It's Marfin' Time

[Marf Norrelia]

Greetings, all! I am Marf Norrelia, age 38, a lifelong nerd, an aspiring writer and illustrator, and no stranger to fitness. Stay awhile and listen while I spin you the roller coaster tale of me, Marf!

 

When I was 16, I weight trained for a year for my school's first year of football. When I was 18, I got hooked on Dance Dance Revolution and could play all day long! 

 

Then I turned 21, went to college, and got a World of Warcraft account. While I thoroughly enjoyed singing a hymn of destruction and bathing in the blood of Alliance scum day in and day out, my once-active lifestyle changed drastically. And I was introduced to alcohol. 

 

After graduating in 2006, getting my first full-time job and moving out of mom and dad's, my weight started to get out of control. I no longer ate mom's home cooking, and my previous manual labor job was over. I lived off of fast food, microwavable bachelor chow, and Dr. Pepper.

 

Years later, I met the glorious woman who would later become my wife. Together, we got in shape for our wedding in 2014, losing some serious weight.

 

Sadly, we gained it back over time. It got worse when I got a part-time night job at a certain major pizzeria and had access to free food. My weight ballooned up to 236 at my worst, and I finally decided to do something about it. It was around that time that I first heard about the Keto diet, and we went on it, and I dropped down to about 155, which I was super happy about! 

 

But then I switched careers again, becoming a cell tower climber. Long story short, the job didn't work out for many reasons. Among them, being away from the wife for 4-5 days a week was very stressful for us both, and it was equally hard remaining on Keto given that I was living in a hotel for most of the week. Thus... my weight started to come back.

 

Then I changed careers AGAIN, and am now a roofing apprentice, just now starting his 3rd year. It's a physically demanding job, and I'm still liking it so far. I spent many months last year strength training, and I made tremendous progress.

 

...But then in November of last year, I lost both of my grandparents within a week of each other. Losing my grandma was utterly devastating to me, as we were very close. It's thanks to her that I'm the nerd I am today. She was the one who first bought a Nintendo, and ever since that fateful day in 1988 when she brought home that copy of The Legend of Zelda... I was hooked. My love of swords and medieval fantasy grew from there, and eventually, my overall nerdiness.

 

Hence, her loss was the most brutal thing I've ever experienced. I spent the next three months solid a complete drunken mess, eating pizza after pizza after pizza after pizza, undoing all the progress I made last year. 

 

Which brings us to the present. I had an epiphany earlier this month. I may very well never get over grandma's death. And so I realized that I can funnel that fountain of infinite grief into a fountain of infinite creative energy.

 

That said, I refurbished my old laptop, and have been writing the outline/synopsis for my second novel, and am now about 3/4ths the way through it. My outline for my third book is a little more than halfway done now, and I'm giving myself til the end of this year to have both books fully written and illustrated. 

 

I've also bought myself a new USB DDR dance pad, and have hooked it up to my custom-built arcade cabinet. In addition to playing StepMania, I'm playing Final Fantasy V on it, where I do jumping jacks with every successful battle. 

 

Thus, I'm working hard on 2 goals: fix the damage I've done to myself for drinking for 3 months straight, and finally finish the stories I've been working on since 1997! I've got a 5K coming up in June, and I'm thinking of doing the Tough Mudder in August if I can get the strength needed to compete by then. I'm also the weakest guy on my crew, by far, at least as far as raw, brute strength. I hate that, and want to change it!

 

Which brings me here, to you fine folks! I had no battle plan, and meal planning is my big weakness. So today I finally took the plunge and have signed up into the Rebellion! 

 

Let's do this! Lok'tar ogar!!

 

(edit: picture was way too big)

[Elastigirl]

Sorry about the loss of your grandparents. I love the idea of you funneling  your grief into creative energy. As for getting over it, I can say that grief does lessen over time. But you will probably always miss her, and some times something will remind you of her, and the grief will be like a wave that overwhelms you. My mom was 82 when she died, almost 10 years ago. I still miss her so much, but the grief is not so overwhelming. When I joined NF was the time when she was dying and passed away, and it did help me to be here to focus that grief

[Marf Norrelia]

26 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

Sorry about the loss of your grandparents. I love the idea of you funneling  your grief into creative energy. As for getting over it, I can say that grief does lessen over time. But you will probably always miss her, and some times something will remind you of her, and the grief will be like a wave that overwhelms you. My mom was 82 when she died, almost 10 years ago. I still miss her so much, but the grief is not so overwhelming. When I joined NF was the time when she was dying and passed away, and it did help me to be here to focus that grief

Thanks for the reply. You're right, grief does lessen over time. I've been dealing with grief for about 5 years now.  Grandma was one of 11 loved ones I've lost in the last 5 years. It's taken quite the toll on me mentally, which is why it's been so brutal dealing with her passing. But I'm getting better, and I plan on getting better physically now.

[Elastigirl]

47 minutes ago, Marf Norrelia said:

Thanks for the reply. You're right, grief does lessen over time. I've been dealing with grief for about 5 years now.  Grandma was one of 11 loved ones I've lost in the last 5 years. It's taken quite the toll on me mentally, which is why it's been so brutal dealing with her passing. But I'm getting better, and I plan on getting better physically now.

Wow, that is hard.