wickedqueen.net

Over the past two months, with the exception of one search for “ethnomethodology,” every search that has yielded this blog as a result has involved tattoos or hair-dying. I’d just like to note that I also have some piercings.

Not a lot of them, really. Only two of them are non-ear piercings. However, those two piercings are both abnormally large, and this can be the source of a great deal of annoyance.

My tongue stud is a 12 gauge, making it slightly larger than the tongue piercing norm of 14. I can still sometimes find 12 gauge studs at the kiosks at the mall and whatnot, although they usually charge me more for them. It’s actually easier to find 10 gauge tongue studs than 12 gauge ones–I guess people assume that if you’re going to have an abnormally large tongue stud, you won’t be a wuss about it. But I got mine done in Tokyo, and when they showed me two sizes and asked me which one I wanted, I just went for the slightly bigger one. I didn’t know it was going to be a big DEAL.

When I got my nose pierced in Missouri in 2001 (I think–I’m pretty sure it predates my tattoos), I got a 14 gauge ring. Now, the standard size for nose piercings is 16 or 18 gauge–only slightly larger than a standard ear piercing. I have a prominent nose, however, and I felt that such a delicate piece of jewelry would be overwhelmed. Actually, it’s a bit unusual that I wear a ring at all; most women I see with pierced noses have studs. Anyway.

Yesterday, I managed to leave my nose ring in the Waisman Center after getting an MRI for the psych department .* They are closed on the weekend, so I have thus far been unable to find out if they have a lost and found or anything. I’ve never been crazy about that ring–it’s VERY difficult to get the bead in–so I stopped by the Cat’s Meow on my way to the gym today hoping they’d have a replacement.

Unfortunately, their body jewelry stores were low. The owner (I think) said he’s planning to get some more at a trade show next week, but recommended that I try the Piercing Lounge on Gilman. He was very nice.**

So I stopped at the Piercing Lounge, where a 19-year-old bit of muslin with, I swear to god, a STERNUM PIERCING, informed me loftily that of COURSE they don’t carry 14 gauge nose rings; the NORMAL gauge is 18.

“Yes, I know,” I said.

“Well, did you STRETCH it?” she demanded.

“No,” I said. “I got it pierced 14 gauge.”

“WHERE?”

“Missouri.”

She sniffed as if that explained everything.

“WELL. All you can really DO is let it grow closed some so that you can wear an 18.”

Or, you know, I could always look on the internet for a place that doesn’t pass judgment on my nose ring gauge choices, since I actually like my piercing the way it is.

I also find it rather hard to believe that all the guys with nose piercings–I know they exist–are wearing demure 18 gauge rings, and at any rate, I am not taking any guff from someone with a sternum piercing, let alone one that appeared, to the casual observer, to be infected.

I think I got my old, currently lost nose ring at Exotica on East Washington; it’s a bit of a trip, but if I guess I could call over there to see if they still carry them. I am currently wearing a GIGANTIC ring that may actually have been intended for a navel, because I worry about the hole closing up, and it is very annoying. I need either a replacement or my old ring back, and soon.

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*$20 an hour. And I find MRIs kind of relaxing.

**I think he’s also the one who helped me select the Special Effects Cherry Bomb for my hair back in May, and we know how well that turned out.