The day that I'm writing this blog is the last Monday during the twenties of my life. In a week from today on December 21, I'll be turning 30 years old. The decade of my twenties has been a wild ride. Although I'm still in my twenties at the moment, I thought I'd list some of the things that have happened in my life during this decade.
Where I've spent birthdays:
20th- in Belize (drinking age in Belize is 18, so yes I legally drank on this birthday)
21st- in Seattle, WA (got surprise tickets to a live Seahawks game)
22nd- in Belize (the world was supposedly going to end on this birthday of mine)
23rd-29th/ in Naples, FL
While in college:
) I took a class where we created a play from scratch about the foster care system
We took an excerpt of that foster care show & performed it at a conference in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
) I became a youth group small group leader for middle schoolers for a few months or so
That all started after I acted in a skit for the youth group
) I went on a week long mission trip to Haiti with my college group called Ignite
) I became a small group leader for Ignite
This led to me going on a week long leaders' mission trip to Greenville, South Carolina
) For one spring break I spent the week with others in Red Springs, North Carolina doing community service
) I got diagnosed with Essential Tremors which took a lot for me to be ok with
) I took Cruise Line Management as an elective class
I went on my first ever week long cruise thanks to this class
) I participated in 2 different 24 Hour Festivals with 2 different groups where we stayed up all night to make videos
) I took another class where we created a play from scratch about the human-animal relationships & it was my last college performance
This was one of my favorite experiences because a lot of people came out to support me & that meant a lot to me, it was also the first time that I got flowers for a performance
) It was during my senior year that FGCU first made it to the NCAA Basketball tournament & our school was put on the map
) I graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University as a Theatre major in the winter of 2013
Acting since college:
) I played Donald in You Can't Take it With You at The Studio Players in Naples
) I played Pablo Gonzales in A Streetcar Named Desire at The Studio Players in Naples
Actor Mickey Kuhn from the original movie came to watch our show & we took pictures with him
I also got an award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for this show
) I got to be in my first movie, now titled "Sacrificial", thanks to Brian Ballance
I got my first IMDB credit thanks to this movie
I got to watch the premiere of this movie at a horror convention & go up for a Q&A with the cast & crew afterwards
) I got to be in a short film titled "In Tango" directed by Marilu Holmes
I specifically took Tango dancing lessons so that I could be in this film
The film won 2 awards at a Bonita Film Festival where we got to watch it on a movie theater screen
) In all the years that I lived in Naples, FL I auditioned for The Naples Players for the first time
) I got casted in a commercial to later be told that I was put on a pending list because they over-casted
) I took an online voice-over master class taught by Steve Blum
) In 2019, I did the most auditions that I've ever done in my life
Jobs:
) My first job out of college, I was a model at Hollister for 6 months
) After that I worked at a Goodwill for over 2 years
I eventually worked at both Goodwill & Target at the same time for over a year
) Then I worked for Germain Honda of Naples for 3 years as a service porter
I learned the basics of driving stick shift thanks to this job
I also got my first brand new car thanks to this job (my previous cars were all old)
) After that I got a job at a 7-11 gas station
I started out working all graveyard shifts, now I do all of the different shifts
I also started out as a normal sales associate, now I'm assistant store manager (I haven't been at this store for 2 years yet)
More to list:
) Multiple people in my life have passed away
The toughest one for me was my grandma who died 4 days before my birthday
The last time I went to Seattle was a week that I took off from work to say goodbye to my grandma
) I was in a toxic 2 year relationship
My ex & I moved in together our 2nd year of being together
) I uploaded 297 videos onto YouTube between 3 different channels
Some of those videos do have me acting in some skits
) I went to multiple weddings
I even helped one of my college best friends propose to his now wife
Two of the weddings include the wedding of my adopted brother Brian Ballance & Monique as well as the wedding of my adopted sister Veyda & Jefferson
) I've gone to 3 parks at Disney World & 3 parks at Universal Orlando Resort
) I went to Belize with Anthony Mak for a week
It was our first time going together in all of the years that we've know each other & he was born in Belize while I'm part Belizean since my birth mom was born there
In that week we visited with my birth mom & family on Caye Caulker, went sailing/snorkeling, climbed multiple Mayan ruins, went to the Belize Zoo, went cave tubing, & visited with some family from his side in Orange Walk
) I went to multiple Florida comic-cons.
) I went to my first Star Wars Celebration, Celebration Orlando
I met my hero Peter Mayhew (original Chewbacca) twice at this event
) I started playing Dungeons and Dragons with the group that Brian Ballance started after his wedding with Monique
I've played 8 different characters since starting
I've made guest appearances on D&D podcast after-shows through Brian's Interesting Podcast Patreon page
We also started recording our current campaign sessions that are uploaded for that same Patreon page
) I started my own podcast called View Points with JB, which can only be found on CastBox
) Of Course, I also started writing blogs
Those are just some of the things that have happened in my life during my twenties. This blog would be too long if I literally listed everything. I hope you enjoyed reading about a decade of my life. So Until my next blog, I hope you all have beautiful days ahead of you.
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