Weeks 51 and 52 of 2025 were spent in Houston. Mostly sleeping.
I fell sick for the first few days and overslept my way through vacation. There is a homely feel when I visit my aunt. A sense of relaxation that, as a lazy mammal… I just want to sleep.
And that’s what I did.
Christmas went great with the family. I made dinner a couple of times: fish tacos, baked macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and more. And the presents were great.
I asked for a loan to buy a new iPhone. I got a new iPhone.
The 17 pro (no max). I don’t need the extra battery life or a larger screen. Extra weight, I do like, but what I have is excellent for what I need.
And I need it for work.
I have 6 months to pay the loan back, but I have so much work that I might pay it all back by March or before.
I got a raise.
And more work.
I’ll be controlling the social media of four different restaurants. One of them is pretty huge. That one is paying me more. I have a lot of work. I will also be making double the money from when I started doing the social media gig. It could still be more money. And more more more.
Before the year started, I did another tour. The day of the 31st. It was a shitty day with a ton of rain. But my clients were awesome, braved the rain, and we had a fantastic time.
And I got paid.
January of 2025 started with four tours in the first week. This year, I didn’t have tours the first week, but I did have two meetings. And then two tours later.
The first meeting: I’ll be working with Tijuana’s soccer team, Xolos, to bring new fans to the stadium. In some way, the ambassador between borders to bring Americans south to watch the border dogs. Hashtag #borderdogs. And it promises good money.
More work.
And so much content.
The second meeting was about the restaurants. I’ll be running six social media accounts all of 2026. Two of them are my own. Four of them I’m hired to do so.
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and more.
And fucking TikTok.
They banned me.
For no good reason. They said I violate the community guidelines, but they don’t tell me which ones. It’s alcohol related, but most of my videos show alcohol or worse, and they don’t get flagged.
Old videos of me drinking in breweries or other bars were getting flagged. Videos that were more than three years old. I appealed, and the videos got restored.
It kept happening occasionally. Old videos would get flagged, and I appealed. But instead of getting them restored, I would get a strike. No confirmation of why I got the strike after appealing. The algorithm just got mad and gave me a strike. So I stopped appealing. And again, old videos would get flagged and removed. I didn’t appeal because it resulted in an insta-strike. I let them delete old videos.
Then I made a new video of me eating five tacos and drinking two small beers, and that got flagged and removed. It was a new video. It wasn’t a bad video. I definitely have seen way worse… I appealed. And instead of getting the video removed… they removed my whole account.
My TikTok with over twenty-two thousand followers (22k+) got deleted. I appealed. They told me to wait 7 working days. On the 5th working day, they informed me that my account violated community guidelines and I would not get it back. A mountain of work… deleted… for no real fucking reason.
TikTok account @_Matingas_ is gone. Not sure what else I can do to recover it…
I’m sad about that. But I can only move forward. So I created two new accounts. One for my tours… and one for me again.
Like a phoenix, I’ll revive. I’m not sure how long it will take me to get my account to thousands of followers… so far, I only have 8.
At least my Instagram account is growing steadily. My platform of choice is still TikTok… so if someone from TikTok reads this… please help me get my account back, or at least let me know what community guideline I violated that terminated my account.
And for you, my reader… follow my new account on TikTok: @El_Matingas.
And my other new account for my tours on TikTok: @TijuanaAdventure.
I have so much fucking work to do. And I want to clean my kitchen and cook today. Not only for myself… but for my cat.
I cook for my cat. Boiled chicken and veggies are turned into a blended smoothie for cats. Bisho enjoys it, and he feels healthier with that food than with canned food. I will cook for him as often as I can. It’s cheaper as well.
So much work that I won’t have the time to blog every week. I will be working on my Tijuana Adventure book 2. I will be working on my tours. I will be working on my new social media gig. I will be working on being a better person. I will be working on making more Tijuana and Baja-related content for my brand. I will be working a shit ton.
And I’m glad for that.
The year started full throttle. Pedal to the metal.
I don’t get how people have enough time in the day. I’m cooking for my cat while trying to do videos for social media, write on this blog, and later cook for myself.
I didn’t shower today. I don’t think like I need it. My girlfriend thinks I’m gross because sometimes I skip showers (usually on Sundays). But when I don’t shower… she seems to be more into me.
We had a conversation about our relationship yesterday.
Couples should have talks every month to see where they are and where they are going. I’m going for more work. But I want her to be on my side.
It’s been two years+. And I can’t imagine what I would be like or where I would be if it weren’t for her.
Maybe dead. Or homeless. Or perhaps the same.
I did two tours last weekend. One was a classic Tijuana adventure with three girls who came from Washington state. They spent their weekend in Baja, the first day with me. It was hella fun.
The second tour was a dad with his two teen sons. Wife was supposed to come, but her passport expired. It was a family-friendly tour, and I’m getting more of that. It was hella fun.
I sold a tour for late March. I have a tour for late February. I got more messages about tours, but no more tours for now. I have a lot of other work.
KFC was supposed to open on Avenida Revolución yesterday. Tijuana hasn’t had water for a few days. They canceled the grand opening.
I made a video about that on my new TikTok account, and it hit.
My account had fewer than 10 followers when I did the video. It’s getting close to 200 in less than a day of creating the account. The video is going up, and it might end with 100k views.
I need to do more videos in my new account to bring it back to where it was. It’s going to be hard to bring back up to 22k… but I got a feeling that I will make it and perhaps go past that.
100k followers for 2026… We’ll see.
This social media game is tough.
I was on a podcast called The Kirby Brocoli Show. Here’s the link:
I’ve been on a lot of podcasts. This is in my top 5.
This blog needs a picture. It could be any that I’ve been taking with the new iPhone. The camera is incredible. It will be the screencap of the YouTube show.
Let me know what you think.
I’ve been using the iPhone 17 Pro for just a couple of weeks. The main and huge difference from me is the battery life. I can use this fucker for four+ hours straight and barely drain 1/4 of the battery.
I work on my phone a lot. So that’s huge.
The camera… holy fuck magic.
But cameras on phones are software. The iPhone X was still doing a magnificent job. But the new iPhone… with software design for it and three lenses. The zoom is fucking bananas. The video is great, but I need a stabilizer for its full potential. It has software for action, but it basically does a wide-angle, then crops for stabilization, reducing quality.
All in all… whoa 2026.
I still remember the time I saw the first iPhone when it came out. It was magic then. Many years later… It’s magic now.
Thanks for reading.
Don’t forget to follow me on all social media!
NEW FUCKING TIKTOK cuz I was banned for no fucking reason fuck.
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Matingas 
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