chance for change and growth -- the opportunity -- as well as the risk of regression or stagnation -- the danger. In the images of Quest, Metamorphosis, or Renaissance both opportunity and danger exist. You may not always attain the goal of the Quest, the Metamorphosis may not be complete, and the Renaissance may be a still birth. The danger of midlife is very real. Successful transition to the next life stage is not guaranteed.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
How to Stay Awake at Work
It is that time of the day around 3:30, and all I want to do is take a nap.... how am I ever going to stay awake? Anyone has any ideas? please help!!!
Friday, July 28, 2006
After the bar
Yeah! I am finally done with the NY State bar, I now feel like I can move on with my life. Surprisingly, I ran into about 20 people I knew at the test center. Yes, I know, there were thousands of people there, so knowing 20 people is really not a big deal. At the same time, I knew these people from all different walks of life! It still amazes me how EVERYONE is becoming a lawyer.
Moreover, there were many people I knew from college - and they were all pre-meds...hmm..... I guess when people realize they cannot or do not want to be a doctor....they just install plan 2 - and become a lawyer.
Moreover, there were many people I knew from college - and they were all pre-meds...hmm..... I guess when people realize they cannot or do not want to be a doctor....they just install plan 2 - and become a lawyer.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
NY State Bar
The Summer 2006 bar is only a few days away. Taking the bar the second time is no easier than the first time! (this is true even when you pass the bar the first time). My initial plan was to study up until the day before the bar because I did not have much time to study this year (thanks to working full time). All I have to say is - the plan was nice, but not going to happen. Three days before the bar, and I just don't want to study anymore. I guess I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best when the bar roll around in a few days.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Monday, July 03, 2006
Be the next reality TV Star?
ABC is looking for the next reality tv star Right here in the Washington, DC area!!!
June 29, 2006 — Looking for adventure and up for a challenge? Need to add some excitement to your life? "Primetime" is looking for people to participate in an adventure in the Washington, D.C., area. Now's your chance to try something new. Are you lively, energetic, with a dazzling personality? Do you love taking risks?
If you love to take on new, exciting challenges, live within a three-hour drive of Washington, D.C., and are willing to be on camera, please tell us briefly about yourself and your situation, and include a photograph.
Sign up with ABC
June 29, 2006 — Looking for adventure and up for a challenge? Need to add some excitement to your life? "Primetime" is looking for people to participate in an adventure in the Washington, D.C., area. Now's your chance to try something new. Are you lively, energetic, with a dazzling personality? Do you love taking risks?
If you love to take on new, exciting challenges, live within a three-hour drive of Washington, D.C., and are willing to be on camera, please tell us briefly about yourself and your situation, and include a photograph.
Sign up with ABC
Friday, June 23, 2006
Renova Black
Move over traditional white toilet paper - you just can't compete with remove black. What is all this buzz about - what are we going COO COO for black toilet paper??? That is the question I want to know. But hey, it sure looks cool - just another design concept to make your bathroom look extra cool
and they don't just come in black - there is also red and orange!
Happiness = S + C + V
On the metro ride this morning, I was reading the free newspaper "Express." There was this article that spelled out the secret formula to happiness. Yes, so it seems simple, that we can reduce everything to a mathematical equation.... but then reality hits
S is your biological disposition toward being happy, aka your "happiness set point"
C represents the conditions in which you live, some of which are fixed ( i.e. age or gender) and some of which you can change (i.e. relationships)
V stands for voluntary activities that you engage in i.e. work, vacation etc.
What I mean by reality is - it looks all simple when we reduce all the factors down to three variables. However, within each variable, there are just too many factors. For example: C really equals i.e. X(age) + Y(gender) + Z(relationship) + A(city you live in) + ...etc. So what is the point, in the end, even after knowing the mathematical equation - there is no way for us to add up all the different factors we need to make ourselves happier - or even to add it up to know what out happiness level is..... hmmm.......
S is your biological disposition toward being happy, aka your "happiness set point"
C represents the conditions in which you live, some of which are fixed ( i.e. age or gender) and some of which you can change (i.e. relationships)
V stands for voluntary activities that you engage in i.e. work, vacation etc.
What I mean by reality is - it looks all simple when we reduce all the factors down to three variables. However, within each variable, there are just too many factors. For example: C really equals i.e. X(age) + Y(gender) + Z(relationship) + A(city you live in) + ...etc. So what is the point, in the end, even after knowing the mathematical equation - there is no way for us to add up all the different factors we need to make ourselves happier - or even to add it up to know what out happiness level is..... hmmm.......
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Trick to Flirting
A wise guy once told me the trick to get any guy is "just be a little flirty, but not the over-the-top Adams Morgan style flirty (meaning that the girl would lay everything out there like a piece of fruit waiting for a buyer). Instead the flirting must be slightly dangerous, more subtle, keep-your-distance-or-you-might-get-burned style."
now - can someone interpret that for me? just exacltly how to do the
a) slightly dangerous
b) more subtle
c) keep-your-distance-or your might get burned
seems like a lot of steps to me.....
now - can someone interpret that for me? just exacltly how to do the
a) slightly dangerous
b) more subtle
c) keep-your-distance-or your might get burned
seems like a lot of steps to me.....
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Fun in Bar class
No - this is not a bartenders class many you of think this is. This is, instead, the dreadful prep class for the New York State Bar Exam. Yes, all lawyers have to go though it even though we have fought for years for the elimination of the bar exam. And no, this class is not fun, this class is filled with anxious recent law graduates who believes their lives are dependent on passing this ONE exam. This is the last stretch of the marathon we have all been running from about at least 4 years ago when we started preparing for the LSAT (the law school standardized test). And if we don't make this last stretch - well, it is as if we ran 24 miles of a marathon without being able to finish the last 2 miles, and hence, no medal!
