I’m going to be 38 in a month.

I’ve been writing my blog a couple of weeks before the month in the title, no idea why. I write when I feel like writing and when I have the time.

I got published twice this week. First article I got some nasty comments. But hey. At least they read it. Second article didn’t get any comments but it was a full page in the magazine.

Here’s article 1.

Here’s article 2.

Article 1 is an off-shoot story of a cover story that I got paid for but I’m not sure when they are printing it. Article 2 was my adventure in Ensenada. You can see it in video format on all my social medias as well: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube… it gets posted everywhere. It makes me more recognizable.

And I’m sort of tired of it. Though I brought it to myself. I guess I thought I would be gone from Tijuana by now. But I’m still here.

I have a two year plan. Cross the border and work at a brewery (or two), save money, drink and learn more about beer, and move somewhere else to work in the beer industry. Seattle sounds nice. Or Eastern Washington. I’ll be 40 then. Sounds appropriate.

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April still has a bit over a week to go but it feels like it’s over for me. It was a good month. I survived and a bit more. I did my taxes, and I’m getting a tax return instead of me paying the government. That feels nice. I can’t wait to get it in 3 to 6 weeks. It’s not much, but hey, it’s better than paying.

Taxes are settled. Rent is handled. And I haven’t been spending money from my bank account. I’ve been getting paid cash for easy photo and video gigs. I’m ready for May, but I’m not sure what May will be.

One of the gigs was taking drone footage of the city. Easy-peasy. And the footage looks great. The other gig was taking pictures of people running. Easy-peasy. And the photos look great. And I also did some running.

I re-wrote my resume to make it more appealing for breweries. I sent it to the former manager of a brewery and he liked it. Gave me hopes to land a job at a brewery that I like. I also have plenty of contacts in the industry, so hopefully I land something nice.

I said I was getting rid of Donatella. Donatella is still with me. I never got the pink slip. Back then, my mail was arriving at my brother’s old apartment. He had a shitty roommate that stole important looking mail. I’m sure he stole my pink slip. And I need it to recycle my car. Donatella failed smog. I applied for the BAR retire your car program. She got accepted. It’s money for a broken car. I just need one final step. The pink slip. I’m waiting for it to arrive in the mail then it’s for sure bye Donatella.

My transportation plan is a scooter. From a car to an electric scooter. And these fuckers ain’t cheap. After a lot of research, I want to buy the Niu Kqi3 Max and that fucker goes for almost $800 on Amazon. Or perhaps I don’t want that. There are way too many options and the good ones seem to be closer to $1k.

The idea is to scooter to the border, get on the trolley, scooter to work at a brewery, back to the trolley, and then taxi back home or scooter back home depending on the battery life and how late it is. Scootering around midnight in downtown Tijuana does not sound ideal.

The idea is to get a real job. Getting extra money from doing gigs is enough to survive in Tijuana, but just that. Survive. And everything is so fucking expensive.

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My girlfriend is right. People are assholes.

She didn’t say that, but it was implied. She said I shouldn’t disclose my finances that I’m broke and shit. Or when I’m doing good. Right now, I’m neutral. I’m comfortable. And I didn’t even do a tour on April and I have money. If I worked everyday, I would be banking. But I’m a lazy fuck and barely even do two or three days a week of work. And sometimes work is me having fun. I have a gig this Saturday doing videos the way I do them on TikTok. And getting paid for that.

I was broke in February and wasn’t doing well before that. But surviving. That opens for people to take advantage of me. Lowballing me for my work. Fuck that. I’m a talented dude that makes a living being himself.

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I got some asshole commenting in my blog. I didn’t even realized it until I was typing this. Saying shit that I’m a horrible person and that my girlfriend is going to dump me for a real man. Sure thing buddy. A real man? Like you? Commenting anonymously in my blog?

Thanks for being a fan. You not only did comment in one blog post, but in a couple. That means you must’ve read the whole fucking thing. And then you took the time to comment. You wasted your time reading me and getting angry at my posts. And I find that hilarious. At the same time, it irks me. So I deleted your fucking comments. It’s just bad energy. And it inspires me. Because I know que me le pelas.

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More people read this blog than I think. I’ve been writing for over a decade. And it’s for me. It’s my release. But hey, now that you are here and if you enjoy my brain, you can donate money to me. Look. I made a button for it:

I also have a Patreon. Though Stripe works the same way here. And I might open an OnlyFans because Mexicans don’t use Stripe or Patreon.

Tijuana Adventure Beer Guide 2025 – by Matingas:

This will be posted in my Patreon. It will be free. My content is always free. Or people steal it. You can support me on Patreon or here.

I already have 85% of the text written down. I just need a design. That might not be the final cover, just a place-holder. The picture of me drinking beer as a baby might be too controversial, but I like it there.

Designed it on Canva for free. But it turns out that’s some premium shit. And it wasn’t even going that well. I’ll find a better way to design it and print it.

The text will be free in my Patreon.

You can also buy my books on Amazon. Buy my books on Amazon. You can also find them for free in some sort of e-book database in a Pirate Bay type of fashion. There is a dude in the TJRedLightDistrict subreddit that if I comment anything in there, he posts a link to my book for free. He is a true fan. Loves my shit that distributes it for free.

There is no money in books. There is little money in books. If you steal it from me, you are just an asshole. I’m getting more haters per day. Haters = jealous fans.

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Pictures of the eclipse:

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I was ill prepared. Sort of on purpose. I don’t have the gear for it. Tijuana wasn’t the premium spot to watch it. But I did. Went to the parking lot on 4th Street and met Luis to view the eclipse. I placed the glases over my camera and took those pictures. They weren’t even my glasses. Gracias, Luis. It did fairly well. It was a nice phenomenon to observe.

I’ve been flying my drone around. Everything is video nowadays. And I get asked to do more video than pictures. Video is done on iPhone and drone. We don’t need much more. We will all consume it on a similar media. I do need a new iPhone. And a new drone.

The paparazzi book in Español hasn’t seen much progress. The editor has a ton of projects in her head and my book is on the backburner. I spent most of February translating it. It’s still not out. There are some people interested in it. So it should be done at some point, but it doesn’t look promising that it will be done by February. English version is still on Amazon. And hey! I found 3 copies.

I have 3 copies of my original paparazzi book in English and 3 copies of my Tijuana Adventure book. They were forgotten at Nett Nett when I setup shop for a month back in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. Worst time to have an event, but it worked out. Maybe I should try to setup another event now that we are not in pandemic times and that I have more fans.

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April is almost over. I’m not sure what May entails. I have two tours booked for May, but that’s it. I’m getting tired of doing tours again, so I might retire soon. I rather do a real part time job than tours…

I don’t have any other gigs and I don’t have much to write. I will be looking for a brewery job. And then it will be back to crossing the border frequently to work. Just like last year. I have time to work on my shit for the next week or so.

Tijuana Adventure merch. New designs and more. Coffee mugs. Prints. More merch. Tijuana Adventure Beer Guide 2025.

2024 is being good and it’s just going to get better. There is no room for depression. There is no room for haters (well, there is some room, your hate fuels me).

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 cover story coming soon!