I finally had a day off from work! My busy schedule doesn't allow a lot of 'me time', so I planned to make the most of it. A friend and I spent the day goofing around at a nearby lake. After we'd spend the day jet skiing, fishing, wake boarding, and tanning to our heart's content, we decided to top things off with new piercings.
At A Glance Author Pat Contact Pat@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Chuck Kesler Studio Dead Rockstar Location Fargo, ND We arrived back in Fargo and made our way to Dead Rockstar. I've had all of my current professional piercings done at Dead Rockstar, most of them by Chuck, so it was my first choice to visit. In the shop, after the usual amount of cheap talk about music and wacky hijinks with Chuck, I decided to have a vertical industrial done in my right ear. I was told that since I wanted a 10ga, they would have to order the barbell and pierce later. That simply wouldn't do, as I was in one of those "need to get pierced RIGHT NOW" moods.
I decided to go with an orbital conch piercing in 10ga. My 8ga conch in the left ear healed quickly, and it is one of my favorite piercings to date. Figured that another one (two? technically?) would compliment the other conch and my stretched lobes. My accompanying friend John decided on a 10ga helix in his left ear.
I went through the familiar process of signing Dead Rockstar's forms, then sat down to read a Woman's World magazine and anxiously await my turn. It wouldn't have mattered if their reading material was something more interesting (i.e. 'typically male') like Road & Track or Maxim because I was too excited to pay attention to what I was flipping through. I've never been 'bad nervous' about a piercing in my life, with the possible exception of my first. I had my tongue pierced and had no idea what to expect at that point. I felt the usual 'full body tingle' that I get while anticipating a piercing, and thought to myself about how it might feel. I have a particularly high pain tolerance, and might even be called a mild masochist.
Finally, it was my turn! Once in Chuck's piercing room he explained the procedure, I showed him how I wanted the jewelery to sit, and he began to prepare. At this point I was practically giddy about getting something new and fun. Making everything even more enjoyable was the Clutch disc playing in the room. I'm a huge Clutch fan, and Chuck had their "Long Slow Hole to China" release which I hadn't heard before. Music has always been important to me as a part of the piercing experience whether I am piercing myself (go to a professional, kids!) or someone else is doing so. Hearing Clutch on the stereo gave me an odd sense of reassurance.
So in goes the needle....and holy hell did it hurt...as far as piercings go. For perspective, it wouldn't come close on a 1-10 scale to being struck in the testicles or slamming a finger in a door. I've always liked the weird crunching, popping sound that piercing through cartilage makes. After the needle went through and Chuck started to insert the CBR through the first hole, I finally started to 'trip out.' By 'trip out' I mean that I immediately became hyper-aware of the sensation of metal being pushed through my ear, the sound that it was making, Clutch playing in the background, and practically nothing else. To say that it's a trance-like state is fairly accurate. My vision of the background started to fade out and blur, like when you stare at one spot for an extended period, except the change in perception was immediate.
The second hole felt about the same getting pierced as the first. Chuck finagled the ring into it's rightful place in my ear, closed it up, popped the bead on, and cleaned me up. There was basically no blood that I saw. I'm sure he cleaned some up, but I experienced no bleeding thereafter. Upon inspection of my new friend in the mirror I decided that the placement was perfectly to my liking, excactly how I'd shown Chuck where I would like it to sit as far as it's relation to the curve of the rim of my ear. I thanked and tipped Chuck, and was on my merry way.
It's now about three weeks after the piercing, and things are healing nicely. There's a severe decline in the amount of crusties vs when it was fresh, and I am able to sleep on the newly modified ear without discomfort. I've reached a point where I am satisfied with my ear piercings and will probably leave them alone for a while, except maybe to stretch the new orbital to an 8ga. I've always received professional, skilled, and friendly service from Chuck at Dead Rockstar and I wholeheartedly give him my large, flashy stamp of approval!