I am writing this not as an experience but as how BME has helped me through the past year. I stumbled across BME the first time when I was looking for information on a tongue piercing. It seemed like a good site that could provide me with some good information as to what I was looking for. I didn't know how much more this site included. Over time I started visiting it more frequently and finding myself reading more and more about everything that I possibly could. I was researching for my own good, not for any schoolwork or even any information in particular. Every time I sat down at my computer I just found myself drawn to the site.
At A Glance Author Dan Contact dan@teambme.com IAM Dan_Toronto When N/A There were so many people posting experiences and pictures about their body modifications, everything from simple lobe piercings, all the way to tongue splitting and castration. Some of these things seemed so far fetched to me but still I had to read and learn more. This all started around the time of August 2002, by the end of January I decided that I would finally write an experience of my own. I submitted my tongue piercing experience and in a week or so I was accepted. I immediately set up an IAM account to see what it was all about. Once my page was basically up and running I began to discover how much I had been missing before. On IAM I could interact with all of the people that I had read about, I could ask them questions that I could not find answers to in any other way. Right from the beginning it felt like a family. Everyone seemed to welcome your questions and not judge you for any reason; this is something that I have never found in any other place as of yet. At this point I was using IAM as a way to talk to other people and it was quite a bit of fun. Over the next couple of months I began to stay on longer and more frequently, talking and interacting with more and more people. Soon I found that IAM was on my mind more and more often. It could almost be described as a drug; I always wanted to check my messages and se who updated their page. You get to know the people behind the mods, who they really are and what they are all about. If someone is having trouble with something, most of the time someone else will gladly help them with whatever it is, whether it be an infected piercing or something more personal.
There are also the BBQ's, which are a great way to meet many of the faces that you talk to on the computer. I have only been to one event, BMEfest 2003 in Tweed, but I can say that it was an amazing day. There were so many people there that I talk to on IAM and so many people that I now talk to. When I got there it almost felt like everyone knew everyone else. Nobody really seemed shy but everyone was open and willing to share their food or drink with you if you asked. It wasn't hard at all to go up to someone and say, hey I saw your page, and let the conversation go from there. Even when the day was over the experience didn't end. I had people come to my page to say hello and I was doing the same. BME/IAM is one of those things that once you get involved in it you want to be in it for life.
That was my next step to become part of BME for life. I decided after BMEfest that I truly wanted to be part of this community for life so I decided that I would get a BME logo tattoo on my stomach. With this I feel like I am more dedicated to this than most and I am showing that it is something I care about. I can't think of a better way to say thank you to everyone who I have talked to, met, and helped out then to get the logo permanently marked on my skin. Most people see it and say that I will regret it later in life or that it was a really bad idea to get something like that as a tattoo. I look at them and realize that I can't explain how much this community has helped my out the past year and how much it has given back to me. This is just a small thank you to show that I do care about everyone and everything BME.
I can only hope that there are other people like me out there, others that will come across this amazing web page and discover everything that it has to offer. There is so much more then what you see on the cover, spend 10 minutes looking at the site and you will know exactly what I am talking about.
Once again I would like to thank everyone who has helped make BME the thing that it has become.