February in Maine sucks, especially in the house I was living in at the time. My room was always the same temperature as it was outside—usually about 25 degrees, often less. I'd wanted a Monroe piercing for about five years after first seeing it on BME at age 11, and my mother was finally thinking about giving in. Just thinking about it, of course, as I had to do a few things for her before she would give in and actually allow it to happen.
At A Glance Author Nikki Contact rubberduckie419@hotmail.com IAM PinkSweaterVest When A year ago Artist Ken Studio Inzane Body Mods Location Brewer, ME One of those things that I had to do was to clean my room.
I am not a neat person, and I never have been. I am clean, but not neat. I procrastinate like crazy. My mother knew this and thought that I didn't want this piercing done enough to really clean my room and make her come through on her promise. But I wanted a Monroe desperately, so I spent a week in my freezing cold room, cleaning my ass off. Finally, it was done. It is a little known fact that the cleaner a room is, the colder it is, and because I was living in Maine, with the harshest winter's in the continental US, my room was horrifyingly freezing. However, my mother didn't care and added yet another new condition to my "Piercing Contract", as I dubbed it. I had to wait a full week, and keep my room clean for that period of time. And I had to pay for the piercing myself. I spent a week living in below freezing weather just to get this piercing. Five years of waiting, I figured, what's another week?
Now I was sixteen, lazy, and jobless, so I spent that week at my school bumming change for the "GET MY FACE PIERCED FUND." Luckily I went to a school where people thought things like that were wonderfully hilarious, so I had the cash in about three days.
Then my mother decided I had to wait another week. I thought I procrastinated. Unfortunately this meant another seven days of horrifying weather, ice on my floor, and snow falling every time I breathe.
Finally on Valentine's Day, my mother, my friend Tori, and I decided today was the day, we were going to go, and NOTHING was going to stop us. Well, actually I decided that all and dragged them along with me. We headed to Inzane Body Mods, a shop about 20 miles from home where my brother had gotten pierced and tattooed, Tori had gotten pierced, and where I occasionally hung out just to watch people get "done". I walked in and one of the guys there I was acquainted with started talking to me about my gauged ears and finally asked what I needed. I told him I wanted a Monroe, and he asked for my mom's ID and signature, which she gave, albeit grudgingly.
I walked behind the counter and sat down in the little chair. The chair reminded me of the dentist, which made me uneasy, and I started thinking of having teeth pulled, and I almost panicked. I don't mind needles, blood, or the buzz of the tattoo gun, but I hate the chair, and the smell of latex gloves, solely because they remind me of my dentist, and I can't stand dentists.
I made Tori come hold my hand as Ken, the piercer, told me to smile and marked where he thought was a good place. I checked it in the mirror and thought it was perfect, so he had me rinse with Listerine and I almost vomited because it made me think even more of the dentist.
Ken waited for me to calm down, and once I did he told me to open my mouth so he could clamp the spot. He did so and told me to exhale, and while I did, he pushed the needle through. I was amazed—it didn't really hurt, until he pulled the jewelry through. It caught a little and pinched my lip. That was definitely the most painful part of the whole experience. But once it was through, the ball threaded, and I could stand up, I couldn't stop smiling. I adored the endorphin rush after the pain of the piercing. I was high as a kite solely because I had this new, beautiful hole in my body. I paid Ken and left, grinning the whole time.
In the next few weeks, it swelled up, and oozed a bit. Well, it didn't really ooze, per se, it just scabbed, but I kept it clean and took great care of it. I ran into Ken in the hospital about 4 weeks after the original piercing, and he told me it looked beautiful and that the placing was perfect. It finished healing about a month later, and looks amazing now a year and a half after that. I'm still in love with it and although people have made fun of it I don't care, I think it is perfect and I adore it with all my heart.