2001-07-02 - 9:56 p.m.

Dearest Beloved,

So I slept in the rental car because we had to sleep over at my aunt Josefina's house. We usually stay at our own house, but being in its current state, we can't even sit down in it. It wasn't too bad, except for the hurting part.

Getting up was hard. I didn't get much sleep and crashing at someone else's house is a hassle. The shower is very out of service, as is their toilet. They are very good hosts, but the toilet and the shower need fixin'.

My stomach hurts from whatever it was I ate yesterday.

Then, right after breakfast my mother tells me that I have to cut down her rose bush and some other trees at her house. She also mentioned something about my uncle helping.

I only came here to visit my family, and now I have to work. Blah. I'm already tired from sleeping in the car. Mother also wants to replace the broken doors and door knobs.

After showering, we went to the local carpenter to get some doors. He says is too short notice and that he needs the exact measurements. So he sent us to some other guy, but on the way we decided to pick up my uncles. Father and mother dropped off one of my uncles and me at the duplex. I took down the rose bush and my uncle Clemente got the other bush.

After awhile I got sleepy. I went inside to take a nap. It seem to last forever. My cousin Humberto kept walking in and trying to wake me up. Poor boy. He doesn't know that I can't be bother with petty little things like being awake when I am really tired. My other uncle was dropped off to and he helped my other uncle to tear the tree in the backyard down.

I helped too. As soon as I woke up, I bought some bags and put all the branches and leaves in them. I then took them to a nearby dumping area. My uncle went with me because the people that live in that area like to cause trouble. In one of the trips back from the dumping area, two guys kept yelling at us. I don't why or what they were yelling but my uncle also knew not to turn back.

The carpenter came and put the doors in place and the knobs but father forgot the deadbolts. The carpenter will have to came back tomorrow to install the deadbolts and pieces of wood to reinforce the door frames and to paint the doors and door frames.

My aunt Josefina was waiting for us with a family meal. My cousin Teresa was there with her kids.

I don't remember how but my cousins Pablo, Humberto, Martín, and I ended up chatting alone in the dining room. We just went around asking each other questions. They mostly wanted to know what I did here in Los Angeles for fun. Of course they wanted to know if I had a girlfriend. I was being a jerk. However, I did try to be as honest as possible. They couldn't believe that I was absolutely happy being bored. Pablo even dared to asked if I was still a virgin. By the way, I am still a virgin. I remembered this morning when I saw my cousin Pablo sleeping. He looks so peaceful when he is asleep. He tends to talk a lot. I give him a hard time when possible. So I am being somewhat of a smart ass. They don't understand how I could just stay home when I am not working.

It's not like I don't like going out, which is half true. I sometimes really don't like going out. Part of the not going out is also due to the not having friends part. This is where Pablo gets lost. Pablo has A LOT of friends and so when I say that I don't have any friends, he finds that incredible hard to understand. He said that I was "incomplete" which loosely translates into "damaged" in our terminology.

Ah, they are so cute trying to understand me. I confuse them more because we came from the same background from when we were kids. Oh well, I too wonder how I would have turned out if I never left Tijuana.

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