Friday, September 24, 2010

I Like a Good Scar. Also, a contest!

Seriously, I do!
I know, it's weird. Maybe even a little icky. But as soon as I see an interesting scar on a person, my head is filled with scenarios to explain how it got there. It must be the writer in me, finding inspiration everywhere....

And now, I've got a lovely little piece of inspiration permanently etched onto...ME.

That's right. See the date of my last post? That was exactly one day before...gasp...the accident. Oh OK, it wasn't that dramatic. Like most scars, it was caused by the silliest, most mundane thing you can imagine, and not by an exciting encounter with a bear. I cut the holy crap out of my first finger when I was (drumroll please) washing dishes.

A word of caution now goes out to my dear readers: don't ever, ever, wash a glass by shoving your hand and the sponge down into the glass and twisting. What happens, I learned, is that a giant chunk of the glass breaks off, and your whole hand runs into the sharp edge. YUK.

The funniest thing was trying to explain to well-meaning people with vitamin E oil that I didn't really care if the cut left a scar. "But, it will make for interesting stories!" I said to blank stares. Then they would give me the oil and I'd mumble thanks. Really, the only thing I cared about was that it didn't cripple the finger, since I make my living with my hands. I discovered pretty quickly it's hard to set diamonds with that finger out of commission!

Fortunately, the finger is fine, I just missed the tendon, and all I have left now is a nice, curving scar.... which I am thinking up good stories about, because the glass thing just isn't cool enough. ;-P

For those of you with weak stomachs, look at the big picture below of our new puppy, Ebi, and think happy happy thoughts. For those of you with a high gore tolerance, scroll a little farther for a photo just after I got my 6 stitches.




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I know, yuck, right? But man do I look tough now! Yah, just ask those muggers who's tough, after I wrestled the knife away from them and-- what? Story not believable? Alright, I'll come up with another one. Or better yet, why don't you guys come up with a good story for my new scar, and the one I end up using gets a fancy little silver pendant made by my pitifully scarred hands :-)

UPDATE: I always forget these things.... I suppose I need to put an end date on the contest, huh? So how about Tuesday the 28th at 9AM. Get your stories about my scar in by then, and I'll announce the winner on Wednesday evening, after I've had a chance to try out each story!

15 comments:

Ted Cross said...

Ouch! That sounded painful even before seeing the picture. I have a big scar on my hand, too, but near my left pinkie. I shattered the biggest bone in the pinkie into about five pieces playing football a few years ago, so it needed a couple of surgeries. It still won't work right, so I can't play guitar properly anymore.

Valerie Geary said...

Cutest puppy in the world!!! Shnookiewookie!! As for your scar... looks like a good old fashioned zombie bite to me. :)

Valerie Ipson said...

That puppy is DAR-LING!

And so innocent-looking, but certainly it could cause a scar such as yours, right?

yokohamamama said...

My poor baby sister! And I wasn't even there yet to take care of her! The stitches were out by the time we got there--just curving scar with needle-hole marks. I washed her dishes, though, as much as possible. *Always* worry about stuff like that happening to your hands--I will not tell you about a dream I had like that.

Off that--Ebi is *totally* cute, especially when playing tug-o-war with Imo! The kids want to come for longer next time...:))

yokohamamama said...

...And for the nitpiks who notice there are only 5 stitches in the photo above, the sixth one is *inside*, to stitch the muscle back together. It was totally yucky, and Ann was all by herself when it happened--so break out the pity, people!

ann foxlee said...

Yah, that was the fun part, driving myself to the emergency room with a gusher.

On a 'small world' side note, the doctor who stitched me up was married to a woman who also went to Indiana University... and she was in metalsmithing, and she took over my spot in the B.F.A. program after I graduated... AND, that makes the 4th person living in Portland who was in that program-- There were only 3 people each year in it, for crying out loud!

yokohamamama said...

There are 4 people? I thought there were 3! Oh--3, plus you, which makes 4...and we can now all see why I'm just a physics moonie and not an actual theoretical physicist (I'd be all, "Wait! How'd you get that again?")

Kimberley Griffiths Little said...

Thanks for following me, Ann. Nice to meet you! And big OUCH on the stitches. I do stuff like that all the time, too . . . my husband laughs at all the cuts and burns I get in the kitchen. ;-)

ann foxlee said...

Hi Kimberley, thanks for following me too :-) Yah, I am known for clutzy accidents...
I feel it is my finest quirk. Or at least the most entertaining (for other people!)

Just how clutzy am I? well, let's just say I have a scar on top of both thighs from the two separate times I fumbled an x-acto knife...
Good thing my husband does all the cooking, or I'd get myself into waaay more trouble in the kitchen, lol!

Julie Musil said...

Oh my gosh, I scrolled before reading. Bad idea! So sorry to hear about your cut. I've broken a glass the very same way, but didn't cut myself so horribly. Glad it didn't do any permanent damage, and yes, now you can imagine some cool story to tell. Fighting a pirate while holding a child who's holding a cute puppy, stuff like that.

ann foxlee said...

Thanks for following me too, Julie-- and sorry about the inadvertent gross-out!

Claire Dawn said...

Nice story. Scars rock! One of the most popular characters this decade was known for his scar.

ann foxlee said...

Lol! Somehow I missed thinking of that! Hope mine comes with a saving-the-world prophesy too... ;-P

Theresa Milstein said...

That's quiet a picture of your cut. Sorry it won't stay. ; )

When my husband I were first married and living in NYC, he saw a roach when we were cooking dinner (gross), and tried to hide it from me. But the move he made caused the knife in his hand to slip, and he cut his pointer finger through to the tendon. I rushed him to the hospital. He still has a little scar and can't bend the finger all the way.

ann foxlee said...

Eeks, that's exactly what I feared! Fortunately my tendon didn't get cut (whew!), but I will indeed have a scar forever. Good thing I like scars!