Good Times Good Times

Last night after work, I went out to a bar with some people I work with. We went to a bar called the Dram Shop. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time that I spent any time with my coworkers after work so it was a really kind of a bonding experience for me. It also reminding me of going out to the bars in Iowa City after work. I really miss you guys! We got off of work around quarter to midnight and I left the bar around 3am. I left early. From what I was able to gather, NYC bars don't have to close at a certain time, as long as they have customers who are still drinking, they can stay open until 5 in the morning if they want and apparently some of my coworkers have took them up on the offer on more then one occasion. In fact, some of them are such regulars at the Dram Shop that they went there on their lunch break and had dinner and beer before returning to work.

On the way to the bar, I was telling my friend David where I live. He gave that face, like really? It turns out my neighborhood, Sunset Park was once a not so nice neighborhood. In fact, as recent as 10 years ago, Sunset Park was in the midst of a Gang Turf War between the Mexicans and the Dominicans and most of the fighting was happening in my area of Sunset Park. It got so bad that when it was reported there was a shooting in Brooklyn, it always was in Sunset Park. Things that I wish I didn't know but thanks to the increase of police in the neighborhood and the end of the war, Sunset Park is a safe neighborhood again. Now, this was a surprise to me because as I walk around the neighborhood I see a lot of families. They sit on their stoops at night, playing cards and talking so obviously they are not worried about being shot. This was the first time anyone had ever mentioned anything negative about Sunset Park so it never occurred to me it was anything other then safe. But don't worry friends and family. It's safe now.

P.S. Maybe this shouldn't be mentioned to my mom. She worries about me enough as it is.