they weren't kiddin' ...

status check - decent
background ambiance - typical wednesday evening

wow, that whole opposable thumbs thing really is quite remarkable. you realize just how remarkable it is when you also realize you have annoyingly limited use of the thumbs - or, at least, one of them.

i pulled a classic stupid victoria move early this afternoon, walking up church street to meet with one of my flatmates for lunch. it seemed simple enough at the time - reach into the bag, pull out the wallet, be ready to go.

but upon reaching, my hand found not the wallet, but an unclasped pin waiting to strike my poor, innocent funny fifth finger.

slice! i quickly pull my hand out and discover a nice gash on the left side of my right thumb. without immediate access to a bandaid, i'm forced to make due with an always-stunning temporary napkin bandage. i walk up church street, trying to downplay the fact that my thumb is bleeding, i feel like a tool and i know the flatmate waiting for me is going to good-naturedly laugh at my situation. i'd do the same - after making sure she was ok, that is. fortunately, she made sure i was alright before starting to chuckle at both my expense and the self-depricating humor i unleashed.

i figured the worst of the situation had already passed, but then i got to work - and promptly realized the truly annoying nature of this injury. as one of those writerly types, i use my fingers all day long. come up with the story in my head, get it onto a screen with the fingers on the keyboard keys.

the pin's decision to strike the thumb proved particularly vicious. i've always prided myself on my ability to type - i'm pretty accurate with my keystrokes and i'm a fast typist.

since i don't get the opportunity to spend much time using ornate words in my journalista work, probably the most frequently used key is the spacebar - the key i normally hit with my right thumb. bam! the left side of the right thumb hits the bar and i'm onto the next short word. bam! hit space again. right where i cut myself a few hours before.

so there's this annoying delayed reaction to my writing today. i'm wincing whenever i hit the spacebar, which means i'm wincing about once every second and a half. because i'm cool like that.

the only other time i can recall being this cool was junior year of high school during softball season. we were gearing up to play one of our local quasi-rivals and i was scheduled to start on the mound (yep, in high school and my one disasterous season of college softball, i was a pitcher). that day, i managed to cut my right-hand middle finger on an exacto knife in biology class. which meant i couldn't pitch - as it's pretty tricky for a pitcher to grip a softball with a big bandaid on a key pitching finger. so instead i played first base, talking with the opposing baserunners as they stood on first.

"hey, weren't you supposed to pitch today?"

"yeah."

"why aren't you?"

"uh, cut my finger."

the cut finger - the ultimate badass injury. and i'm feeling just as badass now.