The white marble bar of the Meatpacking District hot spot Bistro Bagatelle is littered with $500 Louis Vuitton knockoff clutches—fakes, but nice fakes. Hovering over them are the anxious blonde women (fakes, but nice fakes too) to whom the bags belong. These are Manhattan's gold diggers—ladies of little means and big ambitions, who hope to use their looks to nab a rich man, better highlights and perhaps even a real Vuitton clutch. This bar is their mine. But in the middle of the worst financial crisis the city has faced since the Great Depression, there's little gold in "them thar hills."

The only thing missing on this Tuesday night in October is bankers. There are no scotches or whiskeys or hairy wrists wearing expensive watches resting on the bar. The few gents there are at Bagatelle are seated together, speaking in low, somber tones over plates of coquilles St. Jacques and bottles of Médoc. Three young Bulgarian women at the bar are getting restless. Sophie—23, blonde and a real estate broker—wears a cream cashmere sweater with a neckline that plunges like the Dow. Her friend Emilaya, 23, is a student at CUNY who resembles Scarlett Johansson. Their third friend, another beautiful Bulgarian, doesn't speak English. It doesn't matter. Three single Slavs, and still no one has approached them. Sophie sighs and sips her Pinot gris. "It's getting harder and harder to find a good man," she says. "Everyone is looking for handsome, rich and charming men but there are less and less of them to go around." Since the financial markets started collapsing back in March, wealthy Prince Charmings, already an endangered species on the nightlife scene, have become almost completely extinct. The handsome ones aren't charming, the charming ones aren't handsome and many of the rich ones are now poor.

There seemed to be a time during the most recent Wall Street bubble when natural selection and free market capitalism had achieved a perfect equilibrium. Men arrived in New York, equipped with degrees in finance or perhaps just a family friend's business card, to get rich. They came with different ranks—hedgies, traders, analysts, consultants—and together formed the infantry of a hungry Gordon Gekko–like army. As necessary as the Soho House membership or the weekend share in the Hamptons (south of the highway, thank you very much!) was a cute piece of arm candy. These were to be had, at the right price, by the dozen, any night of the week at hot spots like Bagatelle, 1Oak and Kiss & Fly. For a long time, the system worked. The more money that was paid, the more men that were laid, the more ladies that were made.

Well, it was good while it lasted. Since August, the Federal Reserve reports, Wall Street has lost 9,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of total employment. And it will only get worse. According to the report, "The city's finance sector stands on the verge of a significant multiyear downturn in employment and in real earnings." Up to 78,000 more jobs will likely be lost and many of those who remain employed will see their salaries slashed as bonuses disappear. What does this mean for Sophie? She adjusts her sweater downward and frowns. "There's much more competition," she says, anxiously eyeing the door.

With a supply of supple honeys outstripping demand, men are now choosier and even more fickle than usual. Ted Morgan, co-author of How to Marry a Multi-Millionaire: The Ultimate Guide to High Net Worth Dating, says, "There is an increased sense of desperation among women about dating, and men can sense this." Beggars, they figure, can't be choosers. Stacey Lalljee, a raven-haired IT engineer at AT&T, is single but shouldn't be. At any other time, in fact, she wouldn't be. The 31-year-old, who boasts of dating a well-known reality star and a slew of high-net-worth individuals, is accustomed to dinners at Ono and Markt, Nicolas Feuillatte champagne by the jeroboam and—if indeed she did end the night in her own home—being chauffeured there in a hired Town Car. But, she says, those Sex and the City salad days are over. She complains, "It sucks to be a single girl right now"—in large part because strapped Wall Street guys are spending less on dates. A typical night out during these troubled times may still be at Buddakan, but it will just as likely be for wine at the bar rather than a table laden with $44 Peking duck. According to one 29-year-old trader who lives in Murray Hill, "We don't have time or money to spend hundreds of dollars on a girl. If it's a drink and it doesn't go anywhere, well, at least I'm cutting back."

Today, women drinking paid-for saketinis are among the lucky few. Staceys and Sophies all over the city—women who six months ago subsisted on a steady diet of underwritten dinners followed by a night of bottle service at Marquee or Rose Bar—are waiting for their Sidekicks to vibrate. Sophie is broken up about a recently pink-slipped relationship with a Lehman brother. "I was dating this guy for a couple of weeks," she says, "and all of a sudden he just stopped calling me. For weeks, I waited. Finally he called. He had lost his job and was too ashamed to tell me."

And being unemployed is not hot. Real estate broker Sammy, a 37-year-old "single girl in the dating scene" (who would rather keep her real name private so that her boss doesn't know she's a gold digger), wrinkles her nose in disgust. "Will I knowingly date somebody who is in the sh--ter right now? Probably not." Sophie agrees, "I would never go out with someone who came up to me and said, 'I don't have a job.' " Emilaya shakes her head. "No, no, no." Even the non-English speaker shakes her head no. It's universal: No banking job, no service.

