Opheliac.Org

*brushes off the cobwebs*

Well, it certainly has been a while, now hasn’t it? Forgive my absence, the last month has been absolute chaos, and I’m happy to say that I’m sailing into May in a brighter mood. I’m happy to report that we did get the townhouse. I’ve been living here for almost a month now. I only just got my internet set up though… things were a bit rough going in the beginning, because of my lack of furniture and whatnot, but I’m all set up and ready to return to the blog-o-sphere. Which is a relief, too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out and about and thinking, I absolutely need to blog, but having no means of doing so. My phone, though it is a smart phone (I do wonder about that sometimes), is only capable of so much.

I am so glad to be back out on my own. My independence is something I’ve truly missed. The ability to just… walk downtown and go to the coffee shop, instead of having to co-ordinate transportation from the boonies into town, and fit it into my parents’ schedules… is amazing. Certainly something I’m no longer going to take for granted and try to keep no matter what. It’s certainly going to be financially tight for the next few months, but I’m prepared to weather the storm and power through it. I have some friends who are also moving that are in the process of downgrading their possessions, and I’ve been promised any furniture that they chose to get rid of. Which… I am super grateful for; I’m lucky to have such generous and giving friends. After the furniture situation is done with, it’s more or less creating a budget and dividing up the bills and such. As tedious as all of that sounds, I am excited about it. It feels like progress, and I very much love progress.

There aren’t any crazy or blog-worthy moving stories, unfortunately. The only thing that’s really been going on with me in the last month is inventory at work (which is thankfully over), getting a raise, and I decided to get my bridge pierced. Which… was an experience, let me tell you.

I was walking downtown one day, and saw a poster for a new piercer that had started working out of one of the local salons. Being as impulsive as I am, I decided… why the hell not, and I went in and made an appointment to see this girl. I decided on my bridge, because a) it’s one of those piercings I’ve always wanted but never went through with and b) everything on my face is pretty much pierced currently, or has been pierced in the past except for my bridge and my cheeks. Since cheek piercings weren’t offered, I went for the bridge. The girl, let’s call her… R, was sweet enough. I was glad that she had piercings herself, because both of the other piercers in town don’t have any piercings and that always threw me off. I asked her about her training, how long she’d been piercing, etc. She was still what I consider to be fairly new, but she told me about her year long apprenticeship in Prince George and I had heard of the studio. As far as I knew, it had a good reputation, so I was pleased with that. She didn’t have any portfolio for me to look at, but I was willing to overlook it. Her work room was sterile, smelt clean and everything seemed good to go.

My first tip off should have been the aftercare sheet she gave me. It made absolutely no sense, and it read like she had copy and pasted random things from the internet. It also kept changing the piercings it was talking about! The title of it was “Aftercare for Bridge (Erl) and Eyebrow Piercings” but there were paragraphs on septum care? I just kind of… raised my eyebrows at it. As if I need an aftercare sheet anyway (I mean – look at me for Leviathan’s sake) but it should have been an indicator of what I was about to go through.

So, I was laying on the table, calm and ready to go, and she started marking me up. Satisfied with the placement, she clamped me and put the needle through. The clamp slipped up, the needle pulled out, and I then proceeded to bleed from my face like I was stabbed. The hollows of my eyes pooled with blood, the blood dripped into my ears and into my mohawk and down my neck into my shirt. I couldn’t open my eyes, and I managed to keep myself calm through the pain of the needle being pulled out and the gratuitous bleeding. She freaked out a bit, and that… really bothered me. R stopped the bleeding, and asked me if I wanted to try again. Being the pain junkie and complete nutter that I am, I of course told her to do it. She remarked my nose, clamped me up, stuck the needle through and it fucking happened again. At this point, my stomach was feeling a little queasy, because it irked me a little bit more than the first time. The bleeding began again. R started freaking out worse, and at this point, she kept swearing and apologizing to me. Since I couldn’t open my eyes, I couldn’t really see what she was doing, but I heard her rummaging around in her kit. She then pipes up: “Maybe if I don’t use a septum clamp?” I felt my stomach bottom right then. A septum clamp… for a bridge piercing. Really? I mean… really? I almost got up with my bleeding face and walked out. Even when I had my septum pierced, I didn’t have a septum clamp used on me (here’s what a septum clamp looks like). I asked her to use a mosquito clamp (right here), or better yet, a Foersters clamp (right here), because she might have more success. So, she stopped the bleeding again, cleaned me up (at this point the blood had dried my eyes shut), remarked me, and clamped me up – this time with a Foersters clamp. The needle went clean through, the jewelry went through beautifully, and there was no issues. I got off that damn chair, cleaned myself up, and we walked out to the front counter. I was a bit ticked off, but I almost lost it after we got out there because even though she caused me unnecessary mutilation and discomfort (bleeding into your eyes and ears is not something I recommend anyone to do), I still had to pay full price for the piercing.

It’s safe to say that I will not be going back to R, nor will I be recommending her to anyone. For about a week after, my nose and the inner corners of my eyes were badly bruised, and it was painful. It’s been about a month now, and I’m glad to say it has healed decently. It was a bit touch and go in the beginning, especially with the other two wounds in almost the exact same area. Thank Belial for H2Ocean Piercing Spray… that stuff saved my life. Here are some photos:

From left to right: Immediately after piercing, two days after (note the bruising), six days after. Photos taken with Instagram.

So that’s pretty much the most exciting thing that’s happened to me lately… sorry for the gore. I’m so glad to be back online though… I will catch up with you all in the next few days, and I will try to update as often as my job will allow me. So glad to be back.