This past Tuesday, I attended one of the monthly gatherings held by The New Yorker called The Big Story. This one featured three science fiction writers (Jennifer Egan, Ben Marcus, and Gary Shteyngart) in a discussion titled The Far Side in lieu of the recent New Yorker Science Fiction Issue. I am tinkering with my own SciFi screen play so I figured it’d be interesting to hear from actual writers (turns out some people consider the abbreviation SciFi somewhat demeaning). Some of the points touched upon were: the meaning of the term Science Fiction, the utility of genre characterization, whether all Science Fiction is necessarily a critique or a satire, and the intentions of the writers in their own works and the seeming discrepancy some of the people in the audience had in their personal interpretations of those works. I think that is the part that was most curious to me since it highlights the ways in which we assign meaning to text and language through our own subjective experiences.

Anyway, can I brag? I keep my window open all day and all night and I have not had one mosquito fly in. Ok, may be there was just one, but it was only an astronomically huge and conspicuous male whom I swiftly obliterated with a Birkenstock. Science.At.Work.

And here is the journey…

Can I even use The ‘Burg to refer to Williamsburg or is it one of those uncool things like asking someone if they’re a hipster (hipsters have a tacit agreement to not refer to themselves as such)?

My friend tried to entice me to come there earlier with a text containing the picture below.

Katya -you had me at ‘fresh patches of grass’.

Our ‘burg bar crawl began with Berry Park, which is a rooftop bar. Despite the fact that this was a large open space with a diverse crowd, it didn’t seem like anyone was socializing outside of the group they came with; also, too many people were smoking cigarettes and the crowd seemed on the younger side.

After a drink we decided to go find another spot, which is easy to do since there are many places walking distance of each other.

We stumbled upon Kinfolk Studios on Wythe and 11th, where the music was really great and the space was airy and welcoming. The people were slightly more social here and we stayed for a drink and some mild dancing.

After we left, we walked down Wythe to find a cab and around 7th street we got lured into another bar. I’m not sure if it was because people were more drunk by that time of night or if it is due to the large European presence at this place, but the crowd was as social as they were attractive. It was surely my favorite spot of the night and the music was the kind that makes you want to dance. Too bad I don’t really know what it was called, but I’m certain I’d be able to to find it again one night.

Oh and here is a little video clip (but really audio clip since Androids are incapable of using a flash with anything but 100% battery power):

I started this week by attending a meetup in midtown: Understanding the role incubators and accelerators play in the venture community. An incubator is basically a shared space set up for start-ups, where they essentially invest in you. Sometimes they do this by merely by providing the real estate for you to have a focused and innovative environment where you can take off; often, they give you a financial push (for example,investing 30-50k in your project) and take equity in exchange (for example, 6-15%). I learned a few things I did not know before. For instance, only about 2% of companies get accepted into the more popular incubators; also, they usually give you about 3 months before demo day. This is very much and up or out set up, but for a company that needs that kick it could be a great way to make important contacts in the community and get a jump-start. Most of the panelists stressed how the network is the most valuable resource that they take home.

One interesting things that I noticed while looking around the room is that it was comprised of mostly men. Although women now have increasing presence in graduate schools and math/science careers, it seems that there is still something holding females back from pursuing careers that are money-focused. An entrepreneur is by definition someone who makes a higher yield from a lower one and although many fail, some of the richest and most influential people in America are entrepreneurs. It was at least refreshing to see that one of the panelists was a woman whose incubator (WIM) specifically required a start-up to have a woman who has an equity stake.

The other funny thing is the dress code. I came clad in thrift store wear, while most of the people in the room wore suits. Ooops.

This past Saturday began with us lil’ scientists taking a trip downtown to Victor & Spoils, where my friend Hash (of The Cools) was throwing a party.

After warming up with some fish tacos and vodka, we continued our adventures at Le Baron, a French nightclub in Chinatown brought to us by Andre Saraiva – a Swedish-born Portugese graffiti artist who made his name in the late 90s Parisian graffiti art scene and now owns the Le Baron chains in Paris and Tokyo. The Le Baron here on Mulberry Street was an interesting mix of Asian inspired decor and American 50s Rock’n'Roll music. Below is a snapshot of their Ladies’ Room, with the wallpaper adorning the rest of the club.

Here is a short clip of me dancing to get a sense of the vibe inside, which my friend Flora (of RecipeHuntress) took.

I recommend the Le Baron drink, which the downstairs bartender made to perfection. We had a total blast and I totally loved this spot. It was really a great way to end the week. Is it me, or is there a French theme in the NY nightlife scene this Summer? I thank the French.

Le Bain @ The Standard Hotel with DJ Fame Cohen

Happy Friday People! As you have noticed – I am BACK. To celebrate my return to society after a long grad school induced hiatus, I decided to celebrate this Memorial Day weekend at a Le Bain’s opening of Ete D’Amour – a day party from 4pm to 2am on Summer Sundays.

