Ouchies!

So I'm a fan of tattoos and piercings.  I've only got two tattoos, but quite a few piercings, at least until lately.

A few months ago we started going to church again, and since in the past my piercings have caused some commotion in that environment, I took them out for services.  Well, me being me, I just kept putting off putting some of them back in.  Basically, the only ones I kept in were the ones in my ears, the normal ones and my industrial and a few cartiledge piercings.  I took out my tongue, eyebrow, nose and tragus.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I started looking for my "box-o-piercing paraphernalia".  Of course with me being the disorganized person I am, it took me until today to find it.  Now, I'll mention that I looked online to see how quickly those particular piercings might remain open and I kind of figured I'd blown it.  Most of them said they'll only stay open a week or two at most and it's been months soooooo, I figured I was out of luck.  Lots of initial pain down the drain.

Being the stubborn woman that I am though, I figured what the heck, it's worth a try right?


Tongue was no problem, maybe because I've already pierced it twice by myself after the initial piercing, the freaking hole is probably big enough to lose a fruit loop in.  On that note, I'll state that it's kinda fun to eat Fruit Loops cuz you can get them around the little ball on the top of your tongue and it's just kinda cool.  Go figure, I've got an odd sense of humor.

Next up, the nose.  I've got a really tiny nose.  My husband says it looks kinda like a big zit instead of a nose.  He thinks it's cute.  I used to wear a little silver hoop in my nose because it's so small if I use a regular post it sticks out a little cuz my nose is too small for the whole post to be on the inside.  Living with the number of cats I do, it's not surprising that it disappeared when I took it out and left it on the coffee table.  Yeah.  Probably never find it again, so I decided to try the post.  End result, ended up piercing my nose again.  Pain wasn't too bad all things considered and I'm happy it's not a lost cause.  I can still take it out if I need to and as long as I don't wait too long I don't lose the piercing for good.

Not really into the eyebrow one anymore so I let that one go.  Not worried if it's closed up or not.

The tragus though?  Yeah, wanted to keep those.  Those were actually the ones I was LEAST worried about.  I've got quite a few cartiledge piercings and a couple I didn't have anything in for years and they never closed.  I figured no problem right?  Dun dun dun.

Wrong.

Those were if not completely then dang close to completely closed.  Have you ever tried piercing a body part with a screw?  That's kinda what it felt like.  I sat here and kept screwing the post against where the hole was supposed to be until I literally heard an audible pop and wa-lah I have pierced tragus again!  Needless to say my ears now hurt like a bear, but I can say I didn't waste any money letting them close up, so if you're me, that's a logical conclusion.  If you're not me which you obviously aren't, you're probably reading this going.....

What the bloody hell is wrong with this woman!?!?!?!?!?

You'd be right.

Call me stubborn, or crazy, but I got it done and I feel like me again!

Question of the Day! The Worlds' End?

Another great question by Aubrie Anne, a fellow Webooker and new friend!


If you knew for certain that the world would truly end in just over a year, what would you do with the rest of your life?


Now, how's that for a wake up thought huh?

Actually I've been thinking about this for a few days, so I think I'm ready.  There are SO many things I've wanted to do all my life, and without having to worry about the future, the first thing I would do is sell my house and buy a REALLY nice RV.  I'd probably pile the cats in it too, even if I had to sneak them in so the hubby wouldn't know they were there.  There are only so many things you can walk away from and I'd worry that whoever bought the house wouldn't feed them.  Enough about that though....meow!


I'd of course keep the excess money from the house for things like airline tickets.  After all, an RV, even the best ones won't get you across oceans.


With family in tow, and hubby driving (since that's what he DOES) we'd of course see all the sights here in the good 'ol US before jumping ship, or ahem...plane.  Of course ships are awesome too, I think a two week cruise to Alaska would be fantabulous, as long as we don't get one of those weird illnesses that ships have become famous for, or well a fire breaks out and we're stranded in the middle of the ocean for days.  Hm.  Maybe a plane would be better.  I'd make sure my daughter saw as much of the world as she could, which would ensure a visit to Croatia since she has some odd fixation with that country for reasons I have yet to figure out.


