Where did you come from, where did you go?

Where did you come from An-gel-o.

I was born in Dubai, and while I never lived there very long, I think I can trace most of who I am today back to those first 8 years of my life. 

I was born in on January 27th, 1988 in a hospital in Dubai. I was the first one in my family born in Dubai. Back then I lived in a rather small 3 floor appartment building, with four appartments per floor. It wasn’t a very big building, but it was about a whole city block full of them, so all in all there were quite a few people living in my neighbourhood. I lived on the 3rd floor. While it may seem like pointless drivel to you, I think it’s important for you to understand various facts in my life so that you can see how it all fits together in the end.

The three people in my life that I think influenced me more than anyone else would, oddly enough, by three siblings. They were my neighbours growing up, the youngest girl was about five years older than I was. There was a middle child, also a girl who was about eight years older than me. And then there was the brother. He would probably be close to ten years older than I am. I can trace each major part of me back to the three of them. 

Savio D’Souza – Metal Messiah
He was the oldest guy I knew, apart from my father. And he was cool. He was also an avid guitar player. It was through him I first learned that you didn’t have to play silly old music. You could play metal. He introduced me to Meatloaf and Iron Maiden and Metallica. You can see my entire music/guitar needs stemmed from his influence. I would have been about 4 or 5 years old and I would always sorta follow my sister around. He would always be around to pull me away and make me listen to a random guitar solo by who I now know is Dave Murray. He would constantly seek to point out that metal was far superior to any other style (namely boy bands) and I think that has stuck with me. Granted my tastes have gone from light metal like Maiden to Arch Enemy and Emperor, but still you know? You can definitely see where I get that from.

Umica D’Souza – Jedi Master
Before we go any further I must point out that I have two lightsabers, a darth vader helmet, a clone trooper helmet and a lightsaber peripheral for the Wii. I’ve been obsessed with Star Wars for years and I attribute it all to one person. Umica told me to watch her copy of Star Wars when I was 5 years old. I still remember the day. It was afternoon and really bright out, so I closed our heavy curtains, put in the video tape and sat down on the floor infront of the TV. For about 6 hours. I watched the first two episodes of Star Wars before I was forced away from the TV. The I watched the last the next day. It was incredible. I loved it instantly. And I still do. 

Natasha D’Souza – The fifth turtle? 
She introduced me to cartoons. She also had every single ninja turtle action figure out there. It was something that forced me to collect action figures well into my teenage years. I have Gundams, Transformers, GI Joes and of course, Ninja Turtles. I used to wake up early saturday mornings and head over to her house to watch cartoons with her and her sister. Captain Planet, Voltron, Swat Kats, Saber Rider, Ninja Turtles, the Mask. I grew up with the best cartoons out there. And she helped make it possible. 

These three shaped me into who I am today. I am still a lover of cartoons, I’m a huge star wars fan and I love metal and my guitar. Without the three of them who knows what I would have ended up doing. Maybe a rapper or something.

Yo.

(It even sounds ridiculous when I type it. Somehow)