I'm not going to pretend that this is somehow a new revelation about myself, but it doesn't make the following statement any less true:

I am my own worst enemy.

Indeed, I proved this decisively to myself yesterday morning. I was at school and went to my swimming class in the gym. Yesterday, my teacher planned on not swimming, but having a day of aerobic exercise and stretching. So we all showed up, but when we did, our "substitute" teacher told us to sign the attendance sheet and then set us free to do whatever we wanted, meaning we could either hit the treadmills or take off.

I opted for the latter, as did most of the rest of the class. As we were heading back, I got to talking with a few of the guys, and we ended up deciding to shoot some hoops. So we got a basketball and headed for the court. I hadn't played in a while, so was enjoying myself.

After "warming up" for a bit, we started a game of 21. If you're not familiar with the game, it's a basketball game that can be played with any number of people, but it's literally every man for himself.

Anyway, while we were playing, I found myself at one point in a perfect position to rebound a shot. I jumped up to grab the ball, and as luck would have it, the ball came right toward me. Of course, its trajectory was somewhat off (damn physics), and rather than meeting the palm of my hand, it met my ring finger dead on.

The ball bounced away unharmed, but my finger did not escape unscathed. In fact, it was downright butchered, so to speak. In the heat of the moment, I shook out my hand and, in an effort to make sure it wasn't broken, I did my best to pull it and try to get it back in place. I managed to right it, and it started to feel better, so I continued playing.

Fortunately, the rest of the game went smoothly, no more injuries for me. This could have been due in part to me being rather cautious considering what I had already done, but who knows.

Though it still hurt, the color was fine, so I continued on to my next class. Over the course of this next class, my finger started to gradually change color. Where class began and it was its usual color, by the time I left it was turning a rather dark shade of blue. I got some ice for it, and that helped out a lot.

I iced it a few times yesterday, and it felt much better. I woke up this morning, and my finger feels great. Looking at it, however, is a different story. It is now quite purple. Some might point out that my hand looks grotesque this way, but personally, I think it looks pretty darn cool. I don't really care what it looks like right now. It's getting better, and that's all that matters.