Yes, even in this stressful situation - there is the light!!! There are cuties in the class. And just think - no greater ways to bond than to go though some horrific event with someone (and yes, studying for any state bar is a horrific event). So, turn on your magic and talk to that cutie you have been eying in class - and hey, you never know what will happen. Not to mention - hey, these people WILL be LAWYERS!!! (there are worse professions that you can pick up)
Yes, even in this stressful situation - there is the light!!! There are cuties in the class. And just think - no greater ways to bond than to go though some horrific event with someone (and yes, studying for any state bar is a horrific event). So, turn on your magic and talk to that cutie you have been eying in class - and hey, you never know what will happen. Not to mention - hey, these people WILL be LAWYERS!!! (there are worse professions that you can pick up)
Friday, June 09, 2006
p.i.n.k. = the new red bull & vodka?
the saying goes "doctors are druggies and lawyers are alcoholics!" And here is a lawyer at his best - a former Federal Aviation Administration lawyer has knew how to party - and to satisfy the need to party with the need stay up to handle the cases stacked at the desk, the former lawyer came up with the perfect solution and invented p.i.n.k.
p.i.n.k. is Vodka infused with both caffeine and extract from the Brazilian guarana plant. Marketed under the slogan "World's Perfect Party Spirit," p.i.n.k. provides a kick more akin to an espresso than a martini.
there you have it folks - let the lawyers do what they are best at!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
666
Today is June 6th, 2006, or 06/06/06 or simply 666. The day of the devil. Well, I looked around me, I am still alive, everyone around me looks the same, it looks the same outside...hmm.... like the millennium, nothing drastic happened.
or..... we are all fooled because we need to wait until 6:06pm (and 6 seconds) tonight. So be careful ladies and gentlemen because it is possible that on the day of 666 and at time mailto:666!!@)(@&$*(#&$(&#
Then again, the real 6:06 was this morning. Many of us use military time, so 6pm tonight will be 18hr..... I guess perhaps we are safe after all.
or..... we are all fooled because we need to wait until 6:06pm (and 6 seconds) tonight. So be careful ladies and gentlemen because it is possible that on the day of 666 and at time mailto:666!!@)(@&$*(#&$(&#
Then again, the real 6:06 was this morning. Many of us use military time, so 6pm tonight will be 18hr..... I guess perhaps we are safe after all.
Monday, June 05, 2006
TAGTOWN
I was reading the paper on my metro ride this morning, and an article caught my attention in the newspaper. The article is titled "Are we in 'Tagtown'?" And yes, I do wear an ID badge to work, this is how I can get in and out of my building, and to move around with looking like someone who does not belong. Personally I do not like to wear the ID badge at all.... But apparently, according to the article, people wear their ID badge proudly. The article states "...some people, particularly young people, want that extra patina of prestige. In Washington, you are much more recognized as a position than as a personality."
I wonder if this is true... Yes, I can see how people are more recognized as a position - but that is not exclusive to DC. From my experience, people are generally well recognized as a position first, then a personality second in most big cities. But they like to wear a badge!!!???!!!! The only good thing I see with the badge is that I don't have to remember anyone's name - I can just look at their badge, so it does come in handy. Other than that...hmmmm....... it is like free advertising for your employer!
I wonder if this is true... Yes, I can see how people are more recognized as a position - but that is not exclusive to DC. From my experience, people are generally well recognized as a position first, then a personality second in most big cities. But they like to wear a badge!!!???!!!! The only good thing I see with the badge is that I don't have to remember anyone's name - I can just look at their badge, so it does come in handy. Other than that...hmmmm....... it is like free advertising for your employer!
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
The New Trophy Wife
Moral of the Story (for those who don't have time to read the article): we need to be drop dead georgeous and SMART!!! So getting that advance degree is a KEY element in marring rich. (okay, it is not a necessity, but why not increase your chances?)
Seriously now- the real moral of the story - be careful! you never know who is the trophy in the relationship
The New Trophy Wife By: Deborah SiegelSummary: Alpha women are highly sought-after partners, but men may be more intimidated than they admit.
Pete Beeman, a 36-year-old sculptor, met Page Fortna, 34, on New Year's Eve in 1997, while she was studying for a doctorate in political science. "I was totally impressed that she was getting a Ph.D.," recalls Beeman. "She has a powerhouse background that speaks of personal drive and dedication. It was attractive, not in a sexual way, but in a necessary way. I'm not interested in someone who doesn't have as much to offer me as I have to offer her."
Massimo Tassan-Solet met Karin Dauch at an Internet merger party in 2000. She introduced herself to the derivatives trader, now 36, by announcing, "Hi, I'm Karin, and I have to go now." "She was strong and unconventional in her approach, but she did it with humor," recalls Tassan-Solet of Dauch, who at age 29 owned doubleKappa, a Web design and branding company. "I don't look at people as a list of what they've done," says Tassan-Solet. "But what she's done is remarkable."
Beeman and Tassan-Solet aren't the only newlyweds who are proud of their wives' CVs. New trends in the mating game—marrying someone like yourself—plus an unstable economy breathe new life into the term "peer marriage." In previous generations, successful doctors, lawyers and bankers sought wives who looked good, were well-bred and made a mean Stroganoff to boot. Now, more and more alpha males are looking for something else from the A-list: accomplishment.
According to a Match.com poll, 48 percent of men (and an equal percentage of women) reported dating partners who drew the same income as they did. Twenty percent of men reported dating women who earned more. Jim Pak, 34, was introduced to Kristin Ketner, 38, a Harvard MBA and a hedge fund manager, through a mutual friend, who warned him not to be intimidated by her credentials. She was a research analyst for Goldman Sachs; he was unemployed and playing a lot of golf. "In certain regards, she outshines me," says Pak of his wife. "She's more accomplished academically. People may be more impressed with her than with me." (Pak is now chief financial officer at an electronic stock trading services group.)
