Continued from Chapter 2: The Fire Grows...
After a long summer of waiting tables, I couldn't wait to get started with school again, and at this time, I didn't know that the next big event in my life as "The Furnace" was right around the corner. Once the first week of school came, a special class was waiting for me third period: U.S. History. It was a class that had a reputation for being difficult, taught by a professor who was very stingy on details, but who had a good relationship with most of the students because he was a pretty laid-back and had a good sense of humor. (I don't if he will be reading this, so for now, we will leave it at that.) Who was to know that in this class that school year that I would be presented with an opportunity that would allow me to find the potential that this nickname had?
It all started the very first day of this class. It was what you would see as a typical first day, where the teacher introduces his or herself and then goes around trying to learn everybody's name, or so it seemed until it came to me... When the professor addressed me, I was caught a bit off-guard because after saying my name and looking at my face, he paused and said, "So I hear they call you "The Furnace". Why is that?" (I forgot to add that he followed the school basketball team since a lot of members on the team were in his class last season, so he knew my nickname as "The Furnace". With that question, I feared he knew more about me than me about him, and especially being the first day of school, that can be more of a surprise than you asked for.) What I replied to him I do not remember. It was probably weak and unsatisfying because I myself didn't really know why I was "The Furnace" and to tell the whole story behind it would have probably made me look like a weird kid on the first day, and I didn't want any of that.
What I do remember, and what was the important moment was that that followed. From the look on his face after what I said, I could tell he wanted more information, and, with a smile on his face, I knew that what was to happen next was for him to have some fun by exploiting my weak position. The next thing he asked me was: "So, if you are a furnace, you got to have different ranges of heat, right?", indicating levels of heat with his arm in front of him. For him, it was a moment in which he awaited the next move I was to play in his game. However, for me, it was a moment for me at which my game just started. In fact, it was a moment so special, that time actually stopped! I remember receiving his words and then BAM!; everything but my mind was still. For those split seconds of paused time, my mind was processing the information, and then, as if by impulse, my body suddenly came up with a decision of how to respond, and this response was more than just the decision to seriously take on the name of "The Furnace", but also to do something about it, right there and then. This was the moment.
I replied affirmatively, and then as if possessed by ultra-strength and courage (from "The Furnace" side of course), I got up out of my seat, walked over to the chalk board, and drew a thermometer, filling it up to today's temperature of "The Furance". I don't quite remember what happened after that, but I'm sure everyone in the class was looking at me. It was something so spontaneous and bold, and I bet that if I were put in that situation again I wouldn't have happened.
Even today as I look back, I ask myself how all of that could have taken place and could have been real. It really made me question a lot of "what if's" in my life and the question of fate. What if I hadn't shown up at basketball practice early that one day and starting making those jokes? What if I had gone to a different school or been sick that day? Or what if I had acted differently in the classroom with my U.S. History professor and not gone up to the board? Again, was I fated to be "The Furnace"?
There is the quote that says that people are known for their actions and not for their words, and I think that this moment was an action that spoke a lot about "The Furnace", and how I committed myself to taking on this identity. What happens next is where "The Furnace" starts revealing himself for real, now that he has got the fire!
To be continued...
The Furnace
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Chapter 2: The Fire Grows
Continued From Chapter 1: The Undiscovered Fire...
That basketball season was quite a change of pace for me. It was my first year playing a key role on the team, while at the same time, having this new name echoing in and out of my everyday life. As the rumor of my new nickname spread, the harder and harder the nickname "The Furnace" stuck to me. From my teammates, the name passed to the ears of their parents, from their parents, to the ears of other fans at our basketball games, and by the end of the process, a large population of my school knew my identity as "The Furnace". I eventually came to wonder: how does a simple inside-joke come to backfire like this?
I was not thinking this in a negative way, but I was just surprised at how it all happened. It seemed bizarre to me that the name "The Furnace" would stick to me like that. Was it that my face often became bright red after pushing myself to play agressive basketball? Did it have something to do with the way my hair looked when I was running up and down the court? Was it my joking personality that made a funny name stick to me? I did not know the answer to this question. I have always been curious to find out though, or maybe it was meant to be all along? Is there a part of me that can best be described as "The Furnace"? Do you believe in fate?
