A puny collection of body modifications 

 

Yes friends, that is a 6 gauge plug through my ear.

The story of my first modification:
I had my ears pierced when I was a baby, but a few years ago, I stretched them from a 18 gauge to a 12 gauge over the course of a few months. I then had my ear piercings professionally stretched from a 12g to an 8g all at once. This is how it happened:

I went to a store on West 8th street NYC and bought two 6g acrylic tapers (earrings that go from very small to very large). After paying for them, I went to the mirror in the back (piercing) room. Since I could only fit the very tip into my tiny piercing, I figured, "Fuck it, I'll just ease them in day by day." Then, the piercer (who was already in the room with me) said, "If you don't do it now, you'll never get those in there." I decided to let him stretch my ears. The piercer then cleaned my ear piercings, put some Bacitracin on one of the the tapers, told me to exhale, and then shoved the fucker through- but only part way. I had to go through this 5 more times, (three times on each ear) until my piercings were stretched as far as they could safely stretch (about an 8 gauge). Needless to say, the process hurt like all hell, and my lobes were sore for days, but putting ice on my ears helped a lot... so did getting drunk and high the first night. After they healed, and I started wearing heavier 8g jewelry, moving my piercings down to a 6g was a breeze. I plan on stretching to a 4g some time during the next few months.

 

 

One of my skinny wrists, tattooed with a black star

Halloween 2000. The day of my first professional tattoo:
My girlfriend and I got to Kaleidoscope Tattoo (365 Canal street, NYC) around 11 A.M. so as to avoid the almost guaranteed mob of kids wanting to get tattooed for Halloween. I waited a few minutes for my artist to get back from his breakfast break, and when he did, he, another artist, and I discussed the tattoo's proper sizing and placement. They drew tons of lines from the pit of my elbow to my wrist to gauge the center. It was hard to find place where my tattoo would look centered because I have skinny wrists, and really wide hands, which made the true center look off center. We all finally agreed that it looked best placed just right of center.

The actual process wasn't all that painful- except for the outline, and the delicate skin over one of my veins (top left point.) Other than that nothing too bad besides, my girlfriend kept me laughing with the blinking devil horns she wore.

 

This is my nose with a niobium septum retainer.

My 21st birthday (July 29th 2001):
This was a present from my girlfriend. We checked out a few places, but New York Adorned (47 2nd Ave NYC) was by far the nicest, and the friendliest. As I went to the back room, I expected some of the worst pain in my life. I thought the process would feel like someone slowly plucking out my nose hairs. 

I nervously sat on the medical table and the piercer told me exactly what was going to happen. She then stuck her gloved fingers in my nose to feel for the little place without cartilage, and marked it with a line on the front of my nose. (When she picked up the needle, I closed my eyes.) She told me to inhale and when I exhaled, she slid the needle through... and to my surprise, it didn't hurt! The needle didn't feel sharp at all. I opened my eyes and looked down to see a long, thin piece of metal through my nose. She then put the retainer on the back of the needle, and slid it through. Presto! I had a pierced septum! The piercer cleaned me up, advised me on proper care, I tipped her, and I was on my way. The next few weeks were crusty ones for my nose, but it healed quickly, even though I tried to stretch it after only two weeks (Biiig mistake!!)