Walkabout

The lists are done. The school year is over. And Paul Tsikitas, is on Walkabout. You may have heard me talking about Walkabout for the past 10 days (since that is how long it has been since I started this sojurn) and here, on this humble blog, will finally be my explanation to all of those who read this pap.

Here is the actual definition:
Walkabout is an Australian pidgin (or perhaps quasi-pidgin) term referring to the belief that Australian Aborigines "go walkabout" at the age of thirteen in the wilderness for six months as a rite of passage.

Here is my loose interpretation and tweaked version:
Walkabout is the time in between the end of my career as a student and the start of my career as an adult with a job. The constituent elements of my walkabout is friends, food, drink and all around nostalgia trips the size of the Australian outback. It's a rite of passage as a college student to enjoy the fruits of their youth before the "real world" kicks in.

Basically, I started this journey a few weekends ago when Ray and Faz joined me on the fabled Delassandro's trip and continued with a lot of partying and enjoying friends and decided to make an official Walkabout once I handed in all of my stuff and completed everything that was needed to be done for graduaysh. Now I'm on a soul-searching journey that involves all the elements of the past 4 years of my life. So as I formulated those mind-numbingly boring reviews of my fav albums, I was actually living and doing things. Most of the things involved some raucously strange and random stories, which in Justin Leo fashion, I will ramble on about for quite some time. So unless you are devoted to the cause, get out while you can!

Day One~ Hip-Hop Show
Wednesday May 3rd was a strange day in general. I did a lot of work for Grauke, finishing up my final short story and a lot of lounging around. I was invited the day before to see Faz's hip-hop act, Kontra, mix it up (I would say play, but I don't know the proper nomenclature for describing a hip-hop show) at the Khyber. I wasn't going to go, but I realized, Hell, I'm done everything. Why the eff not! I was glad I did because this show was the catalyst for Walkabout. The show was awesome. For someone who doesn't listen to hip-hop, I definitely got into most of the acts. Kontra was excellent and the key-notes of the night was when Adam 12 (?) and Scandal did some freestylin during Scandal's set. It was sick. Also, Random was awesome throwing back to the glory days of hip-hop (that and he sampled Journey!!) Flanny, Doc, Ray and Kelly were in attendance and it was just a night of sheer greatness. It was also nice to be there for Faz who rocked the mic like no other. Good stuff from my fav non-Tsikitas Greek.

Day Two~ The Final Countdown
Thursday was sleeping in and preparing for a night of belidge that was only topped by the next night. I drove up to La Salle and met up with my BroG class to go downtown for drinks at McGillin's. What a sweet place! Tucked away on Druary Street, the oldest bar in Philly was good food, good times and good drinks. Jacqui, Colleen, Doc, Giles (not in the class.... dick) Ed, Dignam and BroG were the only ones allowed to drink (well, and me, but that goes without sayin) so we made our little adults table and got away from the Torino fools who were all babies. We order good food and good juke music care of me filled with Sinatra, Def Leppard and Talking Heads. Afterwards was Gent's Club (and the final official gent's club.) It was glorious. There was a ton of people down at Belfield for the Cane fest. It sucked when vag's showed up, but at least it wasn't cops. Post Gent's was all about the destruction of A6's couch where in regular form I snatched the "Do Not Remove This Tag" off of it and gave it to Ms. Foreman as a keepsake. After the riot, security came and ball busted the whole night, but I returned late night to have some enjoyable converation time with Drust, Ed and Jacqui. A good night all around.

Day Three~ Blackout
So I got like, 2 hours of sleep on Thursday. Giles' party was Friday night and it was good times. Until I got blackout. But before that, I was grilling, drinking with friends like Ramen and Chew and Flanny and just enjoying life. Chew and I grilled some excellent sausage care of Butcher Bloc and everyone was enjoying the times. Then, I guess due to lots of beer and liqour and no sleep the night before, I hit a HUGE wall and was brought upstairs to sleep. I wasn't sick, I was just tired. The rumor mill said I puked all over myself, but I actually just slept from (i'm guessing) 12pm to 4 am. I got up for a bit to see the end of the party then it was back to a drunken spiral of sleep. This is what Walkabout is all about. Get it out of my system before I have a job and I'm all tired and cranky.

