So there I am, sitting around college during a break between biochem class and lab maths. Nothing to do, no-one terribly exciting to talk to - I decide I'm going to head to the city to chillax a bit. So I grab a friend, and off we set across the river.
At A Glance Author Nate Contact Arusu_the_great@hotmail.com When Six months ago Artist Uhm...yeah, the piercer chick... Studio Punctured @ Off Ya Tree Location Brisnbane CBD, Australia Whilst browsing and musing and whatever-it-is-you-do-in-the-city-ing, I decided to pop into Punctured @ Off Ya Tree and price up a new piercing. Having already been in a year or so previously to get my eyebrow done, I knew they were better-than-decent piercers (actually funny story - the guy that did my eyebrow was literally off his tree, hehe - stoned, that is. Gotta love altern-shops, heh. Didn't scare me, he was careful as anything and seemed to be able to handle the stone pretty well.) After discovering the reasonable price of $60 (Australian, of course), I announced that I would think it over (having already made my decision, that is) and went to accumulate fundage for my newest hole.
Long story short - got some food, got some drink, got 60 bucks, returned to piercing shop - my friend, who was rather unsettled by the shop (he's not much of a piercing fan - the fucking pansy :P ) decided he would wait outside; and lay my money and details down on the table. Talking to the piercing chick all the while, I discovered that she was in fact trying to get into the same course of study I was undertaking. But that's not important.
She told me to follow her into the "coldroom" (what i call the piercing room; hey comeon, it is pretty cold out there ;_; ) so I did, and she sat me on the table bed thing, and marked up spots on my lip, although she didn't seem particularly impressed with her first few attempts, but after several tries she got to a point she was satisfied with. anyway, she told me to lie down so she could put the clamp on my lip, grabbed my lip and then exclaimed "Oh my god!! You have the stretchiest lips that I've ever pierced, normally I have to really pull to get them to where I need them, but yours are so easy to manipulate."
Now, having a thumb, a finger, and a clamp in my mouth, I was still able to mumble a semi-intelligible "Thanks". Anyway, she got me to lie down, I grabbed the sides of the table because I didn't know if it would cane or not hurt at all (I've heard it's nothing; I've also heard it's hell), the girl said, "Ok, deep breath in, and breathe out..." and then...
*STAB!*
How can I say this? In the split second the needle went through my lip, I felt it go through a layer of skin and fat, a layer of muscle, and back out the other side. And it HURT!! But, it was a good hurt. Uh, a REALLY good hurt. Anyway, she put a big ring in it, size 14 I think, and got me to look at it in the mirror. I couldn't believe it, it looked so awesome!! A little big yeah, and flopped over to the side, but thats only because the ring was big to allow space for swelling. Anyway, I got my aftercare info, the usual generic crap, and more compliments over the quality of my lips from the chick, heh heh, she seemed really impressed.
So I left the shop, showed my friend, he thought it was cool although I was able to give him the heebie-jeebies by telling him what it felt like. And I was buzzing from adrenaline as well, so I was all hyper and enthusiastic (and late for Lab maths, as well, hehe) and also hungry as shit due to the mass endorphine flood. After class, I had already noticed some minor swelling and lazy-lip feeling, but I paid it no heed and went and bought a pie. Ok, how do I describe the torture that eating something with hard crust visited on my poor mouth? I bit, I felt pain. I bit somewhere else, I felt pain. I bit on the side of my mouth, and the crust crunched into the fresh piercing and I felt rather funny. Not a good idea. Later on that night I somehow got a fork tangled into the ring, and had to rush into the bathroom to extricate it. The few days after that, I had the usual hassles - waking up with blood crusted on my chin, spitting out blood, Mick Jagger-lip syndrome (all puffed up and swollen), and the horrible sticky cracked skin from the saltwater i was treating it with. But it didn't get majorly infected so it must have worked.
2 weeks later I was able to switch the ring out to a much much smaller one, and I've kept it in ever since. I did try a spike, but it was too short and put pressure on my lip and caused ickyness, plus it kept falling out, and I tried a horseshoe as well, but it looked like a fish-hook, heh. So I put the ring back in (I picked an intense-blue titanium ring, to match my eyes) and it's been fine. I do have a habit of chewing it when I'm stressed or thinking, so I don't think my teeth are my biggest fans right about now, but I've had it since March and as yet, there haven't been any major hassles. Every now and again I'll be eating and I'll mis-bite and hit the ring through my lip, which hurts but kinda feels good as well, but other than that it's all good. Oh, my mother saw it and just shook her head in disappointment, but I told her that I was not taking it out for anyone other than myself, and as much as she disliked that, she respected it. 6 or so months down the track and it feels like a part of me now. I can still feel it inside my lip, but it feels so good that I can't imagine taking it out.
Next stop: my tongue!!