Have you ever taken a friend to get their very first piercing? You can see the excitement and nervousness in their eyes, hear it in their voice. Now, take that same friend and make them one of the most reserved, shy people you know. A 'wallflower', if you will. Imagine taking that friend to get their very first piercing. It's an experience in and of itself.
At A Glance Author she_could_choke Contact she_could_choke_@hotmail.com IAM she_could_choke When It just happened Artist Smitty Studio Big Brain Productions Location Omaha, NE About a week ago, I decided that when I got paid, I would head over to Big Brain and see Smitty, which I hadn't done in a good 5 months. I mentioned this to a few friends, and they decided they would come along. Not a big surprise, I always have an entourage. I wasn't even surprised that James wanted to get a new piercing. He's got his lip done once and had a vertical labret, now retired. The real shock was that Danny-O, my 'wallflower' of a friend, wanted to get a vertical labret piercing. Danny-O hadn't even had his ears pierced before. I told him sure thing, we would go Wednesday night after I got paid.
Fast forward to this past Wednesday. I woke up a little later than I would have liked to, rushed around to get my things together, and took along shower supplies and a change of clothes, because I remembered I was going to my aunt's house after work. Got to work. Not too busy, just the normal routine of getting the store ready for the night crew. Worked until 4 o'clock, took a trip to the bank, then to my aunt's house. I took a quick shower and ran some errands with her. We had some dinner, then went back to her house and watched a movie. James was getting off work at 10. Danny-O called me to see what was going on and I told him that honestly, he would have to call James.
Around 10:30, James called me. Danny-O was going to pick him up, then they would get me, and we would head to Big Brain. They picked me up and we headed to the shop. Danny-O missed the same parking spot three times, even with James and I telling him when to turn. We pulled up to the shop around 11. Matt was outside smoking a cigarette. We walked up and he smiled, telling me that Smitty was wondering when I was coming in. I had called earlier from work that same day, checking to make sure Smitty would be in, and Matt told me he would let Smitty know I was coming over. He told us to go on in, that Smitty would be up in a few minutes.
When we walked in the shop, Smitty was just finishing with two girls. He smiled at me and asked what we were out doing. We talked to him a while, when he asked me what I was thinking about getting done. I told him that I wanted my right nostril done, then wanted to come back in two weeks and get the left one done. He told me that was a very good choice and that he had to pierce a couple of girls that had been there before us, so it would just be a few more minutes. We stood around in the lobby, talked to Matt, and perused the art work on the walls. Maybe 10 minutes later, Smitty came back out. The two girls paid Matt and left. Matt asked Smitty if he wanted him to stick around, and Smitty told him, no, just to lock us in when he left. We said goodnight to Matt, and went back to the piercing room.
We walked back to the room, and Danny-O's eyes got huge. Through the whole time we had been there, he hadn't spoken two words. I felt kind of bad for the poor kid. You could tell he was nervous as all hell. I asked him if he wanted to me go first. He said yes, he would like that very much. So, I sat down in that oh-so-familiar dentist-esque chair. Smitty readied all the tools, and then we started talking. We talked about the changes going on at the shop, the changing of artist, and his up coming marriage. I think we sat and talked for about 20 minutes before we even got around to sizing up the ring! He got out a fresh 16g needle and 16g CBR. Tried the ring on my nostril three or four times, found the perfect placement, and marked my nostril. This whole process made my nose tickle horribly, and I got a flashback of my septum piercing. He took the clamps, clamped my nostril firmly, and slid the needle through my skin. Instantly, my eye twitched and started to tear. I blinked several times, and looked at Danny-O. He looked a little pale around the edges, and I asked if he was ok. A weak smile and a nod was all the answer I received. He hooked the jewelry in the end of the needle, slid it through, and popped the bead on. He turned the hoop so that the ball was inside my nose, and handed me the mirror. I took one look and was in love. There was the tiniest bit of blood, almost not even noticeable. Before I had even stood up, Danny-O said "I want to go next!" Smitty looked at me and smiled, and I vacated the chair.
Danny-O told him he wanted his vertical labret. Smitty brought back two different barbells, to see which length would be better for Danny-O's lip. The whole time Smitty was getting the jewelry, Danny-O hadn't stopped talking. He was bouncing his feet up on his toes, talking at random about whatever. Smitty came back and Danny-O got very quiet, and went very pale. Smitty marked his lip, clamped it, and slid the needle in. The look on Danny-O's face was priceless. He looked as if he had just suffered some horrible indignation. He just sat there, kind of dazed. James and I, who have both gotten that same piercing, looked at each other and at the same time, both said "This part sucks". Smitty laughed and said "Yea, the easy part's over". We had told Danny-O before hand that the worst part was the threaded jewelry. The look on his face said "AHHHHHHHHH!", but he did do really well. He was so pleased with himself afterwards, it was really cute.
James sat down and Smitty sized up the ring on his left nostril. Danny-O was totally curious at this point, and watched the whole thing from about 6 inches away. James' piercing went smoothly. He sat with his eyes closed, squinted when the needle went through, and had tears pouring down his cheeks. I told him that it was kind of like getting hit in the nose, but with a needle. It makes your eyes water. His just happened to water exceptionally well.
After we were all three pierced, we stood and talked to Smitty for a while. We went to the counter, paid him, and stood at the counter talking for another half an hour. By this time, it was nearly 1 AM. I had to work in the morning, and we still had to go to Wal-Mart. So, we said our goodbyes and Smitty gave me his keys to let ourselves out. I promised I would be back to see him again in two weeks, if not sooner. He told me to make it sooner.
All the way to Wal-Mart, Danny-O thanked me over and over. Telling me "Thank you so so so much for bringing me!" It was so cute, but I told him it was all him. He's the one that decided to go through with the piercing, and that was something for him to be proud of. He still thanked me profusely, however.
I'm going to say this again, even though I have said it in every single experience that I have written up. For anyone in the Omaha/Council Bluffs Metro area, I HIGHLY recommend Big Brain Productions. I absolutely love everyone at the shop, they are all really nice, wonderful guys who can and will help you with anything you need. Glove changes are frequent and Smitty has always pierced me perfectly. I will keep going back, even just to stop in and say hello.
In two weeks, the left nostril...