Say hello to my little friend

So, yesterday I went and actually got my tongue pierced like I said I would. I was going to do it tomorrow, but I realized yesterday that if I didn't do it then, I would chicken out. I was reading all this stuff online about how much it hurt, bla bla aspiration, tooth chipping, other things that could go wrong...yeeeah.

So we went up to the House of Tattoo! (cue southern culture on the skids) and waited for "Jake" to come back from the store with his sandwich. Which he didn't eat when he got back. He pierced us instead.

I let Matt go first. He decided to get his lip done instead of his dick. (And he took his lip ring out today. Go figure.) He didn't seem to be in too much pain after the fact, either, so I tried not to freak out about mine.

Then it was my turn. Jake calls me ever, I get in the seat, and he pins one of those little bib thingies dentists use around my neck. See, sometimes your mouth spontaneously drools during piercing. A lot. He also put a tray in my lap.

Then he dries off my tongue with gauze and looks at it, then marks it with a small dot of purple that tastes a bit funny. I ask him what it was, and he tells me it's Egyptian Violet dye. It's used to mark where he's going to ram the needle, and it also an anifungal agent. Double threat!

While I'm trying to not drool on anything, he sets up his instruments. Pulls a hollow needle out of the sterile wrapper, etc. I freaked at the size of the needle. Then he grabs the tongs, dries my tongue off one more time, and clamps it, all the while being very calm and hot.

He has me stick my tongue out and breathe deeply a few times, then he tells me "we'll do it at the end of this exhale" and JAB. Needle goes through the top of the tongue and down. I felt a slight pinch and that was it. It stung a little when he put the post through, (he pushes the post in and shoves the needle out onto the tray. It was sickeningly awesome) and a bit more while he was moving it around to put the balls on. Then he has me swish and get down.

I check my surprised tongue out in the mirror. "Interesting."

Then Matt gives me a big hug and we hop around excidedly for a bit, then go off to get stuff to take care of our new piercings.

So how does it feel? Here's how it looked an hour after I got it done:

You can see the dye he used to mark the spot. And, a bit of swelling on the top of the tongue around the piercing. Today that swelling is a bit more pronounced, and you can't see the post of the barbell at all. Evidently after today everything is supposed to be all normal, tho. Swelling will go down, etc.

It doesn't hurt like I thought it would. It's a bit tender, and sometimes talking can make it achey, but ice and salt water help a lot. I can't take ibuprofen for the swelling because it gives me nosebleeds, so it may take a little longer for it to go down. We'll see.

But I can talk pretty normally. I'll have moments when it's impossible to understand me, but for the most part you can't even tell. I've had the most problem with T, D, C, and S. You just have to concentrate carefully on forming the words, since the tongue has to be positioned a bit differently.

Eating feels weird. It's difficult to tell where the piercing is when I chew, and I bit down on it once. I NEVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN. Also, silverware is an adventure. And ice melts around the piercing, so I sometimes have to carefully get the cube away. Pudding is impossible to eat right now. It is too thick and puts too much pressure on the post for me to be able to move it to the back of my mouth without a lot of effort and discomfort. Jello is fine, and so is ice cream.

It's really funny. I can tell how swollen my tongue is because it actually feels TIGHTER on top when it's not. So odd.

Surprisingly enough, I haven't been victimized by too many lewd comments. Everyone is really surprised tho. The most I've gotten from anyone in the dorm is "it's hot. And dude, you can talk. Pot would help the pain, you know. Do you smoke pot?" (Yes, said by the stoner I threw out of the room a few days ago for yelling at me about not smoking.)

People out here freak out over piercings. I guess I got used to it in STL. A lot of these kids seem REALLY sheltered and, uh...not used to hair dye and piercing. Daryl walked up to me one day and was like "Hey, should I get my EAR pierced?" all serious like I was going to gasp in shock and shriek "your EAR?!" I just giggled and went "Aww, how cute. He wants his ear pierced." He sulked for a while.

But today in Bio lab I had an incident with my TA. He asked me why I had ice with me, since we're not supposed to have food in lab. I told him I got my tongue pierced. That was that. Then he walked by later and said something ( I think it was "are we working?" cuz Sarah and I were laughing really hard) that prompted me stick my tongue out at him, piercing and all. He looks at me and goes "Keep your tongue in your mouth unless you're going to be using it. And you're definitely not going to be using it on me."

I blink in surprise a few times and say "well, that was a bit crude."
Kevin looks at him reproachfully and says "yeah, that really was."
The TA stares at us both for a minute, then goes "what? what?"
I started to get kind of pissed and insulted/offended. What the hell. You're my fucking TA, and not only do you say something dumb about my piercing, but you don't understand why you shouldn't. So I give him one of my looks.
Then he mutters to Kevin "get your mind out of the gutter. I was talking about kissing."
I glance back up at him and go "so was I." Then it sinks in what he meant instead of kissing and I got even angrier. He stares at me for a few more moments, and I feel this desperate urge to leave the room, so I tell Sarah I'm gonna go get a drink of water.

The fucker FOLLOWED ME. INTO the hall. He has obviously just figured out that he could be in a LOT of trouble. "Communication problems are not solved by walking away, Wren."

I wanted to tell him that we weren't having a communication problem, but that he needed to learn some tact, but my tongue hurt, so I just looked at him. Plus, he was being really loud. There were classes in session, and they were interested in what was going on.

"I didn't mean to offend you. I didn't mean it like that."
"It's fine," I say, and walk into the girls' bathroom. Right. No I'm sorry, just 'heh, I wasn't harassing you, ok? You obviously misinterpreted my meaning, so I'm not to blame.'

It wouldn't have been quite as bad taken out of context with his character. He knows a lot of people think he's a cutie, and he seems to think that at the ripe old age of "almost 22" he has attained some kind of wisdom lacking in eighteen-year-old girls. (He likes to tell me that a lot.) He frequently tells me I'm too young to hang out with him, just at random. I've never shown any interest in it at all. He mentions my age as much as he can. It's almost creepy. So then add THIS to it, and it's like...dude. Learn when to shut up. Not everyone likes you. So stop acting like I want you. You don't do it for me, little boy. I don't care HOW old you think you are.

Ugh. ugh ugh ugh.

I wonder now what he meant when he asked "So how's that piercing working out for you?"