The day started at around 1pm. We headed into the Westside Rocks Fiesta Music Festival, put on by mates of mine. There were around 22 bands playing on 2 floors of the Empire Hotel, in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.
At A Glance Author AnGeLinPayN Contact pumpkinking@optusnet.com.au IAM AnGeLinPayN When It just happened Artist Karl - Westside Tattoo Studio Empire Hotel, Fortitude Valley Location Brisbane, Australia Cut back to 2 weeks earlier. Westside Tattoo (who put the festival on) had a Grand Opening Day, and celebrated by giving free tattoos & piercings for the whole day. I was first in line to get a tattoo. I was asked by Karl if I wanted to do a suspension at the Westside Rocks Fiesta, as they wanted a girl to do it. I had a think about it - a whole 2 minutes of ticking & i agreed. So we had a chat about some things, and it all sounded like a go-er. Luke (blackknight), who did his first suspension at Auscon, was going to be doing a 2 point chest suspension, and Karl had wanted to get both of us up at the same time, but ended up changing his mind. The room we were performing the suspensions in was too small for that. The following wednesday, my friend Kent bet me $5 I wouldn't do it. I said "You're on buddy!"
Back to the festival. We arrived there at around 3pm, and hung out watching bands play, and psyching myself up. I had been excited about this day for the whole 2 weeks. At around 5pm, I went in search of Karl. I found him on the balcony & asked when we were getting ready. He told me to go up to the staff room of the hotel at around 5.30. The suspensions were scheduled for 6.30pm.
I got up to the staff room when I was told, and the room was so damn cold!!!!! I hate winter! Me and Luke watched as Karl got set up & asked who wanted to go first. I was the lucky one! So he marked me up first, and got me to lay on the table. They set all the equipment up as i was laying on my stomach waiting. When they were ready, I think I was past ready. Hehe.
The other guy helping (Im sorry, I forget your name!) got my skin all bunched up as Karl got the 8ga needle ready. Deep breath in through my nose & out through my mouth & the needle was in. Not much pain or discomfort really, I could just feel the needle breaking through the other side of the skin. There was more discomfort when the hook followed through, than anything else. They did one at a time, which was fine. Each hook felt the same, though the first one was feeling a little tender by the time the last hook went in. While I was still laying on the table, they rigged me up with the rope & then got me to stand up. No diziness or queeziness, so it was sweet! I held the rigging in front of my head while I watched Luke get his 2 hooks in his chest. Geez, did that boy bleed!
So we were ready! I had a security guy lead the way & move people so I could make my way to the floor. There was about 100 or more people standing in a circle around the rigging as I walked in. I saw a lot of friendly faces of all the people i knew & a whole hell of a lot of people I didn't know. Karl & team hooked me up to the rest of the rigging & we were joined by AJ, a tattooist at Westside. He was by my side making sure I was feeling ok, and talking me through it. I was told to bend at the knees & support my own weight before they lifted me up. So I did exactly that. Karl started pulling me up slowly so as to give me less room to bend my knees. When I was feeling ok with it, I gave him the go ahead to pull me up slowly. As soon as my feet were off the ground, he yanked me up nice and high! I could hear Jase on the mic telling everyone to cheer for me. And did they ever. It was almost deafening. I saw all my friends in the crowd with huge smiles on their faces. Then I h eard Jase jokingly say, "If you look closely, you can see the skin tearing" and everyone laughed. I yelled back at him & gave him a huge smile! For a little while, I was finally taller than anyone else in the room! I started to swing my legs around & spun around in the air. It was an awesome feeling, but having no control over my feet not being on the ground was a little weird. All I could feel on my back was a little pressure, not much else. I think I was too extatic to feel anything else. I was up for only a short time, maybe 3 or 4 minutes, maybe less, I couldn't tell. I started to feel a weird sensation coming over my whole body. It wasn't light-headedness or queeziness, or even like I was going to faint. Just a strange sensation that I had had enough. So I gave Karl the go-ahead to let me down. Everyone gave me a round of applause as my feet touched the ground. And then it was off to the back room where it was Luke's turn to get rigged up. I didn't get my hooks out yet , as there was only a few people to help do the suspensions & Luke had to hurry up and get out there. I came back out and watched from the bar as Luke went up. I stood talking with Shaun & a few mates about my experience. I could only see Luke's head, but from what I heard, it was rather bloody! He was only up for a short period of time also, and then we all headed back to the room to get de-hooked. Luke was first & was shaking with adrenaline. I was shaking because it was so damn cold in that staff room! Luke had bled a lot & it took quite a long time to clean him up. Then it was my turn & they gave me a nice hard massage to get the air bubbles out. Wayde (Quaid) helped with the cleaning up, and I was so glad he was there! (*muah*) They massaged me for about 4 minutes, & then cleaned me all up. Not much blood in all. I wasn't even really that sore, which was great!
A lot of people thought it may have been a bad idea to do my first suspension in front of so many people. I think I had more fun having so many people cheer me on, and support me. It was really fantastic! And everyone who helped get me up was fantastic. Thanx to Karl for asking me in the first place & getting me what I wanted for so long. Thanks to the other guy that helped (I feel so bad for not remembering his name!). Thank you to Jason for commentating & putting a smile on my face. Thanks to AJ for talking me through it & keeping me happy. & Wayde, I already thanked you! And last, but not least, a HUGE thank you to Shaun, Maree & all my close friends for being there to support me & watch me hang!
KENT, YOU OWE ME $5!!!!!!!!