Starting next month, I will be saving every penny that I get towards a laptop for school. Last week my mom gave me the last installment of my monthly allowance. I just got my paycheck yesterday. Since I don't start my saving until October 1st, I decided to go ahead and splurge on something I've wanted for the past year: a rook piercing.
At A Glance Author Sarah Contact Sarah@bme.anon When It just happened Artist totally forgot already Studio Atomic Tattoos Location North Tampa, FL A quick background:
I've been into piercings since I was thirteen and have done numerous self-piercings, only to have one last. I gave up self piercing by the age of 17 and started to research various piercing studios in my area. Being a year younger than most of my graduating class I was able to watch and observe numerous piercings and tattoos before I settled on a shop that met my expectations: Atomic Tattoos
I started asking my parents if I could get a rook piercing for my graduation present in January. I always got no's, but I held hope that there could be a chance I could get a surprise for graduation. Graduation day came and went, and my rook remained metal-less. It looked as if I would have to wait until my 18th birthday in September.
Come time for my 18th birthday, I decided on a tattoo of my name in Russian (that's a tale for another time) instead of a rook piercing. About a week later I decided that I wanted my rook done, but I wouldn't have any money for another two weeks. A week passed and I became adamant that I would have a rook piercing before October 1st. I knew I would have the money, but a new obstacle stood before me: I had no way of getting to Atomic. It's a quick 5 minute trip from my campus by car, but alas I decided to come to college without a car. I started posting flyers around my building saying "Please give the girl in 502 a ride to Atomic this weekend." It looked as if no was willing or able to give me a ride down to Atomic, and that I wouldn't be getting my rook done after all until this morning (9/30) down in the laundry room. I ran into my neighbor, who said that he could give me a ride at 3. This was 10:30 in the morning. Three o'clock seemed so far away. I finished laundry, diddled around on Facebook, attempted some homework, and ate lunch while waiting for 3 to roll around. I managed to do all of that by 1. So I looked around BME at all the pictures of rooks and read the tales of the procedure to make sure that this was what I really wanted. The thought of an industrial ran through my head at one point, but I figured that my current workplace (a grocery store) would fire me again for a mod that extreme. A rook was easy to hide from my wonderful managers...and my mom. So a rook it was.
So everything was set. I had my shop, the money, and a ride. At 3 we took the trip to Atomic. There was a huge wait for tattoos, but only one person was before me for a piercing. I gladly waited. Then it was my turn. I was told that rook piercings generally run about $55, but because I had a valid student ID I was able to get the piercing for $40. The piercer (please forgive me, I'm horrible at names) took me to the back and explained everything about the process to me. My only request was that he didn't give any hint as to when he would stick the needle in because I hate anticipation. He gladly obliged and started a conversation with my friend about the music he was playing (some hardcore band that I've never heard of before. I'm more of an indie kid). I was so lost in their conversation that the only hint that the needle had gone through was the gasp my friend let out. No pain, no crunch, hardly any bleeding. He told me that I had been one of his easiest rook piercings, gave me aftercare instructions and a bag of sea salt. I paid and left as generous a tip a poor college student like me can leave, and I was on my way. When I got back on campus I ran into numerous "Did it hurt?" questions. My RA told me that this needed to go up on the "Crazy things I did my first 6 weeks of school" board. My roommate freaks out every time she looks at my ear and remarks on how she's living with a "crazy person".
This was about 2 hours ago. My ear has had no burning, no redness, no pain. I'm hoping that this is a good sign for the future of my darling rook piercing. It was a splurge well spent.