DISCLAIMER: If you or anyone you know plans on having a massive amount of fun such as this, KNOW YOUR PIERCER!!! I can't emphasize this more. It is a necessity!
At A Glance Author Seven Contact Seven@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Jesse Star Studio Fury's Backyard Location Fayetteville, AR Well, I'll start off by saying that I have been very curious about mods and the mod culture for quite sometime. It started at a pretty early age when a friend of mine had a brother (re: The Artist) who was pretty into it all. It always seemed so distant and vague, though. Not like something I would eventually let become a part of my life. Especially as big a part as I feel it's becoming.
Anyway, I've had a few piercings, nostrils, septum twice, and I was never really satisfied. They were great, don't get me wrong, but I think that it just wasn't body jewelry I was looking for. I've got tattoos, and those seem to do me quite well, but there was still a void there. Something was missing.
I started reading up on scarification, being a mild cutter for a few years. Through researching cutting, I found something completely different: Body Suspension. I had seen it in movies here and there, but I really had no idea what it was all about. It was the most exotic thing I had encountered. Thusly, I had to make it mine.
This was all about two years ago, and nothing really ever became of it all. It just went back to the recesses of my mind where it lay dormant, plunging its roots into my brain, never letting go. About six or seven months ago, I got really into it again, and started actually considering it an option. I knew a friend of mine did this sort of thing, so I loosely questioned him about it here and there. And then, about a week ago, I got a call from the guy I had been questioning all this time. Looking back, I don't see how I wasn't initially more excited. Oh yeah, I thought we were just going to go watch some people do this.
Well, he told me the date set was May 5th, and the location, Fayetteville, Arkansas. To say the least, I was ecstatic. I was really excited to get to finally see people do this in person. And rightfully so, I believe. Then I realized that this could be my chance. A great opportunity to do what I had been considering for what felt like my whole life. I told him I was thinking about doing a 4-point suicide, and he told me that he'd be more than happy to do it, but to make sure I was confident about wanting to do so before I made any plan of action. Well, for any of you who have ever been in this situation, you know what happens next: FUCK YEAH I'M GONNA DO IT!! So there's that.
So we made the short drive over to Fayetteville and hung out (ha ha, 'hung') at somebody's house for a little while, waiting for the party to sort of kick-off. We were set to start at dusk. So we went over while it was still light and started hanging the rig. We hung it from a tree in this girl Fury's backyard. We then went and ate some food, and The Artist talked to strangers about his mods. That's another thing about suspension: random people don't know you did it, so it's a lot more personal. You can tell who you want, and if you wish not to tell others, it's not "written all over your face", so to speak.
So after we ate some edibles, we went back to the house to start. He set up all his stuff, gloves, hooks, needles, and soap, soap, soap! Then the question: "Who's going' up first?" I sort of freaked out for a minute, and probably went a little shaky at the knees. But someone else jumped on the bandwagon, and agreed to go first. Whew! He and his associate threw the hooks without a hitch. That was a relief. And the grimace of pain on her face wasn't that bad.
So this is the part where we hit 88 miles per hour and my flux capacitor takes us past all of the other great folks who we hooked, hung, and pulled, up to the point where I myself was getting hooked. There I was, sitting in the chair, shirtless and shivering (Hey, it was cold!), waiting for my hooks to be thrown. They marked me and explained how they were going to say 'set', tell me to take a deep breath in, count down from three, and throw. The last thing I remember about the actually throwing was the word 'set.' After that, it was all bliss. As any of you with piercings knows, there isn't really an accurate way to describe the actual piercing. At least I have not found one. They burned and stung and hurt and felt amazing. But hey, I like the feeling of metal going under my flesh. After they had thrown all four hooks, in two sets of two, it was my friend Daniel's turn. He was pretty nervous, having never gotten pierced or tattooed. He did fine though. A little pause after his first set, but that's it.
Then we went outside. I volunteered to go first, to let Daniel see how I reacted for to my first suspension. They started rigging me up, threading the 500lb. test weight parachute cord through the eyelets in the rig. There was some slight tugging doing this, at which point I found myself thinking, "If you think this is uncomfortable, the rest of this is gonna be weird." After being fully tied off and all, I was given the option of someone else pulling me up, or doing it myself. I decided that I wanted to try to do it myself. That worked nicely in the beginning, but once I actually got off the ground, it was sort of an unnecessary distraction, the chains. So I had someone else take them, and be in charge of that. I'll tell you this: every time someone says it's easier once you get off the ground, believe them. It totally is. That's right, I did it. I got off the ground. I left my shadow to the Earth. I was flying.
It's completely inexplicable, to say the least. It's a burning rush of pain and ecstasy and joy and adrenaline all at once. It gives you that great high everyone says heroin does. Full-body orgasm. Well, for me anyway. Especially the orgasm part. I think that's about the closest I've ever come to said bodily function without some sort of contact with my penis. And damn was it good. It was very intense, don't get me wrong. And very painful. But it was oh so worth it.
I hung there for about a minute, having people push me back and forth, which is very nice, and then decided that it was time to come down. In retrospect, I wish I would have hung up there for a little bit longer, because I missed out on something, I think. I didn't get to really feel that pain. But there's always next time, right? Oh yes... there's always next time...
After they pulled me down, Daniel went up, and did a marvelous job, but hey, he's going to write about that in his story! When he was done (he went longer than me and had funnier stuff written on his body), we walked around for a bit, congratulating ourselves. We left the hooks in for a while, because, to be quite honest, they feel pretty god damn nice. When we decided, well, the piercers actually decided for us, to pull our hooks, we sat down and stood up. It was that fast. Well, except for the burping. They were trying to massage all of the air out from under our skin. That was pretty uncomfortable. But after that, we had done it! Now all we have to do is watch our video, look at the pictures, touch the sore spots, and tell everyone how fun it is! This is definitely something I'll do again. Many, many times...
First Suspension: Done 05.05.05