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I wrote this last Sunday, and on the same day I told my mom about my new piercing. She wasn’t exactly thrilled, but she said she’d be more tolerant about my piercings if I quit smoking–which I plan to do over the sem break

When people get depressed, they either go drinking or smoke. But after realizing that my thesis is going bad and that cigarettes just weren’t cutting it for me anymore, I thought I’d deal with the stress some other way.

I got an industrial piercing.

I spoke to my mom around last week about getting an industrial, thinking that she’d be fine with it because it’s just an ear piercing–far more tame than a labret, which was what I originally wanted. To my surprise, she immediately said, “No.”

“But why not?” I whined.

“Because it looks ugly,” was her curt reply. “It looks as if you have an arrow through your ear. It’s disgusting. Why can’t you just get your belly button pierced?” Like normal girls, I could hear her thinking.

Later on, she told me she probably wouldn’t mind if I get an industrial so long as I quit smoking. I told her I’d think about it. But see, I’m not about to quit smoking now that it looks like my thesis is about to blow up in my face. Besides, whether or not my ear cartilege is pierced won’t matter if I do screw up my academics and end up with no future. May as well go down looking good. So I got the piercing done.

I went to this piercing/tattoo places in Ali Mall that a friend recommended because I don’t trust the first piercer I had (Gene Testa over at Galleria), not after he gave me a bad surface piercing and almost fucked up my eyebrow. I went inside the store, sat down, and watched the piercer put on gloves, sterilize the barbel and open a new pack of needles. As soon as I saw the sharp points, I could feel my lunch threatening to leave my stomach. In a small voice, I asked if I could have a cigarette in the store. The piercer laughed and said no.

A few minutes later, he was ready. He asked where I wanted the industrial placed, and I pointed at my right ear. The piercer began to mark the two holes where the barbell would be going through and when he was satisfied with the positioning, he picked up the needle and began to pierce the lower hole.

When people see my eyebrow piercing, they always ask me if it hurts. I always tell them that it’s nothing special–just about as painful as an injection. Too bad I won’t be able to say the same about getting an industrial. At first, I felt nothing. But while the needle was being pulled out and the barbell was being put in, it felt as though a chunk of my ear was being bitten off by an angry teething baby. All throughout the process I was shaking and feeling faint, so when the first hole was pierced I asked if we could take a break. The piercer agreed, and I spent a few minutes leaning against the wall, trying to keep myself from throwing up.

A few minutes later I wanted to get it over with, so I said I was ready to continue. The second piercing hurt more than the first one because it was at the tip of my ear, which seems to be a more sensitive spot. This time, I didn’t bother trying to act tough; I was swearing like a sailor and gripping by bag so hard that my hands hurt afterwards.

Finally, he was screwing on the ball of the barbell and my piercing was done. I spent a few more minutes trying to fight the nausea and when I could finally move, I picked up my mirror and looked at my ear. The area of the piercing was red and a little swollen, but that didn’t stop me from falling madly in love with my industrial. There’s a long piece of metal through my ear–how is that not awesome? It even goes perfectly with the haircut I got recently, which makes my right ear poke out. I think what makes my industrial even more endearing is how painful the experience was. I’m no masochist, but it’s just unbelievable how something that hurt so much could end up looking so good.

I paid my piercer a thousand pesos (Roughly $20–that includes the cost of the barbell. I know that sounds really cheap, but the cost of living in the Philippines is lower and stuff is therefore cheaper, as compared to the US.) and left the store. I was still rather dizzy, but my ear felt like it was on fire and I stupidly forgot to bring an Advil with me. It took me a good ten minutes to find out where the Mercury Drug Store is and when I got there, I was horrified to see that there was a large group of people by the medicine counter. Since I was hardly in any condition to stand in line, I decided to lean against a wall where the crowd was kind of thin and wait for people to leave.

Then, from out of nowhere, the middle aged man in front of me started to shove me aside. “Dun ka na lang,” he snapped, pushing me to the crowd. People were staring, and I was too much in shock to say something. “Tinitignan mo tong cell phone ko no?!” the man accused.

What the fuck was his problem? I’m dizzy, in pain, and I have my own fucking cell phone. I have everything I need, thank you very much. I didn’t even notice that he was in front of me, much less that he had a cell phone and was using it. Unfortunately, I can be rather slow when it comes to witty comebacks–even more so because the pain was making it difficult for me to think. The best I could do was, “Sorry.” and move away from the man.

To my horror, the man started telling the lady at the counter and the people around him that I was looking at his fucking cell phone. Maybe it has something to do with my piercings, but do I really look like someone who would steal a phone?

“The fuck are you all looking at?” I snapped at the women who were staring. At that point I didn’t care if the guards escorted me out of the store. To hell with this place. Fortunately, the man left the store without causing any more trouble, and I was able to buy my ibuprofen with no more problems.

So here I am, freshly pierced, screwed thesis-wise, and broke. My mom is probably going to kill me when I go home this weekend and sees that I have an “arrow” through my ear. Strangely, I don’t feel as doomed as I did earlier today. I mean, I just went through an incredible amount of pain to get an awesome piercing. I feel like I can take over the world.