I think my statements apply equally to everyone… as much as *any* generalization can potentially apply to anyone (or not). What I’m saying is that you can either get down with the sharkery or continue to rely on pot luck to get on. Meanwhile, more and more people become jaded and enter the shark realm. Normally when someone’s bubbly and happy, I ask them where they’re from. It’s normally somewhere OTHER than NYC. I’d love to see a study on how long that demeanor lasts.

There is no economic divide. Again, generalizing, women want to date men that make more than they do, across the board. If it’s not directly money, it’s ambition, achievement or influence. Basically, women want a guy better than they are, though they’ll call it “their equal” in order to feel good about the classification.

As far as being a shark, I didn’t word that line about “being proud” very well. Of course I’m proud of being a shark, because it’s an achievement, as you point out. I’d rather be a shark than depend on put luck to get chicks. Pot Luck Sucks! :D What I didn’t accurately state there is that I’m not proud of the environment we live in. I’m not happy about the fact that there are a lot of chicks in this town that make it tough for guys to get raps and simultaneously, there are A LOT OF GUYS that will say or do anything they need to to get on, regardless of the consequences to the chick when she finds out the only reason he was speaking to her at all was to get her to lay down.

As far as those Brooklyn-types, there’s something weird going on over there hahaha. I don’t have anything to say about that culture, except that every time I went there, I felt like I was walking through an episode of The Burg. Very weird ish going on over there.

I think “victim of circumstance” is exactly the term for this situation, except it isn’t a plea… it’s an explanation. If the chicks in NYC weren’t so souped up on themselves just because the media tells them they’re worth more than they really are, then guys wouldn’t have to be so deceitful to pull them. Meanwhile, if the guys weren’t such underhanded jerks, chicks could afford to let their guards down more and accept raps from more guys.

Unfortunately, the ball doesn’t roll uphill.. it rolls downhill. The cycle continues, where we all become better players in the game against each other. If you’re lucky, you learn to spot players by their demeanor and the look in their eyes. If you’re not lucky, New York City will test your faith in people, and you’ll probably get jaded, get smart or get out.

Bill, do your statments apply equally to people actually raised in NYC as wells as to the striving long term tourists? Is there an economic divide or regional, like does this also apply to all those emo-arty folks out in Brooklyn? Is NYC truly an end-to-end shark tank or does it just look that way to you because you’re in the deep end and you tend to seek out competitive games? AND you probably excel at being a shark. You stated somewhere else here that you never attended a school that you didn’t have to take a test to get into. You’ve also gone to a very prestigious technical school as a payoff and the accomplishments and accolades continue from there. Sounds like you’ve been training to be very competitive for a long time so I question whether you’re taking a step back and getting a broad enough view and if it’s people similar to yourself who are “reluctantly” keeping the game going. IF you’re not happy or even proud of it (c’mon Bill, you don’t take pride in doing something well?) THEN do the ends really justify the means? I don’t mean this as a knock but something didn’t ring right about this piece. I almost smelled a cop-out “victim of circumstance” plea.