that's what you call a champ

my friends play a game of pickup soccer in the fields just outside town almost every night. i had a day off from studying yesterday and thought it would be fun to join them. about ten minutes into the game, i get a soccer ball to the face. it wasnt a glancing blow, either. it wasn't on one side of my face, it wasn't off my head; it was a full-on, square hit to my FACE. the guy who kicked it was one of the stronger kickers and all of my friends thought i broke my nose. i got a massive bloody nose and there was blood everywhere; gushing down my face, my arms, collecting into a pool in the grass. awesome.

so here's a slow-mo breakdown of what happened:
the kid (i dont remember his name because i had just met him that night), we'll call him frank, had the ball and was coming down the field. there was no one around, so i stayed on him, trying to guard him. we were running parallel to the goal, so that it was to my and frank's right. i was between frank and the goal when he cut behind me and to my right, i instantly swiveled, to position myself back between him and goal, when BAM! HIT IN THE FACE. apparently, frank did not know about my cat-like reflexes and swivel-on-a-dime-ability and took a shot as soon as he cut, as soon as i turned (which, btw, was not that great a shot, if it lifted 5 feet in the air within 3 feet of his kick). after the initial shock, i rallied while some of my friends came running over to check that i was okay. i felt something warm and wet on my lip. i figured it must be sweat as it was ridiculously humid out, but when i went to wipe it away and looked at my hand, it looked like i had murdered someone. my entire hand and forearm were covered in blood. i immediately bent forward to avoid dripping blood all over myself. my friend, amanda, luckily had an old sheet in her car and we used it to soak up the blood that was now gushing out of my nose. the blood wouldnt stop, so we had to drive into town to get some ice. we came back, and i put ice on the back of my neck to stop my bloody nose, which at this point had slowed to the flow of a small geyser. when the blood finally stopped (and i could no longer feel the back of my neck save for the piercing pain from the cold), i cleaned myself up, went back in the game, and played even more awesome defense.

unstoppable.