My Scrape With Death...

Okay...saying it was anything near a scrape with death is a horrendous over exaggeration, but it made for a cool title, right? Last night I was stressing a little bit...I had a figure drawing portfolio review tomorrow (today, actually in about 30 minutes), and I was short one piece....our teacher asked that we have around 15 finished drawings, I had about 14. I was, earlier complaining about how I none of my roommates were ever available for me to draw them (maybe I'm creepy, but I thought it would have been fun), so I called up a friend, and we were going to go to the art building, and she was going to shoot some photos of me, so I could do a self-portrait...I was pretty stoked. Beforehand we went to walmart and I got some props....i had always wanted some gun props, so I got a two-pack of these fun little cap guns and some spray paint for another art project....those pistolas would make my evening a....sanguine one.

My friend and I get to the Art building, and find a room in which we can adjust the lighting, move some tables etc and get some fun pictures. Only problem is the skill with which those stupid little cap guns were mounted to their cardboard backing. Long story short, I borrowed an x-acto knife from a girl up there (it was actually REALLY rusty), and proceeded to open this packaging, breaking all my eagle-scout training, as most people do when opening silly packaging like that. One fell slip of the hand, and I had a nice, deep 2-inch gash on my left thumb, and the rate at which it was bleeding was pretty remarkable. My friend rushed me to the hospital, we get me checked into the emergency room, and more than the pain, and the fact that I just cut myself with a rusty implement, I was pissed that I was going to have to, possibly, get a tetanus shot...and due to me watching too many movies, was under the impression that I was going to get stitched up without any kind of anesthetic...silly WWII movies.

The experience was actually all quite fast and smooth. The nurses and doctors all said that they were pretty busy, but seeing as how there were a total of 4 people in the waiting room, waiting for loved ones to be released (my friend included), I questioned the amount of action the ER had seen that evening. All in all, aside from the little sum that this is going to cost my parents' insurance, and my throbbing left thumb (5 stitches, in case you were curious), it was actually pretty entertaining. It could have been my body going into shock, or the adrenaline, but I totally took charge, making sure my friend knew exactly what she needed to do. Thank goodness my mom's a nurse, and taught me what to do in such a situation...usually I'm pretty weak-stomached around blood, but desperate times, right?

Oh! When I called my mom, it was actually really funny...the first question she asked me was "which hand was it!?" because she knows how furious I'd be if it were my right (drawing) hand. "It was my left, mom, I can still draw" "Okay, good" she breathed. I love my mom and her concern for that which I find genuinely important. She's the greatest woman alive.

Right now, my hand is still wrapped in a green, dinosaur bandage (the kind they wrap your arm in after donating blood), and I can finally take the thing off tonight at around 9 and clean it. Showering 1-handed was a definite adventure today....