I had the interview for the gig. It went well. More than well.
The gig is mine. It doesn’t pay much, but it also doesn’t require me to do much. I’ll be crossing the border once a week to take pictures and videos and to get a free meal. Then I get to edit and post the pics throughout the week.
Make nice bread and some better.
Continue to do tours to make the rest of my cheddar. Bread is better with cheddar.
And I like a lot of cheddar.
Patreon is going up. Substack is going up. My followers are going up (11k on Insta!). I have merch to sell. I’m going to get more cheddar. The more cheddar I get, the more cheddar I get.
Make sense of it.
It’s Halloween soon!
I’ve been posting all Halloween pictures on my Patreon! Massive albums of Tijuana Halloween through the years. Paparazzi pictures are also in there. And New York pictures.
The point is… If you like to see a gigantic gallery of pictures I’ve taken through the years, you have to join my Patreon.
It’s 25 full moons with my girlfriend tonight.
That’s 737.5 days.
And it has gone fast. Life gets faster. Time with her is time well spent that goes fast.
I’ll see her in a few hours. I want to do something special, and I don’t have much time. This blog will have to wait until tomorrow. And I can tell you more about the new job and my week.
I’ve been cooking a lot lately. And not drinking as much. Both positive. Both save a lot of money. It’s half necessity because after New York, my bank account is low. But at the same time, it’s good. I’m an alright cook. And not drinking is also good. I crave it, but I don’t need it. I’m not a full-blown alcoholic. Just a half-blown.
And yesterday I cooked for our 25 moons together.
I marinated a flank stake in a marinade I made up on the spot. I cooked it stove top in an iron cast pan. I baked some potatoes (and added cheese to mine).
And I got a nice bottle of local gin to make some gin and tonics.
It was a very nice full moon.
This week I have a tour on Saturday and I have to cross the border to take pictures and videos of the new gig. And keep organizing social media.
Last week was that. Get the gig. Get the passwords for the social media. Delete posts and update some stuff. I have to do more of that. I have time. Plenty of time. And I need content. A lot of content.
Social media strategist. Or business consultant. I can say I’m both.
Add it to the list: writer, journalist, photographer, influencer, musician, teacher, tour guide, social media strategist, business consultant, and more.
I want to add architect to the mix. I always enjoyed architecture. I built nice houses in the original Sims.
Who says I can’t do them all? My character in the Sims was always me, and he always did all.
I could add politician as well. I hate them. But I can get the votes in some distorted future.
The Sims (original) was a great game and a nice, simple way to view life.
I’m proud of the sim I am. It has similar tattoos to the one I created. Except it’s not barbed wire. It’s a cool half sleeve and more. Or at least I think it’s cool.
I have two ideas for Halloween. One that would be a couple’s costume. The other one that I would be rolling solo. It all depends on my girlfriend. Both should be easy to make.
You’ll have to wait and see.
And I’ll add another massive album to my Patreon.
There’s a new mezcal place in downtown Tijuana.
There’s a newish bar in downtown Tijuana.
I made a video of both of them.
This is going in the newsletter, but I need to write more here. So it’s also here.
New mezcal bar inside Pasaje Gómez (technically Plaza Madero, but no one knows it like that).
It’s called Ladrón de Fuego… and… I came up with the name.
Not really. That’s the name of the mezcal that they use. Told you I could be a business consultant.
The bar is owned by two friends I met in a coffee shop called Diogenes around 14 years ago. The coffee shop didn’t succeed because they weren’t thinking in a capitalistic way. Now they are much older. They’ve been around the block. They’ve worked for people and have businesses of their own. But not that much capital still.
Yet they opened a new mezcal bar. They bring mezcal from Oaxaca by a small producer. It’s a quality product that they are selling at a premium price. But the bar doesn’t look premium. It’s slowly getting there.
I advised them on what to do and what direction to take it and it looks like they are listening to me. At least they listened about the name and what beer they should serve at the beginning. I have some of my merch there. But I should be own business consultant and start the spin-off Tijuana Adventure…
Tijuana Adventure art and souvenir bookstore.
Coming soon!
The other bar is called 1930s, and it’s inside the Jai Alai building.
Premium location, premium prices. I still need to try more drinks. They’ve been on my social media insisting that I should visit them and take my tourists there… and guess what.
I will.
I always do what my tourists want. But I will definitely offer them the bar as another location we can visit.
I made the mistake of visiting them on a Saturday when they were having a massive event. I rarely see people in the bar. This time, it was packed to the brim. They had live music of Spanish rock standards. A lot of old people were hanging in there (my age and older, because I’m old now).
It was the anniversary of a Baja “mezcal” called La Autoridad del Sol. I put quotations on “mezcal” because there are only 9 states in Mexico that can call an agave drink mezcal. Tequila is a distilled agave drink and technically a mezcal, but it has norms to be called tequila. Same with mezcal, it has norms. And under those norms, the state of Baja is not included for any distilled agave drink to be called mezcal.
La Autoridad del Sol is the first “mezcal” in Baja. But it’s not. Because it can’t be named mezcal per the rules. The bottle details it’s a destilado de agave.
It’s a fine drink at a cheap price, but nothing special. It’s great for cocktails, not the best for sipping. For sipping mezcales, I recommend the other bar.
But back to 1930s Bar. They gave me special treatment and moved people to sit me at the bar. That’s fine, but unnecessary. And I got two free drinks: one for me, the other for my girlfriend.
I just realized the event had a cover charge, and I just walked in and sat at the bar like nothing. The power of being an influencer. It’s a weird one.
I don’t remember my girlfriend’s drink. I just remember having a sip and being like, “That’s okay.”
My drink was great but basic. Not worth the high price except… It’s at a premium location, the bar inside the Jai Alai, one of Tijuana’s oldest buildings.
I need to go back to the bar and enjoy it in a quieter environment.
They started building the Jai Alai Palace in 1927, but it wasn’t until 1947 that it was completed. It was designed by an architect in San Diego, Eugene Hoffman. Jai Alai used to be a very popular sport in the world… and this was one of the best venues to see it. They even transmitted tournaments and more from there. Now it’s a venue… and… I’ve never been inside!
Except for the back, which has an Argentinean restaurant, El Tucumano. And now the new bar. I’ll be back.
I am working on writing a guide for the best ten cocktail bars in Tijuana. Fancy cocktails and nice mixology have sprouted in Tijuana, and the craft beer market is in decline.
I will need time and money. And the help of the bars. Especially with free drinks. There are too many cocktails to try.
But I’m not a full-blown alcoholic. This is the job I created for myself.
This blog post needs a pic. Here is a selfie after crossing the border to the new gig:
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Matingas 
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