Men's attraction to professionally achieving mates is one piece of a much larger story. "We're experiencing a historic change in the things people want out of marriage, the reasons they enter into it and stay in it," says historian Stephanie Coontz of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Men in their 20s and 30s embarking on first marriages are relieved to no longer be the sole breadwinner and decision-maker, a burden many watched their fathers shoulder. "These men are truly redefining masculinity," says Terrence Real, a psychologist and author of How Can I Get Through to You? Closing the Intimacy Gap Between Men and Women. And the pursuit of a high-achiever is not solely the province of youth. Status-conscious tycoons want to have second marriages—and affairs—with alpha women. "Older men want the most impressive achiever in the office. In the eyes of a man's peers, the woman with the career and degrees counts for more than Miss America," says Frank Pittman, psychiatrist to Atlanta's elite. "Status is attached to a woman who is successful, not to a woman with a perfectly pear-shaped ass."
Common wisdom holds that men are socially programmed and biologically compelled to select women based on beauty and youth, physical traits that signal reproductive health. But many men date "across" and, increasingly, "up" the axes of education and achievement, with less regard for age, or for the notorious "arm candy" factor.
"There's a higher degree of parity between marital partners," observes Pak. "Men want a wife who reflect well in every aspect." In some circles, more eyebrows are raised when a guy marries a woman who doesn't match him in education or professional status. Says David, a single 33-year-old assistant professor at a prestigious university who routinely filters online dating ads using the criterion of education: "If I were with someone who wasn't of comparable intelligence, energy and drive, there'd be those who thought I'd wimped out and chosen a relationship where I could call the shots and be the all-powerful center."
"Showing up with a stacked bubblehead is like conspicuous consumption," agrees Real. "It's embarrassing to flag yourself as not interested in a real relationship." But is a woman's success sexy?
"Absolutely," says David. "And the absence of an attempt to do something interesting or difficult is a turnoff." Henry Kissinger may have been right: Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Rise of the Power Bride
When Scott South, a sociologist at the University at Albany, State University of New York, examined the characteristics most desirable to black and white men ages 19 to 35, he found that a woman's ability to hold a steady job mattered more than her age, previous marriages, maternal status, religion or race. Men were more willing to marry women with more, rather than less, education than they themselves had. A wise move, since women eclipse men at the same rates at which they attain bachelor's and master's degrees, and the number of women pursuing higher education continues to steadily climb.
Many of today's grooms believe that through positive or negative example, their own moms set the stage for a high-octane wife. After his parents separated when he was 12, Jim Pak watched his mother raise three kids while pursuing an advanced degree in art history. "That kind of role model helps you not be intimidated by highly motivated, successful women," he says. Others view their mothers' lives as cautionary tales. "My mom was very unhappy that she had little energy for anything other than raising her four kids," says a former newlywed groom who married a woman who works in finance. "I wouldn't want to marry someone who felt that unfulfilled."
"Our generation is highly cognizant of the divorce rate," adds Pak. "We learned from our parents' mistakes."
But it's not always easy. Charting a marital course markedly different from that of one's parents means there's no role model to consult. And alpha woman expects more of a domestic partnership—and an emotional connection—than her husband may have seen growing up. "Women are demanding more emotionally because logistically they don't have to get married," says Real. "They want guys to be articulate and open about their feelings." The trouble, finds Real, is that "most men are not trained to do those things."
A solution to this impasse, says Barry McCarthy, a psychologist in Washington, D.C., who works with many high-achieving couples, is for spouses to communicate their expectations from the get-go: "It's great that men are no longer the success object and women are no longer the sex object. But when people organize their lives differently from their cultures or families of origin, they have to make it work practically and emotionally. You have to negotiate before [marriage] how you're going to deal with the core issues of sex, money and kids."
The Unromantic Bottom Line
There's another pragmatic reason men prize new high-earning brides. Our romantic ideals are always grounded in economic realities, from the Victorian marriage model to the 1980s masters of the universe for whom a standard-issue trophy wife was a badge of honor. The bearish market calls for couples to act as an economic unit. Families with two breadwinners have been in the majority since 1998, and single twentysomethings' and thirtysomethings' desire for a two-income merger has intensified in the shadow of the recession. Women earn less than men (78 cents to the male dollar) and seriously lag in the highest-paying sectors, like engineering, investment banking and high tech. But wives have been catching up to and surpassing their husbands since the 1980s, particularly among the well-off. (Of wives who earn more than $100,000, one in three is married to a husband earning less.)
"It used to be that men were a good catch because they were high earners. It now looks like this applies to women, too," says University of Wisconsin economist Maria Cancian, who teamed up with Megan Sweeney, a University of California, Los Angeles sociologist, to study the increased importance of wives' wages.
How openly embraced is the prospect of a female breadwinner? According to Pak, a 30-year-old is much less likely than his father to correlate his self-worth with his ability to provide for a family. Pak's wife, Ketner, believes that men who are comfortable with themselves will factor a potential bride's income into the marital calculus, as women have long done. Says Page Fortna, "Men think, 'If we combined our two incomes, how would we do?' But I wouldn't say it's flipped [to the point where] men say, 'I won't have to work, I'll just live off her.'"
Real is more emphatic: "Men aren't just OK with it. They're relieved." Men have long considered traditional marital roles "anemic and constricting," according to Real, and no longer being the sole breadwinner is a loosening of the straitjacket. Not to mention the improved standard of living. "These guys aren't worried about their male ego in relation to their wife's income," says Real. "They just want to plan a nice vacation together."
If financial straits make alpha women hot commodities for younger men, then financial and social status make these same women desirable to older men seeking a mistress or second wife. "Men have always chosen women who make them feel heroic," states Pittman. "It used to be sufficient to be the hero in your wife's and children's eyes. But when narcissistic men feel they've undermarried and their kids are grown, the real audience becomes your peers, the guys who are eating their hearts out because you've just married a former stripper turned circuit court judge."
Powerful men seek powerful wives, and in an era in which power is increasingly equated with intellectual capital, that translates into wives who match or perhaps even exceed their husbands in educational and professional status. (Think Candace Carpenter, founder of iVillage and second wife of Random House president and CEO Peter Olson.)
