Noooooo Gekko Greedy here

Recently I have been accused of being greedy and compared to Gekko Gordon. Because I want to be in private equity and because I want to make lots of money. The concept of private equity has been discussed broadly in Germany lately at ALL levels. One politician decided to score some points in a long lost election campaign and called private equity people "locusts" (German="Heuschrecken"). They are responsible for the high unemployment rate in Germany - 10%(compared to 5% in the US) because the come and destroy companies by firing people (also called "streamlining" in business schools). They do all this because they are all GREEDY.
Supposedly, I am greedy because I want to work for them. Hmmm... Well frankly, may be its true. But at least I don't want to be compared to Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas in "Wall Sreet") - much rather to Thomas Crown(Pierce Brosnan in "Thomas Crown Affair"). Both movies are about reckless and filthy rich business men in some sort of M&A business. Well in Michael Douglas case its cruel and in Pierce Brosnan case its just cool and dandy. Its all about the attitude, right?

Owen the Wedding Crasher

Two of my friends - Clodi and Christine felt pity for me after reading my recent blog about Owen Wilson and Harry Potter. So tonight we made ourselves presentable and good smelling (tuna salad for fresh breath and red wine for pretty whities) and went to see the funniest movie I have seen in the long time. Its shallow, its stupid ... its perfect and its not everyone's thing. You have to be a hard core fan of the crooked nose and the mild voice to LOVE every movie by the man. Well I am. I laughed very hard until I cried. Best line of the night: "We are venture capitalist brothers from New Hampshire"."What is that..that you do, exactly?"."Hmmmm, you know this and that."

Sorry, Harry - nice guys always have to wait. And by the way you have been getting some attention - am at page 105 now - 500 more to go!!!

Tango

Did you know that you can dance Tango every night of the week in Munich? I tried it last night and once I get back to NY I will be torturing Shawn to actually learn how to do this together. Last night I was with a very nice guy that I did not know before which made the whole experience a bit awkward.

The main thing for the girl is to let the guy lead her. Which could have a therapeutical effect on many emancipated women that emancipated ways to fast and are lost between "the guy should open the door for me" and "why should I wait for a guy to approach me". And most of the girls I know are somewhere in-between - may be except my old fashioned Russian mom. Yea - and I am probably the one in most acute need for such therapy.... :-)

The tango scene was much younger than I imagined, the venue "Praterinsel" was beautiful and the live orchestra "Cuarteto Silencio" made up for the initial uncomfortableness. There was one couple that danced outside in the rain with an umbrella - very romantic....

Owen vs. Harry

Owen Wilson and Harry Potter are fighting for my undivided attention. Both of them are joys I cannot share. Reading is not that much fun with someone and watching Wedding Crasher - well lets say I've had trouble finding ANYONE who would be willing to watch this movie with me (volunteers step up!). Now with the limited time that I have here in Munich (forget all that stuff I was saying about having too much time on my hands) I have to choose. Will that be Harry that I preordered and went miles to pick up my package or will that be Owen that I have to go watch at tiniest theather Museum Lichtspiele which also happens to be be only one that would show the movie in English..... Noone is leading yet.

By the way - am back "home" August 17th.

Self-destruction

Ok, the time back home has been a blast - drinking, partying, meeting old and new friends. All that in a hurry since there is not that much time left and I have to see everyone at least once. That's all understandable and stuff. I don't have to be at work until 9 am and the work has been not all that challenging.

But the real craziness starts here: every weekend I am in Bamberg visiting my parents - remember its one of the reasons I am here in Germany. On Saturdays however I usually go out and this is not pretty. Usually stay out until 5 am and absolutely kill myself with lots of "fire water". The reason for that - unknown. There are only handful bars in Bamberg that me and my g-friend Natasha are visiting - Il Centro to warm up, Calimeros, Boleros and Manhattan Cocktail Bar to finish off - sometimes even Downstairs to dance. One word to Manhattan Cocktail Bar: i have never seen this place sober but from what I can tell its my substitute for real Manhattan - an English speaking owner and New York Strawberry Cheese cake (not that I like it but anyways). Usually we are too embarrassed to go back but always end up going anyways.

I need to stop this self-destruction and go back to the expensive real Manhattan - so I will rehab. That was my confession and now I feel better :)

p.s. the picture is at Schweinfurt Honky Tonk with Eva.

Dorothea in Bamberg

My roomate was in Bamberg this weekend. Went to theather and ate my moms food. Hope she liked it. Here are some of pics.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

The slogan of Baruch College is "American Dream Still Works". My friend, Aman, has just sent me one more I could use when I feel poor and unfortunate again:
"Stay hungry. Stay foolish" from the commencement speech of Steve Jobs at Stanford. ::Read the whole thing::

I just wonder if Steve Jobs gives Stanford graduates that kind of speech - what would he tell Baruch graduates? hmmmm

Sailing off Long Island

Right before I left to Germany we went sailing. Well sailing for beginners. I have mastered the chicken jive. Guenes actually turned out to be a natural. Its only $ 30 per person a day - to find on http://newyork.craigslist.org.

:: PICTURES ::