+ Release

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I want to tell you my stories but this illness that has been hovering for days now finally hit with a definitive swing. The cold arrived. Rick and Grace pumped me full of homeopaths and Chinese herbs, Shoshanna filled my cup with Cold Buster juice straight from her juicer and a cup of tea is on the stove. Hopefully, this is just passing. The timing could not be worse, however. Yesterday I got my septum pierced. The snot is stuck in my sinuses for now, but should it decide to drain? Oh, yuck.































































Click the photos to see the ring big! Its not the one I wanted, but I had to get the retainer ring for now. Imagine an even cuter little almost-hoop that is more curvy and less like walrus tusks. Also, the beauty of the piercing? I can flip it up into my nose and you would never know I had it! Totally hide-able, sneaky badass style.

I want to give big ups to my Mom for not freaking out when I told her (on her birthday) over the phone. Wooo, cool Mom!

So the story is this: Since I was a kid I've been envious of beautiful women with teeny tiny septum rings. Don't ask why, but I've always loved them. I used to stick little jewelry hoops up my nose to see what it would look like. For some reason this fantasy has been heavy on the brain lately. Apparently, I'd even mentioned it to Grace last week. So, Rick and Grace scoop me up yesterday and we stroll in The Haight for awhile. Grace, who (because she is rad) has stories for days. She tells us of another lifetime ago, when she custom ordered handmade body jewelry she designed while living in Indonesia. Big plugs and beautiful jewelry for nipple rings, all tribal-influenced and made of animal bone and other natural matter. Truly amazing stuff. Recently she has been thinking of trying to liquidate the left overs, years later, and we stopped into Cold Steel, a friendly little shop on Haight. It was over. I wanted the ring... now.

So, a few minutes later, there I was, getting prepped by a guy with face tattoos in a doctor's office-cum-tattoo parlor. I'm so tired I couldn't care less about the upcoming pain and mostly am just excited for a new piece of semi-permanent jewelry to wear. After some time exchanging stories, the nervousness begins to settle. "Um. Does it hurt, man?" He answers, "Of course, but only for a moment. Ever been through heartbreak? This is so much less worse, trust me." Recently, I tell him. Still going through it a little. "Me too, sister," he answers, "consider this a release."

Good plan. I'm mulling this over in my head while he asks me to lie down on the bed. He warns me that since its hard to see where they are piercing, given its up the nose, if the piercing comes out crooked, he might have to redo it. I say a quick prayer in my head that the piercing comes out not crooked. "I'm feeling your septum. I'm making an indentation. Inhale deeply... exhale... (YEWWWWOOOWWW) you have a septum ring, how does it feel?"

With tears streaming down my face, I grin, "I feel fucking badass!" And proceed to do a little dance in the mirror.

To all those wondering, yes, of course it hurt, but it was instantaneous. Somehow, its barely even sore, despite copious nose blowings. Golden.

Also: thanks to Mar, check out my home away from home, The Mission in the New York Times:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/travel/14hours.html

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