MBA Cutie...

A Crappy Day.. after so many good ones!

2007-06-12T22:49:00.000-04:00

I'm back in New York. And now I remember why I wanted to leave! So NYC is fun... sometimes! Last night I actually paid $16 for one martini. Yes, for ONE martini, not TWO, not FOUR, but ONE. And that didn't even include the tip. Welcome back to NYC, MBA Cutie!

Today, after training, I ran all the way to the Equinox on 43rd and 5th to catch the Brazilian Butt and Brazilian Tummy Tuck classes. OMG, the pain! I wonder if they will pay off. I'm almost afraid to go to bed because I don't know if I can take the burn tomorrow. Anyway, I exit Equinox at 6:30ish, and it is pouring rain. It's pouring rain in the middle of June! (Oh, how wonderful you are, California, my love!) Thank goodness I hadn't changed back into my work clothes. I ran through the streets back to my hotel only to discover that my cell phone wasn't working. I would open it up, but the screen would be totally blank, yet it buzzed and lit up just like it was really receiving text messages and phone calls. How terribly frustrating!

I came into the hotel, forked over $14.95 to get online access in my room (oh yes, thank you again, spiteful New York!), and then found where the closest Verizon store was. I had only 25 minutes to make it there before it closed. Out into the rain again. I made it. They fixed it.

My big lesson: Never again will I buy a Motorola phone. Oh wait, maybe it was never again will I come to NYC without an umbrella... even in summer.

Seattle, Banking, and a whole life still left to go...

2007-06-09T22:46:00.000-04:00

The return to the bay after a week in Seattle has been relaxing, but it's excrutitating to be away from my almost hubby. I think I've gotten so used to being around him, and even though being in the bay used to make me so excited because it meant going out, going out, and more going out, my "going out" itch has waned significantly. I think I have quite a bit of a nesting itch.

So I was reading this article yesterday about MBA spending... and it really scared me. During recruiting season, I really felt that particular recruiters put undue financial expectations on full time MBA students. My parents didn't understand why I had to have such good suits (because I'd look awful standing next to someone who was dressed more impeccably than me), why I had to fly to New York when no one had offered me a job (informationals), and why having a drink on Thursday and Friday evenings was so important (how else do you network and socialize!). It is hard to adjust the other way once you have worked and had a good income, but the loan does frighten me. A lot, actually. Whatever happened to being a student? Sure, I want a job, but I don't want to break the bank in the process of trying to get one! Especially when there are no guarantees in life.

I have too many clothes

2007-06-06T15:51:00.000-04:00

The recent move back to California for the summer has left me with one true observation. I have way too many clothes... most of which I don't wear, are the wrong size, I have no idea why I bought them, or are just too young looking for my current lot in life. I guess it's time to start kissing the going out all night partying MBA Cutie goodbye. She needs to trade in her wardrobe for some good staples that make her look hot, sexy, sophisticated, and not juvenile!

That means she has to give up her target jeans...

Hmm... this may be harder than I thought....

April Fool's!

2007-04-01T23:21:00.000-04:00

It's April Fool's Day!

I managed to get away without being fooled. However, I guess I was slightly fooled. My team is at work on our MAP project, and we were suppoed to have a meeting in NYC tomorrow. I told my girlfriend I'd be back in New York for the weekend, and then at the last minute... plans were cancelled. So that was my only April Fool's Day gift.

Other than that, school has been busy, I've hardly been going out. I'm discovering that wedding planning is a lot more work than I had expected. It's really hard to coordinate eveyrone's thoughts (including mine, my fiance's, and our families'). I'm also getting over the stomach flu, so this weekend really was so-so.

Oh well. More news when it happens!

... & Baby!

2007-03-12T23:15:00.000-04:00

No, no, NO! Not me! I'm talking about Shopaholic & Baby! I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but I was so excited when I saw it in a bookshop in the airport on the way to New York last week. I can't wait to read it. There are a couple of other books out there that I've been dying to get my hands on, including Freakanomics. No, I still haven't read it yet. *sigh*

Return of the MBA Cutie

2007-03-11T23:16:00.000-04:00

I've been gone. I know I have. I've ignored my blog for months. But I have lots of news for my readers... If I have any readers left! I'm ENGAGED! And here's how it happened....

So I started dating this guy that is in the Business School at Michigan also. We have been inseparable for months... as anyone here can tell you! For spring break we went to Italy... and while touring around Venice he popped the question. And of course I said yes!

The second highlight of our trip to Italy the chance to visit Milan during fashion week. We had a few drinks at Just Cavalli (Roberto Cavalli's lounge, located in the middle of a park in Milan). It was incredible. Jewels and fur everywhere! Our table had a beautiful couture dress "frozen" into the tabletop. Interesting clientele... lots of girls clearly looked like they were in Milan for runway shows, but many of them looked so very young. There were also a lot of couples with older men and very, very young girls. One of the Milanese girls we were with said that it's a very common thing. The business is so harsh and many girls are willing to do anything to get a break or a chance to walk down the runway for even just one show.

Since my return to the states, I had go back to my old stomping grounds and spend the second half of last week in New York City. Our MAP projects have started at school. I came back to AA to find out that my soon to be hubby is on his way to Brazil... and I won't see him for 5 weeks. Could be an interesting 5 weeks. Stay tuned!

If you wait long enough...

2006-12-11T14:47:00.000-05:00

When it comes to celebrity couples, if you wait long enough, it seems that none of them manage to stay together. This weekend my girlfriend came to town and we (my boyfriend and I) took her out around Ann Arbor and had her participate in various activities taking place with b-school friends. One of these activities was CELEBRITY CHARADES, where we put numerous celebrity names into a bowl and then went through three rounds: (1) describe but cannot say the name, (2) act out, (3) one word description. It was actually a lot of fun! But it got me thinking... of most of the celebrity couples out there, how many of them have actually managed long term success as a couple? And, of those that seem to be doing well, how much longer will it last?

Just yesterday, as I continued on my new Fox Reality Network binge (and if you haven't checked out this channel, OMG! You HAVE to!!!!), I saw an announcement that Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn are now over too? I'm not sure if this is true, but there is speculation about everyone and everything! Not that it's not well deserved! Between the recent splits of Jennifer and Brad, Jennifer and Ben, Denise and Charlie, and Britney and Kevin (because absolutely no one saw that one coming), it makes me wonder if it's even worth it to continue to pay attention to any of it. My boyfriend freaks out, because as one of the few MBA 1 couples here at Ross, he sometimes feels the attention may push us to the celebrity level of public monitoring. However, I don't think there is need to be that vain. As far as I know, we are last semester's news. There is always enough drama out there to help divert attention. I hope so anyway!

Maybe some sort of hedging instrument can be created. One that will derive it's value from the length of a celebrity couple's relationship. Damn, I should have shorted my KFed stock last month. :(

Cheating or Not?

2006-11-15T22:06:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm a slacker. I haven't posted in ages. But then, I did promise this game, didn't I? Not all of these things happened to me, so a few events have been altered and persons changed to protect their identities.

Happenings in b-school... is someone cheating or not?

(a) Pretty girl with boyfriend chats with her guy friend who has a girlfriend at a party in downtown. They laugh, drink, and hang out. Guy mentions to her that inspite of having a girlfirend he is available.... cheating or not?

(b) Girl with boyfriend spends time talking to old hook up friend... with the intent of making her boyfriend jealous... cheating or not?

(c) Guy with girlfriend spends prolonged periods of time studying with other girls, who are not in his section or on a team with him... cheating or not?

(d) Guy with girlfriend regularly goes to local bars, drinks, and makes out with local undergrads... cheating or not?

oh the list is endless!

When is cheating, cheating?

2006-10-31T08:01:00.000-05:00

I read an interesting article on the plane the other day. It was about things that every girl should discuss with their significant other so that they are on the same page as far as where the relationship stands. One of the most important things to discuss, supposedly, is your mate's definition of what constitutes cheating. I was a little surprised, but then the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I mean, what really DOES constitute cheating?

- Is flirting cheating?
- Is hugging someone goodbye cheating?
- Is talking for hours on end with someone other than your SO on the phone cheating?
- Is kisssing cheating?

Surprisingly enough, many people seem to think the only way you can cheat on someone is to have sex with someone else. Others actually seem to think that even talking to anyone that you may have ever had any romantic interests in is cheating. In the world of b-school the lines get even blurrier. In the spirit of one of my friend's comments this weekend, as to whether or not anyone at our table had played "fake or not", let's play a little game over the next few posts... the game of "B-school Solicitation: Cheating or Not?"

Chocolate at the Pen

2006-10-27T19:47:00.000-04:00

I'm going to have Chocolate at the Pen tomorrow night! It's been ages since I've been to Chicago. And I have to miss the homecoming game to make it out there, but I'm not exactly sure when else I'll have the chance to have an all chocolate dinner and then enjoy cocktails on the rooftop of the W Lakeshore Chicago.

Much has happened since my last update. We survived finals, and I even managed to make it out to Leopolds the night before my Strategy final. I didn't stay long, but all the studying and lack of movement really got to me, and I knew that I had to get out or I'd scream and self-destruct. The second wine event took place on October 13th (Friday the 13th!!!), and it was so much fun. I think I drank a little more wine than I really needed to. Maybe these are the times that it's nice to have a boyfriend who wants to make sure you get home safely, even if he catches you talking to people that it's probably better for you to stay away from now that you are attached... Needless to say I didn't stay long at Oz with the others in my class, to dance off the wine. A good night's sleep and two asprin in the morning just seemed so much more enticing.

We celebrated the end of finals with a fabulous Halloween party. I was a goregeous Cleopatra, and I made my entire outfit myself. I was so proud! NOW, onto my gripes about halloween costumes. Do costume makers realize that women are different heights? Something that's designed to be hoochie on someone that is 5'2'' will make someone like me look like total trash if I chose to wear it out! I tried on outfit after outfit after outfit at Halloween USA and not ONE of them was long enough to cover my behind in any sort of reasonable fashion. Not any of the CUTE ones anyway. Finally, I decided to throw in the towel, headed over to Jo-Ann Fabrics and bought some cream linen to put together my own Cleopatra outfit. Which I think everyone loved. Well, it doesn't matter because at least I loved it.

My boyfriend's birthday was last Sunday, but since I headed home to Fremont, I didn't get to spend the day with him. I made it up to him when he came out here for West Coast Forum. We went out three nights in a row: Nola's on Tuesday, Santana Row on Wednesday, and then out in the Marina in SF on Thursday. I think he had a good time. I had a good time having him around. I'm looking forward to heading back to Ann Arbor tonight. I'm actually starting to miss the place. (Crazy, huh?) But I will really miss the weather out here.

One more week to go...

2006-10-12T10:58:00.000-04:00

How is it that my blogging has fallen to the wayside? People really aren't joking when they say that b-school is ridiculously busy. I've stopped calling my friends back. I've stopped talking to my family every day. All interactions I have with the real world are through my laptop, which has become my new lifeline. I don't know what it would do if it disappeared, or even worse, one day, just didn't turn on.

A few interesting events have managed to take place during my blogger absentee-ism days...

The first snow of the season fell today. It didn't stick, but it was cold, and it was pretty, and it only lasted about 5 minutes. But I guess that's it. The snow has started, the winter is coming, and how is MBA Cutie going to stay warm?

A new column, Ross Goss, has started up in our school newspaper, The Monroe Street Journal. I have to say I have mixed feelings about it. I thought it was ridiculously funny even though there was a slight jab at me (I think) in it, but I am so annoyed that so many people are coming up to me and asking me if I write it. First of all, I'm a little disappointed I wasn't approached to write it. I mean, obviously I know how to utilize a "gossipy" tone of voice and like to go out. But then, maybe that's exactly why they didn't ask me to do it. Because everyone would figure out that MBA Cutie is writing over-time. Anyway, I wouldnt' be able to keep all the good fodder in my blog if I had to get involved with that. So a disappointed and rejected MBA Cutie says the column is good, but maybe the person(s) that writes it can bring me in as a consultant from time to time? :) I mean, of course, ONLY if I'm value added.

My experience at GBR decided to follow me this weekend... right to the B-School bus after the Michigan State game. It was ... surprising... as I didn't expect to ever see (or have to see?) this person again. For a short amount of time, it was very possible that three people that know me a little better than most were all in a 500 sq ft vicinity. Scary! I was a little disappointed that the surprise visitor didn't inform me that they were coming, but then again, I guess I have no right to be disappointed. I don't exactly keep them abreast of all my developments either.

And ... what you have all been waiting to know... yes, MBA Cutie has agreed to couple up. She met another MBA Cutie of the opposite sex, and then eventually gave in, to letting him call her his girlfriend. Oh wait, I think she calls him her boyfriend, too. But don't worry loyal readers, there will still be plenty of fun and antics in the next two years... whether MBA Cutie is coupled up or not.

TO-GA, TO-GA!

2006-10-02T01:36:00.000-04:00

That's right! This MBA Cutie went to her first toga party this weekend, courtesy of the Hill House. I had never been to one before, so the whole evening was quite an adventure. Knowing that there is only one majorly good fabric store in Ann Arbor, I rushed out with Microfinance Girl on Wednesday to purchase a toga in my chosen color... Lavendar! And I found exactly what I wanted. Luckily enough, the sales girl happened to be an "antique costumer", so she showed us the best way to wrap togas (so simple, but totally authentic looking!), and we were on our way.

I wasn't exactly sure how to accessorize, so I consulted my fashionista friend. She said lots and lots of gold jewellery! Thankfully, I have plenty of the fake stuff, since I had just bought a few sets while I was in India. And a necklace became my new crown. I curled my hair and tried to look as "grecian" as possible. I even changed my eye color to green.

First, we had a section 4 preparty at one of our section mates houses. Another girl in my section was celebrating her birthday, so we had a cake, sang, and got excited. When I came to pick up my roomate, Arwen, she was all decked out and looking absolutely fabulous. The line to dance with her on Friday night was long, and competitive! Lots of belated birthday tidings came her way as well. More than a few people noticed her popularity, but then again, I expected nothing less from the most fabulous looking girl there! The party wasn't very crowded, which was great, because there was plenty of room to dance without bumping into anyone. My guy didn't end up coming (yes... details in a later post... I promise!), but I still had a good time and people seemed to like my toga and accessorizing efforts. It was a fun night, but one that ended a little earlier than I expected... I got a late night call and had to get home... but Arwen managed to stay a lot longer than me. And I know she had a fabulous time.

And yes, today is my birthday! Congratulate MBA Cutie as she welcomes in her 25th year!

Mud Bath

2006-09-27T21:52:00.000-04:00

I've slacked on the posting. I admit it. Things just kind of came about in a whilwind over the past few days and I haven't have time to breathe. Drinking hard and studying hard totally takes a toll on your body. Maybe too much of a toll on mine. I had forgotten about the "freshmen 15" but considering the amount of alcohol we all can legally ingest the second we arrive at business school, I wonder if it should actually be called the "MBA 40" or something like that. Physical therapy just hasn't been enough. I need to get myself out of bed early enough to actually make it to Ballys more often.

I know everyone is dying to know... how good did our victory over Wisconsin feel this weekend? GO BLUE! Totally awesome. And it was followed by an even more awesome tailgate, sponsored by Target. Food catered by Zingerman's, a fully stocked Bloody Mary bar, all you can take goodies from Archer Farms (target's generic premium brand). Smartly, or stupidly? I decided to go ahead and sell my ticket for the Michigan State game. I know, I know. But what I've found is that after a morning of drinking (YES! I finally made it out to the first year pre-bus breakfast!), standing through the game is a lot more work than I expected it to be. That and waiting for the bathroom, and the general density of the crowd just gets to me. So me and my , uh.. how do I put this, "current man" (CM) decided to take a break from the game at half time and rejoin the bus.

At the tailgate, CM got a phone call. His friend's car had been towed! So we had to leave the tailgate and go help him out. We were to tired to return, but I wish I had! Supposedly, everyone was so excited and with so many out of town guests, the dancing just took off, there was beer sprayed everywhere. Target bags strewn out into the street. And eventually, it just became one, wild, muddy party. Damn. I need to make sure I make it out there post game on October 7th.

Toga Party this FRIDAY!

Coming Out

2006-09-20T20:20:00.000-04:00

This is perhaps one of the most difficult decisions any MBA Cutie has to make: once you spend enough time with someone, should you come out into the open and let the whole class know? Or should you continue to lay low, analyze your options, and not take yourself off the market too quickly? Definitely the question of the week at Ross it seems, as Cupid manages to dart around and shoot at various members of our first year class. We all say that we are here to date guys from the med school, the law school, or the undergrad super seniors, but the truth is, when you are around the same people day in and day out, you can't dodge every arrow, and you may find yourself in the predicament that some of the MBA Cuties in our class have discovered. To come out, or not to come out?

As a whole our class has been good at keeping things under wraps. Unfortunately, events with lots and lots of alcohol do manage to extract even the best kept secrets, as a few of us found out at our infamous bus, wine club and tailgates over the past few weeks. Needless to say, there are benefits in either direction.

