just got....

the SCRIE application off---envelope kind of crowded with four papers. Hope it gets there okay, could have taken time to find a larger envelope---wanted to get it off, may have missed the correct floor of the building on the address,, but everything else that I wrote is clear, including return address if needed.
Yesterday: After session took a long train ride (with delays) to western edge of Park Slope (third avenue) and went to the meeting for Wycoff Garden residents concerning new buildings that will be built on the project land. Stayed for about an hour, many residents had complaints that were not associated with the new building---info about building really nothing new, NYCHA representatives insisted that they wanted to give the Wycoff Garden residents a "place at the table" as they built their plans. Residents suspicious, of course, though they were promised that there would be no evictions and that older project residents and disabled residents would be protected. I left before it was over, probably wished for more content, ultimately the discussion centered on about two or three points and once they were over, mainly repetitive statements abounded. As an outsider, it was hard to get involved, nice to see so many people from the project at the meeting (one of the reasons that I came was because there was fear that not enough people would bet there) but the place was totally packed.
Left, and as I walked toward third avenue (once a forgotten avenue on the cusp of Park Slope, but now something totally different) five or six black men, kind of drunk were rapping, crossed them, found myself face to face with a luxury apartment house, complete with a doorman, less than a block away. Brownstones between fourth and third also looked lovely, wonder if they were always this way. Walked back to subway, took R three stops to Prospect and walked from fourth avenue to fifth (a really long block by the way) and headed to Freddys where I ate supper. Bar was essentially quiet, not much contact, kind of a void for me, could have stayed for comics afterwards in back room, but too long a wait. Like the bar, but not much happens to me each time I go there--next door is South, a more upscale bar and restaurant, where Rosie Schaap, the writer sometimes bartends. Would I be more comfortable there? Looked like a younger hip crowd, Freddys still attracts the wizened intellectuals that somehow have remained in Park Slope.
After I left, walked up fifth avenue to ninth street. In those eight blocks, must have come across 10 bars (I won't name them all here). Enjoyed looking in on them, thought of a kind of adventure, a week in which I would try all of them. Still, this is only one of a group of bars that consume Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan. Nevertheless, felt alive and adventurous as I walked down the street. Will that crawl every come to be...? Who knows.
Tonight, will see Magdelen at Fringe Encores, the play my friend Erin is appearing in, afterwards, if I don't hang out with her or her director (possible but not probable) will probably find a bar where I can watch the Yankee playoff game, probably Broome Street bar, since it is very close to the Soho Playhouse. Other choices...? Tune in tomorrow...?