Last Wednesday evening I injured the middle finger of my left hand.  I was playing Ultimate frisbee and was trying to catch the disc near the ground; my middle finger encountered the ground in such a way that it tore or stretched the flexing tendon of the tip joint of the finger.  The condition is called mallet finger or baseball finger, and the consequence is that I will have to keep the tip joint of that finger straight for six to eight weeks which means wearing a splint for that amount of time.  My finger should heal, but it will mean reduced guitar playing in the mean time.  I say reduced because I can still practice right hand technique, i.e. plucking the guitar, and I can still play most guitar ensemble repertoire with the remaining fingers of my left hand.  In fact, I will be traveling to Brownsville, Texas with the guitar quartet I’m in at UT tomorrow to compete in the Brownsville Guitar Ensemble Festival and Competition.  It was a little iffy at first whether or not we’d be able to compete, but I’ve found that I can play all the pieces with the exception of a couple of parts which I’ve traded with another member of the quartet.