Places I would HAVE to see:


Grand Canyon
Yellowstone
Rodeo Drive
Seattle
Key West
Giant Redwoods
Alaska
The Midwest (and a tornado!)
New York City (again but for longer)
New Orleans
Oh and I'd spend at least two weeks at Oak Haven Resort in Tennessee!  Gorgeous!
Denver (to see the Colorado Avalanche play hockey!)


I'm sure there are other places I'd wind up, but those are the ones that popped into my head first.


I'd go bungee jumping, parasailing, sky diving, mountain climbing, snowboarding, BASE jumping (at the Cave of Swallows of course), and basically find any and every extreme adventure I could to get involved in.  I'd probably have everything pierced that I could get, and get covered with tattoos, one from every place I visited to remind me of the adventure.


I'd love to see Ireland and Scotland especially, although there are TONS of other places I'd like to visit as well.  Russia, Germany, would love to go back to England, Sweden might be off limits as I'd most likely stalk Peter Forsberg and be either incarcerated or evicted as a result.


I'd rob a bank and spend all the money to take food and toys to kids overseas who don't know what either are, and spend the rest of the year running from the cops.


All in all I'd be an angel and a devil rolled into one, and suck out every single adventure I could find so I can honestly say when it's all over that I did it all.


Thanks again AubrieAnne the Fantabulous over at Who's Your Editor for the questions, this is FUN!  More answers to come tomorrow!

Scarification - An Art or Something Else?

I was hitting the little "Next Blog" button at the top of mine last night and came across a blog that is nothing but photographs, posted daily.

Sounds boring, but if you're into art like I am, and have an 18 year old daughter who is an artist as well, in a specialty art program at her high school and enrolling in VCU Arts School next year, well I was immediately captivated.

There were SO many beautiful photographs, but ONE specifically caught my eye. Now if you've read any of my about me blogs or know anything about me, you'll know I'm WAY into tattoos and piercings. The main character in my novel is inked up and pierced to within an inch of her life. That being said, I had to call my daughter over to look at the photograph because I couldn't tell if it was actually ink or a process called scarification.

I'm going to post some pictures, so if you're squeamish, I'll give you the que to click off the page when the time comes.

Scarification has been defined as a lot of things, but here is the Wikipedia definition:

Scarifying involves scratching, etching, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification.[1]

In the process of body scarification, scars are formed by cutting or branding the skin. Scarification is sometimes called cicatrization (from the French equivalent).


The act in the United States is termed "body modification" while in other countries, it is performed as a rite of passage or initiation, and in some tribes a measure of bravery or leadership ability.

There are many ways to perform scarification, including:

Strike Branding - think livestock

Cautery Branding - Using a tool similar to a cautering iron

Laser Branding - I've seen descriptions from something similar to an arc welder, to the laser we think about when we think about laser surgery.  A more precise method since depth and nature of injury can be more precisely regulated.

Cold Branding - Direct opposite of strike branding, using an exeptionally cold substance such as liquid nitrogen.  This process causes the scarring to whiten and prevents keloid scarring.

Ink Rubbing - Rubbing tattoo ink into the newly made wounds, often ink rubbings are thought by the novice to be "bad tattoos"

Skin Removal - Need I say more.  Ew.

Packing - Packing an inert substance into a diagonal cut.  Clay, metal, ashes, etc. have been used, and in some cases the ashes of a loved one.

Abrasion - Removal of skin via friction.

There is also Chemical Branding although Wikipedia had no information on the topic.

Healing these wounds is definitely not like healing a regular injury.  For scarifications, a long healing time is critical to the art turning out well.  For that reason the wound is uncovered for long periods of time and often the wound is introduced to irritants such as toothpaste or citrus juice.

So if you've made it this far you're probably wondering WHY anyone would do this?

There are few photographs of the finished product on the web, at least that I could find.  Most of the photographs I found were of the skin directly after the process and I wouldn't do that to you guys.  It's not pretty.  After the healing however, the result can be fantastically beautiful, if you're into that kind of thing.  I'm pretty that a lot of people would be disgusted or even physically revulsed, but for those who are a fan of body modifications, or at least interested in the subject, here is what a healed scarification looks like.

SQUEAMISH ALERT - If you're squeamish, you'll want to navigate elsewhere NOW.

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If you're still with me, the question is......art or something else?