Day #80 8/27/11: Long time no see Organos…

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My three cousins and my mom and aunt

I woke up and didn’t realize that my mom was serious about taking me to the Sierra of Organos which is very famous for the sight seeing and the various movies that have been made there. I woke up and randomly started watching disc 1 of WWE’s best PPV matches from 2009 and I realized how much of a memory I have of that great year and what it meant to me as a person and as a friend to other people. It ended up being me, Jose (older), my mom, my two aunt’s, and her kids (Caroline,Denise, and Alan). We had some Kicks (Patadas) at this one restaurant that just ended up being two tortillas between shredded pork, cheese, onions, and cilantro. I noticed once we got to Organos there were sheer beautiful sights and how much you can make of the figures that are there. We practically hiked around this interesting titled national park till around 5 taking in the relaxation away from society and just having to take in the naturalness of the place. As you can see I ended up taking some pictures which are proof enough of what this place does indeed look like. We ended up getting pizza to go but wouldn’t you know that Mexican pizza is actually very tasty. The drive from Organos and then to Sombrerete was fun but then on the way back it felt as if it was getting ready to rain which it did once we got back. But, once again the power went out and we ended up eating Pizza on a cast iron so we can eat it. But then, somebody who skips my mind at the moment noticed that the rio close to there was running with water and we went to check it out and I got flashbacks to when my brother was first learning how to drive and we got stuck there. This guy ended up coming out nowhere and helping us out. The end of the night was pretty cool indeed as we all had a very good day.

Day #78 8/25/11: Kids: you really want them?…

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My two little cousins: They are great

In the morning, my aunt from here and my mom took a pretty decent walk to the top of a hill near where my aunt lived and it was very comforting to get some exercise and not just having to walk around. After we ate a quick breakfast (benign little author’s note: Have I mentioned food in Mexico is amazing? It’s just legendary!), The two Jose’s (father and son) decided to invite me to Sombrerete where they were going to get gas for their store that they owned. Now, one of the Jose’s is my aunt’s husband and he actually used to live with us for a little back in 1995-1996 and he always asks me questions and he seems interested whenever I come and hang with him. His son is equally friendly and he is pretty chatty when it comes to me and him talking.  Driving there was fun and the stay wasn’t that long as we were looking for a truck part and some food to take back home. On the drive back, Alan and Denise were being playful with me and I decided ‘hey I don’t see them everyday so why I don’t I just let them have there fun’. Once we got home, we ate and headed to see some corn fields and we were in awe of the scenery. Of course, once we got back we all talked some more about topics on the horizon (family, the violence in Mexico) and then the topic of facebook came up and it was quite the discussion as me and my aunt from here said it doesn’t really matter what people say on there because once you see them in person you really can’t talk about anything because you already know everything. Then wouldn’t you know it? The power went out! What a day of weirdness.

Day #77 8/24/11: Sit and eat: that’s all you can do?…

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There wasn’t much to the day except I noticed all you really do is sit and eat in Corrales which actually isn’t a bad deal when you think about it. I played a lot this day with my two cousins Alan and Denise who are pretty cool as they do what kids do: they ask funny questions. I also ate and basically sat down to read a book titled Undisputed by Chris Jericho which by the time I got halfway through it that day could have been longer in my opinion as he had many stories and I thought “if I was here at this moment I would not be reading this book. I also overheard my mom and her two sisters discuss recent family drama and I can’t really criticize them for doing so as they have a good sense of what is good and what is bad. I feel that some of what they said is true and other parts of it, not so much. Otherwise, a good day for a little time off from labor and not having to worry about anything.

Day #75 8/22/11: Therapeutic…

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My cousin in the middle and my two aunts

It was finally time to head to Mexico and I got up early to help out my old buddy Manuel as he has been on crutches for a little bit now. I noticed once we got to the airport it was very busy as the steps getting on the actual plane are a pain but I can understand why people in higher positions would think that people want to blow up a plane. So the head count was me, my aunt, and my mom and I was feeling like a survivor from my family. Everybody now has kids, works for a living almost killing themselves in the process from so much work, and I thanked myself for taking a vacation due to so much reasoning behind the fact that you work and you have nothing to show for it. But, the best advice I got from watching an interview with a wrestler a couple of years of ago, I realized you save your money and good things will come. Being on the flight, I started watching the best of raw from 2009 as I saw a few segments from the beginning of the year as I got flashbacks when I would go to class in the morning from 10:30-12:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays and I would come home to watch Raw. Once we got there, I saw my beloved uncle Guillermo, who is always willing to lend a hand seeing as how he picked us up and I can’t imagine anybody saying a bad thing about him because he has done so much for my family and I. I caught up with some old family members and after that we headed to a cemetery where both my grandparents are buried and I just noticed the raw emotion that was there from my mom and her sister from seeing there parents. We were there for a little bit until we saw that there was no way in hell that we could get the door open from the door lock being so dry. So, we decided to give a try the next day until we could get it open. The night ended with me, my mom, her sister, Guillermo’s wife, Maria, and Memo visiting an uncle of there’s that they haven’t seen in a while and needless to say it was like therapy. What I mean is that who needs comedians when you have older Mexican folks making us laugh with joy and tears by telling great stories about there adventures, there misfortunes, and as well as there future endeavors. Indeed, what a day!

