A few weeks before Halloween it occurred to me that, being a senior in college, I was about to graduate without having done anything cool. In a panic I started searching body modification on sites and the net result was that I ended up one night deciding to get an industrial piercing. It was unusual enough to be interesting but, since I'm a programmer and was about to start interviews, I needed something that wouldn't cause comment from potential employers. I checked around on yahoo until I found some local piercing places, called them, and decided on harm city here in Baltimore as sounding like the most reputable.
At A Glance Author Fuzzy Contact Fuzzy@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist I forget Studio Harm City Location Baltimore As the day approached, I realized I'd have to get someone to go with me- the place was a little far and I'm a wuss when it comes to pain. I didn't have the heart to ask my boyfriend, he's dead against any piercing of any type and had been heartbroken since I'd started mentioning it. I grabbed a psudo new agey gothesque friend instead and on the appointed day he picked me up. I knew it wasn't a big deal but I'd dressed for the occasion anyway, afterall, I hadn't gotten pierced since my lobes when I was 8. He suggested another closer place called Tetnus, but it was closed so in the end we ended up at harm city.
The place was decorated in pseudo punk-kiddy style, I suppose they knew the age group they were going for, but the guy really seemed to know what he was doing. A pair of giggling high girls, obviously high, were going on about getting a tongue stud as revenge for one of them just breaking up with her boyfriend. While they picked on out thier jewelry I asked the piercer my most important question: Would this give my ear frostbite if I tried skiing with it in. He laughed and said he didn't know, and called up a friend of his, who also didn't know. In the end it was decided that I'd get two rings in in the appropriate spots and replace them when I healed, after ski season. This was a better alternative than using a plastic bar- many things might be ignored by employers but that would not have been.
After he pierced the giggling girls tongue he brought me and my friend in (I was now suitable jumpy) and had me lay don on a table. He measured (by sight) where the holes would go, marked them in purple and had me check them. I lay back down on the table, and kept eye contact with my friend lest I loose my nerve as last minute preparations were made. We discussed SQL on perl databases and it turned out that the piercer was a coder too- I felt a little better after that.
I felt the needle prick through the skin and rest against the cartilage and he had me breath all the way out, started counting to three and punched through on two. I felt a little pressure and that was it tho it ached quite a bit after a few seconds. He did the second the same way, then I felt him fiddle around for a few seconds as he put the rings in. He said the one nearer my head was bleeding a bit so I should wait a second, but by the time I looked in the mirror they looked beautiful, so much so that I thought maybe I'd just keep the rings. I was shaking and a bit high, so I thanked the guy, tipped him (I'd already paid) and we went off to eat sushi.
The piercer had suggested soap, but on my friends advice I'd been using hydrogen peroxide to clean the holes and all had been going well. Then, about a month later, suddenly I had what I thought was a terrible infection. Both holes were inflamed and bumps started forming around them. In desperation I washed them out a number of times a day to no avail. Then, a few days after it had started, I noticed a white patch on my ear. Suitable freaked, I immediately rinsed it off with soap and within hours my ears were almost back to perfect. It looks like the hydrogen peroxide was dong strange things tho them.
Since then there has been no problems. I have been having trouble finding the type of bar I want, a 16 gauge 1 and 3/8ths inch white gold, but I'm confident that I'll find one soon. I get many compliments and will be putting in the bar as soon as I can tho I was supposed to wait six months. My parents, when they saw it, were suitably miffed, but, instead of being mad, they've decided to pay for diamonds in the ends of the barbell. I think they figure that if they can't control the placement then at least they can control the content, which, for free diamonds, is fine by me.
Woo hoo!