Pro Come-Out:
1) You don't have to worry about people finding out.
2) It's ok to leave parties together and if you are caught holding hands, that's ok too.
3) Less pressure, no jealousy. You don't wonder if the cute co-ed your man or cutie is talking to is someone trying to move in on the other person.
4) You can join the ranks of the many who have passed through the halls of B-School and dipped their pen in the school ink. Hey, it's good practice for life in the real world, right?

Con Come-Out:
1) You will have the most public relationship ever. And you thought Jessica Simpson had it bad.
2) Past hook ups may come out of the woodwork and taunt you internally, or your significant other externally.
3) You are immediately off the market. Even if you WANT to play a little, there is no way you can get away without the other finding out unless you go outside the school.
4) If it all goes bad, you have to deal with working in groups and classes with this person. And everyone will know it.

Inspite of all this, and inspite of the familiar saying "the odds are good, but the goods are odd", so many still decide to take the plunge and come out. All I can say is, try to pick someone in another section. If at all possible. And if not, well... at least you found someone you like... which is more than can be said for half of the world, so enjoy!

Collision

2006-09-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

It's odd when two things from your past happen to collide. When I changed companies, I ended up working for someone who was pretty buddy-buddy with the CFO of my last company. When I moved cities, I ended up dating my old roomate's cousin. When I came to Michigan, I found an old friend I hadn't seen in four years, and he just happened to be living just 20 minutes away from me now. It's even stranger when thing from your not-so-distant past manage to collide. I guess the real question is: "stranger" or "more interesting"?

I haven't been out here in Michigan for that long. I think it has barely been a month. I've still managed to create a little drama and have some adventures, but nothing too crazy... or so I thought.

In spite of a late night on Friday, I managed to get myself up, and head out towards the stadium for the Central Michigan game on Saturday. Thank God I had the sense to wait for halftime, so I didn't have to worry about getting evacuated from the stadium (the first weather delay in the Stadium's history... 79 years!). I went to the tailgate (which was still just OK) which had a few humorful events... my favorite was when Muff was caught sleeping in the grass holding hands with a certain someone. (awww!!! how cute!) Afterwards, I went to the bus and began the usual process of alcohol ingestion... before I knew it, I was buzzed, dancing and screaming along with everyone. And I even got to hang out with a special someone who escorted a couple of us girls to Rick's for post-bus activities. I had a pretty good time, up until past (of about two weeks ago) decides to show up and meet present (as of now). I suppose I'm being vague, but with good reason. Let's just say that the collision was more mental for me than obvious to the colliders... but I hope to avoid those types of things in the future.

That may mean I need to cut down on the drink.... hmmm... maybe collisions aren't so bad after all. What's life without a little drama?

4am

2006-09-09T11:57:00.000-04:00

I am appalled that I can stay out until 4am. What on EARTH am I doing until 4am?? I still have not really figured it out. Last night wasn't the only night of 4am debauchery since I got to Ann Arbor. The evening unfolded innocently enough....

My section decided to have a little after MBA Games get together at Leopolds, which was fun.. but a little calm. So a few of us decided to head over to a joint birthday party at Rush Street. Rush Street was fun... the music was awesome, we danced and drank, and before I knew it, it was time to go home. Ahhh... the drunken trail home. It's an interesting trail that seems to change it's path every few minutes. First we have to stop for pizza. Then we have to stop and talk to a bum on the road, because hey, when else would you want to stop and talk to a bum? Then we have to wait for the drunken friend that ends up seeing someone they know on the street and needs to hoot and holler for a while at them. Then some how, a good hour and a half later... you trip into your apartment... only to chug down a glass of water and then go to bed.

The 8am breakfast so didn't happen. I'll be lucky to make it to the game by half-time.

Social Extravaganza

2006-09-08T20:57:00.000-04:00

I have been lax with posting... a few quick updates since the last time I wrote:

- I DID run for office, but didn't have to worry about the voting... because only one other person ran for the same position as me and we were both elected. So now I'm one of the official Cultural and Diversity Initiatives Committee Rep for Section 4.

Ok, if I even TRIED to get started on the social menagerie that has become my life outside of classes for the past few days, I don't think can in any way really shed light on what it feels like to really be an MBA 1 at Ross. I'm surprised we're not all outfitted with IV lines during orientation. Seems like a much faster way to take in beer! That too.. the number of kegs is insane. I was talking to my friend in California during the week but had to tell him "Sorry, I have to go... I'm on my way to a keg-kill." It was 4:30 in the afternoon. Yes, I know.

Shout Off and MBA Games were a blast, for more details, check out my other blog. I did come out ... I let a fellow classmate give me an "MBA Cutie" tattoo in permanent marker on my left tricep. Hey, anything for the section, right? I even have the full support of the section to launch www.mbacuties.com (note the plural)... not exactly sure what the content would be... but I'm sure you all can use your imagination.

Another thing I have realized, there are numerous people at Ross that I find I cannot have a normal conversation with when I'm sober, but the minute I'm drinking, they are the easiest people in the world to talk to. Sometimes I feel like going up to them and saying, "I swear, I'm really not a dumba$$. It's just that I have nothing to say to you when I'm sober."

Well... I'm off to yet another drinking/ socializing/ "networking" event. More to come....

Days of Rest

2006-09-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

Two days without the consumption of alcohol. Quite a feat, considering I am in Ann Arbor and it was a "game" weekend. But these two days have been oh-so needed. I feel more rested and normal. AND, I've actually managed to start organizing my life a little bit.

A bunch of people I know took off for Chicago this weekend for the NETIP conference. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Last year, I spent labor day weekend in Atlanta with my then-best friend... the NETIP conference happened to be going on there, but we weren't registered. We still managed to have a fabulous time, and we promised to go to Chicago this year together. Needless to say, that didn't happen. Although, I'm actually happy it didn't. The past few months with out her has really opened my eyes. While there are times I still miss her and wish I could call her or talk to her, this whole experience has taught me a few things:

1) Never underestimate the power that a "guy" can have on your girlfriends.
2) Friendships run cycles in life and it's an unrealistic expectation to think that every single one will last forever.
3) I really can never call someone again (total cold turkey) if I have the will power.
4) When things aren't going well, it's good to remove yourself from things that you think are making your life more miserable than it needs to be.
5) Most of the time, people don't air their ideas because they want advice... they air them because they want validation or just an opportunity to think them through. Give and receive advice sparingly, and any advice you give should be incredibly neutral.

I'm still pondering over whether or not to run for a section office. It may be fun to be more involved with the school, but I never was the type to run for these types of things in high school (or in college) for that matter. I am also a little worried about the amount of time it will take up. I have to decide quickly, elections, and nominations, are tomorrow!

The First Game ... and the Last Match

2006-09-03T14:20:00.000-04:00

With Ross Leadership Program wrapping up, the UMBSA (University of Michigan Business Students Association) threw a party to celebrate on Thursday evening at the infamous Hill House. The Hill House is basically the "business" fraternity house. They had beer pong, tons of kegs, and a luge set up. After the closing speeches, I came home with my roomate, took a shower, changed, and then started in on the party circuit. I first went to a friend's BBQ and goodbye party, then walked over to my section's preparty, and then finally, after what seemed like hours later, found myself at the hill house. There were so many people there when we first walked up to the lot, I almost wanted to turn back. Nights at the Hill House are interesting... they are always full of drinking, dancing, and lots of random confusion. I can't say that this night was much different. There was a little additional excitement celebrating Agassi's victory that evening. Before I realized it, most of my friends had disappeared... and it was nearly 4am. I managed to find someone I knew to walk me home and then went home to get some well deserved sleep.

Friday was pretty uneventful. I tried to get as much work done as possible, but still reeling from the previous night's events, it was hard to really get focused. I picked up my course packs, navigated the school library a bit, and then made it back home to sleep some more. We had our section party at Connor's on Friday evening. It was fairly quiet, as a lot of people seem to have gone out of town for the weekend. I got to meet a lot of the second years, who managed to come out that evening. I went home around 10:30pm. I was just too tired to have another night out... and the Michigan - Vanderbilt game was on Saturday.

Some of the partying for the game started at 8am. I barely made it to the B-School bus by 10:45am. Everyone is so curious about the bus... basically, a bunch of students in the class of 2004 got together, purchased a bus, and painted it Blue and Maize. If you want to be part of the bus (actually buy a share), it costs $500, and then you get to party on the bus for every single home game and two of the away games. For those of us who are not members, it's $5 to drink all day. The bus provides keg after keg of beer for the morning, and afternoon. The fesitivites manage to continue until about 10pm. After our win against Vanderbilt, all the B-school students joined together for the UMBSA tailgate, which was not that exciting. After eating a veggie burger, I headed back to the bus with a few others, where we continued to drink and dance and have fun for a good portion of the afternoon. The party ended around 7:30ish, when we all went home, and then reconvened at the Hill House. I discovered some new-found abilities at flip cup. I never thought would really get into the whole beer drinking culture, but to a certain degree, beer almost gives a better buzz than hard liquor... the buzz is slower to take on, and because you have to drink so much beer to feel anything, the buzz is not as strong either. The lines to get into any of the bars last night was ridiculous, so we just called it a night and got home.

This morning, I managed to catch Agassi's last tournament match ever. I admit, I cried. It was so hard to watch, especially as we could see him continue to struggle through each set against Benny Becker. It was a good game, and one that will be remembered for a long, long time.

Where is it easier?

2006-08-28T20:24:00.000-04:00

Everyone always says "make sure you meet a guy in school, because once you're out, it's nearly impossible!". Now that I've had a solid week of drinking and socializing in the b-school, I do wonder if this really holds true.

First of all, yes it IS easier to meet men in Business School. After all, there are 66% of them and only 34% of Cuties running around. However, whether this really increases the odds of meeting the RIGHT man I'm not so sure about. The huge advantage of being in school is that you have a well defined social network. People go out all the time. They are everywhere! And everyone is trying to meet everyone else. But I wonder what will happen once everyone knows everyone else. There are only 410 people per class Ross, a good sized portion of whom are already married or in a relationship. That means that eventually, every single person in the class will know of every other single person in the class. Of course, we have to consider the available individuals in the class above ours. It's a shame that business school is only two years! That means that there are only two classes of people, or around 850 individuals (350 of which are most likely unavailable).

So, if you don't meet someone in your school, how is it easier to meet people when you are in school? If anything, wouldn't this almost limit your social network as you only hang out with those in the school, and have little exposure to those outside the school. I would think this actually has put a huge damper on mate-meeting potential, as before, while in the workplace, going out and exploring new cities meant an indefinite number of men. Suddenly, there are less than 400 now available.

Perhaps the advantage lies in including the whole university community? If so, it seems to me that we're in the same boat we were in before we went to school. Maybe the real advantage for academics is because of the social nature of school. I know I'm much more likely to go have a drink after class on a Thursday afternoon now than I was to go to a bar on a Thursday night after a twelve hour work day.

Who knows? Looks like the dating game finds a way to make a fair playing field for everyone. It's likely to be hard to meet the RIGHT guy any where, including in school. But then again, if the RIGHT guy isn't necessary, b-school is probably a great place to spend two years.

Wrapping up the Week

2006-08-25T20:09:00.000-04:00

My first full week at Ross has come to a close. I haven't gone out this much since my LA days. The class is incredibly fun, and there are quite a few other Cuties! It makes things that much better when there are other cool people around.

Yesterday was our first day of Orientation (you can find out more about how that went on my other blog), so afterwards quite a few people met up at Scorekeepers to start off the night with $1 long islands (YES, such a thing really exists!!! However, they aren't exactly good.. but they are still pretty potent), and $2.00 pitchers. My roommate and I headed over there at around 9ish. The weather in Michigan is so unpredictable! After a semi-cloudy day, the evening turned into insane thunderstorms. The rain was coming down in sheets. Thankfully, we were able to snag a ride over to the bar so we didn't get soaked walking in the rain.

I chatted with Microfinance Girl , and a few other cuties. There is quite a large California and New York contingent at Ross. We all were busy sharing our M-Trek experiences (some people went on some amazing ones.... Costa Rica, Belize, Thailand and Bolivia... to just name a few), move-in horror stories, and information we had gathered regarding the availability of guys at U-M. General consensus seems to be that the law school guys are the ones to go for, that dating within Ross should be delayed for as long as possible to avoid awkward situations, and that a few evenings a week, if we get to the "diag" at exactly the right time, we can see a bunch of cute, scrub-clad medical residents scurry across on their way to the medical center for their night shifts. After Scorekeepers, we all wandered over to Rick's, which seems to be the place to go after 11pm.... thankfully the undergrads have not hit campus yet, so Rick's was not too crowded and quite a lot of fun. Waking up for orientation this morning was brutal.

On our way out of orientation today, our Campus Tour Guide put up a sign ... we have another drinking night ahead of us... Saturday is our b-school picnic, followed by a house party... and then Tuesday is our "Welcome back Happy Hour". It will be a miracle if my liver makes it out of Ann Arbor alive!

KEGGER!

2006-08-23T19:11:00.000-04:00

Now that I'm settled into AA, I can give the low down on what really happens out here in the midwest... Boy, are those of us who call the coasts our home are totally missing out.

Pros of a Michigan Social Life (GO BLUE!)

(1) You NEVER have to get dressed up. You can toss on whatever, because everyone is so chill, and just head out the door.

(2) You NEVER have to worry about what there is to do, because there is only ONE thing to do: DRINK!

(3) Beer and Alcohol are cheaper here than in any other city I've ever lived in.

(4) People are so very nice! And everyone likes to have a good time. (NO more NYC stick-up-the-you-know-what types.)

In just the past six days I've managed to drink awesome Sangria at Dominicks, have home brewed ale and in-house distilled vodka at Leopolds, learn to play beer pong, learn to play dice, learn how to make a luge so I'm ready for winter-time, attended a kegger party and have taken my first suck at the beer bong. I guess I did a few school related things too, but if you are interested in reading about that, check out my other blog. Supposedly by the end of my time at Michigan, I will be immune to alcohol.

It's interesting what excessive alcohol and reduced sleep can do to a person. It certainly leads to some interesting conversations. My current question of choice is does having fake boobs automatically mean that you cannot be intelligent? Last night at the kegger I was wondering around with my classmate, Goonie (his self inflicted nickname), searcing for a bathroom. No luck, so I get ready to head off to the b-school to use the bathroom. I turn around and run right into Goonie, who decided to just use the bushes. Whoops. Well maybe there are some advantages to being a guy. But then again, maybe not. ;)

Never a lender or a borrower be...

2006-08-21T16:10:00.000-04:00

To take a break from the trip posts for a day....

I've always wondered, when you loan someone an article of clothing, and they get complimented on it, should the wearer be obligated to mention that the outfit is not theirs? I am not sure. I think it depends on the circumstance. For example, if the item is a ball gown or cocktail dress, and is worn to a formal where the original owner is not present, then no, the lendee should not have to say anything. But, if the item was borrowed and worn out to an event where the lender is present, it is almost rude to accept compliments on the item without mentioning the item doesn't belong to them. Once I loaned a brand new dress to a friend of mine. She wore it out to a party and everyone loved it. Then I wore it to another party. Everyone said they loved it, but do I know that so-and-so has the same one? grrrr.....

Although, this brings an important point... when an article of clothing is complimented, is it the actual piece of clothing that is being complimented, or the way the wearer is wearing it? If it is the former, then the rights of the compliment definitely belong to the owner. However, if it is the later, maybe the compliment should have been "you look really great in that shirt".

Day 4: Travel to Bangalore

2006-08-20T13:32:00.000-04:00

After breakfast, we checked out of Le Royal Meridian, and then headed over to Anna Airport for our flight to Bangalore. We were on Jet Airways. This is the first time I've ever flown Jet. First of all, the stewards and stewardesses are attractive! Not at all like the Indian Airlines ones (who really are NOT attractive!) The flight to Bangalore was so short but they still served us lunch.

The traffic in Bangalore is HORRENDOUS. Absolutely HORRENDOUS! Once we got to my grandma's house in Methekere, we went for a quick shopping trip to Maleshwaram. Lots of things were available.. not as good as commercial, but definitely a better buy.... We also visited Iskon temple, and the huge Hanuman temple, where my mom did a vada-mala puja.

We got home around 9pm, had dinner, and went to bed.

Day 3: Vitheeshwaran

2006-08-17T19:12:00.000-04:00

The day commenced at 4:30am. After a fitful sleep, we all woke up, bathed, and rushed off to meet our driver. We had a 5 and 1/2 hour drive to Vitheeshwaran from Chennai. Okay, so here's the deal with South Indian Temples in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They open early in the morning at like 3 or 4am, and then they shut by noon. In Kerala, lots of them shut by 9am or 10am. Then, they don't reopen again until the late afternoon. So, if you don't make it to Vitheeshwaran by 9 or 10am, you won't get darshan (seeing the deity) unless you stick around until the late afternoon.

For the most part, the road was good, and made great time to Vitheeshwaran (passing through Chidambaram, which also has an incredible temple and is home to my dad's undergaduate school, Annamalai University). Vitheeshwaran is famous for it's temple and it's Nadi tradition. A Nadi is a fortune teller, many of the most famous nadi lineages can be traced back to Vitheeshwaran. Despite the prodding of family members, I decided to not have my horoscope given. I know that if I had it, I would be thinking about it and would not live my life.

