Right From The Start

They say the best way to kick off a brand new blog would be to start off with a little introduction about myself. Here goes nothing.

My name is John-Paul, I am a 32 year old Irish/Italian American. Up until I recently became a father, over two years ago, there were three things in my life since I was a little kid that always caught my interest. These three things always seemed to intertwine with one another. They also played a big part of who I am today. You may be thinking to yourself, "I wounder who these three people are". And to be clear, yes, I did have some very influential people in my life that have molded me into shape as well. But no, these three things I am talking about are none other then Music, Sports (mainly hockey) and Trains.

Are you still there or are you still laughing?

I was born right at the start of the 1980s. And part of me wished I was born earlier in life so I could have witnessed the USA Hockey Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Olympics. I guess you could say the 80's was a very diverse and crazy music scene. In all aspects of genres, alot was evolving out of the 60's and 70's. I was the youngest sibling of four, "the baby" if you may, so I had three older siblings with three totally different tastes in music. My brother was into the rock, metal and hair glam bands. My two sisters were more into the dance, pop and oncoming boy band craze. I wanted no part of that scene as the harder stuff lured me in instantly. Right off the bat I was sold to the sounds and music of bands like Motley Crue, Poison, Guns n' Roses and Metallica. On the other hand, hearing my sisters listening to the likes of Madonna and New Kids on the Block made my stomach curdle. But looking back, those two were pioneers to the pop culture and the boy band craze.

Now when it comes to everyone remembering their first concert experience  it's always something they never want to forget. For me, it was something that I wish I could forget. Unfortunately for me I was dragged with my mother and sisters to a New Kids on the Block concert. I distinctly remember sitting there watching the show thinking to myself at the tender age of around 9 that this was just horrible. You could have probably spotted my sour puss face in the crowd of thousands from miles away.

Now onto the sports aspect of my life. Hockey. Plain and simple, the first time I ever saw hockey on TV as my dad watched, I was instantly hooked and mesmerizer. Eyes glued to it as if there was a naked woman on the screen. I was around the age of 6 and at that time my dad was an NY Islanders fan rightfully so as they had just come off winning 4 consecutive Stanley Cups. I remember any chance I had, if he was watching a game, I would either sneak out of doing homework or if it were bedtime just to creep by the living room to get a glimpse of the game. It was magical to me. Right then and there I knew I wanted to play the game, I wanted to watch the sport at any chance I had. Hockey was life.

Whenever I speak about my love for trains, people just don't get it and think I am joking. Again, since I was a little kid I was drawn to trains. How they functioned, the power they have, and all that was involved with them. Growing up in NYC, I had access to the largest and well known NYC Subway System, Metro North Railroad and Long Island Railroad. Any chance I had when I would travel somewhere with my mom, I would force her to always take the head car of the train so I could look out the front window. And just like with hockey, I was in awe of how amazing the tunnels were and everything involved with the train. Sometimes I would even ask if we could take the train back to the last stop and then start again. Luckily for me, my mom was cool with it most of the time.

Well there you have it. My kick off to my blog. I will try to keep it rolling more frequently as I take you on a journey of my life from childhood till now. These three topics of interest will be a main focus point on alot of my growing up.

Thanks for reading!

Till next time!