If men in first marriages are relieved to be outearned by spouse or partner, some older men are positively "proud" of this fact, finds Pittman, who also notes a spike in the number of thirtysomething and fortysomething men pursuing older, successful women. But when it comes to second wives, some things never change. Whether she's a 27-year-old secretary or a 47-year-old corporate vice president, the second wife will likely not be as beneficial a partner as was the first, says Pittman. "The woman who has seen a man get started and develop is more useful than the woman for whom he always has to perform, who may bring out the worst in him."
Alpha-alpha first and second marriages make sense against the backdrop of a shifting pecking order in the nation's governing class. As author David Brooks noted, changes in the prestige factor among couples whose wedding announcements make The New York Times bear this out. "Pedigreed elite used to be based on noble birth and breeding," writes Brooks in Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There." Now it's genius that enables you to join the elect."
A Confidence Gap
If high-aiming women are more marriage-eligible than ever, why don't they seem to know it? When a Match.com poll asked marriage-minded men whether they were reluctant to seek out career women as partners, 62 percent said no. But 74 percent of the women surveyed think men are intimidated by women with high-powered careers. "Women have an asset they perceive as a liability," says Pepper Schwartz, author of Love Between Equals: How Peer Marriage Really Works and professor of sociology at the University of Washington. "Young men see these women growing up: She's your doctor, your teacher, your professor. These models can be quite erotic."
So why, then, the confidence gap? Men may be more intimidated by high-powered women than they're willing to admit. And high-achieving women, who tend to marry later, are used to being told that success causes their marrying and childbearing stock to plummet. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author of Creating a Life: Professional Women and the Quest for Children, made headlines in 2002 by recycling the claim that the more a woman achieves in the workplace, the less likely she is to marry or to have kids. The book triggered a panic reminiscent of Newsweek's highly publicized 1986 report that a 40-year-old woman was more likely to be attacked by terrorists than to marry. That "finding" turned out to be a tale as tall as the heels on single icon Carrie Bradshaw's Manolo Blahniks, and Hewlett's conclusions, based on a small sample of highly elite women, are equally suspect when applied to professionally ambitious women at large.
When Heather Boushey of the Center for Economic Policy Research in Washington, D.C., crunched numbers on 33.6 million American women (gleaned from the 2000 and 2001 Current Population Survey), she found that women between the ages of 28 and 35 who work full time and earn more than $55,000 per year or have a graduate or professional degree are just as likely to be successfully married as other women who work full time. They're just finding love slightly later. While American women marry on average at age 25, college graduates marry at 27. Those with masters or professional degrees wed on average at age 30.
Pop-psych punditry about fragile male egos may cloud the real problem inherent in many alpha-alpha marriages. Psychologists agree that difficulties most often arise not because a man feels emasculated by his wife's star power ("No one can emasculate you except you," avows Pak), but because the woman grows disappointed with her partner.
"If a woman is powerful, smart and ambitious, her expectations for her husband, and for the relationship, rise," says Nando Pelusi, a New York City psychologist who has counseled plenty of alpha-alpha pairings. McCarthy says it's the primary reason that middle-class marriages fail in the first five years: The woman feels her spouse is not keeping his end of the pact.
And when women feel that their husbands aren't reaching their earning or emoting potential, men may decide they've gotten more than they bargained for. "Men truly want brighter, more articulate, aggressive women. They want to be seen in the world with them. But they also want these women to leave some of it at the doorstep," says Real. "These guys love their wives. They just haven't figured out what to do when that strength is channeled toward them."
Real is quick to add that most wouldn't have it any other way. "I must have said it a thousand times," he quips: "'Mr. Jones, you wouldn't be happy with the kind of woman who would put up with you.'"
True to form, most alpha males take pride in the bumps. "If I can sustain a relationship with a real, serious, powerful, happening gal, it means that I'm more real, serious and happening," says Beeman.
"Being involved with these women is like driving a Ferrari," says Pelusi. "It can be uncomfortable and dangerous, but it's ultimately more rewarding than owning a Ford Taurus, which is safe but boring."
Seriously now- the real moral of the story - be careful! you never know who is the trophy in the relationship
The New Trophy Wife By: Deborah SiegelSummary: Alpha women are highly sought-after partners, but men may be more intimidated than they admit.
Pete Beeman, a 36-year-old sculptor, met Page Fortna, 34, on New Year's Eve in 1997, while she was studying for a doctorate in political science. "I was totally impressed that she was getting a Ph.D.," recalls Beeman. "She has a powerhouse background that speaks of personal drive and dedication. It was attractive, not in a sexual way, but in a necessary way. I'm not interested in someone who doesn't have as much to offer me as I have to offer her."
Massimo Tassan-Solet met Karin Dauch at an Internet merger party in 2000. She introduced herself to the derivatives trader, now 36, by announcing, "Hi, I'm Karin, and I have to go now." "She was strong and unconventional in her approach, but she did it with humor," recalls Tassan-Solet of Dauch, who at age 29 owned doubleKappa, a Web design and branding company. "I don't look at people as a list of what they've done," says Tassan-Solet. "But what she's done is remarkable."
Beeman and Tassan-Solet aren't the only newlyweds who are proud of their wives' CVs. New trends in the mating game—marrying someone like yourself—plus an unstable economy breathe new life into the term "peer marriage." In previous generations, successful doctors, lawyers and bankers sought wives who looked good, were well-bred and made a mean Stroganoff to boot. Now, more and more alpha males are looking for something else from the A-list: accomplishment.
According to a Match.com poll, 48 percent of men (and an equal percentage of women) reported dating partners who drew the same income as they did. Twenty percent of men reported dating women who earned more. Jim Pak, 34, was introduced to Kristin Ketner, 38, a Harvard MBA and a hedge fund manager, through a mutual friend, who warned him not to be intimidated by her credentials. She was a research analyst for Goldman Sachs; he was unemployed and playing a lot of golf. "In certain regards, she outshines me," says Pak of his wife. "She's more accomplished academically. People may be more impressed with her than with me." (Pak is now chief financial officer at an electronic stock trading services group.)