So, we got to Vitheeshwaran fairly early, and managed to secure an abhishekham (ritual bathing) for 12pm. I wandered around the temple, ate panchamritham (a nectar made of five or more ingredients), read about the historical lore of the temple, dipped my feet into the bathing pool, watched volunteers counting the temples' gold and money stores, and witnessed a few babies have their heads shaved and ears pierced. By then it was noon. Vitheeshwaran is a very old temple, but it is not well maintained. There is graffitti and it's quite dark and dingy. During the abhishekham, a HUGE cockroach flew and landed on my brother. I SCREAMED and jumped up and ran away. Everyone laughed at me for being afraid of a cockroach. It was HUGE though! And still, GROSS!

By the end of the day, I was definitely ready to get back to the Le Royal Meridian....

Days 2: Chennai

2006-08-15T08:25:00.000-04:00

Chennai used to be the main entry point to South India a few years back. Now, as Bangalore has become the Silicon Valley 2, and Kerala tourism has exploded, there are other entry points. However, even though most of my family no longer is there, we still came to Chennai for two reasons: (1) To see an old family friends who had successfully completed 13 chemo treatments for lymphoma and (2) To go to my father's side's family temple, Vitheeshwaran Koil.

We woke up Wedsnesday morning and had the most fabulous breakfast at the hotel. I have to say, I love the juice in India! They actually grind up real, fresh fruits. And watermelon juice is such a special treat that I've never been able to have anywhere else. Nestle also makes this totally awesome mango yoghurt. I wish it were available in the U.S. too. We decided to use the day to visit friends and shop. We headed out to my dad's collegemate's factory where he set us up with water, coffee, soda and a personal driver to take us around all day. We saw our family friend, and then she took us shopping in T Nagar and Mylapore.

In T-Nagar, we went to Varsidhi, where I ended up buying 3 saris... and they were not cheap... not even by indian standards! But they were absolutely gorgeous! Don't buy from the website unless you have to.. the actual store prices things in rupees. We went to Mylapore to buy some jewellery for a girl that is a Bharata Natyam dancer. After that, we went back to the hotel, slept a bit, and then had dinner at Navaratna, in the Le Meridian. We went to bed... we had to wake up so early to go to Vitheeshwaran in the morning.

Day 1: To India

2006-08-15T07:57:00.000-04:00

It's been 7 years since I've been on Singapore Airlines. Things have changed... Raffles class and First class have gotten better, but coach has totally gone downhill. The addition of the Wiseman entertainment system has been great, but you would think that the selection of movies would be better. After the 13 hour trip to Hong Kong, where we transited for one hour before getting back on the plane for another 4 hours to continue on to Singapore, I was ready to stretch my legs. The food was awful, and I even made sure to pre-order indian vegetarian meals. We got into Hong Kong at 5am, so nothing was open in that airport. I did discover something interesting in the bathroom... a spray that you use to personally disinfect the toilet. That is a good idea! They should bring that to the U.S.

We stopped for nearly 8 hours in Singapore. I went out into the city to visit my mom's cousin. We also went to the Jurong Bird Park, which was interesting, although geared more for young children. By the time we made it back to the airport to catch our flight to Chennai, I was totally exhausted. The fligh to Chennai was uneventful, I slept the whole way there.

We got into Chennai at 10:00pm. Chennai airport is still not that modernized. Oddly enough, we had to screen our handbaggage to exit the airport into the baggage claim area. I didn't bother to change into indian clothes in Singapore like my mom did, so I went through security wearing a sleeveless top and skirt, and was stared at like crazy by the security guards. I felt totally uncomfortable, in addition to cranky and tired. The main guard stared so much, he didn't bother to stop my mother, or the guy after her, when they both walked through the security gate and set off the metal alarms. Weird! I have to admit, the staring phenomenom in Chennai has reduced considerably! After we were out of the airport, things got infinitely better.

Our room in the Le Royal Meridian was awesome! It was nice to finally relax, unwind, take a shower, and go to bed, after the 30 hour trip.

Samsung E-Lounge : Hong Kong

2006-07-24T18:49:00.000-04:00

I'm in transit to Singapore... two hour lay over in Hong Kong. They have free internet available at the samsung elounge! I'll take a picture and post later.

Online Dating, Part 4: The Friendster Chronicles

2006-07-23T06:46:00.000-04:00

I have a friend that actually sometimes responds to those weird, random messages she gets from guys on Friendster. Her defense for this is "Well Cutie, they may actually be decent guys and their picture is ok." Alright... fine then, respond!

So, she spent quite a bit of time talking to this one fellow via Friendster messages. Eventually, the messages progressed to phone calls. This guy happened to live out on an army base on the east coast, and she lived here in San Francisco. About a month into their phone conversations, she finds out that he is leaving for Iraq in a few weeks. She has never met this guy, but felt like it would be wrong to let him go to Iraq without ever meeting her.

They struck up an agreement, and she flew out to Podunk, USA to visit him, and he would pay for her hotel while she was there for four days.

The trip was a total flop. He was so busy with training, he couldn't even see her most days. On top of that, he wasn't anywhere as attractive as his friendster picture had implied, so my friend was basically SOL in the chemistry/ attraction department. She finally told him she wanted to leave a day early, to which he consented. She also made him pay her for half of her airfare back to California.

Needless to say, she's not flying anywhere anymore for guys she meets on Friendster.

Best Laid Plans

2006-07-22T00:35:00.000-04:00

The best laid plans often go astray... I was planning on writing every day since I had this entire week off (I don't leave for vacation until Sunday night), but between running errands, hanging out with siblings, and late night conversations with old friends, it just didn't happen. I did, however, discover the fun of www.picturetrail.com, which I highly recommend other internet junkies to check out! It's a great way to create interactive photographs.

Other than that, I've discovered that the technology department at Michigan lets us create our own homepages! So I've been crazy busy trying to create mine. It's not ready yet. But, between that and Picture Trail, my friends can expect to see some really cool, new displays of my travel photos.

Trek for a Visa

2006-07-19T15:06:00.000-04:00

My application to participate in the OCI scheme has not yet been approved and I leave for India in a week! To make sure that I can still go, even if the OCI passport doesn't come through by then, I made a trip out to the Consulate General of India in San Francisco. The process of getting a six month visa was fairly painless.

I took my brother and sister with me into San Francisco. The best way to get to the consulate from the east bay is to head over the Dumbarton (during carpool toll free time, of course), take the 101 North, up towards San Francisco. Then, take 380 West to 280 North. Get onto CA - 1, which becomes Junipero Serra Blvd. Turn right onto 19th street, follow all the way past Stonestown mall, Judah, Irving. 19th eventually becomes Park Presidio. Make a right onto Fulton, and then make a left onto Arguello. The Consulate will come on your right. It's a typical San Francisco home with a huge Indian flag flying out on the veranda. You will immediately smell Indian cooking as you approach.

Inside, there were a bunch of queues. I got into the first one. Once I got to the fron of it (only a 5 minute wait) I submitted paperwork that I had filled out and printed from the website. The registrar looked over my information and then sent me to the cashier. She collected my passport and paperwork, and then I paid her $60. She said to come back at 4 and she gave me a receipt.

We had about 6 hours to kill, so we wandered around the Stonestown Mall and then went to go watch a movie. "The Inconvenient Truth". The Al Gore movie... I thought it was interesting, although, I really thought it was more of a "this is what's going on" and "this is how the current administration sucks when it comes to dealing with it", more than a "what can you do" type of movie. I could have waited for that on DVD.

At 3:30pm, I returned to the embassy. They started handing out visas at 3:45pm. After waiting in line for about 10 minutes, I had my visa and was on my way back home by 3:55pm. All in all, not too painful a process.

Homecoming

2006-07-17T19:32:00.000-04:00

I made it. I'm really free... free from work, free from NJ... free from living in odd places. I'm back in my own home, lazing away on a Monday afternoon without a thing to do... other than write in my blog!

I left work on Friday afternoon (for the last time!) and took off, driving, to Richmond, VA. It took 8 hours. A trip that should only take 5 hours took a whole 8 hours. It was a beautiful day, so everyone took to the road, to get to the Jersey Shore or Virginia Beach. I flew home on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday, I went to a party at the house of a friend of mine from High School. It was a great party! He really managed to bring out quite a crowd. He was up for the weekend from Los Angeles, where he works for.. MY SPACE! I was so jetlagged, my friend and I didn't stay too long.

This week is wrapped up in preparations for India. I'm heading over to the Indian Consulate to get my visa, I need to do some last minute packing and shopping. My surgery was cancelled.. possibly, indefinitely! I may not need it at all in the end, but if I have it, I will most likely have it at Michigan. That's right! All my section mates will have the joy of watching me recover. Or, I may have to take a PICC line (which I would actually prefer.. it's the less of all the evils... OK, so I'll be a dork for a month or two, but at least I'll be a dork that still alive!).

Now that I'm back, with little to do, I will most likely get back into the swing of writing in my blog more often. So there are more fun, exciting stories to come from the keyboard of this MBA Cutie. At least until I get to India, and hopefully even then, there will still be stories!

Photographs

2006-07-10T17:04:00.000-04:00

My spirits are lifted! It's the last week of work! And soon enough, I will be home, back in the sweet comfort of beautiful California.

I spent much of this afternoon printing reports for record keeping at work. While I was waiting for the reports to run, I decided to scan some pictures I had taken back in the day, before I had a digital camera (I know, life without a digital camera is nearly unfathomable!). Scanning the pictures reminded me of a funny story.

During my senior year of high school, my mom bought me my first sari and had a blouse stitched for me. It was a beautiful hot pink, black, and cream sari, with a pretty, cream colored blouse. I wore it to the portrait studio, where we had a variety of photographs taken and printed. Six months later, my mom decided to use the photographs as something to put into our family holiday cards, so she stuffed the envelopes and sent out a whole bunch. She sent some to relatives and friends in Bangalore, one of whom informed us that they never received the photograph or card. My mom chalked it up to being lost in the mail and we forgot about it. About two months later, we get a phone call from the family that didn't receive their holiday card. It turns out; the postal service mistakenly delivered it to their next door neighbor's house. Their nosy neighbor, curious as to why someone else on the block was getting mail from the U.S., decided to open the card and they found the photo. Deciding that the girl in the photo was pretty, they put it up on their mantel piece. Two months later, when our friends had gone over to this neighbor's house for dinner, they discovered the picture of me on the mantel. They asked their neighbors how they knew me, and the embarrassed neighbors had to admit that they did not know me, but that they got my picture from a holiday card that was not addressed to them. Needless to say, our family friends took the photograph back.

Last Week of WORK!

2006-07-09T21:39:00.000-04:00

My brother's concert went off without a hitch. Actually, he was totally incredible. I want to post pics here... but I can't. If you want to see pictures, email me.

My mom freaked out after the concert. She is pretty superstitious, and she did a special puja this morning for the three kids in my family (me, my sister, and my brother) to ward off evil eyes. Although, considering my recent experiences with bad luck, I can't say that I don't need the extra blessings.

I'm not looking forward to the red eye back to Newark. Coach is so crowded and I can barely stretch and sleep. Plus, my neck totally hurts when I have to sleep standing up. I saw CARS with my brother and sister today. You know, I thought it would be really trite (which it was), but I actually enjoyed it... a lot! I would see it again. It was cute, a little different, but totally predictable.

I've been in the process of trying to find as many Ross related blogs as I can. I want to know more about what life was like as a first year for other students, as well as what classes to take.

Back Home!

2006-07-07T11:17:00.000-04:00

My brother's carnatic music concert is this weekend in the bay! I'm going home tomorrow morning!!!!

Hotel life has been great. I swim every evening, then relax in the jaccuzzi. The bed is so soft and comfortable. It feels so lonely here now that I'm so close to getting out. I can't wait to come back to California. I'm looking forward to having a roomate again. It's so easy to become anti-social when you live by yourself.

Farecast

2006-07-05T07:39:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be busy with the half year close at my company over the course of the next three days... but I wanted to let everyone know that the beta version of FARECAST has launched! Now there is a way to predict airfares like the stock market. Too bad we can't actually trade them. :)

She's MARRIED!

2006-07-04T18:41:00.000-04:00

The first one of us took the plunge. One of my friends from high school got married this weekend to a guy from our very own high school class. Her wedding was so, so beautiful. She is an absolute vision of beauty to begin with, and then to dress her up in all of the outfits needed for a four day wedding... it just magnified everything. It's so hard to believe she's really married. All of the girlfriends grouped together and said that the actual reality of her departure hasn't really sunk into any of us.

It's an amazing thing to see two people so really, truly in love. I've been part of and come across many, many couples in my lifetime, but I can't say that I know any other couple that is quite as love as these two are. They had an amazing video made about them and their hopes for their life together by www.jadeproductions.com. I've never seen something like that before at a wedding, so it was extremely unique. When you are done watching it, you know that those two are really meant for each other. I'd love to post wedding pics here but that would violate a lot of people's privacy.

The fire is offically lit... the pressure will be immense for the next few years from family and friends to get married now that one of the girls in our group has done it. I know I'm no where near ready for it yet. Maybe after b-school. I have to go back to New Jersey tomorrow, where I'll be living in a hotel for the next two weeks.

A weekend at home!

2006-07-01T18:01:00.000-04:00

In spite of all the craziness, I've come home to Fremont for the weekend. I am so relieved to be out of that awful room and to never have to go back. I don't know exactly how to go about getting my security deposit back. She wants to charge me $100 for every time she cleaned the bathroom. What crap. Oh well. I guess I've learned a very expensive lesson... if you need to live some where for a very short period of time, you need to do a lot of research and it may be better to spend a little more and go for corporate housing.

The flight home sucked! our flight didn't take off until 11pm (it was supposed to take off at 8:20pm). I got home to Fremont around 3am. I couldn't fall asleep until about 6am... I went to my girlfriend's sangeet last night. This weekend is her wedding weekend. She looks really happy and I'm so happy for her. It will definitely be a fun weekend. The wedding is tomorrow and the reception on Monday.

I'm really not looking foreward to going back to work next week. It's going to be an intense three days... lots of late nights and nose-to-the-grindstone type of work. But once we have closed the half year, I can relax, pack up, and know I only have to put in 5 days more (at most).

Infectious Disease

2006-06-29T16:22:00.000-04:00

After many, many trips to the pulmonologist and many, many procedures, the results of my last biopsy are inconclusive. I've been referred to an infectious disease specialist... turns out that I will most likely have another full-on VATS biopsy in two weeks. This guy says this will really be the final one and they will take that tissue and fully test and study it so that they can figure out a line of treatment, whether it's antibiotics or something else.

I hope so. I'm sick of going through procedures that just lead to a dead end.

I've Made It!

2006-06-28T17:05:00.001-04:00

I've made it! Today is the day. I'm leaving that god-foresaken, horrible, scary rented room... and moving into a beautiful hotel in Princeton for the night!!! I cannot wait for internet connection, tv, a clean shower where I don't have to worry about someone suddenly barging in. I never have to see that awful lady again. I really hope she gives me back my security deposit... but the most important thing right now is... I'VE MADE IT!

*No more worries about other people trying on my undergarments.
*No more noisy kids who scream when it's time to take a bath.
*No more worries that someone will barge into my room in the middle of the night.
*No more weird smells from someone else's cooking.
*No more searchign for parking in a shady parking lot.

I do have a few memories in that room... mostly with the 22 year old... haha... but considering he's long gone too at this point, I can happily say GOODBYE to the rented room fiasco!!!! Well, after I grab the last of my things tonight. :)

WAIVED!

2006-06-27T19:12:00.000-04:00

I just found out that I've been waived out of Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting! So I get to run with the big guys and take Financial Analysis (FIN 513) my first semester at Ross.

It's the Heart that Counts

2006-06-26T13:16:00.000-04:00

I just had the weirdest conversation ever with my mother. Weird as in that it was surprising. I was complaining to her about how I have such a hard time finding indian guys that I wan to date long term; a lot of them that I have found just aren't as good to me as I think they should be. In the past when I've told her this, she would tell me to just keep looking, that I just haven't found the right one yet.

Today was different. Today she tells me that I shouldn't lock myself out of the market of dating non-indian guys. Supposedly, now, it's the heart that counts. I wonder if this is a trap she's setting for me? Or, is it that she wants to see her 24 year old daughter get married more than I thought?

I haven't really digested the concept. I'm not sure what to really think about this.

Bridget Jones

2006-06-25T19:56:00.000-04:00

One of my commentors told me that my blog is a lot like Bridget Jones's Diary. It's nice to know that I have moved away from the "sex and the city" theme. I have been feeling a lot like Bridget lately, so I don't take any offense to the comment. If only I had a hottie like Colin Firth waiting for me on the other side of this blog! (Hey Colin, if you are out there, my email is mbacutie1@yahoo.com).

I stayed at the Omni Berkshire last night as a special treat to myself for getting through these exciting, yet sometimes painful, years in NYC. The hotel was GORGEOUS. The room was immaculate, and it was the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in. Plus, since I'm a select member, they upgraded me and brought orange juice and botteled water to my room first thing in the morning. Pretty amazing.

