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