A little background story first...

Okay, so here's a little background story for you all first! I'm a young gay male living in West Hollywood, CA. Well, I think I'm still young...I'm 32. I always thought I really knew what I wanted to do with my life...but I actually don't. In the 3rd grade, my Mom brought me down to the Philadelphia International Airport to pick up my older sister. She had been in Florida visiting our grandparents with our cousin. The SECOND we got to that airport I became obsessed! I was obsessed with Eastern Airlines and I was obsessed with wanting to become an airline pilot for them! I also ALWAYS knew that I was going to live in the LA area.

Well, I made one of those happen! I moved to LA the week after I graduated from college. Eastern went out of buisness in the early 90's and I'm not gonna lie, it was heart wrenching for me at the time! I still wanted to fly though. But then I went to college and things just changed...I can't describe it. If that 9 year old boy at the Philadelphia Airport saw me today, he'd be pissed! But people change...things change!

Since I moved to LA, I have had so many different types of jobs: Agent Assistant at a large talent agency, Sales on Rodeo Drive, Spa Director on Rodeo Drive, Volkswagen Salesman, worked at Abercrombie & Fitch (yuck!), Agent at a large entertainment product placement firm, Manager for a window tinting company, and finally...a Beverly Hills real estate agent! Which, by the way, I'm so sick of doing!

In late July of 2008 I hit a MAJOR bump in the road and was brought down REAL fast! While on vacation back east with my family I suddenly became ill...very ill! I lost about 50 pounds in about 10 days time. I was in excrutiating pain and could barely function. I went to see a doctor back there on the east coast and I was diagnosed with a rather acute case of crohns disease and was admitted into the local hospital the last week of August 2008, where I stayed for 30 long days! Fortunately, for me, I was drugged up A LOT on some pretty heavy duty drugs, so those 30 days, in my head, were pretty much spent on a VERY loving cloud. I loved everything and everyone! I definitely was not with it...but that's okay...who would want to be in that state?! When I left the hospital I went back to stay at my Mom's home to recuperate and continue treatments. I was receiving a drug infusion every few weeks. It always made me feel sick and just terrible...even though it wasn't supposed to. I was in no way shape or form able to go back to LA and start my life back up again. After months of recuperating, I set a date to return to LA...January 3, 2009! Looking back now I really wasn't physically read to go back but mentally, I had to!

I flew back to LA and started up with a new doctor out here at Cedars Sinai. GREAT doctor...GREAT hospital! I even got back into real estate...BAD idea! Too much stress in that industry right now. I worked until March and that was it. Well, I got fired actually but it definitely was the best thing for me. I was working under another real estate agent as an agent assistant and it just didn't work out. However, I kept my real estate license because I do have a listing in Beverly Hills. One beautiful home that I have had listed since July 2008!!! It's been a total bitch! However, it looks like it will finally be selling very soon! So after I got fired, I started working for a friend who owns a construction company. I do his bookkeeping, schedules, payroll, general office crap...but it's only part time. So to make additional money, I do massage therapy. I'm doing pretty good with that however, I don't like the uncertainty of how much money I'm going to be bringing in each week. That can be stressful.

So it's 2010!!! It's a new year and a new decade and it's going to be a new JACK! I am making a comeback! I want my body back! I want my drive back! I want my confidence back! I want it all back! Let me explain a little: That home I have listed forever, I want to get it sold! And I want to finally figure out the direction I want to go in my life...I want a new career and I want to start it as soon as possible! I'm really thinking a career in nursing right now! Pediatric intensive care nursing, to be exact! So I need to get on top of that! I want my body back! Right before I was sick, my body looked the best it has ever looked! I was at the gym every morning and I was up to 175 pounds...muscle! But not too much! I don't need to be 175 again...I'd settle for 165 right now. When I came home from the hospital, I was 125...I looked like an Ethiopian! I'm now up to 153! I had a lot of drive then as well...I had no problem getting up early in the morning and hitting the gym before starting my day. Since I looked so great, I had a ton of confidence in everything that I did...I want that all back! And I WILL get that all back THIS YEAR! I also want to get debts paid. I have over $200,000 in hospital bills from my stay and I get constant phone calls and letters asking to be paid in full! I don't expect to pay that off in full but I do want to get that all settled and under control. And finally, I want to be able to say that I'm in complete full remission of crohns disease. I'm feeling pretty great these days but I still have my moments. In my perfect world, which I AM creating, I'll be as healthy as ever! So, here we go....