I had dinner with a friend, and then we headed over to the bar for my party. The rain really put a damper on things. A lot of people couldn't come, but there were a few surprises (AKA JP guy)! It folded pretty early and I went back to the hotel to watch movies and chill out. Not the best party and I'm really happy for the friends that came out in spite of the rain. I was, however, really disappointed in some people, who I really did hold as friends, but they haven't been supportive at all the past few weeks. It was a good way to do the tail end of spring cleaning.

I think I just got all the reminders I needed, however, of why I am so ready to leave New York and New Jersey. It may be a better place for me a few years down the road, after b-school, when I'm in a different place in my life. But, as of right now, I'm ready to say goodbye to New York, New Jersey, and everything else that came along with it.

It's my PARTY!!

2006-06-24T10:07:00.000-04:00

and... I'll cry if I want to!

GOODBYE NYC!!!!

Is this true?!!

2006-06-22T19:54:00.000-04:00

Freshly off the Lehman event yesterday... I think I have an interest in banking. I've been trying to talk to people I know in the field.

My friend worked at Jefferies as an analyst for 2 years and then quit. Supposedly,

(1) I'll hate the lifestyle
(2) It makes girls ugly --- literally... he said he worked with some cute girls but after two years they gained 30 pounds and were no longer cute.
(3) I'll be single for the rest of my life
(4) As an analyst, you can escape, as an associate, you're there forever
(5) They only give you good bonuses the first and second years... after that they give you almost nothing or they fire you?

IS THIS TRUE?

I mean, of course I'll hate the lifestyle, who likes working till 2am on almost no sleep -- but isn't the work challenging and interesting? And I will just not eat. I will make sure that I order only salad and be very restrictive and make myself go to the gym every day even if it's at 2am to make sure I won't gain 30 pounds. And what if I meet a boyfrined in b-school? then I dont' have to worry about being single. You can leave as an associate and go into PE or something. I thought bonuses were standard and everyone gets them. RIGHT?

Difficult Years

2006-06-20T10:15:00.000-04:00

Recovering from my fourth medical procedure in the course of 12 months has really forced me to take a look and reevaluate my life.

Acheivements:
* Academic prowess: high school valedictorian, attended(ing) top ranked institutions for undergraduate and graduate studies.
* Worked my way into well-paying jobs in sought after .
* Overcame my childhood shyness to enjoy social life in my 20s.
* Worldly -- travelled to many countries, experienced unique things, have made so many diverse friends.

Yet to Acheive:
* A place of my own -- that I OWN.
* Committment to a job function I really love.
* Falling madly in love with someone who is actually good for me to fall madly in love with.
* Having a family -- if that's what I decide I want.

I think I've really grown disenchanted with the dating scene. You really can't depend on it for anything but fun, and sometimes, you can't even depend on it for that. I can't say that any guy I ever dated was particularly helpful during any of the medical troubles I had... eventually, I just became reluctant to even tell anyone I ever met what I was going through. What's the point? It's not as though people who are not related to you, or who are already your super close friends, want to stop their busy activities to help you feel better. I'm guilty of it, too, I'm sure... not being there, not helping someone that needed my help, when they were most likely showing clear signals that they needed it. Plus, it's such a downer to have to tell someone you like and who is starting to like you that you are facing a medical battle. No one wants to deal with that in a new relationship. Even if the battle isn't life threatening, and is most likely temporary... meaning it will be gone once treatment is over and I will be good as new.

I think, for the next year at least, I need to be really careful with dating. After having to go through another surgery, and just feeling down for the past few days, I know that I need to take the time to take care of myself well. And I don't want to let anyone into my life that isn't going to do the same.

I think the past year has been the hardest year in my life... my second year of college just falling slightly short of being the worst. My junior year of high school was pretty dreadful too. In just under 25 years of life, I can look back and see three years I wish I could erase. I don't regret the years, I just can't handle the pain associated with thinking about them. Someone once told me that for my writing to be at its strongest, I should write about what I know. I want to write about some of those times, but the thought of pulling out the key and unlocking those memories of pain still frighten me to the core. I worked so hard to get past those times and looked, reached, and, finally, ran towards the light. I can't go back and revisit them. At least not yet.

Sri Lanka for designer duds...

2006-06-19T09:31:00.000-04:00

Hey! I am so much better. Most of the pain is gone... I am going to be OK once I'm diagnosed! :)

So this weekend, I met a girl that married a guy from Sri Lanka. She told me that during her last trip, she was able to buy so many designer clothes for ridiculously dirt cheap. How? Well Ralph Lauren, along with other designers, have their clothes manufactured in Sri Lanka. Sometimes, the workers in these factors will purposely rip a label or cause a deliberate defect to some of the clothing. These defected clothes are then sold in local markets at extreme discount. For example, she said she bought a Ralph Lauren white courdoroy mini skirt for just $1.00, when normal retail price of the same skirt in the US would have been $58 or $78. The label is obviously ripped. Hmmm....

Email Revenge!

2006-06-18T13:22:00.000-04:00

As I lay heavily medicated on the road to recovery... I was surfing the internet and came across a "relationship" site that gave some interesting tips on how to get over an ex after a break up. One of them was to take his email ID and register him on every junk mail site you can find. I just could not stop laughing (probably not a good thing, it was painful on my poor lung). That thought had never occurred to me! I really don't have that many ex's that I would consider doing that do but I do have a couple of nasty ex-girlfriends whom I would LOVE to do that to. Interesting, interesting, interesting!

Recovery

2006-06-17T16:44:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry that I disappeared for a little while. It turns out that the surgery I had back in February didn't really help with diagnosing what's wrong with my lungs... so they got worse, and then I had to have an emergency CT guided needle biopsy on Friday. Yes, it sucked, and I'm still in some pain, but I should be better soon.

I really miss my family and California. Last night, I stayed in a hotel for initial recovery, trying to avoid my wretched rented room. I'm not allowed to take a bath for 24 hours. I am really trying to keep my spirits up but I guess I'm just feeling down. I'm thinking of cancelling my goodbye party next Saturday. Seems like it's not a good weekend for a lot of people, and I just am so ready to get out of here.. I have nothing really left in NYC or NJ that I need to celebrate. Maybe it's just me feeling down saying this. I dont' know. I'll try to start posting regularly again next week.

Hiatus

2006-06-14T17:35:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry, but due to a health issue (please go back to "Surgery" posts for more information), I will have to take a short hiatus from posting. I hope to be back soon.

Thank you.

Worst Allergy Nightmare

2006-06-13T12:57:00.000-04:00

It seems like everyone has been coming down with the weirdest allergies lately. I haven't been spared. I took my dry cleaning to a new place and when I put on one of the newly laundered blouses for work, I itched all day long. I come home to discover my whole chest is covered in hives. I had to get everything in that dry cleaning batch re-washed at my old dry cleaners. Thank God for Bennedryl. Although I was knocked out for twelve hours straight, it was much needed sleep.

A friend of mine discovered she has a hidden allergy, but she doesn't know for what. She came back from her trip to St. Louis, bloated, in pain, red, and ten pounds heavier. She's making daily trips to the doctor to make sure that the allergy is dissipating.

But another friend of mine clearly takes the cake for the "Worst Allergy Nightmare". This weekend, she discovered MID-ACT that she is allergic to a particular brand of spermicide. Yes, folks. After intense pain, she relented, went to the emergency room, had to be flushed and medicated. Two excrutiating hours later, she was A-OK. Scary sh!t.

Manifest Destiny & AAA

2006-06-12T13:07:00.001-04:00

The trip to Detroit from Central Jersey is long. That's the only way to describe it. It's also pretty barren. I only hit three major cities on the way there: Youngstown, Cleveland and Toledo. (All three are in Ohio.) Yes, that's right... there is about a 400 mile stretch on I-80 through central Pennsylvania where you do not hit a single major city. The closest thing is that at Exit 161, you are about 10 miles away from State College, the home of the infamous Penn State. The drive, although long, was easy, and the further I drove, the more I wanted to drive. The overwhelming desire to reach my destination with the fewest possible number of stops over came me, and I used the rush to help me drive. It took some willpower to pull onto 280 North when the time came, as I wouldn't have minded continuing on to Chicago. The pull of "sea to shining sea" was fairly strong, and I now understand the sentiments of our country's first settlers.

Heading out there was fairly uneventful. I was left without music for about 200 miles in central PA, as I couldn't find a radio station and had grown sick of my CD's. Since the winter weather in these areas is pretty greusome, the summer months are prime construction times, and there were a few delays. I finally got onto I-80 at Stroudsburg around 3:00pm and didn't arrive in Dearborn, MI until about 12:00am on Friday night.

The return trip was exactly the opposite. I set out from Dearborn around 9:30 am and headed towards Toledo. At about 11:15am, I'm in between Toledo and Cleveland and I hear this strange sound. It sounded like a very loud tractor. I figured, since I was in farm country, that must be exactly what it is, and just kept going on my merry way. Then my steering wheel started shaking uncontrollably. Not sure whether it was my car or the road, I began to slow down. Then, I hear a loud *BAM*, my car is suddenly lurching to the right. Something was very, very wrong. I immediately pulled off to the shoulder, get out and take a look to find out what happened. My rear right tire is in PIECES. It's completely shredded. Nothing remains of it except a small ring of rubber that manged to stay around the rim. My mud flap is mangled in rubber. CRAP.

I had absolutely no clue where I was (other than that I was in Sandusky County about 20 to 30 miles east of Toledo). I called AAA and they said it would take a while for them to find me. An Ohio Turpike cop found me and called AAA to let them know I was, get this, 4 miles away from FREMONT, Ohio (oh so ironic that I burst a tire in a town called Fremont). AAA showed up, changed my tire and sent me on my way to the Fremont, Ohio Walmart Tire Center, where they changed my tire. While I was waiting, I headed across the street to this tiny strip mall and was poking around the shops there.

Once my car was fixed, I high-tailed it out of there. I made it across PA in 4 and 1/2 hours. I have no idea how, but I just kept driving and driving, and finally, I was back in NJ. Forty-five minutes later, I was back in my freaky rented room. Just two and a half more weeks and counting.

Twins can have different fathers?

2006-06-10T22:17:00.000-04:00

The most random thing ever... I was reading on MSN that it is actually possible for fraternal twins to have two different fathers. It's not something I had ever thought about before, but it is interesting...

"I am pregnant with twins and need to know if my babies can be one day older than the other? Can I have one baby by one dad and the other by another dad?"

Not only is it possible for fraternal twins to have different fathers, it's on the medical record books. This official medical term for this phenomenon is heteropaternal superfecundation.

The classic case was recorded in 1810 by John Archer, the first doctor to receive a medical degree in the U.S. According to Dr. Archer, a white woman who had sex with a black man and a white man within a short time of each other subsequently gave birth to twins -- one white, one mulatto. Other cases have been reported since. And you thought this only happened with puppies?

Sperm cells can live inside a woman's body for four to five days. Once ovulation occurs, the egg remains viable for another 12 to 48 hours before it begins to disintegrate; thus, the fertile period can span five to seven days.

Dr. Lawrence B. Werlin, founder and director of the Coastal Fertility Medical Center in Irvine, Calif., explains, "If the twins are fraternal, where two eggs (ova) are fertilized by two sperm and produce two genetically unique children, then one baby could be slightly older than the other. In addition, if a woman ovulates, releases two eggs and has intercourse with two different men, the eggs could be fertilized by both, resulting in fraternal twins with distinctive fathers."

Historically, superfecundation has been difficult to prove, due to the crudeness of the blood-type testing methods. However, in 1978, Dr. Paul Terasaki of the UCLA School of Medicine reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that he and his colleagues had conclusively established a case of superfecundation using a sophisticated procedure called tissue HLA (or human leukocyte antigen) testing. Potential paternity-suit litigants, take note: This technique can also be applied to more conventional cases.

I'm Still Here!

2006-06-09T11:36:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry I've been MIA for the past two days. I was having system issues so I couldn't log onto Blogger. :( Things haven't really improved in the apartment situation. At the moment, I'm avoiding my landlord at all costs. I disappear to my room the second I get home, and I try to hide out as long as possible so that I don't have to see her when I shower or go to the bathroom. Just a few more weeks and then I'm done.

Yesterday afternoon, I packed up as many belongs as I could and stuffed them into my car. I leave for the 9 hour drive to Detroit in about 2 hours. Not really looking forward to it, but not really looking forward to spending more time in that awful room I rented. My dad thinks I've brought this on myself for being thoughtless when looking for a temporary place to stay. He's probably right.

Nothing new to really report. I'm looking forward to attending the Lehman event on June 20th and to my goodbye party! It's nice to have something fun to plan. A few karmatic things are starting to catch up to me, so I'm trying my best to relieve their impacts. I don't know if it will work out. I have a new story to add on to the Online Dating series, so you can look forward to that in the next few days... Have a great weekend!

The Saga Worsens

2006-06-06T13:41:00.000-04:00

Last night, I was sitting on my air mattress trying to plan out details for my good bye party in New York City. Around 11:30pm, I decided that that was enough for one day, and then proceed to start getting ready for bed. While I'm changing into my PJs, the door to my room suddenly FLIES open. And there is my landlord, just standing there staring at me, almost stark naked except for my underwear. I start screaming bloody murder, and yelled at her to "GET THE HELL OUT". Which she eventually did after looking around the room for another 30 seconds or so.

I was scared out of my wits. I grabbed my robe, went out into the hallway and called to her. She came out and I said "What the HELL was that about? Why did you not knock?"

She tells me "I heard voices and thought you had someone else in your room. I figured it was better to just come in and apologize to you later if I was wrong." She continued to try to justify her wrongdoing.

I told her, "That is absolutely not acceptable. I have no one here. You violated my privacy. You are NEVER again to come into my room without knocking first. If I ever find you doing this again, I will immediately call the police."

Thank God, only three more weeks and I'm out of there. I'm a little scared, but it's only a little longer.

BRAS ARE NOT THINGS TO BORROW !!!

2006-06-05T13:53:00.000-04:00

OK, I live in Hell. I will give the preliminary details of the story tomorrow, but in short.. this is what happened to me.

I was doing my laundry in the basement of the sketchy townhouse where I'm renting a room. I pulled my bras out of the washing machine and hung them up to air dry on the clothes line. I went upstairs to read for a while. I came back down to collect my laundry and I find my shady landlord in the basement. One of my bras is on the floor. Another one, she is TRYING ON. She is TRYING IT ON. MY BRA. I freak out. I ask her "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" and then she notices me.

Without even acting guilty, she starts taking off the bra (ugh, which I had to see... GROSS) and tells me "Oh I thought these were mine. I was trying them on to make sure." WTF???? How do you not recognize your own bras and why would you want to try on someone else's? I took everything I hung up to dry and ran to the laundromat where everything got rewashed. I am never doing laundry in the town house again. I also had to lock up all my panties and bras in a suitcase. It's a sad day when you have to lock up your undergarments. I think this lady is screwed up in the head.

Just three more weeks and counting. I'm moving into a hotel as soon as I can.

Online Dating, Part 3: Dating for Business

2006-06-03T09:29:00.000-04:00

Another one of my girlfriends had an interesting experience with friendster as well. She started messaging with a guy who seemed reasonably nice and cute. Things were going well, so they decided to meet in person. Unlike FA's experience, my other friend (let's call her friendster friend, or FF) found Friendster Boy (FB) to be attractive and nice from the get-go. They had a great date, and then met again the following week for another great date. Things kept going so well, they decided to start dating each other more often and exclusively.

So about two months into the relationship, FF realized that she barely knew anything about the type of work that FB did. He was always so secretive, and when she asked him about it, he would say that he owns his own business related to sales. She asked for further explanation, but he would always say that it's too complicated to explain right there and they need to set asside some time to talk about it if she was interested. FF was confused. She said "But what's wrong with right now, we're not doing anything." And he would always say, I need my computer, I want to show you a presentation, etc... Now that was just weird.

So one day, FF "set asside some time" to talk to FB about his business. It turns out that he is part of a multi-level marketing scheme. When FF told him she wasn't interested in joining it, his attitude completely changed. He never called her or talked to her again.

It's a pretty sad dat when someone has to "fake" date you through friendster to get you to join their business. What is that all about?

Swindled

2006-06-02T02:05:00.000-04:00

My landlord is crazy... I am a little worried about what to do. My last day in my current living situation is July 17th, and when I started renting the room, I gave the landlord a $825 security deposit to cover last month's rent. (It was $550/ month but security was 1.5 months). We're at the last month, but she wants me to pay her the entire month's rent, and she says we'll work out how I get the money back. NO WAY! She's had money problems and now I bet she spent my security deposit and she needs my rental money.

She also has me pay her in cash every month for rent. So, now, I'm going to just give her 1/2 a month's rent, and tell her that I don't have the money for the full month and she should take it out of the security deposit like she had agreed.

I'm so frustrated. Is there any way she can retaliate on me for this?

Online Dating, Part 2: Date-Ditching, Part 2

2006-06-01T13:51:00.000-04:00

Date-Ditching, Part 2

FA was in quite a predicament. She could confront the guy about lying and just leave, or she could give him a chance and hope that his personality didn't match his height. Being the nice girl she is, FA decided to give FG a chance.

