Salt Lake City, my hometown, the place I'm going back to when Spring comes again...300 miles away from St. George...
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon Artist Marty Studio Koi Piercing Studio Location Salt Lake City, Utah I got my tongue and navel pierced one sweltering day in early August at a place here in St. George by a guy who is also a tattoo artist. But I wanted to get a triangle as soon as possible. I already knew from reading experiences on this website that I wanted to go to Koi in Salt Lake City. But I wasn't planning on waiting until I could move back to SLC. I decided to take a vacation and include a piercing and a tattoo in it. Late in August, I called Koi and exchanged e-mail with a fellow BME contributor who only gets pierced by Curt, the owner of Koi. I also exchanged e-mail with a guy who is good friends with Marty; one of Koi's other piercers. Then finally in September, the studio's website was back online again. I enjoy looking at the pictures.
Finally, it was vacation time. Here is the little diary.
Saturday September 22, 2001: I headed north and later that afternoon I checked into a nice motel in South Jordan, about 15 miles away form Salt Lake City. I didn't do anything important to this story after that.
Sunday September 23, 2001: I drove to the city and checked out some tattoo studios and other stuff. When I went back to South Jordan, I went to Hot Topic in South Towne Mall and bought some pants there.
Monday September24, 2001: I went to Koi at 12:30pm. That's when they open. Curt was in there with a bunch of dust in his hair. As he was cleaning up the place he apologized and explained that they had been doing some renovating. Two girls and another guy were also in there cleaning up and getting the shop ready for business. Curt left and then the girl who works at the counter asked me about what I wanted pierced and photocopied my driver's license onto the form that I needed to read and sign. Then she gave a big aftercare information thing with information about all of the piercings that they do there. She then informed that Michelle would be piercing me and asked me if that was okay. I said, "Yes." I was told on the phone back in August that only Marty and Curt had experience with triangles, but I figured Michelle could have recently gotten some experience with triangles. Then she went to one of the other rooms and returned. She told me that Michelle had never done a triangle before. Michelle appeared in a doorway and the guy who was there said that he would only do it if someone with triangle experience could be right there watching and helping. We all agreed that I should come back on Wednesday when Marty would be there and I was told that I would get five dollars off of the piercing. The guy who was there (Patrick, I think) asked me if I had read about triangles and had an idea if I was right for it. "Yes", I said. Then we all chatted a little about excuses some male piercers give for refusing to do a triangle (like a woman's thighs being "too big" and maybe the piercing "wouldn't heal properly.") They think that in cases like that, the piercer just doesn't want to admit that there's a piercing he doesn't know how to do. My thighs are muscular, but not fat. And when somebody at Koi doesn't feel comfortable doing a certain piercing, they're mature enough to admit it and tell you who can.
Tuesday September 25, 2001: I checked out some more tattoo shops and was happy to see that Lost Art had finished moving to their new location uptown on State Street. I went in and looked around.
Wednesday September26, 2001: Well, I went back to Koi. Curt was there again cleaning up, then he left. Marty came to the counter and asked me what piercing I wanted to get. Then he asked for my ID. I told him that they should already have the paperwork there from Monday. But he said that they always make a new one. So I signed another one. We also went over jewelry selection. He pulled out a box full of rings that looked like they were still in sterile packages. He showed one in the size that is usually right. I was told before that they use twelve-gauge for triangles, but I could have sworn that he wrote 14g on the paper. Then he showed me the selection of beads and I chose a purple one. Then he took the bead to the piercing room. Then the girl there rang everything up. It cost even less than I thought it would. Then I sat down in one of the movie theater seats they have. I would take about 15 minutes to get things ready. When all was ready, Marty came out and asked me if I was ready. The other guy was talking about triangles vs. hood piercings and then looked at me and joked, "We're talking about you." I followed Marty to the piercing room. Uh, then I took off my skirt and panties. (I couldn't just pull the skirt up because it was the really short polyester and nylon one that had shorts sewn into it.) Then I got up on the table and Marty pulled out some kind of ledge-like thingy for me to put my feet on. He said that he tries to avoid making someone put their feet in stirrups because nobody ever made him do that. Then Marty cleaned the, uh, let's just say "clit area", and then measured the area to make sure that the ring he chose would be the right size for me. Then some small talk. And then he explained that not everyone does triangles the same way. Some piercers use clamps, but he doesn't. He showed me what he uses. "That must be a receiving tube", I thought. Until then, I'd only seen pictures of those things. Then Marty explained that he likes to let a person know when he's going to pierce. Then he started figuring out exactly where to pierce. It didn't take long before he asked me how that felt. I said, "That's good there." Then he told me to take a deep breath and you all what happened next... My hands had been resting above my belly button and suddenly were covering my mouth to stifle any screams that might come. I just didn't remember moving them. Finally, the needle was all of the way through. Then, Marty put the ring in. After that he went and picked up the bead and a pair of pliers. He told me he might pinch me. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt after what I felt from that needle. Then he handed me a mirror so I could look at it. Then I got up and put on my panties and skirt as I told Marty about all of the people on the Internet who enjoyed encouraging me to have him pierce me. I didn't forget to mention the one that's one of his good friends. Before I left, I gave him a ten-dollar tip. I told him I'd be back maybe in September for something else. I didn't say what, though. I'll tell you readers now. Vertical hood. After leaving Koi, I went to an Asian market where I knew I knew I could buy a bag of sea salt. Then I went to one of my all-time favorite restaurants for lunch.
Thursday September 27, 2001: I went to Lost Art and made an appointment to get a tattoo.
Friday September 28, 2001: I went to Lost Art and got a tattoo.
Saturday September 29, 2001: I went to a foam party on Saturday night. It sucked.
Sunday September 30, 2001: I drove back to St. George.
Monday October 1, 2001: I went back to work.
Tuesday October 2, 2001: I wrote this long story. Hehehe.