Oooeee.
October has gone very fast. I got a bunch of gigs. Mostly doing tours. But some photos. And more.
I got popular on TikTok.
I’m still with my girl and sometimes, the sun or light hits her in such a way, that I look at her and fall in love a bit more.
My life has been very Sinatra as of late. If Sinatra was still alive today and did TikToks.
Nah. Not in that way. That’s life. Goes up and down, left and right, a, b, b, Start. I’m a tour guide, photographer of all kinds, food, and beer critic, musician, bass player, classical guitar, entertainer, a bit of a comedian, video gamer, and… just… so much more.
Sometimes, life is going great. Sometimes, it ain’t so. I’m doing it my way. Love is lovelier the second time around. Or this is the third.
Feels like I’ve been in love three times. Very different each time. The first was quick. Teenage love. Though it was late into my teens. I was 19. Almost 20.
Then the second I was 29 turning 30.
And now… 36.
And it’s different, but it reminds me more of the first time. More passionate. I can’t stop thinking about her. I saw her this morning. She had me wake up early because she had errands to run. I hate waking up early. But I did. For her.
It’s been less than 12 hours. And I already miss her.
I have work tomorrow. On the other side of the border. Most of my work hasn’t involved border crossing, I want to keep it that. And I need more work south of Tijuana. In Ensenada. Where I want to live. Cuz this city is fucking crazy.
I am now charging $200 USD per photoshoot in San Diego. And hopefully, that price will increase soon. There haven’t been many photoshoots lately. But tours. Tours. There’s a been a bunch of tours. And those are easy and quick. I don’t have to cross the border. I repeat a lot of the same stories. The stories in my book. Or stories I’ve written about. I’m an incredible source of material. I could live off that material. Maybe I can.
Other people that do tours retired. Others just hire new tour guides. And they seem to be doing way better. Making a lot of money.
I stopped doing tours during the pandemic.
I was supposed to publish my book and then do VIP tours. Then the pandemic hit. And I forgot about it.
People have been asking about my tours… so I accept the tours and have fun. I charge $150 per tour for 3 people. $50 each after that tour. I could charge more.
I will probably be charging more soon.
Need a tour guide in Tijuana?
Hit me up. I’m under TijuanaAdventure.com as well. And on that webpage, it says I don’t do tours. I haven’t updated that in a long time. I try to do too much at the same time.
Need a photographer in Tijuana? Or in Ensenada? or San Diego?
Hit me up.
I’m under Matingas everywhere. And also as Baja_Bodas.
I want to partner with my girl for that one. We’re romantic. People who are getting married or are doing romantic stuff prefer hiring a couple than just a bearded dude. She can direct and help me with the cameras. And I shoot.
She can be a great shooter as well. She’s a great artist in general. I mean… I might have my love glasses on… but I just think she’s fucking amazing.
And she loves my cats. And my cats love her. Well… Bisho not that much. He at least lets her pet him.
New drinking beer with Matingas!
Thanks to Kevin:
996 subscribers!
Only 4 short of 1k.
And wow. That’s a rare feat on YouTube. In other media, it’s somewhat easy.
TikTok is growing so fucking fast.
I did a top 5 pizzas in Tijuana. It’s controversial and with a lot of views. Almost 100k views on TikTok. But I’ve come to realize that shit spreads EVERYWHERE. People download it from there and upload it somewhere else. The bartender at Dandy’s showed me a message from her son and it was my TikTok. Tony showed me that they were watching my top 5 beers in Tijuana in a bar. They booed me when they heard my number one choice.
I don’t care.
I shouldn’t read the comments.
I still do.
And I reply to some with a bunch of anger cuz I’m an angry guy and I hate ignorant dumb pieces of shit.
I’ve been posting a lot on TikTok.
The easiest way to see them, it’s to follow me there. I would post them here. But… it’s a bit too much. Just view them there. I’ll post the pizza one cuz it’s popular as f.
But besides the top 5 pizzas… I’ve been posting my tours and those do great as well. I plan to do one about my book soon. Let’s see how that goes.
If my girlfriend is not on my mind, then it’s TikTok.