After making small talk for about ten minutes, FA climbed into FG's car. He took her to El Dorado (11777 San Vincente Blvd., Los Angeles, 310-207-0150), for dinner and drinks. Later, FA told me that he seemed really stressed out, and just moaned on and on about how busy work kept him, and how tired he was all the time, and about how much money he was going to make when he was done with his residency. Hmm... She tried to talk to him about other things: interests, vacations, his undergrad, but he had almost nothing interesting to say about them. All she could do to get through the torture was to drink as many mojitos as the waitress could bring to the table.

Finally, the dinner was over and she getting ready to walk out the door with FG and say goodbye when out of no where, a friend, his friend and his hot cousin materialize at the front door of El Dorado. FA was ecstatic! She says hi, and of course they ask her what she's doing there. So she explains she's on a date with FG, who, remarkably, these other guys know! The first thing they say is "FA, what the hell are you doing with him?" And of course, in her inebriated state, FA responds "I don't know!"

The guys convince FA to stay and dance with them for a while, while a fuming FG watches from the bar. Finally FG decides to assert his authority and tells FA that he is ready to go. FA assesses the situation, turns to FG and says, "I think I'm going to stay. You go on ahead." FG says some choice phrases to FA and then starts heading for the door. It's that moment that FA accepts and invitation to go for a ride with her friend's hot cousin. She passes FG on her way out the door... as she leaves with another man while on the date that FG paid for...

Coming up, Online Dating, Part 3: The many uses of Friendster

Online Dating, Part 1 (Date-Ditching, Part 1)

2006-05-31T11:20:00.000-04:00

Date Ditching, Part 1...

In this series, we'll explore various stories from Cutie's repitoire of Online Dating experiences...

I have never been an advocate of online dating, although I may have to change my mind. Lately it seems like a lot of my girlfriends are meeting their beaus on sites like Match.com or even the infamous Friendster. Not every one of these experiences can be a complete walk in the park, however. My girlfriend, let's call her Friendster Addict (FA), decided to respond to one of those well scripted messages that seemed to find its way to her mailbox. The sender of the message, let's call him Friendster Guy (FG), seduced FA with the mindblowing line of "You're pretty." So FA checked out his bio and picture and decided to write back, "Thanks."

At that point, a new Friendster frienship blossomed, and the two wrote back and forth for about two weeks. However, FG was in medical school in Los Angeles, and my girlfriend was working San Francisco, so the two were having difficulty arranging a meeting. Finally, FA decided to head down to Los Angeles and visit a few friends and have dinner wtih FG.

Now, one of the unspoken rules of pictures on Friendster is that in real life, no one ever looks as good. Well, in the case of FG, he certainly took a lot of liberty with his photograph on Friendster. My friend met him in westwood and didnt' even recognize who he was. She was expecting something completely different than what she got. Also, he was the same height as her. (Did I mention that FA is 5'2''?). She did not know what to do. Should she yell at the guy for blatantly lying on friendster? Should she at least give him a chance considering she was already there and it would be really mean to completely dismiss him based on looks?

What did FA do? Check back tomorrow to find out.... in Date-Ditching, Part 2.

Of Vice and Men

2006-05-30T15:44:00.000-04:00

Memorial Day brought the chance to embark upon Las Vegas, the city where all vice is not only acceptable, but actually mandated. As I had mentioned before, this Vegas trip was attributable to my girlfriend's bachelorette party. All six of the girls in the party were split between rooms at Ballys and Paris. I arrived a bit earlier than everyone else, so checked and rushed over to the Wynn, where a friend of mine was staying, for a quick lunch and some craps. The Wynn is amazing, and the craps were even better... in a matter of 5 minutes I had managed to make $200 after just putting down $100. In true Vegas fashion, easy come, easy go… and I forced myself to walk away from the table up $85. (Hey, I had to stay... I couldn't desert my friend during his roll, and then it was my roll, so I couldn't not bet on myself!)

I came back to Ballys/ Paris and met up with the other girls. We got ready to head out to dinner at Firefly. The food was good... really to my liking, but if you really like authentic Spanish tapas, it's a great place to go. After that, we met our limo and arrived at Pure. Now, I have never, ever used a club VIP service to go to a club before, but http://www.clubvivalasvegas.com/, was 100% worth it. The queue at Pure was absolutely ridiculous and we were inside in about 5 minutes -- just the time it took to get through the monstrous sea of people tugging at the velvet ropes. Once inside, we heard rumors that Jessica Simpson was there (we didn't see her). The club was nice, especially the terrace upstairs, but it was just too crowded for my taste. After having about 20 drinks spilled on me, and getting my feet trampled on twice, we retreated to a quieter corner of the club to talk and hang out for a while before we went back to our hotel.

By far, the most interesting thing about Vegas, is that it's club scene has extremely interesting attributes. We regularly had a hard time telling apart normal girls that chose to dress scandalously from prostitutes. Even in the middle of the day, it seems like some sort of scary competition, who can wear the least amount of clothing and still walk through the streets without looking like they are for sale? Unlike most cities, which have similarly priced drinks, men seem to embrace table service over anything else. We had a hard time even getting guys at Pure to buy drinks for our main bachelorette girl! Often times, any guy you met wanted to buy a drink for just you and not the whole group, if they wanted to buy a drink at all! The only way to secure drinks for all was to cozy up to guys with tables, and not all of them were the types you want to cozy up against.

The second night we went to the Thunder Down Under show at Excaliber, which was interesting, as I had never been to a male strip show before. We got our main girl to go on stage. She seemed to have a good time. After that, one of the girls had a hook up for all of us to go to Tao at the Venetian for the Madonna after party. We arrived to great another massive sea of people. Luckily, the girl with the contact at Tao pushed her way to the front and got us all in. Inside was another crazy mass of people. We didn't even get to see Madonna, she must have been off in a VIP room by the time we got there.

In hindsight, I still know that I love Vegas, the rush it has, and what it means, but I don't think I will go there again for another holiday weekend. The prices are ridiculous, the crowds are insane, and the taxi lines are long. It's also hard to coordinate when you have six girls that all want to do different things. On my way back home, my flight was overbooked, so I agreed to give up my seat and take the free voucher from United. I visited the airport book store where the author of STRIPPED (http://www.strippedbook.com/) was autographing copies of his book for purchasers. Fairly interesting and a good read... especially when waiting in the airport. And now, it's back to work.

Viva Las Vegas!

2006-05-26T16:47:00.001-04:00

In Vegas for the long weekend.. Serial will have to start next week.

Happy Memorial Day!

Time for a new Serial

2006-05-26T11:10:00.000-04:00

With the end of "In Search of Sugar Daddy" came a reduction in readership! I think it's time I bring out a new Serial for you all to enjoy. This Saturday's post will mark the first installment of "Date-Ditching", a great story told to me by my friend about her experience with online dating. Hope you all love it!

My Super Sweet Sixteen

2006-05-26T02:20:00.000-04:00

I never bothered to watch this show on MTV until this past weekend. I was relaxing at my friend's apartment in Boston, looking for something to do to temporarily occupy my time, and came across it and decided to watch. I have never seen such ridiculousness in my life! (And this is ME, of all people, saying this.) Maybe because I grew up thinking that Macy's was an "expensive" store, the thought of a fifteen year old boy celebrating his birthday by flying to Florida to bring a baby tiger cub back to New Jersey to help him make a grand entrance to his party is just silly. So is the thought of a fifteen year old girl hiring professional models to escort them while passing out invitiations to their party?

Where are these people's parents? And even more so, why are these parents not intervening and knocking some sense into their children? It's almost as if these kids don't even know what it means to be a kid: to ride your bike down the street as fast as you can, to eat cherry snow cones on a hot day and have red lips for the rest of the afternoon, to give your friends makeovers at slumber parties. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a time and a place in everyone's life to worry about their appearance, to throw a ridiculously exciting party, and to purchase a $100k car. I just personally don't feel that the ripe old age of fifteen is really that time.

On the Road with MBA Cutie

2006-05-25T02:17:00.000-04:00

The official travel blog, On the Road with MBA Cutie, is now available to the public. I hope you find this as a valueable resource.

I plan to drive cross country for a week in the middle of July. Any tips or suggestions that you have for me would be greatly appreciated.

Seducing the Ad-Com, Part Two: Get into B-School the Jenna Jameson Way

2006-05-24T08:19:00.000-04:00

With B-school so close on the hozion, career planning is in full force. Ross has already had enrolled student career planning workshops, Lehman Brothers has started it's diversity recruiting efforts, and Eli Lilly wants to offer future MBA students summer internship positions even before they set foot into a classroom. This sudden surge of recruitment activity has done nothing but add to my confusion. As you all know, I'm interested in taking a "non-traditional" route post business school. I'm just not sure what that is. There are no workshops available for those of us that might want to start our own intimate apparrel companies, or guiltypleasures.com start-ups. I can just imagine the interview process to B-school, explaining to the Ad-Com the true goals behind my MBA.

Interviewer: So, MBA Cutie, why MBA? Why now?

MBA Cutie: Well, I just feel at this point, I've gone as far as I can in my industry. I've starred in movies and videos that bring people pleasure all over the world. I've received countless awards for my daring performances. I regularly try to mentor the new up and coming recruits that Ricardo (you know, my "producer") brings in. But I feel I have talent beyond all that. My production company has taken my brand equity and is profiting off of it in ways I'll never see. With an MBA, I can separate from them, produce, direct, and recruit, but also create a line of merchandise to add to my bottom. Oh sorry, I mean my bottom line.

Interviewer: Uh, um, well yes, I see. So what steps have you taken so far in achieving your goal of entrepreneurship?

MBA Cutie: I was an entrepreneur from the start. I started working when I was eighteen. I have killer instincts and I knew exactly what guys to brush up against in order to get what I want. I built up my name based on hard work and repeated high performance levels. I've already started wearing some of my own designs in movies set to be released this year, and I've helped with lighting and direction of other films from my company. Making sure the camera angles are getting the best possible shot, if you know what I mean. I'm a natural marketer, my customers are just drawn to me. In fact, they are so drawn to me that Ricardo has hired Jimmy, over there, to make sure no one gets too close to me.

Interviewer: Well, MBA Cutie, what do you feel you can bring to this school that is unique?

MBA Cutie: Instant fame. Everyone in the industry will know that I chose to go here. Money. If some of the people in the class are willing, we can start up some sort of "recruitment" program and maybe partner with the film school to push a few movies of our own while on campus. Relaxation techniques. I'm really good at administering and teaching those. The possibilities are really endless.

Interviewer: Cutie, you've definitely sold me. How active do you plan to be with the alumni groups in the area? I mean, I certainly know of a few people that would love to network with you.

*sigh* What a shame my real interview didn't go like this. But then again, I wasn't trying to seduce back then. I was just trying to get in.

DISCLAIMER: MBA Cutie is NOT an adult film star. This post is simply a dramatization of a hypothetical situation.

For those with interest in this topic, check out Jenna Fatigue.

"Someone who makes your heart ache in a good way... "

2006-05-23T08:35:00.000-04:00

I can't wait of this Friday... I am going to Vegas for Memorial Day Weekend! One of my really good girlfriends from high school is getting married, and we are taking her to Las Vegas for the first time for her bachelorette party! Ever since I left LA, I have really missed the thrill of going to Vegas, so I'm happy about the trip.

It is so weird to think that someone my age is getting married. One of my own friends is really getting married and pledging herself to one person for the rest of her life. I had the chance to look at her website today and her and her future husband are so obviously happy together. Love, it's such a weird emotion. How do you know when you are really in it? I wonder if I really ever have been been in it. Someone once told me that if you have to ask, you probably haven't. There are time whens in my past when I really thought I was, but now, when I think about it, I was never in love enough to fight for it. Not for long anyways. Anyway, I'm so happy for my friend that she did find "someone who makes her heart ache in a good way." I wish the pain lasts forever.

Chinatown to Chinatown and back again.

2006-05-22T08:58:00.000-04:00

I raced out of work on Friday to head to Chinatown in NYC. I was catching the Fung - Wah bus to head to Boston. As you all know, I used to be a frequent visitor to Boston before the "row" with my friend in London. In some ways, it was really hard to go back, because I have so many memories of Boston that are specifically associated with my old best friend. I'm still very hurt by what happened, especially as there are new details that unsurfaced regarding our discord. But that all can wait for another blog.

I was really happy to be in Boston and to see my darling friend, who lives right next to the Prudential Center. It was the most perfect location ever. We could walk to essentially everything... and we did! South End, Newberry, the City Park, Downtown Crossing, Faneiul Hall, and North End --- all of which I will give a more detailed description of in my travel blog, On the Road with MBA Cutie, once it launches in a few weeks. On Friday night, we met up with two of her friends and headed over to the 33 Lounge (www.33restaurant.com) to do some dancing and have a few drinks. Tired from my 7 hour journey on the bus (yes, a WHOLE SEVEN HOURS. Parts of the Mass Turnpike were closed and the traffic was horrendous.), a zoned out MBA Cutie manages to forget her purse, complete with friend's camera, in the restroom. When I discovered I didn't have it, I rushed back to the bathroom, but the purse was gone. My friend tells me to start looking at every single girl trying to leave the place. I completely freaked out thinking that I had not only lost all my money, credit cards, debit cards, and ID, but also a digital camera. Suddenly, a girl comes up the stairs holding my purse in her hands! I run over to her and say, "That's my purse!!!! " She says, "Thank god ! I've lost mine before and when I saw it in the bathroom, I wanted to take it right up here to security." I am such a lucky girl. We had one last drink with my friend's friends, managed to refuse dancing offers from two guys that approached us (we were tired and just not that interested), and then walked a few blocks back home.

Saturday night was definitely the more interesting night. After a long day of shopping and sight seeing, we came back to my friend's place to get ready for that evening. The plan was to head out to Felt (www.feltboston.com) for another night of drinks and dancing. Once there, my friend hit it off with one of her friends and left me in a slightly awkward situation. I quickly remedied it by meeting a nice guy, Boston Boy, and dancing for a few hours. When everything ended at 2am, Boston Boy asked if he could hang out with me and my girlfriend and her friend for a while. We figured why not (and, luckily, he had a car so we wouldn't have to walk anymore that night!), and then went in search of an after hours place. We settled on grabbing some food at News (www.newsboston.com). When we got there the line was ridiculous! My girlfriend, the clever, sly girl that she is, just slips up to the front of the line, and slowly cuts in and tells the bouncer we are there and need a table for four. I slide in behind her, but we had the guys wait outside the line. Then, a couple walks up to the front of the line and announced that they are part of "Nick Lachey's" party. What??!! Nick Lachey was at News in Boston the same night we were there?

We were never able to confirm whether or not Nick was there. We were let in before that couple. Our food was good (pizza and french fries), but my friend ordered pancakes which were mistakenly served with soy sauce! Her guy's face just scrunched up when he tried some! We complained to the waitress, who replaced the order and took them off our bill. I bonded a little with Boston Boy during the walk back to his car, and he may be in New York City next weekend, so it would be fun to see him again. When we got home, my girlfriend and I discussed the events of the night and decided where we thought things were going with the new guys we had met. (No where for me, Boston Boy is a nice guy, but I could just tell it really didn't have that potential. Maybe somewhere for her. She's not quite sure how it will play out.)

And that was the last of the east coast Boston trips for me. Considering that this was the first time that I had the chance to see Boston from a non-student, non-Cambridge perspective, I think it was phenomenal. I like the city even more now that I know that there really is an active scene of young professionals and individuals that live in Boston and aren't necessarily there for a collegiate experience. Plus, life across the river is so different. I love the charm of Cambridge, but I think I like the reality of the main parts of Boston more. I promise to include Boston as an entry on my bluelist once my travel blog is up and running.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Texting -- the wave of a new generation

2006-05-20T00:55:00.000-04:00

Now that I have one, I could never give up my cell phone. There have been times that I ventured out of my apartment without it, and actually turned around, from 15 miles away, to go back and get it. I have a pink razor which I got almost two months ago. I still get annoyed that it's not as small and convenient as my last phone, but it has great color features and it's the first time I've ever had a camera on my phone. The sales girl at the Verizon counter convinced me to purchase a "text message" package, in addition to my usual $39.95 per month service fee. I figured, what the hell, my last phone was awful with texting, so why not try this thing out.

All of a sudden, I have a new hobby. Why call someone when you can text? It's like instantaneous, straight to your palm, email. No lengthy phone conversation, no small talk. Just "are you here yet?", "where are you?", "you busy?", or "wear something hot and come over". The next discovery is, why drunk dial when you can drunk text? You can send a message to your entire contact list within a matter of seconds, so everyone out there knows about your inebriated state.

I admit, I'm guilty of using a text when I feel non-committal. It's so much easier to just text someone and say "running late" or "can't make it after all". One of my girlfriends was dating this guy who refused to ever call her. Everything with him was a about sending a text message. Even when she was lost trying to find his apartment, he refused to pick up the phone but text messaged her directions. Finally, she grew tired of it. She tried to call him to break up, but no avail. So, she sent him a text message that said "Baby, it's over." What's worse: A text message break-up or an AIM one? Or maybe Carrie's "post-it" from Berger trumps them all.

The Ross Experience

2006-05-19T09:30:00.000-04:00

I have been trying to decide whether or not to continue blogging once I start school at Ross. I finally concluded that I will continue to blog, but on two separate blogs. MBA Cutie will officially become my "personal" blog, which will continue to contain my stories and thoughts that are largely not MBA related.

