February 2024: 11 Years in the Reader, SD Mag First Time – Social Media Lives – Tijuana Adventure Souvenir Shop

I’m on TikTok live.

That’s what I was doing when I started this blog. It went poorly.

I got distracted and didn’t write what I wanted to write. I just went on TikTok live and talked to myself for a bit. Two people stayed for a while and asked about celebrities, and I showed them my pictures. SoupyGarbageJuice joined my live while flying, he just wanted to let me know about that. He helps me with my TikTok shit.

I’ve been translating my Paparazzi Daze book into Spanish. You can buy the English version here! On Amazon!

I only have one physical copy left. If you want that, send me a Venmo and I’ll send it to you.

The book is not about celebrities… It’s more about my interactions with them. It’s an honest life experience that I had in Los Angeles. Even if you don’t care about celebrities, I think you’ll find it’s a good read. Like one of the reviews on Amazon reads:

Andrew

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and IntimateReviewed in the United States on October 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

I went into this book expecting a “tell all” about the paparazzi industry. Instead, the book felt more like sitting with the author and listening to off-the-cuff anecdotes as he reviews his photo archives, seemingly for the first time in a long time. There is no attempt to sway the reader in one direction or another in terms of whether what he did was “good” or “bad”, but rather just him sharing his experiences, leaving the judgement up to you. I don’t know if all of the stories in this book are true or not, but the book has an air of honesty that makes me trust in the fact that they are. Even if you could care less about celebrities (like me), I think this book provides a uniquely fresh approach to autobiography. It is a super quick read so go ahead and indulge yourself :-)”

That’s the nicest review I have.

Full disclosure. Andrew is my friend Joey. Friend or not, he wrote a really nice and honest review though and I appreciate it. Now the book will be in Spanish though the English version barely sells. I have hopes. I don’t know where it comes from, but I know I will be good.


I made $0.59 from doing TikTok lives. People have to send you “presents” and each means 1 cent. So I got that many presents.

I made and estimated revenue of $1.83 from YouTube. A mix of old and new videos makes me cents every once in a while. You can subscribe to my YouTube and help me grow. I plan to do more of that.

People ask me to do a podcast. I’ll perhaps do that and make several cents that way. And continue my life being broke but popular.


The San Diego Reader wants to do an interview with me celebrating my 11 years writing with them. Here’s my profile. 11 years writing for a San Diego publication. That’s what the interview is going to be about.

11 years later, I finally wrote for another publication, the San Diego Magazine. It took me 11 years to finally send my work somewhere else. And it looks beautiful. I plan to pick up a copy this week. Buying a magazine to check out my own work, ironic. I used to do that when I was a paparazzo.

Full circle.


12 years doing tours of Tijuana. And I’m still doing tours in Tijuana. I had another crazy bachelor party yet again. The boys love the casino, so there was a bunch of gambling involved. And the other sin. The “Chinese Food.” Much more to write about. Tijuana Adventure book 2 will happen when I have the time and more adventures.

You can buy Tijuana Adventure book 1 here. My estimated royalties with Amazon in the month of January are $11.80*.

Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, and Meta all contribute cents to my life. Tours made me rent and most of my bread for January. And I had one awesome photoshoot with a dude. Dude Shoots. Those also make me money.

That’s how I survive. I never know how I do it, but now that I type it all out, it makes sense.

But I don’t want to survive. I want to thrive. So I need to work more. Get more followers. Sell more shit. Convince more people to double tap their phone so I get a like and continue growing. Add to zeros to the end of those tiny contributions. And that’s life in 2024.

That’s the plan.

And perhaps move out of Tijuana.

It’s laid out clearer now that I type it all out.


Also.

Tijuana Adventure is a brand of clothes and merch now. I have to change the whole website and setup shop. Karlha is a great model for the brand and she is the face of it for now (she likes to airbrush the pictures).

I am taking pictures of other friends wearing the shirts. More designs are coming soon. More artwork. Coffee mugs. People love coffee mugs. And other type of souvenirs. Perhaps keychains? A keychain with my picture would look badass. Or bottle opener. All that stuff.

Tijuana Adventure souvenir shop. Everyone has had a Tijuana Adventure. Says so in the beginning of my book. Now you can proudly display that you love having Tijuana Adventures. That’s the idea.

Go to TijuanaAdventure.com

Well… not yet. I still have to convert the page into a shop. And I have to work on a poster to promote my private and exclusive tours and raise the price. Everything is expensive. I’m going to be more expensive.

I do too many things.

And on top of that, I play F-Zero 99 all day. I was #252 in the world this week. I play against top ranked players. All I want to do is play F-Zero… but I have so much work to do. So much more writing to do. And tours. If I want to survive February, I need tours, photoshoots, and getting published again.

I know I can do it. But I still worry.


As for my personal life. It’s been 5 years since my mom died and depression hit. The weather sucks around this time of the year. But I went through it. I had help. My girlfriend helped. Sundays are my favorite days with her. The rest of the week she works way too much. Including Saturdays. And she lives far. So either she lives far or lives with me. And she spends most of the little time she has off work with me. She doesn’t like it when I don’t make the bed. I have to make the bed and make myself breakfast. Almost 1 pm. Those have been my days.

Writing on coffee until almost 1 pm. After breakfast, my girlfriend is almost off work. And I didn’t accomplish much but shit posting and writing.


Buy your Tijuana Adventure and Matingas Merch!!!

Buy my stuff. Subscribe to all my social media if you haven’t.

Buy my books on Amazon. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.

Subscribe to my YouTube. The more subscribers, the more money, the more time I have to upload cool shit.

Support me on Patreon (and get goodies!) If you enjoy my shit, this is the best way to support me.

Follow me on Instagram and book me for a photoshoot!

Follow me on TikTok just because it’s the thing we do in the future.

Book a Tijuana tour with Tijuana Adventure! Still doing exclusive tours in 2024.

Read all my articles on the Reader. New article coming soon! And now also on the San Diego Magazine!

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