Ulysses: It were no match, your nail against his horn. May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you?

Troilus and Cressida
Act IV, Scene V

You burned yourself while lighting something to smoke or lighting the stove. Just a guess. Everyone else is focusing on only a few things, so here's a stab at originality.

Either a hangnail or burning your fingernail while you were lighting a delicious tofu-scented candle of pure beeswax.

JODI! Please, please please put us out of our (maybe just my?) misery and tell us what happened!!!!

Variation on a theme:

It was a toe nail.

The big toe on your right foot!

Sometimes, there is a bass line that completely encompasses you (in a way that liberating rather than suffocating), and also gets inside you (in a way that is intimate rather than violative). It is at such a moment that you begin to understand the true essence of the prance. Eventually, however, the song and accompanying bass line end. And for a fleeting moment, before moving on to the next song or some other wordly distraction, you experience the abject emptiness of a world without prancing. It is a pain that transcends the physical, emotional, or spiritual. It is a pain the French know as "le sans prance," and it is ultimately what creates a necessary balance in our small kitty lives.

Meow!

I don't care how much bean content is in Tofu, or how much broccoli she may have ingested; Jodi would not simply "rip one off". And while such an action would have caused her much social pain, her silken derriere would not have suffered any of the physical pain she described as her malaise.

Oh... Ripped a NAIL off. Nevermind...

You stepped on a rusty nail....although I think Julie is right. You probably ripped one off...

You were sideswiped by one of those rabid Republicans coming to our fair city this week?

Either that, or you lost a nail. Not just broke one, but lost one. The whole darn thing came off. Or is turning black and contemplating coming off.

One way or another, I'm right. You know I am. ;)

You waxed your business district?

Heh... Jodi got nailed, and it hurt... Heh...

The pain-in-the-ass from reading all of these comments!

I think someone else figured it out before I did... the title must be the giveaway. You broke a nail, didn't you?

Pain? You think you know pain? Pain is when you think you're getting a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich from your local deli, and instead you get grilled cheese and NAILS. Pain is when you go up to one of our nation's female traffic enforcement officers and compliment her on her excellent physique. Pain is when you haven't been able to drink water in thirty seven days because you're on a strict no-water fast in hopes that it will resolve the relief pitching woes of your beloved Oakland A's.

THAT, my dear Jodi, is pain. Whatever it was that you experienced...maybe you cut yourself or stubbed your toe or lost a thumb to a smoothie machine or something...I'm sure now feels much better by comparison.

(You're welcome.)

I bet Shana scratched you.

You didn't get shot, did you? That'd suck.

Hangnail. The kind that, when pulled, peels all the skin from your body in one long strip, not unlike (actually, exactly like!) a sweater unravelling at the pull of a loose string, only with more pain.

Did you have to go to the doctor and get a shot to make you well, Jodi?

Did that give you and "ow-wee"?

Is that why you were away for a few days (not counting a brief drop-in at ADAMWADE's)?

You were in further pursuit of PaneerQuest 2004, and you were chewing on some fennel seeds after your delicious meal, when one of those seeds got wedged in a molar, and won't budge!!!!! Aiyaaa!!!!

Oh Wonderous Jodi, Who Shares the Exact Same Birthday as My Betrothed,

You broke a nail while doing pilates. The emotional trauma must be severe, indeed.

Rest and recuperate, my dear!

You slept on a pea?

I mention the nailgun, because from your title (heh, I said TIT) of "Tough as Nails", I would deduce that a nail was involved in your malaise. Perhaps you were tired of merely observing lovely latinas, and were inspired to cup a taut buttock in your hand. Knowing how hot blooded your average latina princess can be, she may have accidentally lashed out, and cut you with a long, let oddly impeccably manicured fingernail. Of course, once she realized that the touch was that of a goddess, she would have taken you home and nursed you back to health, using every definition of the verb "nursed".

A Brazilian bikini wax! With a scary esthetician!

Since you're not one to sully your digits with the likes of common construction equipment, the nailgun to the upper thigh idea is simply out of the question.

Knowing your penchant for silent hatred, a physical altercation would also be beneath you.

The only thing I can think of is an exercise related injury, perhaps one of your exquisitely formed ankles finally gave way to the stress you subject your lithe form to. You are quite beautiful Jodi, inside and out, if the reports are even slightly accurate. You needn't injure yourself; We all love you for who you are.

May your recuperation be swift and painless.

You were playing touch football in a Catholic school playground, which also doubles as a parking lot, and when stretching to catch a pass, you ran face first into the side of an old Volkswagen Beetle hard enough to make the rear engine compartment door come unlatched.

Finally! I was wondering when that was going to happen to someone other than me*.

*When I was 12. True story.