Day #76 8/23/11: Nostalgia…

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Me and my uncle

If you think the day before was insane, this one was fun as I got up at 7 to take an epic walk to a place called Plateros and here it was just myself, my mom, and her friend Maria who actually once lived here for close to 5 years. I didn’t do much talking on the trip as I just listened to there conversations and I thought about my future back here in the U.S.. I looked at it and at first I felt I had a very negative future but then I thought, why should I be negative as I was on my way to Plateros where I’ve had many great experiences. I’m not gonna say I’m the most religious person nor am I the person to say that I don’t believe in a higher power, but being there made me realize there’s a reason things happen and part of it is us as individuals and the other part is something that helps us out whether it be a person, people, and in most cases some sort of higher being. After walking around and seeing the church and the many collector items that people could purchase, we headed once again to the grave sites of my grandparents but we once again had the problem of getting my grandma’s door open so we decided to break it with a rock, but the problem now was, how do we replace it? Now, my uncle is a great guy, the same guy I mentioned the day before can get lost sometimes and he and I have that same characteristic of getting lost. But, we went to find this window place at Calle de Manzana’s which is strange because of the amount of streets that look exactly alike and the day seemed to repeat itself as we had to head there one more time after getting lost the first time, we did it again but this time we did it in fashion as we went towards a street that looked like a dead end (which it was). The window didn’t fit the first time so we had to go back in order to do so. It was almost as if my Grandma’s well being didn’t want us as a group of individuals (my mom, my aunt, myself, my uncle, and his wife) to open that door as we seemed desperate to see this place that we hadn’t seen yet (author’s note: my mom hadn’t been there since they buried her and I had yet to even go strange as it may seem). When we finally did get it to fit, we headed the downtown area of Fresnillo, Zacatecas, which is very dirty and filthy due to all the young men that take advantage of the violence and just spray paint the walls to make it look cool. My mom did some shopping and so did my aunt for food which ain’t bad at all but nonetheless we got some spending money for all our troubles. We ate some food which I ended up paying for as there were seven of us that ate and it came out to a very brisk 295 Pesos which if calculated is about 28-29 dollars here and that’s a deal if you think about it. Getting back to where we were staying, we planned to head to a little pueblo called Corrales in Sombrerete, Zacatecas and it’s a nice place where one can relax and not worry about the world. I did the driving once we got out of Fresnillo and I was so glad to get out of there because of the amount of time that goes by quick. Once I was driving, I started thinking about the great time that was ahead and once we did arrive, I saw my aunt that I hadn’t seen in some time. I also happened to see her husband and her kids who were all super nice once I got there. Then the fun began…

Day #74 8/21/11: Straight laced normal…

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From left to right (2003): My two cousins, My aunt's husband and herself, my other cousin, her mom, my two uncles, my grandma and my mom, my other two aunts and one of their husbands, and last but not least me and brother

As we were driving down to L.A., I felt emotional but a good emotional as we greeted my aunt and her husband and as well as her kids who all remarked that I was normal after not doing things that you would expect from a 23 year old guy. I chatted with my cousins for a bit and I saw that they are quite different from people I know down here. I can understand why they are different so there isn’t much to note there.  We also happened to have a party that night for my aunt and the party was on indeed as much alcohol was drank that night and pretty from what I could tell, everybody drank except for my mom,myself, and the kids. We didn’t go to sleep till around 11 that night and I was very tired that night anyway so I went to sleep expecting to get a rude awakening but the next day, Mexico was locked loaded and ready to go…

Day #73 8/20/11: Pour me a corona when you get there…

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A picture of me watching WWE Smackdown after a night where I said goodbye to my friend Ricky on my way to Mexico and that morning I had to take my dog to get groomed as she was very hairy. My brother, myself, and my dad also headed to the airport to rent a car for the drive and it was pretty funny seeing my dad asking so much questions regarding the drive down there but that’s life. When I was getting ready for work, I realized that I just wanted to go in and have a great close so I can leave a lasting mark on my area where I work at the Big Red Machine before I left. Needless to say, it was a homerun out of the park and I did just what I set out to do as I felt positive and optimistic about my night at work. One manager asked me if I was driving down to Los Angeles where I would be catching my flight but I would not be necessarily driving myself but rather my brother was. I also had a request from another supervisor to pour him a corona when I got there and yes I did that. It was a great day as I got that feeling of that time off running around my head as I felt this nostalgia coming along.

Day #72 8/19/11: Haircut place…

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The stable and great haircut place of Downtown Sunnyvale, I remember this day I got my haircut and I also was ecstatic going into work thinking I would work with my two buddies but I was wrong.. for two hours anyway as I was stuck working in Back to School where I told myself that people just go crazy over the fact that back to school was and is in session. I can understand why people were pretty crazy for supplies and they they only want to perfect there school supply list which I understand totally. But, otherwise I left back to school two hours later working with my two buddies as we rushed to perfect our area.