Men's attraction to professionally achieving mates is one piece of a much larger story. "We're experiencing a historic change in the things people want out of marriage, the reasons they enter into it and stay in it," says historian Stephanie Coontz of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Men in their 20s and 30s embarking on first marriages are relieved to no longer be the sole breadwinner and decision-maker, a burden many watched their fathers shoulder. "These men are truly redefining masculinity," says Terrence Real, a psychologist and author of How Can I Get Through to You? Closing the Intimacy Gap Between Men and Women. And the pursuit of a high-achiever is not solely the province of youth. Status-conscious tycoons want to have second marriages—and affairs—with alpha women. "Older men want the most impressive achiever in the office. In the eyes of a man's peers, the woman with the career and degrees counts for more than Miss America," says Frank Pittman, psychiatrist to Atlanta's elite. "Status is attached to a woman who is successful, not to a woman with a perfectly pear-shaped ass."
Common wisdom holds that men are socially programmed and biologically compelled to select women based on beauty and youth, physical traits that signal reproductive health. But many men date "across" and, increasingly, "up" the axes of education and achievement, with less regard for age, or for the notorious "arm candy" factor.
"There's a higher degree of parity between marital partners," observes Pak. "Men want a wife who reflect well in every aspect." In some circles, more eyebrows are raised when a guy marries a woman who doesn't match him in education or professional status. Says David, a single 33-year-old assistant professor at a prestigious university who routinely filters online dating ads using the criterion of education: "If I were with someone who wasn't of comparable intelligence, energy and drive, there'd be those who thought I'd wimped out and chosen a relationship where I could call the shots and be the all-powerful center."
"Showing up with a stacked bubblehead is like conspicuous consumption," agrees Real. "It's embarrassing to flag yourself as not interested in a real relationship." But is a woman's success sexy?
"Absolutely," says David. "And the absence of an attempt to do something interesting or difficult is a turnoff." Henry Kissinger may have been right: Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Rise of the Power Bride
When Scott South, a sociologist at the University at Albany, State University of New York, examined the characteristics most desirable to black and white men ages 19 to 35, he found that a woman's ability to hold a steady job mattered more than her age, previous marriages, maternal status, religion or race. Men were more willing to marry women with more, rather than less, education than they themselves had. A wise move, since women eclipse men at the same rates at which they attain bachelor's and master's degrees, and the number of women pursuing higher education continues to steadily climb.
Many of today's grooms believe that through positive or negative example, their own moms set the stage for a high-octane wife. After his parents separated when he was 12, Jim Pak watched his mother raise three kids while pursuing an advanced degree in art history. "That kind of role model helps you not be intimidated by highly motivated, successful women," he says. Others view their mothers' lives as cautionary tales. "My mom was very unhappy that she had little energy for anything other than raising her four kids," says a former newlywed groom who married a woman who works in finance. "I wouldn't want to marry someone who felt that unfulfilled."
"Our generation is highly cognizant of the divorce rate," adds Pak. "We learned from our parents' mistakes."
But it's not always easy. Charting a marital course markedly different from that of one's parents means there's no role model to consult. And alpha woman expects more of a domestic partnership—and an emotional connection—than her husband may have seen growing up. "Women are demanding more emotionally because logistically they don't have to get married," says Real. "They want guys to be articulate and open about their feelings." The trouble, finds Real, is that "most men are not trained to do those things."
A solution to this impasse, says Barry McCarthy, a psychologist in Washington, D.C., who works with many high-achieving couples, is for spouses to communicate their expectations from the get-go: "It's great that men are no longer the success object and women are no longer the sex object. But when people organize their lives differently from their cultures or families of origin, they have to make it work practically and emotionally. You have to negotiate before [marriage] how you're going to deal with the core issues of sex, money and kids."
The Unromantic Bottom Line
There's another pragmatic reason men prize new high-earning brides. Our romantic ideals are always grounded in economic realities, from the Victorian marriage model to the 1980s masters of the universe for whom a standard-issue trophy wife was a badge of honor. The bearish market calls for couples to act as an economic unit. Families with two breadwinners have been in the majority since 1998, and single twentysomethings' and thirtysomethings' desire for a two-income merger has intensified in the shadow of the recession. Women earn less than men (78 cents to the male dollar) and seriously lag in the highest-paying sectors, like engineering, investment banking and high tech. But wives have been catching up to and surpassing their husbands since the 1980s, particularly among the well-off. (Of wives who earn more than $100,000, one in three is married to a husband earning less.)
"It used to be that men were a good catch because they were high earners. It now looks like this applies to women, too," says University of Wisconsin economist Maria Cancian, who teamed up with Megan Sweeney, a University of California, Los Angeles sociologist, to study the increased importance of wives' wages.
How openly embraced is the prospect of a female breadwinner? According to Pak, a 30-year-old is much less likely than his father to correlate his self-worth with his ability to provide for a family. Pak's wife, Ketner, believes that men who are comfortable with themselves will factor a potential bride's income into the marital calculus, as women have long done. Says Page Fortna, "Men think, 'If we combined our two incomes, how would we do?' But I wouldn't say it's flipped [to the point where] men say, 'I won't have to work, I'll just live off her.'"
Real is more emphatic: "Men aren't just OK with it. They're relieved." Men have long considered traditional marital roles "anemic and constricting," according to Real, and no longer being the sole breadwinner is a loosening of the straitjacket. Not to mention the improved standard of living. "These guys aren't worried about their male ego in relation to their wife's income," says Real. "They just want to plan a nice vacation together."
If financial straits make alpha women hot commodities for younger men, then financial and social status make these same women desirable to older men seeking a mistress or second wife. "Men have always chosen women who make them feel heroic," states Pittman. "It used to be sufficient to be the hero in your wife's and children's eyes. But when narcissistic men feel they've undermarried and their kids are grown, the real audience becomes your peers, the guys who are eating their hearts out because you've just married a former stripper turned circuit court judge."
