Introduce Yourself: About my life, Aspirations, Influences, Past Times, and Inspirations.

-Don't let anything or anyone get in the way from you reaching all of your goals.
-You can do anything you set your mind too.
-Success is nothing without vision and progression.

When someone mentions the word “Chef” don’t you imagine an older, somewhat heavier set fellow wearing a big white Chef hat, paired with a pearly white chefs coat. A man who has years and years of experience under his belt.

What would you do if you walked into a restaurant and somehow came to learn that the chef cooking all of your food had absolutely zero cooking experience and skills that year prior? Furthermore, the chef is actually 21 years of age! What do you do? Would you sit down and take a chance on the food? Or would you just walk out and test your luck somewhere else? Additionally, What do you do when you don't learn all this background information about your Chef until after you have finished your meals? Would this underlying factor change your perception in any ways? One could say that the flavor, presentation, and temperature of the dish may be a simple reflection of a Chef's skills and level of experience. But when you take that first bite of your meal and immediately experience a rushing sensation of long lost memories, maybe bringing you back to your Grandmas homemade cooking from years prior.

Hello Steemians, My name is Joseph O'Connor IV and I'm an ambitious, and optimistic 24 year old from Sacramento, California. I recently moved to Honolulu, Hawaii to attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa and I would just like to say that the experiences I have gone through this past year in Hawaii have been some of the most memorable and truly unforgettable. Initially, before I transferred to this four-year college I was very skeptical about the school I was going to attend but now looking back, I am so glad that I chose this amazing school for my college experience and I plan on sharing my future experiences on this beautiful island with all of my readers.

I have never blogged before and I don't really use social media very often either so you may have to bear with me a little bit until I can make it a routine to consistently post legitimate content on Steemit. Although, I would like to assure to each one of my followers and readers of my posts that you can expect nothing but high quality, well thought and well researched content. I am a hard worker and I am the type of person that gives 100% effort in anything and everything that I take part in. My name is behind everything that I do and I take huge value in that. Anything that I associate myself with, it is always to the highest standards. I always think to myself that there is no reason why I shouldn't be the hardest worker in the room with any endeavor I am involved in like, work, school, Steemit blogs, or even the gym. I want to always be remembered for trying my hardest and giving it everything I got no matter what. Your name is attached to everything you do, no matter what it is. It can even be a piece of trash that you drop on the ground. That is YOUR trash, so do your part by disposing of it properly. I believe that if more people went about live with this mindset, we would live in a much more nice and respectable world.

How I got started-
I joined the Steem community about a month ago, in June but I have not created any content since then or even attempted to follow any other users. I live a very busy lifestyle (and I will mention more on that later in this post) but I wanted to focus my valuable time on researching, learning, and adapting to Steem and the Steem community before I made any commitments. Believe it or not but the more I researched, the more I fell in love with Steem and the technology behind Steem, I am a true advocate now. But my love for the Blockchain technology and crypto currencies did not start with Steem, it started with Bitcoin and Ethereum. I am lightly invested in a variety of different crypto currencies.

When I graduated High school in 2011, I have heard of the word "Bitcoin" but I had no real knowledge about what bitcoin really was and to be honest, at the time I really didn't care. I was more focused on attending Junior College and working my full-time job as a chef. At this point in my life, work was everything to me and with working the insane hours associated with being a chef ensured the fact that work was really all my life.

A little about my Work Life-
Anoud Zaki, Sou Chef at The Meridians. This lady has taught me so much and she is a fantastic chef with a lot of knowledge. I would not be the Chef I am today without her.

The company that employed me was called "The Meridians," it is a high-class dining establishment located in Lincoln, California and I worked there for roughly 5 years. This was the first real job I have held, besides working for my dad. At the time, my dad was an Executive Chef, employed by Sunset Whitney Country Club. Furthermore, my job title on my first day of work at The Meridians was a dishwasher and I am definitely not proud of that at all. During my time as a dishwasher, I was very depressed everyday coming into work 5 days a week. One of the reasons could possibly be that all the other dishwashers were all Spanish speaking ladies who spoke little to no English at all. This made it very difficult for me to communicate with my co workers, but as a time went on working with these Spanish speaking ladies everyday, I really started to catch on to the language, and what everyone was saying. My nickname during my employment at The Meridians was "Rojo" and I am just guessing that it’s because I have red hair but who knows. At first I thought everyone was making fun of me but I quickly became to own the title and before long, even the English speakers started to call me Rojo.

