“Dream a Little Dream of Me”

By kiki

I still remember the day, circa 1972, when I rode up on my Harley to my mom and dad's house in South Whittier. I found pops lying under some trees in one of those backyard lounging thingies.

 His eyes closed as he listened to his small transistor pocket radio softly blaring Dream a Little Dream of Me by Mama Cass. I gave Pop a gentle nudge to see if he was asleep. He opened his eyes and said, "Hi, Mijo" I asked him, "pops, what are you listening to?" "Mijo, I'm listening to Mama Cass sing this beautiful song," I asked Pop if he liked Mama Cass, and he said that he did, and here all this time, I thought he only liked Agustin Lara's love songs. The moral of the story is that sometimes you don't know everything about the people you love.

Smile

By kiki

Life is a journey, and if I could wish anything for anybody, I would want for them more smiles, laughter, and very few days of sorrow. Enjoy life, my friends. Smile when you're feeling down, and you'll see that things are not bad. Laugh when you feel lonely, and you'll see your friends laughing with you. Have a blessed day, my friends. 

When the Baltazar’s met the Great Joe Louis

By kiki

In 1977, my son Frankie (Fernie) Baltazar, the late trainer Johnny Flores and I left Los Angeles to go to Miami Beach, Florida. Frankie was to fight Francisco Villegas on Don King's and ABC's TV Network U.S. A. Tournament. Larry Holmes vs. Stan Ward was to be the main event. But, unfortunately, that was the week when the scandal about fixing boxing records broke, and Holmes vs. Ward was canceled. 

It was an excellent experience because I met the all-time greatest heavyweight, Joe Louis. Louis was working for Don King and was assigned by King to be our chauffeur for the four days we were in Miami Beach. Louis was supposed to drive us wherever we needed to go. But, I was not about to let the great Joe Louis drive us around; Joe and Johnny Flores were old army buddies from their WWII days. So I took the wheel and had them sit in the back of the car so they could reminisce about their days in the army. So, I chauffeured the greatest heavyweight champion in boxing history for four days.

I found Louis to be a humble and quiet man. Getting a word out of him was like pulling teeth. After the scandal broke, the Larry Holmes/Stan Ward fight was canceled, but Frankie fought Villegas and won unanimously.

The Golden Boy Loved The Booing

By kiki

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon played the bad guy with the Mexican fans with much success. He would go on TV/radio and say he wasn't Mexican-American; he would say he was Italian or Spanish. The Mexican fans would pack the Olympic Auditorium to the rafters (10,400 fans) to see him get his ass kicked. They would boo him as he would enter the ring and all during the fight. They would boo the loudest when his hand was raised after KOing one of their heroes. Before leaving the ring, he would parade around the square circle, thumbing his nose at the booing crowd. A "hot" beer would sometimes be thrown at him. 

But he knew what he was doing all the time, he knew they would be back and pack the arena for his next fight, hoping to see him get his ass kicked, and since he fought on a percentage of the gate, he needed those pissed off Mexicans to come to his fights. He loved to say they could boo him all they wanted as long as they bought a ticket and that he would cry to the bank the day after the fight….The loudest I heard him being booed was when he fought Lauro Salas. Art and Salas fought at the Olympic after getting into a bar fight because Art called Salas a "fucking Mexican" I Surely miss those days!!

Happy Valentine’s Day, Babe

By KiKi 

I fixed this picture a few days ago on Photomania to send to Connie via her phone on Valentine’s Day. Problem was I didn't know how to download it to my phone from my PC, but hey I told myself "don't worry, you have a couple of days to figure it out" so I asked my daughter-in-law Veronika if she knew how to do it, she told me "you click on the picture, and you then you click on your phone" Great, so I started clicking on the picture, soon I had it downloaded to my phone. I did a few more clicks on my phone to make sure I knew how to send it to Connie via her phone. When Connie called me on her lunch hour that day she told me "dummy, Valentine’s Day is not till Saturday, but thank you anyway" I reckon I did one click too many!!

Conversation with Self

By kiki

I was like this dude last night; I just couldn’t sleep. I went to sleep early; I slept maybe a couple of hours, then woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I did what most people that can’t sleep at night do, I started a conversation with Self. The conversation was mostly one-sided, as I did most of the talking. Self-was finding it hard to get a word in edgewise. Self finally told me to shut up and to listen to him. Self then told me that I couldn’t sleep because I was listening too much to my imaginary friends, Beto and Chuy and that if I was smart enough, I would dump these so-call low-class friends so that I could get some sleep. I told Self that that was hard to do because my friends had my ear, but I agreed that they were low-class dudes. Not my fault most of my friends come from low places, "but low places are where I hang my hat at," I told Self. Finally, after agreeing to try and find new friends, I started to get sleepy, I closed one eye, and before I could close my other eye, Chata, the British Bulldog walked into the room and told me she needed to go outside to take care of business…Now I need a nap!!

Imaginary Friends

By KiKi

Like most week mornings, I visited my favorite greasy spoon joint. Except for one fairly old man, the greasy spoon was empty, but it seemed weird because I knew I had heard at least one voice as I entered the greasy joint. As I made my way to my favorite booth, I looked around to see if anybody else was there; nope, nobody else was there. I looked at the old fella and saw that he was having a loud and heavy conversation with his imaginary friend or friends. He kept asking his friend or friends to talk to him. “Talk to me,” he kept saying. Every now and then, in between words, he would loudly snap his fingers. I was tempted to ask him if he was talking to my imaginary friends, Beto and Chuy, but that would have been mean of me. I finished my breakfast, and the old guy was still conversing and snapping his fingers.

What do You Want for Dinner?

                                             By KiKi

Last night Connie asked me what I wanted for dinner, and I told her that I didn't know, she then told me "tell me what you want, help me out here" what for I ask her, because every time we go through this and I tell her what I would like to have she tells me "I don't think so" But I was thinking enchiladas. She stormed out of the room saying she was going to the market….When she came back she went to work in the kitchen. After some time she came into our bedroom where I was on my laptop and told me “dinner will be ready in ten minutes so give yourself your shot” (insulin) after shooting up I went to my place on the dinner room table, and there was a plate of hot enchiladas waiting for me (she makes the enchiladas the Mexican way, not like a casserole in the oven, because she knows I won’t eat them like that) I then told her that that was what I was thinking of having for dinner. After eating as I was rinsing my plate I told her “you know babe, that old adage, that says that people who have been married for as many years as we have, think alike and look alike, must be true because we think and look alike” “think alike? Maybe, but we sure don’t look alike, you’re ugly” she replied. She always has to get the last word in!!