Powerful men seek powerful wives, and in an era in which power is increasingly equated with intellectual capital, that translates into wives who match or perhaps even exceed their husbands in educational and professional status. (Think Candace Carpenter, founder of iVillage and second wife of Random House president and CEO Peter Olson.)
If men in first marriages are relieved to be outearned by spouse or partner, some older men are positively "proud" of this fact, finds Pittman, who also notes a spike in the number of thirtysomething and fortysomething men pursuing older, successful women. But when it comes to second wives, some things never change. Whether she's a 27-year-old secretary or a 47-year-old corporate vice president, the second wife will likely not be as beneficial a partner as was the first, says Pittman. "The woman who has seen a man get started and develop is more useful than the woman for whom he always has to perform, who may bring out the worst in him."
Alpha-alpha first and second marriages make sense against the backdrop of a shifting pecking order in the nation's governing class. As author David Brooks noted, changes in the prestige factor among couples whose wedding announcements make The New York Times bear this out. "Pedigreed elite used to be based on noble birth and breeding," writes Brooks in Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There." Now it's genius that enables you to join the elect."
A Confidence Gap
If high-aiming women are more marriage-eligible than ever, why don't they seem to know it? When a Match.com poll asked marriage-minded men whether they were reluctant to seek out career women as partners, 62 percent said no. But 74 percent of the women surveyed think men are intimidated by women with high-powered careers. "Women have an asset they perceive as a liability," says Pepper Schwartz, author of Love Between Equals: How Peer Marriage Really Works and professor of sociology at the University of Washington. "Young men see these women growing up: She's your doctor, your teacher, your professor. These models can be quite erotic."
So why, then, the confidence gap? Men may be more intimidated by high-powered women than they're willing to admit. And high-achieving women, who tend to marry later, are used to being told that success causes their marrying and childbearing stock to plummet. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author of Creating a Life: Professional Women and the Quest for Children, made headlines in 2002 by recycling the claim that the more a woman achieves in the workplace, the less likely she is to marry or to have kids. The book triggered a panic reminiscent of Newsweek's highly publicized 1986 report that a 40-year-old woman was more likely to be attacked by terrorists than to marry. That "finding" turned out to be a tale as tall as the heels on single icon Carrie Bradshaw's Manolo Blahniks, and Hewlett's conclusions, based on a small sample of highly elite women, are equally suspect when applied to professionally ambitious women at large.
When Heather Boushey of the Center for Economic Policy Research in Washington, D.C., crunched numbers on 33.6 million American women (gleaned from the 2000 and 2001 Current Population Survey), she found that women between the ages of 28 and 35 who work full time and earn more than $55,000 per year or have a graduate or professional degree are just as likely to be successfully married as other women who work full time. They're just finding love slightly later. While American women marry on average at age 25, college graduates marry at 27. Those with masters or professional degrees wed on average at age 30.
Pop-psych punditry about fragile male egos may cloud the real problem inherent in many alpha-alpha marriages. Psychologists agree that difficulties most often arise not because a man feels emasculated by his wife's star power ("No one can emasculate you except you," avows Pak), but because the woman grows disappointed with her partner.
"If a woman is powerful, smart and ambitious, her expectations for her husband, and for the relationship, rise," says Nando Pelusi, a New York City psychologist who has counseled plenty of alpha-alpha pairings. McCarthy says it's the primary reason that middle-class marriages fail in the first five years: The woman feels her spouse is not keeping his end of the pact.
And when women feel that their husbands aren't reaching their earning or emoting potential, men may decide they've gotten more than they bargained for. "Men truly want brighter, more articulate, aggressive women. They want to be seen in the world with them. But they also want these women to leave some of it at the doorstep," says Real. "These guys love their wives. They just haven't figured out what to do when that strength is channeled toward them."
Real is quick to add that most wouldn't have it any other way. "I must have said it a thousand times," he quips: "'Mr. Jones, you wouldn't be happy with the kind of woman who would put up with you.'"
True to form, most alpha males take pride in the bumps. "If I can sustain a relationship with a real, serious, powerful, happening gal, it means that I'm more real, serious and happening," says Beeman.
"Being involved with these women is like driving a Ferrari," says Pelusi. "It can be uncomfortable and dangerous, but it's ultimately more rewarding than owning a Ford Taurus, which is safe but boring."
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
How to Marry Rich
How to marry rich
By Xanadu Xero - RAW STORY COLUMNIST
Dusk. I was splayed on my loveseat when a Higher Power spoke to me. In song! Right through a laptop MP3! An old, wailing blues diva delivered the Word: “You can sell it, honey, or sit on it, but girl – don’t you give it away…”
NOW she tells me.
“It’s just as easy to marry a rich man as a poor man,” my mother chirped throughout my teen-hood, when there was still hope. What a crock.
To marry a poor man, all you need is a fifth of Mescal and gas to Vegas. To marry rich in L.A. however…
Heed me, my sisters – you need a plan.
Back in Mom & friends’ moneyed MILF heyday, some hot, Swedish imports blew onto their scene, staking claims in the Beverly Hills Wife Club. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, but ah, ‘twas not the case.
Legend goes that an entrepreneurial older woman (I’d cast Charlotte Rampling) handpicked the perky cupcakes back in Sverige. She perfected their English, dressed them, taught them the arcane ‘which fork’ etiquette that B.H. mistakes for class.
When the bait was prepped (and here lies the brilliance) Madam dangled her herrings in all the right ponds. Lunch, dinner, cocktails at Rich Man haunts, golf/tennis lessons at country clubs, etc.
‘Etc.’ including, I’d wager, scads of unspeakable acts, and how to think of the Queen when grossly disgusted.
It wasn’t long before the bait was snapped up. Nouveau Riche men love nothing more than a natural blonde (carpet matches drapes). Madam was paid, discreetly, a large, pre-arranged fee.