Day Four~ Relaxing with Denise
This was a good day. One of the best. Walkabout has brought so many different circles of my life back into my life that it has been extremely fruitful. I was hungover all day, but that didn't stop me. I enjoyed a little freaked with the Giles' Ranchers and headed home for a much needed nap. Then I headed out to the good old stomping grounds of North East Philly for an enjoyable night with the lovely Denise. It was good catching up with her. She has been an integral part of my college life and a lot of the growth that I have gone through in the two and a half years that I've known the lovely lady. It was nice to have a night with sober conversations about life and where it's headed and with a very special and great person. After that I headed over for Richard's 21st and Tom Fischers in good ol Collingswood (well, Westmont.) Got some brews and got an enjoyable nightcap and end of my hangover thanks to $3.25 Guiness!

Day Five~ DESTROY YOUR LIVER!
Okay. This night, so far, was the most fun out of all of the nights. Slept in and waited for this more or less the entire day. THen when Doc rolled up, I knew the good times were going to begin. We took PATCO into town to hit up the Khyber for the best deal in town, DESTROY YOUR LIVER! Basically you pay a ten dollar cover and get all domestics, draughts and well liquor for all you can drink all night. We got there at about 9:30 and the place was dead. We then imbibed some drinks and Ed Frizzle Fry met up with us. Then we continued feasting upon beers until it got packed. There were some cute girls and Ed walked up to two and they shot him down. We deduced they were lesbians (and Ed said it the rest of the night they would come by us... really loudly.) Then, after we got sauced and Doc's buddy (John?) came up, we hit the dancefloor. The music selection was glorious. A mixture of your typical hip-hop with a dash of 80's and other nostalgic songs. Basically everything from 50 Cent to The Cars to Def Leppard to The Proclaimers to Daft Punk. The DJ's were mixin' the songs with a really great feel and the vibe was good. Most of the ladies on the dancefloor weren't feelin' the sexy vibe I was giving off, but I wasn't looking for it either. Until I spotted this excrutiatingly hot black girl int he corner with her whitey girl friend. So I groove over and I'm jstu dancin next to them. Making the eyes and just having fun with myself. Then Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" came on and I started rockin' my robotronics. Well, this set a trigger off in her mind and she got up on me and we had a robot off. That was probably the sexiest moment of my life. The rest of the night was off and on dancing with this gorgeous woman who had all the right moves. So as I leave to Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" (yes they played that... it was sweet), I spot her sitting taking a breather with her friend. I walk up, take her hand and say "It was a pleasure dancing with you" and kissed her hand and left. I wanted to throw my arms in the air because I didn't et her name or number and that wasn't the point. It was just pure dancefloor chemistry that needed to stay in that moment. The rest of the night was Doc throwing himself on me and Ed as he screames "Crutches", Ed playing the horn parts to "You Can Call Me Al" as we walk back to Patco and Doc laying in the middle of the streets of Jersey. Our livers were destroyed to say the least.

Day Six~ Breather
After an excellent trip to the CLD with Doc and Ed and a viewing of Living in Oblivion (Thanks for the apology, but you will never work in this town again) I decided rather than go out to the bar that night again, I would enjoy some quality Kevner Stevner time. Needless to say this night was needed but uneventful minus the trip to Wawa where we discussed Dr. Carey's belidge nature and then watched lots of Ali G. It was a nice break from the insanity of drinking that would continue the rest of the week.