My new blog, The Ross Experience, will include information that is exclusively related to the MBA and my experiences in the Day MBA program at the Ross School of Business.

So, if you are looking to just find MBA related information, be sure to visit my other blog. Please be mindful that although my blog name is MBA Cutie, the MBA Cutie blog will not have just MBA content. Once school starts, I will try to post on at least one of my blogs every few days.

Vacation Itinerary

2006-05-19T00:59:00.000-04:00

I'm such a ridiculous, type A planner, I had to get this all sorted out.

If any of the bloggers are down to have a meet up in Bangalore or Coimbatore any of the days I'm there, that would be great, but I have a feeling most of them would have left for school by then...

July 24th: Day in Singapore
July 25th: Arrive in Chennai @ 10:05pm (Singapore Airlines)
July 26th: Shopping in Chennai
July 27th: Mahabalipuram
July 28th: Train to Bangalore, relax in Bangalore
July 29 - July 31st: Shopping and visiting relatives. Hanging out.
Overnight train to Coimbatore on July 31st night.

Aug 1 - 7th: Time in Coimbatore
Kerala Trip (Palghat, Thathamangalam, Trichur, Guruvayur, Alwaye,
Perumbavur, Munnar, Tekkadi, Ooty, Kovalam -- time permitting)
Night train back to Bangalore.
Aug 8 - 9th: More shopping & hanging out in Bangalore.
Aug 10th: My grandfather's death anniversary.
Aug 11th: Last day in Bangalore
Aug 12th: Leave India (via Hong Kong & Seoul)

Vacation Plans

2006-05-18T00:18:00.000-04:00

I'm planning on coming to Chennai, Bangalore and Cochin for a few days in July and August. Bangalore, I think I have under control, but would love some tips for night life and shopping in Chennai?

I also plan to spend some time at a few hill stations (Ooty and Munnar), and then a few days in Thekkady.

Thanks for your help!

Who IS MBA Cutie? -- FAQ

2006-05-17T09:09:00.000-04:00

Today I write to you not as Cutie, but as the creator of Cutie. I started this blog last November, mostly out of frustration with the MBA Application process and to improve my writing skills. Over time, MBA Cutie has developed and taken on a personality of her own, not entirely MBA related. Over the past few months, friends of mine and my blog readers have asked me various questions about me and MBA Cutie. I plan to answer the most common questions here.

Who is MBA Cutie? Is she really you?

Well... she is loosely based around me and my life, but some of the things that happen to MBA Cutie are fictionalized or dramatized. MBA Cutie has grown and changed during her time as a blogger. When she started out, she was a little stiff. One of the coolest things about MBA Cutie is that she openly says things that many people are thinking, but are afraid to say themselves. To a one extent, she is me, but she's only one dimension of me. She's the dimension I choose to show on this blog. To another extent, she isn't me, because I create her, I decide what happens to her, I modify events in my life and in the lives of people I know to make them "blog-worthy". She's more my creation than anything else.

Well then, who IS MBA Cutie?

She's not afraid to speak her mind, even if it makes other people cringe. She's exciting, and she lives for the moment. She is happy with herself. But to develop a relatable and likeable characteristic to her, I have tried to make her real. She is trying to figure out who she is, she questions the way she acts and the way others act towards her, she wonders why things are the way they are, and she does get hurt. As MBA Jackass said, there are haters. But then, there will always be haters. No one likes everyone all the time. I'm working on a fiction novel outside of this blog, and I regularly reread entries to draw ideas to develop my characters in that novel.

Will you continue to write as MBA Cutie once you are at Ross?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I would like to, and I think the Cutie character can take on an interesting perspective while at Ross. On the downside, however, since I'm not exactly anonymous, it may be more difficult to protect the anonymity of people I know there as opposed to now, where my social contacts are not all in one community.

Hey Cutie, I think you wrote about me! But I told you that stuff months ago, not yesterday! What's the deal? Where do you get ideas on what to write about?

Haha, you have discovered the key to chronological disorder! I may or may not have been influenced by you. In fact, I may have been influenced by more than just you, but it took me a little while to form an opinion and then to be able to write. I write about a lot of things out of order to protect the anonymity of people who I may be referring to in my blog. Also, in real life, some life events just happen at times that aren't opportune. The benefit of creating a character like MBA Cutie is that I can have things happen to her when I want them to happen to her. Most of my writing topics come from life. My friends will talk to me about something, I will hear something on the radio, or something will happen to me ... and then I write about it.

So what's up with Cutie and the youngin'? Was he real?

I knew this question was coming! He's relatively real, he is based on someone I met. However, Cutie's timeline with him did not follow the same order of events that happened in real life (whether that's shorter or longer or just in disorder, I cannot reveal). Some events and emotions with the youngin' were fabricated. Also, I started feeling that the Cutie & the Youngin' story line needed to be phased out. Cutie is about to embark on a very exciting few months: confusion, moving, new environments, and new people. It's time to pick up some new story lines.

Do you care if people know who you are as the writer of this blog?

Not really, but I think that by knowing who I am, it could ruin the experience of reading this blog. Part of the allure of the MBA Cutie is that you don't really know who she is, and so she becomes what you want her to be.

Why did you pick the blogging name MBA Cutie?

I was applying to B-school at the time and wanted to pick a name that was fun and flirty.

What advice do you have for people (especially women) who want to pursue their MBA?

GO FOR IT! And don't be afraid to be different. The business world may have promoted conformity for years, but the best and brightest ideas come from people who can see the world differently than anyone else. I especially encourage people who would not conventionally consider an MBA to look into it. An MBA can give you the skills to make visions into reality, successfully, skillfully, and with credibility.

Cutie and the Married Guys

2006-05-16T06:42:00.000-04:00

My recent adventures in NYC make me feel like all morals have gone out the window. A few months back, I wrote about my "date" with the guy who neglected to mention he was married until we were at dinner. I don't know what it is about me that attracts married men, but lightning has managed to strike the same spot twice.

I was at a bar in the flat-iron a few weeks ago, waiting to meet my friend. She was running late, so I decided to order a glass of wine and relax a little while I was waiting for her. A fellow decides to slide into the seat next to me at the bar and asks my name. I really wasn't attracted to him, but it's not like I had anything better to do so I told him. We made small talk for a while, and then he asks me for my number. I wasn't at all interested so I tell him I have a boyfriend, thinking that would scare him away. No dice. Now he's asking me for my email address. Great! Why doesn't he get it? I see my friend at the door, so I get up, and he follows me. Finally, to get rid of him, I gave in and scribbled my email on the back of his business card and then told my friend that I wanted to go to a different bar. We left, and thankfully, he didn't follow.

A few days later, I get an email from him (Crap, I should have given him a fake email!). "MBA Cutie, It was so great to meet you a few days ago. It's good that you are so up front about having a boyfriend, it really shows what a great personality you have. I can't wait to meet you again. Just to get it out in the open, I am married and I wanted to let you know that. When would you like to meet?" WTF!!!???!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??? If you are married, why are you so persistantly going after girls' numbers and then emailing them?

Cutie's response, "Please never email me again. Thank you."

Hard to do...

2006-05-15T08:52:00.000-04:00

I remember reading an article about breaking up where a therapist described the process as more difficult than morning the death of a loved one. With death, there is finality and the inability to contact the person that was lost. With the end of a relationship, most of the time, it is not due to the death of one of the parties involved, so the finality of the situation is more difficult to come to terms with.

To keep my mind off the youngin', I let my girlfriend take me out on the town on Friday night in NYC. We headed over to Earth NYC (www.earth-nyc.com) to have a few drinks in their "free vodka drinks" happy hour from 9 to 11pm. The crowd wasn't that great... very mixed and a little fobby, so we headed over to the old, reliable, Park (10th and 17th) next door. Probably not the best choice, as a tipsy me became a bit reminiscent of the day I met the youngin' there on the third floor, however The Park is easy to get into, my car was parked just around the corner, and we were inside in about two minutes, and had drinks in our hands in about 5 minutes. It was a pretty fun night, and my girlfriend seemed like she was having a fabulous time. We met quite a few boys and even let a few of them get us drinks or chat with us for a while before we continued wandering around, up and down the stairs. I had sobered up by 3am, so kissed my friend goodbye and headed home.

Cindy Chupak wrote in her book, Between Boyfriends, a short piece about a girl who was mourning the loss of her last relationship, and felt that if she went on a certain number of dates, she would be over her last relationship. In the end, it proved to not be true. Perhaps there is some truth in the "20 dates" theory, as post break-up I find myself in a well defined routine: going out with girlfriends to meet as many guys as possible, anxiously booking up my weekends with activities to keep me distracted, hitting the gym more than normal, writing more, reading more, cleaning more... and after a few weeks of that, things go back to the way they were before, just with no regular guy in the picture. I can't say that I wouldn't still miss them, but your heart comes to terms with the idea that if it was meant to be, it will be, and if it's not, there will be someone else. But of course, you just can't expect to meet the "someone else" tomorrow.

NONONONO!!!!

2006-05-12T16:41:00.000-04:00

Crap, I'm actually letting myself sit here and feel sad. I need to go out tonight and not be sappy.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

2006-05-12T09:15:00.000-04:00

All good things must come to an end, but all we can hope is that the new things coming our way will be just as good if not better. This last week has been one of deliberation, questioning, and contemplation: is going to school the right choice for me? do I really want to put my work life on hold for two years? how do I want to spend this summer? The questions just keep coming, and I wish I had a magic looking glass that would tell me what my life would be like in twenty years depending on what choice I make.

Other things end, too. With finalized plans to go to India at the end of July, I know that I'll be packing up and leaving New Jersey for good. Life with the youngin' is all but non-existant. It had to end, not so much for him as much as for me. I know I like him too much and it would never work since I'm leaving, and that's the end of that. I can't let myself think about it or I'll turn into a total sap.

I can't wait for school to start and for all the new good things to come.

In Search of a Sugar Daddy, Epilogue: Lessons from the Mouth of a Crack Whore

2006-05-11T00:40:00.000-04:00

My experiences with CW, while both off the wall and fantastic, did lend a few valuable lessons that I still carry with me to this day.

(1) Even more important than trying to correct your weaknesses, know your true strengths. CW clearly had weaknesses: An over inflated ego, a poor sense of judgment, a very unattractive face, and the facade of chemical dependency. But, CW also knew what she was good at. She had a vivacious personality and a great body, and she used both to her benefit every time. She did her best to cover her weaknesses through make-up, plastic surgery, or befriending girls with better decision making skills than she had, but her focus was never on her weaknesses. She emphasized and capitalized on her strengths to get what she wanted. I remember once discussing with a career coach/ mentor about how I was really trying hard to address my weaknesses in performance. He just smiled and said, "MBA Cutie, it's great that you want to improve, and knowing your weaknesses is half the battle, but just imagine if you took the energy you put into correcting your weaknesses and channeled it into capitalizing on your strengths. What do you think would happen?"

(2) Be honest with yourself. This lesson was, perhaps, the hardest one for me. We grow up in a society that forces everyone to be optimistic and say things to each other that make each other feel good. "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." But the truth of the matter is, all the not nice things still get said. Most of the time, they are just not said directly to you. CW knew what she was good at, but she also objectively knew what she wasn’t good at. She knew she had a great body, but she also knew that she wasn't the prettiest Persian girl out there, and she readily acknowledged that and became comfortable with it. To a certain extent, the fact that she knew what she had in most respects, and didn't try to pretend she had something she didn't, gave her a certain power -- over men, over her friends, and over authority figures. Once I was walking around campus with CW, and a girl came up to us, stared at CW and outright said "You know, you are wearing way too much make-up." CW just smiled and said (in a way that wasn't at all self degrading or even spiteful towards the other girl) "I know." Now what on earth can you say to that?

(3) "Don't be afraid to use whatever advantage you have to get what you want. No one else is." Another tough lesson. As women, it's looked down upon for us to use means other than intelligence to get what we what. "Oh that girl just got promoted because the boss likes her boobs. What a slut." Um well, sure, but hey, she's the one that got promoted, not you. IF that's really the reason that she got promoted, do you think she's sad she used that advantage? Now, I'm not advocating sexual activities in the workplace, and I doubt that CW is either, however, it's important to remember for every advantage you have over someone else, they most likely have some sort of advantage over you as well. Whatever your advantage... be it a sparking personality, a beautiful face, incredible intellectual horsepower, something else or maybe a combination, use it and be happy. Life is tough enough as it is. Use your advantages, everyone else does. I have to modify CW's advice a little bit: remember to be kind. You never know when you may want to use someone else's advantage.

Now everyone out there has the knowledge of CW and the summer of surprises was not completely in vain.

A Cutie Epithet: Point at the Chi-Chi, if you dare!!

2006-05-10T09:50:00.000-04:00

When someone in the office comes back from their recent vacation to some exotic locale like Hawaii, or Fiji or Tahiti, everyone in the office crowds around and asks for the low-down on details from the trip. Well, once this girl I worked with went with a girlfriend to Hawaii for a week. She came back, complete with pictures and insisted that we all take a look. The pictures were beautiful. We got to one where she and her girlfriend were in the swimming pool with two colorful drinks. The first thing she says is, "See! You can see our 'chi-chis'!" We all look at the picture, a little unsure of what a "chi-chi" was. Those of us that found it funny just looked down and bit our lips to keep from laughing. But, of course, there is always one clueless fellow in the group, and he decided to point directly at our coworker's crotch in the photograph and say, "Oh yeah, I think I can see it right there." She gave him a really rude look, closed the picture book and said "I meant the drinks."

The "Down-Up" Look

2006-05-09T08:44:00.000-04:00

Friday night, I rushed out of work, mostly because I wanted get the hell out of there after the horribly stressful week I had, and partly because it was Cinco de Mayo, and I was meeting my girlfriend in the city to go out. We had plans to meet around 10ish, and then head over to a bar, Taj (see hotspots for weblink), on 21st and 5th. I had been there before a couple years ago, back when it had first opened and it was still somewhat of a novelty. The novelty has pretty much worn off. The ambiance and decor drop away the minute the night time club takes over the restaurant. The crowd just felt young, almost juvenile: think "I just turned 21 last week so I decided to come here". I'm thinking if this was partially our bad for going to a bar that wasn't Mexican oriented on Cinco de Mayo, or if it was just an off night.

So my girlfriend, her friend, her boyfriend, and his friends all go inside. Immediately, due to the duration of pre-partying we engaged in back at her apartment, my girlfriend and I start hugging each other, dancing and acting silly. Her boyfriend had gone to the bathroom, and her other friends had already headed over to the bar. And then it started happening. I really would like to kick the person that taught guys to do this because it does not help anyone's cause at all. Within the first hour, about four or five different guys chose to walk by my friend and me, stop (or if not completely stop, slow down), and look us down- then up- and then down again. Blatantly. Out in the open. With no regard for being even slightly discrete. Even her boyfriend noticed it. He came over to us and said, you two are attracting an awful lot of attention, and then he imitated some of the guys that came by and gave us the look.

I shouldn't say that this look is limited to clubbing nights alone. Almost every guy I've ever dated, at some point or the other, decides to give the down-up or up-down look. Some try to do it covertly (like the youngin', the first few times we went out.), and some just don't care and do it openly (like many others who have retreated or been asked to retreat). For all I know, guys do it even after they have dated you for a while, except by then (1) it's either not so menacing that we don't take it as offensively or (2) they just become really good at doing it when we're not looking.

Why do guys think that the "look" is acceptable? Don't they realize that when you look at a girl like that, it makes her feel uncomfortable? The majority of us are not out on the town to be oogled like porn stars. And that sort of look cannot be erased no matter how much wit, charm, or finesse you have once you do muster up the guts to come talk to us. Nor do guys like it when you address their staring and ask "Do you have a question?" Uh yeah, of course they do. But they are sure as hell not going to like our answer.

Fire, Earth, Water

2006-05-08T00:56:00.000-04:00

Since I'm lucky enough to live in an area with a high Indian population, I only had to travel about 7 miles down the main road to find a theater playing the latest release of Deepa Mehta's Trilogy of the Elements, Water. The movie was moving, but not as moving as I expected --- most likely due to the controversial nature of the film, my guess is that Mehta managed to elminate or mitigate certain scenes and episodes from the movie. Although, my tears did start early on (within the first 10 minutes of the film), I just felt that the third installment in her triloby just didn't carry the vibrancy, excitement, and high drama that Fire and particularly Earth did. But then, can a story with that subject matter (treatment of widows in India) Perhaps, by the time I saw the third film, the nature of her films was no longer a mystery to me: the sudden shake-up in surroundings, the quiet, yet powerful, victories of the soul, the false thought of a happy ending, and the bittersweet drop-off. Just as with Fire and Earth, the viewer leaves wondering, and hoping, that the real ending they never get to see is one of happiness.

From a casting perspective, I agree with the reviews. Sarala's portrayal of Churiya was fantastic. The thought that a child younger than ten, could provide a performance like that, in a language with which she had no prior familiarity, is astounding. I know we will see more of her in upcoming films. And, as mentioned in the reviews, Lisa Ray was indeed the most beautiful widow ever seen. In fact, she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, and her epic story makes your heart crush to pieces as you watch it unfold. It makes you hold your breath during her scenes with the attractive John Abraham, as you know their chemistry can transcend their inability to make tactile contact of any sort. Every minute you watch her, Lisa's character becomes more beautiful.