After coming there the previous Friday and seeing that there is an actual le bain inside Le Bain – I was intrigued.

Today is the first official day of Summer and the start of a new season is a great time to regroup and revamp. With much of my grad school coursework behind me and no presentations until the Fall, I have finally emerged from The Dark Ages that my friend Fame (in the top picture) had predicted in a tarot card reading for me right before I began the PhD program.

Whether you believe that sort of thing or not – she was quite on point. I had to prioritize school over almost everything else in my life, including my friends/romance/family and side projects (The Love Lab included). There were months where I must have studied 90 hours a week and slept on average 3-4 hours a night. During the most intense weeks, I had to institute the Delusional Positivity Project, which was a morning mailing between a couple of friends where we would list the 10 things we were thankful for that moment and 3 things we were excited about. I cannot stress how forcing your brain to search for the positives can have a major impact on your mood. Towards the end of the Winter, things started to calm down since I had passed my oral and written Qualifying Exam (a 2 hour exam where you are orally quizzed by a Committee on your general and project related knowledge) but I still had a slew of presentations to get through before I could take a breath.

Then, about 2 weeks ago, Fame had done another tarot reading for me (it was the first time I had seen her in a long time due to my schedule). I was thrilled to be relieved from The Dark Ages, as this reading was a positive one. There was one caveat in the card spread – my romantic interest at the time did not show lasting power. Things were actually going pretty well, so I wondered if this time around the cards were all wrong. However, since only a week after I had a bad dream about him and the following week the dream came true, I decided that this was a sacrifice I am willing to make to the universe in exchange for all those other awesome predictions. I know this last paragraph doesn’t sound very scientific, but one thing that I took home with me in these last few years is that you have to trust your intuition. Our mind subconsciously collects information that we may not be actively analyzing; an individual’s micro expressions and body language, as well as subtle but telling behavior, are all being collected as data/evidence by our brains to give us a burst of intuition once there are enough puzzle pieces to make out a picture. Although negative intuition need not be expressed to your partner as it comes, it is a reason for caution and vigilance.

Now, I am ready to embrace the exciting opportunities that the next there months have to offer and indulge my passions. I begin everything (the year, the season, the day) with a good old fashioned to-do list. My broad goals for this summer?
1) Make headway with my thesis project
2) get traction on a couple of my start-up projects
3) work out like a ninja
4) and have a blast connecting with my friends and family…and new people of course

Happy Summer of Love to everyone and stay tuned for more posts!

High Status Female Kate Moss photographed by Mario Testino

Social prowess gained through advanced degrees, competence, ambition, and creativity has allowed a woman in her prime to bring a whole new set of tools to the dating scene. And yet, in New York City, 66% of the women ages 20-34 (basically the reproductive years) have never been married.

This begs the question of whether being a high status female has an actual advantage in the dating landscape.

Evolutionary biologists insist that the age-old strategy is for men choosing attractive and fertile women, while women prefer men of status and resources.

Do men really consider a woman’s social rank as an unimportant or irrelevant dating quality?

One website I found created a ‘dating market value’ quiz for men and women, with a woman’s market value being determined largely by physical factors. Generous points are given for youth, beauty, and a low body mass index and points are actually taken away for an above average IQ (this test was written by a man).
In fact, here is the insightful note the blogger writes at the bottom of his quiz:
“I hope everyone noticed what was missing from this test: Your job. The amount of money you make. Your accomplishments.Your social status and number of friends. Your deep and profound worldview.”

Hmmm.

I decided to get to the bottom of all this and found some empowering facts for the ladies looking for success in social rank AND in romance.

Although it is true that men covet attractive and young females, the factors that are even more important in the actual unions that result (and particularly those that are happily maintained) are:

being close in time/distance
social class background
racial/ethnic/religious/political affiliations

Note how all these factors can be impacted by the social position of the woman.

And the big factor leading to divorce? The woman having a low status! In fact, the least educated women and those that marry very young (and thus tend to be more low status at the time) are the most likely to get divorced.

On the other hand, it was shown that college educated women who, although marry later, enjoy the following benefits:

- they are less likely to view marriage as “financial security” and can marry for love
- they are happier in their marriages and with their family life,
- they are the least likely to divorce

The point I am trying to make is that having a high ‘dating market value’ as perceived by men may not necessary mean you will have high dating success.

High status women don’t come out on top because of who chooses THEM, but because of whom THEY choose.

note: I originally wrote this post as a guest on guest of a guest (pun intended during Social Media Week last year. Although, they wound up going with another article for publication, I wanted to give them a shout out since they inspired me to think about it.

Check this out – The Husband Motivator App:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id476554706