I had a lot of fun with this new nickname even though "The Furnace" was only spoken about in basketball. It became as if I had two ways of expressing myself. I had my normal fashion in which I would act in a more regular mode. Then, I had my furnace style of action, and with this, I could jump into a more energetic mode and express myself in a different way will being in a setting that was only semi-serious. A lot of what I hadn't expressed before I could present behind this new identity and use it to see myself differently, which I really appreciated. (In fact, I recommend to you getting your own nickname for yourself to find out new ways that you can express yourself. If you want, you can visit www.FurnaceLevel.com to ask for a customized fire nickname that I will help you pick.Who knows? Maybe your nickname like me will become your new reality?)
Like I said, the nickname "The Furnace" only came to play during basketball games and practices, which was only a couple of hours a day during the winter season. In front of my friends, teachers, and family, I was still Christian Martin, so it wasn't like my life was 100% flipped upside-down. My daily routine didn't change. I just kept being me while having something new to give me a new flavor to my life. A flaming hot flavor it was!
Unfortunately, once lacrosse season came in the spring, the nickname "The Furnace" wasn't really producing the same effect it had during the basketball season. I was playing on a different team with a few individuals who knew the nickname and others who didn't, therefore "The Furnace" side of me came out less and less often. As my sophomore year went on towards its end, I began to wonder whether I should take the nickname situation more seriously or to just let it ride-out, and that's when The Furnace's life starts to get really interesting...
To be continued...
The Furnace
That basketball season was quite a change of pace for me. It was my first year playing a key role on the team, while at the same time, having this new name echoing in and out of my everyday life. As the rumor of my new nickname spread, the harder and harder the nickname "The Furnace" stuck to me. From my teammates, the name passed to the ears of their parents, from their parents, to the ears of other fans at our basketball games, and by the end of the process, a large population of my school knew my identity as "The Furnace". I eventually came to wonder: how does a simple inside-joke come to backfire like this?
I was not thinking this in a negative way, but I was just surprised at how it all happened. It seemed bizarre to me that the name "The Furnace" would stick to me like that. Was it that my face often became bright red after pushing myself to play agressive basketball? Did it have something to do with the way my hair looked when I was running up and down the court? Was it my joking personality that made a funny name stick to me? I did not know the answer to this question. I have always been curious to find out though, or maybe it was meant to be all along? Is there a part of me that can best be described as "The Furnace"? Do you believe in fate?
I had a lot of fun with this new nickname even though "The Furnace" was only spoken about in basketball. It became as if I had two ways of expressing myself. I had my normal fashion in which I would act in a more regular mode. Then, I had my furnace style of action, and with this, I could jump into a more energetic mode and express myself in a different way will being in a setting that was only semi-serious. A lot of what I hadn't expressed before I could present behind this new identity and use it to see myself differently, which I really appreciated. (In fact, I recommend to you getting your own nickname for yourself to find out new ways that you can express yourself. If you want, you can visit www.FurnaceLevel.com to ask for a customized fire nickname that I will help you pick.Who knows? Maybe your nickname like me will become your new reality?)
Like I said, the nickname "The Furnace" only came to play during basketball games and practices, which was only a couple of hours a day during the winter season. In front of my friends, teachers, and family, I was still Christian Martin, so it wasn't like my life was 100% flipped upside-down. My daily routine didn't change. I just kept being me while having something new to give me a new flavor to my life. A flaming hot flavor it was!
Unfortunately, once lacrosse season came in the spring, the nickname "The Furnace" wasn't really producing the same effect it had during the basketball season. I was playing on a different team with a few individuals who knew the nickname and others who didn't, therefore "The Furnace" side of me came out less and less often. As my sophomore year went on towards its end, I began to wonder whether I should take the nickname situation more seriously or to just let it ride-out, and that's when The Furnace's life starts to get really interesting...
To be continued...
The Furnace
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)