I'm sure much will be written in the next few months tying together the themes and depictions in the three portions of Mehta's Trilogy. My clear favorite of the three is Earth, mostly due to the exquisite cinematography, the high profile cast (many of whom were oddly absent from Water), and the incredible musical elements. All of the films take the sacred Hindu elements of fire, earth, and water, and weave a story with their infusion, forcing the viewer to question the nature of their belief in faith. And most importantly, each film asks the viewer to decide if the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of faith can be one of the same.

The films of the trilogy do not have to be seen in any particular order, and I recommend those that haven't seen them, to see them all.

A "Me" Weekend

2006-05-05T18:35:00.000-04:00

Ok, I love this blog thing and I love writing for all you guys, but I have decided that, going forward, my blog will only be updated daily on weekdays. I would rather offer you guys 5 quality blogs than 7 mediocre ones. Also, I need the upcoming weekends to get ready for school and work on my novel. Yes, even before Vatsa's suggestion, I had started work on my own fiction novel. For those of you itching to know, it's about a south asian girl and her experience with a reality television show. I'm sorry, but those are the only details I can reveal so far. The outlining is basically done, so for the next couple weeks I'll be hiding out at various Barnes & Nobles, Paneras, and libraries to work on getting out the prose. Oh and studying for that damn GRE.

There has been a slight change of plans for my travel adventures this summer. Looks like India can't happen becuase of family conflicts, so my sister and I are following in Marina's footsteps and hoping to make it out to Costa Rica for a week or two before school starts. Right now I'm int he process of getting all my course waivers completed and sent out to the academic department. I hope to get out of AC 502, AC 522, and BE 502, but we'll see.

Weekend plans include heading out tonight in NYC to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, lots of writing and shopping, and then... watching Deepa Mehta's film, WATER, which finally was released in a theater near me. I can't wait. Other than tonight, I look forward to a fun weekend spending time with myself. I've vetoed all interruptions for Saturday night with the exception of one person... but then again, maybe I'll feel like vetoing him too!

New blogs next week, I promise! CIAO!

Life is all about ASS

2006-05-05T09:18:00.000-04:00

You know if I get my hands on something like this, I have to post it. Sorry... I promise to resume writing tomorrow. Work is kicking my ass!
Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

How Opal Mehta Screwed Up

2006-05-04T09:06:00.000-04:00

While I did think the premise behind Kaavya Viswanathan's book, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wile, and Got a Life", was a bit trite, I did have to give the current Harvard undergraduate props. Not many people can say that they had a $500,000 book deal at the tender age of 17. However, as I'm sure many of you have heard, it recently surfaced Viswanathan plagiarized many, many portions of it. I do question her editors for not catching this sooner. What a disappointment! I think she was clearly in the wrong, but I sort of buy her story. Viswanathan claimed that she read a particular novel so many times when she was little, she didn’t realize the passages she wrote, in some cases, were nearly verbatim from the book. Naturally, I think she'd lose her $500,000 book deal. I wonder if Harvard will take any action against her.

I remember back to my Composition classes at UCLA, when our professor asked us to write a short blurb about how we felt about "writing". I wrote, "It is a difficult and tedious process, which with I am at constant odds." For some reason, the prof didn't seem to think my work in class agreed with that statement, so I told her, "Prof, it really IS tedious and difficult, especially non-fiction or research writing. I first have to take notes, then outline, then write, then edit, then revise, then re-write, then revise, and so on and so forth." Her response, "But Cutie, what you are describing is the process of writing. And if that is your struggle, even the best writers out there can say there are at constant odds with their craft."

Development of a personal style in writing is difficult. Even with the most established writers out there, you can see a definite change between their early and later works. As MBA Cutie, I regularly draw upon the styles of various journalists, playwrights, screenwriters, and novelists whom I read and admire to get my thoughts across. I know there are some days that I do sound very "Carrie Bradshaw", and other times I probably sound a bit different. More recently, I've taken towards personal memoir writing for one main reason: it's an easy way to tell a story that is completely yours, in your own words, even if you are trying to mimic the style of someone else. When I write, I want my words to be mine, and that means no matter how much I love the words and characters constructed by Lucy Maud Montgomery, or the style, ideas, and story-telling of Cindy Chupak, I know better than to have any form of their manuscripts any where near me when I'm writing. Even if you don't mean too, it's all to easy to make someone else's words yours. And I wouldn't want someoene to do that to me, no matter how much they want to emmulate this Cutie.

Happy Writings to all my fellow bloggers, and to anyone else with the creative itch.

In Search of a Sugar Daddy, Part 5: The Death of a Crack-Whore

2006-05-03T11:01:00.000-04:00

With no where to go, and the big, scary girls in hot pursuit, we had to think fast. Of course, we couldn't depend on CW to make any decisions. At this point, we were lucky those girls hadn't pulled a gun on us! Then, thinking back to my "how to escape a kidnapping" informational session days in elementary school, I told the girls to run across the street. If the big girls were smart, they would ditch their car and try to pursue us on foot, instead of trying to U-turn their SUV on a crowded Sunset Blvd. Naturally, they weren't that smart, and we started running in the opposite direction.

Then, we run right into this monstrous line of scantily clad, kind of gothy, women. We were right in front of the Viper Room! I knew what we had to do. If we kept running the street, those girls would find us, and our car was so far on the other end of the strip, we'd never make it in time. So I mustered up all my courage and went straight up to the big, black bouncer standing next to the "ins-and-outs" smoking door. (Alright, come on Cutie! You can do it!) I started out by making small talk with him, and eventually asking him where else he worked, etc. Then, I casually mentioned that the line tonight to get in was awfully long. He wanted to know how many of us there were. (BINGO!) So I said, "Oh four of us girls are out on the town tonight. One of my girlfriends is visiting from Houston." I called them over. Finally, he said, "You know girls, why don't you head on in. I wanna keep talking to you, but I gotta job to do. Why don't you come out again in a little bit?" OH THANK GOD! All four of us bee-lined into the Viper Room, chilled out there for about an hour, until we knew the other chicks had probably given up on looking for us. Then we left through another exit, rushed to our car, and went home.

A few days later, CW announced to us that she needed to fly back to Houston to get her car. She wanted to drive it back to California. We made her write us a rent check for next month, and she left. Oddly enough, we never saw her again. She called us once to tell us that she decided to stay in Houston instead and she wanted to get her rent money back, but we refused to give it to her. Supposedly, her lawyer would contact us, but they never did.

And that is the story of MBA Cutie and the Crack Whore.

Rooftop Ramblings

2006-05-02T03:53:00.000-04:00

I went out in Philly on Saturday night for the second time in my life. The first time, I think I wrote about it, was last November when I went with a group of friends to Denim. This time, I went to see one of my friends whom I wanted to spend some time with before I head off to Michigan. The evening started out great. He has the cutest apartment and a fabulous new computer and tv. In spite of feeling a bit "settled", he is very happy with his new belongings and living quarters. We had a few drinks and then headed out to the Continental Rooftop bar, which was PACKED! I had never been there before, and it was fun. The drinks were ok, but the crowd was really nice... so different than the usual banker/consultant types that would have found their way to a place like that in NYC. Everything went well, and then one of my friend's friend's arrived, so we all hung out. His friend's friend is a CPA too, so we even got to talk shop for a while.

I think I'll be staying far, far away from the drink for the next few weeks -- this weekend was more than enough of it. The thought of it just makes me sick.

In Search of a Sugar Daddy, Part 4: Cruisin' Down Sunset

2006-05-01T09:15:00.000-04:00

Well we promised her, and we all finally had a free Friday night, so why not? We'll go to Laugh Factory and then maybe have some dessert at Le Petit Four and then come back. CW had totally different plans. She quickly vetoed Laugh Factory in favor of walking the strip to "see where we get in." We decked out into our club gear, making sure to be a little bit more revealing than normal (it WAS Sunset!), but any efforts we made were quickly negated. We may as well have been dressed like Grandma's when we saw what CW decided to wear. She stepped out of her room dressed in her painted on jeans (again!), and this odd top, that was basically just a long piece of glittery fabric that tied at the neck and covered her boobs. She was totally backless and baremidrift. Wow.

We get to Sunset around 10:30 and figure out where to park the car. Then, per CW's instructions, we were supposed to walk up and down the strip and try to grab the attention of as many bouncers as we could. Bouncers did pay attention, especially to CW, but those bouncers still wanted to check our IDs. ID's that would have clearly indicated that we were not yet twenty one. So we just continued walking up and down the strip, trying to ignore guys that called over to us, pulling CW away from a group of guys that told her to get into their Hummer, and still sizing up what clubs or bars may be lenient to our cause. Then, a group of girls called out "Hey girls!" to us from their souped up SUV. CW, in her conceited state, decided to respond to them with "Hey bitches!" That was the WRONG thing to do.

Now, let me tell you a bit more about these girls. When I say they souped up their SUV, I should clarify. Basically, they removed the wheels to their vehicle and replaced them with those of a monster truck. They were big girls: stocky, not exactly fat, but certainly sturdy girls, with hair dyed so that if it naturally should have been blonde, it was brown, and vice versa. Not one of them was attractive to us in any way, yet they clearly were interested in us. Angered from CW's response, the girls decided to pull over their SUV in the middle of Sunset Boulevard, right in front of Whiskey A Go-Go (obviously not caring that they were blocking all traffic in one direction), jump out of their car, run up to CW, get in her face and say "What did you just say? What did you just call us?"

CW, in her new found courage, responds back "I said 'hey bitches', can't y'all hear?" Oh GOD! Then the leader (and most grotesque girl) of the pack pushes CW. CW, a bit stunned and at loss on what to do, decides to lift up her hand and using her five inch nails, scratches this chick across her face. At that moment, the rest of us knew we couldn't hang around there anymore. We took off running, heels and all, down Sunset Blvd. When CW saw that all her friends had taken off, she started running after us. The big girls jump back into their SUV and start following us down the street. There was no way we could out run them if they were in their car, and our car was on the opposite end of the strip. Four underage girls running down Sunset being chased by that scary group of girls in an SUV -- we had no where to go.

Tomorrow, I'll be recapping my weekend adventures in Philly. The conclusion of "In Search of a Sugar Daddy" will be posted on Wednesday.

Are we dating or just hanging out?

2006-04-29T10:28:00.000-04:00

I know everyone is waiting for the fourth segment in "Sugar Daddy", but I haven't had time to write it yet! I am going to try to have it ready for tomorrow. Just a few random thoughts for today...

Are we dating or just hanging out?

Now days, it's so hard to tell! Forget about someone being a boyfriend or not. How do you know if someone is even hanging out with you for dating purposes? A lot of times I don't really know where I stand with anyone. I have never been a relationship girl. I have been in relationships, yes, but the one I was in that lasted a decent amount of time was when I was in college. Since then, the others have all been maybe three, or at most four, month stints where I liked someone enough to stop seeing other people. Most of the time, that managed to backfire, and in the end, I wish I had just kept seeing other people anyway.

So it's so hard to really know when you are really dating someone. I've created a few guidelines to help me.

1. The guy wants to, and usually does, pay for everything.
2. Dating is when you actually go to the movies, go to dinner, or go do something, not just meet up at someone's place to hook up.
3. You maintain a decent amount of contact -- maybe two or three times a week at least.
4. You see them at least every other week.

Of course these are not hard, fast rules, but it helps give some clarity to a questionable situation. There are still so many gray areas. And when do we start to feel guilty that we are hanging out with other people when also hanging out with / dating someone else? Iknow when I wnat to date someone because I feel guilty for hanging out with others, and I wish I was hanging out with him instead. That doesn't really solve the problem, does it?

We'll see if b-school is any different? (Although, at GBR, the girls did say it really wasn't.) Anyone know any cute medical residents at Ann Arbor? ;)

In Search of a Sugar Daddy, Part 3

2006-04-28T14:29:00.000-04:00

With CW's interest in real estate quickly waning, (Or maybe it was my tolerance for her interest in real estate that was quickly waning?) she had to find a new hobby to occupy her time while the rest of the roommates were at work or school. I don't know why it didn't occur to me earlier, but after a few days of watching her sulk around the apartment in her thong and bra (yes --- that was her typical outfit during the day when there were only girls around), I realized that CW is Persian and we live in Westwood... home to numerous Persians. I asked CW if she wanted me to drop her off on the other side of Wilshire for the day so she can explore all the Persian shops on Westwood Blvd. Of course, I would pick her up five hours later on my way back from work. She begrudgingly agreed and went to her room to put on her painted on jeans and ripped up, too small white t-shirt. Oh boy, here we go again.

Five hours later, I picked up a smiling, frizzy-haired crack whore on the corner of Westwood and Wellworth. The day had been successful, no doubt. Not only had CW managed to find two cute Persian boys with a GS400 to drive her around, pay for her to get her nails done, and smoke hookah at Habibi Cafe, she quickly announced to me that the minute we get home I need to get ready. We are going out with the boys. They are coming in their Range Rover to pick us up and take us out. There was no way I was going anywhere alone with CW and two random Person guys, so the second I got home I pleaded with my other two roommates to come too.

The three of us tossed on jeans and tops, and then we watched CW emerge from her room looking like she was wearing too little to even be rubbing up against a poll in a strip club. With hair that big, it's a shock she was able to get through the door to her room. Her phone started vibrating and we all rushed outside to meet the guys. I have to hand it to CW. For someone that looks like a crack whore, she can pick up some attractive men. While these two guys were definitely on the shorter end, they were pretty good looking and polite. They opened doors for us, asked us how we were, but there was a sleazy element to them I just couldn't put my finger on.

We piled into the Range Rover, and the guys drove us around mid-Wilshire for a bit. They asked us questions: "What are you studying?", "Are you Persian like CW?", "Where do you like to shop?", "What clubs do you go to?", "Where do you like to eat?". Per CW's instructions, we carefully evaded questions that could pinpoint our financial situation in anyway. We neglected to answer questions about our favorite clothes, food or clubs. According to CW, "Never tell a guy that you like to shop at Bebe. Then all he'll get for you is clothes from Bebe, when if you didn't tell him any better, he may have taken you to Versace." So mum was the word through much of the car ride. Finally, they decided they wanted to take us somewhere to eat. Considering we were in Beverly Hills by that point, all of us were eager with anticipation to see where they would take us to eat. Spago? Il Fornaio? Maybe Il Cielo? Nope, they turned the car around and rushed us right back to Westwood and pulled into the parking garage of the Olive Garden.

Now, I have no problem at all with the Olive Garden, and I would never, ever think badly of a guy if he took me there. CW on the other hand, has serious problems with Olive Garden. We could tell that she was hopping mad that we spent all this time with these guys and all we get out of it was a crummy dinner at Olive Garden. What's worse is when the hostess announced we had a 45 minute wait, CW literally blew a fuse. She told the two Persian guys, "I don't know who you two normally hang out with, but this is absolutely unacceptable." They registered confused looks on their faces, spoke in Persian to each other, then finally turned to CW, said a few "choice" words to her in Persian and stormed off. So in the end, not only did we not get any clothes (not even from Bebe), or any dinner, but we had to walk a mile home because CW managed to anger the two guys she picked up and insisted we go out with that evening.

By this point in time, my roommates and I had officially had enough. We ignored CW in the mornings as she sulked around the apartment in her thong and bra, but then a few days later we were forced to pay attention to her. We had promised to take her out on Sunset one night that summer, and that night had come.

Seducing the Ad-Com, Part 1: Who do I have to ....?

2006-04-27T13:43:00.000-04:00

"In Search of a Sugar Daddy" will continue tomorrow. I'm sorry for the one day hiatus. Work has been insane and I haven’t been able to write the third installment, but I hope you enjoy today’s piece.

I was at a bar last weekend paying for a drink when I heard a frustrated girl yell out, "Who do I have to f--- around here to get a drink?" I was a bit put off by her crass announcement, but it did make me think. This girl was attractive enough that she certainly should not have had to wait as long as she did to buy a drink, yet the congestion, the loud music, the many older, wealthy, and unbelievably unattractive men waving their black American Expresses at the bartender probably did have an impact in her getting lost in the crowd.

I can't help but wonder, does the same thing happen to us in the admissions process? Are there so many wackos, superstars, and famous bureaucrats’ kids vying for the Ad Com's attention that many of us, no matter how sexy our figures, just sometimes get lost on the wayside? Naturally, this does beg the question, "Who do I have to f--- around here to get into XXX B-School?"

I'm not sure whether "f---ing" is really necessary, but let's say, we decided to go the f---ing route. Who do you have to f---? Well, first off, there are the members of the Ad-Com. But then, all members are not equal, and why should you put all that effort into trying to screw someone if they aren't going to have any pull in getting you into where you want to go anyway? So, all you MBA 1 and MBA 2 ad-com members: sorry, unless you want to round up every one of you that plans to review my application, you are out of the running. If I had to give advice on this, I'd say go the combo route. You know, an assistant admissions director here, maybe a few MBA 2 ad-com members there. Of course if you can nab someone of Caleel or Bolton's caliber, you should go for it. A dean or two may help your cause as well. Wealthy alumni that have donated sizable amounts to the school of your choice are always a great option – they have enough clout that the Ad-Com would certainly not want to make them mad. And what better way to validate their contribution than a "don't forget to tell the Ad-Com to admit me" tryst? But be forewarned: if you select the "f---ng" route, you may end up with a different sort of dilemma. The question will no longer be "WHO do I have to f--- around here to get in?" but rather, "Who ELSE do I have to f--- around here to get in?"

