SEX & HEALTH

The season finale delivered 2.46 million adults 18-49 at 10 p.m., becoming Bravo’s highest rated Tuesday telecast in adults 18-49 since 2003 (Queer Eye) and the highest Tuesday telecast ever in total viewers. An additional 794,000 adults 18-49 watched at 11 p.m. The season finale was the first Real Housewives telecast to hit over three million total viewers (on a Live + SD basis).

So when my 40 year old male friend said he had an extra ticket to a Friday night concert, I figured why not? I’ve been busting my butt lately, the recession is making the office a downer and I did not have a night out the entire week. I didn’t bother to ask why he had an extra ticket the night of the performance but my guess was 1) the person he originally asked bailed or 2) he bought them after I said yes. I hadn’t talked to this male friend in about 5 years. After our recent night out, I now remember why.

Navigating the Recession, Part II: Asian-American Advantages in a Tough Job Market In this job market, job candidates must scrutinize their life and career backgrounds closely to optimize their chances for success. In addition to the basics of the job search—writing an excellent resumé, networking aggressively---how can you draw on your cultural background to further your career in this tough market?

The signs of the economic earthquake are everywhere: our 401(k)s are floundering, some have had to defer retirement, while others wonder how they’re going to pay for college. But it is the laid off worker that is bearing the brunt of the pain this recession has to offer. Layoffs bring a complex emotional quagmire into play—panic about the checkbook, anger against your boss, fear about being judged at interviews and guilt over being laid off.

The Dating Experiments - Adventures in Fortune Telling (and Bars) When I was twenty, a friend’s aunt insisted on giving me a fortune reading. She considers herself to have psychic powers – a gift she insists shouldn’t go to waste – and so in addition to her day job, she charges a low fee for what she calls “energy readings” on the side. I’d never had my fortune told, and I haven’t since, so I don’t know if what happened could be considered normal.

"That guy from chemistry asked you out and you turned him down? I don't understand... it's just a movie!" I told my roommate whilst following her around the apartment, dazed and confused. "And I remember you telling me the other day that you thought he was cute!"

Being a sort of newbie Manhattanite (I’m a Boston gal –sorry Yankee fans!) I’ve become terribly obsessed with the Bravo television show Housewives of NYC. As much as I wouldn’t want to be any of them, except maybe one, I’m drawn to their lifestyle and curious about their social life. I tune in every Tuesday to see what parties they have attended, what they are wearing, who’s fighting with whom and who’s dating who.

Attempt #2 If there is any take home lesson from my first self conscious attempt at sitting solo at a bar, it would have to be this: you can do everything the magazines say (put on your favorite pair of jeans and a killer new top, go to a familiar bar, order your favorite drink), but if you don’t prepare yourself inside as well as out, you’re going to feel as awkward and uncool as you did as a pubescent. With that in mind, in the days immediately after I slunk out of that first dive bar in shame, I concocted a new strategy.

"There's the bumbling immigrant who speaks broken English. Then there's the computer nerd that's way too passive and let's people run over him all the time. How about the violent gangster wanna-be who doesn't practice martial arts out of defense but out of being a bad ass? Or what about the little brother that's always, always super friendly but can never get a date?" This is how society has depicted the Asian-American male through the overly embellished world of entertainment and media.