Roughly six months into washing dishes for this restaurant I grew very tired of all the dishwashing, it just was not for me, so I expressed to my boss that I needed a change, and as I mentioned that I was starting to look for another job, my boss immediately gave me a chance for a promotion to Pantry chef. The Executive chef/ my boss mentioned to me that he saw a lot of raw potential in me, and even though I had absolutely zero cooking knowledge and skills, he still gave me a chance. Additionally, I expressed to him about my intense determination, passion, and will power to start learning about how to become a Chef. So my boss immediately started training me himself, by taking me under his wing learning the ins and outs of working and cooking at a restaurant.

As many of you may be able to guess, the transition from washing dishes to becoming a pantry chef was very difficult for me but I was determined and I persisted. No matter how bad things got, I never quit and I never missed a day of work and with countless hours of practice and studying the menus, I was finally ready to cook and maintain the station all by myself. It was a big moment for me in the sense that a month or two prior, I was washing dishes. Looking back, I would of never in a million years of imagined myself cooking food as my occupation but it definitely sounded a lot better then washing dishes. Soon I would learn that this is nothing compared to where I was headed in my cooking career. Within only a few months I became the best pantry cook in the restaurant and my boss quickly took notice. (PS There are normally 3 different stations at a restaurant and 3 different chefs, each working their own station. So, the work load of cooking all the food in a restaurant is normally split between 3 cooks, First being the Pantry cook or the cold station, who is responsible for making salads, desserts, and fried foods. Secondly, the Grill station with who is responsible for cooking mostly all of the "bar food" and any other food that goes on the grill, including steaks and burgers etc. Lastly, is the Sauté cook who is responsible for cooking most of the main entree dishes for a typical dinner setting at a restaurant.)

About a year went by and my boss promoted me a second time, he wanted me to learn the grill station, although he was at first somewhat skeptical of moving me up from the cold station (pantry), to the grill station but I emphasized to him my intense drive and passion to keep moving forward in my cooking career. It was not long before I mastered the grill station, and this was a huge confidence booster for me. I was ready and eager to learn the last and in my opinion, the most challenging station, sauté. My first few weeks into sauté cook training, I found myself feeling super overwhelmed. This was probably the hardest obstacle I have ever faced in my life, but there is no way I was going to give up or back down from this endeavor. I knew that the feeling of success and accomplishment was far better way worth any struggle that was being incurred at the any moment in life. I already had a little taste of what it felt like to master a completely new and challenging skill and I was not going to stop till I felt that again. Not to mention that mastering the sauté station was going to enhance and advance my cooking skills to a whole new level. Due to my recent track record, high level of dedication, commitment, and my positive attitude, my boss didn't hesitate to promote me for a 3rd time to sauté cook. It definitely took a little longer to master the sauté station but none the less I prevailed. I would not of been able to do it without my boss and coworkers believing and supporting me the whole way.

I took away a lot from my employment at The Meridians restaurant, not only did I obtain a completely new skill of cooking food, but I also gained the confidence that I can do anything I set my mind to, no matter how big the obstacle. I also learned not to be afraid of failing because every failure is a learning experience and if you don't ever quit, failures will eventually turn to successes. I would have never learned how to perfectly cook a medium rare steak without overcooking it countless times. I would of never learned how to perfectly julienne a bell pepper or dice an onion without accidentally cutting myself time after time again.

Past Times-
Since a child I have been living an active lifestyle, playing a lot of different sports like baseball, soccer, football, wakeboarding, basketball, golf, surfing, BMX, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding and many more. I am a huge activist for playing sports because they are beneficial, not only for your physical health but your mental health as well. Playing sports is proven to enhance your mood, it triggers brain chemicals that make you feel happier and more relaxed. Team sports, in particular, provide a chance to unwind and engage in a satisfying challenge that improves your fitness, while doing it with friends which can also provide some social benefits by allowing you to connect with teammates and friends in a safe yet competitive setting.