(Wait. Time out. Think about this: ‘Extreme Makeover – The Real Thing’. Would that be a, like, dope reality show or what? Producers, contact me.)
I was recently buoyed by an ad for a seminar given by Lisa Johnson, auteur of the codex, ‘How To Snare A Millionaire.’ Who says our country has eschewed the middle class? Golddigging has come to the people!
“Erase the word ‘golddigging’ from your mind!” simply bubbles Ms. Johnson. Fast-forward to said seminar with my butt in a chair. “Women are hard-wired to mate with the alpha male. Biology is destiny.”
Yeah? Then wouldn’t it follow that the ‘alpha male’ would choose the youngest, most fertile, most beautiful female, knocking all of the broads here right out of the ring?
“I feel its my right as a woman to be well taken care of” snorts a tan, one-process redhead with dye on her scalp who, at fifty-some, has the face she deserves.
“Absolutely!” says Lisa. “I mean, all power to any woman who can get rich on her own, you know? But me…” she shrugs, “I’m artistic.”
We are gathered, to succor destiny, at the LAX (Airport) Holiday Inn, a ghastly place. A jog to the runways, on a sleazy boulevard, you can feel rats in the walls without being psychic. Packs of rap-clad young men clogged the entrance and lobby, perhaps looking for women to beat.
‘The Rich Have To Marry — Why Not You?’ took place in a ‘meeting’ room suitable for double use as a snuff film set. It was next to the bar, across from the men’s toilet. But none of this disturbed the Romans, no siree.
Our group included a be-wigged Hispanic hussy who said she was French, a phlegmy, dry-haired blonde d’un age no spring chicken, some Regis fans from Accounts Receivable, a scary Moroccan with implants akimbo, and a large, tattooed teacher who yelled ‘Yippee!’ at Lisa’s cock-kipeing tips.
“Millionaires just love me,” Lisa peeped. “I’ve been proposed to fifty times by millionaires. In really elegant places — yachts, fancy restaurants. Some of the proposals came from the same men; repeat offenders! And saying ‘no’ after seeing those big ol’ diamonds was not easy, believe me!”
I guess she sensed that every eye flew to her left hand fourth finger, which was bare. She held it up.
“I’m such a romantic,” she said. I’m just waiting for the right guy.”
I would venture to say… bull-pucky.
Until this point, I had compassion. Lisa is pleasant looking, that’s all. She describes herself as “no genius” and I believe her. She’s allegedly a journalist, but I could find no evidence, unless she writes about science in Vancouver. So she hacked out a little niche, however smarmy, and is working it. So what. A girl’s got to pay the bills.
But try to con me… and my core roils with thunder.
“There are a mill-ee-on single millionaires in L.A. County, ladies,” Lisa’s words squiggled forth. “Your chances are good.”
Out where? The lobby? Hades? The Andromeda Strain? As for their ‘chances’… If a mill-ee-on millionaires were trapped in this very room horny and starving – and if these women were naked with food on their loins… I’d say their chances still weren’t good.
“One of the best things you can do, girls, is learn to play golf. Millionaires love to play golf. You should start hitting balls at a driving range. One of the best is at Rancho Park.”
“Wrong!” I clacked out, snide. “Rich men in L.A. don’t go to public parks. They belong to country clubs, and use the range there.”
Lisa was flustered. “Well, yes, but… sometimes on their way home from work…”
“Never.” Okay, I was somewhat obnoxious. All of the lazy, wormy, lifeless, blank faces turned my way with a pout.
“And what do you mean by ‘millionaire’?” I blurted, indelicate. “That’s such a quaint term. Do you include guys who just have a mil on paper, or a million cash? If a guy has a million cash and lives off the interest, we are not talking yachts here, girls, or even Frexinet. Let’s say his money’s in a thirty-year t-bill. He’ll only gross about fifty-five thou. After taxes – thirty-five?
No health insurance. Hardly enough for himself around here, much less a family!”
Actually, I didn’t say that last part. I thought it.
I thought next of a B Actress I know who had managed engagements to three rich, famous men.
All three had dumped her. At one stroke to midnight she wrangled a third. Number three was in his sixties, newly divorced from his nasty wife of forty years. B Actress became his fantasy girl, cooking pot roast in flowing dresses and the like. Now she’s the mother of two hellions, trapped in convention, tied to an old, tired man she never loved.
‘Bow down before the cash you serve, you’re going to get what you deserve,’ as Nine Inch Nails would say.
As for Lisa’s ‘tips,’ I couldn’t bear to repeat them, but here are mine: Get off your ass, learn something and shut-up. You may not marry rich, but you just might have a nice life anyway.
By Xanadu Xero - RAW STORY COLUMNIST
Dusk. I was splayed on my loveseat when a Higher Power spoke to me. In song! Right through a laptop MP3! An old, wailing blues diva delivered the Word: “You can sell it, honey, or sit on it, but girl – don’t you give it away…”
NOW she tells me.
“It’s just as easy to marry a rich man as a poor man,” my mother chirped throughout my teen-hood, when there was still hope. What a crock.
To marry a poor man, all you need is a fifth of Mescal and gas to Vegas. To marry rich in L.A. however…
Heed me, my sisters – you need a plan.
Back in Mom & friends’ moneyed MILF heyday, some hot, Swedish imports blew onto their scene, staking claims in the Beverly Hills Wife Club. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, but ah, ‘twas not the case.
Legend goes that an entrepreneurial older woman (I’d cast Charlotte Rampling) handpicked the perky cupcakes back in Sverige. She perfected their English, dressed them, taught them the arcane ‘which fork’ etiquette that B.H. mistakes for class.
When the bait was prepped (and here lies the brilliance) Madam dangled her herrings in all the right ponds. Lunch, dinner, cocktails at Rich Man haunts, golf/tennis lessons at country clubs, etc.
‘Etc.’ including, I’d wager, scads of unspeakable acts, and how to think of the Queen when grossly disgusted.
