For a while last year, I had wanted to get my own body modifications. I started becoming friends with people who had modifications of their own, and I wanted them badly too. Initially, I wanted a lip piercing, or maybe an inverse navel, but that didn't sit well with my mom. I'm only 15, she said. And she's not exactly the type to let me go do whatever I want, whenever I want. And she isn't too fond of piercings on the face. So I started looking into other options on the BME encyclopedia online. I looked into a cartilage piercing, and that's when I found the rook.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist http://iam.bmezine.com/?Firststar Studio Firststar Location Montreal Immediately I thought it looked very cute and attractive on the ear. I suggested it to my mom, and she was in agreement. She actually really, really liked the idea. So I asked my best friend to bring me to her piercer, Jeff, and we decided to get our first real mods together that day.
I arrived at Firststar for our appointment on January 7th, 2007. I was quite nervous, so I brought my mom with me. I also brought her so that Jeff would know that I had her consent to get this done...
My best friend went before me, and I could barely watch as she got her industrial pierced. I was excited to get mine done, but at the same time, extremely terrified. I'm someone who faints/passes out when in extreme pain or if I think of extreme pain, so I was praying that today would be an exception to this rule I have. Jeff told me to relax, he was talking to me, and he put on some music. It helped a little. Then the time finally came when he began prepping my cartilage for the deed. He did his standard procedure, while talking to my mom and me, and trying to keep me calm. I forced myself to relax. It worked... kinda.
He presented me the jewelry he would be putting into my ear. I approved, and he got out his tools. He told me what he was going to do, and he showed me what he would use. He showed me this weird hook-like thing that he said he was going to make the hole with. It scared me a little.
If I remember correctly, he counted to three when he was going to pierce the hole in my ear. I held my breath, and prepared for the pain. As he pushed the needle through, I could hear the cartilage crack and break up. It was absolutely disgusting to hear. The rush of pain was delayed, and when it came, it hurt. I felt a little bit of blood trickle down my ear, but Jeff swabbed it off right away. He told me it looked good, and explained to me how to take care of it. I was so anxious to get out of that chair and go look at it in the mirror, that I didn't even notice I had endured the pain and managed not to faint.
My friend and I took pictures together of our new piercings, and talked about how much it hurt, how much we loved it and how happy we were. She distracted me from the throbbing of the fresh hole in my cartilage, and for that I'm thankful. My mom told me she loved it, and that I better take good care of it. I promised I would. We paid Jeff, thanked him, and headed home. I went straight to bed, because I was mentally and physically exhausted. The next day, I looked up information for myself. I looked up what to do to make sure my rook heals properly, and so on and so forth.
The next few weeks were very painful, especially because I chose my left ear to pierce, the ear I like to sleep on and talk on the phone with. I would force myself to sleep on my right, which was pretty difficult I must say... And I would always answer the phone on my left, scream "OUCH!" into the receiver, then switch ear and apologize for the yelp I let out. Eventually the pain began minimizing, and I was able to sleep on my left side peacefully. Although my friends would sometimes forget the new mod was there, and always managed to smack it or snag it without fail.
You know how I mentioned I had really been craving some mods of my own? Well, after getting my rook done, let me tell you, the desire has grown even more. To know I can take that kind of pain and not pass out from it, there's so much stuff I'd love to get done. But for now it will have to wait, since there's no convincing my dear old mother to let me get anything else at this point.