Back at Bagatelle, three young beautiful Turks smoke Camels outside in the cold. One is blonde, one is brunette and one is shivering in a T-shirt that reads "I Heart NY." Two appear to be models, or at least "models." (The other works in finance.) "When we go out there are usually four guys buying us drinks. Now there is only one," sighs the petite 24-year-old brunette. "Guys just aren't going out as much. Plus, men aren't buying bottle service so there are no tables to invite women back to." The other two nod ruefully.

But all downturns have their upsides. Just as the Wall Street apocalypse has been a boon to short sellers—those who bet against the stock market—so too has the scarcity of marketable men been a boon to, well, men. In some ways, the slowdown has created space for true love to flourish. Win Hornig, 25, a former analyst for the now defunct Bear Stearns who pens the blog Banker Gone Broke, isn't on the dating scene anymore. He met his girlfriend, a former Lehman Brothers analyst, through a mutual friend over a dinner at Country last month, when he still had a job but the market was cooling off. "If the market was busy, we would have never met. We both would have been at the office instead." Win's a winner, but today even losers can score. According to Ted, "You used to hear women say, 'I'd never date anyone who makes less than $1 million.' You don't hear that anymore. The number is getting lower and lower and lower." Stacey says now when she goes out on dates she asks herself, "Does this person have EP—earning potential? Even if he's a janitor, I'd give him a chance." But Stacey would do well to learn from the market. Trading in futures is risky business.

周四晚和一个朋友在东岸酒吧小坐, 08年第一来后海的酒吧, 全年第二次来酒吧(pub除外)

我的朋友吸着烟(Daviddoff), 很惬意, 很陶醉...

我和朋友并排坐, 透过落地玻璃窗, 正视窗外的夜景---后海还是那个多姿多彩的后海, 但物是人非了吧, 我都不记得上次来这里是什么时候了,那个时候应该还是和她在一起呢...只不过如今我的眼里看世间的万物已经很悲凉, 要么已经萧条和衰落, 要么就在即将走向没落的前夕...Crisis everywhere... 

我仅要了杯Gin Tonic(高尿酸+脂肪肝的人怎么能饮酒呢?!且最近查酒很厉害啊,同志们注意了) 把脚搭在窗台上, 一度一言不发, 漠不关心酒吧里的Jazz, 身心在这个时间段得到彻底的放松...发现最自我的时候要么就是在交易台上喋喋不休的工作, 要么就是在生活中的一言不发的驾驶或者静坐...

窗下酒吧外的几个80/90后的小朋友互相依偎在一起抱团取暖,亲吻...我只是很疑惑他们的性别, 按说都有彩妆应该是女孩但清一色的中性打扮...这年头怎么了, 我真想抽丫的, 难道"生男生女都一样"现如今就是如此诠释?!

生活中的沉思越来越多, 人总是会变老的...(要么我已经变老了,要么我就在变老的前夕)

不禁让我想到了最喜欢的美剧Boston Legal每集结尾的情景: Alan and Denny 坐在露天阳台上, 吸着雪茄, 眼望夜色中的downtown, 谈论着昨天/今天/明天(靠,其实topic就是女人和政治,lawyer就是如此的"现实")...那也是他们最惬意最自我的时刻吧

Life sucks but Life should go on...

【日美文化，有差异】

雷曼兄弟出事，日本部分由日本野村证券收购。如何管理雷曼日本的1300名员工，成为日本观察家的热点。收购案令人想起十年前美林收购日本山一证券的铩羽事件---当年，美林有4000员工可选择，只雇用2000人，但把山一人调教为美林人的方案失败，强行扭转日本消费者的行为亦告失败，4年赔了6亿美元。

奥尼尔上台，新官上任三把火，决定从日本撤退，成为美日文化差异的鲜明个案。时至08年，奥尼尔领了黄金降落伞退位，美林亦并入摩根大通，一切烟消云散，世事便是如此。

连当年号称在日本成功的GE，亦要出售消费金融投资Lake，加上雷曼兄弟申请破产，美国模式不合日本市场的理论，看来有支持。但如今反其道而行，由日本野村将雷曼人洗脑，由保守的管理层监管前线的雷曼人，首先薪水差距的1：3，主管薪水低于属下，是永远的心结，如何评估业绩，年底大分红，野村人首先做不来，人之常也。注重尊卑、讲究忠诚度、能忍得上司，是日本千年不变的模式。在雷曼的日本雇员早已习惯即时计、随时转工、奖金第一的文化。

今日风大雨大，当然有约就签，但那些对冲基金部、并购部的好手，又可以留得多久，就看这次风暴要烧多久。所以这次日本反购美国公司只是一件高危项目，拭目以待。