Charlie "El jefe" Baltazar

The late Charlie "El Jefe" Baltazar was once busted for loitering in front of the local 7-11 store. It cost me $300.00 to bail him out; I tried to get a bail bondsman to put up a bond for him: but no one would touch him unless he surrounded his passport: flight risk, they said. Passport? Hell! El Jeje doesn't have a passport. The dude doesn't even have migra papers, much less a passport.

David Benavidez vs. David Lemieux, & Canelo Alvarez

 By kiki

Connie and I watched the Benavidez/Lemieux super middleweight fight last night. It was a lopsided fight from the get-go. Young Benavidez won by a third-round TKO; he was too big and strong for the 33-year-old shop-worn former middleweight champion Lemieux. Rumors have it that Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez has turned down 40+ million dollars to fight Benavidez, and after watching Benavidez last night, I can understand why. Alvarez has won world titles in two or three weight divisions (with so many weight divisions nowadays and 4 or 5 champions in every division, it's hard to keep track of all the champions). In his last fight, Alvarez lost a lopsided battle to Dmitry Bivol for the Russian's world light heavyweight title.

Benavidez is a good fighter who, in my humble opinion, would be too good, big, and strong for Alvarez. I think that Benavidez would stop Alvarez in the middle/late rounds. In my opinion, Alvarez is a good but not a great fighter; I have always said that he is too mechanical, and I believe that he is as good today as he will ever be. Benavidez is the better fighter of the two, but I also feel there is room for improvement. In last night's fight, I liked how he jumped on Lemieux when he had him hurt in the first round, but I didn't like how he went about it; Connie, too, didn't like it. "He's kind of wild in there; he needs to learn how to faint to place his punches," she said.

But that being said, I would love to see a Benavidez/Alvarez fight in September during the Mexican holiday day. I'm not sure what the holiday is about; all I know is that we drink lots of tequila on those days. My son James will be more than happy to pay the PPV fee if they fight.

Keana D. Baltazar

On 5-26-2021, we lost our beautiful and sweet 24-year-old granddaughter Keana Baltazar. Keana, a phlebotomy technician, went home to be with the Lord; may she rest in peace.

We, the family of our beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, and cousin, Keana D. Baltazar, would like to thank you all for the support and love you have shown us during these challenging and dark times. Keana's extended family very much appreciates the thoughts and prayers that you have sent our way. Please know that we love you all with all of our hearts.

Keana's Family.  

6-24-2021

The Rosary and viewing will be held for our granddaughter Keana, and I am not sure I can deal with it. You see, I don't believe Keana left us because she still lives in my mind, and I still have hope against hope that she will walk in on us at any time. And seeing her tonight in her casket would dash all my hope and beliefs away, and I'm not ready to lose that. So, I'm torn between two choices, go and see her and deal with reality, or stay home and wait for her to come and visit us. I hope that whatever choice I make is the right one. It's a hard decision because I want to remember her as she was, not as she is.

New Chapter In Life's Journey

 By kiki

Well, folks, I have entered a new chapter in my life's journey: one without wheels: I sold my truck. My old Chevy Silverado had been sitting for most of 2021 due to my age and multiple health issues. Connie has agreed to chauffeur me around in her car under one condition: that I sit in the back seat and be quiet. I told her: no problem, as long as you open the car door for me the way chauffeurs do for wealthy people in the movies: you don't want to know her reply.

Below are some stories I wrote about my experience with the DMV      

In December 1952, I turned 16. A few days after my birthday, I needed to go to the DMV office on Whittier Blvd in Montebello, Ca. to get my driver's license.

I asked my uncle, Ray Gonzales, to take me to the DMV. Since I only had a driver's permit, I needed a licensed driver to drive me there and his car to take my driving test. Uncle Ray said he couldn't take me because he had to work, but I could use a 1948 Chevy Coupe car. So I drove myself in Uncle Ray's car to the DMV.

I arrived at the DMV early the following day, parked the car in the driver's testing line, walked into the office, and told a lady that I was there for my driving test; after doing some paperwork, I was told to wait outside for a driving examiner. 

Soon, an examiner called me to take my test; he asked me which car I would use to take my test; I pointed to the Chevy Coupe. Then, he asked me who drove the car to the DMV office, I saw a man standing about 50 feet from us, and I pointed to him and told the examiner that my uncle Ray did; the examiner waved to "Uncle Ray" "Uncle Ray" waved back with a look that said "what?"

"Let's do it" yelled the examiner. We got in the car, and he asked me if the brakes worked; I said: "Yes, sir." He told me to step on the brake pedal; I did, and the pedal almost went to the floor.

"Not much pedal there, son," said the examiner.

I told him the brakes work fine if I pump the pedal a bit; I then showed him by pumping the brake pedal.

"Okay, pull into traffic," he told me as he closed the car door.

