| I am very lucky to have a mom who understands the need to express
oneself. She has supported me in all that I do, and body modification is no
different. I already have my navel, my eyebrow, my lobes once each, and an
industrial in my right ear. One piercing that I have always wanted, however, is
my tongue. My mom knew that I wanted to have it done, so she had no problem
taking me. Once I had enough money, we were on our way. We drove down to Blue Boutique and walked through the store to the piercing section. Val couldn't help but ask, "Back for more?" Jesse grinned and asked me what I wanted done, and when I told him I wanted my tongue, he asked me to stick it out so he could look it over. Out, up, back, around... Once he had seen it at every angle he needed to, he helped me to pick out a twelve gauge barbell, and took it, along with the two sixteen gauge CBR's I was buying, back to the auto-clave. The piercing, and all the jewelry came to $103.00. We waited and listened to Val discussing the gauging of a lady's son's ears, only to later find out that he is ten, and before too long Jesse came out to take me back. We got into the room, and Mom insisted on taking pictures of his zebra-print piercer's table before I hopped up. We talked about the possibility of him taking me on as an apprentice in the future as he scrubbed his hands clean and donned a pair of latex gloves. A small dot of purple dye went onto the back of his glove, and he moved around in front of me. He dried my tongue with a few pieces of gauze, and looked at it once again to be positive of the placement he would use. He took a toothpick and marked the first hole, then put his fingers on the top and bottom of my tongue to make sure that the holes were centered, and marked the second one. (We could hear the clicking of the camera as Mom snapped off a few more shots.) He asked me to look at the marks as he changed his gloves. Then he came back around in front of me after hearing that I approved of the placement. He handed me a little paper cup with Listerine in it and told me that he would tell me when to spit it out. I swish... and swish... and swish... My tongue went a little numb, and my eyes were watering by the time he told me I could spit it out. (Hey, that stuff is strong!) He then took up some fresh pieces of gauze and dried my tongue, then put one on my lip, under my tongue, and two on each side of the mark. He told me to start breathing deeply, which I did, and told me that I would feel a little pinch while he was setting up. He did it free-hand, which surprised me, but I trust him. He told me to take one more deep breath, and on the exhale, he would pierce. Out went my breath, and through came the needle. It cut through as smooth as a hot knife through butter. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt. It just felt strange as the needle went through. He asked me if I was okay, and I nodded my head. He put the jewelry inside the hollow end of the needle and pulled it through. It felt strange, because the barbell was colder than the needle, and I could feel it sliding through. I felt a bit of discomfort as he twisted the top ball on, but it wasn't anything I would call painful. Mom took a few final pictures, including one of Jesse and I together, and after he slid my sixteen gauges into place, we were on our way. I gave him a ten dollar tip, and told him I would be seeing him soon for my lip. He told me he was looking forward to it, and we left. Immediately, we stopped by a mini-mart to get my a cup of ice to use to keep the swelling down. So now here I am, three hours later, with almost no swelling and very minimal pain. I notice almost no difference in my speech ability, with the exception of a very slight lisp that Jesse said was normal and should go away within a few days. I have a feeling that my little cup of ice will be my best friend through these next few days. Any questions, you can just e-mail me. :) |