Let me start this experience by saying that I have this weird way of always getting what I want, some way or another. No, I`m not spoiled, fate just likes to piss me off and then at the last minute, give me something good. I`ve had this tradition for a while now, every month, I get a new piercing, big or small. This time around however, I had run out of money and I had no way of getting anymore. Currently fired from my job, and my parents considered it a sin to ask for money, I was out of luck on this months piercing fix and I had decided to just give myself third holes in each ear, it still counted as a hole.
At A Glance Author ballroomblitz Contact dropkickdrphil@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Jenn Studio Universal Location Ottawa, Ontario Anyways! As it turned out, some neighbors across the road happened to decide to go on vacation in France for a month, and they needed someone to look after the house, water the garden, cut the grass, you know, same old, same old. I agreed since I no longer had a job, and my parents forced me too. They paid me before they left and suddenly I had enough money to get something done! This type of thing always happens and I knew I could count on it. I quickly decided on a surface piercing, it seemed exotic and rare, I had only ever seen 2 surface piercings in my life and they left me in complete wonder. I never knew how they worked, I assumed it was just a barbell, I assumed that the skin was under great stress, and I loved it.
Of course, like any other piercing decision I make, I don't allow myself to go through with it until I`ve researched it throughly, to make sure there`s no hidden risks, and to find out exactly what I will be doing to my body. Thanks to BME and the great stories that people submit, I was able to research and discover surface piercings. I fell even deeper in love with them. They were so mysterious! Two floating balls with no sign of a connection to the naked eye. I decided on getting my sternum done since I was looking for work, and I liked that I could tell when people were looking down my shirt. It doubled as a creep alarm.
I phoned my friend and loyal piercing buddy and told him fate had once again come through with the money for this months hole. We set a date, a week later, to go downtown. I still needed to research a little more.
Wednesday came and I woke up and showered. Didn`t want to smell bad while poor Jenn was trying to be professional. My dad drove me to my friends and asked "if you`re going downtown, please, for the love of god, DON`T get anything pierced!" I told him I wouldn`t. I wasn`t in the mood to fight right then and there.
The bus ride down was the same as usual, I wasn`t nervous because I had lots of previous experience with piercings and I trusted Jenn completely. She`s always very funny and professional, and all the piercings I have gotten to date haven`t had any problems.
Once we arrived, we basked in the glow of piercing parlors and started on our usual walk to Universal. Once inside however, we became disappointed. The guy at the front desk said that his piercer (Jenn) was gone and wouldn`t be back until 3:30 or 4. Seeing as it was only 12, we could either wait for a long time, or go somewhere else. Well, that was a no brainer, we would wait. So my piercing buddy and I went on a shopping spree from the money I had left over.
Once it hit 3:45, we went back. Even after filling out the forms (by now I can do those in my sleep) and waiting in the lobby, I still wasn`t nervous. When I was reading all the stories on BME, I thought they showed a wide difference in the pain department. Some people said it hurt A LOT. Some people said it was tolerable. Some people said they didn`t notice it, and some people forgot to mention the pain part. So I wasn`t quite sure what to expect.
We were called into Jenn`s room and I sat on the comfortable chair thing. It`s like a dentist chair, that had sex with a therapist chair, and it came out covered in a condom. Ahh, that familiar condom covered mutt. Anyways, we had brought her some cookies since she had mentioned before that the only way she remembers someone`s name, is if they bring her food. Jenn marked me down with brownish/yellow stuff, and said "okay, good thing: this is a super cool piercings, bad thing: we have to do it free hand". I thought "Sure, free hand, can`t hurt that much, just a slow, constant pinch, right?" Wrong. She took out her familiar purple pen. I was never quite sure of how you mark a surface piercing, because it seems that it would need to be dead on for it to work. Lo and behold, there`s a way. She took the balls off each end and put purple marker on each side, then she put it surface bar on my chest where she thought it would look good, and all off a sudden I had 2 perfect dots. I loved the placement first try, and it was low enough to hide from my parents until I decided to tell them. She told me to lie down and that I would feel I burning pinch. I grabbed my friends hand, and all of a sudden, the nervousness that had been pent up, all came flooding out. I was cold and shaking, but I was ready. Me and my friend have this system worked out. Right before Jenn is about to pierce us, we squeeze the other hand. I felt a squeeze, and then a poke. And then a LOOOOONG sting. All I could say was "ow! Oh god! Wow! Holy crap! Shit! Ow!" I wasn`t screaming those words, just saying them in a really calm, but urgent voice. One more giant pinch, and it was out. I couldn`t believe how much it hurt! It hurt way more than my nipple did. My sternum started bleeding and I looked down to see a needle sticking out of my "titorial area" as my friends like to call it. I asked if the pain part was done, and Jenn said "yep, the jewelry doesn`t hurt one bit" BULL SHIT! Putting the jewelry in hurt almost as much as the piercing, but it was fa "\ÃwÈË' st. Jenn cleaned me up and I jumped up to look in the mirror, as soon as the adrenaline stopped, thar she blowed. I instantly felt faint. I had to sit down for a little while, while we talked about what had just happened. My friend got some cool pictures of my sternum covered in blood, and I`ll post them once I get them developed. Jenn wanted to tape it up incase it bled on the way home, but I wanted to show it off immediately, so instead she equipped us with a couple q-tips, and advice on how to clean it.
The whole way home, it burned with happiness and people kept looking at me funny when my friend and I started looking down my shirt. Afterwards, every time I went to go do a full body stretch, I could feel it rub and it burned. It also got into the habit of popping out every once in a while, to say hello I guess. But I just push it back in a little and we`re good to go. Aftercare is a bottle of bactine, half filled with water. Every morning and before I go to bed I put a little on with a q-tip. So far I don't think it`s rejecting, although it does get a little temperamental every once and a while.
So for everyone out there, thinking of a sternum, obviously it`s painful depending on your pain tolerance and circumstances, but in the long run, it`s well worth it. It`s one of my favorite piercings, and it`s in a tie with my bridge and nipple. I defiantly recommend your sternum, and I recommend Jenn at Universal even more.