I pulled into traffic on Whittier Blvd, and about a quarter-mile away was a stop sign. As I started pumping the brake pedal to make the stop, the examiner jumped out of the car and told me to fix the brakes or get another vehicle. As he returned to the DMV office, I drove to my Uncle Frank Arriola's place in Simons. I asked him if he could take me to the DMV, again like Uncle Ray; he said he couldn't but that I could use his late-model Desoto. In the early afternoon, I drove back to the DMV in Uncle Frank's Desoto and took the test with the same examiner. I passed the test but was told I needed to practice parallel parking. 67 years later, I still haven't mastered parallel parking.

Well, I did it!! I passed, not with flying colors, but I'd passed the renewal exam...You are allowed to miss 3 out of 50+ questions, and I missed 3...But this is what I can't understand if you're a first-timer in getting your license, you are allowed to miss 6 questions, but for renewal, only 3; it would be the other way around. Que no??

The eye exam was touchy. First, the examiner had me read some letters with both eyes, which I did. Then, with a sheet of paper, he covered my left eye and asked me to read line number 3 on the chart with my right eye "can't," I told him; he then lifted the sheet of paper off my left eye a bit so that I was now seeing with both eyes, I read the line. Finally, he told me, "you passed" That guy must have done his residency with Doctor Bernhart Schwartz, who examined boxers for the CSAC. Half-blinded fighters would get their boxing license by seeing Schwartz because some of those half-blinded fighters were mine…..This brings to mind this great song, "with a little help from my friends" Not sure I got the song title 100% right, but you all know the song I'm talking about. Que no?

December 13, 2018: on my 82nd birthday, my driver's license expired. I received a renewal notice from the DMV around the end of October. The information said to call the DMV for an appointment for an office visit (to take a written and vision test and pay $35.00). On the first week of November, I called and was told that the earliest appointment I could get was on December 28, two weeks + after my license had expired. I bitched to the lady I was talking to about not driving. She told me she was putting me on hold while she checked other, within driving distance offices. She came on the line and said she was sorry but that there were no earlier openings. She apologized for the DMV failings and advised me not to drive after my birthday. "but I need to go places," I yelled at her. She yelled back, "Ride your skateboard" Damn freaking DMV!!

True Love

 By kiki

In 1959-60, Connie and I rented a duplex on Ferris Ave and 6th St. in East Los Angeles. The Ferris duplex was next door to the Los Angeles County Health Clinic. And one door north of us was a two-story apartment complex where an elderly couple lived. The old couple could be seen day in and day out, drinking beer all day and night on their second-story porch.

One early 1960 Saturday spring morning, as the sun was rising, Connie and I were awoken by a loud commotion from the apartments. As I jumped out of bed, I told Connie, "I'll be back in a bit." She wanted to know where I was going "next door to investigate." So I yelled as I ran out the door. As I ran out the door, I saw the cops putting the old lady in the back of a black and white cop car. And some other cops walked the old man, with blood running down from his throat, to the county clinic. The story I got from a talkative cop was that while the old folks were drinking on their porch, the old man passed out, and his lady didn't take kindly to that, so she pulled out her old switchblade from her Pachuca days and proceeded to slice her partner's throat. When asked why she would cut her man's throat, she replied, "he drinks too much."

Things in the hood were back to normal for a while, with the lady in jail and the man at the clinic. Then, about four o'clock pm that same Saturday, the old couple were spotted up on their perch drinking beer out of quart bottles. It must have been true love between the senior drinking partners.

Mid-20th Century Americana

 

By kiki

This photo depicts America as I knew it in the middle of the 20th Century. It was also the America that Connie and I witnessed during our trip to get married in Yuma, Arizona, in 1954 via America's then two-lane roads. For better or worse, America was, in many ways, in a transitional period. For many of us, it was a farewell to innocence; for others (despite seeing 'Whites Only" signs in Yuma), it was the beginning of a long-overdue time of getting their right to be treated as equals. America has come a long way in race relations, but we have yet to be there.

 Rant on Facebook bullshit

I'm writing this rant from my Facebook jail cell: I was sentenced to a 24 hrs time-out by the Facebook bosses for trying to post a Youtube video on my sister's Marina page. (she is fighting Covid) Through a Q & A session, the video had a doctor explaining vitamin D3, how it works on the body, and how it helps combat the Covid-19 virus. Well, the Facebook bosses, in their infinite wisdom, threw my brown ass in their jail. They accused me of spreading Covid-19 misinformation. They said that I was not following Facebook community standards. What community standards, I ask! After turning a blind eye to 4 years of lying from trump's supporters (some are today still saying here on Facebook that the election was stolen), the Facebook bosses came up with standards against a vitamin D3 video I tried to post in good faith? BULLSHIT, I say!! And I'll repeat it again, BULLSHIT!! - We, who have suffered early on from the Covid-19, try to help those that are now suffering, and for the Facebook bosses to say that we're, when we really are not, spreading disinformation is just plain wrong.  

If I am kicked out of Facebook, I can say to you, friends, that it is nice to have known you.