Keep an eye out for "Seducing the Ad-Com, Part 2: Get into B-School the Jenna Jameson Way".

DISCLAIMER: This article is for entertainment purposes only. No one was f---ed in the research or writing of this piece.

All Up in the Century Club (In Search of a Sugar Daddy, Part Deux)

2006-04-26T11:48:00.000-04:00

The next episode takes us to none other than the infamous Century Club in Century City (Los Angeles). Well, it doesn’t take us straight there. Of course CW threw in a few twists and turns along the way.

As four underage girls in Los Angeles, there was little for us to legally do by way of a going out scene. Naturally, we took the CW to as many movies, malls, nice restaurants, and beach BBQ’s as we could. She was still not satisfied. I’m not going to say that my 19 year-old self had never been to a club or bar, but that summer I wasn’t really looking to go out of my way to get into one. Back then, I was pretty focused on school and my summer internship (at a well known entertainment company – very hard to come by!). We promised CW that some point during that summer we’d take her to Sunset for a night at Laugh Factory. She seemed more tolerant after that, “seemed” being the operative word.

Suddenly, CW had an intense interest in real estate. She claimed that her parents wanted to purchase a condo in LA, and because she was planning her career in architecture, they asked her to find one for them to buy. We thought it was a little odd that her parents trusted a 19 year old to make decisions like which $2 million to buy on mid-Wilshire, but then again, we were happy that CW had found something to do that occupied her time so she would stop begging us to take her to clubs or bars. Weirder things started happening. In the mornings, CW couldn’t wait for us to get out of the apartment to go to class or to work. She had new expensive clothes and accessories that she eagerly showed off to us. One afternoon, the roommate that lived in the same room as CW pulled me aside one afternoon to show me something interesting she found. Used condoms had started appearing in the trash cans in her bedroom. I definitely did not want to see that, but then we decided that it was up to CW what she chose to do with her time, just so long as she didn’t bother us or put us in danger. She had even stopped asking us to take her out, which was a relief. Then, out of the blue, CW offered to take us out to the Century Club.

One of the realtors she had been “working with”, wanted to take her and her friends to Century Club so that she can get a better idea of the nightlife in an area where she was considering purchasing a condo. This particular realtor is very well known in LA, so when she told us his name we were all incredibly impressed. However, when we saw him for the first time, outside of Century Club with a tight little red-head in tow, we were shocked: the only way to describe his appearance was grotesque. There was no amount of money or designer clothing that could make him any more aesthetically appealing. Clearly, the perky red-head was only with him for one reason: his bank roll. He was nice enough. After an up-down glance for each of us, he walked us right into the club – no lines, no guest lists, no cover, and most importantly, no ID checks. He had managed to give CW’s name to the bartender so all of our drinks that evening were comped as well. He ditched us the minute we got inside to go off into a corner with his girl, not that we minded. Overall it was a fun evening, and even CW was on her best behavior in spite of sporting her incredibly revealing red Bernini dress. The real surprise was awaiting us the next day.

I forgot my badge at home when I left for work in the morning, so I rushed back to the apartment to grab it. I opened the door to find the realtor sitting on our futon, watching our TV, in his boxers.* Well, looks like he certainly left the club with a couple things to poke on. I stoond there stunned. He said CW was in the bathroom and then smiled at me. I didn’t know what to do! I mumbled a quick hello, ran into my room, grabbed my badge, and rushed out of there before CW came out of the bathroom. That evening, CW said that the realtor had come by to pick her up for a housing tour, and she’s sorry she missed me that morning. I didn’t tell her I saw him in his underwear. And most thankfully, I never saw him again.

Oh – but the adventures with CW were far from over. Stay tuned for the details of our adventures with the persian boys, a night out on Sunset, and CW's imminent departure from Los Angeles.

*Quick note: Maybe a few years back, the Century Club was the happening place to be, but I can promise you, no girl in Los Angeles (under-aged or not) needs to sleep with anyone in order to get into a club. What’s more, since reaching 21, my time in LA and my line of work granted me the opportunity to attend many celebrity parties and events (including Brent Bolthouse events --- if you don’t know who he is, you need to find out before you head down to tinsel town), and never, ever, EVER did I need to exchange sexual favors to get into a party or club. And if I were going to, not that I ever would, you can sure bet it wouldn’t be to go to Century Club.

Out with the Old, In with the New

2006-04-26T09:19:00.000-04:00

Too much demand for me to go back to the old format! While I work out kinks with "simply gorgeous" I'll just post to the old format.

In Search of a Sugar Daddy, Part 1

2006-04-25T15:09:00.000-04:00

As I get ready to depart for school, I can't help but think back to my college days at UCLA. A lot of people at the Ross event were saying the next big step is finding a roommate and figuring out where to live. During the summer before my third year at UCLA, my roommates and I came across somewhat of a roommate fiasco. Fiasco really is the only term for it.

With the impending departure of one of our roommates, we were set on finding a fourth girl to move into our apartment. We posted ads all over campus and online. Then, suddenly, a girl shows up on our front step. She's a transfer to UCLA from the University of Houston, and she plans to study architecture. She's looking for a place to live. She sounded totally legit. Of course, in our naivety, we didn't bother to check on whether or not UCLA has a School of Architecture (it doesn't). We got along well with her. Yes, she wore a bit too much makeup, and well, maybe seemed a bit tramp-ish, but then, who were we to judge? She had rent money and that's what counted.

Now, there were some interesting things about this chick. First of all, as she emptied out her suitcase, we stared in awe of her clothes. Everything seemed like it was hand picked off Rodeo Drive. She had a Versace butterfly top, a red Bernini dress that she claimed she couldn't wear underwear with, and so on and so forth. I admit, she had a killer body. The girl was maybe 5'5'' and slim, but with curves in all the right places. Before she moved to LA, she said that she was recruited as a model for the Leather Bikini Company. Crazy. The rest of her was somewhat of another story. With frizzed out hair, caked on make-up, and 5 inch nails (maybe talons is the more appropriate word), she could be best described as ''crack whore'' looking. Not my words, but rather what a guy friend asked me when he saw her for the first time, ''MBA Cutie, what are you doing hanging out with that ''crack whore''?''

When she had interviewed with us, she told us about her conservative upbringing in Texas. Her family is Persian, and religion was incredibly important to them (Islam). I thought it was weird that this girl wearing painted on jeans and a top that was just two pieces of fabric that came down over her shoulders and tied just under her boobs was a conservative Muslim girl, but then hey, who am I to judge? I asked her if she wanted to come to campus with me to sit in on a class. She said sure, but she needed to change first. She popped out of her room wearing even more makeup, her painted on jeans, and a white t-shirt that was way too small. Plus, she managed to cut slits in a V-shape all across the front of the shirt. Oh, and of course, she was unsupported. :)

There was something really off about the whole situation. She didn't care about school at all. In fact, the only time she had been to campus was to sit in on my business law class, most of which she spent making goo-goo eyes at any guy that walked by. All she wanted to do was go out and meet guys... particularly Persian guys living in Los Angeles, because supposedly they would help her maintain her lifestyle. That's right, all her dresses, her jewels, her bags: those were all gifts from various guys she ''hung out with'' in Houston. It took us a little while to figure this out, but the CW (crack whore) wasn't shacking up in Westwood to go to the non-existent UCLA school of Architecture. Nope, she was shacking up to find herself a sugar daddy. Well, actually a bunch of sugar daddies. Boy, we had no idea what we were in for next ...

LiveJournal

2006-04-25T09:29:00.000-04:00

I had a fabulous story I wanted to post today. Absolutely fabulous. But I won't post it. Not today anyway. In fact, maybe not ever.

However, I have spent a lot of time thinking about my blog and whether or not this is the right forum for it. I had heard about LiveJournal from a bunch of my friends, and am now thinking of moving my blog there. I think it may find a happier home and not be under constant attack. Plus I can more readily regulate who reads my blog. I can use this blog and the MBA Cutie psuedo-name to post only MBA related information. I don't attack other people's blogs; I have respect for maintaining my friend's anonymity when I write about them; and while my blog may be a bit narcissistic, it is not hateful to anyone --- and that much, I cannot say about the many people read and enjoy my blog, yet chose to leave hateful comments to me. I have decided to monitor comments going forward. If the situation doesn't improve, I will take my blog private on LiveJournal.

Happy Birthday

2006-04-25T09:16:00.000-04:00

Happy 22nd Birthday to my lovely and gorgeous sister! I hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy all the love, presents and laughter that is sent your way.

I love you.

The Hot One

2006-04-24T10:31:00.001-04:00

After a tough, tough Friday at work in New York City -- two baby showers, one business update seminar, and four champagnes later -- I managed to escape the office, slightly tipsy, and extremely happy, to meet my friend at the Time Warner Center. We were heading uptown to visit a retail store I had helped build out. Randomly enough, I ran into this banker fellow whom I met at an MBA Tour event last summer, and he decided to join me and my friend on our little retail adventure. The fellow and my friend are both MBA applicants for the class of 2009, and they were both eager to hear my insights and advice regarding the application process. When we arrived at the store, we were greeted by the manager, recognizing me as her finance counterpart at corporate. She gave me a store tour while my friends shopped. She then gave glasses of wine to me and my friends while we finalized our purchases. After the store, the fellow went on his way and my girlfriend and I headed over to the east side to meet some other girls for dinner at Yuva (58th btw 2nd and 3rd).

Yuva was fantastic: the food was contemporary, the drinks innovative, and the service excellent. However, the conversation soon edged from blase to spicy (probably to match the food). Of course everyone wanted to know where the youngin' was (at work still, so he couldn't make it to dinner... but he did managed to track me down later in the evening for a late night rendezvous --- no more details can be revealed!). Then started the griping of how hard it is to find someone to date long term in a city like New York. And then, someone announced that they don't want to date guys that are too hot. They want to be the ''hot one'' in a relationship.

I can't deny that I have been one of those girls that will lean over to her friends and say something like ''What is she thinking? He's so not cute enough for her!'' or vice versa. And what's more, I can 100% relate to what my friend said. When I was younger, I think I did sometimes go after guys who I knew were not as good looking as me, mostly because I was insecure that the guys that I thought were ''gorgeous'' wouldn't find me to be as gorgeous. And, perhaps attributable to being a late bloomer (yes, that's right ... MBA Cutie was indeed a late bloomer), this weird thing started happening. I began getting approached by guys who I thought were too gorgeous for me! And what's more, they even seemed nervous sometimes, worried that I would turn them down. I don't feel the same anymore. I'm not saying that I only date gorgeous guys, because that simply isn't the case. However, I do think it is important to me that I'm attracted to whom I date, but whether or not that puts them in the gorgeous category I can't say. There was a time when being the ''hot one'' in a relationship was important to me. But now, I think we can both be the hot ones. At least to each other.

Ross Happy Hour

2006-04-21T09:16:00.000-04:00

After work yesterday I headed down to Bliss at 49th and 2nd to to see some of the New York people I had met at GBR. It was fun, but since I had to drive back to NJ, I couldn't really drink with everyone. I stayed until about 8:30pm. It was great to see everyone, and share the excitement of knowing where we are heading, M-trek, and finding housing out in Ann Arbor. Everyone seemed to concur that GBR was one of the most fun admit weekends out there... meaning everyone had a fabulous time. The only downside of yesterday is that I need to figure out how to explain to my manager why it cost me $70 to park my car in midtown for the day... I hope she just lets it go!

Today after work I'm meeting one of my girlfriends and we are heading uptown to visit a retail store owned by the company I work for. We have 30% off all product and 20% off all services in the store through September 1st, so I'm sharing the wealth with my friends. After that, we hope to meet up with some banker friends (if they ever get out of work) and possibly the youngin' (if he ever gets off work --- I hope he does, even if just for his own sake!) and have dinner at YUVA (58th btw 2nd and 3rd) to check out whether or not all the rave reviews are really true!

4/20

2006-04-20T11:27:00.000-04:00

The day that will live in infamy… that’s right. 4/20 is here! Earth Day! Go hug a tree! Or even better… this is your chance to veg out like one! I’m not really sure how April 20th became synonymous with the day to run out the door and partake in particular activities. Activities that are acceptable all year in Amsterdam, but only one day of the year in the U.S. The great debate is which university can claim title to the most loyal “partaking” population. As a Bruin, I would say that living in proximity to Venice certainly made my school a 4/20 hot spot, however, the conservative nature of Los Angeles managed to counter the effect. I’ve heard rumors about NYU being pretty active, but my vote still goes to Cal. Those Bears really know what’s going on at 4:20 on 4/20.

Happy Earth Day!

Invitation to Brazil

2006-04-19T09:22:00.000-04:00

Brazil is one of the most amazing countries that I've had the pleasure of visiting. The food is fabulous (yes, even for us vegetarians!), the weather is warm, the beaches are gorgeous, the men are hot. As we are in the midst of SPA WEEK, I thought I would write a little bit about my favorite Brazilian export --- alright, in light of Paulo to my left here, I will write a little bit about one of my OTHER favorite Brazilian exports... the Brazilian Bikini Wax.

Once upon a time, I was a brazilian virgin. That's right, I had heard about it, and I had winced in pain at the thought of it, but I had not taken the plunge and embraced it full force. While living Los Angeles, I remember complaining to one of my girlfriends about the hassle and upkeep associated with the upcoming swimsuit season, and the first thing she said was, "Well, why don't you just get brazilian like I do and not worry about it at all?" The first thing I thought was, SHE gets brazilian??? She is so normal. I mean, she didn't exactly strike me as the freaky type. So of course, I just had to check this out. I asked her a bunch of questions, including where she gets it done --- The Nance Mitchell Salon (330 N. La Peer, 310-276-2722) ---, how much it hurt (a lot), what it was like (weird the first time, but oh-so addicting), why she did it (it was cleaner, sexier, and her boyfriend loved it).. and so on and so forth. By the end of the day, I had my very own appointment with Nance for Saturday afternoon.

I was insanely nervous when I walked into Nance's Salon. She asked me a bunch of questions: Why I wanted it done (for swimsuit season), how I knew about her (through my friend), did I have a boyfriend (at the time, no), etc. She made me feel at ease. Interestingly enough, she also told me that at one point, she was the sole waxer for the entire cast of Showgirls. Talk about a reference! The procedure is painful... I will admit to that. But, then as I always say, beauty is pain. It's also somewhat embarassing. I never thought I would meet another woman who would tell me to "Strip, get on all fours, and grab a cheek.", and what's worse, that I would willingly oblige. Nance mentioned that, in her opinion, 99.5% of guys prefer the brazilianed look. I will leave that up to you all to decide. She also told me stories of girls that wanted different shapes waxed into their nether regions. Once she managed to wax a picture of a basketball for a girl who's boyfriend was a professional ball player. Another girl requested a mercedes benz symbol because her boyfriend was a car fanatic. My guess is the airbrushed designs of COMPLETELY BARE (www.completelybare.com) stemmed out of these sorts of requests.

My verdict on the Brazillian? Now that I've had it, I can never go back. It's so clean, the upkeep is only once every 4 to 6 weeks, and you can wear any swimsuit or lingerie you want and never have to worry about anything looking unkempt. And, to a certain extent, it makes you feel exotic. Since I left Los Angeles, Nance referred me to the J Sisters (www.jsisters.com), who are the girls responsible for bringing and popularizing the Brazilin within the US. They have many celebrity clients, including Gweneth Paltrow and Bette Midler. However, instead of Nance's "grab a cheek" method, they have a "legs over the head method"... which to an extent, I prefer --- it mitigates the pain when you are concentrating on holding a position. If I had to say what is most painful, it's the removal of ingrowns at the end. And remember ladies, the more you do it, the less painful it is.

Marina had asked about how much the procedure costs. Well, it depends. Nance (when I was in California) was $50 a session, and the J Sisters recently raised their prices to $65 per session. But when you are dealing with such sensitive areas, I rather pay a little more and get it done quickly and well. I think you can find places in Manhattan that do it for $40 or $45 a visit. Interestingly enough, since my departure from California, I've had a hard time finding other Brazilian worshipers. Maybe it's a west coast thing. Or mabye, there are still many brazilian virgins waiting to discover the excitement they are missing.

Completely Bare

2006-04-18T16:23:00.000-04:00

I try not to post more than once in any given day but... IT'S SPA WEEK!!!

Most people know how I rant and rave about the J Sisters Salon (www.jsisters.com), and especially their brazilian wax, but I think I may have found a new guilty, and hopefully slightly less painful, indulgence. The Completely Bare Salon (www.completelybare.com). Why just go brazilian when you can get an airbrushed tatoo of your favorite picture... or boytoy's name... right where it would be least expected?

There are a bunch of other awesome spas to check out as well:
http://www.spaweek.org/

ENJOY!