At some point, I had an addiction to trying to make it to the front page of Reddit. Figuring out the algorithm and what people would upvote… It was a game. I don’t want the popularity. I just want to crack the code. And make money. That’s how I feel about TikTok. Like it’s a game and I must win it. Make an entertaining and useful video. And TikTok gives you trends and shit to do. Like little challenges.
I have a weird TikTok addiction.
Just a week ago I couldn’t sleep. I checked the app. And more than an hour went by and I was uncontrollably laughing at some weird ass videos of handicapped people and the comments they received. And I complain about my comments.
Shit. Shit is weird.
One tour was with two Canadian gals. I love learning about other countries. I’ve been to Canada. I’ve been to Montreal and Quebec. Them… being from Canada had never visited French Canada. I found that mind-boggling. They explained to me that’s cheaper to fly to Mexico than to other places in Canada.
One tour was with a chap from New Zealand. His accent was impossible at first. Then I sort of got used to it. And I didn’t get shy about asking him to repeat himself. Cuz fuck. That accent was heavy. He was AWESOME and we drank a lot. And I also learned a bunch about New Zealand. That place is so far from everything. And somehow… he made it to Tijuana because his wife wanted cosmetic surgery.
And yet another tour was with an old man from Minnesota that now lived in California. He clapped and licked his lips every time I said something funny or relevant to the city. He told me his biggest thrill was to walk the streets of Tijuana at 3 a.m. He was too old to pursuit other thrills. He had a fake wallet and everything just for this reason. Oh. And he also liked the nightlife. He loved feeling young. Tijuana is the place for it.
All the tours went by quick. I made money. I had a ton of fun.
The ex-husband of my cousin was also in town. He used to visit me in LA when he was married to my cousin. He is now divorced and with a new girl and lives in Florida. He has insatiable hunger. He hasn’t changed a thing.
I did some photography in San Diego for the magazine. I did some more for the taco stand that hires me. I have to do some more tomorrow. I did some drone video and photography yesterday. I did a giveaway to get more followers. Marianna won the giveaway. It’s been more busy days than not busy days.
It should continue that way.
I was worried about October. September was so slow that I started looking for real jobs. Or I was going to write a lot and make money that way. And re-publish my books. Write more in this blog and fix both web pages. Then I got gigs left and right. And whenever I wasn’t busy, I was with my girlfriend. There are still many days left in October. Tomorrow is busy. Friday I have therapy. The weekend is empty but I might find a gig here or there. Then the following weekend is virtually Halloween every day. I have a gig on Sunday and it’s in San Diego. Not excited to cross the border… but it’s a gig.
I still want to move to Ensenada. Yet Tijuana keeps absorbing me. I will move to Ensenada. Maybe early 2023. Maybe later. My heart desires it. I just need to figure out how to keep making money and not crossing the border. It feels like I’m managing it alright.
My fantasy football sucks. I’ve lost five in a row. I’ve done four parlays. One was close. The others not at all. That close one felt great. I need to hit one.
This post needs a picture. Here’s me drinking coffee at the best cafe in Ensenada. My girlfriend took the picture. I was showing her how to use the camera and I told her how to mess around with ISO. Yeah. It wasn’t the best first lesson. There will be more.
And yes. She painted my toenails. They are still painted.
I love you, mom. It seems like I don’t mention you in the blog at all anymore. This doesn’t mean that you are not always in my mind. I hate casually talking about you. My cousin did that. He just asked me “and then your mom died?” and said: “that’s sad.”
I was like… no shit. This shit still makes me cry. My brother mentions her so casually. It makes me cry, but I hold back. My girlfriend also casually asks questions about her. And I have to fight not to cry. It’s only been three years. Life is so much different.
The internet will give me money. Give me money. Sign up for my Patreon.
Subscribe to my YouTube, I’m 4 subscribers short of 1,000 and supposedly I can monetize after. Follow me on TikTok and all other social media. Buy my books. I should post more about my books.
If you read this much of my blog. Leave a comment, share, hit subscribe, or something. Or buy me a beer.
I appreciate you.
Thanks.
Matingas 