I guess I wanted something different done at the time. Which is kind of funny given that there was a few people already that I knew who had their tongue pierced. I was 14, and a freshman in high school. I guess I was the ordinary straight arrow on the outside, but had a more dark alternative side on the inside, or that's what I like to think anyway.
At A Glance Author Joe When Two years ago Artist Head Guy Studio Place in Berryville, VA Location Berryville, VA I knew I wanted a piercing because if I changed my mind, no big deal. I wasn't ready for a tattoo because I had no idea what I wanted and I was uncertain how it would affect me when I would try to get in the military (luckily I wised up and decided not to join).
I wanted something that was kind of cool to me, and maybe a few of my friends, not much else.
The funny thing was that it turned out to be a birthday present for me from my mom, the only interesting thing I got from her. The idea was kind of funny to me, which made it more amusing to myself and everyone else. I guess it just seemed right at the time.
When I actually sat in the chair waiting for it to be done, I was so nervous. I was shaking and having second thoughts for a moment, but decided to tell him to go ahead and do it, and I just closed my eyes like a coward. The sensation of having a needle go through your tongue is kind of difficult to describe to those who haven't had it done to themselves personally. It was more weird and unsettling than it was painful. And of course afterwards, my tongue was bleeding pretty bad because I'm a bleeder. It felt so weird to have a shiny piece of metal in my mouth that's supposed to be there all the time. It just felt unnatural in a way.
After that was all said and done I got another brillant idea. I thought about getting my ear pierced for a while (left of course, because I've heard the right ear stories too many times to want to deal with). I guess what sealed the deal was that he offered the second piercing at a discount. What can I say, I was a bargain shopper even then. Well I got that done too, not that big of deal as in comparison to what I had done about ten minutes before. The only thing I was concerned about was that it was visible. The tongue ring, was kind of interesting because it couldn't be seen, so I guess I thought of it as my own little secret. Maybe I thought it made me special, I don't really know other than I was slightly deluded at the time.
Well... I finally got it done and played with it the first few days like a moron. The funny part was when I tried to eat a meatball sub a day after I got it and my tongue was still swollen. I almost choked on it. Which is kind of funny and yet pathetic at the same time, what a noble death, death by meatball. I was a loser in high school anyway, so it wouldn't of surprised anyone much.
When I went back to school the first thing everyone saw was the earring, of course. And then I opened my mouth to show what else I got done. The earring was interesting to everyone, but the tongue ring was somewhere near exciting given the type of person I was. The hype of it died down after a couple weeks, hearing all the remarks dumb teenagers can come up with about earrings and tongue rings. I went ahead and got rid of the earring because it was annoying me, and I was concerned about it snagging onto something. That ended up being a good decision, though I was slightly disappointed because I wasted my money on it, but it was for the best.
I kept the tongue ring for about 5 years. I took it out here and there, and when I did it felt so weird to have it out of my mouth. Which seemed amusing to me because I remembered how odd it seemed to have it in my mouth when I first started. But I eventually moved on to other things. The tongue ring have a good run and I kept it and the few others I had for a couple months as souvenirs, but eventually decided to just throw them out and be done with it. I'm glad I did it because now I know, so I don't feel any regrets about it. It led me to do more original and exciting things later in life, so all in all, it was an excellent learning experience for me.