We are moving .  I am moving .  Tere found
an apartment in  Nuevo Tijuana .   We went
to  look at  it  Easter Sunday .  At tacos 
after church night before told me about it .

When are you going to shave your goatee,
she asked .  You buy these tacos, and I
will, tonight, I answered .  There you are .

It seems a nice place .  Three bedrooms
so one of you can come spend the night .

So I shall leave old TJ and move to new .

If Ramón doesn't kill me first.  He was
begging me to get her to move in his building.

Ay Gringo I need your rent, he said, which
surprised me, since he used to pride himself on
how he did not need me & I was nothing etcetera...

Hmmm.  Gonna make it real compared to what?
These are the times that try men's souls.  You
can never go home again.  One stitch instead
of nine saves time.  Don't ship up the give.

Nuevo tijuana is not just a metaphor; it is an
actual neighborhood name next door to the Otay
Mesa border gate.  Not just a metaphor it
is a metaphor for me after four years
in olde downtown centro I am changing to new.

If Mikey doesn't kill me first but at least
I warned him, yes, that we were looking and
probably I would go with Tere once she found
something suitable and now she has and we are.

4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 go these lines
of this text chewing the cud of my thought
ay buey ¿que crees? oh man what d'ya think?

I'm getting too old to play this love game again
but the taste of her kisses and warmth of her arms

and the way she whispers in my ear when I tickle




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after looking at the apartment upstairs lots of light and windows we went out into the far side of the city looking for Aztec paradise a little theme park somebody built out there

but the recreation park with swimming pools and miniature buildings and train ride and ferris wheel is closed until April 23

of course you had to drive all over hell and gone to get there but Valle Bonito where it is located is, in fact, a pretty valley

a new highway is being built through there maybe it will be done before the next year or three so there are unmarked detours all over the place and gone

it also feels weird driving because it seems surrounded by huge high-tension power lines as if they have dinosaurs or some strange monsters in captivity there but it is only the power link from el Florido industry across the hills and mountains toward Rosarito power plant yes

Ramón bitched about how stupid the place is when I told him we tried to go there and well, what do you expect damn I am going to miss his cynical mind and all the many many things he knows and remembers the man is a living time machine

of course I still will have to come in to downtown to give my classes every Tuesday and Friday so it's not like I will never see Himself again no nor not like I will never smell his delightful kitchen again no nor not like I will never hear him screaming at people in his parking lot again no not like I won't because I shall I mean I may be in love but I still will want to hang out with the boys eh?  Eh.

after wandering around back from the paradise closed we ended up at Morelos Park in the river valley where we walked and watched the ducks in the little lake and sat and walked some more and sat some more they have copies of the usual suspects Mesoamerican antiquities big-head and toltec-atlante etcetera in the trees lots of trees but we both got sunburned anyhow ni modo no matter it was a lovely day and

then we went to see the giant Jesus on the hill above the river they will probably be building that place FOREVER man it is a hugeeeeeeeee project or as Tere said un labor titanica