It wasn’t long before the bait was snapped up. Nouveau Riche men love nothing more than a natural blonde (carpet matches drapes). Madam was paid, discreetly, a large, pre-arranged fee.
(Wait. Time out. Think about this: ‘Extreme Makeover – The Real Thing’. Would that be a, like, dope reality show or what? Producers, contact me.)
I was recently buoyed by an ad for a seminar given by Lisa Johnson, auteur of the codex, ‘How To Snare A Millionaire.’ Who says our country has eschewed the middle class? Golddigging has come to the people!
“Erase the word ‘golddigging’ from your mind!” simply bubbles Ms. Johnson. Fast-forward to said seminar with my butt in a chair. “Women are hard-wired to mate with the alpha male. Biology is destiny.”
Yeah? Then wouldn’t it follow that the ‘alpha male’ would choose the youngest, most fertile, most beautiful female, knocking all of the broads here right out of the ring?
“I feel its my right as a woman to be well taken care of” snorts a tan, one-process redhead with dye on her scalp who, at fifty-some, has the face she deserves.
“Absolutely!” says Lisa. “I mean, all power to any woman who can get rich on her own, you know? But me…” she shrugs, “I’m artistic.”
We are gathered, to succor destiny, at the LAX (Airport) Holiday Inn, a ghastly place. A jog to the runways, on a sleazy boulevard, you can feel rats in the walls without being psychic. Packs of rap-clad young men clogged the entrance and lobby, perhaps looking for women to beat.
‘The Rich Have To Marry — Why Not You?’ took place in a ‘meeting’ room suitable for double use as a snuff film set. It was next to the bar, across from the men’s toilet. But none of this disturbed the Romans, no siree.
Our group included a be-wigged Hispanic hussy who said she was French, a phlegmy, dry-haired blonde d’un age no spring chicken, some Regis fans from Accounts Receivable, a scary Moroccan with implants akimbo, and a large, tattooed teacher who yelled ‘Yippee!’ at Lisa’s cock-kipeing tips.
“Millionaires just love me,” Lisa peeped. “I’ve been proposed to fifty times by millionaires. In really elegant places — yachts, fancy restaurants. Some of the proposals came from the same men; repeat offenders! And saying ‘no’ after seeing those big ol’ diamonds was not easy, believe me!”
I guess she sensed that every eye flew to her left hand fourth finger, which was bare. She held it up.
“I’m such a romantic,” she said. I’m just waiting for the right guy.”
I would venture to say… bull-pucky.
Until this point, I had compassion. Lisa is pleasant looking, that’s all. She describes herself as “no genius” and I believe her. She’s allegedly a journalist, but I could find no evidence, unless she writes about science in Vancouver. So she hacked out a little niche, however smarmy, and is working it. So what. A girl’s got to pay the bills.
But try to con me… and my core roils with thunder.
“There are a mill-ee-on single millionaires in L.A. County, ladies,” Lisa’s words squiggled forth. “Your chances are good.”
Out where? The lobby? Hades? The Andromeda Strain? As for their ‘chances’… If a mill-ee-on millionaires were trapped in this very room horny and starving – and if these women were naked with food on their loins… I’d say their chances still weren’t good.
“One of the best things you can do, girls, is learn to play golf. Millionaires love to play golf. You should start hitting balls at a driving range. One of the best is at Rancho Park.”
“Wrong!” I clacked out, snide. “Rich men in L.A. don’t go to public parks. They belong to country clubs, and use the range there.”
Lisa was flustered. “Well, yes, but… sometimes on their way home from work…”
“Never.” Okay, I was somewhat obnoxious. All of the lazy, wormy, lifeless, blank faces turned my way with a pout.
“And what do you mean by ‘millionaire’?” I blurted, indelicate. “That’s such a quaint term. Do you include guys who just have a mil on paper, or a million cash? If a guy has a million cash and lives off the interest, we are not talking yachts here, girls, or even Frexinet. Let’s say his money’s in a thirty-year t-bill. He’ll only gross about fifty-five thou. After taxes – thirty-five?
No health insurance. Hardly enough for himself around here, much less a family!”
Actually, I didn’t say that last part. I thought it.
I thought next of a B Actress I know who had managed engagements to three rich, famous men.
All three had dumped her. At one stroke to midnight she wrangled a third. Number three was in his sixties, newly divorced from his nasty wife of forty years. B Actress became his fantasy girl, cooking pot roast in flowing dresses and the like. Now she’s the mother of two hellions, trapped in convention, tied to an old, tired man she never loved.
‘Bow down before the cash you serve, you’re going to get what you deserve,’ as Nine Inch Nails would say.
As for Lisa’s ‘tips,’ I couldn’t bear to repeat them, but here are mine: Get off your ass, learn something and shut-up. You may not marry rich, but you just might have a nice life anyway.
Global Rich List
Do you want to know how rich you are compared to everyone in the world. Check out the Global Rich List, and type in your income.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Small Investment for a Bright Future
There is a new airline in town called Maxjet. This is similar to your jetblue type carrier - making air travel more affordable. The difference here is that MAXjet is an exclusive business class carrier. So you now too can enjoy the luxuries of business class without breaking your bank! Now, they are offering a special $1000 round trip (INCLUDING all taxes and and fees) from the westcoast US to London. Just use the promo code: FSS406.
Just imagine, there you are, sipping champagne, have your leg raised, enjoying a four course meal... and chatting it up with that RICH cutie next to you on his/her business trip! Before you know it, you'll exchange numbers, you'll go on an unforgettable date in London... and the rest is history.
Take advantage of this special deal now and put yourself where you can meet the millionair you want to marry!
Just imagine, there you are, sipping champagne, have your leg raised, enjoying a four course meal... and chatting it up with that RICH cutie next to you on his/her business trip! Before you know it, you'll exchange numbers, you'll go on an unforgettable date in London... and the rest is history.
Take advantage of this special deal now and put yourself where you can meet the millionair you want to marry!
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