JDY's Year in Review

If there's any one word that sums up 2009, it would have to be "change."

The first African American president, Barack Obama, took office while another famous African American, Tiger Woods, fell from his pedestal. The world said goodbye to a legend, Michael Jackson and hello to new insta-stars such as Octa-mom and Susan Boyle. At the begining of the year the recession hit full throttle causing thousands to lose their jobs and dozens of companies to go belly up. Then, things started to slow down and by the end of the year, hope reined again.

Personally 2009 will be a shift year for me as well. A year of abundant change that will, hopefully, lead to great things.

I started out the year in my overpriced, but very cozy, studio apartment. I was working for the mouse at Disneyland and generally enjoying life. Things were looking up.

Enter tidal wave of diaster!

First, I lost my full time, 8 year job at Disneyland and currently, NO ONE was hiring. This of course led to my pills not being paid... I'm still in debt. Then, after countless applications and with the lease on my beautiful apartment coming up, I packed up my things, threw them in storage, and hit the road.

I decided to take a vacation while figuring out the next step on this crazy rollercoaster ride called life. I ended up at my parents house for a couple of weeks where I spent most of the time working on a new screenplay. Applying for jobs online was not doing squat so I moved up to Los Angeles County with a friend and started the search. Shortly after I landed a job in retail, which now pays the bills.

That was in June, and the last 6 months have been very uphill for me. I think losing almost everything and spinning my world upside down made me realize what I really wanted and more importantly, what I had to do to get it. I have since been working rigorously on my writing and even have a couple of film projects in the works. I have screenplays being sent out to all ends of the universe and I am working on other forms of story telling as well. On top of it all, I'm working out, staying healthy, and have a great positive vibe about 2010. Hope and health, two words you should not live without.

This year has been one hell of a ride, but it shows that sometimes a bad happening is really a blessing in disguise, or just the worlds way of implementing change. And let's face it, without change, this world would be a very boring place.

So cheers to a hopeful, happy, and healthy change in 2010.