In 1995, I found myself living in a townhouse in Salt Lake City, UT with some people I'd met while working at a resort. I was freshly 18, bulletproof and ready for the world.
At A Glance Author Nightrunner Contact Nightrunner@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist JJ Studio Laughing Buddha Location Seattle (Broadway) My roommate wanted to get her tongue pierced, so we got in her car and drove on down to the Blue Boutique in Sugarhouse - quite a long ways from our crash pad in West Jordan. After she finished with the piercer (and I apologize, I cannot remember his name), we wandered back out onto the sales floor, to discover that one of the local radio stations was taping a commercial for the store. When the DJ heard that she'd just finished getting a piercing, he asked if she'd like to be in the commercial and asked her a couple of questions about how it went. She answered him honestly, and a good time was had by all.
But that's where it started. Because he then looked at me and asked me if I had any piercings. I told him no, but I'd like to get my penis pierced.
Why did I say that? Did I really want to get my penis pierced? I couldn't remember thinking about it. My only piercing experience to that time had been when I was 13, my buddy Mikey and I were "camping" in the back yard with some purloined gin and he took a diamond stud from his ear and pushed it through mine. My father saw it the next day and I had to take it out. Here I was, five years later, telling a man I'd never met before that I wanted to put a stud in my cock.
Flash forward to August of 2006. I'm well into year #4 of marriage, I've moved to Seattle, I've got a tattoo. I've had 7 total piercings n my ears (all done at mall chopshops), my left nipple pierced twice, my right pierced once (all of those rejected), my tongue pierced three times. Never, though, have I gone and gotten The Prince Albert. It's something I've talked about with my wife, and she encouraged it. We wake up one fine Sunday and she says "I want to get a tattoo today. You should get something pierced while I do it" - a bit of research and we're off to downtown Seattle. i dropped her off at Super Genius, and I walked on down to Laughing Buddha...
I walked in, Crow (guy behind the counter) asked me what's up, I told him I'd like to get a PA. He said sure, no problem, and we agreed on the jewelry (10 gauge, wow). We talk about procedure and healing time, a little Q/A about the pain aspect. He said it's a fast heal, 8-10 weeks for most people, and that the pain isn't TOO bad - in fact, he said that it'd likely hurt less than my nipples did. I got my paperwork signed, copy of my ID and a few minute wait while he gets things ready for the piercer.
And lemme tell ya, the hygiene here was impressive. Crow gloved up to get the jewelry, receiving tube and needle out of the drawer - all of these items are in sterile packs, but he gloved anyway. Very nice.
After about 2 minutes of me looking at bone and stone plugs (my wife has stretched ears, I'm always looking for new shinys), JJ comes up and introduces himself and we're off. Walk across the hall to the room, talking about the piercing, covering the same ground as Crow did a few minutes earlier. We walk into the booth, and he re-sanitizes the table for me before I jump up on it. Here again, hygiene came into sharp focus - he sanitized his hands before gloving up, and burned through about 3 pairs of gloves getting things sanitized and ready for the piercing.
JJ was cool enough to check the size of my urethra before starting, to see how much work/pain it was gonna be. Just one more mark of a consummate professional.
He slid the tube in (Weird, burned a bit), then had me draw a breath. As soon as I let it out, he drove the needle in. PINCH. Those who know, know what I'm talking about. The actual painful part was over before I finished registering the pain. And really, it WAS less painful than my nipples. A few more seconds, the jewelry was in, the bead in place and I was done with that. A little clean-up work and he packed my package into a rubber glove with some gauze, to protect it and deal with any blood that happened.
Back over to the other side, I cashed out, got two packs of sea salt for cleaning, a bit more advice on NOT TOUCHING IT, and was on my merry way. Oh, and there was a slight pricing difference on the website - I got out for about buck less than it said.
I've had several different piercings at a lot of different shops. This is DEFINITELY the best experience I've had in a shop setting. I'm a fairly square looking guy, clean cut and no visible mods. Nobody made me feel like I was an outside or some yuppie who was out 'slumming' with the cool kids - I was another guy who wanted something done, and they really went a long ways in making me feel comfortable in the store.
It's been nearly a year since I paid a man to put a needle though my member, and I don't regret it at all. Well, except for the times that the barbell I traded out to gets flipped and jammed inside my urethra. That's exciting.
I'm currently looking at what I want next – I'm not sure yet, but I know I'm not finished.