out and about

out and about septemper 13th, 2004

okay

varoon and i went to see if we could get into some clubs tonight, and i only meant that we went to see if we could, because i am turning 19 in less than a month, and he's of age. so we really wanted us both to get into a place.

we checked out "tonic" but the dude said he couldn't let us (me) in, he was cool about it, so it was no big deal.

we were going to try "joker" but the lineup was ridiculous and everyone there looked like they were in their 20s, and i didn't want to wait in line for thirty minutes just to be told that i couldn't be allowed in; wasting our time.

so we walked around a bit more. shaking off the buzz we both had; varoon had been drinking a bit earlier than me with some friends at a pool hall. i met him in the subway and he gave me half a bottle of orange juice mixed mostly with some champagne he had at home that he a helped himself to.

he was looking pretty buzzed up and i didn't want to be left out in the cold, so i took the bottle and downed it inside of 2 minutes, i'd say. man. does that stuff ever taste VILE. it did the trick, though, we were both really whacked and looking for a good club to do our thing.

we gave up walking around looking for an all-ages club and went to "hooters" for some food. it was a first experience for both of us.

i suggested the patio on the roof which would supply us with much needed fresh air. we were waiting for our food, gawking at the waitresses and finally, when the food arrived, varoon was too messed up to even touch his meal, so i took pretty much all of the smirnoff twist he ordered and munched on my fries, which weren't very good.

we left a hefty tip and took off, citing for a subway station. seeing as our night was over so soon, since i couldn't get into any places, and varoon was already too smashed to do anything real.

i walked with him to the subway, assuring him that it wasn't his fault, that i had plenty of fun and that once i turn 19, we'll come down here again, prepared. really.

he went home, ready to pass out and myself, since the busses to my place weren't running, decided to try to walk off the intoxication. i went walking up yonge street, ran into a man giving me a story about how he was from montréal and came here because some internet website told him he was guaranteed a job with a man who was going to pick him up a the toronto bus station to drive him to winnipeg making $30/hour paid cash daily. i asked him the names of his two kids and his girlfriend. he told me them without much hesitation, so i kind of believed him and gave him less than a dollar, which was all i had in my pocket, next to my toonie, was i wasn't going to part with for something like that. just as i was leaving him, a man went walking by chucking a hockey puck, raving about the game tonight in which canada beat slovakia 4-3 in overtime. i cheered with him and started walking up yonge street alongside him.

turns out he was a scalper and was selling tickets for shows like madonna and the stones and avril lavigne, baseball games, hockey games and he had just sold 4 tickets tonight for the canada game to a man and his kids for $150 per ticket. what a racket. i couldn't believe it. he told me that i should come down to union station anytime there's a baseball game and he'd give me a business card and i'd get 1/3 off the scalper price with it. i said that'd be grand, but i'm only interested in concerts, mostly and possibly the occasional hockey game. he said he was just a minion and that his boss made all the real money.

he went on to speak about his liver problem, cancer, and what-not. when asked for his name, he told me it was "pandhandler", i insisted on his real name, so he gave me "roberts". he was saying how he was on waiting lists for surgery and the dr's said that for his type of operation, the chance of survival was 25%. 25%! so he said he'd rather take his chances on his own and wouldn't take the operation, but see how he could go on his own. what a character, lemme tell you. i told him i was in the university of toronto for computers. he said to "stay in school" and that he could get me into a club up the street if i bought him a beer. i said i was all done with drinking that night and was just trying to get into some with a friend of mine.

when it came time to depart, he shook my hand and asked me with a smile if i'd still want to give him that beer. i said sorry, i hadn't any money left and then, as a final, plea, as i was backpeddling, he asked for me to
'spare some change, because his name was pandhandler'. i said i was all out, and he said that was fine. just as i was walking away, i looked back to see him in conversation with another man who had just crossed the street. man. the people of this city...

eating doritos and drinking chocolate milk.
suffocating this persistant drunk dilemma, i'm thinking carefully about how to play the next night out, one that we might actually dance with some sexy ladies... not that we didn't see any, man, did we ever see some good looking girls tonight...