Day Seven~ "Did she just go in the kitchen with that dude?"
I headed into town for Erin McCabe's 21t birthday. I never met the girl, but it was $1 PBR's at the Angle Sea Pub (right near my family's fav bar McMenamens) and we rocked some Quizzo. Our team was aptly named "Dan Touey's Missing Tooth" and we scored a free pitcher of brewdogs for winning one of the rounds. This night was eventful because my stalkers finally got to talk to me about all of their "creepy" love for me. It's funny that they "obsess" about me, a lowly guy. But hey, it's pretty funny and they aren't as "creepy" as they make themselves out to be. It was fun times all around. Oh yeah, and Coll Kennedy decided to go into the kitchen with a random local and make-out with him. What a strange-o. I also made my Walkabout Mix Vol. 1 that night which is pretty delish.

Day Eight~ Pong Out With Your Wong Out
Teamed up with a girl I onyl met the night before, I ventured for an early day of imbibing that is typical of college. Yes, it was a massive beer pong tourney that went all day long. I'll admit, I never have been a fan of thigns like that in the past, but hey... I'm on walkabout. Anything goes and I'm gald I went. I saw the true colors of my stalkers (they are actually nerds! hope you are reading this!) and JQ and myself went to the final four of the tourney which was fun. A lot of people were there that I never talked to ever in my four years and I didn't start talking to any of them either. The rest of the night was about enjoying some other friends as we went to Crilly's place to rock out. I sobered up and lefet early (which was a good and bad idea because I love that crowd, but I felt really shitty from a day of 8 hour drinking.)

Day Nine~ Red Feet, Monsoons, Mohitos, Stabbings, Singalongs and Drowning
This was by far the most epic day of the sojourn. Last night was a highly enjoyable evening with Valentine, Ms. Chambers, Georgie Woods and Scottish. Carly, Jess, George and I jumped on PATCO for a visit to Scot's establishment on 3rd and South called The Reef. Needless to say, the food and drinks were great, but walking through on and off turential downpours was harsh. It ended up being worth it. Carly's feet turned red cuz her shows got soaked and bled through to her feet. no pun intended since her shoes were red. We enjoyed the most intensely deliscous mixed drink I have ever had. Mohitos. Dino, the most excellent bartender I've encoutned concocted these drinks which have rum, sour mix, mint leaves, lime and other great flavorings (ranging from Mango to Coconut to Watermelon) for a drink experience liek no other. Definitely not too fruity, but just the right amount of flavor. The food was awesome too with extremely tender chicken and curry sauce and fried plantains. After Scot closed up shop, we wandered looking for our next place to imbibe. Most places were lame, closing up or loud. As we walked towards Kildare's on 2nd street, we pass Mako's and there is a mob of people beating on this one guy with brass knuckles and someone had some sort of knife and was diggin into the guy. That was disturbing esp. because there was a cop on the corner doing NOTHING ABOUT IT! So we called in for back-up and briskly walked to Kildare's for my beverages. We sang along to great classic 90s and rock songs and enjoyed some silly pictures and a cover band as well. Then Scot drives us back in his new PT Cruiser to Jersey. As we are over the bridge and I laugh as I think of Stev's slammtober fest when he hit cars, I blurt out "This is a smooth ride." Right after I say that, we turn a corner and in usual Admiral Wilson fashion, there is a huge flood. They must have known when naming it "Admiral Wilson Boulevard" that you would need a boat sometimes to manuver it. Regardless, WHAM! Huge puddle, no crash, but his car's engine (with less than 500 miles on it) floods. We are stuck at the Hess Express for a good hour and a half before AAA comes out. I decide I'm clairvoent to some extenet because Scot and I go to use the pisser and of course they are broken. Although that put an awkward situation on the end of the night, it made it even more memorable for those there.

That's it so far. There will be more Walkabout details as Graduation is this weekend. I will have a reflection peice ready for that and I will post my Senior Send-Off here. It's been a great run. I hope you can enjoy Walkabout with me at some point in the near future. It's been a great time. Let's not let it end.