Sports can also improve your concentration by helping to keep key mental skills sharp as you age and research has shown that participating in a mix of aerobic and muscle strengthening activities is especially helpful for mental concentration. Participating in this kind of activity three to five times a week for at least 30 minutes will be sufficient in providing these mental health benefits. Sports is also proven to reduce stress and depression; when your physically active, your mind can’t help it but to be distracted from daily stress and negative thoughts. Exercise literally reduces the levels of stress hormones in the body, while at the same time stimulating the production of endorphins which are natural mood lifters that naturally help keep stress and depression at its weakest state. Living an active lifestyle can also help to improve sleeping habits, maintain a healthy weight, boosting self-confidence, and lastly help to gain leadership traits. Here are a few pictures of some of the sports I am or used to be involved it.

Inspirations-
What is inspiration anyways? A direct translation of inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or any other endeavor. The Greeks believed that inspiration or enthusiasm came from the muses, as well as the gods such as Apollo and Dionysus. In Christianity, inspiration is said to be a gift of the Holy Spirit. Additionally, in the 18th century philosopher John Locke proposed a model of the human mind in which ideas associate or resonate with one another in the mind. None the less, no matter what your literal translation or belief surrounding inspirations may be, I seem to find inspiration in many different shapes and forms including music, paintings, quotes, inventions, movies, pictures, other people’s actions and so much more. Inspiration can come from an infinite number of things. It is limitless and I keep finding it everywhere I look.

My Life Now
During my time attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I took a Hawaiian studies class and I learned a lot of interesting things about the famous Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii is the 50th and most recent state to have joined the United States of America, receiving statehood on August 21, 1959. Hawaii is the only U.S. state located in Oceania and the only one composed entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean. The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian archipelago, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight main islands are in order from northwest to southeast: Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the Island of Hawaiʻi. The last is the largest island in the group, often called the "Big Island" or "Hawaiʻi Island.” With Hawaii's diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches, oceanic surroundings, and active volcanoes making it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists. Due to its central location in the Pacific and 19th-century labor migration, Hawaii's culture is strongly influenced by North American and Asian cultures, in addition to its indigenous Hawaiian culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents, along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Honolulu is the capital of the Hawaiian Islands and its on the island of Oʻahu. That is where the University of Hawaii is located.

Here is the text book that was required in my Hawaiian studies class. This text is comprised of dozens of different articles, stories, and maps with hundreds of citations throughout. It is really a collaborative masterpiece that keeps the reader turning the pages. I would definitely recommend taking a class like this, it was very informative.
(Hawaiian Studies 107 reader. Fall 2016)

Pictures!

This picture was taken for the sunset at Ala Moana blvd on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Just beyond those boats is a very popular surf spot for locals and tourist alike. Hawaii has been my home for the past year and I love it

Here is a stunning photo of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. This photo and the previous photo of the sail boats at Ala Moana blvd. were both taken in the same location, more or less.

This is a photo that I quickly snapped from my Iphone 6s from the Tantalus Lookout at 3286 Round Top Dr. Honolulu. The sky looks like it is on fire. This is one of my favorite spots to watch the sunset in Hawaii.

This photo was taken from the Sheraton Hotel in Waikiki, with the famous Diamond Head Crater in the background. This is a very popular beach for tourists, and the waters in this photo are filled with people trying to learn how to surf. It is a great environment and everyone's super nice. I would definitely recommend Waikiki for a superb destination for vacationing. Notice at the top portion of the photo there is a man made shore break, enclosing a small portion of the beach and ocean to create a salt water pool. This is great for children who are not yet accustomed to the strong currents of the ocean. Additionally, the salt water pool is a very popular location for night swimming.

This is a photo of the Ala Wai Canal which is roughly a mile away from the beach in the previous photo. The Ala Wai Canal is an artificial waterway in Honolulu, Hawaii which serves as the northern boundary of the tourist district of Waikiki. It was created in 1928 to supply draining to the rice paddies and swamps which would eventually become the tourist resort area of Waikiki. It also serves as a primary drainage corridor for the rivers and streams that run through central and east Honolulu. Before the canal existed, Waikiki consisted of wetlands which were fed by streams running from the Makiki, Palolo, and Manoa valleys to the sea. Construction of the Ala Wai canal, by Walter F. Dillingham's Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, began in 1921 and was completed in 1928.

Lastly, I thought I would add this timeless moment, taken on Christmas Eve 2016 in Tahoe, California. I know it is a little random from my Hawaii photos but I thought it is still just as beautiful and I couldn't resist to share it with my readers.

One thing I would like to say to anyone ever feeling down in life is to keep your head high,
Thank you for taking the time to read my post and I am very happy to be apart of the Steemit community.