Jordan Parker

Y’know, when I moved to Manchester I was adamant that now my life would really begin to kick start and I would become a busy, busy man. That has certainly come to pass. Suppose not updating this in over a month is some residual evidence of that.

I’ve really found my feet here. It’s taken a few months since moving but I’m proud to say I have assimilated into the city quite successfully. I’m no longer constantly checking the tram map whilst I’m travelling around, I’ve found a blissful comfort in the busy streets and have found myself enough gigging work that I’m meeting every monthly expense now too. Always wanted to avoid the 9-5 and as it stands – that effort is paying off.

It’s not easy though. I’ll never complain about it but I’ve got quite a few more spinning plates to manage now which I like to think is keeping me sharp and is that same candid reminder that I’m making a living doing the thing I love. I’m working with police a fair bit as a live model, simulating gunshots, stab wounds and all sorts of other visceral injuries that they may unfortunately come across in the real world. It can be somewhat harrowing at times and during the simulated runs I can sometimes find myself really getting lost in the injuries and whilst I don’t feel the true pain, the screams and seriousness of the emergency treatments can subtly convince me otherwise. I’m glad to be of their service though – it’s a disrespected job in the general masses but when things go wrong – the police are the first people that you’re going to call; whether you like them or not. I’ve gained a much deeper respect for them that I feel I didn’t necessarily hold before. Never a hostility but never and understanding either. Now I’ve seen just a small section the training they undergo, it’s impossible to not appreciate the danger they put themselves in for the sake of keeping the population safe.

I’ve also picked up work as a children’s entertainer for private parties! Both a mixture of wearing these immense (and sweaty!) costumes of well-known childhood characters and leading the parties outright as the main host. It’s pretty rewarding work overall. Leading the games for the kids, playing music with bubble and snow machines and giving the parents some well earnt moments of rest – I take a kind of quiet pride in it that I didn’t really feel I would when I took up the job. Suppose it was just another gig to begin with to make ends meet but now, I really enjoy the whole atmosphere of the thing and providing the children (hopefully!) with a party that they’ll remember.

It definitely adds to the miles I drive though. I’m finding I’m spending half my life in my little car right now, driving from job to job, police station to a client’s house and then to my acting agent’s house to work for her there as well. Putting some miles on the clock for sure but it’s also teaching me how to drive as efficiently as possible to save as much fuel as I can. The last time I filled up my car I worked out my MPG and it turns out I had achieved 65.9mpg. Got to say I was pretty chuffed with myself. It’s all in the effort of making my life here work and someday, should I progress in this career enough, I’ll be able to think less about my MPG but for the time being – it’s a pretty important factor.

I was talking to one of my friends as she proposed the question to me “Are you happy with what you’re doing?”. I took a few seconds to really consider the answer, not being able to confidently say yes or no. When I responded, I said “For the most part, yes.”. Elaborating, I said in essence that I was really happy with the work I was doing and find it a rewarding practice for the effort I put in. Whilst I’m still only 24 I’ve got plenty of time to build up my career to the point where I can do more strictly ‘acting’ jobs but for the time being, this kind of work keeps me super busy and keeps the all-important money rolling to facilitate my career progression. My only downside is that finding a proper moment to rest is certainly an experience that is rare. I’m burning the candle and both ends and whilst I don’t mind it for now, it’s not something I can necessarily do forever or would want to either. I’m very happy with where I am overall but I definitely had my sights aimed higher for the future of my career.

I haven’t had chance to upload a new poetry YouTube video either which is a bit of a shame but work has to come first. I’ve spent a bit of time getting to grips with the piano I bought however I’m starting to realise that I perhaps don’t need to master the thing, hell even directly learn how to play it very effectively. I just need to understand the principles of playing it in a way that doesn’t sound totally terrible and honestly use some plugins on this software I’m using to record my inputs. It’s only ever meant to be background music to fill in the gaps when I would quite like to breath so it can fulfil its purpose fairly easily – it doesn’t have to be anything fancy whatsoever. Though maybe my excuse for not being able to put in the proper time into learning how to play it. Right now it’s tough to fit it into my schedule. Perhaps when I’ve got just a tad more spare time I’ll sit myself down and really dedicate to learning it properly – for now, it can achieve what I need it to. I’ll hopefully upload a video with a bit of background music and inside of my audio booth soon – we’ll see how my schedule pans out.

I’ve also got myself involved in an indie film project set to be filmed in 2026 as a line producer for the project. We’re going for a pretty major funding bid too which is exciting and I’m playing a significant role in that bid and how it’s all put together. We’ll see how it all plans out but for now – another job on the list for my schedule to accommodate!

It’s a tough one. Building a life for yourself. Doing it all yourself. But I’m confident to take on the battle and know that I’ll never give up – what was the point of all of my effort otherwise if I give up at any hurdle? I’ll find a way over it, around it or crawl underneath – nothing will stop me from giving everything I’ve got into this life of mine.